Speaker 1: So, how is January in this New Year three treating
Speaker 1: you so far? My friend? Did it start with a bang?
Speaker 1: Did you stay up all night on New Year's Eve?
Speaker 1: Did you have a party? Did it start with a
Speaker 1: purr or in my case a snore. I was just
Speaker 1: getting over the stomach flu, so I was in bed early.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you're having trouble getting it started at all.
Speaker 1: Are you sticking to some resolutions, maybe following through on
Speaker 1: some good intentions. Maybe, like me, you're just trying to
Speaker 1: make the most of each day. I am trying to
Speaker 1: be emotionally present in each and every day, and I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to some upcoming events, maybe a few things
Speaker 1: that you have circled on the calendar. Maybe this is
Speaker 1: one of those days that you're listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1: It's certainly one of those days for me because I
Speaker 1: get to speak to a rock icon. John Oates is
Speaker 1: half of the best selling duo of all time, Hall
Speaker 1: of Oates, Darryl Hall and John Oates. I met them
Speaker 1: decades ago. But did you know he's also an accomplished
Speaker 1: solo artist. Did you know he's a member of the
Speaker 1: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the American Songwriters Hall
Speaker 1: of fame, a recipient of numerous industry awards, has multiple
Speaker 1: Grammy nominations under his guitar strap, and as a hell
Speaker 1: of a nice guy. Since partnering with Darryl Hall in
Speaker 1: the early seventies, there twenty one albums have sold over
Speaker 1: eighty million albums, making them the most successful duo in
Speaker 1: rock history. They've scored ten ten number one records over
Speaker 1: twenty top forty hits. They've toured the world over and
Speaker 1: over many times over the last four decades. Their involvement
Speaker 1: in the original Live Aid and That We Are the
Speaker 1: World Charity recording established them as legendary artist and very charitable.
Speaker 1: John Oates embarked on a solo career back in He
Speaker 1: has since recorded seven solo albums with The Good Road Band.
Speaker 1: In addition, his seventeen autobiography Change of Season became an
Speaker 1: Amazon bestseller. Today, we're gonna be talking about his most
Speaker 1: recent release. It is a single and I just listened
Speaker 1: to it before I came into the studio. I listened
Speaker 1: to it a couple of times over the last week,
Speaker 1: and then I listened to it again just a minute ago.
Speaker 1: It's called Pushing a Rock, and we're going to catch
Speaker 1: up with John Oates and what he has planned for
Speaker 1: this new year. And I want to talk specifically about
Speaker 1: this song because when I listened to the lyrics of it,
Speaker 1: it seems so apropos for the times we are living
Speaker 1: in right now, pushing a rock. So that is what
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about. First, I'm going to shine
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Speaker 1: Hi John Oates, it's been a while since we spoke. Welcome.
Speaker 1: I know it's been forever, but I do have to
Speaker 1: thank you because because of you and darryl Uh, I
Speaker 1: got a dog that was a part of my family
Speaker 1: and then part of my godson's family for decades. I
Speaker 1: came to see you at a show and when I
Speaker 1: left the parking lot, somebody had dumped a dog there. Well, um,
Speaker 1: so okay, so we ended up taking it, seeing if
Speaker 1: it was Chip, putting up signs. Nobody claimed it, so
Speaker 1: Freckles was a part of our family for many years,
Speaker 1: which didn't A couple of things brought a lot of
Speaker 1: of a number two. Every time I would look at Freckles,
Speaker 1: I would think of the great time I had at
Speaker 1: your show. Awesome, Well that's that's great. You deliver so
Speaker 1: much energy on sta age. Well, well we've we've been
Speaker 1: doing it a long time, so uh yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: been quite a ride. How many years, oh more than fifty,
Speaker 1: believe it or not. That's amazing. And you look found crazy.
Speaker 1: Are you still up in the Seattle area? I am.
Speaker 1: I am. I'm in the basement of my home, which
Speaker 1: is only seven miles outside of Seattle as the crow flies,
Speaker 1: but the crow has to fly over water, and so
Speaker 1: it's like it feels like it's a million miles away.
Speaker 1: I got When I try to get my family or
Speaker 1: anybody to come to the farm, they're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: gotta ride the ferry or drive around. So you gotta
Speaker 1: drive seventy five miles to come to my house. If
Speaker 1: you drive around, well, it's a beautiful area, that's that's
Speaker 1: for sure. And he is where it's home for you.
