Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 57: moe.

Episode Date: September 6, 2019

Andy is alive and well, back from a wild time in Italy (i.e. CRACK coffee), and holds things down up front with a solo-intro/pseudo PSA about caffeine. And on the interview hour, we welcome legends, Vinny and Rob, from moe. The guys talk band longevity thru the trials of tribulations of life. Arno keeps it relevant. Check out Ep 57, live now. 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 to speed with moe.  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: Shawn Eckels Ahri Findling Arno Bakker 

Hey, it's Schwartz. Listen, I called before the boat graduated you on having your highest grossing box office date. I saw a photo of you with your head in the rafters. It's not funny to stick your head in the ceiling. It's not funny to tear shit apart or to expose your pants, break shit. And now I'm getting a call that there's $10,000 in damages. So the $10,000 you made, you can fucking say goodbye to because you can't keep it together.

By the way, you still owe me my $1,500. So now you're down $1,500. Way to go, dude. Hey Andy, this is Frank Regolio. I'm the owner of the Liberty Bell ship. I hope this message finds you well. Listen, I got 12 damaged ceiling tiles in my ship from when you thought it was a good idea to stand up on top of the piano even though we told you not to. Okay?

I got used condoms all over the green room. I got the fucking Coast Guard up my ass because you thought it'd be a good idea to get the fucking captain drunk on Jägermeister. Contrary to the voicemail that you left me at 4 a.m., you are liable for the damage to my ship. International waters do not apply given that you never left the fucking East River. orders do not apply given that you never left the fucking East River. I got a new diamond cover band coming in here tonight, and I got to explain why the fucking showroom looks like a goddamn bomb went off. I had an estimate done. The damage comes to $10,000.

Now, you need to let me know if you want me to deduct it off your payment or if you're going to send me a fucking check that I'm not covering this fucking money, send me $10,000. Goodbye. Goodbye. All right. Here we are again. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. How we doing, everybody?

I'm Andy Frasco's world-saving podcast. How we doing, everybody? I'm Andy Frasco. I'll be taking you on a musical ride for the next Adnod. That's fucking heady, though. I should say that. Oh, dude, like, gonna be on a musical ride for like an hour and a half. Get ready. Your scars are gonna get fucked. No.

We're just here to talk How you doing? Oh man Great show today I had a week off Oh by the way We have Mo on the show today The boys

The OG pimps Rob and Vinny Vinny's a basketball player dude He's a motherfucker dude He can ball dude That folk can shoot He's good He can kick ass and drum

I don't wanna be on the other side of a fight with him. That folk would whoop my ass. So we got Vinny on the show. We got Rob, sweetheart. It's going to be a good show today. But what happened to me? Man, I just got back from Europe, as you heard from the last episode. We haven't talked since I've been back.

I went to Italy, played in sardinia holy fuck it was it was fun i you know language barrier with our show you know because i'm a lot of shtick like you know talking i like to talk my shit on stage so i was pulling up the google translate and stuff on stage because they're, have you ever had their, anyone been to Italy? They're fucking cocaine, not cocaine. Their coffee tastes, feels like cocaine. It is insane.

I was drinking Americanos, like shit was sweet, and I was grinding my teeth like I had a meth problem. It was crazy. It was a great feeling. I missed the high from not doing as much cocaine, but it's basically the same thing. I think caffeine is the same. If you fucking just pump your body with fucking caffeine,

Like if you fucking just pump your body With fucking caffeine You are It's no different than The two hour conversations you're going to have on cocaine As well But I was just trying to like I was like talking in Italian Saying like your country's beautiful

And stuff and I tried to say You know And your coffee Tastes like cocaine. But I said it, dove la cocaina cafe? And I didn't realize I was saying, where the cocaine at? So I had the cops come after the show and fucking, you know, don't you talk about that.

So shout out to the cops for not arresting me. I didn't know. I was just trying to tell them that cocaine, your coffee is cocaine. But anyway, people think I'm trying to buy cocaine. Well, that's not the first time I've tried to buy drugs on stage. I've actually been doing that a lot lately. Not buy, I'm just asking everyone to bring up their mushrooms. One guy in one town, when I was asking everyone to bring up their mushrooms. One guy

in one town when I was really into the Coke, he was like, give me some Coke. He was ballsy. Okay. And he just poured

a bunch of cocaine on my keyboard. And, I, you know, I couldn't be a bitch. I had to call his bluff. So,

we're just fucking doing, you know, low-key rails off my band. I don't be a bitch. I had to call his bluff. So we're just fucking doing low-key rails off my band. Those are the older years. I've grown out of those years. But we also did a boat cruise. We rented a boat in New York City, which was fucking tight. 500 people showed up. It was fucking sick, dude.

It was all frasco heads. They're all rocking Laker jerseys and shit and seeing New Yorkers and shit. Boston people wearing Laker jerseys. That's some real respect, so shout out to the East Coast crew who showed up on the boat. That was dope as fuck.

It was just pretty. I was having a really shitty day. We got canceled at Lock-In over weather, and me and Graham Lesh, we were the only bands that got canceled, which was a fucking bummer, because it's a big deal for us, and a big deal for the community. I was really sad. It's a special moment for me. It's not because it's just jam band Mecca, to be honest. I never really knew who Jerry Garcia was growing up.

Nor was I ever a diehard fan of the jam scene. I probably didn't belong on that stage, but I was there, and I was fucking thankful for it. Because this, it's way bigger than just what type of music you play, especially right now, and what's going on. It's bigger than the 10-minute guitar solos and the super band collaborations and whatnot.

This is about what we do with the time we have on this earth. That's important. And to see like 20,000 people just waiting around one stage while this stage is circling to just give every band a shot who are basically giving out their hearts and souls. You're not so ADD with four stages. It's one stage. So every band gets a shot with these 20,000 people.

