Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 38: Jeremy Salken (Big Gigantic)

Episode Date: March 12, 2019

This episode is all about growth and evolution. Shawn Eckels, Andy’s bandmate and guitarist for the U.N., is our co-host. We find out more about Shawn; how he joined the band, and hear about clashes between this episode’s co-hosts. On the interview hour, Andy sits down with Jeremy from Big Gigantic. Jeremy tells us about his journey as a musician, the roots of Big G, and what’s going on with the band today. This is Episode 38. 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. Keep up with the inimitable, Big Gigantic at www.biggigantic.net Check out Andy's new album, "Change Of Pace" on iTunes and Spotify Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Arno Bakker Greg Ormont Floyd Kellogg Shawn Eckels Tobi Eckels   Ahri Findling  Todd Glass

Hello! This is Professor Andy Frasco, PhD from EDM University, and this is a segment we'd like to call... Fuck It! Just Dub It! On today's lesson, we are going to be analyzing and exploring the dub potential of all things Disney music. of all things Disney music. We have our colleague Gregory Armont, a music theater professor from the college Pigeons Playing Ping Pong University, who will sing a Disney song of his choice, and we will see if we can actually dub it.

Shall we get started? Greg, you're on the clock. Can you feel the love tonight? You're on the clock. Living things Can you feel the love? When we look too far But the force in life ignites a rage In short, our pal is doomed Is doomed And we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. We are in Louisville, Kentucky.

I am, it's a very honor to have this man on the show. He's been in my band now for eight years. Eight, nine years. We have Sean Eccles, our guitar player, on the rocking with us tonight as my co-host. What's up, Sean? Wow. What'd you do last night?

I did it. We did it. We did it. I like doing these. I was going to think about when I could do this with Sean, you know, get him a couple drinks in before I, you know, totally analyze his life here. Goosey, baby.

So we took a couple shots this morning. Had a beer. We're ready to do this. Are you ready? I'm ready. No idea. Sean, how we doing, buddy? We're good. How you doing? It's been a great week. It's been a great week. How you feeling about the album release and stuff? It's been amazing.

Everybody's singing songs. We've had killer shows, changing the setup. Okay, enough about that. Let's get into the nitty gritty here. Here we go. Sean and I have been through a lot. Sure have, pal. From being...

I think you've almost, how many times have you strangled me, Sean? Only once. Why did you strangle me? I don't remember the exact reason, but nobody knows how to press my buttons more than you do, buddy. You know why?

Because we're the same person. Yeah, I think so. I think so. You know how to find that button because you're me and I'm you. I know. This is what happens when you get a bunch of guys who but let's, how did this start?

I'm starting to figure out. The strangling. Not the strangling, but like how did we start? How did we become a band? Was it Ben Miller? Doug DeSherry from Ben Miller Band. I played on Wednesday nights at Patton Alley Pub in Springfield, Missouri. Yes. With Doug and the Solar Pals.

You were in a band called Speakeasy. Yes. And this is a side band, like a regular Wednesday gig. It was me and a couple of Marcus and Ryan from Speakeasy. And we added Doug to the mix, doing covers. And he goes, my buddy Andy Frasco is looking for a gig on a Wednesday. He doesn't want any money. I was like, tell me more.

The gig. You came through and you guys were crazy. It was you and Chang. Did we have a guitar player? Schwa. Oh, yeah. Schwa, Olsen, and Romero. So why'd you pick us?

What did you see in us? You had crazy energy. It was fucking like balls to the wall. There was nobody in the fucking bar. I was like, this guy's putting it out. All right. All right. And then you came back.

I don't remember how it went down, but you came back through and it was just you and you sat in with us and shit. Remember when we made Hobies? Oh, the guy's putting it out. All right. All right. And then you came back. I don't remember how it went down, but you came back through and it just you and you like sat in with us and shit. We made homies. Oh, the solar panel show. Yeah. And Speakeasy was slowing down and you're like, hey, come do Tulsa. And like, I don't know where else.

Tulsa and Fayetteville or something. Because you were gigging hard with Speakeasy. Oh, yeah. 15 years. 15 years? Yeah. Those guys started having kids and stuff. We slowed down.

And I was kind of splitting duties with them and you. Just kind of doing weekends. How hard was that? What's that? Splitting duty? No, no. How hard is it feeling like the band that you were working hard with for 15 years was slowing down? It was a heartbreaker. It was like, I mean, because on an uphill, we were

doing stuff. It was always progressing slower and then it just started dismantling. Managers quit. Booking agents quit. It was always progressing slower, you know, but, and then it just started dismantling, you know, managers quit, booking agents quit, went back to me booking everything and doing everything. And then, you know, the guys started having kids, and they're like, can't do Thursdays anymore. I was like, oh, you know.

So we just couldn't, we were regional, and had to stay like St. Louis, from Springfield. So was it driving you crazy to stay in Springfield without having a full brand? I had like three jobs and gigging just in Springfield. I thought I was toast. Thank you, brother. You saved my fucking ass.

I got a second chance to go do all this shit. Well, no, you make way less money now than you ever have. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I made about the money.

If it was about the money, I wouldn't do this. That's true. Don't be a musician if you're looking to make money. How hard is it to keep a band together? We fought a lot.

We stuck it out. We stuck it out. We stuck it out. I'm surprised I'm still in your band. Dude, I remember one time, Sean Eccles tried to strangle me. He tried to date our booking agent for a little bit, and I was not having that at all. And one day, just, I was, you know,

like I said, me and Sean. Whatever it is, you know where that button is. Let's get back to the button. God damn, you know how to press that button. Just give it a little flick. It was late. We were showing up at the hotel. I flew over. I regret doing that too.

You jumped over the fucking seat and strangled me and said, I will end you. There was a little rage bottled up in there. What was the rage about? I don't know. What were you trying to do? I bottled up in there. What was the rage about? I don't know. What were you trying to do? I was just reacting right there, but I was trying to figure my life out.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean. What were you trying to figure out? I got out of a long relationship, and it was a bad mix. Bad breakup. And stayed in it longer instead of addressing it, drinking a whole lot, whatever. And that was in the instead of addressing it. Drinking a whole lot. Whatever.

And that was in the middle of all that. Moved to Colorado. Just went on the road with you. So do you want to... Instead of dealing with a lot of stuff, I just kept going. You know what I mean? Did you feel like you're going to stay in Springfield forever? That's what I was worried about.

That's what I started feeling like. So I was like, man, I got to get the fuck out of here. Yeah. Like no disrespect to Springfield. Just for me and wanting to be a guitar player and tour. It was like I felt stuck and I think I was reacting to that.

And as a person that is always wants to grow, you know, it's not about the fucking city. You could have been stuck in LA. You could have been stuck in New York. It doesn't matter. If you've been there too long. You get stuck in the rut, you're not progressing. You got to change.

So like, then you dealt with that thing. I think that was, ever since then, you've only tried to quit on stage twice now. What do you mean? Buffalo. I was picking you. I was picking you. Albany. When I just started picking you.

That was crazy too. But we get over that shit pretty quick. Well, that's what true friends do. They always say the people you love can hurt you the most. Or you can hurt the people you love the most. It's kind of that thing. Being able to get under each other's skin. If you didn't know somebody so well, you wouldn't be able to

do it anyway. There's a much bigger picture to the whole thing. That's what I'm saying too. When you're going through these tribulations where we're fucking broke, we have no money, and we're in fucking Europe or we're in some town on a Tuesday that

no one's showing up. How do you get through the struggle? Thank God you have friends to do it with. Even if they're pissing you off that day. I do it too. Come on. Everybody does it. But you know even when that shit's happening in the back of your head

that you got each other's back and shit. Always. And I pick on you because I ask a lot from you. I do. I do ask a lot from you because I ask a lot from you. I do. I do ask a lot from you. And I ask a lot from this band. We play every day.

And I sometimes can't control my stress sometimes. And I want to apologize. I get it when you take it out on us. The more we do this shit too. Or me. I take it out on you because you're the only one who can get it. I can't take it. Sometimes I can handle that shit.

I'm like, all right. I can't take it out on Andy. Andy will bark back. I see him do that to you. I try to do it. It doesn't work the same. No, no. You get like,

don't fucking talk to me. I'm like, oh man, that didn't work. So I just shut the fuck up. No, well, you shouldn't shut the fuck up. You should express how you feel towards anyone, especially when you're living with someone. So what's the hardest part about being a traveling musician, you think? The hell of not being home.