Speaker 1: We just how we were in Colorado for the last
Speaker 1: month and we just literally flew back last night. We're
Speaker 1: back in Nashville now. So we divide our time between
Speaker 1: Nashville and our house in Colorado. Not not bad areas
Speaker 1: to divide your time. It's lane, you know. I think
Speaker 1: we picked two good spots. Yeah. So are you a skier? Yes,
Speaker 1: I've been a skier for my whole life, since I've
Speaker 1: been a kid. But I've kind of I've dropped. I've
Speaker 1: dropped off going down the mountain. Now now I just
Speaker 1: do cross country skiing. I love it. I've I've I've
Speaker 1: kind of got hooked on skate skiing, Nordic skate skiing,
Speaker 1: and that's what I do and I just stay fit
Speaker 1: that way and I don't get I don't hit a tree,
Speaker 1: I don't get hit by a wild twenty year old snowboarder.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so that's a good thing. Wow. I didn't
Speaker 1: try the Nordic skate skis, but I tried cross country
Speaker 1: skiing a few times with some very fit friends. Were like, oh, dear,
Speaker 1: you're gonna love this. This is great, such a great workout.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, what is great about this? I'm dying.
Speaker 1: I am dying. It's strenuous, but once you you kind
Speaker 1: of get over the hump, it's, um, it's a fantastic
Speaker 1: I mean you can go out for thirty minutes and
Speaker 1: you just get the most amazing workout in the world.
Speaker 1: Your lungs, your legs, your arms, your shoulders. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's great. I never got over the humps because
Speaker 1: you have to work at it a bit. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was dying. I like to put on the skis
Speaker 1: I haven't done it in a few years, and then
Speaker 1: go really fast downhill's realizing at any moment I could die.
Speaker 1: And that's why I don't go on the mountain anymore,
Speaker 1: because of people like you, like yeah, who like to
Speaker 1: go really fast and have no control whatsoever. So it's like, uh,
Speaker 1: it's that adrenaline rush. Yeah, well I used to love it.
Speaker 1: I've skid. I skied my whole life. So but now
Speaker 1: now it's a My new philosophy is my life is
Speaker 1: my My goal is to go out walking. That's a
Speaker 1: good goal. That's a lofty goal. It's simple, but it's
Speaker 1: very simple, and I probably will go out walking. I
Speaker 1: will probably be walking, step on a rake that hits
Speaker 1: my head, you know, fall over, Like I'm sure I'm
Speaker 1: going to have a non glorious exit when God calls
Speaker 1: me home. Well, I hope not. I hope. I wrote.
Speaker 1: I wrote a book and in it I said, I'm
Speaker 1: not afraid of being dead. I'm not afraid of death
Speaker 1: at all. It's the getting their process that doesn't thrill me.
Speaker 1: I understand. Uh No, we want to do a podcast
Speaker 1: John Oates about you, about your amazing music, about your
Speaker 1: new song, which I've listened to a couple of times,
Speaker 1: the visual with it, was very artistic, but the lyrics
Speaker 1: of it I was I was grooving on the lyrics.
Speaker 1: I had to actually stop watching the video because my
Speaker 1: brain can't concentrate on two things like that at once.
Speaker 1: To listen to the lyrics. Well, good, I'm glad you
Speaker 1: listen to the lyrics. I I put a lot of
Speaker 1: f time and effort into the lyrics are very important
Speaker 1: to me. I I wanted to try to say something
Speaker 1: that was, you know, at least profound from my point
Speaker 1: of view, and also something that was very heartfelt and
Speaker 1: of the moment for the type of thing that I'm
Speaker 1: kind of thinking about in my life right now. So
Speaker 1: so tell us about that and and what bri you
Speaker 1: to push in a rock Well, First of all, the
Speaker 1: gestation of the song goes way back. It goes back
Speaker 1: to two thousand fourteen. I was doing an album called
Speaker 1: Good Road to Follow, and the constant the whole theme
Speaker 1: of the album was that I was going to work
Speaker 1: with various producers and songwriters and kind of get into
Speaker 1: their heads and do something perhaps that would be something
Speaker 1: outside the musical box that I would normally do. I
Speaker 1: worked with Vince Gill and Ryan Tedder from One Republic
Speaker 1: and a young pop group and Hot Shell Ray and
Speaker 1: all and all sorts of people. And one of the
Speaker 1: people I collaborated with was Nathan Paul Chapman, who was
Speaker 1: the Taryllor Swift's original producer. He started with her when
Speaker 1: she was a teenager, and he did her original demos
Speaker 1: and got her her original contract and produced the first
Speaker 1: I least leave three or four albums for Taylor. Um
Speaker 1: but at the time I'm around to fourteen is when
Speaker 1: Taylor decided to go in a different musical direction and
Speaker 1: work with other people. And so I thought, well, that
Speaker 1: must must be a kind of a pretty traumatic thing
Speaker 1: to lose that gig, so to speak, as a producer.
