Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 29: Greg Ormont (Pigeons Playing Ping Pong)

Episode Date: December 4, 2018

Whilst Andy and the boys are in Europe running amok, they're joined by stow away and darn good person, Vince Herman! Vinny and Andy open the show with a hazy flashback from a late night, German sing-a-long. Flock up, cuz we got Greg Ormont from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong on the interview hour. And stay tuned as we premiere a brand new song, "Change of Pace." This is Episode 29. To keep up with the podcast, follow us on Instagram @WorldSavingPodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, tour dates, the band and the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com The views discussed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the guests. Follow our friends, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at pigeonsplayingpingpong.com Check out "Change of Pace" on iTunes and Spotify Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ricky Todd Glass Arno Bakker

I'd like to make a toast. Everybody, this is a dream come true. I love you guys with all my heart, and I just hope we just keep doing this until we're fucking 155 years old. Cheers. Sing us a song, Vincy. Sing us a song. Well you can drink beer on a Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, I think that would be nice. Well you can drink beer on a Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, yeah please take my advice. But never, never on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday, oh no that will not do. Cause if you drink beer on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday, I'll fall in love with you. Everybody!

La la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la La la la la la Well you can drink a ever now, a burn now A mondo siciliano with your do You can drink and go a burn one, a burn one on the sidewalk All I will do with you But never never on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday Never would we be right Here comes a bag of Adidas

Adidas, Adidas Walking in tonight La, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la La, la, la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la, la. Cha, cha, cha. Ricky. Ricky.

And we're live, still breathing, in Austria, Vienna, Austria. This is Andy Frasco, World Saving Podcast. I am Andy Frasco, and we have a very special guest with us. The man, the myth, the legend. Vince Herman is in the motherfucking building today. Herman the German. Herman the Austrian. Yeah.

Man, what the fuck happened last night, amigo? We went to some 1805 bar. What was it? You just convinced me. We did a little research the night before, and we got there early, and we just found the most welcoming, warm, little bar with just locals. So doing the bar research, we figured we'd better return last night. little bar with just locals and so we, you know,

doing the bar research, we figured we'd better return last night. And boy, did we. Oh my God. We were singing songs with these Austrians until four in the morning last night. They were feeding us schnapps, schnapps.

What do you say? We were snapping the schnapps. Snapping and schnapping what do you say we are snapping the shops snapping and stopping yeah singing and then the my favorite moment was when that old old man from austria started singing all those ballads yeah like yeah late night that just made my heart yeah you know we've been we've been singing credence clearwater and john denver songs Take Me Home, Country Roads and all that kind of stuff. There's a little bit of West Virginia in Austria somehow. But man, when I finally just said enough of this,

we want to hear what you guys sing. And oh, it was beautiful. They love it. And they're normally you know like normally like oh fucking obnoxious americans come into our bar they fucking welcome us in like well they better they were like 20 of us we told you we'd be back vince you're on tour with us in europe first time ever torn in europe first time what do you think what's it i I know we've been playing kind of dead shows in Austria,

but what's your experience? What do you think? How do you like the culture? Tell me your experience. Well, man, after 30 years of touring in the States, occasionally going down to Mexico or Jamaica or something like that, to get to a completely different zone uh and and tour is just mind-boggling for me it's it's like my brain can't even you know contemplate it and and

put it put it together that we're really here man until last night yeah it all made sense last night. Yeah. It all made sense last night, man. I feel you. Christine is probably an 80-year-old woman that runs this little bar and God, that was a ball. That was so much fun. Like, I haven't had

that much fun at an after hang in a long fucking time. Yeah. Why don't you give them a little bit of what we did last night? Oh my God.

So tell me about the risk. I know it's a risk because, you know, it's like when you come into a new market, no one knows you. So, like, we're flying out here. Like, last night we played for, what, 10 fucking people? Like, it was insane. I bet it was 15. I bet it was 15, yeah. And we, you know, drove 12 hours.

But the experience to play in a different country and show your music, I mean, that's the risk in itself, right? Is that the dream? Dude, you did a lot more than show your music last night. Yeah. I mean, you give no people, people don't have a choice but participate when Frasco hits the stage, man. I mean. Likewise, Vince. And they just ate it up, man.

You know, music happened to be used as one of the vehicles. But, man, yeah, yeah. But you just deliver, man. Just presence. Well, you know what it is? Even with no one at the shows and stuff, I feel like it's intention. Like Bruce said, Bruce Hampton. That struck in with me.

Tell me that story again. Bruce did a rehearsal one time where he got the band into a car, drove to a set of stairs, and said, all right, boys, I want you to walk up the stairs, no eye contact, with intention. And he walked to walk up the stairs no eye contact with intention and he walked up and down the stairs a few times got in the car went home said good good rehearsal that's it yeah that's it oh my god how intention you know you walk up and down scales with intention yeah it's the same thing as walking up a set of stairs yeah no eye contact it's so true

but it's like i i look at it as intention too like i came here i don't care if there's no eye contact. It's so true. But it's like, I look at it as intention too. Like, I came here. I don't care if there's no one at the show tonight. I came here to fucking bring whatever energy I have from the night, you know, whatever vibe. You're going to bring the energy from the night before, aren't you? Oh, yeah, 100%. You know, we're playing tonight at a weed shop.

And, you know, it's like, it's so funny because, like, you know, you're used to playing tonight at a weed shop and uh you know it's like it's so funny because like you know you're used to playing for thousands of people and then you know we come out here and we're playing to 10 people and 15 people and like kind of starting over in it is it a humbling experience i've to me it's very humbling like i feel when i'm on top of my like yeah we're kicking ass and all of a sudden next day, no one's at the fucking show. You know? It's like, how do you get through those humps? Oh, man.

Last night, there were two girls. I don't know how they ended up at the show. But from the first note, they were off. I mean, just going off loving it, man. That gets you through. You made contact with two people. That's enough, enough man you know it's you know we'd be doing this if it there wasn't anybody in the audience you know so

that's what you remember and and digging into music is its own reward yeah it helps sometimes if people were there to to witness it but it's not absolutely necessary. Yeah, it's for us, right? And I'm slowly realizing that more and more as I dive deeper into my career. It's like if you don't love it and you're going to deal with the travel, like we're talking about this earlier today, like how hard it is to like just keep relationships maintain relationships and like if you're not if you're gonna like start dislocating all your relationships and stuff for this purpose you have to fucking love it you know like how hard is it to

keep that balance between your soul and keeping everyone else happy. Man, I'd love to know. Still trying to figure it out, too. Yeah, I'd love to know how to do that, man. I'm failing miserably at it, I think, you know, because it is all-consuming, man, you know. You know, I'll probably play 200 shows this year, something like that. And, uh, you know, with travel days, you know, you know, I might be home maybe a hundred days, you know? Um,

and, and leaving soon after arriving. Yeah. So it is really hard to be, to be present, um, when you're gone, you know, but you hard to be, to be present, um, when you're gone, you know, but you have to be, you have to be concerned about your loved ones, concerned about your family and, uh, and express it. Um, while there's a million other things going on, you know, it's, it's, it's a challenge, but you gotta do it. You played a sensitive song at the beginning of the second set last night yeah what was that one uh can't force love yeah

and this is kind of what we're talking about yeah it's like why we why do we have to conform just because everyone is telling us to why you know is it to keep us alive because we're both fucking wild animals and we need fucking some sense of control like i was like last night i didn't want that night to end like playing singing songs i never laughed so hard i never smiled so hard amazing then the next day comes on and it's a completely different experience. You know, it's like, do we have to go through life, these ups and downs and like live neutrally or can we feel the highs and can we feel the lows? you're working a job, you don't leave and all that. I think you, you probably have a little more of that kind of stability, less of the highs, less and less of the lows, you know,

it's just the nature of the beast to put yourself out there and putting yourself out there, knock you out sometime, you know, seriously, but, but man, you know, that that's, that's living. And that's why, why we are so blessed to be musicians and get to do this. And we pay the price in relationships and all that. But it's who we are, dude. There's no getting out of it. I know.

