Marcus King!

Summary

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Are You Garbage? with Marcus King (October 9, 2025)

Main Theme / Purpose

In this episode of Are You Garbage?, hosts Kevin Ryan and H. Foley sit down with Grammy-nominated musician Marcus King. True to the show’s theme, they dig into King’s upbringing, career, and personal habits to find out if he’s classy or “absolute trash.” The episode is a colorful, revealing, and funny look at King’s roots in South Carolina, his blue-collar family, wild touring stories, and the chaos and hustle of life as a rising musician.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Marcus King's Upbringing & Family

• Roots in Greenville, South Carolina (02:10)

  • Suburban setting, former mill town (“It was a nice neighborhood in the 50s. Everybody in that neighborhood was like 70 plus.” – Marcus, 03:07)
  • Raised by his father (a working musician with a rocky career) and his grandparents after his mother left when he was four.
  • Grandparents from the “Greatest Generation”—lots of time together, old school TV shows, and culinary influences from his German grandmother.
    • “She was from Munich, Germany. She had this really intense, like, German and southern cuisine. She was always cooking, like, something amazing.” (Marcus, 11:20)

• Early Music Immersion (04:55)

  • Both father and grandfather were musicians; King started playing guitar as a toddler.
  • “No friends, but he's melting faces in the back room." (Kevin, 05:51)
  • Largely self-taught, spent hours alone practicing, admits, “Probably undiagnosed some type of autism.” (Marcus, 05:24)

• School Struggles & Dropping Out (09:39, 16:51, 21:35)

  • Dropped out junior year at 17 ("My wife’s favorite thing to tell people.” – Marcus, 09:46)
  • Not much of a social life; focused on music, felt misunderstood at school.
  • Faced potential truancy court due to sister’s actions and his own absences. Almost sent to a “reformatory school…they wanted to like shave my head.” (Marcus, 22:41)
  • Finished GED immediately after leaving high school.

The Making of a Young Working Musician

• Gig Economy Teenage Years (13:34)

  • Played in bands with much older musicians (“Had a band full of like 40-year-old men with wives and kids at home. I was working us four or five nights a week.” – Marcus, 13:34)
  • Booked his own gigs from age 14, using fake names, carrying all the gear in a Chrysler Town & Country van:
    • "I would hire the band on the basis of, like, you do whatever you want." (24:19)
  • Developed hustle early—played for tiny pay, relied on tips, and learned from his grandfather to “take anything that ain’t bolted down” if not paid (29:00).

• Early Money & Family Finances (23:43, 36:36)

  • Shared some earnings with family, especially his mother during hard times.
  • “I’d go down and try to help out a little bit. But then I'd come back, and the lights would be out...” (Marcus, 36:39)
  • “We didn’t want for a lot, we did okay.” (33:23), but faced utilities cut-offs—“I don’t think there were that many rolling blackouts. I think the bills just didn’t get paid that month.” (Marcus, 33:32)

Climbing the Ladder in the Music Biz

• The Regional Band Hustle to Industry Break

  • Played up to 200 nights a year, heavy in southern “shag” and “beach music” circuits (15:19).
  • Got first big break after a viral YouTube video filmed at Norman’s Rare Guitars in LA (41:55).
  • Original Marcus King Band formed with members met on the road, eventually managed by Warren Haynes’s wife, leading to record deals.

• First Big Purchases (42:34)

  • "Probably my Cadillac. 1980 Eldorado, black and red pinstripes." (Marcus, 42:57)
  • “My grandfather kind of taught me...make them stick...the Cadillac was part of that statement...if I’m somewhere recording, they’re gonna know I’m there because this car is parked out front.” (43:32)
  • Describes buying home, eventually converting it to a studio (51:22).

• The Realities of Touring

  • “We would drive straight to Paragould, Arkansas, and play for like 500 bucks and some pork steaks.” (Marcus, 38:26)
  • Lived out of vans, then a Ford Econoline, split motel rooms with the band.
  • “We would work the hell out of the tip jar. That was kind of my shtick for a while." (Marcus, 27:42)

Personal Habits & “Garbage” Credentials

• Childhood & Family Traditions

  • Grew up on hot dogs, buttered noodles, and leftovers. (32:11)
  • Yearly family vacations: “Once a year, we would make the pilgrimage down to Charleston, South Carolina. Occasionally Myrtle Beach to throw a little flare.” (33:32)
  • Christmas: “Grandma had a fake tree…” (34:15), colored/white lights split between family homes.

• Garbage-Tested Questions & Confessions

  • “Pee in the shower?” – "Hell, yeah." (63:42)
  • “Brush your teeth in there?” – “Yeah...That’s always the power move.” (64:13)
  • Loves McDonald’s, especially double quarter pounders and the filet of fish ("If there was any question if he's trash or not, there it is.” – hosts, 76:13)
  • “What's in the fridge?” – “Make a grocery list last...Chili becomes spaghetti, then hot dogs." (32:04)
  • Power move: Family used fake blackouts as “campouts.” (33:32)

Sobriety, Wild Years, and Rockstar Life

• Sober Journey (58:15)

  • “Yeah, I’m sober. I smoke my pot, though.” (Marcus, 58:16)
  • Described periods of heavy drinking (“MK Ultras”: Topo Chico, Grey Goose, grapefruit juice – 59:00)
  • “I was really into, like, benders, you know? I would go off for a week at a time.” (58:49)
  • Dabbled with “booger sugar” (cocaine) early on, recognizing it became a problem (59:42)
  • On recovery and relapse: “The thing about the wagon is you fall off, you get back on.” (67:25)

• Lifestyle Details

  • Vintage everything: clothes, luggage.
  • 70+ guitars—some left in Europe for tours ("That's like what Assassins do with guns." – Kevin, 49:44)
  • Custom cowboy boots and western suits; spent up to $4,000 on one pair of boots ("Just for performing.” – Marcus, 75:22)
  • Steakhouse favorite: St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis. Steak order: "New York strip, medium rare, sauteed onions.” (63:47)
  • On the rider: Peanut M&Ms, dark chocolate with sea salt, cigarettes (“American Spirits, blue pack” – 55:57), NA Heinekens, cashews, snacks for wife.

• Memorable Love Story

  • Knew he’d marry his wife when she “ate a whole rotisserie chicken with her bare hands on Molly at a festival.” (68:06)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “No friends, but he’s melting faces in the back room.”
  — Kevin, 05:51

• “I could never get past tuning the guitar from the strings. Like, you see how it sounds the same? I have no idea.”
  — H. Foley, 06:05

• “If they do that (don’t pay), you just gotta start taking their shit. Take anything that ain’t bolted down.”
  — Marcus quoting his grandfather, 29:00

• “We would drive straight to Paragould, Arkansas, and play for like 500 bucks and some pork steaks.”
  — Marcus, 38:26

• “That’s always the power move.” (on brushing teeth in shower)
  — Marcus, 64:13

• “I was really into, like, benders, you know?” — Marcus, 58:49

• “I knew I was going to marry my wife... she ate a whole rotisserie chicken with her bare hands.”
  — Marcus, 68:06

• “These boots are blue, they’re suede, you cannot… I cannot wear these boots out.”
  — Marcus, 75:22

• “He’s trash, baby. He’s 100% garbage – and we love it.”
  — H. Foley, 75:47

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:10] Marcus King’s family and grandfather’s influence
• [03:07] Growing up in a former mill town
• [04:55] Early music immersion; no social life, all music
• [09:39] Dropping out of high school
• [13:34] Playing gigs with 40-year-old bandmates
• [16:51] School and social struggles, misunderstood by peers
• [21:35] Truancy issues and near “reformatory” experience
• [23:43] Juggling finances and supporting family with gig money
• [27:42] Tip jar hustles and bar brawl for payment
• [33:23] Family finances, blackouts, and Christmas traditions
• [42:34] First big purchase: the Cadillac Eldorado
• [49:39] Guitar collection (70+), touring logistics
• [58:16] Sobriety, drinking history, and substance use
• [63:42] Peeing and brushing teeth in the shower
• [68:06] Love story: rotisserie chicken on Molly
• [75:22] $4,000 cowboy boots and write-offs
• [75:47] Hosts declare Marcus “100% garbage”

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Tone & Highlights

• Conversational, fast, funny, and self-deprecating throughout.
• Marcus King is open, charismatic, and honest—shares both painful and hilarious personal anecdotes.
• Hosts riff on "garbage" credentials with loving mischief, keeping the episode lively.
• Standout moments include bar hustles, unique family traditions, custom western wardrobe, “garbage test” lightning round, and the unflashy but emotional realities of family life and growing up working class.

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Useful for New Listeners:

This episode is a deeply engaging, rollicking oral history disguised as a trashy comedy show—offering insight into the life of a prodigy musician with blue-collar roots, tales of resilience and hustle, and hilarious proof that even Grammy nominees can be “absolute trash” (and proud of it).

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Listen for:

• Unfiltered, funny Southern anecdotes
• Inside look at the unglamorous grind behind a music career
• Oddball details of band life, expenses, and family
• Marcus King’s self-effacing charm and the hosts’ quick-witted “garbage” tests

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to another exciting edition of Are you Garbage? The show where you find out if your favorite comedians are classy individuals or absolute trash. Now here are your hosts, Kevin Ryan and H. Foley. Hey, everybody out there. And welcome back to everybody's favorite podcast. This is Are youe Garbage? Oh, yeah, it's that little show. We sit down with your favorite comedians and we find out the group to be classy. Yeah, they're just a big old piece of trash. Trash, trash, trash. I'm your host, H. Foley. Coming at you on a beautiful day. We're out back here with Toady's in the new edition. She's upstairs. She got squirrels in her room.

[B]

Okay, you caught me with a sip, but that was not bad. I'll give it to you.

[A]

My co host is coming at you from right next to me. He is the CEO of RU Garbage. He's an international businessman and my best pal in the whole wide world and I love him. Give it up for kj Kevin James Ryan, everybody.

[B]

What up, gang? Shout out to you as always, thanks for tuning in. Please make sure you rate View subscribe on itunes. Full video available on YouTube. Also full video available over there on frickin Spotify.

[A]

On the charts over there.

[B]

Climbing the charts. Not the top of the charts. Put the nice part of the charts where we. Where we belong. Behind, not showing off, obviously. The greatest website of all time, www.patreon.com. and we're climbing it. We're top 10 charts over there. Check that out. Boys are cooking.

[A]

That's that one to the back.

[B]

That's a chart I'm proud of.

