Do Go On - 393 - The Shaggs: The Best or Worst Band of All Time?

Episode Date: May 3, 2023

This week’s episode is about one of the most polarising bands of all time, The Shaggs! They've been described as both the best and the worst band of all time and have had many big name fans over the years such as Kurt Cobain and Frank Zappa. Their origin story is one of the least conventional we've come across, tune in to hear the story!This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 04:58 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodLive show tickets: https://dogoonpod.com/live-shows/ Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/suggest-a-topic/Check out our new merch! : https://do-go-on-podcast.creator-spring.com/ Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​  Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present.  REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/09/27/meet-the-shaggshttps://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-story-of-the-shaggs-the-beatles/https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/02/17/515775669/the-best-or-worst-band-of-all-time-is-back‘Songs in the Key of Z The Curious Universe of Outsider Music’ by Irwin Chusidhttps://theshaggs.bandcamp.com/album/philosophy-of-the-world Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just jumping in really quickly at the start of today's episode to tell you about some upcoming opportunities to see us live in the flesh. And you can see us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024. We are doing three live podcasts on Sundays at 3.30 at Basement Comedy Club, April 7, 14 and 21. You can get tickets at dogo1pod.com. Matt, you're also doing some shows around the country. That's right. I'm doing shows with Saren Jayamana, who's been on the show before. We're going to be in Perth in January, Adelaide in February, Melbourne through the festival in April, and then Brisbane after that. I'm also doing Who Knew It's in Perth and Adelaide. Details for all that stuff at mattstuartcomedy.com.

We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On.

My name is Dave Warnke and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart. Hello. Hello, hello. Welcome to Chris and Mari's plant farm and how good is it to be alive? I wish I was never born. You've been thinking about that? I've been thinking about it a lot. I've had a lot of people reaching out to me saying that A, that was very funny and B, reaction to it was fun and i've decided it's just going to be my catchphrase now if matt's going to

say how good is it to be alive i'm going to say i wish i was the polar opposite it's great it's good to have both sides of the argument that's matt and i we're ying and yang you know if people don't get the reference it's the quantus bomb heist episode. A couple of weeks back now. Great episode. And that moment was very funny to listen to. And it's, I guess, shaped me. It moved you, it shaped you. But I'll forget by next week. It spoke to you. It spoke to me.

Dave, how does this show work? I was going to get in there to try and get Matt to explain the show, but I'll do it. I'll step up. Here we go. This week, what we're going to do is the same thing we've done every week for the last 390 something. Try to take over the world.

And on the way to Total World Domination, we have researched a topic often suggested to us by one of the listeners. That's one of us has gone away, done a bit of research, bring it back to the others who have no idea what it's going to be about. Matt, it is your turn to regale us with a tale from history. And we always start with a question. Do you have a question? I do have a question, yes.

And this topic, you'll either know it or you don't, so I'm going to ask a tangential question. Okay. And the question is, which US state? I'm going to give you facts about this state. We'll go guess for guess. After each clue, you each get a guess. So, you've got 50 possibilities here.

Lucky we're equally good at geography. But you're an Americanophile. I am an Americanophile. Yeah. It's true. Land of the free. I've always said that. You're on a list.

I can't be within 400 feet of an American. Jess. Canadian, I'm coming right in. Question is, which US state? Jess Jess, you want to start off? Sure First clue I thought there was going to be no clues If we just have a stat

Just say a state First clue is the nickname is the Granite State Granite State Granite is grey What makes me think grey? Good question Great question. I'm thinking North Dakota.

Cop that North Dakota. It is not North Dakota. Okay, it's not North Dakota. Okay, I'm going to go for South Dakota. It is not South Dakota. Okay, so it's back to me. All right, Jess. Next clue.

Fantastic. It got statehood in 1788, the ninth state. The ninth state. Yes. So, it's one of the early states. And, you know, most of the early states, you know, that America sort of started mainly in the northeast and spread out. Yeah, that means heaps. This is really helping Jess here.

Yeah. I'm thinking one of the M ones, whether I'm thinking Mississippi. It is not Mississippi. Oh, that's it. It's not Massachusetts. I'm thinking northeast. I'm thinking my East I'm thinking My Beautiful state

Home of the creamy Vermont It is not Vermont Okay The population As of 2016 Is 1,334,795 In the state

In the state It's a small state Small state There you go That's a good clue there Can I look at a map? Sure Can I know the answer?

I mean, this game has gone to shit. Okay. No, Dave's correct. He's put his foot down there. I don't know if population's going to help me all that much. It's a small state. It's obviously not New York. Yeah.

But it's- You want to have a stab? Is it? I don't know. Dave? Are you passing? Passing. Pass. All right. If you pass, you can pull up a map. All right? I don't know. Dave? Are you passing? Passing. Pass.

All right. If you pass, you can pull up a map. All right, Dave? Yes. Maryland? It's not Maryland. Okay, great. All right.

Fourth clue. Its capital city is Concord. Oh. Don't, you can't look that up. I mean, that will be on the map. Is it New Hampshire? But I didn't look that up. I looked up ninth state.

That's not looking up the map. It is New Hampshire. Hooray! I feel like they've been ripped off a little bit there, but fair enough. The further clues were bigger city Manchester, abbreviation NH. Yeah, I might have got it then, but I was not going to get it sooner than that. No, this one would have given away state bird, purple finch. Oh, New Hampshire.

Oh, the New Hampshire purple finch. Yeah. State flower, purple lilac. Okay, New Hampshire. Oh, the New Hampshire purple finch. Yeah. State flower, purple lilac. Okay, I love purple. I love purple state. Love that. So, this topic was suggested by Andy Johnson from The Wirral in UK. Okay.

The Wirral. The Wirral. Remember we once had Worrell from Wirral and I laughed a lot. So, this week's episode is about one of the most polarising bands of all time, New Hampshire's own The Shags. You familiar with The Shags? I don't know The Shags. The Shags.

The Shags. I hadn't heard of The Shags either. Oh, okay. No, I don't know. But they're polarising. Polarising. That's fun. Interesting band.

Very interesting band. Okay. I wonder why. Is it musical? Is it their history? Is it their outfits? Yeah. Is it that after every show, which is great because they're great musicians, they punch

a dog? Wow. One each? No, just one dog per show. But is it like how many members in the show, Hag? Three members. But they take turns. Oh, that's awful.

No, no, no. Like the dog only gets punched once. Okay. Well. The live band did have up to five or so members as well, No, no, like the dog only gets punched once. Okay. Well, the live band did have up to five or so members as well. But again, the dog only gets punched once. Right. They take it in turns.

Okay. Yeah. That's just a theory I have. Okay. I'm not saying that's true. Polarizing because some people love that. But plenty don't. Plenty are like, oh, I don't think that's good.

You know, they're really passionate like oh, I don't think that's good, you know. They're really passionate like that. I didn't know that. According to Susan Orlean, writing for The New Yorker, this is like, this is one of the, it's a big in-depth article and it's what everyone quotes when they're talking about this band. Sort of the definitive history of the shags. But according to Orlean, depending on whom you ask, the shags were either the best band of all time or the worst.

Wow, that is quite polarising. Yes, that's a real spectrum. I don't think I'd say of many bands they were the best band of all time. You know what I mean? That's extreme. I imagine just one band. But what would you say is the worst band of all time? Weed Hornet. Oh, well, that's polarising what would you say is the worst band of all time? Weed Hornet.

Oh. Well, that's polarising because I think they're the best band of all time. They're my favourite band named after a whippersnapper. Apparently, Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain were fans, but then Orlean quotes a music fan who claimed to be in the fetal position, writhing in pain, saying the shags were hauntingly bad and added, I would walk across the desert while eating charcoal briquettes soaked in Tabasco for 40 days and 40 nights not to ever have heard or listened to

anything shag related ever again. That's pretty extreme, especially because, like, if you're at a gig and you're not enjoying it, you can leave. I don't know why. There's no scenario where you're at a gig and you're not enjoying it you can leave i don't know why there's no scenario where you're gonna have to if you're at a point where you're ready to get into the fetal position just go home yeah what are you doing i'll just flick no i'm gonna i'm gonna walk through the desert for 40 days and 40 nights when with very biblical uh yeah imagery there then updated it with it was it a brick covered in tabasco brickette you know like little barbecue fire

starter type thing. Right Arthur, small bricks. Alright, no, that's a good point. Charcoal briquettes. Yeah, that's for starting a fire. I thought it was a charcoal covered small brick. Based in Tabasco. That's good eating. Dave the handyman over here. Dave's getting hungry. Lunch time.

So what's their story, you might be wondering? I am. Me too. What's their sound? Who are they? Well, let me tell you about it. Oh, that's perfect. Yeah.

The Shags were formed in Fremont, New Hampshire, a small town with a population of around 5,000 people today. Though back in the 60s when they were formed, it was less than 1,000, 800 odd. It sounds like an unlikely town for such an infamous band to come from. According to Orlean, Fremont, New Hampshire, is a town that has missed out on most everything. Route 125, the main highway bisecting New Hampshire,

just misses the east side of Fremont. Route 101 just misses the north. The town is neither in the mountains nor on the ocean. It is not quite in the thick of Boston's outskirts, nor is it quite cosseted in the north. The town is neither in the mountains nor on the ocean. It is not quite in the thick of Boston's outskirts, nor is it quite cosseted in the woods. Fremont is a drowsy, trim, unfancy place, rimmed by the Exeter River. Lucky it.

But it basically, she's saying that it's just like it's sort of in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, there's no- Defining features. You don't pass through it. Yeah. Because you don't have to, like, yeah. So, the big highways bypass it.

Yeah. So, it's just sort of out of place, out of time almost. But it's, you know, so even though it's not in Massachusetts, it's quite close, its closest big city is Boston. It's almost like an hour, so it's like half an hour or something from there, I think. Oh, wow. Orlean also notes that apart from the shags, the town is only known for being the hometown of the eminent but obscure 1920s meteorologist Herbert Brown. Familiar with his work?

Love Brown's work. Brown's Comet. He does weather. He realizes it's a different thing. Brown's Comet. That's why he called it the rain. Oh, a lot of Brown's Comets falling today. That one isn't catching on.

Okay. That's what he calls poop. The other thing that it's known for is being the first place a B-52 ever crashed without killing anyone. That's on the billboard. That's on the billboard. While driving into town. Home of the first crash of the B-52 in brackets without killing anyone. That's on the billboard. That's on the billboard. Wow. While driving into town. Homer, the first crash of the B-52 in brackets when no one died.

That's good. That's nice. The more stipulations you have to have on a first, the better. Yeah, the better. When no one died who was wearing a three-piece suit. Yeah. In the 60s, the main jobs in Fremont were raising dairy cows, working at the Exeter textile mill or barrel building.

They went to church and mostly lived quiet lives. In his book, History of Fremont, Matthew Thomas wrote, and Matthew Thomas is a local, grew up his whole life there, and he's sort of the town's historian. So, he wrote a book about it saying, there may have been some nice pleasant times, but for the most part, death, sickness, disease, accidents, bad weather, Brown's comments, loneliness, strenuous hard work, insect infested foods, prowling predatory animals and countless inconveniences mark day to day existence. Oh, my God. He lived there his whole life. Get out.

Two highways really close. And he's like, there might have been good times. I certainly haven't experienced them, but I'm just, you know, I'm trying to be impartial as a journalist, but it's mostly dog shit. It's the worst. It's awful. I hate this place. I've written a book about it.

You could literally walk to Boston. Yeah, just leave. You don't have to stay there. You don't have to stay in the town you were born in if you don't like it. But I think, yeah, sometimes I imagine he'd probably be like, if you went there and said the same thing, he'd be like, how dare you? A hundred percent, yeah. This is my town.

It's like- We talk about that. Yeah. I can say anything to my brother. I'll call him every name under the sun. You look at him wrong, I'll fucking kill you. Yeah. Remember that time I called him a pastry puff?

Yeah. You punched me in the face. You were in hospital. You punched me in the face I did You deserved it My brother is no pastry puff Unless I say it

Then it's very funny I misspoke I meant to say Pass me a pastry puff Nah You got a punch in the face Before I could qualify You got a punch in the face

I was in hospital When Orlean asked Thomas What it had been like growing up there, he said it was nice, but that he had been bored stiff. For entertainment, there were square dances, sledding, an annual carnival, and a barbershop and pool room. I think when a barbershop and pool room makes the list, it might be a pretty dull place. Oh, gosh, I'm so bored.

