155: Habitual Influence with Josh Homme | Soder Podcast | EP 150

Hey everybody, hope you enjoyed the podcast this week. I'm on the road, all tickets available at danceter.com. October 2nd and 3rd, I'm going to become into Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cusadas, doing four shows there. And then I will be in Salt Lake City at Wise Guys, November 5th through the 7th. And then comedy at the Carlson in beautiful Rochester, New York, December 10th through the 12th. Those dates are all up at danceter.com. Thank you so much for coming and seeing me live. The shows have been so fun trying to build new material for when that special comes out at the beginning and next year. But you guys rock, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know I was worried it was going to be a little too Chris Farley show, but I think we had a great talk. And Josh Homme is the man, so enjoy the episode. And I'll see you on the road. [MUSIC PLAYING] Dude, you know what's funny about that? Is that what comics have had to come to reckon with is that we don't have that skill? Well, but even beyond that, I'm here to have a conversation. Yeah, hell yeah. People like that conversation. Then they say, oh, do you have a record? That's-- I don't-- I completely fucking agree with you. That has always been my thing. Because it's similar to like, I don't know, when you make something like a stand-up special or an album or whatever, it just kind of feels like it's like your little presentation. And you don't want to force it on. And I feel like saying, you know. Yeah. You know, and the worst question I get is when they go, you do stand-up comedy and you just go, yeah, yeah. But now we're already off on the wrong foot. Yeah. Because it doesn't mean what you think of me. Yeah, because immediately, like a lot of people, I wonder if anyone ever asked you to like, "Busk," like, your musician play right now. Yeah. Well, the funny thing is that happens sometimes at parties without them knowing that if I ever see someone pick up a guitar at a party, and there's actually this-- I go to this one party. I'm with my two sons and my daughter. And it's this manager guy. But he's a good guy, and he manages some cool artists that I know that are-- And apparently his neighbor was Harry Dean Stanton. Well, who's like right across the driveway at this dirt road, and then it's-- which is awesome. That's pretty awesome. Fun neighbor to have. But I've always had this thing. Anyone that picks up a guitar and goes, oh, a guitar and starts playing at a party, I think. You fucking embarrassed yourself. Yes. What do you think is-- Can I just tell you that there is something about being a fan of your band that this is just like an improvement, structural improvement to my fandom, is knowing that you see a guy pick up at the car and you go, don't fucking do it. Especially in a party, I want to go up to him and go, put that down right now. You're embarrassing yourself. I wish you had a badge and a gun. I wish you had a badge and a gun to go. To just put your hand over and go, sir, I'm going to ask you to put that down, drop that six-year. So, son, you're not going to want to do this, drop that six-year. Because for me, I think as a comic, when you watch someone try to give a speech or try to-- It's the trying. The trying is the hardest part because you go, oh, no, man. I'm talking about when my friend Big J has the perfect term for it, when someone hams. When you're around to hang out. And then they go, well, you should love this. You're a comic and you go. Not like that, though. Not this way. And that's like to you, the guy with the acoustic guitar and the quad playing water wall. Well, it's-- and especially when they-- So, even though "Harry Dean Stanton" is a national treasure-- Sure. --he's amazing. But what he'd done was, there's a picnic table, and there's a guitar kind of within eye shot. And he picks it up and he's sort of like, oh, oh, this guitar. And I love "Harry Dean Stanton." But I was like, don't do it. You go, "Harry Dean Stanton." He's a super old man. And he picks up the guitar. And I'm standing there with my youngest wolfie who at the time is like seven or something like the six or seven. And "Harry Dean Stanton" starts singing in Spanish. And he's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And of course, the party starts to go, like, what? And everyone starts looking, and they sort of gather around. But it was because it was like a movie where I'm looking for, like, hidden cameras. And you're looking for also for someone to confirm your reality, which is like, yeah, did "Harry Dean Stanton" just fucking start singing in Spanish. Right. And it was-- yeah, it sounded great. And yeah, I love "Harry Dean Stanton." But I just was like, oh, fuck, this is cheesy right now. And so he finishes this song and everyone's like, what the-- what the fuck? Mind you, it's daytime, too. So it's like five o'clock or something. And my son goes, Jesus, let's get out of here. As soon as they got quiet. I don't know, I think I got some much. I got some toys to play with, because this thing is out of here. But the fact that he was like, Jesus. And it was right at the quiet moment so everyone looks over him and I'm like, uh-huh. All right, let's-- It's crazy, he's-- yeah, he's got-- he, you know, kids, stay on opinion. I was like, chip off the old block, yeah. But the fact that he saw it and knew that the energy was-- because daytime, when there is no allure of candlelight, or there's no like-- there's no like ambiance to it, there's just kind of like, you see everything? And there's no glue of late night drunkenness. Like, I can foresee a world. And there have been times where I have one friend, in particular, who he likes to-- he really loves to-- he's proud of his friend's talent. It's very genuine. And he has these really-- he loves to play cupid and has these, you know, this strange chemistry of people's personalities come over. And this is what he loves to do. And it's very cool. And so he is a couple times. He's just walked up and put a guitar in my hand where I'm like, he knows I fucking hate this, right? But we're in this situation. Sometimes has people, you know, from Ukraine or something come and play. And you watch. And so it's very old school in the way these parties are designed. Yeah, that's the kind of situation where you go. Well, that's fucking awesome. Not the kind where they go, hey, do you do this? Right. Well, the one case was like, after a folk music master, and he's like, Josh plays. And I was like, don't you-- Don't you fucking do this to me. I was sniffing glue in the parking lot. I can't. He was like, but it looked over at you. I can't. At least it's midnight. And everyone's a little bit lubed up emotionally. And people also, there really is something to be said about the way shadows play into it. And like you can hide into it. Yeah. Yeah, it's by the fire. It's as kumbaya as it could be with, and mushrooms or people. But that's what it is. Because Big J and I always had a term called day evil. Because you go to a music festival. And you see like an evil metal band. And they're like during the day. And they're like, shaitan's coming. And it's like, I can see you sweating through your makeup, dude. This isn't evil. Well, it's hot and hell, too. To their defense. To be fair. It is hot in the inferno. But there is something about like the idea of doing something after like you said like a folk music master. Then you go, don't do. Yeah, you don't want to be the bee in an A/B comparison. Yeah, no one wants that. Yeah, I did a pro I like rarely ever do private events. Like court, you know, like don't like ask comics. What is it? Because it's never good. Yeah, it's never good. It's never fun. It truly is the closest to comedy can get to stripping or looking. Right. It feels like hooking. Right. Because you go in and they go, keep your shirt on. Talk about your dad. Well, especially these events where people don't care or they're not. They're charity events where people are, they're more like, I just wrote a check for $45,000 or $100,000 or whatever. So that's almost, you're right on the fucking show. Yeah. So this is like 2017, 2018 or my agent's like, it's in Manhattan. You can do it after you do the bonfire. You can go right there. I'm like, fucking fantastic. Before I'm leaving my apartment in Queens, I go, let me bring a button down. Just in case. I'm going to Denver, no, get sure. And I'm like, let me bring a button down just in case this is kind of a nice event. It's a gala for cancer doctors. So I think that's when you got to wear your jersey. Yeah. Show me. Show me a yoke. It's Jersey. I mean, who wants to ball out? If ever there's a moment to truly be yourself, like I was, I hooked up a friend and and Bill Burr's, you know, about a fundraiser, and you know, I think the difference between a charity event and a fundraiser is that that's so specific to, like, charity is a broad. I know it's fundraising there, but this was so specific. Sure. And there's like big donors and things like that. So I played Cupid and but I knew because I'd done one of these events before. How much the audience is like just talking while you're doing your thing. -Yeah. -And oh, oh, my God. -Yeah, so yeah. -Oh, yeah, dude, that's so organic. Yeah, my Bordink candle. -Yeah, fucking rules. -Yeah, yeah, hell yeah. But, and I took my daughter, and I was saying we were-- I was saying, "Bill's gonna bomb. This is gonna be the funnest thing I've ever seen." And I was telling her, "You're not playing Cupid. You're playing Don King. You're playing a man into a ring to die." You said it a man to his death, and there's no love in this. -But he knows. He knows. -Well, Burr is also John J. Rambo. -Yeah, I mean, if you do know for a Philadelphia incident, you can drop that man into the Hillcule. -But this is what I knew. -Yeah, yeah. -He was full makeup on. -He was a fucking government