[A]

And gang, we couldn't be more excited to have our incredibly, and I mean incredibly special guest here with us today for the first time. He is hot off the release of his brand new lp, Darling Blue. He is Grammy nominated, world renowned legend in the making. Give it up for Mr. Marcus King, everybody.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

There he is.

[B]

And cool as the day.

[A]

Dude, you sound like a musician. The way you talk. It's crazy.

[B]

He's got it, man.

[C]

I'm happy to be here.

[B]

Even that was cool.

[A]

Sure good to be here with you fellas.

[B]

I look over, he's tuning a guitar. You're like, what the.

[A]

This next one goes out to a fat guy. I know I'm throwing my underwear at you.

[C]

I love.

[A]

Musically. We got a million questions. We got to get to the backstory. Find out how you grew up. Give us the origin story.

[B]

South Carolina.

[A]

Greenville.

[C]

South Carolina. Yeah, Greenville. So upstate South Carolina. Not a great student.

[B]

Let's get that on the record.

[C]

Get that out there.

[B]

I want to get out in front of these charges.

[A]

Your honor, this isn't a job interview.

[B]

You're good.

[A]

Don't worry.

[C]

Man. I mean, I just came up playing music. My grandfather did it for a living and my dad did, so I was in the household.

[B]

That was it. That was. There was no really other route for you to take.

[C]

It was either that or like ministry, you know, it was like family profession.

[A]

You should have been born in 1922.

[B]

It's crazy.

[A]

I was going to ask you about the crossroads.

[B]

What was, what was. What was the town like? Neighborhood wise, Small town, rural. Is it suburban? What was it?

[C]

It was, it was suburban, but it was like. It was a nice neighborhood in the 50s. Okay.

[A]

I know exactly what you're talking about.

[C]

You know what I'm talking about. It was like a mill village, but the mill had been closed down.

[B]

They shut the mill down, man.

[A]

Say no more.

[C]

Exactly. So it was a nice neighborhood in the 50s. Everybody in that neighborhood was like 70 plus.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

My dad was 43 when I was born, and his parents kind of watched me while he was at work.

[B]

Okay, touring or was he local? Was he.

[C]

Yeah. So when I was born.

[A]

And was he doing well? Was, was he. Was he doing well as a musician?

[C]

He always did well as a musician, but he was really working class. He had, like, from the 70s to the 90s, he had worked with multiple bands who had good record deals, but they always kind of fell apart or he got screwed out of it somehow or another because he was always just a guitar player.

[A]

Okay. And was he a studio guy? Would he be a studio guy?

[C]

Did some studio stuff as well. But after that last deal fell apart in the 90s in Nashville, he came back to Greenville, and my sister was born in 93. And that's when he, like, went back to church, rededicated his life, and he decided to get an office job and like tried to be like, gotcha straight. Lacey fucking hated it.

[B]

You can't tie that guy down.

[C]

No.

[B]

Yeah. Marvin guy's multiple record deals, all the next thing you know he's selling like ink toner or something like that.

[C]

He was working for a contract in place. So he. He'd be the guy that's like.

[B]

He'd send people out, Dispatch or whatever.

[C]

And he hated it. When I was younger, he started playing music again.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

So he'd be out playing and I'd stay with my grandparents, but they were from the greatest generation, so I think, you know, I came up watching TV with them. And it was like Sanford and Son, Kenny Griffith show, all in the Family, that kind of thing. Damn.

[B]

Guy's an old soul.

[A]

He's 29.

[B]

I know, it's crazy.

[A]

That's what I watched when I was a kid. So when did you start playing guitar?

[C]

Man, I was like 2 or 3 years old.

[B]

That's great.

[A]

Really.

[C]

It was always around.

[B]

Were you one of those kids, too? Like, did it. Do you feel like it come, like, it came naturally to, like, were you obviously world renowned, but, like, was it very much like it just worked or did you work very hard at it or. A combination of both, probably.

[C]

I think a combination of both. I remember, like, you know, I got a. Like a first full scale guitar when I was seven years old. And before that I had a miniature Les Paul. And I just spent.

[A]

That's crazy. I didn't know they made them.

[C]

All my hours I spent just in the back room and just cranking it, cranking it out and. I don't know, man. I didn't have any friends. I was just kind of a loner kid, you know, probably undiagnosed. Some type of autism.

[B]

It's the best kind, though. Spend hours watching unregulated autism to really get into a mini Les Paul, dude.

[C]

Yeah, dude.

[A]

Real good musicians. A real red flag when it comes to that, too.

[B]

No friends, but he's melting faces in the back room. He just kind of a new whammy bar, man. I could never figure out that way. I tried playing Katoon, and that guy introduced that to me like, two months in. I was like, buddy, you're crazy.

[A]

I could never. I could never get past tuning the guitar from the strings. Like, you see how it sounds the same? I have no idea. Can you tune it by ear?

[C]

What?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

We'll tune you by ear. Are you kidding me?

[A]

I mean, kind of a D flat.

[C]

It was kind of, you know, because a lot of guys do, like, alternate tunings, like open tunings and shit.

[A]

Just like, they'll tune down from D. Yeah.

[C]

Like, I could do, like. I can do that. I do, like, an open G tuning sometimes. But, like, a lot of people ask me, like, why I don't ever do use, like, open E tuning or something like Derek Trucks would use. But I remember distinctly, like, being in the back room and, like, trying to learn how to, you know, tune it down, tune it to open E. My grandfather being in the, you know, the. The front room watching tv, and he heard me like, like, you gonna break that goddamn string. You gonna break it And Then I did. I popped it. And, like, he wouldn't change the string for me. And he was just. He was really belligerent about it. And I never really fooled with open tunings after that.

[A]

No kidding.

[C]

But.

[A]

So it's just.

[C]

It's tuned. You're.

[A]

Most times when you play the songs you write, it's tuned in E. Just standard.

[C]

Yeah. No. Damn.

[A]

I always thought that was a cheat code to tune it down.

[C]

You could. You could find some interesting ways to play.

[A]

Makes it easier.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Sometimes I didn't realize I was sitting next to Les Paul. You sold your guitar, like 15 years ago for drugs. What are you talking about?

[A]

Look who my iin is.

[B]

My.

[A]

Look at my squire.

[B]

I had a squire. I had a P base. It was squire P base, too. A little package you have would by. I stunk. I tried everything. I was so bad.

[A]

So how far away did your grandparents live from your parents? What did your mom do? Where was your mom in all this?

[C]

My mom, she kind of split out when I was like, four.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

My parents. My parents got divorced.

[A]

Damn. You are a musician.

[B]

He also said split out. Yeah.

[C]

Was it.

[B]

Was she. And was there. Did you see her at all or. That was just kind of it.

[C]

I saw her later on.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

You know, she kind of got mixed up with some.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

Some bad folks here, so I would see her occasionally. You know, she remarried to my stepdad, who was. He was a really good guy when he wasn't drinking.

[B]

But I had one. I had one of those, too.

[C]

You know, just, like, stayed in the same.

[A]

Was she in the same town? Was she in Greenville as well?

[C]

She was. I don't know where she was for a while there.

[A]

Gotcha.

[C]

And then she was kind of in the backwoods out in this place called Belton, South Carolina.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

But my sister and I were mostly at my dad's place. Right, and.

[B]

And it was your dad's parents that you were.

[C]

And they live next door.

[A]

No kidding. All right.

[C]

My dad got the house next to them in 1977 for like $20,000, you know, and. Yeah, I just spent all my hours just with my grandparents playing guitar.

[B]

Damn. Okay. That's wild. I know.

[A]

And how old were your grandparents at the time?

[C]

They were older, so I guess they must have been like 75.

[A]

And your dad was gone for like a week at a time and overnight?

[C]

Mostly just overnight.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

At that time, he was playing with, like, wedding bands. Like, just good money. Got you money.

[B]

Like kind of local gig.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Gotcha.

[A]

Gotcha.

[C]

Damn.

[B]

Huh.

[A]

What was the grocery Store that you guys were going to as a kid?

[C]

We went to Bilo. It's a food lion now, but.

[B]

Okay, okay. I don't hate a Bilo. And what was I?

[C]

You.

[B]

At one point, you. You dropped out of school, correct?

[C]

I did, yeah.

[B]

What age?

[A]

Really?

[C]

I was 17.

[B]

17. So senior? Junior. Senior year?

[C]

Junior. It's my wife's favorite thing to tell people that I dropped out of high school. She thinks it's great.

[B]

That's pretty cool, dude. It is. I don't know why, but for dirt bags, it is such a badge of honor. Like, he didn't drink. I dropped out at 17.

[A]

So no friends, no hanging out, no traditional, like, growing up, high school thing. Did you play, like, little League and stuff like that?

[C]

Nah. Like, I don't know, man. Like.

[A]

So you were in that room playing the guitar?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That's how you wanted.

[C]

I wanted to be in the Cub Scouts. And it's like around the time that I was of age to do, like, Cub Scouts and stuff, there was a lot of stories coming out.

[B]

That's a great way. This guy's been media trained. A lot of stories coming out.

[A]

He ain't talking about ghost stories either.

[B]

Oh. I mean, maybe you were. I don't know. Yeah, okay. Yeah, right. Because you're younger, so that. That kind of all popped at that point.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

My dad never wanted me to, like, hurt myself or anything because I was playing guitar so much.

[B]

Yeah. I think if you're that good at a young age and your dad. Your dad's music, your grandfather's musician, it's like, yeah, yeah, let's not go.

[A]

Could they see it?

[C]

They could see it from an early age and just like, my passion about it, the hours I spent doing it.

[A]

You know, what are we talking about? Okay, you're. Let's say you're. You're 12 years old, your dad's got a gig, you and your sister over at your grandparents, you get home from school, three o'.

[B]

Clock.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You write on it?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Watching cartoons?

[A]

Getting something?

[C]

Yeah, dude. My grandmother, she was from Munich, Germany.

[B]

No shit.

[C]

She had this really intense, like, German and southern cuisine.

[A]

All right.

[C]

She was always cooking, like, something amazing.

[B]

My wife's German, so.

[A]

Yeah?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Little schnitzel. She make a schnitzel.

[C]

Oh, dude.

[B]

I had some last night.

[A]

Did you?

[B]

Yeah. It's great.

[C]

It's the best.

[B]

I didn't know. I've heard schnitzel my whole life. And then when I married, I'm like, oh, it's just a cutlet. It's a fried, fried chicken. Exactly. It's great.

[C]

All right, so it's three o'. Clock.