Might get a pretty dull place. Oh, gosh, I'm so bored. Might get a haircut. Okay. Something to do in this town. What do you mean? Go get your haircut. Take your brother. I just got my haircut yesterday. Yeah, I could use a trim.

Go get a sick fade. You'll look great. Yeah, I mean, the square dancing sounds fun. Sledding. That's fun. That's seasonal, though. Annual carnival. Yeah, I mean, the square dancing sounds fun. Sledding. That's fun. That's seasonal, though. Annual carnival. Yeah.

This sounds like a festival town. One time a year, it's fun. Pool hole. Come on. A hole full of pools? Sounds fantastic. That's the best. So, amongst all this, how did the Shags form?

And this best or worst band of all time has come out of this town. Well, it's one of the less conventional band origin stories I've ever heard. I'm so excited. You have to go back a few decades before their formation for the beginning of this story. Oh, we're really going back. To a young boy named Austin Wiggin Jr. Fantastic name. Austin Wiggin Jr.

Yeah. Where was the... I wonder if only Austin Wiggin was from the Wirral. Wiggin Junior. Yeah. Where was the... I wonder if only Austin Wiggin was from the Wirral. Wiggin from Wirral. Orge. That's what I'm going to call him. AWJ. Orge. Keep up, boys. You're gorge.

Nah, he's not the best. Oh, no. Anyway, so young Wiggin's mother was a bit of a fortune teller And one day She read his palm According to Tom Taylor Writing for Far Out magazine

She said to her son Something akin to the following You will grow up And marry a wife With strawberry blonde hair You will have two sons with her Who I will not live to see Then you will have some daughters

And these daughters Will go on to form The greatest music group In the world. Okay. What? That feels like less of a prediction from a mother and more of like a command. Yeah.

Find this woman, marry her, two sons only, then three daughters, then great band. Yes. So, like, I think you go, he's got control of that. But even if she just put the idea in his mind subtly, he meets a strawberry bond person, maybe thinks the back of his mind, this is fate. Yeah, this is her. But that suggestion can't control the sex of the babies he has.

Not with that attitude. Well, maybe it can. I'm not a scientist. Have a bite of lemon. Does that help? Yeah. Stand on your head. Yep. For a boy. Yes. Stand on your head. Yep. For a boy.

Yes. Stand on your feet for a girl. That's right. That's why there's so many girls in this world. So this was when he was still very young, kind of put it in the back of his mind and moved on with his life. Taylor continues. He was a conservative man with not much of an interest in anything

but getting by, least of all music. He lived a quiet existence and kept himself to himself. Then one day he met a woman with strawberry blonde hair. Her name was Annie, and the two got on quite well and ended up getting married. No. This ticked off the first part of the Wigan prophecy. Then Mother Wigan passed away, which she also obviously predicted. I told you I would die one day.

She's good. And this happened just before Annie gave birth. Okay. To? A son. Oh, my God. What are the chances? I believe it's 50, 50, 50, 51, 49, maybe.

Yeah. But the second kid. Okay. Again, a son. What are the chances my remains 50 50 freaking god but to have two i think that is less than 50 50 it's getting less likely each time i think isn't it just the same every time you have a new child it's the same every time but from the start to have two sons is lower than 50 50 okay to have. To have two sons. You're the maths guy. Am I wrong? I think you're less likely to have two sons than you are to have one son.

Like, it's more likely you'll have a boy and a girl than you'll have two boys or two girls, right? It's like, you know, when you do the heads or tails thing at your trivia nights? What's the most likely one to come up when you flip two coins? One heads, one tails, right? Isn't there like some- It depends on the coin with the slight weighting. If you flipped it one million times, then they don't weigh exactly the same.

So, we have to find out Annie's weighting. Anyway, so- They've got the two sons. Two sons. So, the only thing now that needed to happen for the prophecy to come true was for them to have multiple girls and those girls to form a band. The greatest band of all time. The greatest band of all time.

So probably the easy bit's been done. Would you say that that's 50-50? That's about 50-50, yeah. But they had three daughters, Dot, Betty and Helen, and Rachel after that as well. But who? Like, obviously we don't give a shit about Rachel Rachel played bass a little bit Okay

But the core of the band was Dot, Betty and Helen Two guitarists and a drummer Give Rachel a tambourine and be done with it Honestly Rachel you were a mistake Okay You've got no rhythm Your mother and I had had a fight And we made up

And unfortunately you were the result of that. We made you. And you were not part of the prophecy, but your sisters seem okay with you hanging around. But just know nobody cares about the bass player. I really wish there was more specific on the number of daughters. There are some daughters. Yeah.

Yeah, you've left yourself a bit of wiggle room there, haven't you, Mama Wiggin? Bit of Wiggin room, as she might say. Like wiggle room. That's fun. As Taylor writes, Austin Wiggin Jr.'s life may have been beige on the surface, but the one Achilles heel to his humble normality was a profound belief in superstition. After all, if everything his Achilles heel to his humble normality was a profound belief in

superstition. After all, if everything his mother had predicted to this point came true, then why not the grand payoff? Like you said, the hard part's been done. You cruise into the finish line from here. I'm just going to quit my job. Giving these kids a couple of instruments. Now sit back and wait.

A few months of piano lessons each. We're good to go. Okay. If you do know this story. As Orlean wrote, it was left to Ostendor to fulfill the last of his mother's predictions. And when his daughters were old enough, he told them that they would be taking voice and music lessons and forming a band. There was no debate.

His word was law and his mother's prophecies were gospel. But as Taylor writes, the issue was that simple chance had borne out the augury so far, but it takes more than that to form the world's greatest band. Thus what followed was a farcical folly of misguided mindset in every which way. Austin pulled his daughters out of school for reasons unclear to even those involved. He bestowed them with out of tune instruments and arranged fleeting vocal and music lessons with what little change he could spare. If they're guaranteed to be the greatest band in the world,

you don't really have to put much effort in. You don't need to bother tuning instruments. You can give them a guitar with no strings and they'll still somehow find a way. Yeah. I mean, you wouldn't even have to give them a guitar. No. They'd probably just walk home one day and find a guitar.

Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah, it's interesting Taylor here says that no one really knows why he pulled him out of school, but it sounds like it was because there was no high school in the town. They had to catch a bus to another town. He's like,

that commute time could be band practice time. Yeah, that's precious time. So, instead he- You don't need to learn to read other than music. Other than music, which I don't know how to teach. But you know that already, right? I have no interest in music. I cannot carry a tune.

That's your thing. Yeah. We don't either. I'm not big on music. No, no, no. You are. You love it. You love it.

I detest music. You're good. It's your thing. They did like- They liked music apparently, but they had no interest in pursuing music. They like listening to pop radio, basically. And what sort of age group are they when they're forced together in this band? The young teens?

Teenagers. Yeah, right. A few years apart. Sucks to be the older brothers who were just ignored. They ended up on tambourines and stuff at some of the live shows. Wow. Orlean says they were shy small town teenagers who dreamed of growing up and getting married, having children, maybe becoming secretaries someday.

But Austin pushed the girls into a new life and he named them the Shags. The Shags. That's the dad's name. The dad's name. The Shags. The Shags. Why? Well, according to Erwin Chusard in his book, Songs in the Key of Zed, The Curious Universe of Outsider Music.

The first chapter's all dedicated to the shags. That's great. Songs in the Key of Zed. Love that. Or probably- Key of Z. Key of Z. Oh, yeah, that sounds way better.

Sounds way better. My favourite band, Zed Zed Top. I love Jay Zed. I love Jay Zed. Fantastic artist. Fantastic. Fantastic. I don't know what it is. You've been saying fantastic a lot lately. Oh, yeah. And I love Jay Z. I love Jay Z. Fantastic artist. Fantastic. Fantastic. I don't know what it is.

You've been saying fantastic a lot lately. Oh, yeah. And I love it. Yeah, it's great. Because you say it like, oh, fantastic. That is fantastic. I think that's as Sam Peterson is. Is it?

He does say fantastic. That was fantastic. Oh, yes. Yeah, yep. I have been hanging out with a great man a lot lately. He's really rubbing off on me in a very positive way. Love that guy. He's rubbing off on me in a real fantastic way.

Yes, absolutely fantastic. So, anyway, Chused in his book, The Key of Zed, wrote, the name shags devised by their father referred to both shaggy dogs and the then popular shag haircut. It was a twofer. Much like the Beatles, it had two meanings. Two meanings. Shaggy dogs, which are cool.

Shaggy haircuts, which are cool. Apparently, when the Beatles hit America in the mid-60s, blew up and he's like, yeah, well, they're big now. But obviously- Just wait for the shags. But he was sort of inspired. He's like, yeah, we're going to do what they're doing, basically only bigger.

That's wild. We're going to be twice as big as Jesus, okay? Two times. So the girls like listening to the music on the radio, but they'd never attended a concert. They'd never seen live music. Dot later said, our father didn't believe in them. Not for us to go to anyway, just for us to all of a sudden perform it.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, why would you go to a concert where you could sell out your own Madison Square Garden concert? Yeah. That's amazing. Why pay to go to a concert when we could be making millions? Oh, the confidence of this man. You don't do your job when you're off the clock.

So, why would you go? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. But I can sort of say that he's a superstitious guy. These, like, you would just be like, holy shit, these things are all happening as mum said. So, I guess this is, if you believe in it, you believe in it. Yep.

It's all lining up. But it's just funny to sort of, yeah, to just believe that it'll just happen. Like, he's not really making the right steps. No. To make it happen. Yeah. It's very funny to be like, well, this will just come naturally to you. Because he's got blind. That's not really put making the right steps no to make it happen it's very funny to be like well this will just come naturally to you because that's not what that's not what mum said no she wasn't like they'll all be musical prodigies they're just going to be a big bet so you need to show they need to see what a gig is yeah they need to learn an instrument yeah 100

he's he's uh he's filled in some gaps on his mum's prophecy of like they'll just be prodigies and they'll figure it out. It'll be amazing. We'll just start at the top and we'll work our way up from there. Yeah, we'll create a new top. A ZZ top. So, yeah, he was homeschooling them and he was making them practice mainly music all day, so much so that they found it a real grind. It wasn't really fun.

Fingers were bleeding on the recorder. It was never particularly positive about the way they were playing, even though he had no interest in music. This all sounds terrible to me. Yes. But so do the Beatles. He has no idea. But, yeah, it doesn't sound like he was a good dad, obviously.

So, yeah, they rehearsed in the morning, the afternoon, then after dinner. He also made them do calisthenics for some reason, which I'm not even fully sure what that is. That's a cardio thing. Beyonce rehearses on a treadmill. Well, there you go. Yeah, you got to keep that cardio up. She probably follows the Wiggins route to success.

Because you know how active they are and they're dancing on the stage and stuff. You got to be able to still hit those high notes. Nobody wants to go to a concert of the best band in the world and hear them going, you know. So, your cardio fitness has to go through the concert of the best band in the world and hear them going, you know, so your cardio fitness has to be through the roof. Very important. I wheeled onto stage on treadmills. That's right.

And then they just start strumming. That's right. Maybe I'll do a comedy festival show on a treadmill. Do you know, like, a guy, I saw someone do that a couple of years ago. Yes. The guy that he won the best comedy at Edinburgh. Did a show on a treadmill. Yeah.

The Perrier Award. And it was, yeah, it was like, it was quite a dark sort of show. I think it's got Monkey See, Monkey Do was the name of the show. Oh, wow. Yeah, he did the whole thing on the treadmill. Okay. Sorry, Jess. What about on an exercise bike?

No one's done it. Yes. I think, and I'm pretty sure ATB, I said Trombo Birchall had a similar idea. And then they go, like, around that time, it's like, oh, are you kidding? God damn. Who would have thought that would be- Damn it. Someone beat me to the treadmill.

