HardLore Q&A Special: Remembering Bo Lueders (With Britty Drake & Mike Cesario)

Summary

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HardLore Q&A Special: Remembering Bo Lueders

With Colin Young, Britty Drake, & Mike Cesario
Release Date: July 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This deeply personal and lively HardLore Q&A episode marks the first special since the loss of beloved co-host Bo Lueders. Host Colin Young gathers with friends Britty Drake (Pity Sex, Holy Blade), and Mike Cesario (Twitching Tongues, Disgrace) for an open, often hilarious, and reflective session answering listener-submitted questions from the HardLore Discord and Patreon.
In addition to fielding questions about music, life, and loss, the trio reminisces about Bo’s spirit, explores coping with grief, and delves into the many quirks and joys of the hardcore/punk/metal community. The conversation ranges from the sacred (how grief transforms) to the playful (favorite fibs, smells, and hard tour laughs), all while honoring Bo’s history, the community they cherish, and the small moments that get them through.

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Main Themes & Purpose

• Pay tribute to Bo Lueders and discuss grief within the tight-knit hardcore community
• Celebrate the culture and inside jokes of the hardcore/punk/metal scene
• Answer heartfelt, honest, and often lighthearted questions from fans
• Discuss personal growth, favorite music, community bonds, and the power of vulnerability

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remembering Lou from Sick of It All & Community Loss

[00:32–02:39]

• Colin opens with a heartfelt message about Lou Koller’s passing, reflecting on his influence and the importance of honoring those we lose by celebrating their legacy and community impact.
• “But the beautiful thing about art is, and the artists who make it is they do live forever through their work.” – Colin [02:10]

2. Q&A Format, Guests, & The Show’s Spirit

[02:40–04:50]

• Britty and Mike are introduced as friends, musicians, and partners.
• The hosts affirm their commitment to keeping the HardLore community lively and authentic, balancing sentimentality with humor.

3. Favorite “Fib” or Lie as a Child

[07:15–11:44]

• The crew discuss their favorite childhood lies, revealing vulnerabilities and playful stories.
• Memorable Britty Moment: “I would also tell people that I was a boy because I wanted to be a boy…The story I told was that I cut my penis off.” – Britty [08:00–09:41]
• Explores themes of childhood, gender fluidity, and growing self-awareness.

4. Hardcore Band Influence – Family, Community, and Friendship

[10:00–11:10]

• Anecdotes about growing up with siblings and forming lifelong bonds through music scenes.

5. Song Orchestration Aspirations

[12:01–13:26]

• If given an orchestra, which of their own songs would they reimagine?
  • Britty: “Plum” (Pity Sex) with orchestral addition [12:37]
  • Mike: “Undying Spirit” (Forced Order) [13:05]
  • Colin: “Six Feet Deep,” always wanted a symphony for the bridge [12:49]

6. Holy Grail & Favorite Band T-Shirts

[13:26–18:23]

• Each describes their "grail" band tee and favorite worn shirt, sparking a debate about vintage shirts and performativity in band fashion.
• “I think it’s a little performative too. Like, you weren’t alive. We know you weren’t…” – Britty [17:29]

7. Little Moments That Get You Through the Day

[19:39–25:46]

• Heartfelt exchange about dogs, coffee, friends, and humor as daily joys and roots of resilience.
• “Little moments that get you through the day. Dog, coffee, family, friends, and humor.” – Colin [25:46]

8. Top 5 Death Metal Tracks (Collectively Argued)

[25:51–29:09]

• Discussion of death metal canon, defining “the best” collectively:
  • Morbid Angel – “God of Emptiness”
  • Deicide – “When Satan Rules His World”
  • Suffocation – “Unjustly Accused”
  • Cannibal Corpse – “I Cum Blood”
  • Death – “Scavenger of Human Sorrow”
• Note: Britty good-naturedly recuses herself as not a death metal superfan.

9. Insights on Booking Guests for HardLore

[29:23–31:18]

• Colin reveals the blend of cold emails, PR agencies, and community referrals.
• “If you know me personally and you send your PR to email me…goodbye.” – Colin [30:01]

10. Best Live Sets Seen (2025–2026)

[31:24–33:39]

• Highlights: Mineral, Cox Bar at the Palladium, Soft Cult (notable “on a boat” set), and the joy in meeting influential musicians post-show.

11. Reflections on Grief, Senior Dog Adoptions, and Fate

[21:04–23:19] | [64:01–65:37]

• Stories of losing pets, fate in adopting dogs, and believing in signs from those lost.
• “There’s a difference between human religion and dog religion. I fully believe in dog Jesus.” – Colin [22:27]

12. Songwriting/Lyric Tips & Cringe

[51:20–54:57]

• Insights on vulnerability, context, and writing from instinct.
• “Song title first, and then I write around it.” – Colin [51:55]
• “If I don’t believe what you’re saying, even if it’s not true, I don’t like it.” – Mike [53:27]
• “Forever is a long, long time. And I’m like, that was beautiful how she said that.” – Britty [54:13]

13. Lyrical Tropes They Hate

[54:59–58:20]

• “Life and strife. Give it up. Knock it off. Quit.” – Colin on cliché rhymes [57:44]

14. Airline & Tour Survival Tips

[97:07–101:15]

• Delta is unanimously endorsed for reliability and musician perks.
• “It is 100% Delta…notifications that my bags are on the plane…” – Colin [97:19]

15. Top Hard/Non-Hardcore Punk EPs

[79:00–82:53]

• Classic mention: Youth of Today—Can’t Close My Eyes, Agnostic Front—United Blood, Minor Threat—Minor Threat, Breakdown—Blacklisted.
• Also, discussion of modern era standouts, e.g. Forced Order—Undying Spirit (Britty: “modern classic” [82:45])

16. Grief and Coping with Loss

[114:00–117:57]

• Acceptance, meaning-making, and helping others as methods of coping.
• “Closure is a dirty word…People are often striving for closure, and I just don’t think that it exists.” – Britty [114:25]

17. Most Sauced-Out Songs (i.e., the groove, the “sauce”)

[155:07–158:52]

• Frank Sinatra—My Way
• Paula Abdul—Straight Up
• Tracy Chapman—Fast Car
• Toto—Rosanna
• Bad Brains, Mineral, Tony Braxton, and more

18. Fun/Funny Tour Memories, Hardest Laughs

[149:44–154:25]

• Legendary anecdotes: Mike’s “Thanks, Colin” water bottle slip, Leo’s dance and “stupid” move, band hijinks, mistaken house invasions.

19. Enduring Connection to Bo & Reflections on the Afterlife

[64:01–66:45]

• Colin and friends imagine Bo “having private one-on-one conversations with Benjamin Franklin” [64:24], finally getting all the real history facts, and feeling relief from earthly anxieties.

20. Personal Growth: Lessons Learned This Year

[107:44–113:30]

• Britty: “I don’t want to work hard for the rest of my life” [109:22]
• Colin: “I feel very lonely and isolated, even when in rooms full of my friends.” [108:06]
• Mike: “It’s going to be okay…fear of failure being different from failure” [110:51–112:49]

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Memorable Quotes

• “Rest in peace, Lou. The best way you can celebrate him is listening to his message and paying it forward.” – Colin [02:30]
• “Closure is a dirty word.” – Britty [114:25]
• “I fully believe in dog Jesus.” – Colin [22:27]
• “Song title first, and then I write around it.” – Colin [51:55]
• “If I don’t trust you, I, lyrically...I don’t like it.” – Mike [53:27]
• “Life and strife. Give it up. Knock it off. Quit.” – Colin [57:44]
• “Who farts the more?” – Wedding DJ via Mike/Britty story [124:49]
• “You gotta be okay, because we must.” – Mike [70:27]
• “It’s okay to not want to always talk about it. It’s on your timeline...” – Britty [75:07]
• "We’re their whole lives. We love them more than they love us…I don’t know." – Mike [107:01]
• “That was Colin, by the way.” – Benjamin, after a childhood fart [174:09]

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Notable and Humorous Segments (with Timestamps)

• Childhood Fibs & Gender Discussion [07:19–09:41]
• T-Shirt Grails & Debate Over Band Tee “Performativity” [13:26–17:56]
• Songwriting Advice & Lyrical Tropes [51:20–58:20]
• Best/Worst Smells [128:26–130:14]
• Dog Stories & Fate [21:04–23:19]
• “Who Farts the More?” Wedding Story [124:43–126:26]
• Favorite “Sauced Out” Songs/Sauce in Music [155:09–158:52]
• Kids Piling ON vs. AROUND at Hardcore Shows [145:43–148:53]

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Timeline of Important Segments (Timestamps)

• Lou Koller Tribute & the Episode’s Purpose: [00:32–02:39]
• Favorite Childhood Lie (“fib”): [07:19–11:44]
• Orchestrating their Own Songs: [12:01–13:26]
• Tee Shirt Grails: [13:26–18:23]
• Little Moments of Daily Joy: [19:41–25:47]
• Top 5 Death Metal Songs: [25:51–29:09]
• Best Live Sets last 12mo: [31:24–33:39]
• Coping with Loss/Grief: [114:00–117:57]
• Most “Sauced-Out” Song: [155:09–158:52]
• Hardest Laugh on Tour: [149:44–151:29]
• Reflecting on Bo, Afterlife, and the Q&A’s meaning: [64:01–66:45]
• Lessons Learned This Year: [107:44–113:30]

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Episode Tone & Language

The episode flows from playful and irreverent (fib stories, tour mishaps, “who farts the more?”) to deeply sincere and supportive (discussions of loss, vulnerability, and personal growth).
Throughout, language remains candid, affectionate, occasionally hilarious, and always grounded in the speaker’s real emotions and community values. There’s teasing, gentle “therapy” talk, music nerdery, and an all-pervasive sense of familial camaraderie.

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For Further Listening / Episode Highlights

• Curious about more long-form Q&As or Bo's funniest moments? Listen back to previous "specials" and the episode archive.
• Playlist of "Essential Lou Koller/Sick Of It All" and "Most Sauced-Out Songs" – see episode description links.
• Community and Patreon details for submitting future questions and joining discussions.

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Closing

This episode is a love letter to friendship, music, vulnerability, and honoring those we lose—not just with words, but through action, creativity, and looking out for one another.

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Quote to Remember:
“We want to be okay. You know, we’re trying.” – Colin Young [71:28]

Tune in next quarter for another Q&A, and next week for a guest interview.

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Transcript

[Alec]

I wrote a little song to remind you.

[Mike Cesario]

Choice hotels get you more of the experiences you value. The Cambria Hotel's got it all.

[Alec]

A rooftop bar. Have a ball. Cocktails up here feel just right.

[Mike Cesario]

It's Cambria.

[Britta Drake]

Amazing.

[Alec]

All right, bring a date, your teen or even your mom. Book [e-mail] See you on the roof.

[Stephen]

Hey everybody.

[Alec]

Thank you for joining us this week

[Stephen]

for this very special Hard Lore Q and A episode. Before we get started, I wanted to say a few words for Lou from Sick of it all who we lost this past weekend. Lou is, simply put, one of the greatest and most important hardcore vocalists frontmen of all time. Lou and the rest of the band have been trailblazing and waving the flag for hardcore music for nearly four decades, and I would not be here in this chair talking to you right now without Sick of It all as part of that journey. Whether you know it or not, their influence can be seen and heard far and wide throughout hardcore as we know it today. From their first 7 inch on Revelation, the groundbreaking Blood Sweat, no Tears, Just Look Around, Scratch the Surface, Built to Last, Sick Of it all has been spreading the hardcore reality, for lack of a better term, farther, wider, and with greater reverence and respect. More than many bands ever will. Sick of it all is a band that never stopped bringing younger and smaller bands with them on tour. My second or third tour ever was playing drums for Alpha and Omega with Sikov it all on the West Coast. I was a bright eyed 18 year old looking at all the guys from the Step down video in awe every night and eating dinner with them and drinking sodas from their rider. Going from growing up idolizing them as musicians to spending that time on the road informed me so much about how to treat the younger generation when I got to my 20s and 30s. This has been a year of great loss for hardcore for myself, for many people we know. But it's these moments that bring us closer together and hopefully makes us just look around at the people and the bands all around us and how we need to appreciate each other while we're all still here. But the beautiful thing about art is, and the artists who make it is they do live forever through their work. I made a little intro to Sick of It all playlist that you can find in the description wherever you're listening to or watching this. And the best way you can celebrate Lou today is listening to his message and paying it forward. Rest in peace, Lou. This is the very first Q and A episode we've done since we lost My beloved Beau and I figured for such a special occasion I'd need a

[Alec]

little bit of help.

[Stephen]

So I enlisted Britta Drake and Mike Cesario, two of my very good friends, to join me for these questions submitted by you in the Hard Lore Discord and the Hard Lore Patreon.

[Alec]

So if you'd like to be part

[Stephen]

of these questions later on, join the Patreon at any tier. Join the Discord. It's free. We'd love to have you and we hope you enjoy this special Hard Lore Q and A.

[Alec]

We grew up in the whole hardcore scene and we have a great respect for it, you know, and we're always trying to keep it alive and keep it true, true. And the morals that we had when we first got into it, I mean, because even now kids who are in the hardcore scene, some of them we don't respect at all because they're very close minded, you know, to us the whole hardcore scene was about being open minded and that. And it had nothing to do with how tough you were, you know, how many tattoos you had. Hardcore.

[Britta Drake]

Foreign.

[Alec]

Hello, welcome. It's Hard Lore time. How you doing, Beau? Welcome back. We've got a very special Q and

[Stephen]

A episode this week.

[Alec]

It's been months since we did this and I figured for this first one back that I would be joined by some very special guests to help mark this momentous occasion. With me on my left, I have first Mr. From Placential California, Michael Cesario from Twitching Tongues, Disgrace. Holy Blade Creatures. What like this?

[Mike Cesario]

Stop, dude.

[Alec]

And so many more. One of my best friends in this world. Twitching Tongues OG drummer.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

So just a.

[Mike Cesario]

Love you, bro.

[Alec]

Love you too. Thanks for being here.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks for having me. Hey, I'm excited.

[Alec]

And coincidentally, his wife. But also the very talented Dreide Break of Pity, Sex Procession, sometimes Holy Blade and more.

[Britta Drake]

I'm the permanent fill in bassist.

[Alec]

Yeah, that's right, permanent fill in. Now you met, we were talking off camera about how you don't always like to be called Dr. Britti Drake. Yeah, you don't want to be like hello, formal all the time or what?

[Britta Drake]

No, I don't.

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Britta Drake]

I also don't know who that is, you know, like Dr. She's not my whole life. So I don't know. Also I just feel like it's very like, I don't know, performative a little bit. Okay, but you can.

[Alec]

But you did all that skewing, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I know. And there's like a lot of, I don't know, discourse about like whether or not a PhD should be called a doctor because it's confusing to people and

[Alec]

I thought the PsyD was the shitty one.

[Britta Drake]

No, she can't say that.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good. Not true.

[Britta Drake]

As I. D. Is an absolutely. An absolutely legitimate degree.

[Mike Cesario]

That one was off camera too, so.

[Alec]

No, she didn't say that. No, I just heard that from everyone else. No, I'm just kidding.

[Britta Drake]

They're very. It's just society gets a lot more training in clinical work, so they tend to be more well versed in that domain.

[Alec]

Okay. I've never done a lick of school in my life, so.

[Britta Drake]

Not even high school.

[Alec]

I did that. That doesn't count.

[Britta Drake]

It counts.

[Alec]

I have time.

[Mike Cesario]

I failed that shit and it was fine.

[Alec]

You in high school failed that shit. It's like one of the craziest guys ever.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, we talked about it last night.

[Alec]

We did.

[Mike Cesario]

When we're talking about your. Our favorite fib.

[Alec]

Were you ever caught for that arson?

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Britta Drake]

Stop.

[Mike Cesario]

They came to the house and I went.

[Britta Drake]

Statue.

[Mike Cesario]

Not wrong. Mike Cesario. I mean, come on. Different. Different person.

[Alec]

I promise.

[Britta Drake]

We need to Google that.

[Mike Cesario]

Good, good.

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And then the paintball. Kids on the street. Not in my neighborhood.

[Mike Cesario]

Not my neighborhood, motherfucker.

[Alec]

Right? Yeah, I like that.

[Mike Cesario]

That one was good.

[Alec]

Maybe we'll tell that one later. So, you know, everybody loves the Q and A specials. We used to love the Q and A specials. And I feel like they're. What kind of. Anybody can do an interview, you know, Anybody can talk to a guy and ask questions. But it's the stuff between all that that builds the kind of culture and community around what hard lore is. So we want to keep that going. We want to keep it. We don't want it to be all sentimental all the time. It's gotta be entertaining too. So let's get rocking.

[Britta Drake]

It's gonna be a little sentimental today for sure.

[Alec]

No, there's some questions in here that I'm sure will get us going. Last night. This is the day after Britti's birthday, by the way.

[Britta Drake]

That's true. It's my brother's birthday.

[Mike Cesario]

Say happy birthday, everybody.

[Alec]

And it's her birthday.

[Britta Drake]

Happy birthday, Brandon.

[Mike Cesario]

Happy birthday, Brandon. Drake.

[Alec]

We were talking to Circle about. You asked a very important question.

[Britta Drake]

Yes.

[Alec]

Can you ask it again?

[Britta Drake]

It is. What is your favorite fib? The you've told cuz everyone fibs. It happens.

[Alec]

Well, I mean, as a kid I vied for sport.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy to me.

[Alec]

Why?

[Mike Cesario]

I just like.

[Britta Drake]

He's very truthful. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Can't lie. That's why I Just burn things instead.

[Alec]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. It's easier to do it and then

[Britta Drake]

just lie about it when they come.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, then you have a good reason to lie. Like, guys, I ran away from you. Cops. I'm not going to.

[Alec]

What did you say was your favorite lie you've ever told?

[Mike Cesario]

It wasn't even. It was that when I didn't light it. I didn't run away from you. I promise.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Can't get me pretty.

[Alec]

What was yours?

[Britta Drake]

I have so many from childhood about my daycare to avoid getting in trouble, but I have one that I told for a very long time. Well, I, like, would tell people that my brother and I were twins because his birthday is the day after mine, so it's topical. But also, we were very close and looked very similar. And so I would also tell people that I was a boy because I wanted to be a boy. But the story that I told was that I cut my penis off.

[Alec]

You cut it off?

[Britta Drake]

And I told this to my mother was, like, not realizing that she knew that that was not true.

[Alec]

You told your mother that you cut your penis off?

[Britta Drake]

I was like, mom, I'm a boy. And she was like, you're not. I know.

[Mike Cesario]

And then she fibbed, and she was like, you're right.

[Britta Drake]

And then she was like, well, where's your penis, genius? Which.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, wait, I put it in the room.

[Alec]

Wait, now, as a therapist, right?

[Britta Drake]

I know you think about this now, right? Like, what. What would have been.

[Alec]

What did this mean?

[Britta Drake]

What does it mean? I mean, I think I've just always been a little bit gender fluid, which I'm cool with, you know,

[Alec]

that's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

But, yes, I. I felt caught in the lie and said. And I remember we had a drawer with the scissors because, you know, you have, like, one pair of scissors in your household.

[Alec]

Were they the kitchen scissors?

[Britta Drake]

No, we didn't have kitchen scissors. I don't know why. We only had, like, office.

[Alec]

I think families either only use the kitchen scissors for everything or don't have the kitchen scissors.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Well, I told my mom I cut it off with the office scissors because it was bothering me, which I thought was really understood.

[Alec]

I mean, it's cool. You. It's same, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Right. And she clearly knew that I was lying, but I didn't know.

[Alec]

How did she know?

[Britta Drake]

I was like. How does she know? I was that young, though.

[Alec]

That's a good one, you know?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, it's a good fib.

[Alec]

That's a good lie.

[Britta Drake]

It's a good fib. Also on, like, Roll call at school, they would call my name and I would, like, say, here also, I'm a boy. Like, just so you know.

[Alec]

I think this is something we should talk about.

[Britta Drake]

I'm happy to talk about it.

[Mike Cesario]

Did your brother like having a brother?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, he loved it. Yeah. I just wanted to be just like him. He. He's so cool.

[Mike Cesario]

He's an older brother. You guys have older brothers? I just.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, you get it.

[Mike Cesario]

I've never. I don't have an older brother.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Only older sisters. Yeah, you got hella sisters.

[Mike Cesario]

They love it, though. They look at me, they're like, I'm the little boy.

[Britta Drake]

And they're like, he's really good at being a little brother.

[Alec]

I've seen it happen.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

All the time. You can't take me anywhere.

[Alec]

No, no, I'm. I love taking you places.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks, bro. I love being with you at place.

[Alec]

Thanks, man. Yeah, it's one of the best. My favorite lie is probably the. The Dragon Ball Z1 that I revealed in the.

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy. You gotta be like that for Halloween.

[Alec]

Say it again. I mean, so when I moved to California, I didn't have a lot of friends. When I was going to move to California, I didn't have a ton of friends. Started acting in Connecticut. And then when, because we were moving to California, I told everybody I knew that I was playing Krillin and the Dragon Ball Z movie coming out.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, good.

[Alec]

And they all believed me. And it completely changed my life. But also, something else that happened when I started acting was. I started at this. It was the Hartford Children's Theater, it was called. And it was like kind of a summer camp type thing. And most kids there were Jewish. So I told them all I was Jewish. I wanted to fit in naturally. I didn't know that a Jewish parent can look at you and know whether or not you're Jewish, you know? So then. So I come back one day and like, all the parents have convened and the kids are like. My dad said, you're not Jewish.

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy.

[Alec]

And it was humiliating to not be Jewish with this camp.

[Mike Cesario]

Wow, that's interesting.

[Alec]

It really haunts me.

[Mike Cesario]

The parents, they saw you and they were just like.

[Alec]

Well, then. Well, I went over for dinner to one of them, to one of the houses one night, and they were like, what's your father's name? And it was like, dan Young. It was like, what's your mother's name? Theresa Young. And they're looking at each other like, this kid's not right.

[Britta Drake]

Mm.

[Alec]

Fucking lying son Of a bitch. All right, here we go. Let's get into it. We got questions here from our Patreon and our Discord. This is a good question, and we can all answer this. Sure. It's no secret you're inspired by a lot of classical music. That is true. What songs from your own catalog would you most like to perform with an orchestra, given the opportunity?

[Mike Cesario]

Our own bands.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, man. You want to go first?

[Britta Drake]

No, because I don't really with classical music too much.

[Alec]

Yeah. You don't like horns and trumpets and

[Mike Cesario]

strings and she does. She likes the cello.

[Britta Drake]

I do like the cello.

[Mike Cesario]

I know. That's a great.

[Britta Drake]

I gotta think about it a lot.

[Mike Cesario]

So. What?

[Alec]

Pity sex songs? Getting some.

[Britta Drake]

I'll say. Plum.

[Mike Cesario]

That's a good one.

[Britta Drake]

I think that. I think, like, there's a part that, you know, could benefit from having orchestral instruments. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

All right. Call you. I'll be thinking mine. You got a lot of.

[Alec]

When I. When I wrote Six Feet Deep, the.

[Mike Cesario]

That's funny.

[Alec]

The bridge part.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I heard a full symphony in it, so I want that. So if you're listening. If your symphonies. If you're listening. If you want to just go to town on that, I would love to hear it.

[Mike Cesario]

I. I don't know. Four stories. Last record we have the song Undying Spirit. And there's like. There's a handful of layers, but it'd be cool if it was just every layer. Every layer possible. It's already instrumental, so I think that's why I went to Mike's.

[Alec]

Four stories.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, but that makes sense.

[Alec]

And.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. There we go.

[Alec]

Unbelievable. What's your Holy Grail T shirt?

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, man.

[Alec]

And what is your favorite T shirt that you own? And if you got your grail T shirt, would you cut it up? Yeah, I probably would, but in a way where. So I just got really into hemming stuff.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Alec]

The thing is, when you're a grown up, if you have something that's too big, you can just fit it to your body.

[Britta Drake]

You can?

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

You could do this your whole life and I had no idea.

[Britta Drake]

It's a secret.

[Mike Cesario]

I used to do that. I mean, I have an integrity long sleeve that I did that for.

[Alec]

You hemmed it.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, my grand. My Nona did it. Oh. And it was awesome.

[Alec]

All right.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, she's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Nona's so around.

[Alec]

Oh, really?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, but it's fine.

[Alec]

Dude.

[Stephen]

What?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, she's like 99 years old.

[Alec]

She's alive.

[Mike Cesario]

She's awesome.

[Stephen]

She's alive.

[Britta Drake]

She's still sewing.

[Alec]

Dude, that's awesome.

[Mike Cesario]

She's handing me shirts, too, dude.

[Alec]

She's such a legend.

[Mike Cesario]

She's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

She really is.

[Alec]

Has she seen any reptiles lately, dude?

[Mike Cesario]

No. She's a reptile, dude.

[Alec]

Wow. Dude, I'm so psyched. She's alive.

[Mike Cesario]

She's awesome.

