Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 93: Devon Allman & Duane Betts (The Allman Betts Band)

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

Andy's here to scatter some love flakes atop the fishbowl that is this quarantined life. Tune in for your weekly pump up and don't let the doomsdays get you down. On the Interview Hour we welcome Devon Allman and Duane Betts of The Allman Betts Band! Andy picks their brain about growing up with rockstar parents and how it's affected their unique artistry and output. Dolav feels passionate about something during halftime. Are you drinking enough water? This is EP 93. 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 Allman Betts Band www.allmanbettsband.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ahri Findling Dolav Cohen Andee Avila Shawn Eckels  Arno Bakker 

Andy, it's your agent. Listen, the promoter just sent over the rider for your Zoom show next week. I told you you got to send this shit to me first so I can review it, okay? This is ridiculous. What is this shit? Gift cards? Are you fucking serious? Why do you have Home Depot gift cards on your rider for a Zoom show?

Are you a fucking moron? They're not going to send you a hot tub to your house. Don't be a fucking idiot, okay? You have no money. Let me repeat. You have no money. We have no shows. You need to do these Zoom shows.

Take this shit seriously. This is the only income you have coming in right now. Don't be a fucking moron and piss off promoters because you want a goddamn remodel your fucking garage call me back stop fucking screening my calls well do yourself a favor don't go looking at the pictures on my phone Cause you might see something that you don't want to see at all I'm a good boy, I swear, but it's a dark world out there

So do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone I was with my last girl since 2010 Now here we are and I'm single again. Oh, and so much has changed. Sending pictures is the way people flirt these days. Do yourself a favor. Don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. You might want to see some pics from when I went and saw Springsteen.

But don't swipe left. Don't swipe right. Don't even touch the screen. Because I've been texting with this girl from France and apparently she don't ever wear no pants. So do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. Yeah, yeah, do yourself a favor,

don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. Because you're going to see something that you don't want to see at all. I'm a good boy, I swear. But it's a dark world out there. So do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. I got a friend in Wisconsin, she tells me that it's cold. Asked for some pictures of my stuff and I said, girl, I don't know.

Cause I took over 40 shots, all different angles. Not one of them looked hot So do yourself a favor Don't go looking at the pictures on my phone I found the number of a girl I hadn't talked to in a while So I texted her Me wearing nothing but a smile

She had traded phones with her mom And apparently her mom don't mind at all. So do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. Yeah, yeah. Do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. Cause you are going to see something that you don't want to see at all. Hell, I'm a good boy, I swear. There's a dark world out there. So do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. Yeah So do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. Yeah, do yourself a favor, don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. I tried to delete them.

But now there's just a new folder that says recently deleted. All the pics I don't want people to see are in one easy to find folder. Please tell me how to delete the stuff I've already deleted. Until then, do yourself a favor. Don't go looking at the pictures on my phone. All right. And we're back again. Another week that we're alive, that we're focused on the now and big fuck you to this covid19 that's what i'm talking about andy frasco's world saving podcast

i'm andy frasco how's everyone doing today how's our heads how are we focused on ourselves, our internal body, trying to stay healthy, trying to be focused on whatever we got to do to just stay in the present because it is survive and advance, people. It's fucking crazy, dude. We are still in this. This is like month five. When did we start? March 18th. And it is July. So we're four months, four months deep in this quarantine. Have you learned anything about yourself? Did you learn that language you said you were going to learn in March? Did you learn how to cook or did you learn a task or a hobby that you always wanted to learn? Me either. It's so funny how fucking life just flies so fast and you're like

you have all these big dreams and aspirations and you finally have some time off to work on them and we end up still just doing our same routine or our same stress bubble or same worry. So let's take a deep breath because we'll probably be in this thing

for another couple months. So they're closing down all the bars out in Denver now. There's a 10 p.m. curfew for all the alcoholics out there. You can't buy booze after 10. So shout out to Twisted Tea and Sam Adams for just pumping my refrigerator up with booze so I could keep rocking after 10 p.m. But it's been great out here in Denver. I have these ups and downs. I have these moments of

insecurity. I wake up one day and I'm like, fuck, I don't have any gigs. And I read all these papers and these news things saying, yeah, we might not have gigs until 2022. Don't expect shows until 2022, 2021. I'm like, oh, fuck. So when you go through these things, these crises or these doomsday feelings. What do you do? Sometimes I take a breath and write all the things I'm grateful for with Anders Osborne, or I just absorb it, figure out a way to just pivot in a way that makes you feel that you're doing something, that you're still on your path for your dreams. Because, you know, if we just had a straight road

that took us to our dreams, I feel like we wouldn't want it as bad. We want these turns and these, oh, fuck, I lost the road, but if I keep going, I'll find it type of moments. You know, it's like, how badly do you want your dreams? You know, they're not going to just give them to you. They're not going to just say, oh, times are tough, but here's your dream still.

They don't do any of that. And that's fine. And that's what makes you want your dreams more, I think. I always wanted to be a musician or an entertainer. And through these quarantines, you got to figure out ways to entertain. And me doing the shit show and just going out on a limb and trying to learn a fucking software I never learned or edit videos that I never really learned how to edit. It just makes you feel that you could do whatever you want if you want it bad enough. So if you want fucking to get back out of your houses,

wear your fucking masks. If you want to find out who you are or transition, not transition, but if you want to grow and build into someone you've always wanted to be, this is your time right now. Stop worrying about what other people think about you. Stop worrying about all the fucking doomsday shit on the news. I mean, if we keep on looking at all this stuff, we're just going to get scared and we're going to forget that we have dreams to follow and we have dreams to conquer. So fucking get up on there.

Do I have to play the Rocky music right now? Get out there. Fucking show this world what you got. Don't have a pity party. You know, this is live. 2020 is weird as fuck. I met a girl last week, and she's fucking awesome.

And she basically, you know, it's like, you know, she probably has a boyfriend or whatever, but, you know, don't give up on your dreams is what I'm saying. No, it's when you don't expect it, and when you know, don't give up on your dreams is what I'm saying. No, it's, uh, when you don't expect it and when you're not looking for happiness and it just, uh, it'll come to you. Don't look, don't force anything is what I'm trying to say. Get to work, survive in advance and let's fucking follow our dreams still, even through chaos,

can follow our dreams still, even through chaos, even through craziness. I mean, this will be the test of how badly you want your dreams. When everything's shit and you have this dream still, are you going to still go through that dream and fight through it? So when you do accomplish it, you'll appreciate it and you'll love it and you won't take it for granted. Let's not take life for granted, guys. Let's be the best people we can be. Let's fuck this shit up because no Rona is going to fix or no fucking quarantine is going to fix the hole you have in your heart if you just give up on shit. So fucking sew up that heart. Make sure you can have some water in it. Water that heart. Listen to your gut.

And fuck everyone else who doesn't think you should follow your dreams during chaos. Because that's bullshit. Do what you want. Do what makes you happy. Because at the end of the day, we start in this world alone and we end in this world alone. So those last thoughts before you kick or whatever, just be accepting and thankful that you gave it all you can. Even through 2020, the great quarantine. So let's fuck shit up.

You're going to kick ass this week. I know it. I feel it. You're going to fuck shit up. All right. There's my pump up speech for the day. We got the Almond Betts band on. Sorry, that's my chair. I was early in the morning. I had two cups of coffee. I'm fucking ready to go today. We have the Almond Betts band. I interviewed each of them at a time. Devin Allman, Greg's kid, Dwayne Betts, Dickie Betts' kid, joined a band together, building their own identity. Good guys.

You know, I got worried because, you know, like sometimes when you meet like kids of rock stars and shit, they could get a little pretentious and a little fucking like little... And these guys are actually really cool and really sweet. And I feel like I could be friends with these guys. Devin was great. Dwayne was great. Dwayne lives in like near my house in L.A. when I was living out there. Didn't even know they were kind of neighbors, which is cool.