[A]

You get home, she's got something to eat.

[C]

Got something to eat. For me, you know, I was definitely a bigger kid because I was just, you know, sitting still, playing guitar, watching cartoons. So I just have like wrestling or cartoons on and just in the living room now in my back room, I had this little blue chair TV set and my guitar. I just sit and play for hours.

[B]

What was that? What was the wrestler of the time?

[C]

Wrestler at the time for me was Stone Cold.

[B]

Shout out to Stone Cold baby. I've got a man after my own heart.

[C]

I've got Stone Cold poster in my gym. Yeah, you just don't want to let him down.

[B]

Yeah, what a way to put that. Yeah, man, Stone Cold hit like a tsunami. It was, he was something else. Just the cool also then, you know, Southern, so I didn't even have that. But like that guy was the cool. We would try to get him on the show, but to no avail.

[A]

Did you play in a band in high school or anything like that?

[B]

You play in like jazz band or anything when in school.

[C]

It's funny you bring that up. Like somebody just reached out the other day and let me know that my jazz band teacher died. Mister, Mr. Caldwell. And he was, he was really cool. But there was like this weird thing in the jazz band because all the other kids were like upset because like I played bass, I played drums, I played guitar and I was just like, I was excelling in the, in the program, you know, and they were all upset about it and, and Bruce was like, look, you know, I'll just give you a free period. Like you don't have to do anything because they're all getting upset, you know, getting upset.

[B]

I don't understand.

[C]

And he was like going in there.

[B]

And shredding, always stealing everybody's job.

[C]

Like he was about to retire and he was just like, I just don't want to deal with it. He was, he was always really cool and I would just like skip class during that. But could he.

[A]

Obviously he could see it too.

[C]

Yeah. And he.

[B]

At that point, you're really, at seven in like high school, you're probably really good.

[C]

Like 15 and 16. I was, I was working as a musician, you know, I had a band full of like 40 year old men with like wife and kids at home. And I was working us like four or five nights a week.

[A]

Where?

[C]

Like around Greenville, the upstate area.

[B]

You're flat, Randy. Pick it up. Yelling at Some guy.

[C]

Yeah, dude.

[B]

Sick.

[C]

Yeah. My Drummer was, like, 45. His name was Tracy. Little John.

[B]

What a name, dude. What is with these other names? They're perfect.

[C]

He had a pistol in his stick bag. He was just one of the coolest ever.

[B]

Damn.

[C]

He kept an eye out for me out there. Yeah. I just had a band full of just grown men.

[B]

And how do you find them?

[C]

Well, through working with my dad.

[B]

Working with your dad?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And how do you. Like, I know you're good, but, like, how do you get. Did they just hear you play? And they're like, oh, yeah, we'll sit behind this kid.

[C]

Right, right.

[B]

It's as simple as that.

[C]

Well, and then there was kind of like the, you know, like, go sit.

[A]

Your hands behind that slide guitar. The kids leading this one.

[C]

Right. It was kind of.

[A]

Were you writing songs and singing and all that stuff?

[C]

Yeah, I started writing around the time I was, like, 13, 14.

[A]

You playing originals? Doing these shows around. Around the area.

[C]

For the most part there. I was doing a lot of covers.

[A]

Who were you covering?

[C]

We were covering, like, Little Feet, Allman Brothers Band. We would do, like, old, like, beach classics. Because, like, in South Carolina, North Carolina, beach music is, like, a thing. It's like. And I. I was really. It was crazy to me.

[A]

I found out, like, Surfing Bird and stuff like that.

[C]

It's like. It's. It's like old soul music.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Like the Temptations or, like, we had bands like the Sham or the Tams. And, like, there was, like, these. This really niche brand of, like. We call it beach music.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Called shagging music, South Carolina music. So we did that kind of thing.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Give me a couple other songs that would be considered that. Because Temptations, that's. That's Motown.

[C]

Us, right? So, like, Motown, all the Motown stuff fits into, like, the Shag category.

[B]

Shag.

[C]

Yeah. S H, A G. There was a guy named Willie T was a big Shag artist.

[B]

Carolina beach and Shag. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Beach music, also known as Carolina beach music and to lesser extent, beach pop, is regional genre of music in the United States. Developed from rock, R and B pop music in the 1950s and 60s. Okay.

[A]

So when you start playing these things, you guys, you start making some money. Start making good money doing this.

[C]

Start making a little bread.

[A]

Crowd. Crowds are getting big.

[C]

Yeah, crowds are getting big. You know, it was. There was kind of a shift where people were coming to watch the ball game at the bar, and then they'd start listening to us.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

And we were catching a lot of runoff from, like, The Widespread Panic fans.

[A]

Okay, gotcha.

[C]

You know, okay. That was kind of our bread and butter. Was like the 45 year old, like Widespread Panic deadhead type of individual.

[A]

No kidding.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

With a 14, 15 year old kid leading it.

[C]

Yeah. Damn sick.

[B]

And then when I guess the. The decision to drop out of school, was that like money wise or just attention span wise? Like time wise.

[A]

How bad were the grades?

[C]

Man, they were terrible.

[A]

And you weren't going to parties and stuff like that or.

[C]

Man, I went to a couple parties and I just was never really welcomed. And the people at school, they hated me, but they didn't really know what I did. They thought just a dropout, you know.

[B]

They thought I was misunderstood.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Were they preppy kids, were they?

[C]

Yeah, it was a pretty conservative area of the country. And, you know, long hair. I'd smell a pot when I'd show up in the morning, you know.

[A]

You like wearing this, like when you were like 14?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

My Birkin showing up like a goddamn.

[A]

What about the glasses? You weren't wearing the red glasses back then, were you?

[C]

I. Yeah. I mean, I had a different kind, but yeah, man, that's awesome because the lights always bug my eyes. But, you know, they just. They thought I had, like, no ambition, but I just.

[A]

Little did they know.

[C]

They know, like, I was really working on something.

[B]

Have the most ambition.

[A]

You never had the moment where you got to get up and shred it in front of the talent show or something like that.

[C]

In fifth grade. I did that in fifth grade and I had a set of Heelys and I. Healing.

[B]

No, let's go. I mean, talk about the coolest kid in town.

[A]

He had a Leonard Skynyrd backing him up. Still wasn't enough.

[C]

Still enough.

[B]

What was the song? Do you play? Do you remember?

[C]

That's a good question. I don't remember.

[A]

Was it.

[C]

I'm sure wasn't on, but that's a good song. By the way, those guys came and saw us play in. It wasn't Albany, New York. It was somewhere upstate New York.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

They were playing and they. They came over and hung out with us after our show, which was funny, but.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

This is a solid looking piece of equipment right here.

[B]

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[A]

This thing is fantastic. Both your cords there, snaps right in there, nice and easy.

[B]

This thing's easy peasy. That's for what we call in the business operators.

[A]

Yeah, that thing's sick.

[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[C]

But the reason I dropped out of high school was because you guys are familiar with truancy, I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure.

[B]

You try to rope me into your. Your delinquent ass. No way. You guys are dirt bags.

[A]

100%. You're in good company.

[C]

I mean, my sister was really the one that was truant.

[B]

Really.

[C]

She would skip school every day. My dad drop her off, she'd go out the back door and go off do whatever she was doing. And when we finally, we went to court about it and Anderson school district made it clear like any child in the home that's also in Anderson school districts has to sign this like, pledge. It's like it hangs over you your entire, you know, time through school. So I had this thing hanging over me. And of course like three months later, my sister turned 17 and dropped out. And I was in eighth grade or ninth grade at this time. So ninth and 10th grade, everything was cool. But in 11th grade, I'd show up late or like, you're getting off the.

[A]

Road or something like that.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, I'd show up late and they really started, you know, busting my chops about it and they, they were going to send me to like a reformatory school down in Columbia.

[A]

Did they know what you were doing?

[C]

No. And they wanted to like shave my head and what? Yeah.

[B]

Sounds like it was in the 50s.

[A]

This was 15 years ago.

[C]

I know. And they were like telling me I was going to end up in prison and all this shit. They were just really. They were very cruel to me.

[B]

That's brutal, man. I'm sorry to hear that.

[A]

Yeah, it sucks.

[C]

The only saving grace was like in the afternoons I went to It's Like a vocational school.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

But they had, like, dancing and they had a jazz department there, and I studied jazz theory, which was different from high school jazz band. It was like a collegiate level, like, theory program. Yeah.

[B]

Like the deep dive into it.

[C]

And I would have stayed in high school to stay there another year, but I just. I couldn't put up with my. My high school anymore, so I just decided to drop out.

[B]

I got my GED at that same time.

[A]

Right then.

[C]

Yeah, right away. I just went straight into a smart move now.

[B]

Okay, let's say you're dropped out. What. What's the cash situ. Are you, like. You're, like, piecing together money from gigs? Is that. Are you, like, sitting kind of pretty? Do you got us? Are you saving? What's the car?

[C]

Right. So I had a Chrysler town and Country 2001.

[B]

Man, that was a great year for the Town and Country. We're a big miniv team over here.

[C]

Same.

[B]

There's nothing better. They. They got more space than anything low profile. They got a little giddy up in.

[C]

Them, all of that. I mean, I had the best deal for anybody that was working with me because I carried the base rig, I carried the pa, I carried the lights all in my Minivan. I was 14 and 15, so I could only drive with a licensed driver in the car. So I would hire the band on the basis of, like, you do whatever you want.

[A]

Little John's riding shotgun.

[C]

Yeah, Little John's riding shotgun. We're going down to Augusta, Georgia. We're gonna play this gig. Come on.

[B]

You know, just get in the van. I got everything else. Get in.

[A]

Who was booking the gigs?

[C]

I was booking them.

[A]

You were booking them?

[C]

Yeah, I was calling these clubs. I was using a fake name, sending emails, pretending like I was representing us.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Love this. Did they know you were 14 and 15 when you were doing that?

[C]

No.

[A]

What would they say when you would show up?

[C]

It was. It was mixed.

[A]

It was mixed until you started playing, I assume.

[C]

Yeah, but I mean, it was never really too much an issue because I'd run into issues because, like, when I started trying to drink, you know, But I mean, that wasn't until later, till I was like, 8, 17, 18. And even then, I would keep it under wraps. But, you know, I have a baby face now, so when I'm 14, like, it was really like, we got this kid that plays the guitar well, and the. The band mates would be my chaperones.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You know, so I'd kind of set it up like that, and they'd Let me come in. And it was kind of a. It was kind of a gimmick.

