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Jokerman podcast is brought to you by Distrokid and their new direct to fan tool. Allowing any artist to sell merch. Distrokid Direct allows artists to create a merch store in minutes without any upfront costs or any technical skills or know how they'll take care of all the logistics and the nitty gritty. And as with distribution through Distrokid, they never take a cut of the proceeds. You, the artist, keep 100% of your earnings. Once again, that's Distrokid Direct. Open a store today@distrokid.com direct. Welcome back to Jokerman in Conversation. I'm Ian. I feel like it's been a little while since we we did one of these classic interview style type conversations, but got a couple weeks worth of interviews coming up on the free episodes on the program as we're doing are seemingly rapturously received. Unless you're my little sister. Death Grip series on the Patreon. Subscribe now. Check that out. But today here, no Death Grips conversation whatsoever. Although I'm sure we could have gotten into it if we had wanted to. Longtime friend of the Pod, Ian O' Neill and new friend of the Pod, John McCauley of the Great Rhode island institution Dyrtik, who are back with their latest record, Coin o Matic, this Friday, June 5th. Longtime listeners might recall Ian's first appearance on the pod way back in early Jokerman 1.0 days we did, I think we did an 81 Bob live show conversation shot of love era, primo peak. Bob Dylan, as we all know. So it was great to get him back. And John, of course, lead singer, founder of Deer Tick. So we did a little three man back and forth here. Great hang, great record, great Bob talk, great little Brian Wilson, Al Jardine story at the end. There's a bit of a teaser for you. Here are Ian and John.
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B
Spent our last week sneaking around, looking over my shoulder, peeking around the corners, sick with worry that God will cut me down.
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A
Ian O', Neil, welcome back to Jokerman. And John McCauley, welcome to Jokerman for the first time. What's up guys?
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B
Thank you very much. Jokerman, man, that's very happy to be here.
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C
Pleasure.
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A
Pleasure's all. Pleasure's all mine. Longtime listeners might remember Ian from I think, what was it? It was like first year of Jokerman, I think. And we talked about the live Bob live 81, I want to say. Does that sound right?
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C
I think yeah. It was a disc from Trouble no More, I believe. And it was like it was when he started playing his hits again.
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A
Right. It was after the Christian stuff, but. But before he had completely ejected the Christian stuff. Yeah. It was the 81 tour. Exactly. So, like, Shot of Love era.
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C
Yeah. And it was still pretty deep. Pandemic times.
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A
Yes. Those were the good old days, as many people might remember. Well, I'm sure we'll do some Bob talk here tonight. But also here to talk about you guys, members, of course, of Deer Tick. Is it fair to call you guys New England legends? Is that too presumptuous?
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B
New Englanders is just fine.
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A
New Englanders. Just plain old New Englanders. I just. You know, the New England music scene. I know. Is very au courant at the moment, thanks to Noah Khan these days, so.
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B
Oh, yeah. You know, that's Vermont in the top 40.
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A
Exactly. I know Rhode Island's a little different than Vermont.
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B
I'm drinking a Vermont beer right now.
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A
Okay. All right.
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B
Cheers. Noah, nice job. Nice job, pal.
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A
Putting the greater New England area on the map.
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C
Yeah. We got upstaged by no Khan.
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A
It seems like everyone has to be honest. He's like a festival headliner these days, which. Good for him, you know? Yeah.
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C
Seems like a sweet man.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Well, okay, so I got a question right off the bat. New album, which is either out now as of the time people are listening to this, or it's just about to come out. I forget exactly where. I have this plugged in on the Jokerman schedule. Coinomatic. What? What the hell is a Coinomatic?
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C
I'll let John start.
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B
Funny you should ask. It's currently the name of a Laundromat in Indiana or something like that. But back in the day in Rhode island, that was the base, that was the store front, that was the headquarters of the New England Mafia, run by, at the time, Raymond Petrarcha. And they rented out and sold, like, cigarette vending machines, I think, pinball machines and stuff like that. Cash, you know, stuff.
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C
Sure.
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B
So probably. Probably. I assume, good for money laundering.
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A
Makes sense.
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B
Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a throwback to a bygone era of Rhode Island. The leadership of the New England Mafia has since moved to Boston. Okay, so there's not a whole lot of mob activity here anymore. The title of the record, the COVID and everything, it's just kind of a nod to these, you know, days gone by.
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A
Bygone era.
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B
Yeah. Places. I've been saying this a lot today. This is like the sixth interview I've done with somebody today.
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A
But, oh, geez,
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B
I'm oiled up now, man. But you know that Tommy Keene song, Places that Are Gone?
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A
Places that are Gone. Tommy Keene, maybe. Although I don't think.
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C
Ian, I think you would like that song, and I think you would like Tommy Keene.
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A
Tommy Keene.
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B
Check it out.
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A
All right.
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C
Definitely Jokerman territory.
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B
Yeah, I mean, just that phrase. Not necessarily. The song itself is just something I've been using all day today. Places that are Gone, it's kind of a record about that.
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A
Okay.
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B
And the people that are gone and, you know, it's a nostalgic kind of thing.
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A
So the coinomatic itself, the Rhode island coin o matic is no more, I take it.
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B
Yeah, it's like a falafel place now or something.
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A
Oh, all right. I hope the full. I hope the falafel is decent. At least it.
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B
It could be.
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C
I hope so too.
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A
You guys haven't even tried the. You haven't even tried the coinomatic falafel.
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C
We haven't had.
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B
I have my places, though. You know, if I want to falafel, I'm gonna go somewhere else because, you know, it's been around longer.
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A
Yeah, fair enough. So it's. It's a. It's an album about, you know, about. About the past, about looking back with Love, to use a term that we've thrown around here. Or maybe not so much love. Maybe some love, I guess. Not exactly like the album Looking Back with Love, of course, from our friend Mike Love.
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B
It was the best of times, the worst of times.
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A
What? That's not the first sonic touch point that I would use to describe this album, as shocking as that might be, because I think I remember talking to you guys about this. You guys came through. You were on the tour with Truckers last year, and I came out to catch you guys at the War Field, the legendary Warfield, and we hung out a little bit down there. And Ian, I think you had said that this album, like, you guys had been cutting the album already, like nearly a year ago. So, like, long gestation period here.
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C
Yeah, we went through some, like, some personnel changes within our structure, which kind of delayed things a little bit. But we also opted to record this record ourselves and produce it ourselves in our studio that's in John's backyard.
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A
Sure.
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C
So I think that we all together just decided to take a. A long time to do everything. Like, a lot of some of my songs were this idea of John's to do this coinmatic record, which is like a loosely Rhode island based concept, started a long time ago, and kind of the idea began before the songwriting process. And it kind of guided us, me, John and Dennis, who are the songwriters in the band, to what were, what the mission was. And John kind of has a knack record to record of having some kind of direction or mission statement or parameter that like helps us narrow the field on how to approach the album. So I guess what I would say is like this one coupled with it being a Rhode island themed record. We also recorded it in Rhode island, did it ourselves, and we took our sweet ass time and then other circumstances out of our control made it take longer as well.
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A
Even longer. Excellent.