And Devin's story is amazing. I mean, he didn't know his dad, Greg Allman, Allman Brothers, until he was 17, seeing this guy be a rock star and shit. I mean, that's got to fuck you up a little bit. But guys, we had a good episode. Both stories are fun and all that good stuff. But I'll leave you with this. Focus on yourself. Got to focus on yourself sometimes. We give too much to everyone

else. We don't leave enough for us. We start having suppression. We start having anxiety. We got to love ourselves more. Even through this quarantine where we're fucking losing our job, losing our dreams, everything. Survive in advance. Let's stay happy. This too shall pass. Fuck shit up together. All right, guys, enjoy Almond Betts Band, and I will catch you on the tail end.

Let's get this shit. All right, next up on the interview hour, we have David Almond and Dwayne Betts. Kids of Greg Allman and Dickie Betts. Allman brothers, they're doing their own thing. The kids are taking their... Actually, Chris, play some Allman Betts band. I can tell you now Actually, Chris, play some Almond Betts Band.

They got a new record coming out. It's fucking awesome. Good guys. You know, like I was saying in the opening. It's weird. Sometimes when your parents are rock stars, kids can be complete assholes. And they're just good people all around,

and I was really lucky to interview them and get to know them a little bit. And these guys are great, and I can't wait for you to hear this interview and go listen to that new record. And okay, let's do it. I'll see you on the tail end. Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! I'll see you're lost, you forget the call Just go down to the river, down to the river now

Sometimes you need to break away, oh yeah Just get on your own and break away, oh child child you'll come on and guide me far away I'll know it shouts upon the river and carries

you back home David motherfucking Allman what's up dog how you doing dude I you know I feel like we've Oh, the big revival show. Yeah, that was great, man. How much pressure is it to have 40 fucking people on stage? I would venture to say way more mind-numbing pressure for the sound man... I fucking bet, dude. ...than me.

I don't feel bad. All I got to do is do my thing. But logistically, um, you know, I think it's, uh, it's, it's, it's quite a choreographed dance to, to get this cat with this cat on that song because they'll play off each other well. And honestly, the set list for the Allman family revivals take about three weeks because i'm constantly shuffling them and then hitting those people and going are you cool with this and then and then man it's it's a lot you changing the set every time for those set songs well the the first year we did san francisco the second year we did San Francisco and somewhere else.

I don't know. This last December we did San Francisco, Denver, and New York City. So each year the set changes. But once we have a set group of guest stars, it was essentially the same show san francisco denver new york with the exception of you know if we had a you know maybe we had lily hyatt only in new york city so we did a little something different with her you know we changed things up how hard is it to have your own identity when the business of the business of music is such in the family line? That's a good question. You know, I don't know, man.

You know, I've always thought of it as if you make enough noise and you do your own work, you know, the one thing no one can take from you is your work ethic. You know, so if you just stay out there and you stay vital and you try and drop a record every year or two and you stay on the road like a road dog, I hope that at the end of my run, people will be like, shit, well, you know, I mean, he brought it too. And that's really, you know, that's how I, and I think it's also about just keeping your nose down and doing your job. If I sat down to write a tune, Andy, or if I started a tour and I thought about my dad, my uncle, my dad, my uncle, then that's not keeping an organic lifeline to what I do. Did you ever have a problem with that in the beginning years when you were a musician, in the younger life? You know, my 20s were a really kind of a rough decade.

I felt like I was, you know, feeling in the dark for like, Oh, if I do that, they're going to compare me to this. Or if I do that, I'm too far away from my family. Or if I do that, you know, and it was so cerebral and it was, it was, it was a constant mind fuck of like how am i gonna position myself to come out um i don't think i really felt comfortable till i hit about 28 i put my first band honey tribe together and said i'm gonna do what i do and if they compare they compare and if they don't they don't it i think it took me that long to shake off the overthinking I think it took me that long to shake off

you know you can't please everyone you know and it's even more apparent with press with social media one person will be like he sounds exactly like his dad and the next comment will be wow he sounds nothing like his dad and the next comment will be wow he sounds nothing like

his dad i know like fuck it like yeah so you hit a point of critical mass where everything cancels out and you just go forward and you hope for the best and you just try to to to do something i i think the core of the equation is you do something with soul that you mean. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I think soul is the most important thing for identity because it doesn't matter what kind of legacy that's brought before you. It's about who you are as a person and who you want to be and who you want to write about. What do you want to write about? That's the thing.

I think that's the thing that once people kind of get on board our train they go well oh you know they got a story to tell too and we certainly do we do so what's your story you know the story is that you know you you don't you know just because you you have ties to to to people that at very young ages came out and just you know knocked the rock and roll rock and roll world you know on its ass and and made these groundbreaking records and do all that just because of that doesn't mean that it it cancels you out you know i grew up uh with just my mom you know she uh at the time she could have taken my dad to the cleaners and been very comfortable, and she took nothing. Yeah. And I grew up with nothing.

And I'm so glad I did. I'm so glad that she moved me out of that sphere from my childhood. I'm glad I got to change my own oil in my car and fucking mow the lawn and like do normal shit that uh you know a lot of second generation rock star you know offspring don't really get that kind of lifestyle so i had a very hands-on uh very middle class lower lower middle class for for the good portion of of my my childhood um it really embedded in me a a work ethic and i'm i'm glad i have it yeah it's great i mean that's i feel that's the same with a lot of people who like basically have to earn their own living even

though they want to do maybe what their parents or their grandparents did but they want to build their own path in a sense and because of that have you had any angst like you growing up poor and seeing your dad just being a rock star did that ever give you any like anxiety about fuck this guy yeah it was it was fucked to be five years old and, you know, and ask, like, we're at the grocery store and I, like, asked my mom for, like, a comic book or whatever it was. You know, oh, we can't, you know, we don't have enough money. We have a tight budget here. You know, we got to get food for the week and look up and see my old man on the cover of a magazine with Cher. That's nuts, dude.

That was fucked. So you want to know my story? That's a big part of my story. At the end of the day, when I finally met my dad and we hung out, we were a lot alike in some weird ways.

The way we walk, shit like that, sense of humor. We came full circle in our relationship so there wasn't that angst or that you know anger um it i mean there's there's a there's a a tome of a book that could be based on um that first iteration of us like you know galvanizing a relationship which which took a while but you know i met him i didn't meet i had zero contact until 16. shut the fuck up wow so and you're writing music though still and you're rocking at 16 i had been playing guitar for three years garage bands punk bands yeah three chord punk bands in the

garage and man that was a bunch what were you listening to uh back then right around the time i started guitar i really had this kind of weird like i had some punk metal friends and and then i had some alternative friends and and you can relate this was back when alternative was really the alternative yeah so you know we were listening to the crow mags and the smiths but you know i was also you know listening to hendrix and and i discovered robert johnson through hendrix and bb king um so i i had i i know i had the weirdest uh cassette collection of all of my friends combined it was it was pretty eclectic from from my young age you know um but yeah i mean back then i mean i liked a lot of punk were you a rebel metal rebel yeah yeah i think so like like what like i had this thanks against my parents that was like i'm going you know i didn't really get into drugs until later in my life but like

did you ever like have any thank god i never did i never did drugs i was so scared of them like i smoked weed i don't consider that a drug but i never tried coke in my life i never tried heroin in my life um yeah never once i tripped and that was like i was kind of it's kind of like the fucking keys to the kingdom i i remember thinking i remember thinking then and and and granted i say this you know at 47 i haven't tripped since I was 21 or something. But I remember thinking then and still hold to this now that every human should have to trip one time. I think the world would be a better place because the facets of perspective are mind-blowing. What did you learn about yourself through that first trip?

