Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 94: Dominic Lalli (Big Gigantic)

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

Quarantine! It is a time of civil unrest. Live music may well be cancelled into late 2021, so why wait to get wild? Andy and the crew are throwing a digital, interactive music festival Aug 21st & 22nd and want YOU to be part of the experience. Good tunes? CHECK. Legendary sit-ins? CHECK. Mind altering substances? CHECK. On the Interview Hour we welcome Dominic Lalli from Big Gigantic. Dom talks about his newly released jazz record and what the future may hold. Shawn sings and Ahri reviews. This is EP 94. 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 Big Gigantic www.biggigantic.net Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ahri Findling Travis Gray Shawn Eckels  Arno Bakker 

Andy, it's your agent. Listen, man, I just got a call from some dude named Wesley from a site called jackinit.com saying you signed on to be a spokesman. Did you even look it up? It's a fucking site where dudes just jerk off on camera. You think this is a good look for us? Okay, what did you agree to?

Send me the fucking contract. You think I'm'm gonna represent a guy that masturbates on fucking camera you're wrong answer my fucking call i wake up with cum on my dick cause I just had a wet dream tonight I have to release all the cum, all the cum inside of me I've been unable to cum on time

my dreams are the only thing keeping my dick alive oh baby it rips the cum from my sack Whether it's nighttime or during a nap that's in the sun My pants are up, baby, we were born to cum Baby, we were born to come

All right, and we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's everyone doing today? How's our heads? How's our minds? Are we saying no to the devil or saying yes to it? What type of mood you're in? But yeah, I hope everyone's doing good.

Another week. I am in Vail, Colorado. Been Airbnb-ing my house. So it's like my new occupation these days because I don't have any work so um airbnb my house on the weekend so my friends are nice enough to let me stay in vale so i'm staying in the middle of this ski resort which is fucking beautiful vale's okay it's kind of like richie like i bet you the locals are cool i met a few locals like my boy john Ryan, and they've been super nice. But the people, the tourists that this city attracts are kind of whack as fuck. And they kind of, I like, I don't know, not my vibe,

but I like the city. I like the locals. They've been super nice to me, recognizing me in the street, telling me that the videos I've been making for them have been making them cheer them up. So fuck yeah. Thank you, Vale. All the locals. Thank you for all the love.

All the drinks. You've been drinking me. But yeah, it's been a fun week. What did I do this week? Just trying to get out of trouble. Not trying to get crazy. And I look at every time I have a call with my agent and my managers. It's like, oh, more shows are canceled.

We're not going to be back on the road until about April, now May. I'm like, what the fuck am I going to do? But it's okay. That's life. You can't always have it your way. You got to transition. Hence why I'm an Airbnb host. I've always loved doing the renting houses and stuff.

But it's been fun. We just announced the virtual festival that we're putting on. It's 100% interactive, y'all. It's been really cool to see the response we got on day one we're going to do this set two nights of sets where you pick everything we do, you choose the adventure think of it like Bandersnatch

but with a band so we're going to put a polling on everything you want us to do to inject to ingest drugs to picking any song. We're going to try to play the whole album in its full,

the new Keep On Keepin' On record. That's up to you. If you don't want to hear it, then you vote against it. But it's going to be a lot of fun. We have so many things planned. You get to vote on the sit-ins, whoever you want on the fest. Start letting me know if you have any Denver locals you want to get. Maybe I get Dave Bruza.

I'll try to figure out who is open. Benny Bloom said he's available. So it'll be fun. It's going to be completely interactive. We'll have a green screen behind us. So if you want us to play under softcore porn, you could do that or Teletubbies or whatever you want. You choose the adventure of the band the whole weekend.

That is August 21st and 22nd. So grab tickets. Let us feel like you want to watch the band play. That would be awesome. All the proceeds go to my band because, you know, they don't have any jobs. So we're just trying to get them paid a little bit Awesome. All the proceeds go to my band because they don't have any jobs. So we're just trying to get them paid a little bit and trying to figure out how we could survive the winter.

So go grab your tickets. It's andyfrasco.com or fans.com. And it's $10 a night. And if you want to do the VIP stuff or you want to do the drinking Olympics and all that stuff, then sign up for all the extra fun activities we're going to have. Because the whole band is here all weekend, guys. Whatever you want. Ernie Chang, Sean Eccles, Andy Avila, the whole gang is here. Even Floyd. Even fucking... Oh, my gosh.

Floyd's back. Our bass player, Floyd's hot off Nantucket. It's going to be a fun party. But man, you know how I get about anxiety after I drink. I've been fucking with these CBD, Camu, Camu Labs. I kind of want them to sponsor me, you know, because this shit is really good. And, you know, I'm not, you know, CBDs sometimes don't really fuck with my body that well.

But these guys, it's fucking real, dude. My liver is smiling. My liver, you know how I feel on Mondays. I can't even talk to my manager, but these, my liver's like, ah, frasco, give me some of that Camu Lab. So it's like I'm mixing a little bit of 14er weed and then, you know, cause that doesn't really have that many psychoactive features. So shout out to 14er for, you know, smoking me up. And then on the Mondays, I mean, every day I've been rocking this Camu Lab CBD and it's been killing it i love it so much i'm gonna try to get them on the show to uh you know talk about the product because i mean it's real shit dude i i don't normally don't feel this good in the mornings it's 9 a.m right now i feel fucking pumped up and they have all these different things if you can can't sleep, they have this thing.

It's called like a dream elixir where like it makes you sleep. You know how weed doesn't make you dream? This shit makes you dream. I was dreaming some crazy shit on the yard. I was talking with Karina Reich. It was so crazy. I don't even know why Karina was in my dreams. But it was just all these musicians and I never dream.

And it was really cool to finally dream again so uh check it out for yourself camu lab see what's up um you know only the best uh thc cbd i will be pushing living in colorado now i got all these i got knowledge now you know so 14er out of b. Fucking dope shit. Shout out to 14er. Yeah, 14er. And shout out to Camu Labs. I just got hip to these guys and it's dope. I'm going to see if they want to

be in the future of Frasco. That'd be tight because I really do like this product and I really do like this company. So go try it out for yourselves. Hopefully we get a sponsorship so we could start giving that shit out for

Frizzle. But check it out while you can because it's really good stuff. Brand new company. I met the owner and he was just so cool. He's a Grateful Dead fan. He's like, what up, Frasco? I'm like, what up, dude? He just gave me some samples.

I'm like, whoa, this is tight as fuck. So go check out Camu Labs. But before we go to our headline interview, Dominic Lawley, I want to talk about insecurities. Everyone's insecure. Everyone is dialed in To whatever Makes them hurt Or makes them fearful And I just want to say before we start this interview

Don't be so Hard on yourself You know We're all trying This quarantine is new This pandemic is new And if we Don't take ourselves like

Oh fuck I don't know the answers. It's okay because no one knows the answers. All we can do is try our best, be the best people we can be. And if we could work on ourselves through all these dark times, we're going to appreciate the sun when it finally comes out. I can't wait to get back on that stage i was watching some people do the drive-ins um this weekend i think right played a drive-in and a couple other people played drive right mom blue my damn oh my show actually working because i'm so fucking crazy i'll be like first time i see people i'll be like like a fucking rabies so i don't know but it made

me miss the road a little bit and it made me miss interaction with people and stuff. I need that in my life. So whatever you have, your insecurities, don't worry about it. We're going to make it through. We're going to make it through.