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B
It was a very luxurious process.
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A
And so I take it that's somewhat distinct from previous efforts. It sounds like totally. Well that. So what? I guess. So how does that manifest then? If it's a more luxurious or elongated process here, Is that a positive influence on the ultimate product? Is that a negative influence? Is it sort of a little bit of both? Do you not even think about it that way?
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B
I'd say it was just kind of the only way that we were going to get this particular record done because I think, I mean, I had many, you know, half written songs or whatever that, you know, I could have finished up in time for any old album. But we really wanted to do this coinmatic idea. So we had the itch, you know, to make a record like. And the timing of that feeling didn't exactly line up with having the material to do it. But we went out on a limb and booked some studio time with a producer anyway. And you know, in the 11th hour it kind of, you know, fell apart and that whole session was canceled. And you know, we were kind of like, oh thank God because. Or I was at least, because my songs weren't finished. They weren't even close. And you know, we would have, we would have wasted all the record budget, you know, on these 10 days or whatever, you know, we would have come up short. So in order to kind of satisfy that, that need to create something and make our next record and all this stuff, it was, it just seemed like the better thing to do was to take the money from the budget for the record and just put that money into our studio, which already existed. And you know, it's like a little bit of an investment and we'll have all that gear, you know, from now on. And you know, we, we felt like it was the right time to do something like this because Dennis, our drummer, he's kind of our engineer when it comes to like recording and stuff. And we've been Recording demos ourselves, you know, for a long time. And we have all this recording stuff, and we've always had a studio for the past several years. I don't know, maybe 10 years, and we were making demos and it was like, this kind of just sounds like a, you know, a record. So why. Why, you know, why are we doubting ourselves anymore? Let's just. Let's just go for it.
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C
Yeah, it's really easy to. Not after, like, especially we've been working with some outsider for 15, 20 years every time you make a record. And so you kind of, like, come, or at least I come, to lean on the fifth person or sixth person's perspective to make sure that I don't suck or that our ideas are good. And it's. So this time we really had to just trust in one another.
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A
All right, so is this. I guess maybe I didn't realize this. Is this the first Deer Tick album produced by Dyrty?
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B
Yes.
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C
Yeah.
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A
All right. Well, you guys have hit. You're in your Jack Frost era, is what you're saying. So this is the dear.
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B
Next up is Quadruplic.
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A
Yeah, exactly. I think the first Jack Frost production in the Bob Dylan discography is technically under the Red Sky. So I guess that's either a really good thing or really a bad thing, depending on how you feel about under the Red Sky.
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C
Yeah, I prefer to think it starts at Love and Theft, but I guess you're right, I don't think about that
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A
because Don Woz was also involved in on the Red sky, so Jack Frost Way.
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C
So that's good. Yeah.
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A
Yeah. Love and Theft is the first solo Jack Frost production. But he did make his first technical appearance there during the under the Red sky session. Talk a little bit about. So it sounds like. I mean, the record is sort of a song cycle about, you know, obviously, like you said, days gone by and, you know, Rhode island in particular, like Rhode island and the general area vicinity. Not the, you know, it's not New York or Los Angeles necessarily. It's not the places that really kind of light up in big city lights. When you think of, you know, rock bands necessarily talk a little bit about, you know, kind of what it's like to write a rock album about a place that's a little bit off the beaten path.
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B
I mean. Well, the whole, you know, area around here has a pretty good history with, you know, rock music, and there's some great bands that have come out of the region and. I don't know. It just. What am I trying to say? See, this is why it takes so long for us to make a record with how long it's taken for me to get a sentence out of my mouth.
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A
We'll be able to clean anything up in the edit also, by the way, so feel free to take all your time.
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B
No, no, no.
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A
Come up with something.
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B
Just leave it in. Leave it in.
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A
All right, we'll leave it in.
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B
I just felt like this place that we're from is, you know. Oh, shit, my dogs are barking. Is that all right?
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A
I don't hear it.
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C
Don't hear it at all.
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B
Great. I do.
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A
Thanks to Zoom and the wonders of audio background noise cancellation.
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C
Yeah.
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B
I'm never going to answer this question, am I?
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A
You're just trying to get out answering it. We can move on to the next one if you want.
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B
No, I feel like the place that we're from is a very interesting place, full of, you know, very colorful characters. And it's also. I can see how it could be like any other place, too, you know, And I. I just thought, you know, people sing about New York, they sing about la, they sing about Chicago, they sing about Texas, they sing about Tennessee. You know, Jimmy Buffett, he's got, you know, Key west figured out.
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A
Absolutely.
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B
You know, the Beach Boys, they got Kokomo, Indiana.
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A
That's right. Bingo.
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B
I can't. Why can't Providence or why can't Rhode island be a place that people sing about, too? You know, And I guess there is that one song, Rhode island is famous for you. But other than that, I'm not. I'm not really sure what's kind of broken into the mainstream from here. I mean, there's, of course, you know, lightning bolts and stuff like that. And you, you know, you go back and, you know, I mean, there's a ton of great bands that have history here. You know, Steve Smith and, you know, the Beaver Brown Band and stuff. I don't know. I mean, I. I feel like there really is a. Is a great history of music here, and, you know, it just doesn't get the recognition as a. As a region that it should.
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C
Let me say this, though. Like, we've done a couple interviews together this week, John, and you mentioned. We did an interview with, like, a Brooklyn publication, and you had mentioned that, like, you had to go to New York to make. Make this work. And so I do think there's something to Providence and Rhode island and like, Ian, I grew up in Western Mass, about an hour and a half away before I moved to New York City and then moved to Rhode island and Even for me, growing up an hour and a half away, Rhode island and Providence are kind of just lopped off your consciousness in a weird way.
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A
Right.
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C
If that makes sense. It's. It is a. It is like the true. It took a really, really, really long time to gentrify this place. I will say that after moving here,
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B
like, having lived a lot of resistance to it.
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C
Totally. And I think it's just like. It's just some weird geographical aspect to it where it's like, you do pass it on 95 to get from Boston to New York, but it's just like the ugly step cousin in the best possible way. And I think that that opens it up to, like, if not us, who.
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A
Right.
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C
Tell the story. You know what I'm saying?
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A
Sure.
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C
And, like, it's like, I don't know, like, growing. Like when I was writing the songs I wrote for this record here, which was like, maybe four or five years ago at, like, I was still like a young parent or a parentless or. Or childless. And this. This town feels like a playground for people in their 20s and stuff like that. It's not like living, like. Like I lived in Greenpoint. I've lived in other cities and Manhattan and stuff. And it's just like a different. You kind of have your own. You really have your own kind of little playground here when you are an artist here, because you have, like. There is a music community who all goes to the same bar, who all talks to each other and plays pool together. And that's kind of like. We've kind of aged out of that, unfortunately. I'm sure there is now. Like. And I think RISD kind of just like revives that cycle of, like, artists every four years, but a couple years.
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A
Sure. Yeah.
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C
It makes it. It does. Like. Like. And I keep saying this to John through some of these interviews, but it makes it a. From an outsider's perspective, which I still consider myself. And my wife, who's from. From here, would say the same thing, even though I've been years. That it's still. It's. It's a. It's a incredibly unique place. And I think it's. Its power is in how overlooked it can be.
