The Digression Sessions - Ep. 146 - Jenn Wasner! (@FlockofDimes) - Wye Oak

Episode Date: December 29, 2014

Hola Digheads! You know this week’s guest from Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes, Dungeonesse, and being an all around cool lady…it’s Jenn Wasner! Josh and Jenn discuss the lows of existentialism colliding with notoriety, electronic drums, the FHRITP guy, dogs, koala bears, and the writing of the stellar “Shriek” album. This was a really fun talk. Please do the Dig Sesh a solid and subscribe to and rate us on iTunes, or Stitcher! Say hi on Twitter and Facebook. And check out the rest of the Thunder Grunt podcast network! Twitter & Instagram @FlockofDimes – Jenn Wasner @JoshKuderna – Josh Kuderna @MikeMoranWould – Mike Moran @DigSeshPod – For Podcast Updates!

hey everybody i'm josh kaderna and i'm mike moran and you're listening to the digression sessions podcast a baltimore-based comedy talk show hosted by two young, handsome stand-up comedians slash improvisers. Join us every week as we journey through the world of comedy and the bizarreness of existence. As we interview local and non-local comedians, writers, musicians, and anyone else we find creative and interesting. Yes. Who's the guest this week? Jen Wozner. Hi.

Is this working? Yeah, you're in there. Hello. Tell me about the MPC process. Well, I was admiring your e-drum kit. Yeah, that's mostly why I brought you over. Yeah, I think that's probably a pretty good idea. I'm impressed.

Not bad, huh? It's pretty cool. It is just kind of sitting there in the corner like, huh? It's like Guitar Center minus all the bullshit. Yeah. Well, I am wearing a name tag. I want to know how you're doing. I don't.

That I don't want to meet. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's just like I feel like I might actually want to invest in one of these someday because playing drums with my physical person is very different from trying to make organic sounding drum beats with my fingers. Mm-hmm. Or something. Like that physical person is very different from trying to make organic sounding drum beats with my fingers. Yeah, especially when recording too. Like, because I'll use a Korg Electribe and that's just the perfect tempo.

So then it's way easier to record. And the drums sound kind of decent. You're like, that's not bad. But I just, I could never do fills with that. So all my fills would just be like, cat to cat. You know, between anything. Do we really need fills though? No, just throw in a big crash.

We know we're making the transition from the... We don't need him. But yeah, this thing, this could eat your life right here. The V-Drones. They could eat your life right away. If only our podcast listeners could see what an impressive... We'll take a picture. We had Mike Lowry over here, and he was playing. Oh, Mike Lowry is my boy.

Yeah, he was really cool uh best dude he was such a nice guy moran knew him through um through aa actually oh cool and he was yeah he was so red yeah he was like um i think the drummer of future islands is in my aa group and i was like well get him over here no mike is the greatest dude he and i um were in the Gene Clark, No Other Bands. Yeah, he talks about that. It was like the Baltimore super group, basically. He's a swell dude. Yeah, he was showing me.

Two big thumbs up from the Waz. Yeah, from the Waz. Two thumbs up from the Waz. Waz and Kaderna in the mornings. I think that could be us. That could be the team. But he was showing me like the double pedal, but just with a single pedal like da-da-da, da-da-da.

I'm like, oh, you're good at that. I just cheat with the double. Man, fuck him. Never mind. My dog's dragging her butt. We're drawing a real picture here. She's dragging her butt across the carpet, now smelling the carpet.

It's cool. All my favorite podcasts have annoying dogs in them. Hey, Muncie, you're not annoying, right? Oh, you really are getting it Oh wow you're You're really getting it Straight on full eye contact while Scratching her asshole

Yeah no shame she's like this is my house I love that I love that dogs are just like Hey be my buddy while I lick my I'm just all out in the open this is who I am I love it We should learn something from them. Yeah.

Oh, yep. She's really going. She's going for it. All right. So how many interactions with dogs are you making during the week? Oh, God. Because while you're home,

you're walking dogs, right? I just started walking these dogs professionally. Mm-hmm. Of course. Stepped up from the minor leagues. Yeah. And so just like creeping

on all my friends' dogs I started getting paid for it instead Which has turned out to be a really good idea Yeah So yeah, I'd say I hang out with more dogs than the average human Right Depending on the week, but you know Probably numbering in the 50s to 100s

50s to 100s? In my, you know, maybe less Right, right Jesus Christ There's some cats involved I don't walk them, but I see them. Right. Like, hey, what's up, cat?

You know, I'm not really here for you, but you know. I hope one day I get paid to walk a cat. It's kind of a dream of mine. That would be tough. I hope you get paid a lot. Typically, they're not into it so much. Yeah. Well, how long are you home?

Because when we were trying to set this up, you just seemed so busy all the time. I am so busy all the time, and it's kind of my my fault but you know right well your computer died like a giant shit um and it was it was my own fault was one of those things where it was like a very small problem turned into a series of enormous problems yeah um but i finally got that up and running it totally killed me i. I kind of thought that I was a person with a life of interest and friends and stuff. And when my computer went down, I realized that that's not true at all. And my entire existence is in that box. That's all you have is the computer.

It really fucked me up. It's like everything that I do is in there. Yeah. It was not fun. But I learned some things. Every time something breaks, I learn something. I learned where in there. Yeah. It was not fun, but I learned some things. Every time something breaks, I learn something. Mm-hmm.

I learned where my RAM is seated. Oh, hey. Take it out and put it back in. Gotta know where that RAM is. You know, all kinds of fun, boring, hopefully someday useful things about computers. But yeah, so I was super busy

as traveling, and I'm always sort of generally just signing up for more than I'm actually capable of doing in reality. But I am here for, you know, I'm basically here indefinitely, but I have little things here and there. I'm going to Australia in like a week, which is very exciting. What are you doing down there? Playing three shows with WyOak. Nice.

Which I've never been, so. That's amazing. I'm pretty pumped. I was actually talking to Mickey, our mutual buddy Mickey, been, so. That's amazing. I'm pretty pumped. I was actually talking to Mickey, our mutual buddy, Mickey about, maybe it wasn't Mickey,

I don't know, maybe it was some other freak, but I was talking about how I wanted to hug a koala and he, I think it was Mickey, I think he was like, well,

you know that like, I watched this documentary about koalas. Just like classic Mickey Freak. I was like, I watched this documentary about koalas.

Yeah, koalas, the real story. And it turns out, he's right, but but turns out they all have syphilis or chlamydia i can't remember why some kind of horrible std and apparently they spend the first year of their lives eating their parents shit so that they can digest eucalyptus okay uh which is cool so um they're a bunch of like std riddled shit eating right little and so he was like oh you want to hug koala cool what a terrible thing you have to eat shit for the first year to step

up to the big league leagues of eucalyptus that's how they do it down australia man this those things are great those animals down there are crazy but you're not even getting anything good it's just like and then it's prime rib from here on out you're like eat this leaf yeah like yeah now you can finally digest this pretty crappy thing not bad huh yeah that's but they're really cute so that's a perk oh and um hey if you're gonna have syphilis and eat shit you better be good looking yeah that's exactly right that's what my dog does for me yeah take it from the wasp. Take it from the wasps. All right. Munza's in Jen's face. Now I got to get a picture. Let's get a good picture.