guy that's like, "I just sent you back in the Vietnam Rambo. We had people. We had to get out." -He can eat stuff that would make a belly gut pill. -Yes, dude. -That's the line I always quote. I know it 'cause I trained him. -Yeah, yeah. -You better get a lot more body bags if you get this. -Rambo. -John J. -Yeah, dude. -I just watched this with her the other day, too. -But you are your murder. You're sending him in. -Yeah. -I know 'cause I trained him. -Yeah. -He's, you know, it's Richard Krenna. -Yeah. -It's the actor and that. And he is overacting so hard. -So hard. -That it circles back around again and you say to yourself, "No, I support this choice." -On the rooftop. -On the rooftop. -Yes, the one where he's like, "What do you want?" And that's when Sly is giving it like, "They're all dead. I go back to where I get it." -That's how he crawls. -You know what? I stem by it. I stem by that decision. -Yes. -Did you know that in the original first blood, he had a lot of, like, Arnold Schwarzenegger lines. He had a lot of, like, "Oh, yeah." -It looks like this one's sticking to your head. -Oh, thank God they took him out. -They took him out. -Yes. -That was a good movie. -It's a great movie. -It's a good movie. -I have a theory that if he would have died after first blood, Sylvester Stallone, there would be, like, awards in Hollywood for him. -For sure. -Because he would have Rocky in first blood. -Yeah, I think he also used Bill Conti, the conductor, which sounds like-- -Yeah. -But it's not Bill Conti. -I'm being robbed Bill Conti. -Sorry if I'm real Bill Conti to you already. -You're being a real Conti right now. But who did the score, and it was like that, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. -Yes, where he's running up. -Bumb, boom, boom, boom, boom. -Is it the great tension? -And he puts it around. -Oh, dude. -Damn, I watched first blood just peeking on the road. -I saw it. I saw it. I saw it on a vacation. My daughter were just snuggled, you know, watching this. And she looks over and she's like, "This is fucking great, you know." -That's just funny. -Yeah, we always used to joke around about if Brian Denny just let him get a sandwich. -He's such a terror in that movie. -We did on the bar fire. We did Rambo if it worked out, or if he goes, "Let me give you a ride." And he pulls him up to a diner and he goes, "No, look like you had money." And I got you a sandwich and he goes, "The feel good hit." -Yeah. -What happens when two guys-- -Because I respect-- Thank you for your service. -Then he goes, "This thing is sandwich is pretty good." -Once you stand my place. -Yeah. -And fall in love. -So you send Bill Burtedon. -So I send-- And obviously Bill knows this, this is gonna be tricky. -But Bill's a guy that doesn't hide stuff. So is he like, "What are you doing? Am I gonna bomb?" -He was like, "So you did this before? You did it. What happened? What happened to you before?" -He's riding it down in like a notebook. He keeps in his back like a sassy. -He's so far from stupid, I mean, that he's, and he's done a million of these. But I don't-- You never can fully prepare for the level of-- These are like big donors. -Yeah. -So they're Bill Conte's. -Yeah. -So-- -It's a roofful Bill Conte. -I mean, they're helping people, but they're like, "Half a million dollars, check everybody." -Yeah. -You count it. -Yeah. -Oh, was that me? -Ooh, did I just save line? -And he's-- He's MC-ing. -Oh. -So he has to go back again and again. -And to his credit, he is not pulling any punches as he never does. -Yeah. -And it's bombing. And he's like, "What? Is everyone, you know, messing around with their butter or something?" -Yeah. -You know, he's-- Then he turns the attack on them, which is what he should do. And-- But every time he sits down, I am dying laughing. And he's like, "Yeah, I can't believe you were raised by this asshole, saying to my buddy, saying to my dog." -Can I just say I just think I found out through this story, "The Perfect Speed for Bill Burr," which is taught him talking to your kids about you. -A point blank range is-- -But then I'm like-- -It was my own private Idaho show, right? And I was like, "Listen to him. He's dying right there." And he's like, "Shut your mouth. I can't believe you were raised by this asshole." And it really brought us close. -Yeah. -Well, those events-- -You know, Redheads need to, like, keep it in tight. -We're under threat constantly. -Consolutely. -And I wonder-- -And I see, man. -Where your meetings are. -Yeah. -I'm not-- Like, I'm gonna tell you where they're going to be. You have a little red in your beard, and you can't go. -I'm first with Michelle Wolfs. I can get her in. -No, he's not. No, he's not. Get him out of here. No, he's not. That's a lie. -She's another great. -She's great. -I mean, truly one of my favorite people on earth. I love her death. In fact, you went to bed one night drinking together. -It was awesome. -She's fun to drink with. -Yo, it was a blast. -She-- That voice, it's-- She get a couple drinks in there, and she goes, "I don't know what happened." -I'm gonna tell you right now, man. That's a cool ass cat. It's Michelle-- Michelle Drunk, she goes, "It's just the world is going quick." -No, he's another thing, you know, man. -I could have used more of her radio voice though. -Oh, dear. Yeah. She-- She fucking rules. But the-- The gal that I went through with the-- Like, the shirt. It's not only cancer doctors, but they go great. So there's these three doctors going to go up before you, and then you'll go up, and I go, "Cool, whatever." It's three doctors shredding on guitar. Like fucking-- Like a van Halen solo, like-- -Hellen, hellen, hellen, hellen, hellen. -Which is what everyone wants to hear as you do a ripping solo alone? -There was three of them, and they all, like-- -Dang together. They played together, and then they all did solos. And then they brought me up, and then they're-- -I know, but I think that speaks to the kind of precision you want from a brain, a cancer brain doc. -You want something to rip a lead on your head, you know, with precision. -Yeah, you don't want to go like-- -Like, slap it. I don't want to slide guitarist up there. -Don't drop the hook, like, in the wrong spot inside me. -Yeah. And leave it there. -Yeah. -My mom used to work in insurance for medical malpractice. -No. -And she-- Yeah, she told me some fucking-- -Go Luigi. -She was like, "Take 'em all out. There's nothing there." -Yeah. -But she would tell me that, like, the doctors that had good bedside manner that were nice, never got in trouble. -Yeah. -But the guys that came in, and were, like, quiet. -And, you know, it's what you're gonna do, you know. -I said the guys that were nice always fucked up, and they never got sued. She said they'd leave sponges in 'em and shit, and the people would come back, and they'd be like, "Ah, they're pulling it out of your spoon." -Yeah. -Hey, Rex and then he's gone. -Yeah. -Oh, my God, yeah. -Yeah. That's what the word is. -And she's my Rolex. -So anytime I see it, anytime I go to a new doctor and they're nice, I'm like, "I don't know if you're the one for me." -Ah! -Give me the Conti, Bill Conti. -Yeah, I want a guy that's like, "Why do your body look like that? It's gross," and they're like, "You're good at medicine." -Well, you think it's hard for me. -Yeah. -Can you play-- I mean, what I'm interested is when you do, like, a benefit like this, and you don't feel like it goes well, is there any part of you that's like, "Yeah, why don't you listen to one of my fucking albums?" -Oh, well, I've sort of learned that-- I mean, I can't help-- I don't always have a very good filter. And so, you know, in the one I did, I was like, you know, send more butter to the assholes at Table 15. But you're playing. You're not listening anyways. I might as well do whatever I would like to do to feel-- to try to reclaim my own-- -Yeah. -You know, I guess it's ego, because you're like, "You're not listening to me." -But it's understandable, because the whole point is, is, like, this is kind of like a thing of, like, "I'm gonna go up here and do this. Please just listen." You don't have to like-- -I think it's about respect. -Yeah. -It's a little disrespectful. But also, you're in a room with people that can afford to get one guy gave a million dollars. -Great. -And he stood up, and everyone was padding him on the back. And I was like, "I gave my love. What the fuck in a chicken? What the fuck, like, why are you doing this now?" -And he's like, "I'm in the middle of his song, "Waving is so funny." Fuck that band. -Yeah, I did it. -But you can't say-- But it's such a weird spot where many things are converging, which are true at once, because it was such a generous thing. -Sure. -And it's really incredible. But then you're like, "Wow, you have that much money. I suppose you should-- you really probably should be doing this." And then the fact that he was sort of like-- -Yeah. -You know, which has a little bit of a grossness, too. It's really hard to reconcile all those things at once. -Yeah. -And it's like, "Why aren't you listening to this "patsy-cline cover I'm doing right now?" Which-- -But it's sort of-- -It's sort of dickish on my end, too. But it's like, you know-- -I also think there is probably someone at Table 15 you helped get more butter. -Yeah. -Because the guy-- -Just to get butter. -Do butter. -You can do butter. -Can you do butter? -Can you play butter? -Hey, this one, can you play butter? But I always feel-- I feel like we need to stop making donors, either build the buildings again, go back to making bridges and buildings and shit that used to help our towns. -I just-- well, I saw something about this. -Really? -I'm sorry to interrupt. -No, I love it. -I've done the king of interrupt. -I saw this thing that was like, you know-- -Listen, in today's modern era, you can't bring just cash around with you. Now people need an app. You need an app on your phone if you're going to bank. You're going to need an app on your phone if you want to buy stuff. 