[A]

They're all fucked up.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And they were looking after me. And it was. The gimmick was like, you come see this kid play.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it's like, nobody's gonna give me alcohol, you know, if you saw me at 14, you.

[A]

You know the chops. Did you back then?

[C]

No, I couldn't grow anything sick if you did.

[A]

I had to go to fifth grade. Coming out in the. In the wheelies.

[B]

That's.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Crazy.

[A]

Holy.

[C]

That's.

[A]

This is nuts.

[B]

That's. I mean, what.

[A]

What a life, man. Unbelievable.

[B]

It's so. It's like such a unique story that, that we've never had.

[A]

And then how long does this go on?

[B]

I have one. Did you. Have you ever worked a straight job? Like, what was like your fur, you know, did you work at like the Burger King or something?

[C]

So I worked at the Mellow Mushroom.

[B]

What's that?

[C]

You guys don't have Mellow Mushroom up here? That's right.

[A]

Male mushroom.

[C]

Mellow.

[A]

Mellow Mushroom.

[C]

Mellow Mushroom. And it's a pizza joint.

[B]

I thought, I've seen the pizza joint. Mellow Mushrooms.

[C]

It's really good. I don't think we have them north of, like, Virginia, I want to say. So it's kind of a regional pizza joint, but it's like a hippie themed pizza joint. So I fit in really great there.

[A]

Right.

[C]

I started off as a dishwasher, worked my way up to the line chef.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

That's a pay. That's a pretty big jump, you know.

[C]

I was doing that and then I got fired. Then I came back and I was a host.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I would seat people, bring them drinks.

[A]

How old are you doing this?

[C]

I was like 16.

[A]

So you're. This is why you're doing the shows and stuff?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So you still needed a little extra income?

[C]

Yeah, like that. That summer I was doing home or summer school and I was doing the pizza joint and I was playing guitar in the evenings.

[B]

The hustler, dude.

[C]

I was hustling.

[B]

That's sick. And what, like, I mean, we, we've done. We, you know, we kind of came up the same way through the stand up comedy world of these horrible gigs. Just getting in a car, trying to get there.

[C]

Right.

[B]

To go pick up a horrible check. Lose money.

[A]

40S.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, we did. We. Steve did it a little later in life. What's a gig like that? You're 15, you got the van, you got the team, you get to the show in Atlanta or whatever. What's that pay, like 1500. A thousand dollars for everybody, less 500 bucks.

[C]

I remember, like, we would show up and the deal would be like 75aman. And then we'd show up. So it's $300, okay, for a four piece band. And we showed up, our keyboard player couldn't make it one night. And you'd know the dude gave us 75 bucks each. And I was like, no, no, the deal was 300. And he's like, no, it's 75. I was like, what the hell? So we would, we would work the hell out of the tip jar. You know, I got really good at like working that tip jar. That was kind of my shtick for a while.

[B]

Did you have any good? What was like their best? Did you have like a good line?

[C]

I would try to do the tip jar games, you know, what's that? If you can try to make it into this bucket and like get them really going. And then some drunk guy would come up, be like, it's got to be a 20. Nothing lower than a 20. If you can make it in the bucket, then you get the whole bag, you know, that whole thing. And then I would move the bucket and it would be funny. And then everybody laughed. But like one guy tried to fight me about it.

[A]

When you were a kid?

[C]

Yeah, I gave this 20 back.

[B]

20, 20, dude.

[C]

I was like, here you go. Don't worry about it. It's supposed to be a joke because we want you to tip the band.

[B]

Yeah, we're having. It's a good time. We're not here to fight each other.

[C]

At the end of the day, you should tip the band anyway. But I understand. I'm sorry, but I mean, there were multiple, like just close calls like that. Just gigs where they didn't want to pay us. And my grandfather's advice to me was, well, if they do that, man, you just gotta start taking their shit. I was like, what do you mean?

[A]

Okay, so like salt and pepper shakers.

[B]

Take their fucking PA system or whatever.

[C]

He said, take anything that ain't bolted down. And when they ask you why you're doing it, so we gotta get paid. I'm gonna sell this shit. So that was kind of. I did that one night.

[A]

You got a pizza oven in the Town and country deals the deal, Randy.

[C]

It was a total brain bluff. Because I can't fit all this in the Town and country.

[B]

I was gonna have to leave it. I was gonna have to leave the basis here.

[A]

Yeah, two Waitresses in there.

[C]

We've been playing all night. And like, the agreement was for us to play until 12, and they said, no, you play till one. I was like, there's nobody here. And the agreement, our email says 12, so we're getting out of here. And I said, well, we're not paying you. And I said, well, we're gonna have to take all your. So we started loading their stuff out. And out of nowhere, these big burly guy showed up. And it was at the back entrance of the club is where you load in and load out. And on the other side of the fence was like a police dispatch unit. So everybody just standing outside of the dispatch unit smoking cigarettes. So out of nowhere, like six cops pull up. There was like this brawl happening in the street. My drummer at the time, he, he, he. Some guy jumped on his back and broke his ankle.

[B]

Oh, no.

[C]

It was a whole thing.

[A]

How old are you when this is going on?

[B]

This is crazy.

[C]

16. I caused the bar a bar brawl, but they paid us good.

[B]

I mean, got your money. What's. What would you. What would. The most you like, you'd make your. Well, what would be a good night from the bucket? The tip bucket.

[C]

Good night from the tip bucket would be like 200 bucks.

[B]

That's pretty, you know, I mean, yeah, good.

[C]

Two or 300 bucks. And when we play this bar in Asheville, North Carolina, the deal with every band was like, you get a case of pbr. And I knew that, and I tell them, you know, hey, I understand the circumstances, but I still want that case. So they give it to me on the back steps like a cat, stray cat. I would leave and then come back and have a case of beer on the bottom step.

[B]

For me, it's like you're dropping a briefcase full of fucking secret documents.

[A]

Yeah, I think it has to switch it out with chocolate milk or something like that.

[B]

I want my code Red now.

[C]

Well, I definitely started drinking at that point, so.

[A]

Nice PBRs. What are you gonna do?

[C]

You play?

[B]

Yeah, it's tough. I mean, that's nuts.

[C]

We.

[B]

I mean, I. It's tough for us not to drink. You know, we're in, you know, similar thing at night. You're in clubs and everything. And it's just like, it's tough. It's tough as an adult not to drink, let alone like a kid with no experience youe're gonna get into it.

[A]

When you were a kid and you were home and say your dad had an off night, would you guys sit down and have dinner together and Would your grandparents usually be involved in that?

[C]

Usually at my grandparents house, my grandmother would cook. Grandfather head of the table, my dad, me and my sister and my grandma.

[A]

So for the most part, like groceries and stuff like that. Your grandmother was doing that?

[C]

Yeah, I'd say until like I was 11.

[A]

What would normally be in the fridge as a kid? Your dad is a musician. Single dad is a musician. What are we talking about?

[C]

So, I mean, my grandmother was really good at like making a grocery list last.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

You know, get ground beef and she would make spaghetti. But it was, it was more like a Skyline chili kind of thing.

[A]

Gotcha.

[C]

So she would make the chili for that and then the next day it would be hot dogs, same chili.

[B]

I don't hate that. You know, I'm all about it, probably.

[C]

And the next day, like leftover chopped up hot dogs with just buttered noodles, that kind of thing.

[B]

All right. Speaking my language, dude. Yeah, I like it. Okay. And what would like a family vacation look like growing up?

[A]

Would you do anything or just travel.

[B]

For work or what was the.

[C]

Once a year, we would make the pilgrimage down to Charleston, South Carolina.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Occasionally change it up with Myrtle beach, throw a little flare.

[B]

Big fan of Myrtle beach myself.

[A]

Big fan of Charleston. Yeah.

[C]

Great. We'd go down, we'd get one motel room. Grandparents in one bed. It's the only time they would share a bed. Otherwise they would separate rooms.

[A]

No kidding. So that's such an old school thing. Yeah, my grandparents did the same thing. They had different rooms.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Couldn't get my head around that. I'm like, wait, you sleep here? You sleep here? How the fuck did everybody get here?

[C]

Right?

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

I couldn't. I couldn't figure it out either. But they were the same way. So once a year would go down to Charleston for a weekend. One motel room, we go to one nice dinner.

[B]

Standard American. Standard American vacation.

[A]

So financially, growing up, things weren't great.

[C]

I mean, they were tight, but like, we didn't want for a lot, right? You know, we. We did okay. Yeah.

[B]

The hot dogs and noodles, that skyline, Jillian.

[C]

But I look back and I think about like, I don't think there were that many roaming blackouts. I think the bills just didn't get paid that month. Another blackout, we'd have our camp outs and my dad be like, this is crazy.

[B]

Goddamn Enron pulling the plug on the eastern seaboard. I didn't think there was that many rolling blackouts.

[A]

The neighbor's lights are on, screaming about Obama.

[B]

They're on a different grid. Rolling blackouts. The whole neighborhood. This is a target. This is targeted bullshit.

[A]

What about Christmas? What were holidays like?

[C]

Oh, man, they were.

[A]

So would you do a tree?

[C]

Yeah, we do a tree.

[B]

Fake or real?

[C]

Grandma had a fake tree.

[B]

Respect.

[A]

Colored lights. White lights.

[C]

White lights at grandma's house. Colored lights at my house.

[A]

Would your dad get a fake tree? Your dad had a fake tree, too.

[C]

My dad would do a real tree up until the time I was 11. And that's when we moved down to my stepmom's house. And she was very. Fake tree, white lights, no bullshit.

[A]

So your dad got remarried?

[C]

My dad got remarried.

[A]

All right, cool. Okay. Did she have any kids?

[C]

She did. It's actually one of their birthday today. And they were a lot older than me. Okay. I was 11. And her youngest son was 17.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

The oldest was 21.

[B]

So not super close.

[C]

It wasn't a great situation. And they. And they both were pretty troubled youths. And she had a real hard time with them. It kind of made it difficult for her to, you know, focus on me and my sister 100%. And we really kind of needed that at the time. So it was kind of a rough situation for a while. But now we're very close, and they've been married now 20 years.

[A]

Man. What if it's awesome?

[B]

What a. What a story. And what a guy to tell the story. He is fucking good. I forget we're doing a show. What else? I'm picturing it. I got the house. I got his grandparents out. I got the two trees going. That Skyline Chili, I can't get off my brain.

[C]

What.

[A]

What toys did you play with when you were a kid?

[B]

Les Paul. What are you talking about?

[A]

I know.

