Josh Adam Myers (3:27)

That is rock and roll. It's by the Velvet underground from the 1970 record loaded. It's also number one 10 out of 500 on the 500. Hi, everybody. I'm Josh. Adam Myers. It's a long name. And guess what? We're doing video now for the intro. So hopefully you can see what I look like when I do this. And my whole I just did a pod and my hair has been fucking terrible. I am excited for this weekend. I am writing on the roast of Kevin Hart. So I'll be in Rhode island with Big J Okerson, prepping him. And then next week I'll be at the Netflix is a joke festival May 4th. I'm not doing this is not through the festival, but I'm doing a jam at the Roxy with Big J Okerson, Bill Burr, Nikki Glaser, Jelly Roll and a bunch of other rock stars. It's gonna be dope. And then May 8, I'm doing the Greek Theater with Jelly Roll and Adam Ray. It's gonna fucking rule, man. What am I doing? I'm Forrest Gump, but I'm enjoying life and you should, too. So come to these shows. And then I'm on the road the rest of the month. I've got Plano, Texas. I've got Las Vegas, I've got Sacramento, all@joshadamyers.com and you can also go to Punchup Live. Josh Adamyers, come one, come all and watch the podcast because if you obviously, if you're seeing my pretty face right now, you see that you're watching this on YouTube. YouTube.com 500podcast. Subscribe. Subscribe, everybody, and pay for the Patreon. Why not? I need more coffee. That costs money. Today's record is loaded by the band that they say maybe not sold a bunch of records, but everybody that bought one started the band that became famous and made way more money than this one. This is the sound of a band being told by a record label. Could you freaks please for once write a hit? That's pretty dope and that's pretty cool. And today, I mean, good God, we get a guest. We got a guest. Big ups to code red, Emily Kagan. You know that one of my favorite bands is Faith no More. And today we have. I mean, one of the. The Heartbeat. The emotional attachment that I've had is from the pianist, the one and only Roddy Bottom, who's got a new book out called the Royal We. It is incredible. I mean, just talks about everything. It's sex, it's shame, it's addiction, it's punk, San Francisco, it's Courtney Love, it's Cobain, it's identity, it's survival. It's basically if Lou Reed wrote Running with scissors and he's our guest today, dude. And that's rad. That is so rad. For more info on him, go to oddybottom on SOC and roddybottom.substack.com and you'll find out all the stuff where the book tour is going because he is on tour doing the pod circuit. This is a pleasure. This was dope. Enjoy, rate, review and most importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms or anywhere you get your podcasts. Follow me at Josh, Adam Myers and all social the podcast at the 500 podcast. Email the podcast@500podcastmail.com Follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all things 500, go to the website 500podcast.com all right, guys. Not enough to say, but well, here we go with number 110 out of 500 with loaded by the Velvet Underground. We have had guests and. We have had guests and today I don't think I've ever been so giddy in my whole life. But before I get into the guest, as you might see of the cameras, we are talking about Loaded, the Velvet Underground album where a band famous for singing about heroin, sadomasochism and German our people accidentally made a pop record. This is the sound of a band being told by a record label, could you freaks please for once write a hit? I'm not going to lie, dude. This is the first time out of the four records we've done by four, three, two, who knows we did what white noise when whatever the fuck it was, we did another one. This is the first time I was like, I get it. I fucking get it now. And my guest today is author, musician, cool dude, pet and Lekka going to Ojai after this. We're gonna get him in and out. The one and only Roddy bottom. Like a clap, clack clap, lekka clap. Did I might. Can I ask you a question? Am I, am I fan dogging out too much right now or am I.

Roddy Bottum (7:44)

No, not at all. Are you kidding? Everybody wants to be flattered.

Josh Adam Myers (7:48)

Of course. Would it be different if I like, if I was like, you know, more

Roddy Bottum (7:55)

cooler, like more can't hide it. No, I mean it feels like your personality to gush and I'm absolutely cool with that. I love gushers.

Josh Adam Myers (8:04)

Well, here's what's funny. I was telling you that I, I always went to a comedy festival three days, sang, talked to all the comics. Then I went to Coachella and then I had a Show last night here, and I woke up this morning and my voice was gone.

Roddy Bottum (8:17)

Of course.

Josh Adam Myers (8:19)

Of course. And. And we're freaking out, too, because we can't find a guest for Radiohead, the Bends, that needs to be released tomorrow.

Roddy Bottum (8:24)

Oh, yeah, Emily was talking about that.

Josh Adam Myers (8:26)

Do you know anybody that would talk

Roddy Bottum (8:29)

the Benz about the Bends? Not really. I remember when that record came out, and I remember, like, we played Faith no More, played at, like, Top of the Pops, and I remember, like, Radiohead, like, we're on a show with us at the Top of the Pops. And I remember, like, being there with them when that record came out, and it was such an awesome record and so different than what Radio was, like, what Radiohead was. But, yeah, I don't have enough to even say about that. I will say I saw them backstage and I remember, like, talking to one of them. I was like, at the urinal in the bathroom, and the guitar player. What's his name? The film scorer guy? Johnny.

Josh Adam Myers (9:02)

Oh, Johnny Greenwood.

Roddy Bottum (9:03)

He was in the bathroom. I was like, hey, how's it going? I was just, like, being all SoCal, whatever. I'm from Southern California. He's like, oh, yeah. I was like, are you guys having a good tour?

Josh Adam Myers (9:11)

He's like, I think urinary tract infection.

Roddy Bottum (9:16)

Do you guys get along? He's like, of course. Don't you? I go, no, we don't get along at all. We're really fighting right now. It's a really rough day for us. He's like, oh, it was a real turn off for old Johnny Greenwood. Out he went. That was the end of that conversation.

Josh Adam Myers (9:29)

Yeah. I don't feel like you can really,

Roddy Bottum (9:31)

like, you know, you can't win with Johnny. You can't win with, like, I don't know, like, socializing with, like, Radiohead. Doesn't seem like a thing. Maybe they're really approachable people. Who knows?

Josh Adam Myers (9:40)

I used to see.

Roddy Bottum (9:41)

Sumptuous of me to, like, you know,

Josh Adam Myers (9:43)

I don't, of course, but I. You. But I would. But. But, like, they feel, like, the depression and the not wanting to be bothered, you know? Especially when you listen to something like, okay, Computer, right? Which is the album that made me, like, drop out of college, go to Europe, because I was like, this is made for me.

Roddy Bottum (9:58)

Remember when we first heard okay, Computer? Oh, my God, that was such a revelation.

Josh Adam Myers (10:02)

Did you love it? Of course.

Roddy Bottum (10:04)

It was insane. I mean, cut to now, like, we're dealing with, like, you know, the world of Zionism, and it's kind of scary, and we're all kind of freaked out. But, you know, maybe that's the reason why people don't want to talk about the Bends, I don't know, but maybe not. It doesn't feel like. It feels like Radiohead are gearing up for something coming up, and I think they'll be fine.

Josh Adam Myers (10:22)

They're going to be fine, despite sort

Roddy Bottum (10:24)

of what's going on in Palestine and sort of their views on it and what's happened, you know, on the Internet, I think Radiohead spirit probably going to be fine.

Josh Adam Myers (10:31)

Yeah, I know.

Roddy Bottum (10:31)

I agree.

Josh Adam Myers (10:32)

And, I mean, if Worlds comes, at worst, they just retire to their shires

Roddy Bottum (10:36)

and they'll be fine.

Josh Adam Myers (10:36)

And they'll be fine and just enjoy their money because they got a lot of it. I paid $5 for In Rainbows and I could have paid anything.

Roddy Bottum (10:45)

I could have been.

Josh Adam Myers (10:46)

What would you say would be. What would. Because I always just. And this, I mean, we're talking about is when we start off, what do you. Would you say? Because I always say the Bends would be the record where Radiohead became Radiohead. What would you say would be the record where Faith no More became Faith no More. Would you say it was the real thing?

Roddy Bottum (11:03)

The real thing was an odd sort of record to make because we made a lot of music and we were dealing with the suffrage of having lost our original singer. So, like, the vision of where we were going was suddenly pulled out from underneath us, and we had, like, all these songs, and it was kind of a panic almost to find someone and find, like, a vocalist that could take us to the next step. And we were a weird band in that, like, what we paid attention to was, I think, the rest of us and not so much the vocalist, for whatever reason, we always considered the vocalist in the band as an afterthought, which is crazy. Like, what the hell? Like, in a band, that's all you pay attention to, is the front burst. But we, as a band had always just sort of, like. We were so intent with our core of what we did musically. This sort of singer, like, came in at the end and we kind of just like, okay, do whatever you want to do.

Josh Adam Myers (11:54)

And.

Roddy Bottum (11:55)

And Mike Patton, when he joined the band, was. That was sort of. Our sort of attitude with him was like, yeah, just do whatever you want to do. Undeniably, he was a genius, you know, and it's like, oh, my God. Like, we had stumbled onto this crazy chemistry, and he's such an amazing performer and such an amazing lyricist and so good with his voice. We sort of stumbled onto this crazy kismet But I think when we started recording that record, we had already written the music, so he didn't really have a part in that. So in a weird way, like, that record, the real thing, is sort of half baked in that. Like, it wasn't as culminating as an experience as it should have been. Like, it should have been the five of us making a record together and Mike included. And it was that, like, he did all the vocal lines and the melodies and wrote all the words, but he didn't have a say so much in the music. I think it took sort of the whole dilemma of, like, getting famous and then having to address that, that made the real sort of triumph, which was Angel Dust. Like, at that point, we were in a position very much like where Velvet Underground, I think, were with. In terms of. On the precipice of Loaded, in which the record company was like, okay, coming to the studio and looking and sniffing out the hits and seeing if they were there. And our sort of reaction to that, to the studio heads coming in and wanting hits, was like, you know, we're so provocative and such, like, such fuckery little kids. Like, we went absolutely as intense of the other direction as we could have gone, you know, in that. Like, oh, no, they want hits. Oh, you did?

Josh Adam Myers (13:39)

Yeah.

Roddy Bottum (13:39)

Here you go. And it was like, famously, like, the guy that ran Slash Records came in and heard stuff that we were doing. Hi.

Josh Adam Myers (13:47)

Shut up. Like, we're doing a podcast, heard stuff

Roddy Bottum (13:51)

that we were doing and said like, well, I hope none of you have bought homes. And the deal was we all had. You know, we had sort of, like, made money off the real thing, and we'd all kind of, like, bought houses, and we're sort of getting on with our lives. And he was like, I hope none of you bought homes. Like, oh, geez.

Josh Adam Myers (14:07)

And. And. And. And. And, I mean, the second record, you know, with Mike is the one that most people say is their favorite. I'm a. I'm a real Thing guy. I can. I mean, because that was such a moment in my life where it was like hearing, you know, arguably, I know rock and rap had been done before. Like, there was, like. You could say, like, Blondie had started it, but that was so new. It's so different. And then also to hear, like, a. Please, please. Like, we only have a short time. We. To hear that. It was. It was something because I had just come out of. In a phase of being in hip hop and then going. But always still having my foot still in rock and roll, right?

Roddy Bottum (14:48)

That was the E that we were living in. It was like both of those sort of music forms are suddenly so much there for us. It was such a special time. I mean, you could kind of cite like Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were doing that sort of thing. Like, I don't. That association is kind of weird, but it was like, yeah, it was different. I mean, what sort of where we went with Angel Dust was absolutely kind of more into the roots of what we had done, which was so weird. We really made like before Mike joined the band, before Chuck even joined the band, we were so intent on making just kind of freak out, like, druggy, weir, weird music. And Angel Dust kind of became an extension, I think, of that for us.

Josh Adam Myers (15:26)

What would you say would be your, okay, computer then? Because it still could be. It still could be angel dusting.

Roddy Bottum (15:33)

What was our Bends?

Josh Adam Myers (15:35)

Well, the Benz. Yeah.

Roddy Bottum (15:36)

What would you think would be the Bends pivoting like. Faith no More's Bend record was for sure the real thing. I mean, because that is full on pop nuggets, like, from beginning to end. And there was a sort of a stance in which Mike had to step back into when he joined the band to kind of prove himself. It's a really an audition record, really, for him. Like, we'd met him, we were getting to know him and he was getting to know us. And based on sort of where we'd been and what we were doing, he could tell, like, okay, this is the moment we're all looking for, a moment where we're seeking popularity. And he kind of jumped into the band and started writing songs and singing in a way that sort of catered to that, you know, and like, did an amazing job. And the result of which is like, you know, the real thing is like a lot of pop nuggets. There's very like commercial sounding, like radio friendly, sounding like rock music, which I'm super proud of. It's really great. It's a weird record. I love it. But it's way more sort of like, not success oriented, but way more sort of, I think, sort of understandable for the masses than say, like, Angel Dust.

Josh Adam Myers (16:47)

Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you put out Angel Dust first. You're going on tour with Guns N Roses, right? And Metallica, I mean, which we'll get to later because that's such an interesting pairing and I can imagine. I've heard the stories from that. But yeah, I mean, especially for when Angel Dust came out, it really was like, oh, wow, this is different. And it took a listen Before I was like, besides midlife crisis, which was just felt like a little bit had started its foot in the first record world.

Roddy Bottum (17:15)

Yeah, yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (17:16)

But I mean, be aggressive, even. Just there's so much the, you know, there's just so much music on there that is so different. Especially for the time it was so far ahead of it. So that would definitely be the. Okay. Computer.

Roddy Bottum (17:29)

I think so, yeah. I mean, it was definitely a stretch for us, you know, and it was intentionally that, like, let's stretch, let's be weird.

