Speaker 1: Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats.
Speaker 2: Evening listeners a bit of a special Midnight Chats for
Speaker 2: you tonight. As you know, we usually record these podcasts
Speaker 2: behind closed doors in the quieter spot that we can find,
Speaker 2: but on some rare occasions we do head out into
Speaker 2: the outside world just to see what that looks like
Speaker 2: before we scurry on back to our little office in
Speaker 2: East London. Back at the start of September, we headed
Speaker 2: to Lama Tree Gardens in Dorset, which is the picturesque
Speaker 2: home of End of the Road. Now if you don't
Speaker 2: know it, it's an amazing festival and I particularly enjoyed
Speaker 2: this year, not just because the sun was shining and
Speaker 2: that at Loud and Quiet we got to kick the
Speaker 2: whole thing off with the opening night party, which was
Speaker 2: really fun, but because I got to see so much
Speaker 2: good music.
Speaker 1: As part of the.
Speaker 2: Stuff that we do with End of the Road, we
Speaker 2: take our podcast gear along with us, and for the
Speaker 2: third year running we've recorded an episode of Midnight Chats
Speaker 2: live on stage at the festival. We nickname it Midday
Speaker 2: Chats for the weekend because we record it at lunchtime
Speaker 2: when everybody's easing themselves into the day with a coffee
Speaker 2: or usually something stronger than that. In the past we've
Speaker 2: recorded episodes with Anna Meredith and last year Nadan Shah.
Speaker 2: Both of those are still available to listen to their
Speaker 2: episodes twelve and thirty three in the archive if you
Speaker 2: do want to go back and check those out. This year,
Speaker 2: my guest was Josh T. Pearson. He played on the
Speaker 2: Friday night on the main Wood stage and joined on
Speaker 2: Saturday lunchtime at the Piano stage for this conversation. If
Speaker 2: you don't know Josh, he found cult fame with the
Speaker 2: Texas based band Lyft to Experience in the early two thousands.
Speaker 2: They made the seminal post rock album Texas Jerusalem Crossroads,
Speaker 2: and then split up and did separate things. Josh went
Speaker 2: away promised he'd grow a beard until he made a
Speaker 2: second album, and eventually emerged a decade later with a
Speaker 2: very Big Beard and his first solo album, which was
Speaker 2: Last of the Country Gentleman in twenty eleven. But to
Speaker 2: bring things right up to speed, he returned this year
Speaker 2: with his second solo album, The Straight Hits, which marked
Speaker 2: a different sound and a different, clean shaven appearance for Josh.
Speaker 2: This came as lift to experience, played their first show
Speaker 2: together in fifteen odd years at Guy Garvey's Meltdown in
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, and they also did Primavera Sound in Barcelona
Speaker 2: this year. Just to paint the picture of this podcast
Speaker 2: you're about to hear, a few hundred people gathered at
Speaker 2: the Piano stage, which is located in the woods at
Speaker 2: the festival and is decorated like an old person's living
Speaker 2: room with lampshades and vintagey chairs and obviously a piano.
Speaker 2: Josh was running on rock Star time and arrived triumphantly
Speaker 2: about two minutes before we started recording this on one
Speaker 2: of those festival buggies that you see because his keys
Speaker 2: player had a broken foot. Josh had a cigarette in
Speaker 2: one hand and a glass of white wine in the
Speaker 2: other and settled in for this conversation. I'm fairly confident
Speaker 2: that he'd had a late night before, and he was
Speaker 2: putting the blame squarely on his vegan sound guy who
Speaker 2: smokes a lot of weed. Apparently. Anyway, as you're about
Speaker 2: to hear, Josh is less of an interviewee and more
Speaker 2: of a storyteller. What my mum would have afectionately referred
Speaker 2: to as a bit of a character. This is one
Speaker 2: of the more unruly episodes of Midnight Chats that we've recorded,
Speaker 2: but also one of the most honest, endearing, and entertaining.
Speaker 2: But just quickly before we get into that, if you
Speaker 2: didn't catch Stu announcing the news on the last podcast,
Speaker 2: we are now officially available on Spotify, So if you
Speaker 2: prefer to listen to your podcasts on Spotify, you can
Speaker 2: now search for us and you'll find all the old
Speaker 2: episodes and all the new episodes that we make over there.
Speaker 2: So let's get into the conversation. Thank you and the
Speaker 2: road festival. Thank you, Josh T. Pearson. Thank you to
Speaker 2: all of those who came to listen and those of
Speaker 2: you listening now. Of course, this is Midnight Chats episode
Speaker 2: fifty seven. Please were you joined me in welcoming Josh T.
Speaker 1: Pearson?
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks, I'll blessing almost sort of.
Speaker 1: Josh, you already said that you are feeling.
Speaker 3: Night. Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm a professional. I'll be
Speaker 3: up and ready in a couple hours.