And being going to want to be with her all the time. You know? I mean, before, like, before I never, I was like, I am never having kids. I am never getting married. Now it's like, hell yeah, I'm getting married. I don't know. I think that's just being happy.

Do you feel like you're genuinely the happiest you've ever been? Hell yeah. And on the way to being happier. Yeah, the band. I'm so happy with the band. Unbelievably happy with how your life's going. Now we just gotta make some money. My family's awesome. All you guys are the best.

Well, we always have each other's backs, even through all those tribulations. I mean, that's all about... Same thing. Us going through tough times. It's like we made the band better and tighter. Yeah, I feel like I'm like your side chick. No sex.

No sex. But it's serious, though, man. Because, you know, like, talking about keeping a band together. This is what this episode is about. It's a five-headed relationship. And that you can't fuck. You can't fuck each other.

So there's no release. No, there's no release at all. It's crazy. But like, this is the longest relationship. I think as in relationship-wise, you and Ernie are the longest relationships I've ever had in my life. It is. Besides, yeah, and you can't count your family on it.

You can't count your family on that. Yeah, it is the closest thing and the longest relationship you've had in my life. It is. Besides, yeah, and you can't count your family on it. You can't count your family on that. You always got family. Yeah, it is the closest thing and the longest relationship you've had. For sure. Let's talk about your brother. You and your brother always like, was there like, did you want to be him?

He played guitar and he was, you know, he's four years older. I was his little annoying brother when he was in like ninth grade. Like what made you play with such angst on the guitar? Metal. Yeah just the energy where'd that come from is it from being joel and i got hooked up with this guy who i mean joel's already kind of playing guitar but a couple

couple really key players and like our musical tastes were these these guys we lived on a military base in iceland i was in sixth grade joel was in like 10th grade. This is like 1989 to 91. And Joel had the guitar or whatever. We had a classical guitar and this little shitty Strat, Sears Strat or whatever. And we knew like every rose has its thorn and like guns to rose patience or something. And we met this dude, Chris Sennett. He was my brother's age. He was on bass.

Joel, we had like cassette tapes for all you millennials. Yeah. That's how we listened to music back then. The first generation cassette tapes, not the second gen that all these

fucking hipster bands are doing now. Fuck Joel. And he had like Madonna tapes, blah, blah, blah. We had Guns N' Roses and everything.

But this guy, Chris Sennett goes, hey man, let's trade tapes. Takes all my brother's tapes like Fat Boys and all this shit and just tosses them

and gives us Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and all that shit. I don't know. And that was when my brother and I became friends so whatever he music he was feeding me were you guys always fight each other like when you become friends like later in life no it was just that was just like young being siblings like when we moved overseas we had to

be friends because nobody knew anybody else how hard is it your parents are so super supportive about all the music things you've ever done like They're the best. It's so good. We became way close through music. We started playing music together. Then he went off to college and he thought I'd give it up like I gave everything up. He comes back and I'm in a metal band. Long ass hair.

Metal is the whole energy thing. The first time you play in front of a crowd. I have my 8th grade talent show video. It's like we're playing a Metallica song i do this like and you hear these little eighth grade girls go you see my head pop up it's like that's the moment i'm gonna be a rock oh yeah and unbelievably i still play guitar we get to do it for a living it's yeah it's pretty dope you know and like you moved to denver which i'm proud of. I didn't think you'd ever get out of fucking Springfield. If I didn't do that, I'd probably be stuck.

You'd be stuck? I'd say that to anybody. It's like, you need a change in your life. Move out of your hometown. Take a chance. Move somewhere. Meet new people. Put yourself out of your comfort zone.

That's how you grow. Yeah. Speaking of growing, why do you think we need to get out of our comfort zone? To not get stuck. I mean, I was literally feeling my feet were stuck in mud. Because you were just gigging every day. Well, my band that was touring, we were doing festivals and everything. It was just an impossibility to keep doing it the way that we were doing it

when it was seemingly successful and releasing albums and doing the whole thing. It was like, fuck, we're just not. We can't hit the road hard. If you can't hit the road hard and you're just a regional band, are you doing it all the way? And then we just couldn't go farther than a five-hour radius. I was like, fuck, fuck, fuck. Here came Andy motherfucking Frasco.

Save my ass. But you were basically me in Speakeasy. You ran everything. Is it hard to take a step back and just think about being a band member man not not at all and i seriously it was a relief because i mean shit we we're creative together and yeah we play this band works different than other bands like that like how so explain that i mean we're you mean beats like, we all kind of sing the way we're all lead singers. Yeah.

And so that comes into this band. Like, you know, we're all powerful singers. We trade verses and stuff like that. So it's like whatever, you know, ego stroke I need from lead singing all night long, I'm fine with singing a verse here and there and singing harmony. You know, it's just, I love being in a band more than anything. Me too. It's like having a crew, growing with it,

and seeing it grow. Like this tour, I feel like just releasing the album and everything, everything feels different. It feels great. It feels like there's some energy. You can see the road we just drove down. It was a long fucking road. Yeah.

Now we're here. Now we're at this spot, and it's different. It's fucking cool, man. Yeah. It took you 15 years to get to this point? 20. 20.

I started playing when I was 19. I'm 40 now. And I've been doing it since I was 19 years old. Fake ID. Fucking awesome. Yeah. I'm starting to be happier.

What can I do to be a better friend slash bandmate? Date a girl. Date a girl? Check it out, man. Yeah? Put your feelings out there.

Why? I don't know. I've always wondered. I mean, I know your ass. But like, seriously, what can I do to be a better friend and to be a better bandmate? Do I need to like go to soundcheck more? Do I need to like keep you involved? Do you think I'm doing an okay job now?

Better than like three years ago when we used to fight. We used to fight a lot, you know? It was bickering stuff and you thought I was trying to flex or try to... That's how I feel like it,

honestly. I feel like you're like, oh, this guy, he's older than me, he's been doing it longer. I need to show him that I'm doing it too. And it's like,

they were never about that. It's like, it's about doing it together the best. Well, I get irritated when like, I got some solo gigs. It's like, you know, it's about doing it together. The best. Well, I get irritated when like, so I got, I got some solo gigs. I got to do some solo gigs.

And you know, it's like, fuck, you know, like when you have to do that, but then I booked myself and I go, fuck. Yeah.

You book all, you book yourself. Does it stand busy? You need to be busy, dude. Yeah. Toby knows too. It's like,

I mean, and anyway, it's like, when you say you want to be home still. No, I do. I do. I know. And then busy? I do. Yeah. Toby knows too. It's like, I mean, in any way, it knows me. Because when you say you want to be home. No, I do. I do. I know.

And then look what I do. You book yourself every fucking day. Almost every day. Dude, I like, if I'm one day at home, two days at home without playing,

you know, music or something, about that third day, I get the itch. I don't know. I think it's something to do with feeling like if I don't keep playing

every day, I'm going to lose something about it. You know what I mean? Lose your edge on it. It's kind of like touring. If we stop touring, like you said, if you stay in this one town

and I don't fucking go out there and see new people and do new things, I'm going to lose it. Whatever that is. Whatever it is. It doesn't have to be. There's a spark to it for sure. And staying relevant, getting older,

and staying relevant and staying young through it there's a fear of being like I used to be in a band I don't ever want to say that I want to be like I'm playing tomorrow I don't know you know what I mean

I totally agree I'm a lifer too you get addicted to it what did Shira say? Bliss junkies or whatever she said? Yeah. You get addicted to that.

The highest high of all highs is the show high. Yeah. Seriously. And you're like playing for people and it's like, you feel like you're floating, man. It's fucking amazing.

So you want that feeling to keep happening. I'm proud of you though, Sean. I've seen you grow. Proud of you, homie. But I just want to say thanks for riding with me thanks for having my back

I'm sorry I'm an asshole at times me too that was a high five that was a high five but like really I love you guys so much and all I do is

think about you guys and sometimes when I'm fucking when you're in a bad mood it puts me in a bad mood yeah like and the only reason why I'm in a bad mood

is because I want to elevate our band that's all I care about is this band there's frustration and you don't know where the next step is and then you find it.

It gets frustrating. This thing is not, there's no rule book for this shit. Yeah. You just go. You just trudge through it. Yeah, there's no,

I didn't have a, you don't study for this shit. You don't know that, oh shit. Somebody says to me that, they go, younger musicians in Springfield

or something like that, they're like, dude, I want to be a touring musician. How do I do it? I go, fuck, if I know. I said, take every gig and play with every motherfucking gig. Play with everybody you can. Get gain experience. Take every gig. Don't say no.

