Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 255: Round 2 with Jon “Barber” Gutwillig (The Disco Biscuits)

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

This week, we present a special World Saving Exclusive: Recently unearthed, early-days Nirvana demos that we give to you free of charge, dear listener. Find out what genius sounds like right at the top of the episode. And on the Interview Hour we got a special repeat visitor in the Disco Biscuits own, Jon Barber! Its a death match between him and the FACTS. What will Andy Frasco uncover about Barber's background: Is he from Jersey, or is he from Philly? And what malign fantasies lurk in the darkest corners within the heart of man?? All this and more!  And guess what... Watch the full episodes Exclusively on Volume.com now in color!  Psyched to partner up with our buddies at Volume.com! Check out their roster of upcoming live events and on-demand shows to enrich that sweet life of yours. Call, leave a message, and tell us if you think one can get addicted to mushrooms: [phone]  Check out our new album!, L'Optimist on all platforms Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out our good friends that help us unwind and sleep easy while on the road and at home: dialedingummies.com Produced by Andy Frasco, Joe Angelhow, & Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Arno Bakker Shawn Eckels

Now, a message from the UN. And we're back. Andy Frasch with WorldSame Podcast. How's your heads? How's your minds? How's your hearts? How's your anxiety? How's your standard poodle? Look at Denzel.

Look at this. Look at this fucking... Denzel is just on here just protecting us. Yeah, he looks like he's guarding me right now Because Wesby's here and he does not like Wesby Yeah he does not like Wesby Holy shit We're out here the Gem and Jam Music Festival

Installation It's this week right? It's this weekend people There's still time to grab your tickets if you're in the Tucson area And also I've been looking at flights last minute lately They're cheap Fucking flights are cheap as shit right now. So if you're kind of on the fence because you feel like flights might be a little expensive.

Add to that, even the flights directly to Tucson are cheap. Yeah. Which is an hour from Phoenix. So you should just fly to Tucson, stay at a Tucson airport hotel. Bam, you're right there shuttling in. Boom, boom, boom. Go look at some gems. Yeah.

And Tucson's awesome. Arizona's awesome. Great lineup. LPGOV, Disco Biscuits, us, 10th Mountain Division, Lettuce. It's a big lineup. It's going to be fun. Oh, Daily Bread? I think. Oh, Of the Trees. Of the Trees, too.

He's popping. He's popping hard. Hey, Denzel. How you doing, buddy? Our guard dog protecting us. We have round two with John motherfucking Barber. I love this interview. He kind of gets emotional in some parts.

Talking about his parents dying. A lot of stuff happened to him in the last year. He's becoming a human being. And he's also putting his name in the hat for drummer of Goose. Yep, and... guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins.

Remember, they're hiring. They hiring. They hiring. I want to go to the Smashing Pumpkins office in Chicago and go, y'all hiring? Y'all hiring?

Hey, y'all hiring? Y'all hiring? Like a gas station. Yeah, yeah. Hey, y'all hiring? Y'all hiring? Part- gas station? Yeah. Hey, y'all hiring? Y'all hiring? Part-time? Part-time.

So grab your tickets to Jam & Jam. This is going to be a short opening. Don't worry. I'm on the interview, guys. You'll still get your... Yes. Thank you, everyone who came to the Ogden. We sold it out.

It's our biggest headline to date. Wow. That was a great sit-in by me, huh? Yeah. You killed it. We had that 10-piece band sit-in. Yeah, man. Everything went perfect. Everything went perfect. Wow. That was great great sit-in by me, huh? Yeah, you killed it. We had that 10-piece band sit-in. Yeah, man, everything went perfect.

Everything went perfect. Wow, that was great on January 26th. It was killer. I can't believe you sold it out. I know, right? 1,600 tickets. I'm proud of this band. That video helped that we made.

I know. People love that we made that video at Don's, by the way. I know. It's so Denver, making that video at Don's. But that was the thing that people were commenting on that the most. Yeah, and Montucky I had a Montucky in my head They're like hell yeah

Frasco is Denver now Affirmation Okay Over Nothing's Denver Denver doesn't have a thing I feel like this is It really felt like a local show this weekend

It is It's because it's where you live now You're from That's what local means I've never felt like I've had a home This is the first time I've had a home. Not even when you were like 12? No. In your mom's, in your parents' house

with your special... I always felt like I was a guest. You don't feel like the place where you had a cum drawer was your home? No. That's why I put it in the drawer. Fair enough. I want to put it all over everything else. That's true. Let's go. Oh my god. Hello. Hello. We're on fire. Oh, my God. Hello. Hello.

We're on fire. So, also, dial it in gummies. Dial them in, baby. Dial it the fuck in with our boys. It was great to see them this weekend. They had the whole family out there for that. Yep. And it was awesome.

I mean, I picked a booger and I put it in my mouth. It would taste like cocaine. Okay. You are Denver then, I guess. I picked a booger and I put it in my mouth. It would taste like cocaine. Okay. You are Denver then, I guess. Yeah, let's go. That solves it. That solves the mystery of is Andy Denver or not. I am.

It's like, are you Denver? Do you go out at night and wake up with bad nasal energy? Did you have the same conversation 75 times last night? In a bathroom, in a weird bathroom. Right. Did you breathe in same conversation 75 times last night? In a bathroom? In a weird bathroom? Right. Did you breathe in something over an open toilet? In a public restroom? Did you breathe in something over an open toilet?

Did you snort as hard as you could in a substance while standing over an open toilet in a public restroom? Denver, the most beautiful city in America. Enough buttons. Alright That's enough buttons. All right, no more buttons. Oh, God. So grab yourself some dialed-in gummies.

You'll love them. We love them. If you're in Colorado, if you're still in Colorado after our Red Rocks play, go grab yourself some and bring them on the airplane. He loves you right now. I know. He's the best.

Isn't he like, he's like, he's... Actually, that's illegal. They'll be pissed at me if I said that. some and bring them on the airplane. He loves you right now. I know. He's the best. That's illegal. They'll be pissed at me if I said that. Don't bring dialed-in gummies on the airplane. No. Buy them when you get here. Buy them when you get here. Eat them. But if you're going to fly out with them. No, you can't do that, guys. That's illegal. I know, but I know TSA. TSA's a fucking dog and pony show.

It's a fucking dog and pony show. Whenever I go to TSA, I always look at what they're looking at. Yeah. Just to see. Yeah. Like the x-ray thing. Yeah.

I keep on testing. I put a little mushrooms in there. See if they see it. Put a loaded gun. It's okay. I'm white. I'm a middle-aged white guy. I'm supposed to have a gun on me.

Not on a permit. I have this face and body. And I'm from Indiana. Yeah. Hey, look at it. It's like he has a gun and the book, If I Did It. I'm not just reading an OJ book with my gun on me.

No, you're weird. Oh, too fucking funny. Too fucking funny. So grab yourself some dialed in gummies. And then if you want to watch this performance of John Barber really getting deep, stop listening to it on Apple Podcasts and head to volume.com. Yes, volume.com.

