WEBVTT - Mark Mothersbaugh 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.076 Pushkin, the lead singer and keyboardist for Devo, Mark Mothersbaw 0:00:23.396 --> 0:00:27.396 is an avant garde new wave pioneer. Although critics often 0:00:27.436 --> 0:00:30.796 classified Devo as a joke band, the akron Ohio art 0:00:30.796 --> 0:00:34.436 punk's ethos was created in response to a very serious event, 0:00:34.916 --> 0:00:39.796 the nineteen seventy massacre at their college, Kent State. Following 0:00:39.836 --> 0:00:42.476 the shooting, the band took on the name Divo, short 0:00:42.516 --> 0:00:47.276 for what they felt was organized society's de evolution. Throughout 0:00:47.316 --> 0:00:50.076 the seventies and eighties, Devo helped lay the groundwork for 0:00:50.156 --> 0:00:54.396 diy anti establishment bands by releasing bizarre and left of 0:00:54.396 --> 0:00:57.796 center music and conceptual films that helped usher in the 0:00:57.876 --> 0:01:01.756 music video revolution. In addition to his work with Devo, 0:01:01.916 --> 0:01:04.916 Mark Mother's Law also had a long and successful career 0:01:05.036 --> 0:01:08.836 scoring for film and TV. His credits include Pee Wee's 0:01:08.836 --> 0:01:11.836 play House, The Rugrats TV Show, and movies, and he 0:01:11.916 --> 0:01:15.436 scored several classic Wes Anderson directed films, including The Royal, 0:01:15.476 --> 0:01:19.476 Tenenbaumbs and Rushmore. On today's episode, I talked to Mark 0:01:19.556 --> 0:01:22.476 Mother's Bop about how he developed his quirky sensibility as 0:01:22.516 --> 0:01:25.316 one of five kids growing up in a chaotic household 0:01:25.396 --> 0:01:29.796 that included exotic animals. Mark also tells a story about 0:01:29.836 --> 0:01:33.276 the time Richard Branson suggested that Johnny Rotten joined Devo 0:01:33.516 --> 0:01:39.636 right after the Sex Pistols had broken up. This is 0:01:39.716 --> 0:01:43.516 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Mitchman. 0:01:44.316 --> 0:01:48.436 Here's my conversation with Mark mothers VA. How you doing, 0:01:48.716 --> 0:01:49.236 I'm good. 0:01:49.276 --> 0:01:49.676 How are you? 0:01:50.516 --> 0:01:52.956 I'm good, Man, I'm really good. Thanks for doing this 0:01:53.596 --> 0:01:57.116 broken record? That's right? Was that like a radio drop 0:01:57.156 --> 0:01:57.716 for us? 0:01:57.996 --> 0:02:02.876 Sure, yo are listening to broken record? You know what 0:02:02.956 --> 0:02:08.476 I used to when I was seventeen or eighteen, I 0:02:08.556 --> 0:02:12.436 used to take my sister's be Gie records and also 0:02:12.476 --> 0:02:14.836 my brother's one of his Pink Floyd records. So I 0:02:14.876 --> 0:02:17.356 apologize to both of them now, but I took and 0:02:17.396 --> 0:02:21.916 I damaged the disc on purpose, so that I mean, 0:02:21.956 --> 0:02:23.996 there was no I didn't have a synthesizer or anything 0:02:24.036 --> 0:02:26.356 in these days. These are like. There was a piano 0:02:26.476 --> 0:02:29.196 and a little portable organ and a guitar in the 0:02:29.276 --> 0:02:31.396 room where I was doing this in the basement. But 0:02:31.476 --> 0:02:34.916 it would go there's a time, there's a time, there's 0:02:34.956 --> 0:02:37.996 a time, there's a tie, and I would jam with that. 0:02:38.476 --> 0:02:41.476 And I didn't have enough technology that I recorded any 0:02:41.516 --> 0:02:44.636 of them, which I really regret. But I used to 0:02:44.716 --> 0:02:48.196 like break my records on my sister's records on purpose. 0:02:49.156 --> 0:02:52.196 How did you discover that as a means of making music? 0:02:52.476 --> 0:02:56.356 Nobody was respectful of the discs in our house. Everybody 0:02:56.436 --> 0:02:58.356 treated them, you know, because there were kids of all age. 0:02:58.596 --> 0:03:01.116 So little kids would go ah, and they'd take my 0:03:01.236 --> 0:03:03.996 record that I liked and they'd scratch it or by accident. 