Somehow, the connection to the universe to the earth to just the the core equation of you know we we are a what i believe a divine product of this universe and we're part of it and we matter and our actions matter and um but at the same time that that it doesn't, any of it matters. Right? Yeah, exactly. It's this really cool dichotomy of everything is vital and fucking nothing is vital. And I really mean that with the most sincere direction. Not just as a contradictory statement, but it really, you know, it's got a,

I remember it really having a nice pull to kind of make your perception of reality a little bit more elastic. So was your perception of reality kind of this like daydream at first? Like, were you always trying to get attention from whoever you needed to get attention from? Maybe, you know, and maybe there's just a bit of that kind of, you know, that social kind of brainwashing that, you know, how TV seems to be this, you know, kind of escape or whatever when it's really, you know, dictating a societal norm. You know, like how you, how you react to things. You know, I, I remember seeing like after the trip experience, I remember seeing people literally like almost verbatim, something from a TV show or something from a commercial. And I'm like, dude, you know, our, our, our modern world is so fucked. Oh my God. What about, did you have anger issues?

Any of that? like you had no demons did you ever go to therapy yeah i did therapy i did therapy because i i my so what i did how i rebelled in my 20s was i didn't do drugs i didn't drink i got married really young i had a kid so i i literally rebelled and said, you know what? Fuck you guys. I'm going to create an idyllic life. And unfortunately, I did that without enough exploring, working. You're dead in the water when you're comfortable, right? I was beyond comfortable. I mean, I was married at 27. We were making six figures, my wife and I at the time. I had a kid on the way, a brand new house, brand new cars, no credit card debt.

The American dream, quote unquote. I had the American dream at age 27. As a musician? No, that's the thing. Let's talk to me, bud. Talk to me. no that's the thing let's talk to me bud so that's that's where you go from the rebellion of i'm gonna create an idyllic life to feeling handcuffed by said life to finding the dirty 30s baby then there they come my 30s got rocky so that was a lot of drinking divorce you know a lot of um but you know the the one the one

glimmer of solace in there was that i i said i need to go do this and so i was a really late bloomer in the game um my first record come out when i was 33 and i hit the road hard i'll never forget because i had read an article where it said B.B. King in his early years did 300 shows a year. 300 shows a year means you have four to five days off a month. And I called my agent when my first record come out and I said, I want to do 300 shows a year.

And he laughed. And I'll never forget it because we got done with the call. I called him back like 10 minutes later and it was we already had to talk like 90 minutes and i go hey man he goes he goes what man we just we just did 90 minutes what's what's going on i go i said i wanted to play 300 shows a year and you laughed at me man and i just want i want to make sure you know that i was really i'm fucking serious, man. I need to catch up all these years. And he goes, no, I laughed because I knew you were serious.

And it's a fuck ton of work for me to do. And I'm going to do my best, okay? So how many shows did he end up giving you? I did 300. I did the BB King 300. Let's go! I did it for, I want to say, the first three to maybe even four years where I hit 300 or like damn close, like 295 or whatever.

But I went out there and I wasn't very good. And I thought, okay, well, I could woodshed 10 hours a day right now and try and get better. Or I could kind of like try to get better in front of my audience. And I'm telling you, Andy, that first year, out of those 300 shows, 150 were to 50 people or less. Yeah. I mean, I bet.

And the pressure of you starting young are you starting later in your life when because of this rebellious way of your former rebelling was not doing what everyone else wanted you to fucking do and that's kind of in its own sense it's punk rock it's punk rock as fuck even if it was just you doing another type of job. Like, fuck this. I'm not going to do it the way everyone tells me to do it. I mean, I've been doing 200. I had about 20 real jobs during my 20s. What was the worst one? I mean, dude, you wouldn't have believed what I did.

What was the worst one? Fucking furniture sales. Are you serious? What were you selling? Fucking sectionals. Reclin? What were you selling? Fucking sectionals, recliners. Oh my God. How many did you sell? Huh?

How many did you sell? Oh, who fucking knows? I worked at Guitar Center for two years. I was a manager at Guitar Center. I was an insurance salesman. Holy shit. I was licensed health health and life insurance in illinois and missouri were you religious no i'm i'm spiritual if anything i i gravitate towards it's buddhism because it's a way of thought it's not a you know it's not a

monotheistic religion with with handcuffs yeah fuck that and nothing against anyone that is but it it seems i don't know religion is like if you're in this box then i accept you and anything outside this box is not the way it is and that seems so obtuse to me like you know spirituality should be something that is all-encompassing to me. So, yeah, I think I was, I think I was 11 years old when mom knocked on the door for church and I said, yeah, no, I'm good. Yeah. And you know, kudos to her for going. Okay. Yeah. What about, um, so curious,

like what was that transition in your thirties that made you want to play music? Was it an epiphany? Did you like meet up with your dad or tell me about that just just you know for the record all through my 20s i played three to four times a week okay so you're playing yeah and i almost i was almost with my first band the dark horses based in st louis almost signed in 96 to electro records a millimeter away they had one band they could sign before the quarter was up, and they signed them instead of us. It was Third Eye Blind. Oh!

Oh! Do you regret? Does that still give you some... It's part of the story, man. That's fucking amazing. So, I want to know that first year of touring were people

expecting you to be your dad oh man god let me think back it was 2006 the album was called torch it came out on live wire records a subsidiary of uh of warner's uh got picked up in europe it was my first time in europe um i don't think people were expecting my dad i think that they were curious and i think half of them left like yeah no thanks and half of them were like this is cool and different and you know not what i expected um well i mean we came out of the gate hitting pretty hard um you know great players great friends great record do good record did pretty good i mean for an indie record yeah you gotta you know remember but i i think it's i think between america and europe we did 50k units oh fucking for first record yeah it was it

was it was like that's tight so what made you feel what what what was the process like learning your craft on the road basically well interesting interesting fact a lot of people probably don't know especially people that have kind of come on on board in the last five years or so. 33 years old, first record came out. Also marked when I started lead guitar. I was never a lead guitar player. I was a rhythm player. It was just a vehicle to write songs with. And I had a guitar player in Honey Tribe start that tour,

and he bowed out. And at that point, I played lead on one song it was a really slow r&b style ballad and i felt comfortable enough doing something slow um and when he left i said well i can either replace him or i can try this shit out and we happen to have a couple week break on the tour easy franklin franklin look at you just a family man this is this is my pug he'll make an appearance here in a second um but i had a couple weeks off and i just said fuck it no i'm gonna i'm gonna literally play 10 hours a day for the next two weeks i'm gonna go on this tour without a lead guitar player yeah and i'm gonna give myself fuck yeah oh yeah more nervous you know kind of i don't know why mental thing more nervous being

compared to duane yeah than being compared to greg holy but you know what i mean because because at the time my dad was alive and vital and out there and doing things. Dwayne had passed and was this passed away legend. So yeah, I was frightened and I felt kind of under a microscope any time I passed the seventh fret. It was like, I'm under the fucking microscope. But I said, I'm going to give myself six months and, and if I can pull it off, great. And if I can't, I will rehire a lead guitar player. And that was it.

And I think three months into that trial, um, I had a night where everything worked and, you know, no, I'm not a Joe Bonamassa or this or that, like, you know, but it worked. Three months into that, six months, I had a night. Can't remember where we were or anything, but I knew that I could do it. And it's a learning process ever since. I mean, you know, now I'm in a band with two killer world-class guitar players. And I get to play lead throughout the night too. And we each have our own flavor, our own sauce to put into the recipe, as it were.

And I'm glad that I took the chance. Yeah, it's like diving in. Especially, you didn't do it earlier in your career. You did it when it was right diving in especially like you didn't do it earlier in your career you did it when it was right and now that you know i don't how old are you i'm 47 it's 47 so you've been really hitting hard for 14 years now it's yeah you feel like this new record is is you guys i don't know how old uh duane is but um duane's four years, I think he's 42, 42. So coming together and making this record was whose idea was this? Um,

making this record, making the band, making the band and doing you guys at two in 2020. Well, I mean, it was, it was something that we've always talked about, you know,

and not all the time, but every year or two, we'd be like, man, we should try and write a song or, you know, and not all the time, but every year or two, we'd be like, man, we should try and write a song or, you know, it wasn't, man, we ought to try and do this whole band, blah, blah, blah. It was, it was, man, we ought to, you know, maybe try and work together. And the talking really accelerated about, about five or six years ago, but he was in the band Dawes. And I was in a band called Royal Southern

Brotherhood. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And I was, I was tied into record label rough records. Yeah. So I was tied into a three album deal with them. Dwayne didn't really know his future with Dawes.

