The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Robert Kelly - Marcus King Fishbowl Event

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Marcus King just released a new album "Darling Blue" and plays songs before an intimate audience in the SXM fishbowl. Jay and Bobby have many questions about Marcus working with the mysterious, musical guru Rick Rubin. He wrote many songs about the love of his life and others about his spiral into addiction. It's the Bonfire's first event in the SiriusXM studio called "the fishbowl" because you can see inside from the lobby. Go to Marcuskingofficial.com for tour dates and Darling Blue is available anywhere you get your music! To hear the actual performances in this episode and the full show, to go www.siriusxm.com/bonfire to learn more! FOLLOW THE CREW ON SOCIAL MEDIA: @thebonfiresxm @louisjohnson @christinemevans @bigjayoakerson @robertkellylive @louwitzkee @jjbwolf Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of The Bonfire ad-free and a whole week early.  Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And now, The Bonfire with Big J. O'Kerson and Robert Kelly, live from the Fish Bowl at Sirius XM Studios in New York City. Hey, everyone. Welcome to our weird seating over here at the Bonfire. What's up is our first bonfire live from the Fish Bowl. Make some noise in here. Let them know there's people. What's up?

Oh, my God. These chairs suck. 17 of our craziest fans in the house. what if this was it this was all of them this was all of them I'll start out by saying we hate these fucking chairs

we thought we were going to get the Bennington treatment with the little little ones like this because we're being filmed and instead they were like no let's put two fucking fatsoes up on stools

where we look like little piles of tires yeah god damn it this sucks look at my knees are showing hey I look like a boy I love that the skinny guy has no idea what we're talking about right now talking fat guys

guy's shit bro the rest of the crowd gets it yeah yeah yeah my knees i didn't get it either i didn't understand now i understand you didn't understand what i think you look good we don't look good we feel fat i can't perform good when i feel fat we're both holding our stomachs in we can't do that a whole show we want to stand then we're going to look weird yes i've never had that feeling oh fuck you dude welcome everybody to the show of course i'm big jokerson that is the great robert kelly our whole crew is here for maybe you don't see them on our clips all the time we should introduce of course we got our great black

Lou Johnson over here make some noise for Lou and of course we have little short king Jacob right there Jacob Patat he's a lot shorter in person right Bobby

what in front of God in the audience you're one of us I am not you belong here with us no look how high he is up on a chair. I am taller than both of you. Come to us, Bobby. No. I don't want to go to short people. Bobby, you, me, and Lewis are going to live on the island now. We're going to go and live the rest of our days there together. Guys, I am not a short king. I am a perfect movie star height. What? Five. What?

What the hell is? I'll give a movie star height, but that means you're one of us. I'm not one of you. I'm not going to fat and short. Bobby, you are. Not short. Not fat. Oh, wait. I got to introduce the rest of our crew. Yes.

Come on. We, of course, have in the booth there our great DJ Lou Whitsky in the house. I'm a cowboy. We're going to do a lot of gay sex to you. DJ Lou. Oh, and of course, last but not least, I'll be right back, Bobby. Van.

Hey. Yeah, that's right. What's up, everybody? I am not as short as you and stop trying to suck me into your world. You lied the last time we measured you. I didn't lie? You did. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the queen of the bonfire and her face to the glass

for getting us. shit chairs that she should have got. Christine Evans, everybody. Keep that face to the glass. Oh, God. These chairs suck. Bob, you know how much I hate flicks

in my pimp hand. Well, you've got to do what you got to do. We're sitting in stools. We hate, oh, God. You can't get it, leave it. Get it at the end of the show. Don't bend over in front of the people. You've humiliated yourself

enough. Oh, man. So glad we have lady fans. Hey, are you guys here? Are you fans? Are you just the ear? Because you had to drive him. You know Black Lou?

All right, well, there you go. They know Black Lou. It's not even a fan. It's a friend of a family. They were invited to his barbecue, which we weren't. You know what? We should stop asking. We're going to find out everybody here is related to somebody on the show.

Nobody wanted to be here at all. Jay, it's me, your cousin, Tom. He wanted to be here. Slip-knock guy? Yes, of course he did. And the guy next to him, his lover. You think so? Which one's the top?

I'm kidding. He has to be, or he'll kill him. The little one looks like my Jewish foster father, Ken Las. Oh, the first one that molested you. No, that was the second one. Oh. Did you get molested by a stepfather? No, I didn't.

It kind of sucks. You thought you were so hot, but nothing. Was there nobody sitting in that chair next to them, of all things? Real nice. That just feels mean to this guy. Nobody wanted to sit next to him. We can't sell out a 15-seater. We were complaining they wouldn't let us out there.

We should have went on punchup. com. Live and sent an email out. Nobody. Who here goes on punchup. Dot live? Yeah. What's up? One, two, three.

What's up? I'll take that. Those odds are good. I don't like this guy admitted it, like, reluctantly. It's like, I fucking. went on it one time yeah i just found a tooth in my hoodie what is it actually that's a cashew sorry no don't why did you eat it yep i shouldn't have that wasn't a cashew

i don't even know what that was i don't know what that was that could have been wood i think that was wood that was some type oh i know what it is i was i was saying i was setting mouse traps up in the hampshire what it's mouse bait Yeah, most bait is regular food. Did you just eat a small piece of cheese out of your pocket? I've been known to eat worse, dude. I hate these chairs.

I can't see you in my peripheral. I know, and your hands are in your pockets trying to make yourself not look heavy. I'm actually, I have my thumbs in my belly button, pushing in. Blouseing also. Black Loo's auntie? What do you think of all this? She does look like an aunt.

He definitely calls her. What's your name? I bet it's Ms. Jen. Do you call her Miss Jen Black Lou? No, no. Hey, Ms. Jan, can I have some brown sugar? How do you know Black Lou? We used to work together.