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She had a work trip where she took me and we went to like this like thing in France. Because I fell in my special and she's like, do you want to go to France the week after for free? Yeah. And I was like, fuck an A. I've never been. Yeah. Let's go to the South of France. It ended up being just this like hell scape marketing conference. It truly was this- I think it was the sixth level of hell. It wasn't the- I love that she left out to get you to go. She didn't know. We found out together in real time. I know that they're going to France for the- They kind of were just like, yeah, you're going to come and do a panel and you get a free trip, but she was like great. And then people were starting to drop knowledge on us after it was locked in that we're like, oh, this could fucking suck. So then one of our friends is having this like party at night. We go out to dinner and he's like, it's like a cocktail gathering or whatever. And it's all these corporate people with very corporate attitudes, which I choose. There's a reason I don't- I would have gotten fired. That's why we don't have that job. I don't want that job. I would get- I always say my personality is I would get in trouble at any of those jobs. You know what I mean? Like, Dan, you can't talk like that. You got to go to HR. Yeah. HR would hate seeing me come. Yeah. But we're sitting at this party and we're talking and one of the guys is like, do you see Amazon built a medieval town square? It cost them a hundred million dollars and they recreated this mid-century and I fucking- And I just go, but you can't pay your fulfillment center workers. Yeah, you just gotta piss in a bottle at the- Exactly. You can't fucking give them a little bit of fucking money. You can cut it off. You can put more plastic in your sex lizard wife. And then like- And these watching these guys watching it not be reciprocated is the problem that I had. Right. So now I'm just sweating in linen like saying my- But you don't enjoy- I'd say I quite enjoy it. I think that's- I need to- I love- I love creating that uncomfortable as a response to dickish behavior. Well, just just especially even if your art isn't going well, I always think, oh let's ride this thing all the way down. You know, to reference something of your own without making it awkward, live in London, over the years and through the woods- Oh right. When you point out the guy and you go, hey you, stop pushing people. Yeah. You cock smoker. Well, and then it goes- But that- That was something that I heard on an album when I was younger that I go, that's the energy that I want. Which is like, you're seeing something, you have it and you're calling it out in a way that's not too dickish. It's got some funny in there. Yeah. Which sugar makes the medicine go down. Yeah, I- I- I, you know, I- It's a weird wrestling match that I've always gone through because we're called Queens of the Stone Age just, you know, and- So that the wrong element of, you know, no homophobes, no racist, no misogynist, you know what I mean? Like, just to turn off in an attempt that would ban you going to see tonight and it's like, I don't want to say. Yeah. And it's like, well, who is it? Who is it? Queens of the Stone Age, you know, it's almost to try to- I like that. By the same token, you know, I've been- I- I- I understand I've been thrown out of places for getting- for fist fighting, you know. So, but if I see something, you know, if I see someone like that knocking some gal around, I'm going to stop right now and say something. But I understand also when people look at me sometimes they're like, who's this big guy? So, you know, there's a lot to reconcile, but I just don't care. It's like, you have to figure that out. I'm going to- I'm going to do this when I see that that's going on. I think that's a position that more people should take, which is just like, hey, if you see something fucked up, it is like- Right now do something. It's okay to speak up right then, even if someone's going to go, hey, that was rude or that was this you go, well, I'm fucking watching it and I don't like it. Yeah, I'm not going to watch that. And I'm watching someone else. That's the important thing. I think what sucks right now about- But that happens to me even if we're out somewhere, if they're at a dinner or if you're in a bar or if you're shopping. So you go, it's cool when it's on stage at Olive Garden, it's a little different. Well, no, but it's like- He's already had enough. Well, it's too many bread sticks and they're not unlimited. I just hate any bullying behavior and I cannot sit by and watch. Or just like, I'm a father of three and there's been times I've seen someone in the supermarket swacked their kids. And I'm just like, I can't do it. I'm sorry, and I just go over and say you're about to be swacked with a bag at yourself. I'm about to hit you with a bag of oranges. But I mean, you need to make a judgment call and say, put it on the scales and say quickly, what am I going to do here? Yeah. But I just, I don't know. I think it's that, you know, it's that old red head thing you do with two and like- Fuck yeah. Red head, I got a gay brother and it's like, I remember, it's like no one's going to pick on us. No one's going to pick on us for long, you know? What was the first instance of you being a red head where it's like, because you know, every kid has their thing. But also, every kid has their tipping point where the first time where you make like, almost this noise where you go. It's like just, you're almost, it's like diarying out the anger of you felt. Yeah, we're just figuring out what to do with this. You don't know the speed. Yeah, you don't know the gas pedal. Yeah. So you hit the gas and you go, holy shit, I went fast. I had a giant head. I've always had a like, like a bulbous head, like a giant bolt and it's in the net for special. What do you mean a head? I mean, yeah. But yeah, it's just been a macy's day float my whole life. Yeah. And there is a moment at school where you go like the big Charlie Bradley. Yeah, I'm just bumping into shit going down the avenues. But if you, but there is a moment when you're a little kid and I think every person has this because every person has an insecurity or every. But when you have red hair, kids are stupid. So they see red hair and they're like, yeah, that's not a lot of this red hair. (mumbles) I think that's why I ended up really falling in love with comedy too, is that, you know, first thing you do is physical and you have to challenge your own fear of, I don't know what these do, or I don't know what getting in trouble feels like. What does it mean to get in trouble? What does it mean to stand up for yourself? And so you try something physical, and you know, when you're little, that looks like, wow, you know, but then you sort of try to navigate what that means, and the fact that, especially in this day and age where someone says, there's never a moment, you know, violence is never the answer. And you're like, that's, you just don't, I haven't lived in that world, you know, that's not true. - I don't think it's true, I don't think it's true. - It's a ridiculous, you're only saying that because somebody rough created an environment for you to have this delusion, basically. - That's actually a very, that's actually a very good point where it's like because of someone violent, you're able to go, violence is never the answer. - Because of someone that could intimidate a bullies off of you and people that influence these other people to stop their inappropriate behavior, that you are in a safe zone, and safety is really what you were, it's not what you are, it's a hast-tensling you. - That's an interesting point. It's like, it was, you were safe, and now you're in this situation, but it's also as a child of the '80s that grew up with karate movies. That was always the same thing of this, this guy's like, I don't want to fight. And the bullies like, I'm gonna fight, they're always bullied into fighting. - I mean, I understand that, it's real. - Yeah, you know, and, and, but then, you know, you start learning the power of words and that really physical fights are won and lost with someone's willingness way before, you know? And that those, you know, I've been hit before and those scars, they go away quickly. And it's not that bad, but the scars that are laid on you when you quit on yourself or you allow someone to humiliate, those things take years and years to heal those scars. - They also fester. - Yeah, and they change the trajectory of your lifestyle and your choices. Like when someone's being, like I think it's important to be kind, but to be nice. I mean, there's a semantic difference in my mind where it's like, to be nice is you're just kind of following rules because you're too afraid to stand up for yourself or your loved ones or the people you care about. And so, and you're sort of using that as this badge of honor, like, I'm nice. When it's like, you're just too afraid to stand up for you. I don't recommend that for someone's life and too, you know. - I think that's something that is like a formal, formal people pleaser, like clear into my thirties. - Yeah. - That's show. - Yeah, I mean, I would show you too, because you're right. I'm like, I don't want to, I don't want to make you upset, but also by doing this, I haven't addressed the problem now. - And you really are saying, will you take all this power for me and just to hold on to it? And they'll just, you know, I-- - I used to do that with hecklers. Hecklers would be heckling and then you know what happened is I wanted to be nice and I would shut it down and it'd be quiet. But then what would happen is, then I go back to doing my act and I feel like I'm doing my act in front of a room of people that I genuinely