And for everyone to just sit around and watch all these bands do their special moment, that's what's worth it to me because this right here it keeps us present it keeps us living and it keeps us young when we get off our phones for a second

and just have a good time at a festival or get off our phones and enjoy this experience like Bob Weir sitting on a couch for his sit-in. That was fucking tight. So I wanted to say, look around you. Hug your new and old friends because you never know what people are going through. They might hate their jobs or their spouses. Maybe their spouses stopped giving them fucking head or whatever. Whatever it is.

Just let them know what an honor it is to share the little time that we all have with each other. Because you never know when it's your turn to leave the party. Neil Castle died from circles around the sun. I was just with him last week

It's just You never know who's feeling pain Who's hurting You know So if you're here let's make a Fake a toast For the Neils The Jeffs

And let's just make a toast For being alive And not taking For granted life And let's just make a toast for Being alive And not taking For granted life Cause when it's all said and done That's all we really have To be honest This right now

So dance Drink And just be here Don't do it for me Don't do it for fucking Jerry Garcia. You know? Just do it for yourself. Dance because we can.

We get to share our time with people and musicians we love. That's all it is. Life is short. And if we don't take care of the present, we'll never know What it really is To be in love with the moment You know, look at

I don't know if you know the story of Rob Rob from Mo got cancer Like a bad throat cancer And think about that When you're living Day by day on the road Grinding it out You know, having family, you know, doing all these things that life lets you do. And all of a sudden, reality hits and you got cancer.

Fuck, what are you going to do? your life and realized you could have done stuff differently or realize the moment is now to be whoever we want to be you know even if it takes a life or death threat from your life to finally stay in the moment so shout out to rob for fighting that cancer. You're going to love this story. I mean, Mo, they're good guys, man. They're fucking good guys. And to see a band deal with that is, it's a lot, man. It's a lot to entertain every day and still have, still have to make people happy when you know your boy, your brother sitting next to you could die.

Some heavy shit, dude. So we'll listen to that interview. We'll talk a little bit more about the Neil thing once I find out what's going on with Neil. It's tough, you know? Mental health, man. I keep going back to it. I know I'm repeating.

This has been mental health awareness for the last two months, but too many people are dying in our scene, man. And there has to be something going on. So take care of yourself. Give each other's hugs. All right. Let's enjoy a soft note.

Let's get out of the sadness for a second. And let's enjoy Mo. Let's enjoy Vinny. Let's enjoy Rob. Let's enjoy the Mo we get to share with each other that I get to share with you once a week on the World Saving Podcast. All right, guys.

I'll catch you on the tail end. Love you. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we got the OG pimps of the jam scene. We got Rob and Vinny from Mo. Yo, Chris, play some Moe and let them hear it. These guys are, honestly, I never got to hang out with them,

never listened to their music until I got to summer camp, and that's one of their festivals. And I digged it. I digged it. He's a songwriter. These guys are songwriters, and they jam, and it's just a crazy story. I mean, they fought the good fight.

They got to where they needed to. They maintained a career, and that's so hard to fucking do. And then old boy got cancer, and he fought through that, and now they're kicking ass again. And their story's amazing, and it's hard for me to do good interviews when I'm all fucked up at a festival. But I think this is a good interview. I don't talk over him too much when I get drunk and shit. And it was just a good hang. They love sports.

We caught along very well and I have a feeling we're going to be friends for a while. So, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy Rob and Vinny from Moe. Where a thin disguise, when the siren's song, sweetly sucks me down, to the ocean blue. Find my way back, rip off all my limbs, poke out both my eyes, hold out my swollen tongue. Where a thin disguise, when the siren's song, sweetly sucks me down, to the ocean blue. I'll find my way back to you. Find my way back to you. Find my way back to you Find my way back to you

Find my way back to you Find my way back to Find my way Find my way back to you Here we are with fucking Mo, dude. Whoa! Dudes, you guys are legends in the scene, man. In our own mind.

Maybe in your mind How do you not want to beat the shit out of each other? Like, how hard is it to live on the road for 30 years? Rob wants to beat the shit out of me every day I threaten him on a daily basis What was the biggest threat? Like, oh, this is scary, he might actually beat me up It's not to me, It's usually to somebody else. He just threatens me on a daily basis.

When he's really mad, he actually messes with somebody else. Oh, really? That's good. Okay. We're talking about the old me, okay? Oh, let me hear the old you. What was going on?

Oh, you know, I'm a grown adult man at this point, so I don't... I don't throw down. I haven't done that in a million years, so... But there was a point where, you know,

before I said anything, there would just be a punch thrown. Have you guys ever, like, got in a Duke fight? No, not with the band. Just with other... Just situations. Yeah, other situations. What's it like, like, in a duke fight no not with the not with the band just with other just situations yeah other

situations what's it like like basically living in a living in a van living in a bus moving on trying to like maintain a career how tough is it when you have new first it was just about the band now it's about the band and the kids and the mortgage like does that change your mind state of how you play music and what you play are you maintaining a career are you still trying to like i'm still in it i mean like like vinnie here his his kids are all out of the house at this point he's got yeah congrats one graduated college one in the middle i still have i've still got some high school kids and i actually have my my oldest son is his summer job right now is like being our merch person's assistant so he's on the

road with us yeah yeah he's having a good time he's like bring your son to work day yeah well he's working yeah for the whole summer yeah it's funny do Don't just yell at me. For the whole summer. Yeah. That's funny. Do you like it? Is it like, do you feel like you're, it's a bonding experience with your kid? Yeah, it's actually really great. You know, he's a crazy kid, but it's fun to hang out with him. And I, you know, when they get older, you don't really get the chance to spend the time that you want to with them. And it's sort of, it's just as much for him as it is for me because like i

miss being at home so if i have a piece of home with me it it feels a lot more i i'm much less apt to you know go off the rails yeah i think like go off the rails like like um you feel like your family keeps you sane grounded yeah go on a fucking 10-day bender or something. Exactly. Have you guys... I would be dead now if I didn't get married. Was it wild that, like, in the beginning years, were you guys, like, doing partying pretty heavy or what?