Josh Adam Myers (17:37)

What would be your Loaded? You still say go back to. Go back to.

Roddy Bottum (17:41)

Cause.

Josh Adam Myers (17:41)

No, because you've had. But then you went to the third record.

Roddy Bottum (17:43)

Loaded is an expectation of the record company. For sure. Like I was saying before, like, Loaded also the real thing and that. Like the record company. But maybe later on, like, sort of like. I don't know. Loaded to me is so much like. It was a band that was so established and had such a singularly, like, potent, like, expression. It was really like. I mean, the Velvet Underground, like you were saying when we started, was such a specific thing and they were so established as such. And it felt like. It feels like to me, like Loaded was such a strange. Not strange, but like kind of predictable sort of pivot to sort of make hits, you know. And there was a demand there suddenly, like, be something else, you know, Address a pop sensibility. Address like a rockness that's going to sell records. So, I mean, for me, in a big way, Loaded is kind of a betrayal of what Velvet Underground was from everything before that. Yes, they were so dirty. Like, I can't even tell you when I first heard, like, the Velvet Underground. When I was so young, probably 14 or 15, I heard the first record, you know, and I think it's kind of like, you know, Smells like Teen Spirit. Like when you remember where you were when you heard that for the first time. It was the oddest, craziest sound, you know, it was really play super like, nursery. Kind of like rhymey and childlike and naive, but coupled with a real darkness and so druggie. And Nico's voice and Mo Tucker, the drums are so weird. Everything about it just feels like. I don't know, for when I was a kid was like, I just wanted in. I knew it was approachable and I knew it was simple and playful, but at the same time really dark. And there was a sensibility of drugginess there that I was like, oh, hell yeah. On board, you know. And queerness for sure too. Like, all of it. It hit all the marks for me. I remember when I heard it, it was just like, it changed my life.

Josh Adam Myers (19:51)

You knew very early on you heard it?

Roddy Bottum (19:53)

Yeah, for sure. Like, really young. Like 15, 16. We heard it and in high school. And I remember it just changed everything for. From me. And the fact also that it wasn't current day. Like, it's not like I heard it. And it was like a new record. It was like a window into the past, which is. Was even kind of still so remarkable to me. Like, it wasn't now, but this had happened before. Yeah, it was so weird to me. It was like finding a relic, you know?

Josh Adam Myers (20:21)

Yeah. Because, you know, it's funny you mentioned Smells Like Teen Spirit and that's such a. Everybody knows. It's like. It's almost like. So it was like, you know, where you were when the Challenger. You know, when you were OJ Was in the car chase. You know, you were when. When Will Smith hit Chris Rock. I mean, I was. I'm a big Osters guy, right? But that being said, I'll never forget I've said on the podcast before, because I was so hair metal. I was so. You know, it was. It was Guns N Roses, it was Metallica, it was Faith no More. It was all the Iron Maiden. And then I remember sitting on my couch watching Nelson. I Can't Live Without My Love and Affection. And then they're like, there's a new band. Here it is. Smells Like Teen Spirit. And I was like, more of that. Was that your feeling with Velvet Underground, then, where you were like, I want

Roddy Bottum (21:04)

more like, what was before Velvet, even more bizarre. Like, I think at the time, like, with my sisters and growing up, I'd only kind of dabbled, really, in, like, show tunes, honestly, which is cheesy and weird, but, like, really into, like. Yeah. I mean, yeah, in a typical, like, almost like, ridiculously stereotypical way. Like, I was a kid that listened to show tunes, but, like, Hair, the musical was like, oh, my God, we loved Hair. I mean, I loved rock music and stuff, too, but, like, when Velvet Underground record came into our mix, it was just like. Couldn't have been more significantly, like, jarring. It's like, what is this? But then also, in a way, it kind of read like a musical too. You know, sort of the presentation of it is so pastoral and, like, you can see things, you know, it was just like the visuals and the characters and the stories that were told on that first Velvet Underground record were kind of, you know, similar to a musical. But it was suddenly, you know, it's funny. Like, Hair. Like, for whatever reason, my sisters and I were so smitten with that record. You know, the soundtrack, the score, the show of Hair, you know, and those stories. It feels like there's a dotted line going to Velvet Underground. I'm sure, like, in that world, like, Hair was super cheesy. Like, can you imagine being like, a hippie, like, in the Sixt? And all of a sudden it's being exploited in this way.

Josh Adam Myers (22:31)

It's like, wait, this is us. This is our thing.

Roddy Bottum (22:34)

Broadway must have been so fucked for people to, like, what. You know, like, what they did with that. But anyway, like, I don't know. To me, it was kind of one of the same. It was like a picture of the 60s. But then, like, it was clear, like, the Velvet Underground record was kind of like, what happened after that? Like, things started to go a little bit wrong. Oh, yeah. Like, suddenly it was acid, but it was also heroin, you know, and it was, like, Waiting for the man. And it was dealing drugs on the street and buying street drugs. And I was like, oh, wow. Like, you know, like this sort of idyllic, like, era of, you know, hair of the hippie culture was like, oh, wow. Arrested. Sort of, like, stuff.

Josh Adam Myers (23:20)

Did you. You know, when they eventually broke up and Lou Reed goes go solo? I mean, did you love the stuff that he did after that? Did you love something besides not, like, mean more? I'm thinking not Transformer, like, something like Berlin, right? Which is. I mean, that's. That's like. I mean, that's the guy. What, Abel Ferreira, like that director that makes dark movies or the guy. Lars von Trier, right? Doing, like, Dancer in the Dark. You're like, oh, my God. Prostitutes and this. And it's like. It's like, all right, calm it down a little bit. Walk on the wild side.

Roddy Bottum (23:49)

I mean, even so. Even still, like, Transformer was everything. I love such a great record where Lou, like. I mean, that's, for me, an interesting element of, like, Loaded is. It's kind of the beginning of Lou stepping away from it. There's songs on Loaded that he didn't sing, and you can feel. And when Loaded came out, he quit the band. You can feel that in the music. Like, okay, Lou has something else to say. And Transformer, yeah, changed my life in a similar way. I love that record so much. I went on to embrace other things that I've been here and there and in a good place and a bad place with Lou. But Transformer was everything thing to me.

Josh Adam Myers (24:29)

It's. I mean, I'M I'm not gonna lie, you know, so. Because I was so. The reason I started doing the podcast was because I was so locked into the music that I grew up with. And a lot of people are. And I'm so happy that, you know, to do this and be introduced to so many incredible bands, eventually it might have found its way in, but to really dig into these records and like I said, either at the beginning, maybe on air, off, it was. I. There's certain bands where I just don't get it right away. And I just also think it could be the order that we're listening.

Roddy Bottum (24:59)

Like nowadays or when you were a kid.

Josh Adam Myers (25:01)

No, now we're doing, like, I said this a million times, the podcast, if you can. You can hit the 15 second mark if you know and skip ahead. But it's like I'm doing Bob Dylan backwards. I never was into Bob Dylan. I just. I knew he was. I knew all the history. I knew why we loved him, but I was never into him. So then when we started doing the podcast, the first record we did was Time out of Mind. So that's a record later in his career. Every song is 12 minutes long. It's about a. A gambler and the dealer, and it's really about the devil and Jesus. And you're like, jes Christ, Bob, wrap the song up.

Roddy Bottum (25:34)

Right?

Josh Adam Myers (25:35)

Because you got to listen to an hour and a half record and I'd listen to an over and over and over.

Roddy Bottum (25:39)

And that was your starting point.

Josh Adam Myers (25:41)

Yeah, because we're going down. So we're starting at 500, so. But with Bob.

Roddy Bottum (25:45)

So your process is. So you're starting at like. That's where you started.

Josh Adam Myers (25:49)

So I started at 500 and I've been working my way down. So we're at like one. Whatever the number this is. I don't even know. It's like 113 or something.

Roddy Bottum (25:57)

That's crazy. I didn't. Excuse me. I didn't realize this process. Like, I knew you were doing the 500, but I didn't know there was an order. I thought you were just like.

Josh Adam Myers (26:07)

That's why I'm freaking out about Radiohead right now, because it comes out tomorrow and we had Ed o' Brien and then he canceled because he's on a book tour too, or just. I know, an album tour. And so we've been someone that was.

Roddy Bottum (26:19)

Wow, that's wild.

Josh Adam Myers (26:20)

By the way, Emily, our booker, I

Roddy Bottum (26:21)

don't know if you know Emily, she was.

Josh Adam Myers (26:23)

She was. She was thinking about coming, you know,

Roddy Bottum (26:25)

she said, yeah, she reached out and

Josh Adam Myers (26:27)

said, yeah, I don't know if she'll make it. It's funny, I've never actually met her, but been working with her.

Roddy Bottum (26:31)

I met her when I was, like, very, very young. I can't remember how she was involved in, like, Faith no More, but she

Josh Adam Myers (26:36)

was, I think her dad or her sister, they're all. They're working with bands. But, dude, she's gotten me.

Roddy Bottum (26:43)

She's cool, incredible guest.

Josh Adam Myers (26:44)

So God bless you, Emily. I love you. This is a. This is a code red Emily booking where we all have been saying, another podcast. But back to the Bob Dylan thing with Velvet Underground. It's the same thing where it's like, we're not doing the first record, because with Miles Davis, you gotta listen to the.

Roddy Bottum (26:59)

Won't you get to the first record? The first record has to eventually.

Josh Adam Myers (27:02)

Oh, it's eventually. But, dude, with Bob Dylan, you shouldn't start with Time out of Mind. Right? You got to know where he was to get to where they're going. He's like, D. You don't start with the last. You don't start with Soul Invictus.

Roddy Bottum (27:11)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (27:12)

Do you know what I mean? You. You have to find.

Roddy Bottum (27:15)

I mean, that's an entry point for sure. And it's like. It doesn't make sense, but to appreciate

Josh Adam Myers (27:19)

it and say, oh, my God, the genius of. Of the band is hearing the stuff they did with Chuck.

Roddy Bottum (27:26)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (27:26)

And then seeing all the.

Roddy Bottum (27:29)

Always the first record that you want

Josh Adam Myers (27:30)

to start with, obviously, and so did not start with the one where they're 78 years old and they're angry at the world and they're a billionaire and they don't give a. So with Velvet, for me, I forget the first one, but I. It might have been the second or third record. Which is what? White noise.

Roddy Bottum (27:47)

White.

Josh Adam Myers (27:48)

And it's a very out there record.

Roddy Bottum (27:50)

Very super fuzzy and distorted and up and.

Josh Adam Myers (27:54)

And I. I couldn't latch on. But I got the idea of that expression everybody always says is that nobody. They didn't sell any records. I think they sold like 30,000 albums. But every one of those people that bought the record started a band because you can hear it and I can really hear it in this. Like, this is the record, which I know they're breaking up and I have the whole history about it. But this. I mean, this changed and influenced what I would say. Punk, alternative rock, glam, indie rock, college rock, noise, pop, post pop. Because without this band, without loaded, you know, And I'm gonna ask you about Faith no More. But I mean, I don't think you get the Replacements. You don't get Sonic Youth, you don't get rem, you don't get the Pixies, you don't get Nirvana. And I mean indirectly, I think through rock art abrasion and pop collision, I don't think you get Faith no More.

Roddy Bottum (28:43)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (28:44)

I mean, did you ever talk to the other members of the band and bring up Velvet Underground or listen to it when you're smoking a joint or shooting dope or whatever? Or like, we didn't shoot them, but I mean, absolutely.

Roddy Bottum (28:57)

Like, I don't think, like, I know, like the first guitar player was a real intent, like, Blue Reed fan. Yeah, he was really into Lou.

Josh Adam Myers (29:05)

Is he really into pumpkins now? Isn't he like, growing?

Roddy Bottum (29:07)

I think he is. I haven't talked to him for a long time, but I think that's what he was doing last time I talked to him. Like, that's what he did. Yeah, he was. I mean, it was raising pumpkins and

Josh Adam Myers (29:15)

it was such a. That was like too, man. Seeing that first epic video, it's like everybody in the band had their individual. Like, Mike has a look, you know, Mike Borden has a look, Patton has a look. You had a look. You had the fucking cool hair. And it's like everybody. And then Jim was like just that bushel with the red chest.

Roddy Bottum (29:32)

Such an anomaly. Yeah. Which kind of like skewed sort of and changed the direction of that band. Honestly, really, like, I don't think we would have been who we became if it hadn't have been for Jim. The pumpkin thing definitely is so weird. But just to answer, like, he was very into Lou Reed. He and I were so opposite. Like, he grew up in Hayward, California, which is kind of like this redneck sort of like EAS Bay, like cul de sac sort of neighborhood. He grew up, like, with three brothers, you know, super male dominated family. He grew up like, hunting and shooting guns. And like his best friend was like Cliff from, you know, Metallica and you know, like very much of that world, you know, I was like. Grew up in Los Angeles, like close to here, you know, and I had three sisters, a gay kid and just like, couldn't have been different. Like really progressive family and like super, you know, like, you know, liberal sisters. So we were like absolute polar opposites, me and Jim, but in the same breath. We got along, like, really well. I love him so much. He's so fun. He's like such a kook. Like, so weird. He showed me, like, so Many amazing things that I never would have seen. But one of the common grounds we had was, for whatever reason, was Lou Reed. I don't know if he was so much Velvet Underground, but he was definitely. We saw Lou Reed together in Berkeley once, I remember, and it's like, he's someone I would never like socially, like, outside of the band. We would never spend time together, but it's crazy to me. We went and saw Lou Reed together in Berkeley once. He was a huge Lou Reed fan.

