Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 30: Litz & Matt Jalbert (Tauk)

Episode Date: December 11, 2018

Andy & guest host, Vince Herman break down what this euro-trip meant to them. All the while, the world wonders: what melange of drugs contributed to that opening segment?! We got a double header for y'all on the interview hour. First UP: our buddies from the band, Litz. We follow that up with guitarist, Matt Jalbert from Tauk. Frasco gets personal. This is Episode 30.  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, Litz & Tauk at their respective sites: https://funkylitzmusic.com & https://www.taukband.com Check out Andy's new single, "Change of Pace" on iTunes and Spotify Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring:   Ahri Findling A mess of drunken europeans  Arno Bakker

Good day, Frasco. This is Gunther Downey to Francesc. I have one of the guests in your room, Mr. Vince Herman. He's been running around the halls in his underwear and his guitar screaming that he is an alien. I have to ask you, could you please get him to stop? It is really confusing and alarming, the guests, and I have to say, if he is not picked up before 8 a.m., we will call the police please it is scary I guess thank you we hope you enjoy your stay at the show for the rest of the week I really wonder if they were fucking with me at all I wondered if they're

fucking with me at all Everybody sing You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want Oh my god You can't always get what you want. Oh my god! You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just don't know how to.

You and Herman are on fire. Hanging at the town square in Bomberg in the morning light. Coming up in the dawn, don't you know it's gonna be our all right. Beautiful! All right. Beautiful. Wow. That's going on the podcast. I'm just asking. I'm just asking.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. What's up? This is the Andy Frasca World Saving Podcast. We're back. The last day of our tour with Vince Herman. We got Vince Herman, special guest co-host. What's up, Vince?

Oh, yeah. Okay. Let's put it out on the table. What the fuck happened last night? We were hanging out at that bar singing songs again. We're in Bamberg, Germany. This is the last day of our tour. We're finally in Germany.

We had a sold-out show last night. How dope was that night? It was amazing, man. So much energy in the room in this town that is like the cosmic center of the universe it was the source of the enlightenment in germany in in the in the 1500s man this was like really the cosmic all the philosophers were from here man you know yeah yeah serious hegel um and uh um uh yeah and some some early early cats that were really responsible for pulling us out of the dark ages, man. And we went right back into them last night.

Oh, my God. You're telling me, man. I'd never seen. It's like a punk rock show at our German shows. Absolutely. I loved it because I never got to play in a punk band before, man. You think we're a punk band? Oh, absolutely.

Really? Absolutely. Well, you participate in the punk aesthetic in some ways. Dude, it was so cool. Just energy out the kazoo in that room, man. And then, of course, when there's energy like that, there's an after party. Yes. Yes.

Okay, so let me frame this up. Of course, when there's energy like that, there's an after party. Yes. Yes. Okay. So let me frame this up. We were just drinking. We first got out, smoked a couple joints up in this. They put us up in this beautiful old school area. And then we're like, it's like three. We ran out of beer. Let's go to the bar.

So we go to the bar. All of a sudden, we take over the piano. We're drinking. We met some Germans. Just having a great time. What that artist guy man oh my god where'd you that guy wait till you see this video yeah i can't wait to see it unbelievable i got all these guys were like very like it was like what the hipsters wanted to be and these guys are were it yeah yeah i'm like i could see myself with a fucking handlebar mustache, a little afro and a little baby. This cat was in Woodstock in 68.

What? He was at the Monterey Jazz Festival. So he's the real deal. Yeah, he's the real deal, man. What do you think it is about this town that are inspiring all these artists? Bombers. The rivers. Yeah.

Rivers create energy moving through a town. And when it's been a town since the 1300s and all that energy is harvested in the buildings and the sculpture and the paintings and all that stuff, it lifts the people, man. And yeah. It lifted us. I felt like I played a great show. And I felt like it was cool. We got to play a salmon song. The UN, we backed up Vinci on a fucking salmon song. We played salmon in Europe. It was fucking tight, dude. It was just a perfect amount of chaos and perfect sound quality and stage and ambiance and seeing the line out the door. Just fucking cool.

You guys deal with that a lot. I'm new to this whole sellout thing. Isn't it a great feeling? You know it is, man. That's one of the reasons we battle loneliness and tortured relationships. That's what we were talking about last episode. It's true. We were feeling down.

We had a party. We should have did that podcast on our serotonin level was that low. Yeah. It probably took some editing to get that into something that made any sense. I thought it was a good conversation, but like, Oh man,

we were sad that morning. We're like, Oh God damn it. But now we're back. We're happy again. I mean, it's amazing what a good show can pump up, pump up a person being a musician,

you know, like I feel so fresh right now because you know that what, what you left out of that story is, is, you know like i feel so fresh right now because you know that what you left out of that story is is you know we were playing music till the early early hours you know we went to the bar we came back from the bar played a little more music and you know the band sleeping in the room next door you know beats came out and said, guys, man, come on. Sean was like, hey, let's just go take a stroll. It figured it had to be getting near dawn, so let's go take a stroll. Stroll around for a couple hours, get back,

and we can't get into the band room. What time is this at? It was just getting light. The first bakery had just opened. I just gorged myself on snuffing, hoofing, you know. Oh, my. And it was time to go back to the band. And John and I could not get in the door.

Half hour. Like what, the pin? You couldn't get into the pin? Yeah. You knew the pin, though. Yeah. Yeah. Put it in.

It would turn green. We'd turn the knob, and it wouldn't open the door. Yeah. We sat there for a half hour laughing you know so like i'm like hey you know when when you're stuck somewhere move right just move along so we're like yeah let's go get a hotel there weren't any hotels yeah probably about 15 oh my you walked around the whole scene yeah we went to every little guest house. And it's 6 a.m.

We've had some drinks. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, we'd just been to the cathedral, so we felt uplifted, you know. You went to the cathedral that early? Oh, yeah, I did. Hold on. What time did you get to the cathedral?

No, when we left after it was time to, you know, let the band go to sleep. Yeah, when it beats like that, hey, go to bed. We're like, okay, let's go see the town because that's sunrise man sunrise rivers water i mean that's that's when you really want to see the place yeah no tourist around oh yeah we we hung up there oh it's it's incredible there's the there's the cathedral and then there's uh Wilhelm's state castle. And the state and the church right next to each other, man.

That's how they roll here, man. It was amazing. It was amazing. And this town built in the 1300s and a lot of buildings left from the 1300s. And nothing got hit from the war. No. Clouds. Clouds over Bomberg saved it on the day they were supposed to bomb it.

That's what they said? Yeah. Clouds. Yeah. They couldn't see it to bomb it. Oh, my God. It was still cloudy around here. Yeah, it was cold as fuck yesterday.

So, you know, we walk around, and every place we stop into is like, well, there's this big hotel down this way. And we're like, I guess, you know, we slowly made our hotel down that way, man. And oh, it was beautiful, beautiful hotel. What time did you end up checking in at? Probably about 8, 8.30 in the morning. Finally found a hotel.

They let us, you know, stay for the day and through the night, you know, tonight, you know. So, you know, yeah, we hit the bed, and my phone wasn't charged. All of our stuff was in the band house. When I was trying to pick up the pieces, I thought you died, Vince, because I just see a bunch of suits and stuff all over the room. It was like a fucking crime scene. Like, what did we do last night

where your wife is going to be so fucking pissed at me? She's like, the first thing you do, please take care of Vince. And we fucking lose him at eight in the morning. Like, everyone's going to bed at six. Vince, nope. I'm going to go check out the fucking city, dude. You know it, man.

I fucking wish I did that. It was amazing so anyways we got some sleep you know no contact is possible John had 1% he got a message to you hey we're in this residence

but when I went to sleep you know it was like who knows what's going to happen I woke up I wanted to go to the to sleep, you know, it was like, who knows what's going to happen. And I woke up, I wanted to go to the Mars Brow place, you know, a couple hours, woke up, it was eight o'clock at night. It's dark again. Oh my God, John. I go to the next door to John's room and I'm like, John, it's dark, man.

Where are those guys? And I walked into John's room and our bags were there. I was like, yes, I can recharge the phone. What a scene. Man, we had you. It was so funny because when I went to him, like, is Mr. Herman and Mr. Joy at the front desk? He's like, oh, yes, I remember those guys.

What a fucking night, dude. I just, I love Europe. Like, this is the last day of our tour. What have we learned? The ups and downs. We saw, we've played for 10 people. We played for a sold out show. Five, 600 people.

That ups and downs. Isn't that the beauty of being a musician? Those waves. Like, it makes, it's very humbling, you know? Like, when you feel like a piece of shit one day, I think that's in life, too. One day you feel down, but, like, you look back at the situation, and you still had the best fucking time of your life. Absolutely. You know, like, and going into a city, like, how did it feel playing your music in front of a bunch of Europeans and they're getting down, man?