0:03:04.196 --> 0:03:05.556 Then I'd go to play it, and then I go 0:03:06.556 --> 0:03:14.836 little little lip bath, I go fu amy and h 0:03:15.356 --> 0:03:17.916 It made me interested in these other kinds of rhythms 0:03:17.956 --> 0:03:21.436 and sounds and deconstruction of music when I was a kid, 0:03:21.476 --> 0:03:25.436 and it was innocent. I didn't have any school connection 0:03:25.556 --> 0:03:27.836 to it. I had, you know, nobody at school talked 0:03:27.836 --> 0:03:31.876 about that stuff. I just experimenting on my own actually. 0:03:32.636 --> 0:03:35.716 Before you just sort of discovered that and and sort 0:03:35.756 --> 0:03:39.076 of that kind of naturally led you into deconstruction of 0:03:39.196 --> 0:03:42.596 music and these weird, quirky kind of rhythms and things. 0:03:42.796 --> 0:03:45.076 Was your taste more conventional? Were you also into the 0:03:45.076 --> 0:03:46.436 early Beacheese records? 0:03:46.596 --> 0:03:50.076 Well, you know, I hated music when I was a 0:03:50.156 --> 0:03:53.356 kid because I had to take piano lessons when I 0:03:53.396 --> 0:03:57.196 was seven, and I'd be sitting there on the piano 0:03:57.356 --> 0:04:00.436 plane the stupid thing that I had to learn, like 0:04:00.756 --> 0:04:04.356 Autumn leaves, you know, which you know, like Roger Miller 0:04:04.436 --> 0:04:06.316 is singing it or something. But i was playing, ah 0:04:06.436 --> 0:04:09.716 the leaves, and I'd look out out the window of 0:04:09.756 --> 0:04:12.876 my friends were like, ha haha, They're out there playing 0:04:12.996 --> 0:04:16.156 and they're they're having fun, and I'm like, hey, little shirks. 0:04:16.156 --> 0:04:19.556 And that started when I was seven, and I hated it, 0:04:19.596 --> 0:04:21.356 and then five years later after I've been doing it 0:04:21.356 --> 0:04:25.636 for five years. My parents too. We had five kids, 0:04:25.676 --> 0:04:28.916 and the only way to keep it from total chaos 0:04:28.916 --> 0:04:31.396 at dinner time is my dad had this little black 0:04:31.396 --> 0:04:34.716 and white portable television and he'd set it on the 0:04:34.836 --> 0:04:38.796 end of the kitchen table or whatever we and we'd 0:04:38.796 --> 0:04:42.956 all like just we just watched TV. And dinner time 0:04:43.356 --> 0:04:45.956 was after dad got home from work, so it would 0:04:45.996 --> 0:04:52.116 be like, uh, you know, we'd be watching Ed Sullivan, 0:04:52.356 --> 0:04:55.276 you know, so it'd be like football, gig O, you know, 0:04:55.396 --> 0:04:58.876 the Little Puppet Mouse and stuff like that, and you know, 0:04:58.916 --> 0:05:01.916 it was it was just something to watch that kept 0:05:01.956 --> 0:05:04.316 us from like hitting each other or like putting our 0:05:04.356 --> 0:05:07.716 fingers in each other's food, and then mom Bob put 0:05:07.756 --> 0:05:10.476 his finger in my food, you know, like that kind 0:05:10.476 --> 0:05:13.996 of stuff. And but one day he goes all right 0:05:14.156 --> 0:05:19.796 and from Liverpool the Beatles, and I saw the Beatles 0:05:19.796 --> 0:05:23.076 Do I want to hold your hand? And I lost 0:05:23.116 --> 0:05:26.756 my mind. I just went, yeah, what is that? That's 0:05:26.756 --> 0:05:30.116 incredible because to me, I didn't listen to the radio. 