It's a numbers game, you know? You got to keep playing. That's how you master something. Beat it to death. Do it so much that it's like... Well, I think that's also why we're at where we're at because we did the work. We did with me and you, 10,

8 years, every day for 10 and a half months. That kills relationships, dude. When you counted the shows last year, you're like, 234. I was like, Jesus. That's so much. It's crazy. I just say thanks. It's amazing. I love it. I just want this to keep growing.

And I'm so thankful you didn't try to kill me in Europe. And stat, you know, because I really, I saw the red in your eyes. I know. And now, ever since then, I try not to push. It's all good. Whatever. Even though we were on Mushrooms one day, and I was on stage, and I was just, it was day one. Always day one of tour.

Sometimes. That was definitely day one. I poke everyone and he was singing, I quit! It was crazy. You were in the crowd talking shit to me and I was on stage talking shit to you. I didn't really know what was going on.

I felt like when boxers do the weigh-in. Yeah, except it was real. It was real life. But it's okay. I mean, that's the thing. People who say their bands don't fight, they're fucking lying. Yeah, come on. Every band goes through shit.

Like the Turquoise Cats. So impressive that they have that many people on the road. They pretty much get along really well. They're all so cool. But it's like, you know, it goes down. Something goes down. Since there's like 14 of them,. But it's like, you know it goes down. Something goes down. Since there's like 14 of them, you get in a fight with Hobie here, you're like,

I'm just going to hang out with the other ones. Think about it like you got in a fight with a trio band or something. Dude! Speaking of which, it was a trio. Oh yeah, you were. You were damn straight. Any fights? What was the biggest fight? Just the same kind of shit. You're like brothers.

Hungover. Creative stress. Trying to write a song. It's like, because somebody wants it this way or that way. So you look back and it's like,

there's a much mellower way to approach that. But you know, when you're young and you write music, you give a fucking shit about it. Yeah. It's the same thing.

It's brotherly sibling stuff. Yeah. You got the bigger picture is that you're in a band together. You're going to do it. It's not going to end your hang. There's no destination to this, I realize. And don't have one.

Don't have a destination. If you're looking for a goal, it's not going to be achievable. The whole thing is doing it, I think. I think so, too. Just going out to every fucking town and just try to be better and better every day it's like it's like taking your shots at the basketball court you know or or for my case trying to find that

one girl that i will it's gonna be hard you overthink everything yeah yeah i know but what can i do you know i'm so you know me sean i'm a do? You know? You know me, Sean. I'm a fucking crazy asshole. Just get to know somebody. Yeah, I can't even get to know myself sometimes. You're doing better. I'm doing better. So that's the same thing.

Just go dig in, man. Yeah, I got to dig in. But I'm so excited. I got to hang out with Jeremy. And those guys are cool. Did you hang out with Jeremy at Jam Cruise? I don't think I think he was at our show he came to our show

from B.J. Ginn who was he with there he was just hanging oh cool I had no idea I did not expect my homegirl Allie was like

oh my god you guys you're drinking the haterade this band is so good I'm like I'd never listened to the band before because I knew

I'd probably like it because they got sax and shit Ernie you know I love saxophones but then I finally listened to it and it's dope got sax and shit. Ernie, you know, I love saxophone. But then I finally listened to it and it's dope. Were they at M3 Fest when we played Phoenix? Weren't they?

If they were, I didn't want anything to do with it. Because that's the drummer along with the DJ, right? That's Jeremy. Oh, that was the dude. Yeah, he was dope. Yeah, I was just being a hater. And that happens. That's jealousy.

That's exactly what we're talking about. Because we want to be somewhere where we're not, and we see other people do it, and it's like... Yeah, we want to be in front of 10,000 people. Yeah, you feel like an asshole about it. But as we get older, I'm getting less jealous. I feel like if... And thank God everything's...

I was so jealous. The way it's happening for us. But it's like... Insecure and jealous. Whatever achievement we've pulled off and level we're at with our band, I'm so happy and I love that we can just be our band and you can respect anybody doing the hustle

and doing the game. Genre aside. Yeah, seriously. But that comes, if we were still grinding and we didn't get any, if we were still playing like these fucking Tuesday fucking chicken night

and fucking flixie, we'd be hating everybody still. Wait a second, we've been doing this shit for 10 years? No, but... Playing behind chicken wire? What the fuck? We've come a long way, Sean. I'm proud of you.

You and me have come a long way. Not even just musically, just as people, I really think. I think we've become... Thank God. Thank God. We used to be wild fucking animals. Yeah. Fucking crying. Crazy. I think we become, thank God. We used to be wild fucking animals. Yeah.

Fucking cry. Oh, fuck. Well, I love you, man. Let's listen to the interview with Jeremy. And also we have a world premiere of Mr. And Mrs. Eccles is going to be on the show doing a duet. I didn't tell you this.

This shit is dope. Yeah, dude. He showed, when Sean sent me this song, because Sean writes all the music for all the covers and the songs, all the dirty songs. Sean writes all the fucking songs for the shows. There's somewhere for me to put this. For the podcast.

Thank God for the podcast. There's somewhere to put these dope songs. And the cover stuff is cool. Yeah. The John Prine team. Yeah. It's a duet. Yeah, a duet.

And Toby, his wife. We went out to dinner and had a drink. And I was like, come on, get on the mic. And she did it, yeah. The John Prine team. Yeah. Yeah. It's a duet. Yeah, a duet. And Toby, his wife. We went out to dinner and had a drink and I was like, come on, get on the mic. And she did it, man. I saw the Instagram photo, but I didn't put one. I thought you were doing a duet with your mother. You said Mrs. Edmonds. I know. I was like, no, no. I'm like, we're gonna have to. The new Mrs. Edmonds. Yeah, the new Mrs. Edmonds. Well, you're gonna hear that after the interview, but

I love you, bro. Thanks for being in my life and you've made me a better person. Thanks for being in my life. And I apologize made me a better person. Thanks for being in my life. And I apologize for poking at you. We wouldn't be here if you didn't. Okay. Love you. I love you, too. Let's listen to Jeremy.

Enjoy it. Boom. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we got another tribesman. Two Jews, one interview. This is going to be a gangbang of musical Jewishness. We got Jeremy, a.k.a. Jew Unit, from motherfucking Big Gigantic.

Once again, was drinking the haterade on this band too. Not because I didn't like them musically. I didn't even give them a chance. I was just jealous. They always had all the hottest girls rocking their shit and dancing. They were super successful, starting to get super successful when I was still sleeping on couches and getting pink eye and shit. Now that we finally hung out, I finally get it. They've been gigging it hard for 12

years, 10 plus years. They basically followed the same path we did. We started building our fan base in Fayetteville. Hey, Chris, why don't you play some Big G while I'm hyping up Jeremy? Yeah. Built Fayetteville together.

They got huge. They did the Walker Russo scene and that South was really big for them. And then he was dating Jenny Garth, yo. 90210, he was in the tabloids, dude. It was, ah. So shout out to Jeremy. Jew unit, you're the man.

And then I finally listened to their music and I get it now you know i love sax i love good drummers you know the dj thing i'm starting to get accustomed to in the mixing so bear with me as i as i learn about it but um this band's good i really like it and uh no bullshit here um but yes, me and Jeremy have a lot of things in common. He took me out to his sushi when I was in Denver. Shout out to that. Thank you. That bomb as fuck. And it was his birthday last week.

So shout out to you, my man. Happy birthday. If anyone is seeing him, wish him a happy birthday. He's a good cat. Fucking love just getting to know this guy. And it all happened, once again, in Jambres. So enjoy the interview. Let's listen to some Big G for a little bit.

And I will catch you on the tail end. Okay. And we're fucking here. Another one. We got, this is big. This is big for me. You're a big deal. We got Jeremy. All I knew you from is Jew Unit from Instagram, from Big Gigantic.

I call you Jew Unit. What do you want me to call you? Jay Dizzle? Jay Dizzle works. Jeremy, Jerome you jew unit what do you want me to call you jay dizzle jay dizzle works uh jeremy jerome sulkin whatever you want man make up a new make up a new name what you got i'll be honest i was always salty about your band you're salty yeah just because you guys threw a fucking party and i was just like fuck these guys man these guys and then i actually like how could you say that of all people? You throw a freaking bar mitzvah party every single time.

