The Joe Rogan Experience - #483 - Mark Kendall

Episode Date: April 10, 2014

Mark Kendall is a pool player and lead guitarist, best known for being the founding member hard rock band Great White. ...

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out! The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day! Alright. Mark Kendall, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. Thank you, sir. Thanks for doing this, man. I really appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:00:17 Thanks for having me, man. It's awesome. When I hear that there's a guy out there that's a celebrity that plays pool better than me, I get very excited. And according to our mutual friend, Jay Halford, he says you're the best celebrity pool player there is. That's a high compliment. Yeah, that's a high compliment coming from Jay because he knows a lot about pool. But, I mean, I don't have to be the best all the time.
Starting point is 00:00:38 I mean, you know, I'm definitely capable of playing, like, you know, D player or whatever. I can just go dog my brains out. But when I get going with my arm loosened up and I've been hitting balls for a few days, I can get into it. Play my speed. For folks who don't know pool player lingo, speed is, a guy will say, oh, he plays A speed. You know, he's got a great speed.
Starting point is 00:01:09 That means, and it doesn't even mean going fast. It just means your game. You know, it's funny. In pool, there's so many different levels, though. I think it goes way beyond, like, A player, B player, C player. I see guys that I can't imagine playing better than this guy. If I ever got to this level, the bucket list would be totally happening. And he has to get weight from this dude and all this stuff.
Starting point is 00:01:37 It's almost confusing how many different. And what weight means is for folks who don't know the pool lingo. Handicap. Yeah, handicap. Meaning like say if Mark and I played and Mark's an A player and I'm a B player, And what weight means is, for folks who don't know the pool lingo, Handicap. Yeah, handicap. Meaning, say if Mark and I played and Mark's an A player and I'm a B player, Mark would maybe, if we played nine ball, Mark would maybe give me the eight ball. And what that means is he would have to make the nine ball to win,
Starting point is 00:01:59 but I could win making the eight ball or the nine ball. And oftentimes when you're seeing really even big-name guys match up, like I saw Rob Saez match up with Mika Eminen. And Rob Saez is a top pro, but Mika Eminen had to give Rob weight. Sure. I think he gave him the eight ball. Sure. And that eight ball might not show up very much on that level. It might not.
Starting point is 00:02:20 For folks who don't know, ten ball or nine ball, either one of them, they're rotation games. Right. Which means you play the one ball first, and then you go to the two, to the three. And then to win, you get the 10 ball in. But to win with a handicap, you could give a guy another game. Like, you could give a guy. I've seen a guy like Shane Van Bonig.
Starting point is 00:02:38 He gives people, like, crazy games. He'll give someone, like, a two out. Yeah, yeah. A two out, even. Yeah. I mean, if the guy can't play at all, I mean, you know, he'll give you every ball on the table pretty much. That means all you have to do is make the two ball and you win,
Starting point is 00:02:51 whereas he has to make the two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Okay, now imagine this, how good this guy is. You know Corey Duell. Sure. I mean, he's one of the best in the world. Shane gave him the five and six ball playing ten ball just now up in the north up north and you know it was laughable like even cory laughed i can't believe it he goes i guess i need the four and five you know he beat him with the five and six he beat him yeah with him giving giving him
Starting point is 00:03:18 the five and six ball in ten ball like you know it's crazy but it really is not going to show up if he's breaking the way he does you know also he's going oh there goes my money ball and there goes my money ball like every game you know from the chair you know what i mean so even though it sounds like oh shane's really giving something up here it you know if he breaks because that that's the whole thing with him um well people you know some say he just breaks you know good or whatever but that you know you know that's crappy this guy plays behind the break like crazy good but um but that break is big when you get on that level of you know he's pro level yeah if some guy is breaking like god and getting shape on the one and all this stuff.
Starting point is 00:04:10 You know, and another guy is a dry breaker, but he plays like God too. I guarantee you the guy that's the breaker is going to destroy the guy. This is all inside lingo. Dry breaker, breaking like God. What it's about is the initial shot on pool is the break shot. You smash the balls hard, and the balls go flying into the pockets, ideally. If they don't, you spread the whole table out, and then you leave a lot of shots for your opponent. The problem with a guy like Shane Van Booning is he breaks so good
Starting point is 00:04:35 that almost every break he's making one, if not two. I've seen him make five balls on the break playing ten balls. And he gets shape on the one. That's the whole thing. And players complain about that, and I don't understand it. I'm like, why are you complaining because this guy breaks good? You know, the answer to me would be work on your break. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:58 Don't complain because some other guy's great. Well, you're making too much sense there, Mark. Am I? Yeah, you're making too much sense. You've got Am I? Yeah, you're making too much sense. You've got to give people the opportunity to just complain about shit. That's what they like. Well, you know, I complain about stuff too. I know.
Starting point is 00:05:12 This guy is brick. He's a fag. Well, one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about because you're such a really good pool player is there's something involved in trying to get really good at pool or really good at anything that requires an incredible amount of time where it's like the level of commitment that you have to have to get really good at that. I guess it's got to be kind of similar to guitar playing in a way, like the amount of practice that you have to put in, the level,
Starting point is 00:05:41 and that there's just levels and levels and levels to this stuff. I've had different loves in my life i mean i've i've always gone back to the guitar because i my family was there's just so much music in my family my grandpa was a touring piano player my dad is a jazz trumpet player my mom sang music in the house all the time but But at the same time, I still played baseball from the time I was eight till I was 18. And my dad's dream for me was to not be the big star musician because he just thought there was no chance at that, but to be the L.A. Dodger, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:06:18 But you thought there was a chance at that more than there was a chance. You must have played really good ball. I can tell you. No, I really didn't. I mean, I was a really good pitcher probably when I was, like, in Pony League. I was kind of known as one of the top pitchers. My arms started hurting when I was around 17, like, after three innings. I would have my dad come out and take me out.
Starting point is 00:06:38 You know, usually the guy comes out and says, oh, how are you feeling, and all that kind of stuff. No, I didn't wait for all that. I told him, you know, put me on first my arms hurting again i threw curveballs when i was like 11 years old and everybody said oh god he's gonna throw his elbow out that never happened what happened was from fastballs my arm got kind of jacked you know so after three innings it was hurting not to mention you have to be such a standout player to get scouted by some you know by pro you know scouts your numbers have to stand above the entire league right i had two guys on my own team when i was you know this is 16 17 18 year olds two guys on my own team hit more home runs
Starting point is 00:07:22 than me ran faster threw harder You know what I mean? So my chances, and I even told my dad this when I made the decision, I'm going full-time music and kind of say la vida baseball, is I have zero chance to make it in baseball. None whatsoever. Is that true? Did you really have zero chance, or would it have to be something that you completely abandoned everything else and just threw your life at baseball?
Starting point is 00:07:50 It seems like if you're really— Well, I did. I mean, I really—I could have played maybe a different position, but I really wasn't—I didn't have enough power to, I think, who's going to skip over the two guys that are better than me on my team to go to man number three and let's sign him because he's just cool or something. Couldn't you get better though? Isn't it possible? Well, yeah, maybe I could have dedicated myself and I do look back and say, I wish I would have worked out with maybe some lightweights,
Starting point is 00:08:20 maybe gain some strength in my arm. You didn't work out at all? Not really. Well, there it is. maybe gain some strength in my arm. You didn't work out at all? Not really. Well, there it is. Pull-ups, you know, stuff that's, you know, PE, stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:08:28 But I didn't do any – I didn't really train. In fact, we didn't have all the, you know, the video and the instruction and the pros coming camps and all that stuff. It was just like go play. And, you know, whoever had the natural ability, you know, he rose above everybody, you know. So it's just such a different game today with all the strength and conditioning. Even Little League.
Starting point is 00:08:50 Yeah, everywhere. Even Little League. I'm watching these 12-year-olds. They look like small professionals. All their mechanics are perfect, you know, fundamentals at the plate. They look like little tiny pros, you know. Well, I'm fascinated by strength and conditioning programs now. I mean, it's one of the things, being a mixed martial arts commentator
Starting point is 00:09:10 and getting to see the improvement that some fighters have had by incorporating strength and conditioning programs and getting to see, like, how scientific they've become and how, I mean, the different things that they work on. Like, I watched a video last night with Phil Davis, who's one of the top UFC light heavyweights. And he was doing this weird exercise. It was this balance exercise where he's balancing on one foot that's on a roller.
Starting point is 00:09:39 And they're throwing a ball at him. And he's catching it with one hand and throwing it back while he's balancing. You would think, what is this like what are they doing they're working on foot strength and stability and balance and movement and it's just there's so much science involved in strength and conditioning and getting better at athletics now there's a maybe you know when I hear you speak maybe there would be a chance for me to improve it I really got into working out and stuff. The singer that's been in my band for like four years now, his name's Terry Allus. He's been in martial arts for like 27 years or something.
Starting point is 00:10:17 He did jujitsu, judo, kickboxing. He's worked with Boz Rutten. He trained with him. He's an instructor. He's got to get me going here. It's a great thing to do just for to make your body feel better.
Starting point is 00:10:36 I bet it would really help. My nerves kind of get rattled sometimes and I think it's because I don't work out enough. I don't have a strict routine. I'm not taking supplements and all this stuff. I hear your commercials about the different supplements. Well, I don't know if we have anything that would really help nerves, but I definitely think that exercise does.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Exercise helps your nerves. I know it does. Oh, for sure. I have been dedicating myself to working out kind of at home, but I'm not running. I'm not doing enough cardio. I'm doing tons of sit-ups and arm stuff and push-ups and stuff. You know what, man? Get an elliptical machine and just put on a television show that you enjoy.
Starting point is 00:11:17 It's a great way to do it. I have an elliptical machine. I put it on, and I put fights on. And I watch the fights while I just do the ellipticals. Yeah, just not even thinking about it. Yeah. just automatic i just i can't do it i'm gonna start getting into some it's one of those things where just you force yourself to do it and then you know write it on a schedule that you have to do it x amount of days and then when those days are over you'll feel the improvement and then that becomes addictive you know that's your feeling i
Starting point is 00:11:40 need to be addicted to that yeah it's easy to be addicted to bad things. But being addicted to something good is something that's really difficult to force your discipline, force your body to go and like, I'm going to be addicted to drinking fresh squeezed juices, vegetable juices every morning and then taking a yoga class every day. But if you did do that, God. It would be incredible because i'm very compulsive when i get into things i have to become the greatest on earth with it you know i'm just like i've always kind of been like that so uh and i actually had an alcohol problem i'm you know um
Starting point is 00:12:18 i was a beer drinker and you know go ahead and throw it low on the food chain but i got just as much pain as some other people from the abuse. Right. Oh, listen, alcohol is alcohol. Whether you get it in the form of whiskey or whether you get it in the form of 12 beers a night, it's alcohol. Yeah, you still wake up shaky and you're all screwed. And I was able to get away from that and kind of do other things
Starting point is 00:12:42 and help people that are struggling and just you know channeling my energy in in more positive areas but do you find that like i've met a lot of people that are really great at things and really impulsive and really you know just the type of people that throw themselves into it the way that you describe i'm sure you must have had to do that to get so good at guitar and i'm sure sure you did that to get really good at pool. But do you find that that's sort of like a part of your mind that can kind of get sidetracked and fucked with a drug?
Starting point is 00:13:14 And then that becomes the thing that you become impulsive about. That becomes the thing that you get addicted to. Well, that's why they say they call it somebody that gets really addicted to a drug wasted talent because they're so good at something and they're letting this drug of choice or whatever ruin this blessing that they've received that makes them great at something. And I was lucky to be able to get away from it. some great at something and i was lucky to be able to get away from it um but as far as the guitar goes you know i played since i was nine years old it's just i did other things too but when i became when i was about 15 i was pretty obsessed with it like i would go to the liquor store literally with it strapped around me. Really? Yeah. I mean, playing the acoustic guitar, playing Santana.
Starting point is 00:14:08 When I was 14 years old, I was literally in a band, and we only played Santana. Wow. And not even realizing that that would be considered a tribute band, I just go, no, Carl Santana is the greatest, so let's just play his stuff. But yeah, I've kind of always been that way, compulsive, but the difference with the guitar is I loved it.
Starting point is 00:14:32 It wasn't just compulsive energy. It was because I loved music. I've always, even when I was a little kid and sitting by the hi-fi or whatever, singing along to Girl from Ipanema my mom and dad don't he sings in key he's like he hears it you know it's like the melodies are the notes that are coming out you know which I've had this ear from my parents I mean they my dad had perfect pitch you can hit piano notes and can tell you what they are and and stuff like
Starting point is 00:15:04 that so I have this ear. I could hear it. And when I first got records, I actually – that was one of my first albums right there. Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix Experience. And I got Cream Disrelated Gears and The Doors, Strange Days. And when I listened to that music, I only heard the singer. I literally wasn't even listening to the guitar.
Starting point is 00:15:28 I was just singing the melody you know what I mean but then I started being able to pick up the chords on my guitar and I was very young like 10 you know no no training you just learned how to do it on your own I took a lesson from a guy but I've only had one lesson I've learned from a lot of people just friends of mine. Hey, man, show me that, you know, whatever. Right. But as far as a true sit down, pay the guy, you know, okay, show me how to play or whatever. It was this guy who was in this like surf band when I was like probably 10 or 11.
Starting point is 00:15:59 And he was teaching me like Tom Dooley and, you know, the stuff I didn't want to really be tom dooley hang down your head tom dooley hang down your head and cry never heard it that way it's just an old song you know um you know kind of like jimmy crack corn and i don't care type of stuff you know what i mean but i guess you know you have to learn that kind of stuff. But I, I just, I was just uninterested. I want, I probably, you know, when I tell kids that are coming up now, I say, you know, it's great if you got a good ear cause you're, you're like halfway there. If you learn how to read and you, and you know, you know, all the theory and everything, plus you have the great ear, you're going to have it up on just about everybody. Those are the guys.
