Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 77: Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers

Episode Date: March 17, 2020

Whilst the world idealizes a couch potato lifestyle, Andy is bunkering down & broadcasting diversions for folks in search of extrication from their quarantine blues. And so, we welcome Joe Hertler to the Interview Hour! Joe and Andy share stories from the road, fighting the urge to quit, and what it's like to kayak in 20° weather. Ahri reviews COVID-19. Shawn & Beats urge you to second guess that line! Wash those hands and practice socializing from a distance. This is EP77. 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. Get some sunshine in your life, check out joehertler.com 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: Brian Schwartz Ahri Findling Shawn Eckels Andee "Beats" Avila Arno Bakker 

Hey, it's Schwartz. Listen, this virus thing is starting to concern everyone greatly. I'm not sure where I am with the whole thing. That said, until things get clearer as to what this all means, why don't you try wearing your shoes in public and maybe not crowd surf and touch everything and everyone and maybe don't smoke other people's joints and don't fucking all drink from the Jameson bottle and, I don't know, just, you know, adopt some adult tendencies and practices during this unknown time with the virus. All right? Thank you. Please use the hygiene. Wash your hands. Brush your teeth.

Floss. The whole deal. Later. Hey, Andy. This is Frank over there at State. Just the show's still on. Just wanted to give you that update. We'll give you a call every couple of days just to check in.

We did have some of the ticket holders call us, and they asked if we could pass on a message to you. They wanted to know if you could refrain from stage diving. They don't think you're very clean, and they're scared you may have coronavirus. So if you could just not do that, that would be good. Also, they wanted to know if you could just not do that that would be good also they wanted to know if you could wear shoes because they said the last time you were here you had a bunch of fungus in your feet and it was disgusting so I just wanted

to ask if you could take those necessary health precautions we don't want to pass any diseases on to our ticket holders. Give me a call if you have any questions. Talk soon. All right. How we doing, everybody? Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco Your fearless leader Here to try to ease your minds Trying to entertain you During quarantine Quarantine month I'm here in my house

Quarantined as well Don't have the corona But you know just keeping it safe Don't want anyone to get it You know us young people Probably don't have anything to worry about, but if we give it to someone else, it's probably fucked up. Like an old person or someone who has diabetes or high blood pressure.

People who have low immunity. So just be cautious. People need music right now. It's crazy. I mean, people are scared. I get you're scared. I mean, media, the TV is scaring you. They're not giving you all the facts. They're just showing you what's going on. I mean, you know more neurotic. And when everyone's neurotic, then anxiety starts kicking in. And then we start overthinking and start thinking that every cough we have is the Corona. And then our brain starts tricking and that's when we start getting into

trouble. So I just want to, let's just take this moment right now. Everyone, calm it down. Here we go. We're going to breathe. We're going to figure this out. This will pass. I know a lot of my friends are suffering right now. It hit the music industry hard. A lot of people don't have work for three months. And we're not the type of people who save money, musicians. three months and we're not the type of people who save money musicians um so i hope it's a i hope we learn our lesson that we need to save money for rainy days like this

but it's also i feel bad for him because a lot of people this is their livelihood especially in the jam scene especially in scenes where we don't have any mailbox money we got to go out like blue collar musicians pay our dues dues, play all those venues, try to bring a little bit of money home after the cocaine and the late night booze runs on days off. I've been doing that. I've been taking it easy. It's been nice. It's kind of, I got very lucky because my tour ended last week.

And so I've only had to cancel three or four shows. But I know a lot of guys who have canceled a whole fucking tour. Like two months of touring that they're just starting their tour. You just got to look after your favorite musicians because they're fucking hurting. So why don't you give them a message? We're all trying to figure out how to do live streams for you guys while we're all staying in our house so look out for all these musicians trying to do live streams and whatnot and if they charge a cover for the stream fucking pay it

because you know we're all in this together you know how much music helps you guys. So let's help music as well. Keep this fucking thing rocking. Because when people are sad, we need music. That's it. We need fucking music. We need people to entertain us. It's like the same thing. When we have a fucking breakup,

we go to our favorite sad songwriter to serenade us, to let us know that we're not alone. I think one thing of beauty about this, the silver lining or whatever, is we're not going to take life for granted anymore. Shit like this could happen, and boom. So use this time during whatever fucking quarantine

or whatever's going to happen for the next couple weeks. Maybe it passes by, but we're dirty people in america so i'm probably gonna stick around for a couple weeks um maybe a month and uh spend some time with your family you know play a board game find a hobby you know you could stay in the house and go stir crazy and look at the news all day and be afraid. Or you could turn your fucking phone off. You could turn the TV off and not let fear control your life. And you learn a hobby. Like, hey, fuck, I've always wanted to learn a language. I think I might do that. I'm going to start reading again. I've been cleaning. I figured out how to do dishes, which is tight. I'm going to learn how to cook. Make this the opportunity time to get comfortable with yourself. We always think about everyone else. We got to live.

I know it's scary out there. I know we got to be quarantined, but while we're quarantined, if we can take care of the people that take care of you when you're having a shitty day, let's make it work. We got Joe Hertler on the episode and he came over my house for the quarantine. Super cool guy. Good guy. Um, we talk a little bit about everything and then I don't know who's going to be my closing segment. I might do this alone. Everyone doesn't want to come over. I'm a little scared in Denver, but until then, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy Joe Hurdler. And hey, I'm serious. Don't let fear rule your life. Let's fuck this shit up. Fuck this coronavirus. Tell this coronavirus to suck our dicks or our vaginas. It ain't going to take us. Okay? All right. I love you guys. I'll talk to you soon.

I love you guys. I'll talk to you soon. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we got Joe Hertler from Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers. Yo, Chris, play some Joe Hertler while we're pimping him out. This guy's great. He has a feel-good vibe. He suffers with depression and anxiety. as all of us, really,

most of us. And he's just, he's trying to live as optimistically as he can. We had a great talk via quarantine, the Frasco Palace. But anyway, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy Joe Hurtler, and I'll catch you on the tail end. the dark We're here. The quarantine episode. Joe Hurtler and the Rainbow Seekers. What's up, Andy? How you doing, man? What's up, dude? We've been trying to do this for a while.

I'm bummed that we have to do this when all your shows got canceled. You literally got to Colorado, and you're starting this tour. When did you start freaking out about this, that maybe all these shows that we're getting are going to be canceled? Really, dude, it was like two days ago. We've been staying with Annabelle, who runs Jam Cruise. I guess the ride, the ride to Colorado is really when it like hit us

because you don't have a lot to do in the van, you know? So we just, you like constantly read it. It just gets stuck in this hole, this media hole, you know,

that is not like the healthiest thing. And of course, like my parents are sending me stuff on it and just being like, yo, this is serious. You're on tour right now.

Like, please be careful, you know? And I think that's when it sunk in. Like, this is serious you're on tour right now like please be careful you know and i think that's when it sunk in like this is serious and then also we did play one show we played the aggie and it was like halfway through i was just like man this is probably the last show i'm gonna play for a while like i need to go fucking hard what was the vibe like in the room dude i think people just didn't want to think about it you know neither my band nor lawrence made any mention of it on stage.

I think we just tried to be positive. You know, that was probably the last show for a lot of people, you know, and, uh, yeah, just tried to be positive and,

and, you know, go as hard as we can and make the best of it. Cause we probably got a little vacation coming up here. It's crazy. I think about the bands that didn't save any money. Yeah. Yeah.