Richard Gad was the name. Oh, that's right. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. But maybe I could get sponsorship from Peloton. Get a Peloton and do it on a Peloton. Yes. What do you think? Yeah, yeah. Get Pel Peloton and do it on a Peloton. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Get Peloton involved. Perfect. I love this. Maybe have a Mr. Big, you know, life-size doll. Could be somehow built into the show. I forgot about that. I just looked this up, you know, to find it. I wrote Monkey See Monkey Do Comedy Festival.

And the first thing that comes up is a review from the age. Keeping in mind, this show won Best Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival, biggest comedy festival in the world. Yep. Two stars. Incredible stuff. Really? Incredible stuff.

So, would you say that's a polarising show? Oh, yeah. I guess so. Amazing. And a bit of the shags about it. It's so funny. Like, when a review is for your show, it means everything. And you take it very seriously.

But other than that, you're like, oh, this is all dumb. Yeah. That doesn't matter. This makes you laugh. Some stupid person's opinion about one night and their very specific taste. I reckon some are better than others. Of course.

Some reviewers and I- There are some of mine that I read and I go, I can- There's things to learn from this. Yeah. But there's others that are like- Oh, you just didn't. You're like, oh.

It wasn't for you. You didn't understand this at all. My favourite is when they're in a room of an audience who are loving it. Yeah, yeah. The audience is having a great time. They're laughing. They're whooping. It gets a standing ovation and the reviewer's like, not very good.

I didn't get it. Yeah, and it's like, that's- Yep. And they even- They have the sort of the blind spot of saying it, not real, even as they're writing it. Everyone seemed to be loving it. Yeah. I don't know why.

Well, I mean, it's a comedy show. Yeah. People are laughing. That's got to be one of the key aims of it. It's one of the KPIs, for sure. Absolutely one of the KPIs. Thanks for putting it in language that I can understand. That's right.

Real business technology. As an accountant. That's right. Unpracticing. And unqualified. Did it in VCE, though. 400 years ago. One of those.

Congratulations. Top of my class, but- Had abacuses back then? No. They weren't quite around everything was if it wasn't counting up to 10 we didn't do it yeah fair enough we do to it there i'm sorry maddie it was before toes um so before that was yeah i grew up pre-toes wow so yeah so he's homeschooling him he working them to the bone, making them practice all day and night. They hated it.

He was quite cruel about it, according to Orlean. One song in particular, Philosophy of the World, he claimed they never played right, and he would insist on hearing it again and again. This is a guy who doesn't have an interest in music, didn't write the song dot wrote it but he's saying you're doing it wrong i don't really like music i don't get music but you're not playing this right you're not playing your song right yeah that's good that is good but the daughters

would also say yeah they're they would agree they're not they're not the best they're not they don't think they're a great band or anything. They're pretty aware of what's going on, but he's a bit deluded about it all because- Right. Because of the prophecy. Yeah. But they're not all in on the prophecy. No. They don't think it's just going to happen.

Yeah, yeah. That's right. They're a bit like, what are we doing, Dad? They're like, Dad's a bit of a kook. Yeah. But they're also- They lived quite a sheltered life because he's taken them out of school. Yeah.

Apparently, they were already kind of outsiders when they were in school, and now they're fully sheltered from the town. It's because they're wearing head-to-toe merch for the band that's being issued. Yeah. We're the Shags. Shags. So, Orlean continues, the Shags were not leading rock and roll lives. Austin forbade the girls to date before they were 18

and discouraged most other friendships. They hadn't been popular kids anyway, but being in the band and being homeschool set them apart even more. Friday nights, the family went out to do grocery shopping. On Sundays, they went to church and the girls practiced when they got home. Their world was even smaller than the small town of Fremont. Wow. So, they-

Yeah. They really only had each other. Like, just the fact that it's noted that they went out on Fridays to go shopping. Yeah. That's one of their weekly excursions. Yeah. Yeah, it's an exciting event. Grocery shopping and church, and that's it.

Yeah. Yeah, what a nightmare. That's how you get inspired to make art. I don't even grocery shop anymore. Yeah. Get that shit delivered. You live- Your world is even smaller than the small world inside the small world of Fremont.

Yeah, that's why you don't even leave your house. I don't. Thanks so much for Zooming in today. We're in my house right now. My house is so big. Yes. Sometimes I have to get in a car and drive for 30 to 40 minutes to get- The world is my house.

To another part of my house. Melbourne is my house. So, it was the mid-60s, rock and roll and popular culture was becoming rebellious. Though Orlean writes, in Fremont, Dot Wiggin was writing tributes to her mum and dad with songs like, who are parents? With lyrics like, parents are the ones who really care. Who are parents? Parents are the ones who really care. Who are parents? Parents are the ones who are always there.

Great stuff. This is nice. Some kids think their parents are cruel just because they want them to obey certain rules. Parents do understand. Parents do care. So, that's one of their songs. That's actually really nice. Yeah.

It's one of those songs that I think like you're listening to it and it sort of doesn't matter. Like, Dave and I could be listening to it, right? And Dave and I could be going through really different things in our lives. But both of us take something very different away from it. And I think that's the real power of music and art. But at the same time, it's universal. Yes. Isn't that?

And that's tricky. Yeah, to do everything all at once. Oh, yeah. That's beautiful. Wow. That sounds like a mega hit to me. Yeah. How many streams on Spotify?

I think I'm on camp best band in the world currently. Yeah, so far. Me too. And you, well, I think I'm in there too somewhere. So, they played their first public show in 1968. It was a talent show and the band did not think they were ready. They're like, dad, we're not ready to play publicly. Please don't make us play publicly.

How long have they been a band for? About three years. I think they've been sort of're like, Dad, we're not ready to play publicly. Please don't make us play publicly. How long have they been in a band for? About three years, I think they've been sort of- Still not ready for a show. Well, and they've only ever been to a supermarket or church. They've never even seen a band play. Yeah, that's right. Oh, my God. They've only ever heard Coles Radio.

And it's pretty good. Yeah, it is. Like, it slaps. I love when you're cruising down and you're like, oh, Fleetwood Mac. Yes, please. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that could be my next career step, I think. DJing Coles Radio?

I hope so. Oh, that'd be great. That'd be awesome. You hear Mr. Boombastic comes on? Yes. Does someone back announce tracks in Coles? Yeah. Oh, really?

Yeah. Man, I must zone out when I go there. I thought it was just, this is Coles Radio. Yeah, sometimes you actually hear- They're doing that live every time. In every shop. I mean, they're not doing talkback, you know. Okay.

There's no text in or anything, but- And I'm sure they probably say fun stuff about specials at the moment. Yeah, yeah. Remember to scan your Flybuys card at checkout. Okay. On to Cindy Lauper. Great. On Coles Radio.

Grab a reusable bag. Yeah. They won On Coles Radio. Grab a reusable bag. Yeah. They won't cost the earth. That was when I used to work at a supermarket, our trolley, full-time trolley man. He would just, he took it on himself to really, this is years ago, obviously. That was just a pretty new thing. It was going hard on, let's stop using the plastic bags. But he came up with all these catchphrases.

It was sick. And he just grabbed the PA Sporadically and plugged the bags Love that Pushing his commie agenda I love that It was so Yeah it was the best

Yeah just freestyle on the mic He's the trolley guy He's the trolley guy In a lot of ways that was Not in his job description. Oh, yeah. But I like that he took it on himself. I love that.

He was a real company man. The Woolies hype man. Yeah. Good on him. He taught me everything I knew. So, I worked, yeah, I sort of worked my first week with him. He taught me the ways of the trolleys. That was probably one of the best stuff I've had, trolley man.

He put his ear to it, started rubbing it, saying, if you listen, you can hear them purr. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, that was one of the best jobs you ever had. That is offensive to say to us, your colleagues. Well, no, the current, like I think pre-now, that was probably my favourite job ever. Okay, great, I'll accept that.

But obviously, I feel like it's daylight second, of course, working with you two. Oh, my God. A dream. A dream come true. God, we're great. So first ever game. I was told in a prophecy to me once. What's a podcast?

They haven't been born yet. Your co-hosts have not been born yet and they won't be for quite some time. I'll have to recruit two younglings Take them under your wing That's right Grab them from their parents' house When they're a baby Put them in front of a microphone

They'll know what to do See? See, officer? It's not weird They're podcasting prodigies Yes The prophecy said they'd be prodigies We've been doing this, you know

From a very young age What were we, 25 when we started this podcast? God, that's young That's young That is so young That's teeny, we're babies Nobody, I can't think of anybody who's done a podcast younger than that No

We were but little children Tiny little children Yeah, your parents were pretty full on when I snatched you two They said thank you Get her the fuck out of this house. Thank you. Can you get her to move out too? Jesus Christ.

Anyway, so they're playing their first public show. First game. They're not ready for it. They're not ready. Yeah. And it's a competition. It's a competition. It's a talent competition.

According to Orlean, I don't know how well you think it might have gone. Any guesses? First place. And second place. Oh, yeah. I think they were disqualified okay for being too good yes according to orlean the girls could barely play their instruments they've been together for three years yeah but they've never actually had a lesson fair enough

and there's not youtube back then they had a few lessons but yeah they're so sporadic and they were also like the family were very poor and the dad put all the money he could into the instruments and a few lessons. But yeah, they just couldn't afford many lessons at all. No one taught them how to open the guitar case. They just had them on stage sort of banging them. Yeah, like a drum. I thought that was percussion. No one's shown us how to open this.

I don't know. So they opened with a cover of a country song called Wheels. When they did that, people in the audience threw soda cans at them and jeered. No, they're teenagers? Teenage girls on stage at this tiny town. Everyone would know everyone there. Isn't that outrageous? And they don't want to hear a country song?

But also, it's like, oh, they're having a go and they're not doing a great job at this talent competition. Isn't that the wildest thing? Throw stuff at them. Unbelievable. Apparently the girls were mortified, but Austin told them they just had to go home and practice more. I don't. Okay. Yep.

This happened at all of the Beatles early concerts. This is a good sign. This is the natural step. And look, it's not bad advice from a parent to be like, hey, you know, disappointments happen, we pick ourselves up, we keep going. But also, they don't know how to play their instruments. You've got to, yeah, practice. You've got to practice well.

Perfect practice makes whatever that saying is. That Halloween, they played at a local nursing home. Oh, God. How many fatalities were there? Happy Halloween. Their set featured one of their originals, a song by Dot called It's Halloween. Pretty appropriate. Great.

As an improvement from their debut show, they received a polite response. No one. Hey. Only a few cans were thrown. So, we're on the- Well, the oldies can't throw the cans that far. If they could No, no, no. Only a few cans were thrown. So, we're on the- Well, the oldies can't throw the cans that far. If they could have, they would have. Oh, 100%.

An old man did die in the audience, but- He was like, thank goodness for that. I feel my heart stopping. Great timing, heart. Hey, Rose. A very polarising band. Some people would throw things at them. Some people would sit politely, you know, both ends of the spectrum.

After this, Austin got them a Saturday night residency at the Fremont Town Hall. They played every Saturday night for years from then on. And the Town Hall wanted the band that had, like, caused a riot, basically, had people throw cans at them? Yeah. I suppose it's town. Are they the only band in town? There's only 500 band in town there's only basically and people would turn up and they and they dance even though the music was a bit weird and they'd sort

of just dance strange someone who went there a while later was like it was like that was the crowd was zombies you know they're just sort of dancing this weird zombified that was really odd apparently uh according to choosered austin quality control chief, was on hand for every performance. He strutted the corridors of the town hall and surveyed the musical proceedings from the dance floor, wearing a homemade pin that read Shag Manager, which is not even the name of the band. What are you guys doing in that bathroom? I'm in control of this

According to Orlean, the whole family took part in the town hall shows Austin III, the eldest son Austin III Played the maracas The other son, Robert, played the tambourine Okay, great Jess, you were keen on that Jess got canned for the brother

But Robert also did a drum solo during intermission And he's, I guess he's the The less good drummer For how long? Long intermission It's during intermission And all the tuitions Hey guys If you just want to grab a drink

Use the bathroom We'll be back in about 25 Take it away Like a full John Bonham 30 minute drum solo With a guy who Can't play

Incredible I'm assuming he can't play Maybe he can play really good But in the prophecy It said daughters Not sons That's right Every week he's like

Hopefully dad will notice That I know what I'm doing Austin the third Is a great drummer And Robert has the voice Of an angel But he's like No no no my daughters.