Really? Where? Before his life here. Where? At hospital. Oh, you worked at a hospital? What were you? A candy striper?

Close enough. What's do at a hospital, Black Lou? Why are we unaware of this? He was a scanning technician. What's that? He's to scan medical records. Oh, really? Is that where you learned to squat so long like that?

Scanning medical records. You said a scanning technician. We thought scanning the body. We thought it was a medical thing. Not taking pictures of folders. Black Lou, you were a failure before you met us. Never forget that. You're nothing without us.

Nobody else wants you. I'm bringing my pinpaint out all night. Jen, what do you do now? You still work at the hospital? Not the same one, but I'm still at a hospital. In medical billing. Medical records. Nice.

And what information do you have on Black Lou that we don't know? What did he do at work weird? Got caught whacking off? No. Was he whacking people off? Was he giving showers? He's always in trouble, though. He was always in trouble?

He was always in trouble. Why? Because he would just disappear. For making all the coma patients listen to his rap? Is that your husband right there? Yeah. Does he friends with Black Lute too? Yeah, yeah.

Okay. You have to become friends with him. You can't just have some black dude kicking him with your wife all the time. If you're into it, you can't. That's your favorite porn. No. Okay. Do you think black glue is too short?

Well, I'm the same as height as him, so no. You're a woman. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah, that's a weird thing to say. Whoa. I'm going to make an anti-comment.

Good things come in small packages. Oh. We weren't talking about his weiner. I assume that was big. Yeah, his wiener's huge. What, Jacob? I just said, do you see that? See what?

Small things. Good things come in small packages. I tried to remember. Put it on a shirt if you're going to say it. Jacob, I am not... Will you please tell him, Jay, that I am not a short king? Jay! You can't say it.

Nobody can. What's the definition of short king? What does it go up to? Here it is. Under 5'9, I say a man cannot be a full human being. I feel like this is written next to your bathroom mirror on a piece of paper. Yeah, it says if you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the CD. And then this.

Bobby claims to be over 5'8, and I know he was lying the last time we measured him. Not true. I don't lie. Because we could tell. I watched that. How do you lie while you're measuring? You're there.

You go like this. You think he was giving a little oomph. Yes. What do you think I'm a magician? You oomped. I didn't oomph. Bobby, have you been fat for so long that you think getting on your tiptoes is a magician's move? I say it right now.

What am I a magician getting up on my tiptoes? He fluffed his height. You think so. You fluffed. I don't fluff my height. I swear to God, he's had his ruler in his backpack for a remasure since the last time. All right.

You're going to measure him with a ruler? It's going to take forever. It's going to wait. Measure me right now. And if I am 5-8 and a centimeter, I want an apology on your knees, Jacob. Not on my knees. Millimetres, thanks, Jay. Millimetre, what I say, centimeter?

Yeah, I don't think you're going to make it to the 5-8 at all. But you do the centimeter, though. A centimeter. You'll have to take off your short guy shoes that have the extra lift in them. Got them. You are wearing your fucking midget shoes. You could see the padding on those.

First of all. Those are thick. They're sick. These are not, these are regular shoes. No. What? I don't want to take, you want me to take my shoes off? Fine.

I'll take my shoes off. I'm 5'8. What if you have mismatch socks? One's like a ricket. Morty, the other one, which is a dirty white one. I have brand new socks on. Brand new. Yeah.

Okay. I get it. Hang on one second. Oh, God, these chairs. I hate them. What's up? We look like fools. We look like fools.

I think you look good. Shut up. I do know, now that you mention the Bennington chairs, I know which chairs you're talking about. You mean the comfortable ones that sit down? All I said gray chairs. So we put gray chairs. But now I know if you say the bent for the next show, Bennington chairs. Wait, who said gray chairs?

I didn't. Those are stools. I said chairs. Oh, so no one's taking the blame. Jacob, I would like you and Christine both five minutes on the glass, please. Sir, can you do her and you do that, please? I assign people to put your faces on the glasses, please. Let's measure Bob.

It's a tape measure, I hope. It's a tape measure. I've had it for a long time. But he has to stand here because I think this is going to be... Damn, people think Black was a carpenter. He's walking around with that thing so much. Because you're always measuring your dick. Got to make sure.

Well, no one believes me, so I always got to bring a tape measure. I would go for an impartial. One of you actually... I want a piece of paper, and if the paper goes under his heel, we know he's fluffing. Jennifer, you work in medical. That's right. Jennifer. Will you check him?

All right. Stand here. And then, fine. You're 5'8, you're 5'8. Okay, 5'8 and something. Let's see. The paper. Don't even stand under your jeans.

That'll give you height. I'm not standing nothing. Bob, you are standing. I'm not doing nothing. I'm not doing nothing. Stop touching me, dude. This is against business policy.

You can already tell me. I'm not doing it. I'm not, I have rhythm in my feet. I can't help it. Oh, that's good. That's good. No, no, no, no.

You don't want to see my dead toenail. You don't want socks off. You don't want socks off. Yeah, don't. It's going to upset all of us. Yeah. You don't know, See that, Jennifer?

Don't take Bobby socks off unless you want him to hang upside down from the rafters. Jennifer, am I on the ground? Am I on the ground? Am I on the ground? I am on the ground. She is a technician. Here's an easy thing. Jennifer, do us a favor.

Push down on both Bobby's shoulders. I'm flat. I'm flat. Where are we? I need the level. Put it on his head. This is fucking ridiculous. I never said a level. This is bad.

Can we get a step stool? I want my... We're at 5-7. You are bullshit. At 5-7. That's not... No, no, no, first. First of all, first of all, this is bullshit.

The whole audience is watching. This is bullshit. The whole audience is watching. Let me, let me get straight. No, now he's doing it. Let me get straight. Let me get against the wall. Push down the shoulders. Now do it.

