Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: Jono & Ben Chat To Shaggy!

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

Jono and Ben catch up with the legend Shaggy ahead of his trip to New Zealand in November to play Friday Jams Live!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holy smokes, this is surreal looking at Shaggy. Are we in your house at the moment, Shaggy? I am in, yeah, I'm in Jamaica, my home in Jamaica. Oh my God. It's so nice to see you. We are big fans and New Zealand are big fans of you. You come in here, we're pretty exciting. Do you want to stay at my house?

I've got a lovely bathroom floor. Or have you got accommodation sorted? I have a lot of friends in New Zealand, man. One of my favourite places to go. I've played concerts there so many times and the big Ragamuffin Festival is always a big festival. It used to be down there. I've been there a couple of times.

And I always say the thing that hits me is right as I get off the plane in New Zealand is that saltless smell that hit me. Oh, yes, in Rotorua. Yes, of course. Yeah, Rotorua. At Rotorua, yeah, you just go right in. It's like, bam.

I'm like, oh, yep, I'm here. I thought something else would be going up your nostrils at Ragamuffin, not the sulfur, the smell of something else. I was reading that some fans have called themselves or their kids shaggy and Boombastic after you. Is that true? You know what? There's a woman that actually told me that her song was called Boombastic.

That's a cool name. And said that the kid was actually conceived to Mr. Boombastic. Oh, really? She said, just so you know, that means you were there. I looked at her and I said, no, it wasn't me. Yeah, it wasn't me. I'm not paying any child support for this kid. We love also your new album.

We were listening to that at the moment. You've got you singing Frank Sinatra songs produced by the legendary Sting. Sting came up with the idea when he was on tour. I mean, you can't say no to Sting, I imagine, as a mate. But that's pretty incredible. It just makes you feel good listening to you sing Frank Sinatra. It's incredible. Obviously, we've all been raised on the repertoire of Sinatra.

But Sting and I, when we get together, we cook up these really crazy ideas. And then I'm on this, we're on the fields, I'm on this boat and I'm, I'm singing it and he's looking at, he's cooking an idea while I'm just having a beer and having fun and he's cooking a whole idea. And, uh, earlier this year we decided to make it happen. And I never really bought into it until when I started to sing it and it's coming in and I'm hearing myself on these reggae tracks. Wow.

This is hot. That's cool. That's these radio tracks. Wow, this is hot. That's cool. That's really good. I mean, Sting, we hear about his, you know, like his lovemaking maybe taking days. What about him in the recording studio? Like, does that take days as well? Yeah.

I don't know about that. Does he take days to make love? Because that feels like a huge calendar appointment. Shaggy, you've lived an amazing life with all the success in music, the Grammy Awards, the millions of albums, but you're also in the U.S. Marines for four years. Yeah, I did four years in the Marines. I did six and a half months in the first Gulf War. All of that was something that just kind of shaped me for who I am.

It really kind of prepared me for music. I didn't even think it would, but in music, you have to get up early morning, you do early morning shows, you do clubs at night, and you jump on a plane and you're on another continent doing the same thing over and over again. It takes a lot of discipline to do that, and the military was really... I'm scared now. He could kill us. Shaggy could kill us right now. Don't ask the wrong question to Shaggy. Even though he's. Shaggy could kill us right now.

Don't ask the wrong question to Shaggy. Even though he's in Jamaica, he could end us right now over Zoom. Now, the name Shaggy was given to you in high school. Is that the correct story? There's a couple of stories. It's really because my hair was shaggy. I learned about the word shag. Oh, shag is the same in New zealand as in the uk shag means

to make love yeah i didn't know that in jamaica it's not that and so and i watched austin powers oh yes realize that that's what it meant and then i was like wow i always hated my name all of a sudden i think my name is cool yeah it's what a whole new meaning yeah baby are you referencing if you could name us i mean okay after our years john knows uh you know not a lot and i've got a little bit more what would you give us you know you know there's technology for that now where it looks natural look at mine it's working. So could my nickname be technology? Question mark. Hey, Shaggy, I feel like we're getting on.

I feel like we're mates. We want to scoop. I mean, it's been a lot of years now and you've said it wasn't you. Can you admit to us that finally it was? That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thank you very much. I feel like she caught you with her eyes. You're on security camera.

She even walked in the bathroom. There's a lot of evidence stacking up the big thing about it is denied denied i mean we've been saying it you know the funniest thing about that song is not even a cheating song it's an anti-cheating song y'all just never listened down to the end of the song where the guy actually apologized and said okay i, I'm not listening to this idiot, right? Because he's wrong. But that was almost not really a single, that song, right? And it became such a huge international smash hit. You know, in your career going up, you sometimes write these amazing songs and there's always some guy in the record company

that thinks he knows what's better than you. Over and over again, this is a story that has been a part of many artists' lives. And, you know, times have changed now, and it's great that we're in charge of our destiny at this point. Because when you break it down, even when it comes to movies, TV shows, executives, it's all just down to one person's opinion,

isn't it? A lot of the time, yeah. Hey, we're seeing it happen every day, bro. Hey, Shaggy, before we go, it lot of the time, yeah. Hey, we're seeing it happen every day, bro. Hey, Shaggy, before we go, it's been so good catching up. We can't wait to have you in New Zealand. It's not too far away, but a quick quiz about some New Zealand food for you. If I said

hokey pokey, hokey pokey, what do you think that would be? Hokey pokey. I'm thinking something naughty. Oh, what's that? Ice cream. There we go. We've got some ice cream. Wow. Hokey pokey is a flavor of ice cream. It is naughty for your hips and waistline.

Okay. Pineapple lumps. What would pineapple lumps be? Slices of pineapple. Oh, it's a pineapple chocolate. Yeah, with pineapple inside the chocolate. So there's some pineapple lumps. Oh, there's chocolate and a...

Oh, that must be really good. Yeah, that's excellent. Yeah, no, we'll get you a packet of those when you get here. Yeah, that pineapple inside the chocolate. So there's some pineapple nuts. Oh, there's chocolate. Oh, that must be really good. Yeah, we'll get you a packet of those when you get here. Yeah, that must be really good. I've never heard of that. That's pretty good. And the final one are ginger nuts. Ginger nuts. I figured out your nuts are gingery.

There's some biscuits called ginger nuts. Oh, they're cookies. Yeah, cookies. Yeah, you got some cookies. But also actually while you're there, if you want to have a look at it. No, no, we'll wrap this up. Hey, Shaggy, it's a huge highlight for us to talk to you. You are awesome.

We love your work and we can't wait to have you in New Zealand. Take care of yourself, man. All right, my brother. Thank you very much, man. Appreciate you. The Hits. For more podcasts from The Hits Network, check out iHeartRadio.co.nz.