The best. The best in live stream businesses. They live streamed our show at the Ogden as well. So if you want to watch it, you could have them in there. You can watch the Ogden show and all our episodes are stockpiled. But also if you're a content creator and you're looking to get some

content out there, why not put it on volume.com? It is the best program out there. I mean, sure. It does work really well. There's Nugs. Cool. Everyone's on Nugs. No big deal. Oh, cool. You're in a jam band. Cool. You're in a jam band. But they don't really do streaming. That's just live shows, right? I know. Yeah. It does work really well. Cool. Everyone's on Nugs. No big deal. Oh, cool. You're in a jam band. Cool. You're in a jam band. But they don't really do streaming.

That's just live shows, right? I know. Yeah. But if you want a good video, a good staff rocking your shit, head to volume.com. And we've been having meetings. Meetings of the minds. They're obsessed with us. They're obsessed with us.

They're fucking obsessed with us. They're fucking obsessed with us. Especially Andy. Oh, man. We had a great time. I went to the company party last weekend. And their magic tricks. I know.

I can't believe you went. They were all astonished that I showed up to the company party. I'm like, you guys are my boys. Why would I not go? I'm part of the company. I have literally nothing going on in my personal life, guys. I do not want to be in Denver on a Friday so I could just have bad nostrils for the whole weekend.

I love close-up magic. I love just being in nice hotels. It put me up in a nice hotel. It really treated me like real fucking royalty. It was really cool. I like nice hotels better than my home. Me too. If I could live in a hotel, I would.

I would too. I always think about that. Royal Tannenbaums, where Bill Murray was living in a hotel. That's my dream life i always think about that um royal tannin bombs where bill murray was like living in a hotel that's my dream life basically it is mine to be an old lonely man in a hotel yeah with dope pajamas just oj book we just fucking just serial killer books just just and you're just by yourself on the on the terrace just smoking a cigarette oh yeah judging the people who just show up i want to be one of those old guys. I definitely want to just be like a total fucking loser

when I'm old. I want people to feel really bad for me, but I'm happy. Right. So head to volume.com. Shout out to volume.com, too, for hosting us.

You really make us feel like we're part of the team and not just a commodity, and it really means a lot. Is that the right word? Commodity? I'd like to feel like a commodity a little bit, too,

if you know what I mean. So next time we do the company part, please bring Nick. He wants his own room as well. I'll do trivia at it. That's a great idea. They already have a magician. Dude, Constantine. The guy who edits our...

Connie. I know Connie. Connie's the fucking man, dude. Oh, really? Dude, the whole crew is dope. I worked with Constantine on all those breakouts. Yeah, Constantine's the man. He's actually a great fucking magician. He was the magician? Yes!

Oh, I didn't know that! With the turtle neck? That's Constantine. Okay, now I see it. But that's so random. And he's from LA? I'm like, fuck, dude. I shouldn't hang out with him. The most random guys are magicians. Yeah. Manic Focus. Oh, yeah. There's someone else, too. It's such a weird hobby to pick up. They also,

this is a cool thing about Volume 2. They bought... They gave them... They gave them a budget to make a musical. And Constantine made a musical with the other homie there. I think Merlino... We definitely need more money than that. If they're just paying for musicals...

Cough it up, Volume. Let's go. I know you got money for a trivia show. I know you got money for a trivia show. I'm doing numbers out here at Yacht Club. Yacht Club. Just kidding. We're grateful. out here. Y'all club. Y'all back. Just kidding. We're grateful.

Yeah, I love them. Okay. John Barber, are you ready for it? Round two. Yeah, I'm ready for it. Everyone is obsessed with the John Barber interview last year,

and we tried to do things that we didn't do from the last episode. I don't think we really did. No, we did. It was just an open conversation. He's the best. He'll talk shit. He'll talk shit.

He'll talk shit about Brownie. He's a rich well of information, too. Yeah, and he's smart. We were talking about it. We were talking about everything. He's pretty cool for a guy from New Jersey. I thought he was from Philly. No, he went there for college.

He's a Jersey guy? Yeah. Shout out to Jersey. I think he is. I hope he gets like One of those like Gold Gold faces Like

Like the Jersey Hall of Fame Oh yeah that'd be cool John Barber What is his last name Goodwin Albert Einstein John Barber Albert Einstein's not from New Jersey

But he did teach at Princeton For a long time So Alright guys Enjoy the episode And enjoy Jammin' Jam I'll see you guys out there I'm there all weekend

Oh Matty O'Neal's there too Madelaine Madelaine And Yeah And enjoy John Barber This is great Hey Chris

Play some Disco Biscuits If you don't know who John Barber is Play Ork Theme please Play Ork Theme for me Thank you Ork Theme That's one of their songs Oh cool

I mean they're They're on a roll right now This is I went to their show this year Orc theme, please. Play Orc theme for me. Thank you. Orc theme. That's one of their songs. Oh, cool. I mean, they're on a roll right now. I went to their show this year, and this is the best they've ever sounded. Cosby used to open for them all the time, actually. I think they're dialing it in again, and it's cool. Yeah, enjoy John. Cosby. It sounds like I'd sing Bill Cosby. My old band, Cosby Sweater, used to open for them all the time.

Not Bill Cosby. His old band, Cosby Sweater, was a Disco Biscuits cover band. We did do one cover. All right, guys. Enjoy, John. And we'll see you next week. Bless your hearts. It's just going to be me and Nick.

And we got some special guests. But we're not going to tell you who. No, this is going to be a surprise. It's a very good guitarist. It's a very good guitarist and a guy who loves the lion. All right, guys. Bye. Alright, there we are.

Alright. Round two of the tell-all. Welcome back. Round two of the tell-all. Now we know each other and we had a fact checker on the Welcome back Round two of the tell-all Can't believe it Now we know each other And we had a fact checker On the last interview, Mr. Barber We did

We're not going to name any names The world-saving podcast fact checker is Mark Brownstein We're not going to name any names Mark Brownstein Mark Brownstein Told us that You're lying about being a rich kid. When did I say I was a rich kid?

No, you said you weren't a rich kid. He says you were a rich kid. Ooh. What? What are you talking about? That's crazy. Are we going to have to cut out the first three minutes of the podcast? I'm a rich kid now, but it's not because my parents gave me any money.

That's what I'm talking about. But honestly, Barbara, you do look richer. I do like your face is glowing. I feel like you're taking care of yourself. You're looking tan. Did you just come back? Did you buy some Bitcoin in Puerto Rico? What's going on with your life right now?

Honestly, let me just say, I'm going to drop the ultimate thing on you right now to start this off. I know we're going to talk for five hours. I probably should wait three hours before I drop this, but I'm just going to start here. I have invented the greatest fitness routine known to man. What? It's working. It is working. Look at that. What? And it's working. It is working. Look at that.

Dude, your skin looks good. I mean, you do look hot. Look at that. I'm rocked out. Holy shit, you got muscles, dude. I know. It's the best thing ever. What is it?

Drop it. Drop it. What you do is you get on the exercise bike and you pick up the controller to the Zelda unit, right? And you pick up the controller to the Zelda unit, right? And then you put a big screen TV on the other side of the room, as big as Target will sell you. And you put the Zelda into the big screen TV, and then you sit on the bike, pedal in, grab the controller,

and you play the entire game of Zelda. Holy shit, what's going on? Who are you? You play the whole game of Zelda. Holy shit. What's going on? Who are you? You play the whole game of Zelda, which is like a 70 million hour experience while you're pedaling. Twitch this thing. Why don't you twitch it?

