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Speaker 1: Well, welcome everyone to Amy and TJ. And yes, I'm

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Speaker 1: starting the podcast, probably because it's by default. It's not

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Speaker 1: because I wanted to. It's because I had an idea,

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Speaker 1: and so we're gonna I'm gonna do it again. I

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Speaker 1: guess horrible.

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Speaker 2: No, we're keeping it. No, no, no, you're right Andy,

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Speaker 2: this was gonna be one of the best intros ever

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Speaker 2: we do this.

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Speaker 3: Ever, I get time, I get all why, I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I'm just not I don't want to start.

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Speaker 2: Okay, hey pot, Yes TJ. If you didn't know TJ

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Speaker 2: is here as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I started to spiral and I needed to stop

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Speaker 1: every day.

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Speaker 2: She looks at me. I mean seconds before we start,

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Speaker 2: you start, you start, you start, you start, you start.

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Speaker 2: She doesn't want to start. We used to do this

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Speaker 2: on our show on television of gm A three. Yes,

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Speaker 2: we're right there sitting on set and they're counting us down.

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Speaker 2: Anybody got anything, anybody got in it, and you would

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Speaker 2: never speak and I had to start. So we that's

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Speaker 2: what we're doing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I mean if I were by myself, obviously I would

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Speaker 1: have to. But somehow I just no, I don't clearly.

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Speaker 2: Do not want to be by my Maybe you could

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Speaker 2: use some some alone time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, do you need to say something to me?

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Speaker 1: No, No, we have spent a lot of time together,

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Speaker 1: especially this week.

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Speaker 3: It's been NonStop.

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Speaker 1: Were always talking about this week, last week, the week before.

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Speaker 3: It's pretty much the same.

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Speaker 2: We have fresh bag though, what you're saying. We had

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Speaker 2: a great trip to went out to LA for the

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Speaker 2: I Heart Radio wards. Right. It was an absolute blast.

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Speaker 1: We had a blast, yes, and just got back late.

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Speaker 3: Actually yes, like.

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Speaker 1: In the wee hours of the morning, so little, little punchy.

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Speaker 2: But we didn't go to bed though, didn't go to sleep.

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Speaker 3: We really really didn't sleep. What were we watching?

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Speaker 2: A lot of stuff was on last night, like not

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Speaker 2: horror though we were in a we weren't in a horror.

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Speaker 1: Mood, which is unusual. Yeah, it was like one o'clock

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Speaker 1: in the morning.

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Speaker 4: What was on?

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Speaker 2: I put on a new I don't even know. I

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Speaker 2: started to move one.

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Speaker 1: And I knew it and then I don't think I

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Speaker 1: slept at all. But anyway, it was all worth it because.

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Speaker 2: We nobody can tell you're punching.

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Speaker 3: We packed in a bunch of stuff.

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Speaker 1: It was beautiful weather, it was wonderful and we got

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Speaker 1: to meet a lot of amazing people, and especially a

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Speaker 1: particular person who particularly Yes.

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Speaker 2: What about the rest of the people are going to

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Speaker 2: feel bad?

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Speaker 1: Well, everybody was great, but we actually have to sit

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Speaker 1: down and go in depth with one of the most

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Speaker 1: iconic bands, or at least one of the members of

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Speaker 1: one of the most iconic bands, at least from me

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Speaker 1: in the nineties. We're talking about the Backstreet Boys, and

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Speaker 1: that was pretty cool because I'd never met AJ McLean before.

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Speaker 2: Alexander James.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that is who he is, and that is I

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Speaker 1: guess his more recent persona, right He says, well, yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: but you know what, Okay, but when you call yourself

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Speaker 1: something AJ, that's how he's been known. Obviously, his name

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Speaker 1: is also alex James, Alexander James, but.

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Speaker 3: He goes by AJ. So he said that that's his persona.

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Speaker 2: He said, the AJ is his persona, right, but alex

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Speaker 2: is who he really is. Okay, So I'm gonna get

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Speaker 2: rid of TJ. I'm gonna be Lutillius from now on,

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Speaker 2: Utilius Liutillius.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that that's a persona for you? TJ?

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Speaker 1: Is that your is that your TV persona? And then

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Speaker 1: Utilius is who you are?

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Speaker 2: It kinda is I've yeah, I've kind of said I've

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Speaker 2: no no by my family. I didn't grow up being TJ.

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Speaker 2: I was T Junior. It was close to my family name,

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Speaker 2: but the TJ was strictly for something that was easily

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Speaker 2: easy to do on television.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, But it's funny because I can't. I don't know.

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Speaker 1: It would be weird for me to call you Lou

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Speaker 1: or Loutillius.

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Speaker 2: It would be weird for anybody to call me Luke.

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Speaker 2: Nobody calls me lou. How did we get there?

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Speaker 1: Well, Lutilius doesn't exactly roll off the top actually does

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Speaker 1: all together.

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Speaker 2: Now Lutilius it does, Oh my goodness.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, let me know if you want to

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Speaker 1: make a name change in terms of what as how

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Speaker 1: you're referred.

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Speaker 2: The reason I I didn't yeah this is that's a

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Speaker 2: true story. And I'm sure you dealt with this as well.

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Speaker 2: When you start your career, they want you to have

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Speaker 2: something that's that can easily be said on television because

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Speaker 2: an anchor from another market or you're doing national news,

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Speaker 2: they wouldn't might mess up your name. So my first

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Speaker 2: three pieces I ever did in my professional career. The

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Speaker 2: first one I signed off as Liutilius Holmes, the second

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Speaker 2: one I signed off as Lou Holmes. The third one

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Speaker 2: I signed off as TJ Holmes and stuck with TJ.

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Speaker 2: A true story. My first three pieces, I was three

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Speaker 2: different guys.

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Speaker 1: That's funny. I didn't know that, and then TJ stuck.

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Speaker 1: But when you get an uber, you're Lou. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: he says here for Lou.

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Speaker 2: I think I think there might be as moby as

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Speaker 2: reasons why here for Lou. I don't open the door

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Speaker 2: and say Heylutillius right huh? Here for Liutillius right who?

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Speaker 2: That's probably what I get Los.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: TJ's even easier, though, I have you get ubers a

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Speaker 2: lot because it's easy here for Amy.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Amy's a little bit easier, although you have a

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Speaker 1: hard time saying Amy, like you actually stumble. I hate

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Speaker 1: anytime we were on the set and you'd have to

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Speaker 1: transition as an anchor, they're like, you know, TJ or whoever.

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Speaker 1: He if it said Amy and he had to say

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Speaker 1: my name, he would stumble. You never stumble, but you

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Speaker 1: would absolutely mess up because you had to say Amy.

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Speaker 2: So weird. I'm just so I'm not used to calling

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Speaker 2: you that. And yeah, well again, I can't believe we

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Speaker 2: get into names here. Now we were talking about AJ.

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Speaker 2: But you have to ask this question, Backstreet Boys or

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Speaker 2: en Sync.

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Speaker 1: I know more Backstreet Boy songs. I mean, I love

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Speaker 1: some JT like I love, but I know the Backstreet

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Speaker 1: Boys music better and so I think I danced to

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Speaker 1: it more. But they're both great.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, see that. That's the answer people often do if

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Speaker 2: they want to be very diplomatic, right right, you didn't

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Speaker 2: really give me an answer.

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Speaker 1: Well, so if I had to pick, I'd pick Backstreet Boys.

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Speaker 2: Okay. This is one of the debates that continue to

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Speaker 2: this day. It's like, Okay, Michael Jordan.

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Speaker 1: Or Lebron I don't really I can't wait on those.

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Speaker 2: Yankees arrests.

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Speaker 3: Definitely Yankees. Oh wah wah, sheets, I don't even know

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Speaker 3: what you're saying.

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Speaker 2: Okay, all of the people in Pennsylvania get.

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Speaker 3: That shut out of Pennsylvania. Wow, we're going there.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 3: This is a really weird.

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Speaker 2: Weird industro. This is why we don't let her start

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Speaker 2: the po I.

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Speaker 3: Started it and now it's all unrapp up.

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Speaker 2: But the point here this month is the actual thirty

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Speaker 2: one year anniversary of the Backstreet Boys actually getting together.

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Speaker 2: They got together the first time they were founded in

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Speaker 2: April of nineteen ninety three and they continue to this day,

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Speaker 2: and that is remarkable. And now AJ McLain, yes he

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Speaker 2: is out on tour with a member of an Sync, Yes,

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Speaker 2: Joey Fatone. They have a whole thing they are doing

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Speaker 2: out there together. But it's remarkable that they have been

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Speaker 2: able Backstreet Boys to stick around as long as they

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Speaker 2: have and have generations of fans. I have an eleven

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Speaker 2: year old daughter singing Backstreet Boy songs like how do

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Speaker 2: you even know these songs?

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Speaker 1: I want it that way? Right?

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Speaker 2: Was the music? As soon as I mentioned we were

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Speaker 2: interviewing the back people.