What the fuck are they gonna do for two months i don't know we've we've fortunately have our finances in order and have a pretty solid savings you know and i'm hoping we can just continue you know we'll be able to keep paying everyone but uh it's freaky man you know it is like our livelihood at the end of the day you know and um you know gonna, especially if it starts going like six months or whatever. You think now? I don't know, man. I just don't know.

I'm thinking probably a couple months, right, at least. Who knows? Who knows? We've got no control in the situation, I guess, except to quarantine ourselves. Yeah. Just got to do the best we can out there and try to hopefully enjoy

some some downtime you know the world's gonna have some downtime maybe some good shit will come out of that like i'm gonna work on music and probably like play some video games and starting a minecraft server for all my friends to join hold on what's that what's minecraft have you ever heard of minecraft i've heard i've been like i've like heard of it but what's why do people freak out about so minecraft it's like legos it's an open world you can kind of just do whatever you want there's like a very involved crafting system it's very collaborative so you just plop all these people on a server and kind of get them give them unlimited unlimited like building tools to explore and modify this world and uh you know it's just this And it's literally like sitting down

with a bunch of friends and playing with Legos. But the skill ceiling is really limitless. I mean, you could build a computer in the game if you wanted to, or you can build a little log cabin, or you can sculpt a giant mountain into your skull fortress. You can really...

So I used to be a teacher, and we'd use it to teach programming or, you know, just let kids be creative. I'm 30. Okay. So when did you start teaching?

Gosh. I mean, after college, I guess. Started teaching really like, you know, in college. Did you go to Michigan State?

No, I went to Central Michigan and then I got hired by Michigan State. Okay. So Central Michigan is Kalamazoo? No, Mount Pleasant.

It's like a nowhere little town in the middle of Michigan. I went there because they had a good teaching school. So you wanted to be a teacher. What made you become a musician? I thought I wanted to be a teacher. And then in college, I actually went to school to study music. And I was like, I got burned out of it pretty quick. I was kind of done already with music by the time I started music school. So I dropped out right

away. And then I have a lot of teachers in the family. So that just seemed like the logical course of action. And I think maybe like two years into like going through the teaching program i uh started missing music had some leftover grad money and bought a guitar and that's kind of where everything started there was a there's a coffee shop that had open mics at a crush on the girl who like ran it so i started showing up what was her name we ended up becoming like super close friends she's married with kids now and stuff it never it never like panned out romantically for the best you know but uh you got some good songs yeah yeah um yeah i was just writing about whatever you know and but it gave me a spot to kind of like practice these songs and you know get started on all this it's also

where i met a lot of my you know the guys who'd become my best friends and bandmates. What, at, while you're teaching? Uh, no, at this coffee shop. And then,

you know, I just did that and, you know, it was fun. You know, people would show up to my solo shows and stuff was kind of like really looking up to like the folk scene in Michigan. Um,

and then it's, you know, I graduated, got a job and, uh, it was at some point, maybe like two or three years into like working professionally that like the music stuff actually kind of like started happening.

People started showing up to shows and we started considering going on tours and stuff like that. What did you learn from teaching that you adapted into your entertaining? That's a good question. When you're teaching, you want to, you want to like build like a safe and supportive environment. If kids feel uncomfortable, they're less likely to learn. Um, and I think try to bring that to our shows, you know, just like,

uh, if you show up here, you're going to be accepted. You're going to have a good time. You hopefully don't have to think about what's going on at home necessarily or whatever and just hopefully relax and, you know, enjoy an experience with the people around you. Yeah, and then this is what's kind of fucked up with all the stress and the worry of what's going on, not knowing what's going on, is that's when people need music the most. Yeah, absolutely. And we can't give it to them,

so we need to figure out a different way to give it to them, maybe by live streams or, like, you got any plans of what you're going to do for the next two months to get people to use it? Annabelle actually made us laugh. She's like, you guys got to do a live stream. Yeah, so we set up a live stream last night, and it went pretty well.

And if you were on social media, like, I know, like, Dopapod did one. The Dozio guys did one i think pigeons and goose had one going on on nugs last night so like a lot of and a lot of my like singer songwriter friends had like instagram streams going up so we just got to keep that going you know like keep doing it keep delivering the music to the people you know because it's like kind of our it's our job you know that's what we should be doing yeah you know you know, it's like, yeah, I'm thinking about doing a live stream too for the podcast and also like doing a talk show, like live stream.

I mean, I got time off, but it's just like music, this is when we need music the most. Absolutely, man. When people are scared. And maybe it's something, maybe it's an overhype. Who knows what's going on right now, but like people need us. Dude, absolutely. And how can we all come together and help the musicians that...

I bet people are freaking out. I had a band meeting with my band for two hours just figuring out, all right, you better lock down. We're going to better save money. You better just fuck and stay in the house. Yeah, man. Don't spend any fucking money. Just come and eat minimal until we figure this out.

Because, I mean, we got lucky because our tour ended last week. So we had two months off regardless. It was a slamming ass tour. It was cool. That's what we should talk about. We should go on tour together. Dude, I'd play with you in a heartbeat, bro. Yeah, that'd be cool.

So tell me about the start. What's going on? Like, I want to, I want to figure out who you are as a person. Cause I really, all I know is like this happy guy on Instagram with fucking big old flowers and like, you know, like what's your mission, dude? I mean, oh man, the music inherently is sad. You know, I don't necessarily like write about like happy topics, but like it's, it's like built under this facade of, of like joy, you know I don't necessarily like write about like happy topics but like it's it's like built under this facade of of like joy you know and I think for me it's always been like

kind of like celebrating like the shared melancholy you know we all have our our private struggles and um but that's that's something that I think hopefully can you know unify us like life's a bitch and uh I think when you kind of understand that like hopefully we can find some togetherness or at least like an understanding for you know the struggles of our our fellow humans you know and that we can celebrate that and be proud of it and embrace it and hopefully just you know keep pushing through it have you had any struggles in your life oh yeah man you know the void's always with me what do you got you gotta just like gotta be buds with your demons you know it fuels the music i've long just kind of like accepted it i'm gonna have a lot of ups and downs i'm pretty private about it honestly but yeah this is a safe

space yeah yeah i know i know depression oh it comes and goes what do you get depressed about dude it's just literally like nothing it's just like you just wake up and you're just depressed do anything yeah so how do you fight that when you're on stage or like when you're on tour and you have to be happy um i like to read i'd like to stay busy you know whatever it is um i'm honestly music. Like it's just sitting in the studio and, and, and writing about it and finding ways to, that's really where I like sit with it face to face and not, I guess not ignoring it. Um, I kind of treat it. It's like, it's like a garden, you know, if you, if you like ignore it and let it grow, like weeds are going to pop up and it's going

to get all disorderly and gnarly but if you kind of tend to it and you pay attention to it and engage with it it can just be a part of who you are and in a healthy way yeah i think everyone has it and i think everyone when it comes um oh fyi joe brought coronas at 10 a.m to the party fucking love this guy um but seriously um i think depression is something that yeah like you said it's just it's like a warm blanket man it's gonna always be there it's just a pen or like a wet blanket it's our warm blanket i don't think depression is pretty comfy um but you know it's like fighting those demons like i go through this shit too man where

i am in that van for eight hours dude yeah and i'm looking at fucking social media i'm looking at everyone else's lives and i'm looking at and you probably you have a girlfriend you have a girlfriend so she's probably on your ass sometimes oh yeah you know it's like all this stress mounts up and we don't have a release until we get on stage. So you've said you found books. You found what else? What other ways to like lower your DMs? Were you ever an alcoholic?