Now do it. Now do it. I'm not fluffing nothing. You fluff. Heels it down. Make sure that paper doesn't go on the shoulders. Bear down. Wait, here is my straight.

How do I stand straight? Bobby. There you go. Straight. Welcome. Straight. Welcome, brother. Five seven and a nothing.

That's eight in a centimeter. You're lying, dude. How do you know you can't see that high? Welcome to the kingdom. Give me a... Give us a hug, brother. We welcome you with open arms. God damn it.

I know he was lying. I fucking love you guys. I love you so much. I was just scared. I was scared to come over here because I didn't know if it was safe. Bobby. Shut up.

You're too tall. You've been hilariously short behind my back this all time. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. You keep telling me you were 5'8, so I've showed you the respect of such. You did. You took his side every time, and I knew he was lying.

No longer. Thank you. I apologize, Jacob. I just, all I wanted was for you to turn on him. No, no, I thought it was part of the club. No, the short term. Well, this will not result in me treating Jacob better. It'll result in me treating you like I treat Jacob.

That's it. That's all I want. Fairness. I will be yelling at you on a weekly basis. Yeah, well, you're not as tall as you think you are. Yeah, I am. How tall are you? Like 6-2 something.

No, you're not. You're 6-1. You're challenging me, bro? I'm challenging you, bro. I say you're not 6-2. I say you're not 6-2. You take your high-heel boots off and you're not. I used to be 6-3 and then I think I shrunk.

You shrink. Probably from flying a lot or one of my other things. series is when I lost weight, there was fat on the bottom of my foot that was making me a little taller. I don't know if any of that is true. I think the fat foot thing is true. Is it? Yeah, I think that's true.

Yeah, I've lost, but I've lost a two something. Yeah, you lost an inch on your heel. We can measure me, but everything over 5, 10 is just going to break your guys' hearts more. I don't want to see it. You finding out your 6-1 and 6-2 is going to break my heart either way. I know, especially when you see my disappointment, like, oh, dude, I'm like a girl now. I'll just give you it. Thanks, bro.

I appreciate it. How tall are you, Jacob? Five foot miserable. How tall, seriously? Five foot. You're five what? Six. I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have did that. And you're tall than Black Lou, right? I think we're about the same. Although he's fluffing. He is fluffing. He's wearing those Kanye sneakers that have a whole cloud on the bottom of them. He doesn't love

Jews or being short. That's in solidarity with both. Kanye's beliefs and height. Well, we figured it out, Bobby. That's fucking disappointing as shit. It's not disappointing. It's life, man. I was five, eight and a quarter at one point in my life. You can still

lead a full life. I'm not going to lead a full life. Sort of. Not really, but I'll just say that. I'm not. I'm going to hurt myself after this. It does explain why you don't dream, though. midgets don't dream. Really? Yeah. Or the three of you can go live in one of those villages

upstate New York where they're just for midgets they always talk about. Oh, I like that. Like living little hovels. Hey, can you turn the heat up in here too? Because not only am I uncomfortable in this stool,

I'm hot. I want to be hotter. Okay, I'll go, I'll do that. Yeah, thanks. I can give you that. Okay. Jacob, just before you go in the other room, I want you understand that was sarcasm.

Yeah. What are you, Dutch? He would actually like it to be colder. That's what I meant. Okay, I just want to make sure because he just said yes to that. Could you make it hotter? My tits aren't sweating enough.

Sure, bud. I can go crank it up in there. We try to get sexy in this motherfucker? Look at this guy's silky skin is sweating right here. No, no. Christine just did her thing. She did the... Oh, good.

You can't bury the needle any further down. I like that. Nice. Christine, I don't think the camera women are enjoying the show at all. Can you tell them we're okay with a head nod? Can you let them know that you want your face on the glass? Can you please let these women know

that you deserve it and you need to learn lessons the hard way. Please just tell them that. That's your fault. I'm on their side now. What? And tell them the smudge was actually DJ Lou. He wasn't really smudging your face. The clock's the glass.

Did he play that in here when I put it against? Yeah, he did. It was great. Oh, that sounds so violent. It's so funny. Security's looking in here like, what the fuck is this? Yeah, well, they're probably wondering. Usually they need more security because there's people all.

all over the place. Yeah, they have to stop them. We've really contained this fucking fire. How does this couple know, Black Lou? Yes, sir. How do you know the show? I work here. Oh, shit.

Oh, Christ on the cross. You're a plant? No. They had a telemarket for this little gathering? Oh, Jesus Christ. What is it, your birthday? They gave you 10 tickets to the live bonfire?

No, no. They had it at work, like a contest. You won a contest? Yeah. So you don't even know who we are? This is my first time here. Oh. Your first time here?

I'll tell you what, they won a more comfortable chair than us. God damn it. So they want a contest in-house here. That's a weird one. These two guys are fans for sure. These two guys definitely, we already know Jen's story. This guy here, fan of the bonfire? Nice.

Are you friends with them? No. You don't know them. Okay. But you know Black Lou? No. You don't know Black Lou. Would you like to know Black Lou?

Of course, yeah. Okay, cool. In a biblical sense. The Beast with two backs. Huh? Gay sex. Oh, yes. Yeah.

I love that he was like, what's up, my brother? Yeah, you guys should already had a complicated handshake by now. Right, yeah, we've got something up, yeah. How tall are you, sir? Six. Well, Lou hate you.

Stop bragging. Are you a Cowboys fan? No. You can't hang out. Black Blue then. No. Do you like football or soccer? I don't watch anything.

Anything? That's crazy. If it's on TV, I'll watch it, but I'm not really, no. You don't watch sports at all? No. Wrestling? Sometimes. It's on TV.

Yeah. Arm wrestling. Bobby. Sure. Okay. I like watching you run somebody down on not watching sports. Yeah. It's not that.