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Speaker 1: That's very exciting.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, okay, folks, I'm I'm gonna let her you know,

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Speaker 2: we're gonna we're gonna wrap this so she can go

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Speaker 2: get some rest. But it was we were out in

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Speaker 2: the late for the Heart Awards. We did get a

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Speaker 2: chance to sit down with Aj, who had a lot

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Speaker 2: to say about the new music but also his struggle,

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Speaker 2: his background. Where he is now, which he says is

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Speaker 2: one of the best places physically and mentally that he

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Speaker 2: has ever been in his life. We are joined now

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Speaker 2: by mister Alexander James McClay. Come on, AJ, come on,

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Speaker 2: how should we introduce you? Now? What should we call you?

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Speaker 2: What are we doing?

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Speaker 4: Well? Look, so it's just me, So the rest of

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Speaker 4: the boys are not here. So Alexander James or alex

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Speaker 4: for short, alex uh. Yeah, you know, I uh, I've

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Speaker 4: been on this journey of self discovery for quite some

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Speaker 4: time now. It started back in the summer of last

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Speaker 4: year when we wrapped up the DNA World Tour in

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Speaker 4: May of twenty twenty three in Cape Town, South Africa,

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Speaker 4: came home for literally three days, hopped in my truck,

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Speaker 4: drove to Scottsdale, Arizona, and at it admitted myself into

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Speaker 4: a IOP intensive outpatient program for mental health, depression, anxiety, trauma,

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Speaker 4: the works to really get to the root of everything

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Speaker 4: that I've been through in the past twenty five years.

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Speaker 4: My sobriety's on lock of two and a half years sober,

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Speaker 4: going strong, congratulation, thank you, that isn't going anywhere. But

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Speaker 4: I wanted to get to the root of it and

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Speaker 4: really kind of figure out what because you know, people

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Speaker 4: that are in recovery realized that the drinking and the

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Speaker 4: drugs is all symptomatic. That's not the actual problem. There's

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Speaker 4: something bigger and more seed internally that's causing that effect.

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Speaker 4: So for me, it was low self esteem. I don't

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Speaker 4: know if I.

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Speaker 3: Could swear, but you can swear.

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Speaker 4: My sponsor calls it piece of shitism, which is what

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Speaker 4: I suffered from. And so the biggest thing for me

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Speaker 4: that I took out of this amazing ten weeks was

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Speaker 4: authenticity and learning that AJ is a persona. It doesn't

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Speaker 4: define who I am. It is it is a job.

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Speaker 4: I used to kind of make fun of some of

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Speaker 4: my boys, you know, when they would say, okay, we're

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Speaker 4: going back on the road, time to clock in. I

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Speaker 4: never looked at it that way. Now I see what

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Speaker 4: they meant. You know, I'm on the first flight back

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Speaker 4: home to my family, first flight or before I would linger,

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Speaker 4: you know, hang out in whatever city I'm in. But

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Speaker 4: my whole perception on what is work and what is

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Speaker 4: personal boundaries another word I never really knew much about,

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Speaker 4: but authenticity. So knowing that, you know, throughout the last

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Speaker 4: almost thirty one years, AJ's kind of dominated, Alex just

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Speaker 4: kind of got stifled a little bit so everything with

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Speaker 4: my solo music, with my solo album, with everything moving

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Speaker 4: forward outside of the band, I want to introduce the

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Speaker 4: world to Alexander James.

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Speaker 1: Alexander James, I think it's it's first of all, it's

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Speaker 1: amazing that you went on that journey because most people

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Speaker 1: never get to that point. But I think a lot

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Speaker 1: of people, and especially your diehard fans, would be shocked

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Speaker 1: to hear that aj McLean has low self esteem.

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Speaker 4: I know. I mean, I've been sharing it. I just

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Speaker 4: got off the road with my buddy Joey Fatone. We've

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Speaker 4: been on the Legendary Night Tour. We just kicked it

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Speaker 4: off our first nine shows. We're kicking back off again

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Speaker 4: in May for another twenty dates. We keep adding dates

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Speaker 4: because the fans want to keep seeing it. It's a

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Speaker 4: hell of a show. It's fun and there is three

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Speaker 4: different songs from my upcoming solo record that I do

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Speaker 4: in the show, one of which is a song called Arizona,

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Speaker 4: which was inspired by this trip, and I prefaced the

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Speaker 4: song by telling the same exact story. And the response

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Speaker 4: I've gotten has been overwhelming. So many people, whether they're

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Speaker 4: fans of Backstreet or not, or fans of mine can

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Speaker 4: relate immediately. They're like, oh my God, Like I never

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Speaker 4: thought there was an outlet for what I'm feeling, but

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Speaker 4: now I know that there is. You know, when I

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Speaker 4: was out in Arizona, one of the sessions that I had,

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Speaker 4: we watched a little short, eight ten minute video. It

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Speaker 4: was one of these Ted talks, and it was this

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Speaker 4: woman who I'm now obsessed with, And whenever she comes

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Speaker 4: back on the road, I need to see her and

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Speaker 4: meet her. I feel like she's my mom from a

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Speaker 4: different life. Brene Brown.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I love Brown.

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Speaker 4: Obsessed I am too.

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Speaker 3: I've read so many of her books.

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Speaker 4: She's phenomenal.

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Speaker 3: She talks about shame yep.

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Speaker 4: And she has a mantra that I got tattooed on

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Speaker 4: my arm called braving, which stands for boundaries, reliability, accountability, vault, integrity,

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Speaker 4: non judgment, and gratitude. So I try to live my

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Speaker 4: life by that each and every day as best I can,

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Speaker 4: progress not perfection.

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Speaker 2: Would you have been willing do you think it would

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Speaker 2: have been? It would have taken you longer to figure

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Speaker 2: out the self esteem part? What do they call it?

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Speaker 2: The piece of shit? If you hadn't gone through already

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Speaker 2: the sobriety journey. Were those two things connected and.

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Speaker 4: They are one hundred percent connected because you know a

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Speaker 4: lot of the things that I some of my actions

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Speaker 4: when I was not sober. You know, I have no regrets.

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Speaker 4: Let's just start by saying that everything happened exactly, how

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Speaker 4: was it was. It was all meant to be. And

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Speaker 4: I have learned a little bit more each time that

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Speaker 4: I've fallen off the wagon or that I've gone backwards.

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Speaker 4: But but having this length of sobriety under my belt,

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Speaker 4: I think really helped me take in what I needed

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Speaker 4: to actually take in. Where before, you know, when I

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Speaker 4: put together two years here, three years there, I was

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Speaker 4: what we call it dry drunk. I was just white

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Speaker 4: knuckling it. I wasn't going to meetings. I wasn't taking

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Speaker 4: it as seriously as I am today. And I owe

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Speaker 4: it all to my youngest daughter. She is the reason

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Speaker 4: why this time was different. I flew back from doing

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Speaker 4: a radio show in Miami two and a half years ago.

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Speaker 4: On September twenty fifth, I flew back home. I went

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Speaker 4: hard the night before, real hard. Smelled like a bar.

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Speaker 4: When I got home, I didn't feel like I did,

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Speaker 4: But you know, I tried to drink a bunch of coffee,

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Speaker 4: kind of you know, dead in the odor. But again,

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Speaker 4: it's it's kind of like smokers. I hate to say it,

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Speaker 4: but I smoke. It's the only advice I have left.

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Speaker 4: But we don't smell the smoke on us, but everyone

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Speaker 4: else does. It's like, oh God, were you so sme?

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Speaker 4: Like an ashtray? Do I really? But I went to

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Speaker 4: give her a hug and she backed away from me,

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Speaker 4: and I was like, what's wrong? And she's like, you

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Speaker 4: don't smell like my daddy. That was like rip my

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Speaker 4: heart out, stab it set it on fire.

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Speaker 2: How old was she? Right?

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Speaker 4: And she's seven now, so she was like four.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and she's she's super smart, sharp as at.

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Speaker 1: And aren't they so honest when they're young? Right?

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Speaker 3: They say exactly what they're thinking.

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Speaker 4: More ways that I like, you know, like you kils,

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Speaker 4: kids are mean, kids are mean, like you know, like

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Speaker 4: I've I've had to deal with these, you know, these

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Speaker 4: these difficult conversations with both my girls about bulliese you know,

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Speaker 4: because you know, kids are kids are mean and being

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Speaker 4: a girl dad, you know, having to deal with boys

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Speaker 4: being boys. You know, I wasn't that kind of a boy.

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Speaker 4: But I know that there are boys out there that

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Speaker 4: are just mean generally because they like you, right tell me.

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Speaker 4: But there's a couple of boys that are particularly mean

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Speaker 4: to my youngest. But as much as I want to

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Speaker 4: bring you their little necks, I know it's because they

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Speaker 4: like her, because she's so likable. Both my girls are

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Speaker 4: and they're people people, you know, so but but yeah, man,

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Speaker 4: my kids can can really kick you when you're down

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Speaker 4: sometimes and just be so brutally honest you're like, oh

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Speaker 4: my god, that hurts.