No, no. You know, I certainly have been a recreational drug user pretty moderately. I've been lucky with that. What, like psychedelics? Yeah, you know, all that stuff. But I like to party, you know, I've been, I've been lucky with that. You know, it's something I definitely, yeah. You know, all that stuff. But, uh, I like to party, you know, but try to, I try to, I know that like, there's a part of me that I, I gotta be careful and try to really like reel it in when I,

if I feel like that's starting to become a thing, you know, especially with like, well, I honestly drinking on tour, like really just trying to like limit it, you know? I mean, I kind of, Jeremy from Pigeons is like two beers a show, you know? I think it's a pretty. He's disciplined. That motherfucker is disciplined. Dude, he's so disciplined.

I got so much respect for him, man. He's a class act, but he does the two beers a show thing. I've been doing that for a while, but these are like one or two nights a week to be like, fuck it. Let's party, you know? Honestly, I got to hold, you know you know i gotta keep my voice together too and if i party then i go i'm blabber to everyone because i like to chat and uh then i end up losing losing the old box so um i think it's just trying to be trying to be aware of like how you're feeling and if i need to just like take some time, like go to a restaurant by

myself and chill out for a bit, I just do it. Try to just like do what I want to do and not like force myself to be in situations that I'm not necessarily like comfortable at that moment doing. What's the worst part of this, this life for you? I'm not inherently like a tour dog. love touring because i love like this i love hanging out with you like we hung out with annabelle i get to see a lot of old friends it's like the connective experience in all of this and like the grand adventure of it is really what draws me to it the shows are amazing and you know i feel like it's really cool what we do like we get to bring people together.

Like, that's the whole fucking point of music is it's, that's its social function is to, like, get humans to hang out and connect, you know? And that's amazing. And I get that buzz from it in that way. But ultimately, like, touring for me is, like, a means for me to, like, go sit by myself in a studio. Yeah.

I want to just sit around and write. And, yeah, being away from home is tough. So you like song. You like writing songs. to like go sit by myself in a studio yeah i want to just sit around and write and and yeah being away from home you like song you like writing songs i'm a songwriter it's wild we even ended up in the jammo sphere and i love it how you just like so weird dude because you're not jam guy are you no no never been me too yeah i mean but you guys are so live dog dude but like we're like we that's not what we know i don't know about my my band grew up with like listen to umphries and shit like sean but i never knew anything about this scene when i was a kid you know i was into folk singers i was into damien rice i was like it's so funny how the jam scene just accepts people it is and that's what's cool dude yeah

that's why i love it like i'm glad they're accepting songwriters now. I'm grateful every day for it, man. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And like, so like, because you're really into songs. So like you wanted to start a, you started a podcast. I did. With the songwritings and stuff.

Tell me about that. Yeah, I'll be honest. I kind of farted out after a couple episodes. I found that I just like, I couldn't, I'm not on all the time. Like there's just days where like, it's just like there's a big cloud over my head, you know? And I had some really good sessions

and I had some that were like, I just kind of felt like I was awkward in them and do a great job. So I'll pick it up at some point. Well, you know what, bud? I think it's because you're listening to what you're doing with that cloud over your head. Yeah, probably.

And you're like, fuck this. I was like, shit, dude. But like, honestly, like it's okay to have those feelings yeah yeah that's why you need a producer that's why you need someone to have an outside that's you can't just do it all because when you're sad yeah you're sad and i could see that and i'm the same way too when i'm sad no one's gonna stop me from being sad yeah so like that's why we have girlfriends that's why we have managers producers like shout why we have managers, producers. Shout out to Joe. Thank you, Joe.

My producer. It's just we got to figure out a way to not let the clouds get us, right? Yeah, yeah. You're right, man. It's hard. What do you need, though, Joe? I need a solid internet connection. So I can, yeah.

That's about all I need to be happy. Just friends. I need to be happy no um just friends I need humans I fortunately have a a lot of friends I like I like people um for as much as I like to just sit by myself sometimes but I think really at the the end of the day you know if you got you got some good homies and a decent family to go home to you could you'll be all right you know tell me about your uh childhood what's going on you got good parents oh yeah yeah i had a great childhood yeah my parents got divorced when i was a kid they fortunately went off how old are you uh probably like 10 that That sucked, of course, you know. Did they fuck you up? I don't know.

It's hard to say. I've seen them remarry with people that they really love. Like my stepmom and my dad, my mom and my stepdad, they both married like awesome people, like top-notch motherfuckers. That's a weird thing to call your step parents stepdad is top they're fucking cool though you know and i love them that's cool and it was really nice because growing up my parents didn't get along or whatever and that's just kind of the norm

but then to just see how they changed when they were in relationships with people that they really loved was it was amazing and like it's funny too, because my mom was pretty strict growing up and my stepdad before they had met, he was also extremely strict. And, you know, they came together and meet your future step siblings and everyone's like on their tiptoes. And then just to see them like meet each other

and find that love and like really like open up. And now they're these like, really like progressive, like liberal Christians. And like, you know, it's just this very like welcoming, you know, inclusive family.

And like, they've just grown a lot, especially since they've met each other and they're, you know, down to drink with us and party. And like, it's really cool, dude.

I don't know. Were you religious growing up? Yeah. I grew up in a pretty religious family. It was like assemblies of my, I guess like assemblies of God, but I also like hung out and like what's that uh i don't even know it's just kind of like it's like jesus camp yeah it's definitely like speaking shut the fuck up yeah dude i was like rolling around the ground being like i don't know what's going on but

everyone else is doing it talk about this talk about oh my god it was not real life jesus camp i was real life jesus camp okay coming from a jew i have no idea what this is but i saw this documentary and it freaked me out yeah so what okay explain this whole this is oh my god it was a while ago you know i don't remember a whole lot but yeah you go after these jesus camps and you're like man i don't want to really do this and uh then you show up and like they're singing kumbaya i love jesus and uh next thing you know you're just like rolling around on the ground like in religious ecstasy i've been to some crazy raves and stuff you know they're kind of you know i found a lot of parallels between some of the

parties i've been to to these jesus camps but like you get on that level dog you know i've been to some great parties where you kind of want to just roll around the ground and go you know but like so it's the same it was hype dude like they got locked in yeah it was fun and you walking away you're like i got the holy spirit i'm a child of god you know so now i get it as a kid like it's just a big party but the the the theme is jesus instead of the theme for now is drugs or music. Yeah, just music or whatever, you know. I actually found out, though, 8% Jewish is Mazel Tov, dude. Oh, my tribe, dog.

Were there a lot of Jews in Michigan? Oh, yeah, dude. All my roommates were Jewish growing up, especially in college. I got a little Israeli Jew in me, too, dude. I'm going to need to borrow one of y'all's hats pretty soon here, dude. Oh, I got you, Don. Yeah, so I'll have to hit you up. Dude, that's crazy.

I want to go back to this Jesus stuff. We have a bunch of Jews buried into the family and stuff, so no, there's no bad blood. But what about guilt? Guilt is? Just like religious guilt, like forcing you to be part of this community. I found my own way.