Starting point is 00:16:48 But to have that natural, I don't know, I have a natural feel for music. And those are the people that inspired me to play are guitar players that just play from the heart. They play notes because it's how they breathe. It's how they breathe it's how they feel it's you know they it's coming out of the pores of their skin it's it's from the heart the soul of whatever you want to call it but those are the guys that made me want to play I mean Billy Gibbons doesn't
Starting point is 00:17:19 Ben knows the way he does because it said it on a piece of paper somewhere you know what i mean so it's something you feel and and i've been fairly good at that um feeling you know notes and stuff and people have you know made comments about the way i play and stuff but it's just um you know it's just it's kind of the gifts from the like i said from my parents and my grandpa and everybody. Just sort of genetics. Yeah, it is. Because I don't think you just, you know, it's not me. I just don't believe that I can just be born hearing music that well unless it bled into me somewhere. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:17:59 Right. I think there's definitely some just born talent that some people have. It's just a matter of whether or not they pursue it. And there's also that thing that we were saying, the negative aspect of it is that same sort of the personality trait that gets you to be able to sit down and really explore music for hours and hours at a time, which is what it takes to be a great guitarist,
Starting point is 00:18:21 can many times manifest itself in addiction and manifest that same sort of just throwing yourself at something and being completely engulfed in it for whatever reason. A lot of times it manifests itself in either alcoholism or drug addiction or what have you. It's so common. Yeah, it is. Yeah, I always kind of wondered i mean i i
Starting point is 00:18:46 just think an addict is just an addict i really don't think the music has that much to do with it but i think a trigger for an uh you know like say a recovering addict or whatever he's out on the road he's in this band he has all this pressure from everybody telling him how great he is and everything because that can become pressure when people are telling you you're the greatest band on earth and you're the best guitar player in the world and all this stuff you kind of just uh don't want to take it serious and um it can drive you crazy and i think that causes some people to numb themselves to reality. So this is fascinating.
Starting point is 00:19:27 I found that in a few instances, this friend of mine, he was totally, every time he would get close to being signed, having a great opportunity, he would just sabotage it with alcohol. And you know what I mean? But what he'd tell you, I mean, I could see it from afar. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to sabotage it because he was afraid kind of of the pressure of being out there in the limelight. Well, people are afraid of success. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. so people are afraid of success yes absolutely absolutely but i just think you know it kind of
Starting point is 00:20:08 it's mind-blowing um that somebody fights their whole life to get somewhere and they get there and die out of a heroin overdose you know yeah i don't know what the analogy would be but i i that was just one of my thoughts is that it could be that the pressure of just being in the in the in the music world and stuff and having all this going on you know because it does seem to it seems as if it it happened like that you know even though you've been grinding in the clubs for years and years, it's like all of a sudden you're in an arena setting. You've got cameras all around, microphones, people coming up to you. I'm just making a guess at this.
Starting point is 00:20:58 I don't know what you think. Why people kill themselves with drugs. Maybe it has nothing at all to do with that. Maybe they're just addicts. You could strip away all the music and they're going to die of a heroin overdose anyways i've got a lot of theories about it and i i personally think that the environment of celebrity on that level to be in a band like great white fucking gigantic huge arena band and you're fucking on every magazine and you're on the radio every day and that pressure the kind of pressure and recognition is totally alien for a human being yeah i mean the
Starting point is 00:21:31 only people that ever got that kind of attention in the past were kings i mean even the leaders of tribes of they just never got that kind of attention i just think it's completely alien to the human race and didn't exist until mass media was invented. Until the beginning of the 20th century when they figured out how to broadcast things and movies and songs and records and then music videos and what have you. That is not a part of human history. It's not normal. It may be normal to be the center of attention in a small group or even a large group but those people know you and you're talking in front of them if you're speaking in front of a group of people that want to hear your opinion on things or if you're a leader those those are
Starting point is 00:22:14 all normal things but to be on a fucking stage playing guitar and 20 000 people are going, wah! That's alien. It's alien. I was, you know, a very shy person. I kind of worked on that over the years, but, you know, actually to go out in front of 300,000, which has happened a few times.
Starting point is 00:22:39 300,000? Yeah, we played in front of 300,000 people. Jesus! With a lot of bands, like, I mean, you know, like Iron Maiden. Who cares how many other people were there? You played in front of 300,000 people with a lot of bands. Like, I mean, you know, like Iron Maiden. Who cares how many other people were there? You played in front of 300,000 people. Yeah, and actually, believe it or not, I was not even remotely scared about it.
Starting point is 00:22:54 I just went out and totally handled it. But if you put me in a setting like this, like with maybe 10 people around the room, then that makes me nervous. I'm serious. I don't know why that is. That's sort of the same way with comedy. I mean, I've never done anything with 300,000 people, but one of the things that will make you nervous more than anything
Starting point is 00:23:13 is going on stage in front of two folks. Yeah. Two people in the audience is like, oh, no. It's hard because you don't really feel, it's just a sea of people. I mean, you're just playing, know it's you don't feel like every all eyes are on you or whatever but when you're playing like in at a wedding or you know it's like whoa man you know they're focusing in on my fingernails here and you know it's like whoa I mean yeah you know i think that that's what a lot
Starting point is 00:23:46 of the the dealing with the pressure the reason why so many rock stars can't handle it or actors or i mean i think actors it's slightly different because it's not a live performance thing but just the accolades that they're getting it's all the same it's completely alien it's just you it's very very difficult to ask a person to be able to manage something like that that i mean who are you going to we're going to go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist they'd have never fucking experienced being on stage in front of 300 000 people and i actually thought about that when you're speaking earlier i go maybe they should have like a you know rock and roll psychiatrist have ozzy you know yeah go see let me just get you get your wife to run everything
Starting point is 00:24:24 just sit in the background mate yeah you know my manager was actually english and he told me one time he goes kindle don't even read your own press don't believe it for sure do not believe your own press and it's better just to not even read it don't sit there and read stuff about people talking about how much feel you have and, you know, or whatever. And if you don't take yourself too seriously, that's probably the best way to kind of cruise through your, you know, stuff. Obviously, you celebrate with your family and friends and dig it, man.
Starting point is 00:24:58 We just got this cool thing and you want to share it with them. But as far as, like, as far as taking yourself too serious, it's probably best to stay away from all that. It's brutal. The worst thing is talking to someone who has moderate or good success in show business and all they want to talk about is their success in show business and all the great things that they're doing. It's like, oh my God, dude, you're fucking killing me right now.
Starting point is 00:25:21 You're killing me with this stupid fucking stroke you're doing to yourself it's ego stroke yeah it's uh it's also think about that think about the idea of reading your own press that's another fucking alien thing the the alien thing of reading perhaps hundreds of other people's opinions about you yeah and then one guy says something bad and you go how fuck i'm gonna you to choke this guy. I have a theory about that, too. I think that that is like snake venom, and that if you're not exposed to snake venom and you get it, it can really fuck you up, because snake venom is, you know, it's toxic. But if you get a little bit of it all the time, then it becomes something you're immune to.
Starting point is 00:26:02 And then you go, oh, look, a shithead. Some negative asshole. The thing about negative people, and this is a really important point, is sometimes they have a point and you can learn from them. Sometimes negative people say things that you don't want to hear, you don't like it, but then you read it and you go, ooh, there's something there, there's something there, this is a point there.
Starting point is 00:26:23 You could use them, but for them, God, being that person is so damaging to you, to them, to the person who's being negative. Oh, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:26:32 They don't even realize it. They think they're hurting you. It's poison. You could talk shit about a person, me, or talk shit about you all day long,
Starting point is 00:26:39 but it doesn't change the fact that you're still Mark Kendall. I know. You're still who you are. You're still this badass fucking guitarist. They can't change who fact that you're still Mark Kendall. I know. You're still who you are. You're still this badass fucking guitarist. They can't change who you are by saying something mean.
Starting point is 00:26:49 But what they do do is they change their very essence, their very energy that they're spreading out to the universe. What they're putting out to all the people around them, to the people that come in contact with what they're projecting. They're just putting out shit. And that's a good percentage of people. If you read their blogs, if you go to their Twitter pages, if you listen to their, you know, if someone has a negative radio show or a podcast or whatever, what you're hearing is just all this fucking horrible stuff. Nothing good, nothing positive, nothing encouraging.
Starting point is 00:27:23 And that's who they are. That's the world they live in. That's who they are. That's the world they live in. That's who they are. It's not like they do that and then they go take yoga classes and then they're kissing puppies and hugging people all day. You don't pump out negative shit and then go out and be a beautiful, wonderful person and go, hey, that's all just show business, man. The real me is loving and kind and super cool to be around. I just act like an asshole on Twitter. No, you're an asshole.
Starting point is 00:27:45 Right, right. And you can learn from assholes. You can get something from them. Points and things. Yeah, a little bit. Look, I have read things that are very negative about me that may be totally unjust. But I could say, is it possible that someone else could think like this? And could it be like, does it make sense that they could think like this?
Starting point is 00:28:06 And if that's the case, if it's defensible, then I should probably work on whatever aspect of my own personality that's causing this opening to be there. Sort of like in a martial arts standpoint. If you're a bad motherfucker in jujitsu, like say if you're really good at jujitsu and you got a great arm drag and you're great at taking people's back and you choke people on a regular basis, but if someone gets your back back you got no defense and you tap out really quick you need to work on that like that's something that you need to figure out like why do i tap when someone gets my back that's real that's a real thing and that analogy i think
Starting point is 00:28:39 presents itself in the martial arts analogy presents itself when you're dealing with a lot of different people that are critiquing your work or a lot of different people that are putting things out there and they can fuck with you i have a friend i'm not gonna name names but he's a fighter and um he and his wife they they had a huge problem because he was like there was negative uh someone saying negative things about him and her on Twitter or on Facebook or I forget where it was. But they were just, you know, just being an asshole. Just saying really mean, nasty stuff about him and his wife. The way they look and about her, the way she looks.
Starting point is 00:29:16 And it was devastating to them, to the both of them. And you would think, like, here's a guy who's a fucking cage fighter. And he's fighting professionally. You know, he's really a bad motherfucker. cage fighter and he's fighting professionally you know he's really a bad motherfucker but this the words of some 13 year old kid word you know he's waking him up in the middle like you're a fucking shithead like that's crazy i i've been down this road you know well with haters not people that are just slightly negative or whatever but just people that just all they do is go say you suck or whatever. That's what they do.
Starting point is 00:29:48 Those people, and I've even, as a band, we've talked about it, don't give them any energy whatsoever. Yeah, nothing. Just let them hate away. You know what I mean? Good luck with that. Because you don't want to feed back with, I'm not going to feed back with somebody that's saying something that makes no sense whatsoever. And it doesn't change who you are. It doesn't do anything. I'm still going to feed back with somebody that's saying something that makes no sense whatsoever. And it doesn't change who you are. It doesn't do anything.
Starting point is 00:30:06 I'm still going to be. Exactly. That's what they don't understand. They think that they're going to sort of define you somehow and minimize you. And they're not going to come to my shows anyways. No, of course not. Only my fans come to the shows because they like the music. They probably want to be you.
Starting point is 00:30:21 They probably had a failed musical attempt and, you know, they look at you and this fucking guy with simple bullshit music. I'm tired of his fucking chords. I'm tired of the way he shakes his head
Starting point is 00:30:34 when he plays. Fuck that asshole! But what's really driving them nuts? What's really driving them nuts is their own personal feelings. Yeah, when's your next album coming out?
Starting point is 00:30:41 Exactly. Do you think Michael Jordan goes on YouTube videos and talks shit about people? You know what I mean? Michael Jordan's busy. He's busy being Michael Jordan. That's an excellent example.
Starting point is 00:30:50 Winners don't have time to be fucking haters on YouTube. No. They just don't. And it really makes you look bad, especially a high profile dude, you know, fighting back with somebody. Oh, yeah. Listen, I've made that mistake before. Just thinking I was being cute.
Starting point is 00:31:06 Trying to like, I'll show them. But made that mistake before, just thinking I was being cute, trying to like, I'll show them. But then you're like, what am I doing? Like, why am I showing them? What am I trying to accomplish here? But it's like, well, I did it. I treated people that would like say mean things to me like I would treat a heckler, you know, like a heckler at a comedy club.
Starting point is 00:31:23 But that's a completely different situation. A heckler in a comedy club, you have to address. I mean, it's being forced upon you. I've never been involved, really seen that. I've seen a few comedians, but have you got a guy going knee socket? Oh, have I? Really? Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.
Starting point is 00:31:38 How do you deal with that? You just deal with it. Some people, like, I know some comedians, they'll say things to the dude, like, you know, I don't know how. Or do you just act like he's not there? No, you can't act like they're not there. Okay. I came up at the comedy store in Hollywood. And the comedy store, the problem with the comedy store is the benefit of the comedy store.
Starting point is 00:31:58 And that's that the insane people are running the asylum. It's all patients. It's all the comedians run the place. The doormen are all comedians. The guy working the cover booth is a comedian. I'm not bullshitting. Everybody, the guys that seat people, they're comedians. And then the comics also go on stage.
Starting point is 00:32:14 The only thing that's not a comedian is the guy that books the room. So, I mean, there's no crowd control, like none. So when you would go on stage there, and you're also dealing with Sunset, Hollywood, you're dealing with a lot of people also that they have aspirations that are unrealized. They want to be famous. They want to be an actor. They want to be a musician.