Josh Adam Myers (31:09)

Isn't it great when you, like, you can connect with somebody that's a polar opposite over a thing and just both enjoy it and you're like, oh, wow. I never would have thought you'd be into this. I thought you would be digging on this show.

Roddy Bottum (31:21)

He liked that. Crazy. What's the metal machine music? Is that the name of the Lou Reed record?

Josh Adam Myers (31:25)

Look it up.

Roddy Bottum (31:27)

I think he was a big fan of that one. He really loved weirdo stuff. He turned me onto Ammagama by Pink Floyd, which I'd never heard before. Really weird abstract music. But the rest of Faith no More were. No, they weren't interested in Velvet Underground at all. I think it was a little bit druggie for those guys taste. Mike Borden probably loves Velvet Underground and I'm sure he loved Lou Reed also. It wasn't his go to, but for sure there's an appreciation. Billy. I don't know. I don't think he would really. I don't think it would be his jam so much. Mike Patton, definitely. Definitely not. I don't think he was really. No.

Josh Adam Myers (32:01)

Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it was a band that I always thought was cool. I knew they were out there. And

Roddy Bottum (32:08)

that said. I have to correct myself before you go on Mike Patton, though. I'm remembering now later on as he started getting into noise stuff, maybe his taste changed because he was very. I know he was good friends with Laurie Anderson, really. So there must have been a connect there somehow. Somehow he must have sort of embraced Lou Reed in the mix of that Maybe. I don't know. People's tastes change too, you know? Like, I remember when Bjork's first record came out, like, oh, my God. Debut came out. I was like, oh, my God. I was so floored.

Josh Adam Myers (32:41)

I love sugar cubes, bro. I got a vintage sugar cube shirt and the people that know it. Dude, this. All right. This is the moment I was trying to talk to you about offline, and then you. I was like, I'm gonna save it. I collect vintage T shirts. I've Been doing it. I love me and the dog. We go, we're touring non stop. And so every since I've been bringing her for the last five years. I rent a car in every city because there's nothing to do. What are you gonna do in Winnipeg? You know what I mean? I gotta be there five days.

Roddy Bottum (33:07)

So where do you go?

Josh Adam Myers (33:08)

So what do you do? So I, I. Especially in Canada. No, I just. You find the stores. You just redo the research. And so I found someplace. I don't know where it was a. I think it was from a We Care a lot got Faith no More shirt. And I have multiple.

Roddy Bottum (33:23)

It was like that really basic one that just says Faith no More and like the star on it. Like a black and white one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (33:29)

So. And then I also. My search has been. Because I don't know if you know the prices of some of these shirts, but angel are thousands of dollars. My buddy has four of them. My buddy Shout out to Eric at Meth Syndicate. He sponsors a lot of the shows that I do and he's. He makes these very weird T shirts that we give away at my shows. And he also collects too. And me and his, Me and his girlfriend or wife now will complain. She's like, dude, it's like he's got so many. I have probably 30, $40,000 worth of t shirts. But that Faith no More shirt. So I go to Europe by myself for the first month and a half and I link up with Jelly Roll in Berlin to surprise him, who's on tour with Post Malone. And they go. Because I opened for Jelly. He goes, dude, just join us for the rest of the tour. And I was like, of course I don't want to leave fucking Europe. I'm the time of my life.

Roddy Bottum (34:14)

Get on the bus.

Josh Adam Myers (34:15)

Get on the bus. Oh, dude, we're not on a bus with Jelly. It' When I was on the first door in America, he's got a private jet that he bought. He is killing it. And he's go, go, go. Dude.

Roddy Bottum (34:25)

Even if it's like short distances, it's private jet.

Josh Adam Myers (34:27)

Not really. I mean, it's. But we're going because he's not. If we're doing, let's say we're doing Munich, we would be set up in Paris. So we would be staying in Paris for a week because he would want to do things. And this is where I'm going to bring it all around.

Roddy Bottum (34:39)

So have that as a satellite and then go to other places from there on the. Exactly.

Josh Adam Myers (34:44)

And the first tour so the tour

Roddy Bottum (34:45)

is structured in that way, like knowing that you're going to have a private.

Josh Adam Myers (34:48)

Not really everybody else bus. Everybody else is driving. Jelly just is doing so much.

Roddy Bottum (34:54)

Why doesn't the band doesn't like Fly?

Josh Adam Myers (34:55)

He doesn't fly with the band. He flies with a guy that holds his weed, that will get. If the cops show up, he'll get pinched.

Roddy Bottum (35:02)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (35:02)

He flies with his camera guy that does all vlogging. He flies with his social media guy, his tour manager, Ron John Manelli, his manager who used to rep Jay Z and then security, because you can't. He sticks out like a sore thumb. You know what I mean? Especially now these lost weight. Well, when he didn't lose weight, he probably stuck out even more. But with the face tattoos, sure. But here he's a wrestling fan now, and this is where I'm bringing it

Roddy Bottum (35:23)

back full circle professional wrestling.

Josh Adam Myers (35:25)

He's huge in the wwe. And because he's been diversifying, now he's, like, in the mix, wrestling. So we had a week in Paris, and I only brought X amount of clothes because I was like, I want to make. I don't want to check a bag just in case I lose shit. And, you know, I was on tour doing stuff with Queens of the Stone Age, and I was doing stuff with Wolf Mother, which is funny because I know Mike shit on them in that one interview, but we landed to each other in Copenhagen, and it was just so funny because I was like, I think these are cool guys. And then they invited me to come because he's a fan of mine. But long story short, we go to this WWE thing in Paris, and because Jelly's so popular, we're right behind the announcers, so we can be in the shot. And I just so happened that night to wear the Faith no More shirt. The amount of. Amount of people that. That. That Twittered Instagram on the pictures on the live feed, that dude who's the cool guy next to Jelly Roll, wearing the Faith no More shirt, the announcer.

Roddy Bottum (36:23)

It was the simple shirt or the Angels.

Josh Adam Myers (36:24)

I'll show it to you.

Roddy Bottum (36:25)

I'll show it to you.

Josh Adam Myers (36:25)

Because, dude, I've got a million pictures from it. And we'll post these on the Instagram for the 500 podcast. But, yeah, it's like, let me see if I got a good one. There you go.

Roddy Bottum (36:36)

It's okay. I can picture it. Oh, wow. That's cool. Yeah, I like that one, bro. That's cool, bro.

Josh Adam Myers (36:41)

And that's what I'm saying is.

Roddy Bottum (36:43)

And you got a lot of attention for that.

Josh Adam Myers (36:44)

I mean, I got. I mean, my IMDb page went like.

Roddy Bottum (36:47)

I mean, it's abstract enough where people would sort of like, yeah, like, well, no, but fate.

Josh Adam Myers (36:52)

The. More. It's actually really cool that you're coming in to do Velvet Underground because, you know, dude, I don't think you realize how many bands you inspired.

Roddy Bottum (37:01)

Right?

Josh Adam Myers (37:02)

I mean, so many people are.

Roddy Bottum (37:04)

There is that sort of a vibe, like, maybe, like, people weren't. Like, the people who dig. Get into Faith no More were into, like, music in that way. Real musos and the type of people that, like, would probably start a band.

Josh Adam Myers (37:16)

I mean, you did. So you did stuff just like Velvet Underground that was so different, so ahead of its time and so left of center.

Roddy Bottum (37:23)

And it's a specific genre, like, types of bands that, like, musicians gravitate towards, you know, love.

Josh Adam Myers (37:31)

Dude, it's. It's.

Roddy Bottum (37:33)

Did you get into that band Beak at all? Do you know that band?

Josh Adam Myers (37:35)

No, I don't.

Roddy Bottum (37:35)

Oh, they're so good.

Josh Adam Myers (37:36)

Tell me about them.

Roddy Bottum (37:37)

They were like, it's a guy from. I can't remember his name, but he was in Portishead. What's that dude's name?

Josh Adam Myers (37:42)

There's Beth. And then there's. Who? I just saw her live at the Beak. Oh, my God. Her new album is phenomenal. It's just. She's got me that. Yeah.

Roddy Bottum (37:51)

You know, he was like, touring with. I can't remember the. The dude's name. Jeff. Jeff Barrow is his name.

Josh Adam Myers (37:56)

Oh, yes.

Roddy Bottum (37:56)

He has a band called Beak. That's so fun. It's so amazing. I've seen him a couple times, but I saw him just a while ago that they were that kind of band. And I just bring it up because, like, it was like, undeniably, like, seeing that band in New York City was like. Like every musician I knew was there and that was like the whole audience. It was so spectacular, though, like, in that way, like, that music speaks to musicians. It's a really specific sort of, you know, genre or subculture, if you will, when.

Josh Adam Myers (38:23)

When Faith no More. Because I was going to say it's like, unfortunately with some. A band like Velvet Underground that really never had that moment to have that, like. We can bring it back around to Radiohead again, where Radiohead said, there's that famous. They post it all the time on, like, nme. This. The guest list from when they did the Irving Plaza. And there. It's just like, these are the people that came in. It's like Beastly Boys, Marilyn Manson, George H.W. bush. It's insane. Can you pull it up on the thing? Can you pull up the guest list up there?

Roddy Bottum (38:52)

There's a bush that went to the radio.

Josh Adam Myers (38:53)

No, I just. I'm. I'm a comedian. I'm just throwing Condoleezza Rice.

Roddy Bottum (38:58)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (38:58)

Noriel, what is Noriega all over the map? Everybody was there. Everyone was there. Jesus. Everybody did. And I think if Velvet Underground, they, of course, had people like that, but it was so, like, in the cut that it wasn't, like, as documented. And maybe there's biographers that wrote about it. Did you. Did Faith no More have that show? Because, I mean, was it either a little bit?

Roddy Bottum (39:20)

Like, when. Like, that. It took a long time for sort of us to like, reach a boiling point, sort of, you know, like, we were, like, under the radar for a long time. And then we put out the record with Mike and with that camera, like, sort of the accolades and, like, people getting on board. And then, like, suddenly, like, a lot of bands were asking us to open for them, and, you know, crazy ones we did. Like, we opened for Billy Idol. That was like an extreme sort of, like, pop culture sort of moment for us.

Josh Adam Myers (39:49)

How did that feel?

Roddy Bottum (39:49)

And we said yes to that. Kind of awesome. Like, I love Billy Idol. And we were sort of such brats as kids, you know, When MTV first started, like, we lived in San Francisco and we were in this bubble of, like, super dark underground, weird post punk music, you know, and the music we made was really subliminal, like, odd, you know, like, and dark. And that's what we always led with. So, I don't know, to sort of come from that place and become who we were sort of took a moment of, like, MTV had just happened. And we, as a band, sort of like Billy and Mike and I, we thought it was just kind of hilarious. And we really embraced it when, like, the rest of our culture was, like, you know, like, not having anything to do with that flavor. Like, no, no, no to, you know, mtv. But we kind of embraced it. We took everything we had and we got, like, you know, cable TV and started watching MTV in a really, like, obsessive way and got, like, really into, like, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna when Madonna first started. And Billy Idol was sort of in the mix of that, and we were like, that was so hilarious and fun to us. We love Billy Idol, so it kind of, like, came around to that. Like, oh, my God. But then also, Billy Idol, it's kind of cool. He had his past. He really came from Gen X, his Generation X. His bam was like, he came from a real place, even though he sort of turned into a cartoon character and sort of took it to a hyper place, pop place. He came from a cool place. So when he asked us on the road, we were like, oh, my God, flattered and also kind of like amused and tickled and sarcastic about the whole experience and said yes, almost in a crazy, like, performative way. Like, oh, yeah, let's open for Billy Idol. That's insane. And it was, you know, pretty much, you know, I guess arenas, you know,

Josh Adam Myers (41:46)

I love that you said that. I want to go off what you just said right there about. He went towards the pop, you know, and this is. This record Loaded is, you know, Know the. Because with all the internal chaos that this band is having went right before this record's coming out, with Lou Reed quitting right before the release and Mo Tucker absent from. From a pregnancy, and Doug, who's playing huge chunks of the record. Sterling is partly splitting time with academics. And Lou hated the edits of. Of most of this record and.

Roddy Bottum (42:12)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (42:12)

You know, but this is them, like we said, this is their record label saying, you know, please give us, like, something we can sell. Like, everybody cool people know you are. We want to expand.

Roddy Bottum (42:24)

Yeah, the ground floor. They built this amazing sort of foundation for themselves. And then it was like, okay, now it's time as things are falling apart, now it's time to capitalize on this and to create some pop hits.

Josh Adam Myers (42:38)

Well, during the time I was like, because I've got in the world. I just want. Should I tell that Vietnam, Kent State, Nixon presidency, Charles Manson trial underway. Gay liberation movement emerging post Stonewall counterculture turning darker optimism. The 60s is starting to collapse. And in music, you have the Beatles breaking up. You have Let be. You're Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Fun House, the Stooges, Neil Young after the Gold Rush, Bridge over Trouble, Water, blah, blah, blah. Miles Davis is going to get electric. Bowie's about to explode. Rock is, like, getting heavier. Weird got weirder. Singer songwriters got confessional. And I mean, you've got them running in a sense towards the pop. And it feels like they. The more you had that moment, like we talked about earlier, where.

Roddy Bottum (43:24)

Where.

Josh Adam Myers (43:25)

Where the real thing, because you could have gone and just done that again, Right.