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B
I almost forget, like, how much of the population turns over every year, you know, Like, I'm a Providence native and I'm not really thinking about the incoming college students, you know, in September or whatever, even though they, you know, over the years have contributed so much to the music scene and the art scene here. It's. Yeah, I guess, you know, Just growing up in Smith Hill, I'm not really thinking about RISD or Brown University or. Or whatever. But, you know, coming out of those schools, you know, that's where the Talking Heads formed. Like, that's where Lightning Bolt formed, you know. So it brings a lot of interesting people to our city who really, you know, dig in and. And make this place their home and. And, you know, to the benefit of. Of the city.
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A
Sure, yeah. I mean, Talking Heads is a great example because obviously sort of founded at RISD, but then obviously, you ask 10 people on the street, what city is Talking Heads from, What city are they associated with?
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B
New York across the board, exactly 10
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A
out of 10 say New York. And that's what I think is interesting is. Especially these days when, you know, the cost of living in cities is just astronomical. Certainly compared to, you know, the mid late 70s when talking heads were moving to New York is like, you know, in the rock industry, I feel like so many of the industry pressures just kind of draw any act to these sort of, you know, centers of gravity. Los Angeles and New York being two of them in particular. And so, so many, you know, artists and acts who are really motivated to, you know, get in the industry and crack it and make connections, yada, yada, play the game, so to speak. You know, kind of all need to converge or feel the need to converge in these same couple places. And it leads to this sort of, I don't know, like, not watering down necessarily, but it sort of. You miss out on sort of a diverse perspective, I think, throughout. Throughout rock music. I always think of, like, you know, think of like the Minneapolis scene in the 80s, for instance. Like, you know, the Huskers and the Replacements, for instance. And like, I don't really. I mean, I guess you could say maybe like the Asheville, North Carolina thing. If you want to call, like, you know, Linderman and Waxahachie and stuff, you know, artists from there, but like, those like, kind of micro scenes that nonetheless turn into major contributions in the grand canon of rock music. And I can't help. Help but feel like we're missing out on that. At least, you know, more today than we used to in the past. And so I, you know, I find it admirable that you guys are, like, committed, really hook, line, sinker to. To the hood.
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C
Yeah. Regionalism is it. It's a lost. It's a thing from like the early 2000s or like, maybe even 2010s that seems to be like. There were scenes from cities. Baltimore, Philly, Providence and Ash the case.
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B
I mean, I just think now it's just not that important to.
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C
Well, I think. But I think Ian raises a good point with Asheville, with London, with Jake and. And Wednesday and stuff like that. Like, that's a good point. That there's like a. A sound coming out of a place again, which I think gives me a little hope for that notion.
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A
Yeah, to me it's. It's, you know, something healthy is when. Is when you have distinct sounds and distinct artists operating in different places. And it' not just a rush for everyone to kind of collect in the same two, three places across. Across the country, I think. And you said that there's like a. You know, there are the. The band bars and stuff in the area. Like what, what, what. What does the feel like in the Rhode island scene these days?
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C
There's plenty happening here. There. There was kind of like a. A lack of. Like there was obviously. Or not obviously for people who wouldn't know, but there was a big warehouse scene here during the 90s and 2000s and even up 2009. And that was just kind of like. Like John can tell you would be like John playing folk your music next to a noise act. And now like that's kind of come back around and there's like bands like Ravi Sha and Baby Baby who and Downtown Boys who are kind of making more national moves. But there's like. There's definitely a scene.
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A
It's.
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C
I wish I was a little more plugged in and had more. Like you said, you go to bed at 10p. Same here. It takes me a big commitment to get me out of the house past 10pm but when I do, I enjoy it.
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A
What kind of like, what role does Newport Folk play in the kind of the ecosystem at this point? Cause to me, when I think of Rhode island and rock, that's just kind of where my mind goes. And I'm obviously kind of biased because I'm thinking of like Bob Dylan first and foremost, obviously. And that's. You may have heard something significant happened there in Bob Dylan's career at one point.
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B
Yeah, he played there in like 2003 or something.
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A
That's right. In the.
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B
Cool.
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A
With the. With the cowboy hat and the wig and the goatee. Incredible look. I love that.
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B
I was at that.
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A
You were at that show?
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B
Yeah.
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A
Oh, man.
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B
I was a little confused. I didn't. I was. I was pretty young, so I didn't. I thought I was gonna hear, you know what I thought I was gonna hear. And then, you know, now I really appreciate How Bob's approach.
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C
That's your favorite. That's your favorite Bob music now as he's playing Love at Love and Theft stuff probably at that point.
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A
Yeah, man, that was a. That was a. That was a peak in the. In the. Bob. I'm guessing you weren't the only one confused in the audience at that one, John. Probably not the intention,
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B
anyway. I mean, Newport really didn't. I mean, they obviously dramatically, like, shifted their programming when kind of the reigns got passed to J. Sweet. And that's kind of like when we started playing there. But up until we started playing there in, like, I don't know, 2009 or. Or so or 2010, I didn't really think much about it because that's not where. That wasn't kind of like the scene where Deer Tick was playing. We were just playing in dingy clubs or warehouses or whatever. And I was. When I would tour, I was. I was just driving around an Oldsmobile and playing in people's kitchens and stuff, you know, So I wasn't really aware of what the hell was going on at the Newport Folk Festival, even though it was the first concert I ever attended. In 1987, my mom took me to see Los Lobos.
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A
Wow. At Newport.
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B
Yeah. Or maybe it was 88, but. Yeah.
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A
That's sick.
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B
That was my first concert. Los Lobos at Newport Folk Festival.
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A
That's a pretty good first concert as far as those go.
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B
Yeah. And funnily enough, I got to play with Los Lobos a couple years ago when they. When they played the festival for the. You know, the next time. And I got to tell that little story on stage. And my mom was on the side of the stage and.
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A
Wow.
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B
And. And Caesar waved to her, and he goes, thanks, Mom.
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A
Full circle.
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B
Yeah.
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C
But, yeah, it. I think from. So we. We played in 2009, and then my recollection is that we wanted to play again and we didn't get invited back quite.
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B
I think they were very strict with their rule at the time.
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C
I know. Yeah.
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B
Couldn't play two years in a row.
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A
They gotta let you. Let you go for a little.
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C
Which is totally reasonable. But if we're like young men there, you know, in a rock band in our early 20s from Providence, we're like, we're going to do our own afterparties, which they quickly co. Signed after one year of doing that. And we did that for 10 years. And, well, like this. We're playing this year, for example, and we'll. We'll kind of go back and. I mean.
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B
Yeah.
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C
I love going there. It's a. It's. You should come out sometime because it
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A
is a. I'd love to.
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C
You should. Yeah, hit me up. But it's a festival that I will say, having played all the major festivals at least once, it's unlike any other festival where it's a very different experience, where it's. They. It's capped at a smaller capacity than any other music festival of that, like, pedigree, I guess.