[Alec]

I had no idea.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, she used to have. She used to have my long sleeves, which, you know, this is up right now. She doesn't.

[Alec]

She got to get the.

[Mike Cesario]

I know. I got to go.

[Stephen]

Wow.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, she's awesome.

[Alec]

Dude, that's so sick. She's alive. What is your Holy Grail T shirt? And what's your favorite T shirt, Brit?

[Britta Drake]

I mean, Greg gave me my Holy Grail T shirt.

[Mike Cesario]

That is true. That's fucking sick.

[Alec]

The Seppler demo tee.

[Britta Drake]

Yup.

[Alec]

Yeah. That's cool.

[Britta Drake]

It was authenticated by Chris.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. That's probably my Holy Grail T shirt.

[Alec]

You own it?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I feel like for me, there's maybe like a Slayer shirt probably. There's a few. The one that had the 1989. It's like the. I think you have. It's got the school in the front.

[Alec]

The Vermont.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes. Yeah, that one's awesome. There's also one that's like, tie dye. That's pretty cool. It's got, like, the. The Slayer logo with the swords in it. Yeah, I used to have it, and it was had. It was a large, so it was the size it was for a baby. A child, but. And then my favorite. It was a fair one we own, probably. I used to say, this Burning Spirits shirt I have.

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

But this is kind of new one. I love this one. I mean, I just got it, so.

[Alec]

Get that in Thailand.

[Mike Cesario]

I did get in Thailand, so.

[Alec]

I mean, shout out. Can't wait to go to Thailand.

[Britta Drake]

What's yours?

[Alec]

Mine is the chrome X down but not out. 89.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that one's.

[Alec]

When I was a kid, that was that, like, when no shirts were over 50. That was 200.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

So I remember being young and being like, that's the grill. $200 for a shirt. Like, I'll never have $200. And now it's like 1,000 and I'm. What am I. I'm not doing that.

[Mike Cesario]

What about. What about a shirt you. It's. I mean, it is the Grail shirt, but honestly, thinking about it, I think Dorian has a shirt. It's the crowbar on maroon. Yeah. I don't have that with a pocket print. It's got the cross on it. It's not like a Grail shirt. But it's like, I've always wanted it.

[Alec]

I have zero old crowbar shirts or Murad. Now it's impossible.

[Mike Cesario]

Marauder on burgundy as well. Or maroon.

[Alec]

Yeah, I have that.

[Mike Cesario]

That shirt's.

[Alec]

I have the first Marauder shirt. And to me, that's probably my favorite. That's probably this from the year I was born.

[Britta Drake]

What about shirt that you own?

[Alec]

That's the one that's your favorite? I have the first Marauder shirt.

[Mike Cesario]

That one's. That's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Can I say my favorite shirt I own, please? Right now, it's this one. It's the Pluto's Kiss.

[Alec]

Oh.

[Britta Drake]

Just. I really like the baby tee. More bands need to do it.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Specifically this color.

[Alec]

Baked songs.

[Britta Drake]

No, it's not.

[Alec]

Oh.

[Britta Drake]

In my opinion.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

I liked it.

[Mike Cesario]

You should try baby tee on.

[Alec]

Okay. We made one. We made one a couple years ago and it killed, honestly.

[Mike Cesario]

Did you try it on first, make sure it fit? No. All right.

[Britta Drake]

I also don't really like vintage Turners

[Alec]

because of the fit.

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

No.

[Alec]

Don't be buying big ass shirts.

[Mike Cesario]

No, it's not.

[Britta Drake]

I'm not gonna do that, first of all. Second of all, they're dirty.

[Alec]

Oh, I got crazy. Like, there's this AF shirt I have with like 40 year old pit stains in it.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, man, that's awesome. Yeah.

[Alec]

And I can't get it out.

[Mike Cesario]

It's the crust, is it not the dust.

[Britta Drake]

Can I also say something? I think it's a little performative too. Like, you weren't alive. We know you weren't.

[Alec]

Right.

[Britta Drake]

But it's a historical. Really? Is that what we're gonna say?

[Alec]

Do you collect anything? I agree that it is performative, but it's also like.

[Britta Drake]

And I perform sometimes. Don't get me wrong.

[Alec]

I think it's more performative than ever now, but I think when it was like, so barely a thing when we were younger.

[Mike Cesario]

Hear me out, Brit. If you hate it, it's so easy

[Alec]

to get old shirts from.

[Britta Drake]

True. No, I love having, like a piece of history. I think that's really cool. And I also think it's a little bit like we're putting on a costume.

[Mike Cesario]

But how about this? You love something so much. Yeah. If you were to come walk into the house, sure. There's. There's a 95% chance I'm just sitting there watching a morbid angel video. And then if I'm wearing this.

[Alec]

Yeah. You feel.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm like, fuck. You know, like, I'm like. I'm there.

[Alec]

I cannot stand when I see A band promo with no band shirts in it. It's a legit, like, that's fair, deep pet peeve of mine.

[Britta Drake]

I don't like that either. I also like when it's a newer band, I'm like, oh, they're rocking.

[Alec]

That's cool.

[Britta Drake]

Newer band.

[Alec]

Yeah. I'm not saying wear vintage shirts and your things, but, like, I like being able to look at this band before I hear them and know what they're about.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. In love, there was no law.

[Alec]

We were fit, fitted up.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, there was one promo where I did. I didn't bring a band shirt, and I regret it. I wore, like, a fucking hoodie with a white well.

[Alec]

Sleep therapy. You wore the fucking. The Tupac shirt.

[Mike Cesario]

That was kind of.

[Alec]

And that was sick.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that was dope.

[Alec]

Yeah. I mean, I, I, it is objectively performative.

[Britta Drake]

I also understand, but not everything performative is bad. No, I know. It's a social signal. We're trying to say, like, hey, I like this.

[Alec]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

That's now you know I'm cool. I, I mean, tattoo.

[Mike Cesario]

But also, you want to talk to whatever people that, like Plutus kiss or entombed or Morbid Angel.

[Alec]

Well, think about the Slayer guy video where he's like, you see a guy walking down the street, you see that Slayer shirt? He goes, slayer.

[Britta Drake]

That's awesome.

[Mike Cesario]

I would do that.

[Alec]

You have an immediate signal of relation to a person.

[Mike Cesario]

One of the best things ever, which is why we're here.

[Alec]

That's why we're here.

[Mike Cesario]

Shirts.

[Britta Drake]

We all met because of Slayer shirts.

[Alec]

This is a great question.

[Mike Cesario]

Amen.

[Alec]

What are the little moments that get you through the day?

[Mike Cesario]

Little moments? Yeah, she's sitting to my left.

[Alec]

That was beautiful.

[Mike Cesario]

That was beautiful. It's actually over. Yeah. You can't see her, but. No, it's you. Or actually, I know your answer probably,

[Britta Drake]

but you go, I want you to answer it for me.

[Mike Cesario]

Starts with G. Yeah. And it's silent for Gnocchi.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Our baby.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Gnocchi, our dog.

[Alec]

I would say most of our answers would probably be dog related.

[Britta Drake]

Also, yours starts with a G. Oh, yeah.

[Alec]

It starts with a G, starts with a C, and starts with a T. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

All of them.

[Alec]

Anna. It used to start with a Z, but.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, she's.

[Britta Drake]

But now. Yeah.

[Alec]

Yeah. I haven't told that on here at all. I should probably talk about it.

[Britta Drake]

Maybe it's the time we talk about it.

[Alec]

Maybe it's time. So on May 13th. May 13th is when both the Jade and Chris Connelly episodes were recorded back to back. Those are the first two episodes. May 14, we were scheduled to have Converge on. It was gonna be me, Taylor, Jake and Kurt, which it'll happen at some point that morning. My dog Zoe passed away at like 7:00am so we're, you know, I'm holding her and I'm thinking like, man, we got this fucking Converge episode coming. So I'll go do that and then I'll break down and let it all hit. Did not happen. Broke down earlier, went home, was horizontal for about 36 hours. And so Zoe was a miniature schnauzer. Beautiful girl, just the best.

[Britta Drake]

Sweetest.

[Alec]

The sweetest girl. And we were lamenting the fact. And that's not an easy breed to just like rescue, which I would not at this point in my life. Not rescue. I will always rescue. So we're lamenting the fact that we'll never have another schnauzer. Cause they're so hard to find. But we look anyway. We just search. Miniature schnauzer, Southern California. There's one result that pops up within 100 miles in Lake Elsinore, where Steven's from. And it's a four year old retired breeding dog up for adoption. And she's a miniature schnauzer and her name was Zoe. So it was like, okay, it's called fate. Come on, what are we gonna do?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Drove over there, picked her up the next day. Her name is now two O E Y tu E. Which is what Seymour calls Audrey two in a little shop of horrors. And she's Zoe too, so. And she's amazing. Here she is. Gorgeous, gorgeous dog.

[Britta Drake]

So cute. So cute in such fate.

[Mike Cesario]

You didn't meet her recently, right?

[Britta Drake]

I haven't met her, no.

[Alec]

Oh, you were sure about her.

[Britta Drake]

I've only seen. I know. She should be here right now. She should be the guest soon though.

[Mike Cesario]

We'll meet her soon.

[Britta Drake]

But I was gonna say I do believe in. I know you're not blank religious, but I believe that all of our dogs have been brought to us by our other dogs.

[Alec]

Yeah, I think there's a difference between human religion and dog religion.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah.

[Alec]

I fully believe in dog Jesus.

[Britta Drake]

Okay.

[Alec]

Like. Like there's no way they're not all in a better place together.

[Britta Drake]

Sure.

[Alec]

You know?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, yeah. My dad actually has this story about his dog died who he loved. I mean, he was. I mean, just his world. He was also passive aggressively threatening to move out when we decided to get this dog.

[Mike Cesario]

That's funny.

[Alec]

It's always how it is.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I fell, fell in love with this dog and he was, like, with him through my mom dying and, like, just was, like, a big part of his life. And when he died, he went out to look at the sky in Grand Ledge, Michigan, and said, if I'm gonna see Smeagol, his name was. I named him Smeagol. If I'm gonna see Smeagol again in heaven, show me a sign. And there was a shooting star.

[Mike Cesario]

I know we've done the same thing for every dog that's placed.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, we got it all.

[Mike Cesario]

We there. The signs are there.

[Alec]

Yeah. You guys are the. You guys, like, so heavily inspired us on the senior dog.

[Mike Cesario]

It's. I mean, it's worth living for.

[Alec]

It's so validating. And, yeah, those are the little moments that get you through the day.

[Britta Drake]

They really are.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And we literally go on dog walks and we go, isn't this worth living? I know it sounds corny, but it's.

[Britta Drake]

Our banter during a dog walk is, look at him. Would you look at him?

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy. Look at the way he walks right now.

[Alec]

I wish that I felt that way outside, but mine are straight up terrorists.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, yeah. I mean, Yoka's kind of horrific.

[Alec]

Dogs outside, they transform into pieces of shit. Holiday, is that like, whoa. Jumping in ways you've never seen things jump.

[Britta Drake]

I don't feel that way about Holiday on a walk. Like, she is pulling. She's, like, dislocating several of my joints,

[Mike Cesario]

but doing it with the most joy, which is how I know she's happy. She's going to heaven because she's just the most innocent.

[Alec]

They're all going to heaven.

[Britta Drake]

Those are the moments. Wait, was yours George? Well, I just assumed. George.

[Alec]

I think. I think, man, it's hard because a lot of days are hard to get through. Having a great cup of coffee, you know, really important. An affirming moment with an animal helps a lot, getting little things done, you know?

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, man.

[Alec]

One task a day, maybe.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, those are the best.

[Alec]

It's really hard.

[Mike Cesario]

I also think that the, like, our friends. Community of, like. Yeah, it's. It's inspiring and gets you to. Gets me doing more, you know?

[Britta Drake]

Also humor, I would say. Like the picture that Taylor just sent us.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, that was funny. Well, probably that's what I mean by, like, friends. Like, seeing people that care about you or you care about someone else.

[Alec]

It's hard. I mean, it's. And if anybody has any advice for little moms to get through the day, I'd love to hear it, because I think this show is, like, a very. It can Be a very, like, lonely thing to make. And obviously I have Stephen with it, but when my week to week process is like based around the celebration of other people's art.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know, so like, it's like, okay, I did that. I did my work this week. Stephen did his work this week onto the next one kind of. So it can feel very isolating and it. Not that it's not rewarding. It's very rewarding. And. And it's great.

[Stephen]

But yeah.

[Alec]

Little moments that get you through the day. Dog, coffee, family, friends.

[Britta Drake]

And human.

[Alec]

And human. Ooh, that's a big question.

[Stephen]

I'm.

[Alec]

Five death metal tracks of all time.

[Mike Cesario]

Death metal tracks?

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, man, I have to recuse myself because I just.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, we can. We can think of five collectively instead of individual five.

[Britta Drake]

Can we?

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, five is tough.

[Alec]

Five is crazy. Fight. All whole genre.

[Britta Drake]

Just Despised Icon count.

[Mike Cesario]

No, no, I'm out. But let's.

[Alec]

Let's round it down. Tracks.

[Mike Cesario]

Tracks. I mean, let's think about.

[Alec]

So what more random song are we picking?

[Mike Cesario]

God of Emptiness.

[Alec]

It has to be.

[Mike Cesario]

It's God of Emptiness or God of Emptiness is like the best song.

[Alec]

Like realistically think about them presenting that to like Mozart or Bach or Beethoven.

[Mike Cesario]

That's the orchestra.

[Alec]

They would generally be like, astounding.

[Mike Cesario]

What's the best part? Where the. No crashing in the. You know what I'm talking about?

[Alec]

Yeah. I mean the chapter three with the. With the singing part.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Alec]

What is. What did he say? What's the ad lib?

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, you're talking with the live video. Say it, say it, say it. He's just like.

[Alec]

It's unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that's. Okay. So God of. Easy, Easy. Top five other death metal.

[Stephen]

What.

[Alec]

What Deicide song am I picking?

[Mike Cesario]

You pick a D. I mean, is it on?

[Alec]

I would say When Satan Rules His World is probably in my top.

[Mike Cesario]

5 is a fetus song up there because it's like, that's not classic death metal, but like, it's the best modern death that.

[Alec]

Yeah, modern as is post 1990.

[Mike Cesario]

Is it unjustful? That's the one.

[Alec]

Is that their best song?

[Mike Cesario]

I don't know, but that's.

[Alec]

Praise the Lord. You with that one.

[Britta Drake]

No, I'm sorry, guys.

[Alec]

No, that's.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, it's just.

[Britta Drake]

It's not for me.

[Alec]

Well, you know, it's of the.

[Mike Cesario]

This is actually. This might be. This is a top five.

[Alec]

Is it because of Big jc?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, I got a top five for this one. And it's. It's maybe oh, it's not off your radar, but it's not. Maybe not in your top five. And it's Behemoth, Slaves shall serve you.

[Alec]

Would you call Behemoth a straight up death metal band?

[Mike Cesario]

Black and death metal, for sure. Okay, yeah, that would. They call themselves. Okay, but like, when it comes to extreme music that. I mean, Demigods is number one maybe. Which is crazy. But, you know, we're not talking. You don't usually bring up behemoth and death metal.

[Alec]

I don't.

[Mike Cesario]

I don't either.

[Alec]

I would call him a more black

[Mike Cesario]

man, which now for sure.

[Alec]

Yeah, they got the gimmicks and stuff,

[Mike Cesario]

you know, but that. Right. I mean. Okay, so Sappho Runs of Blood. Yeah, I mean. Okay, so is there another Morbid angel song?

[Alec]

I would. I would. I would probably put a death song, maybe. Camel Corpse.

[Mike Cesario]

For sure. I Come Blood.

[Alec]

What's the best Camel Corps song?

[Mike Cesario]

You know is that one?

[Alec]

No, it's Icon Blood.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, dude, the riff.

[Alec]

I mean, Hammer Smash Face is their most iconic song.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, there's. Yeah, there's a lot, but they're all. They're all within the same of being like, this is just as good as another one. You can't. It's hard to pick one. So I would do Icon Blood if I were to do. That's awesome. That's good. I've Come Blood. Morbid Angel. Deide. We have suffocation. And then you said Death.

[Alec]

Death.

[Mike Cesario]

That's five.

[Alec]

Scavenger of Human Sorrow.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, I mean, that's. That changed the game.

[Alec]

Yeah. It's like Prague, but.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah, it's fine. But it makes sense for what it was. That's good. I like that. Brady didn't choose anyway. She said Morbid Angel.

[Britta Drake]

No, I didn't.

[Alec]

I love Morbid Angel.

[Britta Drake]

I think we should just make Despised Icons.

[Alec]

Sure.

[Mike Cesario]

Why don't we retract one? Put Despised Icon.

[Alec]

Sounds good.

[Britta Drake]

I don't know. I don't have a song off the top of my head, but this is

[Alec]

the one with the gold foil hoodie.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good. I like that.

[Alec]

Somebody said, I'm curious what the booking process is like at this stage of the show. Is it friend to friend, referrals, cold DMs, or do you have people reaching out? It's a good question. I do be cold. Emailing. I sent one last night that I'm shivering in my boots about. A lot of it is. Let me tell you something.

[Mike Cesario]

Hear it.

[Alec]

Pr. Useless. Some of them are great now. A few. A few of them are great, but my God.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I only have miscommunications with. With public relations people.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Having, like, a middle person there is. It seems like, tough if you also.

[Alec]

If you know me personally and you send your PR to email me. You. Goodbye.

[Britta Drake]

I don't really like, you know, I don't really like the fact that there is. I understand it's necessary for a lot of people, and I think we need to move away from it.

[Mike Cesario]

From what?

[Britta Drake]

It's time to move away from PR people.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I mean, the crazy thing is, you'll see like. I mean, our favorite biggest band ever, Turnstile, doing something, and you're like, this is crazy. I'm so psyched to see him on this, like, TV show.

[Alec]

I mean, that's not even. That's pr. It's just great management.

[Britta Drake]

Different.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I don't know. I just think.

[Alec]

Well, it's tough. I mean, it's like, obviously Olivia Rodrigo needs a publicist.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know, she needs a.

[Mike Cesario]

She's busy, I'm sure.

[Alec]

But, like, the. The lower tier HC band. Come on.

[Britta Drake]

It's just like, kind of getting away from, like, just send me email, you

[Mike Cesario]

know, or, you know, I mean, punk ethics in general. Just like, that's. It's. The community is there for you.

[Britta Drake]

I love when people just DM me like, hey, do you want to do this? I'm like, probably.

[Alec]

Yeah, I like that too.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I'm like, actually, I don't always see it, and that's maybe the problem.

[Britta Drake]

That happens sometimes. Yeah, but. Or I forget about it. I just remember it. I have to respond to somebody. But it's nice. I'm like, yeah, you can just ask.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

But also, not that many people are hitting me up, so that could be part of it. I don't need a PR person.

[Alec]

What are some of the best live sets you've seen this year?

[Mike Cesario]

Seen this year? Let me think. We're in August.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, okay. So wait, does this year count? Last year, like, from like a. A calendar year?

[Mike Cesario]

Say 2026. Yeah, that's better.

[Britta Drake]

Please. I got one from last.

[Alec]

Okay. July 2025 to July 2026.

[Britta Drake]

Okay.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

Mineral.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, my God. You have to say that. That's too good.

[Britta Drake]

No, I have to say it.

[Mike Cesario]

That's too perfect. Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

That was in R, Kylie.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Amazing set. Probably the most proud moment of my life was seeing r. Just seeing them. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Or meeting her was awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, I met her. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You told her a great story.

[Britta Drake]

I did tell her.

[Mike Cesario]

You should tell the story.

[Britta Drake]

I said I covered this song when I was 15, and it's about. It's very. Well, it's adult content. And she was like, well, I'm sure you understood the nuances when you were 15. And I was like, yeah, I was really dressed.

[Mike Cesario]

It was so funny. But it was. It was awesome.

[Britta Drake]

No, she was saying it very kindly, like in a. Yeah, it was kind.

[Alec]

I gotta get her on here, man.

[Mike Cesario]

Capri to FYI.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

That was awesome.

[Mike Cesario]

That was very cool.

[Alec]

I forgot about that. Da was this year.

[Mike Cesario]

It was one of those things where you were just like.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You look at the person next, you go, you know?

[Alec]

That was good.

[Mike Cesario]

That was awesome.

[Alec]

Cox Bar Palladium.

[Mike Cesario]

I wish I was there.

[Britta Drake]

Mike really wanted to go.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Damn.

[Alec]

It was unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

They sounded perfect.

[Britta Drake]

I feel like there's more we could name.

[Alec]

We're coming back, dude. It was incredible. They came back.

[Britta Drake]

Soft Cult.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, man.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Because that's last year. Soft.

[Alec]

Cool.

[Mike Cesario]

Also here was this year. Was it?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, that was this year. But on the boat was really special. That was, like, an intimate and, like, experience.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

It was on a boat.

[Mike Cesario]

Boat.

[Britta Drake]

It was on a boat.

[Mike Cesario]

That was awesome.

[Alec]

That was awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I feel like there's so many more we could name, but that was good.

[Mike Cesario]

Mineral was one of the best ones ever. Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

There's so many more, though.

[Mike Cesario]

We met the singer afterwards.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

He was like.

[Britta Drake]

He looked at me like he was bestowing a gift of, like, from God to me. Like, he's very. He is very religious. If you listen to the lyrics. I was like, you're. I just. I don't even know what I said. I kind of blacked out. And he looked like an angel looking down at me.

[Mike Cesario]

His voice was so perfect, too. So it was just, like, actually angelic. It was awesome. We hold that. That's what gets us through. That's what gets us through the day. The little moments.

[Britta Drake]

I got some pictures of it, too. My friend was taking pictures of me.

[Alec]

Come on, Bob.

[Britta Drake]

We're, like, cheesing out with them.

[Alec]

Somebody said. Angus Doherty said the Ruckus LP is one of the most underrated HC records from 2012. No, Skips.

[Mike Cesario]

Come on.

[Alec]

That is not true.

[Britta Drake]

Ruckus is a good.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, more of a human pollution.

[Alec]

Hey, thanks, man. Can you talk about writing those songs with Taylor? Did you feel like that record was a big accomplishment, or were your aspirations with TT and Taylor's with Disgrace?

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, interesting.

[Alec]

Kind of overshadowing this at the time.

[Mike Cesario]

So.

[Alec]

No, let me set this timeline for you. That was recorded in 2010.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And it took two years to come out. So by the time it came out we were like, fuck this thing. And also it was supposed to be pre production. So that's why I do the same fill like 30 times. So Taylor absolutely fucked me by making this the final drum. It was two different drum sessions. Both were meant to be pre production. He fucked me. I like a lot of the songs, but I think they. It sounds two years too late. And it sounds. You can tell it's 2010 because we're doing early twitching tongue stuff in it when it's supposed to be this kind of like ignorant beat down band. I think we were a little late. I think the early Ruckus stuff more has more of its own kind of identity.

[Mike Cesario]

The split, it felt like you were like, yeah, you were more active. And it came late. Like.

[Alec]

Yeah, it was just a little too late because did take over as our priority. Disgrace and Ruckus had zero creative overlap at all. And that's mostly because of you and Kyle grinding on Disgrace for years before Taylor was really even involved.

[Mike Cesario]

Which is really crazy to think about. Yeah, like we wrote the first. It's a 12 inch but the first EP, everything was written and we're like, who do we get to sing? And we always like, it was from Ruckus.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

We're like, yeah. I mean that's why we were like, dude, he sounds sick. Yeah, we want him like to sing. And then we just asked him. He was down.

[Britta Drake]

And he's got good to say, dude,

[Alec]

he does got some on. He's got some demons, man. Got a lot of things on his mind.

[Mike Cesario]

He sounds better than ever.

[Alec]

Since Grace is the greatest man of all time.

[Britta Drake]

I even agree with that.

[Alec]

Thank you, Brittany.

[Britta Drake]

I even agree with that.

[Mike Cesario]

Thank you.

[Britta Drake]

And it's not my shit. But also I love. I think when Taylor is walking around pacing, he is. He's just brewing some. Some goated lyrics.

[Alec]

Honestly, he's not. I think. I think nothing in this world causes him more pain and anxiety than I could.

[Mike Cesario]

But that's why it's special. That's why the lyrics are the five

[Alec]

times he does it every six years really.

[Mike Cesario]

And. And I mean he's saving his best content, right?

[Britta Drake]

That's what's happening. He's just scrapping all the crap, you know, only putting out the good stuff

[Alec]

for my guitar people. What are your consensuses? Consensuses on amp modelers like Cortex Helix.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, well, my first amp was a Line 6 Spider 2 combo. That's real, dude. Yeah, it's sick. They have it's mo. It's a modeler.

[Alec]

That went to insane.

[Mike Cesario]

It went to insane. And then the next one had the Lacuna coil tone.

[Alec]

Was it called Lacuna Coil?

[Mike Cesario]

It was Lacuna Coil.

[Alec]

Are you serious?

[Mike Cesario]

It was sick.

[Alec]

I branded.

