← The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers
The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers
170 - The Who - Live At Leeds - Michael Shannon
01:25:28
Actor Michael Shannon makes his debut on the podcast to discuss the only live album from The Who to feature their classic lineup.
Loading summary
Transcript194 lines
- [00:01]
Josh Adam Myers
Nextchapter Podcasts when you think about businesses that are selling through the roof like Skims or Allbirds, sure you think about a great product, a cool brand and great marketing. But an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business making, selling.
- [00:23]
Michael Shannon
And for shoppers buying.
- [00:25]
Josh Adam Myers
Simple for millions of businesses. That business is Shopify. It's home of Shop Pay the number one check checkout in the world. You can use it to boost conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts going abandoned and way more sales going through. To checkout, upgrade your business and get the same checkout Allbirds uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com income all lowercase go to shopify.com income to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com income exclusively on ESPN UFC 313 Saturday reigning light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira defends his title against number one contender Magomed on Goliath and an explosive lightweight bout between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Pizzie. UFC 313 Saturday at 10pm Eastern. Buy it on espnplus.com PPB got a messy head? This show is brought to you by Distro Kid. Bring your music to the masses. The 500 the 500 JM been walking.
- [01:58]
Michael Shannon
Us down through that 2012 edition so.
- [02:02]
Josh Adam Myers
It ain't nothing too new. Hundreds more to go in and of a friend, the king of peaceful angelo Talking the 500 until the end Talking the 500 until the end with my man JM on the 500 Talking the 500 until the end can explain I'm thinking stuff Try to say it to you when I feel good But I can't explain. The song is I Can't Explain. It's by the who from their album Live at Leeds from 1970. It's also number 170 out of 500 on the 500 with Josh Adam Myers. What's up everybody? I am Josh Adam Myers. I am a comic and I'm going through Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums. May 28, 2028. That is D Day. That is when we plan on finishing this. We are going to finish this. Why? Because Emily keeps getting us incredible guests. Thank you Emily. We love you. I am out on the road. You can catch me. March 14th through the 15th. I'll be in Milwaukee at the Laughing Tap. Then I will be at the Comedy Store March 16th and 17th doing the jam and Shimmy Shimmy. Yeah, April's going to be busy. I've got Jimmy Kimmel's Comedy Club. April 11th and the 12th and you can see me at Moontower Comedy Festival April 17th through the 19th. And I've got more and more dates coming up as we speak. So come one, come all. Go to Josh Adamyers.com for tickets. I've got Plano, Vancouver, Vegas again, Arizona, Sunnyvale, California, Naples, Florida, Toronto, Charlotte, Montreal, all coming up this year. Plus we're adding more and more dates like I said. Josh adam myers.com for tickets and give me a follow on all social media at Josh Adam Myers. Also, we have a new Patreon podcast. Me, Fetty Wap. Wayne Fetterman and DJ Morty Coyle have started a show. We release it every week where we discuss music, pop culture, everything. Go to patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. Subscribe for $5 a month you get all the goodies and for $25 a month you get all the goodies. Plus you get some free merch. Patreon.com backslash the 500podcast support the show. Really proud of this podcast with DJ Morty Coyle and Fetty Wap. Subscribe support, support support. Listen on all audio platforms or watch on YouTube YouTube.com the500podcast all right everybody, it's time to get to it because when you get a guest like this, you just gotta dive right in. Party people, fleece army. We're doing another who record one of the best rock and roll bands of all time. And today's guest, I mean literally an Academy Award nominated actor, the one and only Michael Shannon. I could sit here and name all the movies this guy has been in, but dude, he's General Zod. We got General Zod on the podcast. He is an incredible actor. Also he's a rock star. He's got a cover band where him and his friends have been covering REM records. I'm going to see them in Brooklyn. I couldn't be more excited to be able to sit down and talk to a guest like this is the reason we do the podcast. I think you guys are going to love it. I had a blast. Also, huge shout out to DJ Morty Coyle for getting me dialed in rate, review and most importantly, subscribe to the 500. Listen free on all platforms or anywhere you get your pods. And if you're listening on Apple, leave us a five star rating and a nice review. Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. Follow the podcast at the 500 podcast email the podcast@500podcastmail.com follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan and for all things 5 00. Go to the website. The 500podcast.com. All right, kiddos, fleece army. Nothing left to say, but here we go with number 170 out of 500 with the who live at Leeds. So I. I'm diving into this. I'm cussing right off the jump. That's not a good thing, Josh. The. I go vintage shopping all the time. I was in Los Angeles this past weekend, and I'm going to the store and I'm going through shirts and I score one and I pay a little bit of money, and I'm gonna tell you, I love the band. We're not talking about the band, but I was like, I got the pod. Michael Shannon. I think it would be apropos. That's not even their music at all. Didn't they do the song to Mortal Kombat?
- [06:55]
Michael Shannon
Amazing. I love that shirt.
- [06:58]
Josh Adam Myers
Great shirt, great band. And. And that is what threw me for the curveball when they told me that you were coming on for the who leads, because we had just done Murmur, which I know you've jammed out to. We've done.
- [07:12]
Michael Shannon
We.
- [07:13]
Josh Adam Myers
We actually did Automatic for the people with Mike Mills, which was really rad, especially because, you know, obviously I know you've met rm. Like, they're just the salt of the earth, the coolest guys. And I think we did. Didn't we do Jer. When we started doing it with. With Spotify, Our first one that we did was Document. So, I mean. So, I mean, we got a little bit of time. So I'm gonna start this off. I can tell you're doing good. You look phenomenal. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. Why are you here for the who and not for rem?
- [07:52]
Michael Shannon
Well, I mean, first of all, I. I missed. I just missed Murmur. You did? I didn't know you were doing it, but my musical taste is pretty expansive in all directions. And I adore the who. I've been listening to who for a long time. Yeah, I mean, you'd be hard pressed to find a band that I didn't have some curiosity about unless it was, like, really crappy music.
- [08:24]
Josh Adam Myers
But what I wanted. I don't know if it would be negative. What's crappy to Michael Shannon?
- [08:31]
Michael Shannon
Crappy music. Yeah, it's crappy, uninteresting music. Music that has no originality or dimension to it.
- [08:40]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [08:41]
Michael Shannon
Just like it was made by one of those little robots that's delivering food in LA right now. Have you seen these little. They look like little Star wars droids.
- [08:54]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, they do.
- [08:55]
Michael Shannon
Sidewalk and they're apparently they're delivering food to people. And I, I said the last time I was in la, I saw one of those and I, I, it freaked me the heck out. I didn't know that that was coming.
- [09:08]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, they're weird.
- [09:09]
Michael Shannon
Yeah.
- [09:09]
Josh Adam Myers
I saw it in Santa Monica for the first time. I was like, what is this?
- [09:13]
Michael Shannon
Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, the kind of music those things would make. Yeah. Anybody who's got a pulse and an interesting idea. All ears. Yeah.
- [09:26]
Josh Adam Myers
It's like I am delivering these, these falafels to East 32nd Street. Also check out my new track.
- [09:37]
Michael Shannon
Yes. Yes.