I was thinking about it. I don't know. I don't know how to do that. You're heavy breathing while they're on Twitch. It's like the mic's right by your face. You're halfway breathing while they're on Twitch. It's like the mic trapped by your face for like halfway through a workout.

I gotta go, Rupi. I mean, that's AMSR, you know? They're asking questions about the biscuits. Yeah, fuck Brownstein. Yo, they're like, they're probably

in the comments like, this dude, this dude is fat and the worst Zelda player I've ever seen in my life. How you doing, Barber barber i'm good man you guys doing good feeling happy you you have been doing some shows dude are you nobody tours like you man you tour like garcia used to tour it's crazy do you guys i mean you guys used to do that too i'm just a little bit we did we never toured as much as you did though because we would

kill each other after we had an 11 week hard limit on every tour so pretty long that's pretty long that was and we only did that once or twice and i think we took gunshots at each other yeah what was the worst one what was the worst one what like give me like after 11 week what happened oh the band broke up the tour ended because the band broke up we canceled like the last two weeks of shows uh i think mark got out of the rv in the middle of the street in richmond we were we were touring in an rv back then he got out of the rv in richmond because he didn't like steely dan which is like now a thing on tiktok or whatever now he invented that tiktok thing i hate steely dan or I love Steely Dan

or whatever the thing is that's going on. I don't know. I don't know. That's how crazy tour gets after a while. That's how crazy tour gets. Because that was connected to something else, connected to something else, connected to something else, which after 11 weeks spills over.

I know of another band where the light guy and the sound guy, one of them got fired because they got in a fist fight over who's better between the fish and grateful dead oh god i'm not gonna say what works the band it is you know what i mean what band it is the works you know what i'm um that's a good argument though i've been in that argument before it's a good argument yeah yeah what side are you on in that argument me i i like fish's music more, actually. I'd rather go to a Phish show.

But I think the Grateful Dead is a more important band. Does that make sense? It's wonderful. What's your take? It's wonderful. Mr. Jam Band? I don't think you could mess with the Deads. I saw Jerry play.

Different, yeah. Yeah, so I know what happens when Jerry was ripping into a solo. I mean, both of the guitar players are the best ever, so it's hard to say one's better than the other. Yeah. But the Grateful Dead songbook is crazy. And also, I was seeing the Grateful Dead at like Giant Stadium. You know, it was a different experience.

It was this thing in the eighties that they don't, then, you know, I, I've never seen fish do it. I've seen trade do it with the dead, but I've never seen fish do that on that level. I guess they,

they obviously have, but I wasn't at any of those shows. Great. I would definitely feel differently probably if I saw them with Jerry Garcia. Yeah. It's with it was crazy. Like, Jerry would just mow you over. There's one time that I had taken acid at an MSG Grateful Dead show.

And I had taken acid, and I was young. And I went to get a cone of ice cream. And I came, apparently don't eat ice cream when you're tripping. And I got my ice cream, walked back into the room. You could feel it in your jaw about to start. And Jerry's Candyman Solo was so good while I was eating the ice cream that I was bone sober at the end of it. And then I was just like, what happened?

I got tranced. I got taken away and then put right back in my spot, ready to go home. How old were you? I think my parents were picking me up outside. How old were you? I don't know. I was probably 17, 16, 17. Do you remember when Jerry died?

Yes. Where were you? It's a good question. I think we were just in philly in the summertime and uh i don't really remember what i did when jerry died honestly i think we like jammed we played we got together and jammed yeah i think it was 95 like august or something i could be confusing that with his birthday like were you No, because his birthday and his death day are like a week apart. I think they're both in August. Yeah. Honestly, I was like 16 or

17 when Stevie Ray Vaughan died. Oh, fuck. That probably hit you hard. And I almost, I was on a football team, and I got in a big fight with the coach because he was like, you got to go to practice. And I was like, I'm not going to practice. Stevie Ray Vaughan died today. And he was like, you got to go to practice. Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I'm not going to practice. Stevie Ray Vaughan died today. He was like, you got to go to practice.

Blah, blah, blah. I was like, I'm not going to practice. He goes, well, then I'm going to kick you off the team. We had that whole argument. I was like, fuck you, man. Stevie Ray Vaughan died today. Do you have any idea what that means? He couldn't have cared less, dude. The last thing he wants.

I didn't get that much playing time with that coach, and I wonder why. Hold on, were you taking acid and playing on the football field? No, no, no, no. That would be fucking sick. You would never do it. You would run out on the...

Or you would be incredible. You would be... Who's that pitcher? Who's that pitcher? Doc Ellis. Trivia machine. Trivia machine. Yeah.

I answered it before you were like, even. Well, like, I mean, I played a pool tournament at Penn and took acid and just killed everybody. It was crazy. Yeah.

It was, it was, it was like coming out of a movie or something. I was hitting like double once backs across the table. There's no Mike linebacker in billiards, though. You know what I'm saying? You're not going to blow your knee out. But I think he's on to something there.

I think individual sports are good for acid. I think swimming would probably be a great sport for acid. Golf. Golf. I'm surprised golfers aren't doing it all the time. Cornhole. Do you ever take acid and get a cornhole?

There it is, John Barber. Ninth hole of the cornhole championship. What would be the worst cornhole? He's staring at a wall right now. He's hit 170 in a row. We don't know what's going on here. We don't know what happened, but John Barber is on. He's about to hit the world record in cornball history.

You ever take acid at a concert and forget that you're actually in a band? Just forget that you're in a group setting and you're just fucking just shredding too much. There was a show where we played after Dark Star Orchestra. Just forget that you're in a group setting and you're just fucking shredding too much. There was a show where we played after Dark Star Orchestra and they had said some really nice things to us and I think they blew up our ego a little bit and we took a little bit too much acid. And I went out on stage and I played just with the ride cymbal for the entire set.

And the ride cymbal was all over the place. It's not a good... Play with the kick drum. Play with the snare. Don't play with the ride cymbal. I went back and listened to it and it was just craziness. It was total insanity. Oh my god. What were you thinking then? This is dope?

I just forgot. I forgot that there was a thing going on. I was just so entranced with what i was doing and the little nuances around the ride symbol and how like that ding made my ding and like literally i forgot and like half an hour went by half an hour it was really long i went back and listened to it i was just like oh my god that, my God. We have also some breaking news. Another fact check, world saving podcast thing

is actually... A source we won't tell, but... I heard you put your name in the hat for being the drummer of Goose. Dude, I love playing the drums. I would definitely take that job. You know, I don't know what to do about those guys. I want Peter's job.

I don't know who sells out Hampton Coliseum and then cans the drummer the next day. I don't understand what's going on over there. I don't know. What do you think is going on? I have no idea. I know. I heard, and this has got to be,

this would be the coolest thing, but there's no way those guys did this, but I heard, I don't know. I heard that there was a lot of inner, there was a lot of partner sharing amongst the band members. This is what I heard, too. I think that's a rumor, though.