[Mike Cesario]

That was the Spider three or four.

[Alec]

Wait, the spider three or four says Lacuna.

[Mike Cesario]

You can do like a Slayer tone. They probably don't know that's awesome. But they have Lacuna Coil one. I remember going like, you know, Kyle's like, dude, they got the Lacuna coin. I was like, all right, well, I don't really need this. I can plug into my computer nowadays. So I didn't get it. But as for to answer your question, I mean, we're all searching for the tone. There's no. Nothing beats an analog thing. It's kind of like why I sit and watch morbid angel videos. It's the real thing.

[Alec]

The real thing.

[Mike Cesario]

It's the best thing you've ever seen. So nothing beats the real thing. If it sounds like shit, then that's what you got.

[Alec]

You know, I think if you're obviously a band like Knock Lewis is gonna sound really good with them.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, they'll sound good with or without problem.

[Alec]

Exactly. They've got the right person doing front of house, dialing it in where it's right. The wrong person picking up a quad cortex and trying to dial that in is gonna sound soulless and lifeless. And I'd rather a shitty amp than a great quad cortex.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I do think more of the feeling and the nuance of guitarist comes from the playing more than the.

[Alec]

I mean, of course.

[Mike Cesario]

So like I practiced. We were practicing for. I think it was. Detroit was a tie down show and Kyle had one for the first time. He's like, I don't know how to use this shit. But it sounded fucking sick.

[Alec]

Yeah. Because he's gone.

[Mike Cesario]

He's gone special. I don't think he would ever get a special case.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I would say I've had the same amp since I bought my first amp. And it's awesome. And I don't know what you guys are talking about.

[Alec]

What amp is it?

[Britta Drake]

It's deluxe reverb.

[Alec]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Cool.

[Britta Drake]

And I just bought it for $200 off of like Craigslist, I think. Yeah. Why would I replace it?

[Mike Cesario]

I want to. I want to. I want to come back to the. When we saw Mineral real quick, we liked it so much that we were able to like, after this, after the set, they're bringing their amps back and I like took a Picture of his amp. Because I was like, I need that. I need to know why it sounds this. It's a baseman 135 for guitar. He's playing it through for guitar. So what I did is I. I looked on Reverb and found the shittiest basement 135. Because they're kind of expensive. So I'm yet to restore the shell of it because it's like in terrible condition, but I did all that.

[Alec]

You're gonna wood it up?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, yeah, it's. I have it in the house.

[Alec]

Mike made this, by the way.

[Mike Cesario]

Hell yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Wood.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks.

[Britta Drake]

He also made a new shelf for my aunt.

[Mike Cesario]

I gotta keep doing it.

[Alec]

He's the greatest carpenter since Jesus Christ.

[Mike Cesario]

Jesus. Yeah. Please. Look at us.

[Britta Drake]

Many are saying.

[Alec]

Everybody's saying this, but no.

[Mike Cesario]

So when it comes to a tonal thing, that's. And there's. That's what I want. There isn't going to be a pedal that says no, no, no. And it. Who would have thought to a basement 135 out of a guitar.

[Alec]

Christian only.

[Mike Cesario]

Which is so funny. I'm wearing, like, just.

[Alec]

Yeah, it's awesome.

[Mike Cesario]

You know? It's awesome.

[Alec]

Anyway, somebody said top 10 LA food spots, but let's just say our number one restaurant in Los Angeles right now.

[Britta Drake]

Like, our number one.

[Mike Cesario]

Our favorite right now.

[Alec]

Yeah, right now.

[Stephen]

Favorite right now.

[Mike Cesario]

You can say you want for your birthday.

[Britta Drake]

No, it's not my favorite. I love it. It's not my favorite.

[Mike Cesario]

I'll choose Masiels Macy's. I'm going to say. I'm going to say Ma. Because my code.

[Alec]

I thought it was pretty good.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I mean, as for a place, I would go and feel satisfied, happy, and very thankful that they're around, I would choose them.

[Britta Drake]

I mean, I love them.

[Mike Cesario]

And that's in Highland Park.

[Alec]

And when vegan. Vegan places are closing left and right.

[Mike Cesario]

They can't be.

[Alec]

Nobody's fucking vegan anymore. You guys are holding it down. Yeah. So I'm. I'm happy that you guys have one that I also like.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Other than El Cocinero, which is.

[Mike Cesario]

That place rocks.

[Britta Drake]

That's a close second. Third. Maybe because there's martials, but I really like Purvita. I just love it. The. The salad. It. And I know it is.

[Mike Cesario]

It is the mess.

[Britta Drake]

Like. Yeah. Yeah. It's like something people have feelings about to, like, love a place for the salad. But it is incredible.

[Mike Cesario]

It's because they miss.

[Alec]

We went there for Mike's birthday.

[Mike Cesario]

We. Yes, yes.

[Britta Drake]

Some year we did. But I swear to God, that salad, I would eat that every day for the rest of my life and be so happy. It's like. It's incredible. She tried to recreate the dressing ones, and I'm unsuccessful. I don't know how to do it.

[Alec]

Sorry.

[Mike Cesario]

I think her name is.

[Britta Drake]

You should get the. You should get the chef.

[Mike Cesario]

She should hear this.

[Britta Drake]

And the owner.

[Alec]

I'll look at it. I'll look into it.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, she folks a good shit.

[Alec]

I'll look. I'll look into it.

[Britta Drake]

Wait, did you say yours?

[Alec]

No, mine right now is Le Petit Trois, which is. There's one in the Valley, and I think there's one in West Hollywood. It's a French chef's take on American fast food.

[Mike Cesario]

French chef's take on American fast food. So do they call their fries French fries or just.

[Alec]

I don't know, I haven't paid attention. But their thing is the Le Big Mac.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Alec]

And it's this, like, crazy burger. I can't describe it.

[Mike Cesario]

Check it out. Is it influenced by a Big Mac or is it. Totally not.

[Alec]

But it's like some real artisans.

[Mike Cesario]

And I know you love a baby.

[Alec]

Oh, I do.

[Mike Cesario]

Mac sauce its own.

[Alec]

Yeah, it's got its own thing.

[Mike Cesario]

I love that.

[Britta Drake]

Do they have a soup du jour?

[Alec]

Yeah, it's French onion.

[Mike Cesario]

That's the.

[Alec]

Today it's French onion. Every day du jour is French onion.

[Britta Drake]

That sounds good.

[Alec]

And then they have this wagyu French dip where the dip is French onion soup.

[Britta Drake]

Wow.

[Mike Cesario]

You would hate the French onion's incredible.

[Alec]

It's so good. Favorite mosh part in a non Hardcore song.

[Mike Cesario]

Non hardcore?

[Alec]

Yeah. I mean, this is. This. This is so broad. Slayer. Crowbar.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay. I was thinking just not heavy. And I'm glad because, man, I mean, you can't say Slayer because that's too obvious.

[Alec]

Is it that. Is it not the best? Oh, I mean, dude, that. Think about who did that before then.

[Mike Cesario]

No one. What is that, 86? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, come on.

[Alec]

Who did Dun Dun Dun Dun before Raining Blood? Please tell me that's crazy.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, we can go that way. That's two.

[Alec]

It's unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

Jesus Saves is pretty sick, though.

[Stephen]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Which is heavier?

[Alec]

They've got a ton.

[Mike Cesario]

That's an actual.

[Alec]

I mean, angel of Death mosh part.

[Mike Cesario]

That's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Did you say angel dust?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, yeah, angel dust from Faith no More. They don't have any breakdowns.

[Alec]

Yeah, they do. Do they? They got some riffs.

[Britta Drake]

Wait, are you referring to Faith no More or.

[Alec]

No, I said angel of Death.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, I thought you said angel.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

I actually thought you were referring.

[Mike Cesario]

We know Mike Patton, Lightslayer. So.

[Alec]

Yeah, they talk about it all the time. It's awesome.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, okay, dude, it does feel cheap.

[Alec]

But, like, how did they know to do that and what came before that? Cause there's, like, the Super Touch mosh part.

[Mike Cesario]

But Super Touch is a hardcore band.

[Alec]

That's what I'm saying. No, I mean the Bad Brain Super Touch.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh. Oh, yeah.

[Alec]

Like the. Like, that's a straight up mosh part. Right Brigade.

[Mike Cesario]

Right Brigade. Honestly, even I would mosh to it. But Band and dc, you know, that's

[Britta Drake]

a hardcore band, though.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, we can't do that.

[Alec]

And that's the thing is, I'm just saying in terms of something where they're like, okay, the goal of this part is mosh.

[Mike Cesario]

I feel like I have an answer.

[Alec]

The Raining Blood pit is. Is in a world of its own to this day. What is your sex?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, Brit, there's got. That's a. That's a good question.

[Britta Drake]

I love this question. I want to think about it because I feel like my answer is going to be very distinct from, I think, what you guys come up with, because I'm thinking of, like. I was thinking, like, softer band, not harder band.

[Alec]

Me too. Yeah, we've done two whole episodes about that. Go back and check them out.

[Mike Cesario]

Great episode.

[Britta Drake]

Good. But no, I'm thinking, like, I would have to put. Put my brain through a little bit of listing. I feel like there's a couple of, like.

[Mike Cesario]

I'll do random. I'll do Raining Blood, so you could do.

[Alec]

There's a few. I mean, so I could go more random. Rapture, you know? Yeah, that's hard. I mean, number one on my list was a crowbar Park.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I was thinking Crowbar.

[Alec]

The hardest breakdown of all time is Crowbar to Carry the Load, which is not a hardcore band.

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

So that has to be my answer.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good. I mean, that makes sense. Why defer from that?

[Alec]

It's crazy. The buildup is an uncountable time signature.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And then it seamlessly goes to.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, it's too good. It's one of the best.

[Alec]

It's like, what is that? Six, eight? I think it's six, eight.

[Mike Cesario]

How's the riff go?

[Alec]

Din dun dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. It's crazy.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. And then the.

[Alec]

Right before that, some shit.

[Mike Cesario]

You notice the bell. But the last one, he doesn't do the bell.

[Alec]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

So good.

[Stephen]

Pardon this interruption, but you know what? MF time it is. I've got to tell you about the two incredible sponsors for this week that made this episode happen. First off, Mills Vintage. You may have seen recently that their entire LA store was broken into and robbed. The whole thing. And the best way you can support them is send him a message and sell him your old shit. For real.

[Alec]

He's out of stuff.

[Stephen]

Except for the stuff on MillsVintageUSA.com, which he still is adding to every single day. There's Marauder shirts on there right now that I used to own. It used to be mine, now it can be yours. And if you use Code Hard Lore, you're going to get 10% off site. Why? If you're anywhere near LA or New York, stop in, sell your stuff, trade some stuff. He's never needed stock more. There's no GoFundMe or anything like that. Just sell him your stuff so other people can buy that stuff. It's the way it's the gift that keeps on giving. I got this shirt there in the speed episode. You can watch the transaction happen. Vic has been my guy for damn near 20 years now and he always will be. So I will continue to support him via this show and any other way possible. And I hope you'll do the same. Head over to Mills vintageusa.com code hard lore. 10% off. This episode is also brought to you by Louder Than Life Festival. The greatest rock festival lineup perhaps in the history of American festivals takes place September 17th to the 20th in Louisville, Kentucky. Who isn't playing would be a more difficult question to answer because you got Tool, My Chemical Romance, Danzig, Pantera and Twitching Tongues. I know, it's insane. There's a legit hardcore stage three of the days. You can come see us Friday with Haywire koio, Missing Link, Angel Dust, Gates to Hell and a special guest headliner the next day. You got Blood for Blood, Agnostic Front, Mad Ball, you got Tsunami and End it on Sunday. It is an entire ipod in one weekend. If you've liked aggressive music at all in your life, which, if you're 53 minutes into this episode, you probably do,

[Alec]

I hope to see you there.

[Stephen]

So go to louder than life festival.com, pick up those passes now, and I'll see you soon.

[Alec]

Favorite album of the year so far.

[Mike Cesario]

Great album of the year so far.

[Alec]

What has come out?

[Britta Drake]

That's a good question.

[Alec]

Ep.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, that's really good. Is the chain covers, dude.

[Alec]

It's unreal.

[Mike Cesario]

I literally listened to that and I went, fuck. I forgot how good this song It's.

[Alec]

That's actual. Capital H. Hardcore.

[Mike Cesario]

That's the way to do it. They weren't like, let's do some fucking niche shit. They're like, this is our roots.

[Alec]

Let's make some fucking hardcore. Let's sound like us and let's make it sound real. It was recorded in this room.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, not to. Not a disservice to any of the previous stuff, but this is my favorite.

[Alec]

This is my favorite. Yeah, I would. I would agree, Brittany.

[Britta Drake]

God, that's the only thing I can think of that's come out this year.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, when did it come out? Did Soft Cold come out this year? No, that was winter last year.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Let's see.

[Britta Drake]

I cannot think of one single thing that's come out this year.

[Mike Cesario]

It's just on the spot. That's why.

[Alec]

Warning Rituals of shame.

[Mike Cesario]

That was great.

[Stephen]

Obviously.

[Alec]

100 demons.

[Mike Cesario]

100 demons.

[Alec]

Yeah, it's been a great year.

[Britta Drake]

Or like, I've only been listening to, like, Lifehouse, though, so that's pretty good. Yeah.

[Alec]

Hanging my moment here with you Dude. Letting go of all I held on to I'm standing here until you make me move Hanging by a moment here with you that's one of the greatest songs of all time.

[Britta Drake]

Of all time.

[Alec]

The last chorus, where it stops and

[Mike Cesario]

then it's high

[Alec]

and it comes back.

[Britta Drake]

Is that a mosh part?

[Alec]

Yeah, it's a big skank. Yeah. Big skank chorus. That. That song's about Jesus.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, I figured out my answer.

[Alec]

Is it? I think so, for the most part. What? It's Hanging By a Moment. Lifehouse.

[Britta Drake]

You can't choose that.

[Mike Cesario]

No, no, no. I just lost it. Severed from Chimera, dude.

[Alec]

They're borderline hc. Yeah, that's. That's a banger.

[Mike Cesario]

You know what I'm talking about?

[Alec]

Yeah, I do.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, that's sick ass part. Yeah. That's good.

[Alec]

I'll take that favorite Elvis song. You rock with Elvis.

[Mike Cesario]

What's the one that's.

[Alec]

At all.

[Britta Drake]

I mean. I know.

[Mike Cesario]

No, there's the one that's. I mean, everyone covers it, but it's a unbelievable song.

[Alec]

Well, I'm falling in love with you.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Yeah, that song.

[Mike Cesario]

That song is.

[Britta Drake]

That's the one.

[Mike Cesario]

Objectively, one of the best, like, love songs ever.

[Alec]

I love that song.

[Mike Cesario]

It's too good. It's like the Frank Sinatra of the genre.

[Britta Drake]

I think that's the only song I can think of off the top of my head.

[Mike Cesario]

Really?

[Alec]

You know, Burning Love, Lord almighty Feel my temperature rising. You know that one?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I don't think that's right.

[Alec]

You don't know. In the Ghetto. In the Ghetto.

[Britta Drake]

It's not my vibe.

[Mike Cesario]

Great Balls of Fire, dude.

[Britta Drake]

I know that one and I don't like it.

[Alec]

Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog.

[Mike Cesario]

That's what.

[Britta Drake]

I don't like it.

[Alec]

Blue Suede Shoes.

[Britta Drake]

Don't like it.

[Alec]

Hey, can I.

[Mike Cesario]

Falling in Love. You like that?

[Britta Drake]

I like that one.

[Mike Cesario]

The UB40 version.

[Alec]

Mine would be an American trilogy, which is three, like, old Southern American classics merged together. You probably heard that one Glow. You'd love this. It goes, Glory, glory, Hallelu.

[Britta Drake]

And why would I like that?

[Alec]

I don't know. I love that one. And then. And the Grass Won't Paint on Mine. Banger. I do have a fact, Suspicious Minds. What?

[Mike Cesario]

The most platinum record sold ever was from Elvis.

[Alec]

Is that true?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I learned that by looking at how many platinum records Korn had. And it's ten.

[Alec]

Well, dude, there's.

[Mike Cesario]

And then Elvis has the most ever.

[Alec]

So there's the Hard Lore shirt where the back says 1 million. Hard lore Fans Can't Be Wrong. And we made that because we passed a million streams. It was based off of one of the Elvis greatest hits records is called 50 million Elvis fans Can't Be Wrong.

[Mike Cesario]

That's amazing. I didn't know that's a greatest hits record.

[Alec]

Yes.

[Mike Cesario]

That's perfect. There's no way he was alive when that was goaded.

[Britta Drake]

No.

[Alec]

No way.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I mean, he wouldn't. I don't even think he had a Greatest hits at the time. Yeah.

[Alec]

Definitely not. He's goaded. Billy R. Asks, what are some tips you'd give someone trying to write lyrics for the first time? And how do you get past the feeling like whatever you wrote is too cringe?

[Mike Cesario]

This is more for you guys.

[Alec]

You gotta. I think the advice about writing from the perspective of somebody who sucks.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good.

[Alec]

And then going back and fixing it later. And also just use a Dan thesaurus. Look up new words that are for me of what you're trying to convey. My tip. My best tip. Song title first, and then I write around it.

[Mike Cesario]

I like that.

[Alec]

Sometimes I write the end of the song first, which is like, to me, I like it to be the ultimate culmination of what I'm trying to say. And then I go back and spread that message throughout the verses and the chorus.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I like that. It's like writing a paper.

[Alec]

Exactly.

[Britta Drake]

I would say, first of all, listen to your thoughts as you're doing nothing. So, like driving, gardening, showering when you're not in the middle of writing, it's gonna. It will give you something. That's where like, all of my favorite lyrics I've written have come from. Just like, I wasn't actually writing. I just came up with something or an idea. So that's one thing. Come also, I think considering imagery is important.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, I love that.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Like, you know, it doesn't have to be the words that you're going to use. Sometimes it can spark from one word. Like, I know I want. I'm writing a song right now about an asymptote. I just knew I wanted that to be in the. I mean, that's not what the whole song is about, but I knew I wanted that concept. So sometimes it can stem from a word, but other times it's like, stems from a concept or a visual.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, Chris Conley is one of my favorite for visual writing.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Or like even any tactile writing. Like, it could be a texture, it could be a smell. It could be.

[Mike Cesario]

I want to say to. I don't write lyrics very often, but I think one of the most important things for lyrics or is. Depends on the band, is a sense of vulnerability.

[Alec]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

If you don't. If I don't trust you, I lyrically, like, it doesn't have to be the authenticity. But if I don't, like. If I don't believe what you're saying, even if it's not true, it could be a story. But if I don't believe it, then I don't. I don't like it.

[Alec]

And I think the thing about feeling cringe is just so irrelevant given the, like, the context is everything. You could look at some of the greatest songs ever written. You remove the lyrics as. Look at them as just words on a piece of paper, and you're gonna be like, this isn't this. I do not connect with this the same. It's the context within the words and the music. Don't worry about it. Don't overthink it.

[Stephen]

Try it.

[Alec]

You'll know if it sucks.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And then you try something else.

[Britta Drake]

It's also how it's said.

[Mike Cesario]

That's the. I feel like the vulnerability comes to that point.

[Britta Drake]

Like, one of my favorite lyrics of all time is Forever is a long time. And it sounds simple. It's so simple. But then she says, forever is a long, long time. And I'm like, that was beautiful how she said that. It's so poignant. And if I just read that on a piece of paper, I mean, Maybe it would strike me. I don't know. But it's how you say it. It's the context. Like you're saying, you'll never know until you try it.

[Mike Cesario]

Like mineral. We referenced him a bu. But he's a great lyricist, for one. But the way he sings about. What's the lyric about his. A letter to his dad. Like, him just explaining an emotion. The way he does it, it's. You can feel it.

[Britta Drake]

I have, like, a very. I have a present father. And I felt like, oh, my God, I have an absent father. When I was listening to that song.

[Mike Cesario]

I cry every time.

[Alec]

Morrissey will get you there, too.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You'll be like, how do I relate to this piece of shit?

[Britta Drake]

Exactly.

[Mike Cesario]

Which is crazy because I don't actually necessarily feel his vulnerability compared to a lot of other bands.

[Alec]

Oh, man. He's. But he's.

[Mike Cesario]

He's one of my favorites.

[Alec]

You know, that is. That's a man who's never experienced joy.

[Mike Cesario]

That's what I mean.

[Alec]

I genuinely believe he's never been happy. And that's what makes it hit so good. That. Just rip him off a lot of the time and rewrite Robert Smith. Oh, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

He's my. He's the guy.

[Alec]

Rip him off. Rip off, rip off your favorite people. Rewrite what they're saying. Take their whole album and fit it into a song.

[Mike Cesario]

You gotta narrow it down what you like. It's the feeling.

[Britta Drake]

Or even, like, come up with a cadence that they use and put your own words to it.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know, what's the thing? A lyrical trope that I can't stand. Where. When people.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, let's talk about that more. Keep going.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

When people quote another artist and they like, reference the quote where they'll be like. And I believe it was Leonard Cohen who once said, you want it darker,

[Mike Cesario]

you know, in the lyrics. They would like.

[Alec]

Yeah. Just. That's. I feel like that's a very, like, Screamo post hardcore.

[Mike Cesario]

I could imagine.

[Alec]

World thing to do.

[Britta Drake]

It's also very Michael Scott.

[Stephen]

Yes.

[Alec]

Like, you're using their thought and then crediting them in the thought.

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy. Fourth Wall vibe.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't like that trope.

[Mike Cesario]

I've never heard that.

[Alec]

It's crazy.

[Mike Cesario]

That sounds funny.

[Alec]

You're listening to Morbid angel and that's. You're doing great.

[Britta Drake]

I want to hear more tropes that you guys don't like.

[Alec]

Lyrical tropes.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, I know some things you don't like. Or it's. What seemingly is. Is Filler with. With words that aren't words. Like, yeah, hey. Oh, you don't like that.

[Britta Drake]

Oh can work. I don't like when it, like, oh can work if it's just like a melody kind of. We just want a melody here. If a line could end with another word, that would add to the line and it ends with yeah or hey or something.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Do you have an example?

[Britta Drake]

I do, but I don't want to say it. Yeah, I don't want to.

[Mike Cesario]

We had it yesterday. Or was it today?

[Britta Drake]

It was yesterday. Yeah, well, I'm not. I don't. I'm not going to get into the linguistics of it because I actually. I think I'll quote it wrong. But like the. I think it's like an adverb at the end of a statement.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, that's just it. You are a linguistic. And. Which is why you are so particular about.

[Britta Drake]

I think in particular, I just think it's a. It's a missed opportunity. Sure. Like, it could have said blank. Blank.

[Alec]

You're saying, do better. No, do better.

[Britta Drake]

It's just a trope I don't like, but you have to give one.

[Mike Cesario]

Ah, Colin, go first.

[Alec]

Life and strife. Give it up. Knock it off. Quit.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, the word.

[Alec]

Life and life. Like rhyming. Life and strife.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

It doesn't need to happen anymore. It's done. It's over. Never do it again.

[Britta Drake]

Okay?

[Alec]

Because life. Life is a. We want to talk about life. And then you get to the next line, you're like, fuck, knife. Strife. No, no, enough, all right? Life and strife is over. Just talk about something else. Existence, resistance. You know, keep going.

[Britta Drake]

That's where the thesaurus comes into.

[Stephen]

Exactly.

[Britta Drake]

Or the rhymedictionary.com.

[Alec]

rhyme zone.

[Mike Cesario]

Rhyme zone is I'm a rhyme zone

[Alec]

built by rhyme zone.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, you're an active member.

[Britta Drake]

You know what, though? I'm specifically going to near rhymes.

[Mike Cesario]

Near rhymes.

[Britta Drake]

I prefer.

[Alec]

I like a near Rom.

[Mike Cesario]

It's really close.

[Britta Drake]

Give me orange Porrinch.

[Alec]

You know, Michigan. Eminem.

[Mike Cesario]

What was. What was his thing? His name? It was awesome.

[Britta Drake]

I don't remember.

[Mike Cesario]

I wanted to the storage with the orange. It was crazy. I wish I could go do that too.

[Alec]

Dude, you know what's something that I don't think. I think I've undersold how impactful this one piece of media is to us in particular. Okay, you know what?

[Mike Cesario]

I'm gonna say no, not yet. Riff raff.

[Alec]

Morning freestyle.

[Britta Drake]

Dude, incredible.

[Alec]

The amount of trunk on your. We've spent days collectively watching this over and over again.

[Mike Cesario]

Do you remember?

[Alec]

Let's go. Choose the scope. Ruby Tuesday.

[Mike Cesario]

Wait, what's the.

[Alec]

I should play for the Dallas Mavericks. Dude, it's un have.

[Mike Cesario]

You're the fucking moon and the sun.

[Alec]

The rip Rap. Sway in the morning Freestyle is one of the greatest pieces of art to ever hit the end.

[Mike Cesario]

It's unbelievable. Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I have something to say about Michael is that he is actually very good at freestyling.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm not doing anything.