Yeah, we've never had, like... I wouldn't say we've had any drug addictions, mostly booze, you know? Oh, yeah. But being on the road a couple months and drinking a couple bottles of booze a night and smoking weed and, you know, when you get out to the West Coast, you get into even – it gets a little darker.

So when you're doing a two-week run up the West Coast, by the time you're in Vancouver from San Diego or L.A., you're pretty – and then you got another month to get yourself back home. By the time you're home, you're pretty and then you got another month to get yourself back home by the time you're home you're pretty you're pretty crispy i remember like younger you know years ago i'd get off the road and i would be like a freaking barbarian so you'd go out anxious no just like i'd go out to a bar and no rules applied to me at all like if i i mean granted i stayed home a lot but the nights we'd go out was like it's like a different thing because you're in that road mentality yeah you know we had a crew of 12 on the road and you're like you're just in a different

mindset and you'd go out and say the dumbest shit to people and just not care about anything that's gone away like i don't that doesn't happen to me anymore. I used to go home. How'd you get rid of that? What'd you teach yourself? I think I just learned lessons. I've been married the whole time I've been in the band. I had kids right early. I joined the band and had a kid within six months. You never fucked around, nothing.

I did, and I got caught. I went through some marriage counseling and went through a whole thing. But that was the beginning of the, like, man, I got to stop being a fucking asshole. So did you feel like, was it affecting your music or was it affecting your personality? It was like, were you being an asshole to the band as well? No, no, it was my home life more than anything. And it wasn't even, I mean, I was, you know, my wife would tell you it was probably affecting me at home because, you know, because of that shit.

And then, you know, just, you know, it takes a week or more to talk to your wife like she's your wife and not like she's one of the guys on the bus. Yeah, and how hard is that, how frustrating is that with your wife? Oh, she's ready to freaking kill me she actually was ready to kill i was home yesterday and she was like we were about to go out to dinner and i said something there and she's like i'm not one of the guys on the bus and she was all pissed at me i'm like what did i say i didn't even know yeah i mean that's what that's what i'm trying to say like because when i get off the road i have

such angst anxious energy yeah and just. I just, I don't know. Your schedule's completely turned around. You're not sleeping at night. You sleep during the day. You're used to expending a thousand calories worth of high energy at nine o'clock to one o'clock every night. So you go home

and at home you go to bed at nine or ten o'clock except for your body's like until about two in the morning. So, like. So, is that why you play basketball? Well, I do that to try to stay in shape. Do you guys. And to get rid of all my.

You play sports to get your mind. My, you know, my. Well. All the testosterone out. I mean, I was playing. I played lacrosse a bunch. I haven't really in about a year. I had cancer.

What? And then. Yeah. had uh i had well i had like nasopharyngeal cancer it's like uh when'd you find out about that oh it's been about two years it was two years ago right about now is when i started um treatments yeah so are you been are you still doing treatments or no no no no i was done in uh october 13th of 2018 was it 2017 and uh yeah i mean i've been back a bunch of times i'm clear so far i have to keep going back every six months but can i ask you something what's that mind state like knowing like when you first found out i think i went through every all 12 stages of grief in like about a day yeah it's just like a complete mental breakdown because when i first found out like they didn't say you know my the first prognosis wasn't a great one. You know, they said it was about a 35% chance of survival and they were wrong. No, it was the wrong prognosis. Yeah. It was a different, it turned

out to be a different cancer. So that was, that was a little bit difficult cause I didn't want to die. It was a little too close. I kind of freaked out on that. And then, you know, like I got a better prognosis. And then it was just a lot of work. The kind of cancer I had is very beatable. But it's also, you know, one of the worst treatments that you can go through. Were you on the road while doing treatments? Or did you take time off? That's an impossibility.

Yeah. I was thinking, I'm like, well, I can just do this and still play. They're like looking at me like, no. Because I have to be. Does it just beat you up? Are you like completely weak? Yeah, I lost about 50 pounds. Holy fuck. 40 pounds.

I was, yeah, I lost 40 odd pounds. Went down. It was like radiation every day for almost two months. Can't eat anything. Can we talk about how hard was it to tell the band you can't eat? We were on a band call when he got the call. Yeah, yeah, I'm like, I got to take this call, guys. And they had no idea.

And next year we're doing a band call. And Rob's like, I got to take this call. I'll call you guys back in a few minutes. So 10 minutes later we get a call back on the band call. And he's like uh all that stuff we just talked about yeah well first of all i listened to you guys i just sat there listening to you guys talk for maybe a half hour and i couldn't even bring myself to say and then finally i was just like well look guys this is the thing i just found out that i have cancer and uh this

probably isn't gonna happen did the manager know before they called? You didn't tell anyone this was the first time? Everyone on a conference call? Yeah. Holy fuck. Yeah. So what was the game plan? Like, did you take a hiatus?

Yeah, yeah, we were off. We thought we were going to be off longer, but I recovered kind of quickly, so we were able to throw together a show about November, December, January, about four months after I stopped treatment. So we stopped playing for about six, seven months doing anything. We thought we would be out for about a year not doing stuff, but I was able to come back quicker than I thought. Which when you think about it, it's pretty fucking insane.

Yeah. It was only six or seven months. Yeah, and I tried. Right around that time, I thought I could go and play lacrosse, and I played for about a month until somebody broke my ribs. And I'm like, well, I've just been in treatment for too long, and now I'm on the road. My voice is shot.

