Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 79: Brandon Hardesty (Bumpin Uglies)

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

Andy gives us an update from inside the bunker. He's alive & well; however, if you ask his neighbors, they may say he's a little too alive & well. And on the Interview Hour, we welcome Brandon from Bumpin Uglies! Learn the juicy details about bridges burnt and a drummer's broken leg. We present to you a new Planned Parenthood segment and urge you to think twice about reckless communal swapping of fluids. We're in a pandemic afterall. Stay inside and keep on keepin on this is EP 79 Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, tour dates, the band and the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Change Of Pace" on iTunes and Spotify Get your Bumpin Uglies fix in at www.bumpinugliesmusic.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ahri Findling Arno Bakker 

Andy, it's Carol. I hope you're doing okay. I was wondering, I know we're all home for the quarantine, but you're playing your music really loud, and it's kind of late when you're playing it. I think last night was about 4 a.m. I heard it. If you could just turn it down a little bit, that would be great, or just play it during the day. That would be okay. Okay, thanks.

I hope you're well. See you soon. Andy, it's Carol again. I don't know if you got my voicemail yesterday, but please stop playing your music so late. I can't hear. I'm so excited. It's 4 o'clock in the morning anymore. I can't sleep.

Please just turn your music down or just listen in headphones. Please do it. Thank you. Turn your fucking music down. Just turn it down. I can't hear it anymore. I can't sleep. It's been a week.

Just turn the fucking music down, Andy. All right, all right, all right. How we doing? Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I am Andy Frasco. Your quarantine homie. How we doing, everybody? Fucking hungover as shit today.

Man, drinking Four Roses. You know, it's that part of quarantine where it's like, you know, two weeks in. And you go through all the good booze and then you buy that big bottle of fucking bullshit. And, you know, you're on that bottle now. Man, that shit, fucking Four Roses, wrecks me. I did a fucking live stream, my first ever podcast live stream. Hope if y'all watched it, thanks for watching. It's a work in progress, but we're going to get it popping.

It's going to be fun. It's going to be a quarantine feel-good story. It's going to be like, think of it like if Love Actually was just a bunch of degenerate alcoholics. It's heartfelt. It's got some dick jokes. Facebook took down a couple of the movies that I posted. So shout out to Facebook for trying to keep the people prude and shit. But whatever.

I had a great time. Thank you so much for donating to the band. Raised a bunch of money for the band, so thank you so much for that. Shout out to Venmo. Not shout out to PayPal. PayPal fucked us a little bit, but it's okay.

Venmo, shout out to you. But anyway, how we doing? Man, that was fun. Live streaming. You get to hear a lot of me. The videos, I've been trying to make videos to cheer people up, podcasts, live streams, just to say, hope you're not sick of me. I'm trying to be as delicate and not as obnoxious as I can be, but sometimes when you're stuck in a fucking house, you need to get out those creative juices. Shout out to all the musicians doing live streams. I think I saw about 15,000 live streams last night. So shout out to you trying to bring people.

But yeah, it's live stream nation out here. So try to get your content when you can. And, you know, we're just trying to keep you less bored. But on that note, it's been hanging out really. Um, this is part of the quarantine where you start, um, getting to know who you really fucking are. You know, I'm here by myself in this, uh, house. I'm in Denver. You Denver. I've only seen a couple people. Sean came over. My tour manager got the fucking corona. Shout out to Joe.

Hope you're feeling better, buddy. He said he's feeling better. He's doing an update. But it's crazy, man. He got that shit in Austin. People were fucking partying like fucking rabid dogs out there, dog. Chill it out.

You're giving the homie corona. Well, probably Joe is partying too, but just chill out, guys. Let's get fucked up on our couch. And we're going to have to because I think this quarantine is going to last for about 18 more days at the minimum. So get comfortable. I hope you haven't fucking killed your roommate yet or your missus or mister. I know it's hard, dude. You're seeing each other every day all in your space, probably a small space together. It's nice when you go to work

and you get eight hours away from each other. I get that, but not now. So take a deep breath. Don't ruin any relationships over this unless you feel it. You see a different side of the person. Like, ooh, damn, Billy. Never saw that side of Billy before. Then break up with Billy. But if it's little things that you're just irritated about, stick it out. This is the perfect time to know what you're about and how committed you are to that dick of a jean. Seriously. This is your time to really look through a microscope.

See how that dick is. See how that jean, how those titties taste. It's time for us to be scientists. Like Dr. Fauci's working on Corona. We're going to work on the human body. We're going to look at every inch of the human body and see, Ooh, that has a nice nipple or like, damn son. I see that. I see that little, um, grower you got over there. I am mad at it. So shout out to the human body. I'm so curious to see how many fucking kids come out of this.

We're going to find out here in about three and a half, four weeks. Because I don't know about y'all, but I'm horny as fuck, dude. I'm in this house. Porn's not doing it for me anymore. It's the same cast of characters. So just trying to, you know, shout out to Pornhub, though, for giving free premium porn. But I keep on going to the same videos. I'm like, fuck, I got to stop doing that.

So quarantine girlfriend is still in effect. I am free from the Rona. So any single ladies out there in Denver, holla at your boy. Um, still got three weeks left. We can get to know each other. Um, I'm a good at air frying. I got an air fryer and I fucking love it, dude. I've been, I'm air frying beyond burgers and trying to eat a little healthier because it's frozen food. I've been eating taquitos though. Those Costco taquitos are fucking good. But, um, shout out to, shout out to Costco. I've been eating taquitos though. Those Costco taquitos are fucking good. But shout out to Costco. I went there twice. But I feel like I take a big deep breath and I'm getting the Rona.

I think I'm just neurotic. But yeah, that's how that goes. But worst comes to worst, I'm coming out of the house, getting out for a little sunshine, walking the street. I see Denver's taking this shit a little more seriously. So shout out to you. No one's having a fucking rager in the fucking park anymore. Like the Mrs. Robinson and her kids, like, I can't. I can't do it. I can't do it anymore. Well, you're going to have to do it for two more weeks, girlfriend. You got this. Stay Stay strong I know your kids are paying the ass But you got this I'm doing cameos

I've fucking done, I think, about 250 fucking cameos And I love it Pumping people up If you guys want a cameo I still got time I got three weeks in this quarantine So holler at me Cameo.com slash Andy Frasco

Get yourself one But yeah, I don't really have much to talk about today because we've been giving you two days a week. But I just want to say thanks. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being part of this. All the musicians sending me videos. We got a new one coming this week, guys.

