Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 297: Mark Wystrach (Midland)

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Take heed! Friend to all and perspicacious sage of the jam band scene, Vince Herman advises: NEVER on a Sunday. Andy and Chad Cocuzza (of Spoonfed Tribe) talk about their friendship honeymoon whilst vacationing in Italy. Did Andy achieve the respite they so desperately needed? Did him and the honeymoon boys find love? And what of that one girl, known only as TROUBLE from a few years back... But then, on the Interview Hour, we got guitarist/songwriter and sometimes actor Mark Wystrach, of one of the biggest and baddest bands to come out of Texas: Midland! Mark calls from a beautiful Bay Area redwood sabbatical in Mill Valley while he gets his head together. Andy and Nick learn what it takes to be a MAN. Inquire within for lessons on masculinity... We're 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 Produced by Andy Frasco, Joe Angelhow, & Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Mara Davis

Toast time. I'm gonna make a toast everybody. This is a dream come true I love you guys with all my hearts, 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, 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 la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la Look out, I will go with you But never, never on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday Never would you 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 Ricky solo La la la la La la la la la

La la la la la La la la la la La la la la la And we're live, Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco, live, abroad, laying in a bed, on my way back to America finally. 16 days on the road. It's been a long one. We'll talk about it next week when I got Nick with me, but I'm here with Chad Cacusa.

We went on a trip together. How you doing, Chad? I'm doing absolutely wonderful, lads. Of course, Chad is the guy that every time we're in a different country speaks that language. Ernie Chang does that too. He says every time we're like he gets like Mexican food from like you go Cilacho. That's what you're doing. You're doing the Ernie Chang dude. You're like I'll have some bangers and mash please. Yeah I don't order the fish and chips.

I order the fucking fish and fucking chips. What a vacation we've been on, huh buddy? Bro, it's been like a trip of a lifetime for me, man. It's been a long time coming for me to go to the motherland being all Italian and shit, dude. I know, we went to, I mean, I'll tell you all about next week when I'm with Nick, if he asked about it, but I Holy shit first we started in London. We had a night in London and we hung out with my boy Dougie Lamona from fucking

Elementary school and he took us out. We fucking raged dick till about 6 a.m. Then we Went straight to a flight to Florence and stayed there for five days. What was Florence like for you? Oh, flancy. I was washing my feet. They drove me there. It was very nice. No, man, that is a little pocket, just a little gem of just some of the most golden people that ever meet and these little restaurants you just walk into and the vino and I mean

everything is super authentic there Man, you should have fall in love with it the first second you're there. I mean I couldn't believe we found party favors as well Well, Andy, I think you found the party favorite We found this dude his name was aciando my homegirl from last trip Emily who? Accident way to happen came to see New York, so we were partying a little bit but That was the the Florence part of the trip was like we were just like Drinking and partying right was it it kind of mellowed out as we got into Rome, right?

Yeah, we get to Rome and everything gets real because you realize that's like where everything came from I know we're Italian dude. That's like the fucking The saw the earth right there. You ain't gonna find no walmarts over there in Rome. You ain't gonna find no walnuts in Rome, Jared That was so amazing seeing the Coliseum and look in the fucking st. Petersburg I mean, I'm not even I'm Jewish and I thought that was she was fire. Yeah, you walk into this You know these buildings that are built, you know you know three thousand years ago and then just the the craftsmanship and just The heart and soul you could tell that they put into this thing really just floored me, you know same dude

I couldn't believe it and then we only spent two days I wish we did because we kind of did like the city. We had a nice hotel. We went into a sauna We got a fucking steam room. Oh my gosh, dude Like another, you know other times on this podcast that I've been a little bit He got to dip your balls in the phone of youth, but We sure did and then we went to my favorite part of the trip, Santorini. It was like no partying. We rented these four by fours.

We had this pace on top of the mountain. It was unbelievable. Yeah, I mean literally this time of year you go there and you pretty much feel like you have the whole place to yourself and there is no traffic. I mean you there was like no one there just roam around and do whatever you want I mean every dirt road. I mean we covered every square inch of that island and I'm very I'm very happy with that Oh my god, it was like a little cold, but we were also on ATVs You know it was like but I thought that was the perfect way to travel through that city We were like had our own vehicles

We were roaming around we're drinking wine on top of cliffs and like It was such that was my favorite part of the trip because you know, it wasn't as much a party We're going to bed at 8 p.m. We're just kind of like Kind of winding down the trip and I was thinking like everyone needs to do something like this doesn't have to be extravagant Wait, everyone needs a little time for themselves, right? And like this is why we do this every year, right? Yeah, we always do a lot of traveling and you know, it's a lot of hustle and bustle But this was truly the first time in years I really felt like I could just reset my brain and you know reset my presence in a way that I can carry that on to bring back with me

and utilize it as a tool to move forward. I agree, man. I feel completely recharged. This is the first time on a vacation, normally on vacations we're just partying balls, Chad. We always do that. This trip was a little bit of everything. Yeah, we always pull the party and balls out of each other

but this time this is like a place like dude, we're actually getting a little bit older and like You know, you don't have to go party balls to really reel some stuff in and just really feel your environment Yeah, exactly. And that's the most important thing like, you know, we're all getting older and that's you know Sometimes what we need and things weren't what they used to be back then and that's fine. You know, it doesn't always have to be fucking raging fucking all gas, no breaks, no pun intended. But yeah, you just got to fucking vibe it out and find out what you need in a recharge and do it.