So it was kind of always back burner. Hey, when we get around to it, um, after my father passed away, I took a year off from touring and, you know, when we get around to it. After my father passed away, I took a year off from touring and, you know, just to deal with matters, personal and business and everything

and kind of get my bearings. And I decided when I came back out, I really wanted to beef up the band, beef up the mission statement, you know, go deeper down the rabbit hole. And I thought, what better way to kind of do that than to have Dwayne come out and open the shows? Because Dwayne had finished with Dawes,

and I knew that he wanted to front and become a singer now. Which it was just really, Andy, at the end of the day it was perfect timing in that life though when you don't force anything and you just let things come when they're supposed to come because you were probably mourning when your pops passed right like how how much did that affect you did it affect you a lot i heard you didn't you didn't you couldn't even perform. I couldn't, man. Well, you know, I lost my mama on November 30, you know, 2016. And, you know, five months later, I lost dad. Jesus fucking Christ, dad. And so to be like, you know, an orphan at 44, when you think, you hope that your parents are going to live until you're 60 or so, you know, was like a really big, like, whoa.

So I took two months off when my mom passed, and I dove back into touring, and then my dad passed. And I said, I called my agent the day after he passed i said cancel the rest of the year just the rest of this year it was like seven months of touring and it was it was heavy yeah i said just cancel it all and just kind of live my life and stuff and it just so happened that that that rest of that year was my son's senior year in high school and i was like you know he might end up in college in japan this might be it yeah so i was really grateful for the timing of that too i got to hang out with him every day and anyway do you feel like because

of your relationship with your dad growing up that you wanted to have a different relationship with your son? My son was born in 2000, and in 99 is when I started Honey Tribe, and we were starting to tour, starting to talk to record labels, and when my son was born, I put the kibosh on all of it. Holy shit. Damn, family motherfucking man, Devin. From 27 to 32, from the time he was born to the time he was five i didn't i didn't want to miss i didn't want to miss it i was like you know what you know

birth to five is where you make the biggest impact on your child period and then they start off kindergarten first grade all that i said i will go back on tour when he goes to kindergarten and it's exactly literally within a week of what i did um and unbelievably the band honey tribe that i had together in 99 and a little bit of 2000 when i called them all on the phone in 2005 yeah and said i'm gonna go do this again and i'm gonna do it as honey tribe again and i'd like to offer you the position back if you every one of them said yes we're rocking let's go get in the van five years later i fucking love it dude and uh but yeah man i uh i absolutely i knew the feeling of longing for my father that I didn't

meet till I was 16. And I was like, my son will never, we are breaking the chain, you know? And, uh, you know, it's funny when I started touring hard, you know, I wasn't around much and we just had to, we had to fit everything into those four or five days off like we go to six flags and ride roller coasters this day and we're gonna go have a picnic by the river this day and literally by the hour we had all this shit so we could just really bond you know and i'll never forget i think he was eight and i tucked him in and i'm i'm walking down the stairs and i hear hey dad and i'm like yeah and he goes you're the best dad in the world. Oh, fuck.

That's amazing. I was like. Did you cry? Like. Did you cry? We were riding to school. I definitely teared up. We were riding to school the next morning.

And I said, hey, you remember what you said to me last night? And he goes, yeah, yeah. You're the best dad in the world. I said, well, you know why that's you know you know why that's so important to me it's like well because you love me and i go well yeah that's that's a given i said because i want you to be the best dad in the world when you're a dad let's fucking go dude that gives me fucking chills dude you know what i mean yeah i go that's what i want because i don't want anyone to have to go through what I went through.

My dad's dad, Greg Allman's father was murdered when he was two. He never had a dad. So we broke the chain, man. That a boy. That a fucking boy, dude. There we go. That's what I'm talking about. Breaking the chain.

Your own legacy. Break the chain, baby. All right. I got one last question i know you got to get out here um do you regret anything regret yeah yeah it's such a you know like in the buddhist realm you only grow by fucking up and hurting those two things yeah do you have to fuck up and you have to hurt for growth right yeah so i mean i really i mean yeah i mean there's some things i'd rewrite but like at the end of the day i grew from them

did you ever really get to know your dad though yeah yeah all right yeah good we did we did later in life you know through my 20s and 30s and and 40s we we got tight man he's a he's a great guy we you know we butted heads a lot too i bet because i i wouldn't i you know i wouldn't put up with any bullshit i just wouldn't and he ultimately he respected me for it but like yeah i wouldn't because he he knows that's him too i mean he came from you came from his dick my guy i mean of course it's gonna fucking have some resemblance of it but yeah man well that's great though i mean i'm glad you don't regret anything because life is too short to think about how if he could have been a better dad in the beginning or you knew him i think

how if he could have been a better dad in the beginning or you knew him better i think yeah i mean i think i think anyone with with half a heart half a spirit half a soul the only thing that you should ever regret is if the times that you hurt people you know i mean there's times where we've all hurt people it's like oh i wish i fucking didn't do that you know but yeah hopefully you learn and you don't hurt the next person. Well, you did, man. You broke the chain. Okay, one last question. So when he said you're the best dad in the world and you end up going on the road full time, did you feel guilty?

Oh, yeah. You know, you're like, you've built this bond. Now I'm like, peace. I'm out for fucking five years, you know, or what? Like I said, when I had the four to five days off, we had plans hourly. Wow. And we would talk on the phone about what the next plans would be. And when he was really little, five, six, seven, we had a calendar and he knew what dad's back here. Like we,

I kept it hands on and I called almost every day and uh you know he never we we didn't lose an ounce of that bond so why were you getting into booze and shit then what's that so why were you getting into booze and shit and in your 30s i don't i don't know man i think uh you know a lot so one thing was my mom's dad was really my dad growing up so without you know laying on the couch and you're my shrink it's i i lost my grandfather who was like my father and my best friend that i grew up with in corpus christi texas in the same week and i didn't know how to deal with it i did that was my first losses i found my grandfather's body too like it was and and it was just like you know what makes this go away yeah suppress suppress suppress and i did yeah um and i still

drink you know and i'll still get you know pretty pretty lit up with my friends and stuff but it's not to make things go away and it's not every day yeah you know i'll work my balls off for like a month without even thinking of a beer and then we'll go up to the tavern up here and we'll go ballistic and have fun well that's living too you know you gotta we forget that we have to work to live and not live to work sometimes and if you have to have a fucking beer have a fucking beer devon almond so it's like cleaning the apartment for a month for the people that you know are coming over for three hours. It's like you could be married, but you could still watch

porn. You got to clean the pipes. That's an entirely other interview. Thanks for being on the show, Dev. I can't wait to hear Dwayne. Thank you. Congratulations on everything. I'm rooting for you, bud. Let's get a hang in whenever.

I'd love that. Let's have beers. Let's have many beers. I'm going to stalk you. I'm going to send you some nice things. And thanks for being on the show. And I'll talk to you soon, buddy. Sounds good.

Thanks, Andy, for having me. Have a good one, bud. Later. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hello everybody. Welcome to Sports with Dolav. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's Sports with Dolav. This week we're going to be talking Some NBA Bubble

We back baby Tech Nights said it right Bounce that bubble baby Play that shit for me Chris The bubble has not burst That's right Frasco I fucking told you That's right

NBA is back this week Fuck yeah All the players are testing negative. Fuck yeah. Let's fucking go. Fuck yeah. We got 300-some players all fucking negative, all playing golf and fishing, shotgun and beers.

Miles Leonard kicking everyone's ass at that. You got guys like Dwight Howard on the Lakers not wearing a mask, getting in trouble already. Pulls back to his old fucking stupid ways. Lakers ain't shit. LeBron ain't shit. Actually, LeBron's looking pretty good. Caruso ain't shit. Caruso's all right.