He doesn't watch anything, Jay. That's scary. No, he watches stuff. It's just don't tell us about. If it's on TV, I'll watch it, but I don't like, go for it. You know what I'm saying? What do you watch on your own? anime yes knew it oh no no I hate I know the audience dude actually I don't like it

anime you don't like anime no no but you watch it I was being sarcastic oh what do you watch dark web pornography on a VPN no a lot of YouTube I just got a VPN so I can do that just I'm not but I can you like Dave Smith yeah yeah like debating and stuff like that so yeah I watch your podcast I'm sorry with a versey oh bone to pick all right what's up dude he likes debate I see you tonight This is good Because if like you don't notice Today we're going to go

Full Gaza debate With Marcus King So Yeah And he He is for the Jews He's going to be uncomfortable I weirdly loves the Jews

Wrote a whole album about Coming out pretty soon Boney on bom bom bom From riveter to the sea Oh man on bom bom bom bom That'd be a good song Damn I'm gonna play harmonica on it Bonito boo boo boo boo

camera ladies i'm just kidding we're not gonna talk about politics with them also bobby's super pro palestine yeah so what's what's wrong with that they're not getting involved they hate us christine give them a nod god damn it fuck she's actually actually holding the camera is that camera gonna fall

no she's not doing anything she's actually lying back she's keeping herself busy so she doesn't have to pay attention to it. She's holding the camera for some reason. I think you can let it go. We're not going to move anywhere. It's just two chubby guys in a chair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're good. Get comfortable. A stool. Christine will tell you it's a stool. Yeah, it's a stool. She says Jacob doesn't understand what the difference is because every chair when you're that tiny is a stool. When you're that big, he has to climb his kitchen chairs. I think it's so funny, we can't have

our stuff projected into the hallway because we're naughty boys. I know. They won't let us in here. They can only see us, but they're curious what's going on. Bobby, I think this is a better time than ever. Give him a pressed ham. I can't. What do you mean? You can't? You can't get your balls and dick between your legs? And then smash that up against the glass right there? No, everything is in my body. It's double-pane glass.

No one could shoot you through it. Right now, I'd have to shoot it out of my body. It's all inside right now. My balls and my penis. Does this help? A little bit. Is this doing anything? That's better. Do my ear. Lou, tell everyone not to panic.

I'm just trying to get him hard so he can put his book on the glass. Oh, I thought you were running out to explain what was going on. Look at it. She's laughing. Uh-huh. Oh, she left.

The skirt garage is left. Sorry about that. We were just joking. I'm not really blowing it. She just walked away. Yeah, they're running at the Howard Stern studio. Oh, no. Oh, no, we're done.

We're doomed. Let's find out we have... What's your name back here? Jacob, stop, stop, Jacob, come here. What's on your shirt? What do you mean? What is that? Oh, I don't know.

Ew. That's weird. It was. Yeah. Well, what am I talking about? I ate something out of my pocket. Yeah. That's weirder. Go ahead.

Jacob, can you pick that up and let Bobby eat it, please? Can you... Are you talking to the Matrix guy? Neo? Hey, buddy. How are you? What's up, dude? What's your name, my man? Rob.

What's your pronouns, dude? He, him? Okay, cool. Just checking. Boring. I was going to go with, huh? Are you a fan of the show?

Yes. Very, very nice. You're from here in New York. Yeah. You weren't dragged here by the company itself. No, I'm from Brooklyn. You're from Brooklyn. You've never met Jacob before.

No, I've not. You don't know DJ Lou from some weird drug deal gone bad. No. You haven't been with Christine at all. No. Okay. Sexually. No, I don't think so.

In her own. brain. In her vagina. No. Christine? Can you tell the truth? I think so. Okay.

Oh, weird answers. Your tattoos are pretty freaky, dude. You got an anchor. Were you in the Navy? No, it was just a joke. Oh. Oh, that's kind of stolen valor. I don't know if about that.

No, it's funny, dude. He's got a Navy tattoo, and he's clearly a background dancer for something. What do you do for a living? I do motion picture underwriting. Motion picture directing. No, underwriting. Underwriting.

You know what underwriting is. You're on the business, Jay. You should tell me, dude. There's underwriting, man. He writes under the writer that's writing. You don't have to just keep talking. Think about it for me. You'll come up with something good.

I got it. Underwriting. Keep saying the word. Underwriter. Don't like you're thinking. Just be like underwriting. Underwriting. He underwrites all the stuff in the movies.

It's a motion picture insurance Yeah, underwriting. The underwriting stuff. Yeah, you take all the stuff, the things, and you pull it in. You go on to make sure everything's legit. You're an underwriter. God damn, I wish you would stop calling it motion pictures. Like, we're living in the fucking 50s.

It's crazy. The moving picture. What are you selling insurance for? Alfred Hitch cuss, the birds? An old film. Insurance for what? What's a hard movie to insurers? Action.

Yeah. Mission impossible for, the reckoning. yeah pretty much all that stuff what's the biggest movie ever underwritten well my office does like smaller ones compared to our LA one but we're doing the new Hershey movie that's coming out with Alexander

DeDario. Oh yeah about the story of Hershey yeah yeah chocolate yeah exactly with Alexander Didario the Tits girl exactly why do they see me I looked right over at the camera when I said the Tits girl I was going to say it just to be funny

don't get mad of me no you don't understand Alexander Zadario as an actress and she shows her tits Her breasts. She shows her breasts in a lot. I'm doing good. She shows her breasts. No, turn us on out there. This is fine. She shows her breasts in almost everything she did. And then True Detective, also her vagina. You know, I don't really ask for kudos very often, but that was awesome what I just did.

The way I clean that up, Jacob? Look at you. Look at that proud father's smile. He's going on him. He goes, that was good. We're not going to get called to HR for that. Do me a favor. Can you get that little cup of water right there and hit it to him? I think he's thirsty. You're thirsty, dude, right? Yeah, take a sip. You get nervous with those questions. Did you murder somebody today?