You know, like I say, we're not telling you to go fucking quit your job and fucking move to France, but find something that'll help you actually recharge and actually disconnect and actually get you ready to keep doing life because that's the gift, right? Trying to do life as much as you can. 100%, you know. You gotta get out there and just, you know.

Sometimes it's hard, sometimes you don't think you can actually pull stuff off like this, but if you really put your mind to it, you know, you get all the resources you need to really go do what you wanna do. Yeah. And I know that's a shorter bridge version of this trip, but this has been one of the best trips.

I think this is the best one we've gone on so far. Absolutely, I mean, we've been on some crazy trips, but this has really meant something to us. I know, and I'm just proud to do it with my bros. Hope I wasn't too annoying. Was I annoying this trip? Nah, man, you good? I was doing a little bit too much cocaine in the beginning

when we had our other partner and crime in the building What's wild is is do to? Like kind of proud to say that I was in bed for those nights. Yeah, actually was you were I was I Don't know how John does it John will stay up to like 6 a.m Fucking just and just like he's like and he does all his best work at late late late late night. It's unbelievable John yeah, John Shields is on our trip. We were having fun We all needed this, you know, we've been working our ass off all fucking year. I mean we've done 200 plus shows This year and it's just been a grind and I knew my boss

I was just like kind of just getting beat up and my body was kind of just Not there or my not my body my body's man My body was not there, but my brain wasn't there and that was my first time my brain wasn't there My body's normally never there, but I know so what is it? It's not even eight o'clock. We're in London. We're in bed There's a bar downstairs. That's open. We could be down there. Should we put on our pants and go have one more cocktail who we can let's go Let's go. I'm in. All right. All right guys. We got mark from Midland on the show. Let's have one before I mean, it's the last part of our trip. Let's just have one. I mean we're in our pajamas right now Let's get Maddie up. Let's go down there. I have two shots of Jameson come back up here. All right guys

Enjoy Midland. Mark is a, this is one of my favorite, this is definitely probably one of my favorite dinners of the year. Mark's such a great guy. I mean, first time getting to know him, and he's a Colorado native, or not native, but he lives in Boulder now, which is fucking awesome. I'm going to start hanging out with this dude. This guy is just class, and his band's huge.

One of the biggest country bands out there. It was really a pleasure to get to know him. He was all going through the same thing I was going through, being burnt out and trying to take a vacation when you're depleted. I hope you find solace on the vacation, brother. You're going to love this interview. Okay, guys, enjoy it. Next week, I'm with Nick to talk about this whole vacation. It's gonna be crazy

I'll go deep down in the cheese whiz but um one last thing what do you What have anything to tell the people about taking a hiatus and doing your thing? Yeah, like I said, man, you know some of these things feel like they're so out of reach to do But it's really not. Use your resources, use your people, use your community. Get out there and you gotta go see the world before it's too late. I agree.

All right, buddy, I love ya. And enjoy Mark from Midland. Yeah, have a great week, guys. Go kill it out there. Hey, guys. from Midland and yeah have a great week guys go kill it out there. Hey guys I told the space down and forgot to talk about our sponsors during my little opening segment. Volume.com if you want to watch any livestream they have great live streams on there or if you want to stockpile your watch our podcast you want to go on a binge, maybe a Sunday binge, go listen to all the podcasts for the season,

head to volume.com. And if you're a creator, head to volume.com slash creator and get yourself on volume.com. I'm glad I'm telling you. You can make money on there by the way. You can make money. They got those, I can't remember the money. There's like a thing on there it's called,

you can tip people. It's kind of like Twitch. It's like everything, TikTok has that. Make the money. Get your money. It's good to have your content, not just on YouTube or Facebook and Instagram. It's good to have all your content and on all these platforms. Like it just fucking helps.

There's fan bases for every platform. You might as well grow your fan base. So head to volume.com and they don't make you pay to be on it. Like Twitter. Yeah. Yeah. They ain't doing that. Ho shit.

I mean, that hasn't happened yet, but that's funny paying just to read other people's shit No, yeah, no silly. I'm not paying to listen to man Walsh We got Debbie Thompson socialas from the PTA We got banshees dressed up in white And little black dress divorcees Long live the blues They're keeping me in business Some wanna dance and some wanna party Whatever they need they call me

Mr. Longley We have a real man on the fucking show. Mark, how you doing, buddy? I'm good, dude. Look at these antlers above me. Let's get that in the frame. Rick. Yeah.

You wouldn't think that you're actually in San Francisco. I know. I could have sworn you were in Amarillo, Texas. Check this place out. Holy shit. Holy shit. So it's this old inn And I'm just sitting out here and then we were just we're basically at the mirror beach So the beach is just like a three-minute walk from whoa, you know, very cool. You want a little vacation?

I'm on a mini vacation. My wife has an office in San Francisco So I've been gone for three and a half months straight. I've barely seen my kids. So, my God, I figured we'd all just fly to San Francisco together. We rented an Airbnb in Mill Valley. The super full old mid-century houses up in the Muir Woods. And yeah, it's amazing. This place is built out of stone with these gigantic windows overlooking the redwood trees. And yeah, we're just out here kind of exploring San Francisco. That's cool.