I watched. I watched. I mean, I look into the eyes of people who dig bands and see how much they dig a band. Yeah. And all your fucking fans really dig you. Oh, man. Hell yeah. We love them.

They're the best. Dude, you're the best. Okay. I'll be honest because i'm like oh my friend ali is like she's like yeah you got big g is life man big g is life i'm like okay okay i get it i get it then she just kept on saying it i think she's doing to piss me off and then i was like big g yeah and then i realized wait a second i listen to music these homies got saxophone You got funk bass It's like

I was like Trying to stereotype you Into this Oh this fucking EDM world Yeah And it wasn't Fuck EDM It was funk

Yeah Dude I mean that's where It comes from a place of love And It's fucking awesome We're We

Dom and I grew up Playing music Playing our instruments Together No we didn't grow up together But So where are you from Let's get your story bud

I'm from I'm from Virginia. What part? Richmond. Nice. Yeah. So I grew up in RVA and Dom grew up in Vegas. Really?

Las Vegas. Yes, sir. Vegas, like killer style. Like Brandon Flowers and all those guys. Working in Vegas must be. So was he working in Vegas? No, he just

He like grew up there and then went to College in Arizona At Flagstaff and then did like a masters He's got his masters In jazz performance He's a badass He's awesome You remind me so much of Deitch

Oh really? Oh yeah Adam's the man But I used to You remind me so much of Deitch, dude. Oh, really? You and Deitch, homies? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Adam's the man. But I used to almost follow Deitch around back in the day. Yeah. I saw him at Telluride Jazz Festival almost 15 years ago. And was into the Uber Jam album with Schofield and all that.

And was like, I want to be like this guy when I grow up. You know what I mean? And now he lives in Denver. So we like, dude, we're dogs, man. And I'm still like trying to get a lesson from him. Let's talk about that Denver scene. I mean, like you're, I mean, your band's big everywhere, but I feel like Colorado is just like big G, a nation, dude.

That's our home, yeah. Yeah, so like explain, like like how why did you guys pick Denver is that how you met Dom give me the lowdown we uh yeah Dom and I met in Boulder actually through the motet

he used to play sax in the motet shut the fuck up oh yeah that's how I like that's how we met and and the first time we actually played together

was on Jam Cruise like Jam Cruise 4 or something I was just on as a passenger. So you've been gigging for like 12 years with Dom? Big G has been a band for 10.

And yeah, we just reached our decade mark. So yeah, thank you man. It's cool. But yeah, before that I was working for the motet. I was like a crew guy and like would schlep gear and help drive a van and sold merch and set up dave's drums and at the time i was just like trying to

study with dave pretty much i was like how can i hang out with dave watson and you know is that one of your inspirations he yeah he's one of the dudes mean, there's a lot of guys from like, from Fishman to him to old jazz drummers. What did he teach you? A little of everything. What did you learn most from him? Dude, well, I never got to, I never got a lesson from him. I used to bug him about it.

At one point I had his, I would like go to these like motet playground shows that they did at little bars, you know, Dulcinea's and Coyote's and all these bars in denver they would do like a wednesday thing where they would just play a bunch of like herbie hancock stuff and whatever and i would try to be like hey like my name's jeremy i play drums too you know like i'd love to get a lesson and he would never remember me like 10 times well this But you were with Moody too. Well, this was pre, yeah, before that.

Sorry, my bad. And then I remember one time I finally got his number. He was like, yeah, give me a call. Let's do something. And I call him and he picks up and he's like confused. I can just tell he's like, who's this? I'm like, oh, it's Jeremy. We like met at Dulcinea.

I wanted to play drums. I wanted to get a lesson or whatever. He's like, oh man, I thought you were my mom because she has the same area code. That's why he answered. Maybe that's why you got the gig. I think that's stuck in his head. Oh, fucks to my mom. Yep.

Oh, shit. You got to pick up. Wow, fascinating. Yeah, and he's the dog. And then Dom and I met. We ended up living together. And then he got a computer. And it all was fucking over after that

okay so tell me about this computer thing so what are you guys how you how you how you writing songs he so when we lived together he got this like white macbook from jans ingber who used to sing with the motet there's like all this motet connection like everything kept kind of coming back to that and he would make beats and I could hear him in his room doing whatever he'd be and he'd be like, dude, check out this Questlove hip-hop thing that I just made. Then he got better at it. As he was doing that,

we started jamming in the basement and just set up a speaker. Let's play over this beat. Then he was like, I want to start this project. You need to play drums. We're going to call it Big Gigantic. This is the fucking deal. He had the vision, the idea.

And he was writing every day, all day. And learning. Was the drum and DJ sax thing... Because I feel like you guys invented that shit. It had all started around then. Because Dijs was doing something, what? Pretty Lights or something? He did then, kind of. Because Dyche was doing something, what? Pretty Lights or something? He did Pretty Lights kind of later.

Pretty Lights started in Colorado, too. And at that time, Derek had a drummer in his band. And the drummer was playing over the beats, a similar thing. And we would go see them. And then we'd go see Sound and then we go see sound tribe and numa trio and like all these all these cats and and we're like man we we want to do this like throw up a dance party but play our instruments and like do you know our nerdy jazz shit and play at seven and play over the bar and kind of like geek out, but make it accessible for people that wanted to dance.

And like, it's been an experiment the whole time. And it's 10 years later, we're still like figuring it out. As a drummer, is it hard to always play on a track? Don't you want to sometimes go somewhere else and like the track is running? Yeah, you can't. If you go somewhere else, it'll sound terrible. Yeah, so what do you do in those moments

when you want to to do something experimental? It's crazy. I'm pretty much self-taught. Fuck yeah. Jeremy Jews! This is going to be good. Yeah. When I was a kid, I would literally put headphones on and just play to whatever music I was into.

I was super into Dave Matthews because I was from Virginia. And Carter is like an inspiration. And learning their songs, I learned like so many different styles of music and time signatures. But I would just play to that. So I got used to playing to a track.

I was just listening to like an album and playing along to their songs. Oh, yeah. And so then when we had to do this, I was like, I've been doing this since I was like fucking 10 years old. I know how to do this shit. If there's anything I can do, it's play.

Do you feel comfortable? Yeah, yeah. Super comfortable. And I have track and I've click in my ears once we got our like system upgraded. But you guys have a whole fucking light show that goes with the show too. That's a whole, yeah. You guys are a fucking machine. It's a machine, yeah.

You guys are a fucking machine. It's a machine, yeah. It's built up from my Subaru to a semi-truck and fucking bus and all that. We carry things. We'll talk about this show in a little bit. I want to talk about the music. So Dom gets these ideas, blah, blah, blah. So he's the guy. He brings them to you.

Okay, we're going to add a different beat to this, blah, blah, blah. So do you test out a stand- yeah so do you test out like a stand-up or would you test out these songs to a crowds or do you record them right when you feel them and put it out say fuck it it's it's a little bit it's mostly the kind of like almost jam band mentality of like playing tunes live and kind of getting them like he'll he'll make a track whether we're on the road or he's at his house or wherever. And he'll be like, dude, I got a new song.

Like let's run it at rehearsal and try and play it tonight. See how it is. And we'll do that. And then he'll be like, okay, I want to make the chorus shorter. I want to do this solo section, whatever. And so a lot of tunes get like workshopped over a year or over six months before they make it to the album. And then there's some tracks that he just writes and then we like debut it when the album comes out.

So it's a little bit of both. Is it easier to write on the road because it's all computers and stuff? I mean for him, I think kind of. But at the same time, like to get in the headspace of being able to write, it's like, it's a process. It's hard to ride on the road, right? Yeah, yeah. Because your mind's distracted.

Yeah, it's distracting. And you're just like in this weird time warp of like, you don't know what day it is. You don't know where you are. And unless you have like a full studio in a bus or something where you could just walk in and like everything's ready. Yeah. I think it'd be difficult. But at the same time, if you just

get an idea and you start rolling with it, he tweaks a lot on the road. There's a lot of tweaking. So fine-tuning. Fine-tuning. You feel a little bit here, a little bit there. I feel like you have a show. You always have this Rowdy Town thing.