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Speaker 3: They keep you grounded, that's so.

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Speaker 4: Oh they do, they really do. They are very, very humbling,

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Speaker 4: and they exercise humility always.

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Speaker 2: How does she feel about that story, knowing that I

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Speaker 2: assume you shared it, that that was a turning point

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Speaker 2: for you.

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Speaker 4: I mean, both my girls are old enough now, I

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Speaker 4: think to really understand. Like I was on FaceTime maybe

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Speaker 4: two weeks ago, and uh, I was drinking a what's

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Speaker 4: the I can't you think of the brand? It's one

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Speaker 4: of my favorite ginger ales. But it's in a green bottle,

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Speaker 4: looks like a beer bottle, and but it clearly says

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Speaker 4: ginger Ale. But it was turned around and I grabbed

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Speaker 4: it while I was on FaceTime and they both were

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Speaker 4: like that better not be alcohol dad. I'm like, oh

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Speaker 4: my god, no, look no ginger el gender eil. I said,

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Speaker 4: let me just be honest with you girls. Number one

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Speaker 4: Daddy wouldn't be facetiming you if I was drinking, and

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Speaker 4: number two Daddy wouldn't be facetiming you if I was drinking.

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Speaker 4: So uh, you know. But they are very very protective

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Speaker 4: of me, which I love. They're like my little security.

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Speaker 4: When we go out and have our little daddy daughter dates.

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Speaker 4: If somebody asked for like a picture or whatever, they

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Speaker 4: get really territorial or they want to be in the photo,

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Speaker 4: then it's okay for Daddy to stop and take pictures.

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Speaker 4: As long as we get to be in the picture too,

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Speaker 4: it's okay.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, all right, how hard is it?

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Speaker 1: You know, this has been a journey you've been on

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Speaker 1: and you I think it's really important to you point

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Speaker 1: out that your alcoholism or your relationship with it was

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Speaker 1: just a symptom of a larger problem. But when you're

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Speaker 1: out on tour and you're in that environment, how hard

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Speaker 1: is it? I mean, do you not find it hard

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Speaker 1: at all? Now that You've got the tools in place.

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Speaker 4: No. I mean, look, well, yes, I do have the

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Speaker 4: tools in place. I have you know, X amount of

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Speaker 4: people on speed dial, my sponsor, my best friend, my publicist.

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Speaker 4: I have people that look out for me, that are

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Speaker 4: that love me, that have been in my circle for

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Speaker 4: a very long time. And but you know, again, if

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Speaker 4: I'm in a weird mindset, or I'm out with friends,

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Speaker 4: or I'm out at dinner and people are drinking, if

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Speaker 4: I get uncomfortable, I just excuse myself and leave. You know,

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Speaker 4: why put myself through that added pressure. I don't need to.

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Speaker 4: You know, no is a complete sentence. You know, didn't

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Speaker 4: really understand that either until this last little stint in Scottsdale.

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Speaker 4: You know, I learned a lot. I also learned how

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Speaker 4: hot Scottsdale really can get. Didn't keep me off the

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Speaker 4: golf course though I played in one hundred and twenty degrees. Wow.

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Speaker 3: Wow, that's dedication. Oh yeah, what prompted the Scottsdale visit?

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Speaker 4: You know? I so I knew that the tour was over,

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Speaker 4: and and I've got a weekly therapist that I was

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Speaker 4: you know, talking to, and and he was like, you know,

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Speaker 4: I'm just gonna put this out there. There's this amazing

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Speaker 4: place if you really want to dive deeper into this,

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Speaker 4: this and this. You know, there's so the facilities called

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Speaker 4: the Meadows. They're all over the US. There is one

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Speaker 4: in Malibu, but it's a seven day program. And I'm like, well,

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Speaker 4: that ain't gonna do shit. I seven days. If I

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Speaker 4: could have figured all this out that I know today

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Speaker 4: in seven days, I would have done it seven years ago.

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Speaker 4: He's like, but this one is is eight weeks, and

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Speaker 4: I was like, well, I really want to do this

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Speaker 4: right so and then I extended it for two more weeks,

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Speaker 4: not intentionally, I didn't realize. So in the middle of it,

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Speaker 4: they send you away about about an hour north to

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Speaker 4: I can't remember the name of the city, but when

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Speaker 4: I tell you, it was in the middle of nowhere,

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Speaker 4: middle of nowhere. It's an extension of the same program,

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Speaker 4: but they call it Trauma Week. So what you're dealing

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Speaker 4: with is from birth to seventeen. Now if you come

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Speaker 4: back for trauma track two, which I do want to

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Speaker 4: go back, is from seventeen to present day. So like

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Speaker 4: really talking to my inner child, dealing with my abandonment

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Speaker 4: issues when my dad left you know all of that stuff,

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Speaker 4: and it was just me and two other guys with

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Speaker 4: this one therapist, and it was pretty It was pretty intense,

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Speaker 4: you know. It was five days of tears of joy,

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Speaker 4: tiers of pain, but like just lots of writing. A

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Speaker 4: very similar scenario happened that I did when I first

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Speaker 4: went to rehab back in two thousand and one. They

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Speaker 4: have this thing called the bataka, which essentially is a

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Speaker 4: piece of PVC pipe with a foam pad on the

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Speaker 4: end of it looks like a giant lollipop. And you're

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Speaker 4: sitting in front of an empty chair and you're talking

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Speaker 4: to some one, whether it's my mom or my dad

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Speaker 4: or my grandparents that have passed, and you're just expressing

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Speaker 4: without them retaliating how you feel. And then if you

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00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,800
Speaker 4: need to get out anger or fear sadness, you beat

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Speaker 4: the shit out of the chair with this pataca. And

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Speaker 4: I broke it this time. I didn't realize how much

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Speaker 4: anger was still there, and a lot of it was

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Speaker 4: also anger inward but also outward, and man, I beat

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Speaker 4: the crap out of that poor chair.

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Speaker 2: Who are you talking to? At the time, I was talking.

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Speaker 4: To my dad myself, and kind of the the business

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Speaker 4: you know, I generalized it and uh, I just called

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Speaker 4: it work. But yeah, I mean I went off and

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Speaker 4: I like was like sorry, sorry, sorry, and the therapist

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Speaker 4: was like, no, no, no, this is what you need

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Speaker 4: to do. And it also inspired the other two gentlemen

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Speaker 4: that were in the group that were kind of at

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Speaker 4: first they didn't really want to like buy into it.

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Speaker 4: They were like, ah, this is this is this is dumb.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to talk to an empty chair, and I'm like,

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Speaker 4: go in with open mind, open heart, no expectations, and

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Speaker 4: just let yourself go. And they both did incredible and

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Speaker 4: we've all stayed friends. I talked to them at least

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Speaker 4: once or twice a week, and we all check in

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Speaker 4: on each other.

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Speaker 2: Two things you said jumped out at me one of them,

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Speaker 2: And maybe you could direct this to people who don't

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Speaker 2: really understand sometimes addiction and how it's it's a daily

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Speaker 2: process the rest of your life, almost with work. You said,

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Speaker 2: sometimes if I'm out with friends or something and I

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Speaker 2: get uncomfortable in the environment, I just leave. I want

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Speaker 2: you to expound on that. But the other thing you

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Speaker 2: said earlier when we first started, he said, the sobriety thing.

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Speaker 2: Now I got it all Lock, like you sound is

436
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:05,160
Speaker 2: so confident that you're not even worried about me. So

437
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 2: just those two things.

438
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, look, every day is a new day.

439
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:13,280
Speaker 4: I woke up today sober, great. I don't know what's

440
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,640
Speaker 4: going to happen two hours from now, but I know

441
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 4: that if I have any weird thoughts or have any

442
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 4: I don't really have the desire for like craving anymore.

443
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,480
Speaker 4: But it doesn't mean that I won't have a thought

444
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 4: pop in my head. And if that thought pops in,

445
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,440
Speaker 4: I can usually make it pop out. But if it lingers,

446
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,399
Speaker 4: I call my sponsor, I call some of my friends

447
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 4: that are in the program. I'm like, hey, man, you

448
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,720
Speaker 4: know I'm kind of feeling a little squirrely, and we'll

449
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,000
Speaker 4: have a five minute conversation and then I'm good. I

450
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 4: also take five minutes talk to my higher power. Or

451
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 4: I meditate. You know, you can meditate with your eyes

452
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,800
Speaker 4: open walking down the street. I do it in the

453
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:58,880
Speaker 4: shower every morning. But yeah, when I say that it's

454
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 4: on lock, it's that in my mind. I keep telling

455
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,960
Speaker 4: myself that because it's that important to me, and that

456
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,840
Speaker 4: it needs to be the number one thing in my life,

457
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:15,000
Speaker 4: before family, before anything, is my sobriety, because without that,

458
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 4: everything else goes away, career, family, all of it, you know.