You know, before it came, I was thinking, you know, God, I'm doing this solo part of the shows. And, you know, I use a lot of humor in my solo shows. You know, I'm like, they're not going to understand a word of it, man. You know, what am I going to do? You do? But I got them singing along on drinking songs. Hell yeah, drinking. They were into it. I was really relieved that I could do that stuff and have it translate.

I was really uncertain if that was going to work. And it worked. Fuck yeah, it worked. You fucking killed it, dude. You know what it does? What? It makes you think, good God, why don't Americans know as many languages as these cats do here? I was having a conversation with them about that.

They know four languages, the Dutch and German, Dutch, French. They have to learn, you know, English. And like some,

some of them know Italian. Like, I think learning these languages and learning these cultures, you realize you're no different than anyone else they want to have fun too they're not worried about they what i like about europe is they work to live and we live to work you know they're about having the experience with you like it was so cool to see that girl uh from indiana and in bomber and she fucking loved salmon, dude. And she was like, she couldn't believe, she was like a pig in shit seeing salmon, us,

fucking punk rock show in Europe. Like, when do we, when was there a mosh pit? Has there ever been a mosh pit at a salmon show? Oh, yeah. When? Our very first show, Crest of Beauty in Colorado. That's how we call our music polyethnic Cajun slam grass music. Because in the early years in ski areas in Colorado,

we were playing this aggressive bluegrass music that just was made for slamming. And our very first gig, it was thrown together between the Salmon Heads and the Left Hand String Band. We didn't really have repertoire planned or anything like that that but we found out that the older driving bluegrass tunes just made people slam dance like mad and the older the tune usually the the wilder the reaction and and and that was you know that's driven us for a long time so so i probably the first four or five years of the band, maybe like up until 95 or so,

slamming was really, really constant. And then that's what I'm addicted to, seeing that fucking waves of people jumping into each other. I mean, I grew up a punk head, you know? I bet you did. I got so... I took some mushrooms at the show so I could be fully present with the show. And I micro-dosed before the show, and then I took another pill during the show to get dialed in and to see the faces.

You know, mushrooms make you really dialed in, because normally I'm thinking about the next song. I didn't have to think about that. Because I never write a set list. The set came so naturally. And it's because I was present. I was loving every second of it. And I wanted to enjoy it

and not think about the other stuff in my life. And I felt like that's when I'm most happy. When you're in that moment, feeling that vibe with someone or a fucking shit ton of Germans. It's fucking amazing, dude. What a wild trip. Did you have fun?

I hope we gave you the experience of Europe that we, you know, the Frasca band can. Wow. Unbelievable, man. From the places we stayed to these crazy venues we played. I mean, there was that tube. What was that tube we played in, man? Underneath the pot bar?

We played a pot bar under a pot bar in like this old cellar. Maybe fit 20 people. It was insane. It was insane in there. Yeah. It's just like, it's amazing. You know, it makes you think like, you could just bring the experience to anywhere you go in life.

You know, if you have that right mind state. Look what we took over. Look what we did. Okay, let's backtrack. Vienna. First time there, we took over a bar that this 80-year-old woman owned that had been in the family since 1805.

Christina. Day two. We smoked CBD weed. Tried to get high off it. Wasn't working. So the Italians, we tried to find some hash and we got some fucking Austrian send us hash. Day three. Regenberg.

We fucking partied and we were dancing till six in the morning at a dead fucking bar and then we went back to the hotel room and talked and cried and talked about our lives beautiful man beautiful and now here ernie chang is a wonderful being man he is man i learned a lot about him man frasco you have one hell of a band man these guys are amazing human beings and amazing players and man you you you put together a powerful powerful set of characters here man thanks man we're family you know like those are my guys

all i think about is that all i think about is how I could get my guys to the next level in our lives, in our next career. This is my family. I feel the same with you and Drew and Andy, too, and the whole crew. I mean, you guys have been together for 30 years. I'm in year 12. I have so many fucking questions through our friendship, through life, about how to keep married to six

people plus your significant other you know yeah there's fights like i felt it with ernie like all this pent-up stuff and he he just needed someone who was safe you vince to talk to while we were it was like therapy and we cried. It was discussing who we are. And Ernie is a cat, you know, who is always accommodating others. You know, you have these different roles you get into this general patterns of

behavior you fall into. And, you know, Ernie's the guy that's taking care of everybody else. Even in the van here, you know, we didn't have enough seats in the van. Ernie stood up. Yeah. You know, he's the guy that takes taking care of everybody else. Even in the van here, you know, we didn't have enough seats in the van. Ernie stood up.

Yeah. You know, he's the guy that takes one for the team, man. You know? Takes it on the chin every time. And he's so soft-spoken that he doesn't get the credit he deserves. So I love you, Ernie. You deserve all of it, buddy. Absolutely.

So what's next, Vince? Where are you going? You're flying home and you're doing Chuck Norris's? Well, you know, we're at this Christmas party right now for the biggest music retailer in Germany. Yeah. Of Europe. Of Europe, I guess.

We're the surprise guest of Europe's instrument because I guess we're really big in Bavaria. I didn't realize how big we were until last night, but it's cool. So we walk in, there's a German band playing Ventura Highway in the sunshine. Playing an America tune. Beautiful.

So, yeah, we leave tomorrow out of Munich, which is a two hour drive from here. Two hour drive from here. I don't know how many hours on a train. And there's an open bar till 5 a.m. here at this party with like 1200 people and um we have

to play from 10 to 3 a.m five hours of music so yeah it's gonna be interesting to see uh open bar germans whether we make that flight to munich in the morning or not if you don't make the um i told you i've been getting people on on my fucking facebook saying free vince herman they feel that you're just gonna get absorbed into this and like they need you for strings and soul you know frasco when we first met on jam cruise yeah it was a beautiful thing and we're we're we're parting our ways at the end of jam cruise hugging each other say hello new best friend and goodbye new best friend and the last thing he said to me was I'm gonna free you

well you kidnapped me now man so I don't know when the freeing is gonna come Vince I love you man I don't know when I'll see you next I hope it's soon you're a busy man and I love you, man. I don't know when I'll see you next. I hope it's soon. You're a busy man, and I love you,

and I can't wait to have another experience with you, man, because this has been one of the times in my life. Best ever. Can't thank you enough, Andy, man. And Jam Chris, Jam Chris, Jam Chris. What the fuck am I talking about? I'll see you in three weeks. Jam Chris. Damn it.

Oh, I'm going to die. I'm going to Mexico first. Yeah, you're going weeks. J.M. Cruz. Damn it. Oh, I'm going to die. I'm going to Mexico first. Yeah, you're going to Strings and Soul. I'm going to Denver on Monday night to induct Chuck Morris, the former manager of ours. I just call him Chuck Norris. It's Chuck Morris. Yeah, cool.

Inducting Chuck into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. I hope you roast him. Oh, yeah, we're going to roast him. Oh, yeah. It it's gonna be fun man because he booked your band forever huh quite a few years right before john joy came aboard yeah yeah now he's head of ag yeah i'm on this on this panel roasting chuck uh sitting next to what who could be the next president of the united states oh the john hickenhooper colorado governor governor yeah yeah yeahings and soul

Then It seems like it's gonna be a good winter At least it'll be warm We're not gonna be in some cold ass places Boy Yeah So that if we get locked out of the band house We can just sleep on the beach

Man It's gonna be a whole lot Walking Less walking around Trying to find a hotel Man Oh yeah yeah But honey I'm coming home man frasco did not destroy

me he's coming home uh vince i love you man um you're a great friend and thank you for learning teaching me a lot about myself and thank you for just hearing me out on what I feel about everything. You know, you let the world let you know about how you feel about everything through these podcasts, and it's amazing, man. I love you, man. Pretty cool stuff. All right, let's listen to the next interview. Love you, Vince.

All right. Based on some listener feedback, we're going to try something new today. Since we have different people tuning in every week, new fans of the pod, sometimes people aren't familiar with our guests. So for each interview, I'm going to try to give a little rundown. The artist may play a little clip, show you what they're all about to get you pumped for the interview. So let's get into our first guest

of the podcast today. A band called Litz out of Maryland. These guys are homies with the Pigeons Fools. Love those dudes. These guys are wild as fuck. We met them on the road in Charlotte. They got kind of the same outfit we do. Bass, drums. Their lead brother plays sax and piano. do bass drums the lead brother plays sax and piano just kicks my ass and piano killer sax player loved doing some jams with them they're brothers it's like partridge family shit one band member quit they talk about drugs addiction one guy was on heroin which is fucking crazy um but yes you could check out some of their live performances on their website, funkyletsmusic.com. And yeah, like I said, they're homies with the Pigeons, guys.