[Britta Drake]

He is.

[Mike Cesario]

Stop.

[Britta Drake]

When on one of our first times that we hung out with each other, he pulls up next to our. Another car rolls down the window and he goes, hey, you want a rap battle?

[Mike Cesario]

I won.

[Alec]

He did.

[Britta Drake]

When he goes, sitting at the red light, gonna have a fight.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, it was bad.

[Britta Drake]

It was so funny.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm sure the dude. It was a guy, right? I don't know. Whoever. They were really upset.

[Britta Drake]

No, they were laughing. I was laughing. All I remember, I was like, I love him.

[Alec]

Damn. He got you.

[Britta Drake]

He got me. I was like. But he can rhyme.

[Alec]

Yeah. No, he can.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I'm not doing it impressively.

[Mike Cesario]

Sway in the morning gets me though. I'll be up there.

[Alec]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Shout Out Switch.

[Alec]

He'll get the one about creme brulee.

[Mike Cesario]

The one in France. Yeah, yeah, that's good.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. Oh, those songs that I also was

[Alec]

referencing, that's my favorite album of all time, is you making songs in the band in France, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

The best is sitting in the van in the. Like, in the back there's the bunk, right? And then I'm just like. With the vocal booth. Yeah, the vocal booth. Headphones in with the little mic and just like. I'm doing garageband. And I'm like, hey, guys, I got something. Check it out. They're like, what is this?

[Britta Drake]

Give me the box. That was incredible. And those songs should be platinum in my opinion. More than corn. Maybe more than corn.

[Mike Cesario]

I don't know.

[Alec]

11 million.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, we gotta get 11. 11 records.

[Alec]

This is a good question. What is the most recently released album that you would consider Master Killer? Tier.

[Mike Cesario]

Master Killer.

[Alec]

Like, perfect, timeless piece of music in the end. And the Anals of History.

[Mike Cesario]

Wow, that's a really. That's a really interesting. I like that question a lot. And, you know, it's like, man, I need to, like, snap into what's most recent that came out most.

[Britta Drake]

So the. The question is, what is the most recent.

[Alec]

Most recent perfect album?

[Britta Drake]

God, everything is that I can think of is actually still kind of old.

[Mike Cesario]

That's what I'm that's what I'm thinking. Do you have one on the top of your head already?

[Alec]

I think it's this new Warning record. It was so poignant for me.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

The timing is so insane. And, like, the way that they recaptured the spirit of the band, even after spending 15 years making other music, I think it was. It was the record I needed right when I needed it. So it's. It's. It's. I've listened to it probably 200 times.

[Britta Drake]

I don't know if this is, like, the audience for this, but I really like that Military Gun record.

[Alec]

Oh, the newest one?

[Britta Drake]

No. Well, yes. I love that.

[Alec]

Life Underground.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I really like that record. It's one of the. It's really recent, and I think it is a record. It's rarer for me to listen to a record all the way through at this point in my life. Like, I used to be, like, a record only kind of person, and now I'm more of like, if it's a new record, it's gonna be rare that I'm gonna like it enough that I'm gonna listen to the whole thing multiple times.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

And it will all become part of my, like, heavy.

[Mike Cesario]

You would get excited for every moment and every song.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Like, it's very rare. And that is one of them.

[Alec]

I mean, and they. And they worked on it for so long and that. And that's. That's like, first LP privilege.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You get to. You get to spend as much time on you on it, and nobody knows because you got all this other stuff going on. And then after that is when it's. The pressure's on.

[Mike Cesario]

And I like that that Ian had producing credit on it too.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, like, I know he cares about it in a way that I feel like artists often don't. Like, they do. They do their part.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And, like, I play the drums or I played the guitar, I sang, and it's like he's doing more than that. Well, obviously Taylor produced too, like. But it's interesting. It's good. I like to see that. You'll see the records. Was that new one's great? Oh, it's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Some of my favorite Military Gun songs are on that record.

[Alec]

So I. I definitely. I'm. I think having my brother on it too, is just like a bias thing, you know?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I just. I mean, I'm a huge Military Gun fan. Across the board. That record felt fresh in a way that was necessary, and I think it did something for the scene in a way that makes it worthy of that title.

[Alec]

What do you think Bo is up to right now? Wherever he may be? Somebody said they have a feeling he's doing a Hard Lore esque show with some ghost buffoon filling in for me. And I'm gonna go ahead and say I think one of his great reliefs is that he never a has to interview a person again. And I think he's having private one on one conversations with Benjamin Franklin.

[Britta Drake]

He's. He's doing the history.

[Mike Cesario]

I was just going to say there's no way that I would. If I, if he were talking about history. Oh, opening the door. What do you think about like even like sci fi mystery. Questionable things that are like, you know, you, you ask him. I would love to ask him. And maybe he's asking himself. This is like what would happen if this, if, if you know, the world was like this or. I don't know. I can't really put it on into words here, but history related stuff 100%.

[Alec]

He's, he's getting the, the real facts finally from various historical figures, which is great. It's probably, you know, learning about guitar.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

From Dimebag and such.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah. Hanging out with Jeff.

[Alec]

For sure. For sure. For sure. You know, and you know, we, we. You and I have talked about religion a lot and the afterlife.

[Britta Drake]

Spirituality. Let's go.

[Alec]

I know. Yeah, sure. And I think Beau is somebody who like as, like deeply lifelong atheistic as I've been. It's like I hope that there's.

[Mike Cesario]

That's only a better place. Yeah, of course.

[Britta Drake]

Or even just an endurance of some sort.

[Alec]

Sure.

[Britta Drake]

Like an enduring spirit or something. Yeah.

[Alec]

I think he's lingering here in some places in some ways, but I think he's, I think he's experiencing a great relief, which is great. That's where I think he is. I think. What do I think he's up to right now? I think he's, he's laughing, he's relieved, he's. He's, he's getting his, he's asking questions. He's. There's no Google available, so he's making shit up left and right, which is great.

[Mike Cesario]

He would have a lot of good answers or also a lot of bad answers.

[Britta Drake]

I think he's also making another episode of his other podcast.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, that's good.

[Alec]

It's going to be a while.

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Alec]

He's working on it. That podcast, by the way, I was so offended that he had time for another podcast.

[Mike Cesario]

I can't believe that.

[Alec]

Oh, you don't have enough to do on this one. You get to make a fucking history show, too, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

One. I. Listen, listen. I was like. He switched gears and was like, this is you. Like, that's. He can't wait to talk about history. It's unbelievable.

[Alec]

But he had to, like, write those. And the way we talked about it, where he's like, this is different because I, like, can't be wrong. And he was like, well, I mean, yeah, that's how I look at this show. But, yeah, sure, there's a.

[Mike Cesario]

There's a nuance of, like, I think, yeah.

[Alec]

Versus here's. Here's what happened. But I remember very vividly being like, this motherfucker has so little to do that he's got a whole other show. Stephen, can you believe this? You felt that, right? Fucking asshole. Anyway, favorite girly pop music.

[Mike Cesario]

Girly pop.

[Alec]

Yeah, I like at all.

[Britta Drake]

What does that mean?

[Mike Cesario]

Like dum dum girls. Is that girl?

[Alec]

No, I think, like, fucking pop.

[Mike Cesario]

Just pop.

[Alec]

Girly pop.

[Britta Drake]

Girly pop.

[Alec]

Addison Rae, you know.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, okay. We're not really pop. Like, girly pop. Lady Gaga. Yeah, I love Lady Gaga.

[Alec]

She's the goat of all goats.

[Britta Drake]

I really like Olivia Rodrigo.

[Mike Cesario]

Me too.

[Britta Drake]

But it's not like, is that girly pop?

[Alec]

That's rock music.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Okay.

[Alec]

Imo, that's straight up rocks.

[Britta Drake]

We're making rock music.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, exactly.

[Mike Cesario]

Banger, dude. I mean, yeah, it's. I mean, Lady Gaga. I mean, Gaga is the undisputed. Yeah, she's definitely a girl.

[Alec]

I think Jade is. Jade's like my favorite thing in so long as.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, you know who it's not. No. I'm thinking when girly pop has to be major artist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, then.

[Britta Drake]

I think Addison Rae's pretty good.

[Alec]

Yeah, she rocks. She does. And like, what? The fact that she made that happen after being, like, ridiculed. TikTok Star is pretty unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

It is. You know, Respect.

[Alec]

She's making bangers.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. She is also the other person who's very similar in status who's dating that one guy who's in love with his ex co star.

[Mike Cesario]

This sounds like a new show.

[Britta Drake]

It's not.

[Alec]

What the fuck are you talking?

[Britta Drake]

Gracie Abrams. Oh. I think she's got some good songs, man.

[Alec]

People hate her, huh?

[Britta Drake]

They do. And you know why?

[Alec]

Because her dad.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, oh.

[Alec]

Not because of the metho.

[Britta Drake]

I love her dad.

[Alec]

Oh.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I mean, he ruined Star wars, but he's made a lot of great stuff.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. And I think. I think it's a little bit misogyny, personally.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

That people don't like her 100.

[Alec]

Because there's a bit. There's a bit about where it'll be like, England lost in the World Cup. So I blocked Gracie Abrams, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

It's pretty funny. So.

[Alec]

Yeah, that's. I could see that.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

She seems cool. I think she seems very open and honest about the. The Nepo stuff.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, for sure.

[Alec]

Which is cool.

[Britta Drake]

She's also just like, good looking. Like, I just like the way she looks and I like the way she sings and she writes good songs.

[Alec]

And at the end of the day, what else could you want, you know?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Being hot and talented. Skinny and skinny.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

She is like a 12 pack I've seen. I gotta get on good for her. Straight up. That's what it's all about. They hate the 12 pack.

[Mike Cesario]

12's a lot.

[Britta Drake]

They're jealous.

[Alec]

12 is crazy.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. That's double than a six.

[Alec]

I agreed.

[Britta Drake]

We're also just joking about the skinny thing.

[Mike Cesario]

You're skinny also.

[Britta Drake]

For legal reasons, we're joking about the skinny thing.

[Alec]

I parked behind a BMW the other day where the license plate was skinny. And I was just. I just stand.

[Mike Cesario]

Did you do it in Tina's voice?

[Alec]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

She would imagine.

[Alec]

This is an interesting question. This is from Ball Support. Ball support is asking, are we gonna be okay?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Who's we again? See, all you can do is be okay. If you let every. You can't let everything bring you down. You could try to not let everything bring you down. And through that, I mean, you gotta be okay.

[Alec]

Brigitte, are we gonna be okay?

[Britta Drake]

I sure hope so.

[Mike Cesario]

That's. That's it. I want. I want to be okay.

[Alec]

I want to be okay.

[Britta Drake]

I'm choosing it.

[Mike Cesario]

I want to believe it's. It's the. It's because we have a choice right now.

[Alec]

Because we must.

[Mike Cesario]

Because we must.

[Britta Drake]

Well, yeah. And I also think for each other.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Yes.

[Mike Cesario]

It's better. Yes.

[Alec]

Yes.

[Mike Cesario]

And if you're not okay.

[Alec]

But you have to do it for yourself too.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

And that's important. And I think that. I think the overall check on your friends thing is a little bit of bullshit because you.

[Mike Cesario]

You're.

[Alec]

You know, it's a little self indulgent. I could have done something. I could have saved him.

[Britta Drake]

It feels.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, it feels that way.

[Alec]

It's bullshit. You should check in on your friends. That's great. But also. But it's up to you to check in on yourself.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I think listening to your friends is more important than just checking on them.

[Alec]

Listening. And not just in words and their behavior and their demeanor, you know, but also, like, the.

[Mike Cesario]

The attention that someone might be seeking through. What I mean by listen is, like, if someone's talking to you and you can. You can tell they're the few, Might even feel like they're blowing you up sometimes, and you're like, just give them. Give them a little. You know, give. You know, give a little bit. That's it. They deserve it. Especially if they're your friends.

[Alec]

We want to be okay. You know, we're trying.

[Britta Drake]

We?

[Alec]

The royal we. Yeah, good question.

[Mike Cesario]

That is a good question.

[Stephen]

Ball support.

[Mike Cesario]

Just a pair of underwear. Motherfucker.

[Alec]

A lot of people asking, how are you?

[Mike Cesario]

That's a good question.

[Alec]

It's hard, man.

[Mike Cesario]

I was gonna say, you can answer that.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

We just talked about. Are you okay? And you said. I mean, like, no, I don't think I am.

[Alec]

And.

[Stephen]

But.

[Alec]

But I'm not comfortable being a victim. You know, I think a lot of people are. Talk to me.

[Britta Drake]

I have a question about why you think that not being okay makes you a victim.

[Alec]

I. I just think. Well, I'm in a public space, you know, where it's like this fucking monkey in a zoo and people are stopping by the window to look at the monkey.

[Britta Drake]

You don't want to be observed in vulnerable state.

[Alec]

It's not that. It's not that. I. I understand that It's. It's inherently vulnerable to be in this position.

[Britta Drake]

Sure.

[Alec]

With the elephant. With Mr. Fucking with Dumbo over here.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

But I would rather use that to do good things and suffer silently, you know?

[Britta Drake]

Might you do both?

[Alec]

Yeah, I do do both.

[Mike Cesario]

You do both.

[Britta Drake]

Not the suffering part. Silently. Might you do good things while also suffering, loudly or not?

[Alec]

I think that's answering a question like this is kind of that, you know? Yeah. No. There's days where I don't think about anything, and then there's days where I think about everything. And then it's also.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, it's not easy to talk about sometimes, too.

[Alec]

No. And you know what's weird is at first, I think people were thinking that, like, the first time I'd see people, they would just talk about something else as if it wasn't the only waking thought in my mind. And then when people were super normal and open about it, that's when I was like, oh, that's nice. Hey, thanks for asking.

[Mike Cesario]

Isn't that interesting? It's like when something like that happens, you're. I mean, I did. I did something similar when my. My dad passed. I'm like, big J, don't Big J. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Because I'm like, people pass. Obviously we don't want them to, you know, and it's a shame. And I don't want it to be about me. Kind of like what you're saying. And as soon as I started, like, talking about it more, it's not that I felt better about it. I just felt like it was more acceptable. Like, I felt like it was. I was in the boat where I was like, this is gonna be me being the Vic. Like, I don't want to make myself, you know, and when I'm talking, especially to you, you know, like, it's okay to have the day. You know, it's okay to talk about it. Like, even with Bo, like, talking about it here feels different than when we're at home. Because it feels.

[Alec]

I mean, it feels real. Cameras on and.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, cameras are on if you're not an intimate conversation. And it feels okay.

[Alec]

I don't really. Yeah, I'm. It's complicated.

[Mike Cesario]

It's. It is complicated, though, for sure. And I. I actually feel like it's rewarding him. Oh, yeah.

[Alec]

That's what I want. That's what it's all about.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Like, it's not about me.

[Alec]

I can't make everything about him, you know, because, like, I gotta live at the same.

[Mike Cesario]

But this can be a lot about it.

[Alec]

But, yeah, this, you know, look, he's everybody.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, of course.

[Alec]

Yeah. What do you think, doctor?

[Britta Drake]

About what part of it. There's been a lot said.

[Alec]

Oh, I don't know anymore.

[Britta Drake]

I will. I do think back to the part about being a victim.

[Alec]

I think there's one victim in the. In the situation.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. And that's true.

[Alec]

And we celebrate his victimhood.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

We knight him in victimhood.

[Mike Cesario]

I think it's also okay to not want to always talk about it.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I think it's on your timeline a little bit. Like, you sort of figure out where you are every day.

[Mike Cesario]

I also.

[Britta Drake]

I think it's like. I just don't think that having a big reaction to something that is really big necessarily equates to, like, a victimhood. Not that you're saying that. Just. That's the thing that struck me, having

[Alec]

a big reaction to something. I think I've had a pretty big reaction.

[Britta Drake]

You have had a big reaction.

[Alec]

And I think that the. The publicly, the worst is over, you know?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, sure.

[Alec]

Ideally, yes. It's all one day at a time.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Look at this.

[Alec]

This is a beautiful thing. It is brought Me with my, you know, my. I got my friends here also to.

[Mike Cesario]

To add to this. It sometimes doesn't feel good to not feel good. Okay. You know, so like opening something that might be.

[Alec]

Or it feels good to not feel good. Sometimes it's like, yeah, I need to feel like shit today.

[Mike Cesario]

And you know, it really depends on the moment. And it might be today, it might be tomorrow, it might be next week, it might be right now. You know, so it really just depends. Especially because we have a choice to do it.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I also think accepting care from people who want to give it, who you also care about is a way of like.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh yeah. The listening kind of in a way, like accepting it.

[Alec]

It can be hard. It can be hard.

[Britta Drake]

Really hard. Yeah. Accepting care, accepting that people want to be there for you. Like, it's actually really challenging to be able.

[Mike Cesario]

It is really open yourself. Yes.

[Britta Drake]

To that.

[Mike Cesario]

That's what that I. You want to. Not to bring up about my dad. Not to make this about me, but I did that.

[Britta Drake]

Let's talk about him.

[Mike Cesario]

We're like. I was like, don't. I don't want to talk about it.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And it's cuz. It's like when I showed up, I didn't cry at all the funeral or even the day he died. I didn't even cry until the next day.

[Alec]

Yeah. Because I was just like, natural.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I was like, I don't want. I don't want any of this. And then, you know, my nephews and my family, they're like, are you sad? I'm like, I saw it coming and I knew. I accepted it already.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And I'm moving on. I can move on. And it's like, no. You know, hell no. But it was. It's anything like that, you know, I think I was.

[Alec]

I was like in a really good spot. And then Zoe died too. And that was just like square one. Square negative one on top of everything. And then. Gotta keep it moving. Gotta keep moving. Now the show's back and that's like a whole other thing, is like I'm back to the stresses and little joys. Week to week of coordinating things and figuring things out. And then we get jeopardy planned and we're going through this fucker's files and getting everything sorted out and seeing how insane it was. And now I'm like writing all the questions myself and I probably don't have to do all this stuff myself. I can ask for help.

[Mike Cesario]

Let that accept that's not you at all.

[Alec]

That ain't me, babe.

[Mike Cesario]

And that's why. That's why it. It's so good.

[Alec]

Hey, you know Jay, Big J, the homie J. Tell that story.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, my gosh. So. So my dad had one tattoo, Jerry, with the J. And it was when I think he was like 14 or 15 years old, he's like, I'm gonna get a tattoo. I'm a hard ass. I live in New York, whatever. Fuck everyone else. And then so he goes and gets a stick and poke tattoo from his friend. He's like, I could tattoo, you know? And then he's like, all right, I want my name on my arms.

[Stephen]

Jerry.

[Mike Cesario]

Jerry on his arm. Because that's what you do. That's badass. And then so he started sticking poke and started to get in the J and just couldn't do the rest because it hurt so bad. So he just called it, had a big J on his arm. Little J, actually. The tiniest J. Yeah, tiniest J.

[Alec]

So big. Big J comes from the little J

[Mike Cesario]

and his nickname was Jay because of that rip.

[Alec]

The homie legend. What are your top four hardcore eps of all time?

[Mike Cesario]

You probably have more on your, like, your brain right now.

[Alec]

Can't close my eyes.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, incredible. Yeah. That's top.

[Alec]

Textbook hardcore.

[Mike Cesario]

That's the 101.

[Alec]

And it was that. It was. It came out right when the people needed it most. Reset the standard for Straight Edge.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Change the game, Change the united blood.

[Mike Cesario]

That's unbelievable.

[Alec]

Oxyfront is the hardcore band, which means this is the hardcore ep, the minor tret record. What are you gonna do? This is the reason we're here. You know, at the end of the day.

[Britta Drake]

Good point.

[Alec]

Breakdown Blacklisted.

[Mike Cesario]

Breakdown Blacklisted.

[Alec]

The fact that the 87 demo is like this second wind, this breath of fresh air of New York hardcore, and then 10 years later, they do it again. The EP is the ideal format for hardcore music. And to me, these four are the easiest front to back breeze through lists.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Does demise count? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like.

[Alec]

Yeah. I mean, most people just know the fucking. The collection thing.

[Mike Cesario]

That's what I'm saying. My God. I mean, Blacklisted, Breakdown. Blacklist was the first one that comes to mind because that's perfect. That's. It's perfect.

[Alec]

It is the best sounds.

[Mike Cesario]

It is the best ep. I mean, honestly, like, we're gonna switch it up a little bit. We're gonna switch it up, but I think the. Into another later cross dp that's called Omens. Oh, Omens.

[Alec]

So good.

[Mike Cesario]

That's. That's Like, I. I go to that often enough to where I go. This is worth.

[Alec]

I think it's the best comeback record.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah. So that's that.

[Alec]

But they had the creepy EP too, which.

[Mike Cesario]

That was really. That's really insane.

[Alec]

That's probably number five.

[Mike Cesario]

There you go.

[Alec]

For me.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. So I would say that one just because it's like marvelous in a way. You know, I said demise, even though I don't know if that works, but let's just say demise. Okay.

[Alec]

You did the greatest recorded demise cover

[Mike Cesario]

in the history of music. It's because it's one of the best misspelled. But that one, I have blacklisted. And then another episode I'd probably go with. You know what's really good is the greatest. I don't. I mean, it's. It's one of my favorites.

[Alec]

This is what it's all about.

[Mike Cesario]

Reading. Never had a choice.

[Alec]

Oh, my God. Such a banger.

[Britta Drake]

That's definitely awesome.

[Alec]

That's a modern classic.

[Mike Cesario]

That's what I'm saying is like, you know what I would take. I would listen to that because there's so much there for me.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, love Mad Ball. That's. That's some great shit.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm like, this is. This is me and my friends.

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, I'm not part of it, but they're my friends.

[Alec]

And going out on your sword with your best collection of songs, that's.

[Mike Cesario]

It doesn't get talked about enough. It's too. It's perfect. Let's just say that that's it.

[Alec]

That's a great answer.

[Britta Drake]

I. Ditto.

[Alec]

Never had a choice.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, of course.

[Mike Cesario]

That's. Yeah, it's too good.

[Britta Drake]

Michigan.

[Mike Cesario]

There you go.

[Britta Drake]

Okay. The damage is ep.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

I'm gonna say.

[Alec]

I'm sure even Dom would tell you that's insane.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

This is personal.

[Mike Cesario]

This is emotional.

[Britta Drake]

Is this opinions based or what?

[Alec]

It's onions based. 100.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I do think that there's a level of.

[Britta Drake]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

We got the top four eps. I'm sure you can probably die. You gotta die.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

Can we do a split? Can I. Can I cheat and do a split? That's actually a 12 inch split split. So those are.

[Alec]

Yeah, Those are little EPs.

[Britta Drake]

Little EP.

[Mike Cesario]

They're basically EPs.

[Britta Drake]

The. The faith. Boy, that's awesome. And then I'm going to say forced order.

[Mike Cesario]

The most recent one, Undying Spirit. Really?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

This shit's good.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I love it. I think it's incredible. I think it's again, modern classic.

[Alec]

Beautiful answer.

[Mike Cesario]

It's Crazy.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I feel like I'm gonna really come up with something in a second that really. I feel like I'm kicking myself for choosing Damages. But it's fine.

[Mike Cesario]

No, it's fine.

[Alec]

No, I mean, it's way funnier than you think.

[Mike Cesario]

It's. Yeah, it's cool.

[Alec]

It's. Yeah, that's a.

[Mike Cesario]

That's a tough question on the spot, obviously. This is all like, on the spot.

[Alec]

So what's your favorite misheard lyric of all time?

[Mike Cesario]

Misheard. Oh, my God.

[Britta Drake]

Washing pieces of lettuce.

[Alec]

Washing pieces of lettuce.

[Mike Cesario]

It's actually soft pieces. Pieces of lettuce. Mom's gonna be so.

[Alec]

Here it is. Oh, my God, it is so good. And the fact I feel guilt.

[Mike Cesario]

I feel like I'm Keith. That chain when I say this, because I brought that up and I ruined it.

[Alec]

Dude. Keith chain is.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, that's.

[Alec]

That's the. That's not even a misheard lyric. Poetry in motion.

[Mike Cesario]

But like, I know. I know. When I told Dom that, he was

[Alec]

just like, there's no other words in that lyric than washing pieces of lettuce.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Washing pieces of lettuce.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, more people should do that considering this outbreak. So.

[Alec]

Dude, straight up, he was ahead of

[Britta Drake]

his time in Michigan too.

[Alec]

He knew I set you up for that, knowing you were gonna say,

[Britta Drake]

wait, do you have one? Or is that.

[Alec]

Well, no, there's a couple. There's on Sing the Sorrow. There's. This is my Life. This is a turtle. So good.

[Mike Cesario]

Does David know about that?

[Alec]

No. When you're recording for a new record, what is the most time consuming instrument?

[Mike Cesario]

Time consuming instrument?

[Alec]

Vocals. I mean, drums. Drums and vocals prep wise and like, yeah, apple. Difficulty in. In completion. But vocals, it's.