[C]

Well, yeah, really? When it wasn't a Les Paul. It was wrestlers.

[A]

Okay?

[C]

G.I. joes.

[A]

G.I. joes. All right.

[C]

Yeah. But I would have my G.I. joe's set up and they had, like, these backing them up, these little guitar figurines. Yeah. I would set them up to play, like, in a band.

[A]

Got Destro back there.

[B]

I have so many, so many questions.

[A]

Cobra Commander on the keys is giving.

[B]

You that thing he's doing the.

[C]

Jesus.

[B]

That's. What was the first. You know, when did you start making, like, pretty good cash? And was there a kind of a dumb purchase where you're like, I didn't need that pontoon.

[A]

The first big check, you know?

[C]

Oh, wow. I mean, I think the first big check is when I. I was always pretty rational with my spinning. I think I got that from my grandpa.

[A]

And when you say, like, when. When you were like 14, 15, and 16 doing these gigs. Would you have to go home and give the money to your dad or, like, would you keep it all to yourself?

[C]

I was. I remember I would help my. My mother out a little bit.

[B]

Gotcha.

[C]

She was back in my life at that point. And I'd go down 14, 15. Yeah. I'd go down and try to help out a little bit.

[A]

Damn.

[C]

And then I'd come back and, like, the lights would be out and she'd have like a carton of cigarettes and, like, which.

[B]

I've had to make that decision before myself.

[C]

And she told me later, she was like, yeah, you know, what you were bringing in wasn't really gonna make a difference.

[B]

And I was like, fair enough.

[C]

Fair enough.

[B]

Hey, what was. What was her brand of smokes?

[C]

She was Marlboro Lights.

[A]

Nice.

[C]

Marlboro Lights. I mean, my mom smoking marble lights in the car with the windows up. That is just.

[B]

That's my short. That's my stepmom. But we were in a purple Dodge Intrepid.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Cooking.

[A]

I was in. We were in an old Jeep Wagoneer. I remember it was freezing outside. The windows were up, the heat was on. I'm like, this. I was like, six. This can't be good.

[C]

This can't be good.

[A]

Can't be good. It smells great, though. You got a little bit of Aquanet. You know, you got the radio on. Fond memories. But probably not good for the esophagus.

[B]

No, it's not.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Okay. What was the first big purchase? Yes.

[A]

And like, what did that look like? Did you get to. You got discovered online, right?

[C]

Sort of, kind of. Yeah.

[A]

Right.

[C]

We were really just kind of out there beating the streets, man. We were playing 200 nights a year. We'd go anywhere that somebody would have us.

[A]

Still with the same guys? Kind of.

[C]

Yeah. Me and my drummer. Yeah. I met him when I was 17 and we've been together ever since.

[A]

How old was he?

[C]

I think he was 19 or 20.

[A]

Okay, so a little bit younger. So you're not still with the 40s and 50 year old guys?

[C]

No, they all, you know, they didn't want to leave.

[B]

Yeah, they can't. They can't go on the road.

[A]

Gotcha.

[C]

And they couldn't go on the road for what I was able to pay. And we were sharing a motel room, which I was accustomed to.

[A]

And that all falls on you, what you're able to pay.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Huh.

[C]

You know, you go out and whatever, the club's willing to pay you. Right. We would drive like Straight to Paragould, Arkansas, and play for, like 500 bucks and some pork steaks.

[A]

You and the drummer.

[C]

Yeah, me and the drummer, bass player and keyboard player.

[B]

Okay, 500 bucks plus maybe passing the bucket around.

[C]

Yeah, pass the bucket.

[B]

Say you're 600 bucks. Yeah, four guys plus the. Plus the steaks.

[A]

Okay, we got. Talking about Rocket Money.

[B]

Rocket Money.

[A]

Man, did I need Rocket Money. I had subscriptions I didn't even know about.

[B]

That's how they jam you up.

[A]

How they jam you up. Do yourself a favor. Start saving a little cash and use Rocket Money to help you out, get you all straightened out, let you know what you subscribe to. If you want to get rid of something, bang, click of a button, it's out of there. You don't got to worry about it.

[B]

And the thing with these companies is, you sign, I'll sign up at 7 99. And then a fine prints like, for the first two days, and then they jet. Next thing you know, you're paying 69.99amonth for something. You're getting banned. You're like, I didn't even know I signed up for this.

[A]

I just got bamboozled by somebody.

[B]

That's how the gate. I told you I was. I signed up for some, like, eastern European leg wrestling match I was trying to watch one day while we were traveling. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitor your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Rocket Money's 5 million members have saved a total of. Get this. $500 million in canceled subscriptions.

[A]

That's a lot of gum.

[B]

With members saving up to $740 a year when they use all. All the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com garbage a day. That's Rocket Money.com garbage one more time. RocketMoney.com garbage. Do it now. Back to the show.

[A]

Back to the show.

[C]

Now.

[A]

Is this the nexus of the Marcus King band? Kind of like this is. This is a squad.

[C]

Yeah. And we had this guy, this guy Robbie, who was tight with, like, a lot of reggae bands, and he knew this guy who was the brother of a bass player from this reggae band called the Movement. And Larry, his mother had this crazy payout from this insurance claim because she.

[B]

Took always a payout involved in every dirt bag. Every dirt bag origin story. Someone got hit by a bus, Someone. They left a sponge in or something.

[A]

I don't Know what's with that? Air conditioner.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, golly, she, like. She took a vaccine or something. Something. She ended up, like, paralyzed or something. God bless her. But, I mean, I never knew her, but they had this crazy big mansion outside of San Diego and they had all the G Love and Special sauces road gear, and they were recording in there. So this fellow that we knew in. In Greenville named Bill Hahn, who's just the best, just Bud Light all day kind of guy, and he's so fucking hilarious. Shout out, Bill. He was like, I'll fly you guys out there, man. You guys make a record. It'd be great. I was like, okay. So we flew.

[B]

G loves gear.

[C]

Yeah. So we flew out to San Diego, we made a record. And the engineer on that record was this girl. And, like, her and I ended up just really kind of falling for each other. I was 18, she was 28. We started dating. We dated for like, four years. So I'd go out there and see her as much as I could. And her sister lived in la, so she took me up to la and we went out to Tarzana one day to Norman's Rare Guitars. And she was like, this is how LA works. You gotta just play and they'll discover you. And I was like, I don't know. So I played and they. They liked what I was doing, and they said, can we film you for our YouTube channel? I'd never heard of such a thing, you know, so they did, and then.

[A]

Of a YouTube channel.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Really?

[C]

Well, I mean, I'd never heard of, like, a guitar store filming somebody.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Gotcha. I was like, sure, why not? So I did that and it went, like, viral, you know, I'd say, would. It's like the first thing I did that was viral. And then that just kind of made the rounds. That was kind of the first thing that really picked up steam.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Cool set.

[B]

It's so funny because, like, every comedian wanted to be a rock star at some point.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In our lives. And, like, I can't do that, but I can. You know, I can call this guy dumb or whatever.

[A]

And the girl you fell for was 10 years older. And she was the engineer.

[C]

Yeah, man, that's hot. She was rad.

[A]

And then how did it unfold from there?

[B]

Oh, I'm sorry. What was the purchase? Did we ever get to the purchase?

[C]

Oh, the purchase was probably my Cadillac.

[A]

It was like, what was the check for?

[C]

I think it might have been from my label or something. Like an advance check.

[A]

Oh, that's how they get you.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

That advance. Oh, that's. I. I don't know much about the record issue, but that advance will come back to my.

[A]

You said you were always pretty good with the money. The first thing you do with the advance is go get it. Caddy.

[C]

There's a 1980 El Dorado.

[A]

Let me get eyes on the horns. On it in the front.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Really?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

What color was it?

[C]

It was black. Black and red pins. That.

[B]

Is it. That if there. If there's. If anybody's meant to drive that car, it is 100.

[A]

And where's that? Where was. Where would that be parked? Where were you based out of, man?

[C]

I was in Nashville.

[A]

Okay, so you moved to Nashville at this point. Drummer goes with you.

[C]

Drummer state in Greenville. Stayed in Greenville, which I'm still trying to get him to move to Nashville.

[A]

But he's with you?

[C]

Yeah, he's still with me.

[B]

He's just. He's based out of there.

[C]

He just commutes. He just likes living in Greenville. His wife and her family are there, and they just had a little baby, so he's. He's got deep roots in Greenville, so he just commutes. He doesn't mind doing it. I mean, it'd be easier on everybody if he was in Nashville, but, you know, maybe someday.

[B]

It is what it is.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

All good. But, yeah, the Caddy would be parked outside. I was renting a house for 1500 bucks a month. Me and my girlfriend at the time. And, you know, that was. That was the biggest thing was, like, my grandfather kind of taught me about these pneumatic devices, you know, to make people really remember. You make. Make them stick. You know, like, big cowboy hat, you know, big belt buckle, shiny boots, whatever it was. And the Cadillac was part of that state. I was like, if I'm somewhere. If I'm recording at a studio, if I'm working on somebody's record, they're gonna know I'm in there because this car is parked out front. You know, I was the only guy driving around. How old are you at this time? I was probably, like, 21, 22.

[B]

That was this. So sick, dude. Was this, like. Was it, like, completely fully restored or was it beat up? Like, what was the condition of? Did you buy it, like, fully redone or in mint condition?

[C]

It was in Middletown, Pennsylvania. No, and I found it online. It was $3,000.

[A]

All right?

[C]

And it had, like, I think 30,000 miles on it.

[A]

What was the advance? Can we ask you that?

[C]

The advance? I can't. I can't remember, it wasn't anything under ten grand. No, I think it might have been more than that.

[A]

All right.

[C]

But again, that's how they get you.

[A]

That's how they get you. Damn.

[B]

Huh?

[A]

How Kippy got me.

[B]

Still paying it off. Dance.

[A]

I got a show in Greenville tonight, matter of fact.

[B]

Paste pork steaks. And I get 10%.

[A]

Yeah. What's a pork stick? I went right over that. What's a pork steak?

[C]

What's a pork steak? It was just this big cut of meat. Dude, I'm with you.

[B]

You had my interest, and now you have my attention. Oh, man. He's got a great laugh, too.

[C]

Yeah, we had a good time. Those pork steaks, they. They sent us home with some, and they made this huge stain in our van that just never went away. Massive.

[B]

So you're at that point, you're still in the town and country.

[C]

This was our. We had a 40 Conolon. We got a great deal on 2014.

[B]

The rose in it.