I might have to move here for my wife's work. Oh no. How hard is it to make your wife happy when you're on the road through to half months a year? And so I'm doing this interview. Can you go do an interview? Go, go get out of here. I needed to add another trip to my schedule like I needed another asshole, but it is really

beautiful. And I don't really know this part. I used to live in Southern California for a long time and I've traveled around California quite extensively, both touring and before that, but I don't really know the San Francisco coast very well. And it is gorgeous. Once you're out of the city, it's unbelievable. Yeah, man. I grew up in Los Angeles, the Calabasas area. I went to college in SF state. And I've left when I was 18. So when I came back, I'm like, oh shit, I forgot how pretty California is.

Sort of the most beautiful place in the country. It's fucking crazy. I'm from Northern Indiana. Yeah, I'm in the California. Not quite the same. Indiana is cool too. One of the surprises in my summer was how much I enjoyed going to Iowa.

I hadn't been to Iowa in like four years. And yeah, it was pretty exceptional. What part? Oh man, we're starting with a hard hitting question. I don't remember. I just know it was in Iowa. It was, I could look at my tour schedule, but it was quite nice.

My first question is, what has more drama? Being in a soap opera or keeping a band together? Oh, keeping a band together, 100%, yeah. Yeah, how long? Soap opera is scripted, it lasted for about 18 months and then I quit. It was tough being a struggling artist and making money, but then basically despising what you did. It was a better paycheck than bartending until three in the morning at night.

But it was a great learning experience, you know, how to try to make art out of rather rudimentary, you know, writing on a daily basis. So it was, it was a fun training ground for me, but that experience really galvanized my decision to kind of really pursue music. For me, it's always been, you know, I've always been interested in arts, but you know, actually, there's something I'm so very passionate about. I'm actually doing a TV show right now. And music. So they've always been hand in hand, always been fascinated with film. And I'm a big, I guess I'm a big film buff. I think all of my bandmates are. Yeah. But they've always kind of gone hand in hand, but that experience on the soap opera is what really,

it really flipped the switch that you don't really have very much control when it comes to acting and taking direction. There's not a ton of collaboration and you feel like you're just kind of, you're literally living somebody else's words and their actions. So with music, the beautiful thing about it is you can take something that's stuck in

your, in your heart and your mind, and you can spend some time working it out. And then all of a sudden becomes this living, breathing thing that you can't touch, but you can feel. And, and has, you know, probably one of the biggest impacts out of anything and of any art form in the world. Music is universal. It's a part of every ancient culture, singing, music, rhythm, all that stuff is in there. So there's something really powerful about music. But yeah, being in a band, especially in the earlier days, it's not easy when you have essentially three singers and three strong willed, strong minded, strong opinioned artists in a group together.

And then you add commerce and all of that. And yeah, it can be complicated at times, but it's the most successful relationship I've had. The band's been together now for 10 years. I've known these guys for shit over 16 years. I'm assuming I can curse on this. Oh yeah, you can say whatever you want. Yeah, cause I wanna start getting into the times when you guys wanted to beat each other's ass.

Well, yeah, well, I'm not gonna gratuitously just throw in the word fuck around, but yeah, there was a lot of, there was a lot of, you know, motherfucking back in the day. And I feel like everybody's throwing a punch at one another, you know, in all the different sequences that are possible. Just punching camera, camera punching jazz, me punching camera and me punching jazz, me punching both camera and jazz at the same time. It's like a Marvel movie. You know, through that. Yeah, what's, what's powerful about it is the music has always been the most important thing. And that is what really forged a brotherhood, as we really cared about the music.

So it forced us to learn how to navigate conflict, which is part of any relationship, as you guys know. And I think we've gotten really good at, there's that old saying, you should never go to bed angry. Well, with us, we won't let anger persist for like more than an hour. So if you want to, you know, everybody's going to lose their shit sometimes.

Yeah. Now we just kind of, you know, we just get right to it. We're like, hey, what's going on with it? You know, I just want to sit down and talk about it. It ends up being really therapeutic. And it's actually we're at the healthiest place. We as collaborators and those bandmates, I think that we've been, you know, into 10 years that we've been in a group.

So, it's good times right now. Any years where you thought it was gonna be, because I've been with my band for 15 years and we fight all the time, but any years where you remember distinctly that this thing might be over? Oh man. Every other year.

The very beginning to 2014, 2015, part of 2016, most of 2017. Yeah, of course, like, you know, I think in the early days, especially, you know, we were, we were running pretty wild. I feel like, especially I was, you know, before I got married and had kids and, you know, and I think when you had drugs and alcohol in the situation, I think that was exacerbates, you know, little things into the big things.

So, yeah, of course, I mean, I think there's been those moments. But again, I think knowing that what we have is pretty special is you guys know. I mean, you know, most bands and most artists, their chances of survival and succeeding are even less than, you know, your local coffee shop that opens, your local boutique. Most of these businesses ended up failing and most groups and collaborations and musical projects end up going extinct rather quickly. So if you can make music that you really care about, I would say this, and I think I coined it. I might've borrowed it from somebody.