Who knows? Yeah, but I don't think any of that's true. No. I think that they just didn't get along? Yeah. But I don't think any of that's true. No. I think that they just didn't get along. Yeah. And I don't know. How hard is it? It's got to be hard to be in a band that blows up that quickly, right?

They've been around for like 10 years. Oh, yeah. Quickly. What are you talking about? This guy's been around forever. The hard part is, like, okay, this is an unpopular thing to say i know i'm a guitar player we say the wrong thing all the time yeah let me just tell you how as far as drummers go how bad could he have possibly been did he drive a motorcycle into the lobby of a hotel did he

did he like disappear on a an alcohol binge and and then they found him at some castle in leeds like six months later like how bad in the scope of drummers, just the small group that they are. Yeah. You know, like, the drummers, they're a special breed. And no, you can't do their job. You know what I mean? I'm visualizing the next time Barber quits the Biscuits is to be the drummer of Goose. Oh, my gosh. I think I would take their music...

I think Brownstein would literally poison your drink. Yeah, I know, but you know... I don't know. I think I would take their music in a direction that their fan base doesn't want to go in. He writes them all the whole time for half an hour? It's called a callback, people. I wonder how long it would be until they fired me.

You know what I mean? Like, how many days? That would be, I should make a YouTube channel about how long can I stay in Goose. We'll keep you in there for at least a couple weeks. Day 25, I'm still in Goose. They haven't noticed I don't own a drum set yet. I just opened the bays of the bus right before it left. Their luggage scattered all over I-95.

I've been upgraded to first class three times. There's Barber at the local coffee shop making another programming website. Can I open with Baba G? I mean, you've been busy. I've been seeing you doing the musical again. What's the new musical this year? I did a musical in May. It's called The Very Moon.

It's an adaptation of the Hot Air Balloon, so it's different. We wrote 16 new songs for it. We changed the plot. We changed the characters. We made, you know... How do you have time for it? Hold on.

Hold on. Barbara, how do you have time for all this? By on. Barbara, how do you have time for all this? By the way, that's the most serious he's been so far. He's talking about a jam band musical. I know, seriously. I really hopped onto the party line for that one right there. No, but it seems like,

from the clips I've been seeing from Magner and you, it seems like it's fucking, it takes a lot of work and effort. Oh, my God. Everything takes a lot of work. I don't even know what to tell you. I mean, life takes work. There's nothing, no way around it.

The, I don't know. I don't even know why we did a musical, honestly. It was during the pandemic. It was just something to do that was interesting. I watched a lot of Disney Plus with my kids. So I was like, why can't I put something on Disney Plus? I don't understand.

So that's basically, what are we going to do with this? I don't know. We're just having fun with it. We're making music. We're having fun. What else is there to do really in this line of work? Right.

Maybe we forget that, that music is just supposed to be fucking fun we take it so goddamn seriously sometimes like why can we just have fun in life yeah somebody came up to me and they're like aren't you worried you're gonna ruin your career and i was like what career are you talking about dude yeah i'm in the disco biscuits like i am in the disco biscuits yeah do you think I'm the drummer of Goose? Like what happened? I've quit this band four times now

Yeah I'm trying to get kicked out of this damn band This is my new plan We literally quit when we're at our most successful I'm telling you right now There's a fucking big buzz for the biscuits Everyone says you guys are sounding the best you've ever sounded True

So what's going on? What's happening? What's the chemistry? What's going on? Do you guys like each other again or what? You know, we've been getting along We're a little too old to be at each other's throats all the time And that's a good thing

We've been working really hard on the band And I think that everybody in the band's been really trying to find their role in the organization and then do their job really well. And everybody in the organization has found a really nice role that they like. And now everybody's starting to like, things are happening in the Disco Biscuit organization that have never happened. Like we're all writing together in the same room. We're making song after song. We're working in a really positive mindset.

We're touring well together. I don't know. Everything's been good. We fixed a couple of little things about the org that was causing some issues. If you get rid of big problems, smooth sailing becomes an option.

And I think that's where we're at. What were those big problems? The biggest one was summer camp. And I don't know why we didn't figure this out for 20 years. But summer camp this past year to Chicago, Ian Goldberg's last summer camp. Love Ian. Great promoter. Great Chicago promoter.

And put us on this incredible stage in Chicago. We hadn't played in Chicago too much, and it was great to be out there with those kids. We really wanted to impress them. We played the night before. We played great. The next night, he gave us a nice little place to hang out. I had my Peloton Zelda thing.

I was playing Zelda backstage. And everyone was all relaxed and having fun. And we played the whole set before we went on stage and played the whole set. And this was a paradigm shift for our band. Because we play a totally different show with totally different transitions that are sometimes cockamamie every single set every single show right and so now we do the entire show before we do the show again we do it backstage so now we don't have to individually figure out what to practice and we don't have to stress out about did we do this did we do that

you actually just do everything and we do really short jams or no jams at all because you don't have to stress out about did we do this did we do that you actually just do everything and we do really short jams or no jams at all because you don't want to ruin the freshness of the jam so we do this we do basically we start that we play set one real tight then we play set two real tight the encore real tight and then we take a break for dinner where before what we used to do was hang out talk about the show talk about the set list, and work on the little, what we thought were the trouble points in there, and then we get on stage and find out we missed a bunch of them, you know, like, oh, we haven't done that song, and we actually forgot the ending, like, it's, it's, it's no big deal, the ending's easy, but running it for the first time on stage in front of thousands of people just causes chaos, but if you run it backstage once,

you get a chance to make your mistake there. And then when you go out on stage, the amount of mistakes you make reduces greatly. And we're making a couple mistakes a show instead of a litany of mistakes every show. And when you do what we do, that is a huge difference because people like that level of perfection in their music. So I feel like that has been the number one biggest change for the band, for sure.

So you mean you're just caring more? So you're trying. Yeah, we're giving a shit more. Do you have any idea how many hours a Disco Biscuit show is for a day. There's DJs making 10 times the money that I'm making, and they go out and they press play for 90 minutes, maybe even 60 minutes. And all they do is sit on the plane on the way there and pick the 16 songs they want to play.

12 of them are Avicii still. It's just like, that's it. We're playing a totally different show that we have to play twice every day. The show's three and a half hours long. The first playthrough takes two hours. So it's five and a half hours of I'm playing guitar, plus I got to do all the warm-ups, vocal practice,

all the other things that we got to do before a show. So a Disco Whiskey show is like a 12-, 13-hour day. It's like we're shooting a movie with Tom Hanks or something. You know what I mean? It's a full day. Maybe that's why you guys are getting along with each other because you're actually communicating with each other and hanging out. Yeah, we got to sit down and play. And it's so musical. It's less

about us having opinions about each other and more about us just getting our job done for the day. And that is and it's just so much better. It's crazy. I can't believe I didn't think about it. I'm going to cry.