To censor yourself would be ridiculous. Yeah. It's what we got to do we don't have any choice yeah that's so true like i keep on thinking like like i go back to my parents and stuff or for the holidays or my sisters and they're all living this this like white picket fence life and then i'm out here singing my ass off with Austrians and learning their fucking country. Sometimes I feel like I'm like,

should I feel bad that I'm doing all this life stuff while everyone else is just maintaining? Look at it from a 10,000 feet altitude thing. You're flying into a town. You're coming in, you look at all those houses down there and the roads and the patterns in the suburbs and the, you know, how they make the streets curve. So it looks smaller, you know, and you see just blobs of houses and people having activity in them and spinning around. It looks like ants. Well, man, there's a division of labor amongst our ants here and we're doing spirit work yeah you know we're having the fun we're having the energy

that keeps experience coming to people in those in those ant farms that make them go on yeah i think you know and sure we destroy a little bit of ourselves in doing it but this is what worker ants do yeah i think you know it's labor of love do you think doing this is the biggest risk what was the biggest risk of your life you think having a relationship while still maintaining this life is a risk or is it the opposite i uh when i left my my first marriage um you know tend to have a lot of marriages in this business i guess uh when i left my first marriage and uh i decided that it was time to jump off the proverbial cliff i i quit my job um and uh just decided i was going to play music you know and that if if uh because i i i'd been told all my life that you know you can't do that you have to have a backup you got to do this you got to you got to no you really shouldn't be doing this and

and i finally just had enough and knew that i had to follow my passion yeah to to to get out of of you know what was a bad scene divorce is a horrible thing to experience yeah you know and uh i i knew that the only way to to make sense moving forward was to follow my passion. Yeah. And as I raised my kids, without me being around and all that stuff, I always pray that the example of following my passion would translate to them and help them understand why I wasn't there.

And I think it has because they're they're both musicians my boys you know and they look up to you so much you got that family band and stuff like yeah yeah i mean i really think like you're inspiring them so like all these trials and tribulations of relationship goes and ups and downs is just part of the ride i guess because look at what the outcome of it you have these beautiful children you have this beautiful music you have this beautiful band and all of that wouldn't have happened unless you went through these hills these valleys and mountains right yeah yeah climate the view is great up there yeah but there's valleys there's valleys it's like uh you know it's like we're waiting because we're doing two nights in austria

and then we're in germany where we finally have a fan base and like to get through this and and put it with a smile on your face and rock and it's it's the bigger picture you get to meet all these people you get to see these cultures and like learn about yourself in these other people and we realize we're not that different than everyone else right i'm seeing the the similarities in it you know uh we're we're in linz austria right now and uh there's a little village outside there where you know no cars you're walking down these sidewalks you realize hey this looks a lot like veil colorado man you know you realize the ski area is trying to look like they're in austria oh oh i see what they're going for now you know yeah man there's there's threads all around the world that tie us together man know what no matter

what the carrot and charge is is telling people and spawning hate and division. We see the connections, man. We walked into that place last night and people looked at us like, oh my God, what's this? And we showed them what's this. It's true. It's love and joy and frivolity. But even like Ricky and Lucy, the Italians we met, and how they're just part of the family now.

And everyone is all in it together. Absolutely. To do this traveling circus, man, these days is pure insanity, and it's the only thing that makes sense. Yeah, seriously. I don't know what I would do without music. I wouldn't have met you and you've taught me a lot about myself since the very little time that we've hung out with each

other dude i saw you on stage for the first time in the first five minutes you did everything i ever wanted to do on stage i was like what was that what did you rubbing annabelle's face in your hairy chest that was good you know but like what about it you did you always want to be in a rock and roll band or what did you was that like the idea with leftover like like bring like rock and roll bluegrass like you know you're you're the festival king you're the guy everyone remembers you know i i i guess we we started off being a little more of a bluegrass band than we are now and it's it's kind of turned into a rock and roll thing but but those roots are there i always kind of used uh you know i mag i migrated from west virginia to colorado following hot rise

uh because i the the bluegrass scene around boulder was really spawned by hot rise and um you know i i thought of that kind of as career model they're they're not huge they'll you know they're not going to make millions yeah playing bluegrass music but their career could last a long time because that's what roots music is you know if you play pop music you may be around for a year or two and and people move on but in this roots music field you get to do it for a long time but it never really blows up massively you know and and you don't have have uh i think the ego issues uh tied in with with fast uh popularity and all that that can just blow you away and we just realized we're blue-collar

musicians out there you know trying to pay the rent yeah just happen to do do music as our jobs yeah so lucky to do it yeah you know that's why this is that's why my the new single i just put out today change of pace is about that it's about like finding who you are in in the scene that you want to be in or you know it's it's super important but um i want to ask uh i want to ask you one last thing um if and then we'll go to the uh pigeons playing ping interview. If you could give yourself any advice at your age now to 25-year-old Vince, just starting in the road, or however old you were,

just starting, had the marriage, what would you tell him now? Less fried foods, dude. You look good, Vincy. I was waiting for some spiritual moment you could be right that could be it i love you vince i love you brother you're a good guy so happy to be out here doing this i'm so happy you're with me honestly i'm cheesing so hard we i just look at sean and we're looking at you on the same stage as us in our band as our fucking guitar player. This is fucking nuts.

So thank you for taking the risk on us, and thank you for being my friend, and thank you for putting up with a couple dead shows because I know we're about to sell out a few, a 500-show room and another one. So thanks for being patient, and thanks for believing in me, buddy. You know it, buddy.

Call your mother. I'll call my mom. I love you, buddy. You know it, buddy. Call your mother. I'll call my mom. I love you, mom. She actually listens to this. Let's listen to the Pigeons playing ping pong interview. We got Greg. He's awesome. Good dude.

I've just met him. We went on tour with those guys, too. And I hope you enjoy the interview. And let's do next week, too. Germany. Let's do one in Germany, too. Yeah. All right.

Love you, Vinci. let's do next week too in Germany let's do one in Germany too yeah alright love you Vincy what's up Greg with Greg from Pigeons playing fucking ping pong we've been on the road together yeah we have we've been waiting to have a conversation

every time we try to have a conversation yeah for those of you who don't know Frasco won't talk to you until you do his podcast because it's

important that you all know the first thing that I say about any topic before we get back into it. You don't like the repeat. You've had people repeat conversations and it doesn't go well? It's more of a I want the conversation to be genuine.

I want to be impressed genuinely. Genuinely. And not just throwing you a lob ball and fucking hitting over the fence. I want you to hit over the fence, and I want to have a standing ovation. You want a standing ovation? I want to give you a standing ovation. On a hanging curveball. Hanging curveball.

All right, man. Well, fortunately, baseball was probably my worst sport growing up in life. Yeah, I could get my handle on everything else, but I was a good fielder. But that's code for you suck at baseball. Yeah, you're like, we'll put you in the outfield. I can catch the ball. If and when it came near me. What was it? What was it like? You were a musician your whole life? You a musician your whole life? Not entirely. Well, to a degree.

When it boils down to it, I was in the kindergarten circus when I was five years old. I was the doggie in the window, and I fucking loved it. Yeah? I still remember my lines. Like, how much is that doggie in the window? I would go, arf, arf. You still have a... Still got it. All jokes aside, you have a very musical theater style persona.

I don't know. Did you do musical theater or what? Only like every year of my life from five to 17. Shut the fuck up. Oh, I called that. You nailed it. Frasco, you got it high. I'm telling you, you have a face for theater, dude.

I've done plays before and another big thing for me was when i was 10 i was in the taming of the shrew what were you i don't even remember and but i the point is that i forgot my lines on this big monologue yeah when i was 10 years old and like we were in the gymnasium there was probably like 60 kids there but it was like a pat like to me it was like there's so many people there and like i couldn't remember the first line of the monologue and i stood there frozen like straight frozen stage fright for like a good eight seconds which on stage is a lifetime of it's still happening currently like i'm pretty sure i'm still standing there not saying anything but

eventually i just started like in the middle of the monologue and worked my way back and made it through that moment. And since then, you know, it's like, it's like fight club after you've been in a fight, you realize you're not made of glass and you can, you know, with your stomach it. Yeah. I mean, if you mess up, man, like, it's not like, you know, even on stage, you're smiling, you're having a good time. It's all good. It's harder. It's worse messing up when it's like a script than it is on stage doing what we do. Because it's our show.

There's no script. You can say, you clearly say whatever comes to your mind. So, you know, it's not like when you have a script and you're in a play and you say the wrong line, the person who you're talking to is like, oh, shit. Like, what are you talking about? That's scene dude i'm very curious about an improv improvisational band and how they work through the the flubs and work through like maybe you're feeling something in one moment and the guitar player isn't hearing you yet, how do you guys all get some pactico through the flub? Yeah, that's a good question.