And I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it's fucking hilarious. And I'm going to work hard on getting this edit good, try to get a little tasty, try not to repeat some things. Well, I'm only doing it on iMovie, so you might be shit out of luck on some things. Some special effects are just basically what the MacBook gives me. So shout out to that. But yeah, ladies and gentlemen, we got Brandon from Bumpin' Oak Leaves on the show, it's a full episode

We talk about alcoholism I did this interview a while ago So I'm not really sure what we talked about But I knew we were doing it in a green room And I was super fascinated With this guy And he did this thing with Sublime And Sublime started talking shit

And it was, dude, you gotta hear the story So, ladies and gentlemen Here we are, another day was, dude, you gotta hear the story. So, ladies and gentlemen, here we are. Another day. We're alive. Take a deep breath. We're gonna make it through this shit. We are gonna make it fucking through.

Life's short. Just take advantage of these moments in your house. Take advantage of these moments where you get to look deeper into yourself and see who the fuck you are. You know, I didn't realize that I like cleaning and shit, dude. I've been cleaning my house like a motherfucker, dude. I love it.

Just like my OCD, it makes it perfect. I've been taking vitamins and like, I like it. I like how I'm feeling. I have been, my stomach has been getting way better than it was the first couple weeks. Maybe I did have the Rona and now it's over. But I'm wishing everyone best of health and all that stuff. And I'll catch you on the tail end. Brandon, let me know what you think

of his interview. And we got a great, great couple of weeks coming up. I got, I finally got my Zoom working. So I'm going to start interviewing people via technology, which is going to be hard and fun. Because interviewing someone through the phone is where you can't really see their eyeballs and see their twitches and stuff. It's going to be a lot of work. So bear with those interviews while I figure out how to get into the human psyche. All right, guys. I love you. Enjoy Brandon.

And I'll catch you on the tail end. Bye. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we got Brandon from Bumpin' Uglies, reggae band out of Maryland. Yo, Chris, play some Bumpin' Uglies

while we're pimping them out. Brandon's a good dude. The first time I met him, we came over to – we played in Portland, Maine together. And we had some time to hang out and stuff. And we finally got a good hang in and we got an interview in. And he's a cool guy. I did this interview a little while ago. So before shows, sometimes when I do interviews before shows, I talk over people a little while ago. So before shows, sometimes I do interviews before shows,

I talk over people a little bit. So if I do that, I apologize. I can't remember if I did. But ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy Brandon from Bumpin' Up. And I'm addicted to the high The minute you amaze me And the next I wanna die I never know what you'll say Because you're very steady Girl, you drive me crazy

I guess I shouldn't be surprised See, I'm stubborn and I'm loud Arguing out of spite I think I know it all But where is the logic in a fight? Darling I confess I'm a testosterone fuel mess It's running through my genes

Girl, you drive me crazy All right, we're here. Brandon, I don't know much about you, man, but you know a lot of my friends in Maryland. And I've heard the stories about you, man, but you know a lot of my friends in Maryland. And I've heard the stories about you, dog. Which friends? Litz. Yeah.

And Pigeons. You know the Pigeons boys? You're from Annapolis, right? I am, yeah. So what's all these bands coming out of Maryland, dude? Do you guys all, is there a cult out there? What's going on? I don't know, man. Honestly,

I don't know the Litz dudes or the Pigeons dudes personally. I guess you guys are the same age, right? Yeah. I'm 33. We're all the same age. Yeah, yeah.

The first time I saw Pigeons was like seven or eight years ago. I would see their stickers around. Were they like 8x12 or something? No, the whiskey in Annapolis was the first place I saw their stickers. The name struck me. You know what I mean?

So I remembered it. And then I saw them live for the first time at a bar in Annapolis called Stan and Joe's. And they had like one little tiny light machine. You know what I mean? Like doing, like it was like something you'd see at a house party that's like a little disco joint. And I was honestly like, I've never, like I didn't like, like grow up

like into the whole like jam world things. Like I didn't understand how. What were you listening to? I've always been more into like singer songwriter stuff. Kind of like Bright Eyes. Dude, me too. Yeah. Like Johnny Cash, you know, that kind of like bright eyes and dude me too yeah like

johnny cash you know that kind of shit no and then like sublime like i was really into that in my early 20s you know so would you what would you go back to your story about the pigeons yeah so like i saw i saw them playing with that little light rig you know and then i've you know obviously like being from maryland i was aware of what they were doing and And then, like, you know, Chad is really into them. So, like, he was the one that really, like, started talking to me about their light show and shit when he joined the band. And then I, like, went.

Were you in this band while you were watching them? Yeah. Cool. So you guys were just starting or were you already getting going? Yeah, it was like, I've been doing this for, like, 10 years. So this was, like, seven years ago. We started touring about, like, eight, nine years ago. Cool.