459
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,080
Speaker 4: So and sadly, I've lost now twelve friends to fetanaohl

460
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,159
Speaker 4: in the past two and a half years. So another

461
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,359
Speaker 4: thing that keeps twelve friends, another thing that keeps me

462
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,879
Speaker 4: on the up and up, because you know, since I

463
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 4: got sober this last time, all of my bad people

464
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,920
Speaker 4: will call them are out of my phone. So I

465
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 4: know me well enough. If I go out, I have

466
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,160
Speaker 4: one drink, It'll lead to two or three, and I'll

467
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 4: talk to some random person at the bar of the club,

468
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,479
Speaker 4: Hey do you have this, this, and this and next thing?

469
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 4: You know, I leave my kids fatherless, not worth it,

470
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 4: just not so. You know, I'm kind of a homebody anyways.

471
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 4: I don't really do the club scene or go out.

472
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,960
Speaker 4: You know. I'm starting to finally go out more now

473
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 4: with friends to like a nice dinner and like just

474
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 4: get out of the house and just do stuff, meet

475
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 4: new people. You know. I'm trying to not be a

476
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,440
Speaker 4: recluse because that's also not healthy. But I do love

477
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,920
Speaker 4: being at home. I do love you know. I'm either

478
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,520
Speaker 4: on the golf course or I'm with my you know,

479
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:27,360
Speaker 4: kids and so you know, or I'm on stage somewhere,

480
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:32,399
Speaker 4: so you know, life is definitely moving. But I now,

481
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 4: like I said earlier, having boundaries in my life now

482
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,120
Speaker 4: is a huge, huge asset because if I'm not cool

483
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 4: with something, I will tell you. Or before I would

484
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,120
Speaker 4: just kind of go with the flow. But it's like, nah,

485
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,720
Speaker 4: I'm really not okay with that. Whatever it is, it

486
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,120
Speaker 4: doesn't matter if it's work related, you know, personal family,

487
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 4: whatever it is. You know, very cool.

488
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,159
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that that's going to be inspiring

489
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: to a lot of people who struggle with boundaries.

490
00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:59,680
Speaker 3: And all of I mean, just feeling pulled.

491
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 1: In one direction because you don't feel confident in where

492
00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,639
Speaker 1: you want to be. You described it a little bit,

493
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: but how would you describe your life right now?

494
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:13,400
Speaker 4: My life right now? You know, today I can look

495
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 4: at myself in the mirror and I like who I see.

496
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 4: It's getting better and better every day. I think what's

497
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 4: been really cool to see is I've been working out

498
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 4: my solo record now for over two years because we

499
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 4: were still on tour, so I couldn't just finish it

500
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 4: in like three months, and lyrically, it's the best record

501
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 4: I've ever done. You can tell where my headspace is.

502
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 4: You can tell like I'm not all over the place

503
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,679
Speaker 4: like I've I've got a direction and I'm staying in

504
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 4: that path. I'm keeping in my own lane. I'm trying

505
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 4: not to be affected by outside anything, and I'm just

506
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 4: enjoying life. I really am taking everything in. You know,

507
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,160
Speaker 4: I've said in like meet and greets. I've said even

508
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:01,879
Speaker 4: on this tour right now with Joey, when we do

509
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 4: these little sound check parties where we'll you know, talk

510
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 4: to the audience, We'll talk to the fans for a

511
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 4: little bit. And you know, one of the girls asked

512
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 4: me recently, you know, what's your favorite place to go

513
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 4: on the road. I'm like, well, I can't pinpoint one place.

514
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 4: There's tons, I said, But this last two and a

515
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 4: half years, I've gone back to a lot of places

516
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 4: I've been twenty thirty times, but never sober. So now

517
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 4: it's a whole new place for me. So going out

518
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,479
Speaker 4: and like getting out of my room, not staying in

519
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 4: my room all day all night on my days off

520
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 4: recovering from be going on a bender. You know, I'm

521
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 4: getting out and I'm like trying the local cuisine. I'm

522
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 4: on a different golf course every other day, or you know,

523
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 4: checking out. I do love the shop, checking out the shopping.

524
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 4: You know. My publicists and I were in Abu Dhabi

525
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 4: last October with the NBA and went to this gigantic

526
00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 4: mall and I I've never in my whole life had

527
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:07,119
Speaker 4: a like a personal shopper person with you that helps.

528
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 4: I'm like, this is the weirdest thing. But it was

529
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 4: very cool, nicest guy in the world. But it was

530
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 4: just a really cool experience. There's a lot of perks

531
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,199
Speaker 4: to do what I do. This is one of those perks.

532
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 4: And it was an incredible experience. I had never been

533
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,679
Speaker 4: into an air maze in my entire life, went for

534
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 4: this one. And she was a little kid in a

535
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,880
Speaker 4: candy store and I'm just sitting in this little room

536
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 4: that they bring you a tea, and I'm like, what

537
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,359
Speaker 4: is happening right now? Like I was like, can't we

538
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 4: just go look at the like I'm used to walking

539
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,679
Speaker 4: into a store and looking at the clothes, trying it on. No, no, no, no,

540
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 4: this is a different experience. But yeah, man, just life.

541
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 4: Life's too short. It really is. And I you know,

542
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:51,880
Speaker 4: another thing I learned in Arizona that I got also

543
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,400
Speaker 4: tattooed on me, at least the abbreviation on my knuckles,

544
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,879
Speaker 4: which hurt like hell. By the way, is if it

545
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,200
Speaker 4: doesn't fit, don't wear it. My whole life, I've taken

546
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,239
Speaker 4: on everyone else's shit because I am very codependent. I'm

547
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 4: a people pleaser or and I'm working through that as well.

548
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 4: And you know, I want to make you like me,

549
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna do whatever I have to to make

550
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 4: you like me, even if it kills me. Now, if

551
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:21,119
Speaker 4: you don't like me, that's your fucking loss, period. But

552
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,159
Speaker 4: taking the weight of other people's problems off of my

553
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,320
Speaker 4: shoulders and focusing on what's most important my family, my health, myself,

554
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 4: that's it, and then everything else will fall into place,

555
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,199
Speaker 4: you know. So again, if it doesn't fit, don't wear it.

556
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 1: Would you say, because you when you mentioned you lost

557
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 1: twelve friends to fentanyl where you were headed, you said

558
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 1: life is short? Did you think this was a life

559
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: or death situation for you? What would have happened had

560
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 1: you not made that commitment, had your daughter not called

561
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: you out?

562
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 4: I mean, who knows? I it's a hit or miss, honestly,

563
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 4: because you know, when I did that final relapse. Blow

564
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 4: was part of it. And you know, fentanyl hadn't really

565
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 4: been dominating as much as it is now, but it

566
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 4: was still out there. But you know, I dodged a bullet.

567
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 4: I mean, honest to God, I dodged a lot of

568
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 4: bullets when I was out in the world active in

569
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 4: my disease. You know, I countless times getting behind a wheel,

570
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 4: all different things that angel on my shoulder. Man, I

571
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 4: don't know how, but I was able to make it

572
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,080
Speaker 4: from point A to point B in one in one piece.

573
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 4: So you know, again there is there's a reason I'm

574
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 4: still here, and I'm gonna run with whatever that reason is.

575
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 4: And like I said, I'm loving life today. You know,

576
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 4: I think this might be the busiest I've ever been

577
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 4: in my whole career. And it's great though, because it's

578
00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 4: all healthy distractions from if I'm having a weird day

579
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 4: or whatever. Like being here with you guys doing something

580
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 4: like this. I enjoy this. It's fun. I love sharing

581
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 4: my experience, strength and hope and hopes that it helps

582
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 4: one other person. I did my job talking about my music,

583
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,920
Speaker 4: talking about just family, all of it. I mean, I

584
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, I'm I'm in a way different

585
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 4: place than I was two and a half years ago.

586
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 4: This would be a different conversation.

587
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,719
Speaker 2: You said you mentioned you dodged a bullet. I think

588
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 2: it is how you said you came out of it

589
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 2: without a meeting of faith like some of the friends

590
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 2: you had. But looking at you, you look good, you

591
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 2: look healthy, You're out there performing. Do you have any

592
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,320
Speaker 2: ongoing or long term health impacts of all those hard

593
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 2: years or did you come out of that on scathe?

594
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 4: I actually came out of that unscathed as well. You know,

595
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 4: I've been on a real big health kick ever since

596
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 4: I did Dancing with the Stars. Of course, a lot

597
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 4: of that was stress, you know, trying to keep up

598
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 4: with that show was a lot, but I was but

599
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 4: it was an incredible experience and so I started on

600
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 4: my kind of health journey. Then Since then, I've lost

601
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 4: about thirty five pounds. But sobriety also helps I eat very,

602
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 4: very healthy now that I've I've never ate this healthy

603
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 4: in my life. When I did did End One, I

604
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 4: must say drag Race. When I did RuPaul's drag Race,

605
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 4: Secret Secret Celebrity drag Race, this like for me, it

606
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:30,959
Speaker 4: was a weird, little external life changing thing that happened. Raven,

607
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 4: which is Mama Rou's main lead makeup artist, has been

608
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 4: for years, sat down with me. I was outside my

609
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 4: trailer and said, how bad do you want to win

610
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:40,959
Speaker 4: this thing? I said, I really want to win this

611
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 4: really bad. Because we're all playing for different charities. I

612
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 4: was playing for an amazing charity called trans Lifeline because

613
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 4: I'm a huge advocate for the LGBTQ plus community, have

614
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:53,960
Speaker 4: been for years. So I was like, yeah, I really

615
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 4: I really want to win this. You know, I didn't

616
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,719
Speaker 4: win Dancing with the Stars. I want to win this.