Speaker 1: How was the show last night? You played there?
Speaker 3: Nobody died. I was happy to hear that I had
Speaker 3: a whole team we've been doing They got a new
Speaker 3: record out Smash Hits, and we just put a band
Speaker 3: together a couple of months ago. Real quick. I have
Speaker 3: a new band a couple of weeks ago. These one
Speaker 3: off shows are kind of hard because you just kind
Speaker 3: of get everything going and then you just stop. So
Speaker 3: about halfway through the set, you're like, that's pretty good,
Speaker 3: let's do it again. But two weeks ago we played
Speaker 3: Larude of Rock, which is in some malo in Brittany,
Speaker 3: and we pricked practiced with a new drummer on Thursday,
Speaker 3: Alie from the Duke's Spirit, and then a new guitar
Speaker 3: player on Friday, Laurent who was a Frenchman, and then
Speaker 3: we played Saturday right before Patty Smith, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 3: We fist bumped oh way out. I was pulling for
Speaker 3: Patty Cakes, but she wasn't having it. I'm kidding. None
Speaker 3: of that happened except they're playing before Patty Smith and
Speaker 3: the practicing anyway. Yeah, so it was good. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: I feel if we did it again it'd be better.
Speaker 3: Now it's a big stage. I was thinking we were
Speaker 3: doing the garden stage. I was just telling the stories.
Speaker 3: I was in my head in my practicing, and I
Speaker 3: was playing the garden stage and just killing it, you know,
Speaker 3: and let me get to the wood stage, like shit,
Speaker 3: this is a little bigger. I wasn't fair for this,
Speaker 3: but I think it was okay.
Speaker 2: Y'all.
Speaker 3: People don't move around as much, and it's nervous because
Speaker 3: this is my fourth time here, and I love y'all.
Speaker 3: I recognize a bunch of your faces and feels like family.
Speaker 3: So and it's a new sort of a bit of
Speaker 3: it partuy from the last of so I was happy
Speaker 3: that people were there.
Speaker 2: You did something that I've never seen anybody do before
Speaker 2: a show, which was that about fifteen minutes before you started,
Speaker 2: I was walking up and I could already hear your
Speaker 2: voice and I was like, as Josh, come on stage early,
Speaker 2: but you were playing your new record through the PA
Speaker 2: system and using us as guinea pigs.
Speaker 3: Totally, absolutely, that's what I was doing. That's called controversy.
Speaker 3: It's a punk rock, keyht comedy album that nobody wants
Speaker 3: to touch for some reason. I think it's a hit.
Speaker 3: That's great. Comedy is to be a lot in country stuff,
Speaker 3: but I don't know anyway. I've recorded over a year ago.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 2: Is there a song on there about when I arrived,
Speaker 2: there was a song that was referencing like Instagram and
Speaker 2: Twitter and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Is that right? Yeah, there's one Facebook for life. It's
Speaker 3: just about I mean, it's a silly story about a
Speaker 3: guy who gets a Facebook message from an old flame
Speaker 3: twenty years later and he's married and it interrupts the
Speaker 3: family flow. Wives haven't none of it. And I'm modern.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's silly and lighthearted, but it's touching
Speaker 3: on a bigger, greater catastrophe and we'll we'll never say
Speaker 3: goodbye again. It's just such a completely different world now.
Speaker 3: Partying is a thing of the past.
Speaker 2: You know, are you social media fan or you generally
Speaker 2: don't want to touch I.
Speaker 3: Think it's I mean, it's the best and the worst.
Speaker 3: I was kidding yesterday with the Instagram when I said,
Speaker 3: y'all ever heard of Instagram? It's killed me. It's it's
Speaker 3: just I wanted to make my I put my handle
Speaker 3: that Josh. I wanted to make it Josh de Pearson
Speaker 3: officially sucks at Instagram, but they're too many characters, so
Speaker 3: I made it Josh T Pearson officially rules because I couldn't.
Speaker 3: I don't have enough followers to get the actual official thing,
Speaker 3: you know, so maybe y'all should follow me and then
Speaker 3: I could just be official.
Speaker 1: You need a blue tick, Come on, people.
Speaker 3: I think I think Instagram is really the panopticon of
Speaker 3: the modern age. It's it's like the actual apple, the
Speaker 3: belly of the beast when we're I mean, we're really
Speaker 3: in the midst of creating any species. And the next
Speaker 3: twenty years are going to get You think this twenty
Speaker 3: was crazy, the next twenty you're going to get just
Speaker 3: so wild. I think they put singularity at around mid thirties,
Speaker 3: twenty thirty six, thirty eight, something like that. But it's
Speaker 3: gonna it's going to be a crazy interesting time. And
Speaker 3: I really do think that something like Instagram really is
Speaker 3: biting the apple and tasting, tasting the fruit, and there's
Speaker 3: you have all knowledge of good and evil. You can't
Speaker 3: look away. It's it's really something.