hate and have not addressed it. - Yeah. - And they're interested. - You've allowed them to flourish, actually. - And they're just sitting there kind of controlling the energy of the room. - Yeah. - And it was the late great Patrice O'Neal and I saw him do this multiple times in clubs in New York and I just fucking straight up stole the move because it works. When someone's talking now, I'll give them a chance. I'll fuck around with them. - Take this rope. - Yeah. - Take this rope. - And then the second time I saw him do this move where he goes, how many of there are you? All right, great. I'm gonna pay for your bill and they go, great. He goes, cool, not get out. And they're just standing with nothing. - Well, I think you realize the importance of the importance of words, the power of words and the power of your willingness when you can craft the words in the right way because then it quickly became, all right, I know I can be physical, I would like to make sure I'm putting this in the right spot and then I'm waiting to the last possible, there's no other way out, so I wanna make sure I'm using this in the right moment and then now I'm practicing my words because when your red head, the first thing someone says is, you know, I can't tell you how many times I've heard or been at a bar where it's like, whatever, Carrot Top. And so I started saying things like, Carrot, the Carrot Top is the only part of a carrot that's green. Why don't you go outside and I want you to think of a couple burns that are really worthy of whatever the way you're dressed and then why don't you come back in when you're ready and then you can go again until then why don't you go outside? - By the way, when you were saying, when you start, you're actually, you're sort of imposing this will and you're actually implanting scars that are much more dangerous. - Where they're gonna wake up the next day. - And then getting enough understanding to say, or want you to just sit here and I'll buy a drink and you can figure it out for yourself. - That's great. - And so that you open the door and you extend a hand to say, you're being Bill Conti right now, but that's awesome. - But you've got a chance to rambo. - That's the part no one talks about those. There isn't a lot of hands out. And they're also, I'll tell you right now, that carrot burn right now, if that would have hit me, I would have just been in traffic a week later and gone, he's green. (laughing) - He's just like, you know what I mean? - He'll turn. - He'll turn. - Somewhere in you go. - It's fucking good. - Those ones, do you right hurt more than a black eye or anything, just when you stick him on something that goes back in you go. - But I also think the point isn't to try to humiliate someone either. It is to say, you know, I've fought a few people that end up being really close with because you end up knowing them. - Sure. - More than their friends and family could because you've been through this extreme situation with them. - And you pierce a layer. - Yeah. - You're piercing like a little layer through them, even if it is through conflict at first. - Where you go like, why know you now? - In a couple of different speeds. - Yeah, well, I mean, and fighting and arguing is not my priority in this life, but it's just, I do think you should have a skill at that. I do also put my kids in martial arts so they don't have to because it instills this confidence where my son the other day was in a situation when he was in school where he just looked at someone and said, don't do this. - That's great. - And at first the other guy was like, oh, don't do this. And he said, yeah, yeah, don't do this. Don't do this. - Yeah. - And the other guy ended up saying, I won't do this. (laughing) And I just think it gives him the confidence to say, I know what I could do and I actually don't wanna do it. Do you want me to do it? I'll do it if you want me to, but it's not. - I think that's truly where the evil people in this world prosper is they don't expect people to push back. They like when people just lay down and they go, fuck you, then I'm just gonna run all over you. Now I don't even care. - Yeah. - Because a lot of the times it is, you know that. - I know this stuff stems from being insecure. - It is. I was just gonna say, it's all that hackneyed phrase, hurt people, hurt people. - Yeah, it's true. - But I mean, that's true. - It is true. But you know what, it's funny, I don't know. We're not like talking about the album, but that line on Easy Street about, I'm not violent, you know, like that guy's been dead a long time. And you're like, that is how you should think when you get over 40. If you go like, I can use my words better than I can fight. - I think it took going through that process of displaying your willingness. - Sure, I think sometimes a display of fearsome acts is what keeps people off of you. That's what I understand. - Yeah. - But also, I'd hate to stay there. And so I feel way beyond that now where, no, there's a way, there's a much better way that I understand now and that I'm thankful for, but that because I'm a little bit of a like, at times it took going that, that route of experiencing the physical side and all that to get to where I understand so much, just have an understanding now. - Well, I think learning that you can make a mistake and it isn't permanent is a very important thing of improving your overall life. - I should tell that to a bunch of other people. - Guys, guys write this down. It's okay, make a mistake. But I do think like, I think that's also the thing that I love about music because the thing I love about any art is that it's made from all these mistakes. It's made from like, I'm writing a new hour right now. There's jokes that I love and then they fail and I go, fuck that joke. And six months later, I come back and I go, I just did. - Yeah, I was an equipped to understand, I wasn't equipped to understand how this joke works or the song works, I do that all the time. - So that's what I was gonna bring up because something that I love on the, and I did get to listen to the new album early. - Yeah, yeah, but you brought back a song that I loved off the Iggy Pop post-pop depression album Sunday and you did it as Queens and I was like, oh, this is sick. And that is, and I guess that was the question I had for you because make it what she was on desert sessions then it's on "Ara Valgeras" and I've seen that with a bunch of songs and it's fun to know like, I know, and this is what him and I were talking about 'cause we were about to edit the special. A lot of times you do a stand-up joke, You record it. and then after that, you're still doing it until the special comes out and then you find three tags that you go, "Oh, I wish I had it." - Oh, this thing's fucking tight now. - Well, it's in the failing of it the first times and I think art needs to fail and fail and fail and take these chances in order to get to that higher expression. And oftentimes people that are fans of what you do, they have to witness that failure and you have to be able to say to them, "Yeah, well, this is what it takes." Wisdom comes from experience, experience comes from bad decisions. And like in the case of the Sunday is different than the other songs like "Make It With You" and stuff that came from the "Desert Sessions" because in the case of "Make It With You," I did it on "Desert Sessions" 'cause I was afraid to do it for Queens. I was like, "Oh, I don't know if this will work." And maybe it's too bluesy or too this or too that. And like maybe we can't pull it off even though the goal of Queens is to be able to play anything that sounds good, like "Win," basically. It's like the band "Win," just to be "Win," you know? And all you have to do is believe it, you know? And make it and have it come from an honest place and then you can play whatever. And so now I think I've learned to accept that you're afraid or that you feel insecure about something and allow that vulnerability actually to be the, at the vanguard of what you're doing. And, you know, I used to, you know, I figured out this, like, anger is the sword I hold in my hand, which has hurt. So if I'm afraid or upset or insecure, I'm like, oh, you know, I used to react quickly that, right? - That's a young man's reaction. - Yeah, but now I know it's all right to say, I'm actually terrified right now, so, you know. - Saying I don't know, and I think it was probably this with, you know, obviously the woman I'm gonna marry, but that was like the first time, just I started feeling comfortable going, oh, I don't know. She's like, oh, that's all right. - Yeah. - We're in my 20s, I'm glad that's cool that she said that, 'cause it should be okay. - It should be, yeah. - I think I was, I had been with people and I had been around people that were okay with that. - What do you mean you don't know? You got it and you're like, and that's when you're like, your frequency starts going like, fuck. - Well, you know, I always thought, you know, life is habit forming and your decisions are contagious and so panic breeds panic, confidence breeds confidence and so there's that sort of act like you know or fake it 'til you make it that seemed mandatory, but I think when it comes to making art, and trying to actually make art that teaches you, you can become a better person if you work on an hour of a comedy stuff or an hour of music. If you're really, really honest with it, and you say, you know, I've had lyrics before that seemed cocky and weren't true and then I just changed them to what they really, what I was really saying, which is, I didn't think I'd ever lived this long and I don't know and I'm feeling this instead. - Yeah, and felt so much better about that move, like I actually moved forward in a good way, you know. - No, that is, by the way, that is, it's really hard to perfectly describe it words, what you're saying, but I understand what you mean because there is, it's something that I learned in my 40s, something so freeing about just going like, oh this is an imperfection of mine, and that's an imperfection, and that's just what it is. And it's like trying to fill that or change that would make it not be what it is. - Yeah, and not pretending I'm fully formed and I've got nowhere left to go. - Yeah, and I think right now, especially in the age of everybody watching so much of other people but not being around a lot of other people, you're everyone's in their phones and everyone's not looking, it's like, you forget that being around people, you kind of understand that you can evolve and it's better for everybody. Not just, 'cause I think when you're, we're so alone and we're watching people, it seems when you watch TikToks, Instagram videos, everyone's got it figured out. So that's just feeling of like, fuck, I don't have it figured out. I mean, well, I was just in finding a doctor stinks, finding a doctor's appointment stinks, finding a doctor that's in your insurance stinks in your network, try Zock-Dock. I've been using Zock-Dock forever. I'm kind of a little bit of a Zock-Dock hipster. 