Starting point is 00:32:36 They want to be something. And here they are sitting in the audience looking for something wrong with you or needing attention that they're not getting. A lot of those people are fucking black holes of attention you could stuff them full of trash and meteors and everything they're never gonna fill that fucking hole it's impossible and so they sit in the audience and the guys on stage they'll just they don't even know why they're just compelled to interrupt they're compelled to yell out sure most clubs like say if you work at a real nice club, like, say, like, the Improv on Melrose,
Starting point is 00:33:07 which is a very nice comedy club. They fucking kick people out right away when you do that. If you're in one of those black holes that just sucks and you just want attention, they'll touch you on the shoulder, sir, you're going to have to leave. They'll pick you up, and then they boot you out. Let me answer this.
Starting point is 00:33:23 Have you ever been totally just like booed off stage? I mean, just like. Oh yeah, yeah, I've bombed. I've eaten dick on stage. I know Jim Carrey has told stories that where he literally, they would not let him continue his show. Yeah, most likely it's because you suck. Well, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:37 No, you know what he was doing is he got away from the whole impression thing and he was just starting to go out on stage with no material whatsoever. Oh, you can't do that. I mean, you can if some people can do that. We do a show called Thunder Pussy. We do it sometimes at the Ice House, and the premise of the show is that the audience will yell out topics, and you will riff on it.
Starting point is 00:34:00 I've done two of them. Oh, okay, like improv vibe, yeah. Yeah, but it's stand-up. You're doing stand-up on these subjects, but you're going out there with no material. That's crazy. And I've done two of them. Oh, okay, like improv vibe, yeah. Yeah, but it's stand-up. You're doing stand-up on these subjects, but you're going out there with no material. That's crazy. And I've done two of them. They're really fun.
Starting point is 00:34:09 But the audience knows what they're getting into. Right, right. If you're going on and you're doing a show, and I don't think Jim Carrey's that kind of comedian anyway. I think Jim Carrey's like a big slapsticky. I think he's very funny. Like his old stand-up was really good, but he's more like big impressions and slap
Starting point is 00:34:25 sticky and for a guy like that to go on stage with no material he got booed up because of it it was actually in his bio it was a and it was someone else talking about the show where he was going out he was a cockroach and he's trying to climb under the piano and doing this crazy body contortion stuff and just kind of winging it because that's where he kind of felt comfortable. He didn't want to become like the rich little guy that was just going to go out and do these. And supposedly he's pretty good at impressions.
Starting point is 00:34:58 He's very good at impressions, yeah. He didn't want to do that, so he tried to do something else. He did more of an improv thing. Well, that just means it didn't work. You know what I mean? Right. He probably deserved getting booed.
Starting point is 00:35:08 Look, I know that every time I bombed, it was because I sucked. Didn't work that night. Yeah. Yeah. Every time I bombed, it was my fault. Sure. I mean, there's been terrible audiences. And I forget who had that line.
Starting point is 00:35:18 It's a common line that comedians use. There's a saying in comedy, there's no bad audience right that's bullshit there's some fucking terrible audiences yeah sure but you know if you go on stage in that terrible audience and someone else gets them someone else figures out how to crack the code i mean it just could be a really crazy rubik's cube that you don't know how to crack but but when you bomb it's you're bombing because it's you're. I mean, it could be in a completely unfair environment. It could be a guy like Dimitri Martin, who's like a real slow burn, sort of a deadpan, very funny comedian, but very low energy. And he could maybe go on a show where there's a black guy who's singing and doing backflips and fucking lighting his asshole on fire.
Starting point is 00:36:05 It could be some craziness. who's singing and doing backflips and fucking lighting his asshole on fire. Right, right. Could be some craziness. And then you ask a guy to do like real slow-paced deadpan comedy afterwards. And people don't get it. They don't get it. It's the wrong vibe. It's like, say, if Great White
Starting point is 00:36:15 had to go on after, like, say, an opera singer in an opera house. Totally wrong. With all opera fans. Yeah, totally wrong environment. And the difference in stand-up comedy than in music is, like, if someone goes to a rock club, you're going to see some rock.
Starting point is 00:36:34 You know, you're going to see rock. You don't go and just see live music, and it could be, like, a country singer followed by a rapper followed by a death metal. You know, you don't have that. It's like, it's very clearly defined. But comedy is just comedy. You don't know what you're going to get.
Starting point is 00:36:51 You go to a comedy club, like the store on Sunset Strip, you're going to get 15 different comedians in a night and all of them with different styles. Well, in Europe, we've done shows over there that are such a wide range of people blow your mind and i mean we played with black sabbath bob dylan this is on the same stage same day you imagine it's like okay let's play war pigs and go into you know stairway to heaven it's like Bob Dylan Black Sabbath Iggy Pop buddy guy who's a blues guy you know just full straight head of blues and people went
Starting point is 00:37:38 just as nuts for Dylan as they did anybody else I mean so the people there they're just there just there to hear great music, different styles, and whatever. Over here, promoters would never take chances like that. It has to be Scorpions, Van Halen, everything in the same kind of genre or whatever. This was in England that you did this? No, it was in Denmark, actually.
Starting point is 00:38:01 Denmark. Do you find that, I personally find that there's, they're more patient and more polite in a lot of other countries than in America. Yeah, you know, the other thing is
Starting point is 00:38:14 I did things there that I wouldn't normally do, never do here, like go out in the crowd and watch bands and stuff. I go, it's not like I'm Eddie Van Hill and nobody's going to know me.
Starting point is 00:38:24 You know, so I went out and I'm watching like, I go, it's not like I'm Eddie Van Hill. Nobody's going to know me. So I went out, and I'm watching Buddy Guy, who's influenced Hendrix and all these great... Right. And I wasn't really that familiar with him at that time, but he went through this segment. It was about 10 minutes of, he goes, here's the stuff that Eric Clapton got, and here's the stuff Hendrix took from me.
Starting point is 00:38:44 Oh, so he's asking for he's kind of credit he's kind of yeah he was kind of milking the credit i wasn't really that impressed by that part but it it is fact and i guess he kind of wants people to know it's fact that because here he is kind of not really super known. And Hendrix is a, you know, God monster, you know, one of the greatest ever. And he was just amazing. But he wants people to know that Hendrix borrowed from him because he hasn't got his accolades that he thinks he's due. So he's going, hey, man, if it wasn't for me, there'd be no interest. You can't do that yourself, though, right?
Starting point is 00:39:26 It's kind of gross. I don't like it. That's why I was just mentioning it. I'm not here to go on your show to bash Buddy Guy or anything. Well, Buddy Guy's amazing. I mean, there's no doubt about it. But it's just he probably doesn't have the perspective to know that you don't need to say that, man.
Starting point is 00:39:42 Everybody already knows it. I mean, I'm not a musician. I know zero about how to play music, but I'm a big music fan. Oh, sure. Me too. Well, you play, though. I play, but I'm a huge music fan geek, man. When I meet my heroes, you know, five years ago we did a show with ZZ Top,
Starting point is 00:40:02 and their tour manager used to be our tour manager and he go you better hook me up with billy gibbons i want to do like one-on-one hang you know right right i want some hang time with this boy and uh and uh he hooked it up and the dude with the the most soulful you know here here's an example okay I don't feel worthy sometimes of the response. You know, like here's an example. I go to Japan. Our band goes to Japan. We get off the airplane.
Starting point is 00:40:32 It's like 2,000 people screaming. And I'm going, hey, we're not Mike Tyson. I mean, you know, we're not like Van Halen or, you know, we're just this little band. But I understand it because I'm such a fan myself you know right i'm and that's what i was trying to explain to billy gibbons i go you know you got to understand the memories you have created for me are like so incredibly important. When I hear some of their songs, I go, the apartment's 15 years old, playing Waiting for the Bus. You know, I mean, I have visuals from music.
Starting point is 00:41:13 I literally, a picture comes in my mind from hearing a song. And when a guy has that much influence on me, to meet him in person and have him be soulful down to earth you know he emailed me that night and I didn't even get home I didn't get the email for two more days he's like nice meeting you you know
Starting point is 00:41:35 and then when ZZ Top played in Palm Desert that's where I was living at the time he goes hey come on down Mark bring your crew and all this stuff. Like the guy knows me. He remembered me. I'm just like shocked.
Starting point is 00:41:51 But I get fans. Sometimes I don't feel worthy of some of the attention and stuff. I'm totally grateful. But like I said, I understand it because I am, you know. You're a fan. I'm a total fan because I have my heroes. I mean, the guys that made me want to play guitar. Do you find that that's something that some guys lose as they become professionals and as they become better in music and become a big-time music guy, that they kind of stopped being a fan of music
Starting point is 00:42:25 mmm that happens with comedy I'm you know I'm not really I can always kind of speak for myself on that I I'm still friends with like a lot of guitar players that didn't make it you know I was just one of the lucky ones mm-hmm I think part of the reason I was lucky is I tried to put myself in a position to get lucky, which is by playing more. And believe it or not, it's Van Halen that influenced that on me. They were playing more than everybody. They played three blocks from my house in a backyard in El Monte. I paid $1 to get in. You know, the singer Roth was blowing a tube inside of this guy's drums.
Starting point is 00:43:04 And, you know, I'm going, whoa, man, these guys are, you know, the singer Roth was blowing a tube inside of this guy's drums. And, you know, I'm going, whoa, man, these guys are, you know, I thought they were great and everything. They were playing cover songs and they played a couple originals, I think. But what I was more impressed by, at least at that time, was how often they played. They played every single night. And I go, we got to do that if we're going to have any chance, you know, because my thinking was if we play more than everybody, we might have to play free a lot. But if our name, you know, we might be able to brainwash people in thinking they're supposed to like us. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:43:40 So and that's what happened, though. It was that persistence. It was that playing free um getting our name out um we just happened to be at the whiskey one night uh playing during the week not even a big night or anything and and the right guy was in the crowd that like and he came up gave us his card before you know we're we're recording we're we got airplay we don't even have a record deal i mean we our record deal was literally borrowing 15 grand from some guy named fred hey fred you got 15 grand yeah okay so but we had a distribution deal so but this manager we had called alan niven he was from england he used to work for virgin records he had signed Berlin. He signed Motley Crue.
Starting point is 00:44:26 And a year before this, then they would sell these bands off to big labels. Well, he got us on KMET when we had no deal. And no local bands were on KMET and KLA West with no deal. It was just unheard of. But that, I don't know what kind of connection he had to do that. So it was just a matter of you being persistent and playing all the time. Right. And this guy saw.
Starting point is 00:44:52 That's such an important lesson for young people who are thinking about doing something. Sure. Opportunity presents itself when you just fucking bust your ass. And dream it. And dream it. And we literally dreamed things and used to pretend. I mean, we pretended standing in a living room like we were playing The Forum. The Forum, good night!
Starting point is 00:45:13 Really? Yeah, yeah. We used to pretend like we were doing interviews. Me and my singer, we used to go, so how long has the band been together? Were you guys naked when you were doing this? We just made up things. things no we weren't naked but we were uh that would make it extra fun we were getting yeah that could have been kind of cool but uh you know it's it's that pretending but when it becomes a reality you
Starting point is 00:45:37 know like i'm six years before i was on the forum stage in Los Angeles, I was watching Ted Nugent swinging through this arena. And it wasn't even a possibility that I would ever be on that stage playing. Was he on a buffalo or something when he was swinging through? He swings. I forget where he swung, like, out of the crowd on this big rope, you know, wearing, like, leaves. Do you know him wearing like leaves and... Do you know him? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:09 I want to meet that dude. Ted Nugent is an intense... You should have him on your show. I would love to. He passed, though. I think he thinks I'm a liberal. Oh. Because I smuggle a lot of pot. I think he probably thinks I'm anti-war.
Starting point is 00:46:20 But I hunt. And I also, I'm into archery. Yeah. There's a lot of things that we agree on he's he's i i think he's a fascinating character he's a deep dude and and you know when you go that far we i just mean he's he's kind of a uh i mean he is in a lot of ways i'm not saying that he's not he has a lot of opinions let's put it that way well they're well thought out i don't know if i would necessarily agree with all of them, but they're very well thought out on his side.
Starting point is 00:46:46 He's got a lot of really intense ideas when it comes to hunting and conservation and preserving the wild. He knows a lot about that, that's for sure. I just think that, I think he thinks if I had him on, that I would attack him. But it would be the complete opposite of that, honestly. Stranglehold, one of my all-time favorite songs. It's one of my all-time, songs it's one of my all-time like if i'm uh driving around in my car and i need some a good jam i'll
Starting point is 00:47:09 throw on stranglehold just out of nowhere and just always picks me up well check this out five years ago we did a show with with uh ted in canada in london ontario and i stuck around to watch his show because i knew one of the crew guys who used to work for us, and he took me around the stage during the day. He goes, you're not going to believe this. All these cabinets, all these guitar cabinets on the stage are all live. Like, Ted is coming out of these speakers everywhere. It's like it's not normal, like the of guitar i mean his ego so so huge you
Starting point is 00:47:48 know but i love that and and anyway so what does that mean what do you mean by that i'm not sure what you're saying well usually like you know you you have your like i have two cabinets working i might have 16 cabinets up there but so cabinets are these stacks of speakers? Yes. Is that what it is? Yes. Okay. And usually you put two in stereo and it's plenty. How many are on stage total? I've had up to like 16 cabinets before. So there's 16 cabinets on stage for the whole band?