[A]

Right.

[B]

It's the. It's like the church van kind.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Do we have a manager at this point, someone handling all this stuff?

[C]

I think at this point, we did have a manager. My first manager was a lady named Steph, and it was Warren Haynes's wife, so. Warren Haynes from the Allman Brothers band, Government Mule, and.

[A]

No kidding.

[C]

Yeah. He kind of took a. Took a chance on us and was producing a record for us. And, you know, Steph and myself, we ended up having a falling out. It just wasn't really working. And, you know, that relationship really never got mended back together. But, you know, I still love them very much. But, man, how cool is this?

[A]

It's like we're watching the biopic right.

[C]

In front of me.

[A]

It's insane.

[B]

Crazy, dude. I'm so enamored by it. I know. It's crazy.

[A]

All right, so you go through that with the manager. When do you get the check? Where you're like, oh, shit, why don't.

[B]

You kind of like not set? But you're like, all right, I'm. You got some wiggle room, right?

[C]

I'd say, like pre pandemic, like 2020.

[B]

2020. Because your album, it was like, your what? Your first album was when? 2018?

[C]

Yeah, well, first album was 2014.

[B]

2014.

[A]

And the Grammy was 2020.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So around then, that's when really?

[C]

Yeah, I had a little juice and had enough saved up. I was able to buy a house.

[B]

Great.

[A]

You know, bought a house in Nashville.

[C]

Have a down payment. I was in Mount Juliet.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

So Right outside of Nashville. And, you know, and then the shit hit the fan with the pandemic, but we were still able to, you know, keep everybody on for, like, nine months.

[B]

It's great, man.

[C]

You know, we got a little bit of that government cheese. We were just scraping by, man.

[B]

For sure. We were doing the same thing, dude. Huh?

[A]

Okay, now you're killing it.

[C]

Things are good.

[A]

Any kind of cheese I want now.

[C]

I mean, you know, hell, like, even, like I said, that's how they get you, you know? And I've. I've been through a number of those.

[B]

A number of those situations.

[C]

Just had to claw my way out of them, you know, Only one way through it is to do it.

[B]

How many, you know. Okay. Typically, you know, you. You're such a man of. Of cool. This is how.

[A]

Pretty cool, dude.

[B]

This is how dorky I am. You're a man of cool. He's got me slipping out of my seat over here, about to take a run at the guy. I'm trying.

[A]

This is how.

[B]

This is how much of a dork I am. I'm trying to read the label on that shirt so I can buy it when he leaves. And I can't make it out. I'm like, that doesn't look like Levi's. And I'm like, I'm literally going, can I sell that to my wife, or is that too Western Car heart. It's a car. I'm a Carhartt man. Everybody. I'm a Dickies and Carhartt man. Everybody knows that you got it.

[C]

You got to get the vintage car heart, though. It's worn in, right?

[B]

Damn. Okay. How many guitars do you own?

[C]

Way too many, man. It's got to be like 70 plus.

[A]

Kidding. You play them all?

[C]

I do, yeah. I mean, like, my studio, I've got a lot of guitars there. I've got a lot that were gifts. Guitars that, you know, it's. It. They're kind of, you know, I'm really ocd, so I've got them, like, in different places. Like, the ones really special to me are, you know, kept very close. And the other ones, a lot of them are, like, in storage or, you know, I have, like, fly date guitars. Guitars that I'll check under the plane and guitars that I'll leave overseas, you know?

[A]

Leave overseas?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So, like, when you're going, you don't have to travel with them.

[A]

Where do you leave that?

[B]

That's fucked. That's like what Assassins do with guns.

[A]

Yeah, that's shit.

[B]

That's what John Wick does he goes and checks in at the Citadel or whatever. Wait, I'm an idiot. I don't know if you picked up on that.

[A]

Continental.

[B]

Continental. The Citadel is the one in the. In Europe.

[C]

The Citadel was a big part of our origin. Really? Because Bill Hahn, who I told you about Bud Light, all day, the man. Bill went to the Citadel with a writer, Jameson Clark, and Jameson Clark was in Nashville, and he gave our demo to our agent, Braden Roundtree, who's still my agent today. So, like, had that not happened, you know, because you gotta really get it in. Sure. This was at William Morris Agency. And shout out to William boys. And my great grandfather's name was William Morris King or my grandfather's name. Yeah.

[A]

No.

[C]

So we went up there and got, like, ripped. Like, we got hammered and then went into that meeting, like, the next morning. This is when I'm like 18 rock stars, and they didn't give us a meeting upstairs. But he met with us in the lobby, and we just had that.

[B]

We were just also not letting the main premises.

[C]

First gig, Braden. Every book for us was at Sea World.

[B]

No way.

[C]

In Orlando?

[B]

Yeah. Was it like you guys were just playing and people were walking by type thing? Like, you were just like.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Just the band in between.

[C]

Shamu. Like, weird play. It was. It was the worst.

[A]

How was the check on that check?

[C]

Wasn't bad.

[A]

It was.

[C]

Yeah. It was worth driving to Orlando for.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

Yeah, man.

[A]

So you got your own studio now. Is this at the house?

[C]

No, it's. It's actually. It's my old place.

[A]

And it's the old house that you bought. Would you put the down payment on.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Turn that into a studio now you.

[C]

Got the new place now I got a new place. Me and my wife.

[A]

Good spot.

[C]

It's a good spot. We're in. We're in the good part of town now.

[A]

No kidding. You got a pool?

[C]

No, the old place has a pool, though. Like this. Really? An indoor pool?

[A]

An indoor pool, yeah.

[C]

It's like this.

[A]

What was this down payment? You made it sound like you were scraping, like, 1500 bucks together.

[C]

I got a. I got a great deal on the place. No kidding. And this was in 2020. And this is before Handkerchief.

[B]

This coolest dude I've ever met. What are you talking about?

[A]

No way.

[B]

You're 20. I know.

[A]

Got to be like 300. Dude.

[B]

I literally remember walking into that when we were trying to go to that popup show. I walked in, he was saying something super cool on the. On the mic, like between songs, and some guy Leaned over next to me, went, oh, what's up? I love. Are you garbage? I'm like, this is the coolest night of my life. And then the bouncer's like, you got to go. Like, all right, man, I'll see you later.

[C]

Oh, man.

[B]

I was so close. I'm like, I'm in. This is the. I'm like, I'm seeing the coolest guy. I'm getting recognized. And then the guy's like, yeah, your buddies aren't allowed in. I was like, the big one can't. The big one. Big guy can't come in.

[A]

He ain't going to fit.

[C]

I hate it so much that that happened.

[B]

No, we're joking. And it wasn't you.

[A]

It was.

[B]

It was Gillis. Gillis was like, yeah, come on by. He had two passes, and he invited, like, 35 people.

[C]

We'll get you next time for sure.

[A]

Ah, that's funny.

[B]

Sick. Okay. Huh.

[A]

So you got the studio.

[B]

Okay. What's like, a day, right? Let's just say you're, like, in between. Are you. So you're like, heavy tour, and you'd mentioned.

[C]

Yeah, we tour a lot.

[B]

What's like. I guess, like, that's just the musicians. You're just are. You guys are, like, forever on the road, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is there a break coming up in 2026 you're looking at, or.

[C]

I mean, you know, like, select. This last year, I had, like, had a manager, you know, screw me over pretty bad. Business manager. It was just kind of this perfect storm. Business manager not saying no enough. Manager being inept. Everything just kind of creating this perfect storm of fuck that just, like, really slammed at my front door. So the way that I was raised is like, we got to get through this, you know? So I was like, say yes to everything. I'm doing every private gig, I'm gonna be on the road, you know? And me and my wife both agreed, like, we don't have kids or anything yet. So I've just been hustling my ass off just trying to work through it. Yeah. And also trying to be creative and put out a record and trying to have some catharsis. So, like, in that time, like, you know, I sold a guitar and I bought a Karman Ghia. So when I'm home, that's kind of what I do, is zip around on my Karma Ghia.

[A]

It's a Carmagia.

[C]

It's a car. Volkswagen made it, but it was.

[B]

How do you spell it?

[A]

You sold a guitar.

[C]

Yeah, it was.

[A]

That was worth as much as A car.

[C]

Yeah, but, like, you'll see the car. It's like.

[B]

How do you spell Carmagia?

[C]

K, A, R, R, M, A, N.

[B]

Carmen. Gia. I thought it was karma. Gia. Okay. A little old school guy.

[C]

So they call it the. They call it the poor man's Porsche.

[B]

Yeah. So you sold a guitar.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And bought that. Was that like a one for one?

[C]

Yeah, pretty. Pretty much.

[B]

Seems like an expensive guitar, if we're being honest with you. Call them balls and strikes here.

[C]

I gotta. I got a good deal, you know, it's just kind of something I did. Off the radar, off the books because I needed a toy.

[B]

Like, do you need something to just have a place to put your.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Focus.

[C]

Because my. I needed something to tinker with because I've just been driving myself crazy. And, like, my Cadillac's been with my uncle down in South Carolina. He's been doing a number on it.

[A]

Driving it around.

[C]

No, no.

[B]

Fixing.

[C]

Fixing her up.

[B]

How many cars just driving around. This is Marcus King's car.

[A]

He's a nephew. He's sort of attendees you.

[B]

He's got the glasses on.

[C]

Yeah, he's been fixing it up, but, like, you know, he's. He's busy. And I'm. I'm like, I'm touring, so, like, don't worry about it. You know, no rush. But.

[A]

Ah.

[B]

What's. Okay, so you say this isn't. This is in Nashville.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

This car, you. You wake up. What's like an off day in Nashville looking like for you?

[C]

So me and my wife just like to sit on the porch. I gotta have a cigarette in the morning.

[B]

What kind of heaters you own?

[C]

American spirits.

[B]

Okay. I pegged them for an American spirit guy. What color? Yellow.

[C]

These, which are like light blue.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

But, you know, anytime I tell somebody blue American spirits, they always bring back the wrong ones. But whatever color blue you would say.

[A]

This is, they're the only one American spirits that I like. The yellow ones are. Something about them. I don't know.

[C]

I don't like them either.

[B]

Yeah, I'm off the heater.

[A]

Take forever.

[C]

Yeah. You guys both quit smoking, right?

[A]

I'm back on.

[B]

He's back on.

[A]

I'm not eating, though. I'm trying to lose weight.

[B]

So I'm nine months off.

[A]

One for one.

[C]

Nine months. God bless.