Did you get out? Are you still part of them community i found my own way you know did you get out or are you still yeah yeah i'm agnostic i my early wreck my first record that i really released is like deals with that stuff heavily i started uh i took i have like a fake say i got a fake degree in uh in religious study in college i was friends with a couple professors and they let me sit in their courses, all the religion professors. So I took like a fake 13 to 15 credits on that. But it was through that experience that I kind of, I don't want to say like fell away.

I did fall away from it during that period in particular. I don't think I was ever particularly religious, but yeah, I fell away from it. Was there a certain moment? Like, do you remember the moment where you're like, this isn't for me anymore? I from it was there a certain moment like do you remember the moment where you're like this isn't for me anymore um i think it was really in those college courses that i was just like this is this doesn't represent i i appreciate a lot of the things about this i studied christianity and buddhism um and yeah you know i kind of just

started feeling that maybe there's some something like the star wars force out there that's that's binding us together and um maybe that's a possibility but really i just have no fucking idea i'll know when i die and i'm cool with that you know either it's nothingness or i'll transcend to some wild fucking place that i hope is a dank party you know i hope it's just i'm just sick rave you know my favorite artists are up there just tearing it up. Explain heaven to me. Your heaven. Heaven would hopefully have fiber internet, a really dope studio,

and all my friends and stuff and family to hang out with. Yeah. And like a really good hang out with. Yeah. And like a really good live jam space. Yeah. That would be sick. And kayaks for all my friends too. And varying rivers of increasing difficulty

for me to like coach people on how to paddle. Yeah. We're going to talk about that. Oh yeah, dude. You're a fucking animal. You're a fucking animal about that. But does the- And ranch that but does the ranch dressing lots of ranch ranch oh yeah yeah yeah i like ranch too um does the unknown scare you um

a little bit sometimes some days there's just those like existential dread days but i'm definitely not like i'm not scared of of like dying you know I think I'm pretty good about just like accepting sort of what comes at me I know I can at least to some extent control how do I respond to things and there's just a lot of shit out there that I really have no idea about and someday it's going to come reveal itself to me. Maybe I'll be conscious for it or maybe not. And, uh, try to just accept reality as it is when it, when it decides to come and greet me. Why do you think we can't do that with our depression? Chemical imbalance, man. It's chemistry. And, uh, it's, it's really hard to just like talk yourself out of it. You know, you just have those days and i know for me i'm like maybe in a day or two i'll i'll start

feeling better yeah so you never tried to like depression never got you it's been there a couple times yeah for sure yeah but earlier in your life uh it just comes and goes man it just comes and goes yeah everyone listen to this this, my friends listening to this are going to be like, what the fuck? Why? It's you, dog. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

You're a happy guy, we get it. I'm a happy guy too, but we need to, we're more than that. We're fucking human beings, bro. Do you don't think everyone deals with this shit? Yeah, it's more of just like

the invasive thoughts that, there's just those days where it seems like this shit ain't worth it you know like but then you you know there will be some days that are worth it coming up and that it's worth just pushing through and i just like i personally feel like it's not like a religious thing in any sense but like life is not like mine to take even my own necessarily if i ever if i ever off myself dude i'm gonna have a samurai sword bottle of whiskey i'm gonna go into the woods i'll be like terminally ill and cancer they'll be like we're joe go you know yeah harikari in in the manistee national

forest and i will be of no use to anyone at that point you know i'll be like i'm sorry you know i love y'all but i'm fucking useless in this world i'm taking your tax dollars and you know bumming y'all out so i'm gonna go have have you know the last the last party the last hurrah yeah yeah if it's a song called old love that's based off of like a parable called the chrysanthemum pledge and uh i i turned it into like a homoerotic thing but it was uh you know two two samurai of opposing factions who like fall in love on the battlefield after like everyone's been slaughtered you know they're like two of the survivors and because they're on these opposing teams they they can't you know come back together and love each other so they commit harry

carry and they can find love again in gay samurai heaven that's fucking awesome i just went on a tangent about that but no but like what do you think that means to you you think that there's hope that if something doesn't work out now that it could work out later maybe you know we'll see optimism that's what we're talking about right yeah so through darkness you're still talking about optimism yeah i try to be you know i try to you kind of I think I got to. And I genuinely believe this stuff too. It's not like I'm just trying to be all sunshine and daisies

while the Silent Hill walls are crumbling around me, that whole thing. But again, it just comes and goes in waves and I've long accepted its ebb and flow. Yeah, that's good, though. I mean, some people don't. Yeah. And that's when you get in trouble.

I think so, yeah. And if you just accept that tomorrow is going to be better, then it's going to be better. Yeah. Even if it's a little bit better every day. I think happiness is a mind state. Definitely. Absolutely.

I think happiness is a mind state. Definitely. Absolutely. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Welcome back to Review. I'm your host, Ari Finlay. Today, I'm reviewing my coronavirus quarantine, okay? Now, this is a self-quarantine.

I do not have the virus yet. I do assume I'm going to get it, much like herpes. I'm just trying to push it off for as long as I can. I've been in here a couple of hours. I have eaten about two months worth of food in half of a day. I don't know what's going on. I cannot quench my hunger. I just keep eating and keep eating and keep eating and I keep feeling full. I feel like I ran a marathon. I don't know what to do. The only food I have left is popcorn and cottage cheese and things are going to get real weird in a couple of days. I've gotten high a couple of times on edibles. Do not smoke pot. Coronavirus is an upper respiratory infection. Switch to edibles for two weeks. Okay, that goes out to you, Andy. This is really just for you. Also in half of a day, I probably masturbated 35 times. I don't know what I'm going to do for two weeks. My penis is raw. My hands are raw. I'm going to have to switch to some sort of lotion. Maybe I'm going to spit, but I'm going to put a cone around my penis because it's the only thing I know what to do right now. And it doesn't make me feel better, even though I thought it would.

Guys, wash your hands. Be careful. Stay indoors. Be safe. Have you ever almost quit? Oh, yeah, man. Where were you? What was the situation?

Oh, gosh. I think early on, like, touring was a shock to me. So, you know, like, touring is, it's touring, there's a dopagenic response from playing. I think when you get on stage, you're doing something for humanity that is hardwired into us. And when you get people together and they're all having a great time, they're connecting like dopamine, dopamine, dopamine. It's like your brain's going, good job.