Speaker 1: And I called him up and I you know, checked
Speaker 1: him out. I said, hey, man, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: He goes, I mean creative, uncharted waters. I don't know
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do. And I said, well, how about
Speaker 1: if we start by writing a song. And I went
Speaker 1: over to his house and I had this idea about struggle,
Speaker 1: about overcoming something. I didn't know what that was going
Speaker 1: to be, and I used the the old Greek myth
Speaker 1: of Sysiphus too uh to talk about the fact that
Speaker 1: you know everyone in their life has struggles. No matter
Speaker 1: where you are, who you are, your level of success
Speaker 1: or whatever, it doesn't matter. You're still gonna have to
Speaker 1: overcome something. And that was the overarching theme to the
Speaker 1: to the idea we wrote the song um and you know,
Speaker 1: I'll take full credit or responsibility for the fact that
Speaker 1: the record really didn't come out very well. I like
Speaker 1: the song, I thought the lyrics were really great, but
Speaker 1: I didn't think I did a very good job producing
Speaker 1: the actual song itself. So flash forward now to the
Speaker 1: COVID time, and I'm sitting around the house looking at
Speaker 1: old songs and figuring out what I'm gonna do, and
Speaker 1: I I stumbled back upon the original song from two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen, and I said, you know what, this lyric
Speaker 1: is so good and it's so important now. It's just
Speaker 1: as is and as pertinent and and as important now
Speaker 1: during this COVID period that even more perhaps than it
Speaker 1: was back into fourteen. So I basically rewrote the song.
Speaker 1: I just scrapped the music completely, use the words basically
Speaker 1: in in its their entirety, and rewrote the song and
Speaker 1: re recorded it. And then I called Nathan and I said, hey, man, surprise, surprise,
Speaker 1: I rewrote the song we wrote and I hope you
Speaker 1: like it, and he freaked out and he said, man,
Speaker 1: this is amazing. He said, this is how it always
Speaker 1: should have sounded. So it was really great to know
Speaker 1: that he was, you know, really on board. Um, And
Speaker 1: so now I feel really proud of the whole package,
Speaker 1: not only the lyrics but the music that accompanied. So
Speaker 1: that was like an eight year pregnancy. Yeah, I guess
Speaker 1: you could call it that, but the gestational process that
Speaker 1: took longer an elephant, I know. But the good part
Speaker 1: of that eight years is that I didn't know I
Speaker 1: was pregnant for that eight years. I didn't care about
Speaker 1: the song until I revisited it. So yeah, if I
Speaker 1: would have been you know, stewing over and marinating it
Speaker 1: for for eight years, yes, that would have been traumatic
Speaker 1: for sure. Well I did not know that back story,
Speaker 1: but when I listened to it, I thought that it
Speaker 1: was written for and about what we went through with,
Speaker 1: you know, the COVID shutdowns. So it's like it was
Speaker 1: in a way, you guys were profits, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Like, well, you know, sometimes you get a
Speaker 1: universal theme, something that transcends, uh, you know, time, and
Speaker 1: and that's what that is. You know every here again,
Speaker 1: struggle is a is a human condition that that that
Speaker 1: we all deal with and we have dealt with historically
Speaker 1: through to the beginning of time. I'm sure, uh so, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's here again. It's it was such a
Speaker 1: universal theme that um, it just needs at the right
Speaker 1: musical setting to to really bring it put it over
Speaker 1: the top. And you have been actively working I understand
Speaker 1: my notes say with November. Yes, we just finished a
Speaker 1: big promotion for in during the month of November just
Speaker 1: that recently passed. Uh yeah, Movember is a great on
Speaker 1: male health, mental health and um you know physical health
Speaker 1: organization that that it really doesn't get the the the attention.