Do I have to play the fucking Rocky music? Survive in advance, people. We're fucking in this thing together. We're going to fuck shit up. You're a legend. We're going to fuck shit up. Survive in advance. It's going to be a weird couple months.

Election's happening. I don't even go into politics really on this show, but just vote, and that's how we're going to get through this. So ladies and gentlemen, I've been rambling for a little bit. I'm excited about the virtual festival. Grab tickets. Grab tickets to our fest. The band has not played Keep On Keepin' On ever in its entirety.

Go grab tickets. Go to andyfrasco.com or fans.com. Go grab the package. And ladies andfrasco.com or fans.com. Go grab the package. And ladies and gentlemen, let's start our show. Dominic Lawley. Yes, big G. Came on the show. That guy's like the founder of you. That guy's good looking, dog. That guy is a good looking dude. And he's like 40-ish and he doesn't age. He looks like he's 22. I'm like, I was crushing. I was like on FaceTime with him. I'm like, I was crushing. I was on FaceTime and I'm like, oh, damn. This dude's hot. Got a man crush on this guy.

He's really sweet, really nice. I'm just stoked that he took time to be on the show. He's got a new jazz record which is different for him. It isn't different for him, but it's different for his popular view or public view because he's into that producer beats and

whatnot so it's really cool for him to go back to his roots and make a jazz record it's really fucking good so let's start the show guys um are you ready because i'm ready all right next up on the interview hour we have have Dominic Lawley from Big Gigantic, my boy, Jeremy Sulkin's buddy and partner in crime. Yo, Chris, play some Big G, or actually, you know what, Chris? Do a little bit of Big G and then go into that jazz record. So Dominic is the songwriter for Big Gigantic, but he would but he's a professional jazz player I mean he studied jazz went to college for jazz he was in the motet and then uh started his own thing Big G and then they fucking blew up and Salkin my boy Salkin you know uh Jew unit uh they started

taking over the country and now through the pandemic he's like fuck it i'm releasing my jazz record and it's awesome and he's a laker fan we just vibe is so well um it was a lot of fun so ladies and gentlemen enjoy this interview i did with dominic lolly with big j Thank you. do Thank you. What up, Dom? How you doing, dude? Hey, how you doing, Andy? I'm good, man. I feel like we just, you know, I've been getting closer with your bandmate and I felt like it's only time that I get close with the other guy in the band. Definitely, man. Definitely. Yeah, I'm super happy to be here chatting with you, bro.

It's great, dude. So what's the scoop? How's your life? You're a married man. You got a kid. I mean, what's going on? Yeah, I'm living that dad life right now. Got my lady and, uh, yeah, I got my son. He's just turned a year and a half, like, uh, last week. And it's a, it's like a super cool time, uh, for, for the little ones, they're doing all kinds of new stuff, talking and walking and all that kind of stuff. So it's been good. I'm just hanging. I'm, I'm like hanging out with my family a lot and, uh, trying to get outside a little bit, see some nature, hang out with a family a lot and uh trying to get outside a little bit see some nature hang out with a couple trees and uh and make some music man that's that's pretty much it i feel like it'd

be a great time as a musician i mean this you know besides all the bad shit through the pandemic but for musicians you finally get to spend time with your family bro so it's like yeah it's kind of like nice where it's like you had a kid it's like kind of like perfect timing to like really yeah develop your kid how what's how was that transition from going touring all the time to like being stuck at home how was your mental um well it's actually um you know so i we for the most part we didn't tour last year either because i wanted to take the year off to just be around because you know i just i didn't know what it was going to be like and you know i didn't want to just be like hey babe all

right we got the baby's day see you later like i'm out on tour you know so uh luckily i could i could stay home so we kind of did that last year so it's kind of the same thing um except we did some one-offs so but basically everything got canceled this year so um yeah it's the first time that i haven't done like you know gigs in many many years and i know a lot of other guys a lot of other cats too i mean have been you know gigging every day or you know touring you know a ton every year for 20 30 you know you know whatever it is so there must be a trip and probably pretty nice for them as well to actually catch up, catch back up with themselves and like, you know.

What did you learn about yourself through this quarantine? That's a good question, man. Man, that is a good question. Tough one. I would say, you know, it just like taught me more, you know, in being in the grind and like the hustle bustle of really just trying to like one up yourself every time, you know i could just like slow down and and just like you know instead of like looking ahead at what's important um uh to me and stuff like that it's like i'm looking around in my current state at what's important to me you know what i mean yeah it's

like being present yeah really a present thing you know and um i think that's one big big lesson i've learned or one thing I, you know, that just kind of resonated with me this whole time since, since all this has been going on. Yeah. It's hard because like, you're always thinking about, Oh God, is my career over? Or it's like, it's like that endless fight to like stay relevant. Like how hard is it to stay relevant to kids? You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is. Yeah. And just, you know yeah yeah yeah crazy yeah it is yeah and just you know and and um i think you know a lot of people like us um you know to kids but also you know to yourself you know you want to like you want to outdo yourself you know you want to you know you have

this like vendetta with yourself to like be better you know what i mean every day and you know it yeah and it's um you know it helps you sort of like forgive yourself like hey man like dude there's nothing you can do like there's literally nothing you can do right now yeah so just like just be here chill and just like enjoy that you know what I mean totally do you think you need that pressure to keep pushing harder and working harder at your craft or do you think that's just added stress i don't think so you know now yeah i don't i don't i don't think you have to like beat yourself up you know it's just like it's like being very efficient or something you know what i mean where um you know

you can just go okay like i'm in this zone now now i'm like in this zone and being able to like turn the switch on and off you know it's it's like improvising you know it's like life improvising you know and when the really good improvisers know how to like turn it on and off like the zone you know like a light you know what i mean so it's a little like practice in that you know what i mean yeah totally like i'm thinking about like what do you what's your philosophy what was your is your philosophy changed from the beginning of your career to now and how you're how you're approaching music or has it always been i'm doing what i love to do no matter what you're not thinking about anyone else but the music that makes you happy i mean was there always

any pressure yeah thinking about others sure i mean i think i think coming up like especially when i was in music school and stuff like that, I think there was like a, you know, it has to be like this, you know, or nothing, you know. But it's like, you know, it's like when I first started playing saxophone

and, you know, I played and I was doing lessons, but I wasn't really listening to, I hadn't listened to saxophone players yet, you know, and I was like, listening. I hadn't listened to saxophone players yet. The first time I started hearing saxophone players, I was like, holy shit, this is crazy what you can do. You know what I mean? And I was listening to Tower of Power and stuff like that,

and Michael Brecker and stuff like that. I don't know if you know Michael Brecker but you know crazy uh saxophone player crazy technical skills and I remember like you know early on like learning Brecker you know and like and like my teachers and older you know older cats would be like you know you gotta go back man you know and eventually I was like oh man I gotta go all the way back now you know what I mean and um and it's sort of like that it's like there's a couple lessons and they're also like um you know they would always say like as you get older you know you're gonna realize like less notes is more and you know and yada yada so it's like it's sort of like that progression you know in terms of i thought you know it's just this or

the you know this or the highway basically and as the older i get you know i think you realize what's what you're better at and what's more important to you like as an artist like for me you know when at the beginning i and playing saxophone and getting really into saxophone i was like all right i just need to like shred or that's it. You know, shredding. And that's the only cool shit. And then I realized like, you know, I love, I started writing. And I was like, man, I love writing. Writing is like, this is it. And I came to that conclusion because, you know, I love improvising because it's like such a language.

