Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 85: Shakey Graves

Episode Date: May 19, 2020

Big week on the WSP as we welcome Alejandro Rose-Garcia, aka Shakey Graves to the Interview Hour! Andy and Alejandro talk about growing up, the myth of the Puer Aeternus (Peter Pan Syndrome), and some wild stories about a haunted guitar sprinkled throughout. Ahri reviews fatherhood in the time of Covid. Shawn and Tobi duet a John Prine song (RIP). Did Danny Zagayer sleep with Andy's mom? Listen in and find out. This is ep 85. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Check out the inimitable www.shakeygraves.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Shawn & Tobi Eckels Danny Zagayer Ahri Findling Arno Bakker 

Hey, it's Schwartz. Last night's show was really good. Thank you for doing that. I have one concern. You got really excited about Mahali's sword collection. Great. I'm glad that Mahali has a bunch of swords. And as a history major, I love old artifacts and all those things.

But you're not getting a sword, so contain yourself. The last thing you need is a weapon. Please, don't be silly. Don't get a sword. You don't have to have everything that everyone else has. And, yeah, let's hope you were joking last night. The last thing you need is a sword. Andy, it's Mike.

I'm calling about your sword order. We've had a run on the seven-foot swords, and I don't think I can make it for you, but I have something smaller. I have a three-foot sword. I can get it to you in about a week. It's going to cost $988, but this thing is really top of the line. You know, you could really kill somebody with this thing if you need to.

But call me back. Let me know if you want to switch, because this thing is really, really good. And if you don't want it, I think I got somebody who could take it. And we're back. How we doing, everybody? This is Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I am Andy Frasco, your fearless leader for the next hour and a half. Here to try to keep your mind off the quarantine bubble. Try to keep you feeling optimistic. Because you know what? God damn it.

Life is about optimism. And if we can't be fucking optimistic, do I have to do this every week? I swear to God, if I have to, I will because you're stronger than this quarantine. You're powerful. You don't need anyone to tell you that you could be happy or you could be sad. You could be happy however the way you want to be fucking happy. If you want to eat a tub of ice cream, eat a fucking tub of ice cream because this is our life. This is our time to find ourselves. And if we don't remind ourselves what Chick Hearn used to tell us, then we're nothing.

We're fucking nothing. All right. Just stay happy. Stay optimistic. This shit's hard. We're all going through it. I've been just drinking tons of coffee in the morning. I've been smoking 14er weed from Boulder, Colorado. It's nice.

Go check it out. All my Colorado fans, I like it. I don't like weed that gets me too fucking... I need a weed that I can smoke during the day. And they got this kosher kush. Shout out to that. That was fucking tight. Doctor said I need a bacchiatomy. Kosher kush up in here.

But 14er, go grab some. If you live in the Denver area, they're sweet people and they just want to be part of the team. So I am going to help them be part of the team and try to get their weed out there as fast as I can because it's good weed, and I support it. But anyway, back to mental health. It's time.

Like I said, this is like now it's getting real. You know, at first it was fun. Oh, yeah, yeah, fuck it's getting real. You know, at first it was fun. Oh yeah, yeah, fuck yeah, we're staying at home. And then it's like, oh fuck, how long are we going to stay at home for? And then now you're here at this point, wherever you're at, and you're realizing what the fuck is going on. And you have to just slow it down and say, you know what? Take life day, excuse me, take life day by day. I have no filter anymore. I had, I threw a Shabbat dinner party with like, I don't know, I did, I think I brought like seven people,

but I've, all the people that I've been quarantining with throughout the month, we all finally said, we're all hanging out. We're all having Shabbat. We're going to talk about Jewish shit and get the party popping. And it was fun, but I had no filter. I was talking about everything. I was talking about, I had my, I had some friends over who, you know, don't really know me that well like that. I'm talking about shit when I was in Germany and trying to, you know, relieve myself in a public bathroom. I'm like, whoa, Andy, you've been by yourself for way too long. You can't be talking like this. So when you get back into

community, just be aware that, you know, you're not alone anymore. And if you have to talk about shit, yeah, fuck it. Who cares? Let your freak flag out. You know, I realized while I was thinking about that. Don't be scared to be whoever you want. If you want to be fucking vulgar, just don't be obnoxious. I mean, fuck it. If you want to be obnoxious, fuck it. It's your life. Just be whoever you want to be.

We'll be happy. It's the minute we stop being who we want to be. It's the minutes we stop being who we want to be. It's the minutes we stop being who we want to be just to impress anyone else. It could be your job, your career. We could stop being who we want to be so we could be more successful in our career, in our heads, which is bullshit. We got to be individual. We got to be focused. If you're an artist, you got to be focused on just putting out art that you want to put out, not what everyone else wants you to put out.

If you have a writer's block right now, that's okay. Fuck, we all do. We all go through these fucking writer's blocks. I went through one. I'm still going through one. I can't write a song to save my life right now, but I'm putting my juices...

That's going to sound sexy, actually. I'm putting my juices it's gonna sound sexy actually i'm putting my juices into other things that i could be creative to and i'm still being fulfilled you know it's like i got i had this like one hater dude send me a message like what the fuck are you doing you should just be focused on music writing the best catalog you want. I'm like, you know, I thought about that. I'm like, so am I categorized as a musician or do I want to be categorized as an artist? And whatever part and phase of your life that you're going through, that's art. It doesn't matter if you were a musician last week

and you want to be a painter this week because eventually the tides will turn and you'll get back to being a musician or be back to being a painter or be back to being a mom. Whatever you want to do, you just got to stay present and don't let anxiety kind of push you

and poke you and poke you saying, oh, this is not what you used to do. This is not what you used to do. You better freak out because we're older. We're getting older every single day and we're feeling the pressures and we're feeling the pessimism on the news. And if you want to fucking cut your hair, you want to grow a mullet, grow a fucking mullet because this is our life. And if we're going to be stuck in something,

we might as well make the best out of it. So here we are making the best out of it. Thank you so much for listening to my podcast, my shit shows. Man, last week's shit show was fucking fire. I swear to God. Eric Krasnow was killing it. Eric Krasnow was killing it I got Carl Denson to dance his ass off We got Goose I almost got Rick to tell me how big his dick was On national television A.K.A. my Facebook page

But we had a lot of people tuning in Shout out to everyone who watches this shit show I'm getting better at it We got Billy Strings on the next one. David Shaw, his gold messenger. So that's this Thursday, 5-21. We got some fun videos we're making. I am also doing another dance party on Saturdays,

every Saturday until you get sick of me and my playlist. I've been trying to figure out new songs and I got a DJ now, so I'm building my juices. I'm slowly getting back into music from listening to all these new fucking sick old school songs. I'm dancing my ass off. And then I'm hosting summer camp as well this weekend. It's a big weekend.

Hope you don't get sick of me. But I love you. Thanks for supporting me. We have a big-ass show today. We have Alejandro Los Garcia from Shaky Graves. He was awesome. I had a great conversation with him. We just clicked right away.

Austin Cat moved to L.A., went a little crazy during his 18 through 20s, like all of us. And I won't reveal the story, but it's so fascinating. And he's always wanted to be an artist. This is the same conversation I was having earlier in this segment, is whatever way you want to put your art out, it doesn't matter. Don't force it. Just because you're claimed as a musician doesn't mean you could you can't still paint and

put all your juices into oh put all your juices into another thing in life because that's art doesn't you don't have to be just because you started doing something doesn't mean you have to always be doing something. That sounds boring as fuck. We're artists. And if you have a different way to create in that time being, you'll get back to the music. You'll get back to painting. You'll get back to whatever you love. Just be okay with liking something right now because that's life. Loving what you love right now. All right. I'm done preaching. Shaky Graves. We got Shaky Graves.

This show's getting big. We're getting legendary, more and more legendary fucking people on the show. So I hope you enjoy this interview. And I will catch you on the tail end because, yeah, baby, that's how we do it. All right. Enjoy Shaky Graves.