Starting point is 00:48:18 No, just for me. Just for you. Wow. Sometimes. I mean, we played a show the other day. I had eight. You know what I mean? It depends on how big the stage is but you're not used they're not all live well ted has
Starting point is 00:48:30 everywhere he goes on the stage ted will be there coming out of speakers you know so it's not normal it's just ted man he you know he wants to be loud and you know but it's just Ted man you know he wants to be loud and you know but it's not really normal to have working cabinets all over the stage you know
Starting point is 00:48:51 you have monitors and stuff like that but what I was gonna get to that I it gave me chills almost because I'm like you I
Starting point is 00:49:01 you know stranglehold and you know being a teenager and when that album came out and everything. But the whole band went back to the hotel and I'm on the side of the stage and he goes, he's going, how about that, Gray White? How about that, Gray White?
Starting point is 00:49:14 He's going, could you feel that rock and roll spirit? He goes, they got that rock and roll spirit. Yeah. And he goes, and I can feel that rock and roll spirit in the air tonight here. Yeah. And he literally introduced the song that way. He's saying that how we had the rock and roll spirit. And he goes, and he went into Wang Dang Sweet Pintang.
Starting point is 00:49:34 He was like, bang, gang, gang, gang, barbecue. Dang, dang, dang, dang, dang. Yeah. And he did that for way longer than the album. You know, dang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang. I mean, it was just great, man. The dude is so intense live. Yeah, he's definitely a trip.
Starting point is 00:49:52 I saw him do the national anthem at a football game. It was on television. It was fucking incredible. I mean, it was all just guitar, a guitar version of the national anthem. But people who fucking sleep on how good he is at the guitar need to watch that oh i mean it's a really amazing version of the national anthem i mean it's just fucking incredible and the it just is artistry to it you know you talk about his hunting when he first uh hooked up with jack blades who's a friend of ours because he produced he's the bass player for night ranger writes a lot of songs for Aerosmith and Motley Crue.
Starting point is 00:50:29 He's done a lot. He's a big songwriter. Anyways, he made this band called Damn Yankees, which he had Ted Nugent playing guitar. When Ted Nugent came out to his ranch in Santa Rosa, within 20 minutes, he was boiling a squirrel in a pot that he'd shot on his property. Boiling a squirrel? This guy's like, whoa. I mean, you know, he's already out shooting stuff. I mean, it's just crazy.
Starting point is 00:50:57 Boiled squirrel. Yeah, I don't know about that. That's commitment. What happens? A fur comes off? Yeah, yeah, you got to skin it. I've had squirrel. I had squirrel recently.
Starting point is 00:51:06 My friend Steve Rinella cooked a squirrel that he shot. It doesn't taste like anything else. It doesn't taste like chicken. Not like all gamey or anything? No, it wasn't gamey. It didn't taste bad. I mean, it tasted good. I mean, he knows.
Starting point is 00:51:18 My friend Steve Rinella is the host of this show called Meat Eater. He's a professional hunter and an author. And he knows how to cook game. I know. You get a lot of really cool called Meat Eater. He's a professional hunter and an author, and he knows how to cook games. You get a lot of really cool guests on your show, different walks of life. Yeah. That's really cool that you can handle all that, that you're well-versed in different subjects and stuff,
Starting point is 00:51:38 like fitness and... Well, I'm very fortunate that I can talk to all these different people. It would be incredibly rare to be able to sit down and just have long-term, long-form conversations, two, three-hour conversations with a bunch of random people like that, whether it's Steve Rinell or I've had David Lee Roth on or all these different characters and musicians and artists. Pretty cool, man. Actors and strength and conditioning coaches. And it's interesting to have a bunch of different people.
Starting point is 00:52:10 Oh, by the way, I wanted to tell you something. I wrote a Joe Rogan song. No way. Yeah, I wrote a little blues. A Joe Rogan song? Yeah. Should I hear it? Should I leave the room?
Starting point is 00:52:21 A little song about you. Seems weird if you play and I'm in the room. I can handle it, though. Okay, I won't. I won't play it. No, you can play it. Please. I'm honored.
Starting point is 00:52:28 I'm just kidding. You want to play it now? No. Just whatever. I don't care. Well, if you haven't now, we can play it now. Now that you brought it up, it seems like the best time to do it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:39 Yeah, don't chicken out. Come on, man. Play the song about me, dude. Yeah. Don't be announcing something and then say, well, I'm not going to play it now. Well, I'm excited that you brought the guitar because I wasn't sure if you were going to. You know, Joe's a busy man. From his head down to his toes.
Starting point is 00:53:09 From Los Angeles, baby Down to Mexico His shower pulverize you Leave a little smile on your face His timing's impeccable in a timely kind of way you know we get what i want and that's a guarantee oh yeah Oh yeah. Hey Joe. Yeah. Where you going man?
Starting point is 00:53:57 Hey Joe. Yeah. With that little gun in your hand Hey Joe I've been trying to get a hold of you for days Hey Joe Now you got me singing Purple Haze You know Joe's a busy man.
Starting point is 00:54:28 In this busy, busy land. Hey, Joe. I am very honored. Yeah. But that might be the worst song I've ever heard in my life. Sorry, dude. Okay, I'll play the faster Yeah. But that might be the worst song I've ever heard in my life. Sorry, dude. Okay, I'll play the faster one. Hey, Joe.
Starting point is 00:54:53 Sorry, dude. No, please. That's awesome. I'm just kidding. I have to make fun of it. I don't give haters any energy anyway. It's just cool. When you sit down and write music, do you have an idea in your head when you sit down and write music do you have like um an idea in
Starting point is 00:55:08 your head when you sit down and write you just start strumming and like how does no i i have ideas i'm actually you know the past few years when i get a riff in my head usually when i'm in writing mode like we're gonna do a record soon or something i used to not really be able to get that close to what was in there but i've been able to kind of get closer these days and one thing that i've learned over the years and that is when you have this energy and this thought and this this musical idea whatever it is make sure when you're vibrating at that wherever you're at at that moment to record it because if you don't do it the following day you might not forget the riff but it won't have the same energy the delivery will be way different it might not be the same rhythmical thing so it's best just to
Starting point is 00:56:06 don't be lazy if you have this huge idea like at midnight or something just grab your phone or grab something and and put it on tape so you don't lose it you know because i've lost a lot that's so that's very analogous to comedy yeah in stand-up comedy it's the same thing sometimes you have these ideas and you just have to jump on them. Like if I have an idea, sometimes I'll be lying in bed. I'm like, oh, I'm not going to forget that. I'll go back to sleep. Then I'll wake up in the morning, fuck, what was that?
Starting point is 00:56:32 I learned that the hard way. I don't know if you've ever watched or heard Rodney Dangerfield's story. No, what is it? The way his career and stuff. Well, I know of his career. I mean, is it like an actual documentary called Rodney Dangerfield's Story? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:50 It's called Rodney Dangerfield's Story? Well, no, it's, I'm not really sure what it was. It was one of these A&E biography. Okay. Kind of, but it's just an amazing story because he was a comedian and then he pretty much retired when he was 29, and his wife was a singer. So they decided they'd retire together, just get out of this stupid music stuff, you know, or whatever, and comedy stuff. So he left the business, but he never quit writing jokes.
Starting point is 00:57:19 He hated this straight gig, you know, of being a siding salesman yeah or whatever you know uh doing siding for people's homes or whatever and but so he never quit writing jokes so he literally writes jokes for like 11 years he just has a duffel bag full right comes back but when he came back they they had like bill cosby you know they had you know this dude was he called himself jack roy and and and they had bill cosby coming up george carlin you know um you know just you know they had lenny bruce just had all these these killers and they're going jack i mean you know your material is a little better but your used're a used commodity. You know, you're, look, we got all these guys now, you know? So he goes to this club and he goes, okay, I won't be Jack Roy.
Starting point is 00:58:12 He goes, just pick any name, just make something up. And let's, I'll just go with that. I'll be in this other guy. So the guy comes up with Rodney Dangerfield for his name, right? So he does this show and kills he just destroys the crowd i mean they they're just you know socks and shoes and bodies piled against the back window and and you know so he goes this maybe this is the name for me you know and uh but but but it literally when he started out, he didn't really know what he was doing. You know, he had, you know, doll or, you know, just all kinds of different things.
Starting point is 00:58:53 Like a puppet? He wore wigs. He did puppets. He you know, he didn't really have any direction. He was just doing all kinds of different stuff. When he became the one liner master master you know like literally all these jokes are constructed perfect he doesn't go one word off i mean but he does have to write the stuff but it's just an amazing story that the guy makes this huge comeback at 40 yeah and literally has
Starting point is 00:59:16 this monster career and movies and you know supposedly uh the story goes when he was asked to do Caddyshack, they said action, and he didn't even know what the action meant. Like, he was so green. Action. Oh, you want me to do the bit? You want me to do the bit? Wow. Yeah, Rodney, do the bit. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:41 Wow. I didn't know what action meant. You didn't know what action meant. Well, Rodney is a really interesting example of show business. the bit you know wow i didn't know what action meant you didn't know what action meant well rodney is a really interesting example of of show business i i uh was working at a place called great woods it was in mansfield massachusetts it's a center for the performing arts like concert place right and uh i know over there did you ever perform there you guys sure when did you perform there what years shoot oh Did you perform there in the 80s?
Starting point is 01:00:06 Several times. Yeah. I bet you guys performed there when I worked there. That could be. I guarantee you did. We did a lot of shows. We played in 1984. We were on tour with Judas Priest.
Starting point is 01:00:15 I'm pretty sure that hit there. Yup. And I was working there in 84. 84? Yeah. It was called Defendant. No, I wasn't actually because that was before I graduated high school. I graduated high school in 85, so I don't think I worked at Great Woods now that I think about it until 86 or 87.
Starting point is 01:00:32 My keyboard player, Michael Lardy, he's like an almanac. He could tell you the weather, the time, what day we played there, the dates. I can't really, you know? Right. So I can't really, you know? Right. But, so I can't really tell you when it was. Point is, I was there backstage, and Rodney Dangerfield was getting ready, and all he had on was a bathrobe.
Starting point is 01:00:56 Bathrobe and slippers. He got to a certain point in his career where he liked to go on stage with a bathrobe on. He just, like, gave zero fucks. He was in his 60s, I think, at the time. I'm not sure how old he was. Somewhere around 60s. But he was just so relaxed and so loose
Starting point is 01:01:13 that he felt most comfortable on stage with a bathrobe on and no underwear. He would just go. They would all laugh. The guys would laugh. His fucking balls would be hanging out of his bathrobe. And he'd just be hanging out backstage hey whatever help yourself you want a sandwich come on in kid you know like yeah super friendly and relaxed he's a friendly man and a sweet man
Starting point is 01:01:35 but he really felt that they say he was a really tortured soul from from like his childhood like his parents hated him and his mother you know didn't show him any love and all this stuff that's why you make a comedian yeah and and what they said was is he was trying he was uh just fighting against his childhood with his material he's told people all i have is my act you know what i mean like wow he just felt he was so wronged in his life that he that's where he came all his material comes from that being wronged you know yeah no respect no respect actually the the no respect line didn't quite come at first he was saying you know with me nothing goes right but it was always jokes about how you know know, how wronged he was. And that's all his material
Starting point is 01:02:27 stemmed from that. It's actually a brilliant story because it's such a fighting heart story. It's he, he had to grind so hard, harder than, you know, than you hear normally. Um, you know, even when he got on Ed Sullivan, he auditioned for Ed Sullivan. Ed Sullivan didn't call him for like weeks. It just tortured him. It was like, am I going to have a life or no? You know, it's like, if he calls, I will. If he doesn't, I won't.
Starting point is 01:02:55 That's how, that's how crucial it was. Cause he'd already kind of burned out in the clubs. He needed to get here. And, and even all the comedians were that were interviewed saying if you didn't do sullivan you just say you ain't happening you know what i mean like you literally needed that show to make your name to get your name out and then it became carson and letterman later yeah now carson was another problem um he made a mistake um someone on the staff of carson stole some of his material after seeing him like at an improv kind of place well rodney wrote a letter to carson saying hey you got a thief on your staff
Starting point is 01:03:35 he was blackballed that was it really carson was so pissed off that he literally blacked but he didn't want rodney on the show well time elapsed and i guess the uh producer of the show and johnny carson uh went to some club or something and they couldn't get in we're gonna leave and rodney dangerville was there and he goes i got you guys a seat and they came in and he apologized to johnny carson said, I'm sorry. You know, I was wrong or whatever. And so he had him on the show. And he destroyed Johnny Carson. Johnny Carson was just in stitches laughing everything this guy said. He was brilliant.
Starting point is 01:04:17 Yeah. He was one of the greats, in my opinion, one of the all-time greats. In a really unique sort of way, his style. Very unique. And great in movies, too, the all-time greats. And a really unique sort of way, his style. Very unique. And great in movies, too, like Back to School. Yeah. I mean, he was amazing, man. And, you know, he actually wrote the idea for that movie, Back to School.
Starting point is 01:04:35 But his idea was going back to school broke, like a total loser. And Harold Ramis said, you know, my dream was always to go back to school rich as hell, have all the money I have now, and go back like, hey, mofo, you know, okay, I'm in school, where's the chicks and stuff, you know what I mean? Right, right. And so he gave him that idea,
Starting point is 01:04:55 and then they incorporated the two ideas, and, you know, back to school was brilliant, obviously, once he was a rich guy, you know. God, that was a great fucking movie. How about Easy Money? Oh, that was a great movie, too. That was really good. That was a great movie. I loved that. You couldn't smoke or drink, or else, you know that's a great fucking movie yeah and then how about easy money oh that was a great movie that was really good i love you couldn't smoke or drink it or else you know for the million and when remember when kinnison played the teacher in uh back to school oh yeah yeah oh oh that was fucking kinnison uh he he was an amazing dude uh he was a very big music fan
Starting point is 01:05:23 yeah you know musician himself he really liked to um in fact our producer of our very first album He was an amazing dude. He was a very big music fan. Yeah. Musician himself. He really liked to. In fact, our producer of our very first album, Michael Wagner, he did Wild Thing. Ah, yeah. That was great. He had the video and everything. Yeah. He actually recorded that.