This is like maturing. What about, let's fucking go, Barber. I have a question about you. Thank you. You also recently hired my former roommate as your new lighting director, Alex Herm Schneider. Has that affected your playing on stage, having a new light guy? He's the best though, huh? on stage having a new light guy he's the best though uh i i you know i saw the pictures from the new years and uh i was just every picture made me cry every picture he's the man he's so

good at his job and it's beautiful and i love it i don't know we're very lucky he's available barbara i love seeing you happy bro you seem happy you feel you do you feel content with your life you know i've i i i have uh i've had it like 2023 was a really really tough year for me what i lost my i lost my father in 2023 oh fuck dude and um and and we had this like weird we were never that emotional together and he called me up and we had this weird emotional phone call and i hung up the phone and was like oh my god that might be the last time i ever talked to him and then it was the last time i ever talked to him what was can you go into what was the conversation about uh he called me up and asked me some like questions about how I was doing, which he never did. And then he asked me to like look after some stuff for my brother and look after some stuff for my mom.

Was he sick already? Yeah, yeah. So you knew he was like, this was like not a random like, hey, I'm dying. You knew he was kind of. Well, look, I'm not a doctor, okay? I just want to be sure that you know that. I do a lot of multitasking, but I'm not a doctor okay i just want to be sure that you know that i do a lot of multitasking but i'm not a doctor however yeah however i have seen so many people's parents have trouble because the first time they went to the doctor was last summer and the pandemic

nobody went to the doctor so it was like 2019 they got to check up and then 2023 they got to check up but what was happening in 2021-22 and this is what happened to my dad is things were getting bad and they just didn't know it because they didn't go and see anybody and they didn't get any of the million tests that you can get nowadays. So what happened with my dad was in June, he had a lump. And late June, they removed the lump. It would never heal. Where was the lump? Okay.

For those of you listening, I'm patting below my armpit. So it was like from deodorant or something like that, right? But it was like a golf ball-sized lump. The fact that he didn't notice it until June, I'm like, what kind of self-check are you doing, Fred? Come on, buddy. Yeah. You know, so they removed it, and then it was bleeding,

and it never healed. So his whole summer, I just felt so bad for him. My mom had to bandage him every day. They kept doing more tests, right? And so the first time they do a test, you got to wait two weeks, three weeks for the test to come back. It's benign. Now we're middle of July. He's still bleeding every day. So they're like, why don't you come back in? We'll take another sample. We'll try and sew you up. So that's what happens in July. They take another sample. Then he comes back in in August and they're like're like oh it's stage one cancer we're sorry it's it's in

your lymph nodes or something and then they go let's take some biopsies from the rest of your body then they're like oh it's stage three cancer and this is really bad and it's stage four cancer two weeks later and now it's late september and then and then he passed away and it was like literally like every time he went to the doctor and every time he went to the doctor, they told him something that was dramatically wrong. Three weeks later, like he would go back. First, they said it was benign. Then three weeks later, they're like, you have cancer. Like, that's the worst set of diagnoses ever.

Now, I'm not a doctor, but I think I could have done a better job. Three weeks after that, they're like, oh, it's stage three cancer. Three weeks after that, they're like, it's stage four cancer. You better call your family. So it was just like these doctors just never figured out what was going wrong. And they kept telling him something that was entirely incorrect at the time and two weeks later when they told him the next piece of news. So it was an awful thing and the whole time he's waking up every

morning covered in blood, cleaning himself up, covering himself in bandages. Next day, slept on it, didn't heal. Every single day for like 150 days and I was just like so oof. Even talking about it is

so brutal Were you close with him? We were kind of close He was a loner like me in a weird way And so we were as close as loners could be I think And I don't know He was a really good guy

He was a great person He spent his whole life making sure that I had a good life You know He was a great person But that's a tough way to go out He spent his whole life making sure that I had a good life. He's a great person, but that's a tough way to go out. I would just recommend that everybody go to the damn doctor and get checked up now, because if you didn't go during the pandemic, you don't know what happened during the pandemic. How's your health?

I mean, I think it's good. I get on the Peloton every day for a long time. I beat cholesterol's good. I get on the Peloton every day for a long time. I beat cholesterol in 2023, and I beat diabetes in 2023. Let's fucking go! Let's go. Let's fucking go, Barber! I beat both of those things. My doctor was, like, freaking out.

She was like, in another month, you're going to be a diabetic, and your cholesterol is so high, you could have a heart attack tomorrow. You better get your life insurance. And I was like, oh, my God, you're going to be a diabetic and your cholesterol is so high you could have a heart attack tomorrow you better get your life insurance and i was like oh my god you're kidding me so but if you just bike every day all those things go away yeah i think you just gotta sweat right yeah sweat and maybe drink less you know what i mean sweat and drink less how you a little better how's your drinking intake lately it's been great i mean over i had a nice little holiday season where i drank a little bit but i'm kind of over it i love pot gummies dude pot gummies have saved my whole life why it's incredible okay so what's wrong with pot can we talk about i have i have guys in my band smoke love weed i'm not talking about them right now but people come over with the weed and the little

the little filter sticks and the paper and the crumples this and the crumples that and the lighter and all this bullshit so they can roll a joint up and then have ash and and the light and the match and all this it's just this. It's just like 1978 disaster in like multiple places in your house so these people can get high. And now they come over with like a glass, like a Rector set with a bulb and another bulb and they have a butane lighter and a hand harnister

and a charger. Yeah, it's like pot cracker. Trying to get high. Yeah. I'm like, I have an alley around back. You can go do it out there if you want to.

So it's insane what people do to smoke weed. And then, you know, it's all this, it's all the mess and the cleanup. They leave the studio

and I get to do all the cleanup, right? So let me tell you the gummy there's no cleanup there's nothing there's nothing you eat the gummy it's just like done done it's delicious i'm you know maybe i have to wait 20 minutes to get high but at least i don't have to spend 20 minutes like at the butane store like figuring out which kind of holistic butane i'm gonna shoot into my face today. You know, it just doesn't make sense. You know what I mean? That's it. I'm glad you're,

yeah. Cause I, I quit smoking cigarettes. Wow. Yeah. After 12 years. Yeah. I can't believe it. And you know, I've been, I've been on these zins, but now I'm like, I love how convenient a zin is. I'll just like wake up from bed and just pop a Zin and then go back to bed. More addicted to Zin. I mean, you might as well be addicted to Zin. Then you don't smell like cigarettes anymore.

The only problem is... What is Zin? I don't even know what that is. Zin is just a nicotine patch, so it's no tobacco. I can try that. The problem is, though, it's a lot of sodium so that's the only thing wrong so it's korean barbecue you don't see anybody but bar i want to go back to your phone call with your dad because this is really important we just like kind of skipped over to here what what was the conversation like by the end of it

was he saying he's proud of you did he say he was dying like what was that like you didn't say he was dying didn't talk about what the doctor told him didn't talk tell me what the doctor said last time so so he was stage one cancer is the last thing that he told me that he lied to me that was four he lied to me about the rest of it he didn't he he didn't tell me and he didn't tell anyone. He just didn't want anybody to be concerned about him. He didn't want anyone to burn any cycles on him, which is crazy. That's wild. Norm Macdonald did that. Yeah, Norm Macdonald did that.