Have you ever thought about murdering somebody? This would be a great alibi for it. This would be Underwriter. How you doing? Are you friends with him? You guys don't know each other? What's up, buddy? What's your name?

That's Brian Murray, dude? That's an old friend of ours. I know, but the people listen and don't know who it is. Oh, you want to make it seem like there's more than just friends here? Yeah. What are you talking about, dude? Jen's been a fan for the better part of 45 minutes. I just met him

What's up, dude? How are you? Good, man. How are you? I'm good, man. I'm just hanging out I drove your car before. You what? Yeah. Oh, over at Skank Fest. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks, buddy. That was awesome. That's when I was somebody. But you have cheese in all your pockets. I didn't have cheese. I had nuts.

Yeah, buddy. Oh, we got more people coming in. This is fantastic. We didn't get to him. Hi, buddy. How are you? Okay, good. See you later. Our guest is here. All right. Here we come. Come, Jay. Wow. Yeah.

In the house, joining us in the fishbowl. Marcus King. Good see you, man. Oh, man, that's so much dungaree. That's a lot. That's more than... It's good to see you. That's Christy McNickle dungery right there.

That's awesome, buddy. How are you? Man, I'm good. How are you doing? I'm fantastic. What brings you to New York? You're just doing a press tour for the new album? Yeah.

out. Oh, it's out right now. It's out. What an ass. The Marcus King Band album, Darling Blue, out now. It's the first studio album together since 2018. No more Rick Rubin, huh? Rick's out of here. You fired his ass. I hope he did it meanly, too.

Did you have to stop doing yoga? Yeah. Just for this one. Yeah, did he rip like Buddha beads off your neck or something? I'll take these back then. I couldn't stare at his feet if I had to. He goes barefoot all the time, right? He's got very, very handsome feet. They are, they're clean.

He keeps them clean. Really? Because he's going to show them to you a lot. Yeah, well, I mean, they're always out. Like at your house? No, he never came to my house. I was at his house a lot. He made me take my shoes off.

Down to your feet? Yeah. Come on. God. You couldn't do socks? No, I'd take my boots off. Do you have to take your pants off? Dude, that's an alpha dog move if ever I've seen it.

You got to get bare foot in my house? I want you to get fully naked I need to see you I don't like that I feel like I would leave little fucking sweat footprints everywhere I went after that You and me both

So how you do You hate in this stool right This stool sucks I'm kind of sliding in and out Yeah right We want Jay requested chairs And they gave us stools

Christine says it's Jacob's fault Jacob says it's fault They're both fired Yeah it's terrible How are you guys man I miss y'all Well, we'd be doing better. We were in better chairs, and we had more people here,

but we're not allowed to stay things out there because once in a while I'll act like Bobby's blowing me in a fucking room. Yeah. Yeah, he did that already, and the security guard left. Yeah. These people who won a contest. They have no idea who we are. They don't know who we are.

They're friends of Black Lou, not us. Yeah. And these two guys have made death threats to me online several times, but I like to keep my enemies close. How you do it, man? Are you excited to drop the, go back to the roots and go back to the band and have... Yeah, it's awesome, man.

I mean, we were coming up here for press, and, like, you know, I was telling Lou and Jacob earlier, like, you know, whenever I can just put something I enjoy doing, like, in the middle of the press day, just makes it a little easier. It's good to come see you guys. It's funny to see you guys do it with an audience. It's always different.

I know. Instead of just the studio. It's our first time, too. It's going great. Ish? Pretty fantastic-ish. When you performed last time with the band, that was the Marcus King band you came in with the first time, right?

So those three other guys, right? Yeah, so it's four other guys now. Sometimes we have our horn section come out. Horn section was on this record a lot. It was really because, like, when I did that first record with Dan Hauerbach, he's really adamant about using his guys and he's got a real system that he likes to stay to and my band went on it

so I didn't feel like I should call it Marcus King Band and it just caused a lot more confusion really because in the next two records we're also without that band so I just I don't know we're kind of calling it the return of the Marcus King band but it's been my touring band the whole time it's always the guys that go with you

They just don't play on the albums necessarily. Yeah, they didn't play on the last few records because, like, Rick had a specific idea. Dan always has a specific idea. Did that cause, like, arguments? No. They just ate it. Nice. I'm sure they took it behind your back.

They probably had to... He's probably not wrong. I'm sure they weren't super pleased with it, but like... There's a couple of Olive Garden dinners where they were like, fucking guys. And why were you just... Marcus Kim, we're there. If Jay did the bonfire on the road without me

for a couple of years, I'd be mad. Right. Yeah. Right. But they always toured, so it never really, they were always toured with me. I mean, I'm sure there were a few uncomfortable conversations had. But the band's always really just been me and my drummer, you know? Yeah, yeah.

We've always kind of had like a Steely Dan kind of relationship, Fagan and Brecker. And there's been people come and go around that nucleus, but... That's the solid. That's kind of the, yeah, in like the last four or five years, the band's been really solid, you know, otherwise. When we saw you at the Blue Note, that was not your band. That was... Yeah, that was a different thing.

What was that? That's like a side project I do with Chris Dave. And Chris Dave, he played on the Moot Swings record. And he's, I mean, a staple in, like, Jazz Fusion and Neo Soul. and like he played with DeAngelo and Erica Badoo. So it was me and Chris, mono neon. Mono neon, I believe, was staring at me the whole time. Very good chance.

He's got a mask over his face. Yeah, but he was staring right at me, looking at me like, what, motherfucker? And I stared back because I thought that was respectful. It was so much fun. You guys came out to the Blue Note. Yeah. That was a good time. It was awesome.