Starting point is 01:05:38 Yeah, so he was around musicians a lot. Kennison is, in my opinion, he was the greatest of all time for like two years. But he's a great lesson, too, for comedians, too. Because he went from, in my opinion, being one of the greatest of all time to, towards the end of his career, he was terrible. He just became. Do you think the drugs play in that? Oh, yeah. I do, too.
Starting point is 01:06:03 100%. I think coke. yes to play in that oh yeah i do too 100 i think coke that's why i think that um you know they that's a perfect uh metaphor or whatever for wasted talent because if somebody's really strong and kicking ass i don't think it's a coincidence that the guy's doing a lot of blow now and his show is kind of going downhill you know what i mean you got to put those two together 100 i'm playing the most consistent i've ever played especially you know since i've been sober for i you know going on six years but you know you feel similar from day to day you're not waking up in pain and right and having to fight to be normal and all that, you're not going to do what you do.
Starting point is 01:06:46 You're not going to be at your best when you're doing this stuff to your body. You're not treating yourself well. Yeah. I play more consistent now than I've ever played in my life from show to show. I believe it. And I really pump myself up.
Starting point is 01:06:59 I don't go out to just entertain people. I want their jaws dropped. I want to impress the crap out of you know and um because i think that if you're if you put that much effort into a show going for the pulverize level and you and you maybe have an off night and you only entertain him not not all sloths do you know what i mean right if you just want to go out there and just entertain people and play your songs you know let's rock look come on let's rock you know that just doesn't get it for me one of the problems i have is the 22
Starting point is 01:07:37 hours in between you know the show i mean you're waiting you're traveling and you're doing all this stuff just for this two hours it's like i want to get the maximum amount of that two hours you know i don't want all this traveling to be a waste right like i've heard it said they they pay me to travel but i i play for free that's a good way it's the hardest thing about like if you talk to any boxers they say the easiest thing about the boxing is the fight right it's like it's the hardest thing about, like if you talk to any boxers, they say the easiest thing about the boxing is the fight. Right. It's like it's the training and getting up at four in the morning and, you know, drinking raw eggs or whatever else you guys do.
Starting point is 01:08:14 I don't think they do that anymore. Not drinking raw eggs, no. That's just in the movie. Yeah, that's just in that movie. But, yeah, I get that. But you know what I'm saying. Yes, the preparation is the most difficult aspect. Preparation to everything.
Starting point is 01:08:26 Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yes, the preparation is the most difficult aspect. Preparation is everything. Even in pool, I think Shane Van Boning, there's a reason he's number one. I think he practices more than everyone. He practices every day. At everything. At the break, at shot making, mental attitude. I've been there for a couple of his matches live, but one of them where he played Earl Strickland. And after the match, we all went to the pool hall,
Starting point is 01:08:49 and Shane played by himself for hours. I mean, hours and hours and hours. Just pocketing balls, setting up shots, pocketing balls, and just kept doing it. Just kept doing it. And then after he got done doing that, then he played three cushion billiards by himself. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 01:09:03 I mean, he's just a machine. and that's how you become successful. Your attitude, like that attitude about performing is just, it's so important. And it's so important because that attitude of gratitude, of respecting what you're doing and loving what you're doing and really being enthusiastic about the performance and wanting people to have a great time is everything. It's not ego. It's not about your ego. I don't really believe that. Wanting people to have a great time is everything. It's not ego. It's everything. It's not about your ego. I don't really believe that. I just want to give people their money's worth.
Starting point is 01:09:30 Yes. And giving my all, like really feeling like I gave them everything I had available. Yeah. It makes you feel like you got some self-worth. And plus you get people going, whoa, did you see that? And man, I want to give them their money's worth. Fuck yeah. Well, you're the only guy that can provide the Mark Kendall experience.
Starting point is 01:09:52 I mean, you are Mark Kendall. If they want to go see you, you're the only guy that can do it. I said that to my friend Ari once, and it stuck with me after I said it. I'm like, wow, it's so true. We were talking about comedy and performing and he was just starting to build a following and i said dude i go if you're an ari shafir fan and i'm an ari shafir fan you're the only guy that can provide ari shafir like there's another guy might be able to steal your jokes another guy might be able to try to mimic your delivery but
Starting point is 01:10:21 if i want to go see this crazy motherfucker named ari shafir you're the only guy that can give that to people you're the only one out there that's ari shafir sure and he was like wow that's that's totally true i'm like it's totally true like you it's your responsibility as the keeper of the ari shafir act the ari shafir material and and you know and you as a human you gotta go out there and you're the only one that can do it and people out there are fans and they want to go see it and you're the only one that can provide that and you gotta go out there and you're the only one that can do it and people out there are fans and they want to go see it and you're the only one that can provide that and you gotta kind of and ari does but there's some comedians who don't like i've seen comedians go on stage and just completely phone it in and half-ass it trying out new material because they didn't care if the
Starting point is 01:10:58 audience got a good show because the audience should just be happy that they're there like i can feel that i can feel that with just about any entertain, whether it be a comedian, a band. I can tell when someone is going through the motions. And I know the fans can read that, too. Yes. The way that we, as a band, have eliminated going through the motions is allowing ourselves the freedom to make new music if it wasn't for if i was just some oldies band we would have probably been over 20 years ago because i'm not going to go out and just play one spit and twice shy once a year and right i mean i need to be creative that's why i
Starting point is 01:11:36 got in to play guitar is because wow you can make up stuff you know and i want to continue to break make up stuff you know and that's what keeps me going make up stuff you know and that that's what keeps me going also we do a lot of stretch out jams and stuff that are different from night to night so i don't know what's going to happen before it does you know right so that's the way i eliminate going through the motions but um you know i i think uh that's even for a comedian it's writing new jokes trying out new things um we'll keep it fresh for you, don't you think? No doubt, no doubt. And I think that's an important point that I wanted to ask you about when it comes to music.
Starting point is 01:12:13 With some bands, they reach a certain point, and then all anybody wants to hear is their old stuff. Yeah. They don't want to hear new music. Like, there's certain bands they'll go and someone yell out do this do that and then they're like oh we got a new song and people are like oh a new song well i don't know if they're gonna go uh but that could be but um one thing we don't do and that's is bombard people with new music and we're not going to go out there and play like 10 new songs or anything but why not you want to give them all
Starting point is 01:12:45 what they want right unless we were just going on a tour to play our new album i mean that that's one thing or maybe just play a few shows like that we're just going to play the elation record where you know or whatever um but is that sort of a thing that happens to rock bands they get kind of trapped by their past success. Yeah. I don't know if trapped is quite the right word, but I take it as a total blessing that we have those songs. Right. When we play these songs, I still like playing them. We're playing for a different audience every night.
Starting point is 01:13:20 It's not like if we're standing over there playing the song for the same guy over and over and over, it would probably get old. But we got different, you know, different response. It's a different feel that night, you know. We stretch it out. We bring the crowd into the show. I mean, we do different things, you know. But I don't mind.
Starting point is 01:13:38 When I hear us on the radio, even today, I get tingles, you know. So going out and playing the stuff that people want to hear isn't a problem with me. It's just I don't want to just only do that. I want to incorporate new things. And a lot of the people like some of our new stuff too. What is it, though, about it? What I was going to get to is because it's so completely different than a comedian. Comedians have to have new material all the time. The last anybody wants to hear usually for the most part is an old bit like
Starting point is 01:14:09 sometimes people will request they like want to hear something again you know they that they're that's a classic but they want at least like 70 percent of it to be new you know they want almost as much new stuff like a few classics thrown in is great, but the last thing you want to hear when you go see a comedian is the same act in the same order that you saw five years ago. That would be horrific. Well, yeah, if it was the same. I mean, even majorly pro bands, I'm talking like, well, I mean, just any band, they go do a similar show every night on a certain tour
Starting point is 01:14:45 now maybe they're not going to come back and do that give you that same look again next year but but i i mean like we did a tour with kiss and every night they were saying the same thing to the audience it was like you know cookie cutter yeah reaction you's like, oh, and now he's going to say this, you know. So it's, how many of y'all like cold gin? Yeah. Word for word, man. He's not going to mess it up. Somebody made a video or a CD, rather, of all of Paul Stanley's in-between banter, in-between songs.
Starting point is 01:15:21 It's fucking brilliant. Really, really powerful in the sense, like their live album, the one they did years and years and years ago, was the most sought after, best selling, you know. And some of those things that he said in between the songs became very famous, you know, like the Cole Jen thing.
Starting point is 01:15:41 You know, I mean, it's pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome. Ace Frehley is actually going to be on this podcast april uh 23rd oh good good fucking i'm i'm happy to hear that because um one thing and i'm not going to take sides or do any kind of stuff but i i really feel bad that they're not being given any credit from their former bandmates. To just write them off as hired guns when they were part of...
Starting point is 01:16:14 I mean, that drummer, Peter Criss, wrote their biggest selling, biggest hit of the band's career on paper, at least. So to just call them hired gruns that were in our band a long time ago i understand that they're bitter because of addiction problems and stuff like that but um you shouldn't you know throw your brothers under the bus uh you know i'm not gonna sit here and speak for them but i'm just saying i i feel bad because when i was a young teenager just about every one of my friends were playing air guitar to uh ace freely you know what i mean
Starting point is 01:16:54 ace yeah you know what i mean just uh noodling in the air and i i just think he should get some kind of credit i agree uh i'm you know i i don't know the ins and the outs of their disputes nor do i chris nor do i but i do know that um ace freely was i was a huge fan when i was a kid i mean i think he was a huge part of the band you know during its uh successful years i think you know some of his songs and some of his riffs are some of my all-time favorites. I'll tell you something. Imagine this. Eddie Van Halen, you know how great he is.
Starting point is 01:17:40 When they first got their record deal, Rodney Bingenheimer actually introduced them in Pasadena, at the Pasadena Civic. They were signed by Warner Brothers. It was all going on eddie goes into the solo and the end solo that he did was the ace freely solo he actually did the ace freely solo so come on i mean you know let's give this guy some credit yeah ace bro i don't know what it is this is the man you know i i don't know what it is. Ace is the man. I don't know what it is, what the dispute was between those guys. Who knows? Who knows? It's none of my business.
Starting point is 01:18:10 And no matter what it is, I just think even if you hate each other or whatever. You got to give the guy his due. Just give him his due. I mean, still hate him forever, whatever you're going to do. do just just give him his due i mean still hate him forever whatever you're gonna do but just you can't just say he he was just a hired gun when he was such a you know as far as young teenagers he was a hero to a lot of people you know is that what they're saying now is that like well they were getting inducted into the hall of fame and they're just basically saying that, you know, I'm not quoting anybody. I'm just saying that, you know, they wanted to just have their new guys,
Starting point is 01:18:51 you know, the guys that have been in the band for a long time, be there or, you know. In other words, they didn't want the original guys up there playing with makeup on when these other guys in their band had makeup on. Right. It was just going to be a circus. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:07 Oh, we got two drummers with the same cat thing. And I totally get that. Well, they tried to do different characters for a while. Did they? Yeah. I'm not really that hip to kids. I don't know much about them. They didn't try to replace Peter Criss at first.
Starting point is 01:19:27 They replaced Peter Criss with another dude who had... Different kind of thing. Yeah, sort of different thing going on. That would make sense to have some... But now they don't. Now they have a guy who plays Ace Frehley and a guy who plays Peter Criss. Which I know who the guy is. His name's Tommy Thayer.
Starting point is 01:19:42 He used to be in a band called Black and Blue years and years ago. Is there a break where you can go to the bathroom? Go to the bathroom now, man. His name's Tommy Thayer. He used to be in a band called Black and Blue like years and years ago. Is there a break to where you can go to the bathroom? Go to the bathroom now, man. Oh, just go? Yeah, go. Don't worry about it. Okay. There's lots of stuff that I could talk about.
Starting point is 01:19:54 See, ladies and gentlemen, this is the problem with having a podcast like this. A lot of people, they don't have the kind of bladder control that I've developed over years and years of podcasting and working the UFC. I make a joke out of it because at the UFC, Mike Goldberg, my co-host, he hates when I talk about this, but tough shit. The dude has to pee like six times every broadcast. So I've developed the ability to maintain and to hold my bladder because I'm a big boy. Okay. And because I know how to handle my coffee and my, uh, stimulants. That's the problem really is when you start drinking shit like Red Bull,
Starting point is 01:20:30 that stuff fucks with your bladder. Um, I, uh, just announced today that I'm going to be, uh, in Philadelphia on, uh, October 17th, October 17th. I'm at the Tower Theater. And as of today, today is April 10th. The pre-sale is going on right now if you go to my Twitter page. That's at Joe Rogan. And also this Friday night, I'm going to be at the Ice House in Pasadena. And it's one of the shows that Brian has put together. And I know there's some funny people that are going to be on it. Christina Pazitsky is going to be on it.
Starting point is 01:21:08 Dave Taylor is going to be on it. I don't know the full lineup, but I'm sure it'll be awesome. That Ice House is one of the greatest places in the world to do stand-up. And it's also the small room, too, which the small room is really a special room it's only about 80 seats total so it sells out every time pretty much and uh just one of the coolest places to perform and do stand up uh somebody sent me this on twitter the other day and i wanted to show it to you mark yes you've gotten back it's a picture of jimmy hendrix when he was really young with his guitar oh yeah i have actually seen that amazing yeah that's amazing yeah because he played with like the eiseley
Starting point is 01:21:51 brothers and and uh you know he played when he was up and coming he was playing with a lot of people um that's a little richard and stuff like that and uh so yeah he had a different look yeah that's like no one's gonna steal it from there it's on my twitter that's such an amazing picture though you know you're around the mma and and ufc uh are you a fighter yourself are you just uh fascinated by the sport or um well this point in my life i'd have to say i'm just fascinated by the sport but i've done martial arts my whole life i used to compete i used to be a taekw champion, and I used to teach Taekwondo for a living before I became a professional comedian.