[B]

Maybe a misstep out in LA two weeks ago. Don't tell my wife. Okay. All right. So you wake up, heater on the porch, cup of coffee.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Heater and a cup of coffee. Take in the day. You setting an Alarm or you just getting up when you get up?

[C]

When I'm home. Honestly, man, like, me and my wife were like. We're like old folks, man. We go to bed like 8 o'.

[A]

Clock.

[B]

Yeah. Kind of nice.

[C]

Sometimes we get up like six or seven. My wife's got pigeons. She goes out and feeds them.

[A]

Yeah, that's not anything monogrammed. Anything monogrammed, like, is your. Is your. Is your everything. Your bedspread, monogram. Does it say, like, MK on it?

[C]

I recently bought some monogram pajamas, and that was me doing something nice for myself.

[B]

That's good. Treat yourself.

[C]

But when I got them back, like, you know, they monogrammed them, but, like, they stitched it and it. Like they stitched the pocket shut.

[A]

They put the heaters in there.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So, okay. And what's on, you know, what's on the rider?

[C]

On the rider in my dressing room.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So it depends on whether my wife's coming or not. When my wife is there, she likes a still. She likes black cherry white claws, man.

[B]

Talk about the duality. I want to still rose. Give me some black cherry white claws. Yeah. In case I want to fight tonight.

[A]

Something French. Something French of 42 and a couple of four Lokos.

[B]

What? The old stuff, I want it with the energy juice still in it.

[A]

A switchblade comb. What?

[C]

Yeah, new old stock. Four Locos.

[A]

I like that.

[C]

I do the Na Heinekens.

[B]

Because you're sober, right?

[C]

Yeah, I'm sober.

[B]

Good for you, man.

[C]

I smoke. Smoke my pot, though. Keeps me sane.

[A]

That was very Greenville.

[B]

And I smoked my pot. Smoke a pot. As you know, he's a simple man.

[C]

As you do. How long you been off the sauce this time? Going like, since February.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And before that it was like a year.

[B]

Good for you, man.

[C]

I mean, it's. It's been kind of stop and go, but here, like this last time, I just. I don't have any desire to do it again, you know?

[B]

It's good to hear. That's. As someone who also struggles with it.

[C]

I just wasn't good at it.

[A]

I'm horrible at it.

[C]

I just. I was really into, like, benders, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I would go off for a week at a time.

[B]

Yeah. What was the. What was your poison? What was the shot in a beer type guy?

[C]

Shot in a beer. That's a good time. But on the road, I would make. We called them MK Ultras. And it was okay, you know, this.

[B]

Guy plays for keeps because you forget everything. I picked up on that.

[C]

Yeah. So it Was a Topo Chico, Grey Goose vodka and grapefruit juice. So it's like a greyhound, but with some fizz.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And they go down easy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And MKult2.

[C]

Two solo cups and just mix it yourself. I would just pound those and I mean, I could drink a beer and like a second flat, you know, So I would just pound beers and drink those. It was pretty great. But I got into. I got into the other stuff, you know, when I was like 18.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I remember being at a festival called the get down in Pumpkin Town.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Playing and, you know, I had a set to do and I was just too up to do it. So that's when, you know, the booger sugar came into play. Straightened me out. Played a great set, I think. And I kind of had a dance with that for like seven or eight years, you know, and just got pretty. I thought that I could do cocaine in a classy way, you know.

[A]

You and me both, brother.

[C]

I'd seen it done. I like the classy parties. Like, people were drinking wine and they'd have like one little tray and they would just go around like, this is nice.

[A]

I remember Stevie Nick saying that she used to. She used to have a gram of cocaine in her. In her boot at all times and just would do little whatevers. I wish you could just do that.

[C]

You guys know people. Is like, I have bandmates that are like this that can do sober cocaine, like, without even having to drink first.

[B]

I've never met anybody.

[A]

I can do that.

[C]

That's insane to me.

[A]

I can do that.

[C]

You know, Like, I know people that just.

[A]

But I know, I know. I know people that could do it and then put it away for like. I'm going to save the rest of the this for tomorrow. Can you do that?

[C]

No, that's insane.

[B]

Most people that have to stop doing it can't do like it. You know most people. I don't do that anymore.

[C]

I've done that before, but because I had a meeting the next morning and I had to carry the buzz the next morning if I was going to sleep at all, then I have a little head stash. Wake up, take one down and then get me to the meeting too.

[A]

Yeah, man. All right.

[B]

All right. All right, man. We just took a deviation.

[A]

So front porch. Front porch. Cup of coffee and a smoke.

[B]

Okay. Living at sober life.

[A]

Clean living.

[B]

So the rider. So your wife will have some of some rose and the black cherry white claws for you. What's. What's it looking like? You got your.

[A]

Any snacks that you like?

[C]

What Are we. What have we been doing lately? We, like.

[A]

What's your sweet tooth?

[C]

Me? Man, we love Peanut M and M's.

[B]

Oh, man.

[A]

There's always Peanut Ms, Dancing with the Devil, anything fruity. Your Nerds clusters, guy. Have you gotten into them?

[C]

Never gotten into those.

[A]

Stay away from them.

[B]

If you got a problem with the boogers, you're gonna have a problem with them.

[A]

They're so good.

[C]

I'm like a Rock Cashews guy. Rock Cashews.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Dark chocolate.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Salt.

[A]

You like a little sea salt?

[C]

Sea salt on the chocolate.

[B]

Gentlemen, touch of sea salt.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Blow your hair back.

[A]

It's all right.

[C]

Stuff's good.

[B]

Okay. And then, so, like, now that you're, you know, you're not partying, you do the. You do the gig. You're back, you know, your tour bus at night to the next town, right?

[C]

Yeah. Cigarettes are on the rider, actually.

[B]

How. Well, how many?

[C]

I just get a pack, so, you.

[B]

Know there's a pack there. You got a pack in the whole.

[A]

No kidding. That's pretty smart.

[B]

So not nothing too extravagant, nothing too crazy.

[A]

Do you like a nice dinner? You like going out and having a nice dinner?

[C]

Love a good steak dinner.

[A]

Good steak dinner.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You baked potato, man.

[C]

Baked potato man. Like a twice baked. You know, we love like a St. Elmo's in Indianapolis. That.

[B]

Wow. We're big fans of that.

[A]

We did a shrimp cocktail. You like the shrimp cocktail? All right.

[C]

Spicier the better.

[A]

Yeah, that'll open you up.

[C]

Yeah, it's the best.

[A]

Talk about booger sugar.

[C]

Yeah, right? Yeah.

[B]

Talk about three fat dirt bags. I like St. Elmo. Oh, I love St. Elmo, man. Three fat dirt bags. We'll find the.

[A]

It's not the Playboy Mansion. I know that. Shrimp cocktail.

[C]

Oh, man.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

Just like. That's so classy to us. Like, I like going to get a nice steak down in town. We, like, put our best shirts on and we're like. We're yelling at each other to act right when we're in there.

[A]

I like that. It's already in the sauce. I don't got a dip. It's just sitting in there. Those are big boys, too. I don't know where they get them. We're in the landlocked state. You pee in the shower?

[C]

Hell, yeah.

[B]

Hold on back to that. How you get your steak cooked? And what's the cut of steak? You sit down. What's the cut of steak?

[C]

New York strip, medium rare.

[A]

No kidding.

[C]

New York strip, sauteed onions.

[A]

Sauteed onions.

[B]

A Little bit of flares guy. That's one of those fucking stick out pieces.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Who's got the sauteed onions? It's Marcus gang. Don't forget there's salt, eight onions on the table. You know, Marcus King's around here somewhere. Ah, damn. Okay, very nice.

[A]

So you're peeing the show. You brush your teeth in there?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You got your toothbrush in there?

[C]

Toothbrush is in there. That's always the power move.

[B]

Oh, that's not great though. Leaving it in there is not great. Although they've done, they've done studies that any. Doesn't matter where in the bathroom it is. It's open to the same bacteria.

[C]

Something's gonna happen.

[B]

There's just something weird to me of like I get in the shower. My sister used to do it. So I'd like, I'd get in the shower, then like I would get it wet and then like she would you. I'm like, that's fucking grody to me. That's nasty. But if it's just you and your wife, I get. It's different.

[C]

Well, see, at our house I kind of have the downstairs.

[B]

Love that. So it's just you, you got your own little domicile.

[C]

Yeah. So nobody else is really in there.

[A]

Is this the way to shower, you mean?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

How's that? Broken up. The bedroom's upstairs. Master bedroom.

[C]

You got the main floor.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

She's. I mean my wife's. She's messy. Really drives me crazy.

[B]

Yeah, a lot of these broads are.

[C]

Yeah, these broads.

[A]

Let me tell you, I'm the messy one.

[B]

Messy worlds.

[C]

And I'm. I'm really meticulous. I like my space really neat.

[A]

No kidding.

[C]

So all my stuff's downstairs and my sauna. I work out and I sauna and then the shower's right there.

[B]

Got the sauna at the house. Is it like built in or did you buy like one and it's like.

[C]

I bought a, a cheapo one. It was like fifteen hundred dollars on Amazon.

[B]

Yeah, I got, I got one too.

[C]

But it's an infrared and I sit in there. It's great. I got a cold plunge. Bert Kreischer gave me a cold plunge.

[A]

There you go.

[C]

Shout out Bert.

[B]

Shout out Bert.

[A]

Shout out to Bert with the cold plugs. He's done more for cold plunging.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

The man, he's on a bit of a tear at the moment. I don't know if you've seen pictures. Oh, is he these guys going after it?

[C]

He's drinking when I Was talking to the bonfire guys. We were talking about my last time off the wagon, and Jay says, with Bert Kreischer, I'm sure. And it was. It was actually.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

It's like, a couple years ago, and there's just.

[B]

I mean, he's the machine of the story, but, like, it's just fun drinking.

[C]

Oh, he's the best.

[B]

It's just. We're going out on the road with him. It's just, like. It's a good time.

[A]

We were in Tennessee with him. We ended up at a frat party. And that was. That was. It was awesome. It was the cool.

[B]

It was the coolest.

[A]

It was the coolest night of our lives.

[C]

I'm sure.

[A]

And, man, the last night we were with him, the porosis hadn't just come out, but that was our first time drinking it, and that was going down too smooth.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I was hammered. Falling through a hotel in West Virginia.

[C]

Oh, man. God, he's the best. Like, I remember, first time I met him, I was, like, hungover, and I showed up at his house, just in rough shape, you know, And I told him, I'm in rough shape, buddy. He was like, I'll set you up. Yeah, he took good care of me.