Speaker 2: This comedy album that you've written, when and what you
Speaker 2: said you made it? You wrote it about a year ago.
Speaker 2: Where were you at that time? Why did you want
Speaker 2: to do make that album?
Speaker 3: Well? I actually i'd been kind of toying with it
Speaker 3: for a few years and writing a lot of silly
Speaker 3: paper stuff. I write all the time. I just never
Speaker 3: put out because I'm Christian, you know.
Speaker 2: The people.
Speaker 3: So and when I was at the election in London
Speaker 3: at the what do you call it, American Embassy, and
Speaker 3: I don't know if y'all got the memoum, but Donald
Speaker 3: Trump won and a friend invited me, and there's a
Speaker 3: bunch of left wing liberals there, you know, of course,
Speaker 3: because if you're in London anyway, And because of the
Speaker 3: time change, it was like four thirty four in the
Speaker 3: morning when the return started coming in, and all these
Speaker 3: liberals have been drinking all day, really delicious wine, and
Speaker 3: they knew that Hillary was gonna win. They just knew that.
Speaker 3: They knew that was the reality. And when the reality
Speaker 3: started switching, like oh good god, this cannot be happening,
Speaker 3: it was like night of the Living dead, you know.
Speaker 3: And there were just there were like packs of women
Speaker 3: in corners weeping, like hands in the air, like this
Speaker 3: cannot be happening. Like, man, this is really getting serious.
Speaker 3: You know. America just elected a gambling casino owner. His
Speaker 3: sole purpose is to make money off the weakness of
Speaker 3: man and have a sort of flesh what do you
Speaker 3: call contests with women's based on their aesthetic feeling only
Speaker 3: things that they had nothing to do with anyway. Well,
Speaker 3: this we got to do something about this. And it
Speaker 3: was an interesting response. I'm an American, I really I had
Speaker 3: never really felt that before then fell in allegiance to
Speaker 3: it. It wasn't xenophobic or jigorist or anything like that kind
Speaker 3: of until then. It's like, with this information, this confirmed
Speaker 3: bias that we're in with technology is getting really serious,
Speaker 3: where you're just your realities are becoming so separate and
Speaker 3: there's you can't even talk about you can't have a dialogue.
Speaker 3: And so part of the controversy stuff was trying to
Speaker 3: use humor as a device just to poke fun at
Speaker 3: all sides, and we need to be able to talk
Speaker 3: about this. Yeah, this is this is serious and kind
Speaker 3: of break down some of the social constructs. There's one
Speaker 3: song and they're really proud of called boy Names Straight,
Speaker 3: which is like my my modern version of boy Name Sue.
Speaker 3: And then it's about a Rednick who gets really drunk
Speaker 3: one night and he goes to the bar and this
Speaker 3: other Rednick is there and kind of looking at him,
Speaker 3: and he's not really sure what's going on. I think
Speaker 3: he's kind of hitting on him, and they start playing pool,
Speaker 3: and he wakes up the next day and he's alone
Speaker 3: in his room and there's broken glass everywhere. His butt's
Speaker 3: real sore, and he's sore all over. Sorry kids, and
Speaker 3: Broke Back Mountains playing on his computer on repeat, and
Speaker 3: he has what he calls a Texas Angel crisis. He
Speaker 3: just doesn't know what happens. And there's a little twist
Speaker 3: at the end, really playful and silly, but I really
Speaker 3: think that, you know that old adage, if if you
Speaker 3: want to speak the truth, you got to make him laugh,
Speaker 3: you know so, And then something in the last ten
Speaker 3: years are spent more time investing. When I came out
Speaker 3: of that last of the Country Gentleman thing, I've been
Speaker 3: so focused on just introverted to bear and down this
Speaker 3: really heavy uh, taking all the energies upon you. And
Speaker 3: I'm trying to turn the corner where I try to
Speaker 3: tap into humor more. And that seemed they say that's
Speaker 3: the hardest art for him. So I don't know if
Speaker 3: I'm getting there, but I think with some of those songs,
Speaker 3: I arrived at a good place. And if you can
Speaker 3: make somebody laugh, even if I realize I'm burning down
Speaker 3: the whole thing had before, like integrity and stuff. But
Speaker 3: if I can make somebody giggle and feel good, like
Speaker 3: that feels all right. Laughter, It really is the best
Speaker 3: medicine and it heals people.
Speaker 1: And you go back to Texas often.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been in Austin for a few years now.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's where you're based right now because you live.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Austin's not really Texas, but you get to say
Speaker 3: you're from Texas and then be in this little liberal
Speaker 3: bubble where people read books and stuff and eat healthy.