But fuck that. The Utah Jazz. We might not have Boban. We're going to still fucking win it all. NBA bubble champ. Utah Jazz. It's sports with Dola Fuck you, Frasco

What's up, Dwayne? How we doing? Hey, man. How are you doing? Good to see you, Andy. Good to see you. So, I want to talk about this. So, how long have you been in LA for? Well, I've lived here on and off since I was like early teens, like 12, i think i moved out here with my mom you know i grew up in florida i was born and raised in florida yeah um and then i moved out here and then i kind of i've always kind of been back and forth i've always lived

either in like the los angeles area uh or or sarasota florida which is where i was born so what what are the difference between Sarasota, Florida and Los Angeles, California? Well, they're both warm. They both have beaches. They both have palm trees. So those are the similarities. They're nice, warm places to be in the winter.

But yeah, I mean, there's a lot of differences, obviously. Just, you know florida is a unique place you know as far as the diversity there's people i mean it there's extremes in florida you know you have a it's a very diverse place and uh not that los angeles is a very diverse place too but it's just the culture is a little different you know florida is kind of southern but it's kind of not Southern. Let's talk about your life in Florida. How were you feeling as a kid growing up with like,

I want to talk about legacy and like how to build your own identity through an air of fucking music. Yeah. I mean, you know, the easy answer is to say that, Oh, that doesn't bother me.

And you know, you have to look past that and you have to just kind of accept and all that's true. But, um, just speaking for myself, I mean, it can be,

uh, I would be lying if I said it wasn't difficult at times. I think now I'm in a place where I'm pretty secure. Yeah. Um, with it. Uh, but you know,

earlier in my life, I think it was, it was kind of a thing where there was times maybe where i was a little wasn't really sure of what i was doing in my career i'd been in bands and then i kind of those bands broke up or whatever and i was kind of uh wasn't sure of what my next move was and And, uh, I think when you're in situations like that, it might be a little easier to kind of get hung up on, on, uh,

how am I going to live up to anything? And then, you know, once you're doing, if you're in a good place and you're doing stuff, you don't, you don't have to live up to anything. You just have to do you,

you know? Yeah. So how important is identity to you? Like, uh, like how long did it, cause I knew I was insecure growing up, and I didn't even have a fucking family member

in the same business. I mean, I mean... Well, no, I mean, when I was growing up, I wasn't. Because you guys didn't... You didn't know really your pops until later in life, or what? No, that was Devin. Devin. So you knew your dad.

Yeah, I mean, my dad was around and, you know, coming to my Little League games. And I didn't look at it as any different than, you know, I knew my dad was obviously a musician and he was a hell of a guitar player. But I didn't look at it like, you know, you're just hanging out with your family and your family's on the road. You know what I'm saying? Did you travel?

I mean, I didn't really. Huh? Did you travel? Yeah, actually. So so it's interesting. I was actually homeschooled from like 13 on through high school. I was homeschooled. So it was kind of like, you know, I moved out out west. I moved to Malibu with my mom and I went to seventh grade out here. And then my dad wanted me to just got used to living out west and made new friends and stuff.

But then he threw in that that they were going to get a tutor from me and that I would be traveling on tour the whole time because I love touring. He knew how much I love touring. But up until then, it's been like a summer thing, like a summer vacation. Um, so when he, when they, uh, you know, gave me that information, that added information, I was like so stoked to, to go back to Florida and, and kind of be on tour a lot, you know? Um, so that's just kind of, that's my story. I mean, that's what happened. So you're asking me about it. So that's what it was. Yeah, it's great. I mean, is it hard to commit to things because you're always living day by day on the road? You mean when I was a teenager? Just in life. Like, is it hard? Because you've been in like 10 bands.

It was awesome. I loved it. I will say the one thing that was pretty noticeable and that I had to catch up on after I was done with high school, more when I was 19, was the social aspects with my peers my own age. Yeah. that I kind of lacked, you know, that kind of daily, you know, going to school and being around your friends. I mean, I had friends, but a lot of them, like I was friends with Chris Samardich and Peter Rabinowitz, the guys that do the Brotherhood of Light, the light show. I mean, those were like my dudes on the road. You know, we'd go to movies and, you know, and they're great guys, but they're quite

a bit older than me. Yeah. I yeah that would be tough it was a really fun time and you know but you don't look at it like you just look at it like you're you're you're out you know it's the family yeah it's kind of yeah like i'm close with lucas too lucas nelson and it was kind of the same vibe with that and stuff and I'm just trying to wrap my head around basically when you're going back and forth, how hard is it to keep friends like your age? You must have been

pretty lonely. You know what? I had two really... I had friends that I didn't see on a weekly basis but that were... I'd already made made good friends so i'm still friends with you know what i mean i from my childhood that i'm friends now that i may have not seen much during those that four or five years yeah but then i you know i we uh touched base with

him again after that but during that time when i was in florida i had two really close friends that kind of when i was learning how to play guitar because i started out as a drummer i mean i get asked this a lot and they say well did you play guitar and i'm like no i didn't want to play guitar i wanted to play drums um because guitar was too hard it seemed too hard at the time but when i was about 12 13 when i moved or 13 14 say, when I moved back, I had two friends that, Clint Hall and Casey O'Donnell would come over to the house every weekend, and we'd jam, and I was the drummer, and then we'd take breaks, and then I started picking up the guitar and noticing that things were coming a little easier to me and then that's when i kind of switched over to guitar it was around you know 14 13 14 around

there but i had those two friends that would come over like when i was home all the time and and casey even came out on the road with me uh you know and uh like he came to wood stop 94 like the second wood stop like he was there like hanging out with santana on the side of the stage and he was i mean it was just the most surreal experience for all of us but for him because he's just this kid from you know from the neighborhood and and all of a sudden he's like hanging out with Santana. But Carlos. So yeah. That's legendary. So when you,

when we, so tell me about your life in Malibu and stuff. Cause I heard you were. So Malibu. Yeah. So I moved here when I was 12 and this is kind of a real special place to me. And I also live in Jackson, Wyoming now.

I recently got married. I met my wife there. And I'd never been there until, uh, i guess two and a half three years ago was the first time i went there with a friend of mine and i met my wife in the grocery store actually there because my friend was hitting on her but anyway so i kind of go back and i share a residence between there and here um and uh but malibu is is just a really kind of spiritual place i mean obviously people think of it that don't know about it you know the movie stars and obviously it's really expensive to live here and there's a lot of money but really real malibu is like

you know not all of that yeah you know it's like surfing under the full moon on mushrooms and and hiking and the chumash indian burial grounds and there's like a there's a it's like a vortex there's a certain energy here that that makes it really special and that's why i think people live here you know want to want to live here because it does have this kind of this energy. But, um, but yeah, I mean, I was in bands here, uh,

from about 19 to 25. I was, you know, we were running amok and we were all having fun and being young and, and, you know, I had a lot of fun during those years. uh,

and yeah, I mean, it's, it'll always be a special place to me. I went to El Camino. Oh, okay. I grew up in West Hills. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Well, my mom lives in Woodland Hills, right? Yeah, perfect. Right near, like right on the other side of, like Calabasas, right near Sagebrush. Yeah, I mean, I grew up right there off ventura and valley circle so it was like wondering like you know it's like i've i dreamed about being a musician since i was a young kid too and like la it's a hard scene unless you want to chase the rabbit's

tail to get famous or catch a major deal right so, I mean, yeah, we ran into a lot of that. I mean, we were kind of, that's what made those years, those I was in a band called Backbone that was kind of a classic rock. I mean, it was a good band. That was like, that was one of my first, like, serious bands.

And Alice Orbison, Devin and I's good friend, Alice Orbison played drums in that band, Roy's son. And he's one of our best friends. And, you know, our singer passed away in a car accident. And that's what ended that band. Oh, fuck. How many years in?