[A]

He's the best.

[C]

He had, like, a Keurig machine, but for, like, cocktails, of course he does. Which I'd never seen anything like that.

[A]

And then me and IV of Greyhound.

[C]

Yeah. We went beer for beer on the podcast, and we talked for, like, three hours.

[B]

Yeah, I've. I watched that. A very, very, very good episode.

[C]

Yeah, you can see me getting more and more drunk.

[B]

There's, like, a line where you, like, start straightening out and then you teeter the other way.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You're like. You're like, you know for sure.

[C]

And you know what I had to do the next day? I had to speak at a. Like, a sober nation event. So the first thing I had to do when I walked in there was like, hey, I'm hungover. And the thing.

[A]

Stay away from Bert Kreischer.

[C]

The thing about the wagon is you fall off, you get back on. You know, I had to do that whole speech, but, yeah, that was a dark day. In his defense, he didn't know I had to speak at a song.

[A]

Of course. Yeah. Hurt's the best. I'll tell you, if he has, like, this fatherly. Just feel good around them. You know what I mean? Just the best. I mean, listen, where are we at?

[B]

Most interesting man in the world? For sure. Couple of questions. You open your Eyes underwater in the pool.

[C]

I gotta say no.

[B]

No to that one.

[A]

How do you feel about the rotisserie chicken?

[C]

Love it.

[B]

Love it.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Big fan. My wife too. Yeah. I knew I was going to marry my wife. She was on Molly in a field at a festival. Took our third date and she ate a whole rotisserie chicken with her bare hands.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

This is it.

[B]

Will you be the rotisserie chicken of my life?

[A]

Will you dance at a wedding?

[C]

If I'm drinking, which I'm not anymore. So.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

Do you do karaoke? And if so, do you have a go to song?

[C]

Last time we did it, I did the Rooster by Alison Janes. Wow. My wife hosted a after bash thing where they did karaoke at this bar in Charleston. And I got up and I sang the Rooster with my trumpet player.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

It's a good time.

[A]

Do you have a favorite cover?

[C]

Favorite cover? Rambling Man. Almond Brothers.

[B]

You're an Almond Brothers guy?

[C]

I am, yeah.

[B]

Throwing through. Right?

[C]

Big time.

[A]

Can't beat that.

[B]

What do you call what? Like a gentleman's club? You know? You know, if you were going or people dance, what were you saying? Like, let's go to the.

[C]

I'd say strip club.

[B]

Strip club. Okay. That's the me, that's the middle. Gentleman's club. Strip club. Titty bar. Titty bars. A bad love Teddy bar. Yeah, titty bars. Titty bars that you've. You've been to the strip club too much when you start calling it a titty bar.

[A]

You said it before, but how would you naturally say it is a ground beef or is it hamburger meat?

[C]

Ground beef.

[B]

Okay, gentlemen, you got name brand luggage. Good luggage.

[C]

I've got vintage luggage.

[A]

You're a vintage guy.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

How much was that shirt?

[C]

This was probably like 20 bucks.

[B]

I heard him say new old stock.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is it? Which is that is. That is a very specific thing to know in vintage. Correct. Yeah. New old stock is. It was made at the time, but it's never been used, right? Yeah.

[C]

Oh, no.

[B]

It was made in the 70s or 80s, 90s. How does that never been sold? I don't know.

[A]

Sitting in a warehouse.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

People just. Stores, whatever.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you have like the old luggage, like the. The handle thing?

[C]

Yeah. This one of my suitcases. I got a duffel bag. I've got this great leather duffel bag. And it. The bottom zips and I can put my boots in there. And my big luggage is like a. It's like a wardrobe or like I.

[A]

Got you like it Folds down.

[C]

Yeah. And it opens up and then you unzip it. And when you close it up, it looks like a suitcase. It was made by American tourister in the 70s, 60s and 70s.

[A]

And how many pairs of boots do.

[C]

You have, Man, I love cowboy boots.

[B]

So you have a bunch that's prefacing to be.

[A]

When you go out on. When you go out on the road, do you just bring one pair?

[C]

So me and the band have a wardrobe closet on the road. So everything's just there.

[A]

Nice.

[C]

It's like a little, you know, house.

[A]

So you just go in and grab it.

[B]

And is that who's choosing that and when is that chosen? Like what you're wearing that night? Or is it the same every night? Is it just like, hey, I have five shirts I pick from.

[C]

It's kind of a variation. Like we went out, like, we've been on the road a long time with Chris Stapleton.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

And he wears the same thing every day. And there's a lot of peace in that. And I have kind of a variation of the same thing. But it's just. You'd be surprised. Just that one thing you don't have to think about.

[B]

I'm right there with you. You know, I have that. I have a very. I have three things and it's a very. It's like a black Dickies jacket. It's, you know, a Carhartt shirt. It's all the same.

[A]

Jack White did that infamously for. Yeah, for a long time.

[B]

Will you put your hand on the wall when you're painted a urinal?

[C]

I will.

[B]

Really?

[C]

I. One time I was in the Bahamas because my manager has a house down there.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I noticed that every urinal I went to, they had like a pad, like a cushy pad on the top of every urinal. And I finally asked somebody, it's like, that's just for anybody that, you know, needs to rest their head.

[A]

Rest their head.

[C]

I said, wow, this is living.

[B]

That's emotion. I can get behind.

[C]

These guys are leaning their head against this pad on top of the urinal.

[B]

That's crazy to me.

[A]

Are you a cologne guy?

[C]

There's one cologne I like and it's John Varvatos. And it was given to me because I've known John a long time and.

[B]

Do you know John Varvatos?

[C]

I do.

[B]

What?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

How?

[C]

I met him through a friend of mine who he actually one of the stupid.

[B]

I am. I thought he was died. I thought he was. I thought it was like Louis Vuitton or whatever. I Thought it was just like an old famous guy.

[A]

I knew you were a vampire.

[B]

Yeah, I get him.

[C]

I met. I met him through a mutual friend and he. I think we were doing, like, Fallon or something, and he. He got me in the band, you know, looking right. No kidding. And he had this cologne. I was never really a cologne guy. I used to do, like, patchouli oil.

[A]

Really?

[C]

And I smelled it and I really liked it.

[A]

You were a patchouli guy?

[C]

I was in high school. It was rough.

[A]

Oh, I wonder why you didn't have any friends. What are you doing with that?

[C]

Smelling like wood chips.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Yeah. No good.

[B]

Okay. I mean, how many. How many suits do you own?

[C]

Suits. That's another thing, because you have like.

[B]

I've seen in, like, the vintage suits.

[A]

And stuff when he's going into Kill Tony last year. Look real sharp.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

We were an elevator behind you.

[B]

We saw. I was looking.

[A]

I'm like, there's.

[B]

We were sitting in the window. There's Marcus. Yeah.

[C]

I love my western suits. Yeah.

[B]

How many of those do you think you have?

[C]

You know, closet full.

[B]

Closet full.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Good for you.

[A]

Walk in closet at the house.

[C]

The wife does. My stuff's kind of dispersed.

[A]

Gotcha.

[C]

You know, Gotcha.

[B]

Back to the boots, how many do you think you have?

[C]

50, 50's high.

[B]

50S high.

[C]

Probably like 10 or 12.

[B]

10 or 12? Oh, that's.

[A]

Can you wear them fresh? Like, can you get a pair? Like, say you got a show tonight, right? You go see a new pair of boots you like, can you throw them on and go play, or do you got to break them in a little bit?

[C]

Yeah, my dogs are really fussy.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Man, what a way to put.

[C]

I got a short.

[A]

The encore, huh?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My dogs are barking.

[C]

My dogs are barking. I got a guy in Nashville who makes a lot of my boots. Now.

[A]

He just makes them.

[C]

Yeah, this guy named Wes. His company is called Music City Leather, and he makes them in his basement.

[A]

No kidding.

[C]

And he's just, you know, can they.

[A]

Break them in for you or. No, that's something you have to do on your own.

[C]

See, like, the more you're willing to spend on a pair of boots, the less the breaking period is going to be. Gotcha. And whenever I talk to people about buying cowboy boots, like, I've got every rung and, like, you know, I don't want to name any names, but, like, the cheaper ones, they're like, I can't go buy them off the shelf and go play a gig or my feet will be.

[B]

What's it. But no, names are. What's a cheaper one? Like 100 bucks, 200 bucks?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, like 500 bucks.

[B]

500 bucks.

[C]

You don't really want to spend less than that on cowboy boots.

[A]

What's the most you've ever spent?

[C]

$4,000. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

[A]

That's what we were looking for.

[C]

Get a call from the accountant.

[B]

What the hell did you do?

[C]

What are you doing? And I was like. I said, look, this is a write off. And they said, no, you can't do this as a write off. You know, it's really only something like. This is literally. The example they gave me was just like, Lady Gaga's meat dress would be a write off because she can't wear that out in public. And I was like, no, no, these.

[A]

Boots, I ain't wasting a good New York strip.

[C]

Yeah. So these boots are blue, they're suede. You cannot. I cannot wear these boots out.

[B]

So they're only worn for.

[C]

Just for performing. I said, you write them off.

[A]

There you go.

[C]

And they said, well, we better not catch you wearing them at the grocery store or something.

[B]

That's also a tough one. You get caught in the fucking blue suede boots.

[A]

Yeah, these ain't the ones I was talking about. It's another pair.

[B]

I mean, I. Listen, I gotta call it. This guy's walking. I mean, I lies some. He's all class, he's got, but, you know, what are you thinking?

[A]

He's trash, baby. He's 100% garbage. And we love it. Are you kidding me?

[B]

And so good.

[A]

Mr. Marcus King. What a home run. Absolutely fantastic. One. One last question. Are you a fast food guy?

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

What do you like? Me and you? Just me and you.

[C]

I mean, we'll cut this. I mean, McDonald's, you're making.

[A]

Guy.

[C]

Classic McDonald's double quarter pounder.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Fish.

[A]

The filet of fish kicker.

[B]

If there was any question if he's trash or not.

[C]

There was any question. There it is.

[B]

There it is. The filet of fish kick.

[A]

Marcus King. The brand new lp, Darling Blue is out right now, buddy. Congratulations. Unbelievable tale. We love you so much. Anything else you want the folks out there to know?

[C]

Just thanks for having me, man. That's it.

[A]

Well said. Look at that.

[B]

Appreciate you, man.

[A]

Gang, we love you. We'll see you next week.

[C]

Peace.