Get a picture of this one. Oh, hi. Say hi. Straight on. This is how Munza takes a... He's got the first kiss. She'll kiss. Munza, you can push her down if you want.

All right. Munza, get down, baby. All right. Come on. Get down. Good girl. I know you just ate your own asshole and then you just l if you want. All right. Munson, get down, baby. All right. Come on. Get down. Good girl. I know you just ate your own asshole and then just licked my face. I know.

What are you doing? What are you doing? That's great. I love dogs. They don't care. No, not at all. I'm going to drink a little water. Actually-

Yeah, please do. A grosser thing that happened to me recently was that anyone who has cats can testify that wet cat food is the most disgusting, foul thing. Horrible smell, yeah. I was feeding my roommate's cat the other day and I opened a that wet cat food is the most disgusting, foul thing. Horrible smell, yeah. I was feeding my roommate's cat the other day, and I opened a can of cat food, and a big chunk of it went into my mouth. Oh, like the can popped open and just by force? Yeah, exactly. It was the worst.

The worst. I could taste it. It was like fishy, meaty. Oh, it's really one of the worst moments. Garbage smell. One of the worst moments I've had in recent memory for sure. That's what you get for being nice, Jen. Yeah, it's true. You blew it.

You blew it. I totally did. So what's the Australian thing? Are those music festivals? Yeah, so I'm playing something called Sydney Festival, which I assume in Sydney. And a couple other shows in other cities. Melbourne and Brisbane. Don't know anything about Australia.

Never been. I know a lot about the Habits of Koalas. That's about it. That should make for good stage banter. Just read from their Wikipedia page and throw in some koala. We got some fucking gross animals down here. Way to go.

Another song. One, two, three, four. Way to go. All right, next song. One, two, three, four. Yeah. Well, so that'll be fun. I've never been there. It's also summer there right now, which is great because winter is very, very depressing. Yeah, it's been gray and gross here.

It's horrible. But Christmas, which just passed, was pretty warm. The Xmas. Pretty warm, huh? Warm and sunny, too. It was my Christmas present this year. What was?

The warm and sunniness. Oh, too. It was my Christmas present this year. What was? The warm and sunniness. Oh, really? Yeah, my Christmas present from God. Oh, you asked for that. We're tight, yeah. That's nice. And he gave it to me. He?

Okay. He gave it to me for Christmas. He plays it loose. I just tried to decide whether to go there. I decided not to go there. No, we can bleep that out, too. It's fine. She gave it to me for Christmas this year.

The goddess. Yeah, this year. The goddess. Yeah, the goddess. The goddess gave me the great weather. How was your Christmas? It was fine. It was good. Yeah? My family lives here, so I have a routine all in place.

Uh-huh. The same every year. Yeah? Yeah, it was a good time. Mm-hmm. I don't think my family's going to to this i think i'm safe yeah the fun the funny thing that happened is that for the for the third year in a row someone in my family gave me a magic bullet uh blender you know tv magic blender year three is it is it a running joke

no they don't know that they've given it to me three years in a row they don't remember wow it's great it's kind of the best thing ever are you just stacking them up on ebay yeah no well i got one and one broke and then i got another one and i still have that one and i have two well hey there you go just in case yeah i just think it's delight it's delightful like my family had they have no idea what i like what i'm into and that is the worst when like yeah you open it and they're like it's's an Under Armour shirt. And you're like, okay, I could wear that. I wear shirts. I like a nice shirt. Staying warm is good.

Yeah, my family, we don't do gifts anymore. That's great. We cut it out. Because all the kids are kind of grown up. The adults all got what they want. My grandma's big into it. And she's like, well, what's Christmas without the gifts? Better.

Yeah, exactly. A lot better. Yeah, let's hang out. And that's stressful and shitty. There's no pressure none of that that's great man i wish that could happen yeah she's also an old jewish lady so it's weird for her to take that approach but you know that's fine well you know she could give you some for hanukkah yeah that's true yeah well i mean like most uh grown-up jewish people she's an atheist

now so right well yeah it's true yeah jews. Yeah. At my Christmas, it was nice. We were watching sports, and Jameis Winston came up, the quarterback for Florida State, and how he shouted, fucker right in the pussy that one time. I didn't hear about that. You didn't hear that? That's awesome. He stood on a table in the cafeteria and just screamed it. For apropos of nothing?

No. Have you seen those videos? There's a guy. You must have missed this. There's this older guy. Yeah, I had to tell my family about it, too. And then it just became a running joke, much to my grandma's chagrin again. Somebody's telling a story.

And then they said, fuck her right in the pussy. And she's like, no, this is terrible. That is so great. There's a guy. We've talked about this on the podcast a bunch. But he's like and then they said fuck her right in the pussy and she's like no this is terrible that is so great there's a guy we've talked about this on the podcast a bunch but he's a hero uh it's just this random dude he's gotta be in his like 50s or 60s uh there was like a local news report and it's uh this woman's like out in the road like talking about like an accident or something she's like here i am at the intersection blah blah and this guy just like bum rushes her and like elbows her out of the way and grabs the mic looks in the camera just goes fuck her right in the pussy oh but he's done it three different times oh wow he's done it like he

like he seeks these out yeah yeah yeah so there was another one where he was uh it was right around halloween different news channel like same town i guessing. He's wearing a mask, right? And they're like, oh, what are your plans for Halloween? He's like, well, I have this, but I have something scarier if you want to see it. He's like, yeah, sure. So he takes his mask off and he just looks in the camera and goes, fuck her right in the pussy. That's what he did.

That's a pretty good way to spend a life. Yeah, yeah. I forget the other one, but it's very similar. But it's become like a meme now. I miss this. I'm not up on my memes yeah you gotta google uh fucker right in the pussy it's really worth it you know i have i do every day i just you have you missed these yeah sending me in a different direction are you using bing bing can be kind of limited love bing sponsor the podcast but it can be a little limited as far as the fucker right in the pussy searches go or whatever whatever it is but uh yeah it's like a meme now so like if there's you know anybody

at like a dallas cowboys game like here we are with the fans and they're just like fucker right in the pussy that's great yeah like it was even around in the world cup and the best part like people just say it casually like yeah i had a great time it was really fun fuck right in the pussy i will laugh every time yeah well especially because the reporters don't know what to do they just like grab the mic back like uh like because it's such a weird it's already too late yeah it's such a weird thing to say and say so casually incredibly weird thing to say yeah that's delightful yeah so i posted on facebook i was like i don't know what baby jesus joseph and mary did in the manger on christmas but they probably shared fuck her right in the pussy youtube videos like my family just man you are you have a good family right there

that's yeah it was nice my aunt just commented on it oh geez oh yeah like oh becky we all had fun we all had fun so that was that was a nice christmas that is great i wish that was my christmas man on it that's delightful yeah my family kind of cuts loose it was it was cool unfortunate that's very good yeah it was uh i enjoyed it um talked to my uncle he's an accountant i was like are the federal reserve evil and he was like no and i was like are you sure i don't know man yeah and then he was like, no, that's stupid. They're blah, blah, blah, inflation, blah, blah. He would say that. Exactly.