Prophecy is a prophecy. Even though according to one town hall regular, most people found the Shag's music painful and torturous. Sometimes as many as 100 kids showed up at the dances, practically the whole adolescent population of Fremont. There was nothing else to do. Exactly. There wasn't anything else to do.

The audience danced and chatted, heckled the band, pelted the girls with junk, ignored them, grudgingly appreciated them and mocked them. They got a bit of everything. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That's a nightmare. Remember the report I did about the-

Cherry Sisters. Yeah, the Terry- I was thinking about that as we were doing this. When people would go along, that's part of the quotation marks, fun was to mock them. They were terrible, yeah. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

I feel so bad for these people. Yes. I don't. It's a bit funny. I mean, the drum solo in Indonesia, it's the loudest instrument you can do. It's not like- Do a maracas solo.

He'll tinkle the ivories with a bit of you know Lounge music and he's hitting the shit out of a drunk kid So good And don't forget Don't feel too sorry for him Remember one of Kurt Cobain's favourite ever bands Yeah And Frank Zappa loved them like they have big fans as well

Okay That you know that happens in a little bit of time Not that you know anyway that happens in a little bit of time. Not that, you know, anyway. So, Austin, despite all this, the really quite negative responses they're getting regularly. And you can only imagine what that would do for your self-esteem. Like, imagine going into that. As teenagers. I guess you'd become numb to it.

Every Saturday night. But, jeez. Yeah, brutal. Austin still believed his daughters were on track to become the greatest band of all time. He had a little graph. Yep. Over about here. Yeah.

Okay. Is that the top? Yeah, yeah. Fantastic. He had a successometer. Yeah. He was filling up. Great.

You're already 100 out of 100 as far as I'm concerned. Perfect. He didn't have much money, but what he did have, he spent on the band. He got a camera and filmed the town hall shows, all in the hope of finding them a larger audience. Things weren't moving as fast as he was hoping, though. So, the next obvious step, of course, was to record an album. Yes. Of course.

I was thinking, when are they going to record an album? That seems like the obvious thing you'd do. When will they record their first hit record? But, of course, recording an album would be expensive. And according to Taylor, he pawned possessions, work night and day and saved every penny he could to ensure that their debut album, Philosophy of the World, would come to fruition.

Wow, the song that he was criticising him for playing is the title track. Wow, I think he sees it as their magnum opus, sort of that phrase is. Yeah. With the house pilfered of worth, his three faded daughters were set for the studio. Just imagine their house.

They go home like, where's the couch? That's gone into the studio fund. We sold it to the- Where are our beds? Studio fund. Also sold that to the recording studio. They go there and the guy's like, this is awesome. Thanks for this couch and these beds.

Yeah, they're using it for like sound insulation. Yeah, they're using it for, like, sound insulation. According to Orlean, in March 1969, he took the girls to Fleetwood Studios to make a record. According to the magazine Cool and Strange Music, the studio engineer listened to the shags rehearse and suggested that they weren't quite ready to record. Sort of politely saying, maybe, you know, don't spend the money now. Yeah.

Keep practising, come back. But Austin insisted on going forward, reportedly telling the engineer, quote, I want to get them while they're hot. Don't say that about your kids. But the sound engineer who hears a lot of music and could just take your money. Yes. Could just take your money. Yes. Could just take your money.

He's trying to say they're not hot, they're cold. The problem is I think when you're like you don't get it, this is the thing that's going to change everything. Yeah. You probably – it sounds like it's not right to you. Yeah. But that's because this is a brand new thing. Yeah.

You know, if you're really – you see it on like those Shark Tank kind of shows sometimes where they've got this business idea that they think is going to change the world and the sharks or the dragons go, this is not anything. And they're like, I've put my whole life into this. You're like, this is brutal. Yeah. I can't watch this anymore. I'm living out of my car. I've sold're like, this is brutal. Yeah. I can't watch this anymore.

I'm living out of my car. I've sold everything to make this card game. We're not sure that this card game- Yeah. It's very convoluted. Is worth the billion dollars you're asking for. Yeah. For $1 billion, you can have 1% of my business. Take it or leave it.

The sunk cost fallacy comes into play. Like, I've put everything into this. I need this to work. It must be good. Yeah. Brutal. So, anyway, he's like,'s like we gotta get them now they're peaking they're right in the zone we gotta get them they are peaking because they don't know how to use a microphone they're screaming into it so the album's recorded and this is what the album liner notes say one article said that it wasn't they're not sure who wrote it but all in thinks it was

austin who wrote this himself quote the shags are real pure unaffected by outside influences he didn't let him really listen to music much because he didn't want them influenced okay their music is different it is theirs alone they believe in it live it of all contemporary acts in the world today perhaps only the shags do what others would like to do, and that is perform only what they believe in, what they feel. Not what others think the shags should feel. The shags love you.

What? They will not change their music or style to meet the whims of a frustrated world. You should appreciate this because you know they are pure. What more can you ask? They are sisters and members of a large family where mutual respect and love for each other is at an unbelievable high. In an atmosphere which has encouraged them to develop their music

unaffected by outside influences, they are happy people and love what they are doing. They do it because they love it. Some of it's a bit defensive, isn't it? That's really justifying it. No, they love it. They're happy. Don't ask them. Don it? That's really justifying it. No, they love it. They're happy. Don't ask them.

Don't ask them. Don't ask them. They're very happy. This is what they want to do. They love you. Certainly not a prophecy. They're not doing this because of some weird palm reading when I was a kid. Weird thing to suggest.

Yeah, that's crazy of you. That's just coincidental that that happened, but they're doing it because they love it. They love it and they love you. That bit was weird. That bit was weird. They love you. The shags love you. The shags love you. it and they love you. That bit was weird. That bit was weird. They love you. The shags love you. The shags love you.

The shags love you. Okay. I love the shags. Yeah. So, yeah, pretty full on but also it's kind of amazing. There's this guy, Bobby Hearn, who worked at Fleetwood and he saw it all happen, as Chusard called it, the ensuing debacle of the recording session.

So, yeah, Bobby Hearn was later quoted talking about Austin saying that he came into Fleetwood and said he needed to cut some sides because he was the proprietor of the band. The father. He called himself the proprietor. Okay. He brought them in and they did this stuff. We shut the control room doors And rolled on the floor laughing Just rolled

It was horrible They did not know what they were doing And you'd be hoping for a soundproof studio On that incident They got laughing on the floor Yeah Sorry just one second girls I closed the door

Oh my god Brutal So he says They did not know what they were doing But they thought it was okay Close the door. Oh, my God. Brutal. He says, they did not know what they were doing, but they thought it was okay. They were just in another world, and they smelled like cows right off the farm. Not a dirty smell. Just smelled like cows.

What an odd thing to add. All of it's so odd. I just can't imagine laughing at that. I would feel, I'd feel, I'd feel for them. Yeah. Or I'd be like, good on them. One of the two. Yeah.

It feels pretty cruel to be laughing at. Anyway. Dave and I'd be laughing. Not until they left. Come on. Yeah, then we'd listen back. Shut the door. Remember their smell? Like a cow. Not dirty. Come on. Yeah, then we'd listen back. Shut the door. Remember their smell?

Like a cow. Not dirty. Not dirty. But cow-like. A clean cow. That said so because I love the smell of it. I used to go to our friend's dairy farm on holidays. To sniff the cows.

But it was just, oh, that smell is, it's nice. Love the smell of a cow. I'm not sure I'm familiar. Oh, right. Not sure if I should have said that out loud. Very defensive I'm not sure I'm familiar. All right. Not sure if I should have said that out loud. Very defensive. I love what I'm doing. I love the smell of a cow.

Yeah, okay. That does sound weird. Now that it- Once I heard it back. Did you ever just go right up to one and just give it a real sniff? No, I just meant the general. You take one of those big ears and you say, I love the smell of you.

Fuck, I love a cow. I love a big animal. You do one of those big ears and you say, I love the smell of you. Fuck, I love a cow. I love a big animal. You do. No, I agree. You couldn't laugh in their face like that. That is so- No. And it sounds like they were laughing secretly.

Yes. At least it sounds behind closed doors. And they tried. They tried to say, like, I don't think they're ready. Maybe now's not the best time to spend all of your money. That was a different guy who said that. Still. But still, he said they were all laughing so yeah uh the story goes that austin paid for a thousand copies of their record philosophy of the world to be pressed but the producer charlie dreyer disappeared along with 900 copies of the album never to be

seen again wow though npr says this part of the story is unsubstantiated. That's just like part of the mythology of it now. Trusted agrees that it's unlikely that that's the case, saying, For Dreyer to steal them makes no sense. Dreyer went deeply in debt after borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for various recording projects. But there's no way hundreds of philosophy LPs would have helped pay his creditors. Yeah. The album was unknown and worthless.

It was also considered an artistic abomination, which is full on terms. That is so brutal. Oh, wow. The only reason Dre had possessed them was because Austin never bothered to claim the goods. The eventual disposition of those boxes remains a mystery. It's conceivable that at some point, since they were taking up valuable space, they were simply tossed in a dumpster. Okay.

But the story has grown to- He ran off with them. He knew that it was going to become this cult hit. He spent the rest of his life in a cave listening to 900 LPs over and over again. Yeah, wearing them down one by one. And honestly, loving his life in that cave. He loved his life. He loved his cave life.

Shag cave. And his cave wife, a rock. Happy cave wife, happy cave life. The Wiggins returned to the Fleetwood studios a few years later. By then, though, they could play a little better after practising for many hundreds more hours. But they hadn't improved so much as to convince the engineer.

In fact, he pitied them, writing, as the day progressed, I overcame my disappointment and started feeling sorry for this family paying $60 an hour for studio time to record this. Oh, but again, like, so is the dad still not letting them listen to other music? He's not letting them see. Yeah. Like, that would help them so much. Yeah, they go, oh, I get it, yeah. Oh, I've been holding a guitar wrong.

Yeah. The wrong way around. But it is interesting because the people who appreciate it, appreciate it for probably for some of these reasons. Yeah. They weren't influenced by anything. Do they really appreciate it or is it just a thing that you say? Kurt. Mate.

Yeah. Call in. Call in. Kurt. Frank Zappa. Call in. Famously strange man. Do you just say you like it?

Yeah. Because it's what everyone else doesn't say. Potentially. Maybe. But it is like it's quite a else doesn't say. Potentially. Maybe. But it is like it's quite a few people who've got on board. Okay. Obviously, I haven't heard it, so I don't know how bad or good it is. When you said that they're holding the guitar the wrong way,

I imagined strings against your body. Rubbing. Yeah. Rubbing. Like sort of washboard. I was thinking maybe at the end of the report, we'll pause the recording, listen to a couple of songs, and then you can talk about what you think.

Great. And people at home can do the same. I would love that. Love that. So, as for the songs I recorded, I talked before about the one Who Are Parents. Years later, that's made it. It's still their number one.

Dot was the main songwriter, and as she was self-taught, the songs were kind of odd pop songs with odd meters, key changes, and fluctuating time signatures. According to Corey Groh, writing for Rolling Stone, the album contained Dot's songs about feeling like she didn't fit in, philosophy of the world, her deference for her parents, who were parents. Her love for a cat, Foot Foot.

The song was called My Pal Foot Foot. That's the song I've heard. I'll play that for you. If you don't know that's a cat, it sounds so odd. But I think it was, I heard it before I knew what it meant. And I'm like, oh, yeah, this is kind of bizarre and fun. But no, and it's like, oh, it's just literally a song about a cat. My pal foot foot.

And also she wrote about general confusion with songs like, why do I feel? And what should I do? It's like a robot. It does sound like an AI. Yeah. Why do I feel? Kill me.

Kill me. What is love? Some are happy while some have an inexplicable sadness about them that even she can't put her finger on years later. All are sung and played in unpredictable and unusual ways that won them their famous fans. The song My Pal Foot Foot has lyrics like, My pal's name is Foot Foot Foot Foot.

He always likes to roam. My pal's name is Foot Foot Foot Foot. I never find him home. I go to his house, knock at his door. People come out and say, Footfoot don't live here no more. In the end of the song, Footfoot returns, but apparently real life did not. Another song called Things I Wonder had lyrics that went, there are many things I wonder. There are many things I don't. It seems as though the things I wonder most are the things I never find out.