Roddy Bottum (43:30)

Which was the expectation and the hope, you know, like, yeah, do that again. Do it like in a finer way. Do it in a more pop way. Do it.

Josh Adam Myers (43:38)

They were pissed. The label must have been.

Roddy Bottum (43:40)

Yeah, absolutely. Like, weird was not what people wanted at that point.

Josh Adam Myers (43:44)

No, we wanted it.

Roddy Bottum (43:44)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (43:45)

You know, we wanted it, but I

Roddy Bottum (43:46)

mean, I don't know if people wanted it. I think it would have been easy to make that record, make a really poppy record after the. But it's not the people that we were.

Josh Adam Myers (43:55)

No. And I. Dude, if you would have, I mean, I don't think I'd be wearing that shirt. I don't think I'd be wearing that shirt at the wwe.

Roddy Bottum (44:01)

It was a definite sidestep. And especially in retrospect, looking back on it, it's yeah, for sure, a proud moment. It's like, yeah. The decision to be weird instead of.

Josh Adam Myers (44:11)

Because did you. When you see something like. Yeah, but what was it that made you really make that turn? Because I understand why Velo Underground would do it. I get it. And I'm glad they did it. I'm glad they made Loaded because you need that skill. Step in, you know, it's like, it's like music is like, you know, for some bands especially, it's like you go through life, you go through life and like you're this 80 year old man and so you're getting into the bathtub and you got to do it slowly. And it's like they did over four records. This is their fourth record.

Roddy Bottum (44:36)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (44:37)

You know what I mean? And they've had some weird already. And I think, like I said for me, because I haven't, I've never really listened to the first record. I never listened to the Nico record yet. I, I, I had with Bob Dylan. I finally was like, we're starting to get into the good. And like, oh, I get it now. And now the other stuff makes sense. And now because after hearing this, I'm like, okay. Because that's so weird. Usually Loaded would be their first record and then it would be kind, then get weird, then get weird. And that's why I think nobody gave a about him except the real musicians that went on to become bands. Because they were like. And it's the same thing with Faith no More. It's like, dude, it's like not everybody knows who they are. My sister does, but she's my age. She saw because of me and the guys in my band, every single one of them loves you guys. We are obsessed with you. We were all at the concerts, we were so excited when you guys got back together, you know, and, and it's like, that's why we love the band. Because not everybody knows who you are. Cool.

Roddy Bottum (45:36)

That's a good point to like you guys.

Josh Adam Myers (45:38)

And I mean, and, and you guys back it up, you guys. It's not like you're just like some like some like every album is something different. We kept getting excited like what the are you going to do? Dude? I can't tell you how many times I to music only and we'll ask you about if you. If you ever to this record but that's at the end I it you have two songs on on album of the year. Was it Strip search to that? What's the other one? Oh hell. Oh dude, I've. Did you have that intention. Do you know that when you're making music you're like people can to this.

Roddy Bottum (46:12)

That's exactly what we were doing.

Josh Adam Myers (46:14)

Did you really?

Roddy Bottum (46:14)

Yeah. Let's make music people come too. Not really. We did put out a record like at one point that was sort of. I think it was covers and like easy listening music. But we called it songs to make.

Josh Adam Myers (46:28)

Oh easy. Yeah. Well you did.

Roddy Bottum (46:30)

Easy was.

Josh Adam Myers (46:30)

That was. I mean dude, you've introduced me to like I never would have listened to

Roddy Bottum (46:36)

the Commodore easy before that. Before the faithful.

Josh Adam Myers (46:39)

My dad. My dad wasn't square. My dad was a very hip guy and the reason I do this, the reason I got into comedy. Everything I do is just trying to get get my. The one stuff I connected with my father was like. Did you have a good relationship with your dad?

Roddy Bottum (46:49)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (46:49)

You did? My dad just. My sister's a doctor, never got in trouble. And then I'm me and you could imagine how I am.

Roddy Bottum (46:56)

What did your dad do for a living?

Josh Adam Myers (46:58)

He was in a. He was an accountant and then he. They. He was at ADP and then the company was firing all of his friends and they weren't going to fire him

Roddy Bottum (47:06)

in D.C. in the D.C. area.

Josh Adam Myers (47:07)

He's from Pennsylvania and he quit and got into sales and my dad sucked at sales and it basically like ruined. We were like upper middle class down to like. We lost our house and my dad had to buy it to rent it back to us.

Roddy Bottum (47:22)

So then like all of like the hopes were in in the children like your sister becoming what you were gonna do.

Josh Adam Myers (47:30)

He knew that dude if he would have because he knew I was so into music because dude, I used to run home every day when everybody would go out and play and I would just put on a record fucking the real thing and just sing in the mirror into a hairbrush. And dude, I mean I don't know what's worse. Getting caught masturbating or getting caug singing into a hairbrush to run to the hills by Metallic by Iron man how

Roddy Bottum (47:50)

come you never became a Singer. Then that was never. Oh, you didn't, Dude.

Josh Adam Myers (47:54)

I mean, that's what's cool is music, you know? I went to a music high school, but we couldn't afford it anymore, so I had to drop out and go back to public school. They knew there was something that, like, I was good at. And, I mean, even now, I play every instrument. I'm not great at them, but the more I sit with it, like piano, I'm getting better and better and better because it just starts. I always want to learn Mandy. And then you're like, oh, this is easy. And then you find this chord and blah, blah, blah, blah. But I said to my dad, because I also wanted to be a comic, and when I was, like, 13, 14, and I'm super ADD. Super hyperactive, he says, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I said, well, I want to be a comedian and a rock star. And he says, well, you can't be both. And I've done it. I mean, it's all I do is everything in comedy and music, because, you know, it's.

Roddy Bottum (48:38)

Is your dad still.

Josh Adam Myers (48:39)

No, he passed. And I would rub it in his

Roddy Bottum (48:42)

fucking face, like, in a fun way.

Josh Adam Myers (48:45)

Like, dude, he would enjoy my career, of course. Oh, he would do it. He would have. He could have lived another year. The first big I got was there was a comedy club in the downtown LA area called the. Called the Downtown Comedy Club, and it was run by Garrett Morris. And from the first year of snl and, dude, my dad. I became so close with him. If my dad would have known that I was friends with Garrett, he. Yeah, it was. And then with all the success, I mean, you know, it's. It's been great. I mean, dude, my sister's a doctor, and I'm in the last five years, I probably made it more money than she has. And I mean, not saying they never believed me. My mom was always the one that's like, you know, you're gonna do it. My dad was always, like, harder on me, but I'm glad he did because. And I'm. Dude, he introduced me to music. Like, I never would have. You know, it was just. It was a very musical house. And that was, like. I said, movies and all this shit is what we connected over and. But my dad wasn't.

Roddy Bottum (49:39)

It's cool to have an expectation like that, too. Even if, like, you know, like, your parents, like, expect something out of you or don't really believe you're gonna be able to do it. Like, that's a really Good challenge. Step up too. Oh, my God.

Josh Adam Myers (49:51)

Yeah. Oh, dude. Having a chip on your shoulder. And I mean, you know it.

Roddy Bottum (49:55)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (49:56)

I don't know if it's the same for music and I don't know how many no's you guys got, but it's like in. In stand up. It's not a. It's not a meritocracy. It's. It is literally telling me is nothing. It is. It is all hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle. Dude, Kate, like, you're saying you're friends with Kate Berlant? I mean, dude, she's a genius.

Roddy Bottum (50:11)

I'm not friends with her, but I like her a whole lot.

Josh Adam Myers (50:13)

But it's like, dude, it's. She's had to, you know, she's so left to center.

Roddy Bottum (50:17)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (50:17)

Have doing her own thing. And. And some industry might be there, but like, the public might be like, this isn't stand up. But it's like you just need to keep pushing and get weirder and weirder to find your voice. It's the same shit with you guys and them where it's like, if you don't keep trying to push to that next thing and where people being like, you know, like, the general public might be like, dude, I get shit on all the time by people because they're like, you're doing something so different. This is lame. This isn't stand up. And I'm like, I don't give a fuck. This is what I want do to. To do. And then you eventually start finding your audience and then you start selling tickets. And it's because, dude, it's. Trust me, it's. It's hard to go to Winnipeg for five days. And the only reason you're sold out every show is because it's 30 degrees, which in Celsius is probably negative 425. Because I don't understand that.

Roddy Bottum (51:04)

Sellout is a sellout.

Josh Adam Myers (51:06)

That's a sellout. I'm not. I'm not a July in Winnipeg guy.

Roddy Bottum (51:09)

Dude.

Josh Adam Myers (51:09)

I'm a. I'm a cold weather Winnipeg. But that's. But that's the thing that I love is constantly. And dude, if I never, ever would have really started incorporating music is the best advice. And I think this goes with any musician. It's like whatever you're into, whatever you are, lean into that. Like Kate did. She leaned into it. I mean, her special is. Or the last one she had done, the one in black and white is nothing like anybody's ever done Talking into a mirror.

Roddy Bottum (51:37)

Oh, yeah, no, the.

Josh Adam Myers (51:38)

The One that was on. It was the one that was on Hulu and my friend had produced it. It's so different and it's. She just would have done the regular. It. We wouldn't be. You wouldn't be going to that show. Do you know what I mean? And I think it's.

Roddy Bottum (51:50)

Well, then her next thing that wasn't on, like. But her live show thing was insanity.

Josh Adam Myers (51:55)

She's incredible.

Roddy Bottum (51:56)

She cries the one tear. Did you see that?

Josh Adam Myers (51:58)

No, I didn't see that one.

Roddy Bottum (51:59)

So amazing.

Josh Adam Myers (52:01)

But that's what I'm saying. Is that it?

Roddy Bottum (52:02)

It.

Josh Adam Myers (52:03)

It is. I've. Even at my lowest, because I much like you, I was addicted to painkillers for years. So even though I'm in downtown la, at the downtown conference comedy club, I just would go to Fifth and Broadway and grab some OxyContin and then go on stage and just murder.

Roddy Bottum (52:18)

Was OxyContin really expensive?

Josh Adam Myers (52:21)

Well, yes, at first it wasn't. Then they changed the formula because everybody was snorting it and dying. It was like the early 2000s, like right after 9, 11, and. And see the thing with painkillers, unlike heroin, that you're like, it's heroin, it's, you know, it's bad, right? Painkillers. Oh, the doctors give them to you?

Roddy Bottum (52:40)

Yes, it's the pill.

Josh Adam Myers (52:41)

But also I stopped drinking and then I, I got hit by a car dropping the Kardashian sisters off the airport in Cabo San Lucas when I was a PA and I. They were giving me painkillers. And you have that thing, especially with standup.

Roddy Bottum (52:53)

Is that how that was your end?

Josh Adam Myers (52:55)

I was already into it, but I was. That was when it was in here because it also. It got bad here.

Roddy Bottum (52:59)

Prescription. And then like, prescription, I went doctor shopping.

Josh Adam Myers (53:02)

I used to go to downtown la and I thought it was so cool because I was like, oh, man, I'm like Miles Davis. And, and, and to be honest, it really helped my career. I had a very high bottom dude. I sold two TV shows. I. I mean, I didn't got New Faces at Just for Laughs. Like, it was really.

Roddy Bottum (53:21)

When you were high, pretty much it.

Josh Adam Myers (53:23)

I killed on stage. Well, what about you? I mean, we're going off to the Loaded because I was going to ask like, you. I mean, you, you had your problems.

Roddy Bottum (53:31)

I think so like, by the time, like I got clean though, I think like Faith no More was sort of on the way. But when I got clean, that's when sort of my life turned around, like creatively I was able to do a lot more That I hadn't done before. I think when I was deep in my addiction, I was doing, like, Faith no More was functioning, but I was just the keyboard player of the band. It would be different if I would have been the singer and the focal point. But it was something that was kind of easy to ride as you're fucked up. You know what I mean? If you're high on drugs, you can sort of be a keyboard, be a instrumentalist in the singular. Standing, you nod off.

Josh Adam Myers (54:04)

They're like, all right.

Roddy Bottum (54:06)

It was kind of fun.

Josh Adam Myers (54:07)

And we all.

Roddy Bottum (54:08)

You know, there was five of us, so it was an easy sort of, like, coattail sort of situation. If someone else was carrying the band in that point. Like, Mike was doing his thing, and he was doing so great. Like, it was easy for me to be high at that point, but for me, it was like, yeah, stuff didn't happen in my life until really I quit doing drugs. Then I was like, oh, my God, the whole world opened up.

Josh Adam Myers (54:28)

So when you listen to stuff. When you listen to some stuff off this record, you know, that has this, you know, like, fucking Sweet Jane is like, cowboy. You know, it's just. This is. Is. You know, it's everything.

Roddy Bottum (54:38)

The 1, 2, 3, punch is, like, really insane. It. It really is crazy. People talk about that a lot. The first three songs on this record.

Josh Adam Myers (54:44)

Oh, my God. Yeah. Opening with who Loves the Sun?

Roddy Bottum (54:47)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (54:48)

Cynical Song I wrote. Cynical Song Disguised as Sunshine Pop. Basically, the Sun Lies, Love Lies, Everything Lies. Sounds almost like the Beach Boys after a nervous breakdown. That's what I wrote.

Roddy Bottum (54:57)

What are you? Full on full spectre. Like, crazy, like. And there's also so, like. I mean, initially you sort of tricked into, like, oh, yeah, this is Velvet Underground. Because there is that real childish sort of, like, nursery rhyme kind of vibe to it that's so innocent. And it feels like Velvet Underground. And then we go into, like, super heavy. What's next is, like, Jane and then rock and roll after that. It's like, insane.