What is that? How many years in? Fuck, how many years in? What is that? How many years in? Well, that band, I think we started that version. That band started in, I want to say, 97 or 98. They had played under that name before I entered it,

and then it broke up. But for all intents and purposes, let's say it started in 97. 2001 was when the accident occurred. So what happened? How were you feeling? Was that one of your close friends? Well, actually, you know, actually his name was Chris Williams, and he was like a big brother to me.

But the song Autumn Breeze off of our first record is the song that he wrote and he sang in that band that we played together in. But no, it was a tragic accident. It was kind of a mystery, really. And if you want me to go into it, I'll be sure. Well, he was, you know, I mean, he had his issues. We all kind of were having issues with, you know. Addictions? Overexerting ourselves with substances at the time

and um you know i was in florida actually i was down in florida with my girlfriend at the time we were out fishing with my dad we were tarpon fishing or something and we got back and i heard a message um from a friend of mine i could tell it wasn't good but anyway what had happened was he was kind of hanging out the band wasn't playing that week because i was out of town and orby was doing something he was on a on a run you know he was i think they were up and he was with somebody up and up in austin art or something getting getting something, you know, up to no good. And they got pulled over at the bottom of Latigo Canyon, which Latigo Canyon is a very windy canyon that is in Malibu

that's, you know, past the 76 station, if anybody knows where that is. But anyway, he got pulled over, and then there was a struggle between the passenger and the cop. It was a motorcycle cop. Chris didn't want to get in trouble. He had a record, and he was staying up that canyon. So he jumped in the car and started driving up that canyon, and he drove off. He missed a turn and drove off.

So, yeah, and there's all kinds of theories. I think somebody came out afterwards and said that and was kind of bearing the weight of it. But they came out in a, well, it's supposed to be anonymous. But they basically came out and said, look've been saying i've been holding this i was blocking the road he avoided me he there was no he didn't like in other words what they were saying or what i heard that they said from a pair of reliable sources is that he didn't like he wasn't looking over his shoulder back and missed the turn he actually tried to veer out of the way of somebody that was like trying to stop him yeah yeah anyway it's a it's a it's a really mysterious thing but i mean chris was chris was amazing he

was one of the most amazing people that i've ever you know had the the pleasure of knowing in this life and um and yeah i mean i've been thinking about them a lot lately. How do you, did you mourn? It's kind of coincidental that you asked me to go into that. Yeah, I mean, it's, I mean, you know, sometimes people take death differently, you know, and how you react. Some people don't mourn until they're 40 years old, you know? And like, was it hard for you to like,

even understand death back then? Well, I mean... Did you have any other big deaths? You understand that they're gone out of the physical realm. Yeah. Their spirit will always be with you. But as far as the emotional pain of it, I think I was kind of numbing out a lot at that point

and for years after that. Were you going through addiction? Not because of that. I mean, that certainly just piled on to any other reasons I was doing it, but, but I was doing it like before that too. but,

but yeah, I mean, you know, I don't want to be a bummer about it, but Chris was just amazing. And, and, you know,

his music, that band backbone 69, you know, his music, that band Backbone, uh, 69, you know, the records on Spotify, it's kind of a cult classic. It's a, you know, like kind of badass old school Malibu legend, kind of legendary tale kind of thing. It's, it's pretty cool. It's badass. I mean, man, you've always been musical your whole life, huh? I mean, that's all I've ever really, not all I've ever done. But yeah, it's been my interest. I was a drummer.

And I've never had any desire to, oh, maybe I'll be this when I grow up. Other than I wanted to be a drummer. And then I just started playing guitar I mean it's kind of like I had the freedom to kind of just let it happen it wasn't like you know you better start thinking about what you want to do when you grow up it wasn't like that you've always wanted it kind of had the luxury I mean I'll admit it you know I mean I kind of had the luxury of just having the space to work on my craft, you know? And anybody, I mean, you know. Yeah.

You spend hours just listening to records and, you know, going to the record store and trying to find, digging the new stuff to listen to. Yeah. You know, it's all about the discovery yeah i agree like you've had how many bands have you had now when um well i've i've played in in uh i don't know i mean probably eight or ten bands maybe six or eight bands i mean they weren't some of them weren't my bands i was kind of like with dawes i was i was in that band touring wise i was never it wasn't my band i mean they they're friends of mine they came to me and said hey we want to add a for our for our touring band we want to add another guitar player we think he'd be great for for

what we're doing right now. They'd just done a record that was recorded mostly live and with Dave Rawlings producing. And they thought I would be a good fit for that material. Were they popping yet?

Huh? Were they popping yet or was it like in the beginning stages? Yeah, they had already kind of become like gotten their critical you know I mean they're kind of like a critically like Americana critics kind of love them I mean they're a great

band but no it was their third or fourth record so what happened with that why'd that end um I think they just got pissed at me third or fourth record. So what happened with that? Why'd that end? Um, I think they just got pissed at me. No,

no, no. I think they just didn't like me and I didn't like them either. No, no, it was just, it was just time to, to,

uh, that touring cycle had ended and the next record was totally different. Yeah. And it was just, they just wanted to change it up. I mean, they made it i mean i just looked at it like hey man you guys are dawes and i'm just sitting in with you on a

nightly basis you know i mean that's what it was so i didn't expect to sit in with them forever you know i mean i wanted to kind of do other stuff too but but uh yeah they did another record great record but completely different, you know? And maybe I wasn't the guy for that record. Totally. But as far as being in the touring band for that record. But I would love to sit in with them again. And, you know, they're still friends of mine and everything.

Yeah, does it bum you out to think of as a side guy and not being part of the band? In that situation? Oh, while I was in another band? It doesn't... That's a good question because the answer is no, not at all. And then the answer is also kind of yes because you don't really want to be like that's not ultimately what you want to do forever you know

but i mean if it's just a if it's for a tour and that's i mean you don't have to make it's almost better not to have like three choices you know what i mean yeah yeah too many options hey i guess i could sit around and go play at like harvell's and santa monica which is great you know whatever you know what i mean or i could go on tour around the world. So yeah, it makes it easier. But ultimately, to keep on doing that. I've been in situations where you're like, well, this is cool for now. But I think ultimately, for me to really be where I want to be, I got to do something else. I think that's the quick answer on that. So where did you want to be? Did I want to be. I got to do something else. I think that's the quick answer on that.

So where did you want to be? Did you want to lead a band? Was that the idea? You wanted to be the front dude? Well, I mean, I think, yeah. I mean, you want to have your ideas and lead a band. I mean, you know, I put my band together, and I went in and did some recording and,

uh, put out a record, uh, like 2018, like my first solo. Cause I never sang really. The first thing I'd ever done was on, on anything was that.

And, uh, so it was a cool, scary was that moment doing it live for the first tour? Uh, well doing it live. I mean, I, it's uh it's still a learning

process i mean it's it's still scary for me sometimes well you have stage fright sometimes it's great i mean sometimes i i just i'm like really loving it and i'm like i love i really enjoy it but there's stuff in this there's times when it's like, you get in your head, you're like, does this sound good? Or am I missing it? You know, it's a learning process. You just get better at it. But it's definitely a newer thing than playing guitar to me. I want to go back to your addictions, if you don't mind.

Oh, yeah. You know, like, What were you suppressing? Why were you getting... Was it just for fun or was it socially? Were you doing it socially or were you suppressing feelings? Both, I would say. What were you suppressing? I don't think it has to be one or the other. I mean, I guess you're totally right. I think you get into it and you're, wow, this is fun and it feels good. And then,

and then you, you can, you know, I think that there's stuff that, that you don't want to feel that, that it comes in handy

to, to, I don't know, it just becomes a, a lifestyle and it's insidious and it's, it's just, uh, I think, um, one of my favorite quotes is from, uh, I think Keith Richards said, uh, it's, it's a really easy club to join and a really hard club to, to get out of,

you know? And that's kind of the thing with it. No, I mean, we were having a great time and, and, you know, and then you,

you, you have some experience. You're like, wow, this is bad news, you know? But then you kind of get up and dust yourself off and get, you know,

get back in the game, you know, you're like, well, you know, I got this, I'm going to, you know, um, and it just, you know, it goes and goes and goes until, you know,

until he stopped this. Did you ever go to rehab? Um, yeah, I did a rehab. I mean, I went to rehab when I was young. I went to, I did some sober livings and stuff. I mean, that's ultimately what got me through it. I mean, well, I think I made up my mind. That's what really got me through it. But taking the advice of others and just trying to get out of,

just trying to understand that what's going on in your head is just, you just have to acknowledge that it's a lie. You know what I mean? Like you just can't listen to your own thinking. You have to put yourself outside and give the power to something greater than yourself. You know, whatever that is, it could be like the ocean or the stars or Jesus or Buddha or whatever.