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B
And that's because it's in a state park. Like, they. There's nothing they can do to possibly expand the capacity.
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C
It's in a literal. It's in a fort. Like a. Like a. Yeah, still Civil War, Revolutionary War for Jesus.
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A
I didn't realize that.
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B
The Fort Adams State Park. Yeah.
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C
Yeah. So, like, it's just. It abuts the Narraganset Bay or. Right. Am I wrong? Yes. Right.
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A
Don't look at me.
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B
Yeah, it's right. Yeah, that's right.
- [30:09]
C
I think so. I'm just getting my geography correct and. Yeah, so it's a. It's a beautiful experience. It's really relaxed. There's no we. And we started playing that festival back when we were playing festivals where people were camping all the time. So. Yeah, my experience is like, this is crazy. This is beautiful. It's down the road from us, but it is a. It's great. The people who run it are wonderful. That's. It's really. Definitely more of an artist based festival where they want people to play together. Kind of like the models of like, yesteryear of workshops. You know, the workshops, like in those bubbles and dvd. Yeah, it's kind of like that where like, they. They encourage a lot of collaboration and stuff like that. And so we'll be doing that this year.
- [30:53]
A
The workshops were always. I mean, the original incarnation of Newport, at least I should say were always what sort of set it apart to me in my mind and sort of made it seem so distinct from, you know, whatever. Even like Monterey Pop or the big Surf Folk Festival or something where, like, you know, you could sit down for a very brief period of time, obviously, but, you know, for that period of time, a couple years, you could sit down in whatever, you know, a circle in a field or a classroom or something. And like, you know, you could strum along with Joan and with Bah and, you know, just kind of have this community based music making thing. It's not, you know, I imagine that it's a little more, you know, kind of gussied up, dressed up these days than it was back in 1964. Whatever, let's say. But, like, it. It does still seem like it's kind of fundamentally distinct from your. Whatever. Your Coachellas or your Lollapaloozas or your, you know, whatever, you know, Governor's Ball. Governor's. I don't know, whatever your big, you know, kind of corporate festivals are.
- [31:56]
C
Yeah, it feels like they're. They try to. And another thing that Jay has done, J Suite and the festival at large has done is they try to get ahead of, like, new artists that could be interesting. So it'll be. They get these big gets with, like, no con or. Or geese or whomever, and then they'll balance that out with people who are really up and coming, and they kind of treat them the same in terms of. Not in terms of billing necessarily, but in terms of attention when they're promoting the festival, which is something I appreciate that they do. But, yeah, they're always.
- [32:34]
B
It's.
- [32:34]
C
It's a family affair. We'll bring our kids there, and we'll have a good time. And I got to take a picture with my son and Randy Newman, so.
- [32:42]
A
Oh, man. When did you. When did Randy play there?
- [32:45]
C
Two years ago. Three years ago.
- [32:47]
A
Damn. I didn't realize it was that recent.
- [32:49]
C
He played solo. Yeah. And my son was sleeping during. You got a friend of me, but
- [32:54]
A
I woke him up. You got to get him up for that one. Come on. That's all. That's for all the kids in the audience.
- [32:59]
C
That's why he was there.
- [33:01]
B
When Dolly Parton played a few years ago, she had to be deputized by the Rhode Island State Police because she is always packing heat. And, you know, you can't take a weapon into a state park here, so I did not.
- [33:22]
A
I did not know that.
- [33:23]
B
The only way she was going to be able to take her gun into the Newport Folk Festival was if she was deputized. So.
- [33:29]
A
Okay. Deputy Dolly Parton, strapped, extremely sick.
- [33:37]
C
She had a gun, people.
- [33:39]
B
I'm gonna take my paintball gun this year.
- [33:43]
A
That's a good way to get a little deputy badge if. If, you know, you want to just carry around one of those.
- [33:49]
B
I'm looking for a loophole.
- [33:50]
A
Yeah. Were you guys there for the Joni one a couple years ago?
- [33:55]
B
Oh, gosh. Actually, no. We were. We were in downtown Newport.
- [34:01]
C
There's a story behind that.
- [34:03]
A
Oh, okay.
- [34:06]
B
So I guess, yeah, that year was whatever anniversary of Exile on Main street, the Stones. And of course, by the Stones, who else has put out a record called Exile on Main street that's the only
- [34:20]
A
one I'm aware of.
- [34:22]
B
Anyways, you know, Newport, they thought it'd be cute. Dirty comes back and does an after party called Exile on Thames street or.
- [34:32]
C
Which is a main road in Newport, of course.
- [34:35]
A
Makes sense.
- [34:36]
B
And they're like, fine, but we're only. We don't want to do the whole excellent Main street album. Like, can we just do, like, some select songs? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just, you know, let's. We'll get some special guests and stuff. You know, it'll be. You know, you guys will crush it. Okay, let's do. Gets off to a pretty good start. Like, we started the set, I think, with Rocks off and Adam Wiener from Low Cut. Connie came up and sang his ass off. And it was like an explosive beginning to the set. It was so awesome. And then it just started spiraling out of control.
- [35:16]
A
Okay.
- [35:16]
B
Like, every time we tried to do another Stones cover, it was like our special guest either wasn't there because they decided to stay at Newport Folk Festival because Joni was there, or they were out of their mind on mushrooms and couldn't remember any of the words. There's like. There's three camps. There was Adam Wiener, People on Mushrooms, and People at Joni Mitchell. And, yeah, it was, you know, a little bit of a disaster to me, but, hell, I mean, I don't blame him. I would have bailed on it, too, if I was on the other side
- [35:58]
A
of that, you know, A little bit of a disaster. That's something that seems sort of appropriate for the Exile on Main Streets, you know.
- [36:06]
B
Sure.
- [36:07]
A
Cover performance. He did a good job in tune with the. Just sort of whole spirit behind the album.
- [36:13]
B
I mean. Yeah. At least, you know, we didn't have a bunch of drug dealers living there at the Newport Booze Cafe with us.
- [36:21]
A
Right. Months out of the time, completely strung out up on stage.
- [36:26]
C
It is funny, though, that Joni. You were like. Were we at the Joni Mitchell set? And I was like, oh, that derailed everything.
- [36:32]
A
I'm sorry to bring up a sore subject there. I didn't. Didn't realize I was. I was reopening old wounds.
- [36:39]
C
Well, I was wondering why I wasn't there.
- [36:41]
B
I just think it's funny because it's like, it's such a good reason why we weren't there for Joni Mitchell and such a good reason why our special guests didn't show up for us.
- [36:52]
A
Weren't there for you.
- [36:53]
C
Yeah, we won't forget it.
- [37:02]
A
Well, back to the album, maybe for. For a minute. Like, what I'm Always interested. Like, what song are you? And I guess if you. If you love all your children equally, that's a perfectly fair response. But, like, what song are you most proud of on this album, each of you?
- [37:19]
B
Hold on. I have a good idea.
- [37:21]
A
Okay.
- [37:22]
B
Ian's gonna talk about his while I go get a beer out of my fridge, and then I'm gonna try to guess which song Ian said.
- [37:30]
A
Perfect.
- [37:31]
C
Sure. Walk away.