I still feel shitty from cancer, and somebody broke my ribs. I'm like, this is not fun singing and sleeping on a bus. Did you write some songs from this? Oh, yeah. Which ones did you write about this experience? I have a song called LL3. We'll be playing it tonight. It stands like when I

go to Boston. I live in Maine. I go to Boston for my treatment. You go down the elevator to the lower level three. The button said LL3. So I wrote the song about that. My in and out every single day of getting up, driving to Boston, two hours, going for treatment for 20 minutes.

How do you prepare your mind, man? Seeing all these people. Was it chemo? It was radiation. I did chemo once a week with radiation every day and you're like basically in a line with a bunch of other people doing chemo too and like yeah are you talking these people like sometimes yeah that's fucking crazy how'd you keep your mind stay good man it's weird it's weird like at the end i was at a um what's the place called it's called the Hope Lodge. And it was a lot easier just to stay there because I was so sick.

They set it up where you can live there. And I met a lot of people who, you know, had every different type of cancer. And that's all the people there were, you know, it was by the American Cancer Society. And you learn to appreciate a lot. And, um, you know, it's a lot of good people with a lot of, you know, probably a lot of them aren't going to make it, you know, and, but it was good to be around those people and have that bonding experience with them. It's like going to meetings sort of, right. You know, or whatever. That was one thing that sucked. Well, first of all, the one thing was, like, they had me on so much frickin' opiates that I didn't...

I actually had a bass made. I ordered a bass from a dude, and it, like, looks insane. Oh, my God, yeah, like, I was on fentanyl because of the pain. They had me on a patch, and I, like, ordered this bass, and it's a great bass, but it just... It looks like something Prince would have played. I'm like, what the fuck was I thinking? Is that the fretless that you just got?

Oh, that's awesome. I'm like, man, it's cool but I don't think I would have normally ordered something with all these swirly things on it and shit. What did Fentanyl feel like? Because you're in so much pain because now people are addicted to that shit. It's horrible. They're substituting that from heroin like what was your feelings on I

didn't like that no I didn't like it at all it's uh I didn't feel like it was a good high I don't know why people would like it because it didn't it felt like kind of sickening to me like I mean I've had you know like I've been to the hospital I've got morphine and stuff and I'm like, oh, this is nice. I like that. That's cool. I feel great. Give me more. Click, click, click. The fentanyl, I didn't like at all. I don't know why people like it, honestly. I mean, opioids.

Yeah, but just as an opioid, I don't see the attraction to it. Can we go back to you talking to all these cancer patients for a second? Can we go back to you talking to all these cancer patients for a second? Did you, what did you learn as like a human about like accepting death? Like, or if it's accepting death or like, what did you learn from these people? And what did you guys, what were you talking about with these people who are like? Honestly, everybody there had hope, which was great. You know, it wasn't like, it didn't seem like anybody who was where I was,

was not accepting of the fact that they were going to die. They were, they were like looking towards life as a gift and they would do whatever they could to make it happen. And that's how I felt about it too. It's like, this sucks. This is really hard, but I'm not going to, there's no way this is going to beat me. It's not gonna happen, you know? And you just get like mind over matter sort of idea. And everybody there is sort of supporting each other and has that, and it's just like sort of that goodwill almost helps everybody. What were your symptoms before you knew you had cancer?

None really. I had a beard, I had a big thick beard and I was itching it one day on tour and I noticed a lump and I had a big, thick beard, and I was itching it one day on tour, and I noticed a lump, and it was underneath my, it was like on my throat, and it was a lymph node was inflamed. So, like, we went through. At first, I was just like, ha-ha, yeah, you know. And then it's just like, is it there again?

It's there. It's still there. It's bigger. That's weird. And then I went to my doctor, and she's like, oh, you know, there could be a lot of things. You know, it might even be like cat scratch fever is what they thought it was.

Like, that's what happens. Your lymph nodes get inflamed. It's a real thing. But they went through everything. And I did like every cancer test there was. Dude. Tons of biopsies, just different kinds. Every kind of test there was.

Did the last biopsy, which had like 12 different parts to the test. The last part was a two-part thing to the test. The first half of it came in. I was clear. So all I had to do was wait for the last part of this 12th part of the test. And then they're like, yeah, you do have cancer. And it was the furthest

thing from my mind because i they they were past everything else there was no sign of anything like i'm gonna win this i i mean this what they don't know what it is what we were just trying to figure out what it was and then it turns out it was cancer fuck and it was in my lymphatic system and stuff lymphatic so it was small enough or early enough in the treatment to like say we could fight this if it was a different kind of cancer i would have been screwed So it was small enough or early enough in the treatment to say we could fight this? If it was a different kind of cancer, I would have been screwed because it was late stage three. But because of the type kind of cancer it was,

that doesn't matter. It was like an HPV related cancer. I noticed my neighbor had it too. Same cancer. They've really pinpointed the way to treat this cancer. It's one of the worst treatments ever because they have to freaking hammer you with treatment, but they can beat it because it's so focused on the spot, and it's like intensive seven weeks. So some people go through half a year A year of cancer treatment This is like For seven weeks

And then you're fucked for a while After the fact But it usually In what 85% of the cases or something It's a pretty high percentage of First they told me 65 then it was 70 By the time I was done it was like 85% chance You'll be fine

But you're not going to like your life for the next four months how do you approach now because of this it's like basically like a new basically have like

a new start of life with this new mentality and stuff like hence the not fighting with it it is halftime at the

Enni Fresco interview hour well hello I am Arno Bacher It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Well, hello. I am Arno Bakker and this is Staying Relevant with Arno Bakker. On today's segment we will be analyzing the lyrical structure of the song Man's Not Hot by Big Shaq. Shall we get started? Take man's twigs by force. Take it. Send man's shop by force. Send him.