Starting point is 01:22:31 Right on. And I still train. Yeah, I was such a great fan, a big fan. I had a lot of tapes in the Hoist Gracie days and stuff. Yeah. And one thing that blew my mind, because I've been a boxing i'm i was a boxing fan and you know then i started watching this ufc stuff and i was like whoa man these guys it's so intense and it seemed like well at least back then that the grapplers had i mean that was the nuts as soon as it went to the ground, you were done with Hoyes Gracie.
Starting point is 01:23:05 There's another pool term. You had no chance. You just threw in there another pool term, the nuts. Yeah. People don't know. The nuts means you're stealing. You got it down. You got no problem.
Starting point is 01:23:14 You're winning. No problem. Yeah, he's going to win every time from the ground. That's what amazed me. It's like I'm thinking, you know, because Bruce Lee used to, there's no one like this guy. How could anybody beat him at anything? But then I wonder if an expert grappler somehow got a hold of him.
Starting point is 01:23:34 But I don't think they could. Oh, listen, listen, they could. Bruce Lee was an actor. And Bruce Lee was a tremendous martial artist. Bruce Lee was a real innovator and bruce lee is responsible for the idea behind his jeet kune do which was that you could take all the best aspects of all the different martial arts and combine them together so in a lot of senses bruce lee was the original mixed martial arts fighter but he had very little competition experience and very little real
Starting point is 01:24:03 fighting experience amongst elite fighters like at the UFC level I didn't know that he was more of an actor and he was a great martial artist it's not to diminish him in any way right who knows if the UFC had been around when he was I mean if he was born in this era and you know the UFC was around while he was at the age that he would want to compete at who knows he might have been in there and he might have been a champion but the reality of the situation is what he was was just a guy who was a great martial artist who was ahead of his time
Starting point is 01:24:34 and a true true innovator but to say that a guy like hennon barrow who's the ufc bantamweight champion right who would be the guy that he would compete against to say that you know he wouldn't be able to catch bruce lee's he would fuck bruce lee up oh wow if they i mean see i don't know things like this this is interesting me i mean if they both were if you took the bruce lee from the movies and the hennon burrow from the ufc from you know like pulled him out of a time machine and stuck him into the octagon hennon burrow would have his way with him. I mean, he's just a completely evolved, fully trained mixed martial arts fighter at the very highest level of every single aspect of the game. It doesn't mean that Bruce Lee couldn't have reached that level as well. I mean, he was amazing. You watch some of the fight scenes, there was no one in that time
Starting point is 01:25:23 that was throwing kicks the way Bruce Lee was. It seems incredible to me. Amazing. His movement, his speed. His speed is insane. His understanding of choreography and the drama and excitement of what he was doing in those movies was just unprecedented. There was nobody like him.
Starting point is 01:25:40 I mean, I'm a huge, huge Bruce Lee fan. But if Bruce Lee fought Hennon Burrell, my money's on the Brazilian. I mean, without a doubt. But that's just reality. Right, sure, sure. You're not taking anything away from Bruce Lee, you're just stating the fact. I'm a huge Chuck Norris fan, but if Chuck Norris had to fight the elite of the elite in mixed martial arts as well, I mean, he would have to be in that game and train in that game
Starting point is 01:26:05 and get to that level, and then you would see. But you can't know. It's like saying, man, if Tom Cruise played professionally, God, he would beat everybody. I saw him in The Color of Money. No, man. Imagine if Tom Cruise had to play Shane Van Boney. He could get robbed.
Starting point is 01:26:22 He could get away from me, too. He could get away from everybody. Well, he probably can't weight from me. He can get robbed. He can get weight from me, too. He can get weight from everybody. Well, he probably can't even play anymore. That was the thing. There's only a few guys that have ever really pulled off looking like a pool player in a movie. Like Tom Cruise. He did. Sort of did it.
Starting point is 01:26:35 He sort of did it. But if you see some of the shots where he's setting up, his mechanics look a little bit hokey a couple times. But Paul Newman in The Hustler was not very good. I mean, it was awkward. His acting was fantastic. He's brilliant at the performance. But you watch him shoot things like that bank combination. The bank combination.
Starting point is 01:26:58 That's something you would never see. Not only that, you know it was an accident. You know they told him to just knock some balls around. Who's going to call that shot? No one in history. Ever. Not only that, you know it was an accident. You know they told him to just knock some balls around and, you know, we'll just. Who's going to call that shot? No one in history. Ever. It's a stupid shot.
Starting point is 01:27:10 Yeah, yeah. No one would do it. You're playing straight pool. You're going to play, you're going to do something else. Yeah. He tried to make a bank shot and he didn't even realize that he was going to make a combination. Made a combination and then everybody clapped like it was real. But Jackie Gleason could play. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:27:26 If you look at Jackie Gleason. He can run 100 balls. He was actually used to hustle pool before he even acted. I mean, he was, like, for real. Well, you can see his stroke. He's got a very gentle stroke. You can see the way he's holding the cue. Absolutely.
Starting point is 01:27:39 He's a real pool player. So there's only a few of those guys that have ever, like, played in movies and looked legit. Gleason could really play. Yeah. He could really play. He was actually a hustler, and I know for a fact that he was a good player. Paul Sorvino apparently can really play, too.
Starting point is 01:27:55 I don't even know. I have heard that. I don't know how good he was. I haven't heard of anyone that played Gleason Speed from, like, Jay Helford or something who kind of would know. But that's all I've heard. I know I couldn't get there with that guy. Yeah, there was a few guys throughout history that have played, like, pretty good. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 01:28:20 But everybody says that Jackie Gleason was probably the the all-time best guy yeah as far as like and and i think a lot of that reason is because he was a pool player before actor yeah yeah that's big it's like with john schmidt you know john right sure yeah he was a golfer before a pool player. Really? Yeah. I mean, he literally golfed with Tiger Woods in college, and he played state events and all this stuff, and he's a scratch golfer. So he goes, you know, any pool player that wants to play me in golf for money can get strokes from me. You know what I mean? That's interesting that he went into that. Because he was a golfer before he was a pool player but it's interesting that he
Starting point is 01:29:06 went into pool over golf because there's so much more money in golf yeah i don't really have the answers for that when he met bobby hunter years ago supposedly he was working at a golf course um i really don't know why he wouldn't go pro um but he even said i guess back then when he was like i don't know 17 or 18 that tiger woods was the best golfer but he said that he could probably never compete on the pga level and he and he said that he he was saying that i'd not not make a good uh john schmidt yeah could he goes yeah tiger woods is better than all of us but i don't i don he could ever, like, make it on the PGA Tour. He thought that about Tiger Woods? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:29:47 He goes, I wouldn't make a very good talent agent or whatever. So that's hilarious. So he thought back then that Tiger had no chance. He just said he, you know, because his thinking was, you know, we're college guys. I mean, he's really good, but, you know, he's not going to go out and beat whoever. It was just kind of the thinking at that time. Obviously, he's got tons of respect for Tiger Woods. Well, Tiger Woods is another perfect example of a guy who just completely driven through himself into this one discipline
Starting point is 01:30:17 and just had a dad who was also completely obsessed by it and just put all of his time and effort into it. When you look at guys that do things really great, you know, and guys that are, you know, really good or whatever, it's usually the really great guy that has worked harder. You know, he might have some natural ability, which helps, but it's, with Shane Van,
Starting point is 01:30:41 almost every walk of life when I see somebody that just totally blows my mind, they worked harder. Yeah. They put more hours in or whatever. Yeah, the perfect storm is the guy who's got natural ability, loves what he does, and works harder. That's the perfect storm. Oh, that is perfect. If you love what you're doing and you work hard at it, you really are giving your maximum effort.
Starting point is 01:31:03 I mean, what else can you ask from yourself? Yeah, pursuit of excellence. Yeah. And, man, that is. And it's beautiful no matter what walk of life it's in to watch. I love to watch somebody do something that's really hard to do, but they just do it effortless. Yeah. Like in pool.
Starting point is 01:31:21 I just can't believe how. That's why I have so much respect for the game because I know how difficult it is from my own experience. Right. When a guy gets up there and runs 200, it makes it look hard when I'm like, you know, killing myself to run 55, you know. The other day I ran 55.
Starting point is 01:31:39 I'm like calling friends. I'm going, dude, I just ran 55, you know. Right. But it's like, get up and just run 100 and just run 100 at will and stuff like that. Well, I've always said that pool is an art form that can only be appreciated by people who play it. If you don't play pool, you're really not going to be able to appreciate what's going on. I kind of have to agree with that because that's why I was so kind of happy that a guy like you that's really busy in the business or whatever knows about pool you know just like somebody away from pool knows about it
Starting point is 01:32:14 he knows what these guys go through and stuff you know yeah i just thought that that was really neat you know jay kind of i've heard him talk about you and stuff. I've known Jay since the 90s. I think I met Jay in 94. Wow. I think I met Jay when he was doing C.J. Wiley's big professional tournaments in 94. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's heavy.
Starting point is 01:32:35 I didn't know you'd been around that long. Yeah, well, that's when I first moved to L.A. I mean, I didn't know you'd known the pool world that long. Oh, I was involved in pool before that i was i think i started playing in 1990 i think that's when i really first started playing and uh became completely obsessed that's right around the time that i moved to new york uh i had uh had a knee injury i couldn't work out for a while and uh just to kill time with my friends i started playing pool and just got obsessed where'd you play at there's
Starting point is 01:33:05 a place called executive billiards in white plains new york still there okay but now it's like a fucking disco i played in a few a few of those rooms out there well i also played in uh a lot of the uh rooms in the area like uh played a lot of chelsea billiards in oh chelsea yeah west i've been there i've been there west end billiards, New Jersey. Is that where Ginky used to play? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He used to play there. Me too. Yeah. Me too. In fact, when I heard that he was kind of experiencing a little bit of a problem with the pills,
Starting point is 01:33:35 I was going to reach out to him, and he died before. But I thought about it because he was doing an interview, and I watched it. I watched the interview with jose perica on just some random site i was just not even looking for anything i just happened to see it and oh man i want to see this um and i saw his interview and he'd been sober he he had some back stuff and he was taking uh narcotics for it and stuff like that, you know, got kind of caught up in it. But he said he hadn't been doing it for a long time. He was doing well.
Starting point is 01:34:10 And I reach out to struggling addicts. That's what I kind of do. I just every once in a while just say, hey, man, if anybody out there is struggling and wants to try to get sober, I'm available to be your sober friend. You know, that's what I offer. I just offer my friendship, support. I have my own support group and stuff like that. But anyways, I was going to do that to him, especially because I knew him anyways.
Starting point is 01:34:37 We weren't close friends or anything, but I steered him around when he was out here. We kind of hung out a little bit. And I was really bummed that I was a little late on that. But I didn't know because he said he was not using and not taking the... He wasn't being honest. George...
Starting point is 01:34:56 Maybe, maybe. I knew George from the 90s. I mean, I knew him way, way, way back in the day when he was a pretty decent player. Oh, yeah. He was sort of coming up. But he was always squeaky clean. He always drank water, no cigarettes,
Starting point is 01:35:09 no alcohol, no drugs. But he had that back injury, and man, pills are a motherfucker. He had... What was wrong with him? Did it come from a car accident? Some kind of a disc, neck surgery? But where did it come from? I don't know.
Starting point is 01:35:24 I wonder if it's from pool itself. I don't know. It was some kind of. I had a back injury from jujitsu, and it would flare up when I would play pool. There's something about the position of being over a table, like bent over a table. Because, you know, when you're playing, you kind of have your head back. Sure. And there was something about that.
Starting point is 01:35:41 I have a muscle that kind of pokes out a little bit That I have to deal with Do you ever try deep tissue massage for that? I've tried a lot of different things Yeah But the person I've used the last couple times Doesn't quite go hard enough I wish he was just a little bit more power Right
Starting point is 01:36:00 Maybe I need Just got to go to another person Yeah You got to find someone who hurts you You got to Like a rolfer. Yeah. You ever get rolfing done?
Starting point is 01:36:07 Rolfing? Rolfing? No. Rolfing is like a particularly brutal type of massage that doesn't feel good at all. Like bruises you instead. It's. Well, they are manipulating. I shouldn't quote exactly what they do because there's a lot of dispute about what's really
Starting point is 01:36:23 going on when they're doing it. But what they're doing is essentially is absolutely brutal massage that relaxes everything in in your muscles i mean it's really unbelievably painful while it's happening not unbelievably you can believe it i mean it's not like they're sawing your leg off with a rusty hatchet but it it sucks but when it's over man you feel great i don't know how versed you are as far as the body. I mean, because I just kind of go, oh, wow, when I push here, it hurts here or something. I'm not a doctor. I mean, I haven't studied the anatomy of the back or whatever. this one person that I used to go to, she did things to my neck that caused so much relief in my back
Starting point is 01:37:09 just by working my neck. It was like really crazy how the body works sometimes. It's all connected. Yeah. Like you're working on one spot and I get a little relief right here. Well, having a person who's really good at deep tissue massage and
Starting point is 01:37:25 sports massage and someone who really understands the the connective tissue you could relieve a lot of tension in your back it's it's it's such an important thing and huge amongst athletes like athletes go for deep tissue massage on a regular basis for that very reason just because it offers relief it allows the muscles to heal more properly, allows more circulation in the area. A lot of things they're doing now that are just incredible are, one of them, there's this cryo thing they're doing where athletes will work out really hard, and they step in this thing that uses liquid nitrogen
Starting point is 01:37:58 to bring the temperature down like 150 below zero. Wow. And they stand in it for like two minutes, and then they get out, and the incredible cold causes all your vessels to constrict. Right. And then when you get out of it,
Starting point is 01:38:15 everything dilates, and it's like this. It opens up your system. Yeah, it's massive release. Yeah, that's crazy. And flowing of the blood And removing Now you know I don't take a lot of
Starting point is 01:38:26 You know I don't take Really vitamins even No? No Do you eat really healthy? Before I go I was wondering if you could Like kind of hook me up
Starting point is 01:38:35 With some kind of Vitamin regimen Sure absolutely I know I'm going to get in Some cardio action Most important thing Is food
Starting point is 01:38:42 That's number one Right Most important thing Is eat healthy food. Okay. Once you've got the healthy food covered, then supplementation is a good second approach. But the first approach should always be the diet itself, the food itself. Okay.