Would you do that? Yeah, it was like a Norm Macdonald situation. Would that be you too? You're a loner. Probably. Probably. I find myself saying things all the time that he used to say to me i'm just like and and i used to be like mad at myself like don't become your father and la la i used to say that to myself and now i'm like ah there it is

there's a little fred in there right there no big deal so you got out of the did he say he loved you no uh i i don't think so i don't think so but he did say he was proud? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. But he did say he was proud of me. And then when I went to look through all of his stuff, I found all the playbill from the Very Mean Musical, and I found posters from some of the shows I had done. I didn't know he was, I found news clippings of all sorts of stuff that I had no idea.

I thought he kind of hated my job. And I thought he kind of didn't, you was, I found news clippings of all sorts of stuff that I had no idea. I thought he kind of hated my job. And I thought he kind of, like, didn't, you know what I mean? I never got the, I never got the approval from him directly. I got it from him kind of posthumously when I saw what he was kind of stacking in, you know. That's why I was, like, kind of asking about this. I was kind of asking about this. It feels like the resentment of the past could not make you want to have that closure when that time's come. Because did you feel like it was the last... You said you felt like it was the last time you were going to talk to him.

Yeah, it almost felt like he was going to cry on the phone call. It was very emotionally charged. And he didn't say anything. It was like, have you seen Salt Burn yet? I got to see it was like this it was it was like uh have you seen salt burn yet you know how they're like i gotta see it yeah it's awesome crazy scene in there with like you know they're old british people and they just like they try they pretend that nothing affects them you know yeah yeah and uh and he was like kind of like gerlach right here dude that's nick are you like that nick is that your thing? I'm also British as hell.

Oh, God. He is like that to a 10,000 degree. I'm not pretending. Barbara, this is serious. When I ask you this, I want you to be real honest. I will. Were you a little salty that Trey got flowers for Gameheads this year when you've been making your third musical? We're like, fuck this guy.

We did Hot Air Balloon on New Year's 2018. We did the same thing they did this year. There we go. That's the shit I'm talking about. That's a world-famous exclusive. We debuted Hot Air Balloon on a New Year's

show. Why are people losing their goddamn mind over Game Hedge? I don't know enough about fish knowledge. What is it? I mean, they have a huge audience. They're from the era of huge audiences. None of us are from that era. They're from the era of pre-Napster record labels,

marketing budgets, CDs. In the music business, you could get to a different critical mass in those years. Nobody gets to that critical mass anymore besides drake really or taylor swift i mean you don't see it like who are the big bands now are still if you look at the big bands now a lot of them were were big back then fish coldplay youtube you know foo fighters like you're seeing a lot of that there the the world has fractured, as they say. And you really need a big marketing budget to get out of things.

I know Taylor Swift's dad owned the record company she was on, so I'm sure she got a good one. Drake is the best rapper ever, so what are you going to do? You love Drake? I love Drake. I think he's fucking good. I don't listen to him very much, but every time I hear him, I'm like, wow, that was good. That was good.

He's got a couple of raps where you're like, oh, wow, that's good. That's really good. It's undeniable. What about when a band loses a band member and when they're really big? Like who? Like Goose. I think about Goose. Is that going to fuck them up because they don't have an original drummer or does no one care?

It depends. We'll see. I guess that's what 2024 will see. If people care or not. Who are they going to replace him with? That's the big question. John Barber. Speaking of new members. I know you're lying about this. I talked to Baruch. He said you put your name in the hat

Speaking of new bands Yeah I mean Baruch's job Baruch's out there Trying to mix it up He's trying to get You know

But the Smashing Pumpkins Are doing open auditions For their new guitarist position Did you see that? Really? Anyone can apply So if you're looking for another gig Barber

There you go Honestly I loved The Smashing Pumpkins When I was a kid So I would take that gig I don't know if I'm cool enough looking physically to do that job.

No, you got a 10,000-mile stare. You could be perfect in that band. Have you seen Billy Corgan? I saw Billy Corgan. You're way hotter than Billy Corgan. He looks like Voldemort. He does look like Voldemort. He does.

He does have a really well-shaped skull as far as the guy who shaves his head. Like it's very round. If you could be in any band, what band would you be in? Oh, it's a great question. When I was a kid,

the answer was definitely Chili Peppers before like the pop Chili Peppers back in the funk Chili Peppers, like through blood sugar, sex, magic Chili Peppers. blood sugar, sex, magic chili peppers. You know, there, there was a time where I thought I could probably fill in for Trey and fish

if I needed to. I think I was 17 when I thought that, but you know, I could rip all the big ones so I could do that. I could definitely be in the grateful dead, but I think I'm like too close to the jam bands i think if i really wanted to be in a band i would want to be in like a like a real like different kind of musical experience like i would want to be in bts you know what i mean i would

want to be the white guy in bts hold on is that that asian group yeah k-pop yeah yeah i would learn the dance moves and like get my hair slicked all tight and but you're the same you know what i mean get my freckles bleached off my face and just do something like that you know a lot of powder everybody in the band that's hilarious yeah i know seriously like they're all 100. 100 pounds heavier than everybody in the bed. I went to college in the 90s. They do the National Anthem. They keep panning left. And the last one's John Barber.

Hey, guys, remember the Kenneth Starr report? I mean, look, if Instinct went back on tour and Joey Fatone didn't want to do the job, I think I could fill in for Joey Fatone. You guys kind of look alike. Do you think the rock stars did? The idea of the rock star? Yeah, I mean, people don't want the rock star anymore. People don't want a guy who's trash in hotel rooms,

who's not drinking responsibly. Oh, word? Who's like, yeah, I don't think so i don't know buddy what do you think you you do that pretty well like yeah you know do you i mean i get put in a corner i get put in a corner i'm not like it's not like i think like i mean i get i'm popular but i'm not like i don't think you get put in a corner though they just like stereotype me like oh he's just like he bands won't let me open for them because they think our band's too crazy or blah blah blah it's like they'll put they you know they punish you for doing this shit now dude that's you and me both dog i know biscuits

yeah they they wouldn't let us play peach festival because they they thought our our our vibe was too crazy you know and i was just i was like what are you talking about we're we're huge in this area and they're yeah, but this is a chilled out festival for, you know, it's more mellow and chilly and hanging. And I was like, okay, thanks. You know, like, why am I that guy? You know, but it's because we have this, like, kind of edge to what we do. Right.

And there's a lot of not edge out there today, which I don't know. Don't even get me started what started with what don't get me started with the fucking no edge no spice it's not even just music it's just everything it's like that now I think we're just all on fucking Xanax and shit

social media leveled everybody out and made everything too homogenous what do you think, Barbara? I think everybody's on antidepressants. Yeah, I do too. Everybody.

Everyone's on Xanax or Anise. That too. Back in the day, music was your antidepressant. Right. You know what I mean? Like, look at Nirvana.