So you're just about, or you just started touring? Yeah, like, seven, eight years ago i we'd like we started touring about like eight nine years ago cool so you're just about or you just started touring yeah like seven eight years ago were they like the the hit band seven or eight years ago they were like i mean they were they were definitely gaining traction i remember they did like one of those eight by ten residencies where you do like every wednesday for a month and they sold out like every show for a month and people were just like buzzing about them like yeah they're gonna they're going to be killing it. Headlining festivals in three or four years. And here we are. Yeah, it's crazy. So seeing all this competition in a city,

does that make you pissed that people are getting more successful than you? Or does that make you inspired to try to be the best you could be? I don't really think of it as competition like especially because like once again like we were like the whole like jam community is like a newer thing for us like we have been doing the whole like reggae rock so that's it's not like that and with the reggae scene oh it's definitely like that i feel like it's worse yeah it's way worse that's like one of the reasons we kind of shifted to like trying to do more like okay talk about this so why what why what what's what's up with it's all about peace and love but everyone fucking hates each other

it's not like everybody hates each other but like there's just like it's there's definitely like like competition to it like I mean I would argue it's healthy competition but I mean there's like x amount of festival slots and there's X amount of tours. And there's definitely like, you know, being, being competing against, um,

pretty much on the same level as you, or no, I would say like, and once again, like, I don't know if competition is the right word, but like being like from Maryland and, and playing like the reggae rock kind of thing and then like

the whole genre is based out of southern california you know what i mean you're not really getting the same kind of like interesting like like looks for like tours and like festivals and shit like that oh that's fucked up like just because you're from a different state you're not getting the on the pepper stuff and the slightly stupid opening slots i mean like i would it's just like anything else where i think like a lot of that shit it's like real it's built on relationships and you just don't have the relationship you're not in the right part of the world you know but it's bigger than that you said like they won't even give you the time of day because you're a reggae band from maryland no it's not like that like i mean you talk your shit rando

give me give me the reggae dirt dude give me so what what's going on like what is it then what what what do we what what is it i don't know man like like you ever get in a fight with a band like a fist fight not fist fight i mean talk shit fit whatever you want so the biggest okay the biggest drama we ever got like the one actual thing you're probably like digging towards this too like you know no i don't i don't i don't we put out a record like four or five years ago called sublime with no one because like it was it was just funny to us like the our so you're taking stabs on the rome dude i mean it wasn't quite like that you know but like you know like our first record like we called it free candy and it was a picture of our tour van at the time and we wrote free candy

on it and took it to a playground and took a picture of it. That was the album. It was funny. So Sublime with No One is like when you play the genre of music that we play, you get compared to Sublime by everyone. Isn't that fucked up? It doesn't bother me because it's an influence. But do you like to be categorized as anything?

Why don't you be categorized as yourself? Not really, man. I'll openly admit it's a huge influence. It's a conscious decision of mine. It's like, yeah, is it an influence? So what do you like about Bradley? Bradley? Well, the sound.

I love hip-hop. I'm big on hip-hop beats. Like who? 90s or normal. Whatever you want. Top top five i'd say uh mob deep i've been like wearing out mob deep recently um that like that'd be like 90s like mob deep like biggie pock like big l fucking uh big pun uh wu-tang fucking and then and then you sublime has these hip-hop yeah it's So, to you, Sublime has these hip-hop feels. Yeah,

it's like, I mean, you got like hip-hop, hip-hop grooves with like super soulful vocals and then like dub reggae. Like, I'm not even honestly

like into roots reggae particularly. I like like dub, you know, a lot. What's the difference? So, dub is more of like an engineering technique

that like, you have like scientists or like King Tubby or like names of dub engineers scientists what do you mean so scientists is like the name of a dub engineer okay so like what they do is they take a band and then they add like reverb and delay to the mix so it's like you know you start off with a band playing like a groove and then like with delay hits and reverb hits and shit like that unless you're like underwater you know what i mean so is there a formula to it i mean if there is i don't know it you know i'm sure just like

anything else i mean you're explaining it pretty well that i understand i mean there's it's like a it's like a stew there's ingredients you know what i mean but i don't think there's like can you jam me personally no no like can you jam in this in this genre definitely Definitely. Cool. Absolutely. Think of me as someone who, I know Sublime, and I grew up in LA, and those are the guys, but I never got to experience live reggae. My old manager used to manage Revolution.

I never really listened to him, but live. There's a different feeling. I mean, there's a reason why Slightly Stupid keeps selling 10,000 tickets. They jam heavy nowadays.

What is it? The lyrics? Is it the culture? What do you think is bringing people to that SoCal reggae roots vibe? I think a lot of it's the branding and the image that goes with it. The positivity, free, happy, good vibes shit.

And there are, for sure, that's very present in a lot of bands. There are a lot of bands that are very pure about that. And then there's other bands that do see that that's a way to sell X amount of tickets. And then they start doing that as opposed to, you know, like it's not something they believe in, you know? And I feel like that's,

you could say that about any genre, any scene, like you got motherfuckers that are like about the music and then you got people that are wearing the uniform, you know? Yeah. What's the uniform do you? In like what regard?

In the reggae shit or whatever. I mean, I just say anyone who's like the cookie cutter stuff just being unauthentic if you're just doing it to like try to look and act a certain way to sell tickets yeah oh so you it's just like a pop like yeah yeah so go back to this rome thing so what happened so we we named the record sublime with no one, like just being funny, like as a reference to ourselves. You named the record Sublime with no one? Yes, in regards to- Okay, love it, dude. Yeah, it was fun.

So why? Were you pissed at him or what? No, there was no beef at all. Like there was absolutely, it was not a dig. It was just a joke. It was just a relevant thing. It's like you're sublime with Rome. Did it catch fire or something?

And then we're sublime with no one. It was really like people thought it was funny. We got a little bit of shit from some editorials, but we got a little bit of shit from one editorial. What did they say? They just ripped us. What did they say? Really talking shit about our band name. Fucking saying

you're just going to be a bar band forever. Fucking sublime lover. Yes. Consequently, we got blacklisted from that whole camp, which is... What, Silverback? No, Silverback we're fine with. It's the Dirty Heads and Sublime with Rome. Why are the Dirty Heads pissed?

They have the same manager. Okay, so you got excommunicated by the Church of Sublime, but is that a big deal? No, and it's not the Church of Sublime. I'm friends with Bradley's sister you know what I mean

like the sublime family well like the sublime business well no because you have sublime and then you have sublime with Rome they're two entirely

different entities what do you mean? there was a lawsuit over that tell me so when they started doing the sublime

with Rome thing it was initially they were trying to do it under sublime and they were sued by the sublime estate so sublime with Rome is this a cover band they were trying to do it under Sublime and they were sued by the Sublime estate. So, Sublime with Rome

is just a cover band or any of the original members? There's Eric Wilson playing Who's that? playing the bass. That's the original bass player. That's it?

And then they have the old drummer from Tribal Siege playing with them now and Rome. And dude, everyone in that band is talented.