We'll give it to you. But I always say that, you know, we make the music. Yeah, I'm going to just go ahead and pick it. We make the music that moves us, that helps people move through their life, the good times and the bad. So I think the music is really is the thing that is the therapeutic aspect of it that ends up kind of keeping us together. You know, I just, we just have that, there's that kizna, there's that magic with the three of us and the music that we write, produce and perform live together. I just, I like it, you know? And if I didn't like it, I want to beat it. I think that Jess and Ken feel the same way.

Is it harder? There's that, there's that, you know, there's that rock solid belief in the music that we're making that keeps it going. Yeah. Well, you talk about control as the band gets more successful, is it harder to stay in control? Like, do you want to be on the road three and a half months a year? That's something you need to do or three months or 10 months a year. I'm on tour 250 shows a year, you know? So I don't feel like I have control. Yeah, we're right there with you. In the early days we were doing, you know, including radio

performances and going on radio promo tour. I think there was a year that we actually did like 400 performances in a year or something like that. It was crazy. So, you know, yeah. And I started getting like vocal nodules and stuff like that. And you know, the lifestyle didn't probably, probably didn't help things. And then we went on COVID and that was the break that we needed. So, no, you know, as I think the idea for us is a success that we don't feel that we've achieved yet is having the luxury of not having a tour

all the time. But as you guys know, you know, the streaming services sure in hell are in pain and record. No, yeah. So the only way you're making money is through ticket sales and through merch. So you've got to go and you've got to hit the highway. That's the only way you can do it. We travel a lot. So yeah, we're still not there. I mean, the dream, the dream would be to tour for three and a half months out of the year. You just tour like the summer, Sturkett. Yeah. Just like just three months or nowhere near that. So as yeah, three months. I know I love, I see that too. I, we interviewed, um, van Zandt, he's like the key to a successful band every other day. I'm like, yeah, how do you, you're in Bruce Springsteen, bro. Like we can a successful band every other day. I'm like, yeah, you're

Springsteen bro, yeah, we can't just play every fucking over there not selling out the giant stadium. Yeah Want a healthy lifestyle. Yeah, super famous. It's all you have to do. I mean His nickname is Miami Steve Miami Steve. By the way, I'm the biggest fan of Vance and the Springsteen and the street band. I was so blown away by his documentary. I don't know if you guys have seen it. I haven't seen it a few months ago. We watched her on the bus a couple of times. It is filled with absolute gems and little nuggets and things that we learned about that whole music scene that was going on in the late 60s and 70s and how much of a part that he was in almost even creating Bruce Springsteen's sound and the history of sound.

He's a fascinating artist and he's a guy that's also balanced the different disciplines of art, whether it be writing, producing, performing, acting, painting, you name it. I think that for me, I know my bandmates are both the same way. Cameron's become quite the artist and quite the painter and Jess is actually quite talented at sketching and painting. You know, Cameron's a writer and a director, Jess designs clothes and I think everybody has their outlets that, that end up complimenting the music and inspiring because you know, you've got to tap into well and that well has got to be fed by something that can't

just be, you know, music, music all the time. You've, you've got to go and live life. You've got to do other things that, that trigger inspiration. So I, for me, I think the variety is, is the key. The varieties and spice of life. You got to go drink in a pub in San Francisco. Sometimes. How do you, uh, you know, it seems like you just, you live your life making everyone else happy. What do you do to make yourself happy? Exercise.

Exercise is crucial. Yeah, I exercise and actually eat really well. I do all that so I can, number one, I can stay young for my kids and number two, so I can drink because I love drinking. I love, hell yeah. So I'm like a, I'm a very healthy drinker I would say. But yeah, things make me happy. Golf is huge right now because you can kind of do golf everywhere. Yeah. Um, surfing is the thing that if I had to sacrifice, um, for family, for the band, you know, I left, uh, that's California in 2014. I had a little 1957, I

think it was a Fleetwood, you know, I was, I had the full, um, like the rigs from lethal weapons set up. I had an old Dodge truck, motorcycle vintage Mercedes, and like a 1950s trailer on the beach, sunset beach. And you're the coolest guy I've ever met in my life. All the time. Surfboard. That's not true. You just interviewed.

I just interviewed. Yeah, that's insane. Yeah, it's fair enough. No, I just, I just think I've always been interested in, in, in more of the experiential side of life. I mean, I've been interested in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, insane. Yeah, it's fair enough. No, I just think I've always been interested in more of the experiential side of life as opposed to like accumulating wealth and things like that. I mean, time is the greatest luxury and the time to go to explore and do the things that

do make you happy. Golf has become one of the great challenges for me. I do feel like it somewhat mirrors life. You know, it is a battle generally against yourself and your own mind. And you know, there's all kinds of obstacles and things that will pop up, you know, whether it be weather, the trains, bunkers, you know, slanted fairways. I love that, that game. And it really is something that, you know, you can obviously do for a long time. And it takes, it takes a real commitment like music, you know, um, you know, music at first is like, you know, can you do this?