I mean, like, the most important thing was, like, you can't have an ego. Like, you can't, like, there's no moment, like, if we're improvising live and it can go into one song or the other song, and, like, maybe we'll even, like, walk over and, like, mention, like, hey, let's go into whatever. You know, if the other person's not feeling it, like can't there's no time to like squabble on stage about it like you have to like concede and not like win every you know improvisational argument

like you know like if it's supposed to go one way in your head but three of the other four guys want to go the other way you have to get you know ditch your idea and roll with the punches you know it's it's a definite like team effort group think kind of situation but we write our set lists you know, ditch your idea and roll with the punches. You know, it's, it's a definite like team effort group thing kind of situation, but we write our set lists, you know, to keep the shows different, but we're, we're always like not tied to it. Uh, we'll often have like a few short list of songs that we maybe would throw in if we need them. Or like, let's say we're playing like, like with you, we're out on the West coast and we have fans out here for sure, but they, they definitely like, don't know our music incredibly well, like're out on the West Coast and we have fans out here for sure, but they definitely like don't know our music incredibly well, like they do on the East Coast.

So it's a little less pressure to like go too deep into like the bust out category, like, you know, making it insanely fresh. So like we'll also have just like some backup bangers, like in case the crowd's not feeling it, like where we can just be like, all right, yeah, let's, let's go. Let's, you know, let's do one that we is tried and tested because we need to keep it flowing you know what's the pressure like to always have something different in this jam scene do you feel like that's a lot of pressure to build your band and grow your band i think we embrace it you know like i mean it is pressure

but it's also like we take a step back this is like the coolest job in the world and like we're super fortunate and you know fans travel with us to see our concerts and like, you know, night to night. And that's a cool thing. But I mean, the pressure is just like working on it all the time. Like we were like, like working on at soundcheck, like as long as humanly possible every night, just so we can like, you know, not feel the pressure later, you know, like, like we practice a lot. so when we're finally playing, we can not worry about the chords and the notes and the transitions and just let it rip and be in the moment, ideally.

Yeah, I'm talking more about formatting your songs for it's like, okay, shit. If I know that I'm in a market where there's two hours, we're playing two or three or four hours away from each other, and I know people are going to travel to see our show, how different does it have to be for your fan base not to get pissed or talk? I see the Phish fan bases. I see that in your flock, too.

Some sets get like, I wish they played this song, i wish they played this song which they played this song you know like there's like people chasing certain songs and stuff and like is that a thing in the jam world oh definitely 100 and you'd rather not play it and then the tension of it i feel like they live for that tension and the you know convinces them to come to the next night and like we also we're playing every night we don't want to play the same songs every night just because like it keeps it fresh for us you know like to not repeat things every night is it just makes it more genuine when you're actually playing it but you know like when we're planning a a weekend and we know that there's probably going to be people

traveling for three nights we'll write like the bones of like all three set lists at once cool so like it's act one act two yeah yeah and we'll like kind of space out the song like the key songs and then fill it out with you know fill the rest out with different bust outs older material like fun covers or whatever and you know oh i mean we always are trying to raise the bar every single night we want to like you know the last show to convince people to make that two hour drive and be like, ah, let's, let's just go to Bozeman or whatever. Like, like, let's just hop on tour. Um, but yeah, I mean, with it comes like a lot of practice and, you know, effort, like we're all, I feel like all music musicians are like inherently lazy doing what we do. You know, like we just just it's not like a nine to five job but you still gotta like

put the time in and you know get it done and fortunately our guitarist jeremy is like really hard working he's not the classic lazy musician he was like he used to book us and manage us way back in the day and like he's the one who's constructing this like big spider web of songs and across tours and stuff and yeah i, I mean, like I said, like we're always just trying to raise the bar every night. If every show is better, even by a little bit, then, you know, it's moving in the right direction. We're having fun, you know?

That's what I wanted to get to. Philosophy. If you could have a philosophy for how you approach a show, how you approach a song, and how you approach a jam, what would it be? I mean, just be honest and have fun with it. You know, like you want to like put the hard work in, but you also don't want to take yourself too seriously, especially at like a live concert. Like you guys put on a great show and it's so loose and like free and you can, you know,

when you're being, when you're on stage leading by example as like this free spirit, let's play this song no no no let's play this one oh this sucks let's switch instruments or whatever you guys do like it loosens the crowd up so like i think the the biggest philosophy like is kind of just like lead by example for me that's like just smiling yeah having fun like enjoying you know each show like it could be your last and you know it's a good thing like you know if you're having fun man like the rest is not as important you know like mentally and you're you're happy you know you're playing shows you're happy you know what i'm talking about totally how do you like meet in the middle with what you're trying to do to market your new tunes to what your fans want to do? Yeah. I mean, you know, we're aware that like a lot of people are listening to the new albums.

We want to like sprinkle in a few of those tracks for sure. But like our whole thing is energy. Like it's the vibe, you know, and if we can work those tracks into like a all encompassing night, that's, that's perfect. But, you know, like like you said we also like withhold tracks so people come to the next show and if it's really like we look at our sets like in peaks and valleys just like an overall arching of and like overall arching energy you know like are you you know so if we're like you know peaking and peaking and peaking for part of a set then we'll like cool down with something like trip hop your chill and like ride it down ride the flow down and whether you know ideally you have if a newer song services that need like if we have a newer track that like can bring it down

when it needs to bring it down or build it up when it builds it up that's like ideal but like we really focus on like the entire concert as opposed to, like, song by song. Like, you know, it's really just, like, the overarching, like, yeah, waves and valleys and stuff. Speaking of that, like, I heard some crazy-ass story that you had one 60-minute song. What the fuck's that all about? 60-minute fucking song! It was 63, Andy. So, like, okay so uh let me go through the tell me the process on how that goes like when you're saying okay we're doing one fucking song what's your process

of how to do a 60 minute song well so first off i mean we do practice like at home as a group improvising and what do you practice like we'll say you know someone start a groove like he'll will like you know have alex start playing drums and be like ben start a bass line like you know play a bass line and we'll listen to it and then like once and you know give us a second to like all lock into his idea and then if someone's feeling it very like slightly start morphing it you know like so how do you morph it? Like one guy takes role, takes control? Yeah, one guy takes control,

but it's not just like a fast switch. I mean, it's helpful if you know music a little bit where you can present an idea. Dumb it down to people like me. Okay, so chords are made of notes. Okay, I get that. Right? Yeah. And some chords, some different chords are made of some. I can't get that. Right? Yeah. And some chords,

some, some different chords are made of some of the same notes, right? So like, there's something called like a relative minor

where like, if you're playing a major chord, there is what's known as a relative minor where if you change like, I guess the bass note of that chord, it makes it go from

like a happy tone to like a negative minor tone so like let's say ben is playing like a a happy bass line i could throw in like one note as opposed to like a huge block chunky chord that like forces it on them i could start teasing like like let's let's morph this from happy to you know to minor or whatever you all have to be listening to each other. It's all about listening. So it's all like the jam exercises that we do. It's just like listening exercises.

So like when Alex plays a drum beat and Ben starts a bass line, we're all listening to what he's like putting forward. And then the second like a guitarist adds two notes, now we have like a feel. Because like I was saying, like if Ben's playing one note, I could play a happy note or a minor, like a sad note on it. It'll change the whole feel of it. And then, you know, once we've locked into that, someone else can ideally pick like kind of like a shared chord that can push it in another direction. So when do you go back into the

chorus or the verse? When it feels right. Okay. You know, and a lot of that's just like the drummer too like we react for like when we're looking to make a big change that usually will follow like a big drum film you know and like it kind of like listening to that turn yep and that when you feel that turn happening we'll think about what we've done like do we want to go back to the happy chord or do we want to continue to push it out and change this next chord slightly and then you know over you know over 63 minutes that your first chord you're far from that you know but ideally you can figure out a way to get back to it yeah and then we also have some like hand signals like yeah like you know like baseball yeah like we're not saying steel third we're saying

like you know let's switch to the sixth chord or whatever. Yeah. And then like, if you tap your head, it's like a classic pantomime to go to the head, go to the start of the song or like the theme of the song. So like you were saying, when do you go back to the chorus? Like, well, ideally we develop one idea. We morph it. We fine tune that idea and we can jump back between the two.