And it's such a thing. You know, we're doing it right now. We're talking. And it's like only the people who know how doing it right now we're talking and it's like only the people who know how to improvise get it you know what i mean like to that degree like in there and so that was super cool but uh writing for me was just like this is like this can be forever this can be like something i can always have you know so i liked i like that and um and so that's what got me into you know big gigantic

because i was like shit i can write on a computer because i was just writing writing out charts having sessions you know that's cool i can write on a computer and um and so yeah i think as you as you grow up and as your as things change i think um i think you're what you want what you're trying to get out of I think what you want, what you're trying to get out of it and what you want to be as an artist and what you want your stamp to be can change. I think mine certainly did. And I'm happy that it did because I'm being myself.

Yeah, and in college or you you studied what jazz yeah i studied uh jazz and classical for my undergrad i studied uh there wasn't really technically a jazz degree uh so it was a pretty classical saxophone intense we're in flagstaff that's where you did your black staff nau yeah and there was a killer teacher there uh this guy will d zoom walt is his name. What a name. Amazing name. And this dude was just a monster on the saxophone. I mean, in the classical world, I mean, he could play everything and really taught me how to play the horn. If it wasn't for him, I mean, I wouldn't have as good of a tone and just a facility around the saxophone stuff like that i mean he taught me lots of stuff and then um i also there i had a teacher who was a bass player he was the sort of

head of the jazz department and we became really close and did lots of gigs so that's kind of where i learned a lot of the jazz side of stuff from him yeah it's crazy because this is me just being ignorant in a sense. Did you have your peers that taught, like, we are jazz. We are fucking jazz players. And then you're like, hey, I don't want to play that right now. I want to do songwriting. Was it pressure? Were you getting shit from your musician friends for not following the path of a jazz master?

No, no, because, well, a lot of, well, the big gigantic stuff for me, you know, that didn't even start until I was 30. Oh, no shit. I'm 42 now. So I had, like, went to school in NAU. I did my undergrad there, took a a year off worked on my auditions went and did my master's then i then well the funny here's the funny thing the funny thing if anything if that happened at all it's when i joined the motet that that maybe happened you

know what i mean because i was like joining a funk band and i wasn't but at that point i mean and you have to realize i was like i was like homeless i was like almost homeless right then so it was like okay i'm like why yeah what happened oh because i had no because i had no i was living in new york i had no gigs or i had a couple gigs i had my rent to pay you know i couldn't go ask my family for money i didn't have any more um you know i did college all through scholarship or um or um loans and stuff you know so i didn't have any more loan money you know and i was like look man i'm not i'm not gonna go you know i'm not gonna go live at home again you know i'm not you know etc so um you know so luckily my friend had hit me up in about the um well actually this was all at the same time i

was starting i was in the motet this was all kind of lingering a lingering situation because i wasn't making it much bread at all with the motet i was still living in new york so i had to make a move you know i was like trying to do some jazz and um the motet so you know it was like sink or swim for me i'm like i don't give a shit what anyone else thinks i'm trying to live i'm trying to like survive over here you know what i mean and um you know it's just my situation you know and other people had more gigs or had some money or whatever so you know that's that's just that was my card so i just hightailed it out of new york and moved to colorado because i was like all right i'm like so in debt now i have to like i have to you know i have to dig myself out you know so yeah keep going keep

going sorry yeah so anyway so i i proceeded to spend the next i was with the motet for uh five years i think so i probably spent the next i think four-ish years so i was like doing back and forth living in new york and doing the motet for maybe a year. And then I moved. And it took me a good three, four years to just even dig myself out of that. What, like debt? Oh, just debt, yeah. I was eating like – I wasn't even – it was such a – Was it hard? Do you think New York grew you up?

New York grew me up. Oh, yeah, no doubt. Big time. Big time. What's the biggest lesson you learned from New York grew me up oh yeah no doubt big time what's the biggest lesson you learned from New York City um mmm I don't know

just like you know just how you know how tough the world can be I mean you know the reality is like yeah if you like you know it's like you have a job like you have money but like you know you need money and things you know you can't just like you have a job like you have money but like you know you need you need money and things you know you have you can't just like be a homeless jazz i mean i guess you could or

whatever but you know that that was not the life i was trying to live you know what i mean yeah um so so you started producing um so well then and then you know then Motet stuff and that was all cool And that was like I was finally like you know Sort of getting myself back to a Like a base that was like alright Had a little bit of money I was living with Jeremy at the time Or that was right around I was living with Jeremy

What in Boulder? In Boulder yeah With Don With Benny Baruch too No we never lived with Ben It was like With Don? With Benny Baruch too? No, we never lived with Ben. It was like a couple of Jeremy's friends. I had a breakup and then I had nowhere to live.

And Jeremy was like, oh, we have a spot in our room. So I moved in with him. And we played a bunch of gigs and stuff through that time. I was still playing in the motet. And then after that, the big G stuff started. But I forgot the direction there. So you did the motet for five years. You finally did yourself out of your hole. Got it.

So the motet, this is right around the time Dave Watts had his first kid. So he was kind of like, you know, chilling a little bit. You know, when I was in the motet, we were doing a certain thing. Like we were doing like Afrobeat music with like this electronica tinge to it, you know? And so anyways, some of the other guys in the band were getting some other gigs there was a lot of stuff happening and there was nothing really like solid you know uh with the motet and um so i just i didn't know what i didn't know what was going to happen so in in lieu of me trying to like kind of look out for myself um i was like okay i need to figure something else out

in case this like doesn't pan out i was doing a lot of jazz and stuff, and that was cool. But still, I needed something. I was working a couple different jobs on the side. So just kind of looking out for myself. So yeah, I was living with Jer and Janz Ingber, who was actually the old singer for the Motet, was like, yo, dude like he noticed i was getting into like beats and stuff like that he's like yo dude i got like a computer you know for you i'll give it to you cheap you know and i was like cool man like let's do it um so i got that computer from

him and just started working at it every day and i kind of i was shedding my horn six hours or hours a day i'd be like all right now we're doing we're gonna shed this six hours a day and set and just kind of took the initiative of trying to kind of learn what was, you know, just learn that stuff. Explain that first moment when you realized, when you wrote that first song, like, damn, this is actually good to me. Yeah, I mean, shit, it was a long time. What song was it? Well, here's the deal is what here so here's what i started doing is i had a weekly gig every tuesday night in denver with um this guy damian who's a drummer and uh he's like uh had like the

funk soul r&b hip-hop gigs around town and stuff like that so he had a thing where a super chill gig appaloosa grill down in denver i don't know if you've ever been there. It's like a teeny little thing to hang. And so he would have his beat machine, his little MPC. And he'd always have, I remember, always cool and funny samples from the radio or YouTube or TV. And so he would get something together. And he would play it. And then he'd loop it. And then he'd start playing.