He might be Illuminati. He would say that. Yeah, right? Accountants are all Illuminati. Yeah, he's probably some reptilian overlord. Yeah, clearly. But with a good sense of humor as far as the fuck right in the pussy stuff goes. But hey, human reptilian overlord, that joke translates for sure.

For sure. Oh, very nice. That sounds like a lovely holiday it was and i will say if i could uh give you some compliments without shit jen can you can you take compliments well i let me tell you putting on your compliments down i love them and i don't find it incredibly excruciating and uncomfortable at all. Perfect. Well, when me and my girlfriend were on vacation in the early summer, Shriek had just come out, and it was pretty great.

It dropped. It dropped, and I think that was like the CD of our vacay. I will say. Thank you. I didn't accept a compliment in regards to that record. I'm very proud of that record. Yeah, because the first time you were on the podcast,

I think you were a little burnt out. Yeah, I was wicked burnt out. And I also didn't know it was, I didn't know anything. I didn't know it was a comedy podcast. I didn't know anything. Mickey didn't tell me anything. He was like, we're just going to do this. I was like, all right, whatever.

Yeah, so I remember asking you questions. I asked you, I was like, yeah, you guys toured all over. You were in Germany. And I saw an interview in Germany, and you guys looked kind of like, you seemed like you kind of burnt all over you were in germany and like i saw a interview in germany you guys look like kind of like you know it's like it's like you seem like kind of burnt out or something like that and you're like yeah did you pick up on that and i was like oh yeah yeah just a little just a little oh my god anyway it's burnt out was that like maybe what when was that do you have a year on that no because i guess i was probably maybe like 2012 yeah yeah yeah so i think uh that was like the

height of my the depths we'll say yeah that was my low point was that like like if we could talk about that without being like sure uh going too in depth but i just remember and then too like you were uh you mentioned too you're like yeah so my therapist says they're like oh you go to therapy and you're like we're not talking about that it's like okay and we had like i brought it up we had like just met and i was just like no i mean i go to okay it's cool we don't know i do go to therapy i still do i love therapy i don't know maybe i think maybe i was trying too hard to be funny but but i mean i wouldn't i think you just didn't know like what you're saying like what to expect like why why would we talk about me going to therapy oh we're not talking about therapy not happening but no my uh yeah it's it was definitely that time my life was weird and insane and it's one of those things you look back

on and i'm i'm really happy to have experienced those things and learn the lessons that come with experiencing those things and i really am just delighted to not be there anymore. Really? Yeah. I mean, it was a really tough time. And I think everyone sort of has a point in their lives where they go through that sort of late 20s existential soul searching. And it feels, in the moment, like it will never end.

Right. And in some ways, it never does end uh but you learn how to deal with it and cope right and um and uh yeah i was just i wasn't treating myself very well physically um i was yeah because i saw that interview of you in germany and you looked numbs i was a hot mess no it's funny because actually one thing that people like you know journalists and um interviewers frequently bring up is this one interview I did around that time with the Village Voice where I basically just lost it.

Really? And I didn't have, it was just kind of like a no filter situation. I was like, we suck. Everything we do is shitty. We're a bunch of frauds. I'm just waiting for everyone to find out we're not actually that good. Wow. We're tired're tired we're miserable and like the guy doing the interview

was just like well that was because the whole thing is supposed to be about like this was your breakout year and i was basically like fuck this right i'm i hate everything i like that too like we suck and andy's like well she doesn't speak for me uh yeah he he was, I feel so, oh God, I was probably such a piece of shit. No, well, I honestly think like everybody, but probably most artists that aren't delusional probably feel that way, right? I think if you're not having those doubts about yourself, you, yeah, you're probably not doing very good work.

It comes with the territory. Right, yeah, you should be questioning it. You shouldn't just be like, well, that was great, because everything I do is great. Everything we do is perfect. Yeah, no, you're not having those moments. And also, I think a lot of what goes into sustaining a band as a livelihood or as a brand,

which sounds disgusting to say and which I don't like. Yeah, I've been saying that too. But it is. It's a thing. Bands that manage to be really successful and to be really sort of like

to sustain their awareness of what they do you sort of just have to build that brand. You have to treat it like it is that and you have to sort of give people

what they want and expect from you. And I don't know I guess I just sort of realized that wasn't really what i got into making music for right first place yeah and so it kind of came to a choice for me between um it's all sounds so fucking pretentious no no just like watching myself speak outside of myself you're back in your car like on your way home to watch football

shut up like homer's brain leaving like i'll be gone for a while that's my that is my number one that is my it's just whatever version of myself that's constantly floating around yeah and i'm just judging yeah yeah and i'm just ned flanders like uh-huh uh-huh tell me more i'll tell me more doodly yeah yeah but i mean honestly like i think it was just like i had to come down to, I came to this place where I was like, okay, well, either I'm gonna keep doing this thing. And like, in a lot of ways, it will continue to be, you know, a comfortable situation for me.

If we maintain, if we just keep sort of doing what we're known for doing, and we keep maintaining the amount of touring that we're doing and the kind of music that we make you know we can probably do all right for ourselves for a little while you know yeah have it be a little bit more sustainable and right comfortable and reliable yeah um or you know you can take a risk and and see what happens there and you know like there's a lot at stake um yeah that but um when it came down to it the choice was sort of made for me because i was so miserable i just couldn't yeah i couldn't keep pretending that i was engaged with what i was doing in a real genuine way in front of all those people for their for money right it felt like a horrible person really so so like what what did you write that record and

at the time you're proud of it and then are you just kind of touring it to death that it's like i was connected to it then for sure it wasn't like i i didn't like it when i made it and it's not right i don't respect it in a way now um but it was yeah it was a matter of excess and then you've kind of like evolved kind of beyond it and yet you're still like stuck in there right right um and no one likes feeling like you know they're not being their true selves yeah especially when you know for me the especially since it's the kind of songwriting that it is it is very sort of personal almost autobiographical yes can't just... Get up in front of people and pretend when you're not really there. It just feels like

you're misleading people and it feels really dishonest. I mean, some people are performers, I think, inherently, and the performance is a part of their art, and I think I realize I'm sort of more of a writer type than a performer type.

Like I enjoy performing under the right circumstances, but I'm not really satisfied unless I'm making new things and I can only inhabit the spaces of those things for a very limited amount of time. Right, so then you're going to feel like kind of stagnant for a little bit, especially too when it was such a breakout album too, like you guys were on the walking dead and stuff which was crazy and like the uh just i guess being like out there like this is them and you're like

well kind of this is me like that's who i was it's one thing that i do yeah i don't want to be that forever yeah you don't want to be that forever and you don't want that to be all of what you're what you are right and so it was the record label too like we got to like keep this going like it was us i mean no one really we're lucky in that like we don't really have a the people we work with don't force us to do anything but we we sort of agreed going into it you know when the opportunities start coming and you've been working your whole life to sort of get to a point to get that yeah yeah yeah you take them we were just like we're gonna say yes to everything and we didn't know how much it was gonna burn us out yeah um you know it it took a toll and that's kind of what i'm talking about as far as learning lessons uh-huh you know i don't think i will ever

push anything that hard ever again because i sort of know what lies down that road yeah i mean it makes sense kind of what you're doing now like i, I'm going to take a break. I'm still going to be working on stuff. Then we'll go to Australia for a little bit, come home. This way I don't want to die. Yeah, exactly. It's great.