0:05:30.356 --> 0:05:33.556 Radio and AKRON at that time was like a lot 0:05:33.556 --> 0:05:37.676 of country Western and then and then novelty music, you know, 0:05:37.756 --> 0:05:42.356 so there'd be like gee Wore and it's eve bitsy 0:05:42.476 --> 0:05:45.676 teeny weeny yelloop. So that's the kind So that's what 0:05:45.956 --> 0:05:48.156 pop music was like. To me, it was like novelty 0:05:48.276 --> 0:05:52.196 songs like that and witch Doctor and Purple People Lead 0:05:52.876 --> 0:05:54.716 and stuff like that. But then when I saw the Beatles, 0:05:54.756 --> 0:05:57.716 I went, that's what I've been tortured my whole life 0:05:57.836 --> 0:06:00.396 learning music for so I could do that. I knew 0:06:00.396 --> 0:06:01.676 when I was twelve I was going to be in 0:06:01.676 --> 0:06:05.116 a band, and that was before I got interested in 0:06:05.196 --> 0:06:09.516 like writing stuff. And then I wasn't sure what that 0:06:09.636 --> 0:06:11.556 meant or what I was doing. When I was trying 0:06:11.596 --> 0:06:13.916 to do it, I started write trying to write music 0:06:14.316 --> 0:06:16.716 pretty early on. But I never tried to write something 0:06:16.796 --> 0:06:20.036 like a Beatles song or anything. I didn't really, you know, 0:06:20.396 --> 0:06:22.956 the truth of the matter was, I didn't really. I 0:06:22.996 --> 0:06:25.356 thought a lot of their lyrics were sappy and silly. 0:06:25.436 --> 0:06:27.356 But I was twelve, so I was still growing up. 0:06:27.436 --> 0:06:30.996 I thought the Rolling Stones had great lyrics. I thought 0:06:30.996 --> 0:06:34.716 they had the best looks. I thought Satisfaction was like 0:06:34.796 --> 0:06:41.516 this cool hipster beatnik proclamation and the music, the instruments, 0:06:41.556 --> 0:06:45.476 you know, we're like, we're like genius. I just I 0:06:45.516 --> 0:06:49.196 think they never talk about it, which is but I 0:06:49.276 --> 0:06:54.316 think Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were both incredible lyricists 0:06:54.476 --> 0:06:55.516 and songwriters. 0:06:55.596 --> 0:06:58.756 So yeah, it's funny. I was thinking about Satisfaction. It's 0:06:58.756 --> 0:07:00.676 funny brought up. I mean, I guess it's not strange. 0:07:00.716 --> 0:07:03.596 You got Divo also, you know, did a great cover 0:07:03.636 --> 0:07:05.556 of Satisfaction. But I was thinking about Satisfaction of the 0:07:05.596 --> 0:07:08.036 day because one of my streaming services that I watched 0:07:08.196 --> 0:07:12.356 TV on somehow switched over to the version, the lower 0:07:12.356 --> 0:07:15.316 grade version with commercials, and so I was sitting through 0:07:15.356 --> 0:07:17.156 a movie and it kept popping. I was sitting through 0:07:17.156 --> 0:07:20.156 a Charles Bronson movie from the eighties, some random Charles 0:07:20.156 --> 0:07:22.836 Bronson movie. It kept going to commercials, and I realized 0:07:22.836 --> 0:07:25.836 about halfway through the movie I kind of missed commercials. 0:07:26.036 --> 0:07:27.876 And then I was thinking about how Satisfaction was sort 0:07:27.916 --> 0:07:31.676 of this screed against consumerism and people selling to you 0:07:31.756 --> 0:07:35.676 and advertisers. But I've gotten to the point in twenty 0:07:35.716 --> 0:07:38.756 twenty three where I kind of miss any level of communal, 0:07:39.316 --> 0:07:41.196 like you know, yeah, and it gives you. 0:07:41.156 --> 0:07:46.076 A relief from whatever the mediocre movie you're watching. 0:07:46.996 --> 0:07:49.756 It was the most random Charles Bronson that's kind of funny, 0:07:49.876 --> 0:07:54.236 hunting down like a Mormon serial killer or something curtzy. 0:07:54.436 --> 0:07:57.796 It was wild to greetd Movies have becoming of equal 0:07:57.836 --> 0:08:00.516 interest to you to music early on. 0:08:01.236 --> 0:08:04.596 But it wasn't just movies. It was commercials. It was 0:08:05.796 --> 0:08:09.116 random music you'd hear anywhere, just sounds that you heard 0:08:09.756 --> 0:08:12.356 out in the world. When I went to public school 0:08:12.356 --> 0:08:15.516 in Akron, there wasn't really a very robust music or 0:08:16.356 --> 0:08:20.556 or art or anything cultural in the schools because basically 0:08:20.636 --> 0:08:24.116 they were teaching kids how to be farmers. At my 0:08:24.236 --> 0:08:27.516 high school there was like a ninety five kids, you know, 0:08:27.636 --> 0:08:31.556 graduating class, and their parents were farmers. And my dad 0:08:31.636 --> 0:08:34.316 was like a we had like a green acres farm. 0:08:34.356 --> 0:08:36.316 It was like wasn't really a farm. It was like 0:08:36.316 --> 0:08:38.716 this little tiny place. It had had a barn and 0:08:39.396 --> 0:08:42.116 it had a house, and it had like five acres. 