And then there was a bass player. And then I would play keys and then he'd loop it and then he'd start playing and then there was a bass player and then i would play you know keys over it you know or whatever and then i had my beats that i would sort of like work out during the week you know take samples and we come in and then like singers and rappers from denver would all just line up be in a line and they just come up and different rappers saying you know and someone take turns so we did that i did that for a couple years or something probably and that's sort of like honed just kind of like honed my skills all right i need to get like three new beats together for this week you know or whatever and most of it was all yeah like neo soul or like hip-hop stuff you know yeah so started there the

guy i was hanging out with a bunch a bunch who was was teaching me how to make beats and stuff like that. It was Alex Botwin, and he was in a band at the time called Pneuma Trio. They were going to be the next Sound Tribe. They were really blowing up and all this stuff, and they would let me sit in and all that kind of business. In lieu of seeing all that, I'm going, okay. Were you still in the motet at this time? Still in the motet, yeah. Were you still in the motet at this time? Still in the motet, yeah.

And in lieu of all that, I was like, okay, I can see something happening. Pretty Lights was blowing up. Sound Tribes doing five nights at the Boulder Theater. Things like that. So you could see this buzz thing happening. So I was kind of like, okay, let me start making some more like electronic kind of stuff, you know, and started that when I had a few beats together. You know, I think this was after. So like, I was doing the hip hop, more hip hop kind of kind of stuff when I was living with Jeremy. And then after me and Jeremy started living together, stop, we stopped living together.

I started working on the more electronic stuff, I think. And then I finally went to Jerry and I was like, dude, like, I think I think we can do do like would you be down to like be my guy with me in this thing you know and he's like yeah of course and uh and then we just kind of started rehearsing over at his house and it was all this stuff off of fire it up yeah um no shit yeah it was all that music but the thing is is our so i was playing in the motet and and um and then we'd also do some like motet trio gigs it's just dave garrett myself yeah and i do like i'd bring some of these more electronic beats and we do some of them with some different feels and dave had some beats as well and we kind of did some things and there were people showing up to the motet gigs and the motet

trio gigs like being like dude like start something just like start anything we'll follow you we'll be like we'll be there and i'm like i'm like okay cool like so um that's why you know i got jeremy and all that stuff and um yeah like uh i we got our first gig um there was a guy who was doing all the after parties um for all the sound tribe gigs and all the bass nectar shows you know this is back when bass nectar was doing like cervantes or something you know and he's doing after parties and these after parties are having amazing success everyone's going to him so i you know i was driving with him somewhere one day and i said man if i you know would you put me on one of these

gigs you know if i uh you know if i started something and he's like yeah man like just start something so we had i think two or three gigs maybe even more than that before we even put any music out it was all just like word of mouth around town and stuff so we were playing had no music out and i was like well i guess i need to put some something out so i just took all the fired up beats and just put them out you know and that was like our first inception and then from there it was just like how can we keep developing you know how can we keep growing this thing essentially do you think if you didn't move to uh colorado your whole life would have been way different way different way different i mean and then fast forward you know however many years later i go back to new york and we open up for Bass Nectar at Madison Square Garden

to play MSG. And I'm just like, dude. It's insane, dude. And I call my music school buddies and I'm like, dude, calm down. And they all calm down and they're hanging and they're like, bro, we're so happy for you. Were you starting to pop, though, before that Garden gig? Yeah, yes, before that.

That was just like one of those moments where i was like thank god i left new york yeah for real like if i never did that shit you would have been probably a jazz player well i would have been yeah i mean maybe i mean i'm who even i don't even know i know it's it's fascinating when you take your life and take risks on life like was that your biggest risk you feel, or do you have, have you ever taken any other type of risks in your life even earlier that made you have the confidence to like follow your gut?

Yeah, I think, you know, I think going big G because you know, that, that was the whole premise behind, you know, the jazz album and big gigantic,

all that stuff was all happening at the same time. It was like, we were playing our first big G gigs. Um, I, it should i put out this fire it up record with big g or should i put out this jazz album and you know i knew that i could tell that you know i was like doing a little bit and i was getting a ton back and i was like man imagine if i did a lot yeah and then i do a lot and it was like i'm getting so much bad like okay like this is a very clear thing to me right now that i should be like taking this opportunity you know this is if i didn't take this opportunity i i'd be kicking myself you'd be regretting it have you yeah i

think so yeah what do you have any other regrets in your life or any regrets well um no i don't fuck yeah let's go no i don't because you know i't because, you know, I mean, I wouldn't be here. You know, I wouldn't be sitting here with you right now. I wouldn't have all the things, all the things that have happened that I'm super grateful for in life. And, you know, of course, you always look back and go, maybe I could have handled this better or that better or whatever, you know. And you just learn from it and you move on and, you know, you just try to be a better person moving forward, you know. Can we talk about your life in Vegas growing up? Yeah, sure.

So were you poor growing up or were you well off? Middle or lower middle class or whatever. I don't know. I mean, I had a, you know, mostly I remember I live with my mom. My mom and my dad separated pretty early on. I don't remember my dad like being around, you know, or anything like that. But I always remember my stepdad around. And, you know, he was a gem because he took care of us.

You know, it was me and my sister, my older sister. And, you know, my mom was working cocktail. he was a gem because he took care of us you know it was me and my sister my older sister and you know my mom was working cocktail she was a cocktail waitress i grew up in vegas yeah oh so my mom was a cocktail waitress she's like you know working swing shift which is like 11 to 7 a.m or whatever i don't know or some god graveyard yeah and um you know we had the babysitter and all that stuff and you know she was just kind of you know getting by with us and then my stepdad came in and you know he just basically supported us while you know which is huge and um yeah i mean but life was cool i mean i had my i had my older sister and then you know my mom and and my stepdad started having kids

so they had two girls. So I have two younger sisters and then my older sister. So there was four kids in the house. And now as a father of one child, I'm like, mom, you had four kids. You are fucking crazy. Like how I can't, I'm like, my mind is blown that we lived in this tiny little house, four of us, all six of us together. And you know, we all got along and everything was cool um but yeah you know i remember you know even um in sixth grade you know uh i remember sitting down on my counter my mom my mom was a singer so she sang a lot and church choir was big for her she was always coming to church choir with us and all that stuff so you know we'd always you know i had piano lessons and stuff although i did

it didn't really stick but anyways i remember in sixth grade um was like okay mom passes over this little sheet of paper and she's like you know do you want to play an instrument you know first in school you know you can play an instrument and i was cool man um yeah like i do and i i just randomly kind of chose sax and stuff like that and i i still remember walking into my sixth grade um you know it was one of those like um outdoor like portable joints you know what i mean and i remember walking out there and i was like a couple minutes late for whatever reason and um i come in and all the kids like 50, like 50 kids in one group over here and about four kids in this other group over here. And the teacher says, like, do you want to, you know, this is alto sax, tenor sax.