And then you, and then you figure out a chord and you're just doing down throws and then you do finger picking and then you get different rhythmic schemes. And then you learn how to do jazz chords and then you learn how to do lead stuff. And, you know, for most of us, that takes, it takes years and years and years, like over 10,000 hours. And I feel like the most rewarding things that we do in this life are the things that really take true commitment, like a marriage, like, you know, creating a family, creating a band, a catalog of music. But yeah, golf surfing is the thing I miss the most being around the ocean because I'm in Boulder, Colorado now have a house in Tucson,

Arizona, which I'm selling folks. It's a beautiful 1938 Hacienda in the pool. You're in Boulder now? On a couple of acres. I'm in Boulder now. Right now I'm in- We're in Denver. We live in Denver. We live in Boulder.

We live in Denver. Are you guys here in Denver? Yeah. Did we just become best friends? I think we're about to. I go golfing too, dude. I just went to Red Rocks. We went, I go, I'm trying to go a bunch.

So we should- We also drink. Yeah. We also drink. Yeah. We also drink. Okay. I think we just, yeah. I think we became best friends. My wife is going to love you guys.

You drink and play golf? Oh yeah. And we don't have kids. So we have plenty of time. Oh my God, I got a question. So you. But yeah, those are the things. Yeah.

I wasn't done yet. You know, I was just telling you the other things I'm into. Keep going, brother. Keep going. was just telling you the other things I'm into. Skiing is the other thing I love. We love being up in the mountains. I love the thrill and the rush of adrenaline you get doing 45, 50 miles an hour downhill, especially when you go skiing with your friends. So that's something that me and Cameron, my bandmate, have really kind of dove in together.

Being former snowboarders, we got back in the scheme because we decided that we're adults now. So that's key. We're French. Are you- What was your question? Are you adrenaline junkie? Seems like you are. I used to be, yeah.

I used to ride road motorcycles and as a kid growing up in the ranch out in Arizona, like little, you know, Yamaha 50s and 80s and progressed to like 125s and then got into street bikes like Triumph Bonnevilles and then Harley's. And yeah, I used to, I used to, my FXD was like my main mode of transportation in the early 2010s, 2008 around there. I used to love that shit. Obviously surfing, you get a rush. I grew up skateboarding, grew up in a ranch, so I grew up riding horses every day and dealing with livestock and branding. Oh, Jesus Christ.

And tackling 200-pound baby calves that if they kick you, they can snap your wrist like a chopstick. So yeah, we just kind of grew up doing that stuff and I used to love that shit. And it's funny that once I had kids, my appetite for like the pure adrenaline was immediately somehow replaced with this this paternal instinct to like survive. Protect and survive. Not as much but still yeah at least until I can make like enough money where I can know that they'd be taken care of but I'm nowhere near there yet. So yeah but it's still you know I guess the biggest thrill for me is like a 300 yard drive now. That sounds pretty through.

Any, um, do you used to get into cocaine? Were you into cocaine at all? Being an adrenaline junkie? I've, uh, I think, I think I've done every, almost every drug a few times. Um, and maybe some of them more than others. Heroin? In everything. And, uh than others, and everything. No, not heroin. That's the one that I've touched.

But yeah, pretty much everything else as one does when you're an explorer and you're a searcher. I think that, you know, artistic types are really driven towards altered states of mind where you can tap into something, something else. And you know, change your perception, you know, the doors of perception can lead to inspiration. And, you know, that's that tends to be the fuel. I don't think that's sustainable. And I think that's, you know, why so many of our of our heroes, you know, in the 60s, 70s, shit, the 50s to all the jazz guys. Yeah. It tends to lead to incredible art, but it doesn't lead towards a happy life. And to me, the greatest part is being able to balance all this stuff Um, and to insert measures of, of self control and, uh, kind of feel that, you know, again, the variety dabble in all of it, but when we're responsible. So, you know, I'm almost 45 now. So for me, it's about, uh, about maintaining, but there's a time and a place for everything.

Um, as long as it's not lethal, but yeah, I mean, cocaine is so dangerous these days. as long as it's not lethal. But yeah, I mean, cocaine is so dangerous these days. Yeah. Thumping around a lot of shit. Yeah. Yeah. It's a scary. Yeah. Yeah. I don't really touch that stuff. I haven't for a long time, but you know, I love pot. Yeah. I love pot. I like ingesting it. I think mushrooms are incredible.

Microdose mushroom for periods of time, for a long time. I think we're just starting to realize and take off the negative labels of this stuff. There can actually be pretty powerful medicines. And of course, a couple of glasses of beer, nice wine, all that stuff can be really healthy to relax. And it happens sometimes. That's pretty important. Sometimes you're help you to relax and you tap into something. That's, that's pretty important. Sometimes you're out with the boys and you know,

you got 20 of them in here. Yeah. Tight one on. Yeah. You tell me it's good for you too. Sometimes I get, yeah, I think it is too. Those are, those are the times when you detach yourself from all of your stresses and anxieties and your worries.

And I think it's really important to exist in those different theaters of reality. You know, I don't think, again, you can't just do that. You can't wake up every morning and get shitfaced all day. Your life's going to spiral really quickly. But I think that, you know, I think it helped to me if you can knock on wood, you know, I've never really had, I don't think troubles with addiction. Thank God it's been all around my family. Yeah. On both sides. So it's something that I was always very cognizant of. And I feel like anytime I've gotten really close to the edge, I've always kind of, you know, taking a few steps back and down reassessments.