Speaker 1: I believe that it should. Um, and they asked me
Speaker 1: to be part of it. You know. It has to
Speaker 1: do with men growing mustaches and solidarity of of all that,
Speaker 1: and of course me having you know the mustache guy.
Speaker 1: You know over the years your your mustache is very
Speaker 1: understated right now. Well, it's just over the years it's
Speaker 1: been you know when I first met you, I first
Speaker 1: met you back in I want to say night at
Speaker 1: Kale s Y in Seattle. You guys came through on
Speaker 1: a record your mustache was really big then, well yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was. It was big, but it was black,
Speaker 1: you know, because my hair was black. So you know,
Speaker 1: now it's gray, so it has a little more subtlety. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's very subtle, very very nice, very handsome. Thank you so.
Speaker 1: About November and why you decided to team up with them.
Speaker 1: We knew it in Oregon as no shave November, and
Speaker 1: it's kind of more left in a November. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't just a mustache you had to do. The guys
Speaker 1: had to do the whole no shade period. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a whole thing. And you know, it's the organization started
Speaker 1: in England. Um. You know, over in England they call
Speaker 1: the one of the you know, the kind of the
Speaker 1: slangs for mustaches is a mo you've got a mo
Speaker 1: they call it instead of they don't use the word stash,
Speaker 1: they just say mo um. And that's where November kind
Speaker 1: of started. And I met with the people who the organizers.
Speaker 1: They're really cool. They were really cool. They had some
Speaker 1: great ideas about ways of communicating that uh, that men
Speaker 1: should be more cognizant of of what's going on and
Speaker 1: with them physically and mentally and there's a big issue
Speaker 1: with that. And I think, you know, the thing that
Speaker 1: kind of really pushed me to want to do it,
Speaker 1: even more than the fact that it was a great organization,
Speaker 1: was the fact that I realized that the women's health
Speaker 1: movement is very proactive and very uh the women seem
Speaker 1: to have been able to communicate the idea of breast
Speaker 1: cancer and some of the other things that are important
Speaker 1: healthy hard month for health exactly, and and done in
Speaker 1: a really powerful way, in a really effective way. And
Speaker 1: I don't think the men's health movement has ever been
Speaker 1: really uh promoted in that way. So I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe by you know, if I if I'm involved, maybe
Speaker 1: I could help a little bit. Men's health physically is
Speaker 1: talked about in my family and my surroundings heart attacks
Speaker 1: and heart disease and diabetes and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: But men's mental health taboo. Yeah, taboo topic. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's just my family but the whole nation,
Speaker 1: but big time taboo topic for men and boys to
Speaker 1: talk about their mental health and where they're at or
Speaker 1: if they should help or if they're struggling. It's a
Speaker 1: you know, it has a little bit too, maybe a
Speaker 1: lot to do with the you know, with the macho thing,
Speaker 1: and men just don't tend to want to open up
Speaker 1: on certain subjects like that. You know, it can be
Speaker 1: can be viewed, or it has, at least traditionally be
Speaker 1: viewed as as um you know, kind of a sign
Speaker 1: of weakness kind of thing. But it's not true. And
Speaker 1: and I think what I did see in the course
Speaker 1: of being more involved with this was that the younger
Speaker 1: generation is much more open and much more accepting. And
Speaker 1: you see it with entertainers, you see it with sports people.
Speaker 1: The younger generation are definitely much more open to addressing
Speaker 1: it and being more public about it and being more
Speaker 1: outspoken about it. So that's I guess that's a good
Speaker 1: sign because I think it's turned. I think I think
Speaker 1: the older generation of men, especially very close mouth and
Speaker 1: you know, not wanting to do with that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So do you relate more to the younger generation. Are
Speaker 1: you more comfortable talking about struggles you might be facing
Speaker 1: or may have faced, or are you more like like
Speaker 1: our generation where you don't talk about it, don't bring
Speaker 1: it up. Well, I think I think a little of both.