They're just closing out the year by playing in Baltimore, Philly, Richmond, Covington, Raleigh. So if you like them, Southeast homies, go check them out. Go see them on tour. All right, let's just do a short clip from their most recent EP for Funk Me Up. I dig this tune.

They're pretty dope. My interview is to follow, and then we have Matt from Talk later in the show. All right, guys. Enjoy the interviews. And we're here Fucking Charlotte, North Carolina We're with the boys I didn't know who the fuck you were We played with each other in Syracuse

Syracuse Funko Waffles You opened for us Yeah And you guys fucking blew my mind We're with Litz You guys are from Maryland, right? Yes, sir What part of Maryland? You guys are from Maryland, right? Yes, sir. What part of Maryland?

You guys live in Fredericksburg right now? Frederick. Frederick. Yeah, 45 minutes north of DC and Baltimore. I think Fredericksburg's in Virginia or something. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm a fucking idiot with that. So we got Logan and we got Austin Brothers.

They started a band called Fits. Litz. See, I'm going in the dark, boys. I'm going in the dark today. So, you're from Maryland. Let's talk about how you guys got into music. Was it a family thing? Was your mom into music?

Family thing. What was your psychic, man? Let's go. Was it Patrick Fadgey shit or what? Both of our parents are not like super into playing music, but our family runs a music store. Our grandfather started at Victor Litz Music Center. It's in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

And we're third generation music merchants. And so we were just exposed to music stuff our whole life. Yeah, because you play a lot of different instruments. Yeah, yeah. So do you play a lot of different instruments too Yeah, yeah. So, do you play a lot of different instruments, too? No, I write stuff with strings on it, and I mean, I should have applied myself more when I had opportunities and could actually learn and had time to,

but no, no, I played guitar, bass guitar. I played the tuba in high school. Tuba? Yeah. That's dope. So, you were in the band in high school? Oh, yeah. Marching band. That's how we know Nick, our drummer. Yo, nice. What about, so you played sax? Saxophone, flute, band in high school oh yeah marching band that's how we know uh nick our drummer yo nice yes what about so you played sax and saxophone uh flute all the fun things uh the music store is also a

lessons place so we were able to get free lessons or gratitude of our parents um our whole lives on whatever so i've taken bassoon lessons and trumpet lessons, trombone lessons, you know, everything. So was there a lot of pressure from your parents to become musicians? Not at all. Not at all. Really? Our grandfather told our parents,

like, hey, it's really tough. Don't let them get into music. And they never, they never, they were kind of ambivalent. They've always been sort of just like, this is what our family does, but we also know how hard it is.

So if you want to do it, do what you want, but be careful. I feel like that's the best advice. If you're like walking into someone's, you know, footsteps as a musician, like I'm friends with Lucas Nelson and his, you know, Willie is an icon. And to like say, all right, I want to be a musician too. It's like a lot of, I feel like it'd be a lot of pressure on the kid more than be a pressure on the parent. Yeah, especially when you have a famous ass father like that. But like, what was the struggle?

So like, what were they making you listen to when you were a kid? Like, what did you like grew up listening to? I mean, punk rock for me. I mean, all day. And I mean, played in ska bands and shit in high school. What kind of ska bands? How old are you guys? I'm 28. I'm 32. Oh, fuck yeah. I was, all day. I mean, played in ska bands and shit in high school. How old are you guys? I'm 28. I'm 32. Oh, fuck yeah.

I was into ska bands deep. Real Big Fish. Rx Bandits. Our other brother, Mike, has an Aquabats tattoo. I got a NoFX tattoo. Oh, sick. Dude, pump up the volume. That's one of my favorite fucking records. I got white trash, two heebs, and a bean when I

was in sixth grade, and that shit changed my life. So tell me about, okay, so you guys are really high energy. Tell me how, tell the people why ska music is so important to, like, the energy. Like, it's all about the energy in ska music. Oh, absolutely. That live show energy. Talk about that.

What do you think it is? Is it syncopation? Syncopation and zaniness, that brings a lot of energy to it. I mean, that BPM brings the energy to it i mean that that bpm brings the energy but uh the horns down oh yeah you gotta have horns yeah i love whatever you're doing it just needs that yeah that's crazy so how long you been a band as brothers going on five years yeah we've been this lineup since january 1st of this year we were six piece moved down to a four piece because we want to take it full-time on the road.

And this is what we got to work with full-time. And we've got dreams to build it into the biggest thing that we can possibly build it into. So what's that dream?

What do you want to do? Make money. Make money. Survive. Get a full-on section. So how hard is it to make money as an independent artist?

Do you guys have a booking agent? Do you book yourself? Yeah? Yeah, we got an agent. Agent. So what agency are you with? It's just one dude. Yeah, so a homie.

He's helping you out and stuff. So how hard is it to weave through the fat through trying to get on good time slots of festivals? What's your strategy on how to get to the top promoters if say your agent doesn't have the contact? Be professional

and, I mean, yeah, just try, I don't know, try and put on the best show possible. It's a game of chess.

We play a lot for the promoter. The promoters have the power to put us in front of thousands of people. I could go around and promote my whole life and not be able to bring as many people as this guy can do so we

kind of try to not yet uh not yet not yet but you know working on it but uh we yeah exactly like from the day we or from the moment we get to a place from the moment we leave uh we want to you know represent ourselves in a awesome way and that just it's all about being real and just making friends with people and they're gonna help you if like like real likes real yeah totally and then boom yeah okay you guys are brothers in a band so basically you can never break up because you're family have you guys like ever beat the out of each other on the road or on stage? No, our other brother was the drummer. My twin brother Mike was the drummer.

You guys were like fucking punk rock. Yeah, punk family band that took acid and went a whole different direction. So yeah, tell me about that. So were you guys taking drugs heavily in the beginning years or what? Yeah, I mean, yeah. What were you guys taking? Well, I was beginning years? Like what were you guys taking? Well, that sounds like I was on dope and dope is what heroin heroin

Yeah, and you know that the reason why I got off dope was because of this band and like I went out of town We played some gig and like Salisbury Maryland Eastern Shore of Maryland and I left my stash at home and that was like the worst feeling ever having to go To some you know find some stranger and wind up at some trailer park in Delaware at three in the morning fucking trying to score dope so you're not fucking sick now and yeah so that led to fucking getting on suboxone and five years later getting off that what got you on heroin uh man just fucking party yeah just yeah man suburbs like bored man. Suburbs? Like boredom? What was it?

I don't know, man. Maybe it was hip-hop culture, and we were all fucking trying to be gangster drug dealers with guns and money and fucking robbing people, and then, I don't know. I don't know. The pills, and then the pills lead to the fucking... The opioids.

The real shit. So were you guys playing... So you guys were basically just having fun with it Taking Dropping acid And making music Yeah Acid was

Kind of my focal point Of everything And it was Really a blessing Kind of at the same time Even though it made things Like spin out of control For a while there

What happened? Like So like We were saying We were kind of like ska punk rock kids that found acid and um i don't know it just it it seemed like that was the point of this whole music thing it was like wait a second like uh it playing that's the psychic energy was so real uh and through years now we found that psychic energy completely exists with or without drugs. It's definitely enhanced with them, but it made it so tangible.

The interaction of the crowd and the band and the openness and all that fun stuff. So yeah, it really opened us up to this alchemical world of psychic consciousness with the band and the audience and these beautiful things. Yeah, it's a rhythm. I want you to go back to that psychic consciousness on drugs and without drugs. What do you mean by that? You don't need the drugs to get there at all, but they're great affirmations of like this exists.

This is so real right now. Because I've had a lot of thoughts before doing drugs and then like done them like you can see you can literally see the energy go from the band to the crowd and like shoot through people and like when you like physically see that shit like it's so real and then like you can notice it's always there everything is always there. Sometimes it just opens your eyes so much that it's like, fuck, yeah, that's there. And then you don't need it anymore after that, maybe.

Yeah. I mean, I did that with microdosing mushrooms. I felt like now I'm at it where I don't need to take them anymore. They're still fun. Yeah, they're great. Well, I was going through them through mental health because I was being depressed because I was on the road so much. So I would take them to see why I'm being depressed over something that i chose as my life

right so like i think with psychedelics that helps you have a more clear vision like from that experience are you happier person now without taking yeah yeah i mean they showed me how to get off of drinking and stuff and all that. So I feel like they've completely turned my entire world around. He used to be a drunk. Yeah, I used to be a drunk. The idea to start the band came after waking up in the hospital, after eating a couple of 10 strips and blacking out and snorting a bunch of sass

and going crazy at this festival. Hold on, you're just casually saying that you took a 10-strip and snorted a bunch of sass. That's fucking crazy. I woke up in the hospital. Yeah, so the motet was planned. That's how the band, the idea for the band started. I just graduated college, and I was at this music festival,

and ended up waking up in the hospital after that experience, but watched the motet, and I was like, this is what I'm doing. This is what I'm doing. It was like heavenly. And then later on down the road at another music festival, smoked a whole bunch of DMT. And then this like zoot suit wearing guy in this like fourth dimensional casino was holding a briefcase into infinity. And inside the briefcase was a list of all the things that I could do or could not do

if I kept going like one path or chose another path. And I was like, oh, I got to walk down this other path because like all my dreams will come true. And because like the zoot suit wearing motherfucker in the briefcase. Was this a hallucination? Yeah, that was that was some DMT. Yeah, that was. Yeah.