You know what I mean? So like, if we have like a little pocket, like dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, idea and we can jump back between the two yeah you know what i mean so like if we have like a little pocket like and then eventually like we like change that rhythm up to like then we up in here and we're hanging in here we're jamming we're peeking here comes the fill here comes the fill back to the i probably probably, but again, I probably like, we'll listen back. I probably changed the head. Cause like when,

what's also important is recognizing when you've locked in as a group and like almost mentally like labeling it. Like, you know, like if we've all locked in and this is like the chorus quote unquote, like when we leave it, don't forget it because we're going to go back to it. And that's like something we've been working't forget it because we're going to go back to it and that's like

something we've been working on for sure is like not just listening to each other and building one idea but then going to another one while keeping that other that first idea in your head so when once we finish the second idea we can jump back to the first and like that's where it's like you really have to focus you have to listen you have to like remember like you know what the rhythm was and all that we're trying it's not easy no it's not any jams you fuck up like you like huge crowd miscommunication and had a flump yeah which ones which one do you remember the most that you'll you'll lose sleep from um i don't know i mean we played a we we throw a music festival and dome fest and one year years ago not too recently i like lost my voice and some transitions like didn't go great and i

just felt horrible after i you know i just especially it's your own music festival and you wanted everything to go well and there's so much stress from throwing the event And you finally play and like voice isn't working and you know, all this. It wasn't last year. I lost my voice too, but I didn't feel too bad about that. We actually did another one song set when I lost my voice at Dome Fest this year. That might help your voice because if you can't sing, you just do some jamming. Exactly. We kind of had to do it.

We were flirting with doing that anyway. But then my voice went and we just ran with the punches played instrumental but fortunately you get back on the horse the next day like that dome fest years ago i came back next day it was awesome what's important to you the jam or the lyrics when you write a song oh uh um i would say the jam like the energy you know and and i feel like i've been we've been writing music like kind of backwards now to the point where we just play live. Like we're not writing for studio albums. We're writing for like, what services the live show. And like a lot of our

songs are like peaking funky energy. So we recently, like I wrote a song that was like a valley song, like instead of a peak, it's the valley of the show. But it's like, it's hard to write songs that aren't full of energy but are interesting still and like keeps the listener interested. And we wrote a song called Snake Eyes that has like kind of trippy,

like drippy, swagadelic a little bit. What does drippy mean? Drippy? Oh man. Boy. I guess we haven't played it on tour yet. When you listen to it, you're like, oh, this is

drippy. I'm trying to learn jam lingo here. Drippy's not too common. It's like psychedelic, you know, like textured and kind of fooling with you

a little bit. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hey, guys. It's Andy. Hope you're enjoying the pigeons interview. Halftime today is going to be a world premiere of our new single, Change of Pace. The record is called Change of Pace, and the whole album actually comes out February 22nd.

But today, my listeners get to have a world premiere before we release it into the inner worlds. So go find it on iTunes. Go find it on Spotify after this show. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the world premiere of Change of Pace. Well I've always been a runner from town to town Trailing that sunrise drugged up and down Trying to find a rainstorm in a valley Looking for a good way to keep on smiling. I'm looking for a change of pace

So I borrowed a little money from a bookie To buy a house out in the mountains I aim for a hillside of the Ozarks A place to bunker down where I can find the moonshine I'm looking for a change of pace Then I'll be on my way Let's start a movement without a purpose A change of pace Yeah, I've been searching for my circuits

Getting high with the faithful and the reckless. Now I'm off to Holland and Australia, getting back to running hot, because I don't want to fail this path. I'm going to change my face, and I'll be on my way. Let's start a movement without a purpose A change of pace Now I got the woman and I got the kids Decent neighbors, that's all it is It ain't the money, the property Seems like everywhere I go I'm trying to change the things I know

I'm looking for change of pace Then I'll be on my way Let's start a movement without a purpose For change your pace I'm gonna change your pace Change your pace I'm gonna change your pace Change your pace I'm, change your face

I'm gonna go change your face, change your face I'm gonna go change your face, change your face Change me Change me Change me Change the pace Change the pace Change the pace you'll love this like the first day of college i didn't know anyone at university of maryland i was i had been singing my whole life but i'd been playing guitar for basically like six months on and off you know for the most part and i i just the first day walked down the dorm hall with my guitar in hand to like make friends day one like not a clue i didn't know anyone at the school

and i jammed with this one dude on our dorm floor and it was like okay we played wagon wheel yeah yeah and i wasn't really like you know coming from new york even prior to like my jam where we don't listen to bluegrass or what do we listen to like three six mafia yeah you know so so so like that didn't like that didn't click and then uh i walked across the hall and jammed with Jeremy. And we just started playing funk songs and started making these goofy dorm classics. Our first song was called I Like to Blaze. I Like to Blaze.

Were you guys potheads? You guys smoked weed? As the song would suggest, to give you an idea, our second song was called Dutchmaster. Oh, yeah. Which on the East Coast is your preferred cigar of choice. Yeah, yeah. The Blunt Arinos. For the Blunt 30.

So you started making all these songs with the band, with Jeremy and stuff. So when you were gigging through college. We started gigging even as a duo. Like Jeremy would start

an open mic night as the Jeremy Schoen experience and I would join the last 15 minutes and we would do like our dorm classics and then like goofy mashups of songs. Like Fish has a song Farmhouse

that works perfectly in No Woman, No Crime. So we would do No Woman, No Farmhouse. And we did like Every Breath You Take, Sting and Puff Daddy version. Oh, awesome. At the time, still Puff Daddy, I think. It might have been Diddy it was he was he was it was puff yeah biggie just died yeah i might have been on the godzilla soundtrack but that's neither here nor there um but yeah we we started doing it and like

my parents thought it was cool we were like playing gigs and you know uh eventually we got the drums and bass together and started playing out. But I still, like when I graduated college, I still had a few jobs. I sold gym memberships for Washington sports clubs. Um, and I, so I would like be the guy standing outside of Chipotle down the street from the gym with free passes to the gym and be like, yo, like Chipotle is great, but you got to burn the calories, right? Here's like a seven week pass. Come see me at the door. Seven day pass. Come see me at the gym. And then they'd come in and I'd try to get them to like hustling via gym membership. Yeah. I was hustling gym memberships. I was, I ended up getting a job as like a mortgage refinancer, which is ridiculous and scary. Cause I know absolutely nothing about that whatsoever, but they just train you like in one day and you just take calls and like you affect people's lives in a huge way and I had

like no idea what I'm doing and I actually got fired from that job it's the only job I got fired from because we were like at that point this was like a few years after college maybe one year and we started touring so much and practicing so much that like i was just like on tour over the weekend coming back on mondays like haggard like so tired i was showing up late just because like it's burning the candle at both ends like the candle was incinerated you know like we were just between like like weekend warrior touring followed by like nine to five for five days followed by weekend warrior like multiplied by however many weeks and like they're like if you're late again like we can't have you and i was late and they're like you're done so they fired you yeah i got fired it was interesting i did you know it didn't

hurt at all it was i knew it was coming but it was at the moment like fuck it we gotta do this well yeah i think it was ripe i think I was able to scratch together one more like half job. I was a, an artist's assistant. So there's this painter in Baltimore and I would like prep his canvases and like ship his paintings. I actually got my wife that job when she moved to Baltimore, um, but she, she hated it. But, uh, that was the last gig I had until like, I just, I couldn't do it. We were touring too much and that's a good thing. And so as a result, like, you know, my parents didn't get like, they didn't like, I didn't go to school and I was like, nah, I'm out. I'm in a band. Like I, we, we like tried to be people and it just failed miserably.

And now we're these grungy hippies here in Montana. So at this, at this Econo Lodge. Did any of the parents fight That fight you guys Trying to be a band? No I don't think so Everyone was super supportive Isn't that important? It is

Throughout the broke years And throughout those years Where you're fucking living in a van Fucking grinding it out Like now you have a nice bus And you got a fucking merch man And a light man And a fucking I mean like It's different now You have a few things and you got a fucking merch man and a light man and a fucking product i mean

like it's different things it's great yeah but like no it is it really like it's stressful enough and like to have the support you know it's so important even emotionally it's not it wasn't like a safety net or anything it was just emotional support a little bit of belief you know rich or no um i grew up all right you know my parent i'm you know we grew up on long island which is a nice place to live and i had a very easy nice childhood and um jeremy's dad is like one of the best doctors like in the country his yeah i don't know do you know about the dave girl stuff no my God. Okay, so Jeremy's dad is, he like invented ankle replacement surgery.