Speaker 1: I think over the years, a lot of things that
Speaker 1: I that I experienced in my personal and professional life
Speaker 1: over the years have been you know, rather traumatic and
Speaker 1: mentally challenging. But a lot of that I never really
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about. UM. But now as I've gotten older,
Speaker 1: and I feel like, UM, I feel like if I
Speaker 1: can be you know, a beacon in a in a sense,
Speaker 1: or you know someone who you know, Hey, I here's
Speaker 1: this older guy who has been through a lot, had
Speaker 1: a lot of experiences in life, and maybe that that
Speaker 1: carries some weight UM. And so I'm much more open
Speaker 1: now about talking about things that that you know, that
Speaker 1: I had that were challenging for me. So biggest challenge
Speaker 1: that you feel you've overcome that you're comfortable sharing with
Speaker 1: our audience, biggest thing that you just slapped you in
Speaker 1: the face. Maybe you never saw it coming, or maybe
Speaker 1: you did and just thought you could handle it until
Speaker 1: you know you were sysophus and said I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't push this rock another day. I got it on
Speaker 1: my shoulder and even with cross country skiing, I cannot
Speaker 1: carry this wait another day. Well, that's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons I do get outside and go cross country skiing
Speaker 1: and biking and hiking to kind of clear my mind.
Speaker 1: But that being said, um, I think you know, that's sure.
Speaker 1: There were a number of things. You know, if you've
Speaker 1: been through them, if you've been in the music business
Speaker 1: for fifty years, you've experienced a lot of stuff. You know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, what's that great Hunter Thompson quote. You know,
Speaker 1: the music business is this long tunnel of you know,
Speaker 1: de seat and blood, blah blah blah blah, and then
Speaker 1: he goes through all these terrible things and then at
Speaker 1: the end he says, and then there is a negative
Speaker 1: side and then there you know, you know the one
Speaker 1: I'm I'm telling it very well. I wish I had
Speaker 1: it in front of me anyway. Um No, but here's
Speaker 1: the thing. You know, overall, what I think that was
Speaker 1: the most uh powerful lesson and the powerful, um you
Speaker 1: know thing that's happened to me over the years was
Speaker 1: putting trust in people, uh and then having that trust
Speaker 1: not turn out quite so well and really, you know,
Speaker 1: being being a little too. I think it's my nature.
Speaker 1: I like to try to see the good in people.
Speaker 1: I like to believe that people are inherently good. And
Speaker 1: when you when you're a person like that, you can
Speaker 1: be easily manipulated and taken advantage of. And it has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with business, but it also has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with create, with with the creative
Speaker 1: collaborations with people who you thought, you know, hey, this
Speaker 1: will be a great situation. Seems like a you know,
Speaker 1: a good situation. So um, I think just in general,
Speaker 1: without going into specifics, um, you know, just the idea
Speaker 1: of of of having your your trust not be reciprocated
Speaker 1: and and having it used kind of in a way
Speaker 1: to manipulate situations. I think that's that's the best I
Speaker 1: can say. And when it's somebody that you've worked with
Speaker 1: for a long time, or like you said, somebody you're
Speaker 1: collaborating with, and you're excited and then you're like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, you're using my my goodness and my good
Speaker 1: heart hurts. Yeah. Well, you know what though, it's a
Speaker 1: it's it's life lessons and you know, you you uh.
Speaker 1: The best thing about that's those type of situations is
Speaker 1: if you can if you can rebound from them, you know,
Speaker 1: in in one piece and you can learn from them
Speaker 1: and then move on. And you know, I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: big I'm a big believer in karma and I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer in UH letting things go and UH accepting
Speaker 1: certain things and then moving on from them. And it's
Speaker 1: important to move on. It's important to uh when you know,
Speaker 1: when you're pushing the rock up hill, it rolls back down,
Speaker 1: and just roll with it, keep on going, keep on going. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I just go play. I can't handle this. I gotta
Speaker 1: go do an art piece of art. I gotta go paint.
Speaker 1: I gotta go walk my horse. I gotta go out
Speaker 1: in the barn. There you going on the same way
Speaker 1: I go. I go up in the mountains. Uh Or
Speaker 1: I just pick up my guitar and strum away and
Speaker 1: uh or I go for a drive in the country.
Speaker 1: I love to drive. I'm an ex race driver, and
Speaker 1: I love to drive on a country road with nothing
Speaker 1: but the sound of the wind. And uh, you know
Speaker 1: that's a that's a therapy for me. Uh sounds wonderful.
Speaker 1: My my podcast producer knows a lot of people in
Speaker 1: the record industry, and one of those people, UH said
Speaker 1: to her when she was setting up this interview for
Speaker 1: me that Darryl holland John Oates are two of the
Speaker 1: most musically talented geniuses that you know. There's other names
Speaker 1: that you might recognize bigger or who are big hits
Speaker 1: right now. But he said that you are a talented genius.