And I saw all the kids, and I said, I'm going over here, tenor sax. So I was a little short dude and carrying the big horn around to school everywhere and everything. But I still remember that really clearly. And, um, you know, and then, um, uh, when I got to high school, uh, I don't remember that too, too much. Um, you know, maybe my, like a little bit, but you know, just like how everybody, everybody was good. Don, you know, it seemed like every, you know, they called me like Domino's pizza and I'd

be like, God, I fucking hate you guys. What about – did you have any insecurities when you were a kid? I mean, I'm an insecure person. What are you insecure about, Don? Just probably everything. I don't know. Yeah, me too, though, bro. How did you get through it?

I try not to pay attention to that yeah to that side of myself yeah but you know sometimes it gets the best of you but you know when you have you know good people around you and good friends and stuff like that you know it's it's easy to yeah that's that's the thing about the quarantine when we don't get distracted our insecurities sometimes come up again yeah and like how you approach the insecurities when you're a kid used to like oh i'm just gonna go play basketball or i'm just gonna go practice for eight hours like yeah yeah yeah yeah it is halftime at the endy fresco interviewer welcome back to review i'm your host, Ari Finlay.

Today's review is the fifth month of quarantine. Guess what? It's the same as the fourth month, and the third month, and the second month, and the first month. It fucking sucks, okay? How much longer is this going to go on? A fucking year? A decade? I didn't do shit all of quarantine. I could have been productive. I could have learned a fucking musical instrument. I could have learned how to speak Korean. I didn't get jacked. I didn have been productive. I could have learned a fucking musical instrument. I could have learned how to speak Korean. I didn't get jacked. I didn't do any, I could have got hair

plugs and come out with a beautiful head of hair. But all I did was get high and watch Sopranos for five months. This needs to end. Every day is the same. Nothing changes. I eat the same food. I'm sick of doing fucking dishes. There's two people in my house. I feel like I'm doing the dishes from a fucking aircraft carrier. Wear your mask and social distance because I need to leave my house. Otherwise, you're going to read a fucking article in the New York Post that says a guy that looks vaguely like a lesbian Shia LaBeouf jumps off the George Washington Bridge and kills himself. Wear your mask. This has been Review with Ari Finling. The fifth month of quarantine. I can't do it anymore.

How do you get through these insecurities? A lot of people are insecure and they just don't want to admit it. It's tough, right? I think, yeah, admitting it's probably the first step. Like anything, you know yeah but yeah you know you just i mean it's i've gone through this scenario so many times now at this point in my life you know of like of like oh and then feeling insecure and then like uh and then like

getting out of it and being okay that i just kind of cycle through it and just go dude like chill you know yeah whatever you know just talk to myself and just get myself out of it but you know i think i think i think some people are more insecure than other people you know some people are good at just you know just yeah or maybe they're maybe they're they're hiding it but i think some people are just like better at it than others you know what i mean did you ever feel that you're just not good enough? Oh yeah. I mean, still all the time. Really? Oh yeah. Even with all your success.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But you know, it's like, I, I know, I knew that all along. I knew that was coming all along.

You know what I mean? Um, just because I know that that's kind of how I'm as a person, but you know, it, it, um, it like that cycle is like part of me and part of me

and part of me doing what I do and getting better as an artist and a person, as a human being. Beating yourself up a little bit, not feeling like you're worth it or good enough and then lifting yourself back up and picking yourself off the floor and just like throwing yourself back into the fire again yeah and then you know you come out another level up

you know but still it's like you still feel like a piece of shit it's still part of that process then you go through it again yeah it's like if you were um well for for someone like me or maybe someone like you you know it's part of our growing process you know where you kind of you know maybe it's part of everyone's and then just how they deal with it um throughout is different but um you know definitely a low point a slapping yourself like get out of it get up you know oh and then there's levels where you go up and down but you still just keep persevering and pushing through and and um you know, oh, and then there's levels where you go up and down, but you still just keep persevering and pushing through and, and, um, you know, and then you, and then you come out on top, you know, do you ever remember any big insecurity attacks where you almost quit music?

Um, no, because for music, music for me is, is like, is it, you know, you know that, yeah, well I had that, I had, I had a moment, you know, where I was like, this is it. You know that. Confident. Yeah, well, I had a moment where I was like, this is it. And from that moment on, I never questioned. How old were you there when you realized? That was my first year of college. It was like I got to college. I was like, cool. I was loving the music thing.

I was majoring in like business or law or something like that you know because my parents were like look like what are you going to do like if you don't make it though you know you know you have to have a backup plan yeah and so i was like okay i can dig it i i see where you're coming from you know i don't i'm not i don't i'm not the best saxophone player or anything. So I started off, and then I started meeting other people at college and just falling more and more in love with it. And then I was walking home one day, doing the thing, train in the headphones, and just have my moment,

which I'm sure a lot of musicians do, break down. I was crying. I was like, man, this is it. Like this is it for me. And I called my mom and I said, I'm dropping, I'm dropping all the, all the other shit. And I'm going full on because I said like, how, yes, like this is something that's difficult, but like, how am I, how am I to succeed if I'm already doubting myself right from the get because i have a backup plan i don't

want a backup plan yeah i don't i want to scare myself or something or whatever it is i don't have a backup plan i'm doing it you know and you know i got i got when i was in new york i mean i was fulfilling my dreams and stuff like that you know my goals and things that i wanted to do like you know i want to do this i do that I want to go to school in New York. That'd be the ultimate going to school in New York, studying with amazing musician. Boom. I did it.

And then it was like, Oh, I'm almost homeless. You know, after the fact, you know, so it's crazy, but you know,

it's just, um, yeah. You know, you just keep the path of our dreams, man. That's the beauty of it. It's like, I feel like when we have a plan B,

we're thinking about the plan B more than we're thinking about the plan A. When that happens, we lose track of ourselves because we're only doing a plan B to make everyone else happy. We're not doing a plan B for us. Like you said, I know what I want to do. When I actually do it,

I'm more fulfilled. I'm crying. I'm fucking, I'm in it. I mean, that's, fuck yeah, Dom. Let's go, baby. That's what I'm talking about. Let's ride. It's serious though.

And I think a lot of people have a hard time just coming to grips with that and going full steam ahead. Not a lot of people, but some people who, you know, could have done this or done that or, you know, and I just feel fortunate enough to have whatever that is inside of me. That's able to just like, I don't know, just do, just like do it. I mean, yeah, it's great. And, but I think,

I think everyone has that inside them. They're just afraid to listen to their gut, you know, it just like do it i mean yeah it's great and but i think i think everyone has that inside them they're just afraid to listen their gut you know it's like sometimes totally and you know the thing is is is um and i i don't want to forget this is like you know there is definitely luck and timing involved because there are cats who are amazing who are doing amazing stuff yeah who deserve it all like all of it and they don, you know, maybe it didn't work out for them or it's not, you know, they didn't have a big of a career or somebody else or something like that. And, you know, I mean, I feel the absolute most blessed

that I got to do anything, really, in the scholarships, all the way from the scholarships and getting to go to music school to getting to put out the jazz album and all the things we've done with big gigantic jesus man i can't i mean i am the most grateful and uh you know uh that's why i keep working hard and that's what helps me keep working hard is that i'm lucky that i got this opportunity to be the this guy you fucking humble motherfucker i love it it's true but it's so true i i agree it's like it it's it is luck but it is fucking a lot of hard work.