- [09:39]
Josh Adam Myers
So we have a little bit of time doing this podcast because what we're going to do is we're going to talk about the record, we're going to talk about your life, we're going to see how the album and everything kind of goes together. But when we do this, we always, we used to go through every song and some of the episodes would be about three hours long. And I know you don't have that much time. And what's great about this album is that it's six songs. So let's just cut the mustard, dive right into it. And I'm going to tell the audience that's listening, if you haven't listened to this record, hopefully you listen to it and you should listen to it because it is phenomenal. I worked with my buddy DJ Morty Coil to go over this. So like I, we, this is, this is, let's, let's just dive into this because I think we can actually get through all tracks. So I want to catch everybody up and how much you know about the history of the who, obviously, because, like, when this record came out, it's, they're in a weird phase. Not weird, but per se. But, you know, they went from being a rock band to suddenly being like high society because of these rock opera. So the who has done their mini opera, A Quick One While he's away, as well as perhaps the first concept record the who Sell Out. So the full, full length rock opera Tommy was a continuation of the ethos of pop as high art. Much to the delight of their manager, Kit Lambert, who really pushed that angle to the public. They had been accepted by the culture beyond what other rock acts had. And I loved thinking about that because it was like being this band, Michael, that's like, we're like, they're in your face. They're like, they're rock and roll. They're destroying. People are getting dressed up in like tuxes to go see the Who? And, you know, so at the time, the Beatles had just done sergeant Pepper, but they didn't tour. And the con, it was a concept idea, wasn't even as cohesive as the who sellout, which they had done before sergeant Pepper. Tommy was complicated and thematic and nostalgic and pushed a lot of emotional buttons. They became legitimate and played it outside of the normal concert venues. People went to the theater to see them dressed up, like I said, in tuxedos and evening dresses, including audiences in America and England who may not have been fans, but came for the experience. And then after they did Woodstock and Isle of Wight, they realized they didn't want people to pigeonhole them. And they didn't, you know, they didn't want to be thought it was like hoity toity. So they were still the. They wanted to show everybody they were still the horrible, oh, we can blow you the away. We're the biggest rock band in the world. So they do this record. So let me ask you a question before I ask you a question about. About your life. Like, what are your thoughts on. On. On the. The who right now? Like, where do you, you know, see from going. From starting the way they did, going into the rock operas, and now, you know, like, do you. Do you still feel this is. This is the who being the who, or is this, you know, them trying to prove something? Like, do you see it or feel that in this record when you listen to it?
- [12:39]
Michael Shannon
Well, first of all, I just. I just wanted to say, tell a little story really quick because it's just responding to what you just said. I just wanted to talk a little bit about how I discovered the who. Yeah. When I was a little boy in Kentucky, my mother had remarried. She was married to a fellow named Big Mike. He was Big Mike and I was just Mike. And we were living in a house. They had three kids together, so it was my mom and Big Mike and the four of us kids. And in the basement, Big Mike had a very small stereo and a little crate with a few. Couple. Few records in it. Not much of a collection, but the two records that he had in there. And it just blew my mind that you said this was with. One of. One of them was sergeant Peppers, and the other one was Tommy. And I remember going down to the basement and he didn't curate this for me at all because we didn't really get along very well. But I would just go down there by myself and kind of look through his records. And those two covers just stopped me in my, like, the other stuff. Was just boring, like Kenny Loggins or some nonsense. I mean, hey, Danger Zone, dude.
- [14:00]
Josh Adam Myers
Danger zone.
- [14:02]
Michael Shannon
But these two records, they, they, they, they look magical to me. They looked otherworldly to me. They, they looked like something that I hadn't seen before, could comprehend. So I, so I would listen to them and that's how I discovered the who for the first time. But I mean, the thing I love about the who is that. And I can't help but I guess related to, you know, what I do as an actor, I don't just go out and play the same part over and over and over again. You know, the responsibility of an artist is to keep reinventing themselves and moving in different directions and covering new territories. So a lot of the musical groups that I, or artists that I appreciate are the ones that show the widest geography in terms of what they're able to accomplish musically. And, you know, that can be scary. It's a lot easier to find a formula and just stick with it, you know, But I think the restlessness of this group is really what makes them eternal, you know, which makes them iconic is the restless spirit of them and the kind of joyous fury of the who. There's like a joy and a fury in equal parts. A lot of times when you think of fury or anger, it's, it's got like a negative connotation and it's, it's based in like a violence or like wanting to destroy something. But this is like a joyful fury is the way I was thinking about when I was listening to the record this morning, what, what they do. And, and I loved what you said about the tuxedos because. And I've been listening to the expanded version, which, you know, I. As long as six hours, where. But what a. What a charismatic MC Daltry is for the whole, you know, in a way and how self deprecating they are. You know, it's like, oh, this was our first number one song in Germany. Or this is, this was our. We hit 13 with this one, lucky 13, you know, just really. And I think that's a very British attribute, you know, to be kind of like not playing up your, your own significance too much to keep a sense of humor about it. But yeah, anyway, I feel like now I'm just spinning off into the ether, so I'll let you take them.
- [16:41]
Josh Adam Myers
No, but, but you're, you're. You're 100, right? Everything you say, you feel that from the band and it's them kind of coming back. I wanted to spin it to you, because you've done extensive live theater as well as theatrical and television, do you have a preference between the energy of you and the audience who are in the moment and hopefully not recording that will. In their memories versus filming something that will be captured and edited and processed and it kind of just sort of live on immortality.
- [17:08]
Michael Shannon
Yeah, I mean, that's, that's changed over the years. I mean, for a long time I definitely preferred theater to film. There was no doubt about it. But the longer I've been working on film and television, the more I've come to appreciate it as an art form. Working on it. And, and now I've actually directed a film. And that, that frankly was one of my favorite things I've ever done. And it, you know, it's very technical. It can be very technical. A lot of times I describe it, it's like doing camera stuff is like, it's like surgical. It's very precise. And you're, you're trying to get so many different things right at the same time. And although there are filmmakers that break that rule as well, that just, they throw caution to the wind and seem to relish in making chaos, you know, but that hasn't been my experience so much working in the industry. But yeah, there's something that happens in theater. I've done certain plays that. What's really impressive is when you do a play in 10 years later, somebody walks up to you and says, I remember seeing that play.
- [18:26]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [18:27]
Michael Shannon
They have nothing to reference. They can't go back and say, you know, oh, I have a VHS of you doing that play. I remember the night that I came to see that play. And that, that's an astonishing thing. But in terms of the actual energy, you know, sometimes the audience lifts you and carries you and sometimes they make it, they try and go out of their way to make it as difficult as possible and everything.
- [18:52]
Josh Adam Myers
Sure.
- [18:53]
Michael Shannon
You know, the benefit you have on camera is that you're not, you're not fighting something, you're not necessarily being juiced up by something. You're just there in that thing. And, and it's, there's a certain solemnity and I don't know, there's a boundary to it.
- [19:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, yeah. Do you feel, and I have another follow up question with that, but do you feel like when listening to this record, the, the who, you know, are really putting all of the, the hoity toity ness, they're, they're going back to their roots. Do you feel like they're reaching back to what the who, like you said that fury in this record. Do you feel that?
- [19:30]
Michael Shannon
I think so. I mean, it's really interesting that they're doing it and where. The location that they're doing it in. You know, I think a lot of times when you see Live at Leeds, you assume it's in, like, some coliseum or something, and they're doing. I mean, it's basically like a. A large kind of classroom or like the refectory, whatever. But I've seen pictures of it. It's. It's not a big place. I mean, does it. Was it even, like an actual theater? Did they have seat. I mean, it just. It seems like it kind of a large meeting room.
- [20:06]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. Jer, can you find that out? Exactly what the capacity and everything with the venue was.
- [20:12]
Michael Shannon
Playing for? They're playing for college students, right?
- [20:17]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I think so.
- [20:18]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. And so it's like. That definitely seems like reclaiming a youthful spirit and enthusiasm in the music.
- [20:28]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, it definitely feels it. I can't. I can't let it pass because it's such a huge movie, but we're basically the same age, and, you know, Groundhog Day was your first movie, and it was such a huge movie. Did you know Bill before that, or did you. And you get some time with him, or did you just kind of go in and say, I'm going to shut up, just do my part and just work?