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But check out the perfect gene.nyc. Plus our listeners get 15% off their first order, plus free shipping at the perfect gene.nyc or Google the perfect gene and use code soda 15 for the 15% off. Now you got two and one genes. Yeah. - I guess I haven't noticed so much. I haven't witnessed so much people in the process of being an influencer. - No, man. - I was in Paris a few months ago and I was with my kids and they hadn't been to the Louvre and Mawain and Alain and watching people go. - Oh my god. - And then as soon as the picture's done, go. - Yeah. - The drop, the face drop is. - And I was like, oh, like, duh, fuck, did I just see? Like, I just haven't seen that much of that. - I've, you know, live in New York City. I walk through shoots. So you turn a corner and there's a ring light and you're like, what am I doing in the girls? Like, excuse me and you're like, it's 26th street. - Yeah. - I'm just walking the fuck and get it off. - And I was like, you embarrassed yourself right now. You're fucking honest. - That's that's almost. - I feel like. - But you also take it, you're taking your own risk here. You're subjecting yourself to whatever I'm about to say. - Yeah, that's fun. - 'Cause I'm. - Are you live streaming? - Yeah, yeah. - Let me get on there. - I love watching the things they got on, you know, on line where it's like someone is holding this croissant and they always start the same. They're talking, they're alone, but they're like, hey guys, and it's like, just know, you're by yourself. It's like, this croissant, or someone walks by and just goes, hot, you know. - Did she take a bite or something? I love that. - The video that made me laugh was this guy was going around Union Square and obviously don't do this 'cause it's probably pretty dangerous in New York, but people that were on their phones, like either FaceTiming or on Speaker, like, yeah, I'm in Union Square and he would just film him walking up and going, boop, like it just don't get any better. They'd be like, hello, hello, hello. My name's Turner, obviously that might be a plant that might have been it, but made me laugh so hard 'cause how many times I've wanted, my thing is, you know, we're talking about-- - Well, people are willing to spill all over you. Hey, Denise, Denise. - Or FaceTiming, you know, I'm just, dude, the one that-- - Like, there's no, there's no decorum. It's a little tough to come by, you know? Are people with their kids iPads at dinner where you're like, I don't want to watch Paw Patrol. I made it past that whole thing. Those dogs, they're not solving shit. I don't know if you've ever seen it. They're not solving a fucking, oh god, they're not solving anything. And they shouldn't be doing detective work. These are pups. - You know what they should do is they should make, they should do a follow-up of Paw Patrol, but it's like NYPD blue, where they're like, I need to see you in my office. - You were sending you to the pound. - You're being a real bitch. - I have to be. - I am, I've got six nipples. There you go, that's fine. And it's fair that you're a blueie house. That theme song is great. - It slips, it slips, it slips, it slips. - It's your popping out. But it's hard about controlling your rage. The one that I have an issue with is, now it's just a full problem. If you live in New York City when you're getting off the subway, people are looking at their phones, up the stairs, to get out of the under ground. - Oh yeah, I'm gonna yell that for God's sake, man. - You're like, we're getting out of the hole. - Yeah. - Get out of the car. - Get out of the hole. - That's what I'm just saying yelling. - I think the difficulty is that you're not complaining, you're noticing this thing which you're forced to deal with, which is a new thing, which is people's deliberate ignorance of the space around them. Or just flat out disrespect of the space around them. - Well, they're so inside of their own buttholes that it's hard up there. - They're cuckoo. - Things are tough in there. - It's pretty, hopefully tight. - It's hopefully there. - Yesterday's news just passed right by me. But I think, 'cause I'm a voyeur, so I like to look around. I love the little details. I love when you're on tour, this your window shopping, other people's lives, you see couples having a date or they're having an argument or you see kids chase a bubble and it's like, you see all this idyllic stuff from arm's length that really makes you long for home and is a mirror of where you're at in your life 'cause you notice the things that you're looking for in that moment, it's like, so I tend to notice like family things and young love and all that stuff and it's what, it helps me to write this to be a voyeur like that, it's a window shop, you know, people's lives and what I am projecting on them when I think they're doing, you know, but when people are just like that, they're immediately uninteresting in that process for me and so it's like, not you, Gary, not you, Tina, yeah, you're really swiping, you're doing a live swipe. - Yeah, I'm gonna start doing that out loud. - No, that's actually a great, that snacks, that's a good idea. - Swipe right, you're a horrible piece of shit get off your phone, swipe right in front of someone and it's not working, I mean, that's assault. I'm just gonna be pulling people's heads, boom, get out of the way with that, like, you know, I mean, we're talking about controlling our anger and stuff but it's someone that, you know, and as a fan of yours, and I've watched you evolve as a musician and as an artist, I think, has been so rewarding as someone that came into the band young. I think I was, you know, like, 18 when I first got into you guys. I mean, my 40s. - When you say came in the band, do you? - I go, oh, I busted, I was busted in there. - I thought I record that. - Yeah, you were a young tart back then. But as someone that got, like, became a fan when I was like, you know, 18 and aggressive and just that, not kind of figuring it out, kind of being like, yeah, you have, you know, I think, you know, there's, you know, I was angry. I didn't understand why, you know, and music was the ultimate outlet for figuring out why you're upset and, and, you know, also feeling bad about being upset, like. - That was the thing that I always, when I was young, is I would get fucking super angry and then have this like, you know, like, look at your hands, like, what did I do? - Yeah, be embarrassed about, like, that's what it is. - I would see red, you know. I have no friends, no family. Just completely see red, it felt really almost powerless to those moments, and music was so helpful because it just, it presented a way out that felt, like, as much about discovery of what's going on as calming it. - Sure. - So, you know. When you're doing that, like, as you're way in, I think it's just, everything you've been saying, what's been great about being a fan of yours is actually watching this evolution that kind of, in a way, has run parallel with a lot of, a lot of the fans of the band's lives, which is you kind of get older and you go, I still have a little bit of that vinegar in me, but now I kind of know how to use it better. - Yeah. - And I think that's what I love about the new album, is that it's like, one of my best friends in the world, Victor, shout out to Vic. - Vic, what a, what a, what a book? - But I sent him the album, and I was like, you send this to anybody, I'll fuck kill you. - You're telling me that? - Yeah. - Give it back to me. - Victor, you gotta give it back to Josh. But we talked about it, and he was like, I just sat down on this to it. I fucking loved the album, whatever I said. You know what it feels like? Not seeing a friend for a while, and they show up with a little gray hair, but you go, you're ageing nice. You show them to a friend and you go, you look fucking, you look like, as you're getting older, better, and it's like listening to this album, that's what it felt like, it's like- - I appreciate that. I mean, I, I, you know, I think it's easy to predict what the number one complaint that from our fans, to me would be, it's just easy to predict. It's like, why don't you just stay the same? Why can't you just do this same thing over and over? Even though they should know that that's never gonna happen. - And, but, but, so you just pushed that aside, and you let yourself move forward, and I never could have, that's a whole album is about, only about love and, you know, significant others, insignificant others, being destroyed by love, and also it being the only, like conduit to, to present hope and your way out, and all in an attempt to get free in this life, right? I couldn't have done that without everything that's happened before, and, you know, and I think, like, you know, unfortunately at times, and not on purpose, some of my difficulties that I experienced in a short period of time, but they're just the same difficulties everyone has either gone through or will go through. And so I just have been relying on, or leaning into, that, that we're all gonna be going through this, and that people that have taken a long journey with us, much like one of the Hobbit movies. - Yes, most notably the third, which felt very long in theaters. - It ended for, or 500 times. - God damn, I mean, I remember watching that in theaters and being like, I mean, do the rings go on? That many, the ring is gone. - The guy you're watching goes, fuck him. - That many characters do need to say goodbye to each other. (laughing) - It is almost like the-- - It is like-- - It is like us? - Yeah, Dr., Dr.