0:08:42.196 --> 0:08:45.276 And but he was a salesman and he but he 0:08:45.356 --> 0:08:48.076 always wanted to, you know, to live out in the 0:08:48.116 --> 0:08:50.516 country and he so we were kind of so we 0:08:50.596 --> 0:08:53.596 moved out to to you know, like a suburb outside 0:08:53.596 --> 0:08:56.916 of Akron, and it was a total different world there. 0:08:56.996 --> 0:08:59.796 You know, the people inside Akron were all you know, 0:08:59.956 --> 0:09:06.196 they were gonna end up working on the conveyor belt line, 0:09:06.236 --> 0:09:08.236 you know, they were going to the assembly line at 0:09:08.316 --> 0:09:11.516 Tires because we had like we were the tire capital 0:09:11.556 --> 0:09:13.676 of the world when I was in high school. Still 0:09:14.236 --> 0:09:16.956 and then it smelled when you got near downtown, but 0:09:16.996 --> 0:09:20.556 you knew that was the smell of everybody's paycheck, you know. 0:09:20.756 --> 0:09:24.436 So you know, whether you were actually on the on 0:09:24.476 --> 0:09:26.996 the factory line, or if you were just working at 0:09:26.996 --> 0:09:30.036 the hot Hamburg store right out, you know, or the 0:09:30.076 --> 0:09:33.476 hot dog stand you know, just outside of Goodyear, you know, 0:09:33.596 --> 0:09:35.756 where people came to eat on the way out of work. 0:09:35.836 --> 0:09:40.636 You know, It's like it was all rubber did everything 0:09:40.636 --> 0:09:42.196 with everything did. 0:09:42.116 --> 0:09:44.476 You spend much time because I guess you know your 0:09:44.516 --> 0:09:48.276 your Akron. The closest cities would have been like Columbus, Cincinnati, 0:09:48.356 --> 0:09:51.436 of course still within Ohio, Cleveland, Cleveland. 0:09:52.036 --> 0:09:54.756 Yeah, we were a Cleveland wannabee. We wished we could 0:09:54.756 --> 0:09:59.116 have been like they have a cooler art scene in Cleveland. 0:09:59.196 --> 0:10:02.076 They have bands come to play there. You know, you 0:10:02.116 --> 0:10:04.156 had to go up to Cleveland to go see David Bowie. 0:10:04.196 --> 0:10:05.516 He didn't come down to Akron. 0:10:05.836 --> 0:10:08.076 Did you get any shows in Akron when you were. 0:10:08.116 --> 0:10:12.236 Yeah, occasionally. I I had to miss it for I 0:10:12.236 --> 0:10:15.796 don't remember what reason. But my my younger brothers saw 0:10:16.316 --> 0:10:19.276 Cream at the Akron Civic Theater. And I remember my 0:10:19.356 --> 0:10:22.236 little brother who was in junior high and was a drummer. 0:10:23.236 --> 0:10:26.036 He charged the stage after the show was over and 0:10:26.116 --> 0:10:30.916 before Ginger Baker. He said, Ginger Baker had his drumsticks 0:10:30.956 --> 0:10:34.436 taped to his hands with because because otherwise he would 0:10:34.476 --> 0:10:37.916 have lost him because he was so you know, probably high, 0:10:38.036 --> 0:10:41.316 you know. But he ran up on stage and he said, 0:10:41.836 --> 0:10:46.396 good drumming man, and Ginger Baker just went anxious, you know, 0:10:46.516 --> 0:10:48.556 like that, and that was and he was so excited 0:10:48.596 --> 0:10:53.636 that he exchanged a communication with Ginger Baker and he 0:10:53.676 --> 0:10:56.756 did become a drummer my brother Jim Man. 0:10:57.556 --> 0:10:59.636 I mean, Ginger Baker is an exciting guy. You know, 0:10:59.836 --> 0:11:00.876 even if he's not enough. 0:11:01.676 --> 0:11:04.076 Probably probably would have been dangerous if he would have 0:11:04.116 --> 0:11:06.516 ended up, you know, backstage or something with him. But 0:11:07.196 --> 0:11:07.716 who knows. 