How long did that last? Well, you're high 10 strips. You don't know. You're on a whole. That was a separate experience to get off of the alcohol. The alcohol and the acid made the band happen.

Later, the zoot suit wearing guy reminded me that those are just inspirational tools. To actually make what I need to happen happen, I got to start walking a slightly different path. How important is DMT for brain development? I think it resets a lot of things.

What? I think it physically resets, like, you can release from traumas and things like that. It actually is, like, resetting. How did it help you in your sense? Well, like I said, like, the universe very tangibly laid out in picture, geometric language form

to me that life could be so amazing if I tried to live maybe without getting piss pants drunk every single day. Damn. Dope. I'm going to have to try DMT again. Last time I did, I just got diarrhea.

Seriously, I was like, what the fuck? My stomach was hurting like a motherfucker, dude. So how did you wean off the dope? Suboxone. I guess it's like the new methadone or whatever, but it blocks opiate receptors so you can't get high. And I was on that for a long time until I managed it. What was that point where you were like, I need to get like the new methadone or whatever, but it blocks opiate receptors so you can't get high. And I was on that for a long time until I managed it. What was that point where you were like,

I need to get off the dope? That was winding up in a trailer park with strangers at three in the morning on the road. And like, you know, I just can't do this. That's like my question. How hard is it not to party on the road? We're always traveling. I'm coming to the realization I am an alcoholic.

Yeah, me too. I'm coming to the realization I am an alcoholic. Yeah, me too. I'm welcome to the club. I don't drink every day, but I just took a shot in there, and it made me feel so much better. Why does that? You know what it is? Do you think it's the shot that makes you feel better, or is it the bar, the stage, that we're in our element?

No, it's the alcohol. It was immediate. It was immediate. It was immediate. Really? Yeah. So do you need alcohol to play? No, no.

The craziest binge. Okay, so let's talk about the wild years of Litz. Oh, man. Give me like top three. My favorite. What fucking happened with this band

that made you so fucking crazy? Talk to me. My favorite memory in the beginning years, Logan. So we got a bunch of the pop off stuff that you can, you know the poppers that you can have? Poppers?

I don't know. I didn't play that. The gay butt sack juice. What? It's like an inhalant that you can get at like a sex store. They sell it at the sex shop. Oh, poppers, yeah. Poppers, yeah.

We were way out. We didn't know we were doing it, but we would like pour it on our shirts and like huff it on stage so that we could like, you know, didn't know we were doing it, but we would pour it on our shirts and huff it on stage so that we could get high while we're playing. That was the whole point of everything. Hold on. What the?

Backtrack this. You're putting popper juice on your t-shirts to get high? It was like a collared shirt or a suit jacket or something. What does it smell like? What is that? It smells like chemicals. Chemicals, like gasoline. Like PCP.

But it was funny. So, so Logan took a big huff and then fell completely into the drum kit and just like knocked over the entire drum kit

and just like like fished out. I did that a couple times. Yeah, there were a few instances of that, yeah. Has that ever,

so have you ever been so fucked up you can't play the show? I mean, that was, that was probably the one time. So poppers. I was poppers and I was withdrawing

and drank myself through the withdrawal. Experiment with whatever we wanted to. Damn, do you guys have girlfriends? I don't. Currently, yeah. How hard is that on the road? She's also a musician. How many shows do you guys play a year?

150, 180, something like that. You're on the road, so you're living. I play close to 200 or plus. I do some side work and stuff. Yeah, you're doing like 250 a year, right? For like 10 years plus? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's crazy.

Props to you, brother. 200 is huge too, man. You're living on the road. 180? That's more than half the year dude so like how do you maintain like my hardest thing that i've been trying to do is like when i'm home i can't fucking chill out like how do you boring man like what like what is it's that anxiousness like what do we what are we just alcoholics and we just need an a thrill or is

it what what do you think it is i don't know the. The 616 gene. Yeah. The thrill-seeking gene. The Mickey Mantle gene. Explain that. Tell the people that. You know, we used to be thrill-seekers because we had to hunt woolly mammoths, and we're just a different breed that still has that left over. You know, we're on the hunt,

but society has built up this, like, really rigid normalness, so our hunt now maybe is partying and women and things like that. I think it might be. So we are still hunters

and gatherers, you know. What is living the dream to you? I mean, being, I don't know, being able to live comfortably whether it's on the road or off the road, but

Like financially or mentally? I guess a bit of both. We on the road or off the road, but... Like, financially or mentally? Well, I guess a bit of both. We need the road to stay sane because we're not meant for suburbia. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's what got you guys

on dope and fucking... Yeah, right. And that's actually... And the road got me off, so... And the road has got... Surprisingly, yeah. I'm fucking clean now. The guy holding the briefcase

into infinity that told me to get clean was saying the music needs you. The music needs you. And so the road actually, contrarily, got us clean for the most part. And it's hard to stay fully clean out here. Yeah, but I think it's moderation. Moderation, and that's a beautiful thing.

Yeah, you learn how to moderate your life. You don't over abuse any of that. And I feel like you could sustain a good life. I think it's important. Moderation. You don't have to quit any. Well, maybe heroin. Yeah.

But a lot of the things, you don't have to quit. Yeah. You just have to just don't be an asshole about it. Yeah. Very true. I want to talk about, are you guys, do you guys consider yourself a jam band? Yeah. Yeah, we're in the scene.

Are you in the scene? Yeah, we're in the scene. We're playing that scene. Pigeons are from Maryland. Oh, yeah. From Baltimore. Baltimore. They're good friends of ours.

You guys. Yeah, they're real good peeps. They're cool. Yeah. I mean, they're blowing up What's the culture like For that whole northeast Music scene

That jam scene Like is it hard To get into the club When you're When you're like The outsider looking in Like if you didn't go to Berkeley

School of music Or if you didn't You know like He went there It's a club right It's a club right It's the The club It's all a club place The It's a club, right? It's a club, right? It's all a club place It's a blessing

To be from that area because there's so many different markets And if you can kind of get your foot in the door There, then you can be successful anywhere It's a really good testing ground But there's also Been really cool clubs The 8x10 in Baltimore, Maryland They've just opened their door

From the moment that we showed up We were just like, hey, can we play a show here? And they just really helped us out. They were just like, absolutely. They come and we built everything kind of through that club and it kind of branched out all from there. So there's been legit venues in these legit towns that are competing with the 930 clubs and things like that. And they're mom and pop organizations that are like, no, come. We things like that and they're in their mom and pop organizations that are like no come we have a gateway into the industry it's right here and the jam band scene that's kind of why we we like this scene this is uh you know going back to like you know the whole drugs and like seeing the light and seeing the seeing the energy from the

band to the crowd and stuff that happens in the jam band scene so tangibly and you can be grassroots and come up in the pop world there's kind of like there's just famous people almost. It's like, where the fuck do you come from? This is the one spot where this is a breeding ground. It's like, oh, we can actually, as a come-up kid at grassroots organization, we can get our foot in the

door and rise. I mean, look, at Pigeons, I was throwing shows with Pigeons when I was in college at a pizza place. You know, and fucking... They got huge. And now they're fucking I was throwing shows with pigeons when I was in college at a pizza place. They got huge. And now they're fucking doing shows that I can't even fathom, really. And that was... You can't fathom yet.

You will be there, brother. Litz, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for doing this, dudes. Thank you, Andy. You got any new records? You got anything to promote? What do you got? We are throwing a music festival next year dudes. Thank you, Andy. You got anything to promote? What do you got? Yeah, we've got a new... We are throwing a music festival next year

called the Ragamaru Litz Family Ball, and it's our first music festival, and we're so excited for that, and that's going to be in Pennsylvania. It's going to be only about an hour away from Baltimore, and we are coming out with a brand new EP with our brand new lineup in

about a month, and we've got a brand new music video. Our first real deal music video shot by One Drop Designs. That's Owen Murphy. He does artwork for so many cool people. But it's going to be One Drop Designs' first music video. And so that's going to be coming out

within the month. So keep an eye out for that. From heroin to acid to now... Snorting sass. Snorting sass. To now building marketing plans. Right, yeah. It's show...