I'm not trying to talk shit. No, it's fine. But yeah, so, wow, that's crazy. So, what'd they say? Did they write you a letter? everyone in that band is talented I'm not trying to talk shit no it's fine but yeah so wow that's crazy so what'd they say they write you a letter? oh yeah they wrote us a letter that contained the phrase go fuck yourself is how it ended don't ever fucking ask us to do anything

were you kissing their ass to get dates? no we were submitting we put out a record and we were just submitting for support tours to pretty much anyone like like revolution stupid fucking sublime with rome yeah dirty heads whatever and it's like you're gonna put out this record and then ask us for shit go fuck yourself that's and he wrote you a they wrote well they must be thinking about it that's pretty cool yeah i mean it's it was it was funny man it's definitely funny like if it didn't irk them

they wouldn't have talked about it. Yeah, and I mean, it's... Are you pissed? Is that one of your regrets? If I could go back and do it over, I wouldn't do it. Why? Because, I mean, it's just burning a bridge, you know?

And it's important. This whole world, this whole industry is hard as shit to make. I'm 33. I have a wife and a son and a mortgage and shit. I'm a full-time musician. This is my only source of income. So it's like, I don't want to make it harder

than it needs to be, you know? Why do you think we do that? Why do you think our ego makes us do that? I don't know. I think it's like, it's like adult temper tantrums. You know what I mean? You're like- Why, were you bitter about

where you were successfully in your life at that point? I mean, like, once again, it was not a dig at them. It was like a self-deprecating. Yeah, past that. I'm talking about you. Is that where you felt like you felt like you needed to be more successful at that point? Oh, constantly. Yeah.

I mean, like, dude, I've been touring for 10 years and we like. Were you burnt out or what was going on? Yeah, dude. I mean, we did shit. We did fucking bar gigs for a long time. just touring with a PA, playing to no one. Okay. So how many years did you do that for? Shit.

Like at least six. Did that burn you out? Yes. It was exhausting. Just like getting hit. Were you married with a kid then? No, my kid was born this year. I got married like...

Congrats, doggy. Thanks, man. I got married about four years ago. Okay. So were you taking drugs or what were you doing? No. year i got married like congrats dog thanks man i got married about four years ago okay so did you were you taking drugs or what were you doing no i mean i've always drank like really really heavily you know like well like how much a day just fucking like a significant amount a significant amount of whiskey or tequila like every night you become an asshole if you drink

too much no i'm pretty i get depressed i don't get like mean let's talk about that why what do you get depressed about are you suppressing your feelings that's why you're drinking yeah i mean i would just because like i feel like constantly i have something to prove you know what i mean like what is that what what that's i mean that's just i think that's just my yeah what do you what like i'm not saying like what what is that i'm talking about like what what do you have to prove? To yourself? Yeah, just, I mean, you know, like your worth is a man kind of shit.

You know what I mean? It's like, this is what I do for a living. So it's like, I want to be successful at it. I want to be able to provide. I want to like, yeah. And to a certain extent, like I guess there is like a certain amount of competition that goes into it. Not because you want to be doing better than other people,

but because you see what other people are doing. So it's like, at that point, I would see... You see people that you want to be your peers doing one thing, and then you're doing another thing. You're setting up a PA every night, and then you see people fucking playing in clubs,

doing awesome shit. You know what I mean? You feel like you're not where you want to be. So what was that first dream? How feel like you're not where you want to be. So it's depressing. So what was that first dream? How old were you when you first said, I want to be Bradley? That never happened, man. I started playing guitar when I was 17.

I never had any aspirations of doing this shit. So what's given you so much angst? I started waiting tables out of high school. And then I started playing open mics around like 20, 21. Like, this is my first band, you know? Like, it just kind of happened with a dude that I worked with. Same story, dog. Yeah, so like I was working at a restaurant.

Like, my manager and I, we started a fucking bar band playing Sublime songs and Citizen Cope songs and Beatles songs and shit. And then I linked up with my current bass player. We just started touring. You know, it was like I started doing this and i started writing songs and it was like the only thing that like made had ever like made sense to me like that i was like what were you writing songs for the people or for yourself myself it was like and what were you talking about during this version this part of um just learning it was all like real self-indulgent, like journal entry kind of shit.

You know what I mean? Like love songs, like fucking songs about heartbreak, songs about just depression and fucking like existential. Were you depressed? Were you heartbroken? Yeah, I was going through

a pretty shitty situation with a woman and then like... What happened? It was just that first like big breakup, you know, with a girl, you know what I mean? There's another dude. Excuse me.

How long were you with her? On or off, like three years. You loved her? Is this your first love? Yeah, it was first love. And she got knocked up by another dude. While you were dating her? It was a weird situation.

You know what I mean? What? Tell me. I don't really honestly want to get into it. Yeah, is it hard? It's just a weird situation. anyway was she cheating on you and so you wrote these songs and did you try to keep the relationship or no no that was it it was it was done but like it was just like you know it's that that first sense of betrayal where it's like you think you're gonna be with someone and then it's just fucking not like that's not the life that's that you're going to be with someone and then it's just fucking not like, that's not the life that's that you're going to have. And then also like, once again, like, you know, it's like

existential shit, like kind of like coming to terms with like, like I'm not necessarily, I'm not like an atheist or nothing, but like, I definitely like lost my faith in God like a long ass time ago. So it's like, no, not over this person, but it kind of that all that, all that shit kind of happened at the same time. You know what I mean? So like, you know, I was writing about that. I was writing about my drinking, You know what I mean? So I was writing about that. I was writing about my drinking. You know what I mean? I was already starting.

So you were pounding. So what were you doing? Give me your day-to-day. When you're not giving a fuck, what drugs were you taking? What were you doing? Once again, I was never really that into drugs. I just drank heavily for a long time. Like all day?