And we got to order food, and then Josh ate it all. Josh Hed Myers did eat at all But he kept ordering more on our dime He did always make sure there was more coming on our dime And then he left me and Christine in the back And left, you guys went up to the dressing room Me and Christine was stuck downstairs He'll make sure we get it in for sure

Security's not super tight You always just come on up It was the idea of you wearing a fucking robe Barefoot at Rick Rubin's house calling your band being like hey we're going to leave you guys out of this one You're back right here Marcus your chakra's fading over here

sorry guys I gotta go you understand right was there anything that he did that you were uncomfortable with or was it well you just ah fuck it let's go no man I mean I don't know you know he's not going to hear this I brought in a children's choir for this song why

they're all barefoot too um now he's everyone's barefoot Rick's he's so great man he's just he's really set in his ways you know and like if we were going to work together again I mean there'd probably be

some you know your house shoes boots maybe regular food like he kind of he moves with the climate that best suits him so he's in Malibu and then he'll move to his place

in Hawaii and then Costa Rica and then Italy so depending on where he's at I got to travel to him so I'm making that record just took forever and it was just kind of there was a lot of challenges in making it. We finished it

at his place out in Tuscany which was... What the fuck there? It's not really a very inspirational place for like fucking country rock. Well he's got like

this 11th century cathedral out there that he turned into his home. Do you think he at some point doesn't have to be so fucking weird? Do you think he wanted just to show you his shit? That's all he wants to do.

Hey man. Hey, you want to see what a cavehouse looks like in a weird place that's like a fifth 17 hour flight? It's got the greatest acoustics I do remember like You know sometimes Rick Like he's been in his Rick thing for so long

Sometimes he forgets How normal people operate in there And he's You should take it upon yourself to remind him Yeah I should Well I did Like in one instance they're like You know

We need markets to fly to Italy Next week To finish the record And I was supposed to be at home off And I was like well I mean for flying to Tuscany Like give me and my wife You know

first class seats will come over and I'm like nah it's gonna be like you know $30,000 because it's next week and I'm like I didn't make the fucking schedule you know he was gonna make you fly coach to go see his house that I was like I'll hold to Rick about this when he gets back from his afternoon gondola yeah the label was gonna

make me pay for it and I said no then we're just not doing it and it was the only time I really was like no fuck that but you know they took care of it they took care of us and we went over and we worked on the record, and, you know, he also, he was going to have us stay, like, did y'all see that movie or that documentary about, like, the cult leader guy out in Oregon?

And he ended up getting arrested at Charlotte International. So, like, the remainder of, like, his followers, they have, like, a place on the same stretch of road that Rick lives on. Coincidence? I don't know. No. That's where he wanted us to stay. At the ashram's place. He's like, you sit here and noodle on your guitar.

I'm going to go talk to my minions. It was like a hostile situation, like this yoga retreat kind of place. And I was like, man, I just, I want some air conditioning and like a bed. Amenities. Some amenities. Yeah, you don't want to eat avocado salad for five days. Brought to you by a white slave. Yeah.

So this was the, I don't know. This is Vanessa. I love, I love Rick. and, like, he's just so eccentric. Like you said, it all has to be kind of fucking weird. Yeah, but it's weird to have to fall into becoming that. I always thought, like, Marilyn Manson's the same thing. You can't just go into his place, and he's like, you know,

wow, it's a really nice couch. It has to be, like, a castle couch and stuff. Like, you know, the guy who wrote the Satanic Bible made this out of skin. It's always something like that. And you're like, really? And then you go in the fridge, you got like, gogert. Like, that's a weird combination.

Did they, when you would make a... in the album in Italy was, did they have, like, good food or pasta? Rick had, like, four, like... Is he a vegetarian? No. Oh, they had a slave Italian old ladies?

Damn, dude. I loved to have an Italian old lady slave. Yeah, these four little Italian ladies and they loved feeding me, you know, and they didn't speak any English. They just bring me stuff. And they pat your belly? You get it too thin.

You get it too thin. And they just feed me all day. It was great. They'd make me ice coffees. It's such a weird, uninspiring thing, though, to go play the music you play. I know. Well, I mean, that record, like, and it was funny enough, it was inspiring. And this is for the Moot Swings record, like, Rick, his original idea was to, like, for me and Chris and Cory Henry to record.

And then we were going to, like, sample ourselves and kind of splice the record together like a hip-hop record. Because Rick's like, you know, a hip-hop, like, genius, you know? So he wanted to splice it together that way. and it didn't quite take that effect but being in Tuscany and being on his terms he was more involved and he was in the room with me every day

which I know it's not something he usually does anymore he's not usually like there right you know what I mean that was Slipknot's complaint about working with him they said he was never there yeah so I felt honored

that he was in the room with me and he was like he put a lot of effort and a lot of thought into it and yeah he's like hey that's a great song you thought about making it a wrap Hey can you Thought about wrapping it You mind putting that linen robe on for me

No he did He did tell me He had on like He had on these pants And I was like man Rick What kind of pants are those Because he looks so cozy all the time And he's like

These are called Thai fisherman pants And he sent me a link And I bought a pair And I went home He didn't buy you a pair The fuck He's supposed to send you a pair That's classy

Yeah that's real classy There's a link Yeah dude I did his bad boys a comedy he sent me a box of baby oil I gotta be honest with you I didn't get it the time in hindsight I think you wanted to do something

to my butt yeah could be in hindsight hindsight got it but the making of this most recent record was a lot different the last record you did was so out of your element and so different did you were you like I just want to go back

to my band and to where I do it and do it my way and do my thing with my guys is did that was that like a driving force into doing this and getting back to your roots? Yeah, and... And you wanted to wear your shoes? But this is more like this...

Now you get to see kind of natural progression versus like going in a different direction. Yeah. Like the actual progression of the band. Yeah, like growth is sometimes painful and like is lonely for me not to have my guys and like when you have like session players they come in and they're on, you know,

they're on the label's dime. and they come in and they knock their shit out and they leave. And then the rest of the night at the studio, I'm just by myself. Oh, Jesus. But, like, I was really ready just to get back to my guys and my band and that familiarity. But there was a lot of growth that happened in that two or three years, both career-wise and, you know, personal growth that happened. I met my wife in that time.