Like you said, right when you stopped saying, I gave out a little bit of energy and I got some energy back. What if I gave eight hours of energy on this thing a day? And all of a sudden, look at you. You're fucking selling out Red Rocks and being a pimp. I love this shit. That's crazy, man. Seriously. I think about it and I'm like,

wow, man. It's wow. It's crazy. It's really humbling. Before we talk about your jazz record, I want to talk a little bit about basketball because I found out you're a Laker fan. Let's ride. Oh my god, dude. I'm in because I think

of basketball, hold on, I always have this ready to go. Dude, yes. I'm glad we're talking about this because this has a lot to do with everything we've talked about. 100%. Yeah. 100%. And you're a Laker fan too. That made me so fucking happy.

Dude, and I played basketball in high school all four years, man. I was way, way, way, way into basketball. Give me the same type. I feel like I love coaching. I study Phil Jackson. I think as a team, as a band, I think Phil I love coaching. I study Phil Jackson. I think as a team, as a band, I think Phil has the same philosophies. What are your takes with basketball that are parallel with music? Oh, man.

Basically, the whole work ethic side. In playing sports in high school, especially basketball because i i had done it even when i was a little kid i did boys and girls club basketball leagues and all that kind of stuff and um what'd you play a guard so were you tall i mean you're tall i'm six foot i was like three guard two two three something like that yeah and um you know and just in playing sports in high school um and especially basketball in high school really just taught me work ethic and that how to grind and keep working past your point of I can't I don't I can't work anymore. Like, yes, you can. Yeah, I can't do this anymore. Yes, you can. You know what I mean? That kind of a thing. Like when I was like doing running lines, you know, or whatever and throwing up in the trash can and then coming back and running more lines you know that's the same as like oh like you know that puts like oh

i don't want to like play sit here and practice my sax anymore like to shame i'm like well why like you're not like there's nothing physically wrong with you here. Like, you know, you were running lines and, you know, dead, you know, doing this over here, throwing up, coming back. I mean, you can't just like do another hour. It's like mental toughness, dude. Like, come on. Like, and that's what they teach you, you know, in sports in high schools, like mental toughness, you know, and that just completely transfers over to, I mean, lots of stuff, you know, in life, you know, but especially it's easy to transfer over into, I'm going to, I'm worried I'm spending this time working on something and I'm going to be like diligent. Yeah. You know, that's why Kobe is my biggest inspiration, you know, work ethic, how badly he wanted it. Yep. Hard work. Yep. No doubt, man. That those are the basic, if I, I honestly, if I didn't do those things, I don't know if I would be where I'm at because I wouldn't have had that discipline. Crazy. to practice by yourself without anyone there and how to like set goals for yourself and move yourself further so coupled with you know people who are inspiring teaching you how to like have structure you know in um practicing and writing and things like that with coupled with like like gritty um you know mental toughness you know is is a good combination

to have if you're a musician. Tell me about your all-time favorite moment as a basketball player. Do you still remember it? It was a long time ago. Were you starting? Were you part of the squad?

I was coming off the bench. I wasn't the greatest, but I made the team. That's fucking sick. I got a little playing time. We weren't the greatest team. For me, that was a feat because it was Vegas. There were some good teams. Yeah, and all the AAU tournaments in Cali would all go to Vegas

for their tournaments and stuff. So it's like the squad was tough. I mean, were Vegas, Vegas was Lakers and Raiders and all that stuff, right? We didn't have a team. And so my really good buddy growing up, my best friend growing up, who I hung out with was Lakers Raiders.

So I was like, I'm Lakers Raiders. Let's go. And then it just, you know, we used to play like what techno ball and shit yeah it's killer i mean i i think basketball the exact same thing like the work ethic that i learned in sports is the reason why i woke up every day and did two you know we did 250 shows a year we followed your path too you know we played all the same like george's majestic and the whole squad i mean like jay was telling me you used to book the band and shit and then jay was like no we're getting more money about 100 bucks sounds great he's like but what wait what tell me about jay and your friendship with jay like what have you learned from just being friends with jeremy

he's such a fucking good guy dude he's a great guy man i mean we've been friends for you know the i guess the first time i met jeremy was on jam cruise yeah with i was like uh i was playing in kyle hollingsworth's band and i met him in the jam room and we like played a little bit there you know and um and then was string cheese popping yet uh yeah oh yeah yeah string cheese was popping like uh on my first motet tour we played with string cheese incident and that was in 2005 late four 2005 something like that and um and yeah they were like we sat in with them at some they had a gig and it was like at a quasi festival and there was just shit loads of people there it

was it was big yeah they were big for sure tell me about this practice space with meeting jay um so uh yeah anyways so um met on jam cruise did some jam in there. And then he actually, on Motet Tour, he was Dave's tech guy for a tour. So that's where we hung out more and stuff like that. And then I would just see him around town. I think maybe we had done a couple gigs here or there, but I can't remember. But I'd see him around town i think maybe we had done a couple gigs here or there but i can't i can't remember but i'd see him uh around town and we were just uh we were just homies we were just homies hanging and would play uh every once in a while and whatnot and i'd see him out and then um and then yeah at one point like i said i just had like a crazy

breakup and i had i was like i needed to get out of my house and he was like dude like come live with us so and that was great i met he already had this huge crew of like all these friends and um you know he's like he's got a lot of he always has like lots of friends were you always like a loner did you have a lot of friends or um i was probably more so than jeremy for sure yeah he's a social butterfly i'm just more like introverted or just more quiet. I'm just more chill, I don't know, whatever. But Jeremy sees a lot of people, has a lot of friends, so he introduced me to a bunch of friends and stuff like that.

And then we lived together for, I guess it was a year or two. I can't remember how many years we lived together. I think it was a year or two i can't remember how many years we lived together i think it was a couple but anyways after that um yeah we you know we were living separately and um and then when i had the big g idea we we came together and then you know and then we were and then basically when the big g stuff started jeremy's like okay like i have a car i didn't have a car i got my first car at like 32 or i mean you need it new york taking the bus and boulder and all that stuff because i lived in boulder so it was like i can take the bus up and down broadway and stuff like that so um but jeremy drove me everywhere i think thankfully

he's the man i used to like smoke cigarettes um and i was i would like i was smoked so many cigarettes man and like you know i'd be like jerry just like let me smoke in your car and he's like no you can't smoke in my car fine i'm like whatever anyways so it's funny um but we went on you know we went on tour um he was like we can use my car like have x amount of miles my lease like let's go you know we'll start so that's how it all we started going on tour opening up for for Soundtribe. We go drive to Omaha or whatever and do, open up for Soundtribe and then do like the jackpot in Lincoln or in Lawrence, Kansas. And like one other gig and come home or whatever. And that's kind of like how we started it.

And, you know, I mean, shit, me and Jared have been friends for 12. I mean, he's my brother. Yeah, man. He's my straight brother. And, I mean, he's just been such a huge part of Big Gigantic in so many ways, especially at the beginning. I mean, we just didn't have – I mean, if it was me just by myself or something, I mean, I would – it's just... I'd still be like broke or something. I don't know.