What the fuck? He's a surgeon. He's like an orthopedic surgeon. He works on feet and ankles, right? He's, he represented the American Red Cross? What is it?

What am I thinking? The Heart Association? One of the big ones. Heart Association for ankles? For ankles. Like he was the ankle guy for like the american red cross or the american heart association his dad would be mad that he didn't become a doctor or anything and he became a musician well fortunately jeremy has five brothers and one of

them is becoming a doctor one of them is becoming a doctor but jeremy's dad plays music he has a band what's his band's name oh my god it's so funny uh it's like the soul something but soul because of feet like s-o-l-e like the soul honkies or something i don't know it's something so maybe your parents are living vicariously through you no he there he's doing it himself so listen so when dave girl breaks his leg do you remember this like a couple years ago they send in jeremy's dad to fix him he's that good yeah like he is the man he's the guy he's the guy and he plays music and he's a ridiculous front man he's the kind of guy who like tie the tie on the side of his head and do like crazy dances so he fixes up grohl and dave

invites jeremy's dad to sing with them at a sold out show at Fenway Park in Boston. And Jeremy's dad goes up with the Foo Fighters and completely destroys, just like he's on his back, kicking his feet in the air, singing to an enormous crowd. And he completely eclipses our career in five minutes. So we're living vicariously through jeremy's dad oh he just he just did it for a second time lou shown we call him the lou fighters um and yeah he's he's incredible you should watch it it is the funniest thing you've ever seen like check that out so yeah supportive supportive family for sure speaking of celebrities and stuff i heard you have a great story about how

you fucked up a meeting with john mayer or something what happened i didn't fuck up a meeting or not we met what happened i don't think i fucked it up what happened no so you had a brain fart or like what no i can't someone told me something i don't remember okay i i maybe i can i think it went great for having met john Mayer you know like how good could it go where were you paint the scene so Lockin Festival in Virginia huge festival

Dead & Company was playing which is the Grateful Dead group with John Mayer yeah and we have a photographer friend who's also shoots

Dead & Company his name's Jay Blakesburg he's the man he's like Jay's awesome Jay you know Jay Jay is the man

him and Timmerman are on top of this shit. Yeah. Jay's been shooting The Grateful Dead, you know, Josh Timmerman's. Dude. Yeah.

So he's the man. He's a great guy and he's been shooting us for a couple of years and he's just always taking care of us. He actually just took a picture of us that was on the cover of Polestar like a couple of days ago, which was really cool.

Congratulations, bro. What's cool is that we did a photo shoot with Jay. I read that article with Ethan Berlin. They quoted Ethan and stuff. I read that. That was cool. When we were doing a photo shoot with Jay, he's like, hold on, let me take one this way in case Relics wants a cover. And I'm like,

Jay, you're crazy. That's an awesome thing to hear while you're getting pictures taken. And it wasn't Relics. It was Polestar. But anyway, it's so but we know jay and we were trying to get john to maybe sit in with us at lock and and it turned out like he was arriving a little later and like jay interested well jay sent sent him some emails and you know who knows if he was actually interested but he like knows our band name now and that's a win that's good anyway lock-in has a rotating stage so there's like a wall behind the drummer and then the next band is behind and once that sets over the stage just turns and the next band's on and john sat in with

the next band so all of his amps and stuff was on the other side of the stage so he couldn't like sit in with us so i told jay after the show i was like hey i know like mary didn't play with us but here's this guitar pick of ours would you mind like delivering it to him if you see him just so we're like in his head and in his pocket or whatever you know like give him the guitar pick he's like sure and then like maybe 20 minutes later we're breaking down at lock in the stage has turned and john's gonna sit in soon and so is bob weir from the grateful death of the stage well they they walk to the side of the stage has turned and John's gonna sit in soon and so is Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead well they they walk to the side of the stage I don't say a damn thing to him I just like I'm like yeah

I'll give him like a fist pound he walks by and I'm just like cool sunglasses no so he walks he walks by me and then Jay goes like yo come with me I'm gonna introduce you to Mayer right now and I'm like I all right like I was like were you nervous yeah of course that's an inspiration to you yeah i actually have watched john mayer do like tutorials for guitar and berkeley on youtube great song he's great song incredible lyricist phenomenal guitarist his got it all like the way he can like just out hit songs is crazy yeah we'll talk about john more in a second shit out hit songs is crazy yeah we'll talk about john more in a second but let me finish the story so jay pulls me over and he like walks right up to john he's like hey mayor like this is greg from the band pigeons playing pink why i've been telling you about and he just looks me through

in the eye through his awesome sunglasses he's like oh hey what's up man he shakes my hand i was like what's up he's like yeah how you doing i'm like what's up like i didn't like think what to say to him so i i just said what so maybe that's why people think i like you know fucked it up because you just brain farted i just like i was basically like you know when we're not night in a roxbury when will ferrell's like gets hottie overload he's in the club he's like what's up what's up what's up what's up he's like dude pace yourself you gotta like you know sorry hottie overload just like what's up oh three four what's up two three four like so i just i didn't know did you say anything well so it happened so quickly so i said what's up he

said hey how's it going i said what's up again and then jay hands on the pig he's like yeah he just wanted to give you this pic and he looks down he's like oh cool thanks man i'll use it right now and walks directly on stage for his sit-in like like it was like it was a movie like dude it was so badass like it's funny no you know when there's like a celebrity involved everything they do is badass like we played uh we played at um sirius xm uh jam on we played like an in studio yeah it's like what ari fink's gig yeah there's like a a clear studio directly behind reception so when you walk into their building sometimes you like just see bands playing and we were howard stern's right next to exactly so while we're playing we're like getting set up in

walks jared leto and he's because he's must have been promoting blade runner and he looks like so cool he's got like these like gu like Gucci pajamas on almost with like cartoon characters over it. And I gave him the goofy, like you like Forrest Gump wave, like, Hey Jared Leto, like big wacky wave.

And he just holds up a peace sign backwards. Like this deuce he gave me. It's coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Do the way that do. He was just like, he was like goofily smiling, but the way that it was just like a limp too that was just so cool because it was jared leto you know you know the flock feels that about you when you give them when i give him the deuce i'm telling you man it's all relative and like it's true so when you're doing this like

what are those moments in your life what what are you thinking like i can't believe i'm fucking here like i'm on the side with the jared leto thing or with john mayer well john mayer i mean like you're you're you're playing with everybody right now the celebrity thing is it definitely puts it into perspective it's like what the fuck is happening right now like why am i standing next to bob weir and john mayer and just like does bob know your music um i don't know maybe um i know like some of our friends like like Twiddle, has played with some of the guys. This is very exciting.

It is exciting. It's cool. Are you appreciating this moment? So much, man. This has happened once in a lifetime. So a member of Phish knows our band. The first memories of these people. Yeah, the first memories of when you do this,

because you're going to meet these guys hundreds of times in your career. It's going to happen. You guys are on their way. You're on your path. But those first memories of when John do this, because you're going to meet these guys hundreds of times in your career. It's going to happen. You guys are on their way. You're on your path. But like those first memories of when John Mayer, you give John Mayer a pick

and he walks on stage. Like those are the moments you're going to remember. If I could fast forward 15 years where we've talked a lot and then I bring up the double what's up, that would be cool. He will.

He might not remember it. Oh, he definitely won't remember it. Dude, people will be like, dude, do you remember like we hung out in this town and we drank that beer. And I'm like, yeah, dude. I totally remember. Man, this is crazy.

But it's funny. I'll meet people and they'll be like, yeah, last time I spoke to you, I said my friend was here, but they weren't here. And I felt like such an idiot. And I'm like, dude, I forgot about that immediately. So I can promise you that John Mayer does not know about the the double what's up he didn't register in his mind he's got too much going on how going back i want to go a little further in how are you doing good do we have time yeah i'm hanging i just ran out of tequila here here's a white oh we're out are we

out i got a little i got a little uh hard seltzer we're having so you know, guys, the Frasco band goes really hard. I walked into their hotel room, and it was just a pigsty of crushed hard seltzers. And old farts. Dude, yeah. It's a ripe room of men. This is like a frat house in this apartment. Well, you guys are still doing the air mattress on the floor next to the bed, so you got an extra stank, you know?