You know, it was all really positive stuff, but, you know, sometimes it could be more painful than not. So it was nice to get back in the room with my guys And we kind of have that chemistry And that ability to kind of read each other And grow off of that And you guys write all together I'm sorry

A lot of the musical parts we did You do all the lyrics Yeah Nice And what do you guys do Do you have like a studio Are you in your basement Are you at your house

Where are you doing it? So the writing process is usually Like I mean it could be Anywhere from a week to like a year depending on what your schedule is like and just getting together with co-writers I do a lot of just solo writing I write a lot of songs just on my own

my keyboard player he comes down he comes to the house and writes lyrics with me it's nice to write with the pianist because they think of things quarterly a little bit different so we wrote a few together for this record have you ever outright like purchased a song

from somebody or someone else wrote one completely no it seems like it's a weird thing it's the same thing I think in comedy with like people like writing for like roast and stuff I always have a hard time with that because it's not my thing so I always wondered about that like having a hit that wasn't your words feels a little bit empty I'd say yeah until you get the money I suppose that check helps a lot I um no if I ever did anything like that I would I would cover somebody's song you know yeah like I've I've covered like Brooks and Dunn but it's you know

on the Brooks and Dunn reboot album so it's my version of their song but I've never I've never taken somebody's words and like I've never really been into that Yeah it seems like a strange like This is unfulfilling almost Yeah Great well your song was good it turns out Yeah like not in my own yeah

Right I'll listen to it a bunch of ways I don't know if you can see him that's Jacob He's a little short Jacob come out here Just gonna tell him the same thing Now he can see you You know you fucking make a wish kid

Yeah Move your arms like a man stop sitting. Look at you. No, I was telling him before. Tell him, not me. I think I asked Marcus to play half the album before we started. There's not a bad song on it.

It's just fantastic, man. Thank you. I absolutely love this album. I'm so happy with it, you know? Like, I don't know. It just felt like I've got a lot of friends that do like bro country or like pop country or whatever. And it just felt like there's space in that. that overarching country moniker for, like, what I do, what we do,

it's like the best shot we have at getting our stuff, like any kind of mainstream recognition, you know. We're kind of taking a shot on ourselves, but not in any kind of way that feels like detrimental to our integrity, you know? Are you going to tour this a lot? I think so. We want it to be, and I mean, honestly, like, we just kind of started scratching the surface with our producer

when we were working on it so we're ready to get back to work back in the studio and make some more songs yeah and just keep touring it because we love touring and we're just trying to build it to a place that's like we can tour comfortably you know because right now

you start out you all cram in one van and then you all cram in one bus and then you have two buses and then you're on the road with people like that have 16 buses and I'm just trying to get to two I'll be fun. You're talking to two guys who have no bus.

We have Uber. We can take the city bus to things. I'm such a fan of tour bus living to some degree. As long as you stop at hotels for take showers and shit all the time. People just live out of the hotel or the bus gets pretty gross. But I like

traveling on it a lot. Yeah. I mean, it's the way for us. I love it. You know, we play the gig and then we get on the bus, to sleep wake up in the next city you go into the venue and the venue always has like showers and amenities all the stuff that you need now do you have your own bus or the are the are you guys you have the did you make the back like you're a little sweet yeah so the way we tour like me and my dog and my wife are in the back and then all 12 bunks are full with band and crew right so a lot of farts

a lot of farts it's uh we call it the fart missile so We're trying to move to, you know, we'll have two buses, then we'll have band myself and the crew on the other bus. It just makes things a little easier, a little more breathing room. I know, and everything costs like the band. I found out of when you're going. It's like everything you decide to have on stage, backdrop, banner. It's like, yeah, it all comes out of the pocket.

Well, you get some of these growing pains that are like, well, you know, I'd love to hire another set of hands to make the cruise life easier, but we don't have anywhere to put them, you know, we're out of bunk space. So I can afford a drum tech, but I can't afford the second bus that I need to fit him, you know? So that's kind of the growing pains that you get with this industry. But to be able to tour as much as we want to,

we just want to get to a place where we're, you know, bringing in higher guarantees and putting enough asses and seats to where we can tour comfortably and make a good living at it. It's tough because the music itself, Doesn't generate much money anymore. Yeah, that is a challenging part for sure. I mean, even the highest streaming artists, you know, it's not making much of a dent.

It's like pennies and a dollar they give you, right? Yeah. Make your tickets $1,000 a piece. Well, that's the other thing, too, is like these, like, secondhand, like people buying and reselling the tickets and, like, gouging the fans. It's a nasty business. Yeah. Yeah.

There's no way around it, I don't think, either. Well, punchup. Just get live. God damn it. If you. Kid Rock did that like $20 ticket. Remember he did the $20 ticket and everything. All concessions are like $5 or something.

I'm sure he took a bath on it though. He did. I mean, I don't know. I should ask him because I'm inspired by that kind of shit. Because I love that. Do something cool for the fans. You're friends with him, right? I am.

Yeah, tell him about me and Jay. Oh, he knows you fuckers. We'd like to go to his house. Yeah, I want to fucking do drugs in a fucking hot tub with Kid Rock. in front of his white house replica thing and fucking chase Mexicans with crossbows or whatever you do.