Speaker 1: And the way he was talking about your genius and
Speaker 1: your ability to bring elements together. I wish that I
Speaker 1: had recorded that. I wish that she had recorded that
Speaker 1: so I could play it for you, because when she
Speaker 1: was telling me, I was just grinning ear to ear.
Speaker 1: Because I've noticed this thing about me as I get older,
Speaker 1: things that have meant a lot to me over the years,
Speaker 1: even if I don't mean anything to them, I have
Speaker 1: an ownership of them, like my old high school or
Speaker 1: my old junior high. I bought a little radio station
Speaker 1: that's in my old junior high and those memories I
Speaker 1: feel like I have an ownership of Does that make sense.
Speaker 1: It's got nothing to do with me. I left there
Speaker 1: forty five years ago. But the same with you and
Speaker 1: your music. Because you guys were one of the first
Speaker 1: big names that I met back in the day. I
Speaker 1: have always felt kind of an ownership in a weird way.
Speaker 1: And then when you've invited me to go to your
Speaker 1: shows and do different things. When I heard that, I
Speaker 1: don't know, it just made my heart smile. Oh good, Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we go back aways now, don't we. Um.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you though I do. I have to.
Speaker 1: I have a little problem with the word genius. You know,
Speaker 1: it gets it gets thrown around a little too loosely.
Speaker 1: You know, there's an element of divine inspiration combined with
Speaker 1: a lot of hard work and craftsmanship, and uh, I
Speaker 1: think sometimes people want to want to lump those two
Speaker 1: things together into and use the word genius to kind
Speaker 1: of describe that. Um. But you know, I'll make it
Speaker 1: real simple. Um. I think Daryl Hall is a genius.
Speaker 1: I think I'm at I'm at the edge of genius,
Speaker 1: at the edge. Well, I know I'm at the edge
Speaker 1: of genius because I know what my i Q score is,
Speaker 1: so I know exactly. I know there are people who
Speaker 1: would not even be able to score on an IQ
Speaker 1: test and yet they have genius, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: Believe I'm on the cusp of genius. Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1: I know what mine is and I'm I'm on the edge.
Speaker 1: But but I'm not there. I was probably getting myself
Speaker 1: in trouble to day I took the test anyway, I
Speaker 1: guess that's all right. Yeah, Hey, you listen when I
Speaker 1: took the test. It was in the seventies, so god knows,
Speaker 1: I don't even know I even scored exactly. I was,
Speaker 1: I I was. I was having a lot of fun
Speaker 1: back then. I still have a lot of fun. I
Speaker 1: have an adult daughter that lives, uh at my farm now,
Speaker 1: and she's got four kids, and she always shakes her
Speaker 1: head and goes, mom, I had no idea you had
Speaker 1: this much fun when you were young, because you know
Speaker 1: now she's yeah, don't kill anyone. I don't tell the
Speaker 1: younger kids, but those days are over. Those days are gone.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. When you guys used to tour, when
Speaker 1: I would go to your shows back in the eighties,
Speaker 1: you would you guys would play for like three hours.
Speaker 1: It was amazing. Yeah, well, you know, youthful energy. But hey,
Speaker 1: look you know Bruce Springsteen place for three and four
Speaker 1: hours and he's way up there in age, So you
Speaker 1: know you can still do it, and you gotta just
Speaker 1: keep your keep your act together. We're getting caught up
Speaker 1: with John Oates and I am loving it. We'll have
Speaker 1: more to talk about, but let's chat about something equally important.
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Speaker 1: to keeping ourselves as healthy as we can by sipping
Speaker 1: a cup together. So what makes you when you get
Speaker 1: up in the morning, John? What what inspires you to
Speaker 1: face the day? What makes you want to jump out
Speaker 1: of bed? You said, driving and cross country skiing the
Speaker 1: first thing you know? This is something that I started
Speaker 1: here again and during COVID, when I had a chance
Speaker 1: to get off the hamster wheel of touring and just
Speaker 1: stay at home, I started doing yoga, which I had
Speaker 1: never done before. And I always kind of pooh pooed it,
Speaker 1: you know, oh, the guys with the you know, the
Speaker 1: women and men with the yoga mats and the whole
Speaker 1: you know, the clothes and the whole culture. Um. But
Speaker 1: I started doing it and I got hooked and it
Speaker 1: was unbelievable transformation that happened after I started doing it
Speaker 1: for a few months, and now I do it religiously
Speaker 1: every morning. It's the first thing I do, because you
Speaker 1: asked me what gets me up in the morning, and
Speaker 1: I literally I get out of bed before I do
Speaker 1: anything else, and I do a very short, quick series
Speaker 1: of things that stretch me out and keep me moving, um.