Now you're doing fucking 3D and shit. Yeah. So like you're always thinking about the next show for the year or the show for the season. Like how do you approach a live show? Yeah, the set for the, is it like, oh, this is Red Rocks,

this is the show we're doing for Red Rocks. This is the tour. Well, Red Rocks is its own like monster that we, because it's a two night thing and Rowdy Town is like, we prepare for it all year. Try to get the set super dialed because we get content made specifically for that. Especially with 3D, it has to go together.

How tough is that? It fucking takes forever. Who does that? Who designs something like that? It's our whole team. Our manager, Ben. Our manager's also Hebrew. Ben Baruch.

Tribe. Yep. He's the man. He's not. Jewish by association. Jewish. Jewish. Exactly.

So, yeah, our manager plays a huge part. He's like... What's his name? Ben Baruch. Okay. What's his Instagram handle again? Don the Bully. I watch his. He's

got some other bands too. He's got a lot of groups. He always supports you guys too. He's flying out to see you a bunch. He's our dog. He used to book the Fox back in the day. With Strasburg? Yes. Don kind of owns it. Ben used to book that and we were homies with him.

And as he saw that things were kind of progressing, he was like, man, maybe I should manage you guys. And he had never done that before. So we've all been kind of figuring it out for 10 years. But you've been homies. We've been homies. So we want him to come out because we want to hang out. So you guys were homies before you were management?

Yes. You guys would just gig Fox? It's like friend slash manager. Yeah. Yeah, but he kills it. Was that your home venue? Fox? Yeah, in Boulder. Yep. I used to work, I used to intern there and make fucking flyers and did like

an illustrator in Photoshop because I have a graphic design degree. From Boulder. So did you do regional stuff? Like in the beginning? In the beginning? Dude, we were there at like the perfect time. Yeah.

Like in 2007, that's kind of like Soundtribe. We owe everything to Soundtribe pretty much. Really? Yes. 100%. And all the bass nectars, the pretty lightses, the grizzes, the fucking everybody. But who were the first guys who gave you a break?

Well, Soundtribe gave us a break. And our first show was with Murph when he did a DJ project. And we opened for this thing called Murph vs. Roots, who was also a DJ project and we opened for this thing called Murph vs Roots who was like a also a DJ in Boulder and the the Soundtribe community was like dude we were down with you guys and a lot of music was getting to fans through Soundtribe and through their message board like Bonobo and Madlib and like a ton of hip-hop and all of this was getting circulated

on this sound tribe message board our shit literally all these pretty lights um and this dude dave sheldon through these these after parties uh euphonic conceptions after parties and they literally like pretty lights played a bass actor played it before you know to like 80 people this was the beginning so this guy was a taste maker shit yes who found dave dave literally kind of kicked it off he's the best all these bands so he didn't he like he was in the scene and he was like a sound tribe dude and like loved fish and just part of the thing and wanted to throw shows shows. And he was like, this is dope music. And he had a great connection to people. So he would give, you know, like flyers.

Like these dudes, shows would sell out. Every show would sell out. Yeah. And they would always bring people. And he just knew. He had his like finger on this pulse at the time. And that's when everybody like came up under that and that set up and we used to open for sound tribe and then play after parties we like open and play an after

party yeah and that and then their fans would be like well we like them and then they would come see us when we'd be on tour and it just like pretty lights and and all those groups got kind of borrowed the like soundribe crowd. And then... No shit. And then... They passed the torch to y'all. It was a torch.

There was a torch that was passed. And it kind of... It's happened from like The Dead to Phish to Cheese to Soundtribe. Like you can... There's obviously a lot more bands. But like you see the fans like migrate. And now there's like a younger scene., but you see the fans migrate. And now there's a younger scene, and it's very electronic-based,

but we're trying to sneak our live instruments in there and be like, yo, you should listen to this. This is where that came from. And you're doing such a good job at it because they're listening. You're like one of those tastemaker bands. Seems like it. My motherfucker, you a horrible motherfucker dude

it's all good yeah it's great so okay so from colorado so did you do like a bunch of tours with them or with tribe yeah for a few years and then so how'd you get into like fate because you're big in fayetteville when i was big in fayetteville arkansas yeah so like i'd always see you guys would pack out george's like they were one of the first markets that really got you? Literally at one point, George's Majestic was like Fayetteville, Arkansas was our biggest market. Same here. You know, it was like 600 kids at the time. I think that's what it held.

But they would pack like God knows how many people in there. 800, 900. But yeah, I met some people when we played Lawrence Kansas with Tribe opening for them I met some folks that were like super cool and they were like yeah we're from Fayetteville like they got that you know that twang that's not in Kansas as much

but you're not deep south no but then you're in fucking Arkansas and we met these people and was like man and I remember calling Ben and being like dude we need to check out Fayetteville apparently it's a rowdy college town and no one really knew about it

and then we went down there and had a great we crushed and it just kept growing I think we did a Halloween there we're going to do Halloween in Fayetteville and everybody's like why are you going to Fayetteville you don't know to do Halloween in Fayetteville. I'm excited. And everybody's like, what the fuck? Why are you going to Fayetteville?

I'm like, you don't know. Don't sleep on Fayetteville. Seriously. I tell that to like- I tell everyone that too. Yeah. We play there three times a year. Nice. Yeah.

And like, you know, George's Majestic has built my career. I could 100% say that. Is it easier to have two guys in a band? Well, now, what's your crew like? How many, is it- We roll deep with the crew how how how big is it how big the two the two band member thing is like it's perfect anytime we're on a call we're in a meeting the band is here you don't have to like Skype other people in we're like band meeting right now it's called you unit yeah let's go siri called you but jeremy so this light show yeah it's really important with your band so what how explain the

process how many people work on that fucking side of it yeah you have a big fucking it's a big it's it's a thing yeah yeah it's kind of it'sorgas Morgan shit. Yeah, yeah. It's kind of, it's kind of crazy. Has it always been like that? Um, it hasn't always been big. It's like grown with us. Like when did you start thinking like, fuck, let's get some lights in this bitch. Yeah. When we, when we started playing venues on our own, we were like, dude, we need a rig.

Everybody's got a light rig. We got to get. And we had, we found this dude, dude uh that was used to work with galactic colin mcquilkin and he was just a crazy motherfucker from the south that had wild ideas and he had this our first set that we ever had were these boxes that were like kind of stacked in this trying to pyramid formation and he was like my cousin can make these crazy boxes out of fucking see-through material

whatever. It was expensive and we were like man, maybe this is the look. We need a set. We made this set and it was supposed to fit like the boxes would fit inside each other because we had to fit it in a vehicle.

They didn't at first. we had just bought a sprinter you know the band bought it to travel to tour for like months yeah and the boxes didn't fit in the back of the sprinter and i was like bro what the fuck we're so pat so mad so we had to get a trailer we had to fucking stick them in the trailer you bought a trailer just for these boxes well no we got like yeah the u-haul the little u-haul trailer but they fit in there and then we're driving through the mountains like it's snowing it's it's not you don't want to have a sprinter in a trailer like no in this situation and so after we did this mini run i was like you got to make the boxes fit like so he redid them uh over like a one night like stayed up all night and redid them in my garage and and then we were good to go and that

was our first set so it was just one light guy and a set so we have three guys on the road now well at that point it was like me dom colin um i think alan we had like a sound guy slash TM situation and we tried to we were like running like super super light so while Don would make the music back in the day I started doing our business

and using my DNA to like figure all this shit out so were you doing spreadsheets yeah a lot of Excel? And like, I booked our flights and hotels and kind of was the business manager, um, and doing all that stuff.

So you may, Oh, so you basically, you're the number guy. Also, I'm like, I'm the numbers guy. So,

okay. So it's like, Dom is like the, the creative, like, you know, dude that has the fucking ideas. And, and I'm like the, the, you know, dude that has the fucking ideas.

And I'm like the numbers dude, man. Keeps it all together and tries to make it work. You know, especially back in the day with no, we had no money. We were like, he was like working in a coffee shop. I was like delivering pizza and selling weed or doing whatever to just pay bills. No shit. Yeah. So I was like. selling weed or doing whatever to just pay bills no shit yeah so you're only getting like 500 bucks thousand bucks in your first runs or like a couple thousand bucks no yeah like 300 you know

depends where it was and yeah and you can't like say no live on that you can't say no but you can't like travel on that no but but thank god you had two guys during that time or five five yeah well we had two in the very beginning when it was like that yeah you had two guys during that time or five well we had two in the very beginning when it was like that it was two guys it is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour wow Philadelphia this is

Todd Glass I was talking to my friend Andy the other day and he goes the whole tour's been sold out. Philadelphia, it's a little light. Now, I know if I just say that, you're not going to rush out and go check it out. Let me tell you this. You will not be disappointed. Go to the show.