[Mike Cesario]

It's almost. You know what's interesting is because usually I'm not doing the vocals, so in theory I'm like, okay. It's never the guitar.

[Alec]

Never.

[Britta Drake]

Wait, it is for me.

[Mike Cesario]

No, the vocals are probably take. That's the thing. In theory. You think it is.

[Alec]

You got a finished thing with no vocals on it.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, yeah. Lyrics are. But are we counting writing or.

[Mike Cesario]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Alec]

Recording.

[Mike Cesario]

Recording.

[Britta Drake]

No, I got. I got it when I got written lyrics. I'm good, but if I have it, I haven't written them.

[Mike Cesario]

I think vocals almost always take. You take two days today. It should at least.

[Alec]

It's like 60% of the band and it's the last thing you in art.

[Britta Drake]

Etc. I mean that. That part takes a while a lot.

[Mike Cesario]

Arguably maybe the most important part of most bands.

[Britta Drake]

I feel like guitar I'm never satisfied with. I'm like, wait, let me do it one more time. And vocals I'm like, that was good.

[Mike Cesario]

Which is usually the opposite.

[Alec]

That's hilarious.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I'm not very good at playing guitar.

[Alec]

No, you just got. You get the dots. You got your dots.

[Britta Drake]

I got my dots. And I'm always like, wait, did I bend that? I don't know. Or is it in tune?

[Mike Cesario]

I don't know.

[Alec]

Never.

[Mike Cesario]

You also got Brennan.

[Britta Drake]

He's a Brennan. I feel like he'll do it.

[Mike Cesario]

Fun fact is, I've never played guitar in a 4 sort of record.

[Britta Drake]

What? You know why?

[Mike Cesario]

Because I'm always writing it with Kyle. And I would go, why would I ruin this? Yeah, he's at. I'm sure he's asked me if I want to play, but I'm like, no, no, no, no.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I want to play everything I've ever written.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean you. That's the thing is why would you would do the same?

[Alec]

Kyle, the bass player of Twitching Tongues at the time, did the solos on and love theirs.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. You know, in fact I played more drums on four store than I have on guitar.

[Alec]

That's really. Yeah, that's interesting.

[Mike Cesario]

It's not a lot. It's very small.

[Alec]

But the little things there were multiple mass murder. I didn't play anything that make lose.

[Mike Cesario]

Because Leo. Right.

[Alec]

Because Leo. I mean he's father Inferior seven inch. I didn't play anything. Wrote the whole thing.

[Mike Cesario]

Isn't that so crazy these things? Yeah.

[Alec]

Didn't play anything.

[Mike Cesario]

So that's the. That's the maestro in us.

[Alec]

Yeah, we're conducting.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know. Okay, here's another top four question. Top four punk records, non hc.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, wait, just straight punk. Are we talking like the germs and music?

[Alec]

Yeah, that's a great.

[Britta Drake]

The Germs.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean that's a good. No, that's punk. It's proto hardcore.

[Britta Drake]

It is. Yeah. But it's on the cusp for sure in my opinion.

[Mike Cesario]

Can we go like crust punk?

[Britta Drake]

Yes, in my opinion.

[Mike Cesario]

Because. Because just disrupt.

[Alec]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Is. I mean that's top four for sure.

[Alec]

Individually. Yeah. I would call discharge certified hc. Yeah, that's gen one HC to me.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay. So I mean Disrupt Unrest, Anti Semics. Probably Scandinavian Jawbreaker though. It's probably the one. There's a lot of like Os Rotten probably. These are all like crusty though.

[Britta Drake]

I know. Let me think of like Left for Dead. That.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good.

[Britta Drake]

Like is that.

[Mike Cesario]

That's like That's. That's hardcore.

[Britta Drake]

That's hardcore. Okay.

[Alec]

I would say fresh fruits for rotting vegetables. It's a real mouthful. No control.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, bad, bad religion. Yeah.

[Alec]

Oh, come on, dude. Rocking to Russia.

[Mike Cesario]

That's. That Ramones is going to be up there for sure.

[Britta Drake]

For sure.

[Mike Cesario]

I like that. That's the answer too.

[Britta Drake]

We are. I'll let you finish.

[Alec]

Group sex.

[Mike Cesario]

Group sex is awesome. Black Flag.

[Britta Drake]

That's hardcore.

[Alec]

Some people call that the first hardcore band. You know.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, this thing is hard. The thing that's sad is people. People will not like this. But I think the Nervous Breakdown ep, which should have been on the top, which is.

[Alec]

Yeah, that was HC certified.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, it is HC because that's the thing is like. I mean, is group sex ace you then?

[Alec]

Probably.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, probably. I think back then they didn't call it hardcore. It would be a punk band. And before they know it, I think the first hardcore band that was verbally called themselves a hardcore band is like Knoxville front.

[Alec]

I think it was something else. So A or doa.

[Mike Cesario]

I could imagine one of the ways.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Maybe. Yeah. I mean, I think that's. I said all four.

[Alec]

Good. Pretty.

[Britta Drake]

Does London Calling count?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah. That's actually a punk record.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, that's like a punk.

[Alec]

That's like. That's like a genre defining, like changing thing, right?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, that just like is the first thing that popped into my head. Everything I'm thinking of is like borderline. I mean like the left. Left for Dead. But that's.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, it's tough because it's like. That's definitely hardcore. I know you could say a Ramones record.

[Britta Drake]

I'm. I'm not like a huge Ramones head, but like, I really like some of their songs, so I feel I.

[Mike Cesario]

Why aren't you a Ramon Said?

[Britta Drake]

I think they're good.

[Mike Cesario]

You don't. With three five.

[Alec]

I change that.

[Britta Drake]

They're good.

[Mike Cesario]

They're. They're one of the best bands of all time.

[Britta Drake]

They're really, really good.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude.

[Britta Drake]

And. And I would say it again.

[Alec]

I think even the weird record, the. The weird goofy 90s with one guy in it. Unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

You can say the Misfits too.

[Britta Drake]

No, Misfits came up for me for sure. I was thinking Misfits.

[Alec]

I'm just 12 hits over group Sex. All.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm just say, yeah, yeah, Misfits. When I. When you said that, I was like, stat. Static age maybe would be up.

[Britta Drake]

Static age is definitely up there for me. I also was thinking like, I don't know.

[Mike Cesario]

The Damned. That's Awesome.

[Britta Drake]

Well, I'm, like, wondering how. How what. What is our cut off for punk? Could it be like. Like, even, like a jawbreaker record or.

[Mike Cesario]

No, that's punk. The thing is, I think.

[Alec]

I think all these hairs to.

[Mike Cesario]

I think Davy Havoc would call it a punk record.

[Britta Drake]

And I'm not talking dear you. No.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. You're talking about 24 hours.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I. You know, I hate to admit this, but I kind of like some leftover crack.

[Alec]

That's fine.

[Mike Cesario]

I think they're. They have one really good song, and it's the first song off their biggest

[Britta Drake]

record, I guess I'll say Screeching Weasel.

[Stephen]

Good answer.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good.

[Britta Drake]

That's going to be my final one. But I can.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, you're on the spot. They're on the spot.

[Alec]

The Spanish Inquisition asked why Beau as co host. I might be dumb, but why him? Why not anyone else? And there's a fun story there that I don't. I think we've told at some point, but during the pandemic, during lockdown, we played D and D on Zoom, and the D and D campaigns would end, and Beau and I would stay on and just talk. And we'd be laughing. And then. And during that laughing, we'd be like, we didn't just record this. This is so fun. And that's what we did.

[Mike Cesario]

When you said we should just record this, were you like, we should record this so other people can hear it? Yeah.

[Alec]

It was like, dude, I would watch this and that was it. That was literally it. And then it was Chris from Not Fest being like, we want to do another show on Wednesdays, which we were initially on Wednesdays. Do you have anything? And it was like, yeah, I could talk about music with Beau from Harm's

[Mike Cesario]

Way, and that was it. And that you already had the real deal at the time, or it was

[Alec]

kind of like, real deal kind of done. That was something Alec and I started when we saw. We saw split in 2017.

[Mike Cesario]

I remember with it starting.

[Alec]

And we were so blown away by the twist.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

That we were like, we have to go home and start a podcast.

[Mike Cesario]

And honestly, it was sick.

[Alec]

Thanks, man.

[Mike Cesario]

I liked it. And then that makes a lot of sense that you already had the skill of or the knowledge of what to do. And with that and be like, this is kind of fun. Yeah, let's do it with Bo.

[Alec]

Yeah. I liked the routine of like, okay, we'd recorded this thing. Let's figure out. Let's finish this thing. Let's get this thing out.

[Mike Cesario]

Also. He Was always like, he loves the shit. Obviously. You can always.

[Alec]

Yeah. And we. You know, it was a. The technical side he was really good at.

[Stephen]

At first.

[Alec]

But you'll notice in the first episode, his audio has my audio in it.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, interesting.

[Alec]

And that was a thing he did by accident.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

Up until this year.

[Mike Cesario]

No way. Wait.

[Alec]

He would record his whole fucking. His microphone file would have my microphone.

[Mike Cesario]

Because it was on a speakerphone. Like.

[Alec]

No, because something internally in his computer was running his full interfaces input.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes. It was like he was screen recording, basically. It was insane. That's insane.

[Alec]

And I was like, whoa, you don't

[Mike Cesario]

need to do that.

[Alec]

This has a solution. We're on episode 203.

[Mike Cesario]

How did he get rid of your audio?

[Alec]

We didn't. It's there. It's in both of our mics. My. I'm talking twice.

[Mike Cesario]

So it's. But it's lined up.

[Alec]

It is lined up. But you'll just be like, why does his mic sound weird? And anytime you ask that question when going back in hard lore, it was because Bo fucked something up.

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy lore, right there.

[Alec]

It is, man. And that is hard lore. It would have been happening. That's all right. It's fun now. It's fun.

[Mike Cesario]

He's laughing right now.

[Alec]

It's one of those things where it's like, frustrating in the moment and then it's the best thing ever.

[Mike Cesario]

So funny.

[Alec]

Yeah. What are your thoughts on the pop punk genre and how there's been more hardcore influences in the latest.

[Mike Cesario]

We have a lot to say about this.

[Britta Drake]

We do.

[Alec]

This is asked by pop punker182.

[Mike Cesario]

All right. Pop punker182.

[Britta Drake]

182 though. I told you they're punk.

[Mike Cesario]

182. Okay. So blink180.

[Alec]

It's rotten to the core.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. So pop punk a lot of times gets associated with emo and I've made that like.

[Alec]

Like saves the day. I would call it pop.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. So when we hear pop punk, often when I say we, I mean, Brittany and I, we. And if they. No dis to you calling them that. Whatever. But we are like. Those are different. They're just so different. It's like. It doesn't equal that. It's like there's emo and there's pop punk. Okay.

[Alec]

What's an emo band? What's a pop punk band?

[Mike Cesario]

Pop on band is new fun glory. Sorry. They are. They're awesome.

[Alec]

They're like the Slayer of pop.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Newfound glorious pop punk.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I Think that pop punk isn't for me.

[Alec]

That's the best way to put it.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah. It's not for me, but I love emo bands that people think are pop punk.

[Alec]

Okay, good answer.

[Britta Drake]

Agree.

[Alec]

It's a really good answer.

[Mike Cesario]

So I think Brady brought up Armor for Sleep, which is.

[Alec]

I'm a label emo band right there.

[Britta Drake]

I would call them emo.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes. But people might call them pop punk.

[Britta Drake]

People would. And they'd be wrong.

[Alec]

Is that the band to write Love on Her Arms?

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

Is that a band?

[Britta Drake]

So, no, I think that was, like, a foundation or something.

[Mike Cesario]

So this is. This isn't news. For anyone that likes Armor for Sleep, which I'm a late bloomer, but they have a. What do you call it?

[Britta Drake]

A record that's like a concept.

[Mike Cesario]

A concept record about dying. And then every song is like, you know, I can see what it would be like when I want to come back to Earth, basically. I can see you. And the lyrics between, like, on all the songs, I think are like. It's just. It's amazing.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Mike Cesario]

So, like, that's awesome. And I.

[Alec]

So you. You say emo good.

[Mike Cesario]

Pop punk bad, Emo best.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Mike Cesario]

Pop punk worst.

[Britta Drake]

I would also say there's this whole other genre of pop punk that I really beef because it's like listening to a can of beer. Like, you might as well just put your headphones in a can of beer.

[Alec]

Explain it's.

[Britta Drake]

I mean, like, you know, I don't want.

[Mike Cesario]

You don't want to call out bands?

[Britta Drake]

I won't call out bands.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Just explain what you mean.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, but, like, some of the music is pretty good, and the singer needs to clear his throat.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

You know, but.

[Mike Cesario]

And, you know, they're almost always pop

[Britta Drake]

punk bands, and they are almost always pop punk bands, and there's, like, a beer culture component to it.

[Mike Cesario]

Not just beer. There's other culture involved, too, and it's like pop punk culture.

[Britta Drake]

But the beer part in particular, really, it just rubs me the wrong way.

[Alec]

I don't even know what you're talking about, and I hate what you're.

[Britta Drake]

And it's also very, like, heavy on the. The beard as well.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Not to be confused. Confused with beer. Beer. Yeah. I. It's like.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, no judgments of people that like it. Like, you can, like, whatever you want. I just.

[Alec]

I don't know what you're talking about. And I. The fastest.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, they had some good bands that played and probably still do. Yes, there was some cool bands that played.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, it's A cool fest.

[Britta Drake]

A lot of the bands were beer pop punk. Like, I don't want to name names.

[Alec]

Like, I like. Yeah. Whatever this concept is, it's like.

[Mike Cesario]

It's just not for us. It is really what it is.

[Britta Drake]

Old dudes playing. No offense. Like, I'm probably their age now that then they're.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, you're young forever. They're old, though.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Stephen]

They're.

[Britta Drake]

It's only cool when I do it, right?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

But they. It's like older playing beer pop punk, too. And, like, I don't know. There's something very. Not for me about it.

[Mike Cesario]

You know? Remember when I was talking about how being, like, vulnerable and authentic, I feel like more often than not, pop punk is not that.

[Alec]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

Their vulnerability is their impressions of other bands. But it feel. Yeah. It feels inauthentic. Is that.

[Alec]

And that's fair.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

This is a great question. What is the best airline for musicians?

[Mike Cesario]

Delta.

[Alec]

It's Delta.

[Britta Drake]

Delta.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

It is 100%. You know, I hate to shill for a corpo for sure, but we. I've been exclusively a Delta guy for the past two years or so. Now I've. I get the notification that my bags are on the plane.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

If my connection is five minutes long.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

My bags have been making it.

[Mike Cesario]

They're. They're there. They flew off the plane.

[Alec]

It's unbelievable. I have not had a bad experience or. Or a significant delay with Delta in two years.

[Stephen]

American.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Is in the shitter. It's in the hole. It's in the poop.

[Mike Cesario]

And their prices are about the same now.

[Alec]

About the same. Yeah. Maybe I can get a direct flight to Burbank if it even fucking takes off.

[Mike Cesario]

Damn.

[Alec]

How is a summer flight getting canceled

[Mike Cesario]

that's meant for flying. There's no pilot.

[Alec]

Only mismanagement.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And I've never had a flight other than American be canceled or heavily delayed in 10 years.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, this is. This is. We fly enough to where we get, like, status and stuff.

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, that's what, you know, we fly enough. Okay. It's fine. And I have a funny story. So I'm like a platinum medallion member at the moment. Whatever.

[Britta Drake]

He's bragging.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. It's fine. But the point is, they'll come up to you in your seat. And I go, michael Cesario, thank you for being a platinum.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm like, thanks. I spent a lot of money flying. Thank you. But once recently, I was like mid game magic. I was like, this piece of shit. And then. And I had my headphones in. And then this person, you know, they come by and to just say thank you. And then they, like, tap me. And I'm like, what?

[Alec]

Oh, my God.

[Britta Drake]

I just feel a lot of damage.

[Mike Cesario]

I was like, man, like, tap to man.

[Alec]

A fault.

[Mike Cesario]

And then she. They. I don't remember, but they just tapped me and I was like, like, yeah.

[Britta Drake]

She's like, I was just. I'm losing, you know, thank you for being a platinum.

[Mike Cesario]

And I. I was just like, I'm so sorry. Like, you are incredible. But I. When I was like, yeah. She was just like. And I was like, I feel like the worst piece of. Dude.

[Alec]

Do you ever get upgraded to first class?

[Mike Cesario]

Twice recently, dude.

[Alec]

I got. I got it on the way home from, you know, first. It's because Delta it is.

[Mike Cesario]

They rock, dude.

[Alec]

But somebody. I felt bad because there was a corpsman on my flight who clocked me in first class.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I feel like this piece of shit. I would never pay for this.

[Mike Cesario]

Hell fucking no.

[Alec]

I would never pay for this Corpsman.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And when I was boarding, I tapped him on the stomach. That's insane, because nobody will ever believe

[Mike Cesario]

I caught Vitala doing first class the other day. But he did the same thing. He's like. It was literally. I did upgrade it, and I. And I looked at him. I was gonna take a photo and everything.

[Alec]

Got your ass.

[Stephen]

You gotta.

[Mike Cesario]

He's awesome. Awesome.

[Alec]

We're getting upgrade. We're not paying for this.

[Mike Cesario]

No, I would. We would never.

[Alec]

But it's Delta.

[Britta Drake]

It's Delta because you have to fly for work, too. Like, it's not like you're flying all the time to Aruba or some. Like, you're flying all the time. You get the status because you have to, and you get paid back.

[Mike Cesario]

I'd say it's irresponsible not to have a. An airline credit card if you're flying.

[Alec]

You know what I'm all in on now? What Hilton awards you got. You put me on, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

It's awesome.

[Alec]

It's unbelievable.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Do you have Hilton for business?

[Britta Drake]

I don't think I do.

[Alec]

I'm on Hilton for business.

[Mike Cesario]

Whoa.

[Alec]

I get, like a dollar off what?

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, Britain. This is. This goes way back, but I didn't believe, like, use credit cards before I met Brittany. I would only do debit cards. I was like, if I don't have the money, I ain't buying. Yeah. And then she's like, no, points.

[Alec]

Yeah, points are huge.

[Mike Cesario]

And I'm like, okay. I'm responsible enough with money now, you know? And so I did it. I'm like, oh, I've been missing out.

[Alec]

What's your. What's your goated card?

[Mike Cesario]

Is Delta, the purple one.

[Alec]

Okay. Because you just get hella loyalty points.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. So every. It's like dollars you spent. You get MQDs and that goes to status, which. And I use points to fly. Or sometimes we just.

[Britta Drake]

I mean, that's a wedding.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah. There's no. I feel like it just. It's the most savings because we have to do it.

[Britta Drake]

Right.

[Mike Cesario]

We don't have to, but I like to do it. I like playing shows with you.

[Alec]

I'm a Chase Sapphire Reserve man.

[Britta Drake]

Wow.

[Mike Cesario]

That shit's good though.

[Britta Drake]

Good.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I got 8x points for a flight, for Steven's flight to tie down.

[Mike Cesario]

You know who else is 8,000 points? Colin Feeney.

[Alec]

Yeah, he.

[Mike Cesario]

He told me. I was like. I was like, dude, I need to get that.

[Alec]

I signed up without his referral code.

[Mike Cesario]

That's awesome. What a guy. Dude.

[Alec]

Sorry. Colin, what was one of the most burning questions you've ever asked someone on Hard Lore? And what was their response? It wasn't from a question, but there's about 20 minutes cut out from the Paris Mayhew episode that I couldn't use that is gone now. So even if you asked me what it was, I can't give it to you. But that was heavily redacted for legal reasons, so pretty cool.

[Mike Cesario]

You can tell me later. I will, Thanks.

[Britta Drake]

I got a question. Okay. So if you could know one thing from the universe, like you just can have the answer to a mystery, some sort of mystery.

[Mike Cesario]

Whole universe.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Easiest answer of all time. God.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. If God's real, that's the answer question. Okay.

[Alec]

If you know the universal truth of that. Am I the only person who knows this?

[Britta Drake]

That's a good. I mean, let's. Let's.

[Alec]

Because I think having the universal truth to that, it would be impossible to convince everyone that you know the universal truth. But you have the comfort of knowing, well, if you. Which will set your. The course of your entire life waiting it.

[Britta Drake]

I don't know that I would change it 100%.

[Alec]

No, it would absolutely change.

[Britta Drake]

I don't think I would change it.

[Alec]

If you knew definitive proof about what happened, what is going to happen? The meaning of life and God and everything.

[Mike Cesario]

I think the meaning of life and God is two things being one thing,

[Alec]

but if one is the other, in a way, you know the meaning of God and the source of.

[Mike Cesario]

But if it's yes or no question, if God's real Then, oh, then yeah,

[Alec]

you don't know shit.

[Mike Cesario]

You don't know shit.

[Britta Drake]

I think that's a. I think you just place that limit on it. I don't know if that's not the original limit.

[Alec]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

It's just like, if you just know one thing, I guess. But I can understand the yes or

[Mike Cesario]

no just because it is one thing. I'm asking two things.

[Alec]

Well, if I ask, if I'm able to ask, is God as a human like entity who created and controls all thing real, like making it very specifically worded?

[Britta Drake]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Alec]

And if it's yes, it would be like, wow, okay, I have to change.

[Stephen]

I think.

[Britta Drake]

What do you do different?

[Alec]

I probably live more like a Christian than most Christians, you know, where like, they live with the fear of God being like, I can't do that cause it's gonna upset God and I'm gonna go to hell.

[Mike Cesario]

We're talking about, like super conservative.

[Alec]

But I believe in. I believe in do unto others. I believe in come as you are and acceptance and love thy neighbor and all that. I love my neighbor.

[Britta Drake]

Mm.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Selfless.

[Alec]

I. I mean, I try. I mean, I'm a pretty selfish guy, but like, other than like gluttony, I'm not a very sinful guy. And like, I mean, you get a French.

[Mike Cesario]

You get a French Big Mac. That's pretty good.

[Britta Drake]

Well, I guess that's why I asked. Like, what would you change? I don't think it would change that much.

[Alec]

No, I think it would. It would be affirming to be like, okay, here's.

[Mike Cesario]

But the question has to be a yes or no question because it's too big of a question otherwise.

[Britta Drake]

Good point. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Because if it wasn't, then it would be. Give me in a paragraph that reads,

[Alec]

if it's conspiracy rather than like a universal truth, it could be either.

[Mike Cesario]

Is God real? Yes.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, I would change.

[Alec]

Yeah. I would want to either know more about aliens or some kind of

[Stephen]

was,

[Alec]

you know, 9 11. Was 911 inside that, you know?

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

Because that's earth shattering. Aliens, Earth generation. Does life beyond Earth exist and have they been here? And if it's yes, Those are two questions. Maybe.

[Mike Cesario]

I think, I mean, I think it's. It would be so, I mean, has

[Alec]

life beyond Earth been here?

[Britta Drake]

That's a good question.

[Mike Cesario]

That's a good question. Because I feel like it's obvious that there's life beyond Earth.

[Alec]

There has to be.

[Mike Cesario]

There's no. It would be so ignorant of us otherwise.

[Alec]

There's an Earth 2 somewhere where they're talking about the same thing.

[Britta Drake]

Another Earth.

[Alec]

Druddy break.

[Mike Cesario]

I got a good. I got a good. Okay, good question. Is there a parallel universe?

[Alec]

Oh, yeah. I love that.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And if there is, Am I badass there? How's my nose looking there?

[Alec]

Yeah. You has the smallest nose.

[Mike Cesario]

They're like. They're like, yeah. Bike for sure.

[Alec]

Got plastic surgery also.

[Britta Drake]

Great movie. Another Earth.

[Mike Cesario]

What? Bike.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. You've seen it?

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Another Earth.

[Mike Cesario]

Never seen it.

[Britta Drake]

I feel like I would want to know. It's so, so silly to waste my question on this, but it would be like, does my dog know I love him? Because I Google it all the time, and the answer is always the same.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

It's like, yeah, for sure.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Your dog knows you love him.

[Mike Cesario]

You already know the answer to that, though.

[Britta Drake]

I don't know.

[Mike Cesario]

Google told you.

[Alec]

But the thing is, you'd have to explain. I think about all the day. If I had, like, one day to communicate with the dogs.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alec]

I would have to explain the concept of love, and that would be tough. I would try to.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Like, do you know that when I leave the house, it's either I'm always coming home, and it's a lot of the times, it's to be able to give you this life, you know that? To afford to have you here with me.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Because. Just because I love you, it's so satisfying for you to get their love, too.

[Alec]

Oh, it's the best thing. The best part.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

We're their whole lives.

[Mike Cesario]

We love them more than they love us. I don't know.

[Britta Drake]

I. I don't know.

[Alec]

I mean, I think I love. I think chili and I love each other equally.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I think. I think George is like, after he eats, nothing matters.

[Mike Cesario]

Here's the thing. I know that they. That we love more because we would give up everything.

[Britta Drake]

I think Noki would give up.

[Mike Cesario]

I think he would.