Starting point is 01:38:57 Like eating healthy food is one of the best things you could do for yourself. Okay. It's one of the things that so many people ignore. Like salmon and things like... Vegetables. Very vegetables. Vegetables. Very vegetables. Vegetables are huge. It's one of the number one things that people ignore when it comes to their diet is fresh,
Starting point is 01:39:11 healthy vegetables, clean vegetables, eating cooked and uncooked, raw, blended juices, just eating salads. Just green leafy vegetables are so important for your body. And it's something that we just don't get enough. I mean, when you're talking about phytonutrients, you're talking about minerals, all the different things that you get from vegetables, they're one of the most important things that people are deficient from in their diet. Being minerally deficient, being nutritionally deficient,
Starting point is 01:39:40 a lot of it is because of a lack of green leafy vegetables, healthy vegetables, organic vegetables, and healthy proteins on top of that. What are you doing over there? Oh, sorry. What is that? It's a pick. Oh. I'm playing guitar.
Starting point is 01:39:55 I'm writing it now. I wrote a whole album while you were talking. I'm just kidding. But vitamins are good also to cover all your bases as far as like adding additional nutrition to your diet to make sure that you're optimizing everything. You'll hear like, oh, you don't need multivitamins. You're fine without them. They're not necessary. Sure, you can live without them.
Starting point is 01:40:20 But you're not looking to just live. You're looking to be fully optimized. You feel good. Yeah. The best way also is to go to someone who can monitor your blood work. Get your blood work done and find out. You might say, the doctor might look at you like, hey, you're low in vitamin D. You're low in vitamin B12.
Starting point is 01:40:38 You could use some C. Wow. Yeah. Go to someone who's a real doctor, an expert in nutrition, an expert in vitamins, and someone who can actually do some blood work on you. And then from there, go to a nutritionist. Get someone who, you know, you can get like this. There's a bunch of different, there's a company that we use. I forget the name of it because we just started using it.
Starting point is 01:41:02 They deliver healthy meals to your house pre-packaged. They do it two or three times a week. And you put them in the refrigerator, and it's like super healthy, organic foods, and pre-made. We do try to eat organic. I mean, my wife shops at Trader Joe's and gets stuff that's, I guess, better for me and stuff. You trailed off, I guess, stuff, whatever. Well, people like food that tastes delicious it's yeah that's that's bad for you yummy food to eat a nice fat burger at two o'clock in the morning just dripping with no fucking oil i know i know oh so glorious though
Starting point is 01:41:39 yeah it's it's the problem is that french fries taste great. Now, with your diet, I mean, okay, you know, vegetables. I know you like to eat right. Do you ever go off that and just go, I want a burger? Fuck yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I believe in cheat days. I believe in at least cheat meals.
Starting point is 01:41:57 My friend Mike Dolce calls them reward meals or earned meals. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, because you're taking care of it. You're treating yourself good for the most part yeah you i treat myself good and then you know the thing is though if i do do it and i'll go off and i'll have like some crispy cream donuts i feel like i feel like such shit oh yeah it's like was that really worth it i've done that before where i i'll have mcdonald's and just swear it off like i'll have a Big Mac or something and it's like I feel so bad and disgusting and fuck I just want to throw up I feel so horrible like somebody kicked
Starting point is 01:42:31 me in the stomach or something and then it's like I make myself forget about it like you know four months later I'll have the Big Mac again yeah it's like why am I eating this every time I say the same thing so well during the the process of eating, though, that mouth pleasure is pretty undeniable. Oh, yeah, definitely. That's what it is, is the mouth pleasure that you're getting while you're eating. Let me ask you this. One thing I've noticed, and I think it's because they do some kind of a different oil or something,
Starting point is 01:43:02 but French fries from like McDonald's, Burger King, all these type places has this taste, and I call it kerosene mixed with dirt or something. This aftertaste is so nasty, and I don't know why more people aren't speaking about it. Like, do you just eat these fries like they're good or something? I'm tasting this taste in my mouth. It's disgusting.
Starting point is 01:43:28 It's not old school taste. Well, they can't fuck with In-N-Out. In-N-Out's got the greatest fries. No, In-N-Out's always perfect. Those fries are fresh. That's one of the reasons. And it's privately owned. They don't have any freaky oil coming in.
Starting point is 01:43:41 Yeah. If you want to go off the diet, In-N-Out's the best way to do it because you could also get it protein style where you get a burger that's just on a lettuce, like the lettuce on the top. Yeah, yeah, I've seen that. It's fantastic. My daughter does stuff that's not on the menu
Starting point is 01:43:55 and stuff like that. Well, the protein style is just they do lettuce instead of bun. They put lettuce on the outside. But yeah, they actually have a potato and they put it through the cutter. Yeah, real potato. You can watch them do it.
Starting point is 01:44:05 That's badass. Yeah, it's totally fresh. And the fries have a completely different taste because of that. I've heard the reason, you know, this thing I'm talking about where the fries have this aftertaste that's nasty is because the FDA or whatever approved some kind of oil they can use, and they reuse it, and it's okay or something. It causes this aftertaste that's in more than one franchise. And other people I've spoken with have tasted it as well. It's just they don't hate it as much as me.
Starting point is 01:44:43 Well, I'm sure. I mean, most fast food is cooked in the unhealthiest oil there's an article here's an article that was uh in um on abc.com and they're talking about most french fries served in u.s restaurants are immersed in corn-based oil usually considered the worst oil for human health before they're fried. Corn oil contains copious amounts of saturated fat known to contribute to heart disease. This type of oil is also low in monosaturated fat, which most Americans need more of,
Starting point is 01:45:13 and high in polyunsaturated fat, which is in two large quantities, can lower HDL, which is your good cholesterol, along with LDL, your bad cholesterol. Oh, it's not good. Did you hear when the Naked Chef or whatever just tried to boycott McDonald's saying it's not safe for human consumption? Who's the Naked Chef?
Starting point is 01:45:35 He's just one of these health chef dudes from England or something. He's a pretty young guy. I thought that was his name. The Naked Chef? I might have the wrong- Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver oliver's his name he calls himself the naked chef yeah okay you know how i'm talking about yeah and um he was talking about all these ingredients in mcdonald's that were like really bad and not not safe for human consumption and so they changed a bunch of stuff like well that's great he was successful, that's great. He was successful at,
Starting point is 01:46:05 at, uh, that's great. I mean, I think that, look, there's a lot of things that people eat that they should be allowed to eat things that are unhealthy.
Starting point is 01:46:14 I mean, you should be allowed to go to Krispy Kreme donuts. When you're going to Krispy Kreme donuts, if you think that it's healthy, you're a fucking idiot. All right. You know, I mean,
Starting point is 01:46:22 if you think you're getting one of those cream filled, delicious sugar coated monstrosities if you think somehow or another that's good for you you're a moron that's on you i mean you're going there and not going to whole foods and you know getting fresh vegetables but it should be able to exist because you should be able to go and get a donut if you want one there's nothing wrong with it It's just a matter of managing your health. A matter of managing the input. What's coming in? What's going out? What are you doing for exercise? What are you doing for health?
Starting point is 01:46:52 And then if you want on Sunday to throw a fucking ice cream sundae in the mix, whatever. Throw it in there. You gotta work it off. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not even working it off. It's just a matter of making sure that the balance of your diet is healthy. Yeah, I get that, man. That's cool.
Starting point is 01:47:07 And occasionally throw in some, but you could also make healthy choices as far as like what you throw in. You know, you could throw in some better stuff. You can throw in some, you know, there's some terrible things for you. And there's some things that might not be the best thing in the world for you, like pizza with vegetables on it. It might not be the worst thing in the world for you. No, no, no. But it's not the best thing in the world for you. Like pizza with vegetables on it might not be the worst thing in the world for you. Right, right, right. But it's not the best thing in the world for you. Probably because of the, what, the oil and the
Starting point is 01:47:29 grease and stuff. Just a little of that. But really, as long as they use olive oil, it's actually probably good for you. The real thing is the bread, the dough. We cook with olive oil, so at least I got that going. Olive oil's great for you.
Starting point is 01:47:39 Yeah, yeah. Olive oil's fantastic for the body. You know, there's a lot of oils that are healthy. You know, fish oil's great for you. There's a lot of oils that are healthy you know fish oil is great for you there's a lot of oils that are coconut oil is very good for you you know raw coconut oil especially it's fantastic for you this just it's just hard to really educate yourself on what's good and what's bad that's why like if you're thinking about doing it and i know you got some money go to a nutritionist man get somebody a doctor definitely you know i mean i've i told myself this year i'm really going to get into into some fitness and i've been doing tons of sit-ups every day i've been you know working
Starting point is 01:48:14 with lightweights but i'm kind of if i was in if i was a hardcore addict i would be at the point right now where one foot's in the door and one is out. So I got to get serious. I mean, I really want to, I don't care if I get in a boot camp, do something, but I want to eat right and do all this stuff. You know what I mean? Why don't you try yoga? I just feel like amazing.
Starting point is 01:48:36 You know, I have done a little bit. I practiced some yoga just on a video, like watching this chick and just doing stuff she's doing. And it really makes you feel good, the stretching. It's like like really good i was doing stuff for my lower back and it was like awesome i'm going well it it's like it it it hurts in in kind of a you know you feel this this strain of the stretch but after you're done with it you feel there's so much relief in it yes your body a release yeah the release is so release is so worth the pain for that release feeling. The world would be a far better place if people just committed to doing yoga a certain amount of days per week. If the majority of people in this country, just the majority of people listening, just decided, I'm going to do yoga three days a week. The world would be a better place.
Starting point is 01:49:25 People would be more relaxed. They'd have a better perspective. They'd be more in the moment, better balance. There's a reason why these skinny Indian dudes have been doing these same poses for thousands of years. There's something to it. It's hard for us to be strong. I was being told by a guy that done acupuncture for me a couple times.
Starting point is 01:49:47 He goes, Mark, you need to move. need to stretch you need to walk you need to do something you're getting older and movement is so important for you it's huge yeah because if you're lazy in the sense of just being a couch person that just kind of doesn't have a lot of movement to your life that's really that tension so i like to stretch a lot i movement to your life, that's really bad. Tension. So I like to stretch a lot. I don't even jump out of bed. I don't even take chances like that.
Starting point is 01:50:11 Take chances. With my back. My back's kind of, it's a little bit torched. I do a lot of stretches and stuff. Is it from an injury or just from guitar, from carrying a guitar? Yeah, probably a little of that. Jumping around the stage for 30 years. You know, I'm sure that's a help. When you play, do you look down like a lot when you're playing?
Starting point is 01:50:32 No. No? Because you play all... I close my eyes most of the time, actually. But do you find your posture, like you lean down sometimes? My posture is probably not the greatest. My back's not really horrible. It's just sometimes it goes out a little bit.
Starting point is 01:50:48 I've had some of the worst pain in my back and neck from reading or from writing. Yeah. From sitting down in this pose where you're staring at a keyboard. The neck forward, the head forward pose is very bad. The whole balance thing for You're supposed to. Yeah. The whole balance thing for me is how things happen to my back. I can be making a sandwich and something could go on my back.
Starting point is 01:51:16 It's never from lifting. I could lift all day and I'm fine. It's always doing some stupid thing that's a balance thing or something. Yoga. Get into it. Mark Kendall. Okay's a balance thing or something. Yoga. Get into it. Mark Kendall. Okay, buddy. Do it.
Starting point is 01:51:29 Yeah. Yeah, tell me where you live. Well, after the show, tell me where you live. Don't say it on the air. Okay. People will fucking show up at your house. You know, I wanted to kind of mention our website because when you go there, you can find out if we're playing in your area.
Starting point is 01:51:42 It's called officialgreatwhite.com. Okay. And we're playing in Hollywood, man, this Sunday. Oh, cool. Awesome. We're playing in West Virginia on Saturday, and on Sunday we're playing to celebrate the Rainbow Bar and Grill's 42nd anniversary. Wow. We're headlining.
Starting point is 01:51:59 This place is legendary. I mean, the stones have hung out there. legendary i mean the stones have hung out there i mean you know um just just every lemmy kilmeister from mortarhead is there every day like playing video games or something but it has so much history behind this place that i'm really happy to be you know headlining the event to celebrate it because it's uh you know that for people who don't know, it really is an iconic place. It's a rock. It's like every band, even if they played the forum, you know, they would go to the Rainbow.