That almost rhymes. Well, I mean, she set up a pattern and broke it. And I guess that's an interesting. Orlean sort of wrote that lyrics like this are sort of hard to tell. Are they brilliant or are they awful? Yeah. It's hard. It's almost hard to tell. Are they brilliant or are they awful? Yeah. It's hard. It's almost hard to tell.

Orlean says, is this the colloquial ease and dislocated syntax of a James Shuler poem or the awkward innermost thoughts of a speechless teenager? One or the other. Yeah. Are you familiar with James Shuler's work, Dave? No, but I am familiar with. Awkward teenage. Mutant Ninja.

I have no idea what they're doing. The Shags continued playing weekly on Saturday nights in Fremont until 1973 when the town supervisors put an end to the shows. Apparently they were getting, no one's really sure why but it sounds like they were getting pretty full on. Like they were

borderline little riots and stuff. Oh my god. according to orlean austin was furious but the girls were relieved to end the grind of playing every saturday night they were getting older and had begun to chafe at his authority like the eldest was in her mid to late 20s by this stage wow so i don't yeah she must have been a late teen when they were started performing still being made to just play once a week, not really allowed to have a life. Yeah. So, they were beginning to sort of get over his authority,

so much so that they started to quietly rebel against him. One of his daughters, Helen, fell for a man at one of the dances and ended up marrying him in secret. Oh. According to Aline, she continued living at home for three months after the wedding, which Austin didn't even know about, because she was too terrified to tell him what she had done. On the night that she finally got up the courage to give him the news, he got out a shotgun

and went after her husband. The police joined in and told Helen to choose one man or the other. The police joined in. Do you mean they started chasing the husband? That's what Orlean said. But yeah, but it's like, they're like, all right, your choice. Which one do you want us to take to save you from? Who should we kill?

We got to kill someone. Dad or hubby? Both? Dad or hubby? One, the other, both. All options are on the table. Neither, what? No, no, that wasn't an option. I said one, the other, or both. Yeah. God, where. Both, hmm? All options are on the table. Neither, what? No, no, that wasn't an option.

I said one, the other, or both. Yeah. God, where did that come from? Jeez. Listen. It's a bit dim, this one. What the fuck? So, the police made her choose and she left with her husband.

It was months before Austin spoke to her again. Apparently, she was 28 years old at the time. So, well and truly. Fucking hell. Oh, gosh. Fucking hell. So some of the ages I think have been a bit inconsistent with because she was a teenager.

But anyway, you know, when sometimes different sources. Yeah. It sounds like they were together for ages, though. They're really. Yeah. Giving the music a big crack. Yeah, that's Saturday Night Weekly for years. They're really Yeah Giving the music thing a big crack Seems like they've been playing Yeah that's Saturday Night Weekly for years

Yeah yeah yeah Isn't that incredible Yeah So yeah if they were late teens It's not a shock to sort of be like Okay yep they're mid-twenties now That's wild During that time when they played

This guy stumbled upon the album You know via Those boxes sitting around He was like Apparently one guy came through and he's like, this is weird and interesting. Take a box of them if you want. They're just sitting here.

And that guy was like, this is really interesting. I think I could make something of this. And he went to one of the shows and here's the one going, it was strange the way everyone was dancing. He was the one saying they're like zombies. But then he decided in the end end he's like i can't i don't he felt like he'd be taking advantage like they're not really in on what makes them interesting yeah so he would feel bad oh okay yeah and he's like i think he saw the dad and

how he treated him he's like this is it's just not quite right but he said that driving back to boston i think it was really surreal. It was foggy. A cop car followed him for ages and he's like, it was just everything about that night was very unnerving and surreal. Oh, weird. Yeah. That cop did think he was Helen's husband, to be fair. Yeah, yeah.

He's like, do you want me to shoot you or shoot myself? Which one? I'm shooting someone here. I'll shoot my car. I'll shoot my car. I'll shoot my car. Me or you? Or your car. Or your car.

Final offer. Or that tree. I'm going to shoot something. I'm going to shoot something. I've got a KPI to make. These bullets aren't going to shoot themselves. Are you hella tough? Sorry.

Sorry. What? Things were fraying, but the band forged on. They continued to play locally at fairs and at the nursing home as well. I love that polite response. Austin continued believing that the prophecy was going to come true. It was only a matter of time. So he believed it all the way through.

How much time, Austin? How much time? But it was not to be. The band went into hiatus in 1975. This was brought on when Austin suffered a massive heart attack in his sleep and died at the age of just 47. Wow. Wow.

Was that in the prophecy or? Yeah. I don't think it was mentioned. So, from then they're like, well, now that he's not making us be a band, they just sort of, they didn't break up, but they just stopped playing. Yeah. Which sort of suggests they didn't really want to be doing it again. Yeah, that's right.

As soon as he's out, they're like, oh, okay. Yeah. So, yeah, imagine it's tough, but, like, I imagine there would have been a bit of relief. Yes. Yeah. To your dad's passing, which is so sad. It's really hard to know what to make of this story. Yeah.

Wow. But, yeah, he was- I think he's definitely the villain of the story Yeah And Yeah To get to a point where your Your kids are in their 20s And aren't allowed to have lives

So much so that One of them rebels by getting married Yeah And does that in secret That's so sad Very sad And so like From there on

After his time It is a lot more positive I think Generally speaking Kind of heartbreakingly Or maybe It's sad. And so, like, from there on, after his time, it is a lot more positive, I think, generally speaking. Kind of heartbreakingly, or maybe it's perfect, but according to Helen, the day he died was the same day they had finally played a version of Philosophy of the World that he had given them positive feedback on. I think that's kind of nice, I guess.

Yeah. In the years after his death, the other two kids got married, the other two daughters got married and moved out of the family home. Austin's widow, Annie, soon sold the home and moved into a smaller place. The new owner of the old Wigan family home later said that Austin's ghost haunted the place. Like he wasn't doing that for notoriety or anything. He was like, this place is haunted.

So much so that he built a separate house on the property, just built a second house at the back and moved out of the house at the front and ended up donating the front house to the local fire department to practice putting out fires on. Set it on fire, guys. Burn that ghost. Isn't that wild? I bet you didn't see that bit coming.

I did not see that coming. I thought you were going to say, and you let them, that's the new firehouse or something. Yeah. But he let it be the new firehouse. Oh, my God. Wow. That's amazing.

Yeah, because I feel like if that house still existed, it would be a museum now because, like, the band now has worldwide fans, like a big cult following. Really? Wow. So that house could have been like the- I mean, I imagine that town is now would regularly just have people going there, going, wow, this is the town the

shagville wow shagville usa the local hall maybe yeah true where they played every Saturday night and apparently the hall is like like everything in the town's kind of very low-key but the hall looks quite amazing and uh yeah one of these writers was like, they went down like, oh, this feels like some cool things could have happened here. Wow. So, while the band never quite achieved the status of greatest in the world, the rare pressings of their album have become super sought after and their music has been re-evaluated over the years. Still very divisive, but they have also accumulated many fans. The albums, those original albums now go for a fortune, you know, because there's not many of them and they're real collector's items.

Wow. Can I show you the cover? Please. I think you'll love it. And I wonder, what are you picturing? What are you picturing them to look like? I'm picturing flowers, I reckon. I was picturing something somewhat psychedelic,

but I don't think because that seems like they'd be in on it then. They're wearing, they are wearing flowers on there. Oh, wow. They look awesome. Yeah. Pretty cool. Style icons, I would say. They're wearing, so two of them are wearing matching outfits,

but one, the drummer isn't. Drummer's wearing completely different. They're wearing matching haircuts, though. Matching haircuts on those sisters yeah Not good ones Okay But Pretty disagree

And the drummer seems to be playing half a drum kit Yes It's described as a drum kit that is unplayable There is no bass drum The setup of that drum there does not make any sense No The way the snares angle And the fact that they've

You know they went with the double guitar no bass setup for the most part is interesting but they they just didn't follow any rules they didn't know the rules that's great according to anastasia sylcus uh writing for npr the sisters thoroughly off-kilter atonal and arrhythmic songs have become legendary they have been hailed as proto-punk pioneers the shags fans included Frank Zappa, who is often quoted as calling them better than the Beatles, but like Dave says, he was a quirky guy. He loved naming his children Moon Unit. And this is also possibly an apocryphal claim anyway, but he definitely was right into them. Members of the band NRBQ, who asked the Shags for permission to reissue

songs from their professional and home recording sessions, which made Philosophy of the World commercially available again, meant they reissued the album in 1980. And that was when it started finding a larger audience. Shortly after that reissue, critic Lester Bangs wrote about the shags. Oh, Lester Bangs. Lyndon B. Johnson, but Lester Bangs. Sorry, baby, nominative determinism. Lester be Lester. Yeah, Lester Bangs wrote about the shags and the village voice. They recorded an album up in New England that can stand, I think,

easily with Beatles 65, Life With The Lions, Blonde on Blonde, and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks as one of the landmarks of rock and roll history. They can't play a lick, but mainly they got the right attitude, which is all rock and roll's ever been about from day one. Wow. Silkus continues, interest in the Wigan sisters has continued to percolate over the ensuing decades. In 1999, the label RCA Victor re-re-released

Philosophy of the World, and a short-lived off-Broadway musical about their life was produced in 2011. According to Grow, Kurt Cobain counted it among his all-time favourite albums. Rolling Stone included it in the upper half of its list of 40 greatest one album wonders. Top 20 all time one album wonders.

Wow. Amazing. The Shag singer and guitarist Dot said, it's hard to believe. I like those ones better than the worst ever band around though. Yeah, fair. According to Schuster, over the ensuing decades after its release, Philosophy was declared by Frank Zappa as one of his all-time favorite records. Rolling Stone's 1996 alt-rock-a-rama ranked it among the 100 most influential alternative releases of all time, the greatest garage recordings of the 20th century,

and the 50 most significant indie records. So it's made a lot of these like all-time great lists. When Zappa raved about philosophy in a 1976 playboy poll practically no one outside the wigan clan and their neighborly circle had heard it as rare copies of the lp were discovered and cassettes began to circulate other self-proclaimed fans came to include bonnie rate who said they're like castaways on their own musical island jonathan richmond called them the real thing, and Carla Bley said, they bring my mind to a complete halt.

Finally, this is my favourite quote about them, from Bruce D. Roadvault from LA Weekly said, if we can judge music on the basis of its honesty, originality and impact, then the Shag's philosophy of the world is the greatest record ever recorded in the history of the universe okay that is a huge call fair to say very polarizing band yeah isn't that amazing how where it started and just it's been re-evaluated over time and as music's evolved they've they've remained unique yeah and a scene as music's evolved, people look back and go,

oh, that's interesting. That's sort of like, that feels like an early version of the punk ethos, do it yourself. We don't know how to play, but we're playing anyway. Listen to your dad. Yeah. Why is love? What are parents?

What are parents? Yeah. Are they still alive? Two of them are. Wow. And one of them actually formed her own band. The others sort of moved away from music. But they've reformed to play, you know, as they've been rediscovered.

They've played at a few festivals and stuff, even recently. And, yeah, I think Dot, the main songwriter, put her own band together and you know plays and stuff i love it do you know the name of that band oh they are anyone we've heard of they are the spice girls i think it's i think they're the dot wig and three or something like that oh cool that's good imagine seeing them at a festival that's pretty cool but having no context and just seeing this band do something really weird. Probably, what are they in their 70s, 80s now? Yeah, so they were teens in the 60s.

I guess they were born in the 50s. Amazing. Yeah, like at a festival and if you've never heard of them, like we sound like we haven't. So, Dot and Betty reunited for shows in 99 and 2017. Helen passed away in 2006. But Dot put together the Dot Wigan Band and released an album in 2013 containing previously unrecorded Shag songs.

Wow. That's such a long time to hold on to those songs. I don't remember jokes I used to do two years ago, but Dot's got songs from 50 years ago. It sounds like they had to play them thousands of times over and over. And it's that formative time of your teens as well where, like, Matt remembers ads from his year. Yeah, that's where you lock in.