That stuff was like, I need antidepressants. You know what I mean? It's like every single song. And we love them all, you know? And nowadays people want like really good singing mellifluously kind singing over either like it's very standard techno sound or maybe a song that sounds a little bit like fish from the early 90s

or something and that's what people really like and they also like um what's the other thing that people like um i don't know it just it just feels to me like yeah you heard it here first don't get help if you're depressed ruining everything yeah just take in take zoloft or something yeah yeah no but i mean that stuff works though i gotta give them credit i know zanis works i also think it's like you know it's like The stigma of mental health Is less now Than it was back then So like Everyone really held in their

Depression, their anxiety It felt more of a weakness Now it feels more like a power Powerful thing to Accept your illness Now you could make people listen to your bullshit about your mental illness when back in the day you had to do the Nick Gerlach method

and just hold it in. I'm an amazing musician. I explode out of my horn every time I solo. Barbara, you're kind of a suppressive dude. You hold your feelings in. How long did it take you to mourn your dad when he died? Well, it was weird The weirdest thing happened after my dad died

So my dad used to listen to a lot of classical music But he didn't spend that much time with me But he listened to a lot of classical music And I know a lot about classical music And listened to all of it Because I used to be in the same house And I learned from lot about classical music and listened to all of it because I used to be in the same house, and I learned from him on all that stuff.

And so I feel like part of my desire to be a musician is just based on wanting my own dad to like me and hang out with me. And I was like, look, I do this thing that you love. You know what I mean? I do it good. I do this thing you love. And after he died, like a week later, I was like, oh, I don't need to make music anymore. Oh, shit.

It just like, it like left, there's something left my face. Wow. When, like two or three days later, I was like, oh, I don't need to do any of this anymore. And I had this moment that was, I don't know how to explain it, except for it just, like the desire to do what I do every day just left me.

It just flew away like Fee in Skyward Sword. It was just like, what happened? It was a really weird experience. I was the only one I've ever had like that. Because maybe it's because when you were first as a kid, you're doing it to try to get his fucking attention. And now you don't have his attention. Because he's dead.

Yeah. It was weird. And it just... Did you call Mark Brownstein and say you quit again? Right after that? No, I didn't do that. I think I went to the studio that day and wrote a banger. What'd you write about?

What was the song about in your head? That's got to be heavy, dude. I would be so kind of like, not suicidal, but if I had that idea of all this work doesn't matter anymore, you've had a different situation where like, when you had those feelings in your head, you just moved to programming or moved to blah blah but it's got to be a scary feeling to like the the baby that

you nurtured even if it was just for a split second you're like oh shit i don't i don't care as much right now you know yeah it was a literal it was like a moment where where it was like somebody took like a light napkin and like rubbed it over my face for a minute and and then i was like oh that's gone and it wasn't like i was thinking about it it just happened or i was just thinking about the finality of death and how he's not coming back and now i need to do all the things for my mom that he was doing and make sure that she's okay and kind of fill the roles that he was he did a lot of things for everyone in the family very unsung and now I need to kind of like inspect her gadget figure them out all the things that he

did so that thing you know and luckily we've been doing a good job of that, but like, it's a lot of stuff to figure out that he did and fill those roles and make sure that things don't fall apart. Right. And so like, I'm very concerned right now in life that like my family life could fall apart. about exactly what is it that is why you are who you are you lose the person who makes you who you are and you start thinking do I have to become that person do I need to like do I need to mourn this person in like a major way like do I need to cry for two days straight I don't really know and then it occurred to me just randomly oh I don't need to make music anymore Ever again And I was just like Wow I didn't realize

Like I knew kind of it was connected Because I've even said it before Many times But it was It was definitely a change There's a lot of things in my life That have changed It's so amazing how we forget

That we do things at first Just to try to get attention From our parents Or our friends or our peers. So when that moment happens, it's like, oh, fuck. I've been on this path for so long and didn't realize that the path wasn't for you. It was for someone else. Yeah, it was. It literally was i mean i wonder if somebody's ever going to invent a drug

where you take the drug and it changes what uh like nurture what nurture you got in your life you know because this is a nurture thing right if i grew up with a different set of parents i would probably have different thoughts altogether. Yeah. You know, maybe this whole experience I've had since I was a little kid, which is probably why I started playing music so young, is because, like, maybe I was using music as my way to communicate with my parents back when I was too young to communicate any other way,

you know? Right. And so that's probably why I played instruments for so long. And I don't know, I don't know if they ever figured it out or not. That's what it's crazy. It's like, when I look at my kid, like everything that he does, I'm like, oh, he's probably doing it for this reason or that. But yeah, I was third kid.

Right. So third kid, you'd just be like, oh, he's still alive. Okay. Let's move on with our day. Yeah. That's how I felt too with my parents. I was third kid too. And my sisters were older than me

So it was like I felt like I was just like I kind of just did things by myself Because I felt like they just didn't really care about raising me That was the oldest Yeah Yeah so you're the oldest So you have to be tough and hold things in

And be the adult child Barbara and I were sensitive little sallies Yeah you guys are little baby girls and I'm a strong proud alpha male yeah we have to be as loud and as obnoxious as possible or no one else will notice that we're in the room what about Barbara what about do you think that affected your the way you feel love from other people, like your bandmates? I don't know. Maybe. It's definitely changed me quite a bit.

I feel the change happening. What about before? Well, I'm three years into fatherhood, and that will change you. Let me tell you. That'll change you. What does it change? Well, I don't know.

I like having a kid. And i know i see a lot of people that like having kids so people who if you can spend time with your kid um and like really enjoy their company then i think you're in good shape for a really happy couple of years and yeah there's a lot of bullshit you have to deal with they don't wipe their own butts they there's a lot of problems but you gotta if you can ignore all that and just enjoy what the rest of it has to offer it's a really good it's a great experience but the interesting thing about having a kid that's very notable is if like you couldn't regret stuff in life right you can regret this you can regret that and you know jay You can regret this. You can regret that. And, you know, Jay-Z's always like,

you got to live with regrets or whatever. And I always used to say that to myself when I was regretting, and I'd be like, well, you know, Jay-Z says blah, blah, blah, right? And so... I love how you're quoting Drake and Jay-Z. I didn't have that in my bingo card for John Barber interview.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I listen to everybody. So, but when you have your kid, your kid is a moment in time. He's literally a specific egg and a specific sperm that came together in a specific situation and became this specific. And chances are, if Mother Nature has her way, you're going to love your kid, right? You're probably going to love your kid more than anything in the world because that's how mother nature cooks it up and your kid loves you your kid loves you you will never experience love no no girlfriend or boyfriend will ever love you like your child

loves you and it's just crazy it's a crazy experience. And so you get in this like, you know, bromance. I have a boy, so we're in like a little bromance, right? And if I was to change any of the wrong decisions that I did in my life, any, any wrong decision, there was a time I was on a basketball court when I was 16 and I was playing with the varsity and they threw the ball to me and I had a three-point shot to win and I bricked it, right? And like that, I still think about that occasionally, right? But if that was different, I wouldn't have River, wouldn't be River, right? And so my kid wouldn't be my kid. because then the bromance that you're in with your child or whatever you want to call it changes because, and the kid, you know,

disappears like in the movies, maybe you have a different kid, but the one that you have now that you love so much disappears like the movies, like, you know, one of those Back to the Future type of things. So you can no longer regret anything in your past once you have a kid.