All right, next up on the interview hour, we have Alejandro Rose Garcia, also known as Shaky Graves. Hey, Chris, play some Shaky Graves for me. Alejandro's great. I never met him before. And we just, I've been doing these things for my house. So we FaceTime and we talk and right away we clicked. He's passionate and he's charming. I was like having a little man crush on him. He talks about his life in Austin and he talks about his life as an actor and he talks about his philosophies of how to create, and it was super fascinating. So ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy Alejandro Rose Garcia from Shaky Graves. You used to tell me we'd turn into something

Oh, you said life was much better than this Yeah, but the closest I come to perfection Is when you turn around to steal a kiss But you never trusted tomorrow Yeah, baby, is there any way to live your life? Well, you love this heart and this extreme girl. Oh, but they've been out of tune. Yeah, for some time Well you say

Oh I love so many women Only so many women love and driving me wild. Yeah, they say, oh, you get lost in complexion and the structure of a well-placed smile. But luckily, you, oh, you never smile Yeah, oh, you, oh, you never smile Oh, and it looks just a little bit better that way to me Sometimes it does But you know you're not

Very trusted tomorrow Oh baby that's just A problem of mine Yeah I've been thrown around by some bad ones girl when a good one was a new thing this time yeah but you showed

me that I couldn't be farther oh from the truth of the problem at hand no I could never say baby tomorrow. Oh, I'll be right there. I'm gonna be your man.

Oh, I'm I'm your man, oh Try this Good luck to us all Good luck to us all. Alright, what's up, dude? How are you? I'm good, man. Where you at? I'm in Austin, Texas right now.

And it's raining outside, which I'm super duper into. So if you hear some vague... That's what's going on. Some fucking ambiance for a for a songwriter like yourself dog yeah it's kind of like you know when uh you know when the day fits the mood like i could have used like today is the day i could have used some rain like if it was like a let's go do stuff bright ass day i'd be like come on so what do you like about the rain and how does it affect your creativity? It almost feels like an excuse a little bit, you know, where you're like, shit's canceled, it's raining.

I don't know what. It's like especially when you're trapped in your own house with basically yourself as a creative boss, I guess. It's not like I record my music in my yard or whatever or do anything like that I don't know do you feel like you have to force yourself to write or do you think it comes out 50-50

I think also whether the results are good or not that's kind of a 50-50 also I feel like some days I'll be super determined to put something down I feel like Some days I'll be super determined To put something down And it's just like

Dragging a mule through a field There's nothing And then some days I'm like Come on man we got We have like 30 minutes I talk to myself in the third person I guess I'm like yo bro Let's do this let's get in there You look at myself in the third person, I guess. I'm like, yo, bro, let's do this. Let's get

in there. You look at yourself in the fucking mirror. You fucking got this. Come on, you fucking idiot. Yes, sometimes that's really helpful to... People always talk about discipline. Whatever the fuck that is. We're artists you know like in in

writing and stuff i think it's always good to have some sort of uh like some of my favorite times of writing especially when i was kind of getting finding myself in my especially like in my early 20s and stuff when i was questing for who i am in the world not like i'm still not doing that now but especially at that point it was like man i feel like i super duper benefited from having a really shitty phone at the time and just having like a little moleskin and a pen yeah and i didn't really have the option unless I dragged my horrible laptop out in a coffee shop or something. It was like me and some paper

at the beginning of every day and I got into a routine with that. Was there less pressure back then than versus now? Less pressure? No. There was definitely more pressure, I feel like. Just because there were so many question marks of even just

figuring out how to especially how to like record stuff how to put things down on paper or um you know like there were just more question marks like if i if i made something i liked yeah the question was like will anyone listen you know, how, how do I even show this to what, what's the next, like, how do I record this? Is this a song or like, I feel like it used to be, um, like now I just have more tools personally. Yeah. able to compartmentalize my moods and like what's around me and like whether or not i actually what what i need to do is clean my fucking office or some shit where it's like you can't get shit done today like i know you you have a cool melody in your head but like i can't even see the floor right now so you gotta we'll do that tomorrow and it's going to be okay. There's not going to be some magical ghost that flies through your house just today.

But if you don't catch it's over for you, you know, are you OCD like that? Do you need everything perfect for you to be in a perfect space to create? No. God, let me see. Let me see this.

Oh, dude. Just like there's a monitor on a tape machine right now. There's fucking super important hard drives just strewn about. My God, my life's work, you know, just like with coffee on them and shit. So then tell me about the creative, like when you feel it's time, the time is right and you feel like this song works or whatever you're doing artistically, is it a moment in you not overthinking the art or is it a way of just, some days it's just you're in more of an open vessel than others because you have other things

in your head? That definitely happens. Man, something that I have found that's like a super weird pattern is that I find myself, this happens sometimes and doesn't yield any results, but I find myself getting really frustrated doing something seemingly mundane. Like basically, I usually always write music first. Or maybe I separate. Sometimes I write just words and then later mine lyrics out of them. And then other times it all comes in one piece or whatever. But most of the time I just sit and make musical pieces

and then let it sort of reveal itself as whatever it's going to be. Okay, cool. But then in the process of doing that, sometimes I get really mad and I'm like, this is a stupid like just play the fucking E chord or whatever you're trying to do here.

Also, this is super dumb. This is not going great. And then I kind of have to talk myself. I've noticed that when i get frustrated like that usually within an hour of pushing through i end up falling in love with what i'm working on i find i like turn some weird corner yeah same and i've started to kind of take it as an indicator that i'm on to something when I start to get really like I get like little kid video game mad

you know like getting fucking fatality to Mortal Kombat when I was five or whatever and being so frustrated, that's kind of the Were you always like that? Were you competitive? Yeah I think so I'm sort of like yeah I

definitely, I have a streak of like, I get riled up. What's the most you got riled up for when you were a kid that you still fucking think about? Man, I mean, I guess little kid video game. That was the first thing I mentioned. I used to take it really personally when I would get killed in a... Fighting video games, as much as I enjoy them, sort of, I've never enjoyed them because some part of my psyche really feels like my friend or

whoever just killed me. I'd be like, dude! Just lay off! What the fuck? Get really frustrated. Do you feel that same way through competition, through music? No. I don't.

Because to me, music, you know, outside of the, like, comparing yourself and contrasting yourself to people who are sort of your peers on certain levels. Yeah. Outside of that, I feel like there's kind of the rules of the game are so inapplicable um that the the word competitive doesn't doesn't really apply um in in the in the right way for me to get that frustrated i get really frustrated if i feel like i've represented myself badly yeah you know and that's kind of more of a personal thing. That's more of a shade of, like, embarrassment. You know, that if I...

Because I feel like something that happens a lot is the pressure of, like, putting a ton of weight on one moment, right? Like, dude, you got this huge opportunity, so don't fuck it up. And not fucking it up, to me, can mean so many things you know like like what well like to me i want that to be if it's some incredible moment i want it to be the best moment

for me also yeah but that means that that has to beat out like tons of other incredible circumstances like maybe some show where you didn't care about what was going on and you were in the right mood and this happened and that one time you smoked the right amount of weed or something and you're like hey this is great or whatever yeah exactly and then at the same time it's such a it's like that show to me to the audience they might be like he smoked the wrong amount of weed for this show yeah this is a terrible show you know do you put a lot of pressure on yourself um i try not to i think there's always pressure you know i mean do you put a lot of pressure on yourself yeah because i think because i'm anxiety ridden and i sure i think about the future or i think about the past but when i'm like like you said like when i have the right dosage or take the right amount of mushrooms or take the stage, everything is perfect on stage, then I'm in the moment.

And then I feel like we make the best stuff when we're in the moment. Is it hard for you to stay in the moment? No. No, I don't think so. I feel like I can get in the moment a lot. But that's what I mean. I think it's a two-part thing. Because on one side, if you're making stuff for yourself, like in your house, then you're kind of, that's sort of like bowling or whatever. It's like you're beating your own score.

But when it comes to live performance, there's another element, which is like, I know that some of my shows that i feel like are my worst shows i've had people be like i've never seen a better show that you've played yeah i'm like fuck you guys dude you know exactly no way uh it makes you think about yeah and i i so that's the thing is that like i feel like i'm able to remind myself of that or i try to you know what i mean yeah where it's like i'm not a good like you know i i dabble in all sorts of stuff as you do too i can tell you're a man of whatever you can get your hands on yeah and i i haven't done it in a while but like i used to do a lot of plays and one of the main things like theater you know and and one of the main things, like theater, you know, and one of the main things is, like, you cannot judge how you're acting while you're doing it.

Otherwise, you're not acting. You're not doing it correctly. You know what I mean? You're giving yourself notes in real time, like, oh, I'm fucking this up. Like, this was funnier last night. You're already doing it wrong because you're just not in the moment, like you said

so what kind of plays were you doing were you doing musicals were you doing dramas I mean I've done I did musicals when I was a little kid and I kind of hate I like musicals but I sort of hate musicals

which is such a weird like I'm into it but I hate it i like i i i my attention span's all fucked up for like plays i love plays and i still just like pass out or get super bored i'm just i suck so tell me about that though tell me about your so what was your first passion was it acting was it music like tell me about you as a kid. What was going on in your head? My first passion was drawing. Drawing? What the fuck, dude? You're like, okay, keep going. You are the prince.