I can remember a song that me and a friend wrote in primary school, a couple of songs we wrote. That'll still be in my head somewhere but yeah yeah like you know some i'll have to stop and try and remember your name sometimes because i didn't meet you when i was a child we edited in seamlessly but he does forget me quite often it's on the tip of my tongue oh the other thing I should probably mention, in 2001 a tribute album was released with all covers of their songs and it was called Better Than The Beatles, a tribute to the Shags.

Deer Hoof is probably the biggest band maybe on there. But, yeah. Wow. We'll pause for a second here and if anyone wants to, check out the song My Friend Foot Foot, My Pal Foot Foot, sorry. Yep. And we'll be back in a second with Dave and Jess's reaction to that.

I'm ready. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow.

Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Incredible stuff. Oh, man. so immediate thoughts well if that was the voice my chair turned around the first three seconds i hit that golden buzzer i said you have got it what is it uh drums that are completely out of time guitars that are playing a different song to the drummer and vocals just over the top. So, it's like three separate songs happening at the same time. And here's the thing too, like I'm not a music expert, you know, I'm not a music historian. And you're ready to admit that. I'm ready to admit that I'm brave like that.

But I also, you know, I'm also not a film buff, you know, an auteur. And I, sometimes I watch movies and I'm like, I hate this. And my real filmy friends love it. And I think sometimes movies can just be enjoyable and music should be nice to listen to, you know, it shouldn't be painful. That hurt. The question is, would you rather listen to that again or spend 40 days and 40 nights eating small bricks covered in charcoal and Tabasco? Tabasco. I'd probably listen to that again or spend 40 days and 40 nights eating small bricks covered in charcoal and Tabasco?

Tabasco. I'd probably listen to it again. What an absolute fucking psycho that guy was. Oh, man. I reckon that one definitely was more of a song in the classic sense than My Pal Foot Foot. 100%, yes. So, for the people at home, we pause and we listen to two songs in the end.

We listen to My Pal Foot Foot, which was the one that I was talking about where they're playing three separate songs at the same time. But the second track- Philosophy of the World. Philosophy of the World, the title track. It's more of a song. More of a song. The drums and everything.

The lyrics are kind of fun and, you know, it's just a simple idea that I just think works. I just got the giggles because it was such a- like, because I was that teenager at some point thinking I was having a very profound thought, you know. The short people want what the tall people got. The tall people want what the short people got. You can't please anybody. The grass is always greener.

I think it's fantastic. The girls with long hair want short hair. Yes. Oh, man. My favourite was the people with the motorbikes, they want cars. Yes. The people with cars want motorbikes. You know, it just makes you think.

That one seems like an easier one to solve. Yeah. You know, the tall short thing, that's tricky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you've got a motorbike and you want a car, you know, I reckon there's a way to make that happen. There's a way to do that, yeah. Anyway, yeah, I'm kind of into them.

But I, yeah, I also, that, My Pal Foot Foot is, that's not putting her on the background and going about your day. No. That genuinely hurt my brain a little bit. Yeah, there's a lot going on. That made me. It's challenging music. It's challenging music.

It made me anxious. I think it would be challenging for them to recreate each time. Yeah. It's so out of kilter with each other. To recreate it would be quite difficult, I imagine. That's right. And it's, I mean, if you didn't know any better and you were told they were like art school kids who knew how to play their instruments

back to front and this was their muck and, you know, like breaking all the rules, then it would be like, oh, yeah, this is important work. But because they don't know the rules, it's interesting. They don't even have any of that baggage. Yeah. So that's why some people love it. They're like, it's just a naive, sincere attempt at having a go

with people who haven't learnt or mastered their instruments. Yeah. Yes. So it's interesting and I find their story fascinating and I love how they've found a following. Totally. Love that. Yeah, no, good on them.

And it sounds like maybe their lives were a bit nicer once they were out of the shadow of their dadager. Yes. And the prophecy. Yeah, their proprietor, I think he likes to refer to us. Shag manager. Also the shags. I think the story is- He came up with a name and he got it wrong on his badge. Also the shags. I think the story is... He came up with a name and he got it wrong on his badge.

Come on. Yeah. I think the story's amazing and I'm rooting for them as people. Yeah, for sure. But that doesn't mean I have to listen to their music. No, of course not. Because that'd hurt my brain. No music's for everyone. No, that's right. And I would say this more than anything. Yeah. It's not for everyone. Very divisive. Very

niche. Like a small amount of people love it. Yeah. I'd say the majority of anything. Yeah. It's not for everyone. Very divisive. Very niche. Like a small amount of people love it. Yeah. I'd say a majority of people would be like, what the fuck is this? But even you said like, even you. You said, Matt, that listening to the second time you started feeling. Yeah, it was interesting. The first time I listened to them, I'm like, whoa, this is, there's a lot going on. It's hard to take it in.

But the second time I started and then the third time then started, you know, started getting it a bit more. But I think that's the case with a lot of music. So much. Especially harder to. Stuff that becomes your favourite songs of all time. You may not have loved the first or second time you heard it. I think often that's the case.

Songs that are easy to get straight away, I think I can tire from quicker. You get bored of it. Because it's so easy to get into. Oh, yeah, I got that the first two minutes. Yeah, yeah. So, maybe, who knows? If I listened to that a few more times, it would be one of my faves. But it's also one of those funny things, like, some people will be like,

you've really got to give it a try. It's like, oh, but why do I have to work so hard to listen? Yeah. Because you've got to want to. You've got to be open give it a try. It's like, oh, but why do I have to work so hard? Yeah. Because you've got to want to. You've got to be open to it as well. At the end of the day, it's for entertainment purposes. Yeah. To enjoy.

So, if you don't enjoy it, you don't have to force it sometimes. It's okay. It's really your call. Yeah. Live your life. Yeah. If anyone out there is going, oh, I don't want to have to. Don't.

Jess and I, not Dave, are saying you don't have to. You don't have to. I'm saying you have to. Homework this week. Listen to the shags. Every night. Yep. Ten times. Yes. Before't have to. I'm saying you have to. Homework this week. Listen to The Shags every night. Yep. Ten times.

Yes. Before bed. Yep. And then write a book report. Okay, great. A book report on a song. On a different topic, yeah. Yeah.

On a book. You've got to broaden the mind. Okay. Maybe on the book Songs in the Key of Zed. Yeah, fantastic book I hear. Fantastic book. Kierzy. Kierzy.

Oh, that's a beautiful- Name for a boy or a girl? Beautiful name for a boy or a girl. Kierzy. Come on, Kierzy. Come on, Kierzy. Kierzy. Kierzy. Kierzy. That's a beautiful- Name for a boy or girl. Beautiful name for a boy or girl. Kierzy. Come on, Kierzy. Come on, Kierzy. Kierzy. Kierzy.

Where are your shoes? Rolls off the tongue. Well, that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show where we thank some of our fantastic Patreon supporters. If you want to get involved, go to patreon.com slash 2go1pod. It would be so nice to have you there. There's a bunch of different levels, and depending on the the level you get different rewards or rewards seems weird it's not a reward it's just a thing that you get a treat a treat different treats yeah what are some of those

treats bob you can vote on uh topics that we do you can be in our facebook group which is the nicest corner of the internet you get early access to live show tickets and also three bonus episodes a month. Three. Three. One for each of us. As well as the back catalogue of bonus episodes. So, we're closing in on 200 bonus episodes.

So good. Love it. It's just the best group. The Comedy Festival last month hung out with a bunch of patrons and it was so good. Met a few, came from, travelled from far. Connor from Perth. Yep.

Shake from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Wild. We met a couple of people at your show when Dave and I came who'd come from Brighton in the UK. Really? Yeah. Holy shit. Front row of your show. You even did a bit of crowd work with them.

Oh, yeah. I shook their hands. Really? Yeah. Holy shit. Front row of your show. You even did a bit of crowd work with them. Oh, yeah, I shook their hands. I didn't realise. That's so cool. Very cool. Legends. Anyway, the first thing we like to do in this section of the show is called the fact, quote or question section. I actually think it's got a jingle.

It goes something like this. Fact, quote or question. Ding. Huh, he always remembers the ding. Fact, quote, or question. Ding. Huh. He always remembers the ding. Huh. She always remembers the sing. And to get involved in this, you go to the Shidney Shanberg.

Shidney Shanberg. Shidney Shanberg level. Deluxe level. And then you get to give us a fact, a quote, or a question, or a brag, or a suggestion, or a joke, or really whatever you like. Whatever you want. And I don't read them out until I read them out. You also get to give yourself a title.

We do four each week. I should also say, if you don't have the cash to get involved with Patreon, obviously that's fine. We just really appreciate you listening. Yeah, we also take check. So, that's fine. And, yeah, and you don't need to be a Patreon to suggest topics. I think sometimes people think that. Yeah, anybody can.

There's a link in the show notes. You can click on anyone can suggest a topic at any time. And like even just like, I don't know, posting about it on socials or telling a friend about it, recommending it to people. A lot of people have found us because somebody else told them about us. So nice. So, you know, that's an amazing way to support us. We really appreciate that. If you want to chuck some cash at us, that's so lovely, but you don't have to.

We love you regardless. If you want to make it a at us, that's so lovely, but you don't have to. We love you regardless. If you want to make it a bit of fun, put the cash in a soda can. Yes. And then chuck it at us. Yes. While we're performing. My preference? Unlistenable comedy.

Sprite. Oh, okay. I like to be hit with Sprite. It's not my favourite to drink. Oh, okay. Yes. It's fine. All right.

So, here are the Fat Quintile questions this week. First one comes from Claire Noria, which I believe is a typo and it's Claire Norris, but I'll say Claire Noria just in case. Okay. Maybe Claire's been misspelling her name previously. Yeah. Right. Noria is a nice name.

That's a good name. If that is a typo, Claire, I'd consider it. Yeah. Think about it. And Claire's title is Pizza Eater. Oh, my God. Claire. Me too.

Big time. Me too, Claire. A little too much, to be honest. I've had a couple this week. Yeah. I've had a couple. A couple? Yeah, I've had a couple.

That's a good week if I have pizza twice. Yeah, yeah. It's a good week. It's a great week. Yeah. Fucking hell. I've had a great week. And Claire's asking a question, writing, hi all, hope everyone is well.

Thank you. I'm well. Everyone loves pizza, but my question, though, is what style of pizza is your favourite? If you don't know, may I suggest touring all the major areas in America that claim to have a different style? Oh, okay. Like a deep dish.

That's right. And then the huge ones in New York. Yep. That are just like pretty basic but real big and you fold them and you shove them in your girl. So, there's a New York style pizza place that's got a few chains open in Melbourne now. Oh, right. And, oh, my God.

You like? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm a regular customer. There's one in Brisbane near the old Hay Yard Bar that I used to get a slice at after. I think we did after. We did Razzle Dazzle. Yes. I used to get a slice at after. I think we did after. We did Razzle Dazzle. Yes.

I reckon we had a slice there. The perfect nightcap to a Razzle Dazzle show. It's a slice of American-style pizza. Delish. So, Claire says, growing up in New York, I'm partial to New York style, but have come to enjoy the occasional Chicago style. Cheers. I've never had the Chicago. it doesn't look good to me.

No, me either. But when we eventually go there, I say this every year, hopefully this year. Yeah. I've been saying that for what, seven years? About that. But I will try it. I'll give it a go.

And I'll try it with an open heart and an open mind. And an open mouth. And an open mouth. And an open butt. For when that cheese just doesn't sit right. Oh, my God, Jess, don't take it there. You know I'll be thinking about that months from now when we're sitting down in Chicago, the Windy City. I'll remind you.

The Windy City for a reason. All that cheese. Too much cheese. But, yeah, I don't know if I could tell you what style beyond that. I do like the New York style. I've had New York pizza in New York. What about, should we just say what our pizza order of preference is? Yeah, sure.

Because I like to, I will say, I'm also not familiar with all these different American styles, but I usually like a thin base. Yeah, me too. Love a thin base, maybe a wood-fired, cooked on a bit of stone. Love a wood-fired, yep. That's on a bit of stone. Love a wood-fired. Yep. That's right.

Then I'm talking tomato sauce. Yes. I'm a tomato sauce-based guy, too. Yep. Yep. I'm into that. Then I've got- I enjoy just a mozzarella cheese. Yep.