No. At my worst, I was drinking seven days a week, but it's not like I would wake up in the morning and grab the bottle you're just a social drinker? these days I like to think but like back then I was working at a restaurant you work your shifts and then you go out to the bar and you close the bar

and then you fucking wake up and you work again do you feel bad that you're that heavy of a drinker? because of growing up? No, I don't think I've ever had a problem with it. Like, I definitely think I leaned on it a little too heavy, but I've never felt like compulsion. Like, I used to be like a pack-a-day smoker. That's like something I know for sure, like I felt compulsion for, you know what I mean? What do you regret the most in life?

I really don't have that many regrets, honestly. I wish I would have started playing music earlier i wish i would have like gotten into all this i i regret like spending way too much time as a kid doing dumb shit like wasting time on video games and just like inconsequential shit you know well that makes you who you are now though bud yeah oh for sure what games did you used to play i I always loved Halo. I was like, shoot, shooting games like that. You know what I mean? So, okay, I want to go back to this,

this breakup. Do you have trushes used now? Probably. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Did you know she was cheating? Did you have a feeling?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, like it was, it was just a shitty relationship. You know what I mean? It was like, that first girl,

you put her on a pedestal, and it just wasn't the right person you know do you take that mentality in business though definitely that said like i've over the last like few years like like we like as our band like we really got our shit together over the last few years and that's because we like you guys are really starting to sell tickets yeah so a big part of that is because of the team, the business team we assembled. My manager, Zach, and my agent, Dave, are two of my better friends at this

point. I talk to them every day. They're good people. I feel good about that. That's something I've learned. Do you need that to feel secure? Yeah, dude. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that's just what you should do. I need it too. My whole philosophy on life at this point is

I want to surround myself with good people people that make me feel good and that are competent at what they do were you surrounding yourself with people that didn't make you feel good? I mean you know I had some shithead friends that's part of being young but what about your band?

my band's awesome they've always been there? did you ever take it for granted? So my bass player, we've been playing together for eight years. My drummer, we've been playing together for four years. And then Chad, my keyboard player,

has been with us for three years now. I feel like to a certain degree, you can always take people for granted, but you just have to remind yourself. I mean, we're all just humans having interactions with each other. And that's part of the human experience is having disagreements about shit but like fundamentally like that that's why it's important like it's like all right you are a good person you are a good

person you are a good person like i i enjoyed this relationship that we have you know what i mean yeah you know it's hard to i mean like what do you have to remind yourself the most to do? That my biggest thing these days is just reminding myself to, like, really enjoy the experience of music, you know? Because, like, everything you do will eventually become work, you know? Man, that's fucking hard, dude. I'm telling you, dude. It's hard to remind yourself to enjoy something right yeah especially when you turn the thing that you love so much into your job yes no matter what i don't care

if it's a passion and once you start bringing other people's lives involved like your managers and your booking agents and bandmates. Once you try to make this, this is the only thing I'm making money on. It's harder, right? It is, man. It takes a lot of the love out of it unless you like... Let's talk about that. What don't you love about it now that it's a job? I don't love the anxiety that comes with like

like you accomplish goals. You hit a market and you have your best show at that market and then you just have to think about the next show and not doing it. Isn't that fucked up? And then if you don't, you're going down and you're like fuck, did I peak? You know what I mean? That's the, no, that's

that's fucked up. That's something we... I do the same thing. Like, I can't enjoy that I just... Like, even tonight, we're in Maine. I can't enjoy that there's 140... That we sold 140 tickets. Because, you know, it's our smallest market. And, like, it hurts me.

But, like, when you take a step back, it's my first time in Maine. So it's like, why do you think we have to always do better every time in life? It's fucking tough. I think it's part of a certain type of personality.

It's the same type of personality that's going to lead you to getting to this point because this kind of business is so hard. It's competitive. it's so hard it's it's hard it's competitive it's competitive and it's also just like it's it's just fucking hard man like there's no rule book there's no instruction book like you just figured it out as you go along and if you don't have that that like instinct of trying to improve constantly then you're just not going to get anywhere with it you know that that life too, though? It absolutely is.

And there's plenty of fields where you can have that attitude and just be fine. But if you want to make a living out of this shit, you do have to constantly have that attitude of how am I going to improve? How am I going to fucking make more money? What am I going to be doing 10 years from now? That kind of shit.

It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. And now, your Planned Parenthood moment of the week. You shut up, Dad. You better not touch his car. You goddamn pig. Stop. I'm freaking pissed off. No.

Asshole. You shut your little freaking mouth. How motherfucking worthless. When are you going to learn to stop using those words? I know words. I have the best words. Well, what are you upset about? Because you can't agree to be a good boy to go to the store?

Hey! The sour's mine. Is that how you're supposed to talk to your mom? Oh. Oh. Jaden, oh. Oh. Jaden, stop hitting me. Get ready.

There's a chance it could get substantially worse. Sitting on the couch. Yes, we are. Stop hitting and kicking. No, I'm not going to take my stuff. Right here, Monday. All right, right here. Come on.

Stop. Oh, I'm going to get a sack of balls. We're not bringing the sack of balls out. Okay, so let's go back to what inspires you now? I mean, I've always kind of just written about my own life and then as I get older I try to be like less internal about it and write about things that I see going on you know like I have a song

like the opioid crisis I got a song I wrote about that recently that I like a lot is that big in the reggae scene? not in the reggae scene but in Maryland where I'm from it's awful yeah let's talk about that. Why do you think people are taking opioids? I mean, it's fucking the pharmaceutical companies.

You know what I mean? You have a whole generation of people that have been fed opioids for... For what? Just whatever. You know what I mean? You go to the doctor for fucking some just minor injury, minor pain, and they give you this super addictive drug that fucks you up the rest of your life.

You know what I mean? There's a songwriter I'm really into right now called Pat the Bunny, and it's all like folk punk fucking hobo shit. But he was a heroin addict, and he has a line about like, I took the needle out my arm last year, and every day i work on taking the needle out my brain you know so it's like oh god isn't that fucked up it is i mean i've never done it but like you know you just see you ever get into opioids like uh no dude no oxycon nothing no thank god like have you no fuck no yeah i just i i saw I just seen what it did to people

and I had no curiosity for it. Why do you think people like that type of high? I don't know. I think a lot of times it happens accidentally. You just get prescribed it and then other times it's morbid curiosity. It's the same reason people start smoking cigarettes even though you're conditioned to be told how awful cigarettes are. You think it's mental health?