- [20:48]
Michael Shannon
No, I had. I had never met Bill Murray. I met. I met Harold Ramis in the callback when I was auditioning, but that was it. And I was very young, and I was. Yeah, I was very quiet. I didn't. I didn't want to disturb anybody, but I had the great fortune of getting to. You know, I don't have a lot of lines in the movie, but our characters are in the restaurant, in the diner. Every time they shoot a scene in the diner, we had to be there just in case you saw us in the background. So I actually wound up being there for a significant amount of time, and I would get to go there and just sit and watch, you know, Bill Murray improvise all day long. And that was. That was a pretty incredible experience. But, no, I didn't. I didn't really know. And I had. You know, there's a whole improv world in Chicago, Second City and all that. And that wasn't really my. My world. You know, I was more in these funky little storefront theaters doing obscure plays that nobody heard of and didn't really even want to see.
- [22:04]
Josh Adam Myers
But, yeah, Groundhog Day was. It's my favorite movie. So it's cool to be able to ask you about. To get your start. You feel like in a movie with, like, all this star power and everything like that. Like, I don't know, what was that like for you? Is it all downhill from here? Is that. Did you pinch yourself a little bit?
- [22:24]
Michael Shannon
No, I. I wouldn't say that, no. But I just remember how nice Harold Ramis was. He was so nice to me.
- [22:37]
Josh Adam Myers
I love that.
- [22:38]
Michael Shannon
Actually, one day at lunch, he. He came up to me and he said, hey, you want to go play pool? And when you're directing a movie, like, the demands on your time and energy and brain are just never ending. And for this guy to come up to, I mean, I'm basically like a day player and say, hey, let's. Instead of me, like, sitting down, eating and looking at my notes or whatever, I. I'm gonna go play pool with this kid and just ask him if he's enjoying himself, what does he think, you know, So I was very sad when he. When he passed because I. Yeah, he was one of the kindest people I've ever worked with. Yeah.
- [23:28]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I can imagine what that's like, to be the young actor and have the director come up and especially someone like Harold Ramis, who is, like, so important to comedy and, you know, improv and sketch. It's just, you know, to get that time with them is really great. All right, so I. I can't. So you've also played, you know, portrayed some pretty. In indelible characters in your career. And like, the who after Tommy, did you ever feel like you were risking getting pigeonholed? Like, because that's what I'm saying. Where the who are just now in this. This high art, and it's like they're being pushed to keep doing that. Have you ever felt that way? Because you've also. You've done so much unique. Like when you were on Boardwalk Empire, like, what was your Live at Leeds moment to.
- [24:13]
Michael Shannon
There you go. It's funny. What was my Live at Leeds Moment? You know, it's. It's hard to say. Starting out the way I did in Chicago and. And knowing so many people, peers of mine that are still in Chicago still, you know, unfortunately not able to pay the rent by, you know, just showing up and acting. I. I feel very grateful that I've been able to find some sort of financial security and that. That I get to work, you know, that people keep asking me to show up and work. So the idea of, you know, trying to be choosy or selective is it's difficult to be comfortable with that as an actor. And it's. Acting is very different than music. I said this before, like music, there's a lot more self determination. It's like you and whoever you're making the music with against the world, you know, and you, you're creating this vision together and you have to fight like hell to, to get the world to, to give a crap. As, as actors, we're participating in things that other people are setting up. Other people are writing, other people are producing, other people are directing. We're just asking for like an invitation like, hey, can I come in? Can I? Yeah, a part of this. So it's, I, you know, I, this might sound kind of obnoxious, but I say one of the reasons actors make great waiters is because we're servants. Like, that's what we do. We serve. We could show up, you have a script, you have a story you want to tell. Here I am. I'll help you, I'll help you do that. So I, I, I, I think if in, in terms of what we're talking about with the, who they really are, the, the, the sum total of what that is, like, they, they've created it from, from soup to nuts. It's all their vision, it's all their music. They've written it, they've made it sound the way they wanted to sound. So it's, it's hard for me to make too much of a comparison, but there was a certain point, I guess, where I started to read things and say, like, you know what? No, I don't, I don't think I need to do that at this point. But it was, it was, it was quite a ways into, into your career. Yeah, yeah, it took, it took a long time to learn how to, how to say no. Good.
- [27:02]
Josh Adam Myers
Good. All right, one last one, one last question before we dig into the, to the songs and is like you're, it's, and it's sort of who related also. So you portrayed General Zod in Man of Steel, and that character had been previously played by Terence Stamp, whose brother Chris Stamp was co manager of the who. Did you ever get to talk to Terence about his, about the role or have any apprehension about playing an identical identifier identifiable character that might compare to his portrayal?
- [27:40]
Michael Shannon
Well, full disclosure, I've never met Terence Stamp.
- [27:43]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, wow.
- [27:43]
Michael Shannon
I've never, I've never met him. When I met with Zach to talk about doing the movie, I literally felt like I was being pranked. I was like, there's no way this is actually happening right now. He invited me to his home in Pasadena. And I was sitting there, his living room, beautiful panoramic view out the windows and these little hummingbirds flying around in the bushes. And I felt like I was on acid or something. He starts talking to me about it. And of course, I had seen Terrence do it in the movies when I was a kid, and I just couldn't really visualize me doing this. I mean, I was beyond flattered and flabbergasted that I was even being asked to do it. But in Inside, secretly, I was very nervous about it because I hadn't done anything like that before. So I guess the way I looked at it, I feel like when Terence did it, and he's incredible, unimitable, beautiful, love it. But it was very, it was very much. What's the word I'm looking for? It wasn't super grounded in an actual situation. Like. Yeah, my way into it is like, I'm not playing a villain. I'm playing a guy who's in the army. He's in the army of Krypton. He's the top army guy and his planet is blows up and all. Most of his civilization is dead. And he's asking himself, can I. Is there a second chapter for us? And that's it. And, and, and, and he's not like, he's not even necessarily interested in scaring people or being a bad guy. All he's trying to do is figure out, can I, can I, can I, can I build this again or not? Yeah, just look at it from that point of view. Then it's pretty simple and it's pretty relatable. It's not like some highfalutin or, you know, I try to, to approach everything that I do with like very down to earth kind of practical, like, what is this person or alien or whatever, what is this? What are they trying to do? What are they actually trying to do? Like, if this wasn't a movie and it was just actually happening, what would I do? And if you do that, then you can kind of slot yourself into a variety of situations.
- [30:36]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, dude, that's exactly. That's everything my acting coach has ever said it was. It was like perfectly summed up right there. All right, I've got the. I've got some of the background on the record before we dive in the song. So the shot. The shows were performed on Valentine's Day 1970 at Leeds and on 215 at whole. But technical problems with the recordings from the whole gig the bass player had not been recorded on some of the songs. You know, obviously you've seen the artwork to this record, like, even down to that. Like, it looks like a bootleg. The way that the stamp is, like, kind of not even really on there. The packaging looks like it's something that you just bought almost at a. At a flea market. We've got even to the quoted Getty Lee from Rushing. Even today, Live at Leeds sounds so alive. It's a real piece of that period of rock. It's like a bootleg. Everything down to the artwork, the tone, it is so raw. This is also the fourth time we're going to be talking about the who on the podcast. We've had David Wilde do a quick one at 384. We've done quadraphenia at 267 with Judd Apatow, and we've had Eddie Pepitone back at 237 with my generation. We also still have the who sell out, which is a little bit lower. We have Tommy coming in in 96, and then who's next at 28. You know, before I get. Get into Young Man's Blues, is. Is this your. You know, is this rank in your favorite of the who records?