Your girl knows I've got the sauce. Flexin', no ketchup, none. Just sauce. Saucy. Raw sauce. Ah, yo, boom. Ah, the ting goes shkra. Pop, pop, ka-ka-ka. Skidiki, pop, pop. And poo-poo, poodrr, boom. Skaya, doo-doo-doo-doo, coo-coo-coo, doo-doong. Boom, boom, you don't know.

I tell her, man's not hot. Man's not. I tell her, man's not hot. Never hot. The girl told me, take off your jacket. I said, babe, man's not hot. Never hot. Forty degrees and man's not hot. Come on. Yo, in the sauna, man's not hot. Never hot. 40 degrees and man's not hot.

Come on. Yo, in the sauna, man's not hot. Never hot. Yeah. Skidika pop pop. When I was nine years old, I wore my coat all the time. Those days I got bullied around on the schoolyard a lot. And wearing the coat was like being in flight mode.

I suspect a lot of bullying in Big Shag's life, and other kids stealing his twigs many times. Could he have hypothermia due to low sugar levels? See you next week in Staying Relevant with Arno Bacher. Oh, so now are you like, what is your mind state now playing shows? Like, where are you guys at in your head of how you guys are doing your shows and your songs now?

I go at it with full intensity, you know? I don't leave anything. I don't fucking walk away knowing that I could have done better. I mean, I know that I don't leave anything. I don't fucking walk away knowing that I could have done better. I mean, I know that I could do better, but I know that I tried to do my best and have the best time I could. I've only, so far since I've been back, I've only had one set that I've done that I've really hated.

And that just happened. It was in MoDown. It was like, but it was a sound problem. And it was a me problem. It was in MoDown. It was like, but it was a sound problem and it was, it was a me problem. It was everybody. Just recently. Just yet.

Yeah. So it was one set. It wasn't the whole, it wasn't the whole, it was just the very first set we did and then it turned around. Do you guys get pissed off at yourself when you have shitty shows? Oh yeah,

definitely. Well, you just, I mean, I don't, we don't really usually even talk about it But you know I'll freaking sit there and bum out about my plan

Whenever I freaking suck at it We have like the Patriots sort of You know Belichick kind of mentality Where it's just like everybody has to do their job You know, it's like do your job and we'll win. Do your job and it'll be fine.

And then, you know, we just take it seriously and you know if you didn't do your job and then you just beat yourself up for a minute and then go right back and do it better next time. Thing is, we've been, like, since the cancer, we've been really creative too. I mean, he's written 10, 12, 14 songs. Yeah, we're not even playing some of them.

Right. Everybody's been writing. And then so we, you know, with a repertoire of 150, however many songs we have, and adding another 20 right off the bat, it just adds tons to the thing. And it always rejuvenates to have new songs. But it seems to have rejuvenated the old songs. And it's rejuvenated everybody's playing. And everybody plays with a lot more purpose.

These guys were afraid they were going to lose me. That's what it came down to. Well, the whole thing. We all thought we were just going to lose him and it. It's like he doesn't come back. They're more concerned. They're like, man, my career. That's not true. Rob can't die because I need money.

Right. I mean, it's part of it. But it's like... That's part of it. It's part of the family. We's not true. Rob can't die because I need money. Right. But we, I mean, it's part of it, but it's like, you know, it's part of the, we're a family. We've been doing this together so long. Dysfunctional. So, yeah. So it was, you know, it was, it was pretty freaky that phone call and then the process. And then now that we're back in it, I think everybody, I mean, Rob, most, I'd say him, I think everybody, I mean, Rob, most, I'd say him, but all of us, just the different outlook on every show and how, like,

you can't take one day for granted, so don't. With this new mentality, is it more stressful because every show means more, or is it just maintaining, trying to keep the fans at the shows? It's fun. It's fun, and we're doing what we love. There's no stress involved for me. I was going to say there's less stress. Yeah, it's just we go out there and

we're just going like I'm writing the songs not to please anybody, but I write the songs just to make myself happy and hopefully these guys will play them and if they don't, they go in my fucking pile of songs that I like and nobody cares about. Otherwise, we play them and it's just fun. That in my fucking pile of songs that i like and nobody cares about otherwise we play them and it's just fun you know that's all we're trying to do is

have fun and for us fun is doing like playing well playing our asses off and kicking ass and uh it's like playing a sport for me you know like i i think benny and i can have the same uh you know like we go out there with fucking lizard brain. It's the competition factor. You got to beat. You got to win the game. And the game is kicking the shit out of the show. Exactly.

And in today's day and age with the internet and how everybody has a fucking comment about everything. And there's statisticians. And they play this song tonight. You know, you can't, you can't, there's no possible way to please anybody. So why not just please ourselves? And if we have a good time and we're playing well and communicating with each other and smiling and having fun, that's all we can do. We can't like read into every single person out there's mind and satisfy them all. We're never going to do it.

Hopefully we, hopefully we do that. But if we go out there trying to kick their ass every night, then we've done our job. Right. The Bobby night of the JFC. I like it. Um,

no, but like, seriously, how like, do you listen to that shit when reviews and people, like, I can't. I don't read it. Nah. I don't read, I don't go on Facebook.

I've never been on any of those fantasy tour things. But, I mean, I have Twitter and Instagram, but, and Twitter's pretty rough, but not, like, musically, not. It's, the politics on Twitter's pretty rough, but, but, you know, most people are positive that I see in that scene. You know, because they're on, these fans are on y'all's dicks. Like, all of them. Like, the Omfrees, the Moes, the Pigeons. I mean, like, they take the live shows so seriously. Like, for you guys, if you're like, ah, fuck it.