Speaker 3: It's awesome. They say, you have Austin and you have
Speaker 3: Texas all around it, and that's the altrue. There's four
Speaker 3: man cities in Texas, Alice, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio,
Speaker 3: and they're you know, pretty liberal and urban. Then you
Speaker 3: go ten twenty minutes out and it's just rural stuff.
Speaker 3: So it's split down the middle demographically as the rest
Speaker 3: of the country. Houston's I think it just eclipsed Chicago
Speaker 3: for the third biggest city, you know, and we don't
Speaker 3: even think about Houston up and Dallas for worth You forget,
Speaker 3: it's in Texas. So it's New York La Houston used
Speaker 3: to be in New York, La Chicago, Houston anyway, somewhere.
Speaker 3: There's twenty eight million people in Texas. It's just a
Speaker 3: little bit bigger than France, which I like to remind
Speaker 3: French people when I'm there. So Ray, Yeah is Ray?
Speaker 1: How is Texas the days? Because let you say it's.
Speaker 3: At yet, it's really hot. It's like forty degrees right there.
Speaker 3: It's so hot. That's how people are crazy. It's just
Speaker 3: the weather is relentless, you know, it's like religion, flat
Speaker 3: land with in more of miss skies and then forty
Speaker 3: degree heat, which one hundred for us. That just makes
Speaker 3: you crazy. Yeah, they stay indoors a lot. We use
Speaker 3: the air conditioning. God bless America like to provide economy,
Speaker 3: you know, generate luck of energy and stuff. I always
Speaker 3: do that thing with my friend's always bitch about gentrification
Speaker 3: and stuff. I don't play devil, not Devil's advocate. I'll
Speaker 3: just I'll use these coin these phrases that are in
Speaker 3: their skill set with gentrification and say, man, this can't
Speaker 3: believe another new thing moved in here. And then I'll say,
Speaker 3: like man, I like all this life and this growth,
Speaker 3: you know, it's nice to see movement, and yeah, people healthy. Anyway,
Speaker 3: the whole world's flipped over man gentrified. It's really something.
Speaker 2: Who's seen lifting experience in the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: Bless are the rest of you. Where were you then
Speaker 3: when I needed to would have another chance to see that?
Speaker 3: Maybe that makes us an offer we think that going
Speaker 3: on fumes. I don't know as demands. You know, we
Speaker 3: got offered one gig this year at Primavara, and we
Speaker 3: were so thrilled, honored. Twenty years later, it's just such
Speaker 3: an it's an honor. It's honored to have you all here.
Speaker 3: There's no five year plan here. I'm I was not
Speaker 3: surprised to be here at all, and I'm really grateful
Speaker 3: for the joke I say. I'd like to think each
Speaker 3: and every one of you, So if you could just
Speaker 3: form a line here on the left, I'd love to. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll do it, how much?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, where's my chat book?
Speaker 3: I mean, it's only these gigs. It's just we have men.
Speaker 3: I mean broke even you know which putting out the remix.
Speaker 3: We worked really hard that year to the remix it
Speaker 3: and extensively on the graphics and stuff, just to kind
Speaker 3: of have it as I originally wanted it with a
Speaker 3: big foldout, and I think we almost broke even It's
Speaker 3: just it's labor, it's love, it's our for artsake, you know.
Speaker 3: But we were toying with the idea. I've definitely have songs.
Speaker 3: We had finished half of the next record before I
Speaker 3: went a little crazy. But we'll see what's around on
Speaker 3: the bin. I'd like to see what happens with the
Speaker 3: comedy record. Yeah, Like if I could tickle America's fancy
Speaker 3: and like really kind of win them and then you
Speaker 3: sneak up behind him with this really scary ass shit,
Speaker 3: that'd be awesome. That's crazy. I like when people change,
Speaker 3: you know. I just don't know what's coming out next
Speaker 3: in life and in love, and that just keeps it exciting.
Speaker 3: But with art too, it would have been selling out
Speaker 3: for me to make the same kind of record. I
Speaker 3: have so many heartbreak songs, staggering stuff. But I needed
Speaker 3: to try this other way for a second, just to
Speaker 3: kind of burn down myself, to not be stifled or
Speaker 3: drafted by it. But that wasn't your question at all.
Speaker 2: When Lifting Experience went and played Guy Garvey's Mountdown in
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen. That was obviously your first show in a
Speaker 2: long time. Was it simply the invitation that prompted doing
Speaker 2: that again or thinking about it?