Speaker 1: And it works like a charm and I never miss
Speaker 1: a day. So that's the first thing. Then I'll go
Speaker 1: with a cup of coffee, and then I'll go see
Speaker 1: what happens after that. Well, I have a six year
Speaker 1: old and right now i'm taking I've got a foster
Speaker 1: situation where I'm taking care of a little girl who's deaf,
Speaker 1: who's four m so I don't. I don't have the
Speaker 1: luxury of deciding when I'm going to wake up, how
Speaker 1: I'm going to wake up. It's you know, it's a
Speaker 1: little fat hand in my face or mom, I went
Speaker 1: the bed, you know. But that is inspiring. I might
Speaker 1: I might think of adding that to my New Year's
Speaker 1: Healthier me routine. There you go, Well it works for me.
Speaker 1: That's all I can say. I'm good for you plans
Speaker 1: and hopes and dreams for this new year. You got
Speaker 1: some ecalactic music projects coming up? I have, Yes, I
Speaker 1: have my year already planned. Um, I have a single
Speaker 1: coming out February three. I'm going to be releasing a
Speaker 1: series of digital singles. Pushing the Rock was the first one,
Speaker 1: and of course, you know, we had to put a
Speaker 1: little hiatus during Christmas because everyone you know, as Christmas music.
Speaker 1: But now I have a new single. It's called Disconnected,
Speaker 1: and I'm really proud of it. Uh again, this is
Speaker 1: a song that I started many years ago and never finished,
Speaker 1: and here during COVID I finished it and I'm really
Speaker 1: happy with it. It's about you know, you know, well
Speaker 1: it's just like the title says, disconnected, it can mean
Speaker 1: a lot of things. Um, so that comes out February three.
Speaker 1: I'm good. Next week I'm shooting a video for that.
Speaker 1: I've got some stick shows. I'm doing a series of
Speaker 1: video lessons with a company called True Fire, and we're
Speaker 1: going to do some video guitar lessons and talking about
Speaker 1: the history of American popular songwriting, about collaboration, about accompaniment.
Speaker 1: And I'm doing that in January with with with this
Speaker 1: company called true Fire, which wait, wait, wait wait, I'm
Speaker 1: writing this down because I've already thinking of people I
Speaker 1: know and love that might want to look into taking
Speaker 1: those classes. But your true Fire has a series of
Speaker 1: guitar teachers, great guitar teachers, amazing, some of the best
Speaker 1: in the world, teaching guitar lessons online. Uh. And they've
Speaker 1: reached out to me. And the first thing I said
Speaker 1: is he I said, you have some of the greatest
Speaker 1: guitar players in the world. What do you want me?
Speaker 1: And I said, we want we want you to do
Speaker 1: something different. We don't need you to teach guitar lessons
Speaker 1: per se, but talk about your experiences. So I came
Speaker 1: up with three themes, and one of them is collaboration.
Speaker 1: One of them is is how to be an accompanyist,
Speaker 1: which is a very kind of esoteric part of being
Speaker 1: a musician that at of people don't think about. You know,
Speaker 1: everyone wants to be the big guitar solo, you know,
Speaker 1: make the big guitar solo and uh, you know, and
Speaker 1: and do all that sort of thing and wow everybody
Speaker 1: with your chops. But actually there's a technique and a
Speaker 1: and a subtle, a subtle discipline to being an accompanist,
Speaker 1: which is not not really appreciated, I don't think. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be talking about that with a good friend
Speaker 1: of mine named Guthrie Trapp, who's an amazing guitar player.