-- - Yeah, Hobbit. - Hobbit, Frodo, Frodo, Sildo, Sildo. (laughing) - Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill. - Dildo, Dildo, his brother, their twins, Dildo, and Dildo. - Dildo, he's like, I mean, this guy's got such a fun name. Of course, I'm the bookkeeper. Of course, I'm the square of the group. I'm Dildo. But I think that it allows you to get to the spot that you, that I'm thankful for. I'm thankful I'm not in the same old spot, you know what I mean? - Well, that's, I think, especially now with all the modern marvels and science and stuff, there's this thing about people trying to stay the same. You know, like, I'm gonna stay the same age. - Stay young. - Stay young, I'm not gonna-- - And I think it hits all of us in different ways. But like, what I always love is seeing an older person that has figured it out, that just knows their shit. You know, like, my grandma was like that. She was the oldest person that lived in my family. And even though she wasn't the perfect grandma, the thing that I really, really respected about her, she knew her shit. - Yeah. - She's like, I'm gonna do my cross on the poster. - From the experience. - Yeah, for 97 hours. - Yeah. - I'm gonna have my iced tea in the afternoon. I'm gonna have my Carlo Rosy at night. I follow the 49ers. I'm just, you know, I'm an old lady that read the San Francisco Chronicle front to back every day. And it was like, that was the only person in my whole entire family that seemed to have in a way figured it out. And I was always like, that's interesting to watch. - Well, I've grown up in the Palm Springs, Palm Desert, like Joshua Tree area. It's nothing but old people. And so I just learned from a very early age. I just fascinated with old people because that's all I was surrounded by. - Yeah, that is crazy. - It's like, you know, I mean, you are literally in the era where that's where they send them. They send them from the East Coast, the Palm Springs. - People work their whole lives to get there and they're like, I did it. And then they sort of start that chapter. And so growing up around people that felt that way about where they were at in their life, ended up having this really overwhelming influence of like my next-door neighbor, Gertrude Crane, that had a white Corvette stock that was 70, a 72. - Yeah. - Stingray, white. And her hair went up over and out and then whisp like that. - Yes. - And she'd be like, sweetie, grab my groceries. And then I would do that. And then she would say, you know, I got you something in there. And there'd be a little licorice. And I would sit. And then she would tell me these stories that were about her going to, you know, dances and things like that. And I would just sit there for hours and listen to her. It's always so realizing you're older now, but you were young and catching all these cool stories. - Yeah. - I don't know, I just, I've always, that's why I'm always keen to meet someone's grandmother. - Yeah. - Or, you know. - I think, you know, and she passed away a couple of years ago and I think the thing that I really regretted about it was the-- - I've heard you do bits about her. - Yeah. - It's my whole closer is about cleaning out her house 'cause that was a son of a bitch. - Yeah, that's right. Sound some crazy. shit. But she was a person that I realized it won't tell me. But you know, I think something that is about old people is they do have these experiences that even if you read it or watch it in a documentary when you hear it from the mouth of the person just sitting there you go and their words. It's real. I took my grandma to the second to last 49ers game at Candlestick Park. So I drive her down to Candlestick Park. We're driving back up to her house and we're going through Oakland. That's where my dad's from and that's where my grandma and grandpa lived forever. And we're driving over the Bay Bridge. And my grandma just very quietly goes, you see that hill right there? And I go, yeah, she goes, you grandpa and I had a picnic up there at night when the Japanese surrendered and they turned back on the lights of the Bay in Golden Gate Bridge. She saw them go on. Go on. Because it was a big thing because they were afraid the Japanese were gonna bomb us. Yeah. They had to cut them off at night. So just the idea of like, hey, young love. Yeah. Let's grab a bottle of wine or something. Let's go up on this hill with this blanket and let's watch them turn the lights of the bridge back on because we won the war. Yeah, the simpleness of that nostalgia. Let's go have a picnic. I love you. Yeah. You know, and I think it's hard not to want to walk in the direction of that sentiment. Yeah. And especially if you, you know, I grew up in a culture of like teen violence and, you know, that was terrifying at church. Desert people are different. I just want. I'm from the, you know, I grew up mostly in Colorado. I moved to Arizona and quickly learned. Yeah. The desert makes people forged from steel. Oh, yeah. Because it's hot during the day, bitter cold at night and there's so much danger. Yeah. Well, and you're also, um, there's so much danger. There's enough space where you're allowed to like attempt your terrible ideas unabated for a long time. Yeah, absolutely. There's no good ideas too. And, um, you know, people are always, you know, you, the desert comes alive at night. Yeah. And so that element of weirdness, it comes out in the people too. And you know, we used to play these these generator parties that are completely lawless. And that sounds amazing. And it was at times amazing. And then other times, you know, you'd see a, a brawl would break out. Sure. And everyone is like, put their arms out and goes, let them finish here. And it's like, let them finish. Fuck. You mean till it's finished finished? And, and that is terrifying to me, you know, well, that, that people beat each other and tell they're finished. And, and, and, and, you know, when you're playing, you're always the last to leave because your gear has to get out and all this stuff. And so, you know, always a witness or a party to things until they're finished. Sure. Of all varieties of things. And, and it was a good education in, enjoy on one end and on terror and the other end. Yeah. And so now, after all these years, when I hear a story like about your grandparents watching the lights come on, I know that's the sort of thing I should be, you know, reaching for walking toward and giving my time to, you know what I mean? Well, because I think a lot of a lot of life, you know, like a, Hicks always had that joke about it. It's a brightly lit ride. And we forget that it's a ride. And we look around because of the stuff. And that's how you get lost. That's true. Yeah. You like look around. You go like, oh, fuck all this noise is being made over here. But then you see something that's got like, it's like eating real food, like food that someone has cooked that maybe they've even gardened. Yeah. And you like feel the weight of the realness of it, which is a McDonald's burger. Well, yeah. I'm sorry. I don't know. Please. Yeah. You're talking to the King of Interrupting. Yeah. Please interrupt me. Yeah. I'll tell you for a minute. Well, I, um, when we were just in Europe with System of Down and, and I set my son to this, you know, this camp in France. And we needed to wait to grab him. And so we had this little amount of vacation time. And I thought, where should we go? Where should I take my little son, my daughter and my girl? And, um, and so we made this decision based on this exact thing. Where's the food grown right there? Where is where, where is a, I think it's called a green zone where where people live to be a hundred or more. And a, and there's, you know, these areas where it's proven whatever they're doing in this zone is, I think it's a data center. And I think, uh, it's right in the middle of the center. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Blue is a blue zone. Yeah. Blue is a blue zone. I'm going to move to a blue zone. Well, this is why I was starting to think is like, I may I should put my time and energy when I get the chance, either in a, you know, go to go to Egypt or Turkey where, you know, Darren Cooie or these beautiful monolithic historic or go to fucking Machu Picchu or go to a blue zone and see what is going on. Yeah. There. And so it went to Sardinia. Sick. And, and, and just didn't go to anywhere swanky. Just went, you know, went to one swanky place and was like, fuck this. And instead just went to wherever the locals were eating sick. Just where are you eating? Yeah. And, and listening and go, oh, this place, Sarah Fino and Giovanni go to this place, you know, and, and it was really incredible to go to a place that felt largely unchanged and felt ancient and where people were living out of pace and in a style that became a blue zone, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean, that shows you that it became like that kind of energy you're just doing that makes a place go like I was people live here a long time and they enjoy their lives and. Well, and it was hot there. So they were much like desert people because it was really hot. Sure. Except they were doing it in a different way than the desert I'm used to. Yeah. They were saying in the daytime from noon to four, we do nothing, which is, which is what you should do in the desert. Yeah. And then, um, but we don't go to dinner till 10 o'clock and we're out till, so at 11 30, it was kids in the street, people walking around and people going, just going to dinner and, and I was like, that's the blue zone difference. That's the blue zone promise that we can provide for you. It's taken what you're at, taken what you're given and saying, well, we'll make the best in this scenario and not to fight against adapting to it. You know, I've, I've always wanted to fight upstream and push buttons and, and, um, you know, rebel and, uh, and, but then you realize, well, I'm pushing upstream. This is my river or the river of my life. It's what am I fighting up stream for? Yeah. What if I, if I just walked up to you in a river and you were just splashing around, you go swim with it, dude. What rivers? It's the Josh river. Wait, what am I doing? No, I should just backflow. I'm just, I'm just the realization that in you take the situation and accept what it is and then make the best out of that. And by listening to someone who's older, who's not a Bill Conti. Yeah. Don't listen to the Conti Bill. Poor Bill. By the way, Bill is an incredible composer. He's so looking at IMDB. The man has done excellent work. It's just your name sounds like that. I know we're going to have to believe that from YouTube, but it sounds like, and it's not we don't have to bleep Conti. Yeah. No bleep Conti. That's yeah. You know, I, and also he wrote Rocky that the, the whole of that score. I didn't realize Bill. Well, that's how a semester alone pulled him over and was like, no, no, no, which sound like Mario Brothers there. But that's not it. What it is. But I know what you're talking about. We're running up in the hills. That is exactly how it's scored. But back to what you were saying about going to these places where the locals, you know, seeing what they. I got a dial. They've been doing it for a thousand, thousands of years. Yeah. But they just know that was one, you know, and blessed B to Anthony Bourdain. The episode I love to his when he came to the desert and you took him and got lunch and you guys had some drinks and he went to Rancho de la Luna and you guys hung out. Well, he, you know, he we met. I think it was by now. It's like 20 years ago. And, and he, I said this on this other thing, but it's very cool what he did. He'd done a desert episode. And I said, next time you're around, I'll take you to this some, you know, stuff that your producers didn't find, but like a real, some real desert shit. Yeah. And then he said, let's turn it into a show, which wasn't my, originally, it was just like, let's go drink and hang out this thing. Yeah, you're like, you're just going to hang with these people. And then I said, well, you know, the data on his show was that, you know, for the first 10 months that your business would go through the roof and then the dissipation was like two years. It would still, you know, experience this thing. So I said, why don't we go to places that are some of which most of which were in trouble. That's great. And so he ended up saving basically every, every place that we went to exactly what that power should be used to. Yeah, he was definitely because you're watching him eat that burger and I go like, I could go there and eat that. Yeah. I could, I would fucking drive there. I think he just had that love of the people, a love of, and the people do street food and the people make comfort food and they use it to bring the other people they love close together. I think that was his, you know, has, his really his crowning jewel was wanting to be where the food brought the people together. Sure. And I think that that came across and kind of how he acted. You know, there's moments where like because of him, what's funny is because of you guys, I became a fan of his. Yeah. Because I liked him. And then you did the Christmas episode where you guys were wearing all the sweaters or whatever. And it just randomly popped up and Vic and I shot out Vic. We were watching that. He's gonna lose his show when he sees that. But when but when we Vic was like, you know, Chris and Stone Age is on Bourdain. And I was like, no way. We watched it. And I was like, yes, dude, fucking rules. And then it's similar to how like if you were to have like an opening band or a comp, if I have a comic opening for me or I open for somebody, that's, I love how that shit works. When you're there for something and then you see something else and you go, well, this shit rules and by proxy. Yeah. I mean, it is fun to I love being a fan. Yeah. It's fun to love things and be excited. I really like seeing my friends or peers. I really love do well, you know, especially when they kind of kind of explode. Although there's a danger in watching someone explode and have to go through the precariousness of that. But I think he also loved to, you know, he ended up on that desert episode. We'd have these long drives to get to these places. And so we'd listen to music and talk and I turn them on to Mark Lennigan. And then he really ended up having a real big impact in Lennigan's life. And, and then having Lennigan take him through Seattle. And I was like, you want him to take you to the alleys that he like passed on. But he's the one that encouraged Lennigan to start writing. And, really, you know, and and watching those dominoes tumble and, you know, playing being just being a little part and playing cupid for things. Sure. That feels so good. And, you know, I mean, it's also so amazing impact on, yeah. Yes, it's a shame. Yeah, he was, but he was one of those guys where when you saw, so, you know, years ago I was like hawking Guinness. That was the job that got me out of working as a waiter, was they wanted a comic to host these shows. You want to talk about audiences not listening to you straight up sitting with their back, but I couldn't do comedy. I legally wasn't allowed to, like, curse. I could only do pro Guinness material. Wow. But it was for, dude, that mud water got me out of that. Yeah. I drank too much Guinness. Yeah. I drank so much again. You know, whenever I go to Ireland, it's it's great when it's there to no preservatives. Yeah. And it's, it's no preservatives. Yeah. And you realize it is food. You can live on it. Oh my god. I mean, they're literally became a point where I started sneaking off and having Bud Weiser's when I was in Dublin and they caught me like I was having it. Like I was like, like, I was a preacher having a gay affair. I was like, I just want my American whiskey and American beer. Give me my rice beer. I just pictured that and like, they're like, solder. I mean, I'm in the bathroom. I'm reading my Bible. But the guy, what was that? The guy came down to the hotel bar. One of the guys I worked with, right? And I came down and it was late. And I was at the hotel bar and he comes around the corner. He's like, dude, what do you do? I'm just drinking a bottle. I'm just doing what you're supposed to be. And I go, it's just so it's too thick. It's too thick for this night later tonight. Can a man just have a fucking American beer? But it really, I'm an alcoholic. That thing, it was not good for me. Obviously, like I quit drinking at the end of that tour. It was I was just in some real bad places. Right. But we were in San Francisco. I was in a real bad space mentally. And I'm doing these shows and I'm just drinking until my body collapses, waking up, doing the same thing for like days on it. And I need to eat something. And I'm walking through and I'm up on Broadway in San Francisco, which there's no food. There's no fucking food. And I see a place that has hamburgers and pizzas. And I'm like, fuck it, dude, let me get a hamburger and I go in and I eat. I'm starting eating this hamburger and I'm like, this is the best fucking hamburger I've ever had in my life. This hamburger's unbelievable. And I turn around and on the wall, there's a signed paper plate by Bourdain. By Tony. Yeah. And it says like, this is the one of the best burgers you'll ever have in your life. And that's like one of those things while you're having that thought. And it's Sam's hamburgers. And now if anybody that knows me, I plugged that like I have fuck and I took him there. You know, we filmed this special in Mill Valley. And I took him and John, one of our other camera guys and my friend Brandon, I was like, we're getting fucking Sam's hamburgers. And I have this joy where I watch my friends eat it and they go like, this is fucking unbelievable. But I also think Tony's thing is that he was willing to be a little conty as well. Yeah. But that's what made you understood that he wasn't just there being like, oh, I love this so much. And it's, you know, I think you need that authenticity of, you know, what I don't like this. Yeah. You know, in order to in real time. Yeah. I know there's this brilliant move that I heard a comic do. Nate Barghetz, he was working with him and they were like developing a show and this guy's like, produce stuff or whatever. He said that they'd get into a meeting with all these suits from NBC or CBS. And he would start the meeting by making everyone go around the room and say something they don't like currently on TV. And he said, watching these guys go like, well, they're they're brain. It's just okay. And their brains are bleeding and they're like, I like everything because of the numbers. But it is like a thing of like, how can you say what you like if you don't know what you don't like? Well, and yeah, and you know, I think you need, it's okay. You don't need to be conty about what you don't like too. You can, you can be, you know, this is just going to be short here now. Well, I don't want