0:11:07.876 --> 0:11:09.996 That's a bummer he missed that. I'm sure that must 0:11:10.036 --> 0:11:10.756 have been incredible. 0:11:11.116 --> 0:11:13.516 There were a lot of well shows, you know, because 0:11:14.116 --> 0:11:16.316 if nothing else, they were on their way to Chicago 0:11:16.436 --> 0:11:19.756 or they were you know, Detroit was like the shit though, 0:11:20.076 --> 0:11:25.236 you know, It's like Detroit had amazing bands that came 0:11:25.276 --> 0:11:27.916 from him, you know, and and that's where you had 0:11:27.956 --> 0:11:29.836 to go if you wanted to see like Iggy Pop 0:11:29.956 --> 0:11:30.476 or and. 0:11:30.476 --> 0:11:33.836 Seeing Iggy in Detroit. But I mean before he left Detroit, 0:11:34.156 --> 0:11:35.636 that must have been wild. 0:11:35.716 --> 0:11:37.516 You know where I saw him actually, I saw him 0:11:37.556 --> 0:11:40.036 in Cleveland. I saw him in Cleveland at the Cleveland Tourium. 0:11:40.236 --> 0:11:44.116 He opened up for David Bowie for his Spiders to 0:11:44.196 --> 0:11:48.356 Mars show, and I was like, wow, look at that guy, 0:11:48.356 --> 0:11:50.236 because he was like, he didn't have a shirt and 0:11:50.276 --> 0:11:52.796 he would like throw himself off the stage and people 0:11:52.836 --> 0:11:54.876 would get out of the way and he'd just smash 0:11:54.956 --> 0:11:57.076 on the floor and he'd just bounce up and keep singing, 0:11:57.636 --> 0:11:59.756 and he'd be bloody by the end of his set, 0:11:59.756 --> 0:12:02.596 and I was like, that's pretty hardcore. That was amazing. 0:12:02.676 --> 0:12:06.796 Well was that, you know? And then then Bowie came 0:12:06.796 --> 0:12:11.716 out and that was such an incredible show. The Spider 0:12:11.796 --> 0:12:14.756 Some Mars show was so amazing, and and like Mick 0:12:14.836 --> 0:12:20.196 Ronson had like a blonde page boy poudy, you know, lipstick, 0:12:20.436 --> 0:12:23.676 and he had like on silk blue pants that like, 0:12:24.156 --> 0:12:26.876 you know, went just below the knee with white knee 0:12:26.876 --> 0:12:29.236 socks that came up, you know, like like he had 0:12:29.476 --> 0:12:32.756 like white pantyhose on. And he had like lifted shoes, 0:12:32.876 --> 0:12:35.156 you know, big shoes with a big buckle, and he 0:12:35.356 --> 0:12:38.796 just looked so badass, like a out of a Renaissance painting. 0:12:39.356 --> 0:12:42.356 And they were so amazing. And I remember at one 0:12:42.396 --> 0:12:45.836 point during one of his solos, Bowie gets you know, 0:12:45.876 --> 0:12:49.316 he's dressed like a lizard alien and and he gets 0:12:49.356 --> 0:12:52.116 down in front of Mick and I remember being in 0:12:52.156 --> 0:12:54.756 the Audiens going, oh gosh, I wonder if David knows 0:12:54.796 --> 0:12:59.196 that looks like he's blowing Mick Ronson. He should someone 0:12:59.196 --> 0:13:01.716 should tell him not to do that, because it looks 0:13:01.756 --> 0:13:06.036 like he's blowing him. I you know, I know he's 0:13:06.116 --> 0:13:09.316 just worshiping his guitar playing, but the way he's doing it, 0:13:09.396 --> 0:13:12.356 it looks like he's blowing it. I remember thinking that 0:13:12.396 --> 0:13:13.836 when I was a little. 0:13:13.636 --> 0:13:17.516 Kid, oh Man, to be naive Akron. 0:13:17.596 --> 0:13:19.876 Well, I mean, you know, an Akron if anybody, if 0:13:19.876 --> 0:13:21.956 there was anybody there that was gay, it got beat 0:13:21.996 --> 0:13:25.156 out of them. You know, That's the kind of it was. 0:13:25.196 --> 0:13:28.276 It was a rough place to be even, you know, 0:13:29.436 --> 0:13:32.836 anywhere deviant of right down the middle it was. And 0:13:32.876 --> 0:13:35.476 so Devo was so far off to you know, out 0:13:35.516 --> 0:13:37.596 of out of it that we were just we just 0:13:37.636 --> 0:13:40.476 felt like space aliens, you know, like observing the planet 0:13:40.476 --> 0:13:41.036 the whole time. 0:13:41.196 --> 0:13:43.076 I mean that show that you saw with Bowie and 0:13:43.076 --> 0:13:44.916 Iggy and Brox, I mean that must have been maybe 0:13:45.196 --> 0:13:47.476 just before DEVA started. You guys might have even been 0:13:47.716 --> 0:13:48.196 been playing. 