Can't go wrong. With you so far. Then I am- I love a potato pizza. Okay. You've gone too far. You've gone too far. I love- Double starch.

No, I do. You've double starched it. I love potato, gorgonzola, wal walnuts and then a bit of rocket over the top oh yeah okay walnuts walnuts well how do you say walnuts wall no but i think i mean that's how it's spelled but i just never heard anyone say walnuts well yeah well if they are walnuts i don't mind that's a fancy pizza i feel walnuts the way I said that. That is real affluent east cuisine. Yeah, lava potato on a pizza. And then if you're putting any meat on it, maybe like a thinly sliced ham, prosciutto.

Yeah, yum. A jamon of some description. I grew up with, I always loved the Aussie pizzas first, which was with an egg on it. I don't know how that became an Aussie pizza. And then I went to Hawaiian. but the ham back in the day at the suburban pizza places was horrible. All of that shredded stuff, and then it just blackened. Yeah, yeah.

It's cooked too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, so that's no good, but yeah. But I think if I'm having meat on a pizza, which I'm not, it would be salami or pepperoni. But what do I have? Are you finished? Yeah, that's my thought.

And to drink. See how far you go with me here. Okay. I'm happy with thin or medium or whatever. The base, I like a variety. Tomato sauce. Yep. Cheese.

Tick, tick. Mushrooms. You've lost me. Okay, I'm half in. Capsicum. Yep. Okay. Kalamata olives.

Okay. Back in. Yep. Distilled olive Pineapple Yep No Maybe some herbs Some oregano

Am I saying that right? Oregano Yeah you nailed that Maybe some basil Yep And that's yeah That's how I would Wow

I like it It's pretty simple Yeah very old school simple The nice part is that If we go out for pizzas We don't have to share And that's fun. We're discovering that.

I would. I'm happy to. Were you done with that? You're not getting a slice of mine. You will hear a few. Oh, is you going to finish that? I finished mine. I was just wondering if you're going to.

You're going to finish that one? I think, Jess, if I know your order, you keep it very simple. Very simple. Like the Italians intended. Oh, mama mia. A margarita, a cheese pizza for the US. Delicious. Simple.

Yeah. If you have to go anything more than that, is there any others that you ever- I like others. Okay. Yep. Yep. But I've known you to order many margaritas. Yeah.

Yeah. It's my favorite. Because I- Because, you know, and a lot of the time people are like, oh, I just want to try something different. But I'm always like, but I'll be thinking I should have just had a margarita. Yeah. I love it.

Margarita is the safest bet and that's one I'll often have if every other pizza's got potato and bullshit on it. If I'm in the right mood, I'll have a potato pizza very occasionally. But they're double stars. With a bit of rosemary and stuff. Yeah, it's a lot, but it's a nice little treat. Rosemary is very nice. Rarely in the mood for that. I do like pineapple on pizza. Yeah, the double starch. With a bit of rosemary and stuff. Yeah, it's a lot, but it's a nice little treat. Oh, rosemary is very nice. Rarely in the mood for that.

I do like pineapple on pizza. Yeah, pineapple. I'm happy with like a veggie, like a bunch, chuck a shit ton of veggies on there and delicious. Love it. Yeah. And yeah, I sometimes miss a pepperoni pizza. Yeah, pepperoni. Oh, man.

Oh, man. It's a great question, Claire. Fantastic question. You've taken us to flavour country and we've timed this interestingly because we haven't eaten lunch. Yeah. Impossible that man. Great question, Claire. Fantastic question. Man, you've taken us to flavour country. And we've timed this, interestingly, because we haven't eaten lunch. Impossible that we find a pizza place. Yes. Can we go get pizza? Do you notice that Godfather's on Sydney Road is now just called Father's Pizza?

Oh. Where they, like, we want to get the secular people in. That's the place that I asked for a toasted cheese sandwich, and the guy said, you'll have a margarita pizza. I said, oh, no, it's on the border. i asked for a toasted cheese sandwich and the guy said you'll have a margarita pizza i said oh no it's on the board can i have a toasted sandwich he goes you'll have a margarita pizza did you speak to the godfather yeah the godfather wow the father rest in peace maybe did you enjoy that did you enjoy that margarita pizza i did he was right he said thank me later and i did uh thank you so much for that question, Claire. The next one comes from Drew Forsberg, a.k.a. Master Blaster. They've just coughed up a lung there.

That's funny. What's he blasting? The Master Blaster. That was West Indian cricketer was nicknamed the Master Blaster. Who's the Master Blaster? Was it a bowler? While I read. I will do.

Maybe Viv Richards. Oh, I blasted around. Okay. And Drew's asking a question writing, who runs Barter Town? Okay. That's the question. Yeah. Okay.

No answer. Huh. Who runs Barter Town? Who runs Barter Town? I don't know if I understand. Let me Google, see what that means. Oh, is it a joke though? Is that we were supposed to say, I don't know, and then you read out the answer?

No, that's all it's written. And while you Google that, I'll read out what I've Googled. Master Blaster, that's a nickname for Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricket player. Also called the Little Master, which I've heard before. Yeah, I don't think he's the Master Blaster. Well, the internet says so. That's what's come up if I've Googled Master Blaster cricket.

Viv Richards, the Master Blaster. That's his wow, really? Well, Sachin's got the whole front page also himself these days. Well, that's interesting because he obviously came later than Viv. I once saw Sir Viv speak at a charity luncheon. Was it maybe even the day that we recorded the Bermuda Triangle episode? Wow. Do you remember anything from that day? Viv was fantastic. fantastic yeah when you google

master blaster viv richards videos come up saying viv richards the original master blaster or viv richards the real master blaster yes now we're talking so i've i've looked up who runs barter town yeah something comes up auntie entity barter town is ruled primarily by auntie entity though master blaster openly and publicly claims to run barter town forcing auntie to endorse their leadership through energy embargoes oh mad max that's in a mad max thing oh i see okay okay drew is this what you wanted us to do is this the fun you hoped we would have i laughed laughed at Master Blaster so that it's worth the man. But it's also, it's, yeah, because question is normally like a question of, but that's more like a trivia question, which I like how Drew's taken that in a different direction.

Yeah. Fantastic work, Drew. Clever, clever stuff. And I really, I've seen the most recent movie in that series. The Fury Road. And I've seen the first one, in that series. The Fury Road. And I've seen the first one. But, yeah, I really should watch all of them. You really should.

I really should. Australian cultural history. Yeah. Next one comes from Michael Derizzi, aka Dragon of the West. Cool. And Michael's offering us a suggestion. Writing, a long time ago, I asked you three if you had seen Avatar The Last Airbender, and your answers were a round of no's.

Have you seen it since? Keeping in mind that only virgins haven't seen the show. Well, I haven't. Well, Dave obviously hasn't. I'm wondering, have I done an episode of Primates about it? If so, then I've watched it, but otherwise I have not. I have not. And is he referring to the movie or the TV show

that we should have watched? Oh, it doesn't say. There's both, obviously. Yeah, it was a 2010 movie and then three seasons of an animated cartoon. No, it doesn't look like I've done an episode on primates. So I feel like I would have remembered otherwise. But no, I believe that maybe there's a primates thing involved in it.

Because I think it's been suggested before. But I've heard it's fantastic. People do love it. Yeah. For sure. I mean, I haven't even seen the last Avatar movie about the blue people. So, you know. And that one has been seen by most people.

Anyway, thank you very much, Michael. Sorry to let you down michael but yeah still on the list if it is if it is primates related maybe i'm thinking of something else i'll um have to watch it and do a pod about it the final one this week comes from stephen edmonds a man was seen around or saw around the comedy festival last month appreciate your support support, Stephen. One of the great Melbourne comedy community people. Yeah. Great supporter of the scene. Stephen writes, or Stephen's title is, Apparent Influencer of the Fact Quote Question,

Brag, Suggestion, Recipe, Joke or Other List. And Stephen has offered another recipe. He really did bring the recipes into the forefront. Absolutely changed the game forever. What's this one going to be? I was going to try and make a joke about the definition of staples, but the meaning is broader than I thought. So, let's go straight to a recipe for a tea cake using what should be common ingredients.

I love a tea cake. Do you know the other day I was in the supermarket just like grabbing, what did I need? Honey. That was it. And then I just stopped for a while at like the cake mixes. And I just really thought about just baking a whole cake. I didn't have anyone to share it with.

I was just going to eat it myself. And then I thought, walk away, Jess. Walk away. Let it go. Well done. Well done to walk away. I could have brought you some cake. That's true.

Fuck! I would have eaten that cake. And then I could have eaten like half a cake, brought you a slice each and not felt bad about it. Back when I was a trolley boy. Oh, no. I had some, I didn't have the best eating habits on my breaks. I've told you about the triple Mars bars and the six pack of donuts and the two litres of chocolate Big M. But have I ever told you about a period where I would buy a tea cake and eat it like a biscuit?

There was a period where I would buy a tea cake and eat it like a biscuit. You were what, late teens, early 20s? Yeah. Yeah, that like boys of that age, teenagers in general, eat a lot. But the things I've watched my brother and then my cousins eat as they've hit that age, the quantities and the choices, you're like, the fuck is going on? So, I think that's fantastic. But it's funny because that's why guys get to a certain age and then go, whoa, where'd

this stomach come from? It's because we didn't realise that what we were doing was unnatural and unsustainable. Against God. Yeah, that's right. unnatural and unsustainable. Against God. Yes, that's right. All of a sudden, I've been eating healthier over the last 10 years and I've put on so much weight when back then I didn't put on any.

Anyhow, it doesn't matter. Skinny people want what fat people have. Fat people want what skinny people have. What a beautiful lyric from the philosophy of the world. And people with motorbikes want what cars. That's right. Short hair, long hair, the world. And people with motorbikes want what? Cars. That's right. Short hair, long hair, et cetera. And it doesn't.

I'm not saying. I'm not unhappy with my weight. Oh, my God. All right. So, Stephen's recipe goes like this. 60 grams butter. Got that. 125 grams caster sugar.

Yep, I've got caster sugar. One large wet egg. I've got a large wet egg. I've got a large wet egg. Beaten. The wetter the better. A defeated egg. One third cup of milk.

Yep, I've got milk. Got milk. I hope skinny's okay. Not for me. 200 grams of soft raising flour. Cream together butter and sugar, then mix in egg. Gradually add milk and flour, mixing lightly. Pour into greased and lined 18 centimetre round pan. Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 30 to 35 minutes.

Some modifications. Cinnamon. Sprinkle on a mixture of caster sugar and cinnamon before baking. Yum. Banana. Before mixing in milk and flour, add half a cup of mashed banana. No. Sliced apple.

This is the ones I would have at Eat Like a Biscuit. An apple one. Yeah. Spiced apple before baking. Cover with thinly sliced apples and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. That was the kind I had. It was apples, slices of apples on the top. Fruit.

So, that's a great work snack. Yeah, that's right. On a 15-minute break. Yeah. Low GI break Yeah low GI Low Absolutely low GI Need that burst Because I'm out there Pushing a lot of trolleys

High GI even better Yeah High Yeah Quick energy Yeah yeah I need it now Yeah

Thank you so much Stephen For that fantastic recipe Love that Bob please next week Bring in a Stephen Edmonds Tea cake All I need is Self-raising flour

I think I only have Plain flour But I could make that And I'm putting cinnamon on it Don't you fucking worry about that Anyway thank you Stephen Michael Drew and Claire The next thing we'd like to do

Is shout out to a few Of our other great guests Jess do you normally Come up with a bit of a game Based on the topic Yeah what about we Name We

The title of their Most famous song Like the Foot Foot one Yeah do you think What's it called My pal's name is Foot Foot My pal's name I know that's not their most famous song, like the Foot Foot one. Yeah. What's it called? My Pal's Name is Foot Foot. My Pal's Name.

I know that's not their most famous song, but it's like our favourite of theirs. Yes, it's our favourite. Absolutely classic. To us, that's their iconic. But we kind of like underground shags. Yeah. You know, your mainstream types. And your mainstream types like Zappa and Cabone.