You're doing something that you should be doing right now. That's helping people. And there's, there's a spike, you know? And then inevitably there's also a crash. You know, I'd always find out like, find that like in the mornings I'd be like super depressed. And then I'd kind of have to just like crawl my back through way through the day, play the show. It's like this, just this really radical up and down. And yeah there was i think early on we were probably on like the west coast it's one of our first tours so there's just like no one at these shows you're playing to like four people but they would like still be hype you know they'd still be fun maybe more being i should probably be a little more optimist they were

better than that i should say but still i think that the craziness of just the ups and the downs ups downs of tour just kind of got to me yeah and dude I just like I just had like total breakdown one day in the van just like bawling my eyes out it's like I don't cry very often especially not in front of people but yeah I just had a really really rough time goofy show yeah um and uh I've learned as time has gone on to like really try to squish you know compress those ups and downs a lot of it's just been like you know drinking a little less

sleeping more you know just like taking care of my body has been a huge part of that and also just being aware of it like keeping my mind occupied with things that aren't like just music and just the show when I'm out on tour and trying to be positive you know we're really old friends in the band you know we have a lot of fun together at times and uh i think that helps out too yeah well maybe this is the blessing

for this quarantine like we we think about all the other shit all the time that sometimes we forget about what makes us happy like yeah fucking you said you go uh rafting i saw your i saw some fucking pictures of your crazy ass rafting in the snow and shit yeah that was that was kind of a disastrous what happened event yeah so uh we kept having to put we call it death trip that was the trip that started it all it was like a fall kayaking trip are you like taking lsd while you're doing this or what so you have a six-day lsd trip or what how long is this thing it's a bunch of adults having a really really good time on the water you're rafting in michigan oh you're kayaking in michigan some guys some people take

canoes people are pretty experienced now so it's a little different but this trip in particular um this was the most recent one we kept having to push it back because you know tour it would happen it's like oh you guys got the show you got to do so like We kept having to push it back because, you know, a tour would happen. It's like, oh, you guys got this show you got to do. So like, sorry, guys, we got to push it back all the way to November, which it got really cold in November and it was snowing a lot. I had a couple of friends who this was their first time. So administrative oversight on my part, I should have been like, this isn't the year for y'all.

And right off the get go, you know, I take it pretty seriously. Like, here's what you need to bring. Like, we're adults now. Everyone has money. You can afford a couple hundred dollars a year if you haven't done this before. And I'll usually focus my energies on, like, one or two new people every year to kind of bring into the fold, usually good friends. Yeah.

And right off the bat, like, we were ready to go, you know. And instead of waiting for everyone to get in the water so we could do a little like powwow and like how we're gonna structure this um people just the new people just took off and a hundred meters down a hundred yeah a hundred meters down river there was a big they call them strainers so it's where a tree has fallen it's in the water so they go straight into it big pile up happens and people just start flipping you know it was like 20 degrees out meters in yeah so had we started 200 meters up it was like 20 degrees fucking animal yeah so a lot of us had bought like neoprene

i was like please guys buy these neoprene waders like they will save your life because they seal and stuff and like half the people bought them. So of course the people who went in didn't have those on, immediately soaked. Fortunately, it was so close to where we dropped in. We still had cars.

So a bunch of people bailed. A bunch of people just went to the next campsite. And some of us, probably about 10 people continued through the rest of it. And actually on the last day, it was great.

The trip recovered, needless to say. But on the last day it was great we've the trip recovered needless to say but on the last day my buddy has one of these kayaks is a hurricane kayak and they're made out of this really lightweight from patented material that's extremely expensive but not that durable so on the last day yeah we're tripping and his kayak cracks i'll drink a corona yeah go for it man three cups of coffee in. And dude, it was just like freaked out. I was like, oh my God, dude, we have like four hours to go and your kayak is sinking, dude.

And like, there's literally nothing we could do. So we used a butane stove and melted a bunch of pine sap because we had some tape, but like even- I mean, this is a six hour trip. No, so this was for like four and a half days something like that what the fuck yeah this is the last day i'm like dude ryan you're going on the wall like we're we're fucked so yeah we we sealed like a two and a half three foot crack with pine tar or pine resin and then stuck all the float you know anything buoyant so all of like

old water bottles you know we had like so all of like old water bottles you know we had like some jameson bottles in there you know we put everything but our our you know our life jackets and we were able to get it and it floated and it actually floated pretty well and we were able to to make it to the end and it had like the best party at the final we've had a lot of like and closing parties on these trips but this one was just like absolutely amazing because it was incredibly challenging i would not bring that many people with that with the that overall skill level again on a trip like that it needs to happen in october at the latest but it was redeemed that's fucking challenging what are y'all doing dude it's when things are difficult though that you remember them you know it's when shit gets

wild like that's what makes these trips memorable it's the challenge it is cold like you have to prepare for it and you kind of have to i don't know you gotta you just gotta be on your toes and uh but it's so fun and like the friend group we have is just amazing so you're camping in 20 degree weather we've camped in like negative 10 that was that was what do you do to keep warm um lots of layers it's really just gear you know i mean you usually bring like if it's just camping and you don't have to worry about getting wet you bring like five or six layers you know with like uh usually some sort of like under armor-esque yeah bottom layer with a couple fleeces like usually a big wool pullover and and then you know multi-layered

you know a nice jacket and it's doable man like um that the feeling of like being protected and guarded against the elements is like it's just like this awesome feeling and then doing it with all your homies dude and everyone's just like just like, people are working hard. They're starting to have kids. To get everyone together on these trips is one of the greatest joys in my life. And I hope we're able to continue it as we continue to get older. That's fucking exciting, dude.

It's really fun. If you ever want to come, dude. I'll go with you. I'm not going to go in fucking 20-degree weather, but I'll roll in the fall. I did a float trip with a canoe for five days through Arkansas. Oh, hell yeah. And it was like those metal ones, but like the water wasn't that thick or whatever.

It wasn't like deep enough so you guys were bottoming out all the time. We're fucking holding out the boat, dude. Yeah, that sucks. Dude. Was it sweet though? I fucking loved it. Did you guys get We're fucking holding out the boat, dude. Yeah, that sucks. Dude. Was it sweet, though? I fucking loved it. You guys did? Because, like, no.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, good. Tipped and, like, but, like, it's also, like, no phones. It's, like, kind of like this right now. Like, I turned off my phone. I'm taking, I turned off my phone for a week. I don't want to listen to that shit. That's awesome, dude.

You know, that's just going to make me unhealthy. That's going to make me scared. And, you know, that's going to trigger my anxiety that's gonna make me scared and you know that's gonna trigger my anxiety and trigger my depression and we don't need that shit yeah there's so much comparing on social media i know i'm back to this but yeah i think about a lot of it is just like you're always comparing what you're doing to other people and and uh you know people present like a very manicured image of themselves on social media. You got to, you know, betray yourself in like the most positive way that you can. You got to show people like you're having

fun and you're being successful. And that's not always the reality of things. And you got to remember, I think for all people who are using social media, like don't, comparison is, is bad. There's a, there's a really great quote from the Count of Monte Cristo that I wish I could pull up right now, but... There is neither happiness nor misery in the world. There is only comparison of one state with another. Nothing more. If you're constantly comparing yourself, you know, one state to another,

you're not going to be happy. Yeah. Do you take that advice, Joe? Yeah, I try to. Yeah. I really, I don't, I don't think I get, I don't... I guess I just don't browse social media very much anymore i try not to because i remember we would have conversations about your podcast and you're like i felt like you're just giving up on

it sometimes yeah because i was yeah because your demons in your heads are like this sucks i do want this isn't you got you man i got a really obsessive brain, you know, and I kind of let it guide me. What are you obsessed about? I was talking, Holly, right? That was your friend. I was talking to her about Formula One. You know, I get obsessed about that. I am kind of always obsessed about making tunes.

Really whatever, you know, it's like things, like things to do, activities and topics to learn about, you know, once that little thing flips in my head, I just follow it, you know. And sometimes it fizzles out and that's okay. But a lot of times it doesn't. You know, I have like a passionate hobby for the rest of my life.

So, I mean, that's how I fell into music. So, it can be from anything. I'm really into metal right now, dude. Metal? Yeah, like grindcore and metalcore. How are you going to make happy grindcore music? That'd be awesome. I don't think, I don't know, man.