[Alec]

If I open the door, they're all leaving me. You give.

[Mike Cesario]

You find the. The best treat in the house, and you're like, honestly, this looks pretty good.

[Alec]

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, maybe they don't have a choice.

[Mike Cesario]

They don't know. That's fair.

[Britta Drake]

I think gnocchi would forego food for me, for sure. And the outdoors. Right.

[Alec]

Well, then you're doing great.

[Britta Drake]

Thank you.

[Mike Cesario]

Great.

[Alec]

What are three things you learned about yourself this year?

[Mike Cesario]

This year?

[Britta Drake]

I really like this question.

[Alec]

Great question. I'm a very emotional person.

[Mike Cesario]

I got two, but I don't have the third. So I'm thinking about the third.

[Alec]

I'm useless without a creative deadline.

[Mike Cesario]

Interesting.

[Alec]

Useless. And once I gave myself one, shit got done.

[Mike Cesario]

That's awesome.

[Alec]

I feel. And this is like, to no fault of anyone's, but I think I feel very lonely and isolated, even when in rooms full of my friends.

[Britta Drake]

When did you learn that?

[Alec]

Very recently, I think.

[Mike Cesario]

How recently do you think that's a.

[Britta Drake]

Last night at my birthday.

[Alec]

I had a good time.

[Mike Cesario]

Do you think that's something that's going to be a forever thing?

[Alec]

Probably. I think it's just like. I think this is just growing up.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Well, growing up and experiencing this great tragedy. And now I've got my routine locked in. I've got the thing I've got to do every week to get shit done. And it's a very. It's a lot of. It's me and Stephen locked in, you know, there's no way to. I don't know. It's just a feeling.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Whether or not it's true is. Is irrelevant.

[Britta Drake]

Sure. But that makes me sad for you.

[Alec]

I don't even mean it to be a sad thing.

[Mike Cesario]

You don't know what tomorrow holds either.

[Alec]

Exactly.

[Britta Drake]

I still feel sad about it right now.

[Alec]

Well, hey, that's. You're just a great doctor.

[Britta Drake]

I'm allowed to feel that way.

[Mike Cesario]

How about you?

[Britta Drake]

I have learned that I don't want to work hard for the rest of my life.

[Mike Cesario]

I think work hard.

[Alec]

It.

[Britta Drake]

It's subjective.

[Mike Cesario]

It's subjective because you like work. You just don't like work. That's bad for you.

[Alec]

Love that answer.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I. Well, I think there. My. There was a big part of my life that was, you're the creative child. You're. You're not as smart as your brother. I don't think my parents intended to give that messaging. And I was just like, that's fine. I'll play the Sims and have kind of like, fun. And then there was like a big part where I was like, oh, shit. Like, I really gotta catch up. Like, I gotta lock in and do hard work. And then that just became habit at some point where it's like, well, I just gotta keep building and doing more, almost out of, like, obligation rather than, like, desire or drive. And that has become so untenable at this point that I let the things that I really care about go. So I'm just letting go of the desire to do more and build on things that are less relevant to my. Things that bring me joy, creative pursuits.

[Alec]

And what an incredible privilege that Mike loves working hard.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

That's true.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks.

[Alec]

So everything works out.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, for me this is vague, but it's going to be okay. That you brought up before really latching on with that because it's like dealing with like fear of failure and like fear of just fear, you know, and like knowing that it's going to be okay.

[Alec]

Failure is the most important day to day thing I think that we can experience.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

When only way to learn what to do.

[Mike Cesario]

Totally. And I think failure is. Is inherently awesome in a lot of ways. Fear of failure being very different. Yeah. So that's a huge thing. Making your expectations known is a big one too.

[Britta Drake]

Wait, what?

[Alec]

Communication.

[Mike Cesario]

Communication with. So like it's just communication as a whole. And by that I mean like if I want, I need to communicate something, let's say with you going around in circles, beating around the bush to say something. Because I'm worried about being kind or not kind. And a lot of times it's important to. Or it's almost always important to let you know my expectations.

[Alec]

Love it.

[Britta Drake]

Or to be direct.

[Mike Cesario]

Be direct.

[Alec]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

So that's huge. And I kind of. That goes not just from me to others, but from others to me. So that's something it's. I think I'm. It's not that I didn't know that. It's more. So I'm latching. I like want to utilize that more. Use more. And then like chronic pain is also chronic.

[Alec]

Listen to your body.

[Mike Cesario]

Listen to your body. But just something that is painful, whether it be your body, your mental state, whatever it is. If I mean it kind of goes back to. It's okay. But also a lot of it is. It's. It's a little can be in your head, which is huge.

[Alec]

You are the king of. Yes.

[Mike Cesario]

They can be in your head. But also like. I'm not saying it's not real.

[Alec]

No, of course.

[Mike Cesario]

Because it is real. It's just. It's gonna be okay.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Knowing what that means.

[Alec]

A lot of layers to that.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. That was deep. Sorry. Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I also think there's something about. Don't. You can't please everybody. And like accepting that.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Acceptance is a thing is kind of with. With with what I'm saying about the like chronic or just pain. Mental or. Or physical acceptance. But not in like a depressing way.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. No. And I think you're. You're talking about it in a really positive way.

[Alec]

Yeah, I agree.

[Britta Drake]

Or at least realistic.

[Mike Cesario]

Realistic. Well, positive way is the way is the answer really.

[Britta Drake]

Sometimes. Yeah.

[Alec]

Great answer.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

River Goblin asked what are some tips you'd offer to people for coping with loss? And I the number one. This is real quick. This is something I learned day two, that grief's got to go somewhere. And for me that's this show and talking to my friends. So gotta go somewhere.

[Stephen]

Whether.

[Alec]

Whatever that means artistically, personally, emotionally, let it out, release it.

[Britta Drake]

I would. I.

[Mike Cesario]

You studying grief basically so.

[Britta Drake]

Because I think there's not really great tips. I mean that's why I went into.

[Mike Cesario]

That is the quintessential Dunning Kruger answer of you. You don't have, you know too much. Well, so tell us more.

[Britta Drake]

I would. I. I think the one thing. One of my favorite books on grief. Quote. It's a quote. Sorry to do the lyrical trope where I. Where I quote some and I believe

[Alec]

it was Leonard Cohen who wants it.

[Britta Drake]

No, but the. The quote is like closure is a dirty word. And I do sort of believe in that. I don't think you ever really get closure. I think it's something that you need to accept and let go of that closure doesn't happen. People are often striving for closure and I just don't think that it exists. Cause can you even define how and what that would feel like?

[Mike Cesario]

It's letting it go. That's the most you can do even.

[Alec]

But even that is like it's gonna

[Mike Cesario]

be accepting and letting it go is accepting.

[Alec]

I think acceptance is good.

[Mike Cesario]

Excited.

[Britta Drake]

Famously one of this. One of the stages of grace.

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

However, you know, misunderstanding about the stages of grief is that people think that they are like checkboxes or linear, that once you're done with one, you move on to the next. And then it's. That's not how it was ever conceptualized. It was always that these are, you know, ongoing. Well, it's just different experiences that tend to happen after grief that come and go. Yeah, but it's not like you.

[Mike Cesario]

But there is a common stage profile here, is there not with grief? Okay.

[Britta Drake]

No. I mean sometimes people feel more like denial early on, but you can for sure still feel denial and you can have reached acceptance and then fall back into denial. But I would. I think the closure piece is important. I also think the. The other suggestion is that there needs to be some sort of meaning making component of grieving that that can be

[Mike Cesario]

really individual so that like give an example.

[Alec]

I think a lot of people are like, why?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, what. What.

[Alec]

What does this have to do with me?

[Mike Cesario]

So giving a meaning, even if it's not tangible is.

[Britta Drake]

It could be intangible it could be tangible. It could be helping somebody else. I mean, that's.

[Mike Cesario]

That's huge.

[Britta Drake]

That's often the generativity piece of grief is a.

[Mike Cesario]

Is your own experience. You can help. Help someone else that is now going through it. Possibly or hasn't gone through it.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, whatever that means. There's something about that that makes people feel more connected to one another and makes the experience feel a little bit more universal.

[Mike Cesario]

And that's why pulling it in and not talking about it's not a good idea.

[Alec]

Not a good idea.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, because then that's the whole thing. And that's true of talking about it. Like you said, the generativity aspect, like, it helps. It helps people.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You can help other people or people that are talking to about it.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I think it also helps with acceptance. Like if you kind of distance yourself from your own experience of grief by helping somebody else. That's a little bit.

[Alec]

I mean, I love that. I love the idea of doing anything good for anyone.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I think that is like the meaning.

[Mike Cesario]

That's probably the biggest one. As for. To answer that question is like.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, but ultimately it just sucks.

[Alec]

It just sucks.

[Britta Drake]

Let it suck the fucking word.

[Mike Cesario]

Accepting that life sucks.

[Britta Drake]

And it doesn't always feel like it's getting better. There's going to be. It's just like, like, oh, it's hidden.

[Mike Cesario]

It. It often does get that.

[Britta Drake]

And it just. Yeah, for a couple of days and then you're driving in your car and you're like, oh, yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

But I mean, like over time. Yeah, over a period of time, you, you likely won't be like, like feeling like grief forever. So that's.

[Alec]

I've been told that the infancy of grief is one to two years.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

Well, and I would also say the thing about grief that people get to have difficulty with is the one year mark often is the hardest for people because people think you've moved on and you haven't.

[Alec]

Because I think even in a couple months people think you've moved on and they're just off living their lives and you're stuck just being cursed with the knowledge.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

Cursed with the thought. Yep, that's hard.

[Britta Drake]

And people stop asking how you're doing. They stop offering support. So sometimes that actually feels like you're like. And you're experiencing like my first, you know, holiday without somebody, which feels really difficult.

[Alec]

But this is in a way, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I know, I know. I'm thinking about you.

[Alec]

Yeah, you're doing great.

[Mike Cesario]

This rocks. You're doing great.

[Alec]

I'm Loving it. Cole asks if you had a tiny clone of Hitler, would you torture it? This is a great question for therapy reasons. It's not actually Hitler. It's just a miniature clone of him. He didn't do any of that stuff. But he thinks he did and he would do it again given the opportunity. Would you torture him?

[Britta Drake]

This is more of a. This is actually more of like a side. This would be a great plot.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, but miniature how? We're talking like, like how.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Is he a baby?

[Mike Cesario]

Is he. Is he like baby.

[Alec]

Baby size.

[Mike Cesario]

Baby size society. No. What you did what you. Yes, because killing. Hurting a baby is different stuff.

[Britta Drake]

It's just a baby sized baby size. Doesn't look like a baby.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay, but he's got a mustache. I mean they're out there.

[Alec]

I don't think I would feel good torturing anything.

[Mike Cesario]

No way.

[Britta Drake]

I agree. I don't think that.

[Mike Cesario]

I also don't think it's the answer.

[Britta Drake]

The situation.

[Alec]

No. But I think I could like go up somewhere real high and throw him as far as I could and there'd

[Britta Drake]

be nothing like he would do it again.

[Alec]

So maybe I should get like morally I should kill this thing.

[Mike Cesario]

I think. Here's the thing, you know, he's gonna do it again.

[Alec]

He's going to do it again.

[Mike Cesario]

He's going to do it again.

[Alec]

He's going to do Holocaust 2 this baby.

[Mike Cesario]

And the answer is if you could stop it, you should.

[Alec]

You should.

[Britta Drake]

But I think we can stop it without torture, right? I just don't believe in torture.

[Alec]

Yeah, the grand guy would feel good torture.

[Britta Drake]

Go out on a limb. I don't believe in torture.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay, so. So here, here's another great.

[Alec]

I don't want to make it.

[Mike Cesario]

I don't want to make it too nuanced here, but can you stop him without like by changing his mind?

[Alec]

No. Fuck no.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay, so then Hitler then. If you can't do that, then. Then I think that you have to.

[Alec]

I think I would kill him fast

[Mike Cesario]

as you'd shoot him with the.

[Alec]

Stomp him in the. Damn you.

[Mike Cesario]

You put something in a dart gun or some. Goes to, you know, goes on the ground and then you.

[Alec]

Yeah, or just smash a dart gun.

[Mike Cesario]

Don't worry.

[Alec]

Oh my God.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, what was that?

[Alec]

And you go fast.

[Mike Cesario]

Is this.

[Alec]

Yeah, we gotta get rid of mini Hitler.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, definitely get rid of him. I don't feel good about torture. I don't feel good about emotional torture. I don't think it's torture. I think it's wrong.

[Mike Cesario]

I Also, don't even think torture. I don't think torture ever is really the answer.

[Britta Drake]

It doesn't tend to lead to.

[Mike Cesario]

It just makes other people bad people. When you could just do the thing without having that.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

As you guys have said before, hardcore is unique in that there aren't any rock stars and everyone is your peer. Who in hardcore does feel like an actual rock star to you.

[Mike Cesario]

Rock star.

[Alec]

Like. Like, holy shit, There he is in hardcore. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

It's gonna be the legends, like Roger, the New York hardcore legends.

[Alec]

Probably Roger Stigma. John Brannon.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, yeah, obviously, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

Ray Kaplan.

[Alec]

I mean, this John Brandon story.

[Britta Drake]

Mm.

[Alec]

I. I don't want to put him on blast to who witnessed him. This is not my story. Okay. I just want to repeat that. In the green room at tied down most recent time.

[Stephen]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

Is this the pizza?

[Alec]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Alec]

That was awesome, though. I did see that. No, this is at like, noon. All right. This is unbelievable. This is like, historic. And I'm wondering if this is a bit. He does. And he's like, I'm gonna do the thing. Let's do it. It's 12 noon and he's going through the coolers of beer.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Alec]

And did you see these coolers?

[Britta Drake]

I saw the coolers.

[Mike Cesario]

You're talking, like, on the floor. Yeah, yeah.

[Alec]

They're all labeled. You know, One of them says, na, beer. So he's cracking open cans, taking a sip, thrown away.

[Britta Drake]

Ugh.

[Alec]

Taking a sip thrown away.

[Britta Drake]

Ugh.

[Alec]

Disgusting. And he says to Ron, the bass player, why are they giving us all this weird beer?

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

And Ron, without looking up, says, it's non alcoholic, non negative approach.

[Mike Cesario]

That's unbelievable, dude.

[Alec]

That's the coolest thing to ever happen.

[Mike Cesario]

He for sure knew.

[Alec]

I think he was like, ron, I'm gonna do that non alcoholic thing. Get. You got my back, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, Be ready. The best thing is if we asked him, I'm sure if anyone asked him, he'd be like, what are you talking about?

[Alec]

It's so good.

[Mike Cesario]

It's perfect.

[Alec]

He saw a label and he was

[Britta Drake]

like,

[Mike Cesario]

you also want to throw out there? That was my favorite set of Tight down.

[Alec]

That was so good.

[Mike Cesario]

It was unbelievable.

[Alec]

I would say negro approach and skinhead.

[Mike Cesario]

Skinhead. So good.

[Alec]

Skinhead has united the world.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Unbelievable.

[Alec]

In such an incredible way that I haven't seen a band.

[Mike Cesario]

Also. She's so good at singing.

[Alec]

Singing lyrics songwriter, Emotion.

[Mike Cesario]

The emotion on stage is perfect.

[Alec]

Dude, the song about the dog.

[Mike Cesario]

I can't.

[Alec]

What the fuck, man? He knew Destroyed me. I started tearing up.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Then I see him tearing up, then it gets me going. And then he's going and I'm. This is crazy. The chain reaction. This set was unbelievable.

[Britta Drake]

It was truly. I was shocked. I knew they would have a really good reaction.

[Alec]

They got the Scumbags.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

They got the Ladies.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

They got the Pop Punk Twinks.

[Mike Cesario]

Yep.

[Alec]

They got the Pop Punk Fats.

[Mike Cesario]

What about Rags?

[Alec]

Who?

[Mike Cesario]

The Regulars.

[Alec]

They for sure got the Regular. And there's the Mediums. And they've got the. The evocative name. You know, you're like, there's something dangerous here. And he's singing about these dangerous things. I'm not supposed to connect with this, and somehow I do. It's the best band also.

[Mike Cesario]

He's just a smart guy.

[Britta Drake]

He's cool.

[Alec]

He's a genius.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I want to hang out with him.

[Alec]

He's a great guy, man. Great band.

[Stephen]

Best set.

[Alec]

Somebody asked Do It Fart. What it do?

[Mike Cesario]

Do It Fart.

[Alec]

Speaking of fart. Speaking of fart, your guys wedding.

[Mike Cesario]

This man before.

[Alec]

Dude. This is one of the hardest laughs of my whole life.

[Mike Cesario]

When you laugh.

[Britta Drake]

We quote it daily. Whenever. Whenever somebody does anything at our house. The question is, who blanks the more?

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

So, like, if I'm cleaning, who clean the more? If I'm cleaning, the question is, who cleans the more?

[Alec]

Who hired this guy?

[Mike Cesario]

Me. No, you.

[Alec]

Are you crushed?

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks.

[Alec]

That was incredible. This guy, he's the dj.

[Mike Cesario]

He's the dj. The mc. Dj. So he's an MC is saying the things they're doing.

[Alec]

They're playing a game. You guys are like back to back.

[Mike Cesario]

And I was back to back playing

[Britta Drake]

the wedding game, by the way.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I did not consent.

[Mike Cesario]

I also didn't. It was one of those things where Mom's like, we gotta do it. Yeah. You know?

[Alec]

And I'm like, we gotta do it for Mom. This one you're with, this is Angela's wedding.

[Mike Cesario]

This is her.

[Britta Drake]

Her wedding.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

She had a great time. She danced all night.

[Britta Drake]

She deserved every moment.

[Mike Cesario]

She had an extra hour for dancing,

[Alec]

and it was for her.

[Britta Drake]

She's so funny. Your mom is incredible.

[Alec]

She is. So this fucking DJ guy is asking them. They have to play a game where they're pointing at each other like, who does that more? And his phrasing of this question was, who farts the more? And the room explodes. Laughing and like. Like at his expense.

[Britta Drake]

You could tell he was.

[Mike Cesario]

You had to do it. You had to take your shoe off.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And then raise your hand, who does the thing? You know? And it's like, okay, cool.

[Alec]

And he said it so casually.

[Mike Cesario]

Who farts the more?

[Alec]

He was like, who farts the more?

[Mike Cesario]

And we're just like,

[Alec]

what?

[Mike Cesario]

I think we probably looked at each other.

[Alec]

Everyone around me is, like, weeping.

[Britta Drake]

I heard Birdie was crying.

[Mike Cesario]

He was crying.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

That was a good one.

[Britta Drake]

My only regret about that wedding is that, like, we didn't get to see everyone laughing at that. Like, we were so in the game where. I wish I could have just seen it.

[Alec]

It was unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

It was good.

[Britta Drake]

But, yes, we still say, who blanks the more?

[Alec]

Who farts the more? Who cleans the more?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Who shits the more?

[Mike Cesario]

Who shits the more, too? Who farts the more? Is awesome.

[Alec]

Are you ticklish?

[Mike Cesario]

Here's the thing. If you tickle me right now, I'll straight fart the more. You know, I'll be farting crazy.

[Alec]

I would. I would say ticklish. Like, being tickled is, like, right under nuclear terrorism.

[Mike Cesario]

100%.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

War.

[Alec]

Tickle.

[Mike Cesario]

Famine. Famine.

[Britta Drake]

Are you ticklish?

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

The thing is.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

He doesn't let me.

[Alec]

This is like, my spot. This. I'll be. I'll be like, whoa.

[Mike Cesario]

Here's another question for you. Have you ever been tickled on hard lore?

[Alec]

No.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, interesting.

[Alec]

And I won't be.

[Mike Cesario]

That's pretty good, dude. What is this? That's interesting, huh?

[Britta Drake]

I will say I used to have nightmares frequently that I was being tickle tortured.

[Mike Cesario]

That's number two.

[Alec]

It's terrorism.

[Britta Drake]

And I thought for a while that someone was sneaking into my room at night to tickle me.

[Mike Cesario]

I was. No.

[Britta Drake]

When I was like a child, I was like, somebody sneaks in.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, it was crazy.

[Britta Drake]

This is actually one of my fibs. No, I was like, somebody sneaks into my room and tickles me.

[Mike Cesario]

That's a monster.

[Britta Drake]

It was a monster.

[Mike Cesario]

It was always BOA would think it's a monster.

[Britta Drake]

It was like a clown or something in my dream.

[Mike Cesario]

That's even.

[Britta Drake]

See, I know.

[Mike Cesario]

This is terrifying.

[Britta Drake]

No wonder you're really terrible nightmares.

[Alec]

Like abuse that you're.

[Britta Drake]

No, I don't think so. I've already done that work to figure out. Okay, what do we think? And that.

[Alec]

What is the clown. What does the tickling clown mean?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, what does it mean?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

No, I just think it means I didn't like being tickled. And I'd seen that one episode of Are you afraid of the dark? With a clown.

[Alec]

It was the clown in the intro, too.

[Stephen]

Is horrifying.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, horrifying.

[Mike Cesario]

You ever get tickled as a Kid.

[Alec]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And so far, so much where you'd, like, pee your pants.

[Alec]

I was pissing and crying and laughing.

[Mike Cesario]

I wish that whoever tickled me as a kid, I pissed on them straight up.

[Britta Drake]

So tickling is, like, number. I think it might actually surpass the nuclear.

[Alec]

It's bad war.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Okay.

[Alec]

I like it. I like it. What is your favorite smell?

[Britta Drake]

Mouse pad.

[Mike Cesario]

It's not gnocchi.

[Alec]

Hold on.

[Mike Cesario]

That was.

[Alec]

Describe mouse pad.

[Britta Drake]

It sort of smells like Home Depot with a little bit of rubber.

[Mike Cesario]

That was like, what's your favorite smell?

[Alec]

That's crazy.

[Britta Drake]

It's incredible.

[Mike Cesario]

That's exactly what infectious.

[Alec]

I've owned mouse pads. I've never smelled mousepad. Like, office supply.

[Britta Drake]

Old mouse pad. I think I might have to specify, like, from the 90s with that good

[Alec]

lead silicone in it, you know?

[Mike Cesario]

You know what I like is it's really specific, but it's denatured alcohol.

[Britta Drake]

Mm.

[Mike Cesario]

It's. It used to. It's used for, like, a finishing product called shellac, which isn't technically vegan, but it's something my dad used to use to clean stuff all the time. It's actually bad for your health, but. So don't do it. But it's a very particular smell.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Mike Cesario]

That's it.

[Alec]

Waffle cone. Gasoline.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Gasoline is up there.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Good dog breath.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that's good.

[Alec]

The good stank. We call it bad stank now. One of the worst. Terrible good stank.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Yep. I love.

[Alec]

And then dog foot.

[Mike Cesario]

Dog foot.

[Britta Drake]

I like Noki's ears.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Like, his. The way his ears smell.

[Mike Cesario]

Just sometimes I'll walk in the room. She's.

[Alec]

It feels good.

[Britta Drake]

So much. So much oxytocin.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Just being really.

[Mike Cesario]

He loves it, too. He's just like the.

[Britta Drake]

He does. He loves it.

[Alec]

Exactly.

[Mike Cesario]

Gasoline's good, though. That's like, close to similar experiences.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I was gonna say it's really similar.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, but it's different.

[Britta Drake]

But they are different.

[Mike Cesario]

They're different.

[Britta Drake]

We should do a lineup.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. It's like the. Like, Coke and Diet Coke and shit.

[Alec]

The guy who asked, are you ticklish? Then said, how many people would it take to hold you down and tickle you? And then he asked, where will you be next?

[Mike Cesario]

You know those. That's real. It would take.

[Alec]

Very good.

[Mike Cesario]

The entire world. And I'd still win.

[Alec]

You think about, like, three or four people could try. But I would. I would do a thing that, like.

[Britta Drake]

Ah.

[Alec]

And then maybe. And then everybody would be mad.

[Mike Cesario]

And then it would be. I'd be so mad.

[Alec]

You know, like, I told you not to tickle me. You know, and everybody would be.

[Mike Cesario]

I would be in my pants, pissing everywhere.

[Alec]

Every defense mechanism possible.

[Britta Drake]

You would release your anal.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Stop tickling me.

[Alec]

Arm in your face. And like, skunks don't like to do that. They only have so many.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I can only so much.

[Alec]

So much. And I do. Yeah. Here's a great question.

[Mike Cesario]

Let's hear it.

[Alec]

Favorite drummer ever.

[Mike Cesario]

Favorite drummer ever.

[Alec]

Most influential to me, Taylor Yeung.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah.

[Alec]

Favorite.

[Mike Cesario]

Mine's Dave Lombardo.

[Alec]

I mean, that's Goat. That's best. That can be favorite. But he's the best.

[Mike Cesario]

I love Dave. Yeah, but, like, arguably, maybe not the best.

[Alec]

He's just.

[Mike Cesario]

He's like, there's people that could do what he does and more. If you think about what best means,

[Alec]

then why doesn't Slayer hire them?