Yeah, I think that has a lot to do with it, yeah, for sure. Yeah, like what? Like what? Do you think they're suppressing their feelings so these opioids make them be okay with fucking feeling anxious? Yeah, I mean, I think if you're struggling with depression or anxiety, you're going to chase whatever kind of

relief you can get. Do those drugs make you happy? We don't know. I haven't asked that. I think they make you numb. Yeah. So what are you talking about about the opioids? What song is it? It's just kind of like a

summary of just the history. I wrote it from the perspective of a kid who played sports in high school, got an injury, got prescribed opioids, slowly started, and then it just devolves into him crushing them up to blow them and then shooting heroin. So Maryland's that big about opioids? I guess everyone is. I feel like the whole country is at this point.

I feel like different parts of the country, depending on where you are, it's either opioids or meth or the really fucked up drugs. So it's either you want to go down or up. Exactly. What's important to you now as a 33-year-old man? My family and longevity.

Okay, explain that. How do you think you could keep this band around for 20, 30 years? It's all about finances. So something that we did this year, because we're on the road fucking... How many shows are you doing a year? At least 200. I haven't really counted it out,

but that's just... When I'm home, I can play bar gigs and do acoustic shit. But the dudes in my band, like, the only way they're eating is if we're working, you know. So we stay at it pretty heavily. Is it cheap to live in Annapolis? No. No, it's not. I've lived there my whole life, though.

I'm with just my wife now. You grew up wealthy or no? My dad did all right, yeah. So you always felt like you had a safety point. I'm wondering, this is also what I'm curious about, the successful musicians, the ones that do you think it's, the ones that feel like they could do anything because if they fall, they're not going to fall fucking flat you know and i think it takes it takes a lot

out of people to fucking live on the road and stuff so you're about maintaining keep going with your conclusion about how to keep a band together for 20 plus years i mean i think it's all about like just making sure people don't burn out and that's that comes with like creating different revenue streams so that you can manage to not be on the road all the time so like for us

something we did is we started our own festival we did it the first this was our Fort Royal Farm and it's where Pigeons used to do theirs oh where

Dome Fest used to be? yeah in Pennsylvania nice man yeah it was rad man is it hard to fucking be a band running a festival?

I hear so many fucking nightmares about that shit. Our manager, Zach, he comes from that whole world. He's put on about 30 festivals over the course of his career. So when we started working together about 18 months ago, we started talking about it and he handled all the infrastructure and all the

dotting the I's, crossing the T's kind of shit. You know what I mean? That's for sure the hardest part is making sure the infrastructure is there and that you don't spend too much money. Have you ever lost? Once again, this was our first year. Did you lose? We did not, no.

Fuck, I did. That's huge, dog. Yeah, we did. How many people showed up? 500. Fucking killer. It was pretty much just us and then our homies, dog yeah we we do we made i mean we we did we made people showed up 500 fucking killer and we um you know it was pretty much just us and then then our homies tropadelic and then a bunch of local bands tricks to keeping uh if a band wants to make a festival what are the tricks to

keep it cheap i mean make sure you have a draw and don't spend too much money on your talent you know what about like catering and stage and stuff? Do you get that sponsored? The stage, well, that was something. The Grounds, they have a built-in stage and they have built-in electricity, so that was a huge thing. The catering, we just had a super fan who does barbecue. He came out.

He did food for the whole weekend. We just tried to engage our fans as much as we could. We have, like, a pretty rabid fan base. And we tried to give them – we tried to make it as much theirs as it was ours, you know. So when you say that, like, what do they do? So we had this one chick, Stephanie, who set up, like, a kid zone. You know what I mean? Like, we let her set, like, right up by the stage with an easy up tent and a bunch of shit for kids.

So it just had this really cool family vibe. Our buddy Joe, who makes cajones, he makes his custom cajones. He calls them bang boxes. He set up kind of like a little acoustic stage right near the stage. So it's about asking your community to be part of it. Yeah. We tried to just make it like a family reunion kind of thing. It's fucking killer.

Yeah. I'm always scared to do a festival. I want to do a camp. I want to do like a three-day camp where it's like we do a summer camp style. We had a big kickball game like this Saturday morning. Who won? You a sports guy? Like, you know, I don't really even have the time to follow it anymore.

Like, I used to dig baseball when I was younger. Yeah. Wow. It's crazy, you know? It's like, I hear a lot of horror stories about bands losing their ass if only 500 people showed up. So you made it smaller. The ideas go smaller than trying to make something

super extravagant, right? Yeah, we were really depending on our draw. And then we had the homies out. We had bands out that we play with that we know are dope that are going to entertain people. But we didn't spend like $50,000 on talent. I want to go back to your Jameson intake. I want to go back to your Jameson intake.

Because you feel like, do you regret those years where you're that wasted or no? No, not really. I mean, it was just kind of a phase I went through. But it felt like it wasn't that intense. So are you putting that in your own head? Like, oh, I drank. I just drank a lot. Or were you being an asshole?

Were you punching people? Give me some dirt, dog. I just drank a lot and talked a lot of shit. Were you being arrogant? What kind of shit talking? Were you just trying to be funny? I think I was just trying to turn my head off while I was doing this shit that didn't make sense. We were touring totally wrong.

We were just, I was- Explain what totally wrong is. So, all right. So for example, like when we started working with our agent, like a few years ago, we had at that point five or six years of tour history. And he's like, all right, so you got all this tour history.

That's great. It means nothing. Like you've- Yeah, you've played all the small towns. Yeah, you're just doing bullshit gigs. You have no ticket history, none of this You have to go back and hit all these markets And I always kind of felt like that

We were just going around and playing bars And playing motherfuckers in bars That don't care about original music But it was like, I had no idea how to do it But you had to learn your chops, dog Yeah, but it felt wrong You know what I mean? Why?