First I started acting, then I drew. My first passion was math. I was learning calculus at the age of four. I was super into spreadsheets. What did you like about drawing when you were a kid? My mom's a playwright and a writer in general. I always liked drawing. I feel like I can't even remember when it started. I feel like it just started

the same way anything starts just sort of out of time killing and boredom and uh an urge to replicate what I saw

you know like I've always just loved like I sort of I learned to read kind of on Calvin and Hobbes my dad had a bunch of Calvin and Hobbes and that was like

that helped develop that and the far side were sort of a basis of Calvin and Hobbes, and that helped develop that and the far side are sort of a basis of my worldview of humor. And something that I love is that both of those things, the older you get, they don't become irrelevant. It's like Calvin and Hobbes is better now than it ever has been to me. Same with the far side. They're fucking awesome. I mean, it gives you inspiration to try to

write some timeless lyrics, right? Try to write songs that relate 30 years later than what you're feeling now, right? Well, I guess that's the idea, too. Being able to make an image or a series of images that conveys a story. I guess it's

all storytelling in some way. That feels like magic to me. That feels like, you know, turning a stone into a piece of gold or something, you know? Yeah, I totally agree with that because it doesn't matter what you do. Like, I'm big into basketball, like coaching, like watching coaches like Phil Jackson and stuff.

And like, there's no difference in what he's doing with a group of people versus what you're doing with a pen or what you're doing on screen or playing music. I mean, it's all art in a sense. It doesn't matter what type of art you do, right? Well, to me, sometimes that's even more amazing. Coaching is such a wild, dark art of sorts where it's like your mentor you're touching so you know he's like moving so many pieces around that it's not like a chessboard you know you can't just be

like hey when i tell you to do this do this it's working with actual individuals yeah and again whatever's happening that day and conditions and like you of this, I guess that has to do a lot more with live performance, which I love, but I don't feel like I need to survive, per se. I feel like that's something that I've developed as opposed to something that I need. Yeah, or really something that I need. Yeah. Or like really seek, I guess. So this fucking quarantine is perfect for you, dog. Dude, I've been drawing again, you know, all sorts, all my little like, all my little knickknacks, which adds to this, you know, this fucking nest of dreams that I live in right here. But like, this is a, I sort of, if I could draw a single image of myself, it would be me,

like covered in the items in my house, sleeping very soundly, you know? That's great. I mean, like, I want to talk about earlier, like, did your, was your mom a big inspiration to you lyrically? Yeah. I mean, certainly. Because being a playwright, I read a lot of her stories or was always around storytelling. She also taught acting and directing at UT.

So you're an Austin boy from the beginning born and raised all right we'll talk about that later but keep going with your born and raised baby yeah but so she you know i guess either way it's like you pick up what's around you and you know her thing was she taught college kids how to tell stories, you know, and, and other people. And, and,

um, so I guess my understanding of like, and, and I was always like a little kid in theaters while plays were being developed and stuff like that. So I guess my, my general background noise of thematic arcs and shit was always kind of, that was probably burned pretty deep into me.

Were there pressure to be a great artist? Cause you're like, not from her telling you gotta be a great art, but in your head, was it like, my mom is fucking awesome and I need to be great. Or was she awesome? Did she suck?

I don't know. I don't know your life, but was she awesome? I'm assuming she was. I mean, you're, you're, she's awesome. Yeah. Um, yeah, but I, I feel like just kind of only in the sense of, you know, in that sense of kind of wanting to be seen as your own thing that I think we all have. It's like, I, you know, life kind of seems like this extreme exercise in all of us wanting to be seen and see

at the same time you know it's the balance of like wanting to consume and idolize and also be that same the circle of like me wanting to be whoever indiana jones or something and then that cycling through my own filter and then that becoming how i want to express fantasy and songs or you know whatever it's like it's like you get a signal and then you play it through whatever speaker you have you know exactly like uh who is who is your inspirations who is your superhero when you're a kid man some weird people um you know like one of the first things i had a really cool um i had one of those like great it was like a kindergarten teacher that was a very attentive public school kindergarten teacher i had no need to be you know so so dope um and her

name was miss contreras and she saw that I was into drawing and I was like a total teacher's pet where I would come and draw a picture of me hugging her, you know, like as a kindergartner. And she'd be like, you little thing, look at you. Oh, you're adorable. And she saw that I loved drawing and sort of, as opposed to drawing, like, this is a plant or like this is a dog.

I would kind of draw things in motion. And she noticed that and gave me this book by this dude named Bill Peep, who was a children's book author. I don't think he's alive anymore. He wrote all these books. Like, he had a book called Huge Herald that's about a really big rabbit that grows to be the size of a cow. Another one called The Gnats of Knotty Pine

about a bunch of gnats who end up running all the hunters out of this forest by becoming a bigger force than just the tiny bug. By becoming a cloud of gnats. That's awesome. Yeah. They all had great underlying themes about accepting who you are, That's awesome. Yeah. And they all had like great underlying themes about,

you know, accepting who you are, becoming, you know, fulfilling your sort of destiny, even if you're small or, or strange. And his,

he made a, a autobiography that he animated. Like he drew the whole thing. He basically made a, an autobiography for kids that he illustrated like he drew the whole thing he basically made a an autobiography for kids that he illustrated yeah and and she gave that to me in kindergarten my my you know my parents helped me read through it and um this guy was like a line animator for disney back in the day he did storyboards so he did he did uh all the storyboards for Lady and the Tramp and Dumbo.

And I've seen some of them, and they are just insane. It's like drawing a single image that basically inspires an animation team to do a whole sequence. Like being able to strike. Yeah, the first line of creating a piece. Yeah. And I've always loved, I mean, that, like we were talking about, just seemed like such a powerful thing to be able to do

where you recognize emotion and even roles. You're like, oh, that must be this person's mother. And they're sad, you know, like, and just having like a cartoon elephant and a trunk symbolize stuff just seemed, you know, it was like, I still think it's, it's totally insane. Hold on, hold on, backtrack. You knew all this shit in kindergarten? No, no. Now you know you're, you're retrospecting.

But I mean, yeah, I think everyone, you know you're you're retrospecting but i mean yeah i think everyone you know like kids kids get shit yeah you know that that's i think that's kind of a myth that you don't just because you can't blab it out like my hairy ass is doing right now you know it doesn't mean that when you're a kid you're not like this is nuts you know they're in love you know and you're like how do you know these two drawings are in love yeah it's like they look like they are yeah that that's a great point because we are smarter than we think we are and we remember it's amazing what we remember when we were fucking six years old i mean people that inspire us people that make us become who we are i still remember my kindergarten teacher telling me that i could do whatever the fuck I want, and I'm doing whatever the fuck I want.

So it's like we go through these things in life where these people who inspire you. I want to go into your acting career. Growing up through Austin, how did you get into acting? Was it from the plays, or how did you get into Friday Night Lights? Were they auditioning people from Austin? What was your vision on all that stuff? how did you get into Friday night lights? Like, were they auditioning people from Austin or like, what, what,

what was your vision on all that stuff? Or how old were you when you, you look like you're like 17 or how old are you? I'm 32. Oh yeah. I'm the same age. But when you made Friday night lights, weren't we,

weren't we in high school? I was 19. Yeah. Okay. Something like that. Yeah. It doesn't seem that long ago either which is fucked up and it also seems like

300 years ago um what did you like about acting what didn't you like yeah let's talk about the austin thing first okay well well austin has a you know it has a pretty prosperous like you know third coast acting uh you know shit has been shot here

forever and and my, my family being in theater and extended family being actors that did, uh, you know, experimental plays and stuff in the eighties. And, um, one of the people that, that was part of my extended like family circle is John Hawks. Do you know who John Hawks is? So he's like dear friends with my parents and they all grew up together. He was the one that went to LA and, you know who John Hawks is? Yes. So he is like dear friends with my parents and they all grew up together. He was the one that went to LA and, you know, for years it was like,

I would just watch him show up and then instantly die, you know, for like 10 years. I was like, Hey, there's John. And then it'd be like, Oh shit,

there he goes. He was in, uh, at one of the first things I saw him in was Congo. He's in Congo. I didn't know that. Really? Yeah. He's, he's in that one of the first things i saw him in was congo he's in congo i didn't know that really yeah he's he's in that scene where where they they like go into the jungle and there's all these like amazon natives or whatever and they have they caught one of the people from the old expeditions yeah and uh and then he sees the monkey that they bring or the gorilla that

they bring along amy or whatever the sign language gorilla and has a heart attack and foams at the mouth and dies and they're like what was that all about anyway that's john so he's in there for he does a great like die um what did he teach you about do you teach you anything about well i mean no well because he was around a lot when i was like a kid kid you know um i guess if anything it helped to see somebody that you knew in a movie that you were in a theater yeah you know I was like oh whoa like yeah I do know this person so it it can be done yeah you know you can do it and uh and at the same time he's such a great character actor. And then now he's been nominated for Oscars. And he really has just continued to rise. I feel like all the way through whatever to where he's just always in stuff now. as opposed to the other concept of hitting it big, lightning strike, which we all fantasize about in whatever it is.