I'm doing this for me. This is no pressure. Maybe that's the formula to having great shows. If you don't like it, if you're not having fun and you're not loving it, it's not going to transfer. People will notice. So if I let

their input, their negative input shape what I'm doing, it's going to make their show worse. He's not being genuine to himself. Right. You know, none of us are. If we have to worry about, oh, you know,

I got to satisfy this guy by playing this song 25 minutes long. Yeah, it's like four people. You know, it's like most people there and they love the show. You know, we've been doing this so long, our crowd, like there's been marriages and kids and all that stuff happened through our scenes. So it's like, hopefully people are coming for that fun and the camaraderie, see old friends. And we're just the background music, although we're, you know, kind of in the forefront. But we're like, you know, we're the basement band at the party.

You play it all. Yeah. We're the basement band at the party. You play it all. Yeah. So when you have a nice bluegrass or country song, can you approach that in a most set? Sometimes, yeah.

It does depend on what kind of song. We can't go out there and play a ballad. We can't write a ballad, play a ballad, and sing it. I've done close things to it, and it ends up not being fun because the crowd reaction is just so poor. So, you know, you can only force so much on people. You can only...

And as accepting as our... Our fans are pretty accepting to a lot of different stuff, but still... Yeah. There's certain things... Bluegrass works. A country song sometimes works um we can get away with like harder rock stuff that doesn't have jams in it with like heavy riffs um i don't know what else like i mean we tend to psychedelics stuff we put the way we

Alex stuff. We put the way we shape our set lists. Anyway, we could put any song with any other song and figure out a way to get from point A to point B. You think you can, when Vinny writes set lists, it makes no sense. Like we're going to jam from here to here.

I'm like, Vinny, those keys are so not fucking jam. Jam-able. How do you think? Cause he has no clue. He's like, yeah, but the beat works perfectly. The tempo's great.

And then we're like, how the hell are we going to do this? But they figure it out. And then it's... It's always a job. But anyway, we do a lot of melding of songs. So even if we're writing, say, a heavier song, that might go into the bluegrass song somehow because the flow might work

or the keys work or however. So we can seem to sandwich things like that together or jelly them together somehow. Let's talk about festival stuff. You and Umphreys, like, do you go out there and it's like, I want to whoop these motherfuckers' ass. Like, is that, do you go out there, like, with that fucking Bobby Knight mentality?

Healthy competition. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it happens even more, I'd say. If we were doing a summer tour with them, or with any band, really, that's when the competition's really on. Because whether you're on first, you're like, they're not going to beat us tonight, and you go out. Or if you're finishing off the night, it's like,

that was pretty good, now we're going gonna go out there and kick your ass you're always in a better position when you go on last the last person with the mic it makes it easier but like yeah let's talk about that because like i think that you know the competition is fun and it drives us to be better musicians it drives us to fucking it's good for boring you know and like not just going to autopilot because like how many times can we we could go into fucking autopilot yeah and like then what where are we and why are we playing music we're playing music to stay present you know we're staying we're i mean we could if we want to be in our heads we could be somewhere else like music is supposed to be present right it? It's, it's, it's,

you know, for us, yeah, you know, for you, for us, it's our, our way to make that happen,

you know, in our, in our dysfunctional brains. Yeah. You know, like, do you guys,

do you do therapy? Do I do therapy? No. No? Have you ever done therapy, Vinny? Oh, relationship therapy.

Yeah, I did. I did. Marriage counseling, yeah, but I've never, I you ever done therapy, Vinny? Oh, relationship therapy. Yeah, I did. I did marriage counseling, yeah. I've been around therapy quite a bit. Me too. I've got kids that go and a wife that goes sometimes. Everybody around me needs therapy for some reason. I don't know.

I actually have a degree in psychology, not that I remember a lot of it. You do? Yeah, but I mean a lot of it comes just in talking to people about shit it's like oh yeah you know and then you can kind of i thought you were like economics i had a double major economics and psych yeah piss was your parents you had a double major and you end up being in a fucking band his dad was in a band even worse my father was a jazz musician so when i broke the news to my mom she nearly freaking shit she was like oh my god because my wife was pregnant i told her the same day that i quit my job and joined mo that my wife was pregnant oh my god might as well pull the band-aid off yeah i

was just like i told her i was like i got good news and i got bad news i'm gonna give you the good news first you're gonna be a grandmother oh my god bad news is i just quit my job and i i'm going on the road with the band she nearly dropped the phone and because my dad you know jazz musician back in the 40s 50s 60s you know he got in all you know he lived the lifestyle of he was a he was a bebop jazz guy you know and so she you know they got divorced when she was young she was used to him hocking his horn, anything to get money. And it usually wasn't for the family. It was usually to maintain, you know what I mean? So she wasn't psyched.

And I'm like, but they offered me a salary in health insurance. And she's like, oh, OK. And here I am 25 years later. And nobody today has a career in any job 25 years. And here we are still playing music almost 30 years later. Amen, right? I mean, when we take risks and we fight for what we want and not just let life just direct you,

if we put ourselves in control, I think we could do anything, right? You fucking fuck hands with my guy? That's the thing, now having kids. I forgot about that. Do you, right? You fucking fuck hands with my guy? That's the thing, like, now having kids. I forgot about that. Do you have kids? I do not. I don't. So that's another thing.

My kids are getting ready to be out of school and joining life, and it's like, you know, you got this degree, and you have to get a job and stuff. But if you're passionate about that job, if you have some passion, you're going to be much better at that job. So make sure that you find something that you're passionate about because if you're just going to the day-to-day, you're just not going to go anywhere. You're going to lose your job.

You're going to have to get another job. That's what I tell my kids. Same thing. What about you guys? Are you still passionate about this? I'd say we're more passionate now than ever. I think we definitely hit a lull for a little bit before the cancer. We were getting...

complacent. Maybe the cancer saved the band. It might have. Selfishly, I don't want that to be like, oh, not... So next time, maybe it just won't be me. Maybe somebody else could have it when we get lazy again.

I'll send it around. Percentage-wise, one of us is due. What, 50% of everybody? It's probably going to be me with a fucking heart attack, so I'm probably just going to... God damn it, Rob. How much stress do you put on yourself?