Josh Adam Myers (55:21)

Rock and roll is. I love that he does that. Yeah, go listen to that. I mean, that is everything to me. I mean, what's the. I mean, dude, there's. It's. It's like Mike using his vocalizations. You know, it's. I mean, dude. I mean, even, like, I like when he started doing the solo and he did that record, that was just the noises. And me and the guys in my band bought it, like, so excited. Because we love Faith. The more we put it on, we're like, what the is this?

Roddy Bottum (55:50)

Right?

Josh Adam Myers (55:51)

I mean, but it's like, that's what.

Roddy Bottum (55:53)

That's so weird.

Josh Adam Myers (55:55)

Crazy. Yeah.

Roddy Bottum (55:56)

It doesn't make sense, but that is

Josh Adam Myers (55:57)

what we love about dude. One of the merch I wanted to do if we did better merch is I wanted to write Mike Patton as God. And I mean, not everybody gets it, but it's like. And it's because of, you know, the, like, the bunk dude. I went to see Bungle right before the Pandemic when he was playing with Dave and Scott, who both been on the podcast, and. And I thought they were going to be doing, like, you know, off of, like, they do retro and Virgo and some of that stuff, and it was that death metal record, but right in the middle of it, and he's doing the screaming.

Roddy Bottum (56:30)

I mean, he's killing that record in its completion.

Josh Adam Myers (56:33)

The Bunny Rabbit one or whatever, right?

Roddy Bottum (56:34)

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.

Josh Adam Myers (56:36)

But then right in the middle of it, I think he does a 10cc song.

Roddy Bottum (56:39)

All right.

Josh Adam Myers (56:40)

And it was just out of the blue. And that's. Dude, it's like, as a singer.

Roddy Bottum (56:44)

Singer. Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (56:45)

And, you know, and I have a very powerful voice, and trust me, dude, you know, I constantly go back and forth, like, why did I do comedy? It's like, music is like something, but this is what. Now I'm making funny songs to put over Instagram videos and learn logic. And I built a studio in my living room. Like, oh, I can do both. I can still be funny, and really. And still. And that's what I want. And I have the perfect life. But it's because of someone like Mike and someone like you. And with Faith no More, where it's like, I, I, you could do whatever you want. It does not have to be vanilla. Like, you can be Rocky Road. You can be this. And hearing him sing, especially in the real thing, where it's like to go from the rap and then to hit those notes in epic, I mean, it's. It is like, as a kid, you're like, wow, you can do both, right? Because I was like, a white kid that thought black kids were cool. You know, you could call it, quote, unquote, wig, Wigger. And I. And I was like, you can't listen to rap and rock. You have to pick one.

Roddy Bottum (57:46)

What's wigger?

Josh Adam Myers (57:46)

Maybe you never heard that. Like a white person that thinks they're black.

Roddy Bottum (57:49)

Oh, my gosh.

Josh Adam Myers (57:50)

It's not. It's not bad word. This is like.

Roddy Bottum (57:52)

You feel bad.

Josh Adam Myers (57:53)

No, it does feel. I know. As I said it, I felt like I was like, should I say this. But that's. You know.

Roddy Bottum (57:58)

Heard that expression. Never heard that.

Josh Adam Myers (57:59)

Are you kidding? It's, you know, it's funny. I do a song in Canada about like. Because I. I talk about queefing and I say the songs Alberta Beef, make that queef. And then it goes on and on. The audience in Canada sings the out of it because it's like I trained them to do it like a cult. And after the show, on this Wednesday night show, this 85 year old guy comes up, he goes, I don't think we knew what a queef was. And I was like, really? He goes, is it new? And I'm like, not really. I actually think it was the first word. I think cavemen said it. I think it was like it started with queef. It all started with queef. And then. And then everything else came from that.

Roddy Bottum (58:36)

But I know what you mean. Like the sort of diversity of like that it is a crazy notion that, you know, such disparity, things would come together and that's a cool thing. Yeah, yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (58:46)

I mean it's. It's just something that like I don't think you'd like, you know, especially with the guys in my band. I mean it's like you guys are my Frank Zappa, you know, and. And that's like. It's. It's really, really opened me up to so many more music. But back to the game, back to the record we're talking about with Dude. Let's talk about a few of these songs because I really. We mentioned who Loves the Sun. We. You know, the funny angle on this song is that it's a hippie anthem written by a man who seemed to hate hippies. That's what I got from this Faith the more always did kind of fake optimism with menace.

Roddy Bottum (59:22)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (59:22)

Was that intention like, you know, is epic. Basically the song wearing, you know, combat boots.

Roddy Bottum (59:28)

Like I think sort of. I think we were a lot more, you know, sincere than sort of like people made us out to be. We were super sarcastic though. But I mean in comparison, I think like Lou Reeve was probably super, super sarcastic. Like I'm sure that song, writing that song was funny for him.

Josh Adam Myers (59:49)

Sure.

Roddy Bottum (59:50)

And I'm sure that exercise was one of sort of like poking people and making fun of society at that point. For him. I don't think we were that sophisticated when we did we care a lot. That was a very. Even though I think that is such a cynical, funny, sarcastic song. And we were sort of reacting to say we are the world sort of era. And the first times that when Bob Geldof sort of hit that main stage and suddenly we were making money from for charitable causes. I think we were poking fun at that. But at the same time, it was the takeaway from me. And thinking back on it, I wrote those words and we did care a lot. We cared. And it's as cheesy as that sounds or came out to be. That's who we were. So it's interesting to me. I feel like Lou is so sarcastic and that particular song feels real pointed to me. But I wonder if maybe he just like kind of did embrace that and like, you know, was part of it and sort of like felt like this is a true sincere sentiment of musicality, you know?

Josh Adam Myers (61:01)

Sure, sure.

Roddy Bottum (61:02)

Maybe it was.

Josh Adam Myers (61:02)

You mentioned this stuff about Chuck. From what I know, it's like he's fired from the band after you guys brought came back from Europe, right? What was that like? You know, because you guys have started something. You're getting he heat, you're getting heat, you know, together. It's like, you know, we care a lot as a anthem. So you guys still played even after Chuck had left the band. You know, where were you guys at mentally? You know what I mean? Like, was it, you know, because I knew you, you, you were like. You looked at the rest of the band. You must have said, well, guys, we, we still, we have a thing.

Roddy Bottum (61:34)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (61:36)

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Roddy Bottum (65:11)

Yeah, it was a complicated place to be I don't think like I mean had we continued with Chuck I think we would have really for sure had limited success.

Josh Adam Myers (65:19)

I don't think you would have. I don't think you would ever gone.

Roddy Bottum (65:21)

You wouldn't have and like to even sort of base like the premise on we were doing a good job on what we had done prior to like the whole Chuck era. To me, the Chuck era is so, so special. Like, the first one record and record two were so special and weird. You know, there was a weirdness there. And based on what a weird and charismatic and funny and odd kind of performance his was. He's a horrible singer and he wrote ridiculous words and he was so ridiculous on stage. I love him so much. He was like my best friend. I loved it and I love what we did, but it's just preposterous to think that we would have ever thought, like, that was something that would have been popular. I mean, all of the songs besides We Care a lot. Like, I mean, they were really interesting to me and interesting to me in a slight of, like, what we were talking about before as a musician's musician, you know, and someone who, like, saw weird things and recognized them as such. Like, oh, that's interesting. But, like, in terms of, like, mainstream success, or not even mainstream success, but just being able to go out on the road and play songs and, like, have a crowd, it didn't feel like, like that would ever work. It's crazy to me that it ever did. It's so weird.

Josh Adam Myers (66:36)

I think the. The. This did. When did you realize that? Because you guys were so tight, you know, and look. And look at all, like, how everybody, you know, besides Jim, who's left, it seems like he's left the business.

Roddy Bottum (66:47)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (66:47)

You know, you guys have continuously worked. When did you realize that Mike was this special sauce or that secret sauce that was going to take it to the next level?

Roddy Bottum (66:55)

I think right away. It was a hard sell, though, honestly, like, when we started with him, like, we had just. We were coming off the. It happened relatively quickly, you know, like, we finished the touring with Chuck, fired him out of the band, and pretty much immediately, like, started looking for a new singer. And we had songs where we were really, like, proactive people and proactive musicians and kind of, like, got into the next record really quickly. And we had a bunch of, like.

Josh Adam Myers (67:22)

Would you say by the time you met.

Roddy Bottum (67:23)

By the time Mike came into the mix, we had done all the music for all of the songs.

Josh Adam Myers (67:28)

Even you knew you were gonna do one part?

Roddy Bottum (67:30)

No, I think that might have came later. I don't know.

Josh Adam Myers (67:33)

It feels like a mic thing being, like, because who's the owner?

Roddy Bottum (67:35)

No, no, no. That was a gym thing. It was only a gym thing.

Josh Adam Myers (67:38)

Oh, really?

Roddy Bottum (67:38)

None of us liked Black Sabbath. No. Was the no. 1. That was not a flavor any of us. That was all Jim. And I don't even know why that happened. I think it was his idea. And he was such a bossy bitch. Jim Martin, you know, he was so pushy with what he wanted to do. And we kind of like, he was convincing and we kind of just went along with him, sort of also embracing the fact that he was this extreme character in the band and he was this rock person and we kind of all were not. And he was pushing this side of himself that we kind of all just agreed to, like, okay, let's do that. But all of the music had been written and Mike kind of came on board. Like, he came down from. He lived up in Northern California. And he came down and visited us and sort of stayed at Mike Borden's house. And we just went into the studio with songs that we had recorded and started doing some four track recording on like a Tascam, like four track cassette recorder. And it was like remarkable right from the get go. Like, I know we did like, one of the first songs we did was that song Falling to Pieces. Like, you know, War Pigs was something that Jim wanted to do or something like. I can't remember.

Josh Adam Myers (68:55)

Surprise your dad.

Roddy Bottum (68:56)

Yeah, surprise your dad. Or is that Jim? That's Jim.

Josh Adam Myers (68:59)

Oh, interesting.

Roddy Bottum (69:00)

But like, songs like that were Jim. But songs like Falling the Pieces were like me. That's where I would go. Like, I was full on, like, pop person. And I wanted to replicate like Madonna or whatever, like a real pop sensibility. So for me, it was like, that's what I was really paying attention to in terms of, okay, we're going forward. Like, the songs that we'll probably get attention for are, you know, pop songs. That's in my Head or the ones that I even like, whatever. That was what I was interested in. So I was really paying attention. Like, okay, how's this new guy gonna do like. And it was insane, like, that he could do what he did on, say, that song Surprise youe Dead, which is full on, just like loud, like abrasive, like kind of death metal.

Josh Adam Myers (69:43)

It's the shit that he did with Mr. Bungle that I was talking about.

Roddy Bottum (69:46)

Screamy and insane, but then at the same time, like, do like Falling to Pieces, which was so pop driven and so, like, you know, vocally specific. He was like. I think the contrast was really like, from the get go, I was like, oh, my God. I don't think I listened to like the Mr. Bungle stuff really. You know, it was kind of.

Josh Adam Myers (70:06)

You were just like, who's this kid coming in?

Roddy Bottum (70:08)

He was honestly like, Jim Martin and Mike Borden had Talked to Mike when we were up there in Northern California. And I think Mike gave them both his tape of Mr. Bungle. And they had listened to it, and they were sort of the ones that said, how about that kid in Northern California? Let's see if he's. And so they were the ones that were sort of, like, really into it. But I hadn't heard it.

Josh Adam Myers (70:31)

That guy.

Roddy Bottum (70:31)

And he kept doing it, Mr. Bungle. And he came down and we were making that record. I remember they would do Mr. Bungle sets. What happened? I remember going to their show and just like, what the fuck? It was so weird. Just. Just, like, more than anything, it was the fast, fast, like, changing of flavors between, like, pop. Between, like. They would do, like, a George Michael cover. They would do, like, a Michael Jackson cover. They would do a Sade cover. They would do, like. I don't know what. Like, I don't even know, like, a Napalm Death cover or something. It was just like, the choice and the sort of the variety of all the different tones that they presented on stage was like, oh, my God. Really showcased, like, what Mike particularly could do with his voice. It was just stunning, you know, going

Josh Adam Myers (71:17)

off covers because Sweet Jane was covered. You know, it's one of the greatest rock songs ever, obviously. But, you know, Cowboy Junkies did a version of it, right? Who in Faith. No, More like, whose idea is it to do the Midnight Cowboy?

Roddy Bottum (71:32)

Right?

Josh Adam Myers (71:32)

Like, who is it to do. Like we talked about to do Easy. I mean, that's this beautiful thing about this band. Yeah. Doing War. Like you said. Jim's War Pigs, obviously. Which I'm so glad, on the record, because, dude, I'm not a Black Sabbath fan either. I'm a fan of the Faith no More version of it, which we, by the way, have done a million. Harlan. You know Harlan Williams. You know Harlan from. I mean, he's Canadian. He's. He's. You. You saw Half Baked.

Roddy Bottum (71:59)

I don't know, really?

Josh Adam Myers (72:00)

The Dave Chappelle movie where they're all smoking weed. Harlan Williams. Oh, we're gonna cut this bar, because I don't want him to hear this because he probably loves you. He's. He's so out there and weird. I thought you would have known, because if you like Kate, you'd love him. Yeah. Harlan Williams.

Roddy Bottum (72:14)

I don't know, Har.

Josh Adam Myers (72:17)

Come on.

Roddy Bottum (72:18)

I've never seen him in my life.