617
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,040
Speaker 4: He's like, well, can I make a few suggests? And

618
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 4: I was like yeah, sure. He goes, what do you

619
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,480
Speaker 4: How do you feel about taping? And I was like, oh,

620
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,400
Speaker 4: is that He's like, no, no, no, honey, that's tucking.

621
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, okay, sorry, I don't know what taping is.

622
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,000
Speaker 4: You have to cut me in. He goes, well, we'll

623
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,840
Speaker 4: tape your eyebrows up under the wig cap and then

624
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 4: we'll tape your neck back to give you a really

625
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 4: strong jaw line. And I was like, the hell with it, Yes,

626
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 4: I want to win now. Genetically, in my family, we

627
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,280
Speaker 4: all have like extra skin on our necks right. So

628
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 4: for years I was insecure about it because even when

629
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 4: I would go back and forth with my weight, I

630
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 4: always had a big beard because I was very insecure

631
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 4: about it. So when I saw what I look like

632
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 4: with a jaw line, I got emotional and I found

633
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,200
Speaker 4: an amazing doctor and I went and I had light

634
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 4: bow and I had facetight done on that area, and

635
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 4: I like, after all the healing was done. That mixed

636
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 4: with having my freaking six pack back, which I haven't

637
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 4: seen in a long time, I felt like I was

638
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 4: thirty years old. Wow, And it just I mean, I

639
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 4: just kept going. I'm like, I feel great. I'm in

640
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 4: the gym six days a week, you know, and trying

641
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 4: to eat as healthy as I can. You know, traveling

642
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 4: is hard, you know, but the fast food is definitely out. Yeah,

643
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 4: that's you know. I'm pretty much kind of give myself

644
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,160
Speaker 4: one exemption, which is when I come home from being

645
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 4: on the road from however long it could be a week,

646
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 4: a day, or two months. My celebratory i'm back home.

647
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 4: I always go to McDonald's always.

648
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 3: What's your order?

649
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 4: It used to be a double quarter pounder with cheese,

650
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 4: but I can't my stomach can't handle it any more.

651
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 4: So I do a number seven, which is the two

652
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 4: little cheeseburgers, and I do a media French fries and

653
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,240
Speaker 4: a diet coke, and I'm good.

654
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: It's good to give yourself a little bit of a break.

655
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 1: And I love the diet coke. I do the same

656
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 1: thing when I do. I don't go very often, but

657
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: if I do, it's always with the diet coke, which

658
00:33:58,600 --> 00:33:59,200
Speaker 1: makes me laugh.

659
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 4: There's there's this weird myth that's been going on that

660
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 4: like the diet coke and sprite at McDonald's is like

661
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 4: the best of the two anywhere. I'm like, what makes

662
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 4: it so much different than buying a can at the

663
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 4: grocery store.

664
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 1: Apparently there's My daughters would totally agree with you, but

665
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: I don't know what that is. They want the fountain

666
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,520
Speaker 1: drink at McDonald's and they say it doesn't even compare

667
00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:21,239
Speaker 1: it to if you go to a gas station and

668
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 1: you know, get a whatever a bottle of it is

669
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,280
Speaker 1: a completely secret.

670
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 4: Yeah.

671
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: So you're Spencer, you're healthy, you're fit, you got your

672
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,720
Speaker 1: six pack, you're looking good, you're single.

673
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:34,720
Speaker 3: Are you ready to mingle?

674
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 4: Not ready to mingle?

675
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 1: No?

676
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,880
Speaker 4: I look, I I'm definitely staying focused on me. I'm

677
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 4: staying focused on my career. I'm staying focused on my

678
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 4: daughters and just just being a dad and just just

679
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,920
Speaker 4: being happy. You know. I there's so much great things

680
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,440
Speaker 4: happening in my life that have taken such a like

681
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 4: a lead forefront that that's all I really care about

682
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 4: right now. So yeah, I mean, you know, I don't

683
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 4: know what the you, but right now that's all I

684
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 4: care about is new music. You know, Backstreet gearing up

685
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:08,880
Speaker 4: for something massive next year that I can't say anything about,

686
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:10,280
Speaker 4: but it's going to be huge.

687
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:12,360
Speaker 2: Will you please get him on.

688
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:15,240
Speaker 3: Something huge?

689
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 4: That's all I can say.

690
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:17,080
Speaker 3: New music.

691
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 4: I mean, we're we definitely want to go back in

692
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 4: the studio at some point. We're taking twenty twenty four

693
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,719
Speaker 4: off ish. We have Backstreets back at the Beach coming

694
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:27,279
Speaker 4: up in the next week and a half. We'll be

695
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,920
Speaker 4: down in Cancun with about four thousand fans and our

696
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:32,839
Speaker 4: buddy Jason Derula is coming out to do a couple

697
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 4: of songs. Uh. We're also going to be headlining Lovers

698
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 4: and Friends in Vegas on May fourth, I believe it is,

699
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 4: and then we have a festival in Germany.

700
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:40,799
Speaker 3: That's a year off.

701
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 4: Well, normally we're on tour like seven or eight months

702
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,920
Speaker 4: out of the year, So yes, this is you know,

703
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,399
Speaker 4: doing these little spot dates is fun. It also keeps us,

704
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 4: keeps our chops up good, keeps our vocals good, keeps

705
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:02,160
Speaker 4: everybody healthy. I think if we were off off, I

706
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 4: don't think the five of us could actually ever really

707
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 4: be just off off. We love what we do too much.

708
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,040
Speaker 4: Another reason why I'm doing this tour with Joey right now,

709
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 4: because it is strictly for the fans. We're doing it.

710
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 4: You know, you got in Sync and back Street together

711
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:16,799
Speaker 4: on stage. I know it's not all ten of us,

712
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 4: but it's still getting those fans all together under one

713
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 4: roof and Joey and I singing. I'm singing my favorite

714
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,400
Speaker 4: in sing songs I've never sang ever live, and he

715
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:29,760
Speaker 4: gets to sing his favorite Battery songs. We do cover songs,

716
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 4: I do my originals, We tell stories. It's two hours

717
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 4: of just organized chaos and so much fun. So you know,

718
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 4: it's a little taste of what it would be if

719
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:42,839
Speaker 4: the ten of us ever toured together, which I don't

720
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 4: think is ever gonna happen. But you know, we never know,

721
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, you know, like in the mortal

722
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 4: words of Justin Bieber, never say never. But again, you know,

723
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,840
Speaker 4: like I learned my lesson years ago when I was

724
00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 4: doing a red carpet somewhere and I just said it

725
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,600
Speaker 4: exactly like this. I said, how cool would it be?

726
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 4: How cool would it be if Backstreet and Spice Girls

727
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,719
Speaker 4: did a tour? That's all I said. And then it

728
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 4: ran from there because then they went and I think

729
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,359
Speaker 4: somebody asked mel B and she said, oh, that would

730
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,360
Speaker 4: be great. We would totally do it. And then it

731
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:23,239
Speaker 4: became a thing where oh, this is happening. I'm like,

732
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,719
Speaker 4: oh my god, sorry, no, it's not happening. This is

733
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,720
Speaker 4: this is strictly a rumor. I shouldn't have said anything.

734
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 4: It was just I was just talking out loud. So

735
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 4: you know, again, I've learned my lesson. I I don't

736
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,280
Speaker 4: want to be the Mark Ruffalo of the Marvel universe.

737
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,160
Speaker 4: Oh my god, no Mark, he get Mark and Tom

738
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:47,040
Speaker 4: Holland both get so much crap, just spill it out.

739
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:49,800
Speaker 4: And poor Kevin Figey's got to like put the clamp

740
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,400
Speaker 4: on him. But you know, but dude, I would be

741
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 4: the worst to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

742
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 3: You can't.

743
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:00,359
Speaker 4: No, there's no way. I'd be too excited to tell

744
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 4: the world like this is coming, you know. But yeah,

745
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:06,799
Speaker 4: so Joey was telling me that, you know, Lance and

746
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 4: I are very similar like that that like we both

747
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 4: have a hard time keeping our mouth shut. But like

748
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 4: I said, just me saying that there's something big coming

749
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 4: is enough to get people's interest.

750
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,799
Speaker 3: And uh, when's that announcement coming that I don't know yet.

751
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:23,960
Speaker 4: We're actually having a phone call about it on Thursday,

752
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,759
Speaker 4: so we'll find out when when we're going to be

753
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 4: talking more about it.