There's just something, it's like, dude, I've been really wanting someone, like a band to like enter the jams. Because I love it when like oomph goes like kind of dark and proggy, you know? Because it just like gives you that feeling like that only like metal can do. I really want there to be like a real fusion between like jam band and metal band where it has that heaviness and like those really, really like clashing, this really thick clashing harmonic foundation. But cause the, the, the,

like the, the skill level of some of those guys is so good. And I feel like there's, there I feel like there could be a fusion between these two genres somewhere. And if that happens, I'm going to be fucking stoked. Well, do it up, Joe. I was just rambling about that. What was your other, what were you saying? No, I think that's great to have obsessions.

Like I'm obsessed with the Lakers. Yeah, dude, it feels good. Yeah. Oh, that's what I was going to say. So when you turn your hobbies into your career, how hard is that? I don't think it was... I think the pressure is greater.

Like the pressure to write like a really good song is there. You know, you can't ignore that. You know, obviously like drawing people to shows is frustrating, but I really am, like, super fucking grateful that in turning my hobby into a career, I can spend, like, so much more energy on making things, and that's what I want to do. Yeah. And I really am, like, that brings me joy dude genuinely just like creating yeah i

get to just sit around and like absorb the world and then try to package it and and give that to people in a way that they can hopefully connect with it's fucking beautiful man i'm really grateful for it man what do you want to be remembered by joe oh how do i want to be remembered i think i'm approaching a point in my life right i'm trying not to care about it honestly dude you know i'm gonna die and i'll be forgotten you know 50 years or so no very no one's gonna remember who i am or what i did i try to you know just like enjoy the time that i that i have now you know why do you think people are gonna forget about you uh it's just the nature of things, man. Everything has an end.

Nothing is permanent. I mean, even just musicians 100 years ago, it's like people are, maybe a few people know their song. Those are like the greats too. It just moves so quick. Music moves so much faster than any of us as artists

could ever even hope to catch up to, you know? And, um, and there's something beautiful about that too. Like there's like an impermanence to it. Like you have your, you have your time on stage. Eventually you have to hop off that stage and, you know, hopefully for a while people are, are listening and still appreciating what you did and what you did will continue to resonate over what, um, and resonate and influence over those who come after you, you know, for a while. So there's some permanence to be found there, but, um, I guess I'm a little nihilistic in, in certain ways. I call it optimistic nihilism. Because yeah, I think, you know, it's like our goal is to, you know, not be forgotten, right?

I've been trying to make that not a goal. Really? Why? Because it stresses you out? Um, I wish I had a really good answer for it. Um, I just, I guess I have a note. Okay. I'm just going to read this as I wrote it. I don't know exactly know what I was going for, but, uh, it's titled the indifference of a child in a history museum.

No one ever knows how they will be remembered, nor does anyone ever experience it. What worth is wealth or power under the repressive weight of the cosmos? I just want you to know that I tried my best and I was far from perfect. I'll be the first to admit that deep within I too would like to be remembered, but maybe that desire comes from the same place within me that wants to live forever and lose nothing, but nothing lives forever and everyone loses everything. What does it mean to have influence in a world with no direction? To live for being remembered is like planning your birthday party on a day you can't go. What you imagine your life is for,

is what it is for, right? That doesn't make any sense. What I do now, what I experience behind the eyes of my own self, that must be if it isn't then nothing is beautiful i was probably reading something and taking notes no excuse me but that makes sense though like i love that that line about the birthday party that you can't go to it's like why are we overstressing about what we're going to be and who we going to be remembered when we die? Why don't we be who we remembered for now? Yeah. And don't get me wrong.

You know, I'd love for my career to continue to grow and for people to appreciate it for as long as possible, you know. But I'm grateful now that I can bring some people together to listen to music i'm really grateful i have my bandmates there's some of my they're my brothers you know we're a family and uh it's fucking rad you know i'm lucky and i'm just a small band man you know like we got a long ways to go we're at the bottom rung of the ladder looking up, you know. Ah, you're in the middle, dog. Thank you. You're walking your way up.

I see it. I'm glad people respect us, you know. I never would have expected to be in the jam scene. And shout outs to the Pigeons for letting us in. Oh, so they were the first bands that really let you in? Yeah. Well, me and Jeremy met at Electric Forest. We did an everyone orchestra thing. And, yeah, he was uh I don't know just started talking to him I had some friends that really liked pigeons and

you know everyone was kind of talking and I think Jeremy was kind of just like chilling and I approached him and just kind of became buddies he checked out our set I checked out his set and uh yeah probably like six months later they asked us to go on a tour but really like we'd always just been like that local band in michigan you know pigeons are you know they're dude they're so dope you know and like you know i agree like they helped us out a lot a lot dude they help a lot of bands like look at goose right now because of pigeons yeah it is like they they get that you know and it's like that's such a powerful and amazing thing you can do for musicians in the way that they do it.

And just a class act. Dude, I saw him with Goose the other night in Grand Rapids. I was like, oh, yeah. Every time I see him, which is a lot, I'm like, oh, yeah. This is fucking sick. They're good guys, man. Yeah. They get shitted on.

Why do you think people get shitted on? Because they're good. Yeah. They're haters yeah i well so pigeons thing it's like i mean i guess people could from a distance like i might think it's a little cheesy or something but like do you see it live and it's just like this is some top level shit and it's really done and it's fun and it it's it's authentic to who they are and what they want to be doing.

Like, they love the music that they're making, and that just, like, makes me appreciate it even more. And it's just so thick and so slamming. And they're good fucking guys. They are, dude. They hit me up. You know, they care about each other. They do.

And they care about their friends. They care about the whole scene, dude. I know. They're good guys. Yeah, find anyone in the scene that's going to say a bad thing about those guys because you're just not going to find it. Shout out to Ben Gator.'re good guys. Yeah. Find anyone in the scene that's going to say a bad thing about those guys because you're just not going to find it. Shout out to Ben Gator. Yeah. Absolutely. Gregory.

Jeremy. There's nice people in the jam scene, dude. Dave DiGianni. Yeah. The bands here have to work their asses off. They have to play for a long time. They got to play for a decade, perfecting their craft. You got to have those ups and downs you got to

have those years of like playing to nobody and then all of a sudden it starts working and i think there's like i think that gives a that's why this at least to me this this i i really appreciate the world that we ended up in you know i wouldn't want to be anywhere else quite frankly yeah why why would you want to be? We're here. Yeah, dude. It's a dope crew. Yeah.

And it's like, think about if you're a folk singer by yourself, just touring by yourself. That shit's hard. Or DJing by yourself. Or being a comedian. Yeah. Did you ever try comedy? I tried.