I don't want to die. It's fantastic. No, I mean, it's come to a really good place, you know, because I, you know, Andy, neither Andy nor I

wanted to only be doing one thing with our lives. Yeah. The only thing that was sort of keeping us tied to that was using the band as our source of income, our livelihood. And if you let go of that, then it can be whatever you want it to be. Yeah. And all of a sudden, it becomes just creatively viable again.

And we can do what we want, when we want, how we want. And it's fun. And so the only real sacrifice you make is sort of that stability of being able to get a you know paycheck yeah well awesome right right but yeah it was uh i mean the the last time that i talked to you too like you said you're like i haven't even touched a guitar in months and you're like and i don't think i ever will and then they you know you have an album come out and there's no guitar on it you're like hey yeah you made it work yeah and the funny thing is like now i mean i'm playing i'm playing a lot of guitar now yeah and i still it's like i never really felt like it would

it i would be done with the instrument forever right because in general like i guess the thing that it frustrates me when people don't understand this and i you know but i mean why would they but i don't know basically what i do first and foremost you know is like i'm a songwriter composer you know ideas the me you know the means through which those ideas come to being is not really the point right and people sort of obsessing and fixating on like you know i play lots of instruments and poorly i was i was gonna say that but yeah you're lucky for where you are yeah i am i'm very fortunate but yeah i mean like i you know it's like i don't consider myself to be a technician i'm not a player yeah i'm a writer

and so i you know everything that i do i sort of use in service of that rather be somebody that has better feel and that it's actually like trying to get something across versus like look at these scales I can do yeah and it was never really like it always felt to me like it was missing the point to fixate on yeah the guitar as being what I do because I don't think that's actually what I do and I wanted it was important to me for a lot of reasons to um to try and translate the the songwriting process into a different set of yeah sort of sonic palettes and with a different set of rules and um and you know that's that's fun for me that's what i like to do yeah um so because you're involved in a lot of stuff i mean like the flock of dimes stuff the dungeon s stuff like it's all it's it's still like you

can tell like it it's you and there's that like there's that influence there of like what you like but it's still it's different you know what i mean yeah and at the heart of it it's the same shit i mean it's still just me writing songs yeah but the you know the the styles will change and the right you know and the arrange you know and that's what makes it that's what keeps me engaged in the process um so you know i felt like i was just getting a little bit too boxed in with that stuff and i wanted to set a precedent of like okay you know like i'm gonna just do whatever I want to be doing. And some of those things are going to stick and maybe resonate with people and do well.

And some of them won't, but I'm not going to make, you know, creative decisions based on some sort of like business sense of like trying to, you know, I just like bringing those two worlds together. It's really hard to do. Yeah. Some people can do it and probably not feel like they're compromising their uh creative integrity but or their soul yeah some people can do it i really believe it can be done but um yeah but everyone's got to find their own way through it and i think that's just what i'm trying to do yeah because i mean that's even in like comedy especially like

like what you're saying like writing because you'll have stuff you're like oh i know these bits work but like i don't feel like i'm not connected you know i'm not connected this material anymore and then crowds can tell too when you're just like you're gonna have a funny joke but it's like why does he look dead in the eyes if you're not engaged you're not believing you're not right in the mood to do it it's really hard to pass that off so then if you're writing stuff that you're excited to perform that's going to translate versus like here's that song again or here's here's another riff that i'd forced out actually yeah i've taken a lot of solace in actually in sort of listening to comedians talk about the ways that they perform yeah because you know like a lot of ways the lifestyle is very similar the road and writing getting up in front of people and the monotony and when

you say like brand that's a huge part about it too like i'm this guy you know or like my thing right even if you're like your thing is being yourself you're like well what does that mean then you're like get confused of like oh i'm i'm a product like yeah i'm selling myself yeah yeah what should my twitter handle be i gotta figure to figure that out. What's my handle? It's really hard to do. I'm sorry, Jen, can you just put the mic closer? Oh, sure, I'm sorry. I know you're not a technician or anything.

I don't know anything about microphones. Get into it, please. I don't know anything about microphones. Not a thing. I heard Ray Romano say the same thing. He still feels like people are going to figure out that he's a fraud. Are you smelling the mic? Who in Baltimore has it?

This is a very new SM58. Yes. You nailed it. Very new. Nailed it. Yeah. It's written on the side, so I can't really take a lot of credit for it. Yep.

Yeah. It's just, yeah. It's like your standard mic. It's not smelly. No. I'm smelling nothing. Not a lot of spit on that mic. No, it's great.

There's a little bit, but not too much. You know, I could have brought my own. I usually travel with my own mic. Really? Your own Shure SM58? No, no. I travel with a Heil PR35. Excuse me.

Not in this house. Not in this house. I'd make you leave it on the porch. All right? Okay. But it seems like you're beyond that, though. You're like, hey, I didn't use a guitar in this whole album. It's fucking great.

Not everyone thinks it's great, but I like it. I think it's the best thing I've ever done. I think it's fucking awesome. I was really excited to hear it because it is different where you're like, oh, I wasn't even expecting this, and it's fucking great. That's awesome. That's a great compliment. I really appreciate it. Yeah, we were down at the beach in the Outer Banks OBX.

Yeah. What's up? You've heard of it, huh? I have. So, yeah. Okay, cool. You've seen the stickers? I've seen the black and white stickers on the back of the car.

I made those. I made those. Oh, wow. You must be wealthy. Well, you know, I do it for the love. You know, a lot of people print stickers to make money. Not me. I just want to spread the word.

Good town. Just a sticker fan. Some good towns. But, yeah, it was really cool. I think to the point where Amanda's like, what else are we going to listen to? I was like, this. This is it. This is it.

This is good. Thanks, man. Yeah, I was very excited for you because then it was, like I said, having that in the back of my mind of you being like, I don't even want to play guitar. And I was like, well, she didn't. Yeah, I mean, it was an ordeal.

Yeah? Making that thing was an ordeal. It was hard was your guitar like talking to you just like jed i wasn't even thinking about it honestly it was just like it wasn't even in the cards because honestly the concept itself was there or actually honestly the original concept was more it was less about the excluding the exclusion of the guitar and bringing in more stuff. Well, it was like, here's this.