Do you believe in that Freudian stuff where? Pretty balancedessments. Do you believe in that Freudian stuff? Yeah, I think I'm a pretty balanced dude. Do you believe in that Freudian stuff? Or you're like, I feel that too. Like my dad had addictive personalities and stuff and I feel like watching that my whole life, I feel like I could control my addictions just because I seen the other side of it.

Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I, my, you know, my grandfather and my mom's side was, uh, really devastating. Um, then he wouldn't, we would be total for four or five months at a time and then go in like a six week vendor, you know, three months sometimes. Um, where my mom was basically a kid and have to really, you know, 23,000 acre ranch for their sisters and her mom. I got to see that and that first time. Now my dad's a Marine veteran and survived World War II in Poland and grew up in Compton, and that's grown up really tough. And, uh, you know, we grew up in Compton. My dad's growing really tough.

And, you know, we grew up in Honky Tonk, bar, we played music, you know, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, right on the Mexican border. So there was, you know, people that were really fucked up on coke and booze, you know, everything else. And, you know, my uncle, my dad's old brother, unfortunately, you know, he didn't have that switch where you could switch it off. So he was, you know, he was a pretty sad story. He was a really talented, intelligent, handsome dude, charming as hell, funny as hell. You know, looked like a movie star, you know,

would wake up in the morning, start smoking pommels and would finish, you know, look like a movie star, you know, would wake up in the morning, start smoking Palm Alls and would finish, you know, an eight tobacco before eight, eight in the morning. Whoa. You know, as a kid to see that you're, you know, he pretty much like lived in this. We took care of him, um, my whole life until he passed away. But I mean, his nickname was fast Eddie. He was in a jail my whole life until he passed away. But I mean, his nickname was fast Eddie. He was in a jail my whole life. So, you know, those rows fast Eddie. Yeah. Fast Eddie. Um, he

was a great dude. Edward Weistracht. But, uh, but you know, those were kind of, good, I guess, warning signs and examples of what not to do. So yeah, I mean, for me, again, like I've always been at such a loss for life that I've always wanted to make sure I took a round, you know? Yeah. I like to have good times and go to those places, but knowing that it's just like, uh, it's more of a visit, you know, it's not a permanent residence. I'm trying to take up in those places, but knowing that it's just like, it's more of a visit, you know? It's not a permanent residence I'm trying to take up in those places.

Totally. How do you approach fatherhood in your head when you've seen how you were raised and how do you like, okay with being away for so long for your kid and make it feel like you're not doing the same thing that your dad did to you? Well, I think my father is still around and I think he's an incredible father.

I love my dad very much. We have actually a great relationship. One of the strongest, obvious leads I've ever met in my life and it's funny, the older you get, he raised six kids and survived, you know, survived two wars. My dad was a Marine Corps and he was he was deployed. Yeah, he was deployed. I think a couple of weeks after my mom and dad got married, he missed a couple of my sister's births while he was deployed overseas.

And he lost a lot of friends. So I think my dad was always a great teacher for me and into I think the best tool he taught me was how to drop perspectives. Yeah. You know, as he told me when we first started hitting it and really touring heavy and I was struggling with, you know, the pressures, maybe, maybe the idea of like being famous and all that stuff. He said, look, it's like being deployed. But he goes, at least nobody's shooting at you. Yeah. It's only that many laughs and, uh, and, um, yeah. Like, no, I've honestly,

like, I, you know, I don't think that being a dad is easy. Period. I don't think that life is easy. I think life can be really beautiful times, but I think that life is, is, uh, it's all about surviving the situation. I was just, uh, saying this the other day, I said, uh, you know, you can either beat the situation or you can let the situation beat you. It's kind of a philosophy that's taken all this stuff. So the nature of my career, my life is that I have to be aware and I don't want to be away.

So my goal is to go and do my job to the best of my abilities that will help ensure that in a future data, I wouldn't have to be away so much. And my kids, luckily, they're still very young, almost three and then it was five. And I think they understand what dad does. They were at Red Rocks last weekend. I think they have a, I think kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. I think they have a comprehension I think, you know, kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. I think you have a comprehension that dad's doing something. I hate to say this, but I do think it's important.

I do feel good about it. It is because I think that music in itself is one of the most powerful things in the world. And then live music can be transformative for people. Oh yeah. You know, I mean, people are, we hear these stories all the time. People are going through really tough times. We were coming back from deployments, people that have just lost a loved one,

going through a divorce, you know, lost a job, whatever it is. And they can find these points of inspiration in the shows. Or I do feel like it's my job to give 110% every night. These people come to the shows and it makes me feel a lot better being away from all that. I do feel like I'm doing good with Jess and Cam and their band. But yeah, it's, you know, for all the kids listening at home, it's like. The fantasy of like rock star life that this is like, you know, all the accolades and the attention

or whatever it is that it's like this magical place that you get inserted to and just float on this cloud. That's, you know, that's a, that's a huge cock of shit. There's the clip. There's the stage. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but you know, those, those 90, those 90 minutes that you got to be on stage and those interactions with the fans beforehand and after hand, you know, to me, those are always really powerful. I just, you know, each one of those fans gives me, you know, it puts the fuel in my tank