Dude, we hustled, man. We used to, what we used to do after shows, we would say we would divide and conquer. And we would go out and talk to all the fans and try to find out if we can crash on their couches. How many years were you doing that? Six, seven, easy. Like five or six years.

We would just like, you know. Would you guys drive yourself too? Yeah, we still do on the East Coast. Good. We only have a driver like on the West Coast because the cities are so far apart, man. It's crazy. And like, you need to sleep.

You need to be safe. And, but yeah, we would divide and conquer. And like, we would come back, like regroup in 30 minutes after the show and be like, all right, I got like two couches and space for two air mattresses but they're gonna be up all night partying or like we got one couch and a guest bedroom and like one quiet room or whatever like we just like find out you know make friends enjoy hanging out with people and then find out the best crash spot so you know we definitely know that game i

heard you uh left the tour manager on the road no we left we didn't leave shit the the merch are you a new guy tour manager that's in this room right now you're the merch guy our new merch guy dewey is here he's also pounding hard side i heard about that story too so this is actually really funny yeah we um last time we did a bandwagon tour i think it was last time we came out it might have been i'm the worst band historian it was within 18 months we came out and we did like montana and and idaho and washington and california and we have this bandwagon which is basically just like a tour bus it's like a rv designed for bands so every night you're told like at six o'clock or at 5 50 be on the bus because at six o'clock we're leaving like the driver just leaves yeah you know and uh we partied pretty hard with

this crew like the staff that worked at the hive in sandpoint idaho which have you played there no that's the hot sandpoint that's where the shook twins are from oh really yeah yeah they're cool dude that theive is awesome. Like, dude, Sandpoint gets down super hard. You should definitely go there. The crew there is awesome. Like, their house staff is really chill. And we were hanging and partying, and our merch guy got really drunk.

Like, he was a new merch guy, and it was the first time we saw this side of him. Like, he just, like, was totally in the zone. It was the first time we saw this side of him. He just was totally in the zone. He was wink kissing at people, tongue out, and flowing. He took his hair out. He's got really long hair. I didn't even know he had long. I knew he had a bun, but he whips the hair out.

It's down to his ass almost. He's flowing. It's good. We finally corral everyone onto the bus. We all go to sleep. we see him go into his bunk and then we're driving we're going from idaho to seattle it's like 400 miles at 10 in the morning or so our uh maybe tm at the time our sound guy gets a call and he's like it's from the merch guy and he's like yo you guys forgot something in standpoint he's like oh. And he's like, yo, you guys forgot something in Sam point. And he's like, ah, shit. What?

He's like me. So he must, dude, he just calls. Yo, he, he must've left the, he must've left the bus after getting in the bunk and we all go to sleep. He wakes up inside the venues. He must've gone to the bathroom. He wakes up shoeless with no wallet in idaho alone and this this dude had never left pennsylvania he'd never left philly

and we took him on tour this was the sixth day of tour dude we were six days in and and he woke up in idaho with no wallet no shoes 400 miles from where he needs to be at 8 p.m. So what'd you do? How'd you conclude the situation? So, first of all, our sound guy didn't believe him. He woke up, opened the bunk. He's not there. He's definitely, he's in Idaho.

He's calling you. You didn't even check the bunk. You said, hey, man, why are you calling me from the van? Dude, yeah, you forgot something. Anyway, we sent him a picture of his credit card so he could buy shoes or flip-flops from a store. We was walking into places with no money and no shoes. You didn't buy many shoes or anything?

We were gone. We were in the middle of like Montana or something. Anyway, so. Yo, good luck. Here's a 20. Good luck. Here's your credit card. I had to set up merch in Seattle.

I didn't get my time to explore the city of Seattle. I'm still salty about it. But anyway, he takes a 400 mile Uber or taxi from Sandpoint, Idaho to Seattle. Makes it five minutes before doors. I had already set up the merch and he runs the show like completely delirious and like, you know, haggard. How much is a 400 mile Uber?

Well more than what we had paid him in the first six days. Oh my God. So ever since- Dude, respect that guy. Ever since that day, we changed his name to Sandy for Sandpoint, Idaho. And he still goes by that name.

Dude, I fucking like you, Greg. I'm glad. You're a good dude. Frasco, I can tell you I'm super stoked we got this in because I've been wanting to talk to you just casually

and I've bit my tongue because you told me like we only have genuine conversations once and it happens on the podcast. Two questions and then we're going to go

and day drink and have fun. All right. First question. With all this mind state of having the right set, the right jams, the right song placements, the right feeling, how you're feeling, in your memory, what was the best show you feel you've ever done? Oh, man. The whole thing.

We've played some crazy shows and like so the way that we approach shows and i feel like it's the same thing you do um especially watching you open as opposed to headlining your shows it's like you just take it on full speed like you are headlining you know and we've always said even from like the college basement shows let's treat the show like it's madison square garden that's like a mantra that we've always said. And actually this year we played halftime at a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. I was there actually. No, you were not.

I swear to God. No, you were not. I swear to God. You guys played. What? I was there. I was there. And I also saw Sister Sparrow as well.

But you guys played, was it the Bulls? Was the Knicks play the Bulls? Where'd you go? Timberwolves'd you timberwolves timberwolves yes we're looking at carl anthony town's enormous feet while he was setting up it was fucking crazy yes feet are like like that booker books jam bands that's so cool turquoise has done so that guy that guy just switched jobs and now he works for the warriors oh my west coast i know if you fucking play that goddamn gig,

I'll be so pissed at you, Greg. I mean, you got to do it though because it's your career. We could trade out. We have froze. You can do this. I just want to come and hang out. I like basketball.

So go back to that. You were there? I was there. That's crazy. 100%. Yeah, I was. And for that show, all we had to do

was the same thing we do every night, which is treat it like it's Masters Square Garden. You know what I mean? Like that's like kind of the vibe. So it's cliche to say like, every show is my favorite show, you know? But like, I mean, there was some high, like honestly, one of the big highlights early on,

or not early on, but a huge one was we played at the 930 Club in DC, which is this badass venue. And we played Dead Zeppelin for Halloween. So we did, like we're doing Red Hot Sergeant Peppers this year. You know, a few years ago, we did Dead Zeppelin. So it was a mixture of Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, and our music. And, like, we worked really hard on it. Just practiced our asses off and, like, really poured ourselves into the material.

Learned a lot as musicians. And the show went great. And I think maybe, like, because we worked on it so hard as opposed to just like night in night out shows like that was super rewarding i mean the next thing was crazy that's insane the next thing was not long island oh dude yeah dude the train from my town goes to the garden so fun like it was it was crazy surreal so cool well it's funny though and they were like they were like 19 000 people there but instead of them watching you they're all watching the jumbotron so you're

looking at 19 000 next because everyone's heads are cocked up and they're looking at it and like john stewart was there and lieb schreiber was there and like nate robinson the basketball player was there and like the best part of that gig is your green room is so close to all the bad it's right i took a shower there just because like i wanted to say like i just like wanted to like it was on the court you know i touched the floor i was like i had yeah we got on the floor a little bit and i touched a ball garden dude i i touched a ball um pretty awesome yeah that was that was wild um holy fuck moments you know yeah yeah uh i mean lock-in was really big this year like we we met john mayer you ever did that this is our second lock-in i think and you had a good time slot this time we had a great time slot and the

crowd was sprawling it was it was probably the biggest crowd we've had for a festival it was floating around 20 000 people and it was like around 20,000 people. And it was like... You played early. Yeah, it was like four or five or something like that. Perfect. It reminded me of when I've watched like Jamiroquai on YouTube at like Wembley Stadium in England. You know what I mean? I was like, this is

actually happening for us right now. You look at those football stadium shows. Appreciate it, man. What was your, like,

what was your, some of your favorite concert moments? Playing for 20,000 people in Germany where Hitler did his speeches. And I did the bar mitzvah. Oh, that's dope. On, on that where Hitler did in Hitler's speeches,

grave Nuremberg, you know, Nuremberg where he did all those big speeches where you always see the big, where the big stairway and then like he's in this big park. We did that with the Foo Fighters and us and Ice-T. Or Ice-T? Yeah, Ice-T.