- [32:03]
Michael Shannon
Oh, definitely. Definitely. I mean, and it. It's fascinating. When I listen to. I hear so much, so much of the other music around it inside of it. Like, it either has inspired so much music or coexisted with so much music in this period. Like, for example, I'll just cut to the chase. Sometimes, particularly when no one's singing, I'm like, oh, this could be. This could be the Hendrix band.
- [32:44]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [32:45]
Michael Shannon
Really? That rhythm section in Twist on the Moon, I'm like, oh, this could be like Hendrix at some festival or something. Or, you know, all of a sudden it'll start sounding like Black Sabbath or something. It's like. It's like Mercury. It's just constantly changing. This is a perfect example, Young Man's Blues. Like, you just don't. You feel like you're on a merry go round, that somebody is just spinning faster and faster? Like some, you know, wicked uncle is like, I'm gonna see if I can make you, you know, throw up or something, you know, but in a nice way.
- [33:28]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is what this is there. This is the. This is. Young Man's Blues is a Mose Allison song. Starts the album. It's one of three covers, yet it sort of nails the whole album subtext that really exemplifies young male frustration. Basically. It's a standard part of the state the who stage repertoire at the time. There's the. They include the instrumental jam, the start, the stop and start sections. They were playing regularly between 68 and 70. And I don't know if you know, Mose Allison is like a jazz artist. So to start the record off with this. We've all been young and angry and felt misunderstood at some point, and I channeled most of mine through comedy and music. Did the arts come at the time in your life as well, or did you have some tough times in processing that you youthful confusion before making your way into acting?
- [34:26]
Michael Shannon
Oh, no, I found acting pretty. Pretty early on. Yeah. Yeah, when I was just. Yeah, just starting out in high school pretty much. Yeah, is when I started fooling around with it. But I. I had started with music prior to that. Actually. I started playing music before ever did theater, whatnot. You know, I started on piano like. Like you do. And then. And then I was in the orchestra. I played the bass in the orchestra and then eventually I played the bass in jazz band. Both the. The double bass, stand up bass and also the bass guitar and jazz band. Yeah.
- [35:10]
Josh Adam Myers
What. What. How many bands were you in before you, like, I mean, and obviously you're in one now and. But like, were you in the high school bands? Not like the high school band, like, you know, the. With the teacher and were you like in the garage bands and.
- [35:24]
Michael Shannon
Yeah, I had. I had a band when I was junior in high school. I was in a band called Jehovah's Suspects.
- [35:34]
Josh Adam Myers
Nice.
- [35:36]
Michael Shannon
We played four songs. We could play. We played Give Me Three Steps.
- [35:45]
Josh Adam Myers
Nice. Nice.
- [35:46]
Michael Shannon
Communication Breakdown. Hey Joe. And then I wrote a song. I wrote a song called the Armadillo Song. I wrote that when I was 15 and I played it. Eventually I played it. I believe there's on YouTube you can see me playing it on the Seth Meyer Show. Oh, yeah, our repertoire. We had four songs.
- [36:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Armadillo song. Dude, that rules. Why Armadillo? Just. Is it like you just. You're fascinated by them?
- [36:18]
Michael Shannon
It was what I felt like at the time. I felt like an Armada Armadillo. It was an autobiographical. Yes, I. I think, you know, back to your earlier point of dealing with the. The monstrosity of being a teenager. That was my chosen spirit animal. Armadillo. Yes.
- [36:41]
Josh Adam Myers
I love it. I love it. All right. The Substitute. This is the first. This is the first who original on the record, and it's their 1966 single. All of the originals are from before Tommy. It deals, like we said, with the imposter Syndrome, presumably about Peter's frustration at being sold to the pop music world as a mod by his managers. The lick was Pete trying to emulate Keith Richards riff on the Rolling Stones 19th Nervous Breakdown, and the title was inspired by Smokey Robinson's line, although she may be cute, she's just a substitute. From the miracles 1965 hit the tracks of My Tears hey everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in bands my whole life. I love writing songs and performing in front of crowds, just like with comedy. As a musician, it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us? But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service that brings your sound to the masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, and many more. What's Deezer? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know all that. That's like the holy grail of streaming services though. And getting paid. They want to we want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand, and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too, to generate your own Spotify Canvas for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid Kid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it. Listeners of this show can get 30% off their first year by going to distrokid.com VIP the 500 that's distrokid.com VIP the500 for 30% off your first year. Dig it it.
- [39:38]
Michael Shannon
You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.
- [39:50]
Josh Adam Myers
Thoughts on the song. What do you love? You know, what sticks out to you? Anything.
- [39:58]
Michael Shannon
It's just such a satisfying riff.
- [40:01]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [40:02]
Michael Shannon
And again, it sums up this thing I was talking about earlier. Because in one sense, if you just look at it lyrically, it's kind of just like. It's a rather docile kind of gripe. I mean, it's not about, like, a world war or some, you know, Satan or something like that. It's just somebody kind of. Kind of being mildly. This. This hap. Unhappy about things.
- [40:40]
Josh Adam Myers
But.
- [40:41]
Michael Shannon
But the ferocity of the music is. It seems like a. Like there's a giant event happening. So it's this dichotomy of this massive music. Like, I always. A lot of times when I listen to music, I can't help myself. I imagine, like, what kind of film the music would be scoring or, like, imagine a song playing over a trailer for a movie. And I was doing that with substitutes this morning, and it just seemed like it would be, like, the most frenetic, like some sort of actiony, like, situation. But then you listen to the lyrics and they're really kind of. Do you see the point I'm making out?
- [41:36]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, completely, yeah.
- [41:38]
Michael Shannon
Full discrepancy there. But I think that's. They just have such a phenomenal sense of humor. I think the who has one of the best senses. Senses of humor in the history of rock and roll, bar not what makes you.
- [41:54]
Josh Adam Myers
What. What, like. Yeah, explain that. Like, what do you. When, you know, did it. Did the. The. The smashing of the guitars? Is it Keith Moon? I mean, Pete Townsend seems like such a. I mean, I've. I mean, the first time I. I have a friend who's a bass player, a very famous bass player, told Wilkenfeld, and I'm going over to her house to hang out, and. And she's like, I'm on the phone with Pete Townsend. She's like, just give me a second. Okay. And then she's talking. They're talking about, like, Vedanta, which is this old, you know, like, religion that predates, like, Buddhism. And. And they're. They're having this deep conversation. So, you know, that he's, like, a very grounded individual, you know, and. And open. So, like, what. What do you find so humorous?
- [42:34]
Michael Shannon
Well, first of all, just Daughtery's Persona throughout. And. And as he's kind of like the master of ceremonies, he just seems, like, very. He seems very joyous he seems very happy. He doesn't. And the danger of the music doesn't, it doesn't feel like forced or contrived or like they're trying to intimidate you. If anything, they're inviting you into the music. And, and the force of it is, it's like, oh, sorry, we can't help it. That's. This is. Yeah, that's just who we are. But we're, but we. You know, at least on the expanded version I've been listening to, they, they're cracking jokes the, the whole time, you know. Now I also, you know, I would, I would hasten to point out they're all four distinct individuals. And sure, it's not. They have a, a group mind. And a lot of what these hall of Fame bands kind of thrive on the, the tension and the differences of the personalities between the members. But, but, you know, I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth. That's a funny line. That's like a joke, you know. Yeah, Substitute my Coke for Jen. Like, these are like. This isn't what you're typically hearing in a rock and roll song, you know, it's either about like, you know, and don't get me wrong, there's no shortage of sex in the who's music, but it's usually something a little bit more hot blooded. You know what I mean? It's like, or, or, you know, or, or if you listen like Black Sabbath, it's like, imagine if the lyrics to War Pigs were about like making a sandwich or something.
- [44:27]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, yeah, that's.
- [44:29]
Michael Shannon
That's what I'm getting at.