Like, oh, suddenly you're the star quarterback or whatever. You know what? We looked at this big crowd of people, and we like you. But I guess his side of it, it always helped remind me that you can have a career in something abstract, and it can get better without it having to be so sensational. You know, you can become a master of your work, even if you are a master when you're younger or you have a lot of whatever, it can take a while for that to actually match, um, your life, you know, like you, you might, you might have the

tools, but you don't have the opportunity to use any of them, you know, you you might you might have the tools but you don't have the opportunity to use any of them you know and nor should you it's a it's amazing foreshadowing of your career you know right because it's basically you started you know like was that your first big success was Friday Night Lights or were you writing songs were you mean, I wouldn't honestly, I wouldn't even call it a big success. It was like, to me that was, I played a character on that that sucked.

As someone who likes the show, I hadn't seen it until I got the job. I was like, oh, I'll watch a couple of these episodes. Because only one season was out and it was like a sleeper hit like yeah like people loved it but it wasn't like a giant success it got a lot bigger too as years went on um and i was like yeah i didn't really want to watch a you know high school football show and me and my friend put on one of the episodes and we were like oh we like that like the second one we were like all right and then by the third

one we just crushed the whole season yeah and then looked at the breakdown it was like, oh, we like that. And then like the second one, we were like, all right. And then by the third one, we just crushed the whole season. And then looked at the breakdown. It was like, oh, fuck, dude. You break up Matt Saracen and Julie Taylor, like the two people we like. That's fucking awful. And I'm like, oh, no. Oh, my God. Oh, no.

That's so funny. So I play this shitty musician. Oh, fuck. Yeah, the rest is like, you know, shitty musician. And Oh, fuck. Yeah, the rest is like, you know, I'm just a generally hated character on that show. So that's one of the things is that in all of the roles

that I've done, because I love acting just because I think it's an incredible process. What do you like about it? Well, it's especially acting. Acting on stage is a lot like, it's more like playing a show, you know,

like there's versatility in it. You can kind of change night to night, but there's a set of things that you do, you know, like the song you're supposed to play. And, and the more it becomes muscle memory, it becomes the secondary art.

But the subtleties of acting on screen and stuff is this just like wild bottomless pit of, you know, trying to like having to pretend that your loved one died over and over and over again, you know, crowded room of 15 people, you know, while they're like changing light and being like, oh, hold on. Sorry, we were out of focus. We didn't get that. And then it's like, okay, get back in the most important moment of your character's life. Yeah, and I think

that's probably the hardest part. For me, my goals are not hiking up a fucking tall piece of rock. And some people, that's their jam. And it doesn't mean there aren't crazy physical feats that I strive to achieve at some point and whatever.

But for me, a lot of those mountains and challenging spires are definitely a lot more psychological like that. The acting thing is a huge... I won't be totally satiated in my life until at some point. I don't care when I meet an opportunity in that realm and like knock it out of the park for myself. I don't think I've still done that for me personally,

but it's in there somewhere. Everything, everything in your life. No, just an acting. Oh, an acting. Okay.

Yeah. Cause I was wondering about that in a lot of things in my life too., just in acting Oh, in acting, okay Yeah, because I was wondering about that But in a lot of things in my life too You know, it's like I feel like I've reached some levels But there's always There's always a higher peak that you're like Well, I could do this

Yeah, well, is it the idea of the grass is greener That makes you keep going? No, it's not really about greener It's just about the It's the same thing like why does anyone try and become faster in the olympics or like you know what's the like what's the end game on that yeah and to me that's the thing is like it's kind of a personal thing and and that that's how music started in the first place it's like i didn't really consider myself musical when I was young.

It wasn't like a dream of mine per se to be like a rock star man. So when did you write your first song then? When I was like 13. Yeah, okay. But that was like for me, you know? That was like drawing. It was like how, same with drawing. I didn't draw to get a job. Yeah.

You know, I drew to like, see if I could do it, you know, and see if I could express myself like I'd seen other people do. But in my own way, you know. Damn, you are your own Phil Jackson, my guy. I swear to God, you were trying to like see, I mean, like like what's the craziest thing you you wanted to prove to yourself that you could do music yeah pretty much man i mean shit like like not not die trying not dry not die being weird yeah you know i mean is it important to stay weird for you um it's it's important to

know what weird means to me what you know like i feel like just some sort of like psychonaut shit you know like going into the going into the myths and legends of like music mind expansion shit you know like trying drugs and yeah being crazy and having that like i'm fucking nuts on stage or like this is you know smashing a guitar or whatever like i've dipped my toes in those ponds and they're tight you know but it's like my fucking guy dude cool cool spots but it's like that's not my pond, per se. And that's the thing. Even just modern concerts and the motivations behind music and stuff is so new.

This is such a brand new, in the scope of human existence and shit. This is what's blowing my mind about all this quarantine and that concerts might never be the same or whatever. I was just reading the book about the Altmont Music Festival in San Francisco where the Hells Angels stabbed that dude. What did you learn? A ton. A ton of shit. But mainly what I learned is that the modern concert essentially didn't even exist in the late 60s. concert essentially didn't even exist in the late 60s you know like that this is like a pa system was barely developed in the sense that a bunch of people could hear what's going on and even still

like what i think a hundred thousand two hundred thousand people or something showed up to altamont most of which were on bad acid, which was laced with speed. And they had a collective bad trip and five people died. And, you know, more than half of them were probably psychologically scarred for life. And then the other half of the people had a great fucking time. You know, they were like, I couldn't tell what was going on. And like, I was off of my own fucking world. And what's funny is that, like, I guess that's kind of the one thing that is the same as like music festivals

now, you know, and, and people have this urge to gather and share some sort of experience. Do you think that those days are gone? No, I just think that, you know,

like if you look at the difference between maybe Altamont and the concerts of that era, like, you know, even the Beatles playing Shea Stadium or whatever, that you couldn't hear over the screaming. It's like, it's pretty similar to like the first rock concert, which I think was in Cleveland. And it was like a, like a rhythm and blues radio night. And they were like, we're going to have a live DJ and some bands at this spot. And like, you know, 16 times the capacity of this place showed up to fucking cut rug and dance and go crazy. And there was a full on riot.

And like, you know, it's like the messiness of all this and the fact that it's like a smooth machine is just a total illusion. You know, the fact that the fact that any of this works, that we all gather together and agree that like, we're going to play the jams. You guys are going to chill kind of,

but you can also go crazy or do drugs or not. You know, like of course it's precarious and will change, you know, like, and I, how, I don't know, I don't know, but it's, it's, but it's precarious and will change. And how? I don't know. I don't know.

But we're still making it up, I guess is the point. They just made this shit up. We just agreed on this. So we can change it. Isn't that life, though? Yeah, I guess so. We're learning how to grow old, right? Or did you always knew how to grow old when you were a kid?

learning how to grow old right or did you always knew how to grow old when you're a kid i mean i think you always at some point the one of the books that i've been reading right now too is i've been reading the original version of peter pan which is called peter and wendy oh tell me about it dude it's great it's super crazy and uh really dark And like before they whittled it down to be Peter Pan, it's sort of this beautiful poem about never growing old and how dangerous that is. You know, like Peter Pan is, is kind of a bad character.

It's kind of this both interesting and, and, and simultaneously brightening person because it's the boy who would never grow up and like he's awful for that that like one of the main takeaways is that he's just this terrible creature you know that like forgets about everybody you know it really highlights all of the narcissistic like the fact that it's important to grow old and to really to let go of some of this like reckless wonder or whatever you know and like the book is a lot about that and like the second line is the book or in the book is uh something like once you're two years old you

know it's all over or something like that like By the time you hit two, you already know you're going to get old. That's when most people suddenly are just like, oh no, I'm aging. I'm two. That's brilliant though. Damn, they made that shit happy as fuck. We're still like...