to keep them. So that's awesome. Like I said, I, it's not, it's not an easy life, but it's a great life. I agree, man. That's the truth. I love it. It's fun finding the perspective. You talk about the situation, like you talk about, you want to just like be here for a long time. Have you had any near death experiences being a adventure, a new age explorer? Yeah. I wouldn't go as far to say that because I've got, I've got friends that are, you know, do this professionally, um, risk

their lives every day. Not for a paycheck, you know, it is for the paychecks, but cause they ha they have that, like, they don't have that off switch, common sense switch. The rock climbers. But yes. Yeah. Um, yeah, I don't, I don't know if I want to go into depth on them, Yeah. The rock climbers of the world. But yes. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know if I want to go into depth on them, but yeah, I mean, I've had a lot of more than I care to probably count. And riding motorcycles in LA, like I had, I had a few, I had a, he boned a car doing, you know, 40 miles an hour. Um, and the reason I impacted the car at like 40 or whatever is because I slid for, you know, 20 yards and 15 yards with both brakes pulled down and was lucky to walk away from that. Um, a little back tire, my Harley doing, doing doing 100 miles an hour, 80 miles west of Phoenix in June.

Well, back in the 2018 2017 and I had my rucksack that was waiting down the back. They kept the bike from completely moving over. And I was stuck in the desert with 100. I think it's 126 degree heat index Jesus for four and a half hours. Whoa. So how did you get out of that department saw me? Oh, the there was a there was a brush fire west of me and the volunteer fire department. The captain of the fire department was riding shotgun and saw me, saw my bike

stranded. I tried to push it, but it was so heavy and so hot. I tried to push it under a bridge. I couldn't get to the bridge. It was like almost a mile away. But he saw my bike. He didn't see me because I was under, I had found some shrubbery and I'd taken clothes out and I tried to create a shelter, ripped through the gallon of water they had within the first hour. And he goes, if that guy's still there when we're done putting this fire out, he's going to be in trouble. So he stopped and checked on me and I was in the throes of a pretty serious heat stroke by the time he showed up.

So that was thanks to, I don't remember his name, I should have written down something, but that guy saved my life. And then I had a red frayed graduate from college. I had a massive heart attack from a surfing in dirty water Magnolia State Park in Huntington Beach after a huge rainstorm where I got a bacterial infection. The long story short is that if it infected the lining of my heart and it triggered, which I didn't know at the time that I had this, but it triggered a thing called pericarditis.

All right. And so essentially you have a sac that protects your heart and it acts symbiotically with your heart. So, you know, they flow like that. And the lining of the heart, per carditis, the infection, it triggers the lining of your heart to harden. And then they're not working symbiotically. So your heart starts working harder and harder

to try to get that movement until it essentially created a heart attack, got killed. I think the guy told me if I was like a 55-year-old male, I would be dead. Hmm. So, um, that was pretty scary cause they didn't know what it was. And this, this is the week before I graduated from college. Um, they, I lost like, I think 75% of use of my heart. So my heart was operating at like 25%.

And they're like, look, it's one of two things, either you've got congenital heart failure, you have a heart disease that wasn't previously detected, or you have this thing called paracorditis. Either way, it's going to take three months basically for us to figure this out. But in the meanwhile, if you were to go to the gym and try to bench press 225, it would trigger another heart attack and you'd be dead. So I was like sleeping like, you know, 16, 17 hours a day, lost like 25, 30 pounds. And, you know, everybody was treating me like I was, I was going to die. And that was a really strange experience. And, you know, 20, I guess I was turning 23 because I took a major semester in college. So I just remember going through that feeling of going through all the different emotional

states of facing a possible demise at such a young age. What were you going? What was your brain telling you? I experienced all of that. I think deep down I had a voice that was telling me that just this isn't it, which isn't how you go out, honestly. And I think that after the initial shock, I think that was more about me trying to comfort my loved ones, you know, my family, my mom and dad, my sibling, girlfriend, friend, stuff

like that. I mean, it was probably harder on him. I would read. Yeah. Um, and I just took like a full positive mental attitude and I'm like, all right, well, you know, positivity is everything when you're going through that stuff. Her tough times. And so I think that's what it was for.

Just got it out. It was a, it was a ability to go under, I call it like champions mode, basing the backs against the wall, that you just go in a full positive mental just got it out was a, was a ability to go under, I call it like champions mode. You're facing the backs against the wall that you just go in a full positive mental attitude and it's like, you're here and do whatever you can to survive. Um, especially mentally because you know, that's our biggest obstacle in life because it's, uh, is ourself, is our own voice in our heads. So I got to that and then I got cleared. Okay, it's per card and you don't have congenital heart failure.

And then they said the good news is that you're finally cleared to get your ACL fully replaced. So I had blown up my ACL completely off of my knee. The actual ligament was completely ripped off my knee about six weeks before that. So that was a really tough couple of years for me getting through that. So that, you know, I guess at a time when life is probably a little bit easier for people, I think I was going through like getting around internal struggle and just getting healthy again. And I think this would kind of gave me the courage to pursue the life that I'm living now.