- [37:32]
B
We got a little game.
- [37:33]
A
This is a little game show segment.
- [37:34]
B
I can only ask yes or no questions. How about that?
- [37:39]
C
Sounds good.
- [37:40]
B
All right, let's try leaf.
- [37:56]
C
All right. The song that I love the most is a song called Candy Cigarettes, the last song on the record.
- [38:03]
B
Very end. Yeah.
- [38:05]
C
Yeah. I think that. I don't know, my favorite thing that we do as a group together is I think that song gave me the most opportunity to. To do guitar work that was the most in my spirit of my favorite kind of textural stuff. And I think it also marries and leaves John's song alone.
- [38:28]
A
The most interesting.
- [38:29]
C
That makes sense.
- [38:31]
B
Like, I love.
- [38:31]
C
I love. I love to leave a song alone if I can. And I think that that one. Just the songwriting on his behalf in general, I think, is really special. And I think it is a perfect companion to the first song on the record, Dog Years. Yeah, they seem to be. They seem to be in need of each other. They seem to be one in the same. And I think both of those songs. But that one would take the cake for me.
- [39:04]
A
Word. They even kind of fall in.
- [39:06]
B
Give me a thumbs up when I can rejoin. I don't have my earphones in for, you know, the people listening at home, so I don't know what they're talking.
- [39:12]
C
One second.
- [39:13]
A
Come on. Come on in. I think we got.
- [39:15]
B
I got a thumbs up. Yeah, two thumbs up. I was just gonna say earphones going in.
- [39:20]
A
Both those songs that you mentioned, you know, I think even kind of follow the same pattern, I guess. I don't want to go too far into detail because I'll spoil it for John here if I don't give me any clues. They both start one way, and then, like, something happens, you know? You know, so. All right, so what. What do you. What do you. What do you.
- [39:37]
B
Let.
- [39:37]
A
Let's let the games begin. What do you think you picked?
- [39:39]
B
Well, can I. I was going to ask yes or no questions.
- [39:42]
C
Oh, yes or no questions. Yeah.
- [39:44]
B
Two questions.
- [39:45]
C
Yes. Two questions.
- [39:46]
B
Okay. Did you write it?
- [39:48]
C
No. You thought it'd be that selfish?
- [39:59]
A
Let's see now he's stumped.
- [40:03]
B
Well, I. Well, Ian Grant, I heard a little bit of what you were saying. So you said it's. It goes one way and then something happens. So. Is it dog ears?
- [40:20]
C
No.
- [40:20]
B
No. Okay. Because that starts one way and then goes somewhere else. All right, so I guess.
- [40:25]
C
But you're. But you're very close because that's kind of what the track we were. It's Candy Cigarettes.
- [40:31]
B
Oh, okay.
- [40:32]
A
That's what I was. I was trying to. They both kind of start quiet, and then I don't know exactly, you know, a minute, two minutes in. Then, you know, something kind of clicks and the song really expands and blows up.
- [40:44]
B
Well, I know I didn't win, you know, the all expenses paid vacation, but is there a consolation prize?
- [40:50]
C
I'll take you. I'll take you out next week.
- [40:52]
B
All right. Ian's gonna buy me a beer. Excellent, excellent.
- [40:56]
A
Well, and then how about you, John? What? What? Is it also Candy Cigarettes, or is it a song that Ian wrote, perhaps?
- [41:03]
C
You don't have to just do that.
- [41:05]
A
It's okay if it isn't.
- [41:09]
B
I wasn't thinking about this song as much while I was kind of practicing on my own ahead of rehearsals for this tour, where we have to play all these songs for the first time in front of an audience. Mostly because I don't play a whole lot of guitar on it. I play mostly piano, so I kind of. I wasn't really listening to it much while practicing. So I think Endless Loop is. Is maybe by favorite song of the record, or at least the one that I think is the most interesting for us and, you know, after spending some time away from it until we started rehearsing it just yesterday. Yeah, I was kind of blown away by it all over again. I just. I love that song, and I didn't pick it just because you're here. Ian o'. Neill.
- [42:21]
C
Thanks, buddy.
- [42:24]
A
It's a good. That's a great sort of left turn, I think, after Dog Years and Mary Singletary there at the, you know, I guess the 3 slot on the album, because it sort of. It doesn't interrupt the flow necessarily. But, yeah, it clearly kind of introduces a different sort of feeling and texture into the album. And you get a little bit more as it goes on, but, like, it's something that.
- [42:43]
B
That we haven't really done before, too. Like, I mean, we've, like, used loops and stuff to an extent, you know, because there is a literal, like, drum loop and endless loop, but it has this kind of weird kind of, like, mechanical heart to it that is a little unusual for us. That. And I. I think the way it turned out in the end, it was just. It has so much human. There's so much humanness touching it. And, And. And it's a very, you know, emotional, I think, performance by Ian singing and. I don't know, I just love it.
- [43:28]
C
Thanks, John. I. I mean, I'll say, like, I think, Ian, you might be interested in this, that it's. That song was directly influenced by Dan Behar's turn to more synthesizer type music.
- [43:41]
A
Interesting.
- [43:42]
C
And I. I don't think that's my attempt at going there with this band. I've done it on my own in my own personal time to do more of that kind of music. But I was kind of trying to think of how, like, we were recently asked to like, rate some songs or something for publication. And I said, I think that Dan Behar using synthesizers, the best thing he did for rock music. Sure. And I think that, like, not that there's a ton of synth on that one, but I did things to mimic synth and I wanted to kind of like. I thought that what he did, like with. With have We Met, that. That, like, really like, expanded my mind of like, oh, we can kind of go to that territory. So that was kind of where I was, where my brain was out with that. With that music more.
- [44:33]
A
That's. I love that. Yeah. And I mean, that's a great example of how, like, you know, certainly if you look at Destroyer, you know, when. And you've got an album like Street Hawk or something, or Rubies from relatively early on, and it just. I'm not gonna say that it sounds like a classic rock pastiche or whatever, but it works in those flavors and those kind of colors, so to speak, in terms of just the way it sounds, the instruments and kind of the rhythm of the songs. And then. Yeah, have We Met? Is just like. Seems like the work of a totally different band. If you were to just sort of a B them without any understanding of kind of how things have. Have gone or evolved in the ensuing years. So I love that.
- [45:38]
B
Stolen car, stolen place New paint job on an old 88 couldn't blend into the wild of a traffic jail Shots fired out by Eagle Square I got mixed up around.
- [45:57]
A
I. I gotta ask. So, aci, what is the aci? I'm sorry to be just asking questions. What is the coinomatic. What is the aci?
- [46:07]
B
The aci. The Adult Correctional Institution.
- [46:11]
A
Aha. Okay, that makes sense now. You know, having listened to a song
- [46:16]
B
that's the state prison system in Rhode island from. From juveniles up to, you know, I'm having a brain fart. Maximum security.
- [46:30]
A
Got it. Got it.
- [46:31]
B
Yeah. Every. I mean, you know, there's. It's. It's a really old building, you know, you know, it's not the nicest place in the world to call your home. So there's a lot of stories from there. And this being Rhode island, there's been a lot of. A lot of, let's say, characters put behind those bars. Someone was telling me a story about they were. They were locked up there back in the 70s for a short stint.