- [44:31]
Josh Adam Myers
I dig it. I dig it. Going off of the thing about Pete, about Pete Townsend and, and trying to break away, feeling, dealing with the imposter syndrome that he dealt with. Have you ever been in a professional situation where you felt imposter syndrome? I mean, you've worked on so many incredible films with, in plays with so many incredible people, you know, has there ever been a moment you're like, looking around, you're like, I shouldn't be here.
- [44:55]
Michael Shannon
One of my all time, all time top five favorite movies is Being There. And I often refer to myself as, as Chauncey Gardner. I am Chauncey Gardner. I just show up and people say, you know, okay, be in the movie. Go in front of the camera. And it's a little, like, it's a little disingenuous, I guess, to say that because I have done a lot of work over the years and I've, I've studied what I do. And, and it's not like I show up unprepared or just on a whim, but I still identify so much with that character of just. Of just showing up. And sometimes I was saying this recently to somebody. If. If I look back at all the things I've done, all the. The work, you know, my. I guess, you know, my IMDb page or whatever, and I look at the list of all this stuff, I'm like, I didn't do all that. How the hell did I do all that? I don't remember doing all that. You know, there's no way that that's even possible. And it's not like you feel like, you know, you accumulate necessarily. It's a weird thing, I say. Acting isn't something that you necessarily get better at the longer you do it.
- [46:26]
Josh Adam Myers
Really?
- [46:27]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. Sometimes you don't, you know, and it's, it's. It's not like a straight line trajectory. It's like you have to be vigilant all the time. I mean, and you hear that in music. I mean, how many, how many acts, bands where you listen to their later records, you're like, yeah, that's okay. But I really liked. I really liked the first one. You know what I mean?
- [46:52]
Josh Adam Myers
To get lazy.
- [46:54]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. Or maybe. Or you get. Or you lose your connection to, like, the real world.
- [46:59]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [47:00]
Michael Shannon
So cloistered in this environment of being an artist. And you forget, like, whatever scummy little neighborhood you came from when you were a kid and you've spent too long, you know, driving around a limousine, snorting coke or whatever. Not that I.
- [47:17]
Josh Adam Myers
Lose your edge.
- [47:19]
Michael Shannon
Well, you just said.
- [47:20]
Josh Adam Myers
Mike, do I have to say this is not exactly what you said, but Keith Moon, apparently on this track in particular, we have this note, became paranoid, insisting that it wasn't him drumming when they were listening to a recording of the song Substitute.
- [47:35]
Michael Shannon
Oh, wow. Yeah.
- [47:38]
Josh Adam Myers
He said the band had gone behind his back and got another drummer. So John Entwistle had to. Had to say his paranoia is ridiculous. And then on the recording, it says you can hear Keith screaming as he's doing a fill on the recording. So that's the big energy. But, man, Keith Moon, talk about big personalities. That's. Oh, yeah, legendary.
- [48:01]
Michael Shannon
Well, he can. Yeah, there's some people that just can't fit inside themselves, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [48:09]
Josh Adam Myers
Move on to Summertime blues. So this 1958 Eddie Cochran song would have been something the who and a bunch of other garage bands would have played in their early days. Although the sludge rock band Blue Cheer Had a hit with their unique version of it in 1967. This was the first single from the album and the only hit that they had that Pete didn't write. And the who made it their own as well. Thoughts on the song we love? You know, it's. It's probably, in my opinion, one of the. The most, you know, like, not popular outside of theirs, but they played. But it's like. It's one of my favorites on this.
- [48:46]
Michael Shannon
I just love Entwistle's recitation of the lines when he uses that really deep voice, that deep, scary voice. It's so funny. But, yeah, I mean, I think it's. It just feels like this song. It feels like, what's the thing when you. When you need to revive somebody? Like, somebody's maybe perhaps taking too much of. Of a certain substance. It's like a narcam.
- [49:21]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [49:22]
Michael Shannon
Just every time I hear this song, I just, like, snap, too, you know, it's like, just. It's just astonishing how much energy, how much energy this band manifests. It's like. It feels like the ocean or something. It feels like that powerful. And it's a situation where I'm almost like, I can't believe there's just four of them. And yet if you break it down and you listen to it, it's like, well, there's the bass. There's guitar, drums. Yeah, there's. That's four parts. Like, there's no tuba. There's no xylophone. It's. That's what it is. But it feels like music that's made by, like, an army of people that are, like, going to take over your town or something. But it's just. It's just four of them.
- [50:17]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [50:21]
Michael Shannon
I'm like, I don't understand. And there's a lot of singers like this in Ryan. I mean, you could say the same thing of Robert Plant, but you're like, how does that guy, like, talk between songs? Like, you. You expect the song to end in him to be like, thank you for coming tonight. Like, he can just make sounds like that. And then. And then. And then act like nothing happened. It just blows my mind.
- [50:50]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. I want to do something really light with this. We're talking about Summertime Blues. What's the shittiest job you ever had? Pre Acting or, you know, or even acting, if you know, like.
- [51:01]
Michael Shannon
Well, there was one summer where I worked at a Taco Bell.
- [51:05]
Josh Adam Myers
Yes.
- [51:08]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. I was the. I was the meat and Bean kid. They didn't want me dealing with the public, so they had me in the back and I'd make the meat and the beans for the store. And I. When I went home, I smelled like the meat and the meat ever not smell that way. So eventually I quit the job.
- [51:39]
Josh Adam Myers
Nice.
- [51:40]
Michael Shannon
And then the smell, eventually, a couple of years later, went away.
- [51:44]
Josh Adam Myers
Dig it. Dig it. All right.
- [51:46]
Michael Shannon
Yeah.
- [51:47]
Josh Adam Myers
Shaking all over, written by Johnny Kid. This rocker is about the feeling you get near a great looking girl. It's basically about getting a boner. Huge hit in England. Didn't make a dent elsewhere until Chad Allen and the Expressions. It recorded the song in 65, arranged similarly to the original, but the chorus line was slowed down for effect. And there's a jam session obviously in the middle. You know, I want to speak of shaking things up a little bit. Like, you've been touring complete REM Tributes to specific records for the last couple years. How did that come about? And. And do you specifically block out acting roles during these tours or, like, how did it start?
- [52:31]
Michael Shannon
This is just. The whole genesis of this thing is just dumb luck. It's nothing. It kind of. It's like a bridge that's been building itself as we cross it. Me and this fella, Jason Narducci, every once in a while in Chicago, we'll get together and we'll. We'll just learn an album and play the album. He'll put the band together because he knows a bunch of amazing musicians, and he will pick a record and they'll say, oh, I think it should be these people. He calls them up, we get a venue, we play the record. And he literally. He called me, I guess this was. Yeah, 23. 20, 23. He said, hey, Mike, we haven't done a record in a while. You want to do one? And I said, okay, what are you thinking? And he said, well, it's the 40th anniversary of Murmur this year. And I said, oh, I. I really love that record. Okay. And then he said, you know, oh. And I said, I said, we need to play it at Metro. Metro is this menu in Chicago that's like my favorite, one of my favorite clubs on Earth. And. But he was worried that Metro is pretty big. It's. But like, it's like a thousand capacity. And he's like, I. I don't know if we'll sell that many tickets. I was like, well, call the owner, Joe and talk about it. And Joe Shanahan, who owns Metro, said, oh, my God, it's the 40th anniversary of METRO. So it's the 40th anniversary of Merman. It's the 40th anniversary of Metro. And the first band that ever played at Metro was R.E.M.
- [54:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, wow, man.