So basically, like, the live setup that Andy and I have always used is that I play guitar, and he plays drums, and he also plays keyboard bass with his left hand. Yeah, he's a badass. So, and the keyboard bass parts would always be these sort of, like, low, droney situations. So they would occupy the lower end. it fill in that part and i would be sort of dealing in the upper register so basically the original concept was for me to play bass and for him to take over so basically we would invert what we were responsible so he's doing the kind of like the higher so he'd be doing the higher stuff it was the the initial concept was we're gonna we're tired of this band let's make a new band that looks exactly the same

basically we're just gonna invert what we're both responsible for so all of a sudden I'm responsible for that low register territory and he's responsible for stuff that's going on on the top

and that was the way that I figured we could make it completely new but still get away with calling it the same thing right

have it look the same when you look at it on stage so that was actually the initial concept as more so than me just being like no guitar fuck it um it was there was actually like it was it was more like oh it would be cool if we did this and so this is how we'll do it um and that idea was what inspired the writing to even begin yeah i mean i hadn't i didn't really i wrote the whole record with that

concept in mind that's great um and so yeah and it was really fun and it's really challenging i mean i'm not a great bass player um it is you're the greatest i'm not a great player i am the best in the world yeah which is shocking that you've you know hidden that talent i didn't even practice it just sort of naturally happened. I just was the best. That is something. Yeah, it's pretty cool when that happens. Good for you.

Yeah, I know. It's pretty cool when you find out you're the best at something. It's something you can try. It's great. I love it. Effortless. But yeah, no, it's really difficult to play bass and sing at the same time. It's a completely different sort of rhythmic.

The interplay is different from playing guitar and singing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a completely different sort of rhythmic um the interplay is different from playing guitar and singing oh yeah yeah and it's it took a lot of practice um uh but at the same time uh it is a lot more fun it's a lot more challenging it's um you got four strings instead of six you do you know they're lower hey they're a little bit thicker tougher on the old fingers uh-huh yeah like rhythmically it was a challenge you, for Andy, what he's doing looks the same, but it's actually a thousand times more complicated. Because he's playing probably more notes and stuff, too. He's doing, it's mostly sample-based,

but he's triggering everything on the keyboard. But it's like, you know, these chunks. I mean, what he's doing, he's doing something different with each finger in addition to playing a full drum kit. Right, right. On the other side of his body. Like a full band back there.

There was a definite good chunk of time where we really thought that there it was not gonna happen for with just the two of you while we were rehearsing we were just like oh this is not gonna work i can't we're not good enough to do it did you record it first and then you were like let's try to now make it work yeah we made that's sort of how we've always done we make we made the record we're like all right let's let's play this somehow we made it now we're gonna have to tour with it so yeah we're not a band i mean it's like the opposite of what most bands would do right right um how often are you guys still like practicing or getting together to play like are you guys pretty good about taking space from each other and well and he lives in texas oh? So we're taking a lot of space. There's a good amount

of space there. He lives in far, far away in Marfa, Texas. However, he was just here, we actually just

spent the last couple days practicing and recording while he was in town for the holidays. Oh, cool. We got a little practice in advance of our trip.

Dan and Dan. Dan and Dan. And, uh, the syphilitic coalescence over there. I would join in on the accent. I can't do an Australian accent. Mine is going to bleed into a British accent. Dan and Dan and uh, syphilitic coalesce. I would join in on the accent. I can't do an Australian.

Mine is going to bleed into a British accent real fast. So that's all I can do. I wish I could. It's one of the accents that I just have never been able to crack, but maybe when I go down there, I'll, I'll get it. Yeah. Um,

uh, crikey. That's all I got. Yeah. It's hard. It's a, it's a tricky one. Quiz people on what's a knife and what's not a knife.

That's a good thing to do. That goes over great. They like doing that. I love doing improv scenes. This even happened last night where you're like, let me dust off the old British accent in an improv scene at a show. And then slowly you become Irish. And they're like, hey, what happened?

They're like, I don't know. I don't know. Somebody wiped the scene and let's do another one. I'm the queen. Little bit of this and that. Yeah, exactly. My accent problem is I spent so long trying to recover my Baltimore accent that they all

just gradually turn into that. No matter where I start out, it just turns into like, come on. What are y'all doing down there? What are y'all doing up in there? Come on. And like that, it just comes right out. Yeah.

Everything sort of eventually turns into the Baltimore accent. In Australia, they'd be like, that's the worst Australian accent I've ever heard. I've ever heard in my life. Going down under. Down under. Y'all got Old Bay mayonnaise sandwiches down there? How y'all doing? I always want. Going down under. Down under. Y'all got Old Bay mayonnaise sandwiches down here? How y'all doing? I always want to go down under.

Yeah, they're replaying The Wire this weekend. I saw that on HBO. And it's always funny to see when they get the locals on the show. You're like, oh, that guy's definitely a local. You can tell. Real hardcore. It's a very, very hard accent for non-natives. Yeah.

But apparently it's pretty similar to the Philly accent. It then like the philly and like bleeds into ohio a little bit too like a little stripe a little trash stripe yeah it almost sounds british like it sounds like a like a dumb british person like oh i think it's like sort of got like cockney origins um but i don't i don't really know i made that up actually i sound like i actually from what i completely invented i believe it is according to me according to nobody um and i have a close relationship with the goddess so i do it's true she can fact check that we're really tight uh but yeah i think that yeah it's definitely very similar to to what's going on up there in Philly. Yeah.

Up there in Philly. Up there. What are they talking about up there? Hopefully not the eagles. It's hard. It's hard for non-natives to grasp. And I even, like, I was born here and I had a Baltimore accent. And I sort of, it got talked out of me. I was schooled out of it.

Oh, really? And then I spent years trying to get it back. And now I'm sort of halfway between. You're trying to get it back? Yeah, because it's awesome. It's so, I mean, not like I want to have a choice. And now I'm sort of halfway between. You're trying to get it back? Yeah, because it's awesome. I mean, not like I want to have a choice. I mean, this is my voice. But I want to be able to call it up.

Yeah, pronounce your O's correctly. Oh, my God. Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco. Oh, no. Joe Flacco. Me and my friend Scott, we went to go visit our buddy in New Jersey. So it was like four or five of us.

We're all hanging out and smoking drugs, as you're wont to do when you're hanging out with the fellas and the ladies. And we would not stop talking the Baltimore accent. He's so good at it. We just kept going. Like Flacco over to middle Dennis Pitta every time. Every damn time. It's always great when you're talking about the Ravens. It's like a thousand times

a year. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then like talking about their stats because all those like shitheads that they

don't know anything like, well, Flacco need do, he needed true to ball faster. Good one. Okay. Yeah.

Dennis Pitt had taught me how to ride a bike. Swear to God. Swear, swear to damn God. So as far as comedy goes, what have you been uh what have you been

listening to uh let's see what have i been listening to um i uh i really love maria bamford yeah she's great coolest um i saw tigmentar recently oh yeah first you saw her when she came through baltimore yeah i went to a party that she was at and i was like where was that i was in dc God damn it. Yeah. There were a bunch of people there. There were like four or five people. Like John Hodgman was there. Todd Berry was there.

And you're like, I'm going to get pizza at the same time. Todd Bear. Oh, Hey Todd. Hello. And he would just be like, you know,

we had a great conversation. They went, uh, is this veggie? No, I think there's meat on that. Cool. Thanks bro.