Starting point is 01:52:34 It's just such a known legendary place, you know. Where are you playing? Are you at the Rainbow? They're doing it in the parking lot in the back, and you can actually, they're allowing people to drink alcohol., you know, you can't do this unless this is happening. So, you know, so they're allowing, it starts at two o'clock. They're having a lot of bands that were from back, you know, even some that haven't made it huge or whatever, you know, but just like that played, you you know the club scene or whatever i mean they have a couple that uh you know like the bullet boys and and uh tracy guns from um of la guns or whatever
Starting point is 01:53:14 but um you know there's a lot of local bands playing during the day and stuff and um you know we're playing west virginia the night before in an arena with some band, but we got an early flight that day. We're just going to jam out and celebrate with these guys. Wow, that sounds awesome. That sounds really cool. Yeah, that is a real iconic place. And the food's pretty good there. And 42nd anniversary, if you go there, there's going to be chicks going there.
Starting point is 01:53:39 It's all free. We're there 42 years ago. The same girls. They'll show up. And it's free. We're there 42 years ago. The same girls. They'll show up. And it's free. That's cool. Yeah, it's free because it's just a celebration. Sam Kinison brought up the Rainbow Bar and Grill in his fucking HBO special.
Starting point is 01:53:57 Everybody's been there. It was just kind of a known, you know, kind of known. I like the whole Hollywood history. known you know kind of known i i like the whole hollywood history i mean when when our band was playing hollywood a lot i have so many good memories from from that time because it was the the music and the scene was so electric it was uh you know i mean i played gazzaris once and the guy painted a picture of me playing my guitar on the side of the building next to, like, Huey Lewis and the News and Jim Morrison and Eddie Van Halen. I mean, I have so many memories of not even playing there, just going to Hollywood.
Starting point is 01:54:37 I used to go watch bands. I used to go watch Van Halen play. I used to go just hang out, you know. I used to go just hang out, you know. That's sort of half the fun of the Rainbow is just being there and seeing all the freaks and all the cool people and all the people like, Oh, there's that guy. There's Lemmy from Motorhead. There's all these strange characters and rockers and all these people that have been around Hollywood forever.
Starting point is 01:55:02 I don't really know why. It's just right next to the Roxy um it's just one of those spots it's one of those spots where people just get a good vibe there or something well that strip is just the sunset strip is just one of the all-time classic spots in americana i mean it really is where the comedy store is the viper room is it's incredible and whiskey the history of going back to even like days of the doors i mean are you know just to know that they played the troubadour or even uh you know uh early days with like linda ronstadt her backup band was was like don henley and and glenn fry you know that was their backup band and they went off and made the eagles
Starting point is 01:55:45 or whatever you know that's incredible so yeah it's it's nuts you know the the history it goes way beyond um the the 70s and the 80s it's like goes back to the 60s and you know i mean you've got the doors look at how big that band is. You know, they're the type band, like, that you don't think of them doing regular guy stuff. Like, to me, you know, when you're a kid and you think of a band and, like, I know they don't drive through McDonald's like we do. You know what I mean? It's like you think they're almost alien or something.
Starting point is 01:56:26 Hasn't the mystique of that been sort of eroded by the internet? There was a thing the other day where Charlie Sheen was having a Twitter beef with his ex-wife. That's ridiculous. It was ridiculous. That sort
Starting point is 01:56:42 of thing is different now. It is different. It used to be when a guy was a big star that they would be sort of living up on a house behind these crazy gates. He really didn't know what he did. Now you play a show and you're on the internet. You're literally in two minutes. People are watching your show. The show you're playing in France, they're watching it in LA.A., and you just got done with the show like two minutes ago. Well, and then they get to read your Twitter page and see what a fucking idiot you are.
Starting point is 01:57:11 When I was a kid, it would literally be this much of an event. It would last all day. I'd go buy, like, Robin Trower's record, go to my friends, you know, we'd set up everything up everything man get the speakers outside the window and listen to this album over and over and over now kids download 300 songs in 20 minutes before they go to school or in their ipod or whatever it's just not it's not as personal as it used to be you know like but it's more accessible it's more accessible it's uh you know i read pros and cons i read the article with uh david girl or whatever from um foo fighters yeah foo fighters and nirvana and he makes so much sense to me because i i went
Starting point is 01:58:01 through all these things that he's talking about which is playing with guys that don't really play that good, and we're jamming in the garage and, you know, pissing off my parents, and, you know, and just going through that and improving from there and just getting better, you know, or whatever, instead of people just thrown together with their songs written by somebody else and all that, you know. It's just some of the human element has been that's my only complaint and it's not really a complaint it's just i i just prefer
Starting point is 01:58:33 that people play music and not machines you know what i mean i know what you're saying yeah well there's also the experience of going to the record store and looking at the album art and taking it home. I love that. There's definitely something missing. Why am I driving 200 miles or 150 miles to do a photo shoot when I'm going to be the size of an ant on a microchip? Yeah. Or whatever.
Starting point is 01:58:59 But it's not really a complaint. My whole thing is I just want to get our music to the people the best way I can. And I, if you know your way around the internet, you can, you can get that done. And we just got done off this big monster cruise and,
Starting point is 01:59:13 you know, 30 bands on this big ship. And we went and played on an Island and, you know, it was like a, it was great, you know? So I'm,
Starting point is 01:59:24 you know, I'm not bitter or anything. I know things are different. It's really difficult on major labels because we can go record our next album at your house on your computer. Yeah. Well, I think that puts a lot of power in the artist's hands, though.
Starting point is 01:59:40 It sure does. It also puts a lot of power in their ability to promote themselves. All they need is the internet now. Exactly. And all those other closed-off avenues, like we were talking about getting on the Ed Sullivan Show, was everything to a guy like Rodney Dangerfield. If you couldn't get on the Ed Sullivan Show, you were fucked.
Starting point is 01:59:57 Today, for a comic especially, boy, you don't need that at all. I mean, my friends who have become famous from the internet, like Joey Diaz and Ari Shaffir and Duncan Trussell, they've only had the internet. The internet is all they ever needed. But all they needed was talent and an avenue. In my days, I needed a staple gun and the posters and Sunset Boulevard. To get people to come out. And then they had to see the poster and be excited by it.
Starting point is 02:00:25 Like, hmm. No, then another band comes by and they put it over ours. Oh, yeah. So you got to go put yours over theirs. The wars of posters. Still the wars. Yeah. Well, there's internet wars now.
Starting point is 02:00:36 You know, there's definitely a lot of that. There's still a lot of fucking morons out there when it comes to that kind of stuff. But I think it's definitely a better time as far as putting the power in the hands of the artists. And these people that are the normal cabal that were controlling the music industry, they've lost a lot of their power, right? Yeah. And the difference now is we don't need millions of dollars
Starting point is 02:00:59 to record and all that kind of promotion. And that's why the major labels are suffering a bit. And yeah, where the power comes in is we're no longer are we just getting our little points, you know. We make a million dollars, the record company gets you know 900 whatever and you know they throw our crumbs enough crumbs to where we don't like go away but you know but people don't realize that for most folks they don't they have no idea like how bad the deals
Starting point is 02:01:38 were yeah especially haley's dale was amazingly bad and and they even speak about it on the internet you can go on and they're together, and they're actually interviewing each other about the old days. People think we're the bitchin' rock stars, but we were literally broke. They said that their checks per week, this is during their first album, were $88.83 or something. Yeah, and they were selling millions of albums. Yeah, yeah. Millions. Okay, here's the funny part um they got off this tour and and the record company said you owe us two million dollars and he goes okay let me get this straight so if we do 10 tours and sell 20
Starting point is 02:02:18 million records we're gonna owe you20 million. That's insane. Yeah, it's just from all the loans and the first coming out of the gate. Well, it's also just a corrupt system. It has too much power. It's corrupt. And being the artist, when you don't have your own representation and you just want to do anything
Starting point is 02:02:42 to break out of this club scene, you want to be a to break out of this club scene. You want to be a big band on big tours. And so they take bad deals. A lot of bands have done that. They've been successful with their album sales, but their business side of it is really horrid. Yeah, that's also the difference between a business person and an artist.
Starting point is 02:03:04 A lot of artists are impulsive and they're just not that good at things like that they're not that good at business and i'm one of them i um you know our deal wasn't great either and uh but we've kind of made up for that we it wasn't our whole career but at the beginning it wasn't that great but well it's out it always starts off nobody ever says oh we got an awesome deal right out of the gate and we're very fortunate to be with an ethical record company. No, it's just you talk about the fucking scoundrels that signed you. I mean, that's also, you think about a music company, how many people do they sign?
Starting point is 02:03:33 I mean, they might sign 100, and one of them might become great white. There's a lot of failure involved on their end, too. Oh, sure. The prognostication doesn't always pan out. That's what they call their write-offs. You know, the write-off bands. But for a band that's successful, the reality behind it. Did you ever read that piece that Courtney Love wrote on the music business? She wrote a pretty incredible piece about explaining the expenses and how much it actually costs and what an artist actually gets paid and how much the studio gets paid and how they go about saying how much things are worth.
Starting point is 02:04:08 I haven't read the piece, but I'm glad she wrote something like that because it'll school the audience on stuff that's not their business. Pretty incredible stuff. I'm just kidding. Yeah. Well, there's a little bit of that, but it's also- No, it's educational. People will understand that we work really hard and we're not just
Starting point is 02:04:26 walking around zillionaires or whatever. Were you bummed out when the whole Napster thing came along and people started downloading MP3s and it just almost immediately sort of took the wind out of the sails of records? I was bummed out even before that a little bit, but
Starting point is 02:04:43 I know me, like I talked about earlier, that I'm a fan of music and I like to support the artists. I go out and buy their albums. I want the artwork. I want to know who wrote the songs. I want to know where they recorded this album. I just think that's part of it, and it's what makes the world go round in music is to support
Starting point is 02:05:06 the artist so I go out and buy a ZZ Top CD and when somebody comes up and goes hey man I just got your new album I copied it from my friend it's like well thanks you know at least he's going to maybe give me some feedback if he likes it or not
Starting point is 02:05:21 or hopefully he'll go see it live or whatever but yeah I don't know man feedback and if he likes it or not or hopefully he'll go see it live you know go see us live or whatever but yeah um i don't know man it is what i'm not going to say that that it is what it is but it is what it is i mean we were changing the world is changing around us technology is forcing us to change and we have to adapt but the most important thing is you're still creating you're still doing what you love you're still doing what you're doing. And then the commerce aspect of it has to morph. It has to morph to accommodate this new environment that we live in.
Starting point is 02:05:50 But the environment is so beneficial in so many other ways. It just is what it is. Yeah. It has to change. Yeah. There's no way you're not going to have the world change when something like the internet comes along. Yeah. All these other.
Starting point is 02:06:03 There's no way. But I think the benefits way outweigh the negatives in my opinion definitely and our fans are loyal too i mean we go over to you know sweden or you know uh switzerland or whatever and they're all there in front of the stage you know so so we we are blessed in that way i mean you know no matter what happens in the industry our fans have always hung you know so so we are blessed in that way. I mean, you know, no matter what happens in the industry, our fans have always hung, you know, so it's like, you know. Well, that's because you guys appreciate it. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.
Starting point is 02:06:32 We are grateful for our fans, and I always tell them that. And, you know, in the days when we were, you know, playing arenas every night, it was very difficult. You know, the constructed meet and greets, we can only meet a few, and you really can't go out and say, hey, you know playing arenas every night is very difficult you know that the constructed meet and greets we can only meet a few and you really can't go out and say hey you know invite 20 000 people backstage for the party you know but we've really taken advantage of of being able to hear their stories man i mean i'm talking like stories that i don't remember i mean you know people doing my laundry and they gave me a ride here or you know they were in this certain place or this guy got married to this song or you know uh it got laid because you know that your song this one or you know i mean it's just the stories
Starting point is 02:07:19 are endless and and how you personally affected these people yeah Yeah. I mean, if our music has involved the people's life like that, because I have, again, I can relate. Because like I was saying earlier, I literally have visuals when I hear certain songs. You know, like I remember where I was, how old I was, what I was doing. You know, almost like the smell that was in the air practically you know and so when people come up and have a similar story about music that that my band was involved in it's like you have to feel like that's a pretty uh tall compliment you know to you know just be involved with that absolutely mark kendall you're an awesome guy, man. Thank you very much for doing this.
Starting point is 02:08:06 Thanks, Joe. It's been a lot of fun. It's been great having you on. Thanks for having me, man. We're going to play some pool now, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, buddy. Very exciting. We've got to do this again sometime.
Starting point is 02:08:13 Yeah, I'd love to, man. Thanks for- And Official Great White is the website. Yeah, officialgreatwhite.com. And our Facebook is Great White Band. And Mark Kendall underscore GW is the Twitter page where you can get a hold of Mark. Yeah. K-E-N-D-A-L-L underscore GW.
Starting point is 02:08:35 Right. Thank you very much, sir. That's it. Thanks, brother. Lots of fun. Thank you, everybody, for tuning into the podcast. We'll be back. We'll actually be back tomorrow.
Starting point is 02:08:42 We'll be back tomorrow with one of the co-founders of Reddit. His name is Alex... How do you say the last name? Ohanian? Ohanian. O-H-A-N-I-A-N. Ohanian. That is my span.
Starting point is 02:09:01 Alex Ohanian. One of the co-founders of Reddit. He'll be on tomorrow. And then my span. Alex Ohanian, one of the co-founders of Reddit. He'll be on tomorrow. And then next week, next week, lots and lots and lots of guests, lots and lots of guests the week after that. So we'll see you guys tomorrow. Thanks to Audible.com. Go to Audible.com forward slash Joe for a free audio book
Starting point is 02:09:20 and 30 free days of Audible service. And thanks also to Onnit.com. That's O-N-N-I-T. Use the code word ROGAN and save 10% off any and all supplements. Much love, my friends. See you tomorrow.

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