That's what led us to this. Look at this, dudes. We're adults. You're fucking adults. We're adults. Thanks, guys, for being on the show, dude. Thank you, Andy. Let's follow them.

Fuck yeah. These guys are awesome. We've now done two shows together. Well, we haven't played yet together, but we should do like a super jam tonight. Oh, we'd love to. You're so much, you're a way better piano player than I am.

I love your stuff, man. Oh, man. We both learned on the streets. I'm like a really good eighth grader. Yeah. I know, you got it. All right, guys. Love you guys.

Thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks, Andy. Thanks, guys. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hello, this is Arno Bakker, sous-a-fon play with Andy Fresco and UN, and this is Happy Holiday Spirits with Arno Bakker. On tour with the band in beautiful Bavaria,

with all the pretty Christmas lights out and little angels hanging from the trees I woke up this morning on the moldy mattress in the backstage of an alternative music club in Munich. A place still breathing the beery stink of anarchy and punk rock with a broken back from the metal support halfway the mattress, bruised ribs from a donkey ride with Andy scooting through the rotting barracks holding multiple bunk beds

filled with unshowered snoring men to the shared toilet, placing my bare feet in the willy sprinkled spots on the floor. My droppings splashing my cheeks with diluted piss. Rough natural toilet paper bleeding my little rose The jock itch from the sweat-soaked underwear

My athlete's feet itching back in the wet shoes That I danced in for three hours last night And the night before No coffee, no breakfast, no sunshine Not a kind word. The sign at the entrance read, no nazis. And I only fully realized how lucky I was when I found myself one hour later within the barbed wire fences of concentration camp Dachau.

There amidst the gruesome immorality and the bony ghosts of the past the trying winter sun could not make a silver lining. Arno, optimism. Happy holiday season, everyone! Ho ho ho ho ho! Ho ho ho ho ho! I hope you all enjoyed my chat with Litz.

Super cool dudes. I feel like we're going to play some more shows together. They're up and coming, and I just like to see bands get on their way and get on the road and start working. But up next, we have Matt Jolbert from Talk. Love running into these guys. They grew up in Long Island.

Super major force in the jam scene. Instrumental. Isaac, their drummer, is a fucking monster. They basically described the house they recorded at. They just put out a new record called Shapeshifters 2. And they were telling me how the album they recorded has a Jumanji meets Adam's Family meets Amityville

horror. That's kind of strange. Now it makes sense why their album is so fucking sci-fi and freaky. Anyway, hope you enjoy the interview. We're going on tour. We're playing with them on Jam Cruise which will be fun. They're doing New Year's Eve in Baltimore at Baltimore Soundstage with the Fritz.

Not to be confused with our first interview, the Litz. Fritz, Litz. It's crazy. Anyway, here's a short clip from The Shapefifters 2, recreational outrage, and my chat with Matt right after. Enjoy. What's up, everybody? Dude, this is a very special day. We're in New York City. It's kind of raining, but still muggy.

But we got Matt Jalbert from the fucking Talk Band. What's up, dude? What's up, what's up? Howdy, howdy. Dude, what a nice surprise. Thanks. So we met in Aziz Ansari's show. We played with Aziz afterwards. And you were just waiting in line with your girlfriend, right? No, I was waiting in line.

You were like, I don't need to wait in line. You didn't know anything, but that's so tight. Well, no, I wanted to catch the opener for your show. You like that? Such an asshole move. Hey, if you can do it. It's funny. But yeah, dude, talk.

How is it going? You're from Long Island. Grew up in Long Island? Grew up in Long Island originally. Guitar, played guitar your whole life? Yeah, pretty much. I've been playing guitar since I was very, very young. My mother introduced me to the violin at a young age.

My older brother played violin. And I think I played it for about a week. And I was like, this isn't for me. So I picked up classical guitar. Man, I don't know. I must have been five or six, seven, something like that. Oh, shit. Damn, so you started that early.

Yeah. Did you grow up wanting to play classical music? Why would you move to classical guitar? Your parents forced you or turned you on to it or what wasn't even a forcing thing you know i always enjoyed music and everything i think that young six i always enjoyed music never really knew at that age at least that it was what i wanted to do but you know my mom's super cool wanted to get some instruments in me and my brother's hands so your your brother's talented instrument. Oh, yeah. He's a great violin player.

He plays a lot of drums now, too. You know, all my brothers are pretty musical. How old are you? I am 30. 30. Me, too. Yeah, I'm a grown-up now. Okay, so what'd you listen to growing up, then?

What was your thing? So you're... I want to kind of skip to, like, high school. Like, what were you listening to in high school? High school, I think at that point it had opened up you know the the classic rock thing was pretty heavy in my life yeah you know hendrix the who rolling stones all that good stuff but then in high school i really started to branch out i definitely got really into fish in high school in high school in high school yeah is

that a thing you have an older brother. You have an older sibling and they're like, hey, check this out. Check this out. So you're older. Oh, so you're into the jam scene young. Yeah, I was.

Actually, when I think I must have been I must have been a freshman in high school because my older brother a couple years ahead of me was like looking at colleges to apply to and everything.

Yeah. And we took like a family trip and like sneaky Joey, my older brother, decided like, oh, I want to check out this school, this school, this school, and this school. It just so happened to be the schools where the Disco Biscuits were playing in town that night. Unbeknownst to my parents.

So I'm a freshman in high school going to like these Disco Biscuit shows in like the early 2000s. I had no business being there. But just being exposed to that scene i think pretty much what'd you like about that scene at that point in your life at that point in my life it was uh it was definitely a different perspective uh than i have now but i think what attached me to it the most was it was just fun like you know you'd go and people are hanging

and having a good time and uh especially going to see going to do that thing where you're seeing a band from night to night, especially at that age, kind of like doing a little run. You're like, oh, they play different songs every night. You never know what's going to happen. This is crazy. And then, you know, other things that you shouldn't be doing in high school. The drugs and stuff.

In high school? Yeah. Damn, you were partying like that in high school? I was still keeping it cool. Well, yeah, of course, of course. But, like, you know i was still keeping it cool yeah of course of course but like you know what i mean like so like my parties was like naz tanks and fucking and like i don't know alcohol at like a house party you were going to see the fucking disco biscuits in high school i had no business being there yes you did because it's growing you into the person you wanted to be

yeah don't no i say that i say that jokingly i had a great time just in case you're listening to the podcast i'm afraid my mom listens but she already does i'm but yeah you got to show your family members what you're working on when did you meet the boys did you meet them in high school college what how'd you meet them charlie and i've known charlie since i think fifth grade fifth grade so long island i switched yeah me and charlie were just have just been good friends our whole lives and as we've grown we just hung out and played music and listen to music and me and charlie used to go see fish all the time in high school fucking awesome so when did it okay so charlie was the guy so it's you two started the band yeah and then ac not too, not too long after, he came into school.

I mean... Did you guys go to college together? No, we didn't. Well, we played a lot of music in high school. Yeah. Oh, so you were in a band in high school. Yeah, we were in... We had a band called Talk in high school.

With a singer. With a singer. Yeah, Alessandro. Alessandro is his name. So tell me about Alessandro. What were you guys... What type of band were you in high school? Well, we definitely played a lot of covers at first. What kind of covers?

Just saying, I don't know anything from Talking Heads to The Who to maybe probably a few Phish songs in there. What a fucking... You name it, just having fun and playing music. Dude, that's awesome. I wish I was in the jam scene at a younger age because I'm trying to play catch up learning how to improvise.

You had this root of learning guitar while learning part of a show is improvisation. Oh, definitely. Especially doing it that young too because then you got that mindset. I kind of got that mindset in my head of just just a different way to approach a live concert than i don't know more mainstream stuff you know a lot of mainstream bands like the ones that are on the radio in the 90s like i still love

seeing a lot of those bands but seeing a band like fish or even the disco biscuits live and seeing them change it up night to night just that kind of freedom and the approach to take in live music. We could put on a show, but it can also be really experimental. Like when I got a little bit older and started listening to different music, getting more into jazz and just other things and electronic stuff, just having that basis and knowing that that's always an availability and just having that spirit in your music of trying different things and trying it out live and knowing how exciting that is i think it was a cool place to come from yeah so what was your approach in high school with like what were you trying to be a jam band were you trying to be a singing band like were you trying to like be a mainstream band like what

was that thing that pop that said all right was it a band lead a guy leaving the band that made you turn into this like instrumental you know because now you're you guys do so much different layers and different different it's like musical 80d like yeah each song is like up and down left and right like what was that turning point that you wanted to make music like that i think it's all just been an organic thing since the beginning because you know we come from a place, me, Charlie and AC have just really our relationship within the band started off

as just being friends and doing it, just having fun and hanging out. So that's the, like, that's the basis of everything. Yeah. Like we've grown a lot, you know,

we've done so much together. Like even in high school, we'd be playing like a local fair. I remember one time and just like issues with like i remember there was one time we played it it was in glen cove and we're trying to park the the truck we were driving with our gear in and like yeah there was this local festival i think we borrowed it from one of our parents or something that we threw through some gear in we're trying to park it and like we were in some neighborhood and this guy comes running out of his house so you can't park in my in front of my house and it's like starts

threatening to like get a gun out we're in high school we're like super young you know just those kind of things from like back in the day this is our background and then we used to play at this spot called the funky fish in long island and it was just like a crazy scene and then you know we grew up just like then we just got hungry. We loved doing like the talent shows and everything. I think we started getting out of the basement, going and playing live. And we were like, this is fun.