Josh Adam Myers (72:19)

Oh, my goodness.

Roddy Bottum (72:21)

He's Canadian.

Josh Adam Myers (72:22)

He's Canadian. He's one of the funniest human beings alive. He is.

Roddy Bottum (72:25)

Oh, my God. I can't Wait to Die.

Josh Adam Myers (72:26)

You love him. He made a movie. Rocket Man. Like, yeah, he's half baked, but he's just a genius. I don't know why the. I brought him up, but what the are we talking about before that? We're talking about covers.

Roddy Bottum (72:38)

Yes, covers.

Josh Adam Myers (72:39)

Yeah, but, yeah, it's. Oh, he. He would sing War Pigs, you know, and we always are trying to. When I hear it, it's like I'm never hearing the Black Sabbath version. I'm only hearing them. Dude, it's.

Roddy Bottum (72:50)

Yeah, that was like. I mean, all of the ideas for every other cover was like. I mean, my Jim was very much like the rock person and brought that element in. I don't know what I brought into it, but I think Billy was thematically sort of the soul of, like, what we would do. Billy, who played bass in Faith the Mall, he and I grew up together in Los Angeles. He's, you know, we were best friends. His sort of like, vision in a crazy World was like this sort of melodramatic vibe of like. I think that can only be summed up in like, the choice of like, Midnight Cowboy. Like, he really was into like, the melodrama, particularly music wise and so usually, like, cover stuff. I think he made those choices, like, interesting. I think he made the choice to do. But I think actually where Easy came from was because we got a lot of notoriety and attention from doing War Pigs. And it was like people at our shows wanted to hear that we started to get more of a rock crowd as a result of that. As a result of sort of Metallica connection and sort of that vibe. And our reaction, of course, was to go the other direction. So people would scream for War Pigs. So we chose a song that was gonna be like the. The exact polar opposite of that.

Josh Adam Myers (74:06)

Oh, I love that.

Roddy Bottum (74:06)

Just to. With people.

Josh Adam Myers (74:07)

Oh, I love that.

Roddy Bottum (74:08)

So that's where those came from, like, mostly. And then I think mostly, like, as we got established as that as a hard rock band, it was like sort of the direction that we would go in terms of choosing covers was always like, easy listening.

Josh Adam Myers (74:20)

But you. The covers that you're choosing, it starts. I can hear it influencing some of the stuff in the later records. Especially like, you know, off of King For a Day. I mean, there's stuff on that record that is like, so different than I was expecting me. The final song on the record is. It turns into like a almost like the end of hey Jude. It's like. I mean, that's like. I mean, that's like a powerful song. For me, it's like, that I love. And I mean, listen to it now. It takes me right back to where I was when I first heard it. And it's like it is an amalgamation of some of those covers.

Roddy Bottum (74:53)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (74:53)

You know, it's like.

Roddy Bottum (74:56)

I mean, you can't kind of take that away from Mike and what he was doing, like, at the time, like, even before us, like, Mr. Bungle was so covered. Like I was saying, like, the shows I would see, that I did see, like, in terms of Mr. Bungle performances were cover straight up. So definitely that's in Mike's sort of, like, Persona is like a reverence and sort of a replication of, like, pop culture and, like, doing that, mimicking things. He was really, really good at that.

Josh Adam Myers (75:22)

I want to talk about Cool it down and not so much the song, but the question that I kind of got from it because it is a great song. It's the fourth track off the record. Dirty New York street energy. Almost like stone swag. It's got sexual panic all over it. And I want to focus on the word panic. You have had these moments with Faith no More where it's almost like you go away for a while. You know, it could be Chuck leaving, you know, that's a panic, you know? You know, it's like you.

Roddy Bottum (75:52)

Well, you.

Josh Adam Myers (75:52)

Because you're. What are we going to do? He was our guy. And I know you guys, you weren't. You weren't lead singer focused. Then Jim leaving and then eventually taking these hiatus statuses. Like, describe those to me and what you're feeling as, you know, this is your money. You know what I mean? This is not just. And also, you're an artist. You need to create.

Roddy Bottum (76:10)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (76:11)

You know, like, how scary is that? When these plot points in the Faith no More, in the Rowdy Bottom story, like, what's. What are you feeling during all of these? Especially, like, even recently, where it's like. I mean, and this. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but it's like you never know if you're going to be able to get back to. You never know know with Faith. And we the fans, we don't. Let me say that better. You might. You might know. We don't know.

Roddy Bottum (76:34)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (76:34)

We're scared because we love you so much. And it's like seeing you guys live, like, coming. You guys coming back to do that Palladium show, like, when we were talking about, oh, I never thought I would connect with a person over this thing.

Roddy Bottum (76:46)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (76:46)

Oh, you like Faith no More, too? The squarest Dude, I knew Johnny Laquasto, who's going to flip out when he sees that Roddy's on here. He's the. He's so L7 dude. And he loved you guys, knew every fucking word. He was singing harder than I was because I got high during that Palladium show. And I'm just. But it's like, you know, what are you feeling? What. Was there panic, or has there been panic in your career where, you know, what were we gonna do?

Roddy Bottum (77:15)

Right? I think it's sort of what. It's what inspires people. There's constant panic, right? I mean, that's sort of what. Just what happens from the beginning of, like, especially in a band. Like, I mean, it's an insane exercise to form a band, to do the songs, to write songs, to agree on things, to get together in a room and make those decisions, and then to go out into the world and share those things and then to add to those sort of the conundrum of the world of a band is sort of like, making finances work or sort of like the business sense of, like, how are you going to put on a show? So many different elements and so many different levels of. Of panic. How are we gonna make this work? That in and of itself, sort of sets a real foundation of, like, you never know what's gonna happen. You know, it's such a crazy. Like, it feels like a cliche to say, but it's very rock and roll. Just, like, the nature of what you're doing is so, like, juggle things and you don't even know what you're juggling. Like, is it balls? Is it chainsaw, whatever. It's just, like, things in the air and it just doesn't ever make sense. Add to that, we had a really sort of crazy variety show of insane things that happen to us constantly. Like, losing members is always a thing. But we kind of set up, like, when we initially started as a band, that was our jam. We knew that we wanted variety and we were kind of gonna mix things up. So when we started as a band, it was just three of us. We started playing shows, and we had different singers every show that we played. So we sort of set this sort of, like, tone and set this bar at a place where it was, like, chaos. And that's what we kind of started to stir up. And in some instances, I guess that's kind of what we brought to ourselves. And it continued from there. And there was this sort of disposability factor in sort of what we were doing in Terms of, like. It was an insane decision to make to get to the point, even as limiting as it was, but to get to the point where we were with Chuck, to fire him. We had kind of finally got some notoriety and we did an about face and fired Chuck. That was a real panic moment and super scary. And he was one of my best friends. And it just felt like kind of. It didn't feel good in terms of letting a person go. Just in terms of loyalty, kind of sense of the word. But then also, it was like, then we sort of. From that point, we made the pivot and hired on Mike. And it was like, just comparatively, it was a white team opposed to a person of color. And sort of. It felt like a crazy sellout, but at the same time, like, nod. It was awesome and it was weird. It was. Worked and whatever, but there was an element of that and then sort of going into that and creating that record and then the next record, and then firing Jim, the guitar player we fired. I thought he left. No, we fired Jim.

Josh Adam Myers (80:16)

Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry.

Roddy Bottum (80:17)

He was very much in the mix as sort of such an integral part of what we were and what we had become. Like, who would have ever thought we would be the type of band that would open for the bands that we open for? But we would have not have opened for those bands, or those bands would not have recognized us as an entity had it not been for Jim. Like, he was the dude. He was the dude with long, crazy black hair and a flying V guitar. He fit the bill. He was that person. And it's sort of like just based on that alone, you know? And he was friends with Metallica, so based on that alone, we were opening up shows for Metallica and we were like, James wore, like, a Faith no More shirt on a record. And just from that sort of gesture, we became a different band and a successful kind of band in that realm. And then at that point, we fired that exact person that sort of, like, brought us to that place.

Josh Adam Myers (81:12)

But that's also when. And was it because he didn't. I mean, I. I had read it's. He didn't like the direction it was going because he wanted to do more of the metal rock stuff. And now with Mike kind of, you know, I'm not saying leading the charge, but now it's. It's a different thing. And so now you're going. Because, like we said, fucking angel dust, right? Every album has been more difficult. To be honest with you. I think Jim would have probably like Soul Invictus.

Roddy Bottum (81:37)

Yeah. Think he would have done well. I mean, he sort of, like, it didn't really make sense. Like, the basis of it. We were going into a weirder direction and he was a weirdo for sure. Like, it didn't make sense. I think more than anything, he was just dealing with some personal stuff. Like, I think his dad passed away at that point, and it just. Things weren't really gelling and he wasn't really coming to the studio. And we kind of read it as, like, he was kind of done creatively with what we were doing. In retrospect, I think maybe he could have been just going through some sort of, like, you know, crisis in his life. It was a hard time for him. He lost his dad and it was a weird time, and we didn't have a lot of patience for that. And plus the background of who he had been with us in the band. He was such. Like I was saying before, he was such a bossy bitch. He was so mean. He was such a bully. And he kind of leaned into that in most aspects of the band. Like, on tour, in writing and choices we would make. He was so bossy and such a jerk. So by the time it came to a point where we had to make a decision of whether to continue with him or not, we kind of, I think, willfully said, let's choose someone else. Let's go with another direction. Someone that we kind of like.

Josh Adam Myers (82:49)

How hard was that to find the new guitarist?

Roddy Bottum (82:51)

You know, we never found one, honestly. We made the next record with my friend Trey, who was in. Not Trey. Yeah, Trey. Trey, who is a guitar player in Mr. Bungle, who's an amazing guitar player. Like, so total savant, like, such a genius. And we made that record. And then it turned out Trey didn't want to tour. So we had to find another person that could replicate Trey's parts and tour with us. And that was our friend Dean, who kind of was a friend of mine, and he toured with us. But then it was clear that Dean wasn't really going to work out in terms of writing stuff or where we were going and the direction we were going. So it took a long time. I think finding a guitar player for Faith no More was always really, really difficult and continued to be diffic Difficult after Jim left.

Josh Adam Myers (83:42)

Sure.

Roddy Bottum (83:43)

Still, like the man that's played guitar with us forever, John Hudson has done a really awesome job. But that took a long time to get to that point.

Josh Adam Myers (83:50)

I can imagine. And then when they said earlier the panic of like, was there. Has there been panic now in the later stuff? Because, like, after. Did you. Was. Was every album kind of like, we don't know if we're gonna keep going, like. Because it felt almost like that. Like, I don't. I mean, album of the year came out, what, 90? You probably know better than. They're like, 96, 97.

Roddy Bottum (84:09)

I don't know.

Josh Adam Myers (84:10)

I would say around there. And then you don't make another record until Soul Invictus.

Roddy Bottum (84:13)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (84:14)

Was. It. Was there. Like, when you have to get after, you do Angel Dust and then you do King for a Day. Was every album. Like, we don't know what's gonna happen because look at, you know, the situation. Like I asked you earlier, it's like, is. I mean, you obviously want to play. You know what I mean?

Roddy Bottum (84:30)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (84:30)

I'm assuming. I don't want to. I don't want to put thoughts in here, but it's like, what is that? Is. Is. Has. In the later part of the band, has there been panic? Or is it kind of like, all right, let's chill out. Or is it just up to what Mike wants to do? And I don't.

Roddy Bottum (84:44)

It didn't have anything to do so much with Mike. I think it was all of us. We were very collective at the time. It's kind of a funny premise. You get on board making records and at that stage and where the industry was at that point, you sign a contract with a big record company and you agree to do, like, six records. And as you go from record to record, you get more money with each new record. So there's kind of that carrot dangling that happens, you know, and it's like, okay, the next record, we get more money to make it more money. Like, on the back end, it feels like it's something that's sort of enticing at the time, of course, but at the same time, we went through, like, crazy shit, you know, like, panic moments where, like, also, like, I had a heroin habit and that was, like, a big deal. And getting clean and dealing with that was a huge pivot, and that was a panic moment. Like, I think that happened, like, after Angel Dust and was sort of going into the next record, and we'd already been through so many instances of panic in terms of switching singers, switching guitar player. I don't think it was an option for the legitimacy of who we were and what we were doing to get rid of the keyboard player. I think that was the only thing that kind of I had going for me in terms of, like, In a perfect world, maybe I would have been fired out of the band, but I don't think that was an option for us. And part of that was just because we'd had such a. Of getting rid of people and I was one of the core three people of the band and I don't think it was a doable thing. So dealing with that, dealing with me getting clean and making a new record, as with sort of like what I was going through in my life, that was a really hard time. But my long winded point is just like as we went further and further making that record, making the next record, people just started to wander. People's eyes started to wander. Everybody had side projects going on. I had Imperial Team going on and it was like, I really loved doing that for me and I wanted to spend time doing that, like film scoring too. Like that came later. But that wasn't really. Didn't take a lot. But everybody in the band had. Mike still have Mr. Bungle. He was doing. He wanted to do that. Mike Borden was playing drums with Ozzy and that was all of a sudden like coming into the 18 years, dude,

Josh Adam Myers (86:56)

18 years between album of the year into Soul Invictus. I mean, it's a long fucking time.

Roddy Bottum (87:01)

But in that time, like we definitely broke up after album of the year and we were finished. We were finished as a band, as a group.

Josh Adam Myers (87:07)

Or was it one person put the idea out and then you guys just all were like, well, I guess that's what we're fucking doing.