[Mike Cesario]

Because he's the best for Slayer.

[Alec]

That's what I'm saying.

[Mike Cesario]

And then the only.

[Alec]

You're the best for Slayer. You're the best.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Amen.

[Alec]

You know, I mean, that's the thing

[Mike Cesario]

is, like, what is. Mine's probably Dave. Just because it's like. I mean, that's the thing you. When you. If we're going to hell, I want to. You know, I want Slayer to be there.

[Alec]

I think mine might be Mickey. Mickey D. King Diamond.

[Mike Cesario]

That's dope, that. I mean, he's good.

[Alec]

Motorhead, too.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. So good. There's a lot. But probably that, I think Dave Lombardo.

[Alec]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, who did the role. Like, there's no way he figured. He's like, I got it, dude. And he's like.

[Alec]

And that's analog.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know, sick.

[Mike Cesario]

He's got 30 times no cut, but he doesn't. You know what I mean?

[Stephen]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Anyway.

[Alec]

Love that answer.

[Mike Cesario]

You're so sweet.

[Alec]

His top 10 for me.

[Britta Drake]

He's an incredible drummer, but also he. The way he thinks about drumming, I find to be.

[Mike Cesario]

Do I?

[Britta Drake]

You for sure do.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay. Oh, yeah.

[Britta Drake]

He's an incredible air drummer. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

What'd you say?

[Britta Drake]

Incredible air drummer.

[Alec]

Hey, ride hat, right? You love ride hat, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

The crazy thing is, like, when you start playing drums, you do things because you're. You're not even thinking, I want to be different. You just go, you like. You go, oh, that sounds cool.

[Alec]

That's my thing.

[Mike Cesario]

And then eventually people go, I like when you do that. You're like, what do you mean? I just do that.

[Alec]

That's just like.

[Mike Cesario]

But you do that. I'm like, yeah, but I got it from Slayer. Or something. They don't do that, but you know what I mean? And then people just do that.

[Alec]

The Chris Mills

[Mike Cesario]

dude, you know? You know, I do it. Chris Mills is a good. Yeah, but, like, you know what I'm talking about. I love that he does that.

[Alec]

He does.

[Mike Cesario]

What a guy.

[Alec]

Great drummer.

[Mike Cesario]

So good. Like the left. My left. My left isn't making noise here.

[Britta Drake]

But, you know, what about Derek?

[Alec]

Great drummer.

[Britta Drake]

Love Derek.

[Mike Cesario]

Goated.

[Alec]

Modern goat.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. If we're talking modern drummers, he's definitely top. You're top. Hey, you're an unbelievably good at drums. Hey, come on.

[Britta Drake]

Stop doing that.

[Alec]

Thanks, man.

[Mike Cesario]

You need to stop being good at drums.

[Britta Drake]

I really like that you can sing and play drums. Yeah. And guitar at the same time. I meant. Oh, that's good with the headset.

[Alec]

I think that's the thing. Like, I might not be. Listen, I know who. I know what I've got. I know. I know my limits. You know, I'm not the best, but I'm. I do creative little fun little things.

[Mike Cesario]

It's fun for you. It sounds like you're having fun.

[Alec]

Having a blast.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And then the singing is like. That's just fun. It's just a thing to do.

[Britta Drake]

You know, it's kind of fun. Fun too.

[Alec]

Gotta have that. That started as like, wouldn't this be funny?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, it was.

[Britta Drake]

And it was.

[Mike Cesario]

But it was awesome at the same time.

[Alec]

And the mic stand is so invasive.

[Britta Drake]

I know.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And with the amount I have to sing, it's not like I can just like push it away and bring it back.

[Mike Cesario]

I found out it was invasive from. From Code Orange. Every time he's moving it out.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And it's like, that's because you gotta.

[Alec]

You gotta go hard if your stick is going. If you're bouncing off the crash here, it's going.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Alec]

On the stand every time. It's horrific.

[Mike Cesario]

That sucks.

[Alec]

This is a good question. Yeetus asks, is there any significance behind the new black and gold color scheme? Which I switched all the stuff to black and gold. And as I was looking at this chart of colors in grief and gold represented immortality.

[Mike Cesario]

I love that.

[Alec]

So that's why I chose gold.

[Britta Drake]

Wow.

[Mike Cesario]

Yep. Your guitar has black and gold too. Is. Doesn't. It does. Yeah.

[Alec]

It's no relation. Hey, now it does.

[Mike Cesario]

Now it does. How sweated.

[Alec]

Which fast food spot is least likely to give you the explosive doo doo?

[Mike Cesario]

Least likely a place that doesn't have fresh vegetables or a wok spot.

[Alec]

Probably McDonald's. Probably McDonald's, like, realistically, everything's fake.

[Britta Drake]

The Big Mac kind of has lettuce on it.

[Mike Cesario]

No, I don't. I think a fast food spot like that would. I'm thinking, what's the. What's the Japanese one?

[Alec]

Yoshinoya.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

But if shit ain't clean, it's fucked. Whereas McDonald's. But it's so fake and preserved.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

That, like, I could eat. I could eat a 10 year old double hamburger.

[Britta Drake]

You would eat a 12 year old.

[Alec]

No, I wouldn't. I'm saying.

[Mike Cesario]

That's insane.

[Britta Drake]

You would eat a whole 10 year old.

[Mike Cesario]

Cut that.

[Alec]

But I think if I ate like a preserved old double hamburger, nothing would happen to me because there's no. There's nothing of substance.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, the truth is that has to be cooked.

[Alec]

And, dude, it's what Trump eats because he's so scared to be poisoned.

[Mike Cesario]

Interesting.

[Alec]

I believe he's been poisoned.

[Mike Cesario]

Hey, we don't know that. He could be an alien. We talked about this.

[Alec]

It's true.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Are there aliens on Earth? Yes or no. And are they Donald Trump?

[Alec]

Get him.

[Mike Cesario]

Torture. All right, Sounds good. All right.

[Britta Drake]

I like that question.

[Alec]

Yeah, exactly. Torture.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

I think this goes for all of us. Was there a pivotal point? There's two questions back to back that are kind of the same question that I both really like. Was there a pivotal point of knowing you wanted to be a musician? Or was it something you always knew? And what was the song or riff you wrote that changed that trajectory? I did not think I was gonna be a musician. I thought I was gonna be a theater guy forever. And then I started to hate theater in high school. And Taylor wasn't home one day.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

When he was off with his girlfriend and his kit was set up. And I was just hitting stuff and I heard the china. I was like. I hit. It was China Splash. And I was like, holy shit, this is awesome. So it took me about a week to learn to play, like, a beat.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Where I could go.

[Mike Cesario]

Between the splash and the China, you have a crash.

[Alec]

And I was kind of like, what is the ride for?

[Mike Cesario]

Nobody.

[Alec]

Why would I ever use this? Or the toms?

[Mike Cesario]

There's no need. Why would you need a tom or a red?

[Alec]

And now I can't believe a ride and a tom. But I think that was the moment. Playing drums for the first time was like, oh, I'm gonna play drums. Like, oh, I guess I'll dedicate, like, the rest of my life to this. And the riff, the song, I think, was Ruckus Apocalypse. Never.

[Mike Cesario]

That's awesome.

[Alec]

On the. The three way split with Zavalba and World of Pain.

[Mike Cesario]

To me, that was.

[Alec]

To me, that was the first thing I ever constructed. So like, that was the first full song that I ever was like conscious of writing and was like, I think if this part was here, this would be. And then like. And went by the end hearing it. And to this day I hear it and I go, that's a good song. And I was 16.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Like being.

[Mike Cesario]

I think the question of being a musician, because I think there's a difference from being a 16 year old that wants to. That like, is there.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Going to shows and plays bass once. And then you. We all had a friend that like played an instrument and they're gone by 18, you know. And like you said, writing a song is huge. Huge first band. Baker was in it. You know, I was singing in it, but I didn't play any drums. He. Baker played drums? Yes.

[Alec]

The Baker beat.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, gee.

[Alec]

Baker.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. That's awesome. Love him. After that band dissolved, I was like, I need to. I can't do anything. Yeah.

[Alec]

Why do you say that? Because it's embarrassing what Mike is.

[Mike Cesario]

I know, but don't look for it. It's gone anyway. It's embarrassing.

[Alec]

But so what life is eventually became Creeping Death.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Which then became disgrace and then kind

[Alec]

of became disgraceful creatures. But I remember the one time Creeping Death played and they opened with Life, Life of Agony without telling you. You didn't know they were going to do it. And on stage you were like, yeah, so psychedelic.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. That was sick. But no, learning to play drums because, like, I have to have a skill, otherwise I can't do anything. Like I'm not gonna sing again. Like, I thought that was done. So I realized, like, if I want to be a musician, I have to learn to play music. So learning to play drums a little bit. And then I think. I think technically the first band I ever played in the first show was With Twitching Tongues ever played drums live. Isn't that crazy if you think about that? Awesome.

[Alec]

Beautiful.

[Mike Cesario]

Our first show was my first time playing drums live ever.

[Alec]

Cobalt Cafe, May 15, 2010.

[Mike Cesario]

That's right. So I'm already 2010. Is I'm 23 or some shit? 22. That's crazy.

[Alec]

So sick.

[Mike Cesario]

Wait, is it 17? No, I'm 20. I'm 20. I'm 20 years old. I'm 20 years. Barely. I'm 19, so 19. Turning 20 in August and never played drums before live. And they're so nervous. Who played? We Covered Carnivore.

[Alec]

Cover Carnivore. And typo. Yes.

[Mike Cesario]

Sick. And. But I think that was the moment when I was like, oh, I can do it.

[Alec]

First show or joining the band.

[Mike Cesario]

I think being a musician. Because all of it. All of it, you can. There's people that sit at home and can play guitar better than I ever will, and they won't put out a damn thing.

[Alec]

Playing ain't writing. Playing ain't performing.

[Mike Cesario]

Playing is. Yeah. And I'm saying you can be a musician and never play a show 100%. I think in my brain, being a musician means you can do it and you can. It's. I did it. That moment was like, I did it. I can do this. And then.

[Alec]

And we. We tried other people. Yeah, there was. There was other guys that came by and sat with us.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, I never played double bass, and

[Alec]

it was so shocked. And then, dude, you came in, and we're just. The vibe was so magical, Right?

[Mike Cesario]

I think it was. Was it Nate? Nate.

[Alec]

Nate was like, you guys try Mike.

[Mike Cesario]

So funny.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Fucking Nate. And it was like, that's crazy to think about.

[Stephen]

Oh, the.

[Alec]

What life is guy.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it.

[Alec]

He plays drums.

[Mike Cesario]

Barely.

[Alec]

And, dude, it just immediately was just this beautiful thing.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And then we saw the world together.

[Mike Cesario]

It's awesome. We still do.

[Alec]

We still do. And that's. You know, that's. That's when you talk about things with grief and, like, finding something good out of it.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Is like the. The silver lining of losing Kale is like, he. He brought us back together.

[Mike Cesario]

You know what's interesting? A little segue here. I was thinking about what kind of questions would be asked, because I don't know. You know, I listen to all episodes and all the questions and the Q and A's, and I was like, what is. What was your favorite show that you've played? And I'm like, what am I gonna think about? And on the way here I went. It was, FYI, coming back. And you know why?

[Alec]

That's way up there for me, dude,

[Mike Cesario]

because when you do this, it meant everything, so.

[Alec]

It did to me, too.

[Mike Cesario]

Amen. Anyway, that wasn't a question that I just answered.

[Alec]

I love that.

[Mike Cesario]

Anyway, your turn.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I. I mean, I knew I always wanted to be around music.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Make money from it. No, no, no. Never thought that.

[Mike Cesario]

Still don't.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Think about it.

[Britta Drake]

Write stuff. For sure. But always was like, I didn't start early enough because, you know, you're supposed to start when you're, like, five or Whatever. I know that's not true now. I don't think that way. But when. When I was like 16, I was like, oh, I didn't start soon enough.

[Alec]

Like a Jedi, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Exactly. Well. But I mean, there is like some. Some you're gonna be better if you start young because the plasticity and stuff. But I always wanted to be around it. I always wanted to create it if I could figure it out. I think the thing that, like, the first thing I wrote that solidified, like I could actually do this was a procession song.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I was like, oh, I can actually kind of.

[Mike Cesario]

We probably wouldn't call ourselves musicians even then or even.

[Britta Drake]

No, no.

[Mike Cesario]

Sometimes, you know, like. But that's like probably a. Like a huge moment for. Similar to me.

[Britta Drake]

I remember being like, oh, becomes an

[Mike Cesario]

identity almost, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, yeah. Oh. And I also remember being like, I wrote that. That was me.

[Alec]

Isn't that awesome?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, like, that was me.

[Mike Cesario]

That's really. Is the creative aspect of it. Cuz like even. Even for what life is, it's like. I mean, I loved hardcore. I still do, you know, and then everything was there, but I didn't. It was like I was so young and I didn't think of it as like, I'm a musician. I just thought like, this is just my life. And then once you had to do music stuff, there's plenty of career people

[Alec]

who are making money off music who ain't musician. I'll tell you what.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

So, yeah, there's. There is a difference. And I think to that point, like, I always had Taylor.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You know, so it was like, other than the fucking Sorcerer's pledge demo, which is not pretty impressive.

[Mike Cesario]

I mean, you were pretty. You were like 17 or some shit.

[Alec]

I think I was a little older. But those. That was the first time where I was like, what is it going to be like to write music alone?

[Mike Cesario]

There we go.

[Alec]

But the last God's Hate record was to me the ultimate, like, yes, I'm going to write an album my way, alone and see how that feels. So that. That being like the thing I've made that clicked with people enough makes it mean.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

A lot more to me because of

[Mike Cesario]

just like doing it so huge. It was crazy because like, even. Even, like I write a lot of music with Kyle and like, that's my ying to my yang kind of thing. So like doing something solo is like. It's novel. You know, it's like.

[Alec]

Like nobody should even really do that. But it's a cool challenge to give yourself of Just like, what will this be like of. With. With minimal input elsewhere and just to see where. Because the. Taylor and I butted heads creatively in Twitch all the time.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And. But you always were working together at some. To some degree.

[Alec]

There was always. There was always a solution, but it wasn't always what we both wanted. Where. This was the one time where it was like, yes, this is what an album sounds like to me.

[Mike Cesario]

Which is crazy because, like, I didn't know what to do. Like, to. To write alone.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, I wrote songs for True Love that were, like, full songs, but that was the first time I ever did that word.

[Alec]

Producer Mike.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. We're like, obviously Alec and I wrote, like, pretty much all of it together. But, like, there were songs that I had. I, like, didn't write. I wrote them on myself before it was Kyle and I. For everything.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

And it's like. It's weird.

[Alec]

Scary.

[Mike Cesario]

It's weird to go in.

[Alec]

It's really fulfilling.

[Mike Cesario]

It is.

[Alec]

So try it all.

[Stephen]

Try.

[Alec]

Try yourself. Try with other people. Have a great time. Thoughts on pile on etiquette these days.

[Mike Cesario]

Gotta stop, dude.

[Alec]

And here's the thing. I'll give you both.

[Mike Cesario]

I love it.

[Alec]

I'll give you two perspectives.

[Mike Cesario]

Hate it too. At the same time.

[Alec]

Even in the question, you called it a pile on. On, not around.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

And I've given this psa on the show, before the mic is meant to be earned, the small stage is teaching people that they're supposed to get on the stage, to get on the stage, to stay on the stage. In reality, the singer should be forced to come to the front because of all the people singing. And then you're piling on each other to get this moment where the mic is yours instead of coming behind the guy, choking him and grabbing the mic there and making it look ridiculous. But I will say, as a vocalist, experiencing the pile around is awesome.

[Mike Cesario]

I was gonna say it's probably awesome.

[Stephen]

It rules.

[Mike Cesario]

I also want to mention that, like, we are showgoers. We're not just musicians.

[Alec]

I've piled on my whole life, and

[Mike Cesario]

it was never like that. Which it's not. It's not a bad thing. However, earning the mic, like you said, was something that you never forgot. You go to the show because you want to sing along, you want to mosh, you want to do whatever. You want to be involved for whatever reason it is. And there's no. There's no way. It feels that awesome being up there. Like, hold on, I'm going to. I'm going to stand up here. I'm going to grab the guitar. Smile. That's crazy.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

It just doesn't look as cool. And at the end of the day, isn't that everything?

[Mike Cesario]

There's no way did I remember every single.

[Alec]

Like me singing along to all at War.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And him giving it to me. I remember vividly. I'm like, holy. He gave. That's the best.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Because I piled.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

I jumped on shoulders. I fought, I scratched and clocked to be the one that went.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. We also don't want to hurt anyone on stage. So it's like we're not gonna be like, get off.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, no. We want the people there. I'm sure, you know, like.

[Alec]

And they've seen. They're seeing the latest hardcore sets in history online and seeing the littest moment from the littest hardcore set in history and they're emulating that for.

[Mike Cesario]

At 11:00am and they need to emulate Ripogain from 19, folks.

[Alec]

Sure. But it's like a privilege that people are wanting to do this for these big moments in small bands. But not every moment is that. And there is a right. There is a right way to do it. But listen, things evolve, things change.

[Mike Cesario]

I do think that things evolving is like you can't. I don't want to change. I don't want to change it. I just want it to maybe a little, but I want it to be inclusive. Like it. Like it always has been. I'm just like. I feel like this is a jaded old head thing to say, but I'm just like. It's just not. This is not what I want. I don't want that exact thing.

[Alec]

Well, there's that. I mean the. This stage is your stage. Yeah. Has always been a thing so that you get on and you die.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alec]

You get on, you not to get

[Mike Cesario]

on and walk around.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You know, Obituary video. They ain't sitting greatest.

[Alec]

There's no way they're sitting turned inside out mtv.

[Mike Cesario]

They need to turn their ass back to their room straight up off the stage. That's all. Yeah.

[Alec]

I love to pile on. I would never pile around. No. Personally, Hell no. Can you talk about your music project with Bo?

[Stephen]

Yes.

[Alec]

Bo and I were working on a youth crew band Perfect. Called Just Might where I was gonna sing. Bo is gonna play guitar. There's some demos. It may become something else. But that was. That was the big secret that we were gonna reveal this year was the just mike demo. Old 30 somethings playing this crew as the prophecy.

[Mike Cesario]

It sounds like floor Punch Sounds like floor punch.

[Alec]

Sounds like Underdog. The goal was Ringworm. The promise for Underdog.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, that's cool.

[Alec]

So, like, Metallic Youth crew.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alec]

With Richie Birkenheads.

[Mike Cesario]

Wow. That's cool.

[Alec]

It was cool.

[Mike Cesario]

I like that. Yeah. God, I love Ringworm.

[Alec]

This is a great question.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Hardest laugh while touring.

[Mike Cesario]

While touring.

[Alec]

I know it immediately.

[Mike Cesario]

Is it when I hate.

[Alec]

Yes, it was. It was in Canada and it was Arctic Blizzard. And Mike was driving and went inside to take a shit without filling the tank first. So I was like, fucking Mike. Leaving us out here freezing so he can shit without filling the tank. So I filled the tank.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

And then Mike comes out, which is so much shit. With like three. Three back.

[Mike Cesario]

I got like three water bottles.

[Alec]

Time.

[Britta Drake]

And.

[Alec]

And comically goes, thanks, Colin. And I look back and I see his legs in the air. Completely, completely horizontal. Like four feet in the air.

[Mike Cesario]

And. And I'm. What do you do when you have all the stuff you don't.

[Alec]

You don't go, here it is.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm.

[Alec]

I'm like a half a football field away from him. And it all slides.

[Mike Cesario]

There was one water bottle that I saw just roll all the way to you.

[Alec]

And I think I laughed for a week, dude. Like, not if I looked at you for a week. I laughed. And to this day, I think I hear, thanks, Colin. In my head, I laughed.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, man.

[Alec]

So that was that for sure.

[Mike Cesario]

There's a. I mean, there's a bunch. They're usually from Leo.

[Alec]

Oh, Leo would do the thing where he.

[Britta Drake]

Like, we're looking out the window.

[Mike Cesario]

So whenever, like, we'd, like, roast him or something. There's like, you're in the van and there's a window, and you just go like that. And it would be like, dude, sorry, Leo just would look out the window and then. It's fine, dude.

[Alec]

The slow turn back eventually.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, that one's good, Leo. Leo got me every time.

[Britta Drake]

He.

[Alec]

Dude, he was a skip assassin.

[Mike Cesario]

He had this, like, dance well, dude,

[Alec]

when he did the spin, dude,

[Mike Cesario]

this

[Alec]

combo, this is spin fart, spin fart. Finger guns was. Was in

[Mike Cesario]

like, no one. No one knew it was gonna happen.

[Britta Drake]

And

[Alec]

to this day, that's fucking see it. And right now, dude, I remember, like,

[Mike Cesario]

tripping lightly just like a little. Like, I, like, just tripped on a crack. And he went stupid. Did like a little dance stupid. And just pointed at me.

[Alec]

And I was just like, the stupid was legendary.

[Mike Cesario]

And I still do that.

[Alec]

He had this phase where he was saying daddy O a lot.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Alec]

So you A guy would, like, pass him outside of a venue, and he would spin and go, you have a good night, daddy.

[Mike Cesario]

What a guy. Dude. Yeah, Brett, you got one?

[Britta Drake]

God, mine. I feel like I. I missed out on a lot of the fun.

[Mike Cesario]

You. You were on tour with 4stor? A few times. On tour. I'm thinking on tour with 4stor would probably be the funnier of things.

[Britta Drake]

Well, I mean, there was maybe one or two. Brennan's pretty funny. Brennan's pretty funny. But I feel like all my stories of him pale in comparison to the, like, you know, the big humor. The biggest things I can think of are, like, him hitting another car with the van.

[Mike Cesario]

That's pretty good.

[Britta Drake]

Several times.

[Mike Cesario]

That's good.

[Alec]

Several times.

[Britta Drake]

I feel like it happened multiple times. Oh, I mean, one funny story is that we were. I think I'm gonna hold this on already, though. That we were going to visit our stay with our friend who lived in Philadelphia, and they all got there early, and our friend was like, just let yourselves in. You know, just let yourself in. So they did. And then Brandon was drinking beer from the fridge. Just like, help yourself, you know? And they're in this house or apartment for like, a good. I don't know. I wasn't actually with them yet for some reason, but they were, like, in the house for a good hour or so, I think. And then the friend got home and was like, hey, where are you guys? And they were in somebody else's house.

[Mike Cesario]

No way.

[Britta Drake]

They just, like, put the beer back in the fridge and left. And it was like, his neighbor. The friend that we were staying with, his neighbor's house. We laughed about that for a really long time. Yeah. It just happened to be unlocked. We laughed about that, but I didn't really.

[Mike Cesario]

Someone would be murdered.

[Alec]

Oh, yeah.

[Britta Drake]

I mean, imagine the other person came home, and it's just, like, five people in their house drinking their beer.

[Alec]

That is insane.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, that was crazy.

[Mike Cesario]

That's pretty funny.

[Britta Drake]

It was funny in the. In, like, retrospect. It was funny, but in the moment, I was really glad I wasn't with them.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. That sucks.

[Britta Drake]

Brendan has other funny things. I feel like Sean actually was the fun, like, was funny unintentionally, frequently.

[Mike Cesario]

Sean is funny.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Remember audiobooks?

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, my gosh.

[Alec]

I think you hated that.

[Britta Drake]

Didn't you write a song about?

[Mike Cesario]

I did, yeah. Also going platinum soon.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was good.

[Alec]

You hated people listening to audiobooks in the van.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Which is so funny because I would totally do that now. He was just proto genius. And I was not.

[Alec]

He's ahead of the curve.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Somebody said, and I don't think we have to do five. I think the top five thing is just too much.

[Mike Cesario]

It's a lot on the spot. But we could try. We could try.

[Alec]

Most sauced out song, any genre. Like, you first heard this and you thought to yourself, damn, they really had the sauce on this track.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, like, we're not talking about layers. Just. They had sauce.

[Alec]

Sauce. The. Like, something.

[Britta Drake]

Let's do five.

[Alec]

You want to do five?

[Mike Cesario]

Let's just do a couple.

[Alec]

Oh, like total five.

[Mike Cesario]

We'll do a few.

[Britta Drake]

Five.

[Mike Cesario]

There's a lot. There's no. Just. We'll name a few. Whatever comes to mind.

[Britta Drake]

How about that Lenny Kravitz again. That's good Saliva. Rest in pieces.

[Mike Cesario]

There's not there. The good song. I don't know about sauce. British.

[Britta Drake]

I feel like it's saucy.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Alec]

Okay.

[Mike Cesario]

I like sauce.

[Britta Drake]

Do you not. You really don't think it's sauce?

[Mike Cesario]

I love sauce. I'm Italian. I love sauce. I don't know how much sauce is on that. There's a medium amount.

[Alec]

Sauce is subjective.

[Mike Cesario]

It's saucy.

[Britta Drake]

I think it's saucy.

[Mike Cesario]

I like the sauce.