- [54:19]
Michael Shannon
And as a matter of fact, this is a great story. At the time, Joe didn't even have Metro, but he had met a manager for REM when they were out on the road. And Joe had said, if you ever come to Chicago, let me know. I'll, I'll. I'll set you guys up. And so sure enough, this guy calls him and says, okay, we're coming to Chicago. Can we play your place? And Joe didn't even have a place, so he's like, oh. So he, I think he like rented the club that night and REM Showed up and played. So anyway, it was commemorating all of this. We showed up, we played the show. It was supposed to be a one off. It was just one show. That's it. And, and when we played it, Jason had. Had done a record with Mike Mills and, and Mike Mills showed up and, and he was just gonna watch, but he came up on stage and started singing with us.
- [55:17]
Josh Adam Myers
He's the best. Mike's the best.
- [55:19]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. And, and the show was sold out and everybody was losing their goddamn mind. And after the show we started getting all these inquiries from clubs, other places saying, hey, can we have. Which has never happened to us. We played a bunch of records and nobody had ever given a shit. Yeah, lightest. If we ever did it again. And. But for some reason it's just caught fire. And then, you know, we put together this nine show tour and we did it. And then, and then people are like, okay, what's next? And it's, it's this weird thing. Wasn't. It wasn't our design or our intention, but I mean, we love doing it.
- [56:00]
Josh Adam Myers
So.
- [56:00]
Michael Shannon
Yeah, doing it as long as people.
- [56:03]
Josh Adam Myers
If.
- [56:03]
Michael Shannon
As long as there's enough people that seem to care to come see it.
- [56:07]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, yeah, dude, it's. I watched one of the clips of you guys playing. I mean, it's incredible. And Mike is salt of the earth. Like I feel like everybody in the band just, you know, from the outside perspective is just watching them. It's like they carry themselves with such grace, even the way they've ended their careers. And they're like, no, nobody wants to see. And they're like, no, we want to see 60 year old guys where we love. Yeah, yeah, we really did try, dude. But I'll take, I'll take, I'll take you guys rocking, man. That you guys are really doing a great job with it. It's really Incredible, man. Really cool.
- [56:41]
Michael Shannon
Thank you. Well, and they, you know, they participate. You know, when we played the, the 40 watt last year, Bill Barry came up. We even got Bill Barry to come up and play. Not drums. He played a piano on Perfect Circle. And Peter came up for a number of songs. Mike's been up a bunch. I think the one person that's, I, I, I mean, I don't know, but I don't. I'm not, I'm not sure that, that Stipes ever gonna cross that threshold, but that's, you know, that's cool.
- [57:13]
Josh Adam Myers
Keep doing it. Keep doing it because you love it. And it shows in the music. It shows in the way you guys are playing. Like, it's, it's really rad, man. All right. Any thoughts on shaking up before we move over to my generation?
- [57:25]
Michael Shannon
I just. The one thing I notice particularly about that song is the reaction of the kids that are, that are listening. It's clearly the song gets the biggest response of any song in the set. That they really struck a chord with the crowd. But, yeah, I mean, I just think, I just think they're so dynamic. The way they play. It's like. And they're so tight. Like, I don't know how they remember all the changes because the song just change on a dime. And I mean, you see that particularly with the next song we're about to talk about. But, like, it's like beyond. It's like in their bones, the music, it's, it's like they're not even. They don't have to think about it. It just, it just kind of happens. Yeah.
- [58:29]
Josh Adam Myers
Yes.
- [58:29]
Michael Shannon
The kind of the penalty, the ultimate place you want to get to. Yeah.
- [58:34]
Josh Adam Myers
When you, when you, like speaking of, like, in your bones, like, when you're playing because you've played some real people like, that have existed. George Jones, you know, Elvis Presley, for Christ's sake. I mean, you've. The runways. I mean, Kim Fowley. Like, do you, Are you, are you, is it, is, are you using, you know, like, your instincts? How do you prepare to play a real person, Somebody that existed and has been in public awareness?
- [58:57]
Michael Shannon
Well, I mean, it's pretty dead simple, honestly. You just, you go to the source, you know, I mean, they fall into two categories. There's people that I played that are still alive and people that are dead. So the person's still alive. Like in the instance of Kim Fowley, I actually met Kim Valley and I hung out with Kim Fowley and.
- [59:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Nice.
- [59:19]
Michael Shannon
I'll never forget going to a Denny's with Kristen Stewart, Joan Jett, Kim Valley and me at a Denny's in the Valley.
- [59:31]
Josh Adam Myers
What did Joan Jett order? I gotta know. Was it. Please tell me. It was like a Mood's over Miami or something.
- [59:36]
Michael Shannon
Well, it wasn't a breakfast meeting, so it was like. It was, it was after work. I, I don't think she even got anything to eat, to be honest. But Kim shows up with these scrapbooks and I just sat there and it was kind of his day in court. He got to tell me all about himself and his life and, and yeah, I just kind of was recording that all in my mind. I mean, I didn't sit there and film them, but I was just staring at him like, okay, who you are. And somebody like, you know, if it's George or Elvis, they're incredibly well documented, so there's lots of footage to study. I was very lucky when I was playing Elvis, I had access to. Because his friend Jerry, who is in the movie is a character that Alex Pettifer is playing Jerry Schilling. He gave me a CD of an interview that Elvis had done that that wasn't even. Hadn't been. It was. I think it was meant for a documentary, but they didn't use it. So it was an interview that like.
- [61:01]
Josh Adam Myers
Nobody else has ever seen.
- [61:03]
Michael Shannon
Yeah, it was just a CD just to audio. And I, I listened to that all the time. Just same way when I'm getting ready for like these, these REM shows, I just listen to the, listen to the music or listen to the interview over and over and over again. Think about it, you know, same thing. When I did the Iceman, you know, I did what anybody else would have done. I got those interviews he did on hbo and I watched him, I read the book. You know, it's just like, you know, doing a project at school or something. You're just trying to get as much.
- [61:37]
Josh Adam Myers
Do the research.
- [61:38]
Michael Shannon
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [61:39]
Josh Adam Myers
Do the research. All right. My generation, dude. This is, this is the song, bro. This is this A magic bus closing out the, the six song record. You know, it's probably one of their biggest, you know, songs. I mean, thoughts on it. Thoughts on this 15 minute rendition of it. Because it, it's, it's awesome. The long one. Yeah.
- [62:01]
Michael Shannon
I love, I love the effect that in Twistle puts on his base. The friggin bass solo is just ridiculous. I mean, I can't help it. I'm a, you know, like I said, I'm a bass player. And I remember, I remember when I was a kid, people talking about.
- [62:19]
Josh Adam Myers
The.
- [62:20]
Michael Shannon
The solo of my generation. And talking about Entwistle as being. For me, it was. It was Entwistle, and it was. It's. It's a. It's a tie. It's a photo finish. N. Twizzle and John Paul Jones.
- [62:32]
Josh Adam Myers
Nice.
- [62:32]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. And I know this isn't the record we're talking about, but when I heard what is and what should never be of Zeppelin 2, I thought, that's the best bass playing I've ever heard in my life. But. But Entwistle on My Generation is. Is.
- [62:48]
Josh Adam Myers
It's.
- [62:48]
Michael Shannon
Like I said, it's. It's neck and neck. But I love, like, the first time it goes into the medley, when it goes into See Me, Feel Me, it's so. That's what I was talking about earlier is just that ability to just. You know, nobody's up there with, like, sheet music saying, oh, it's bar 25, we're gonna do this. You know, they just. It's. It's like magic the way they do it. They're so in sync with one another. And I. It makes me. You know, the thing about this record is, like, I want to see it. Like, I want to be able to see what they're doing because there must have been so much visual communication going on. I can't imagine how much. How else they could do that, you know, just so effortlessly bend and change the music like that.