Because it just didn't feel... You know how you can play some slamming festival and people just no one knows you at first, but then you get off stage and everyone loves you. And you can feel that. You're like, damn, that meant something. I played the right show. Yeah, that was rad. So you felt like you were just playing

bars. Who was booking your tours for the first five years? It was a homie that like who was booking your tours for the first five years it was a homie that like uh like i i was booking him for the first few years and then our homie started doing it he was like a local promoter and he did he like he was doing a fine job he did like the best job he knew how to do but like none of us knew what the fuck we were doing so it's like just playing a lot of like hard rock cafes and fucking tin roofs and shit like that and free shows that just nothing to show for it at the end of the year.

You might make one fan and we're sleeping on people's floors and shit. I don't regret any of it. The reason I was drinking is because you go out for fucking six weeks doing this all across the country. What am I doing? You make what? 200 bucks?

You make $100, $200 a show. That's what hurts us. Like, what am I doing? And you make, what, 200 bucks? You make $100, $200 a show. Yeah, it's like... That's what hurts us. Yeah, man. And you're like, dude, I'm... Do you think it hurts your ego that you're just... Like, when did you wake up from the bar coma? Like, oh, fuck, I've been playing these bars for five years. Well, it was...

Was it a moment? Yeah, well, it really was like... So my wife and I, like I said, we had our kid this year. And it was, you know, when we started dating, like I knew I was going to marry her, you know, and we started talking about the future. And one of her big stipulations was having kids at a certain age, you know, so like as that age started getting closer and closer, I was like, I need, I gave it a shot. You know what I mean? I was trying to give that whole way of working a shot. Because like, you know, like my agent was my dude. Like he's my buddy, you know. So was it hard to fire your first agent?

It was, yeah. Why? Because it's like, it feels like disloyalty. It feels like, you know, you're ditching your buddy. You built you this whole thing. I cried when I fired my first agent,ad yeah yeah i mean i do i've lost i fired like so many friends at this point that it's just like ruined friendships that's another thing i want to talk about like why do we feel like we want to hire our friends through the

hardest job ever well i didn't because we're lonely i didn't know any better man like my first drummer he was like he was just a drummer that I knew. I went to high school with him. He was my buddy. I slowly realized that he wasn't the right fit. I fired him. Did it ruin the friendship? He hasn't spoken to me since.

It was like six years ago. Do you regret having him in the band? No. If I was doing it over again, he wouldn't be with me. Not regret his musicianship, but regret losing a friendship over business. We honestly formed the friendship. The friendship became stronger because of the band. We went to high school together, but we were never close in high school.

You ever lose anybody who maybe put your best friend as a tour manager? No. I've done that. My best friend actually was initially in the band. He as a tour manager. No. I've done that. No, my best friend actually was like, initially in the band, he was like a percussion player. And I use the word percussion very loosely. He was like drunk dude with the djembe. You know what I mean?

Yeah. He was the first dude I kicked out the band. And he didn't speak to me for a month, and now we're fucking fine. Yeah. So what about, so what's your wife think about you? She's super supportive, man. I's one of the reasons that i married her is like when we started dating i had just been torn for a few

months what'd you do for a living she's a music teacher oh cool so she loves music she gets she gets it you know and i think that's important for any kind of relationship with what we do you know so two music musicians raising a kid, how hard is that? It's not easy, but it's, it's really not as hard as I thought it would be. You know, it's like, it's just, well, her family is super supportive. She's self-employed. So that helps a lot with like not having to find daycare. Um, and, and then the rest of it is just, how old's your kid? He's eight months. Okay, so it's new.

But she's like, I mean, my wife's a fucking monster. Like, she just kills it. Like, when I'm gone, you know, she takes care of, like, anytime she does need daycare, she lines it up. You know, she's just, like, so engaged with our kids. So, like, you know, she makes it easy. Did you think that it'd be harder? I did, yeah. Like,. What was your nightmare vision?

I just thought it was... It's like, I mean, you're responsible for another human. I had no fucking frame of reference and it's not like you can return them. So it's like... Yeah, I want... Take this back! Yeah, like I had no idea what it was going to be like.

I thought it was going to be just super challenging and it's like... It's challenging, but it's rewarding, you know? And like, it really kind of like fills a void to a certain extent you know gives you like a really strange sense of purpose so going back to what you so it's you feel it's easier than you thought it would be because i'm i'm i have a huge baby phobia. It's so natural. It's like fucking just waking up one day and you're like,

oh, fuck. When do you think it's going to start getting difficult? You're an overthinker like me. I could tell. When he is more cognizant of what's going around and then I'm leaving for a month. You got 10 years, dog. You're good, dog. I'm hoping we're to the point by then

where we're hopefully doing theaters and I can afford to be doing way less touring. I want to play everywhere, man. I just like doing shows. Dream venue. Dream venue. Red Rocks, baby. That's the next thing on my bucket list.

That's it. So what was your first bucket list that you did? Fucking the local street festival in Annapolis. Cool. Is it a big deal for Annapolis? It the local street festival in Annapolis. Cool. What? Did you bring it? Was it a big, is it a big deal for Annapolis? It's a huge thing for Annapolis. Yeah, it's called East Port of Rock and it was like, when I started the band, that was like the end game, was doing that. They turned us down three years in a row

and then we finally got on it and then like three years later, I was booking it and then like, you know what I mean? Why do you feel we have to be accepted by the people that knew us before we were musicians oh for me it's like a fucking it's a divorced parents

complex dude it is I just want people to love me you know alright we'll leave with this what do you want

to be remembered by my songs like that what about them dude's a dope lyricist he had some shit to say yeah he was concise

what do you want to talk about? Just the human condition. How we're all kind of imperfect. But that's okay because we don't need to be perfect. Yeah. Why do you think we have to be perfect? We don't. But why

is it in our heads that we have to be perfect? Because we all want to better ourselves. So that's just like the opposite of imperfection is perfection. So that's just like the opposite of imperfection is perfection. So you have to strive towards something, you know, you set a goal, you accomplish that goal and then you just, it's not okay. You go for the next goal. All right. Well, actually let's leave this. What is the craziest story you ever had on the road?