I've been trying to do it more. Really? But this is my outlet for comedy, this podcast. But I i did stand up with gary goldman no shit in boston it was like my first time ever doing stand-up and there's 1200 people there what's it like when you like really get a joke to land oh my god it's the best feeling in the world would you say it tops the the some of the great musical achievements of your life or musical that's because i'm by myself yeah and like it's all me you know it's all it's all like no one can you know give me shit because i have this thing where like oh frasco isn't he wouldn't be shit without his band which is true

but it's also they don't see what else i'm bringing to the table oh you're a boss dude but you have a great band yeah they're badass if you're if you need like you need the whole thing great things aren't made by one person you know i'm so reliant on my band in so many ways yeah i wouldn't do it without them yeah no desire you know and you have an amazing band but you're amazing artists yourself you know and you're fucking you're leading it too dude trying man trying to like just wake people up trying to get these musicians to like not feel bad about themselves you know it's like i'm here for you joe thank you anytime you're like i'm serious i said this i'm gonna hit you up dude no you gotta just i'll send you a dick pic if i have

to do it yo joe it would make me more happy, Joe, does this rash look okay? Can I print it off and put it on my studio wall? Yeah, dude, that'd be fucking hilarious, dude. Every day when I wake up. To bigger thoughts, you know, because like,

damn, this dude is small, dog. Hell yeah. All right, Joe, let's talk one last thing. So what are you working on now? So you have two months off. You're going to make a new record

or what? Yeah, so I probably have like 15 to 20 songs right now that are like in the, in the deck. I just like, i sit in my studio and just i'm a bassist primarily and i love programming drums so everything starts with

that and then i start building it from there um so i'll kind of just like write everything write as much as i can and then i'll hand it off to the band and uh kind of let them make it turn it into a live song like something that could be played at a festival you know uh make it musical and uh so yeah i probably have 15 20 songs right now i got a lot of other stuff that i'm working on i'd like to get that number to like 30 and hopefully i can do that over pick 30 songs and then make a record out of 11 yeah something like that you're a fucking machine dude i'm like i wrote 12 songs dude yeah i mean as a band you know we'll record maybe 12 or 14 and then pick 10 or 12 record so our last

so i have my studio in lansing so a lot of stuff just happens there and then um this last record we actually went to omaha um what's that studio called it's called make believe my buddy rick carson owns it and they do there's a lot of like neo soul stuff that happens there like is that the saddle creek or saddle no totally separate totally yeah totally totally different different groups but yeah we we went there because we could uh it was just away from everything you know it's totally isolated dude this used to be like gay sex palace these two very wealthy gay lawyers lived there and dude they had this shower that squirts you from like every fucking angle it's got like crazy artwork and mirrors it's just like dude these guys had some fun around here and that

vibe is still there and you just kind of feel like a little saucy when you're walking in there you're like oh yeah i'm ready to fuck i love it dude well that's great inspiration to make a record i mean like exactly man everyone needs fuck music dude or just you know it gives you I'm ready to fuck. I love it, dude. Well, that's great inspiration to make a record. I mean, like. Yeah, exactly, man. Everyone needs fuck music, dude. Or just, you know, it gives you that little energy, that little edge to like go in there and try to like kill your take, you know? Yeah.

You ever take a shower in there? Oh, yeah, dude. It's awesome. Every day. Yeah, for like an hour. Just like. Just fuck it. Bask in the glory, you know?

It's just like squirting euphoria on you and you're just like there, just like covered in it. And then you're out and you're ready to go. Yeah. It's fucking great. All right, one last thing. What kind of advice would you give people that are quarantined right now?

Try to find the positive in it. Find something to do to occupy your time. I think the biggest thing you could do is start reading books. Just start eating up books. Don't just like binge watch crap on Netflix. You can do that. Everyone's going to do it, but find something to do.

And that's going to occupy your time in a positive way. Try to make yourself a better person. Take some time to self-reflect. And you're probably going to be sharing a house with a couple people who you really love. So take the time to really get to hang with your kids. Bust out that Lego set know get out those puzzles buy minecraft and play it with your kids you know i'm gonna buy it and play with you want to play on our server it's so fun dude you got a

kid right i don't have a kid oh shit for somebody i thought you had a kid fuck no not that i know of don't don't try to check this right now joe i can't have breaking news you have three i bought them all minecraft subscriptions no no i want them though dude i can't wait to be a dad oh man i want to name my daughter mango i want to i want to get fixed i want to get my balls just cut off and then i could just like not have anxiety when i come dude wouldn't it be kind of nice to not have balls yeah like think about how much energy i mean my girlfriend's probably like why dude are you talking about this but uh who cares it would be kind of nice to just be able to focus all of your energy on not boner.

Yeah, dude. Like you could just like, I'm impervious. Like I have no desire in that field, you know? It's like what's his face in the bald dude in Game of Thrones, you know? Oh, yeah. Just like, whatever, dude. Like I ain't trying to bang anybody. Yeah.

I've been with a lot of women, and I feel like now I'm just asexual. I don't have a libido anymore. Really? It's hard. I think I watch a lot of porn, too. You got to not watch porn, dude. I know.

It's something I had to cut out of my life, and it has helped. Were you watching some dark porn? No, not really uh i like full figured women so that was sort of my like thick chicks yeah dude i like that okay joe honestly no not like i didn't regret super crazy i kind of i cut it out the right time in my life i think you know um were you being off a lot not like enough, I guess, to where it like made me not really want to go out and like go, you know, when I met my girlfriend

who I was like, all right, this is a special one, you know, like did not perform very well. And I was at that point where I was like, all right, yeah, this is the nofap things for real. And I should stop. When I first saw your set, it was in Columbus. And I didn't know much about you at first. Yeah.

I remember you, I think you tried to recruit my saxophone player a long, long time ago. So I was like, this frasco dog, what's up with him? What'd I do? Really? Yeah, I think you did. I think you played, I don't know how it happened, but I remember Aaron was like, yeah, dude, Andy tried to get me to join the band. That was like right when he joined us. This must have been at least

four or five years ago. Yeah, because my old agent, Brad Raffinod, do you know Brad? I know. He's a Michigan guy. But where did your saxophone player live? Kalamazoo. So he probably played at Bell's, right? Or the Union.

Yeah, yeah. Or one of those smaller places. Yeah, did he open for you guys or something? I think so. And then he sat in. He was just fucking a monster. I love it. Aaron is a magical being.

This band could not. I wouldn't do it without him, quite uh i love him very very much but um well i promise i won't take him oh no dude it's all good it's all good what are you gonna say but yeah you know i just didn't know what to think leading up to that but i saw you in columbus and i was just like this is the slaminist shit i've ever seen this guy is good this is special this is like performance art how do you how do you keep that going night after night are there days where you're just like how am i gonna do this man because you guys go for it on stage man how do you keep that going every night well now it's a lot of pressure because now they're expecting a new show

same wildness yeah and it freaks me out sometimes and but you know day by day man you know i was like it's it's a switch for me yeah i'm sad like you and you know when i get on stage everything changes it's crazy it's crazy it's like our adrenaline came our dope our dopamine is back because like you know i i don't do coke anymore yeah and i used to just like you know to have one night stand so like my dopamine level in the morning is shit man and then i stopped doing that but i still drink like an asshole so like i'm hung over and but you know i do this podcast and i you know work the budget and stuff just like just like shit you do yeah but when i get on stage man it's like that's my time to get all that

fucking poison out you know and that's why i going to feel bad for musicians who can't get that out. And there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be stressed out. So give a fucking musician a hug. Help them out. Buy their merch, right? What else can we do? We could pay for live streams. Maybe we could do some couch tours.

Dude, yeah. I think that stuff will happen. Hopefully people are down, but you need to keep doing your podcast. I'll say this about the podcast. You've given a voice to a group of musicians who don't necessarily have, they don't have that voice inherently.