- [63:43]
Josh Adam Myers
I. There's a clip. I'm pretty sure it's. It's of the recording of them doing the next song, Magic Bus. And it's really rad watching because one. It's like, Roger is just gorgeous. I mean, it's. He's the coolest. He's probably ever looked. They're so tight. You can. They look like they're having fun. Yeah. I had found it earlier when I was doing research and you were saying, too. It's just like. It looks. Literally looks like they're in, like. Almost like a. Like a large cafeteria.
- [64:08]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. Yeah.
- [64:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they sound great. I'm telling you. This is like. This is like peak Roger, he's. He's such a rock star. And Magic Bus, I mean, this is just, you know, such a great song and such a great way to close out the record. Yeah, you put the. Put the audio on for a second, Jerry, so you can get a little bit of it to get it. I mean, I would just love to be watching this live. I mean, you're. You're getting them at the peak of. Of their. Their Fame. They've been playing together for years. They're. They're just the. Like, you said that. And, yeah, the energy, just like. They're. It's a bomb. You're, like, waiting for it to explode, and. And they're just. It's just a long explosion.
- [65:10]
Michael Shannon
But the best part of Magic Buzz is the way it starts. This sticks. You know what I mean?
- [65:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, that's.
- [65:20]
Michael Shannon
That's like one of the most badass things I've ever heard in my life, is that.
- [65:25]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, dude.
- [65:27]
Michael Shannon
But it's funny because.
- [65:30]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, it's another just long jam that features that Bo Diddley beat we've talked about on this podcast for years. The version was fee. The ver. This version was featured near the end of Scorsese's Goodfellas and at the beginning of Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire. You've worked with both of those writers and directors, as well as so many other legends who've driven the bus, so to speak, if you have to jump on. If there was another magic bus that you could work with another director, is there anybody like that you would love to be able to. To be a passenger with?
- [66:04]
Michael Shannon
Well, unfortunately, the director I most, most longingly wanted to work with in my heart just passed away. Mr. David Lynch. I really wanted to work with him, but I love his work so much. But I did get to meet him a couple of times, and for that I'm very grateful. But, like, yeah, in terms of, you know, I, like most actors, would be curious to work with Paul Thomas Anderson at some point, if that's ever a possibility. I'd love to work with Scorsese again or, like, in a film.
- [66:51]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, sure.
- [66:52]
Michael Shannon
Because, you know, he only did the pilot for Boardwalk Empire. And then there's. I mean, I really have been fortunate to work with a lot of the directors that I. That I would have wanted to work with. I guess I've worked with the great Guillermo del Toro. I would love to work with some of his compatriots in a Ritu or Cuaron or. You know, that would be nice. I'm trying to think who else. I mean, there's. I'd like to work with, you know, one of the most significant working relationships in my life, at least in film, is. Is with Jeff Nichols. And when I met Jeff Nichols, he was just out of film school, so I'd love to meet the next Jeff Nick, you know, somebody who has, you know, I. I love being around for the start of things, you know. Sure. The being a barnacle on the boat of Somebody who's already halfway across the ocean, you know? Sure, yeah.
- [68:01]
Josh Adam Myers
If. Let me ask you a question, because I know we got to get you out of here, but it's like, you work with so many great actors and directors and producers. Like, what's the best advice anybody's given you? Whether it's about the career, whether it's about your instrument, you know, or just. Even if it's just a throwaway, like, you know, something that just stuck with you. And who said it?
- [68:23]
Michael Shannon
You know, there's. I've been doing this over 35 years. I've heard a lot of people say a lot of things, but the one thing I think, because it's funny, I was actually. I was at a restaurant the other night. I was having dinner by myself, and I was sitting next to this young couple who started talking to me. And they were both actors, too, and they. And they said, you know, neither one of them were working, and they were kind of frustrated, and they're like, what do you do when you're not working? Like, what do you do all day? What are your, you know, what are your hobbies or whatever? I'm like, I don't know. I don't really have any hobbies. And they're like, well, what should we do? Because we're not working, we don't know what to do. I said, read, read. And the person who told me that was Werner Herzog. Werner Herzog said, if you don't know what to do, read, read a book. That's the best thing you can do. And I think that's very sound advice. And particularly in this day and age.
- [69:22]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [69:23]
Michael Shannon
To not. You know, it's so easy now with the. No offense, I know we're on a technological platform here, but to. To forget about. To forget about that, because there's so much stimulus all the time. And, and that's really. That's really where I've, over the years, learned the most and grown the most, is from. From doing that. So I know it's not super sexy or anything, but that's what it is.
- [69:56]
Josh Adam Myers
I dig it, dude. I mean, I, I. The written word. I completely agree with you. Can you. Do you have a Werner Herzog impersonation of having him say, not worth the.
- [70:10]
Michael Shannon
Thing. I can get to a Werner Herzog impersonation. So I've done three movies with him. The last one was called Salt and Fire, and we were down in Bolivia shooting his film. And it was me and a German actress named Veronica Ferris. And it was a story where I, like, Kidnap her character. And I'm holding her. She's not. At this point in the film, she's like, why. Why have you done this? And it's the first time I'm talking to her since I kidnapped her. And so we do the scene, and Verner's in the other room behind the door. Annie, we finished the scene. He opens. He opens the door, and he comes in and he stares at us, and he says, that was quite lame. That was quite lame. I'd never gotten that note from a director before. Deflating, debilitating I'd ever gotten in my life.
- [71:19]
Josh Adam Myers
I love it. I love it. All right, let's get you out of here. Let's do the final songs. Well, thoughts on. On just the. You know, do we already get your. Your thoughts on. On Magic Buzz? I think we kind of did, you know, but I mean, just. What a. What a rad song. I mean, what a killer way to end this record. And. And, you know, you really. You really feel like. Like they did the job that they were setting in to do, which is to show the world that they're not these. They're not these. They're artists. But it's like, dude, we can still kick in the dick. Like, we still can rock.
- [71:56]
Michael Shannon
Yeah. One day went on to do you know, who's Next? You know, it's interesting because I feel like towards the end, I think it's a magic buzz. I was singing this. I was listening to it. You can hear Won't Get Pulled Again here. Like, the. The foundation of Won't Get Pulled Again, and that. That's what's coming with who's Next. You know, that they're. That return that they're. You know, this is kind of the. The. The clover leaf that they're. They're getting on to go back to. I guess I don't want to say go back to where they were, because everything's a step forward, but. But it was just so fascinating. I was like, roger Daltrey could literally start singing Meet the New Boss over what they're playing right now, and it would be the same. But I don't. I don't even know if they were aware of that when they were playing it. It's either towards the end of Magic Buzz, I think it's towards the end of Magic Buzz, or my generation, but I think it's towards the end of Magic Bus. I was thinking that when I. On my way over here when I was listening to it.
- [73:04]
Josh Adam Myers
Anyway. All right, let's do the final questions. We'll get you out of here. By the way, I'm. You guys are playing in Brooklyn. I'm gonna come to see you guys when you. Really, really stoked to catch you guys live. I mean, from the podcast. I was always a fan of REM And a fan of yours, but it's like, from doing this podcast. Same with the who. I mean, I. You know, I. Beatles, the Stones, the Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd. Like the who, for some reason, never. Like, I knew Bob O'Reilly and it. But it wasn't until I got to dig into the records, and now even digging into this, is that where you really find the love for the band? And the same thing, like I said with REM it was like I. I knew the hits, but really the hits aren't the good stuff, man. The stuff that's in those records, like those. Those. Those. The deeper cuts, that's where RM is great.
- [73:52]
Michael Shannon
So, you know, a lot of people, they kind of like. People love Murmur, and they love Reckoning with Fables of Reconstruction. Some people start to fall off. They're like, oh, yeah, that one. I. Life's rich pageant for me. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, yeah, this record is astonishing. Like, and it's. I think it's one of the most complex, moody records that. That they've made. And I don't know, the. The thought that. That anybody would kind of step over it or something is very, very strange to me.