Speaker 3: Yeah? And there were men, know, we had enough to
Speaker 3: go our separate ways, and they were real soul issues
Speaker 3: involved and were kind of corrupted this section. We were
Speaker 3: at a couple of us. I think it would have
Speaker 3: formed our our nature or spirit that we kept on
Speaker 3: that path. So it was important to call it quits,
Speaker 3: I think for the greatest experience in life. And we
Speaker 3: had rounded those corners and dealt with our issues and
Speaker 3: we were on speaking terms again and like, yeah, this
Speaker 3: is let's try this. It's fun. And there was the
Speaker 3: offer there because it's a public festival. They had a
Speaker 3: budget that would allow three men and separate states, to
Speaker 3: separate countries, to get together and practice for a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks and then fly us over higher the gear
Speaker 3: as international flights and pay for the you know Lee
Speaker 3: from Leeds for his him and his marijuana. And we
Speaker 3: had a light guy. Uh. That was awesome. They'd really
Speaker 3: treated us like stars at that little uh at the
Speaker 3: Royal Festival Hall. What's a I love South Maccenter. It's
Speaker 3: one of my favorite. I played all those rooms, so
Speaker 3: it was really nice and I'm glad we pulled it off.
Speaker 3: It was a lot of pressure because it's such a boutique,
Speaker 3: little niche band, you know, and we had fallen over
Speaker 3: here in Europe on two thousand and one, but even
Speaker 3: in Texas it's just like I know, it's the small demographic,
Speaker 3: So there was a lot of pressure on us to
Speaker 3: play as well as it was in the minds of
Speaker 3: the people from twenty years ago, because it was really
Speaker 3: a special thing, and we realized playing those teams like
Speaker 3: this is really special. We just worked so hard on
Speaker 3: those tunes, beat them up for a year, and just
Speaker 3: put such grace in between the notes, and it was
Speaker 3: really a joy to revisit. It was like time travel
Speaker 3: going back to that place in your head, you.
Speaker 2: Know, emotionally. What was that experience like of getting the
Speaker 2: three of you back together. Was it a bit of
Speaker 2: a roller coaster or has it been because you obviously like, say,
Speaker 2: you did Primavera this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's man, it's neat really buddies and they would
Speaker 3: spend a few years to ge this, so it was
Speaker 3: just like with your childhood friends again, and he's doing great.
Speaker 3: He's in Portland making wine. That's why I couldn't be
Speaker 3: at these JTP shows. He makes this organic wine. It's
Speaker 3: really delicious, you know, it's really cool without the soul fates.
Speaker 3: There's no hangover. You can just drink it and drink
Speaker 3: and drink it, and then you wake up and you
Speaker 3: feel awesome. No one tells me shit, I started smoking
Speaker 3: four months ago. It's so stupid. That's quit for ten years.
Speaker 3: It's a terrible drug. It's awesome.
Speaker 1: You know what about read editing some today so much.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what it is. It's that you can
Speaker 3: want something more than anything else in the world, like
Speaker 3: twenty times a day and get it, like I want
Speaker 3: more than anything right now, and then you get to
Speaker 3: get it and you get to do that like twenty
Speaker 3: times a day, and it's the worst and it's just awful.
Speaker 3: They're so bad for you. Where the kids went? You
Speaker 3: always feel guilty you spoken in front of children. It's
Speaker 3: neat how innocence brings out things you shouldn't be done.
Speaker 3: You know, I quit drinking for seven years, seven of
Speaker 3: the worst years of my life. Mom, I didn't raise
Speaker 3: no quitter stupid. Thank you all, Good night. Sorry I
Speaker 3: interrupted you again.
Speaker 1: You went back and watch the old YouTube videos. I
Speaker 1: did a story lift experience.
Speaker 3: The thing was, it was so long ago. There's like
Speaker 3: no no one had cell phone cameras. There's like so
Speaker 3: little footage, like I don't know what we're playing, and
Speaker 3: they trying to google it. Like there was one video
Speaker 3: from a show in LA and for some stupid reason,
Speaker 3: Thank the good Lord, this guy did a close up
Speaker 3: of my hand for like thirty minutes. He was being artful,
Speaker 3: you know, like this is awesome. It was like, that's
Speaker 3: what that chord was. And here's another thing that's kind
Speaker 3: of interesting, some of the parts because it was so intricate,
Speaker 3: so many little parts he played just one time. It
Speaker 3: was you know, composed really specifically. And I couldn't get
Speaker 3: a couple of things. I was playing acoustic running practicing,
Speaker 3: and then I couldn't get it until I plugged in
Speaker 3: the pedals. And I guess because the way the synapses
Speaker 3: are connected in the brain, and it would start coming
Speaker 3: back to me because you're hitting all those things at once,
Speaker 3: and as we link things together in our mind, as
Speaker 3: we do with language and stuff. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2: And the experience now you're obviously out on the road
Speaker 2: performing you know, solo material. You've been, you know, playing
Speaker 2: shows in the UK regular the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: It's been a number of times in your career where
Speaker 2: you've kind of to the listener's here, kind of disappeared
Speaker 2: off the radar and gone and done your thing. How
Speaker 2: important is it to do that, to get away from
Speaker 2: things and work on things in isolation and then come back.