Check out Andy Frasco. I'm not, you're not doing me a favor by going to see it, okay? You're not doing me a favor. What the fuck? I'm doing you a favor. Andy Frasco in the UN un if you don't check it out that's fucking embarrassing so goddamn embarrassing well fucking go see her i'm sick of it god i don't need that the fuck i said i can't formulate a sense because i'm all

did i mention the un too in his name? I hate to forget them So let's go back to this budget thing So you fucking Budget Let's get Jewish on real quick I'm getting Jewish up in this shit Because like That's what we do I'm wondering like

You have this fucking Smorgasbord of screens And that shit's gotta be expensive Yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah Is that like Most of your budget goes to?

Oh By far So it's like Even though there's only two of us So luckily it's Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's where the money goes. Is that like most of your budget goes to? Oh, by far. So it's like, even though there's only two of us, so luckily it's, in the end of the day, it's just two of us to split things up. Is there pressure to have like a serious light show like that now? I feel like, yeah, there is. And even back then it was, you know,

Soundtribe known for their light rig. You know, Saxton used to fucking kill it. Take it to the next level. Pretty Lights had a crazy wall and he's blowing up and doing a thing. Bass Nectar, every, you know. So we had to like come correct and try to do, you know,

try to make special, make shows special for people and try and do something different. You know, not just be like, we're going to do a wall. Yeah, that's been our thing the whole time is to like keep it fresh and like kind of the fan experience

is like a huge thing for us. We want them to like all the senses are fucking rocking. If we could have Nag Champa burning and get smells going through and whatever we could. I don't know. Yeah and get smells going through. Whatever we could. I don't know. Yeah.

That'd be dope. Great idea. Wouldn't that be cool? Like Disney World where all of a sudden it just smells weird and there's a weird song playing. Fucking brilliant. Yeah. Oh my God.

I think you're onto something. Yeah. We want to like- Change it up. And have fun, man. We're just, it's like life's fucking hard enough as it is. And we want to provide an experience for people where they can just come and like let loose and get down and maybe make some friends or like, or whatever.

Yeah. That's what we're trying to do. Just like you, man. I've been at both of your sets and literally had no idea what I was getting into before I went into the theater. I don't know why I thought that you were like in the folk or bluegrass genre. I don't know

why. Maybe there's another Andy something that I connected and then I go there with the Cloud Nine folks. I was there with them watching your set and Brownie. We were all like holy shit this is the most high energy like amazing thing man i'm just trying to keep up with y'all's

fucking light show dude yeah you don't need a light show bro you got you you're the light show no but like you it's the same thing they need something to look at they can watch you you're handsome guy the hair you're fucking running around on stage. You're coming on to me. Yeah, a little bit. No, but I appreciate that, man. It's like, you know, it's like all jokes aside, like we're all just trying to build different experiences. This is the only way I feel I could build a different experience.

Like with you, with your music, you're bringing funk and you're bringing music to this other world that I have no fucking ideas. Like, you know, like these bass actors of this world. Like,

I, you guys are in a niche thing and you're bringing like this jam vibe into that scene, which is fucking rad. And you're changing a lot of people's

vision of that. I don't even want to call yourselves EDM, but in that EDM scene. it's a weird, like, we're in this weird in-between. Because you could do jam, you could do this.

All you need is, do you have a single that's any AAA or big single? We are, we have a couple tracks that have done really well but not like AAA. You know what I mean? And we've always been in this in-between, like

you got the EDM world and pop EDM or whatever with Diplo and DJ Snake and Dylan Francis and guys that are making tracks that are on every radio station that are everywhere and then you got the jam band world

that kind of exists in its community, like Jamtronic or whatever you want to call it. And we're in this weird middle ground where we can play to both crowds. And so our stuff does get like attention on Spotify. And we have a track with Logic and Roses called All of Me.

And we got, yeah, dude, you got to check it out. Yeah, Logic. What's he like dude he's a great dude he and and we when we did the track it was a few years ago like three or four maybe so right before he like exploded and because now we there's we couldn't get it there'd be no way he's he's he's just he's killing it too hard yeah and And he came into... I wasn't there, but Dom was in the studio. And he came in and just literally had been listening to the beat, but just started writing shit down.

The dude is brilliant. And has a Rubik's Cube and can solve it in a minute. He's one of those kind of guys. You ever play with him? Does he ever sit in with you? We've never... No, because literally at the same, like,

when the track came out and when we kind of tried to, like, coordinate it, he was on tour and we've always tried to kind of do the thing and then he,

like, skyrocketed to, like, the top. But so did you. Kind of, but in a, we're in a different,

we're in different. What does he sell him? Like, stadiums? Like, he's selling. Who knows? Yeah, he's massive now. He's like a Macklemore. He's like he sell like stadiums like he's selling who knows but yeah he's massive now

he's like a Macklemore he's like oh shit so he's doing like fuck it he's headlining festivals and he's and he's killing it man

and he's the content of of his shit is awesome he's got these different vibes that he does um with different

kind of different um like pseudonyms like personalities and he'll put out a record. It's just that personality. Oh, cool. But yeah, we work with him.

We have a song called Little Things that got a lot of attention. That was Dom cutting up samples that he had recorded with somebody and putting a song together, which is cool. So how does that work with sampling? Do you have to pay any artist or do you use certain 10% or 10

seconds of a song? Explain the sampling thing to me. We don't necessarily sample too much of other people's stuff. Oh, so you just make them? Yeah, in Little Things, he had a singer, Angela McCluskey, and he had had her in the studio or whatever. And so she got paid to do that.

And then she sang a bunch of different stuff, like top line stuff and different verses. And then he took it and completely was like oh it didn't really sound good like this and i think originally he had it for a totally different song but then the way he cut it up he was like oh it'd be perfect for this and then took sections of what she was saying and like put it in here and in there and yeah so it wasn't like a like a remix oh you know it's not like he took the sample from like whatever like how girl talk got in trouble you know remember girl yeah yeah dude i used to go he talked about throwing a rager did you ever go see him the best like kind of a waste of toilet paper yeah but i i that always got me i was like i love that it's everywhere but dude like you can't like we're in like like

i'm trying to save the planet man you can't can't use all the toilet paper for a month supply in a town. In a town. In a night. Yeah, in Iowa. In Iowa, you're blowing through all of Walmart's toilet paper. So he got in trouble, right? He got in a lot of trouble. For what?

Dude, a lot of pretty lights got in trouble for sampling shit. No shit. Yeah, his big hit back in the day. No shit. But who knows how they set... I don't know the details of what... Of course, but are you scared of that? No, because we don't do that.

You do your own shit. Yeah, we just make our own shit. My fucking God, dude. But a lot of people now will be like, oh, I want to use this, whatever, Isley Brothers fucking sample, and they'll try to contact someone and be like, can we pay?

No, I think it's relatively easy or they'll just say fucking and put it out and be like if I get in trouble, I get in trouble. Outlaw style. But if the song blows up, you're fucked. You could be fucked. You're still getting promotion. Yeah.

And you get promotion and if you do get sued, I guess, you could go both ways. How important is like getting into getting the crowd involved with the band i think it's like i mean depending on the show you're trying to put on um but i feel like it's the more you can involve people you know the more the more fun they're gonna have but if you're like at a jazz show you know you're kind of yeah being you're the you're being watched but some people have like you know there's like a weird ego thing with it and i feel like when you break that

barrier with getting into the crowd and doing it and and interacting with people then it breaks that barrier of like you're watching me perform and like you're not allowed to be up here you're not allowed to do you know or whatever you just have to watch me and that's it that's it like you're paying attention to me right now this is my fucking time whereas you're just kind of like you're doing your thing everyone's time but dude the conga line was epic you like i've never seen that before on the boat and you and it was it was the it was the greatest i was saw it fucking passing through and that was next level. And I was wondering how long you guys would keep it going

and I couldn't believe that even when everyone's back on stage, the line was still going up the steps around the thing. Dude, you're changing the game. LSD is a hell of a drug. Follow the leader. Follow the leader, dude. Keep that up. LSD's a hell of a drug. People will follow the leader.