It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hey, it's Ari Finling back with another quarantine update. I don't know what fucking day I'm in. I hate my life. It fucking sucks. This sucks, okay? Obviously, getting the disease is worse, but this fucking sucks,

and I should be allowed to say that it fucking sucks. I'm going crazy. I shaved my head. It looks horrible. I look like an old dusty fucking nutsack. Don't just shave your head without analyzing what your head shape looks like. I look fucking terrible. I'm going crazy. My kid fucking hates me. I do not. I mean, having a kid during quarantine is literally the worst because you can't even complain to anybody

about it. Because anytime I complain, people are like, oh, you signed up for this. You signed up for this. It's like I signed up to be a parent. I didn't sign complain to anybody about it because anytime i complain people are like oh you signed up for this you signed up for this it's like i signed up to be a parent i didn't sign up to be a fucking prisoner okay imagine just going to alcatraz on a tour and then they just lock you in a fucking cell okay that's not the same thing and then sometimes when i complain people are like oh i have a dog that's the same thing as having a kid during quarantine no it's not you fucking psychopath until you're cleaning shit out of your dog's vagina at two o'clock in the morning. It's not the fucking same. Okay. Until Republicans are taking away your fucking dog's rights. It's not the same thing. I'm literally going crazy. Like, I don't know if I'm going to come out of this a normal, well-adjusted person. Okay. Thank fucking God. Tattoo parlors are closed right now because i would go full ben

affleck i would spend five thousand dollars to get a fucking dragon across my entire back right now that's how crazy i am when i shaved my head 10 seconds into shaving my head i knew exactly why britney spears did it it made total fucking sense to me. People were always like, what was Britney going through? This. She was literally going through this in her fucking mind, okay? Just, please,

fucking wear masks. Just wear masks and socially distance so I can fucking leave my house because if I don't, I'm gonna end up hanging from my fucking ceiling fan, okay? Fucking, fuck you wear a mask did you ever have your peter pan syndrome growing up like in their 20s you ever feel reckless did

you ever take too many drugs did you ever go through a spiral in depression anxiety what any downfalls in life i think that oh yeah oh yeah totally uh yeah i mean i had a i had a serious um i went totally crazy like mental institution crazy when i was really yeah oh yeah like when i was 20 or no like like no i must have been 18 17 what triggered and what was it tell me i basically i did a bunch of mushrooms and i which i had done a lot before or not a lot but a fair amount and basically this thing happened where after they wore off, it didn't wear off. And suddenly I saw the key to the universe and all this shit. And it was one of those moments in my life that, to me,

it's the most important thing that ever happened. And because it's the only thing that I can sort of explain. I had always wanted something magical to happen in my life, like whatever, see a ghost or whatever. And for most of it, I got zilch. I have a lot of synchronicities and I see a lot of magic and whatever, but I wanted to get spanked by a fucking witch or something. And nothing happened? No, until I wished for it over and over and over again, and then did.

This thing happened. And I had this fucking experience where I went batshit crazy, and I was living in LA at the time, and I wandered around LA for three days and did all these magical things that I can't tell you about because they're top secret. I get it. It's fine. And ran into a ton of people that were like,

yes, we know like shit is yes. What you're experiencing is real. And we're out here always. And I was like, Oh shit. I remember there's, this isn't what it seems like.

And people were like, yep. And then, uh, I got caught by the police and then I got straight up thrown in a hospital and then thrown in a mental hospital. You got caught from the police for talking to yourself

or what? For wandering around and like trespassing, climbing over people's fences and being like, hey man, it's me, your old friend Jesus or whatever, you know, like Holy shit, Ollie! I was that dude that wandered up to you and said the, like,

one thing that blew your mind. Like, how did you know that? I'm like, because the universe isn't real, man. Which direction should I go? And you're like, that way. I'm like, bye-bye! Oh, my fucking god. Okay, so you got, okay, so the cops got you. You went to jail? Cops got me. I didn't go to jail. They took you straight to the loony bin.

Yeah, so I went went I had three days And of course everything happened in threes Which fit into my Fucking Fit into my Bing bong So I roamed around like preaching

For three days And then I got caught Went to a hospital for three days And then I And then I went to a mental institution for three days And then I was released Okay the hospital What did they pump in you? I have no idea. So were you eating in those three? Do you remember like eating? Like

were you dehydrated? Like what was going on? Did you sleep? Yeah. So basically in the first, in the three days of wandering around, I ate less and less, you know, I just like, I think I i drink water but i also became more and more like elated and you know it's like a full on the on the on the physical side of it like just on the straight up medical side i had a full-on like manic break on the on the internal side i had the time of my fucking life yeah and it's not recommended at all people go through this all the time i'm really lucky i didn't die yeah i had a lot of opportunities to like because one ending of this story was that you just found me in the ocean you know oh so you saw all your futures i saw a bunch of them yeah

holy but i mean that was pretty obvious at the time it was like you know one of the things was like yeah i mean the you could there's always a way out of this if you want you know and that's death yeah and like it didn't seem the frightening thing in coming back to myself is like you know the frightening thing was that it wasn't frightening at all the closer i got to that sort of core of energy or whatever, it was really familiar and death didn't seem frightening per se. But I knew it wasn't the right choice for me. Were you ever suicidal? No.

So that was just a little glimpse. Okay, I got so many questions. Okay, what do they teach you in the hospital, the mental hospital, to get you out of this mind state? What were they doing? Was it therapy? Was it drugs? Like what were they doing to get you back into this realm? At that point, I pretty much came back. Um, it, it was, it was a pretty wild, like straight up skyrocket.

Not to say that I came back entirely because i was a pain in the ass for like a year i was like talking about you know whatever my my parents were just like this is so luckily they're they're pretty alternative and witchy themselves so they were like we can sort of we can handle this but it's so frightening to have your child or anyone you know go through something like this. You know what I mean? So who? And like. Your parents.

Yeah, tell me. So yeah, in the hospital, it was like I basically. Yeah, I got released basically into my parents' custody. That was like. And my dad was like, I'm taking you to New Mexico. So he took me to New Mexico. He was like, I'm taking you out of L.A. It's to New Mexico. He was like, I'm taking you out of LA. This is too crazy, which it is. So what were you doing in LA at 18?

What were you trying to do? Acting. Okay, cool. All right, go back to New Mexico. But I was also playing music. That's the thing is that the music thing being for myself was like, you know, the long and winding road that you have to take was i had to go to la to you know explore this acting thing that seemed like my destiny to me

yeah but the secret thing that was happening the whole time was that like all of the things that came up when i showed up in la like me crazy there, that was one specific thing that like blew my world apart. It was like, it was like, here's all these secrets. Also, no one will ever believe you by you're crazy. And it was like,

whoa. Especially as a 19 year old kid. I mean, that probably fucked you up a little bit. Oh yeah, for sure. And like terrified everyone around me. And so I, I mean, that probably fucked you up a little bit. Oh, yeah, for sure. And terrified everyone around me. But it also, at that moment, when that happened,

was when I started drawing. So weird. That was when I started drawing this symbol that now is all over my house. People have it tattooed on their body. It's like my shaky grave symbol that's a skull. So you drew that? Yeah. I know what you're talking about.

Yeah. So where'd that come from? Just from that 19-year-old you coming back from a relapse? Yeah, that was after I went and touched The Void, I came back with that and started writing crazy music pretty much immediately after that. That was like a switch where my music started sounding different to me. It was right after that experience.

Is that when you started getting popular? No. No way. What were you talking about then? What were your lyrics at this point of your musical endeavor? Within that time period was when i really started writing songs that weren't like me and this girl i have a crush on i'm driving around in the car you know like i was writing some deep shit i guess but it was you know it was all like and i have a

crush on this other person too that you know whatever the fuck and then we're like then what were you writing about and then it was like touch the void of the you know i was like whatever you know that's fucking awesome listen to the whispers of the wind or whatever the fuck you know holy but uh ollie but yeah it was like uh it's that's the and and that all ties into peter pan too is like there's sort of a thing where, you know, in Peter Pan, in the beginning of Peter Pan,

he, Peter Pan flies into your house. And everybody knows about Peter Pan. Like Peter Pan is also a great analogy for mania and sort of spirit, you know, like something that we all, you know, we all dream.