754
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,800
Speaker 2: But it's it's not new music, not get back in

755
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 2: the studio of new music.

756
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,879
Speaker 4: No, I mean, well I I I don't know if

757
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,440
Speaker 4: it's going to be new music or not. I don't know.

758
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 2: You didn't say no, okay, but we were use you

759
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:40,799
Speaker 2: guys have been touring, so you would make a big

760
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,000
Speaker 2: announcement of touring that is there a movie.

761
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:50,200
Speaker 4: We're joining Actually boys are joining the MCU. There it is,

762
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 4: damn it.

763
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 2: We can't wait to get exclusive you.

764
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:58,880
Speaker 4: Well, we actually have a comic book back in the

765
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,359
Speaker 4: day that was actually done by stan Lee Nick. It

766
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 4: was Nick's idea. It was called the Batstory Project. We

767
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,439
Speaker 4: had the comic book. We sold it during the Black

768
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:11,440
Speaker 4: and Blue tour, and I've talked to Nick Becau. Him

769
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 4: and I are both major nerves when it comes to

770
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,399
Speaker 4: like comic books, funkos, all of that, And I'm like, dude,

771
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,800
Speaker 4: we should actually like make this into like the Backstreet

772
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 4: cinematic universe, Like why not? I think it'd be fun,

773
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 4: But I think some of us have gotten a little

774
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,520
Speaker 4: we've kind of aged out as to doing action movies.

775
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:32,520
Speaker 1: Well it's funny because you say aged out. You all

776
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 1: have been together and like touring and making amazing music.

777
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 3: You're for how long now?

778
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:39,799
Speaker 4: It'll be thirty one years this month?

779
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 1: So many like that is almost unheard of. What do

780
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,520
Speaker 1: you all have that most people don't that most bands

781
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:50,320
Speaker 1: don't How have you been able to stay again?

782
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 4: Transfusions? No?

783
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:51,920
Speaker 1: Is that what it is?

784
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 4: Yes? No? Yes, I have the blood of a twenty

785
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:59,400
Speaker 4: year old. No, I mean, look, we it's a testament

786
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:02,680
Speaker 4: number one to the music. First, we've been blessed with

787
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,239
Speaker 4: hit after hit after hit. Thank you Max Martin, thank

788
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:08,399
Speaker 4: you Dennis Pop, thank you to the share On team

789
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:13,720
Speaker 4: in Sweden that first. Second, the best fans in the world,

790
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 4: and we are a global brand. We have fans all

791
00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 4: over the world that drive us, that have become an

792
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:23,440
Speaker 4: extension of us, that make us want to do what

793
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 4: we do. And yeah, we've had some low points where

794
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,920
Speaker 4: we've wanted to quit, where we've won, where we've been

795
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:33,359
Speaker 4: burnt out, but you know, just like anything, the only

796
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:36,359
Speaker 4: way around us through, and we've gone through enough and

797
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:41,400
Speaker 4: gotten over those humps. And really the kind of upswing

798
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 4: started with this is the end from that, going into

799
00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:49,319
Speaker 4: the Vegas Residency, and then right after that putting out

800
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,040
Speaker 4: our ten studio album, getting a Grammy nomination, our ninth

801
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 4: Grammy nomination, and it's just been the steady climb. We

802
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:59,399
Speaker 4: finished up a two hundred and seventeen show, forty four

803
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,759
Speaker 4: country through and a half million person tour. Took us

804
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 4: four years, but that's because the world shut down. But

805
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 4: and here we are coming up on thirty one years.

806
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 3: It's incredible.

807
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're anywhere where there is a DJ,

808
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,520
Speaker 1: whether it's a wedding or a party, and a Backstreet

809
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: Boys song comes on, everybody rushes the dance floor. I mean,

810
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: that's got to be an amazing feeling to know that it.

811
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:21,759
Speaker 3: Is that's going to live on it.

812
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 4: It's it's really cool. Like even when I'm walking through

813
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:28,000
Speaker 4: like the mall with my kids and I hear one

814
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:32,319
Speaker 4: of our songs, it still hits like it's still like,

815
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,280
Speaker 4: oh that's cool, you know what I mean, Like it's

816
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 4: I still pinch myself to this day, not as hard

817
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 4: as I used to. But it's just mind boggling to

818
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 4: me because again, you know, I'll always go back because

819
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 4: and compare it to the Beatles, not us to the Beatles,

820
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 4: but the Beatles were only together for seven years. They

821
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:55,440
Speaker 4: had way more albums than we did because they're doing

822
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:59,080
Speaker 4: two or three albums a year, but seven years. And

823
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,240
Speaker 4: look at the impact the Beatles have had on pop culture,

824
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 4: on music. And here we are ten albums, thirty one

825
00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 4: years and still going. It's insane. It it doesn't really

826
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 4: make sense, to be honest with you, it doesn't. But

827
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 4: we're gonna keep riding the wave, man, and just enjoying it.

828
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:24,560
Speaker 4: And also now we have like complete control, so we

829
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,959
Speaker 4: dictate how the tour schedule's gonna go. We're not doing

830
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 4: five shows in a row, you know, if we were lipsticking, sure,

831
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,600
Speaker 4: but we sing live, our voices can't do that. We

832
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:36,920
Speaker 4: want to be able to like enjoy the cities we're in,

833
00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,239
Speaker 4: So maybe we'll have a day off in between a

834
00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:42,279
Speaker 4: couple shows in a brand new city. Let's all. This

835
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,799
Speaker 4: particular tour was the most we've spent time together as

836
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,719
Speaker 4: a group on days off in probably fifteen years. Four

837
00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:51,120
Speaker 4: out of five of us are on the golf course.

838
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 4: Kevin not the biggest golfer. He likes to go camping

839
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:58,760
Speaker 4: or glamping, as we'll say. But like, we really spent

840
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 4: every day to gain and had a freaking blast. And

841
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,480
Speaker 4: that's what it's about. If you're not having fun, then

842
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:07,799
Speaker 4: throwing the towel, it's just not worth it. But we're

843
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:14,759
Speaker 4: really having a blast.

844
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:19,120
Speaker 2: How fun is it now?

845
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:19,359
Speaker 4: Though?

846
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 2: I have an eleven year old singing your songs right,

847
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,319
Speaker 2: singing your songs that I was listening to when I

848
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,319
Speaker 2: was We're about the same age. So what is that

849
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 2: like now for a whole new generation of folks, really

850
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,440
Speaker 2: young folks who have all these other artists out there

851
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,080
Speaker 2: streaming and everything, who still can say I like the back.

852
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:43,400
Speaker 4: I mean it's I kind of I'm learning what's happening

853
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:47,000
Speaker 4: in music now through my daughter's eyes, because they are

854
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 4: the next generation. They are the ones that will dictate

855
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:54,080
Speaker 4: what's cool, what's not, what works, what doesn't like. They've

856
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:58,360
Speaker 4: introduced me to so many new artists. Ava Max is

857
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 4: my number one that they've introduced me to. We've done

858
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 4: a show with her. Sweetest girl in the world. Was

859
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:10,160
Speaker 4: so nice to my kids, you know, obviously, Taylor same.

860
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:14,399
Speaker 4: You know, I've become a swiftie, you know. And look

861
00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 4: you if you're not go away, go back to bed,

862
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,719
Speaker 4: go to sleep. What's really funny is on this tour

863
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,080
Speaker 4: right now, the legendary Night tour with Joey and I,

864
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:29,560
Speaker 4: fans are now, you know, calling me Alex, which is

865
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:33,360
Speaker 4: super sweet. But they're bringing me bracelets now, just like

866
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:35,600
Speaker 4: the whole Arass tour with all the bracelets, all the

867
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,960
Speaker 4: exchange of bracelets that happened. And I'm like, and we

868
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,080
Speaker 4: did an interview, Joey and I, and we both were like,

869
00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 4: thank you, Taylor, thank you. This is because of you.

870
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:49,400
Speaker 4: But you know, this is the next generation. So I

871
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 4: will kind of lean on my kids and be like, so,

872
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:53,439
Speaker 4: what's the new hot stuff? Because I don't really listen

873
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:54,960
Speaker 4: that much to the radio. I listen to what's on

874
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,960
Speaker 4: my phone. But like I'm starting to listen to radio

875
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 4: again and it really is interesting what's out there. There's

876
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:05,120
Speaker 4: so many new artists that are so talented, the Jelly

877
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:08,480
Speaker 4: Rolls and all these artists out there, the Morgan Wallins

878
00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,040
Speaker 4: that have been around for a minute. But like I

879
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,760
Speaker 4: feel like I've been living under a rock for a second,

880
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,799
Speaker 4: you know. But there's so much talent out there.

881
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:20,960
Speaker 1: There is, and you are in the forefront of it all.

882
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,680
Speaker 1: You've got a couple you just had electric right really.

883
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:25,680
Speaker 4: Yep, And we're talking about the next single right now

884
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:26,280
Speaker 4: as well.