With jam band music, it's very much about the jam you know and sometimes lyrics are a little secondary and uh you're giving people a a place to speak and i think in a lot of ways you've become like the voice of this scene and what you're doing i genuinely believe is like a gift to humanity so wherever you're at you know good days and bad days just keep this shit going doc because it's bro. I'll be your porn anytime you want. Thanks Joe, for being on the show. I appreciate it, man. Go check out Joe's stuff. Go follow his Instagram. It's crazy. He's fun. He's a, he's a good guy. So Joe, thanks for being on the show. Thank you. And I wish you luck

and I'm glad you saved some money. We'll be good. We'll be good. All right. Good. Love you, buddy. Love you too, dog. Thank you. Now, a message from the UN. The UN. The white line was so thin, I'm sinking in. This blow wasn't real, not that I can feel. Gave me the wrong kind, yeah I sure fucking mind That wasn't cool, as I sit here and drool

Look just the same, they're not the same Come in small plastic bags, this look looks like a hang One gets you up, but now I'm just stuck this isn't fun it just fucking sucks don't let the woods get you high it's probably ketamine before you snort that line It could be ketamine I can't feel my legs Ketamine I'm on the floor super high Fuck ketamine

Fuck ketamine Fuck Ketamine Don't do it, man Fuck Ketamine All right, there we have it. Thanks, Joe, for being on the show. Sorry about all your gigs lost. Crazy time for musicians out there. So whatever you can do

to support your favorite guys, go do it. If they're doing a live stream, give them a couple bucks. I know it's going to be a hard, at least a hard month. Who knows how long we're going to be quarantined

in this bitch. That being that, I know we're scared. Shit, I'm scared, you know, scared for my parents, scared for my grandparents, you know, even scared for me, you know, I smoke, and you don't know if half this shit is full of shit, or half of this isn't, you just gotta, you know, just gotta hope, and you know, it's time for uh us not live with fear you know we are strong fucking humans look what else is happening you know we're not gonna let this a fear of the unknown

stop us from living our lives it's gonna be weird we'll be living in our houses we're gonna be scratching the fucking walls i get it i'm doing right now. They haven't even said anything legit that we're staying in town. I'm just preparing myself. It's like just seeing scared faces everywhere makes you scared. I get it. No one knows what the fuck is going on.

That's okay. Let's live right now. This is our time for ourselves. Let's think optimistically. What can we do? You want to learn a language? You got fucking one month to learn a language. Go get Rosetta Stone.

You want to read that book you always wanted to read? You want to work out? You want to go do some fucking, go get your Nintendo Switch, go download the fucking iFit or whatever. Or even like if you don't have that, go to YouTube. There's fucking bajillion things.

You want to learn how to do yoga? Do fucking yoga This is our time To take a step back And realize what's important Because life is a gift I keep telling you that You never know when it's your turn to go

We're always so worried about If we're going to go tomorrow Then we're not living right now So stop Take a breath. Take off the fear pants. Put on your pajamas, those comfy ones, the ones that make you feel warm and safe. You're in your house. We're going to figure this out. It's amazing how the world is coming together for this. We're not alone. We might have crazy people in office that are thinking that we're alone,

but we're not. We got everybody. We need to have each other's backs. We need to think about our grandparents. We got to think about the old people. Think about the nursing homes. I think we're scared in our healthy years. Think about those motherfuckers, dog. They're scared shitless. You know, low immunity people. We get you. We're here for you.

That's why we're staying inside, you know? I was, you know, reading some interviews with like Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and like how they're being quarantined and stuff. And you know Donovan doesn't have any I mean he's been there two weeks. I mean it's going to be mild. Like some people aren't going to feel this shit. But maybe in you. You know? So just be cautious. Take care.

Think about the old people who built this path for you so you could have a great life. Let's just do this for them. It's important. And give some money to the people who need it. Your bands are suffering. Shit. I've been doing this podcast for free because I believe in it. Take care of the people that take care of you because we're all in this together. Right now we have to be, we can't be selfish on this. Someone needs help, fucking lend them a hand.

Also, I'm taking, I'm taking signups for a quarantine girlfriend. If anyone wants to be my quarantine girlfriend, we could hang out for a couple weeks in this house. Holler at me. Hit me a message if you're in the Denver area, if you're not sick, or if you already got sick. I'm down with that. But yeah, that's it, guys. I'm going to leave it short and simple. Jeremy couldn't make it today, but we'll probably get him on next week. And I'm not taking a break off. We're going to do every week a podcast until this thing's figured out.

Because I need you as much as maybe you need me. So I'm here for you. Arno, give us some motivational optimism from the Dutch land. Because I just watched his prime minister, the Netherlands prime minister. Man, just listening to him talk made me less fearful than when our fucking president talks. It's insane. He understands. Hey, he's a leader. He needs to be a leader. So Donald, if you listen to this, step it up, man. Make us less afraid. All right. Guys, I love you. Wear condoms.

man. Make us less afraid. All right, guys. I love you. We're condoms quarantine season, baby. Babies will come. You're bored out there. I get it. You're going to want to fuck. You want to come everywhere because you're bored. Don't do it yet. That's how with the baby boomers started. So don't come too many times inside via your lady and wear condoms. Another expense. I got to get more batteries. So I'm going to get more batteries. And I'm going to get a couple more things before we start this quarantine month or two. I hope it's not two months.

But if it is, what can you do? We're going to take care of each other. All right, guys. I'll see you next week. I'm going to be doing live streams all week Playing music for you You'll be hearing from me I'm not Len Fear

Stop us, because we are fucking strong So stay up, get your shit together Play some video games Go watch the U-Porn I bet you U-Porn Premium is going to be popping up for free They did it for Italy You hear that U-Porn? Step it up America needs it too now bud

Alright I love you Be safe I'm here for you Shoot me a message Whatever you want I'm here You know

We could be scared together I'll FaceTime with you We could just watch a movie together You know I think I might do that too Maybe every night At like 6pm We'll all watch the same movie

And I'll commentate on it And talk shit And I promise itate on it and talk shit. And I promise it won't be porn. For all the ladies out there, it'll be a nice movie for all of us to watch. Maybe a dark, like a comedy. I need comedy. None of this dark shit. People are watching like Pandemic and Contagion and Outbreak.

Stop that shit. You guys are fucking stupid. Don't watch that shit. Watch something happy. This is for happiness. Find yourself, find whatever it is for you to stay happy through this craziness

and we'll figure all this out together. All right, love ya. Be safe. Let's fuck shit up via quarantine. All right, guys, bye. You tuned in to the third season

of Topical Talks at Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast. Thank you for listening to episode 77 produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelou and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For info on the show, please add us on Instagram at world saving podcast.

For more info on the blog or tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. Have you heard the news? Andy's new album, Keep On Keepin' On On will be out and available everywhere on April 24th. This week's special guests are Brian Swartz, Ari Findling, Sean Eccles, Andy Avila and Arno Bakker. Honey, I'm home! And I will be for the coming fortnight at least. But probably for the coming month. They shut down theatres and concert halls, schools and coffee shops. All for the better I think.

Don't want to peak and overrun our hospitals. Don't want to infect our vulnerable elders. Got some money saved up, got some work saved up, like bookkeeping, housekeeping and greenkeeping. In the meantime I will practice timekeeping and some gatekeeping just for safe-keepings. And we'll practice inner peacekeeping. In one word, I will keep myself. I did have a vasectomy, so unlike beekeeping, my mis-keeping should be safe. That pun actually looks better on paper. We had a national run on toilet paper though, so we'll keep a towel at hand instead.

Let's keep on keeping on. Honey, I'm home!