We all have some sort of toe in the questionable side of like i don't no one knows what dreams are it i have no idea um you know who i i don't care however you believe in spirit or not or god or that doesn't i i i think it it's all valid you know what I mean? Yeah, totally. But Peter Pan is a great analogy for this thing bursting in your house that you're familiar with, but it's terrifying. You're like, why is there a flying boy in my house? And then the parents like shoo him out and shut the door, but his shadow gets trapped in the kid's room.

Yeah. And so Peter Pan is technically still there well so peter pan has to come back for his shadow and unless he's united with his shadow he's not whole so it was one of those things where to me that going crazy was me meeting my shadow and actually re-attaching it in a way so myself so you wouldn't regret going crazy for a little bit. I would never change that, no. You know, like, I think that's the same maybe with a lot of traumatizing

events for anybody. And I try not to put it on a pedestal. I can joke about it and talk about it very openly because it's just what happened. You know, like, to me, I don't even want to know what my life would be like with that piece removed.

What would you tell people who have this alter-miss identity with themselves, their shadow. What would you tell them how to cope with that while they find their shadow? I think what's important is that the shadow in general

is really alluring. I think a lot of musicians, myself included, get caught in this kind of narrative of I'm not surprised that people write really crazy music like when they do heroin or like when they live really dark portions of their lives because honestly you get really close to death in a very real way like your altitude is lower than ever before. And to me, a lot of weird and sometimes super cool shit slips through that veil when it's thin.

You know what I mean? What song have you written that slipped through, that you felt slipped through? You know, in different ways. There's a bunch that I haven't put out because I'm like, this is so gloomy and hilarious that I like it. But, you know, I'm not going to show you guys. Yeah. One of my songs that I never get tired of that I, you know, that people still enjoy. This song, Roll the Bones, is kind of about that.

Look at the lyrics. It was me matching that melody with my sort of questioning and esoterica about being alive or whatever. And the fucking crazy thing about that song is, okay, so that song was written on this guitar that showed up in my life. So after I went crazy, went out to the desert for, or not the desert, I went to New Mexico with my dad. I recalibrated. I basically came back more or less to being myself over the course of a little while. This is at 19, right? You didn't go back to New Mexico?

No, this is like 17, 18. And then I went back to L.A. to like re-seek my, you know, chase the dragon again. I moved back and forth from L.A. over and over again for like five years. Okay. for like five years okay um and went back like it always felt like mounting sort of a some sort of battle campaign i was like all right here we go we're going back to la let's fucking do this yeah and went back to la and um and this was kind of one of the last times i was there and i had started to believe in my own music by this point. I started to play out, named it, started to put the identity together and stuff.

And figured out what I was writing about, more or less. And had this night where I used to go and hang out and play at this place called 2023. This place called Tommy's Loft thatmmy's loft that was uh on santa fe street downtown yeah like in the warehouse district near the spearmint rhino yeah before downtown was popping it was just kind of like there's like one or two joints and everything else a sketchball yeah yeah right next to the spearmint rhino and uh it was an old garment factory and um my buddy set up this like speakeasy in it that was really nice it was like how you want a loft speakeasy to be yeah and it was like a listening room and all these crazy folk

musicians would play in there and there were parties like five nights a week and a little illegal bar and the whole deal and um and i would play and sort of like at that point help run stuff you know sometimes i do the door or like badly run sound and one night it was my my dude tommy who ran the place it was his birthday and people would tip him all sorts of wild shit like drugs and money and you know like whatever wild shit because he was like the hefe and um and he was like hey i think someone someone tipped me these chocolates he's like wrapped uh you know, Reese's peanut butter cup looking things. And he's like, I'm pretty sure they're mushrooms. Not sure.

And I was like, Oh, all right. And he's like, would you want to, do you want to eat one for my birthday? And I was like, fuck it. Why not? So we eat them and like see each other a half hour later. And we're like, this is chocolate, bro. Right. Not didn't work out.

And then we see each other like a half hour after that. And we're like, is chocolate bro right not didn't work out and then we see each other like a half hour after that and we're like i guess it's not chocolate you know holy shit and um and he ends up introducing me you know like a lot of stuff too when you when you do when you participate in that feel very like chapter book you know it's like oh and this happened and it's like here's the next part of the story i have to introduce you to this guy named jason 71 and uh and immediately me and this dude jason 71 are like hit it off i can tell and i'm like you want to go smoke a cigarette on the roof and he's like yeah and so we went up on the roof and uh just start talking about music in general and jason 71 is like he he wears all black um every time i'd see him he's wearing the same outfit all black denim and he had a name tag that said hello my name is jason 71 that's like this pale red-headed guy that may or may not be a vampire uh because la is such has the characters

like that man like the old laers dude it's amazing dude and he wouldn't i couldn't figure out what he did he worked for some sort of like think tank that would come up with crazy inventions and then firms would do them he would never be able to tell me what he worked for anyway he crazy person but we hit it off and I'm like on some mushrooms and explaining what I love about music really effectively. Just like really close to him, like right in his face.

I'm just like, yeah. Sometimes it comes from the cosmic energy. It's like the cocaine talk. Everything's so important right now. Yeah, just killing it. And he's not on mushrooms, mind you. And I don't think he can tell. He said later he couldn't tell that I was, but was i was nailing it yeah so what happened so i

forget that i'm supposed to be playing a show i'm like oh fuck i have to go play a show and run inside end up playing this weird show where i'm sort of talking to my hands the whole time and like nervous very nervous no i just like slipped into it. And it was, at the time, it was like one of the best shows I'd done in a long time. And afterwards, he's like, hey, man, I got this. I have something for you. That was great. I actually really liked your show. And this just came to me.

I have a 1932 Gibson L7 guitar at my house. And I was like, what? And he's like, yeah, I want you to play it. I'd like for you to play it. He's like, but it gets crazier. He's like, this was my grandma's boyfriend's guitar in World War II. He was a soldier in World War II, and he took this guitar to Europe. And he was one of the only white musicians that could play in all the black

blues clubs at the time and jazz clubs and stuff. And this was his guitar. And I was like, this is nuts. He's like, it gets crazier. that could play in all the black blues clubs at the time and jazz clubs and stuff and this was his guitar and he Was like this is nuts. He's like it's crazier it He was horribly burned in a bunker fire that he got a Medal of Honor for Where he saved all these soldiers from a bunker that caught on fire and in the process like horribly burned his hands And so to play the guitar he would have to re break all the cartilage in his knuckles and stuff every time. Hold on, he broke the cartridge?

The cartilage is in his knuckles because of why? Well, because it all fused. In the fire, his hands like melted essentially. Oh my God. To play the guitar, he would have to like re-like, like whatever. And I'm like, holy fuck. And, and, uh, and he's like, yeah, so anyway, I'm a bass player and this guitar is just chilling in my house and, and I loved what you did.

And I think you should play this guitar. And I was like, I just met this guy and he's like, yeah, I'll drive you to my loft right now and kill you. And I was like great okay let's do it you know what if it was just like some like ponds we never saw ollie exactly that's that's another that's another one of those roads that went the opposite way you know but that's how it is you took a chance and you went there and grabbed the guitar and opened it up and it was just like he says this fucking priceless

30s gibson it said the gibson on the headstock you know vaulted neck and um and it had like the newspaper clippings from the fire in it had photos of the dude in it it was an unbelievable guitar and so i take that fucking thing home and try and try it. And for a week, it just won't play. I try and play it, and it just jumps out of tune. It'll just randomly change. Oh, shit. I'm like, this old fucking haunted-ass guitar is crazy. And one day, I sit down, and I'm like, you and me, homie,

are going to do this. You and me, Mr. Guitar, and I just kind of let it tune to whatever it wanted to do and started playing. And the first melody that came out of that guitar, it felt like my hands were kind of being jumped around on it, was Roll the Bones. Shut the fuck up.

And that song and another song called Built to Roam and another song called Built to Roam and another song called Late July and like five of the songs that are sort of the guitar pieces that I'm proudest of all came from that one guitar. And it makes you sound. Mm-hmm. Holy shit. Dude, that's some possessed shit, dog. That guitar, that homie's in that guitar. Do you still have that guitar?

No, I broke the guitar and set the ghost free i had this i just smashed it over my knee no i'm kidding but i did break the guitar which is fucked up i i decided to take this priceless guitar out and play a show with it and it had a it had a like a hairline crack where the neck meets the body of the guitar yeah and um i had it leaned on fucking something because i'm a child and it it slipped off and i caught it with my foot and the neck ripped off the body all the strings went slack i was like oh fuck i like took it to mccabe's guitar shop and they thought i had stolen it you know and they were like the fuck is going what does this guy do why do you have this priceless

guitar i was like i don't know and, I finally took it back to Jason. And I was so worried he was going to freak out on me. And I was like, dude, I'm so sorry. I broke the guitar. And he's like, oh, did you play it? I was like, oh, I played it like crazy. I wrote all this music on it. And he was like, yeah, it's a guitar.