And then we just, it just grew and grew. We were like, all right, where can we really play? We started playing shows in New York City. We started playing at like the Bitter End and our high school buddies would come to the show. And, you know, we'd stand outside, like on the street with our gear waiting for the band before us to finish

and then like run in. Cause you couldn't go in there cause you couldn't buy alcohol. Oh yeah, couldn't go in there. Yeah, that was the other thing too. We're playing all these venues and like. Just getting fucked up in your car. Dude, that's so awesome.

Yeah, you know, so it's like, and then it's just grown from there. It's just been, we kind of just take it as it comes and it's just really. You guys have been in a band for like fucking forever. forever i know it's always funny to think about it i've been doing the same thing with my life for uh that's great you're still not doing the same thing you you want to do the same thing right that's great i want to go back to this long island music scene because i know i i'm 30 with same age see i listen to i used to work for drive-thru records and pop punk bands like and my favorite bands were

taken back sunday brand new all these guys from long island that's like was that really heavy part of the scene or was there still room for jam bands in long island that was a heavy part of the scene and i was totally unaware of it i just was never really into that stuff and it's really funny to like come from long island and and all that stuff was happening too we were just in our own world I don't know what it was we were just doing our own thing and uh but but the thing is too is it wasn't about the business of music yet it was the the the brotherhood that you're having with your friends oh yeah totally we were just we weren't thinking like that at that point in time. It was more just, where can we play? Can we play a show? Let's write a song.

What sounds good? We had no idea what we were doing. So what was the turning point? Like, okay, this is a fun band too. Let's make this shit serious. Yeah. I think it was just, I think throughout those times in high school, it started to grow and and grow and by the time like we're all getting ready to go off to college and do our own things we were like we weren't we weren't just gonna be like well high school's over see ya you know we always stayed in touch and we always booked shows for like the breaks like thanksgiving just stay in long island after high school no i went to school in vermont at uvm oh my god so i went up there and did the thing. Yeah, dude. Burlington? Yeah, Burlington. I love Burlington, man. I'll fuck it.

Hey, dude. It's all making sense. Yeah. Now I'm figuring this out. Okay, so you went to Burlington. Where did Charlie go to school? Charlie went to NYU. So where did AC go to college?

Northeastern. He went to Northeastern in Boston. You know? Awesome. That's where AC went. But everyone did stuff involved with music too. You know, everyone was kind of like studying music. But that's pretty close.

Everything's what? How far away was each person from each other where you could still do regional stuff? Four hours? We were still close. Yeah, the Northeast is cool like that. You know, like Vermont, I was the furthest north. But we never really did shows during the semester or anything.

We would just wait until it was like break time. Then we'd all come back home and do shows in New Yorkork that's sick so college so you guys are still working on your craft you guys are kind of like it's like your your boyfriend and girlfriend like you're separated but you're still together oh always together you guys writing music like and sending it to each other through the internet yeah we were i think that's service i think that's where we kind of like developed how we still do it to this day we we do a lot where um i use like sibelius which is music notation software so it's like you just punch in the notes and it sounds like a silly midi track but it's like how i keep my

ideas down and i'll send that across to people because we used to do that when we were in college do you write up this idea most of the stuff off with the bones, or does everyone have one idea, and then you guys all kind of play with it? It varies song to song with the songwriting. Like sometimes, you know, I'll bring a song in, and it's kind of like fleshed out, top to bottom, all the parts. You already know. I mean, even still, you'll bring it to the band, and then everyone puts their own spin on it.

Explain that to the audience. Like when you're writing a song like that, when it's an instrumental, like when you talk writing a song like that when it's an instrumental like when you talk about bone to bone like what is like your concept of starting a song and finishing a song do you start with the guitar parts or do you hear like you know what i'm saying yeah totally um i think for me sometimes it's a guitar thing is it a melody because like who's there's no vocal you don't need any vocal melodies you're playing the melodies on your guitar, right? Yeah, sometimes I'm taking the melody, sometimes

AC's taking a melody on the keys. That's kind of been what we've been learning as we go throughout this whole time. AC's such a bad motherfucker. Oh yeah. Wow. So who brought Isaac into the band? Charlie met Isaac when he was going to school in New York,

in college. And he met isaac and was good friends with him then we had all met isaac because you know when we'd come back home and hang out we all were taking this seriously before you had isaac like didn't you have a singer like what did he quit or did you we well we when we all got out of school and then we were like kind of making the decision to it it just felt like we want to try this, but we kind of wanted to just figure out what the direction was, you know? And it kind of just,

we were going on our own way and trying to figure things out. And, uh, we were, we were thinking about like looking for a different singer. And then we just kind of fell into this thing in rehearsals of just, we had brought in ideas and we were like, well,

this kind of sounds cool. Like just the bare bones. And I think it it was the i think it goes back to us just knowing each other for so long and playing music together for so long where it was like anyone else who we bring into this band whether it's a singer or something it's like they're not gonna have that same connection yeah just especially with the vocalist you know like that can be the first thing that grabs people's attention and it always felt like, that's just sitting on top of like this base that we've been creating for years. So this is already here. So let's just kind of expose this for what it is. And we just, we kind of wrote some songs kind of accidentally that were instrumentals.

And then got to a point where like, this kind of works, like let's record an album, let's book some shows and see if it, you can do something like this instrument what year was that that must have been i think yeah like 2011 so this is all through those college periods where like you're still booking shows but you're all still in college did y'all graduate uh yeah we did all graduate nice and you kept the band together kept the band together the bond was too strong yeah so you had two years because you went on that i felt like everything really started taking off for you guys in 2014 when you opened for umfries so like before that you were grinding it out for two years like what were the shows like were they dead were you going through

the midwest fucking no one's up for years? Oh, man. What was it like? How hard was it? Well, it's like, it was hard, but it was fun. You know, it was a challenge. I mean, you just got to get out there. What was fun about it? Those were the best times of the touring?

Yeah, I mean, it's just fun because you're out there. You know, you're young and you're like, you know, you got to get your name out there. You got to start somewhere. So we were just booking anything and everything and and props to ac was definitely taking a lot of the a lot of the workload for booking shows and everyone was pitching a little bit but he was like grinding the emails the calls hitting up the clubs and making sure we had places to play and we were just kind of just trying to play wherever we could and I think for us like a good turning point funny enough was we were going up down to play this festival dome fest where's that it's in I think it was in Virginia

the year we played it thrown by our buddies pigeons playing ping pong to the pigeons dudes they're great man and they're they're doing good things now too but they had this festival and they hit us up on the way down and asked us if we wanted to do a late night set and we hadn't really done too many like smaller festivals and and uh so we're like we're all about it we don't care what time we'll play whenever wherever um they were doing some things there i think they were probably like a few steps ahead of us for sure. What year was this? 2013? I think so. That sounds right. I'll keep you on it. Yeah.

Something like that. Timeline. I'm all about numbers. It's all melded together. But yeah, we played that show. And I remember just like just that festival, there was a good like community there of people who support live music. And it kind of like we hit it off with some fans

and they were really into it. And then we kind of just kept going back to that region and it kind of grew out of there. And that kind of built like the original, what felt like, like the original hype to really get things going. And, um,

then, you know, did you have an agent at that time? I don't think we did. So when did you start getting, getting an agent? Like you're doing all this by yourself independently, getting your name out there.

So it took a couple years yeah we we had uh we had had worked with people before in the past but um it was really like the kind of thing where we felt like we were just putting in the work on our own you know was it a big agency or was it just a friend trying to help you out uh we were we were pretty much doing our own thing you know um so we go from there and and then we played a show one time down in Charlotte, and that's where we met our current manager, Zach McNabb. Shout out to Zach. Zach, what up, Zach?

What company is Zach with? Well, right now he's just doing his own thing. He's managing some bands. So he was booking us. He saw our show. Who else does he do? He does Consider the Source, The Mantras. He does a few other bands.

Nice. Yeah. But we were the first band that he started managing because he was booking us for a little bit. And then it was kind of going well. So we kind of decided to step things up and he took the next step with us. This is Zach.