Oh shit, dude. My, my first drummer, we were in new Orleans a million years ago. Where, where, Where'd you play? We were doing a street festival We didn't end up playing it because we were dropping the trailer Because they were shutting down the street And a lady took a turn really sharp And hit the trailer while he was On Like putting it down you know

And the trailer pinned his leg between the curb And broke it in three spots Your drummer? Yeah. That's not your fault? You felt like that's your fault? No. I did not feel like that was my fault.

Okay. So what happened? The time he canceled the tour and he got surgery. Damn! What did he do? How's he feeling? Once again, I haven't talked to him in like six, seven years at this point.

Do you regret not talking to your old drummer? I mean, it'd be nice to, but I tried to. He wasn't interested, so. Why not? I don't know. He didn't tell me. What'd you do? What'd he like?

What'd you do? I mean, I kicked him out the band, you know? But why? He just, he didn't fit musically, you know? So is that hard to tell your close friend that you just don't fit with the business model? It is, yeah. But I think honesty is important.

It's better than resenting someone and just keeping shit going. Yeah, you did the good choice. You did the right choice. And if you're listening, drummer, come holler at Brandon. And let's settle this. Let's squash this beef.

Thanks, Brandon, for being part of the show, man. Let's squash this beef. Thanks, Brandon, for being part of the show, man. I hope you had fun. Thanks for listening to the podcast. I heard you're a fan. Yeah, man, I enjoy it. I appreciate it, man. We're just all trying

to fucking do this together and I hope you fucking huge success and we got to play some more shows together, bud. I can't wait to listen to you too, man. I got to watch you on the screen for soundcheck, but that ain't shit,

so I can't wait to actually hear it go. Cheers, Brandon. Thanks for being on the too, man. I got to watch you on the screen for soundcheck, but that ain't shit, so I can't wait to actually hear it go. Cheers, Brandon. Thanks for being on the show, man. Hey, guys. It's Andy. How we doing? How's quarantine treating you? Sun's finally out in Denver, but check it out, because it's my show and I do what the fuck I want. We're going to release

another single off our new record, Keep On Keep on keeping on. This song's called None of Those Things. Chris, play the fucking flutes, baby. I know I'm a few days early on releasing this,

but fuck it. This is for the world saving podcast, fam. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you like the song None of Those Things. I never thought I'd wake up to my own dreams Yeah, I'm finally seeing what it is to succeed. Tired of waking up, feeling bad about myself.

For life I see in somebody else. It's not about the money, the cars, not even the blame It's about how you feel, without all those things Happiness will keep us free It's not about the money, the cars, yeah none of those things Yeah, it's time to speak up Turn the power off There's a bigger world Outside of our phones

Don't send your hand It makes you more alone Yeah, time is a poison You shouldn't do alone It's not about the money, the car Not even the blame It's about how you feel Without all those things

Happiness will keep us free It's not about the money, the cars Yeah, none of those things Is this a breaker? Are you coming back? Is this the breaker? Are you coming back? Is this the breaker? Are you coming back? Is this the breaker? Are you coming back?

It's not about the money, car, not even the blame It's about how you feel without all those things It's not about the money, cars Not even the blame It's about how you feel Without all those things Happiness will keep us free It's not about the money, cars Yeah, none of those things

It's not about the money, cars None of those things Not about the money Cause None of those things Not about the money Cause None of those things And there we have it Thank you Brandon for being on the show

Thank you Planned Parenthood Chris way to go that was a great Planned Parenthood I was cracking the fuck up Listen to Planned Parenthood guys I was cracking the fuck up. Listen to the Planned Parenthood, guys. Don't have kids. I know it's quarantine. I know you're stuck with your chick or your dude. All there is to do is eat and fuck,

but please wear condoms. If you don't want to have kids, we don't want the baby boomers. This is what happened to the baby boomers. Just remember. There's a bunch of fucking kids everywhere. But if you want to have a kid fucking have it fall in love but don't have like five well if you want i mean i can't tell you what the fuck to do or not do whatever you want to do just be conscious that you're gonna have these

people in your life for 18 years at the minimum um okay. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming out. I'll keep it short and sweet. I love you. This is the part of quarantine, like I said before, where it gets kooky and the fun's over. The party is over in your brain. This is when you start getting cabin fever. You're going to want to go out, hit up your booty call, get some quick loving, and then you got Corona on your dick or vagina. What if that happens? Then you're stuck in your house for three more weeks. You thought you got over it. You're stuck here. So just stay focused, follow the rules. This is totally not what I'm preaching before when I was looking for a quarantine girlfriend. So maybe I don't need a quarantine girlfriend. Maybe I'm going to stay by the rules and I'll meet my,

it'll be like after Christ, it'll be like AQ. We're all different people. Some of us are philosophers. Some of us are soft-spoken. Some of us just realize that I look good in a beard and just grow it out like fucking Tom Hanks. Shout out to Tom Hanks. Hope you're feeling better, big dog. I've been watching the beard, you know, and just grow it out like fucking Tom Hanks. Oh, shout out to Tom Hanks.

Hope you're feeling better, big dog. I've been watching the movies thinking about you, but I hope you're doing good out there with the Rona. But yeah, AQ.

Let's do it. We're going to have, we're going to be such strong people after this. We're going to remember this when we're fucking 80 years old. Like, yeah,

I was in a quarantine, kid Do you fucking wanna You wanna go to private school, little Billy? I went to quarantine So your ass better take the goddamn garbage out Anywho I'm losing my mind over here Be safe out there

I love you Don't worry, this too will pass Let's fucking get it Alright, love you guys talk soon you tuned in to the third season of idiotic interviews at andy fresco's world-saving podcast produced by andy fresco joe angelo 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 head to instagram world-saving podcast for more info on the show, please head to Instagram at world saving podcast.

For more info on the blog at tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. This week's special guest is Ari Vindlings. It's a short episode. It's a short epilogue. Since all work got shut down now two weeks ago, I am more busy than ever. All the piled up jobs around the house jumped on me like fleas after the summer holidays. Cleaning, painting, digitalizing the family slides, rebuilding the home studio, making up tracks for a joint project, writing these silly world-saving podcast segments. I gotta run.

So stay indoor, be creative or sweep the floor and we will be back shortly.