Roddy Bottum (87:12)

Then I think it really came down to like, it was a weird scheduling thing. Like Mike Borden had to choose between doing this Ozzy tour and continuing with a Faith no More tour. We had really big shows coming up. Faith no More. But Mike was doing Ozzy shows and for some reason they gave him the. They took away the. That was the option. He could do one or the other. Felt like. And in terms of Faith no More, I think we had decided already we weren't going to make another record. So he made the decision to choose the Ozzy shows and that was kind of the end of it all.

Josh Adam Myers (87:48)

Interesting. But then who's implementing. How did Soul Invictus only come about?

Roddy Bottum (87:54)

That came about because we did reunion chores. Like way later I got married in Los Angeles and everybody came to the wedding and we kind of all had a come to moment.

Josh Adam Myers (88:04)

Unlike the Police, where they went to the wedding, they played and we're like, we shouldn't do this anymore. Let's tour for the money. Oh yeah. I just Had Stuart Copeland on, and he's just.

Roddy Bottum (88:11)

Whose wedding was it?

Josh Adam Myers (88:13)

I think I don't know one of them.

Roddy Bottum (88:15)

It wasn't someone in the band.

Josh Adam Myers (88:16)

I think it was Andy's. I think it was Andy's wedding.

Roddy Bottum (88:18)

And they were all there and they

Josh Adam Myers (88:19)

had the band set up, and they were like, go up there and play. So they did Roxanne. They did a few songs, and immediately he goes. Immediately we were like, he dropped that. He. That up. They're staying doing it, whatever the.

Roddy Bottum (88:31)

And never again.

Josh Adam Myers (88:32)

But then they got offered a shitload of money, and next thing you know, it.

Roddy Bottum (88:36)

I mean, there wasn't a band set up or musical instruments at the wedding. It wasn't that. It was just like. We hadn't seen each other for a really long time. Like, all of us. And we didn't stop liking each other. I think we just hadn't seen each other. It was just like, after everything that it took to get to the point that we needed to get to, we were sort of done. And we hadn't talked for a long time. But I did get married, and I invited everyone to the wedding, and everyone came. And it sort of brought together this sort of, like, collective just sense of, like, oh, yeah, we can still get along. And then soon after that, someone had the brilliant idea to do some Faith no More reunion tours. And so we did those tours and for kind of a while, and offers kept coming in and we were like, you know, liking playing together. And it felt like, okay, let's make another record. It just felt great.

Josh Adam Myers (89:25)

Ending with Pristine. Is it that how you say it?

Roddy Bottum (89:27)

Oh, yeah, Mike.

Josh Adam Myers (89:29)

I still have the video probably on my phone. And then Mike jumped into the crowd and he's being crowd surfed and, you know, and I got to touch him. And it was just like. It was just such. I mean, I'm crying because, like, I never thought I'd be able to see you guys again.

Roddy Bottum (89:43)

Right.

Josh Adam Myers (89:43)

And then know the record came out. And then the record, you didn't miss a beat.

Roddy Bottum (89:46)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (89:46)

I mean, as a fan, it was like, this is what we wanted. It was like school. Yeah. It's like. It's. You know, it's a. It's a junkie asking for that other hit. And they finally. It's like seeing the tour being announced. It's like that feeling you would get when you'd call your dealer and, you know, you're going through detox, but they know they got it. So you suddenly the detox gets you, like, oh, I feel all right now get to downtown la and it was like, just got to get to the fucking Palladium. But we don't know. We didn't know you were going to put out a record. You know, maybe it's a cash grab, maybe you're going to try it out and who knows?

Roddy Bottum (90:15)

Definitely not a cash grab. It just felt like more than anything, it felt a little bit sort of guilt driven in terms of like we were playing a lot of shows and then it felt like, okay, we're going to continue shows, we should at least like write new music. So we wrote one song that we really liked and then we just continued. I think it was. Matador was the first something we wrote.

Josh Adam Myers (90:34)

I mean, it was like, you know, what, what was the one?

Roddy Bottum (90:37)

Superhero, I mean, yeah, was early on for sure.

Josh Adam Myers (90:40)

That felt very. That felt like a little bit of footprint in old Faith. No More too, right. Superhero, I mean, was so great. It's just such a. But then also it's like you, you, you. You know, how was. What was that process like? You know, just writing that record? I mean, were you trying to do. Was it like, was the label even involved or was this like, do whatever the fuck we want?

Roddy Bottum (91:02)

It was sort of at a cusp in which like, labels weren't really like. I mean, we didn't have a contract so we just put out the record by ourselves. And I think it kind of hurt us and helped us both. Like, it was a really interesting like, era in like whatever recording where like, yeah, we didn't have a label and it was just us funding ourselves. And it also came down to sort of doing it on our own and not spending a lot of money. And all of a sudden that option was there, like, we could record for really cheaply. And like it all came down for the most part on Billy the bass player. And he was producing it and I don't think it was a great experience for him. We're also dealing with. Some of us do, like, we're also. There was substance abuse stuff going on.

Josh Adam Myers (91:46)

Interesting.

Roddy Bottum (91:46)

And it just didn't. It was not a pleasurable thing. But honestly, I didn't know that until like recently we talked and Billy was talking about that it was a really hard time for him and I didn't realize that at the time. It was. But it was a hard time. It was a hard record to make.

Josh Adam Myers (91:59)

That's tough. Yeah, yeah, I didn't, I didn't. You know, you wouldn't know that especially because, you know, he, like, you've always stuck out, you know, he. And he's so important to the band. But it's just like, you always are like, oh, it has to be at Mike Roddy. Those are the two main songwriters and the two main guys. And I know it's a collaborative. The more we learn, but it's like, we always have thought. I mean, at least I did. I always thought it was you and Mike were the people. And then obviously, you know, but just because you're. You're on piano, you always assume that the pianist is like. Has a big part.

Roddy Bottum (92:28)

Right, right.

Josh Adam Myers (92:28)

Melody and. And then before the last question, you know, because I want to do one more song and we'll get you out of here. I know you got to get up to.

Roddy Bottum (92:34)

Oi.

Josh Adam Myers (92:34)

But it's like, what about the later part, you know, when I talk about Panic? And as. And as far as, like, you announced that show here in la, which was like, I think. I don't think you realize how many people.

Roddy Bottum (92:45)

Like, we were like, palladium show.

Josh Adam Myers (92:48)

No, it's the Palladium. You're going to do that festival with, like, System of A Down.

Roddy Bottum (92:51)

Oh, sure. Right, right.

Josh Adam Myers (92:52)

And Helmet. The lineup was like. I mean, it was a Cream dream.

Roddy Bottum (92:56)

And Cor.

Josh Adam Myers (92:58)

You know, I have friends in all of these bands, like. And then, you know. Can you talk about that?

Roddy Bottum (93:02)

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it was just a hard time. I think, like, Mike was going through some hard time. We were doing a bunch of shows. We had planned a whole tour. We were doing, like, a big old tour, and it just kind of fell apart. But it was mostly just because, like, it was a really hard time. It was like, right at the beginning of Pandemic, or right. Actually right in the middle.

Josh Adam Myers (93:20)

I think it was right after, like.

Roddy Bottum (93:23)

And it was, like, a hard time for. For people to get through, you know,

Josh Adam Myers (93:26)

The Pandemic fucked with all of us.

Roddy Bottum (93:27)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (93:28)

Not everybody, but you saw what happened with fucking the Infowars people. If you wanted to find a conspiracy about why you're in your apartment, you could have.

Roddy Bottum (93:35)

Right. It was there for.

Josh Adam Myers (93:37)

And we lost a lot of good people.

Roddy Bottum (93:38)

Yeah. And it was sort of.

Josh Adam Myers (93:40)

That.

Roddy Bottum (93:40)

I think we were sort of victim to that. I don't think Mike would, like, slight me for, like, talking about what happened, but I was like. It was very much that it was a hard time for him. And it just, like, it happened really suddenly. Like, a bunch of shows were on our plate and we were. We were rehearsing for him. We got prepared. We were all, like, ready to go. And it was, like, a couple days out and we had to Pull the plug. Cause Mike just wasn't up for it. He couldn't do it. And it was. Yeah, it was pretty devastating. And that was like. I don't know, like, six years ago, five years ago, maybe. And it still affects us. There's still, like, really. It was really hard to get through that for all of us as a band. That's a crazy panic moment. It's like, what do you do at that moment? Cause so much money and so much time was spent.

Josh Adam Myers (94:21)

Exactly.

Roddy Bottum (94:22)

And, like, I think for a lot of the people, too, like. And, like, you're talking about, like, people, like. And the audience, like, the people who were sort of on board for, like, oh, my God. Seeing Faith no More play again was huge.

Josh Adam Myers (94:33)

Oh, we were, dude. We were foaming at the mouth.

Roddy Bottum (94:36)

Tickets sold and stuff.

Josh Adam Myers (94:37)

And I just love this band.

Roddy Bottum (94:39)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (94:39)

Love this band. This is not a. You don't dip your toe into the music that you guys have made you become. It's been an obsession. Obsession for so many of us. Dude, it was like, I was so freaking out.

Roddy Bottum (94:51)

That was really hard in that way. That was like. I mean, it feels. Felt like a major, major letdown.

Josh Adam Myers (94:55)

But then also, it's like, after that, I mean, like, is there panic when you see him go off and do

Roddy Bottum (94:58)

other projects and you're like, yeah, that comes up, too. Because then we'd, like, said no to those shows. And then Mike was doing other shows, and that became a weird thing for all of us to deal with. Like, how come we didn't. We're not readdressing the fade no more shows that we canceled, and you go off doing other shows. That became a thing. And. Yeah, it was. It was a whole hard time. And it was. I think it comes down to, like, what we sort of, like, write it off now as, like, it was a communication thing. Like, I don't know. For whatever reason, we weren't talking about things as much as we should have.

Josh Adam Myers (95:28)

Interesting. All right, and the last. The last song I want to talk about because I wanted. I wanted to wrap this up. I didn't want to lead with this is Lonesome Cowboy Bill. And I know this isn't the best song on the record. It's a goofy parody, but I want to. I really want to focus on the word. Lonesome Cowboy is. You know, what is that like, being. You know, it's like rock and roll. Well, I mentioned that thing earlier. Is that, like, where the best rock stars have always kind of walked in, male and female? It's like Bowie, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, it's like you can never tell. And I think that's why they become so popular. But the idea of, like actually being a homosexual in rock and roll, which is like, when you have people like, you know, that grab rock and the Metallica, it's like. And. And you came out, you know, know, like, what is that like being a gay man in rock and roll especially, you know, in a. In a thing in the 80s dealing with fucking AIDS. And also like, you know, it's. It must have been. Tell me. It's in the book, but tell me what that experience is to my listeners. You know, it's.

Roddy Bottum (96:28)

Yeah, it was an interesting place to be. I mean, particularly because what I did in that realm, in that hard rock realm, was play keyboards and already sort of stacked against me. Are those like that weird? And I. Of a keyboard on a stage in that world, it just doesn't belong. Like, hard rock does not really involve keyboards. And keyboards are so nerdy and ridiculous on stage. It was like a weird thing to pull off and make look cool.

Josh Adam Myers (96:53)

Is it the gayest instrument you think is that?

Roddy Bottum (96:55)

Yeah, for sure it's gay. And it's just like. It doesn't work. It's nerdy and it's not cool. It's not, though. But it took a lot for me to sort of make it cool in my head or make it sort of this thing that kind of like I was able to pull off, but that's sort of buried. That's the subtext of like being a gay person in that world too. Because already there was that already we were playing shows and I felt like, oh, man out. Because I was this person playing keyboards and keyboards was just a weird thing. But then to be gay on top of that in this world of like hair metal or like Guns N Roses vibe or Metallica vibes, which is super, super aggressive. Like, I mean, it's the most Tesco dominant. Yeah, it felt like really crazy to do that. But at the same time, like, my takeaway now when I think about it, when I wrote about it, like, is like, that was the greatest gift I could ever have been given to race to that challenge and to be this weird unicorn in that realm. Like, what could be better? Like, I was the gay person. There's only one of them, you know, like. And in that time frame, like the 80s, like, it was like there was no one that was gay. Like Freddie Mercury, as far as we knew, was not gay. And a band called Queen that sing in t. That sing opera music. Freddie Mercury was not gay. Rob Halford. Yeah. Was not gay.

Josh Adam Myers (98:13)

Which, by the way, he is the funniest fucking dude.

Roddy Bottum (98:16)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (98:16)

We actually did a podcast. I know you got to get out of here, but we did a podcast during the Pandemic with Sebastian Bach, and he. We're talking about singing. And he goes, the only person who never has to do vocal warm ups is Rob Halford. And my comedian friend Big J Okerson, who's very edgy, goes, well, he probably does something, like, pretty gay, like, gargle, come. And Sebastian. Sebastian's like, like, whoa, man. Like, that's not cool, man. And he's like, I'm getting out of here. And then he leaves. And we're just like, sebastian, turn your camera on. And Big J is like, wait, I was a joke. I'm a comic. The next week, we had Rob Halford on, and he was gargling. Come, dude. Dude, I.

Roddy Bottum (98:52)

He goes straight.