Cool. And it's like, okay. But it was, it was like, you have like, you show up and you're like, I'm just going to play it cool. I'm not going to annoy anybody. Yeah.

Then you have like a beer and a half. You're like, hey, I'm a big fan. Hi, John. It's too late. I feel like, you know, it's funny because traveling in like musician circles, like I feel like I don't get starstruck ever with anyone. And I've been around some really notorious people. Yeah. starstruck ever with anyone and i've been around some really notorious people and yeah and but for

some reason like i think comedians would probably be um people i would be more prone to get starstruck around is it more because like from like musician to musician you're like i get it like i still love your stuff but i kind of do what you do yeah i mean i guess so i don't really know what it is honestly i'm not entirely sure um right but yeah I don't know maybe it's just because yeah it's probably because it's a level removed from what I myself do but I'm sure comedians probably feel that way about other comedians sometimes too

yeah yeah yeah definitely I think yeah I think if you're like hanging out for a longer amount of time you probably want to just chill but then be like oh hey hello hey I really like what you do yeah hi and I've done that I mean I've certainly done that

with like musicians I admire I just feel like it's never like there's nowhere to go with the conversation though I'm not like shitting myself I'm just like

oh hey you know I really like what you do and it's kind of like oh thanks I don't know I guess it sort of just depends I don't know but

who's the coolest that you got to meet coolest person I got to meet yeah the one that you got to meet? Coolest person I got to meet? Yeah, the one that you were most excited, like, musician-wise. This is tough to think of. I'm not entirely sure. Besides me. Besides you.

And Mike Moran. Let me think about this. I don't know. I came very close to... I don't even think that I would want to do... I know for a fact that I would not want to do this, but I was at Coachella when Beyonce was at Coachella. Oh, boy. I caught a few glimpses of beyonce i actually really also like i swam for people that

i did see that was uh i really like and i'm in no way i'm ashamed to admit that i love the hyam record um oh okay i got you yeah and i think it's brilliant and i think it's great pop music yeah or at least the first six songs on that record are stunningly perfect it's a solid EP stunningly perfect pop music just a good time and I at the same time I'm really fortunate in that so much of the music that I really really love and

really appreciate is made by people that I'm already friends with so it's not there's not that weird and also I tend to like be really I've discovered that making my world really small is helpful for me and existing within a community that is at arm's length yeah and I'm fortunate that Baltimore is so awesome and there's so many great musicians that that live here yeah it makes me feel a little bit more sane to not try and get a handle on like the entire world.

Literally. With my finite brain, you know. Right. I feel like I have like, I'm just going to pour my time and energy into this community of people who are doing really great work. Yeah. That is a really exciting thing because I really feel like there is a good scene like beyond music and, you know, like art. And, you know, we have great photographers and comedies. Yeah, the comedy stuff is great.

I mean, there's like a huge like, dare i call it a comedy renaissance hey now yeah um yeah there's a whole i mean there's a great team yeah i heard uh you know i was actually listening to the um what was i listening to i think it was the pete holmes podcast with pat noswell and he shouted out baltimore yeah which is cool and you know why he did that why because he did our podcast no shit really uh-huh did he use his microphone he did it might yeah it might have been that one not gross i'm just kidding i'm really weird about sharing mics it's are you really no i mean like yes i am yes i mean do you bring your own mic when you tour i do i do i do once i started doing that no i don't care it's but i'm like hey j Jen, a little bit closer. You're like, no. Touch it with your face.

Touch it with your lips and your mouth. Just get right on there or else the listeners aren't going to hear you breathe. No, it's cool. It's cool. It just, once it gets in your head,

I don't know, I think I had this image once of like seeing a front person for some band like shove the microphone in his armpits and in his ass, you know,

and be like, ah. Once you see that, it's hard to like, then every microphone you see, you don't know where it's been, you imagine it's been someone's asshole. Yeah, so these are pretty new. Yeah, I can tell. They're fresh. Fresh and clean. I'll Febreze them next time if that doesn't ruin the integrity. So that's so cool

that he did your podcast. He's a really smart guy, and I like him a lot. It was amazing. It was, yeah, it came together pretty quickly. Like, he tweeted to John Waters, but John Waters doesn't have a Twitter,

but he literally tweeted, like, John Waters, I'm in Hamden at Common Ground ready to worship at your altar. And my friend

screen capped it and sent a picture of it to me, like, hey, Patton Oswalt's in your neighborhood and I was at work

and I was like, holy shit. Yeah, so I tweeted at him and I was like, hey, hey i'm not john waters but i can do a podcast with you if you want and he's he responded he did yeah that's so cool yeah and he was like uh he's like yeah i'm here how mobile are you and i'm like i'm mobile as shit so i was like give me like an hour and i was at work and i was in the middle of a meeting and it was like this boring. I get it.

Pretty much, yeah. So I was like, people saw that I wasn't paying attention. I was just on the phone. I was like, this is crazy. This is too important. And everybody's like, so the projections for the redeterminations for fiscal year 15. And I'm just like not even paying attention.

The worst, yeah. So finally I was just like, I have to say something. And I think people are going to be like, my mom's dead. I'm going to shit myself. I need to go. I had so much stuff to say like, what is a podcast? Like who Patton Oswalt is? And I was like, I have this like radio internet show.

Comedy person. Yeah, I was like, Patton Oswalt's in my town and he wants to do an interview in my neighborhood. Does anybody know who Patton Oswalt is? And one person was like, oh, I think I do. And I was like, good enough. He's real.

I'm out of here. Yeah. No, that's cool. That's great. It's amazing to think that things can still happen organically like that. Yeah.

He was such a nice guy and he bought us lattes. Oh, that's so sweet. Yeah. He seems like a swell guy and very smart. And yeah, I listened to that

Pete Holmes podcast that he was on recently. Yeah, he's great. And I didn't know that he'd been on your, your show. So I was, I was like, Oh,

Baltimore. Cause Baltimore is great. And I'm just always, I'm still always surprised, particularly, um, with comedy. I'm surprised when outsiders sort of like,

yeah, have a clue. And then like a positive one too. Not just be like, yeah, whatever. But like, yeah.

So, cause he started out in Northern Virginia. So he's, you know, he did bar show. did bar show yeah exactly yeah so he did all those shows so we were talking to him about doing like you know open mics in dc and stuff like that and uh he was asking us where we perform so i think that's why when he said he was like hell even baltimore has a scene i was like yeah we do yeah we're even Baltimore. Yeah, exactly. Even shitty Baltimore. That's a story of my life.

Yeah, we're the caveat to Denver. He's like, Denver has a great scene, San Francisco. Even Baltimore. Shitty old Baltimore has something going on. It's like, yeah. Yeah, die. That's the truth. That's really rad. That's great.

Yeah, I mean, even the Wham City stuff, like what Ben and Alan are doing. Oh, they're great. They're the best. Like the unedited footage of a bear thing, like seeing that on BuzzFeed, be like, Baltimore artist, here we go. Did you know that...

I did, but break it down for them. The minivan in unedited footage of a bear belongs to yours truly. Wow. Beehive Odyssey. Wow. Star of the program. That's what it was, yeah.