You know what I mean? Because he has such a business mind in a sense with stuff. He really just kept the whole thing together. And just also his... Did he teach you how to save money? Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely.

Definitely. And he taught me how to save money, and I taught him that saving money isn't always what you need to do. There's a threshold of here you should save money, but then I remember one time on a flight, it was like we saved a total of maybe 50 bucks or something like that flying at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. versus flying at 11 a.m. And I was like, bro, the 50 bucks ain't worth it, my dude.

It ain't worth it, bro. He's like, yep, not worth it. Check. Stuff like that. But I mean, especially in what the business is now i mean we could spend money and we do already spend money for days and it's nice to have him around to really wrangle everything in and make sure we're not like getting crazy yeah especially with all the rentals and the 3d y'all are doing like it gets fucking expensive dude yeah but But also, Jeremy's just, you know, his real openness with people and the friends and that whole situation has really been a huge part of, you know, our success with Big Gigantic as well.

Because I'm just like not as, I'm just not like, hey, everybody. You know, like, that's not as much like my thing. I'm more like the weirdo. Yeah, you're the weirdo in the fucking basement, dude. Yeah. So, but you know, I've learned, I've learned, I've learned from him and just from being around other people to open up more and obviously like that, but you know, he's just been an integral part of, of, of everything we've done, you know? I'll tell you one thing. I mean, I've been, I've lived in Denver now since February. He was the first friend I had out here.

Yeah, yeah. And he has taught me so much about just being a better person and how to be just present and have a friendship instead of just having these fake, you know, oh, you meet at the water cooler once a year at the festival. Actually be a friend. He's always doing that. Yeah, dude. have oh like you meet at the water cooler every once a year at the festival you know like actually be a friend you know he's always yeah dude and he and you know i think he's like even grown you know i think he he has always like had a knack for that but i think he's like even grown

into just like that whole being present and being more healthy and being just being a better version of himself you know i think he's he's always like been i mean he's a he's a really straight ahead guy anyways you know a great dude but just even fine-tuning himself and getting himself more um you know where where he wants to be and what he thinks you know is best for him you know because i think that takes it there was a point where i think he did some a lot of like deep self-discovering and really plat like got on a new level of just how, how he is emotionally and what, you know, what his life was all about. And you know, the challenges that he met along the way and he really came into his own, you know,

through, you know, while we were in big gigantic, you know? And, um, and I think, yeah, in the last, you know, I don't know, I don't, I can't remember how many years, but he's really just, you know, he's just been a force because he's just really himself and knows himself and has like fallen back in love with himself or whatever, fallen in love with himself. Let's go, Jay. Let's go. Good job, Jay.

Let's go. That's great. Oh, he's a great guy. Hey, this has been great, man. I want to talk about the jazz record. I'm stoked that you finally put out a jazz record dude i know man me too it took a while right yeah it took uh yeah it took 10 years basically i mean i like i said i recorded it uh you know i had like fire it up in a blind man's blue like hmm what should i put out you know and

it was like like i said you know i was like okay okay, let's do this because I'll always be able to put this out. This is not like it's going to get erased in a year or something. So life happens. And I almost put it out two years ago because we had a little bit more time. And I was like, okay, I think now is a good time. I booked a couple gigs with the Bluebird Quintet around here in Denver and stuff like that. And then I just, man i it was like time again and i was like shit okay i'm gonna have to wait again and then um once the first once the tour got canceled with the pandemic and everything i mean that was the first thing i thought you know it's go time i'm gonna get this

i'm gonna mix it and do it and uh yeah and did. And just super grateful that I got to put it out now. And I think it sounds great. And all the Big G fans really, really dig it. It had such a great response from a lot of our just diehards and you know and you know and new people you know and and then new people you know who i knew or new people finding out about the album through jazz and then finding big gigantic and stuff like that um so that it's been the response has been great and i'm happy to put it out and it motivates me to do more i have another concept for a new album a new jazz album that um i've already started working on a little bit and um hopefully that manifests manifests itself not in 10 years but like

why why is it important for you to put out these jazz records uh well i think it's just a big part of of my of me as an artist my lineage and i And I think I just, you know, it's a big part of where I've come from. And I think it tells, it completes the, like, the story of my, of my, you know. Your story. Yeah, my story. My personal story of my art.

Yeah. I want to go to, okay, so you put out this record, you made this record, what, 10 years ago? Yeah, about, just about 10 years ago. So now as being a better musician from where you were 10 years ago do you listen to some things like oh i should have done this better or like did you redo some shit or no i didn't redo anything man i left it straight straight how it was for sure yeah um but yeah you know i uh the one thing i hear um now in my playing back then is,

you know, I feel like now I just have so much more confidence, you know, just cause I played so many more gigs. And that's the one thing that back then it was just like skating, you know, and just like hoping it was all cool and, you know,

and just being really open and really just listening to everything around me and reacting to everything around me. Cause I knew that was like coming from a, know if anything else if i'm you know instead of like playing all my which i did anyways you know but um as long as i'm really present with the whole band and i'm you know oh piano's doing this okay let me start there i knew that you know we're going to be okay. And that's pretty much what happened. And I think now I just have the confidence

and a little bit more of the stream of consciousness to be able to keep the ideas going and stuff like that. So that's cool, though. It's like my playing at that. It's like a document of my playing at that. It's a timepiece. Yeah, so that's great. and I'm super proud of it. And like I said, it just makes me more excited to do more.

Yeah, what's the difference between writing for Big G versus writing for this jazz record? You know, there's a fair amount of similarity in the fact that, you know, I love writing, like, journey pieces, you know? Like, things that take you on a ride, an emotional ride. And, you know, for example, like, A Blind Man's Blue is, you know, you think, you know, the first part, minor, a little a little more mysterious you know that's more the a blind man you know my my perception of what a person who's blind like living their life you know yeah um you know and it goes through the song but in the end there's this whole like beautiful like major part you know kind of starts starts soft there's this it changes the progression it becomes like this happy kind starts soft there's this it changes the progression it becomes like this happy kind of progression there's this building drum solo over the whole thing and it

sort of ends on this really beautiful like peaceful thing you know and sort of like you know realizing the blind man's like happy you know this he loves his life and and the perception right between what people think a blind man is versus maybe what he's dealing with. Right, exactly. And there's several other pieces on the album that are like that. And I feel like that's kind of the way I write with Big Gigantic as well. a little bit different and you know as i've as i've like grown as a writer you know i i feel like i i write and i accomplish some things that i've wanted to write and then like you know i get to that like a level and then i like want to get to the next level like let me try this like i haven't done this let me try this i haven't done this so that's why you know i think my writing is keep has kept on developing um you know in certain ways just trying to you know i think my writing has kept has kept on developing um you know in certain ways just

trying to you know i want to write a really dope hip-hop song i want to like write a dope rap song i want to uh uh write a dope like a song with a female singer that's more like a pop song or something you know so things change in there you know so you know your the form will change or you know things like that but um but in terms of like you know evoking a feeling and trying to sort of like take the listener um on a little bit of a journey i feel like that's still what i'm getting at that's like my whole deal with my writing you know isn't it isn't that the beauty of ryan instrumental music for something like that is like your imagination it's like when you start putting lyrics in it you feel like you get stuck

in a sense right it's definitely more it depending on who the lyricist is and and and um you know if they're writing like literally or like or not because it can get like really cool um in you know if the if the lyrics start you know having different meanings and you know different things like that um but yes i agree with you the instrumental music that is what i love about it is that um it can be uh uh so thought-provoking to any particular person it can be it can you know even though it's minor it could you know i love like sad music lifts me up. I know. Me too. Some people like, they're like, oh, like I can't do it. Like I'm going to die of depression right now.