[Britta Drake]

Okay. All I can think of is my heavy rotation right now. Like, I'm thinking like Tony Braxton.

[Mike Cesario]

That's crazy.

[Britta Drake]

I'll break my heart.

[Mike Cesario]

That song is.

[Alec]

I've seen you destroy that one at karaoke.

[Britta Drake]

Incredible song, though, right? Got the sauce.

[Alec]

Yeah. Sauce the fuck up.

[Britta Drake]

Edwin McCain. I'll be.

[Mike Cesario]

It's a good song.

[Britta Drake]

And I think my final answer.

[Mike Cesario]

This is like 10 answers here.

[Britta Drake]

No, this is number one.

[Mike Cesario]

There's 30 questions.

[Britta Drake]

The final answer is probably Toad the Wet Sprocket.

[Mike Cesario]

That song's. I know what song?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, All I want all.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that song is really good.

[Britta Drake]

That song has the sauce in a way that doesn't make sense too. Like, you listen to it. You're like, I don't really understand how it has the sauce, but it does. And those are my answers.

[Alec]

I love that.

[Britta Drake]

Thank you.

[Alec]

Great job.

[Mike Cesario]

The bad brands as an entity.

[Alec]

Oh. The most sauced out band of all time.

[Mike Cesario]

I think they're the most sauce out band. I can't choose one. There's too many. Sure, we'll.

[Britta Drake]

We'll allow.

[Mike Cesario]

I think that's fine.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Mike Cesario]

You let me choose. I'm going. I'm going back to mineral.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

You can't touch it. It's untouchable.

[Britta Drake]

Which song?

[Alec]

Give them a. Give them Homework, you know, Parking lot.

[Britta Drake]

Gloria.

[Mike Cesario]

Something off. Off a letter.

[Britta Drake]

Love letter. Typewriter.

[Mike Cesario]

Love letter, Typewriter. Pretty much most of the songs on Inserinating. So that's the green record. If you look it up. It's sauce. It's entirely sauce, I think. Smokescreen. The end of Smokescreen. Pity sex. Unbelievable. It's one of those things where you go on the Internet and like, tick tock songs are popular. I'm like, that's awesome.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I like, imagine it being smokescreen because I'm like, should be. It should be. You hear it and you go, we're talking. I don't know the notes. That part is. It's perfect. It's good. Very good. I'm gonna do three and then we'll love it.

[Britta Drake]

Okay, that's fair. You already did the whole catalog.

[Mike Cesario]

It is a lot of songs.

[Alec]

Frank Sinatra. My Way.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

Sauce.

[Alec]

The most sauce in history. Paul Abdul, straight up.

[Britta Drake]

That's awesome.

[Alec]

I'm thinking of songs that I hear and I go, I gotta hear that again.

[Mike Cesario]

What is revolution? What's her name?

[Britta Drake]

Oh, Tracy Chapman. Oh, I mean, Tracy Chapman. Fast.

[Mike Cesario]

I know that's top for you. That's got the song that's sauced as. Dude.

[Alec]

Genesis 1 for the vine and. And this is a. This is a deep cut, but this song has a bridge. It's like nine minutes long. The bridge is guys playing with toys in the studio.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

In a way that has never been done before. Since.

[Britta Drake]

That's awesome.

[Alec]

It is the most triumphant key riff with dudes playing with percussion toys. And it gets me.

[Mike Cesario]

It's soft.

[Alec]

Fired up.

[Mike Cesario]

I love that.

[Alec]

And the last one would be Toto.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Rosanna.

[Mike Cesario]

That's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

I'm surprised.

[Mike Cesario]

I actually.

[Alec]

The shuffle. God beaming down his light and showing us how it's done.

[Mike Cesario]

You're gonna make a playlist. I'm down. I want to segue into a question that I like to ask. And I use this as, like, I just want to know. So it's Fahrenheit, 451 vibes. Everything is burned. Everything's getting burned. You have to keep art. You have to keep something to then preserve what you can show what emotions are. And the reason I brought this up is because I think, like, if you had to choose an artist or a song, who would you choose? And I would probably choose. Yeah. Let's just say a song or two. I actually use Tracy Chapman as a

[Alec]

good example, one of the greatest songs.

[Mike Cesario]

Because I'm like, if. If like imagine aliens came here or something. Came here and they're like, everything's burned. But we found what this civilization had, and we know they were emotional or we know that this is what it meant to them.

[Alec]

So one song.

[Mike Cesario]

So let's just do one song. I think that's the one I would choose. That or fucking Whitney Houston straight up.

[Alec]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Cesario]

Like, there's. There's a lot of answers, but I, like, think of this question often. I usually use more than one song when I think about it, because there's. There's quite a few, however, that I think Tracy is number one.

[Alec]

So we're a civilization that understands the language is finding this.

[Mike Cesario]

Sure. Like, here's the thing. You don't need lyrics sometimes to make it one song. Everything's burned but they found under the rubble. And it could be another human. The dystopia vibes. You know, you come back and the human found this. They didn't have. They didn't know what it was.

[Alec]

I think it's. There's a light that never goes out.

[Britta Drake]

That's a good answer.

[Mike Cesario]

That's a really good answer. Yeah. There's hope. There's.

[Alec]

There's. And there's sadness.

[Mike Cesario]

There's sadness.

[Alec]

But I want to see people and I want to see life, you know?

[Mike Cesario]

That's amazing.

[Alec]

Beautiful.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. This is a really.

[Alec]

Enjoy the silence that's up there. Dude, that sauce. The up.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, that is sauce.

[Alec]

Real deal.

[Mike Cesario]

That's top three courses of all time.

[Stephen]

All time.

[Alec]

10 years in. Can never give up because your. Your violators is just around the corner. Okay, that.

[Mike Cesario]

I. I like this question because sometimes I. I'll hear a song and I go, like, that's. It's not even that it stands the test of time. It is like a product of the best things in the world has ever created.

[Britta Drake]

I mean, it would have to be by a woman, probably just, like, for sure. I already know that. What if I said. And what if I said Autumn's monologue?

[Mike Cesario]

I think that's great.

[Alec]

What is that?

[Britta Drake]

It's From Autumn to Ashes song.

[Mike Cesario]

Well, it means a lot, and it's emotional.

[Britta Drake]

No, I don't know if that's actually my answer, but it did come to my mind because I was thinking Rilo Kiley. Like a Rilo Kiley song.

[Mike Cesario]

I think a Rilo Kiley song would be a good answer.

[Britta Drake]

But then I was like, but what one. And then I was thinking Pictures of Success.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, it's a great song, but I

[Britta Drake]

can't choose because then Better Son or

[Alec]

Daughters is God, you're right. What piece of Lore in recent episodes, do you think would surprise or excite both Beau the most? And I think it was the master of puppets saves the day connection.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Yeah, that was.

[Britta Drake]

I think he would have been like, wow, you're right.

[Alec]

That was good.

[Mike Cesario]

That's all. That's beautiful.

[Alec]

You would have sat there and looked at me and I would have not looked over.

[Mike Cesario]

You'd be like, yeah, that would have been awesome.

[Alec]

Frontman or band member with the best on stage skank during a performance, like ever or just. There's three people. Does it have to be a skank in this question?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Current doesn't matter.

[Alec]

Oh, I would say all time. H.R.

[Mike Cesario]

it's H.R.

[Alec]

i mean, Alec Faber.

[Mike Cesario]

Alex Faber.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

James Piggy.

[Mike Cesario]

He's got a. He can jump over the venue, but

[Alec]

he has the running man.

[Mike Cesario]

He has the running man.

[Alec]

He took. He took the world by storm with this thing.

[Mike Cesario]

That's true.

[Alec]

But HR Yeah. And that one set the two with the skanking with the mic stand. Alec. Every show.

[Britta Drake]

Every single show.

[Alec]

And James.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I mean, Alec is my answer for sure.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, those are all. Those are the answers.

[Alec]

It's starting the. Starting it on stage with an instrument is hard.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Alec]

He never makes him.

[Mike Cesario]

You're talking about Alec.

[Alec]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

It's. Every time. It's perfect.

[Stephen]

Sass.

[Mike Cesario]

You. I. I clock it. I know exactly where it's going. How it's going with the duck, too. Yeah. I like playing that. I like playing feed because of that now.

[Alec]

Me too. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I was like, I'm gonna go the thing part now for you, bro.

[Alec]

It feels so good.

[Mike Cesario]

I forget that we didn't have that in the song. Yeah, it's weird. Should have.

[Alec]

Stupid. The ending should have just been that again.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Alec]

Brady would like to end this episode with each of us asking each other one question.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

You want to go first? Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

No, I have to think about it.

[Alec]

What if you did all three of them? Actually.

[Britta Drake]

All three questions?

[Alec]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Well, I feel like I'm on the spot.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, but you're good on the spot.

[Britta Drake]

No, sometimes I'm bad.

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

People pay you for this.

[Mike Cesario]

It's true.

[Britta Drake]

If you walked into a room with everybody you've ever met, living or dead, who would you look for first?

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, well, I mean, sorry, mom, but it's you. That's just. That's the truth. I mean, I can't imagine another world where I would not be looking for someone else but you. No. Animals count.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, animals don't count?

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

Oh, they don't.

[Britta Drake]

I guess Not.

[Mike Cesario]

But like looking for someone, living or dead, you go into a room, ask the question one time.

[Alec]

Here's the thing. I think you guys would be going to this room together.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay. That's.

[Alec]

Let's say, no wives.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Because the answer is going to be that. Yeah. You know, like, it's going to be.

[Alec]

It's going to be that. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

It's going to be your significant no wives or your mom.

[Britta Drake]

Honestly, I would definitely look for my mom.

[Mike Cesario]

And that makes a lot of sense for you, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Because it just does, you know.

[Britta Drake]

Well, I mean, you're walking in with me. I want you to meet her.

[Mike Cesario]

That I would do that with you.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. If that's our collective answer, I like it.

[Alec]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

I like it too.

[Britta Drake]

Okay. What's your.

[Alec]

I mean, mine is obviously bo.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah.

[Alec]

But I have this dream.

[Stephen]

This.

[Alec]

It's like kind of recurring where I go to the afterlife and I say the same thing every time. I go, dude, you died. And he goes, I know. So I'm looking forward to that interaction.

[Britta Drake]

That will be a great interaction.

[Alec]

That'll be a good one.

[Mike Cesario]

I love that. Yeah, that's a good question.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. I mean, it's a little sad, but I like it as a question just to like. Yeah.

[Mike Cesario]

Really pulling the strings here, making me.

[Britta Drake]

I like. I like questions about, like, favorite memories and stuff like that. Like, I don't know. Have. Have you answered this question on camera ever? Like, what is a. It doesn't have to be your favorite memory, but what is a memory that stands out from your childhood? Could be.

[Mike Cesario]

Am I wrong to say most memories are usually bad?

[Britta Drake]

No, it could be pleasant, like something that you cherish. Even, like, from your childhood. Like, I'll give. My example is. And it's such a mundane example.

[Mike Cesario]

Okay.

[Britta Drake]

To show that it doesn't have to be like a big moment. I just remember one time going sledding with my dad and brother after school, and I just, like, knew we had chili at home. This is the best day ever. Like, I'm gonna go sledding with my dad and brother and then I'm gonna go home and I'm eat so much chili.

[Mike Cesario]

That's awesome.

[Britta Drake]

And I just remember being like, this is the best day of my life

[Alec]

for a pre or post expulsion.

[Britta Drake]

Oh, pre.

[Alec]

Like, I was like, you were pure of heart.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, I guess. I don't know. I was pretty excited about chili. I still really like chili.

[Mike Cesario]

Chili's dope.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, my dad made really good chili. It was like white people chili. But it was pretty Good.

[Alec]

Hella beans.

[Britta Drake]

It had only beans.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, yeah. I don't like. You like meaty chili, right?

[Alec]

Yeah, no beans.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, that's fine. Respect.

[Alec]

Hey, I respect you.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks. Memory wise, though.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah. Just like something that stands out from your childhood that you, like, think back on. And for some reason, that was an important thing. Moment or day call.

[Mike Cesario]

You got one, in a way.

[Alec]

Yeah. I think it was a very overnight thing between. So Taylor was the music guy. He was the music brother, you know, And I was very much like, don't touch my stuff. And it was an overnight thing of, like, you can touch my stuff. Can you sit there? So. And I'll try this riff. And then with Ruckus came. Do you want to start a band together?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alec]

The.

[Mike Cesario]

The act of him, it was like we're together.

[Alec]

And I was 15, 16, and we were like 11 to 15. We were not close.

[Mike Cesario]

Sure.

[Alec]

I would say we were not friends.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, yeah. That's a brother thing.

[Alec]

It was a very brother thing.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

Yeah. And then it was very much the. It was like an opposite. It was a day later.

[Stephen]

Everything.

[Alec]

The whole incredible connection.

[Mike Cesario]

I love that. I was going to say something similar, but I'm going to actually say something different, which is not a good thought. Oh, this one. It's probably less impactful as. As some of the other good thoughts, but this is. This is the thought. And it's kind of has to do with ghosts talk to me. So I forget how old I was. Let's just say I was 10. We were watching the fucking Exorcist.

[Alec]

Greatest movie ever.

[Mike Cesario]

At 10. Yeah. All right. Maybe nine. Let's just say 10. So anyways, that was a fib. You got to make sure. So watching the Exorcist, I'm like, we're in this, like, this area with the tv. My. Most of my family's there, but they're like my cousins, my sister. My sisters were there. And we're watching this, and I'm like. By this back door that has a lock that you can audibly hear when it's. When you lock it and you unlock it, it's like clicking noise. And I'm just back there because I'm scared. I don't want to watch the Exorcist. I'm terrified. And I remember the movie starting, and then I heard the door lock. There's no way it's a clicking noise. Come on. No one's there. No one's around me. I'm like, this is some fucking bullshit. Right? This is terrifying. Yeah, right. So I'm all scared. I'm like, whatever.

[Alec]

I'm.

[Mike Cesario]

This is terrifying. So then that same night, I couldn't go to sleep. But my cousin Giancarlo, of course, you know, we're like sleeping in like a room with Cat. We're sleeping on couches because we had all the family over. And I'm like, he's staying up with me, like trying to, you know, be like, don't worry, this is. This is fine. Blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, yeah, man, like. Or what happened was the lights turned off in that room entirely. No one's awake. Just him and I at like 4am Lights turn off. I'm like, okay, that's terrifying. I turned the lights back on, whatever, they work. And we're up until almost the sunlight came up. And I was like, yeah, man, it's been really hard. I. I just don't want to, like, I'm like, I'm scared the lights are going to shut off again once I said the word off. The word off. Shut off.

[Alec]

Hella haunted.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. That's a memory.

[Britta Drake]

That's terrifying.

[Alec]

Yeah, that's real fear.

[Mike Cesario]

That was. That was. That was. I mean, I don't really think about it, but it is an interesting one. Scary.

[Alec]

See, dude, this kid. When I was in Connecticut, this kid, Jeremy Herschel.

[Mike Cesario]

Uhhuh.

[Alec]

They. I watched the Exorcist for the first time in his basement.

[Mike Cesario]

That's up, dude.

[Alec]

And in his house, years later, a like tortured dungeon was discovered. That's like not. It was not his family's.

[Mike Cesario]

It was.

[Britta Drake]

No, it was like pre existing.

[Alec]

It was like a up bed with ropes and like hella Polaroids and shit. They had the pole, they had the like. Everything was still in there.

[Britta Drake]

Wait, where? This was in Connecticut.

[Alec]

West Hartford, Connecticut.

[Mike Cesario]

You should look it up.

[Britta Drake]

I'm sure there's a news story about.

[Alec]

I've tried to find it.

[Mike Cesario]

How did you know? Did you see it in the Polaroids?

[Britta Drake]

You saw them?

[Mike Cesario]

Seen them how?

[Alec]

Because it was like. It was the thing. It was like my dad found this room in our house. Come here. It was my neighbor.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

And your dad didn't go to the park?

[Alec]

No, he did. He for sure did. Like, but it was like I was there like the day it happened.

[Britta Drake]

Oh my God. That's shocking.

[Mike Cesario]

Hey, so when you're young, watch the

[Alec]

exercise sheets and stuff. Like poopy bloody sheets.

[Mike Cesario]

Got tickled.

[Alec]

It all comes back to tickling, hopefully. Yeah, that's exactly what happened.

[Mike Cesario]

Someone tickled someone.

[Britta Drake]

That's terrifying.

[Mike Cesario]

That is terrifying. Don't do that. Exorcist. 10 years old. It'll get you.

[Alec]

Yeah, I mean, it's to this day the scariest thing ever.

[Britta Drake]

Can I say something?

[Mike Cesario]

Never seen it.

[Britta Drake]

I saw it and I thought it was just.

[Mike Cesario]

You're old though, when you saw it. 25.

[Britta Drake]

No, I was like 15. I was like, I don't really like this.

[Mike Cesario]

Too old.

[Britta Drake]

I also had this thing where like every once in a while I get really grossed out by something. Like I watched that movie about the. What are the things they turned into Gremlins. Yeah, gremlins.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, gremlins. Yeah, Two gremlins.

[Britta Drake]

Two where they all explode. I couldn't eat for like three months after.

[Alec]

Oh, did you not like the puke from Exorcist?

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, it was the, it was the puke. It just, it really bothered me. And that's the only thing I remember from that movie is the puke.

[Alec]

I mean, then they, they did a great job. 78, you know, and they viscerally affected you in a way as an adult. Yeah, I guess you've seen worse things.

[Mike Cesario]

Surely if it was 10, it would have.

[Britta Drake]

You're right. I probably still wouldn't eat.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

One of the greatest movies ever.

[Mike Cesario]

That's a good story. I didn't know that you, you had that experience. Yeah, dude. It all comes back.

[Britta Drake]

Dude, that is so wild. Yeah, we need to look that up later.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm down.

[Alec]

I tried to find it. I searched like Herschel West Hartford torture dungeon found. Couldn't find it.

[Mike Cesario]

What if that was a. What if? That was his best fib?

[Alec]

It could have been.

[Mike Cesario]

What if he got your ass?

[Alec]

I would love that.

[Mike Cesario]

He shows up, he comments, he's in the discord right now asking questions.

[Alec]

That would be amazing. But I, I, I remember seeing the room.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah?

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I mean, you don't just have a

[Alec]

room in a house like that. No, and I could have. That could be just me thinking about pictures of the room or something. But like I, I have a memory of walking into the room and being like, this is the scariest thing I've ever seen.

[Mike Cesario]

But you were pretty young.

[Alec]

Yeah, I was like 8.

[Mike Cesario]

But old enough to remember. Wow, interesting.

[Alec]

Maybe that's our show today.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Alec]

How do you feel about it?

[Mike Cesario]

I like it.

[Britta Drake]

That's okay. I wanted to ask one more silly question.

[Alec]

Let's end on a silly one.

[Mike Cesario]

What's the best place you farted?

[Britta Drake]

No, I was gonna say, what's the most like an embarrassing on stage?

[Alec]

This is hardcore 2014.

[Mike Cesario]

Everyone smelled it.

[Alec]

Well, I shit myself.

[Mike Cesario]

Oh, There you go.

[Alec]

I fully.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. Fart in the classroom. That was you? Well, everyone was saying a test.

[Alec]

Oh, dude.

[Mike Cesario]

But not intentionally. I was trying to cheat. I was like, fuck. I did not study. I'm a fucking. And I'm fucking. You know, point to the person next to me or some shit.

[Alec]

Dude. There was a time I farted in fourth grade. And it was, you know, it's like, already humiliating.

[Mike Cesario]

You're fucked.

[Alec]

But it was while everybody was sitting on the carpet reading. Oh. And it was so clearly me and the kid reading. The kid reading is like, so forth. Hence will go. That was Colin, by the way.

[Britta Drake]

Wait.

[Alec]

And I was scarred.

[Britta Drake]

Do you remember this kid's name?

[Alec]

Benjamin Franklin. No, it was for sure Benjamin. I remember he was the first person I ever said the word humid. And I was like, what kind of word is that? Show off. Loser.

[Mike Cesario]

I had this, you know, teacher, fourth grade, similarly, who. We were reading. I'm sleeping. Of course. You know, Michael. Yeah. She calls on me and she goes, what happened to the cat and the thing and the dot? You know? And I'm just like. I made up some lie. And the. Everyone started laughing, like. And it's because that was just a lie that she made up.

[Britta Drake]

Like she was asking you a trick question. A trick question didn't have an answer.

[Alec]

Did you trick?

[Mike Cesario]

I trick answer the trick question.

[Alec]

That's legendary.

[Mike Cesario]

It was awesome for me. And then everyone's like, yeah, you loser. And I was like, I'm a loser. It sucks. But that's. I was just thinking about genius.

[Alec]

Yeah, she's a genius.

[Mike Cesario]

We should start doing that more.

[Alec]

Agreed.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

When you're not paying attention.

[Mike Cesario]

Not paying attention. Adhd. You fuck with it.

[Britta Drake]

Sure. The only thing I can think of from that time frame is I learned that if I fell asleep during movie time, that they would not make me go to gym class. And so I then fell asleep during every movie time.

[Mike Cesario]

Genius.

[Britta Drake]

And then they called CPS on my parents because they were like, why is she so tired? Why is she so tired? Are you neglecting her? And they were like, she just doesn't like gym. And you know what? I don't regret it. No, I don't regret it. Because I had a really mean gym teacher. Mr. Cook.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

And he got mad at me one time because I didn't know how to play dodgeball because no one ever told me, what the.

[Alec]

Nobody knows how to play a dodgeball. I was like, how does that.

[Mike Cesario]

What are you gonna do, dodge a ball?

[Alec]

Yeah. What the fuck? Throw your life away. Get a Side E. Why don't you stop? So we're three and a half hours in nothing.

[Mike Cesario]

Yes.

[Britta Drake]

Yeah, that's true. That's true. Anyway, that Mr. Cook was mean.

[Alec]

That's all I had. A Mr. Lertzman was mine. And he got people expelled for calling him a Nazi.

[Britta Drake]

Was he a Nazi?

[Alec]

I mean, like, I know.

[Mike Cesario]

I know the last name. If I were here. One Lertsman. Yeah.

[Alec]

Throwing one up, dude.

[Britta Drake]

Jesus.

[Alec]

Yeah, I hope he's dead.

[Mike Cesario]

For sure.

[Britta Drake]

That's mean. I.

[Alec]

He was a scumbag.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah.

[Britta Drake]

No, that's fine. As long as he wasn't tortured.

[Alec]

He would go. He would go, oh, yeah, Fourth period. I love fourth period. Then again, I like cancer. It was what? Dude, it was insane.

[Britta Drake]

He sounds like he was, like, trying to be a comedian.

[Mike Cesario]

He was.

[Alec]

Or he would go, oh, I love third period. You guys are my favorite. Oh, this is fourth period.

[Mike Cesario]

Hey. He's a genius.

[Britta Drake]

That's kind of funny. That's kind of funny.

[Mike Cesario]

He's. He's a comedic genius. I would like to meet him.

[Alec]

I hope he's dead.

[Mike Cesario]

I hope he's dead, too, actually.

[Alec]

He was a bad guy.

[Britta Drake]

Okay. No, I believe you. I had.

[Alec]

Imagine making kids feel bad.

[Mike Cesario]

That sucks. You know, I would never.

[Alec]

It sucks.

[Mike Cesario]

I would totally make kids feel bad.

[Alec]

I don't think you would. Do you do that at Dominic's?

[Mike Cesario]

No.

[Alec]

Ristorante Italiano in Cypress, California.

[Mike Cesario]

Let's go. Thanks, bro. No, I don't.

[Alec]

Go see Mike.

[Mike Cesario]

I'm there. We'll you up.

[Alec]

Try the meat sauce. It's unbelievable.

[Mike Cesario]

Thanks.

[Britta Drake]

Or the marinara.

[Alec]

Or the marinara. But I. I like the meat sauce.

[Mike Cesario]

I want him to sue me. I want him to have the meat sauce. Yeah, that's why we have it for calling.

[Alec]

Are you working this week?

[Mike Cesario]

I'll be there.

[Alec]

I might come by.

[Mike Cesario]

Dude, I'll give you meat sauce. I'll give you a meatball.

[Britta Drake]

I'll come by, too.

[Alec]

You'll come?

[Britta Drake]

I'll come, too.

[Alec]

So sick.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah, I'll see you there. Be awesome.

[Britta Drake]

We can.

[Alec]

And that's our time this week.

[Mike Cesario]

You're awesome. Dab it up. That was good. Next week.

[Britta Drake]

Who did better?

[Mike Cesario]

Ooh.

[Alec]

Yours was clean. His was hard.

[Mike Cesario]

Yeah. I'm sorry, guys.

[Alec]

All right, well, thank you all for joining us this week. It was so fun. Mike and Britti together forever. Simply put, I love you both so much.

[Mike Cesario]

Love you.

[Alec]

Love you. There will be more. Well, I think maybe we'll do Q and A's, like, quarterly. So I'll see you next quarter. And next week we'll have a guest.