You just have to accept it. And that is a big, big change for me as far as mental clarity and freedom of thought. So I don't have to think about anything I did 10 years ago anymore. I just basically raised my kid and enjoy my life. It's like an emotional butterfly effect or something. Yeah, exactly. I like this. I like this concept i the only thing i don't agree on

it is how do you how do you just not how do you just stop thinking about your past like it just turns off once you have a kid no no you think about your past but instead of being like oh i wish i could have done that better you just say up if i did it better i wouldn't have river that's cool yeah yeah so i guess i'm fine with the way that it went you know you you start looking at I could have done that better. You just say, if I did it better, I wouldn't have River. That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I guess I'm fine with the way that it went. You know, you start looking at life as,

you know, when you look at your past and you regret things, what you're doing is overweight analysis on the negatives. Right. You know,

we played as a band, the bass, we headlined a stage at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan in front of all Japanese people. I never regret that. And I never pat myself on the back about that. I don't overweight that really, really, really positive experience. Right. But I'll think about, like, getting too drunk in Japan and spending, like, a few grand on some dumb alcohol that,

cause I was too drunk to make a smart decision and I'll regret that. I'll regret that still, you know, but now I can't regret that because oops, wouldn't have my kid. You know what I mean? So it's like, gotta,

gotta learn to take the good with the bad and weight them in an even fashion. So at least, and so you stop looking at the negative things in your past With such a strong magnifying glass And you look at them as just Things that got you to here And things are good You know what I mean? Do you have that same perspective

With the people in your band? Yes I think so I think that's maybe why things are going so well It's not about anything anymore It's just about playing music having fun being able to do this job you know what i mean it's weird we take it so fucking seriously they're all dads too right everyone's a dad in your yeah everybody's a dad in the band to the

daddy band maybe that's why everybody had kids they're all mellow now the priorities you know yeah maybe maybe it's it's uh it definitely changes perspective and perspective change is good i wish i'd done it sooner i wish i'd done it younger and i wish my dad sat me down and asked do you want to have kids and he never did he never bothered and my mom used to be like oh you're young you're young. You're young. I was like 42. And she was like, oh, you're young. That's what my mom does, too. That's what my mom does. Oh, you're young. You're like, mom, I have a colonoscopy this week. It's my third one.

I mean, you're right, Barbara. But with how your dad raised or how your dad showed you love, you probably wouldn't have made an extra if he would have gave you all that love you wouldn't give this extra effort to your kid to be better as a parent that's definitely true yes i'm trying to fix all the problems in my childhood with my kid like i got no attention i give him extra attention i hang out with him too much the pandemic was actually a godsend in that category because we spent the whole pandemic together playing video games hanging out like learning how to talk and walk and stuff and it was amazing and i i that was the best part of the pandemic for me um but yeah yeah this is some this is basically it's

I had one thought the other day that was interesting because I was like why didn't my dad do this? Why didn't my dad do this? Why didn't my dad do this? And I remembered living in New York and walking around Brooklyn where I used to live and having the thought of why won't my dad tell me these things

and the difference is which I never realized until he was gone is I could have called him then and just of why won't my dad tell me these things? And the difference is, which I'd never realized till he was gone, is I could have called him then and just asked him to tell me those things. Right. I could have called to him and asked him for all the advice that I was pissed that he never gave me.

You know, I could have been a participant in the relationship on a level that I just wasn't. And I wasn't, for whatever stubborn, dumb reason that I wasn't a participant in the relationship on a level that I just wasn't. And I wasn't, for whatever stubborn, dumb reason that I wasn't a participant in the relationship, he wasn't paying attention to me, he didn't take me camping, he never threw a ball with me, whatever these dumb things are, but I still had the option to participate in the 30s. And when I was walking around New York, I had this thought, why can't I get some advice out of this guy but I didn't call him and just ask him can I please have some advice on this

and I think that's kind of like me taking responsibility for my half of the dysfunctional relationship yeah exactly and it's like in our stubborn way is like they're always our parents so you don't feel like you're ever

an adult with your parent. You still have that fucking kid mentality. It's like, they should be asking me how I feel, not me asking them how they feel. I did that with my parents. I was pissed off they didn't come to, we didn't go to Japan. I was being very petty about it. But I didn't actually tell them that I felt bad. I just kind of like just suppressed it and moved on.

The street goes both ways. And I think that's what you're teaching your kid too, right? I don't know if I can teach him anything. He's stubborn as a mule. Yeah, right. That's karma, bitch. That's karma, Barbara. That is straight up karma, dog.

That's what they say. Your parents raised, Barbara. That is straight up karma, dog. That's what they say. Your parents raised you, and then you raised your parents. So the thing isn't going away with River. I just have to break through it. How's your relationship with your mom since your dad passed? Well, we've had a lot of conversations about her being in her like third era and stuff like that we're trying to spin it in a way to get her to take some ownership of her day-to-day activities and her social life and it's really hard it's really hard to talk to a you know mid 80s or

late 70s early 80s woman i think she's in her 60s if you ask her yeah um you know but i i you know it's hard to like i wish she would just go swim at the pool and play bridge yeah and i can't get her to do either one of those two things but she does do her own stuff and so we'll see what she does you know we'll see what she does i hope i can have like a like a hit single or something so i can just like send her to europe with my niece and just, or like have her do like some cool grandma stuff. You know what I mean? How's that? Yeah.

I hear that. How's the, how's the other company doing? Are you guys going to sell? Oh, I have no idea. I have no idea. I'm living my life as if that stuff doesn't exist.

You know what I mean? I'm just, I'm just trying to make the best music possible. And if they do stuff with those companies, then they do stuff. Look at you. Look at you. Who the fuck is this man? I don't even recognize you anymore, Barbara.

You're just out here living the Buddha life, dude. I mean, look. Yeah, I guess so. Do you feel happier? Do you feel genuinely happier because you took all this weight off you? I think so. I think so. i think having a kid was the greatest thing like my wife lisa um she basically is very pro-child i've been dating i

was dating women who weren't that pro-child lisa was very pro-child and so we really really got um after it a little bit. You know what I mean? And then having a kid was just like literally the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. So I recommend it highly because it does boot you out a little bit. You've created life and you've passed yourself along to the next generation, which it alleviates. Like the word alleviate really means I reproduced you know what i mean that's that's

what that word really means because it alleviates this whole thing that you have inside of you that you don't know that you have inside of you which is thousands of generations of people who like dragged boulders up a mountain and like gladiated and you know and cooked potatoes in a bucket with a rabbit in it for generations. So you could have this incredible life. And then when you have your child, you realize that that vanishes. And then you can hang out with your kid all day. It's good. It's a good combo.

I saw your tour schedule. It looks like you're fucking really busy next year. Yeah, he's going to hate me after this year. If I can come on the podcast, we do an annual thing every january every january next next year my life's in shambles i don't know my kid doesn't know my name anymore my wife wants to divorce me yeah they moved out yeah my mom wants to move into the house i don't know what's going on right buying this cabin in colorado was the dumbest thing I ever did. Yeah, I just need to hire me. Thanks for being honest with me.

Finally. All right, Barbara, we love you, brother. Awesome. You guys look great. Thanks for having me back. And let's do it. Let's do it. Let's get started on everything.

You tuned in to the World Saving Podcast with Andy Fresco. Thank you for listening to this episode. Produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelo and Chris Lawrence. We need you to help us save the world and spread the word. Please subscribe, rate the show, give us those crazy stars. iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're picking this shit up. Follow us on Instagram

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