- [74:31]
Josh Adam Myers
Completely. Completely. All right, back to live. At least, what's your favorite song on this record out of the six? I know it's.
- [74:44]
Michael Shannon
It's tough because I did. I've been listening to extended version. I have to say. They play Fortune Teller on the extended version, and it's freaking amazing because. And I love that song Fortune Teller, and I love the Rolling Stones version of Fortune Teller. It's actually like one of my favorite early Stone songs. And. And. And when I hear the who say, well, we're about to play Fortune Teller, and they even say, before they play it, they say, now the rolling. Probably heard the Rolling Stones play a song, and you've heard these people play some, but we're gonna play it. And then they play it, and it's. I'm like, well, how different can it be? I mean, it's four. Four Fortune Teller, blah, blah, blah. And it's like a whole. It's like, what? Like, that's the song. Like, And. And. And the fact. There's something so ballsy about saying up front, we're gonna play this old chestnut that The Rolling Stones, you know, made famous. But, like, they're not. They're not embarrassed or ashamed or scared about. They're like. But we're, you know, when we play it, we're gonna play it our way, you know, And I know that's kind of cheating because it's not on the version that we're talking about right now, but if you haven't heard it, you. You should hear it. You should hear whose version. A Fortune Teller. It is on the expanded version. And then there's a super expanded version which is even longer. I mean, one of my favorite things, frankly, on this record is on the expanded version, the introduction to a quick one, because Roger Daldry does this whole, like, stand up comedy routine that goes on for like three minutes. And he's really funny, but it's really kind of naughty and kind of disturbing too, because they're talking about like, you know, rape and stuff like that. But anyway, yeah, you should check that out. But if I had to pick just off what we're talking about here, I definitely think. I think that my generation medley is. Is. Is astonishing, like I said, just because it's so. It's like alchemy, you know, it's like. It's like some cauldron and there's bubbles coming up to the top and the bubbles pop and these different songs kind of come out like vapor, you know, and love that. And it's. It's just really. I'm. I'm quite a fan of the, the. I like some people, like two minute pop songs. I. I like the long jams, like.
- [77:15]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, dude. Yeah.
- [77:17]
Michael Shannon
I'm a. I'm a Deadhead.
- [77:20]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, dig it. Dig it. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Another band that I got into from this podcast, and I've done three yet. We did, we did. We had. I think we had. We had Al Franken. We had Senator Al Franken on. And then there's a comic named Phil Hanley that is obsessed and a good friend of mine. And it's just like, he came on. It was cool too, because we made, I think the last one, which was, which was. Was it Live Dead? Is that. Is that. Is that one? I'm. Yeah, so we did that, but we also added. We did half of that. And then we also did a record that's not on the podcast that he loved, which was the Cornell show. We did that Cornell show. And it's great. Dude, somebody knitted. I want to go get it here. Hold on. Stereo. It's right here. But there's somebody. A Fan of a fan of ours knitted this because I always. You'll know when I asked the last. The last question to you. Hold on. Yeah, we'll let you run here because I know.
- [78:15]
Michael Shannon
That's all right. What number is this specifically? 170.
- [78:21]
Josh Adam Myers
170. Counting down to one. So because the, the next question I'm going to ask you is can you to this record. And so one of the. One of the people wrote. Made this, this, this art. It says in this house we a Cornell 5-8-1977. Yeah, it's. It's so rad. So off of that.
- [78:46]
Michael Shannon
Oh yeah, you bet you. Yeah, I would imagine. Although I don't know but you might feel a little. There's so many people. A live record. There's something weird about to a live record. Every once in a while we're a bunch of college kids. Cheer on display. Yeah. But music, the music's hyper sexual.
- [79:16]
Josh Adam Myers
Very, very sexual. What would be. I think you've kind of already said if you had to sum up this record. It's your elevator pitch to get someone to listen to it.
- [79:27]
Michael Shannon
Oh dear Lord.
- [79:28]
Josh Adam Myers
I know.
- [79:32]
Michael Shannon
This will wake you up.
- [79:39]
Josh Adam Myers
You're 100, right?
- [79:40]
Michael Shannon
Yeah.
- [79:41]
Josh Adam Myers
Michael, what do you have coming up? Promote away. Anything you want to promote. We'll do it at the beginning, in the end as well. But.
- [79:48]
Michael Shannon
Well, I directed a movie called Eric Larue and It's coming out April 4th, so keep an eye out for that. Eric Larue starring Judy Greer and Alexander Skarsgard, my directorial debut. And what else? I made a movie called Nuremberg that'll come out probably in the fall. And then I did something for Netflix called Death by Lightning which is like a four part miniseries. I'm not sure when that's coming up, but they're working, working on it. They're editing it right now. So.
- [80:25]
Josh Adam Myers
Dude, I know how. I know how busy you are. I, you know, thank you so much for coming on, man. We'd love to have you back when we got an RM record or whatever, but dude, this was awesome.
- [80:34]
Michael Shannon
My pleasure.
- [80:35]
Josh Adam Myers
What did I tell you? What did I tell you? The one and only Michael Shannon. Follow him on all social media at official Michael Shannon and watch his movies. The guy is one of the best people in the business. Now we just listened to live at leads by the who for new music this week brought to you in part by Distrokid, is Patch of Blue by Frog Belly and Symphony. And you can find links to the music on our website, the 500podcast.com and if you were in a band or were directly influenced by one of these albums or artists and you want your music Featured on the 500, send us your song to 500podcastmail.com make sure you put the album and artists that influenced you in the subject line. Next week it's Bob Marley and the Whalers as we go deep into exodus from 1977. Dig into it, listen to the record, do your homework. Stay fleecy sky is new Focus Eyes on one time now don't blink it disrupts what we see Stay focused Battle shift Intricate all one time this is it Stay focus on one time finally.
- [82:24]
Michael Shannon
One get time.
- [82:40]
Josh Adam Myers
Luxury conventional icicle the cult of community Better than a body.
- [82:51]
Michael Shannon
Washing the SL off your shirt the.
- [82:54]
Josh Adam Myers
Tails are just badly the recipe for impertinence the bending of your knee is new thought Focus one more time it disrupts what we see.
- [83:58]
Michael Shannon
Intricate you're aging too fast and pointlessness Resemblance to an.
- [85:06]
Josh Adam Myers
Air firing a volley from the cannons.
- [85:12]
Michael Shannon
Of the knee and here's your moment.
- [85:16]
Josh Adam Myers
Of clarity Shackled to a tree.
- [85:35]
Michael Shannon
The.
- [85:36]
Josh Adam Myers
500 keeping it flee for the fleece.
- [85:44]
Michael Shannon
Nation.
- [85:47]
Josh Adam Myers
On the 500 the 500 for the ones who get it done the most important part is the one you need now and the best partner is the one who can deliver. That's why millions of maintenance and repair pros trust Grainger because we have professional grade supplies for every industry, even hard to find products. And we have same day pickup and next day delivery on most orders. But most importantly, we have an unwavering commitment to help keep you up and running. Call click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
- [86:30]
Michael Shannon
Hey everyone, this is Tuck from Fit for a King, an off road minivan. Every week I bring you fun interviews alongside your favorite metalcore entertainers with my new podcast Get Tucked. Join me every Monday with bands like Counterparts, Crystal Lake, Like Mods to Flames, and many more. We play unsigned and undiscovered bands, deep dive into each artist's history and of course provide the greatest breakdowns in current metal corps. Tune in to Get Tucked every Monday. Out now through Sound Talent Media Next Chapter Podcast.