885
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:28,360
Speaker 3: So a lot of singles. Is there an album coming?

886
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:33,439
Speaker 4: There is an album coming. So I've been promising fans

887
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 4: of this album for a while. Sorry, in talks with

888
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 4: some major labels right now, so I'm kind of putting

889
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:43,279
Speaker 4: things on hold as far as my whole plan was

890
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,319
Speaker 4: to have two EPs and then a full LP, which

891
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,759
Speaker 4: still may happen. But no matter what happens, whether it's

892
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:52,920
Speaker 4: independent or it's through a major, the whole album is

893
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:54,400
Speaker 4: going to be out this year, no matter what.

894
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:54,919
Speaker 3: This year.

895
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:59,440
Speaker 4: I'm making that a point because I owe it to myself,

896
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:02,719
Speaker 4: to the fans. I've worked too hard on it and

897
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 4: I listened to it almost every day and I'm like, God,

898
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 4: I want the world to hear this. So and like

899
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 4: I said, there's a very special record that I've been

900
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,480
Speaker 4: doing on this tour with Joey called Arizona, which is

901
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:18,560
Speaker 4: really getting a lot of attention. And I really hope

902
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:21,200
Speaker 4: when that song is a single, which it will be,

903
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 4: the video has to be perfect. It has to be

904
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,239
Speaker 4: as powerful as the song, and I really want to

905
00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:33,120
Speaker 4: attach it to something in the mental health space. It's

906
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 4: such an inspirational song and I just want to help

907
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:37,200
Speaker 4: people in any way I can.

908
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:39,399
Speaker 2: We'll let you get on the last couple of things. Yeah,

909
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 2: we've been going about forty minutes, so we'll let you

910
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 2: get out. But a few other things we want to

911
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,960
Speaker 2: hit on it for. We do want to say congratulations,

912
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,120
Speaker 2: because I guess it's a blessing and a curse. You

913
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 2: planned on being off the road this tour, were supposed

914
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 2: to wrap up, but you had to add dates and

915
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 2: you're going to be working more and on the road

916
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,000
Speaker 2: more because of demand. Congratulations there, thank you.

917
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:03,720
Speaker 4: Yes, it's you know. Joe and I did a show

918
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,000
Speaker 4: in Tampa back in November. It was just a one

919
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:10,040
Speaker 4: off that caught wind. We did a show at Formula

920
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,080
Speaker 4: one two totally different crowds. By the way, what was

921
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:16,799
Speaker 4: a corporate gig. They got crazy at the corporate gig

922
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,000
Speaker 4: because I take my shirt after in the show and

923
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:21,960
Speaker 4: there's like ten dudes in the crowd, probably like fifty

924
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 4: plus shirts off. They were going. They were all having

925
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:28,120
Speaker 4: they were up time in their lives. And then we

926
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:31,399
Speaker 4: got offered to do nine shows. And what's interesting, it

927
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:33,440
Speaker 4: brought me back to when we had the Vegas Residency

928
00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:37,440
Speaker 4: because that residency started with nine shows, that's all they

929
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:40,839
Speaker 4: wanted to do our fifth show in they added thirty more,

930
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:45,240
Speaker 4: and before you know it, nine shows became eighty one shows,

931
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:49,239
Speaker 4: fastest selling residency in Vegas history. So not saying that

932
00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:51,799
Speaker 4: that's what's happening with this, but it's it's starting to

933
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 4: turn into that. Where it was nine shows, now it's

934
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:56,440
Speaker 4: going to be thirty shows by the time we're done

935
00:47:56,440 --> 00:48:00,520
Speaker 4: in June, and we're adding more dates in August. So

936
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:02,400
Speaker 4: we're gonna keep doing it actuation as long as the

937
00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 4: fans want to see Joey and I be a couple

938
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:06,719
Speaker 4: of fools up there singing our butts off, having fun.

939
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,719
Speaker 4: Telling stories. We're gonna keep doing it. It's fun.

940
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:12,160
Speaker 2: Did you all need need is not the right word,

941
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,560
Speaker 2: but everybody loves to have that debate in Seeing versus

942
00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:17,000
Speaker 2: Bactory boys, you gotta pick one. But in some way

943
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:19,239
Speaker 2: they wanted to make you all. I know, you all

944
00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 2: get along. That's not yea, you oll didn't have any

945
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 2: personal beat, but that rivalry how much did it help

946
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:28,960
Speaker 2: the genre at the time and propel both groups to

947
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:32,080
Speaker 2: have a kind of a competitor out there pushing each other,

948
00:48:32,239 --> 00:48:34,520
Speaker 2: maybe musically but also in the charts.

949
00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,960
Speaker 4: Look, you know we were under the same label, same management,

950
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 4: same producers, five and five. Essentially we had already been

951
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:47,760
Speaker 4: going pretty hard when in Sync started, So essentially, whatever

952
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:51,600
Speaker 4: we said no to, they said yes to, or vice versa.

953
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,200
Speaker 4: Which the kind of turning point for them was this

954
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:58,800
Speaker 4: Disney special that we turned down because we were just burnt.

955
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:01,680
Speaker 4: We were just off the road and we were like,

956
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:03,680
Speaker 4: you know what, we just want to take a break,

957
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,640
Speaker 4: We need a break, and in Saint took our slot,

958
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:10,240
Speaker 4: and that's what kind of helped kickstart their whole career.

959
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 2: You all are responsible for their success, is what I'm hearing.

960
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:17,280
Speaker 4: No, No, we're not responsible. But us saying no, we helped

961
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:19,239
Speaker 4: open the door for them to say yes, and they

962
00:49:19,239 --> 00:49:24,719
Speaker 4: wouldn't even say that. But you know, they them and

963
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,480
Speaker 4: us both Again, there was no social media back then,

964
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:30,240
Speaker 4: so is just the teeny Bop magazines or the regular

965
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:35,319
Speaker 4: print magazines and the Inquirer. You know, they would they

966
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:37,120
Speaker 4: were the ones pitting us against each other when there

967
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:40,759
Speaker 4: was never any rivalry. If if there was any competition,

968
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:44,360
Speaker 4: it was internal. It was us and them trying to

969
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,000
Speaker 4: be the best we could be for our own group.

970
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:50,439
Speaker 4: Because if you watch TRL, it was number one, number

971
00:49:50,440 --> 00:49:52,480
Speaker 4: two slot every week. It was back and forth, back

972
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:55,800
Speaker 4: and forth, back and forth. So again, you know, we were

973
00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:57,520
Speaker 4: all just having the time of our lives, you know

974
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 4: what I mean. But now you know, you know, seeing

975
00:50:00,560 --> 00:50:02,920
Speaker 4: them together. I was at Justin's show at the Wiltern

976
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:07,719
Speaker 4: and I was dead center when they reunited. The decipel

977
00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:12,239
Speaker 4: of screams was unbearable. But I get it, you know,

978
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:14,480
Speaker 4: I get it, and it was great to see them

979
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:18,520
Speaker 4: back up there together. The song is incredible, and I

980
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 4: got to preview the song the week before. Joey and

981
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:22,439
Speaker 4: I were in New York doing promo for the tour,

982
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:25,360
Speaker 4: and we just did GMA and he played me Paradise

983
00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:27,680
Speaker 4: and I was like, oh, it's like one of those

984
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:29,560
Speaker 4: songs where you go, damn, I wish that was our song.

985
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:33,239
Speaker 4: But yeah, it's like they never left, you know what

986
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:35,239
Speaker 4: I mean. And the fans are loving it, and I

987
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 4: really hope that they do something. I really really do.

988
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:39,799
Speaker 1: I want to ask you too, when you think about

989
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:42,319
Speaker 1: when you all were at your height and you were

990
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:44,960
Speaker 1: hitting number one on the billboard, could you have imagined

991
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:47,440
Speaker 1: thirty years later you'd still be doing this?

992
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:54,000
Speaker 4: Not at all. I mean, look, we hoped, we wanted longevity.

993
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:57,080
Speaker 4: You know, We've said we would like to be the

994
00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:00,439
Speaker 4: Rolling Stones of pop or the Eagles of pop, because

995
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:03,719
Speaker 4: at some point the dancing is going to stop. We

996
00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:05,280
Speaker 4: just physically won't be able to do it anymore.

997
00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 3: You still got the moves, so I was.

998
00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:08,120
Speaker 1: I was watching the video and I was even saying

999
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:10,040
Speaker 1: to TJ, It's like, damn, he can still dance.

1000
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:12,640
Speaker 4: We still dance eighty five percent of the show, you know.

1001
00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:14,799
Speaker 4: I mean, we got some fifty plus in the group,

1002
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:15,960
Speaker 4: which is not old these days.

1003
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:17,560
Speaker 3: I'm fifty plus. I get it.