Speaker 3: Well, it's more for that was just me, the inward journey.
Speaker 3: I was never like a part of the system or
Speaker 3: rock and roll. I mean I didn't put out a
Speaker 3: record for ten years. That wasn't an accident. I really
Speaker 3: specifically chose to go this other way of introversion and introspection.
Speaker 3: And just like if I were to put out good
Speaker 3: records and you be part of that system, then you
Speaker 3: lose a different sort of life path. People treat you differently.
Speaker 3: And then I wanted to explore everything of poverty and
Speaker 3: even I say fame, even in that sort of level,
Speaker 3: Like I wasn't willing to pay that sort of I
Speaker 3: couldn't afford to pay that price, you know, in my
Speaker 3: own growth. It just couldn't do that. And I felt
Speaker 3: like I rounded a corner where I kind of gathered
Speaker 3: enough of what I needed to experience and then I
Speaker 3: can put that back. So now I would love to
Speaker 3: put out and I was gonna put this into the universe.
Speaker 3: If I could put out a record a year, or
Speaker 3: two records a year, I definitely have the material. But
Speaker 3: it may just be time too that I'm I'm older,
Speaker 3: closer to death in my forties now, and you want
Speaker 3: to see a physical mark. I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I do anything, truthfully, but it's
Speaker 3: not without concerted effort. And I ride every day, and
Speaker 3: even just for you know, self help. I try to
Speaker 3: write a little something each day. It's not for a
Speaker 3: lack of songs. But if I could try to put
Speaker 3: out a couple of records a year and make some
Speaker 3: people smile, that'd be really neat, neat for me. But
Speaker 3: if I help, there's still time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what kind of person are you? Are you a
Speaker 2: planner or do you just let things happen? Like do
Speaker 2: you know where you're going to bed?
Speaker 3: I mean the last fifteen years like of this. No,
Speaker 3: I've been in a suitcase for years. The last few
Speaker 3: years I've been more stationary I used to could float
Speaker 3: around like I went to Berlin for two weeks and
Speaker 3: stayed two years, you know, led by the like a
Speaker 3: spirit walk for fifteen years. And then I'm trying to
Speaker 3: transition that off a little more. It hasn't happened yet,
Speaker 3: But these shows, like booking two months in advance to
Speaker 3: kind of the longest I've ever booked a show. Actually,
Speaker 3: the Lift show was the most advanced we'd ever said,
Speaker 3: I will be at this place and four months from now,
Speaker 3: you know. So I don't say that as a good
Speaker 3: thing or a bad thing. It was just, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: it was what it was.
Speaker 2: How is it felt to put down some roots again
Speaker 2: in Texas for the moment at least nice?
Speaker 3: It seemed like I've spent maybe six seven years in
Speaker 3: Europe on and off, two years there and then they
Speaker 3: go back to the countryside and complete isolation and go
Speaker 3: back to Europe, and it was kind of nice in
Speaker 3: those foreign countries because Man needs community. No, Man is
Speaker 3: an island all that, But you could be around community
Speaker 3: in a foreign country where you don't speak the language,
Speaker 3: but you're still around people, so you're not taking out
Speaker 3: of your headspace with all the simple you know, mundane
Speaker 3: stuff people say all the time on that tube or whatever.
Speaker 3: And I was like, and she was like, and they
Speaker 3: were like, you know that sort of thing. So you
Speaker 3: can be alone and still be around people. But the
Speaker 3: last few years I kind of felt a call toward home,
Speaker 3: like to be around the familiarity of my youth and
Speaker 3: the humor. Really, the you can say one line even
Speaker 3: just in a certain inflection and it's agreed upon that,
Speaker 3: you know what it is Actually that two years in
Speaker 3: Berlin without going back to the States, where you really
Speaker 3: started to feel just like a foreigner. And after that
Speaker 3: you're you're a foreigner everywhere. You You're never never at home.
Speaker 3: And that was really neat to feel like a foreigner.
Speaker 3: I need just to developed other levels of compassion and understanding.
Speaker 3: And it was interesting, like I grew up in Texas,
Speaker 3: never learned these Spanish that took French for some dumb
Speaker 3: reason because I attracted to art, crap and stuff. There
Speaker 3: are no French people in Texas. But after two years,
Speaker 3: that one two year stint straight, when I came back
Speaker 3: to Texas, the first thing immediately it's like, shoit, I
Speaker 3: even learn some Spanish, and a lot of Spanish people
Speaker 3: like just without even thinking about it, and got some
Speaker 3: Spanish books. Just pleasantries, you know, making them giggle and
Speaker 3: laugh and make them feel wanted and helped that they're
Speaker 3: not alone. And it means a lot. And I always
Speaker 3: still try to do that. Like in London, you always
Speaker 3: learn how to say thank you in like ten different languages,
Speaker 3: just to tell the whatever. The Polish girl behind the
Speaker 3: counter chinquia, you know, they light up, just say they're
Speaker 3: working hard. And if you go to another country, did
Speaker 3: to get a job like that sucks? Anyway?