0:13:48.276 --> 0:13:52.676 It was probably we might have already been jamming, because 0:13:52.756 --> 0:13:55.596 I don't remember what year it was now now you're right, 0:13:55.676 --> 0:13:58.156 I don't know the exact year that that that album 0:13:58.196 --> 0:14:01.876 came ound though, right around the same time, and you know, 0:14:01.916 --> 0:14:05.476 Bowie was somebody we we really respected as an artist. 0:14:05.556 --> 0:14:07.596 You know. It's like there were people that we kept 0:14:07.636 --> 0:14:10.396 our eye on and it was like, uh, like Eno 0:14:10.556 --> 0:14:14.236 for instance, you know, but even like a much more 0:14:14.236 --> 0:14:17.276 eccentric things like uh, Captain Beefheart. I was a really 0:14:17.276 --> 0:14:18.076 big fan of his. 0:14:19.036 --> 0:14:21.556 I think the first Captain Beefheart record is probably the 0:14:21.556 --> 0:14:23.596 only Captain b Fart record that I have been on 0:14:23.636 --> 0:14:25.556 the wrap my mind around still. I mean it only 0:14:25.556 --> 0:14:28.836 because it only got more and more bizarre from from there. 0:14:28.996 --> 0:14:31.676 You know, that was kind of a conventional record in hindsight, 0:14:31.756 --> 0:14:32.796 save as Milk and. 0:14:32.756 --> 0:14:35.196 Yeah, for me, it was trout Mask Replica was the 0:14:35.236 --> 0:14:38.836 one that I thought was his uh masterpiece. Matter of fact, 0:14:38.956 --> 0:14:42.356 there's a song on it called the Blimp and the 0:14:42.396 --> 0:14:44.516 line and it goes did it? Did it? Did it? 0:14:44.676 --> 0:14:44.996 Did it? 0:14:45.036 --> 0:14:51.556 Did it? And anyhow So, when we did our remake 0:14:51.636 --> 0:14:55.676 of Secret Agent Man and played a solo for it, 0:14:55.996 --> 0:14:58.516 I finished the solo at the beginning of the song. 0:14:58.676 --> 0:15:02.596 It has an homage to that goes did it did It? 0:15:03.396 --> 0:15:05.796 I put it in the solo and nobody has ever 0:15:06.316 --> 0:15:08.556 come up to me and say, hey, you you referenced 0:15:09.236 --> 0:15:12.436 a cap'n Beefheart song in Secret As it was too 0:15:12.836 --> 0:15:15.356 obscure for everybody in the world. 0:15:15.396 --> 0:15:18.316 I guess there's too much information on drop masks. I've 0:15:18.436 --> 0:15:21.156 going to synthesize it and be able to recognize it 0:15:21.196 --> 0:15:23.076 else where. I think, you know, it's just two. 0:15:23.276 --> 0:15:26.876 Yeah, that's yeah, that's it's a pretty amazing you know, 0:15:26.996 --> 0:15:27.676 it's pretty dense. 0:15:27.756 --> 0:15:28.516 Yeah. Yeah. 0:15:28.796 --> 0:15:32.676 So anyhow, that was that was my early influences and 0:15:32.876 --> 0:15:36.316 just but also at the same time of that, when 0:15:36.356 --> 0:15:38.796 I was a little kid, twelve and going up, it 0:15:38.836 --> 0:15:42.436 was the British invasion for me. I loved all that stuff. 0:15:42.436 --> 0:15:45.436 And I remember going walking past the drug store on 0:15:45.476 --> 0:15:47.516 the way home from school because they and they had 0:15:48.036 --> 0:15:51.076 a magazine called Tiger Beat and I never bought one 0:15:51.116 --> 0:15:53.036 because I didn't have a quarter or whatever it was, 0:15:53.156 --> 0:15:55.156 but I would go in and I just look at 0:15:55.236 --> 0:15:57.956 them to see pictures of these and I remember being 0:15:58.036 --> 0:16:03.876 really upset once because it said Dave Clark five versus 0:16:03.916 --> 0:16:07.596 the Beatles, you know, like they like had these like 0:16:07.756 --> 0:16:10.156 their concepts of Battle of the Band, and you know, 0:16:10.196 --> 0:16:12.156 they would then go through and say, whoa, here's what's 0:16:12.156 --> 0:16:14.116 good about them, and here's what and here's what's not 0:16:14.196 --> 0:16:16.636 as good, but it's better by them, and I remember 0:16:16.796 --> 0:16:19.236 in my little twelve or thirteen year old brain, I'm 0:16:19.276 --> 0:16:21.996 going like, well, that's not fair. There's five of them. 0:16:22.036 --> 0:16:24.556 In the day of Clark five, there's only four Beetles. 