Josh Adam Myers (98:53)

No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. It gets even better because Jay, when we start to tell the story, is like. He literally says out loud, I'll send you the clip. He goes, I'm sweating. I'm so nervous to say this to you. And he explains it explains a joke to. To Rob. And Rob goes, well, let me say two things. One, Sebastian is a dear friend and I love him, and that's very sweet that he would try to defend me. But two, I swallow. I never gargle. And you're like, you get it, dude. You get comedy. But, yeah, I mean, but at that

Roddy Bottum (99:23)

time, I mean, my point is, like, at that time, it was like, I was very rare, and I was, like, really a gift more than anything. It's. It's sort of like more in retrospect, of course. It comes up, like, so proud of those moments. Being in it was, like, really challenging and kind of fucked up and weird and really misogynistic tour with, like, crazy. Like, all those tours were, like, horrible, like, super misogynistic, gross behavior. Just, like, not what, like, sort of my world was at all, but at the same time, it was sort of like, especially looking back on it, it was like a real challenge and a special, unique sort of opportunity that I got to be that weird person in the mix.

Josh Adam Myers (99:59)

But also you had some deep friendships with two people that kind of worked in that male and female zone with Courtney Love and. And, you know, I mean, this is later, obviously, but after coming off something like the Guns N Roses Metallica tour, I mean, the friendship with them, I mean, what did that teach you? Because she's such a sensitive, you know, they always say, like, rock. Rock the grunge and. And that. That beautiful rock that. Because he. They were so focused on. Nah, man. If you're in the pit, you don't touch a girl. You know what I mean? You don't do that. It was very. I mean, even Pearl Jam, it's like, dude, they were. They're Pearl Jam. Nirvana is like. When Kurt died, it changed everything. It was our spokesman for. For being about love. And, you know, it hurt a lot of us. And then you get Limp Biscuit and you get right back to the fucking events of shit. But, I mean, what did that teach you about sensitivity? Sensitivity inside, you know, such aggressive music and aggressive.

Roddy Bottum (100:50)

Like, I mean, there's pillars in that world, and Kurt and Courtney were definitely two of those pillars. But, like, yeah, there was a sensitivity that, like, I was aware of, that I was part of and that they were part of that I sort of. Those were beacons that helped us through that time. There were few people that sort of could stand up and sort of wave a flag. That wasn't one of misogyny, wasn't one of male aggression in that world. And it's cool we had those people, and it's cool we had a solidarity in some ways. People that I related to and people that related to me that sort of. Again, people that stood out. Out a little bit. And that was a real advantage like that. That act of being able to stand out, stand up for things and be, like, kind of rare in that world. That was the most special quality to have, you know? Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (101:43)

You know, I became friends. We had Melissa for the basis from Holon doing her book promotion. And. And I mean, just like, I'm like. Which I'm so excited, you know, we'll do. We're gonna promote the. Out of your book. Even months after. I'll bring it up. I'll make sure. Bring it up at the beginning, the end of this and then at the end of us. But it's. It's, you know, you. You can see how, like, certain people and certain friendships.

Roddy Bottum (102:04)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (102:05)

Can. Has made this. This hard business, you know, especially, you know, being different, whether you're gay or just autistic or whatever the fuck.

Roddy Bottum (102:13)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (102:14)

It's like you do get to meet very same thing with comedy. I've met some incredibly sweet people. Someone like Bill Burr, who you would think is this, like, angry, but he's extremely liberal and, you know, and cares. He's empathetic because, you know, he's. He's grown over the years, but he was Kind of like that Axl Rose guy, you know, younger, but then he just had to experience life. And I think, you know, it's. That's what's so great about, you know, about this community is it might seem like you're by yourself and you're the odd man out, but realistically, you just have to find your pocket and it just take a moment. It's. It's beautiful, man. And I mean, I. I can't thank you enough.

Roddy Bottum (102:51)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (102:51)

For coming on. We have our final questions.

Roddy Bottum (102:53)

It's a speed one.

Josh Adam Myers (102:54)

Don't worry. The book is the Royal Wheat. It's fucking phenomenal. We'll put the links all over the podcast. Do you have anything else coming up you want to promote before we do the final questions or.

Roddy Bottum (103:05)

Nothing really. I'm doing some weird tours coming up. One's in East Coast. Nasty Band. My band is playing with Napalm Death on a weird toilet in the East Coast. That's going to be really fun this summer. If you're in the east coast, try and check out one of those shows and come early. Nasty Band is really fucked up and a weird, weird, weird band. And then I'm doing a special show at a camp. Camp out in Pennsylvania. But I think it's like a sold out thing that's like. Happens every year called Honcho Campout. That's a really famous, like, queer, like, dance sort of vibe that we are. My band, Crickets is playing as part of.

Josh Adam Myers (103:38)

How many bands you have right now?

Roddy Bottum (103:40)

I think like four bands.

Josh Adam Myers (103:42)

Yeah. They have fun with it. Who gives a. You get to a certain point, enjoy it and just. Yeah, whatever.

Roddy Bottum (103:46)

Oh, then Imperial Team comes out in October. We just finished a record and we'll

Josh Adam Myers (103:49)

make sure we promote that as well.

Roddy Bottum (103:51)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (103:51)

If you have any new music we can play at the end of this episode, you know, make sure send it to Emily.

Roddy Bottum (103:56)

Will do.

Josh Adam Myers (103:56)

And please come back. I would love to have you back. We were down to the final 100. This meant.

Roddy Bottum (104:00)

Thank you so much. It's so nice to.

Josh Adam Myers (104:01)

This has been so much fun and. And hopefully one day you can do the goddamn Comedy Jam because we'd love to have you on that.

Roddy Bottum (104:07)

Love it.

Josh Adam Myers (104:07)

You would love it. All right, final questions. We ask everybody these. I'm going to throw one extra one in.

Roddy Bottum (104:11)

Okay.

Josh Adam Myers (104:12)

Your favorite song.

Roddy Bottum (104:13)

Unloaded, I guess. Sweet Chain.

Josh Adam Myers (104:16)

Sweet Chain.

Roddy Bottum (104:17)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (104:17)

Is there. Is this a no Skip record or is there a song. Song you skip over.

Roddy Bottum (104:20)

I skip over the whole, like, second half for sure.

Josh Adam Myers (104:24)

Sure.

Roddy Bottum (104:24)

It's horrible. It's a. It's a record I have a hard time with.

Josh Adam Myers (104:27)

Interesting. Really?

Roddy Bottum (104:28)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (104:29)

Then why did you choose it?

Roddy Bottum (104:31)

Because it's sort of a pivotal thing. And they're one of my favorite bands, you know, and it's a weird time in their career.

Josh Adam Myers (104:36)

I get it. It would be like, me coming on and like, we talk about radio, who I love. You know, it. I'll do Guns and Roses, where of course I want to do Appetite, but I'll do fucking Chinese democracy. I don't give a shit. Can you fuck to this record or how have you to this record?

Roddy Bottum (104:50)

I don't know. I don't point that they put on anything that I would to really go Jeffrey Dahmer style.

Josh Adam Myers (104:55)

Just breathing, I think.

Roddy Bottum (104:56)

Just like. Yeah, Natural. Natural sounds, I think. I don't know. I've never to, like. I mean, I have.

Josh Adam Myers (105:03)

I need funny things. I need it.

Roddy Bottum (105:05)

It's funny. So when you. Are you going in a rhythmic way,

Josh Adam Myers (105:08)

are you sort of going, I understand music. I know where the one is always right.

Roddy Bottum (105:11)

So are you on beat when you're. Are you, like, gyrating to the rhythm?

Josh Adam Myers (105:15)

No, I just like the background. I love. I think it's sexy. I don't know. And I've all.

Roddy Bottum (105:19)

All these jokes that makes sense. I think where I go with music and sex is that, like, are you supposed to, like. It does become like.

Josh Adam Myers (105:26)

No, it's never. I'm never on point.

Roddy Bottum (105:27)

Like, you want it, like, right?

Josh Adam Myers (105:29)

Not listening to Genuine's Pony. Like, I. I put it on. It sets a mood. Like, not bragging, but, I mean, you know, there's a girl that I can't tell anybody, but I've been sleeping with a celebrity for about two years. She's married, so we gotta keep on. That's as much as you're gonna get. Wow, you can get. Guess who it is. Is it Anne Hathaway? Is it Dame Judy Dench? Who knows? It's Dame Judy Dench, but more Judy Drench. That's. I'm sorry. But the thing is, is, like, I'm really into Nine Inch Nails right now because I become obsessed with whatever. And I. We covered Closer at the goddamn Comedy Jam in Moon Tower because of that. And it's like I put on their Woodstock performance when the girl came over, and it's just. It's just, you know, at first she was like, what the fuck is this shit? And then Closer came on. He goes, all right, I can to this, right? And I mean, there's some songs that you can't. You can't Like, I've stopped in the middle of making out and been like, alexa, play the cure with my pirate voice. You know, so it. It is what it is. I just love it. But, you know, the lead singer, the incubus. I remember I asked him about when he. We did Jeff Buckley, you know, Grace, which is a brilliant record. And. And he said, you know, I don't. I don't. The music because especially album like Grace, because it's. You can't not listen to it. Like, you. You could be in the middle of it.

Roddy Bottum (106:41)

So you have to be very Right, right, right. I get that too. Acting. Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (106:44)

Strip search. Oh, I can to that. I mean, that was like, made for. I've also at Mike's record lage. The girl put that on because it's album music to make love do. So, you know, it is what it is. All right, if Lou Reed joined Faith no more in 92, who punches who first?

Roddy Bottum (107:03)

Oh, wow. I'm sure he would punch us. He had such a hot temper.

Josh Adam Myers (107:06)

Louis Reed, who do you think he

Roddy Bottum (107:08)

would hit in the band first? I don't know. Probably take your pick. Probably Mike. I think you know who would win in the fight.

Josh Adam Myers (107:15)

You then. Can Mike fight?

Roddy Bottum (107:16)

I don't know. I feel like Lou Reed is kind of scrappy and, like, I wouldn't really trust him. Like, he'd probably scratch or pull hair in a way that, like, no one else would. You know, he'd probably win.

Josh Adam Myers (107:28)

All right, and last question. How do you get someone to listen to the Velvet Underground? Loaded. That's the. Never listen to it. What would be your elevator pitch?

Roddy Bottum (107:36)

Yeah, I would think I would give them sort of the first level at underground as an entry point and say, look, this is where this band went. And isn't this an interesting transition?

Josh Adam Myers (107:49)

Interesting. I wrote Loaded Matters because it proves something miraculous. Sometimes the band is bawling, Sometimes the band is falling apart. Sometimes the singer quits, sometimes the drum, drummer's gone. Sometimes the label wants hit. And sometimes everybody's mad. And somehow that's where magic happens. And that's the sound of this record,

Roddy Bottum (108:08)

you know, that's aptly put.

Josh Adam Myers (108:09)

Yeah. I think that. I think there's a beauty inside. Chaos especially. We just did Mamas and the Papas, their first record, and I did that like a week ago. And I mean, that's the. If it sounds all happy, it's like reggae music, you know what I mean? Everybody always thinks reggae is like, sit Divide the beat having Corona, but it's really like, my family died of mesothelioma and you're like, oh, you need to listen to it. But that's what I love. Oop, my parking's done. Which is perfect timing. Roddy, I can't thank you enough for coming on, buddy.

Roddy Bottum (108:38)

Thanks for having me.

Josh Adam Myers (108:39)

So phenomenal.

Roddy Bottum (108:39)

This was fun.

Josh Adam Myers (108:40)

Get his book. We'll put all the links on the thing and he'll be back. Guys, thank you for tuning in.

Roddy Bottum (108:45)

Thanks, you guys.

Josh Adam Myers (108:47)

What did I tell you? What I tell you the one and only Roddy Bottom on the Internet, roddybottomsubsub substack.com and Instagram Roddy Bottom. Grab your copy of the Royal We, Roddy's recent memoir, wherever you get your books. And for more information on Roddy's current projects, check him out@roddybottom.substack.com or go to his Instagram. And now for new music this week, Velvet Underground. Loaded from the 70s. Distro Kid. Our proud sponsor is brought to you Elastic by Crickets. You can find links to their music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you are in a band and we're directly influenced by one of these albums or artists, you want your music featured on the show, send us your song to 500podcastmail.com next week, it's the Rolling Stones Aftermath, where they stopped doing covers and started doing a Ridge. It's 1:09. We got nine weeks till the final episode, so tell everybody. Guys. Skadoodle. Sa.

Roddy Bottum (110:41)

Would give me the power to keep

Josh Adam Myers (110:43)

on living but indeed I was there Toxic yeah I would say

Roddy Bottum (110:51)

Dangerous now

Josh Adam Myers (110:53)

the power I have is to heal and change and grow. I thought that becoming the toxic masculinity that admit

Roddy Bottum (111:23)

Would give me the power

Josh Adam Myers (111:24)

to keep on living but indeed I would stay Toxic yeah, I would Dangerous now the power I have is to heal and change and grow

Roddy Bottum (111:44)

we all

Josh Adam Myers (111:45)

have the power to teach the other one so be the best we can be we all will have the power to teach the younger one to be the best. I thought they'd be doming the toxic masculinity that hurt me. Give me the power to keep on living but indeed I was there Dangerous now the flower have to heal and change and grow we all have the power to teach the younger one to be the best we can be we all have the power to take the one. Sam. I. The 500. Keeping it fleecy for the fleece nation on the 500.

Roddy Bottum (114:56)

The 500.

Josh Adam Myers (115:06)

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Roddy Bottum (115:07)

I don't know if you knew this,

Josh Adam Myers (115:08)

but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com

Roddy Bottum (115:24)

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Josh Adam Myers (115:27)

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Roddy Bottum (115:49)

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Josh Adam Myers (115:51)

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Roddy Bottum (116:07)

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