Like, great. I wasn't playing it. He's like, that's all I wanted. It just wants to be played. This guy's fucking awesome. Yeah. Are you still friends with this guy? I haven't talked to him in years.

You know, we, I, I, I always kind of had these moments where I'm like, I need to fucking track him down. If he hasn't, you know,

if he is, that hasn't moved to Transylvania or whatever, and change his name to whatever it's going to be for the next century, I should be able to find him. Do you think guitars have spirits? Mm-hmm. Do you have another guitar you wrote a lot of songs on that you don't think you would

have written if you played another guitar? That one is kind of the one, but there is a... I'm trying to think of the movie. There's a guitar that kind of follows me around um and and what do you mean it was like like i'll lose it or break it or it'll get stolen and then someone will give me a guitar be like hey i just had this guitar it's in my closet and i'm like i know exactly what it's going to be it It's going to be a Yamaha, this one Yamaha. So it's basically, I always have this one Yamaha.

I don't think it's in my house right now. It's in the studio somewhere. But it was like the one that I used to write everything. I wrote most of my stuff on outside of that Gibson. And when I went crazy and went to the mental institution, they were like, they were like, Hey,

there's a guitar in this mental institution. And I was like, it's a Yamaha. They were like, shut the fuck up. There was a straight up, there was a straight up crazy loony bin version of it. That was like,

the strings were all different sizes and like, they couldn't really let a lot of people touch it. Cause they were afraid that they would try and kill themselves with the guitar strings. But I was a pretty low risk person. But I remember finding that Yamaha in there and being like, this is fucking hysterical. Well, that brings me to a good point. Not a good point, but a question I asked.

Do you think our script is already written? Hmm. Maybe. But I kind of feel like it's sort of like there's a lot of writers. Yeah. You know? Yeah, exactly. Like there's like a bunch of ghost writers.

Yeah. And I feel like it's based on ratings, you know, just like everything else. Like this season's getting a little crazy. It's like Yelp life. Yeah. Let's go with that. Let's bring that love interest from season one back. You know, whatever.

I feel like there's Well, hold on. I feel like there's a I feel like there are certain opportunities that if you play your cards correctly, you get a chance to meet.

To me, it's sort of like, I feel like video games sometimes are kind of the best analogy. Yeah. Like, you know, where there's... Different ways to get to the finish point? Yeah, and there's certain things that maybe like little side missions or hidden Easter eggs that like you don't unlock if you just don't, you know, like if you don't talk to that one hobo, you know, whatever, when you're in New Orleans, when you're 15 or, you know, whatever, these little things

that like, it's not going to change the playability of the game, but it, but it enrichens it. What was the first big show or first big moment? Maybe one of your inspirations came up to you and pat you on the back. What's the, that made you keep going when you're feeling low, man, I've had a lot of those. Um, and I think for the,

in the most, you know, for the most part, it's like, it's the kind of thing like we were talking about earlier where I'm going to do it for myself. Kind of no matter what, you know,

this has become a habit of mine that I just like, I love doing. And I, I do for me and, and everything else is really like huge icing on the cake. I'd still be showing my music to people if, even if they didn't like it, be like,

Hey, please stop. You know, um, was that, but I had a, keep going. I had,

I had a, I have a buddy that just passed away two weeks ago maybe three weeks ago who was a uh early on he was pretty institutional to that it was i was in la at the time and i had uh one of my first shows was another friend of mine was was dating this girl named annie who's in a band called giant drag do you remember giant drag no i don't they're like an la area kind of like uh sort of weaselry but like really cool band and uh surrounded by this chick named annie and through being friends with her boyfriend i got to open for her at the troubadour um and my show was just awful it was a terrible show were you always

a one-man band yeah i i had band like i've had little i had like a three piece for a little while called the great apes in la but we played like one show at the bootleg theater it was it and um sometimes band you know people would step in but but once I figured out how to do the one-man thing, it was kind of out of necessity. And once I started to get a sound with it, it became its own thing. Yeah, well, it's fucking great. So go back to your story with Annie. Sorry, sorry.

So I played the troubadour, have a bad show, according to me, but end up meeting this guy who flew there named bobby bobby jones the third and he flew there from kansas city because he loved giant drag and then um he ended up just coming and chilling he was blown away by my show and he he was like dude i now i fucking and he was like the one person at the merch but you know the one person at the show that cared about my show and um and he's this sweet ass dude that like you know owned an italian food restaurant in kansas city and uh and he was like you know it was like what i want to do is fly you to kansas city to come play for my friends i

love what you do and i want to just like support you and doing whatever and it it was another one of those like am i going to get murdered in Kansas city? Also, let it ride, baby. Let it ride. And I, I took this dude's word and flew to Kansas city and,

and stayed at his house for like, I feel like four days, maybe five days and met all of his friends. How old were you in Kansas city? And I was like, I was like 18, 19, 19, 20 ish kansas city and i was like i was like 18 19 20 ish um and it was like that was the first time that a stranger you know no one i had no one that a friend brought or someone you know like a stranger went out of their way to to take what i had and show it to people

that they cared about. You know, that was like, and it was, and getting to fly. So he bought me a plane ticket, which at the time was like, yeah, crazy. You know, you're broke, broke as shit. Yeah. So that, I mean, getting to go somewhere else, you know, and in many ways that was like my first tour. Yeah. That's what I was going to say. I mean, like when first, when the first person takes a chance on you then the rest is history right you know you're you're unstoppable fuck phil jackson baby they were they were there were a lot more steps before that that became my

mindset or you know probably still are a few more steps but uh but that was huge you know and then i just thought about that a lot too because he just passed away so do you like being alone rest in peace dog rest in peace kate do you like being alone yeah because i feel like your life is kind of like a comedian where you travel not not now probably you know you're way more successful but um in the beginning years like you're basically traveling alone, right? Did you have one person? And how did you cope with that?

Were you going through depressions during those times? Yeah, that's really hard. Getting your foot in the door is like, especially because it was just me, it's like I, it's always nice to just have someone to even just bounce or share a bad experience with period. So you would drive your fucking self by yourself to these shows and just be by yourself.

Oh my God, Ollie. Yeah. That was tight. You know, like, and, uh, and a lot of times, you know, I'd be opening for friends, bands or whatever. So I had backup there, but, but, but some, one of the first tours, big tours I did, I got asked to open for Old Crow Medicine Show in Canada, and I drove myself in a little rental car. It was my first time going to Canada.

And again, I had a shitty phone, so it wasn't like I had GPS on a phone. I had like... Anyway, it was terrifying. It was, and I was chasing their tour bus. So all the dates were like, it was through the Maritime Provinces too, which is like, you know, up above Maine and everything. And it was crazy. That was one of the best and scariest experiences.

Because I'd have a good night and be like, you know what? Yeah, I'm going to, I'm like, and someone would come up and be like, hey, dude, I'm this nice Canadian guy. You want to come get drunk with me and my friend? I'd be like, let's go. And then like, be realized like, I have to drive seven hours in the morning to get to this fucking in, I'm in New Brunswick, you know, like, and just having like, there was like, and I'm a man, I barely caught a ferryunswick, you know, like, and just having like, there was like, And you're American. And I'm American. I barely caught a ferry one time, you know, like, you have to catch a ferry to get it. And again, like, didn't die.

You know, the sense of all those little accolades of like surviving through something that would have really terrified you at any point in your life. Yeah. that would have really terrified you at any point in your life. And rising to the occasion. I do really love that solitary moment that I can think of thousands of them for me where it's like, you usually are wishing that there was someone

you could tell this story to. Yeah. But there's been so many times that I've just sat on the trunk of my car after something and been like, whoa. Yeah. That's the thing.

Or like fist bump myself, you know, or like I've, I've had times just in a bar after, you know, like cheersing a candle, you know? Yeah.

Same here, man. I mean, like do you, is it because you're afraid to be judged for the moment or is because you're doing it for yourself and that's fucking awesome too it's just i'm the sometimes i'm the only person i want to share anything yeah same here bro do you have relationships are you are you yeah i'm in phobe or no i have i mean right now i'm in the the best stable relationship of

my whole life the longest one i'm in a fucking i live with a woman i love and it's awesome that's fucking great did it take 32 years to find that super duper did yeah and it was not for lack of trying and i i fucking threw a dart at every number on the board that i you know i i've done i've I've been terrible. I've been great. I've done nothing. I've done everything. I've tried a lot to get where I am.