- [47:09]
C
Yeah. I was telling you that from. There is multiple YouTube comment comments.
- [47:16]
B
Oh, yeah. But this is. Yeah, no, this was different. This was like.
- [47:19]
C
Okay.
- [47:20]
B
Something somebody told me, like, out in the world. In the world. Yeah. When I. You know, when I come out of my cave and the first day they got in, they're like, smells delicious in here. Because some of the mobsters in there, they had. They had their cell decked out with, like, you know, they had a stove top and all this stuff. And they were. They were making meatballs.
- [47:47]
A
Oh.
- [47:47]
B
And they were selling meatballs to the other prisoners. So it's kind of like, you know that scene in Goodfellas where, you know, they go upstate and it's more like camp than prison.
- [47:58]
A
Sure.
- [47:59]
B
You know, and, you know, they're cooking and, you know, he slices the garlic so thin it liquid.
- [48:05]
A
With the razor blade, of course. Of course. So that's. That's the vibe of the aci.
- [48:10]
B
Well, it was, you know,
- [48:13]
A
half a century ago.
- [48:14]
B
It's probably a much sadder place that just maybe six months ago or so it was in the news because the locks were malfunctioning, so.
- [48:24]
A
Oh, that seems like one of the. One of the most important parts of the prison to function is the lock.
- [48:32]
B
It's always sort of been like a punchline, like, you know, like. Like, keep it up, you're going to end up at the aci Whatever. But, you know, now that it's actually a prison, that the locks don't work. Now that's truly a punchline now.
- [48:46]
A
Yeah. Geez.
- [48:48]
C
It's right down the street from my house. It's not far away.
- [48:51]
A
Okay, well, you know, good thing that the locks are not working. And it's right down
- [48:59]
B
there's all Ian's neighbors with no locks on their doors.
- [49:03]
A
Perfect. Hope your locks do function, Ian. I love that one. That's a great. And also, I gotta love. I gotta shout it out also, because it's like, I don't know how intentional it was I imagine maybe a little bit intentional, although maybe not entirely intentional, but it, like, it sounds straight off the river, you know, like Springsteen, which
- [49:23]
B
I was going for more of a melon camp thing, but. Yeah, I appreciate that.
- [49:27]
A
I can see, I can see melanchamp. It just like. It's. The chorus almost kind of sounds like Cadillac Ranch to me. Like, you know, asean Cadillac. It's just. That was the thing that just leapt right into my mind.
- [49:40]
B
So I mean like rhythmically, like the, the chord structure and everything and even the way the story is told. I mean, it's, it, it's. I, I don't mind, you know, getting the springs. Springsteen comparison.
- [49:54]
A
I hope the Springsteen comparison is not so, you know.
- [49:57]
B
No, I, I don't. I don't think it's like, you know,
- [49:59]
C
you can't hide from that.
- [50:00]
B
I don't think it's derisive or anything. It's just.
- [50:03]
A
I love this.
- [50:05]
B
It is what it is, you know, but what it says about me as an artist, you know, I'm kind of like. I don't mind shamelessly, you know, wearing influences on my sleeve sometimes. Of course, Aci, I mean, that song wouldn't be better if it was done in a different style, you know, if it was weirder.
- [50:27]
A
I mean, you know, look at Bob Dylan, you know, the.
- [50:31]
C
He's.
- [50:32]
A
My favorite comparison point is like, you know, Early Roman King or Goodbye Jimmy Reed. These songs are just like. It's the same blues chord structure that's been being played by every bluesman for the last hundred something years. But like, that doesn't make. Like it wouldn't be a better song, like you said, if it were like a different chord structure. In fact, it might be a better song because it's literally the same blues bars that have been being played for the last century.
- [50:58]
B
Yeah, it just, it lends it a kind of lived in quality, I guess. You know, it's like. It's like a great pair of old jeans or something.
- [51:11]
A
Levi's. That's right.
- [51:14]
B
Early Roman Kings. Holy shit, I love that song.
- [51:16]
A
That's a killer. We love Early Roman Kings. All right. I mean, this might be as good a time as any to segue into the Bob stuff. I told Ian that we wouldn't do too much Bob stuff, but, you know, we gotta do a little bit of Bob stuff.
- [51:27]
B
That's fine. But I'm a mod Bob guy.
- [51:29]
A
I.
- [51:30]
B
Through and through.
- [51:31]
A
That's. You're. You're talking. You're talking to the right. The right. The right fellas here are you. I Guess I'll start with it. Are either you guys, have you seen him this year? Or you going to see him at one point during this summer tour that you got coming up.
- [51:43]
C
We're gonna go see him in Boston this year.
- [51:45]
B
Yeah. I haven't seen him since the last time I saw him in Ewing, and
- [51:50]
C
that was the first Rough and Rowdy tour at the Beacon in 2021.
- [51:57]
A
Oh. Which. Because I was. Evan and I were there. What? We were there the second night. Were you guys there?
- [52:03]
C
Can't remember which night we were there. It was like we were touring around
- [52:08]
A
the time and you just were. Happened to be in New York.
- [52:11]
B
Yeah.
- [52:11]
C
And I. I begged for tickets from somebody and we paid too much for him, but. But no, it was great. That was. I saw. We saw that tour and then I saw him again. I saw him a lot before Rough around he started, but I've seen him twice on Rough and Rowdy, but that one was the best one that I saw. I saw some. Another Beacon time, which is a little stranger, I guess.
- [52:33]
B
Oh, we went out with Jerry.
- [52:35]
C
With Jerry Pentecost.
- [52:36]
B
Jerry Pentecost. He was drumming with him.
- [52:38]
A
Oh, amazing. Yeah. From Old Crow Medicine show, right?
- [52:42]
B
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I ended up not going to that show, but we. Yeah, we met up with Jerry afterwards.
- [52:48]
C
He needed a drink.
- [52:50]
B
Yeah.
- [52:50]
A
Did he?
- [52:52]
B
He had a few. Yeah.
- [52:54]
C
Yeah. Well, I want to.
- [52:56]
A
I won't ask you to spill too many secrets there, but I can imagine that, you know, he wouldn't either. Yeah. Playing the kit behind Bob Dylan, especially these days, might. I mean, that's what's so funny, is like the Rough and Rowdy era has been marked by just like, totally. It's all Tony Garnier on the bass, and then you got Bob Britt and Doug Lancy on the guitars. But he's gone through, like four or five drummers, I think. Charlie Drayton, Jerry. He had Keltner playing for a little while. He's onto Anton Fig now. He's something. He's searching for something back there behind the kit and maybe not finding it. Although I'll say Anton.
- [53:34]
C
They're drastically different.
- [53:35]
A
They are drastically different.
- [53:37]
B
They're not meeting their fate like in
- [53:39]
A
Spinal Tap, at least as far as we know.
- [53:42]
B
I guess now Jerry's still alive.
- [53:45]
A
Sure.
- [53:45]
B
Call him right now.