So, um, yeah, you have to find a higher source and i mean i'm like far from enlightened or any of that but i i i'm smart enough to understand that much you know yeah yeah i agree or do you feel like it's hard. Do you feel like you're a prisoner of your own mind a lot? Um, I'm working on it, but, uh, in a way, I mean,

yeah, you know, I mean, I think everybody, I think everybody's susceptible to that. I don't think that, that, I mean, it's definitely not,

it's not, uh, I mean, sometimes I'm just thinking sometimes i i like my mind will just be thinking about positive stuff yeah like oh i'm so excited i'll be on a hike and i'm like and i'm just my mind's going like this and then i'm like well wait this is all good and i'm feeling great right now my endorphins are going and i just like freeze and i can see the ocean and my chemicals are like my my natural chemicals are popping and man that's great and i'll be like wait i've been thinking in circles about this stuff for like five minutes but maybe i should like try to just not think yeah and be present but uh but no i mean i think i think addiction

is that i mean a lot of it's in the I mean, a lot of it's in the head. I mean, a lot of it's physical too, but it's just about once you get through the physical withdrawal of certain substances that I don't think we have to mention, there is that aspect of it, but there's also the you know the the mental part is is so difficult when you're trying to get out of your of of a of a hole and you and you realize how easy it is to feel great in a split second and and it'll you know and you just got to look past that and just keep going, keep drudging it, keep, keep, keep walking up the mountain. And then you get there and you can kind of, I mean, on my worst day, I mean,

it's, uh, it's not, I don't have to worry about, uh, about that, you know? Yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, I'm going to clap to that. Let's go. Let's go, my boy. Let's get it, dog. How hard is it to stay present? it depends how present you you're talking about. I mean, if you're talking about like meditation present where you're like just centered on, you know, one singularity of the universe, I mean,

that's really difficult. Yeah. But as far as like, just kind of, you know, taking it as it comes and kind of, you know, not looking ahead and worrying about,

I mean, what happens is I think for me personally, I'll start doing that and then I'll have to like real, real it in and be like, okay, well that's what's going to cause the anxiety. And it's all going to be good stuff, you know,

you know, or it can be stuff like, you know, the fear of like losing your parents or, you know, I mean, that's just the thought, you know,

we lost, uh, Charlie Daniels passed away and we had done a show with him and, and he was so strong and full of life, you know, and then all of a sudden he's just gone, you know? And, uh, I mean, he was, he was up there, you know, it wasn't that he didn't have a great life or that, but, but it reminded it reminded me of how quick that can happen. But yeah, no, I mean, I'm pretty much living. You know what I'm doing? I'm pretty much waiting for this pandemic to end so we can get back to life. I know.

That's the thing. It's like we distract ourselves from real life when we live on the road sometimes. And then when we can't distract ourselves, all those things that we used to suppress maybe come back up for a little bit. And how we deal with it is how we're going to stay present, right? Honestly, I'm really enjoying, like, I have, I, my wife had to go back up to Dastan to deal with some business. So I've had this week just like alone, like no, nobody, like no dog, no. And I miss them. But I am like, it's the first time I've been alone and, and a long time and just had nothing to do except maybe do this or go on a hike. Oh, what time am I going to do my hike? I mean, I'm hungry. I feel really grateful.

I feel really grateful. I've been jumping in the ocean pretty much on a daily basis. Great. Yeah, I mean, I know it's a rough time for a lot of folks out there, and I don't at all need to, you know, make light of that. But, I mean, we'll get through it,

and we just got to be safe and be intelligent about it. You know, and it's also, you know, like going back to distracting, it doesn't, I mean, it could be a relationship, it could be touring, it could be songwriting, or it could be living in the future, looking forward to that big hike that's coming, not now, but soon. We forget about ourselves sometimes. Do you ever forget about yourself? Well, I think I can be pretty self-centered.

Probably not. I mean, I think that's my nature. I mean, if you, I mean, we're talking about it, we're talking first come out, like there's something the rhythm of being on the road. Sure. Like you don't have the luxury of like you don't have the space and you don't have your your, you know, a bathroom to yourself with the bathtub and like marble countertops or whatever, you know what I mean? Not that I have that anyway, but, um, the point I'm making is you're,

it's not, it's not luxury, right? Like living on tour bus on the road, you have to, is the venue open? How many showers are there? But the rhythm of that and the joy that that brings the fulfillment of that daily ritual, you get in that rhythm.

And then there's actually, ironically, like something like that's grounding about the rhythm of it. Yeah. You know, rather than then you come home and you're like, what the hell? You know, you're like, I don't know what to do. But now we've been off the road for so long that i'm i'm totally now you're getting used to this shit oh yeah now i'm good but if you just come off for a week and then you know you have to go back or you know you don't really have time to really get grounded and then you're back you know so it's kind of you know, so it's kind of, you know. How important is being grounded to you?

Well, it's very important. I think the things that ground you are, like, family, and, I mean, with me, it's just my, like, I need to go out and breathe some fresh air and get my heart rate up and, you know, just walk up a and, you know, just walk up a mountain, you know, or get out and get some sunlight. You know, all that stuff is really important.

I do. I mean, when businesses are open, I mean, I go to yoga. I like doing yoga a lot. You know, all that stuff grounds me. Fishing. I like fishing. I like, you know, there's stuff that me. Fishing. I like fishing. I like, you know, there's stuff that I haven't done, like hobbies that I like would like to get back into that I was into in my earlier, like in my teens, I played golf quite a bit and I could see myself getting back in the golf at some point.

Yeah. Well, that's on the road. That's great. I mean, you know. That's great. I mean, you know, like I was saying, we're creatures of habit. So when we have a routine, it doesn't matter how shitty the routine is. As long as we have a routine,

I feel like we could, you know, we could start living a little more happier. It's like that week. Because I can't chill. Like when they say, oh, we have a week off. It takes me four days to fucking understand that I have a week off. And then all of a sudden, then I'm back. Yeah, you don't really have a week off it takes me four days to fucking understand that i have a week off and then all of a sudden yeah you don't really have a week off because it's like it's like the

anticipation of going back starts and you know i mean yeah wow it's just that sounds that sounds so like uh foreign like I have a week off. I remember those days when I was like, wow, we have a week off. I know. And now it's like a week off. I had like four months off. Well, I'm glad you're finding space. I know you have to do some shit.

So I'll leave you with this. What do you want to be remembered by, Dwayne? I don't know. I don't think of what I want to be remembered by. But if I was to be remembered, my thing that I kind of, you know, I have a lot of, I think people just kind of need to embrace the idea that we're all different. We, we might have different views or whatever.

I was texting this to a friend of mine, you know, and, and, and basically, you know, if we can kind of break down the barriers of fear and, you know,

and, and just, and give love and compassion to people, you know, I think that, you know, as long as people have compassion and love and respect for all people in their heart, that's all I care about.

You know, I don't care who they, what their political views are, you know, but if they respect all people as equal and they have love in their heart and compassion for people, then I'm good with them. You know? Yeah. That's beautiful, man.

Well, I appreciate you. I really, I mean, it's true though. I mean, like, it's like taking the ego out. It's kind of corny that I said that, but it's so true. You know what I mean? Well, it's totally true. I mean, we forget that sometimes our ego controls how we speak to people and it's bullshit. Yeah. All the time.