I think everyone does. So how'd you land the unicorn then? Total accident. Yeah, that's the thing. Is that life? When we stop overthinking the things we want to do and just fucking do it or just let life come?

Let the script come, right? All the good things that have happened in my life have just been me literally putting one foot in front of the other and then just letting the cards be dealt. Just being like, alright, and now I go over here. Why? You know?, and now I go over here.

Why? You know? Exactly. I don't fucking know. Don't think about it. Just do it. Shit shows up, man. If you take a chance on it, there's stuff. There's always something. I mean, I have no idea what's coming next.

But I never have. And you're in peace because of that, right? I like it like that. Yeah, it's a mystery. Life is supposed to be not knowing every line of the script. Or I'd get bored, right? If you did, why would you even do it? Exactly.

Maybe that's the reason why you stopped doing movies. Yeah, and I just kind of sucked at it. I like you. We got to be homies, Doug. I'm going to start texting you and seeing what's up. Fuck yeah. Absolutely. I appreciate this.

You're a good guy, and I can't wait to just see what you do with your life. You're just kicking ass, and I'm proud of you. I got one more question for you. We're the same age. What do you want to be remembered by? People? No, no. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs.

Dogs. No. That's a good question. I want to be remembered by a lifetime as opposed to a moment you know i i don't want to be remembered for a a thing that i did or a thing that i didn't do um i hope it's a lot of them you know yeah i hope that it's uh i want to try and wear as many hats and explore as many things without you know hurting anybody or throwing people under the bus or you know doing it i don't want to do it at anyone's expense yeah but my own and um and i you know if anything hopefully

being able to teach as well as learn. I'm always trying to learn new stuff. I guess I'm always trying to help anybody else that's trying to learn too. Well, let's learn together, Ollie. Let's do it. Let's do it. Thanks for being on the show, man. It really means a lot. I'm just proud, man.

I'm proud to know that there's guys like you out there who are fucking just living for the moment. I appreciate that. Right back at you, dude. This has been a blast. Thanks, Ollie. I'll text you later so we could see. I'll send you a dick pic or something. Oh, please do.

Oh, man. Good seeing you. Thanks for being on the show, bro. It means a lot. Of course, dude. Love you, bro. Talk to you soon. Take care, bro.

Later. Bye. And now, a duet from Sean and his wife, dude. Love you, bro. Talk to you soon. Take care, bro. Later. Bye. And now, a duet from Sean and his wife, Toby. She don't like her eggs all runnin' She thinks crossin' her legs is funny She looks down, her nose have money She gets it all like the Easter Bunny She's my baby, I'm her honey Never gonna let her go.

He ain't got laid in a month of Sundays, I called him once and he was sniffing my undies. He ain't too sharp, but he gets things done, drinks his beer like it's oxygen. He's my baby, I'm his honey, never gonna let him go. He's my baby, I'm his honey, never gonna let him go. In spite of ourselves, we'll end up sitting on a rainbow. Against all odds, honey, we're the big door prize. We're gonna spy our noses right off of our faces. There't be nothing but big old hearts dancing in our eyes there won't be nothing but big old hearts dancing in our eyes

all right and there you have it thank you alejandro that was fucking tight shout out to you thank you for um you know we just met that interview and I felt like we could be friends for a long time. And I hope so because you're a good dude and I'm fucking rooting for you, buddy. So whatever you got to do, you fucking do it. Get those juices out there, baby. Get those. Oh, fuck.

Get those juices out there. But that's it, guys. That's the show. Actually, I wanted to bring juices out there. But that's it, guys. That's the show. Actually, I wanted to bring one person up. Danny. Danny, come up here. Come here. Danny reminded me of a story that he did.

Hey, give it up for Danny. Give it up for Danny. How you doing? How you doing, buddy? I'm good. Danny, tell me that story. Remember when we were kids and you slept walked? Yeah.

Let's talk about this for one second. Because I was cracking the fuck up. How old were we when this happened? Well, we were probably 16, 17 years old. We were getting drunk for the first time. We were getting drunk for the first time drinking Sailor Jerry's in your backyard. Yeah, we were and i remember you threw a little backyard uh rager for the homies because your parents were uh not home and my mom

was home your mom was home she was coming home like really late yeah yeah and uh i remember getting really uh drunk for the first time and you you let me crash in one of the spare bedrooms at your parents' house. And sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning, you guys were all still up after your mom had come home. And you went to check on me and you couldn't find me in the guest room anymore. Yeah, we looked in your car. We looked everywhere. You weren't there. We were kind of scared that you died

or something. The next thing I remember was waking up to the sound of you and our other buddy Doug just laughing at the doorway. I wake up and I realize I'm in bed

snuggled up spooning your mom who's sleeping. Did you fuck my mom, Danny? Be honest. Honestly, I blacked out. I don't know. Did you fuck my mom? I did not. Smoke weed every day. Honestly, I think I was, I don't know what was going on in my head I must have slept walked blacked out crawled into bed and like I remember waking up

and being so confused and then your mom woke up and looked over at me and she was like what the fuck and she jumped out of bed you guys were all standing there laughing your asses off. I couldn't believe it. Because she was in

the blanket. It totally made sense that you sleptwalked because you just got on the bed. She was in the blanket. And she was passed out. And then you are fucking spooning my mom without over the blankets.

I knew you were fucking and shit, but shout out to my mom. I don't even think I knew how to fuck yet. If Danny fucked my mom and Danny became my stepdad, I'd be so fucking pissed. But I'm glad we're best friends. Yeah, buddy. I will say the next morning was pretty awkward.

Yeah, she made us all breakfast. She made us breakfast. It felt like a one night stand. He walked in like, good morning, everyone. Hello, Mrs. Frasco. Oh, no. So you guys still talk about that? Does she bring that up?

She brings it up every Thanksgiving. Remember when Danny just slept in my room? And I was cracking up like, yeah, Mom, he was trying to get that ass. He wanted that Frasco ass. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Shout out to my mom. My mom's a saint um she is she's a wonderful woman so let's let's clear it let's clear the table you did not fuck her i did not fuck your mom touching but i did sleep with her you slept

with her so i could i got that no hand job nothing there's no honestly i don't remember i was blacked out but i'm gonna say no just so we can maintain our friendship and you don't kill me well I'm going to do a DNA test when I go back to the house and see if there's any Danny Zagire come on the from 20 years ago that's it guys thanks for being on the show thanks Danny go back to work if you want

give it up for Danny Avila Danny Zagire I love you Danny that's what it is that's what Danny's a guy. Danny, I love you, Danny. Oh my God, I'm sorry. I can't stop coming. I'm sorry. That's what it is. That's what it is.

That's what exactly. Blacked out. Balls deep in my mom. Thanks for coming out, guys. I love you. So I'll leave you with this. Wear condoms. If you're going to sleepwalk into someone's mom's room,

just be patient. Don't force anything. If you love someone, they will love you back if it's the right thing. And wear condoms. It's the quarantine. I'm telling you, I tell you this every year, baby boomers. You know why we're pissed? Why we call them boomers? Because there are too many of them. And there was too many of them. And now we're pissed off. I'm like, we shouldn't be pissed off because they have lives too. This is why we're doing the quarantine. This is why we're taking care of ourselves. We're thinking of them, but we're going to be that age,

and we're going to have all these fucking kids through this quarantine, and then our great-grandkids are going to call us boomers. So be gentle with the booms. They got a life. We're all scared, but don't be coming just to come. Pull out. Put it in the fish tank or put it on the towel.

I felt bad. Never mind. We can't talk about that. All right, guys. Thanks for coming to the show. I love you, and I'll catch you next week with Mr. Theo Katzman from Wolfpack.

It's going to be a big show. Enjoy. Love you guys week with Mr. Theo Katzmann from Wolfpack. It's going to be a big show. Enjoy. Love you guys. Be safe. Bye. Arno, give me something good. You tuned in to the third season of Slick Talkings at Andy Fresco's World's Hitting Podcast,

produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel, Alan Cruz, Lawrence. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For more info on the show, please send to our Instagram at world7podcast. For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to anniefresco.com. And the new album, Keep On Keepin' On, it's out. I will keep repeating that. There is an online shit show on Thursdays.

And there are occasional dance parties. Enjoy the crazy while it lasts. Our special guests this week are Ari Findlings, Sean Eccles and Anna Bucker. Stay safe, don't play with knives or syringes and we will see you next week.