It was. It really was. It really outshone all the others I would say Was that your neighborhood? No, hell no Good God You don't live there?

No, Jesus Tell us your address then No Okay, fair enough I ask everybody that I ask Why would anyone do that? I say, what is Jen Wozner's address?

Oh, I see I ask Patton He knew He knew Yeah, which was weird That's cool He plays it close to the vest. Very strange.

Otherwise, but. Jen Wozner does not share her address. Yeah. With anyone. She speaks in third person, but she will not. The Woz. The Woz. That is the Woz's minivan.

Straight up. Most importantly. That is my, that's my baby. That's my. That's your whip. That's my whip. That's your ride. That's my straight up whip.

Form of transportation. Yeah, it is. around uh-huh uh it's cool uh yeah no it was cool it was fun to see it uh run over somebody yeah i always wanted to do that that was crazy not really i'm not you don't want to i don't want to run over somebody um but yeah that was it's i they're so they're so talented and what uh that they in everything they do, I adore. But in particular, it was nice to be involved in some strange remote way. I actually got to, I opened up my glove box the day that came out just by chance and happened to find a bunch of boxes of Clara Drill. Oh, that's awesome. They left it in as a surprise.

Be careful with that stuff. Yeah, it's crazy. It could be a good time, but just be careful. Be careful. I'm totally on it right now. I can tell. You're a little jittery. You're bleeding out of your eyeballs.

Always a little jittery. But you're okay. Yeah, so that was really cool to see it on a bunch of pop culture sites and say, Baltimore artists, these are going to Wham City. And I love that they have a monthly Wham City show. Yeah, they do great work, and I'm just super pumped and i like doing like i love that they have a monthly wham city show and then they're all i mean they do great work and i'm just super pumped uh yeah that they're getting some recognition yeah well deserved and dan deacon like the show that i did he showed up and like did a set and

my friend jamel was supposed to go up and he's like he's like did i just get bumped by dan deacon like yeah yeah it's cool more famous than you but he was really nice about it he was cool it was it was a good show um what what did i want to mention uh besides uh baltimore oh yeah and then future islands blowing up is crazy too like song of the year and shit oh man that's crazy yeah it's crazy it's delightful it is always i you know one of the things that's so rewarding about really being invested in your present local community is that what's good for one person or one artist or one group is good for everybody. I mean, that kind of positive attention. I'm just always so delighted to see people doing well, doing big things. Especially like your buddies.

Yeah, and all those people continue to live and work here and just like keep up to what they do. And it's really inspiring. It's just a really great thing to be a part of. Yeah, I think it's really cool, especially the amount of comedy that's going on and all that stuff. It's really nice.

What's that? I'll yield to the waz. Nope, I don't remember what I was going to say. It's too late. Is there like like a friendly competition you would say like not where it's like i gotta outdo them but like you're inspired in a way like oh they're doing this great thing like i would use the word inspiration rather than competition mostly because i'm just i've never really been a competitive person right right i've never even with like games and stuff, like I feel bad if I win. Like I always want to like,

like I've just never really had. I didn't win by that much. Yeah, like you did good too. I'm the opposite. I'm like, how am I, why am I shitty at this thing that I do once a year?

Like I'll go bowling like twice a year. You're hard on yourself. Yeah. And I'm like, what the fuck? I am really hard on myself, but I don't want to make

other people feel bad. I don't either. I want to do well by me. Super hard on myself. If like if somebody, if somebody people feel bad i don't either i want to i want to do well by me super hard if like if somebody if somebody's still like you know get bowls a perfect game i better be at least like above 100 i'm the worst i have no patience like if i'm not good at something immediately then i'm just angry and then the thing is stupid uh-huh and i'm just like i i hate that about myself it's not a it's not an admirable trait but it's the truth frustrating i'm impatient i want to i know and people who know me are just like chill you just started like relax be great at it yeah um yeah it's it's it's a dumb thing about me but um but it is what it is but yeah i

mean i wouldn't say i personally know i know for sure that a lot of people probably feel competitive i don't really have competitive spirit but i do feel like i want to be involved yeah i want to be a part of i guess competition yeah and by like friendly i mean same thing where if i like see a comedian have a really good set i'm not like fuck him i'm just like i want to do that exactly we're like you're happy for him at the same time you're like i need to work harder i wish i need to write more yeah need more dick jokes i definitely need more dick jokes yeah music i would be happy to uh send you some for the australian tour he's accepting submissions roast the shit out of some koala just give your address out.

You're going to get a ton. I swear. I swear. There goes the cackle. The cackle's out. I like the cackle. Nothing wrong with the cackle. That'll be the third member

of our morning duo. And the cackle. The was and the cackle. I picked up the cackle from a friend of mine and it's there to stay. That's just like the laugh where you're like, ha ha. It's there to stay uh-huh is that just like the the laugh where you're like it's like my like i don't know i don't know what particular kind of laughter uh-huh

it what what it what it means like it's a trigger of something specific maybe it's just like really really dumb yeah really really dumb humor laugh right which is almost all the time yeah it's everything but i love the dumb humor it's not polite laugh. It's sort of my like real, real laugh. Yeah. My girlfriend pointed out recently that I'll just go, ha!

Ha! Yeah. And you're like, uh-huh. But it's more like, I recognize that's funny. Yeah. That gives you something.

Yeah. But it's natural where you're just like, yeah. It's not, it's all unconscious. It's all, but it's,

I mean, I can't, I can't fake the cackle. Right. I think I've done it twice this far because I'm always aware when it happens because I'm ashamed. Tally the tackle. I'm pretty sure in this podcast it's happened twice. I think that's good.

A couple of cackles? A couple of cackles. I'm good with that. I feel like a cackle's a feather in the cap. I mean, it feels good to do. I just always feel like I sound like a emphysema patient or something no you're good i mean you're not like wheezing afterwards you got that oxygen tank you brought with you yeah right i'm always prepared yeah yeah just take a couple hits off of that

thing get loose get loose um what do you what do you do on the road to to not go crazy what do you what do you i try and make music as much as i can uh-huh um i yeah i try and have my like mobile recording rig with me as much as i can try and do yoga really uh how's that go uh it's hard to do because there's rarely enough space and there's rarely enough time but it always makes me feel better if i can if i can do it um throw out some sun salutations just some stretching is just really good it's just a really good thing to do. That's pretty much all it is, just stretching.

It's just stretching. It's the best form of exercise. I love it so much. And then it's harder and harder stretching as you go. It just feels so good even when you're doing it. I'm so used to exercise being like,

you'll be miserable and then you'll feel great afterwards. With yoga, it's like you'll enjoy yourself while it's happening and you'll feel great afterwards. Yeah. That's awesome.

That's what I do. Yesterday, me and Yeah. And that's awesome. That's how, that's what I do. Yesterday, me and the dog, after she was done dragging her butt and making eye contact, we went for a nice run.

So that was fun. We're like, I'll just run for like 40 minutes and that'll get rid of all this pizza and cheesecake that I've eaten for the past three days. I've been definitely

riding the holiday garbage train. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, exercise is good. Choo-choo, right to my thighs. Yeah.