Follow the leader, dude. Keep that up. Keep doing that. It's inspiring. You're inspiring me for all... You're pumping me up and you're a really big band, dude. Stop. You're going to be in a... I got your back, dude. I'm literally going to tell everyone

that they need to go see you at every single... The towns you're in to go see you at every single, like, the towns you're in. If you're at a festival, like, you must go to this show.

You're gonna have, you're gonna have a good time. Stop making me like you. Bro. It's too, it's too easy to like you, man. I'm about to hang out

with you more. Yeah. Okay, let's talk about, who do you, who inspires you in these jam scenes? Like,

who, what are the guys like, damn, these guys are so sick. There's so many. Because you're here on vacation. I'm hanging. I'm here hanging, playing a little bit,

but mostly... Who are the guys that you're like, damn, you're really inspired? Yeah. There's a lot. Kamasi and his band blow me away every time. You're from inglewood they're tight yeah yeah yeah i've met some of them i played with uh with some of them last night in

the jam room nice and and ronald got up and like played drums at the end of the night and he's one of those dudes that like ronald bruner you know um is fucking he's one of those badass drummers that you just like, your mouth is like on the ground when he's playing. Let's play this game. You have a band, solo band.

You could have two drummers. You get to pick any musician dead or alive to be in your band. So you need a guitar player, bass player, another drummer. Dude, what?

And a horn section and a singer. Who would they be? Wow. Dom's in the band. Don't worry. It's no politics. He's already in. Dom's in the band.

Yeah, he does. Tell me. Who would be your drummer? Who would be the drummer with me? Yeah. Fuck, dude. That's so hard because I like so many different kinds of music. But I know I would want Stevie Wonder in the band.

So there's that. Okay, Stevie. So that is going to kind of set the tone so he'll put your miscellaneous herbie on keys herbie hancock must have you're going old school must have so herbie on keys stevie on drums and keys yeah and yeah right so maybe stevie's the other drummer dude maybe he is that'd be wild um damn herbie and steve that's scary it's yeah well i'm surprised that doesn't happen already like those two guys should be playing together it's hard because like i also love i love the beatles dude so like maybe paul on bass would that be like paul mccartney on fucking bass guitar fucking sick We're talking like great songwriter slash musicians. Guitar player.

That's tough. Give me a couple. A couple? Well, I do love Jimi Hendrix, so he could be in the mix. What about the new guys? Any new guys? Any young young gohards out there gohards are your peers dude uh um tommy hamilton is one

of his as a homie he plays with uh uh ghost light and jay and jay rag yeah yeah with holly bowling Ghost Light and J-Rag. With Holly Bowling? Yes. Holly and dude, Tommy's great. Scott Metzger's an amazing soloist and great guitar player. That band's fucking fire. There's a lot. Kraz. I could not pick.

And Schofield as well. There's just too many guys. Have you ever thought about craz producing a gigantic song um that would be incredible and he's so ben our manager manages craz also and oteel and like we got there's a lot of like he's got a lot of great great artists becoming a really good producer absolutely yeah man he's killing his ears i'm finally seeing like he's getting on projects he's like a tastemaker like he he knows what's up i'm really proud of him he would be and he's killing. His ears. I'm finally seeing, like, he's getting on projects. He's like a tastemaker. Like, he knows what's up.

I'm really proud of him. He would be, and he's a great hang. Oh, yeah. You know what? Drummer-wise, I think Deitch, man. I think I would want Deitch there. Tell me about. Because, like, I just love, we have similar vibes, and I love that he can play.

What's his deal? Everything. What's his vision? He's amazing. I don't know. What's he want? He wants to play drums. What's his deal? Everything. What's his vision? He's amazing. I don't know. What's he want? He wants to play drums. That's it.

I mean, he wants to make music. I shouldn't say just play drums. He's in so many different projects. Is he trying to stay busy? I can't speak for him. I know, but he loves music. He eats fucking sleeps and breathes music. And it's so inspiring to see that.

And then the shit that just comes out of him is so it's just dope naturally when he's playing it's like he just is right where you would want it to be right at everything his pocket he's not showy it's not like a modern drummer drum off kind of fucking thing but he can take it to like chop town if you need to go there um but it's so tasteful yeah but yeah he's he's seriously one of my favorites yeah um favorite dudes out there what's your dream man what's the dream what do you want i don't know i feel like i'm living and we're on a boat yeah like in the middle of the ocean but like what's the big picture what if you could see yourself doing this whatever something for the next 40 years if it's changing the styles of your music every year or changing the show or like what is

like the vision that keeps you happy yeah that's what i'm trying to get i mean big g's big gigantic is definitely the main part of that and then with the downtime that we have trying to i'm trying to start like another project like get just something going tell me i don't even know it could be anything what literally literally it's an open book i don't know i just want to find i'm trying to find like just the right are you not gigging them right now um we're we're kind of chilling but even when we're, like last year, we did like 60 shows or something like that.

Now that you're bigger, do you have radius clauses where you can't play? There's radius, and we kind of like, one of the things when we started, we were like, because we've both been

in so many different bands, and we were like, we're trying to cut the bullshit out. Yeah. And not like burn ourselves out because we kind of started later in our late 20s yeah um so we'd already done the the like super road dog kind of thing and we were like you know what let's let's approach it from a different angle and try to like if we're gonna play a show let's like really think about where we're playing like make

it count yeah and not just kind of like play everywhere yeah and and that's been the philosophy so as we've gotten bigger we're like dude do we really have to do this like is this gonna like change the game or or kind of help us and i feel like it i feel like it worked you know mystery when Yeah, kind of a mystery. And it's just like, we didn't burn ourselves out by playing too much. Yeah. And turning it into this thing that was like, we have to do this to survive. So you still love it. I love it.

But I'll tour. If we get home, I'll play a show that night with another thing. Like, I'm down to get after it. I just think for Big G, it's better for us as a whole, for the monster itself

if we do it the way we've been doing it. And it works, but yeah, I'm trying to get out there, so if anybody wants to play some music... Take an application, motherfuckers. You hear that? Jeremy wants in. Fielding applications. Let's go. You hear that, Krasno?

Here's your ninth band. You need another one. He does applications. Let's go. You hear that, Krasno? Here's your ninth band. You and Jake. He needs another one. He does. Everybody needs another one. Oh, man. Jeremy, you're a good dude. You're a good dude, bro.

You're a really good dude. I'm glad we got to connect. Yeah. Okay, one more thing. You're Jewish. I'm Jewish. We have Jewish guilt. How are parents about music?

At first, when you weren't making money. Now you're making money and playing Red Rocks. It was like half and half. I don't want to throw either. So my parents divorced when I was younger. I don't want to throw either one under the bus. But one was really supportive from the beginning. And the other one was like supportive, kind of.

But was also like, how are you going to make money? What are you going to do? What if it doesn't work out? And whereas the other side was like, you can do what if it doesn't work out yeah and whereas the other side was like you can do whatever the fuck you want to do and put your mind to it if you want to do that then do it like don't bullshit just do it how hard was it to listen to that over the other thing it's been like the paradigm or whatever with me that my whole life like fighting both sides of this like cautious kind of uh devil's advocate neg a little bit negative side and then the like just believe just fucking

believe yeah so there's the neurotic guilt and then there's the like just have hope and believe and make make your dreams come true and and that you know that was my mom just to say that was my mom she was like all about like if you want to do it. And she let me set my kid up from the time I was like, at three, I had like a Muppet Babies drum set and just started banging on shit. And she loved it. And then it got, the drum kits got less Muppet Babies

and more professional. And she would let me set it up like in my room or whatever and just play. I would play all fucking night and your mom your muse kind of yeah she like supported me she made it where it was like okay to do it and but you know i'm thankful for my dad too because he was like maybe you need you know just in case you don't want to like jump into this thing so that's crazy it's a little bit of the like you have the hope with a little bit of the like, you have the hope

with a little bit of the fear, but like, I try to cut the fear out because you're not going to, it's not going to do anybody any good. Yeah, man. Living in fear will fuck your life up.

Did you have a moment? Did your parents go to Red Rocks? Oh yeah, so what's great now is like the family comes out. They come to Red Rocks. They come out on tour. If we play in Virginia or around it, they come. They family comes out. They come to Red Rocks. They come out on tour. If we play in Virginia or around it, they come.

They come to festivals. We play Coachella. I had my family there. They hang out. Fucking Rothbury before Electric Forest. Firefly. They've been to... So now they see like, wow.

Look how many people you're inspiring. Yeah, it's fun. They love it. And they come and get down and we have fun. I'm proud you didn't give up. Thanks, man. I'm proud that you're fucking kicking ass. Thanks, brother.