I mean, that's what, like you have a fight with your girlfriend. It's not even like what you're fighting about. It's that your ego wants to, it's like your ego is fighting, but you might kind of agree on what you're like, actually the words that you're,

you're fighting, like the subject you're fighting about it's like i had that happen the other day i don't think we're we're really on the same page it's just like neither one of us wants to admit it we want to fight like our egos but but yeah well i i'm i mean yeah i'm glad, um, glad you're happy and I'm glad you're finding, um, comfort in the unknown and, uh, I'm pumped up that you fucking are going to be a lead fucking guy two years in baby. So, um, we've been doing it. I mean, we're, this is our second record and we're, uh, we're really proud of this

record and our second single comes out this week. And then the record drops, I think the 28th of August, I think. And, uh, yeah, I mean,

we went in with Matt Ross Bang, who's a great engineer, producer for us. He's a producer. Um, and, uh, yeah,

we just went in and tried to make a really ambitious record. And I think we accomplished that and we're really proud of it. So hopefully the folks enjoy it. I'm stoked. How does it feel releasing a record through the quarantine, not be able to tour it and stuff? Um, it's not ideal because we're such a touring band, but it's not like anybody else is allowed to tour i'm happy you know what i'm really happy we we were able to finish it before this all happened i'm happy we had it in

the can you know and you know we'll tour on it at some point it's not like we can't tour on it we just can't we ain't gonna be on tour like that week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's great. And it's also like you're going to, it's a song. So at the end of the day, the songs are there. And if people react to the songs, then that's why we're songwriters. Yeah, I mean, that's all about the song. I mean, without songs, the world would be a much different place.

Well, fuck yeah. Well, keep doing your yoga, my man. Keep hiking. Go enjoy your time off. Go watch some porn. Do whatever you want to do, buddy. Right on. And Dwayne, it's great to meet you.

When I'm back in Malibu, I'm going to hit you up, man. Let's grab a cup of coffee or go on a hike or something. Yeah, I'll send you my number. Well, you have it. I have send you my number and, uh, and, uh, well, you have it. I have it. I FaceTimed you. Good luck with everything, man. And, um, I'm ruined for you and congrats on your success and congrats on getting sober and all that stuff. And you're a fucking legend. So keep rocking, dude. Oh, dude, you're a legend, man. We'll see you on the road, man. Take care, bro. Later. Later. There you have it. Devin and Dwayne. All right.

We're going to do a quick thing, and I'll get back with you at the tail end. Hey, Dolop, what's going on? You heard about Andy? It's killing me. I mean, we all knew it was coming. He crowd surfed into a threshing machine. And he was doing a show for the American Fabrics Unions, and he said the threshing machine's manager, Brian,

so I hurt and angry and mad. So, look, Andy's dead. You gotta live on. I don't want you to think I'm a weirdo, but I'm going out with Andy Frasco. I'm gonna be Andy Frasco. I know it. I know what to do. I know his moves.

I've been studying him. I'm obsessed with him, and he's dead. And by the way, I had nothing to do with it. Why would I say I didn't if I did? Anyway, call me back, and don't say anything to the police or anybody snooping around. He's dead.

It's because he crowd surfed into a threshing machine. Okay, that's the truth. From me, I love you. And we're going to miss our buddy. And there you have it. Wow. Great stories, right? Fucking Devin with his, he just wanted to be a family man,

to rebel against his dad or something. Then he became a rock star. Dwayne was fucking traveling with Dickie and got into addiction and got through it and had his lead singer die. I mean, crazy, crazy shit on the yard. I'm glad they're doing well. I'm stoked on them. Crazy times, I swear. You never know what people go through, what their stories are. So everyone just be gentle. Don't judge books by cover. I'm talking to myself too, because I always, not always, I'm getting better at that, but I judge books by its cover and it never goes out the way you think it is in your head. So be nice, be genuine to people and, you know,

hear people out because I was being stubborn and, you know, didn't listen. Then you didn't realize that everyone has a story and everyone, you know, is going through shit. So be patient with people. Love each other. Get rocking with it. I'm smoking a joint right now and just reflecting on my life. Shout out to

14er for making that weed that I don't have existential crises. Some fucking weeds I just start smoking and I start thinking about crazy shit like my mother and shit. I don't know. But, you know, so shout out. Thanks for making weed for a tuner that fits my needs. And if you're

in the Denver area or Boulder area, go buy some weed. Go check it out. They got a shop in Boulder and they're just good guys. And I love to support the cause and they get me high and inspire me to keep going and keep writing and keep doing all this stuff. So thank you for that. But that's it, guys. I hope you had a good week with us. We got a great week of entertainment for you.

We're almost ready to announce the world-saving weekend. Three days. The band, the Frasco band is coming into town. What's coochie? Frasco Band. All the guys are coming to Denver. We're doing a three-day interactive concert. Each day is a different concert, but the fans pick everything. They pick what green screen, like if you want us to, if you want porn on the green screen behind us,

you're going to have to vote on it. Or if you want us to take mushrooms or whatever, everything, you are in control of our lives for three days. So it's kind of like the real world, but you play God a little bit. And if you want us play the songs good, I suggest you don't keep on voting for us to take shots or mushrooms and stuff, but choose your own adventure. It's like Bandersnatch up in this bitch. Choose your own adventure

with the Frasco band. Let me see what date that is. The guys come in August 17th. That's going to be, the guys come in August 17th. That's going to be basically a month from now. August 20th, 21st, 22nd. Virtual pool party. We don't know what it's called yet, but by the time this gets announced, we'll probably have something called it. So get your ears ready for that one. Not sure about the dance party yet.

I think we're almost there. We might get our contract re-upped. Let's go! But we got the shit show too, so you got some stuff coming your way. I got Trevor Hall on the podcast next week. Very excited to talk to him, see what's going on in the world of reggae month and like spiritual

stuff. And he's friends with, you know, some friends that got in trouble. So I'm curious to hear what their take on that and whatnot. And yeah, just it's going to be fun. So ladies, gentlemen, I'll leave you with this before we end the week, end the Tuesday or whenever you listen to this. Like I was saying in the beginning, stay focused on right now. This is all we can control. This is right now. Can't control the past anymore. We can't control the future, so we might as well control what's right in front of our face right now. So fucking

get after it. Be the person you want to be. Still follow those dreams when fucking, you know, it's the great quarantine and everyone's like transitioning into some people that they, some people are transitioning to people that are more angry, more scared, more fearful. Some people are just not listening to and becoming free. Whatever you got to do, survive in advance, follow your dreams, follow your heart, and let a little love in. Because through dark times, love is truly the fucking answer. All right, guys. I love you. Wear condoms. Be safe safe um and arno give me something nice and something uh socialistic to uh get us through the end of this podcast

all right guys have a great day you tuned in to the third season of blissful blah and andy fresco's world-saving podcast produced by Andy Fresco Joe Angel, Alan Crears, Lawrence please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon, for more info on the show please head to Instagram at worldsavingpodcast for more info on blog or tour dates head to andyfresco.com, check out the new album

Keep On Keepin' On or let Andy entertain you at the Thursday night online shit show or this crazy Saturday night wanna dance with somebody dance parties. Oh right, summer season is here, no festivals, no music. So instead of trying to keep the lip going and hoping to find some shitty paid trombone at your big gigs this summer, I decided to reroute. Build in closets and wardrobes, build a tiny summer house and do some painting.

It will be October in no time. And yes, I sort of hate it compared to the wonderful life I live. But I'm also thankful that people trust my skills or my good looks or whatever. They have my back and I managed to make some money. The big danger in this line of work actually, it pays a lot better than being a musician. All right, how are you doing? Making ends meet? Worried? No work actually it pays a lot better than being a musician all right how are you doing making ends meet worried no work putting on a virtual dance party every week let's make sure to carry each other get one another's backs keep each other safe keep each other sane keep each other healthy let's unite for it will be a long road ahead see you next week