- [53:46]
A
I guess you guys know better than I do. I have not seen Jim Keltner or Charlie Drake Drayton walking around recently. So I can't, you know, I can't attest to that.
- [53:55]
C
One way, funny enough, we. I saw Charlie Drayton At Levon Helm Studios right after that tour, too. He was, I think he's married to Amy Helm, and he came and watched our sound check, I believe.
- [54:08]
A
Small world.
- [54:08]
C
He's alive.
- [54:11]
A
I'm glad to hear that all of Bob Dylan's recent drummers are alive. That's.
- [54:15]
C
It seems like he landed on Anton Fig, which it seems like to me is the closest to Roselli or somebody like that from the. From the heyday.
- [54:25]
A
Yeah, he's got a good. He's got a good beat going right now. You know, having just seen him down there in Texas a couple weeks ago. He's, you know, Fig can kind of do. Do everything where he can play really big and loud and kind of, you know, heavy when he needs to, the same way that Keltner did. But then, like Drayton and Jerry, I think, were more technical drummers, a little more kind of precise and limber. And Anton seems to be able to sort of switch between both of those moods when he needs to, which I guess that's what Bob seems to be. Seems to be looking for. You know, sort of a five tool player back there.
- [55:00]
B
Seems to be working now. Speaking of rhythm and Bob Dylan.
- [55:04]
A
Yeah.
- [55:07]
B
And forgive me if you've talked about this on the.
- [55:10]
A
We've talked about everything before, so it's no worries on that.
- [55:15]
B
I just remember I read, you know, some silly articles about it and I was like, huh, that's weird. But I didn't watch, you know, any record video recordings or listen to any audio of it. But was it last summer? Maybe two summers ago? There was a show where Bob started hitting his microphone with a little miniature wrench.
- [55:41]
A
The wrench, of course.
- [55:42]
B
Yeah.
- [55:43]
A
Iconic.
- [55:44]
C
Very important.
- [55:46]
B
I forgot all about that and I never really followed up. Is there any explanation for it or is it just something he did?
- [56:20]
C
I think there was a Keltner interview where it was asked. Right.
- [56:24]
A
If there is, I'm not aware of it. I remember, you know, so, you know, I guess just to set this little bit of context, fall 24, Bob one night when he's doing Desolation Row, just decides I'm gonna tap on the mic stand with a wrench in time to the beat. So it's just this. I don't know if you guys can hear it, but I'm tapping onto my mic stand with an actual wrench.
- [56:50]
B
A little bit more metallic.
- [56:52]
A
A little more metallic, exactly. Those are my nails. That's the best I can do here, but here's maybe. Yeah, there we go. That's my empty seltzer. Can And I think he did it the one time and that was the only time that he ever did it. And it just, it. It thrilled everyone online. But Ian, I guess it sounds like you might have learned a little bit more from Big Jim Kellner.
- [57:15]
C
I think I saw from some Instagram profile. Could be that guy, false prophet who changed his name recently, right? You know him?
- [57:24]
A
I know the guy you're talking about, yes.
- [57:26]
C
But somebody posted. It was like an anniversary of that.
- [57:32]
A
Anniversary of Bob Dylan banging on Mike with a wrench. Of course, yeah.
- [57:36]
C
It was like bridge anniversary. And then there was some other thing where like. So I think Kellner was asked about. I could be totally wrong in misremembering this, but in like. I think that his explanation was like, was he trying to get you to keep time correctly? And he was like, no, he was just like vibing, basically.
- [58:01]
A
That seems to be if. If I were to hazard a guess as to why he were doing it, what he was even up to. There was just. There was a wrench on his piano for some reason, and he just.
- [58:11]
C
I think it holds down his lyrics or something like that. His lyric page.
- [58:14]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially on those. Because that was one of the outdoor. That was, I think, an outlaw fest show. Very windy outdoor show. Exactly, windy. So he needs something there to keep the. Keep the sheet music down. And so, you know, he was just feeling himself. Why not bang on the ring?
- [58:30]
C
And he was like,
- [58:33]
B
I think, you know, being somebody who might be prone to doing something like that myself, stuff like that doesn't necessarily need an explanation. I don't really care. But if there is an explanation, I'd love to know.
- [58:48]
A
You know, that's. I think we're all. We're gonna be waiting on Ray Padgett's, you know, five year anniversary post on flagging down the EE's when he interviews 10 different people who were in the audience that night for an oral history of. Of Bob Dylan. Rench Gate.
- [59:05]
C
One can hope. Another Vermont man.
- [59:07]
A
That's right. Indeed. Anytime we've had Ren.
- [59:09]
B
New England on the map, baby, you
- [59:11]
A
guys are taking over the world back
- [59:13]
B
there, asking people about wrenches. We're musical guests on Saturday Night Live. This other band from Rhode island is putting out a record called Coinmatic.
- [59:29]
A
Well, I'm glad to hear that you guys are both going to. You said the Boston date.
- [59:35]
C
Yeah. Yes.
- [59:36]
A
I assume that's got to be later in the tour. Right? Because I know he's starting over here on the west coast this time.
- [59:41]
C
July. July, yeah.
- [59:43]
A
Nice, nice.
- [59:44]
B
I'M going to see Weird Al in July, too.
- [59:46]
A
Wow.
- [59:47]
B
Okay. I didn't know that.
- [59:48]
A
Two legendary.
- [59:49]
B
My third Weird Al show.
- [59:51]
A
Boy, I have never been to a Weird Al show. What is the Weird Al show experience like,
- [59:58]
C
man?
- [59:58]
B
Well, the first one I saw, I was a kid, and it was just, you know, my mind was blown. I met Steve J. His bass player, and he basically convinced me not because anything he said, just because I met him, that I needed to play the bass. So the bass was really my first instrument.
- [60:18]
A
All right.
- [60:19]
B
Thanks to Steve J. Of Weird Al Yankovic. Spanish. Yeah. So, you know, kind of a musical hero to me in a way. But, yeah, then I saw him when I was. I saw him at the. At the. The Grand Old Opry House.
- [60:42]
C
That's crazy.
- [60:42]
B
Wow. It wasn't. It wasn't for a broadcast. It was just whatever, Opryland over there there in Nashville in the mall. But I went with Robbie Earl's keyboard player, and it was great. He's really got the costume changes down. Like, it happens so fast. It's pretty impressive.
- [61:05]
A
I can imagine. It sounds like it. I saw him actually appear. I haven't seen the Weird Al show, but I saw Al Jardine of the Beach Boys play last year in Orange County.
- [61:16]
B
Did you do any costume changes?
- [61:18]
A
No costume changes, unfortunately. But one of the. This is sort of a twisted saga, but one of the guys who used to play in Brian Wilson's band, Probing Gregory, now plays in Weird Al's band. And so there's some sort of connection between Weird Al and the Beach Boys universe. And Al. Weird Al Yankovic was in the audience sitting a row behind me. And then he ended up getting up on stage and doing Runaway and Barbara Ann with Al Jardine and the rest of the band in the encore. So I have technically seen Weird Al on stage singing songs in front of me. He didn't sing Al Yankovic songs, but he was up there singing into a microphone, so, you know, that's pretty cool.