1004
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:22,040
Speaker 4: I mean, it's all how we treat our bodies. But

1005
00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:25,920
Speaker 4: but no, I mean, we're gonna keep doing this until

1006
00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,960
Speaker 4: either we don't enjoy it or until we physically can't anymore,

1007
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:34,120
Speaker 4: because I mean, look, the stones are out or they're

1008
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:38,880
Speaker 4: about to go back out again. I mean, like the fans,

1009
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:42,440
Speaker 4: as long as the fans are there will be there period.

1010
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,400
Speaker 4: If you build it, they will come. It's that old saying.

1011
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:48,000
Speaker 2: And to your point, you have to argue, you guys

1012
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,160
Speaker 2: have done what you wanted to do. You as are

1013
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,000
Speaker 2: a rolling stones of pop.

1014
00:51:52,080 --> 00:51:52,120
Speaker 1: You.

1015
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:53,040
Speaker 3: I mean, there's still.

1016
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:56,480
Speaker 4: Stuff left that we haven't. You know, we still would

1017
00:51:56,560 --> 00:52:00,239
Speaker 4: like a Grammy. That would be nice, but does it

1018
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:03,919
Speaker 4: define our career. No, we're still going thirty one years later,

1019
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:05,920
Speaker 4: that's without any Grammys.

1020
00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:08,400
Speaker 2: But nine nominations, but nine nominations, which one did you

1021
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:10,879
Speaker 2: really deserve to win? And you with that piss?

1022
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,560
Speaker 4: I think I think all of us would agree, Me

1023
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,960
Speaker 4: and the boys. It was in ninety nine Album of

1024
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:22,520
Speaker 4: the Year, Best Pop Duo Group and uh and I

1025
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:23,920
Speaker 4: believe it was a Song of the Year, which was

1026
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:25,719
Speaker 4: I want it that way it was? It was the

1027
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:30,600
Speaker 4: Millennium and we lost to Sting and which is an icon.

1028
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:31,319
Speaker 4: You can't say no?

1029
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:34,960
Speaker 5: And Carlos Santana okay when he came back, you know

1030
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:39,759
Speaker 5: again again to competitions two Legends, but it was a

1031
00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:42,200
Speaker 5: little frustrating because Carlos came back and it was just

1032
00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:46,400
Speaker 5: all duets with all current artists, so like Rob Thomas

1033
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:47,000
Speaker 5: and all of them.

1034
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,040
Speaker 4: It was a great album. I remember that, you know,

1035
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:52,640
Speaker 4: Smooth was such a smash, but it was kind of like, oh, man,

1036
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:58,720
Speaker 4: like we had the biggest album yeah, ever, and it's like, okay, okay, okay,

1037
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,880
Speaker 4: if you know, if if we're gonna lose, to lose

1038
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:06,439
Speaker 4: to two giant legends, it's okay. And when we did

1039
00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:08,879
Speaker 4: this show years ago on VH one called Men Strike Back,

1040
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:12,320
Speaker 4: it was the it was the version of Divas and

1041
00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:14,680
Speaker 4: it was only one season, but they gave it up

1042
00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:16,840
Speaker 4: for the for like the men of you know music,

1043
00:53:18,040 --> 00:53:20,880
Speaker 4: we got to perform with Sting and Sting sang my

1044
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,560
Speaker 4: verse on I Want It that Way, and I was like, yeah, cool, fine,

1045
00:53:25,040 --> 00:53:29,120
Speaker 4: my guess I'm not gonna say no this thing. But yeah,

1046
00:53:29,160 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 4: that one kind of that wasn't a clean burn. That

1047
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 4: one itched when it dried, you know, so I was, yeah.

1048
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:39,239
Speaker 1: Well, you know what it seems like when that has

1049
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:41,800
Speaker 1: happened in your career, you all have just worked harder

1050
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:44,279
Speaker 1: and smarter and better, and so there's still plenty of

1051
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:45,280
Speaker 1: time to get that Grammy.

1052
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,439
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, so it's funny and look,

1053
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:50,640
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna put myself out there right now. I'm

1054
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:55,160
Speaker 4: gonna say this, and I'll still do it when we

1055
00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:59,160
Speaker 4: win the Grammy. But okay, so I told the boys

1056
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:02,200
Speaker 4: this last nominee, which was for Don't Go Breaking My

1057
00:54:02,239 --> 00:54:05,440
Speaker 4: Heart off of the DNA album. I said, if we win,

1058
00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:07,560
Speaker 4: you know, there's five of us, so we each get

1059
00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:09,279
Speaker 4: to say a little something. You know, someone will think

1060
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:12,080
Speaker 4: the fans. I won't take the label. I said, I

1061
00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:14,239
Speaker 4: want to go last. And the boys are like, no,

1062
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,360
Speaker 4: hell no, because we don't trust you. You're gonna do

1063
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:18,120
Speaker 4: something or say something. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no no,

1064
00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:21,000
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna do anything bad. I just want to

1065
00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:24,560
Speaker 4: you know. I'm obviously gonna thank my family. I'm gonna

1066
00:54:24,560 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 4: thank my thank you for and then I'm just gonna

1067
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,640
Speaker 4: dedicate the Grammy to Leo DiCaprio and then we'll walk

1068
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:34,120
Speaker 4: off and then you go straight to the pressure room

1069
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:38,880
Speaker 4: and the pressure will be like, okay, what huh. My

1070
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:43,080
Speaker 4: theory is we are the Leo Dicaprios of the music business.

1071
00:54:44,200 --> 00:54:46,919
Speaker 4: It took no because he should have went for what's

1072
00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:50,520
Speaker 4: eating Gilbert Great, it's a party. He wins for getting

1073
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 4: mauled by a virtual bear, and I and I believe

1074
00:54:56,280 --> 00:54:59,439
Speaker 4: he's also vegan or vegetarian and he was eating raw

1075
00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:03,080
Speaker 4: meat in the so like, we're the Leo Dicaprios of

1076
00:55:03,239 --> 00:55:06,680
Speaker 4: the music business in my in my personal opinion, so

1077
00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,319
Speaker 4: I wanted to dedicate it to him if we actually won.

1078
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:10,879
Speaker 2: Are they gonna let you do that? Are they still

1079
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:11,520
Speaker 2: say you can't.

1080
00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:13,359
Speaker 4: Kind to happen, whether whether they tell me I can

1081
00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:14,799
Speaker 4: or not. I'm just gonna be like, this is fe

1082
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:16,440
Speaker 4: Leo and this run off stage.

1083
00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:19,680
Speaker 2: You said you can accept losing the sting in Carlos Santana.

1084
00:55:19,719 --> 00:55:20,600
Speaker 2: Who'd you lose to you?

1085
00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:21,239
Speaker 4: Like this?

1086
00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:22,279
Speaker 2: Are we lost to this?

1087
00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:23,200
Speaker 4: Dude? I don't know.

1088
00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:26,239
Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't expect to answer that, but kidding, honestly, I.

1089
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:28,080
Speaker 4: Can't really think of anyone on the top of my head,

1090
00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:32,319
Speaker 4: nor would I say it, you know, but again, look,

1091
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:35,640
Speaker 4: just to be recognized as much as we have is

1092
00:55:35,680 --> 00:55:39,359
Speaker 4: a testament to the music and really to Max, I mean,

1093
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:43,200
Speaker 4: Max is just in my opinion, one of the greatest

1094
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 4: writer producers of all time, all time. I mean, yes,

1095
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:49,160
Speaker 4: you've got the Quincy Jones of the world, that David

1096
00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:53,680
Speaker 4: Foster's of the world, and they are fantastic. But my generation,

1097
00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:57,959
Speaker 4: our generation, and the plethora of artists that he's worked with,

1098
00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:02,560
Speaker 4: from bon Jovi to The Weekend to Us to Celine Dion,

1099
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:06,880
Speaker 4: you name it, Moroon five. I mean, it's just unbelievable

1100
00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:12,239
Speaker 4: how that man's brain works. I don't get, but you know, yeah,

1101
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:15,320
Speaker 4: I mean he is really the sixth member, honestly.

1102
00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:18,120
Speaker 1: Well, we feel very honored to have been able to

1103
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:20,480
Speaker 1: talk to you, Alex, and it's been so cool to

1104
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:24,000
Speaker 1: hear just where you've been, what you've been through, and

1105
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:26,440
Speaker 1: where you are now. And it is an inspiration to

1106
00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:28,799
Speaker 1: so many people who are on that journey as well.

1107
00:56:28,840 --> 00:56:31,200
Speaker 1: So thank you for sharing it, and thank you for

1108
00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:35,600
Speaker 1: just making our lives better through your music, through your action,

1109
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:40,480
Speaker 1: through your decisions to put yourself first. That's a testament

1110
00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:42,400
Speaker 1: to a lot of folks who don't do that, and

1111
00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:44,120
Speaker 1: it's important because you can't be there for your family

1112
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:45,160
Speaker 1: if you aren't there for yourself.

1113
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:47,279
Speaker 4: And there is such a thing as healthy selfish so

1114
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:51,839
Speaker 4: just know that and that yes, putting yourself first is

1115
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:52,440
Speaker 4: not a bad thing.

1116
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 3: Imptation of police and TASS