Did you hang out with Grohl? Did you hang out with those guys? I didn't get to hang out with Grohl. He was locked down. I heard he's the man. We got to hang out with the Take Him Back Sunday, out with those guys? I didn't get to hang out with Grohl. He was locked down. I hear he's the man. We got to hang out with the Take Him Back Sunday, Lex is on Fire.

Yeah. It was like seven bands that we traveled together. Ice T was dope. But yeah, it was fun, man. Who's like one of the bigger celebrities that you've gotten to hang out with? Oh, God.

Like, to me, a celebrity? Like, I love, like, Branson. I got to hang out with richard branson which is cool how did you how did that happen smoked weed with him i did uh sarah silverman's i did john fort or will forte and sarah silverman we i did dan sterling's wedding and he wrote um the interview and he wrote Daily Show and Girls Season so like all so I got to smoke weed

with Sarah Silverman yeah I'm into actors and I'm into like yeah you're a Los Angeles yeah those are my guys you know Sarah's awesome

yeah Sarah's cool as fuck yeah took ecstasy with that whole crew sure fucking crazy yeah but enough about me

this is about you I have more questions I know you do my phone keeps blowing up one last question and we'll go daydream you guys throw a festival dome fest

right oh yeah awesome next time we go into I want to talk about next time we do we should do this again yeah for sure

let's get Jeremy in it because he's I want to know about the business side of the band he knows more than I do yeah yeah so let's keep this creative I'm the hair

he's the brains I do. Yeah, yeah. So let's keep this creative. I'm the hair. He's the brains. I'm just the face. Okay. So pretend you could throw a dome fest, but you could pick bands dead or alive. Headliners, I need six bands. Two headliners. You're already in,

so don't worry about yourselves. Two headliners, two midday bands, or two pre-headliners two midday band or two like pre-headliners and then two day bands of anyone alive or dead that's an insane question so just i need to do my homework for something like that okay well we can cut out your time jeremy buck books uh dome fest like the band just to you like what what is the perfect festival like who would it be would it be fish would be Dead? Fish has come to mind. Would it be Rolling Stones?

Oh, man. Would you go deep into it? Who would it be? Well, Beethoven's opening. Beethoven. I like it. Just do a little, instead of bluegrass, you do classical vibe? You know, he'd probably appreciate the silent disco more than most.

Oh, too soon, dude. too soon dude it's been like 300 years so you got beethoven opening man uh yeah fish comes to mind um who'd be the headliners like radiohead fish like who who's your guys it wouldn't be radiohead and even though i like radiohead i never went like off the rocker for them boy uh man that is such a heavy question um we'll cut out the space don't worry you're not gonna cut shit out you're just gonna listen to the dead space of me pondering my dream festival lineup um for some reason the beatles come to mind even though like what i like i like the beatles a lot but like it just seems so historic to have them there. But I like, you know, jams, man, this is really, we might need to day drink and come back to

it. Cool. We will. Um, give me the headliners. Give me like two that are still alive and two that are dead. Give me those. We'll do fish and Stevie wonder. Cool. And dead, you said? Yeah. Cool. And Dead, you said? Yeah. Or not.

Dead, you said. Or Retired. Retired. Well, this isn't Dead or Retired, but I haven't seen Jamiroquai yet. Oh, he's touring right now. I know he's touring right now. Jamiroquai. Dude, that would be awesome.

Wolfpack's been getting on that Jamiroquai dick. Yeah, that's because they're incredible musicians. Boy. You are too, though. Don't doubt yourselves. You guys could be at that point too.

I feel like if I don't say the Grateful Dead, people are going to roast me, but I don't really, like, I didn't see the dead,

you know? Are you into the dead, really? I am, you know, but like, do you hear how I said that? I am.

Yeah. Like, that's, you know, like, I'm not like said that I am yeah like that's you know like I'm not like I grew up what don't you like about the dead it's slow yeah I like to dance

fish is more is more up your speed depending on how they're playing like I just saw two nights of fish and the first night was like psychedelic and kind of slow

and a lot of new material and then the second night they just ripped our faces off and it sucked because like some of my friends came to see fish for the first time on the first night and sometimes they do this like kind of alley-oop night where they like just throw the ball in the air the first night and then the next night they fucking slam it down you know so like it was kind of like a prop up first night for like the way they kind of approach their weekends um and like what you do when you approach like your act one act two act three sort of yeah there's always you know

something something to chase something coming up next um it is interesting how fish does it man like like sometimes i'll be like i'll see a show and be like ah that was good but i think i need like a new favorite band like i might be like fading and you know on it next night they just fucking destroy like it's like the best show I've ever seen. I'm like, all right, you guys are good. Um,

would be that, would that be the dream? I know fish doesn't let people, they don't let people open. I just want a dream. I met Trey briefly, like years ago. He was really nice.

He was like gracious. Like, you know, he's, I was so excited. I kind of fanboyed him pretty hard. What'd you do? Uh,

I, what, what? Tell me, tell me. Okay. This is your big... This is like my big man crush. And this is years ago too,

where we're still trying to like find our legs in the scene. And so Trey was playing the Peach Festival. I don't think so. I think he does now. He's got it. But this was probably like five years ago, four years ago. And we're playing the peach festival in Pennsylvania. And, um, and, uh, I he's playing the festival too. And he's got this big tour bus

and I heard he's standing outside his tour bus. So I like go over there to like, say, what's up? Maybe you're like, I grabbed one of our CDs and I like head over there. I'm also ironically wearing one of those purple shirts that have like a unicorn in front of a rainbow. Like one of those, like I'm bringing it back shirts. I never wear those. Like, you know, like the wolf howling at the moon shirts. Right. So like I'm wearing like this horrible pink shirt and pink shorts. So I'm just like, I'm sorry, purple.

I'm just like a purple beam of energy. And I have the greatest gear. I have my CD and Trey is talking to someone in front of his bus, but he's got the greatest gear on I have my CD and uh Trey is talking to someone in front of his bus but he's got security detail like three feet behind him oh so he's like he's like a superstar

dude he has a guy in a polo shirt with his arms crossed and as fans I'm watching from afar and fans are going to approach Trey and the security guard

walks from his post with his arms crossed and like shake you know shakes them off and like back the fuck off he like keeps a perimeter around trey because people are going to try like they're actively trying to meet

him so i'm with our former lighting guy ronnie red rocks we make a plan is that his last name or just oh we named him okay just like sandy we just you know our merch guy who's sitting here dewey his name's not dewey oh yeah, yeah. Oh, I know you by Dewey. Exactly. So continue this. Continue this. Okay. So what we do is I used to play soccer.

And what you do if you need to create space is you have one of the forwards run across the field and get the defender to follow the forward to run like all the way across. So it creates space behind the defense for the other, like the second forward to slip behind. So like we run a play where Ronnie runs, like makes a, like pretends to talk to Trey to lure the security guard out and to do it to like the left.

So I can flank in on the right. And like, we busted out the whiteboard. It was like a bad, it was like an inbounds play. You know what I mean? Like I'll set a pick, you run across the court and I'm going to slip behind for the, for the whiteboard. It was like an inbounds play. You know what I mean? Like I'll set a pick, you run across the court,

and I'm going to slip behind for the layup. And we tried it three times because I couldn't get the security guard to be diverted enough to get to him. And then finally, Ronnie just makes this big run across the field, pulls the defense. I slide underneath, break away, arms outstretched with my CD. Cause it's all happening so fast. Cause we're like covert getting in there that I just like walk on. Like I interrupt Trey in the middle of his conversation. I think about this shit all the time. Again, like he probably forgot this immediately. Right. But I run it over every

day. I think about like that, my time meeting him, I run our arms outstretched. I'm like, Hey Trey, I just wanted to give you our CD. Like we're big fans i think you'd really dig it and he and like literally like my arms are like my elbows are locked arms outstretched just like wearing all purple like a fucking idiot you know just just like the worst outfit i've ever worn to meet my idol ever and i give him the cds like yeah cool i'll check it out and i was like, we're looking for your horn players who plays in your side of project. He's like, yeah, Jen Hart's.

I was like, we're looking for Jen and Natalie. Like they're supposed to play with us. He's like, oh yeah, they're floating around. And like, I like,

he like, we're laughing. And so at that point we're like laughing. He's, how many minutes have you been with him? What's that? At this point? Like,

oh, this is, we're talking like seven seconds at this point. Trey, then like, he's like, oh yeah, there's sluts. They'll play with anyone. But now we're laughing. Yeah. at this point? Like, Oh, this is, we're talking like seven seconds at this point. Trey is then like, he's like, Oh yeah, there's sluts.