0:16:24.596 --> 0:16:27.436 I just remember being like, that's my takeaway. When I 0:16:27.516 --> 0:16:29.956 left the drug store that day, I was like really 0:16:30.356 --> 0:16:35.556 concerned about the Beatles, you know, being outnumbered. I thought 0:16:35.556 --> 0:16:37.596 I was the fifth Beatle. When I was a little kid, 0:16:38.556 --> 0:16:40.516 I would go down in the basement. Is the only 0:16:40.516 --> 0:16:44.196 way I could get away from like five kids. We 0:16:44.516 --> 0:16:49.916 had monkeys, flying, squirrels, dogs, cats, every kind of animal. Seriously, yeah, 0:16:49.956 --> 0:16:51.876 we had all sorts of animals. My dad was kind 0:16:51.876 --> 0:16:54.756 of odd in that way, in a great way. But 0:16:55.316 --> 0:16:57.076 I could go down in the basement. I could turn 0:16:57.476 --> 0:17:00.756 my Beatle record up loud, and I would pretend I 0:17:00.876 --> 0:17:03.076 was the fifth Beatle and I and in my mind, 0:17:03.196 --> 0:17:07.756 I'd be watching the Beatles at Shay Stadium on stage 0:17:07.756 --> 0:17:11.036 and I'd be off stage, and then one of them 0:17:11.036 --> 0:17:14.196 would look over, like maybe John would look over and 0:17:14.236 --> 0:17:17.236 he go come on, and so I'd come out and 0:17:17.276 --> 0:17:19.276 he'd they'd be playing in the middle of a song 0:17:19.476 --> 0:17:21.956 and he'd lift his guitar away from his body. So 0:17:22.036 --> 0:17:24.436 this is this is creepy for a twelve year old 0:17:24.516 --> 0:17:27.236 kid to be having this fantasy. But you know, I 0:17:27.276 --> 0:17:29.796 would get in between him and his guitar and then 0:17:29.836 --> 0:17:32.476 I'd take over playing, and then he would slip his 0:17:33.436 --> 0:17:35.756 guitar strap off of his neck out round mine and 0:17:35.796 --> 0:17:37.956 I'd be this little twelve year old kid playing with 0:17:38.036 --> 0:17:41.316 the Beatles and they had their outfits. I couldn't be that. 0:17:41.436 --> 0:17:43.676 I wasn't allowed to have that in my fantasy. I 0:17:43.796 --> 0:17:46.556 just was like in my school clothes and I'm playing, 0:17:46.836 --> 0:17:50.156 and then i'd keep an eye on him, and John 0:17:50.196 --> 0:17:53.236 would like be smoking a cigarette and then he'd put 0:17:53.236 --> 0:17:54.836 it out and you'd go okay, and then he'd come 0:17:54.876 --> 0:17:58.036 back out, and then we'd do that thing again, and 0:17:58.076 --> 0:18:00.156 he'd get in between me and he'd take over playe 0:18:00.436 --> 0:18:03.196 and I'd duck out, and then you know, maybe the 0:18:03.236 --> 0:18:05.476 next maybe next it would be Ringo would look over, 0:18:05.556 --> 0:18:08.236 he'd have to pee or something, you know, and I'd 0:18:08.676 --> 0:18:10.396 i'd I'd like to come out, and I'd be sitting 0:18:10.396 --> 0:18:13.516 there in between him and the and the drums. Then 0:18:13.716 --> 0:18:16.116 then next thing you know, I'm playing and he's gone. 0:18:16.196 --> 0:18:19.676 He's going to the restroom or something or getting a 0:18:19.716 --> 0:18:22.476 glass of milk or whatever Ringo had to do in 0:18:22.476 --> 0:18:24.316 the middle of a song. But it was but it 0:18:24.356 --> 0:18:26.196 was always like in the middle of a song too. 0:18:26.356 --> 0:18:28.036 That was the amazing part of it. It was like 0:18:28.116 --> 0:18:30.516 never like they would finish a song and then I'd 0:18:30.556 --> 0:18:32.636 come out and do it. It was like it was 0:18:32.636 --> 0:18:33.636 better than that. 0:18:33.636 --> 0:18:35.316 That's a way cooler way of doing it though, just 0:18:35.316 --> 0:18:38.836 slipping in the beat never stops, you never, you know, 0:18:39.436 --> 0:18:41.796 just picking right up where one of them left off. 0:18:41.836 --> 0:18:43.836 That's the that's the smooth way of doing it. 0:18:43.916 --> 0:18:47.396 That was my British Invasion fantasy from twelve or thirteen 0:18:47.516 --> 0:18:48.276 somewhere in there. 