You're the songwriter, right? One of them. I mean, Al and I probably do the majority of the songwriting How much stress do you put on yourself, bud? A lot Like what? I consider my job to be Basically the engine that fucking keeps the train rolling

It's a lot of pressure Yeah, but I can handle it. Rob writes a lot of really good songs, so I think the pressure is on the song and how it's crafted. Writing the great song is easy. It's you guys not fucking up my song. The pressure's really on the drummer,

actually. It's getting easier. It's getting easier because he comes in with more complete thoughts on songs. I have to because I can't tell you guys in musical terms what I want, so I just have to play it

out because I couldn't say, like, I need you to do this on the drums. I need you to sound like this. I can't play like his brain works. So if he comes in with a little bit more of an idea, then I can hear it and be like, oh, okay, I can do that. But if he goes, man, I'm not hearing, I want this, I'm like, I can't play that.

Yeah. Question. If you could tell you guys 30 years ago the knowledge that you know now and through all the fights and tribulations and fucking get, what would you tell, what advice would you give yourselves? Or like a up and coming man? Don't doubt yourself, you know? Trust your initial, trust your instincts. A lot of times when you're younger and you're trying to do it,

you know, you see what others are doing and you get influenced. Like when we had our first run in with the record business, you know, everybody's got their opinion and what they think would, you know, we're not going to, we don't want you guys to change anything. Let's change this. You know, like that's like, let's just do this one thing. And, you know, you get as much as you try to hold on to yourself, the relentless sort of pressure from those outside sources can, you know, make you doubt yourself. You know, stay true to yourself. And, you know, if you're as true as you really can be and you can stick with it, you're going to persevere, you know. Something that I think is relative to today with the TV shows and The Voice and all that shit is, like, I don't think a lot of people know how hard we all work.

Like, you fucking work your ass off driving around plus doing this. Like, one thing I'd tell my 30-year-old self, be prepared to work your fucking ass off. Because it's not like, it isn't easy. And, you know, all the people, even in the crowd, they're like, oh, man, this must be the greatest thing ever and whatever. And when you miss your kid's birthday and you've been on the road for 60 days and you're eating a fucking baloney sandwich, you know what I'm saying? No dressing, you know, and you're just sitting there in some fucking dank dressing room that smells like shit and you haven't showered in three days and you know, and you got to go play a four hour show and you haven't slept and all that stuff. You're just like, it's a lot of fricking work and you're lugging gear or you're,

you know, your crew is lugging gear you're you know your crew is lugging gear and they're about ready to kill each other because they haven't had slept slept in a week and all it's like there's a lot of shit that you don't realize that we all go through i mean you know it and he knows it most of they them don't and all the singers that join up to get on america's uh american idol and shit have no frigging clue what it's about. And they've worked hard, too. I mean, you go through all the training classes and all that stuff. I worked so hard to get here.

You didn't do shit. Yeah, they have no idea what it's like to be on the road for 30 years and how hard to work it is. Fucking work at Super Shoes and sing for your parents. And you were in the church fucking choir yeah like yeah your voice is great you have done nothing yeah i get pissed off too because we i've been on the road now 15 years and i see you know pay your dues i feel i feel like us and we're like blue collar bands yeah who fucking we go out we do our fucking job we We fucking kill, and we rock it, and we go into another town with no fucking attitudes.

We fucking go into a city, and we skull fuck these people. You know, every night. That's that mentality that keeps us going. Did any of those guys before you give you guys advice on your way up, like keep going, or what was that moment like? I don't remember. Those times were blurry chris robinson said one between threatening to stab me he tried to stab you no no he would just say weird crazy

insane things the first time i met him he was just like all over the board but i mean it was fucking hilarious shit he would say but he would uh he did say one thing that stuck with me is like dude you got to walk on the stage and you just have to fucking own it you have to go out there and you have to take everything you know you go out there and you don't leave anything behind and he was like he would approach every show like that and that stuck with me for it still has guys thanks for being on the show Vinny you got anything else to say I'm gonna take Jack Brown again next time Jack Brown ain't got shit on Vinny He's coming for your ass, Jack You ain't shit, Vinny says

He says you're a fucking skunk I didn't say that I'm just saying I'll take you again No, no, no, no Talk that shit, Vinny I'll talk that shit I'm your Don King, baby Guys, keep kicking ass

I love you guys I love everything you're doing You too, man Talk about leaving it on stage man I gotta say Thanks Vinny I've seen you a bunch of times Summer camp and beyond

And I really appreciate you guys Getting me on your festivals It knocks It knocks me on my ass To watch you Crowd surf across And back

And drinking But The amount The amount of energy You bring to the show Every time And like Talk about leaving it up there on stage

and out in front because you're out there in the crowd doing that shit blows my mind every time I've ever seen it. I'm just trying to bring a different interpretation to the scene, man. It's awesome, man. Be well. Congratulations. Keep fucking fighting.

And let's go fuck Peach Fest, dudes. Hells yeah. All right. See you later. Now, a message from the UN. I got rice cooking in the microwave. Got a three-day beard. I don't plan to shave.

It's a goofy thing, but I just gotta say, hey, I'm doing all right. I think I'll make me some homemade soup. I feel pretty good, and that's the truth It's either drink or drug induced No, I'm just doing alright It's a great day to be alive I know the sun's still shining when I close my eyes The hard times in the neighborhood

Why can't every day be just this good? Sometimes it's lonely Sometimes it's only Me and the shadows fill this room Sometimes I'm falling Desperately calling Howling at the moon Ah-ooh

Ah-ooh Ah-ooh And it's a great day to be alive I know the sun's still shining when I close my eyes Hard times in the neighborhood But why can't every day be just this good? All right. There we have it.