They'll play with anyone. But now we're laughing at this point. Like this is 10 seconds in Ronnie who made that run and got the security guard. He looks over his shoulder and sees me and Trey laughing about something. He's like, what the fuck are you guys talking about? Like,

how is this happening? Like, wow, you guys are just like joking around. It seems like you're just casually chatting. I like, I, and I got out of there pretty quick. I was like, yeah, well, if you see him, let him know like you're just casually chatting. I like, and I got out of there pretty quick.

I was like, yeah, well, if you see him, let him know. Nice to meet you. And I gave him a pat on the shoulder. Softest material I've ever felt in my life. Dude, that was like a- He's making that rich jam money, dude. That was like a $200,000 cardigan that he was wearing. But dude, he was like, he maintained my excitement.

Like he was smiling. He's like, oh, I'll check it out. Yeah, they're nice. Nice to meet you. Goodbye. Like didn't, didn't make me feel like anything, but awesome. And that's, you know, it's a lot of pressure meeting someone like that. I try, I always remember that, like, I'm not Trey to anyone, but like when I'm, yeah, you are not, shut up. But when I, when I, I don't know, Gregory, we keep our, we keep our heads down and we do our thing, Andrew. Um, but I try to keep it in mind when people meet us. Let's say we're tired.

It's like six days in a row on tour. They want you to sign a poster and you want to be like, no, I'm fucking good. You don't want to change their view of the band because you're groggy after a show. I remember Trey being gracious with me, having the soft shoulder, just joking around with me, having the soft shoulder, like just like joking around

with me, being a normal human being. And like, unfortunately I've met other bands that I've really liked and supported. And when I met them, they were like pricks. Like who? Fresco. I'm not going to, I'm not going to say. Talk that shit, Greg. Talk that shit. We opened for a band and I loved their music and I couldn't even get a word in with them. They were just like too cool for school. And I since have not supported them whatsoever. And then like a week later, we opened for another band who I didn't really like their music that much, but we started hanging and they were just instant homies.

We were like playing video games and it was just like, there was no hesitation. We were just like brothers immediately. And even though I didn't love them at first, now I'm like a full supporter. I want these guys to be huge. I want them to be bigger than they are already. And like, that's something you can't forget. Like, you know, that when you do decide to like hang with fans or meet people,

like the impact you have just like being yourself and being a normal person, not being an asshole is like so important, you know, which is why I stopped liking your band ever ever since i met you everything was going great until the interview is over the no i'm just kidding no but no it's true man it's hard to meet your idols like i i've always wanted to meet kobe bryant but i know that if i meet him he's gonna be a dick and then it would fuck everything up fuck everything and it would ruin your childhood almost right like yeah but you don't want to taint that memory but on but on a real note i'm glad you made a plan to meet your idol you know trey is a big deal to you and yeah to like have that

moment with him makes you want to keep going and that's the thing what you do with your fans like you don't know one fan might be a guitar player trying to be this band thing and he sees how all the trial and tribulations you've been doing and you still have a smile on your face that makes them keep going too like trey made you keep going yeah man i mean maybe want to just like continue to be like a good person and and you know appreciate where you're at and i know like i also caught trey in the sober years after 2000 and whatever, where like I heard stories, I've heard stories where you wouldn't be as like blown away by his graciousness. But it's all about timing and it is in life with your band.

Like if you would've got successful six years ago, you wouldn't have appreciate the ride now that you're having now. So, yeah, well, you know, I hope so. I don't know.

We just got a very humble dude you guys let us into your family man dude you are the one of the freest people i've met you just say whatever the fuck you want and do whatever you want it seems it seems thanks man i love that i wouldn't call it freedom i call it freeness freeness i like that because of your penis if that wasn't clear it's more like smushness dude wear tight pants little dick it's true

we got those Los Angeles Los Angeles pants you got boots and stuff I wear pajamas dude east coast yeah you're lucky I can't do that shit

Greg thanks for being on the show man I love this we should do this once a year at least once a year? yeah or more I mean we should play

more together but you guys are blowing up you guys have blowing up. You guys have your own path right now, and I'm just happy that we got to share this moment together and to open for you guys. I'm just becoming friends with you guys. I knew it was going to happen at JM Cruise, but now that I get to know you guys

and how everyone's so cool and how you guys work, your team is the same way I work my team, and we are in it for the hang and for the family. For the hang and the fam, dude. Yeah, it's family, absolutely. And all your homies, like, you know, everyone knows you, but all your band, man, is so, like, chill.

And we were up till... Yeah, thanks for keeping the guys up till 5 a.m. last night. 6.30. Jesus Christ. Way later. I had to go to bed for phone calls. But, Greg, I love you, buddy. Thank you so much.

Pigeons playing ping pong. They're blowing up. You guys already know who they are. The fro is real. Let's get out of this stinky economy and drink together. Let's drink together. Love you, Greg. Thanks, buddy.

Love you too, buddy. And now, a message from Todd Glass. What are you doing? Is that who? Is this? I wrote a song. You wrote a song for who? Andy Fres song. You wrote a song for who? Andy Fresco.

You wrote a song for Andy? Yeah. Are you serious? Let me hear it. I can't wait for Andy Fresco To play his top-class guitar No, that's fucking horrible. No, stop playing.

That's like a fucking, just because you can strum the goddamn guitar and go... I don't know what I'm really doing. I don't know what I'm doing. Well, I got fucking Andy Fresco coming here. You better fucking start figuring out what you're doing. I learned to sing good, learned to play the guitar good. I'm trying my best.

It's all I can... If Andy Fresco comes in here, you make me look like an asshole because your music abilities are not up to his band, the guitar good. I'm trying my best. It's all I can do. If Andy Fresco comes in here and you make me look like an asshole because your music abilities are not up to his band, the UN's, I swear to fucking God I'll take a knife

and scratch your fucking dumb face. I think you would appreciate that. I'm just trying my best. Oh, Woody! You think that's how he just got a record deal by putting up with mediocrity bullshit

fucking people with their shit lyrics? No, I think you got it. You're an embarrassment. He's a good person. shit lyrics i think you got you're an embarrassment person what i think you got it because he's a good person you know nothing about this business john and there you have it another episode down the drain tired today it's cold we're in austria it's snowing looks it's beautiful as fuck. But there you go. I'm going to be on the Todd Glass Show, comedian, hilarious.

I'm very excited. He invited me to be on his podcast, so that's why he's been sending me all these weird voicemails. It's crazy to see all these celebrities starting to dig our music. We're just a bar band, And now we're really making moves. But thanks, Vince, for being on the show. Thanks, Greg, for doing an interview with me. I met some new friends.

And thank you, Ricky, for singing his beautiful Italian voice and his mustache. And subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Give us some ratings. Tell us how much you love it or how much you hate it so I know what's going on. The new Single Change of Pace is going to be on iTunes and Spotify.

Yes, right after this episode is over. Go download it so we can make a little bit of money on it because we're broke as fuck right now. Anyway, love you guys. Thanks for being my friends. Thanks for taking care of us on the road. We're going to try to survive the rest of this

European tour so we can come back in one piece because we have tour dates. Our CD release tour is coming out. Got a new album coming out in February. It's exciting. I hope you like it. We put our heart and soul into it.

Yeah, that's it. That's all I could tell you today. I'll be back next week. Feel good. Hope your heart's full. Hope everyone is smiling, laughing with you, not laughing at you. and be safe out there it's a it's a cruel world if we stay optimistic we could get through it all love you guys and

until next time peace the fuck out well thank you for listening to episode 29 of Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast. Produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel Howe and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For info on the show, please head to our Instagram at frescoandyeddy. For more info on the blog and tour dates head to andy fresco.com for more information on our guest greg ormond from pigeons playing ping pong please head to pigeons playing ping pong.com figure out the spelling yourself check out andy's new single change of pace on itunes spotify and everywhere else you can stream music.

Go check out that single Change of Pace. This week's special guests are Vince Herman from Leftover Sermon, The City of Vienna and Todd Glass. Vienna was kind to us, provided the great afterparty for most of us. I went to the museum instead. 500 year old paintings from my home area with normal people in it. Windows to our past. Main topics? Consumption, lust and death. Enjoy your week.