- [62:00]
B
Weird Al singing two Beach Boys songs with another guy named Al who is in the Beach Boys.
- [62:08]
A
Exactly. Weird Al Jardine.
- [62:12]
B
We met Al Jardine on Kayamu, that. That cruise ship.
- [62:17]
A
Wow.
- [62:18]
B
He was like. He was like, dear chick. Huh? Yeah.
- [62:23]
A
Okay, that sounds about right.
- [62:25]
B
That's kind of the extent of our conversation.
- [62:28]
C
We were stuck on a boat. Not stuck on a boat. Sorry. We're happily on a boat with Ryan Wilson at the beginning of Coronavirus.
- [62:37]
B
We were stuck on it, though, too. Wait, wait, wait. Happily stuck?
- [62:43]
A
You gotta expand on this a little bit. I. I don't think I. I was aware of this aspect of deer tick trivia.
- [62:50]
B
Sure. Early early 2020. February. February, yeah. Like, there was.
- [62:56]
A
Jesus.
- [62:57]
B
Some people were already scared of COVID 19. Some people had no idea what it was. Some people were getting mysteriously ill. Some people just didn't give a. About any. Was deer tick on this boat. And we were. We didn't know what to make of any of it, but people were.
- [63:19]
A
Boat.
- [63:19]
C
Cruise ship.
- [63:20]
A
Okay. So crew.
- [63:21]
C
Okay.
- [63:21]
A
So it's not like a little, like, dingy.
- [63:23]
C
Step back.
- [63:24]
B
Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm saying. Kay. Like, everybody knows what the hell that is, but I didn't know what it
- [63:30]
C
was till we played it either. Kayamo is like a festival. It was like, us, Jeff, Tweety Hayes, Carl, Brian Wilson, some other people. Molly tuttle.
- [63:45]
B
Right. Steve. P.S.
- [63:48]
C
but it was like the last show before everything got shut down that we played. And, yeah, Brian was Brian Wilson. And I'd seen Brian Wilson do Pet Sounds tour up in Western Mass in the Berkshires before. And so I. He. He played. And, you know, Brian Wilson's quite old, but it was great.
- [64:09]
A
Sure.
- [64:11]
C
But we got about halfway through the trip, which was about a week long, they started. The whole staff started wearing masks and started spraying everybody's hands. And we started hearing about this thing called the coronavirus.
- [64:24]
B
People are getting, like, quarantined and.
- [64:26]
A
Yeah, on the boat.
- [64:28]
C
On the boat.
- [64:29]
A
Good God.
- [64:30]
B
Yeah. You're just, you know, you're on a little floating village, you know.
- [64:34]
C
We went through. Yeah, we went to the Bermuda Triangle.
- [64:38]
A
Jesus Christ.
- [64:40]
B
That's probably where coronavirus originated.
- [64:44]
A
Did anyone on the. Like, did any of you. Was everyone okay on the boat?
- [64:50]
C
I recall our friend Aaron Lee Tashin, who is a great singer, songwriter. He was supposed to, like, lead a Super Jam thing. That John, you were a part of, like, singing a song. And he was so sick. Like, the sickest he's ever been.
- [65:07]
B
He, like, made an appearance, though, like, towards the end of it, and it probably infected everybody.
- [65:13]
A
Super spreader event on Kayamo.
- [65:18]
C
Yes, it was. It was something else. It was a weird way to end touring for a year.
- [65:25]
A
Jesus Christ. See, this is. This is rock music for you. This is, you know, on. On cruise ship with the pandemic descending upon you. Trapped there with Brian Wilson and Jeff Tweedy and Al Jardine, and you're just, like, trying to play a show.
- [65:41]
B
So check this out. Like, when we. When we. When we get to Miami at the end of the cruise. I didn't know, but all the artists and stuff have to Disembark first. So that's at like 6 in the morning. And I, and I didn't know. I didn't get this information till about 2:30 in the morning while I'm at the casino on the boat. And I'm thinking that, you know, we can get off at like 11 or 12 like everybody else. So, yeah, I think I slept for about 20 minutes, if I fell asleep at all. And then like all of a sudden we're in Miami with all our road cases and stuff and it's six in the morning and we don't. Our flight's not till, you know, like 6pm so we got like 12 hours. No hotel, no nothing.
- [66:31]
A
But all your.
- [66:34]
B
We ended up like booking one room in the closest hotel to like the port and just, you know, waited around in the lobby until it was ready. Like that probably wasn't until like 1 or 2 in the afternoon. And like, we took turns like taking naps and shifts on the bed and taking showers and stuff before we went to the airport.
- [67:00]
A
Good Lord.
- [67:01]
C
It probably didn't make Brian Wilson get off at 6am we'll say that much.
- [67:04]
B
Yeah, well, you know, he just lied. He was like, no, I didn't, I didn't play.
- [67:08]
A
If, if, if you guys had written God only knows that, you know, they probably wouldn't make you get off the boat too early either.
- [67:15]
B
He probably, yeah, he's got that fuck you money too. So he probably just bought like a regular ticket just so he could get off the boat late.
- [67:24]
A
Right, Exactly.
- [67:25]
C
He's.
- [67:25]
A
Brian Wilson's there as both an artist and as a passenger. Oh, man. Well, that's. That is one of many reasons why cruise ships. That's something I, I have done in my past, but I never intend to do again because it just seems like kind of agree. Seems like a great opportunity for everything to go terribly wrong.
- [67:47]
B
I do it again in a heartbeat.
- [67:51]
A
Oh, boy. Well, presumably see you guys at Kayamo 20, 27, maybe.
- [67:58]
B
Hope so.
- [67:58]
C
Yeah, we'll put you on the guest list for the cruise ship.
- [68:02]
A
Okay. Yeah, I will see if I can make it.
- [68:05]
B
I'll put you on the crew list for little.
- [68:11]
A
All right, well, that might be a good place to call it. Ian, John, thank you guys so much for joining. Thank you for the fantastic stories here and thank you for the fantastic tunes. Again. Coin O Matic available either already or very soon, depending once again on when this episode posts.
- [68:31]
B
June 5th, past or present.
- [68:33]
A
There you go. Exactly. Just look at the date on your phone and then if it's after June 5th. You head right over there it we'll put a link in the episode description to the bandcamp and stuff so people can go listen to it or pre order it as the calendar. Thank you guys both.
- [68:51]
B
Yeah man, appreciate you. Thank you for having us.
- [68:58]
C
While your father avoided collisions and figured he'd be kind to himself in another lifetime,
- [69:12]
A
thanks again to Ian O' Neill John McCauley of Deer Tick again. The album Coin o matic out Everywhere this Friday, June 5th and the fellas are heading out on tour in a few months. Looks like North American dates I think September, October, October. We'll have links to both the record and the tour dates and probably the Instagram page as well. Why not in the episode description Give them a follow. Give it a spin. It's good music. Jokerman.
- [69:57]
C
A rodeo crown if there's a vacation if there's a war Some time to commit to some windowless chore Take me to the feeling A place I can mo
- [70:13]
B
everything born.