He's collecting money as we speak right now. The manager. He's printing out that money. You met him. Where did you meet him? In Charlotte? Yeah. What was it like? Did he approach you? Did he court you? Or how was it? Yeah, pretty much. We played this show

to 20 people. I might be exaggerating. Maybe 15. I don't know you know one of those but it just the curiosity was there and uh it was just one of those one of those things you know i think at that point being a band it's for us we knew we kind of wanted to be with someone who really felt passionately about what we did because you know we're still a small band so you want someone that's hungry like you and wants to get out there and like and just help you build the thing from the ground up yeah i think that was really important to us um what was the dream that you were trying to build from

the ground up like what was your vision on who you wanted to be as a band moving forward when you have a manager who's trying to take care of that dream yeah i think the dream is still kind of what the dream is now you know it gets a little bigger year by year but it's always just we want to be a band that can be free creatively and comfortable enough to be creative you know you want to have a band that can sustain you and your your life a little bit so you can put all your energy back into what type of band do you think that is in your eyes? You know, bringing it back to what you said before, like, Umphreys, you know, you look at a band like that, and they're a really good level.

You know, they get to go out and play some pretty huge venues, and they get to live a good life, and their life is centered around a band that they love. And the whole thing can sustain itself. And, you know, you look at them them and you see how well that machine operates and just like to have it dialed in and it's like they can really focus in on the music and really do what they love and to us like that's the dream we want to live comfortably and be able to do what we love so when you're were they always a big inspiration to you umphries

uh i saw them a few times in high school and they blew my mind and then you know they were always just one of those ones on the radar and then when we kind of like connected more so how'd you connect what was how'd you get on the tour what did you do what is uh they come out to a show was it your agent connecting each other like did they because that's like a drink on true for you man that's like oh totally one of their favorite bands was they one of your favorite bands oh definitely man like they were they were in that scene that i don't like how did that how was that feeling like you're playing with the people you were looking up to and now you're at a point where you're you're there with them you're sharing the same stage was

it like hump was to you is like did that make you feel oh, this makes me hungry to do more? Did you have a satisfying, like, we made it? Are you still hungry or what? I think it's the hungry to do more, you know? But it's one of those things. You're pumped when you get that offer, and you're like, holy crap. But then you don't want to mess it up, you know? You get something like that, it kind of hits you on the head like okay

maybe we're doing something right how many dates did you do uh we did a ton we did a bunch of shows with them we've done a bunch over the years and uh we still try to link up and do some and you know we still do like the talking mcgee thing yeah it's like some of us and some of them with the jerseys and shit oh yeah we're gonna talk basketball too because my boy jack brown sophistafunk um is friends with you guys here he told me you guys can ball oh oh we can ball we'll talk just a second so unfreeze this tour so did they pivot you did that like did you feel like after that tour like your name was in your you're in the scene now and it just like your career kind of started moving upwards towards then. Did you get an agent after that or what?

Did you have an agent? Like, what was it like? Yeah, we had an agent. Um, and, uh, you know, um, I think at that point it was just, they, they really took us under their wing and we did a few shows with them and really hit it off. And then we did a really long tour with them. They took us to the West Coast and we had never been there before.

That was really huge for us. How big of rooms are they playing on the West Coast? They're playing huge rooms. They're playing beautiful rooms like theaters and stuff. It's great. You get to go to these beautiful, beautiful spots. You're the only support act? Yeah, for most of those shows.

I think the ones we did with them, we were the only support. Did that help build your hard tickets, you think all those markets oh totally i mean especially on the west coast where we had never done anything before it was just like this is such a sick opportunity because it's just an automatic foot in the door so now it's like you know we have this fall tour coming up and we're going all the way out there again you know we're hitting portland we're hitting seattle we're doing la we're doing you know all these spots that if it hadn't been for that initial like bump from doing that tour with umfries it probably would have been a way longer you would have got there but yeah it took a little longer that definitely helped damn that's crazy as a guitar player how hard is it or no how hard is it? Or no, how hard is it?

Or how important is it? Is like the tones, like your pedal board or whatever? Because our band, all we have is distortion and some fucking rock stuff. I hear all these different layers and stuff. But does that help build the dynamic of the tune? And lower the dynamic or building it up? help build the dynamic of the tune? Like, and lower the dynamic or building it up?

Like, as a guitar player, like, is that basically, that's your part of the band, right? Yeah, I mean, it's, that's one of the things that we're always developing over the years. Tones.

It's just tones, you know? Is that what gets you off, tones? Well, yeah, tones, it's part of the soup, you know? It's like you want, there's the melody. The way I look at it kind of is, usually there's a melody, and it's part of the soup you know it's like you want the there's the melody the way i look at it kind of is usually there's a melody and that's kind of like the heart of the song but you know you can have a melody that's like do do do but if you kick on this pedal or

this pedal all of a sudden it's like like you know it's it's goes into outer space and so knowing how to kick it this way or go that way you know the more the longer i play the the more pedals i try the more different things i learn as a guitar player the more i can bring into the band of like hey i know i play guitar but i can make this sound that sounds like a dying computer yeah you know because that's what the song calls for now you know it's just a matter of doing it on your own and then coming into the band and seeing how it fits into everything that's one thing charlie did a lot on the last record he started playing with pedals a ton and it was really cool here in the low end being able to go left and right with the bass oh yeah he's doing stuff oh yeah he was doing some he's doing some really cool stuff

with pedals now that's like it's just another layer it's just another avenue to go down it's another story to tell i think that helped with the sci-fi thing too it's like you layer. It's just another avenue to go down. It's another story to tell. I think that helped with the sci-fi thing too. It's like, you know, more out there stuff and knowing how to control it. Let's take this same idea and bring it into your improvisation during the live show. So do you give your time,

give your set space to do improv? Or is it just strict improv? Or do you have a set list and say, right and this song this second song third after second chorus or whatever we're gonna extend it how's that process um yeah we have we have some songs that are definitely always there's always an improvised spot and uh i think throughout like a longer tour we'll try to take those ones and really talk about how do we make it different from night to night it kind of has a life of its own just over time how do you make it different?

it's just like as a guitar player trying to do your show but being in this fucking jam scene where they're like if you play that same goddamn solo they're on your dick, dude. Like, what the... Chill out.

I don't do those things. Does that give you pressure? That's a good pressure. That's just pressure to grow. So it's like, you should challenge yourself. You shouldn't say, oh, well, this worked out one time, so let me do it every time. What's your take on how to change your solos and how to change your improvisation

so it's different every night? Listening back helps a lot. I think even just playing the shows, you kind of discover as a band your tendencies. Like, oh yeah, we usually go this way. So once you're kind of aware of that, then you can be like, well, we know we usually do this, so why don't we do something different

and see what happens if we do something totally different? Does that Isaac help control the beat like that or like is that like a big about changing making it different is it isaac trying to change the it's everyone but you know yeah if isaac goes into you know he's the backbone so if he's like all right i'm gonna bring in a like a like a swaggy swing feel on this one cool we're going there you know you can't i think the drummer is the hardest one uh it's eye contact sometimes we're bad at that sometimes we got our heads down a little too much we're getting a little too into it but we try to be as communicative right what's that especially in the improv time or who's like yeah who's normally running the ship

for the improv we try to not have it be one person that's steering the ship or like just per song yeah i mean you know there's there's sections in songs and even in jams where it's like okay ac has the lead he's taking a solo right now on the keys and so when that happens like i feel like it's my duty to make him sound as good as possible so i'm looking at him and i'm trying to just feed off of what he's doing and then he'll give that look at the end of it like all right let's get back into it yeah exactly so you got to communicate but doing it you're like years and years you kind of you build you kind of know where you're gonna go like but the mystery is why we still we still do it as as jam artists oh yeah so you know it so it's not just strictly oh we're going in there and fucking improv-ing it's more of we're improv-ing with structure.

Yeah, we always kind of want a destination. How do you feel about talking, like, as being a performer, guitar player, and, like, you basically, you're the guy talking to the audience. Yeah, Isaac got a mic on the last tour. Yeah, what happened? He's jumping in. He's jumping in? I love having the...

You're the go man. Oh, yeah. I He's jumping in. He's jumping in? I love having the... You're the go man. Oh, yeah. I've been the guy. Do you feel nervous? Do you get nervous about talking to the crowd? Sometimes it's just like, I'm like,

I don't know if I have anything to say. Can we just play the next song? But, you know, but then over time, I'm realizing I'm way more comfortable with it. And sometimes it's...

Just takes practice. After you do it a few times and you figure out how to engage the crowd a little bit more and get a little back and forth, it's actually way more comfortable with it. And sometimes it's... Just takes practice. After you do it a few times and you figure out how to engage the crowd a little bit more and get a little back and forth, it's actually way more fun. And now Isaac's doing it too and he's a good hype man too. So it's great.