Speaker 1: And then I'm doing a little bit of a kind
Speaker 1: of a mini seminar on the history of the American
Speaker 1: popular song, which goes back to uh, the beginning of
Speaker 1: radio and the beginning of the record player, because essentially
Speaker 1: that's when American popular music truly began. Um. And so
Speaker 1: I'm a bit of a music historian. I like digging
Speaker 1: back into the old days. And so I'll be playing
Speaker 1: talking about some things and playing some things, you know,
Speaker 1: music from the nineties, twenties and thirties and forties and
Speaker 1: leading up to rock and roll, um, so I'll be
Speaker 1: doing that, and then I'm playing some series of acoustic
Speaker 1: shows as well, uh here in America, and then I'm
Speaker 1: going to Europe with Beth Heart in the summer and
Speaker 1: doing a tour of Germany and Western Europe. Yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: your whole year is planned out. Yeah, I'm pretty good
Speaker 1: up till about September. Maybe I'll come and see one
Speaker 1: of your shows. Are you going to be on the
Speaker 1: West coast at all? We're actually, you know what, we're
Speaker 1: working on some West Coast days right now for April
Speaker 1: to May. Awesome. Awesome, I'll let you know. We'll let
Speaker 1: you know. I would love to see you again. John.
Speaker 1: Thank you for taking time to spend with us. Oh. Thanks, Well,
Speaker 1: it's always a pleasure. You're a great interviewer, and uh
Speaker 1: I know you were too, music lover, so it makes
Speaker 1: it worth it. Oh my gosh. And when you were
Speaker 1: talking about the history of of radio, I just read
Speaker 1: an interesting article about the first radios that were put
Speaker 1: into cars and how that came about, and the two
Speaker 1: guys that collaborated to make them also invented things, you know,
Speaker 1: like rocket ships and and and other amazing stuff. But
Speaker 1: it was fascinating to read the amount of energy and
Speaker 1: love and money that went into create being a device
Speaker 1: in our car that has created my life. You know,
Speaker 1: most of the listening that people do to radio, even
Speaker 1: though him on at night, is when they're driving around
Speaker 1: in their car. And it was really interesting. I love
Speaker 1: digging into that kind of stuff too. It just I
Speaker 1: don't know, it makes me smile. Good. John Oates, thank
Speaker 1: you have a blessed, safe, wonderful, healthy new Year, and
Speaker 1: keep up the beautiful music and the great work. And
Speaker 1: anybody who has not heard Pushing a Rock check it out.
Speaker 1: The video is haunting. It's very Uh, it'll grab you.
Speaker 1: It like sucks your eyes in. But you gotta listen
Speaker 1: again with your eyes closed so you can really focus
Speaker 1: on the lyrics because I think we need those lyrics
Speaker 1: right now. Uh. Spoken as a true music lover, I
Speaker 1: love it. I love your music. I love all music,
Speaker 1: but I love your music. John. It's thanks for being
Speaker 1: with us. I love someone today. Thanks very much. Bye.
Speaker 1: I think we all know what John is speaking about
Speaker 1: and Pushing a Rock. We've all had tough days, tough years,
Speaker 1: challenging chapters in our lives. Some folks I know, and
Speaker 1: love faced health issues that we're devastating. Some face divorces
Speaker 1: or just different situations, losing loved ones, losing family. We
Speaker 1: all have a rock to push up a hill, and
Speaker 1: it's very important to hold onto hope. We're gonna make
Speaker 1: it to the top. I admired John for partnering with
Speaker 1: the annual men's charity Fall campaign November. You know, the
Speaker 1: one where men grow mustaches to raise awareness and funds
Speaker 1: for mental health issues, focusing on suicide prevention, testicular and
Speaker 1: prostate cancer. John feels it's important for me to speak
Speaker 1: out about men's issues and shine a light on things
Speaker 1: that often go unspoken. So John, thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Their motto is whatever you grow will save a brow.
Speaker 1: Remember that this coming falls. Sign up and donate at
Speaker 1: Movember dot com. Last year, John began releasing a series
Speaker 1: of digital singles distributed by the Orchard. Pushing the Rock
Speaker 1: was one. It's available now. He'll continue this year. We'll
Speaker 1: find the wide variety of eclectic styles. He'll also be
Speaker 1: releasing another series of songs from the upcoming feature Gringa
Speaker 1: Out soon. Thank you John for coming by today and
Speaker 1: sharing so much with us. I can't wait for the
Speaker 1: next single, You're gonna drop one more thing to look
Speaker 1: forward to as we slide into three. I hope you've
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's conversations. I hope you enjoy all the conversations.
Speaker 1: If you've missed some, go back and listen to them.
Speaker 1: Love someone with Delilah, We've got five years of great interviews.
Speaker 1: I know we're all busy making plans right now, but
Speaker 1: in the midst of the new year, don't forget. Slow
Speaker 1: down and love someone.