Well, fuck it. Like I kind of got close enough to the to see how thin the veil of life is. And you realize that. Depending on what you're doing, the Buddhist probably thinks something different. I probably have a hybrid of something or kind of build it again. Do you believe they would get recycled somehow? But I think, hey, this is my one shot. So, you know, I'm not going to live a life that makes somebody else happy. I'm going to live a life that at times can be really difficult and probably a tougher train to navigate.

And as far as making this an artist, that's what gave me the courage to do this. And that's why it's all about exploration and experiential stuff. And like, I think it's a good way to do it. And I think it's a the courage to do this. And that's why it's all about exploration and experiential stuff and less about, less about the money and stuff. There we go, baby. There's that date. There's that date.

I was looking for it. I knew it was incredible. Yeah. God, you rule. You're the real man. We got to hang out in Boulder, bro. Okay. So I got two more questions. I'll let you go back to your vacation. What do you think? There's two voices, that calm voice that says, this is not over. And then there's a voice inside me that's anxiety saying everything is doomed. Are those two different people? Well, I think it's what you said, I think, like the yin and yang philosophy, right?

The light and the dark that are perfectly symmetrical. I think that is, if I'm looking for a metaphor or a symbol of what we all are, it's exactly that. And it's like a ship, a ship needs to be ballast. And I think a human soul or mind needs to be in fully in touch with the light and the dark. So I think once you accept that, that, you know, life is not all peaks, it's peaks and valleys. And I mean, it's a lot of work to get, to get back up a big peak, like we can get a work at it.

So I think that's what it is. I think that's, that's what we all are. I think that's where art comes from. I think art is tapping into both of those things to the light and the dark, you know, there's, there's obviously, uh, there's the sad song, there's some things that are tapping into that. And then I think there's the uplifting, beautiful songs that are tapping into those moments of clarity when you're truly in the moment.

And, you know, kind of like me right now, I'm looking out this window at this beautiful, and having a delicious beer and knowing that I get to go back home and hang out with my kids for a couple more days. And, you know, those those are those also can be designed for a lot of things. So I think it's the, I think it's the light and dark. I think that's what you're hearing on. I think we're all, we all have a part of that. I get, I get wary if I meet somebody that's just fully

cognitive all the time. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't ever get, ever get down. Like I get down, I get fucking, I get the blues. I blues, I get I get low as fuck sometimes. And that's where you're left just with yourself. And there's nobody else that can get you through that, you know, friends and family and wife and you know, a comforting, you know, armor on your shoulder and somebody giving you some good advice, obviously, those things help. But ultimately, it has to be you, the individual that processes what you're facing and then make the decision again to either, um, beat the situation or let the situation teach you.

And it's just kind of, I like to, um, distill things down to simple terms for my brain. Um, so it can understand things because I don't think my brain so it can understand things. Cause I don't think my brain can understand super complex things. I keep it simple. This is why I fucking hate social media. Cause all we see is the good stuff.

We don't see the bad stuff. Right. So it makes. Yeah. It's a bad filter. It's a bad filter. And that's why like, that's why everyone's glamorizing your lifestyle

as this beautiful thing, which it is, but like no one hears like, what about the, what's the hardest part about your job, man? Right. I think on that side, but I also think there's also the other, the flip side of it is that, you know, YouTube, rabbit holes and things where YouTube will have you believe that, you know, the sky is falling and the entire world sucks.

You know, conspiracy theories and this is that. And sometimes the easiest solution is to step outside and go for a hike. But walk into the woods and just listen to a babbling brook and the sound of water moving over the rocks and the wind ruffling through the leaves and, you know, a babbling brook and the sound of water moving over the rocks and the wind ruffling through the leaves and you know, watch a fucking hawk glide by for a second. And then you realize, wow, you know, there's more to life than that stuff. But yeah, I do think that social media is probably the worst thing that happened to humanity, especially for a kid that grew up free cell phones. And yeah, even.

I think cable TV was just coming out when I was a kid, so yeah, I do think that's kind of. But people love, so I think it's important to unplug and get away from all of that, but make sure you tune in to those podcasts. Yeah, Social media, social media. Anyway, Andy Frasco, world's same podcast every Tuesday, Tuesday. Congrats on the podcast, man. Thanks. It's a great podcast. We were supposed to do this back in like June or July. So I've been listening to you guys podcast and I've become a fan. So it's really cool to be on it. Well, I'm honored, brother. Go kick ass.

Get him in studio. Yeah. Next time we come in the studio, we'll go have what we'll drink together. All right, but enjoy your night. And how long was it? How long was the how long? How long was your interview? About one. Well, hell, yeah.

We'll go have fun out there and I'll see you in Colorado. What a guy. That's awesome. What a guy, dude. That's fucking awesome. You've just tuned into the World Saving Podcast with Andy Frasco, produced by Andy Frasco, Joe Angelhowe, and Chris Lorenz. Please help us save the world by subscribing and rating the show on volume.com, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening so we can spread the word

and save the world. Follow us on Instagram at World Saving Podcasts for updates for tour dates, merch, and whatever crazy special event Andy thinks of next, check out andyfrasco.com. Special thanks to this week's guest, courtesy of our talent booker, Mara Davis, That's Me, or Andy's other mother. Be your best and we'll talk to you next week for another great episode of the World Saving Podcast.