Thanks, Vinny. Thanks, Rob, for being on the show, letting me take over your backstage area. And we talk all things. Rob's a good guy, man. Isn't that crazy? Telling people you love that you might die, that's fucking heartbreaking, dude.

Like, you never know when it's your turn to leave. And, you know, think about it. You're riding this fucking high. Your band's kicking ass. Everything's going the way that's destiny, that you had your dreams on when you were a kid. And all of a sudden, bam. Well, life stops for a second, and you get cancer, or you get sick, or whatnot. You got to take

advantage of that kind of stuff, man, because it is a scary time to be alive. You never know when it's your turn to leave. All this craziness and world and tension and just enjoy the moments we have with each other. We don't know what's going to happen in the future. We know what happened in the past. It doesn't exist anymore. We have right now.

We might as well we might as well fucking give it hell. But, yeah, I'm in New York City. Found out Neil Castle died from circles around the sun. Fucking nuts. I just hung out with him last week at Lock-In. It's crazy what's going on.

You know, people, it's either people are afraid to talk about what they're feeling or I can't speak on the death because I have no idea what happened. But, yo, take care of yourselves, guys. It's really, it's so important. Your mind is too important. Sorry, I just burped. I want to read this. It's, yeah, I didn't get to play locking,

but I got to party with everyone. They canceled my set, which I was fucking bummed about because, you know, it's a big show for us. And to get to hang out, maybe that was a sign because I got to hang out with Neil. I got to hang out with the boys a little bit um it's crazy man take care of your friends love each other because you never know when it's your turn to lead the party um but nuts let's not talk about sad stuff right now i I can't handle it. It's too early in the morning. I'm in New York City. I'm heading out to fly to the West Coast

to do a Green Sky Bluegrass tour. We're playing in Tucson, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. We're going back to my hometown, playing in the Fonda Theater. I'm going to tell my hometown, what's Gucci? The local boys moving up in the world. So shout out to Green Sky for making me feel like a pimp in my hometown.

We'll go out for drinks and stuff and whatnot. What else I got? Oh, yeah. I didn't know if I told you this, but I'm composing Judd Apatow's production on HBO for Gary Goldman called The Great Depression. My song, Some Days, is all over the internet now through the advertisement on HBO. So you're going to be on HBO. You're going to hear some frascos.

It'll be tight, y'all. So if you hear it, give me a shout out. I want to see how many times they're playing it. But it's a big deal for me. I mean, they're going to get like millions of views because this movie is really good, and it's about depression, and it's about mental health in our community. So go check it out.

It's killer. But yeah, that's it for today. Next week, we have Jay Blacksburg, Grateful Dead photographer. He followed the dead for years. He's got a lot of insight. I picked his brain of what the scene was like

back then, what kind of acid was good, how the groupie women were. I asked all the hard-hitting questions. So, can't wait for next week. Also, we're on tour. We're on the fall.

We're doing Fairfield, Connecticut on the 12th. Portland, Maine, never been there. That's a pretty little hipster fucking town. On the 13th, going to Canada. Had to pay $1,000 because my drummer had a DUI a couple years ago. So, you know, fuck. I hope we can get into Canada. Marcus Keaton had a little trouble in Canada, too.

So I hope they don't pull us over. And if my band's listening, don't bring any weed or cocaine past the borders, boys. All right, thank you. Syracuse on the 17th. Burlington on the 18th. Saratoga Springs, New York. I've never been there. On the 17th Burlington on the 18th Saratoga Springs, New York I've never been there On the 19th

Doing Resonance Festival on the 20th and 21st Then I fly to LA To do a private party for Variety It's called City Stock Then I'm recording And trying to finish the record. Gary Goldman's premiere is at the Largo, and it's going to be on HBO on October 5th, I believe.

And then I'm doing Black Mound, North Carolina with Marcus King. That's going to be cool. Added some dates. Charleston, South Carolina, Into the Woods. Yeah, I'm busy. I'm fucking busy. Jesuseston, South Carolina. Into the woods. Yeah, I'm busy. I'm fucking busy. Jesus fucking Christ. Yep. Take care of yourselves, guys. You know, especially if you get

busy. Especially when mental health is this running rapid around these fucking streets, dude. It's like, mental health is like herpes these days. It just clings on. It won't let go. It's like a big old gross hug.

Make sure you clean yourself. I don't know. That's a bad reference. Take care of your mental health and take care of yourselves, guys. That's it for now. I'll see you next week. I'll leave you with this. I keep on saying it every week because

now Jeff Austin, now Neil, just if you see someone feel like they are afraid or in need to talk someone, be the bigger person and talk to them. You never know what people are dealing with guys. So give them a hug. You don't know how important a hug is until you get one when you're feeling like shit from a stranger it happened to me in Berlin it happens to all of us on a daily basis if we just stay present and

stay in the moment alright guys love you be safe I'm gonna do my laundry as you can hear it in the back and I'll catch you next week love you wear condoms and all that goodness. Bye. Well, thank you for listening to episode 57 of Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast, produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel,

our inquiries, Lawrence. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For info on the show, please head to Instagram at worldsavingpodcast. For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to andyfresco.com.

Change of pace, that album with Andy and his collection law book shelves on the cover is still available on iTunes and Spotify. This week's guests are Rob and Vinnie from the band Mo. Find them online at mo.org. Mo is

M-O-E. Mo.org. And there was a song, Great Day by Daryl Scott, sung by Sean Eccles. This week's special guests were Ari Findlings, Sean Eccles and Arna Bakker. The boys are back in the US.

After a good deal of fun over the summer here in Europe, I myself ended up being the bass player on Susephone for a great gig in Italy. And for a change, Andy did not jump me. Don't say that wouldn't be possible, carrying both Susephone and Andy, because it has been done before. But with Andy off my back, I gotta say, I kinda miss him. You rode me well,

Andy. Thank you. May we ride again.