I don't know, I've never been. I've only heard the stories. I think human hunting Mexicans. Jacob, I think you're some thoughts? I want that for you. Thank you. I know. Sometimes again, like middle of the night,

you just goes, hey, now that all the cool, uncool people have left, you guys want to hunt Mexicans for it? Yeah, on ATVs? while we listen to rap rock oh you know who didn't think my joke was funny when I met his son

who's half black half white and he told me his name I go damn real opportunity missed not naming you rap rock I thought it was hilarious it did not hit all night I went around telling other people like that's what you're from rap rock

I don't get him because he did the fuck off missed opportunity missed opportunity you're still in Nashville yeah you love it there I like it is that where you recorded this album

part of it yeah we recorded a lot of it down in making georgia which is like like Otis reddings from there little richard the almond brothers kind of formed there and they were they were based out of there for a long time and capricorn studios marshal tucker band recorded there um capricorn studios was it was a label it was like the first southern rock label and uh the recording studio is still there

and it's pretty much untouched the a room anyway the rest of it had been gutted and completely remodeled but the A-room like where the Allman Brothers band first played together as a band is still there so we just wanted to get in there and get some of that energy onto the record

but you know just like with anything like the label you record a bunch of songs and then you send them to the label and I'm like these are so great can we set up more writing dates so you can write more because you know they haven't heard anything

that they think is marketable yet so you write again and then you demo them and then you send them and then you just kind of do that process over and over and it's it's a little arduous and then we decided um like i guess it was in may or june the last round of sessions we did them while we were in nashville so we recorded like uh maybe a third of the record in uh in Nashville Tennessee that's where all the guys live too just me and my guitar player oh really i've been trying to get the rest of the band and move there for like 10 years Where are they all based of?

Carolinas. Oh, really? You went all the way to Italy. Pain in my ass. You went all the way to Italy and Hawaii, and they won't come two states over. No. That is pretty funny as shit.

He goes, guys. Like, move to Nashville. I'm like, I joined a cult to get the last album. The things I did. I was at a druid's party. Do you know what that means? I still don't know what I was there. Yeah.

Yeah, it's a fair point. I got 7,000 more Rick Rubin questions. Does he walk around with a candle and a robe all the time? I will say, like, he doesn't like harsh lighting, you know? So it's all red lights. So when it gets dark out there, on the farm, it's just red lights. That's because he doesn't want you to see him float. I mean, I was, I was, I've been dead for 20 years.

I was intimidated by it. I can't watch, I know he's a genius, but I can't watch any of his interviews because he, when he, he always crosses. his leg, so his foot is like in the camera. I only stare at his foot. And I don't want to stare at his foot. I'm sure it's nice, but...

I remember I was over there right before he put his book out. And if you haven't listened, you should listen to the audio book that he did. It's really good. Does he read it? Yeah. Did he force you to listen to it? No. In front of him? As he looked you in the eyes. You guys should listen to it because I fucking had to.

Yeah. But I just, I love Rick, man. Because he is, he's really like he's removed from like pop culture he tries to be like on the fringe of society and tries to say tries to stay kind of removed

and he was going to go do Joe Rogan when I met him or when I was in Italy with him and he's like he was nervous about it I'm like you're Rick Rubin you'll be fine yeah it's really too but yeah he's like I wonder if he thought Joe Rogan's going to like

not cosign like shit on the book like you're not of the book just like the weird just like stuff that he's into in general. Because it is funny, he came from, like, they were NYU hip hop producers, him and Russell Simmons, like their story. And, like, there's a conscious decision

that was made in his life at one point where he's like, well, I'm not a leather jacket, long hair guy now. I'm a guru person. And now I wear wooden jewelry and don't give a fuck anymore. And fuck you, shoes. I mean.

Like, there's a, one day, it was like, it wasn't that. But I think a lot of famous people, it's the removal, I think. never get like that Marcus you're such a normal dude like as I said it's the funny young Johnny Depp interviews you know he's like oh yeah I audition I got the movie

it was great oh we had so much fun working on it and now everything's like hair in the face like I don't know I can't I don't have a watch because time doesn't mean anything you just chose to be that guy so there's a choice to it so that'd be awesome there is a choice if Marcus came in a kung fu outfit next time bowing everybody gentleman

I mean, you're not wrong. It's like what happened to Elvis Presley, you know? Oh, start believing his own shit, yeah. People just stop saying no to you. I know. And my drummer is my ultimate contrarian. And you all met him. Like, Jack's always like, no, that's stupid.

Yeah. And it's good. You've got to have some push and pull. Yeah. It's important. Yeah, my wife won't let me leave the house. I was wearing all blue one day. Yeah.

And she's like, are you in a lesbian softball team? I was like, why? She's like, get it off. Get it off. Yeah. All baby blue. Blue pants, blue hoodie, blue hat. And I thought I, I was kind of excited for you to see me.

I thought you'd be like, you look good, dude. I would have went, you're wearing blue. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. I almost bought a hat this weekend. I almost bought a cowboy hat. I'm scared to, I'm scared. I'm scared to buy it for real. You should be scared.

I know, but I know. You're doing what I just said. You're just going to go country now? Well, first of all, I've always been country. I've been country for a long time. You just don't know it. I've been closet country. Oh, I didn't know that.

I've been in the closet. What do you keep your country? Do you keep it in your fanny pack? It's like two barn doors? Good God. I went to a, I was up in New Hampshire, and there was a store with the hats, and every time I see a cowboy hat

and then when you put it on I'm like I look good I look great you end up looking good in a cowboy hat and you're like damn I wish society wouldn't just laugh me out of the room if I went what I wear this now there's a confidence to it

you know yeah and like five years ago I come up to Nashville to New York and I get a lot of looks a lot of weird looks but cowboy culture is kind of in vogue right now so if I'm in L.A. or you know in New York

I don't really get the strange stares anymore, which is nice. But you have to do, it's like, you've got to go jeans if you're wearing the cowboy hat. You can't have cowboy hat on sweats. No, you can't do it. And you're also one of the greatest singers in the world. And guitars. I have nothing to offer your community. You know what I mean?

I know how to tie a knot. Yeah. If somebody goes, why you wear that cowboy hat, you can go, oh, hang on and fucking show them why. Yeah. And Bobby would just be like, they have a store in New Hampshire. Hampshire.