You know, from one Jewish brother to another. Jew crews. I love that you gave the Jew crew shout out. Because the first one that I came on forever ago, like I don't even know what it was 12 years ago or something. It was the first jam cruise that I did and I was looking around and I was like it's like

it's like 50% Jewish people whether it's musicians or fans or the cloud nine posse like people putting it on management whatever so much tribe and I was going around like I was like jam cruise i was like

jew cruise so when you said it last night i was like student knows my god we're on the same we're we're vibing yeah did you do anything 420 what are you doing 420 420 this year i don't know i don't i think we're we're chilling right now i'm playing denver bluebird come sit in it's on i would love to i would love There's your project. April. Yep. All right. I'll learn some,

uh, learn some, learn some fucking disco, baby. Yeah. I can take orders. Four on the floor. Yeah.

I got you. All right. Cool. All right. Love you, Jeremy. Thanks for being on it. Yeah.

Thank you. Love you, pal. Peace. Andy. Yeah. It's Michael, your lawyer.

You're being indicted, okay? You got scooped up in the robber craft thing at Orchids of Asia in Florida. Listen, good news, bad news. Good news, nobody knows who you are. So I think that we can get through this, but you're going to have to do some community service. But stop going to these jerk parlors, okay? Pull your dick on your own time in your own apartment, okay? Stop asking these girls to jerk your dick, okay?

Do it on your own fucking time. Ask your drummer to do it. Stop jerking your dick in these massage parlors, okay? Quit this dumb, stupid shit. Okay, call me back, bye. And now, a duet from Sean and his wife-to-be, Toby. Congratulations, you two. She don't like her eggs all running She thinks crossing her legs is funny She looks down, her nose at money

She gets it all like an Easter bunny She's my baby, I'm her honey Never gonna let her go He ain't got laid in a month of Sundays I called him once and he was sniffing my undies He ain't too sharp but he gets things done Drinks his beer like it's oxygen He's my baby, I'm his honey

Never gonna let him go In spite of ourselves We'll end up sitting on a rainbow Against all odds, honey, we're the big door prize We're gonna spike our noses right off of our faces There won't be nothing but big ol' hearts dancing in our eyes There won't be nothing but big old hearts dancing in our eyes. There won't be nothing but big old hearts dancing in our eyes.

It's a part of ourselves. And there you have it. Jeremy, great fucking dude. Thank you. Once again, I apologize for being a hater before I even knew you because you are a great fucking guy. And thanks for being on the show. Sean, wow. Shit got deep. We almost cried there for a second. We've grown a lot, me and Sean. And I just love these guys so much. And when you have brothers on the road with you love these guys so much and like you know when when you have brothers on the road with you these guys are my brothers you know these guys are the closest thing to family

that i have i think you know besides you know no disrespect to my parents and my sisters and stuff but these guys when i was really struggling my parents didn't call my sisters you know they're all worried about me. But they didn't really call or anything. And these guys took care of me. And I was still just a confused kid. Just taking drugs every day and just having one-night stands.

And they got me through this shit. And we take it more seriously now. And it's just so nice to see everyone grow like look at sean we're you know we're kind of broke we're not broke anymore but you know it's like we're still not fucking millionaires and he said he's throwing a wedding you know because he loves this chick that's respect that's figuring it out you know i uh i admire him so much because I get anxious after having a couple days with somebody. But that's how it is. That's the thing I'm figuring out in life. Because if I could understand how to have other relationships, like I have a relationship with my band, like how we just

had that conversation, Sean and I, I think I could really figure out this relationship thing. But that's it, guys. Thanks for listening. We got tour dates. Let me open up my calendar. This tour is kicking ass. We've been selling out almost every night. Wild Adriatic is killing it.

They're on the tour with us all month. This is the first time we've had an opener all month. I love it. I'm going to have an opener for all our tours now. They're going to tour with us all month this is the first time we've had an opener all month I love it I'm going to have an opener for all our tours now they're going to stay with me so it's going to be dope but what's up where are we playing we're in Pittsburgh this week Philadelphia tickets are almost sold out for Philadelphia we're in Washington D.C.

tickets are almost sold out in Washington D.C. and then we're doing a couple festivals we're going to hang out with Turquoise in Columbus Ohio at their St. Fatty's Day or whatever, Patty's Day situation. And then we're going to Burlington, Boston, Brooklyn. We're playing the Williamsburg Music Hall, which is 650 cap. I can't believe we're selling these many tickets in New York. This is crazy, guys. Really. I don't want to boast about myself, but I'm going to boast a little bit. Don't give up on your fucking dreams, dude.

I remember playing Williamsburg Knitting Factory. My boy Richard Slovin. We had 10 people there. That was five years ago. We kept on getting 10 people there for at was five years ago. And we kept on getting 10 people there for like at least three years. And then something clicked and now we're hopefully going to sell out

the Williamsburg Music Hall. So don't give up on your dreams. Seriously, I keep on talking about this. This is the theme of the podcast for the season. You know, you hear all these guys fucking doing the interviews and it's true, man. Don't give up on it.

But subscribe to the podcast so you could... I think we're going to get more of my band members on the show. We're going to get Ernie for sure. I got to nail that motherfucker. Get him in there. And Andy Avila. And we'll get Chris, the guy who edits the show. He's my bass player.

Give it up. Shout out for Chris. Thank you, Chris. Clap. You could do a standing ovation for for Chris. Thank you, Chris. Clap. You could do a standing ovation for yourself there. But yeah, this has been great. Love each other. Take care of your neighbor.

If you're in a van listening to this, hug your bandmate. Really. You don't know what people are dealing with, you know? Especially if you're always so focused on the show or focused on the root. Just show people that you care about them. Because that shit's important. Because

if you can't love anyone else unless you love yourself. So love yourself. Love your neighbor. We're all in this together. And yeah. Comb your hair. be safe out there I love you guys you guys are keeping me

keeping me you're keeping me honest with myself and that's all I want to be I want to be authentic and if I have to do it through a platform where everyone hears it then I will there's days where I'm having shitty days or days where I'm having shitty days or

days where I start thinking about it. I could be old frasco. I just talked to myself in third person. Don't judge me. But just go fuck everything and take drugs. And then I take a step back and realize what I have now. And I'm happy about our growth. And the same thing with Sean. You know, there's days where I say, oh, fuck it, I just want to fucking break up the band and start over. But what's that going to do? You're just running away from your fears

or running away from all those suppressed feelings that you've just kept in. Why don't you try to work it out? Talk to them. Communicate with people, guys. Don't be scared to talk to people. It's okay to let people know how you feel. Don't let Instagrams and the Facebooks

with all these people just saying fucking happy things to each other ruin the moments where you need to, if you need to just tell someone how you feel, fucking tell them. Seriously. Let it out. That shit is poison.

This is why we had this conversation with Sean. To let you know, it's not all fucking roses. We've fucking hated each other some days. Sometimes I don't want to look at that motherfucker. And that's okay. Be honest with people. Because after that, you're going to be fine with it. You're going to get through those, like vomit,

and you're going to love each other again. Just be honest and authentic. That's all I want you to do. If I could ask for anything from you. But yes, that's it. Subscribe to the podcast. Follow our tour. The band's kicking on High Cylinder.

This is the time to watch the band so if you're in the area if we're playing anywhere near you just come out, give me a hug yeah I love it, love you guys, be safe comb your hair, wear a condom and don't let life

get you down because we don't get too many days on here, love you bye well thank you for listening to episode Don't let life get you down because we don't get too many days on here. Love you. Bye. Well, thank you for listening to episode 38 of Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast. Produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelau, and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, 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 worldsavingpodcast. For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. Check out the new album, Change the Pace, everywhere you can stream music or order it at your record store or pick it up at the merch desk after the concert. Andy will sign anything you present to him for more information on our guest jeremy selken of big gigantic please head to big gigantic

dot net big gigantic this week's special guests are greg ormond from pigeons playing ping pong from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Ari Feindlings, Wild Adriatic, Arno Bakker, and Sean and Toby Eccles. And it's late night, folks. It took my interest, so I googled Big Gigantic, and it's, well, it's quite amazing. More than a handful to take in,

and I did, well, it did excite me quite a lot. So without further ado, we will wrap up this week's episode. We will log out, lights out, and I wish you all my best big gigantic dreams. Be safe until next week.