Speaker 1: What things? What do you take?
Speaker 3: I wasn't your question either. It's talking freestyle Lee man,
Speaker 3: that's marijuana. Dang.
Speaker 2: What kind of things do you really enjoy about the
Speaker 2: lifestyle that you live at the moment, because no.
Speaker 3: I mean I'm tired. It's really the people you meet
Speaker 3: along the way, along the journey. And especially with that
Speaker 3: kind of boutique stuff. When I was doing that more
Speaker 3: performance art where it's just based on the live show,
Speaker 3: the only people that were coming were real fans. And
Speaker 3: there's a good quote by h. John who's that filmmaker
Speaker 3: in Baltimore, The Little Mustache. John Waters is a filmmaker
Speaker 3: filmmaker in Baltimore Boutique Films, and he was asked a
Speaker 3: question about family. He said, Well, the good thing about
Speaker 3: being at my level, if anyone recognizes you on the street,
Speaker 3: chances are high that if they recognize you for your work,
Speaker 3: they're going to be in the pretty cool stuff. So
Speaker 3: you want to kind of talk to him. And that's
Speaker 3: that's the blessing of choosing that other path where you
Speaker 3: don't played by the system and where it becomes your
Speaker 3: boss and then your slave driver. And I haven't put
Speaker 3: out a record now and put you know, you have
Speaker 3: to wait here, blah blah blah and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: But the people you meet, fellow travelers drawn to those
Speaker 3: vibrations that are really searching, seeking for some sort of
Speaker 3: help or to help others to deal with their own
Speaker 3: life or translate their life experience into something.
Speaker 2: And you've got to meet presumably lots of other bands,
Speaker 2: artists that you have fans of along the way. You
Speaker 2: mentioned Neil hall State last night on stage. Who else
Speaker 2: have you met along the way that you know that's
Speaker 2: been a real thrill?
Speaker 3: Oh, Warren Ellis. I love his playing so much. He's
Speaker 3: just a real player. Uh. In the old tradition Nick Cave.
Speaker 3: I'm a huge fan of his work. Kevin Shields. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I have been real blessed and honored Dustin o'haller and
Speaker 3: I love his piano stuff, and I met him before
Speaker 3: he did the piano stuff. We went first tours together.
Speaker 3: He was an event called t Vics and uh I
Speaker 3: was on Belly Union and he went on to put
Speaker 3: out two of my favorite piano records. Ever. It's been
Speaker 3: a real neat blessing. You know the people you meet
Speaker 3: along the way, and then you think, well, I must
Speaker 3: be doing something right if i'm you get to meet
Speaker 3: your heroes. I like to meet Bob Dylan, but I
Speaker 3: don't think that's gonna happen. I never met Willie Nelson.
Speaker 3: I like to meet Willie Nelson. I actually wrote a
Speaker 3: hit song. All my friends have met Willie Nelson, so
Speaker 3: why can't I what's available on YouTube? All my loser
Speaker 3: friends have met. Well, like anyway, I'd ask the Lord
Speaker 3: if I could meet Bob Dylan, but I know that
Speaker 3: he's he's still limited with certain you know. Anyway, how
Speaker 3: are y'all doing? They're good? It's so happy. I'm so
Speaker 3: I like, I can't even believe her here it's really neat.
Speaker 3: Makes me super happy. We're playing here at five fifteen
Speaker 3: and there's a signing at three o'clock that I say
Speaker 3: that already a rough trade.
Speaker 2: Would you in these periods where you've not been again,
Speaker 2: would you.
Speaker 3: I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a
Speaker 3: vegetarian because I hate plants. That's good. I heard that
Speaker 3: one the other day. I take off my fancy.
Speaker 1: Who it's Texas humor generally like the one nine is
Speaker 1: like is that is that?
Speaker 3: Like? Yes?
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: In the periods that you've been touring and making music
Speaker 2: and doing this as your like primary job, would you
Speaker 2: ever go and do another job?
Speaker 1: Like would you?
Speaker 3: Quote, I gotta work construction in between gigs sometimes. Okay,
Speaker 3: so when you go back to actually had an early
Speaker 3: neat moment, that's gonna suck for me, and I hate
Speaker 3: to take it away any mistake. My friends joke because
Speaker 3: that comedy record management thinks you're going to ruin your career.
Speaker 3: And then I say that to my friends and they're
Speaker 3: like career, what career? So yeah, that's a ruined any mystique.