Right? It is no joke. Fortunately, I don't care. It's awesome. No, I try and exercise. I try and write. I try and sort of be productive. I try and call my friends and have conversations with them

instead of just talking to the same four people that I'm around all the time, which can get pretty old. But I mean, these are the same things I try and do when I'm at home. Yeah. Exercise, yeah, for me has become a big thing. Like I'm not like, hey, I'm jacked or whatever. But it's like just going for a run, you feel so much better. Yeah. Or just getting like the blood flowing.

It's an anxiety thing. I mean, it's like a. It's like a. Yeah. Totally. It's an antidepressant. Yeah. Exercise is an antidepress better. Yeah. Or just getting like the blood flowing. It's an anxiety thing. I mean it's like a it's like a Yeah. Totally. It's an antidepressant. Yeah. Exercise is an antidepressant. Yeah.

It just is. I mean it's a scientific fact I believe. Yeah. According to me. No. Yeah. Again.

According to the WOS. Science and I agree that exercise is really good for I mean I do it it's just as much for my brain as it is for my body. Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah. Mine's definitely more for the brain. Which is why I'm really sad right now. Because I've been lazy as fuck. It's just as much for my brain as it is for my body. Yeah, yeah. Mine's definitely more for the brain. Which is why I'm really sad right now. Oh, because you haven't exercised? Because I've been lazy as fuck. You've been lazy? Oh, I'm sorry. Just for the holidays.

But I mean, I do have this job where I walk around a lot, which is really helpful. Yeah, that's true. I'm not entirely sedentary. Yeah, walking the dogs. They're not going to walk themselves. I'm walking around. Yeah. I'm out in the sunshine.

I'm walking around. It's good. Yeah, I'm running. I've gotten back into Pantera recently. That's some fun stuff to work out to. Let me tell you. Put on some great Southern trend kill and you just run. Let those riffs ride.

Sometimes I confuse Pantera and Pandora. Yep. I just said. I thought you were talking about getting into Pandora. I'm back into Pandora. I was on the Spotify for a little bit. This is boring. Spotify is a great

metal band but they're really great yeah you got to check them out their band spotify spotify yeah all right jen well uh i think we're wrapping up here is that what we're doing wrapping it up yeah if you want i mean there's any questions you have for me or munsa before we get out of here you can play the drums as long as you want what's up with your asshole munson nothing it's good now munson is your bud good chilling her she has a little bit of a rash in her ears but she's she's doing all right she's doing all right she's handling her business yeah she's cool she's cool um yeah anything to plug at the end for uh people to to check out let me think about this um i yeah i'm going to australia um i Australia. Right now is sort of a weird time

because I have nothing to promote, but I'm working on lots of big things that I think will be happening in the future. Can we talk about that at all real quick? Just the future in general? The future's cool. I'm psyched about it. We're going to merge with robots, yes? Oh, for sure. Without a doubt.

It's going to be awesome. Having a body is so dumb. Such a pain pain in the ass let's get a hard drive for real um no uh i'm making a solo record i'm making a fox of dimes record finally wow for realsies um and that's uh that's happening that's exciting i am also uh in the process of scoring, writing the music for a play that I'm collaborating with my friend Lola Pearson. And we're doing, it's a part of the season of the Annex Theater Company. Okay, cool.

And so we're doing an adaptation of The World is Round by Gertrude Stein. And I'm doing the music and she's gonna do all the other stuff that makes plays happen. Tender buttons. Yeah. That's all I know about her.

It's going to be awesome. It's going to be great. I'm really pumped about, I've never done anything like that before. Like scoring something? Yeah. Yeah. And writing music specifically for that kind of presentation. And less about yourself and more about a whole other project.

That's cool. So that's exciting. I'm doing that. I'm trying to write a solo record. Y-Oak's got some shows coming up and we're also currently working with a composer

named William Bertel is doing some re-imaginings of the songs from Shriek to be performed with symphonies and chamber orchestras. That's so crazy. So that's going to happen

and those are like the three big things that are dominating my life at the moment.'s huge yeah i just i mean it's kind of my favorite part of the process i like the writing part of the process do you go a little crazy while writing oh i go a little crazy all the time i'm always a little crazy 100 of the time are you do you go more crazy than usual i don't know it really depends on the day and how well your computer's working yeah it depends on a lot of factors i mean i'm very moody so like if something and there are a

lot of triggers so if something goes wrong the littlest thing can sort of send me uh-huh spiraling right um but i also by the same token can recover very quickly because i'm just yeah my my mood sort of it's very uh unpredictable right so yeah something like something goes wrong end of the world then it goes right you're like okay we're good I'm in person of extremes the pendulum swings far and fast uh-huh but uh but yeah I mean uh I love in general there's no really no better feeling for me than like when I'm really having good luck in the writing process and feeling good about something. Yeah.

It's the best. Having those moments of like, it's a new song. Yes. I did it. It's the best. And, um,

you know, I would say maybe one out of every 100 attempts. So not bad. Yeah. 1% success rate. That's all right. 1% success rate. You're doing all right.

All it takes as long as you put in the time. You're the 1%. I am. I think it's what you're trying to say. You're very rich. I saw that van. Great van. I am extremely wealthy.

Hey, me too. Me too. You're the one with an electronic drum kit. That's right. I broke down and I bought it. I said, fuck it. It's like $30,000. Well, the ones for sale, but at the Illuminati Reptilian Guitar Center that I go to, they're

a little bit nicer. A little bit nicer. Yours is pretty good. If you're going to get ones that are made out of poor people's skin, you better pay a little extra. And, of course, you should. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot firmer. Why wouldn't you?

Yeah. It's weather, tide, born. Get something that's built to last. Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, thank you, Jen, for doing the podcast. Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for having me back. Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, thank you, Jen, for doing the podcast. Thanks for having me back.

Yeah, of course. Some stuff to plug. Sit there awkwardly while I plug stuff. Plug away. Enjoy. Enjoy the coffee. Plug away. Those are fresh grounds.

That's the Starbucks holiday blend. Holiday roast. Holiday blend. Yes, there it is right there. I was wondering. I was wondering. Is this a holiday? Is this a holiday blend?

Is this? Which brings us to our sponsor, Starbucks. No, that would be great. Let's see. Stuff to plug for me. Big New Year's Eve shows. I think they might be sold out, but they're going to be in Lorton, Virginia at the Workhouse Arts Center, which is going to be a lot of fun.

Seven to nine o'clock. The headliner is this fellow, Jeff Maurer, who's really funny. And follow me on Twitter. I'm at Josh Kaderna. The podcast is at DickSeshPod. Mike Moran, who's not here, is at Mike Moran Wood. Like, what would Jesus do? That type of thing.

So that's him. And I was just on a podcast called Word with Friend, I think, is the name of the podcast. And it's this fella Julian Sharp who does this podcast and it was a lot of fun. And I talked about one of the worst times I blacked out, but nothing went wrong. Actually, everything went great. So listen to that for my blackout story.

And thank you for listening. We appreciate it. And yeah, we'll see you soon. Thank you again, Jen. Bye. Bye-bye, everybody. you