And I'm like, damn, this shit makes me feel good. I know. Because we're feeling something. Why is that? Because we feel. Yeah. And it's important to feel, especially when we're insecure. Yeah.

Yeah. Insecure guys like sad music. Okay. Let's go. Hold on. All right. you heard it first from dom oh man it's been great talking to you dom i'm likewise i i think we should be friends we live in the same town so and we need to hang out more i would totally down let's jam and let's do the whole thing i got one last question for you um You got it. What would you tell 20, what, how old were you when you were in New York when we had a breakdown, 23, 24?

Yeah. What would you tell 23-year-old Dom what 42-year-old Dom knows now? What advice would you give him? I would just say don't worry, man. Just keep on pushing. Yeah. You know, just keep on pushing. And, you know, hard work, like, pays off, you know, for, for, for anyone, for everyone.

Yeah. If you're ever feeling, and I would tell, I would tell this to anyone who's struggling, you know, as an artist, um, you know, just, just keep pushing, keep, you know, keep that fire, keep pushing. And I know like things aren't gonna, uh, aren't looking great now but the second you are so in what you're doing and and you're so um focused on that and so in tune with that that's when all the beautiful flowers start popping up around you

and okay they'll they'll be there they'll show up for sure. Optimistic Dom. Insecure. Dom the insecure. Optimistic, insecure saxophone player. That's beautiful. Dom, thanks so much, bro. Andy, thank you, bro. Keep fighting. I'm going to be supporting you, watching you.

Congratulations on the jazz record. Congratulations on the baby. And let's go Lakers. We're going to win one this year, right? Let's go Lakers. Yes, sir. Thanks for being on the show, bro. Go Lakers we're going to win one this year let's go Lakers thanks for being on the show bro go have fun go see your baby and we'll talk soon pal

later pal later fucking awesome Dom from Big G always want to talk to him shout out to Dom alright talk to you soon

now a message from the UN. Are you still in love with me like the way you used to be or is it changing? Does it deepen over time like the river that is winding through the canyon? through the canyon Are you still in love with her? You remember how you were before the sorrow Are you closer for the tears As the weight of all these years

Left you hollow Are we strangers now Like the sick field gal and the thought-filled show are we strangers now like

rock and roll and the radio In the radio Rock and roll radio We're just strangers now Rock and roll radio All right, and there you have it. Dominic, what a great fucking dude, right?

Humble, fucking sweet, loves And he's insecure, which is awesome You know, pretty people aren't supposed to be insecure They got everything they need They got, fuck, he plays sax And he does his thing on the And he's good looking, he's got his kid But you know, we all fight our insecurities

So just remember that Don't be so hard on yourself You know, I've been starting to smoke weed a little more during the day because I get the anxiety and 14-year-olds hooks me up with that low potency. They got a couple of things called the truth. They got this one week called Wookfoot, which is tight. And it really helped me. So if you guys are going through anxiety, figure out a session or a way to try to figure out what's wrong, what the problem is.

If you don't ask yourself those questions of why I feel these anxieties or why I feel these insecurities, we're never going to really deal with them. We're just going to suppress, suppress, suppress until finally we make it until it's just too much and it's overfilling your throat and whatnot. That's not a good look. It's not a good vibe to have. So just be gentle with yourself.

Be confident with yourself. And trust yourself that when you start answering these questions that life brings you that, uh, no, you're okay with it. And don't be scared to get vulnerable with yourself. Cause if we can't be vulnerable with ourselves, who are we going to be vulnerable with? So I'll leave you with that. But that's it, guys. It's a fun show this week. I did a lot of interviews last couple weeks. I got Trevor Hall on the show coming up.

I interviewed him a couple days ago. Fucking great. Larkin Poe, two girls, badass blues players. I think that's next week. Charlie Crockett, you know him? He's badass. He's a good songwriter. We've almost made it to 100 episodes.

What the fuck? Thanks for riding with me. Thanks for being homies with me. I really appreciate it. But yeah, it's all happening. Go buy tickets to that virtual fest, the UN. We're going to have a lot of fun that weekend, August 21st and 22nd. Go check out KMU Labs.

I like them. Go check out 14er Weed if you're in the Colorado area. Go grab it. Say Frasco says, I need to get the low. I need to try this weed out. So go out to Boulder. Go take a trip out there, all you Denver cats. Go on a hike and then go grab some weed from them because they're badass and they're super sweet and they're friends of the podcast. I want to give them a

little love. Just go find yourself, guys. It's the summer of finding yourself. Fuck what everyone else thinks about you. Fuck all the haters and just be you. If someone, mom tells you to get a job, say, no, mom, you get a fucking job. Shout out to everyone living at home, forced to live at home again. I was talking to Nicole Atkins and yeah, she's a popular musician, but she's living at home too. You know, we're all figuring out the new, the new norm for musicians and how we're going to make it through. So just be gentle with your, your favorite musicians and be gentle with yourselves. And we're going to make it through. So just be gentle with your favorite musicians and be gentle with yourselves. And we're going to make it through this, I swear.

So ladies and gentlemen, I will see you next week. Be safe out there. Let the world be your oyster. Let your soul tell you exactly how you feel. Because if we stop listening to our soul, then we start suppressing. So follow your gut, follow your heart, fall in love, and we're going to make it through this. All right, guys, have a great day, and I'll see you next week.

Or I'll see you Thursday on the shit show. Who's on the shit show this Thursday? Jason Hahn, Trevor Hall, and Benny Bloom. Benny Bloom and I have been making short films together. It's been a lot of fun. And Gerlach. Of course, I got to say Gerlach because he gets all offended when I don't say his name.

But yeah, my Denver crew will be there for you guys all summer. So if you need me, just holler at me, message me. If you're feeling blue, I've been trying to message you guys back. You guys have been hitting me up a lot. I'm trying my best to get to everyone and I blue, I've been trying to message you guys back. You guys have been hitting me up a lot. I'm trying my best to get to everyone, and I will. I promise. So I love you.

Be safe out there. And I will catch you next week. Or I'll catch you Thursday. I'll catch you soon. I'm on the internet all the time. All right. Love you. You tuned in to the third season of Blissful Blah

at Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast, produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel, I'm Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For info on the show, please head to Instagram at WorldSavingPodcast. For more info on blog or tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. Check out the new album, Keep On Keepin' On. Or let Andy entertain you at a Thursday night online shitshow. Or at this crazy Saturday night wanna-dance-with-somebody dance party.

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 Patreon-born YouTuber 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? 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.