Isaac's a great hype man. All right, one last question. I'll let you go. This has been fun, man. Oh, it's been good. I feel like we've been going all over the place, but there's like a... Coming back, coming back to it.

Okay, if you could describe your guitar playing in three musicians who would it be man i guess i gotta throw hendrix in there what about hendrix uh well he was definitely the one that made me fall in love with like you know the guitar is like kind of seeing what you could do with it with an electric guitar and just seeing how far out you can take things and just how loose and free you can just be on, on an instrument. You know, you listen to some Hendrix tracks and you just kind of know this dude was, he was just free when he was, when he was in it and just writing all those songs. I don't know play left hand are you left-handed no so okay hendrix who else hendrix um i always find myself going back to scofield

a bunch field i love scofield you ever meet him um no i haven't i met him like i ran into him for like a second i saw him do a set at the blue note and he was playing with brad meldow and uh mark giuliana and he was playing bass for some of it he was still playing guitar no and then i just ran him to him for a second afterwards it was like oh cool but he was just like he felt like oh fanboy like he gets always like he's just on his way out so oh man i did jam cruising last year and he want he wanted a security guard with him at all times i don't blame him he's a certain point man you know rock star you don't realize how big of a rock star he is oh yeah he should be man he's been everywhere he's like that

low-key rock star that's been on everything yeah man so you got skullfield you got hendrix there's two different styles of plants who's your third i'll throw Trey in there Trey definitely we had a huge high school you know was obsessed with fish for a minute and that led me down so many other paths musically because they were covering a lot of cool stuff so to you is Trey closer to Schofield or Hendrix or a mixture of both definitely mixture both but I probably Hendrix why why i don't know because like i don't know much about rock and roll tell me about him tell me about his guitar playing to you why you love him um i would say like man when they were just like first of all

if you listen to their songs which he wrote a lot of there's a lot going on you know and it's just cool you could tell he comes from a background of just open-mindedness musically speaking where it's like he's not just trying to do one thing is that one of the reasons why you moved to vermont um i think just no i i've been going to vermont my whole life my family's had a place up there so i've been skiing there i've just loved it you love vermont yeah and then well knowing that and then going to see UVM when I was looking at schools. Because Burlington, isn't that where they're from? Yeah, they are from Burlington.

And I happened to go there at a time when there was a lot of good music going on too, which I felt very lucky to be up there. Like Nick Casarino from Nth Power was up there playing guitar a bunch. The Rubble Bucket dudes were just graduating when I got there. Twiddle? Twiddle was – I used to play some shows with Twiddle with one of my bands. How are those guys? I've never met them. They're great. They're awesome.

I want to get him on the podcast. Get him on the podcast, man. You should. He's wildlife. He lived wildlife, too. Oh, yeah. All of them, man. They're one of those bands that's been doing it for a minute, too. Yeah. Yeah. Fucking A. This jam scene is unbelievable.

It's crazy. It's wonderful. It's a wonderful it's a wonderful are you happier in the jam scene yeah man definitely like i think of it more as yourself anywhere else well it is what it is you can't control who's gonna love your music you know why you try to do that and you go you know we play these shows and you we get to play all these festivals with it's like to me the jam scene is more about the fans than it is the bands. You just get to be surrounded by people who love

yeah it's like family and they love music. These people travel to hang out with you. Yeah. It's the coolest fucking thing dude. It's amazing man.

You did Jam Cruise? Yeah we did Jam Cruise we're doing it this year too. Oh dude us too. Yeah. Oh we're partying. Let's hang. Oh we gotta do like

a dual set or something. Yeah you're getting out there with us we're doing something. Isn't it crazy that jam cruise how i keep on talking about this whole see this whole season but it really changed my my life perspectively that and the rock boat it's uh these people just like you become family because you hang out with these people for seven days and then they just tell all their friends and it's like they're proud to be part of the growth oh it's great do you see them everywhere do they there's like a couple people

from Jam Cruise every market oh definitely around it's one of those things because it's like you can only go one place to go on Jam Cruise so you get people from all over the country favorite festival you ever played oh damn well Jam Cruise I mean if you yeah what about on land on land damn man we played some good ones electric forest is really fun summer camps always really fun when we do it yeah I don't know let your forest was super fun so it's hard to pick what about like as a patriot like if like you want to go to a festival well and you're like fuck this i have a day off but you know i shouldn't fucking watch a lot of music i'm gonna go oh i go see live music whenever i can

yeah however being a band and playing festivals and you're on the other side it's like when you're going as a patron you want to make sure you're comfortable you know i don't know if i could do like the camping out for four nights i don't know if i can do it at this point but if you had to what were to be what's your favorite what's like the coolest landscape the coolest that you've seen throughout the country like damn this is a cool campsite it's a cool well i think that's what i liked about electric forest too was that it was you know weather makes a huge difference to me because you know i'm like a sweater if it's hot if it's muggy, like, I'm miserable, man. Yeah, me too.

Like, I can't do it. Damn, you live in New York, though, in the summertime. I know, it's terrible. Jesus, Matt, thanks so much for coming on the show, man. Thank you, man. Dude, I love it.

You got any tour dates you coming up? So you're promoting the record, Shapeshifters 2, and you're going on tour probably, right? We're going on tour, hitting the road for the fall. Yeah, forever, for two months, pretty much. What else can you say?

What else can I say? What else do you want to talk about? The people know. They got to listen to the talk. They got a new record out. These guys are great guys. Thank you so much for just me bombarding your date with your girlfriend and you get on stage. That really means a lot, man.

Hey, she had a great time, man. She was dancing. I had a great time. You're a great player, man. I keep forgetting how good of a player you are and you're going to do so well. Whatever you do, man.

Thank you very much, man. Love you, buddy. Thanks for being on the show. Hell yeah. Thanks, bud. And now, a message from our sponsor. Ever have swamp ass so bad

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Blue Delta jeans. Let your junk breathe. And there you have it. Another episode in the books. Another European tour to conclude. You know the year is coming to an end when you've done 226 shows and it's coming up to Christmas again. I can't believe it's fucking the holidays again. Where does time go? I'm sitting, it's

early morning now in Bamberg, Germany, last day of our tour. And I'm trying to figure out where does all the fucking time go? God damn. It's been fun hanging out with Vince. It's been fun hanging out with the European boys. I don't get to see them much anymore. So that was good to see them. It's just been a good year. This band's going really well.

Happy we put out this podcast. We're like 30 plus episodes in now. People are still listening. Fucking awesome. That's it. That's all I got for you. It's great having Vince on the show for a couple episodes. And it's nice for you to see what shenanigans we get ourselves into out here,

being the crazy Americans that all the Europeans really like. Went to a concentration camp recently. Sorry to bring it down a notch, but shit, man, that was sad. I cried a little bit, and it's pretty intense stuff, but take care of each other. That's who I learned from this. You never know who's dealing with shit. Ask people for help if you need help, and just take care of one another. Look out for each other. Life is too short not to take care of your friends, your family, and this planet. So be safe out there. Subscribe to the podcast.

We're going to do one more show this season for holidays. Do a little Christmas Hanukkah Kwanzaa style thing next week. Then I'm going to take a couple weeks off because it's going to be Christmas and New Year's Eve. I'm playing in China. And then we'll start season two in January. It's going to be badass. Got a lot of very, very cool guests that I'm interviewing throughout the wintertime on our

breaks. That's going to blow your mind. I can't believe I even got them, but that's it. That's all I could say for you. I love you guys. Thanks for being there for me. Thanks for listening to us. And this is only the beginning. Life's short, but take advantage of every step you can and take advantage of the moments when you are in complete presence, because that's the times we have the best times. So be safe out there. Follow your guts. don't forget to comb your hair, wear a condom, fall in love 30,000 times, and let's enjoy life.

Because you never know when it's your turn to leave the party. Arno, give me that sweet voice, and I'll see you guys next week. Love you. Well, thank you for listening to episode 30 of Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast, produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelhauer, and Chris Lawrence, with a special guest co-host, Vince Herman from Leftover Salmon. 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 frescoandyedi. For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to erniefresco.com. For more information on our guests, the Litz Brothers from the band Litz, L-I-T-Z. Please head to funkylitzmusic.com. Matt Jobert from Talk, please head to talklitzmusic.com. Matt Jobert from Talk, please head to talkband.com. Talk, T-A-U-K, band.com. Check out Andy's new single,

Change of Pace, on iTunes and Spotify, and everywhere else you can stream music. This week's special guests are Ari Feindling, Vince Herman, the city of Bamberg, Germany, and Arno Bakker. May your life be as sweet as ours. For the Mars Brow Brewery provided us with Schweinefleisch and beer.

The city of Bamberg provided lusty women, and there was much singing. Fröhliche Weihnachten to you all.