Speaker 3: But had a nice moment six months ago in Texas
Speaker 3: where I'm working this construction gig where I'm just clearing
Speaker 3: the site and then loading a big one of those canisters,
Speaker 3: those big containers, you know, with all the shit that's around.
Speaker 3: And I realized that it's thirty years later and I'm
Speaker 3: doing the exact same gig the work that I did
Speaker 3: when I was twelve years old. You know, I'm clearing
Speaker 3: shit off construction sites. I guess this is a neat
Speaker 3: little loop. That's cool. And I was standing on top
Speaker 3: of the because I filled the whole container and I
Speaker 3: was standing on there to rearrange crap to get more
Speaker 3: so if you know the big like the train containers.
Speaker 3: So I'm standing there and just start laughing. It's like,
Speaker 3: this is what you're doing when you're twelve. That's cool.
Speaker 3: I worked a lot when I was a kid, a
Speaker 3: bunch of different jobs, and then twenty seven, when lift happened,
Speaker 3: we started to move. And I was a carpenter before that,
Speaker 3: so I'm really handy with wood, so that's my fallback stuff.
Speaker 3: But I also I was clear seater sometimes our friend's dad.
Speaker 3: It's just it's hand to mouth stuff. Like we did
Speaker 3: these two months of gigs, and I think we're man
Speaker 3: I shouldn't say this in front of the band member,
Speaker 3: but I think we'll manage to get the whole band paid.
Speaker 3: But I'm not I'm gonna make I mean, I've had
Speaker 3: five pounds and I got here my card wasn't working.
Speaker 3: So it's not a yeah, we gotta keep putting You
Speaker 3: gotta keep putting out records if you want to. You know,
Speaker 3: you gotta build a profile, building and all that, and
Speaker 3: I just never did that. So I'm paying for it now,
Speaker 3: which is fine. I'm happy to be here and happy
Speaker 3: to pay for it. That's the preceure paid to go
Speaker 3: with that other route. Working's good for you doing that
Speaker 3: other work too. You just think, man, I really should
Speaker 3: be doing music instead of load of trash. After a
Speaker 3: lyft went well, I went out to the countryside. I
Speaker 3: was a janitor at this Christian nonprofit. Just donate my
Speaker 3: time for a couple of years and I fix it. Man.
Speaker 3: Really good at plumbing too, electricity. I'm not very good
Speaker 3: at invisible stuff that kills you. Stay away from that,
Speaker 3: but pretty much everything else, I'm really handy and the
Speaker 3: you know, really good at chainsawng super good and uh
Speaker 3: weed eating. I like butter with those electric weeds, chainsaw.
Speaker 3: I like, I think the trees really tell you what
Speaker 3: the cut, you know, and they're really grateful once once
Speaker 3: they're cared for. They really were like in two days
Speaker 3: with rain. They're just a whole new tree, full of life.
Speaker 3: Gardens like to be tended, you know, I really do.
Speaker 3: I hate plants. I played this festival See Changed a
Speaker 3: week ago. I played alone and there was a place
Speaker 3: called dark dart Teen Tin Darting Tin Hall. It's awesome.
Speaker 3: It was really old. But they said they had gardens
Speaker 3: there that have been kept for a thousand years. And
Speaker 3: I started laughing because I can keep a garden for
Speaker 3: a week. That's not good. I got better ones.
Speaker 1: Should we finish the podcast with? Should we finish with
Speaker 1: a joke?
Speaker 3: I don't know? You got one? Oh man that told
Speaker 3: all the good ones yesterday? You know what they're Willie
Speaker 3: Nelson wanted the chickpea joke. Let's say the willing Nelson
Speaker 3: for the podcast. There's children here though, Oh yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: let's say don't answer if you know what this is
Speaker 3: the old This is a classic joking text. You all
Speaker 3: know what Willie Nelson is, right, Yeah, you're all music
Speaker 3: lover it's good for those of you don't. He's in
Speaker 3: Texas legend here icon. He's in his eighties, a big
Speaker 3: gray beard, and he's just actually a jazz player that
Speaker 3: plays country music, but a voice from God. And anyway,
Speaker 3: so the joke is, ladies, what's the worst thing to
Speaker 3: hear when you're giving Willi Nelson the blow chop? I'm
Speaker 3: not really Willie Nelson. I'm just some old guy anyway.
Speaker 3: Thank you, good night.
Speaker 1: Well everybody join me just in saying thanks to.
Speaker 3: Josh for the podcast.
Speaker 1: Join us in the podcast.
Speaker 3: Thanks Josh, thank good, Thanks my puzzle. Midnight Chats is
Speaker 3: a Loud and Quiet podcast.
Speaker 1: Music courtesy of gold Panda.
Speaker 3: Search Midnight Chats on iTunes for more episodes and to subscribe.
Speaker 3: For more information, visit Loud and Quiet dot com.