0:18:48.396 --> 0:18:51.076 Do you still appreciate the British invasion of that music? 0:18:51.516 --> 0:18:54.516 Oh? Yeah, I mean, you know, it's like I got 0:18:54.596 --> 0:18:57.196 kids and a wife that are into Sono's and every 0:18:57.436 --> 0:18:59.636 all the different you know, Spotify's and everything, and I 0:18:59.716 --> 0:19:02.076 just I just work on music all the time, so 0:19:02.156 --> 0:19:04.676 I don't I rarely go back and listen to music. 0:19:05.356 --> 0:19:08.396 But a couple of weeks ago, we were sending Sono's 0:19:08.596 --> 0:19:11.796 system up in our dining room or something, and my 0:19:11.836 --> 0:19:13.876 wife is getting frustrated and she left, and so I 0:19:13.956 --> 0:19:17.196 was like figuring it out and as I was figuring 0:19:17.196 --> 0:19:21.036 it out. Somehow, I started tripping into all these sixties 0:19:21.756 --> 0:19:24.676 era brit songs, and I started listening to him again, 0:19:24.676 --> 0:19:27.716 and I was going like, Oh, the Kinks, that guitar sound, 0:19:27.956 --> 0:19:32.996 nobody's ever gotten that, that guitar sound from Girl, you 0:19:33.036 --> 0:19:35.316 know you really got the car or all the Day 0:19:35.356 --> 0:19:38.716 or all the night. I decided, how did he get those? Yeah, 0:19:38.756 --> 0:19:43.116 they got these sounds that nobody else ever really totally got. 0:19:43.236 --> 0:19:45.796 And and I started listening to all these other songs 0:19:45.876 --> 0:19:49.396 and and I spent a couple hours listening to a 0:19:49.436 --> 0:19:51.756 British Invasion again a couple of weeks ago. Maybe that's 0:19:51.756 --> 0:19:55.556 why I'm talking about it now, because I stumbled on 0:19:55.636 --> 0:19:59.436 it again and then and I found it equally wonderful. 0:20:00.156 --> 0:20:01.916 We have to pause real quick break, and then we'll 0:20:01.916 --> 0:20:04.876 come back with more of my conversation with Mark Mothers BA. 0:20:09.276 --> 0:20:12.756 We're back with more from Mark mothers By. So many 0:20:12.796 --> 0:20:15.636 people have a similar story of, you know, the Beatles 0:20:15.676 --> 0:20:17.956 sort of opening their mind to music and what it 0:20:17.996 --> 0:20:21.236 can be. And I feel like the British Invasion sort 0:20:21.236 --> 0:20:24.396 of became by default the gold standard of music, and 0:20:24.436 --> 0:20:27.396 it's the thing that was always referenced to but if 0:20:27.396 --> 0:20:29.036 you actually go back and listen to it, I think 0:20:29.236 --> 0:20:30.956 there's things are worth going back to, like the guitar 0:20:31.076 --> 0:20:34.436 sound from the Kinks, like to have that distortion sound. 0:20:34.436 --> 0:20:37.316 It's just it's not like overdriven, it's not overpower and everything, 0:20:37.316 --> 0:20:40.196 but it's still just it's so fucking awesome. It's still 0:20:40.276 --> 0:20:42.436 this great raw sound, like you know. 0:20:43.516 --> 0:20:47.916 Okay. So years later, Neil Young was kind of curious 0:20:47.956 --> 0:20:51.076 about Devo, and so we ended up in one of 0:20:51.076 --> 0:20:54.076 his films. But before that, I'd worked with a with 0:20:54.716 --> 0:20:58.996 a director that directed the film Human Highway it's called, 0:20:59.356 --> 0:21:02.716 and I had written off Broadway music nineteen seventy nine. 0:21:02.716 --> 0:21:05.796 I'd written this music that he he made. He did 0:21:05.796 --> 0:21:08.836 an off Broadway ian Esco play. I don't know. He's 0:21:08.876 --> 0:21:12.516