Such mainstreams. They like Philosophy of the World, but us, we like some of the deeper cuts. Yeah. Everybody knows Philosophy of the World. Like, yeah, okay. But, like, I have to actually listen to the album. Okay. Yeah.

My pal's name is Foot, Foot, Foot, Foot. If I can kick us off, I'd love to thank- I didn't even wait for your kick us off i'd love to thank i don't even wait for your response but i'd love to thank from oh no address unknown can only assume from somewhere deep within the fortress of the moles i guess it's sam wise often smith sam wise often smith and uh sam wise often smith what was sam wise's song again, Bob? Oh, that little red door over there. Oh, yeah. That was big as well. Yeah, I liked that one. Like, as far as deep cuts go,

that one sort of became a live show staple, even though it was never officially released as a single. Which is interesting because it's such a high concept song. Yes. So, really cool stuff. Yeah. When Samwise plays it, you know, it's the only song Samwise can play because it takes three and a half hours. That's right.

But it's an absolute journey. Including a 45 minute drum solo. Yes. Which is, some people call it the half time, but I watch it all. Yeah. I don't go to the bar. I piss my pants. I don't go to the toilet. I don't go. I'm going to go to the toilet.

The bar. I'm going to go to the bar. There were two thoughts that I managed to get over there. Thank you very much, Samwise. The next person I'd love to thank is from Tainmouth, or Tainmouth probably in Devon. I think it's Tainmouth because I once did an episode that was set around there.

I thank you so much. Thank you so much. You've just saved me a few tweets. Yeah, the Tainmouth Electron. That was the race Around the World episode. Ah, Tinmouth in Devon where they do scones correctly in Great Britain. I'd love to thank Owen Barlow. Owen Barlow, whose famous song was Vacuuming Up a Storm.

Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. It's a beautiful metaphor. And it features a live vacuum in the background Yeah It's a real punk song just vacuuming I'm vacuuming up a storm

Yeah For example Not many people know that's a real vacuum Yeah We thought I hadn't assumed until just then It was created via amp distortion No

Pure vacuum Pretty cool stuff And Owen go into a vocoder but no real vacuum it's actually kind of disappointing to find that sorry in a way uh great workout on beautiful song and finally for me oh my gosh from the windy city home of Home of the deep dish in Chicago, Illinois. It's Corey J. Tour. Corey J. Tour. And Corey's song?

Corey's song is My Mama Loves a Muffin. Oh, wow. It's so funny. Brackets. Yeah. Chocolate chips. Optional. Close brackets. Because we were just talking about baking as well. So chips, optional. Close brackets.

Because we were just talking about baking as well. So, that's funny. It's weird how my mind works. You write what you know. Yeah. That's right. And I know my mama loves them. She doesn't.

I've never seen her eat a muffin. Really? Gosh. You've never seen your mom eat a muffin? No. Pay more attention to your mom. I'm eating a blueberry muffin. Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know if she's a muffin. I don't know if she goes. Yeah. Definitely. Pay more attention to your mum. Even a blueberry muffin is so good. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if she's a muffin. I don't know if she goes. Yeah, definitely. She makes a great trifle. Oh, great. My favourite. Mum's trifle. Fantastic.

Okay, we're definitely hungry. Hey, you want me to thank some of these beautiful people? I would like to thank also from location unknown, probably deep within that fortress, it's Lee Roberts. Lee Roberts. My house's name is Hand Roberts. My house's name is Hand Hand. My house's name is Hand Hand. Hand Hand in brackets.

Good on you, Lee Roberts. Your house's name is Hand Hand. And I love that song, Lee. You pat him on the head and say, great work. Yeah. Great job. Great job. I'd also like to thank from London in The Greatest of Britons, Peter. Peter. I love someone who goes by one name.

Yeah, Peter. It's bold. Yeah, I assume it's the organisation. Oh, yeah, because it's spelled P-E-T-A. This is good. And Peter's song is obviously, Is that a camera in my shower head? Oh, my God.

In brackets, the answer is no. No. Thank goodness. Peter had a bit of a freak out, dismantled the shower head and found out, Oh, no, I'm fine. Could a camera... You've made me so paranoid all of a sudden.

Can a camera see through those tiny little holes? Nah, surely not. Surely not. Surely the technology's not there yet, surely. Each hole is a camera. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's looking at you like a spider would.

Yeah. All those little eyes. I don't like that. No. I would like to thank from Davenport in- What's this? Iowa, I reckon. In Iowa.

Fantastic. It's Tyne Ryack or Tyne Ryke. Tyne Ryke. That's amazing. Tyne Ryke, famous for their song, of course, which was Teeth Taste Funny. Oh, yep. Yep. I hate that.

But it's a song that makes you think, isn't it? It does. They do taste a bit funny. Yeah. And everyone thought it was like some deep extra meaning, but it was just a song about how they did not like lolly teeth. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a lot of those candy lollies that are shaped like teeth. Yeah. But you don't control your art once it's out there in the world. It's open to the, you know, the consumer, which I think of all art is consumed. We're just products. We being art. I think of myself as art. I agree.

We need to get to the end of this. I'm going to thank some people. Thank you. We need to get to the end of this. I'm going to thank some people. Thank you. I would love to thank from Bolverde in Texas, Sarah Boucher. Oh, the Boucher. Oh, the Sarah.

So good to have you involved. Dave, there's a few email addresses. I'm not going to dox anyone that you would love. And Sarah Boucher is one that I think you would be right into. I do have a section in my stand-up show this year about going through emails if anyone would want to share their old Hotmail or Yahoo accounts. But you've got a great one, Sarah. That's a beauty.

You like Lee Roberts' one as well? Big fan. Oh, yes. That did actually get my attention. Great work, Lee Roberts. And Sarah Boucher, of course, famous for their number four hit. Top four ain't bad. Whoa.

Folding paper by day, eating chicken by night. Yeah. Yeah. I love that one because it's such a, it's like a metaphor. So powerful. And it's a rollercoaster of a song, a real Rhapsody type song. Yeah. I guess for nine minutes.

Really takes a lot of time. That's the radio edit. Yeah. So, thank you to Sarah. Also, from me, I would love to thank From Deep Within the Fortress of the Moles. We can only assume location unknown. I did that the other way around, but whatever. I would love to thank Kim Arthur.

King Arthur. Kim Arthur. Oh, Kim Arthur. Yeah. Right. Yes. That makes way more sense. Yeah.

And Kim Arthur's song was, of course, put that little ditty down over there. Put that little ditty down over there. Country song. Over there, meaning in the studio. That's right. Lay that track. Lay that track down.

Yeah, he walked into the studio and said, hi, I'm here to record a hit record. Well, get in there and lay that, put that little ditty down over there. Pointing to the microphone. That's right. And Kim said, I've just got an idea. Give me five minutes and wrote an incredible track. Great work, Kim.

Beautiful work, Kim. Excellent. You're a king to me. Finally, I'd love to thank from Burnley in Great Britain, Pilkey1998. Oh, that's a beautiful name. I love when it, like, how much easier to get a personalized plate when your name is like that. Yes, right?

Yeah. So that's nice. Aren't you Pilkey? Pilkey. Pilkey, obviously famous for the song. I want to have a pie tomorrow. Today I'll have a sand. And what's that song called?

Didn't I not? You were just singing part of the song. What's it called? Oh, it's called Pie Tomorrow. Yep. Sand Today. That's nice. Open brackets.

Your love is my love and I'm yours forever and a day. I love that one. Close brackets. My wedding song. Beautiful. I'm not married, but. If anyone out there is good at a bit of artwork, you know, I know a few of you are, Simon, no pressure, but.

For free. I want to see the back of this album we've just made with the track listing. No pressure. Available now for $24.95. Featuring the hits of the summer. Thank you so much to Pilky, Kim, Sarah, Tyne, Peter, Lee, Corey, Owen, and Sam Wise. The last thing we need to do is invite a few people into the Triptych Club.

A few trippies, as I'm known to call them that. And, Jess, how does this work again? Well, if you support us over at patreon.com on the Sydney Scharnberg level, no, the shout-out level or above, for three consecutive years, we welcome you into the Triptych Club. It's an exclusive club. I think of it as an airport lounge, but like a really cool one. I think of it as like a, you know, a 1960s club, a lot of velvet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of booths. Yeah, it's really nice. It's got everything you need. We have a bar. We have live music. We have cocktails. We've got meals.

The cocktail this week is called The Shags. Oh, yeah. And it's just whatever I can find and I just shake it up real good. Yes. And I've built a new room to honour this week's episode and it's wall-to-ceiling shag pile carpet. It's called The Shag Room. It's called The Shag Room and I'm the shag manager.

Shag Palace. You can go in there, do whatever you want to do. Yeah, that's up to you. Shag manager. No rules in the shag palace. Shag palace. Thank you. Do you want to go and have a read? Fine. Hey, be my guest. But you will need earplugs. Dave, you usually book a band.

You're never going to believe it. What? I've been in talks with these people for a long long time. What Dave? You're kidding. So long that only two members are believe it. What? I've been in talks with these people for a long, long time. What, Dave? You're kidding. So long that only two members are still surviving. Whoa. They will be appearing.

We have got live in the club, The Shag. No way. No way. This has never happened. We've done the episode and then they've turned up on the episode. That is incredible. Get the fuck out. What?

Are you kidding me? How did you? Dave, this is a cruel prank. Yeah. Are you messing with us? Oh, it is. Oh, okay. No, this is a cruel prank. Yeah. Are you messing with us? Oh, it is. Oh, okay. No, this is not a prank.

Oh, wow. That was the prank? Oh, my God. Sorry, pranked you. My heart is leaping. I'd never even heard this band before, but I'd read about people talking about them, so I went, you know what? You've read about people talking about them?

Yeah, yeah. It's called a quote. And I read those quotes, and I said, you know what? I'm going to book this band. I'm going to take a punt. And then you told me how good they are. Listen to them. I can't wait to hear My Pal's Name is Foot Foot live.

Live. And we can all yell out the backup vocals, Foot Foot. Foot Foot. What is parents? Foot Foot. What is parents? I love it. Generally, I'm in.

I'm all the way in. Now, there's only four members this week. Dave, you ready? You're standing up on the stage. You're the MC. You're the hype man. You're going to bring them in, make them feel right at home. Everyone who's already in, hundreds of people already in the club,

they're there chanting your name. Dave is hyping them up. He's hyping you up. Jess is hyping Dave up. Yep. I'm reading your name out. I've got the clipboard. I'm at the door lifting the velvet rope.

When you hear your name, jog in. Bring in a bit of energy in and Dave will really lift you up. Here we go. Dave, do you need a little pre-hype bump pat? Please. Oh, yeah, come on. Just a little bump pat. And?

There you go. Consider me patted. First up from Valensbake Strand in Copenhagen in Denmark, it's Philip Galsgaard. Look, I was feeling a bit defensive tonight, but you're here. Now I've let down my Philip Galsgaard. Yes, be vulnerable. Yes.

From St Kilda in Melbourne here, it's Alex Stewart. Who knew it? It's Alex Stewart. I believe that could be my sister. That's your sister, yes. You bloody legend. Do you believe? Yeah, that's You're in the triptych club, you goddamn legend

Welcome in Make yourself at home, obviously From Ventura in California Yay It's Christina Gonzalez Please Ventura on in, Christina And finally from Mawson Lakes in South Australia It's Tessa Weber Oh, I thought this Lakes in South Australia, it's Tessa Webber. Oh, I thought

this person was from Awesome Lakes. It's Tessa Webber. Welcome in, Tessa, Christina, Alex and Philip. You are all legends. And please, Mikasa Sukasa. And that brings us to the end of the episode. Really, there's nothing else left to do apart from, oh no, maybe

there's a few things to say, Bob. Just that they, everybody should wash their butts. Do it! And listen to the shags. Listen to the shags. I dated it, both. You can, like we said before, you don't have to be a patron to suggest a topic. So, if there's a story you would like or you think would make for a great

topic, chuck it in the hat. We love to hear about them. You can find us on social media at DoGoOnPod. do go on pod.com is our website where you can find info on live shows and check out previous episodes all that good stuff and i reckon boot at home davey boy hey we'll be back with another episode next week but until then i'll say thank you and goodbye later Goodbye. Later. Bye. We can wait for clean water solutions.

Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.