it to get bleeped on. Yeah. Fucking hulu or whatever, you know. Like I like to speak however I like to speak. But I think there's, you know, it's okay to simply say the same for me. And enough said, I don't want to, you know, it is important to make, I think it's the best way to make friends is to bond over what you like. And instead of saying, I hate this chair, look, a stupid chair with a mixer on it. And like, that's not the way to be friends. But you do need to admit, if you're going to be friends with someone, you have to be a truth teller, even down to you know, lots of these long standing relationships alone musicians I've had, they're based on like shut up. Yes. You know, and like, you're up to your mind right now. It's, you're not supposed to agree. And I think it's what I find really confusing about these times as group thought is not for me. And it's that it's every situation is situational. And so you, yeah, you're going to not agree with people. That's the whole thing. That's how it gets nice and juicy for you, Vic. There's two things I would like to bring back. My dad used to, my dad was a bartender and I'd always hear him when he disagreed with people. The thing he would say is you just go, I don't really care for that. Yeah. Which is such like a fast way of going like, I don't like it, but I don't want to, yeah, but we don't have to pull the frog apart in science. Exactly. Yeah. I don't really care for that. And the second thing that I've been using a lot is my bad, because just like as like a little social lubricant, if I, you know, New York, I bump into people out to, oh, my bad. Yeah. Just immediately you will see that people want to, they want to go with you. Yeah. They don't want to go, hey, fuck you. They want to go like, oh, my bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got your dog. All right. No problem. Yeah. We don't have to, we don't have to ramble on about it. My bad. My bad. Yeah. And then there really is like a thing of like, if also, yeah, I can stand up. Yeah. But we're losing that. We're losing that, like, shorthand in society that makes it easier for us to go. Well, you just don't need to agree with everything. Exactly. That's also, and I'm saying that for myself. I mean, that's not very revolutionary what I'm saying, but I, I, I, I, I, and luckily, you know, we don't travel in circles where, you know, if you're going to make something and you want to, you want it to be honest and authentic and you like to be able to say, I think it's art, which, you know, at the end of it, then you have to talk about what you don't like as much as what you do like. And also rejoice in being able to identify something you're not into so you can stay the fuck away from it. That's not I mean, I think that was a thing that I had a hard time with as a people pleaser was constantly being like, no, it's all right. Even if I didn't agree with it, like, it's okay. It's okay. It's like walking around with wet socks. Yeah. You just go, I'm very unhappy right now. Yeah. But I'm acting like I'm putting on a fit. But I'm here for the team. Well, yeah. I know that was something that took me a very fucking long time. Did you? Yeah. I mean, I've always been a people pleaser to accept for when it's time to engage in the arts because it seems so monumental to, to use bluntness without cruelty. Yeah. And say we tried this, you know, musically speaking and say, all right, well, we've tried this idea in a number of ways. It's just not working. I'm not the guy that can deliver this particular idea for you. You know what I mean, it's just, you know, but the evolution that you guys had with doing alive in the catacombs and then you do the the tour. That is like, that is a departure. That is like a risk. That is something that you go like that was terrifying. Yeah. You know what I mean, and not just because you were dancing with a cleaver, you know, that was the most comforting part. I don't know what it is, a little of my own blood. Yeah. There's like, I always feel like, oh, well, you know, when taking risks in front of people, sure, you know, hold the knife. I want there to be, and a crowd should always be on their heels, and you should be on their toes. It's dangerous when a crowd's on their toes. You know, this is when they're taking control. It's like, this is not the You're not, this is not the time for you to be in control. And I think this notion that's got me in a lot of physical trouble and just straight up trouble before, is this notion of nobody hurts me more than I hurt myself watch, you know, and I think the cleaver really presented this calm for me, because I would throw this thing and miss, and sometimes you miss. And then to be like, "Oh, okay, we're good." I, you know, I don't know why, it was like a will-be, you know? - But the will-be of danger. - Yeah, those dangers will be of all time. But that is something where it's a complete departure from what you're used to. You know, you changed it up and you did the arrangements for a live in the catacombs, and it seems like it just breathed this like new wind into yourself. - Yeah, and actually, you know, I think it's easy to predict what Naysayers say, Naysayers say, Naysay, it's all they can say, that's why they say Naysay, right? So I, and I think it's important to engage with what you perceive the negative might be, in order to just have some kind of understanding and maybe even find a way around it, you know? But for catacombs, I thought, okay. And also, we're so musically naked there. There's, it's about saying, what if I took everything away? - Sure. - And I was left just with myself. And then you're like, and then you say, oh God. Okay, and, but it felt really important to try that and risk being not liked and misunderstood. - Yeah. - And in order to find, you know, I don't have a therapist and music's my religion. And I, as I said, I do believe if I put, I only have myself to give. So if I put everything that I understand about myself and my compatriots here, like into this, then, and if I say, I won't stop till I love it, not perfect, but until I love it, then someone else has a chance of loving it too, since there is a mirror in how people perceive something, you know, and that you could actually leave baggage behind and maybe become a better person actually, just by making a record. - I mean, that's, that's like a massive cocooning and transformation that I think is something that only, you know, there's a reason of learning stuff and doing it longer, you get better at it, because you almost can use your tools in a way of like, at 21, you probably wouldn't have known what that even meant. - Right, right. - But well, the tough thing that you end up dealing with though is that, you know, you can't copy yourself, you have to take a risk, so you have to risk whatever success or anything you have, you know, you have to, you know, if you have a good idea and you tell 30 people, 29 of them need to say, please don't do this idea, because otherwise, how can it be good if anyone could just have it? - Yeah. - And, and, you know, you need to keep listening to things and trying things you're not good at. And all that is scary and risks isolation, but you can't get anything if you don't do that. - Yeah. - How can you make your last special, your best one, unless you risk at every turn and all the ones previous? - Yeah. - And that's just straight up scary, you know? - But that's also, you know, scary is a way to look at it, but it's also the thrill of it. - Yeah. - The thrill of it is pulling it off. - Yeah. - The thrill of it is going like. - No net. - Like, yeah, no net, or having something that you go, I've given up, I had a joke that I'd given up on and I had Dana Gould on my podcast in "We're in LA" and I just like, oh, I had this joke where I tried this and then I threw it away. - It didn't solve it. - And he, but he went, do that fucking joke. - Right. - He went, do that fucking joke. He said, edit this out, do that joke. And I think within like a month I had it where it was like, oh, I found out, because literally all it took was a person that I really respect, who I've loved his comedy forever. And just him going like, no, that could be something. And you go, he essentially said, don't leave your problems alone. - Yeah. - Don't walk away from him. - That's what I did, 'cause he did come back to him and tinkering with your problems. - 'Cause there is a frustration. - You know, give a problem a problem, like, old dirty bastards. (laughing) - The ODB didn't be saying that. - Problems got a problem. - Yeah, my problem's got a problem. - But that is because I think there is this like, frustration when you're trying something and it doesn't work. You too quickly, or at least for me, I was kind of like, all right, well, it's just not gonna pan out, but then having someone go like, having someone walk by and go, oh, that's fucking cool. And you go, oh, I was just gonna stop fucking with this, but I guess if you think it, yeah, maybe. - Well, but if you think you go to something, 'cause you think it has an acorn of value to it. And if it doesn't work often, right away, often times you say, oh, well, it's not good. And I used to do this with songs all the time, or you force it to be finished, and it's not finished as it deserves. - Yeah. - Instead of saying, in this moment, I'm not qualified to finish it, but I'm not leaving it. I'll come back to it. - That is, I'll tinker with you once more. - You know. - You just leave it there and you go, you will be tinkered again. - Yeah, I will see you again. - But I'm gonna colonel Troutman and show up and be like, that's as I-- - Billy goes poop, John. - Yeah, 'cause I change it to be a piece of shit. The new album is awesome. - Thank you. - Thank you for doing this podcast. - Yeah, thank you for having me. - You fucking rule. It's like awesome to be just as a member of the tribe of Queens of the Stone Age fans. Thanks for making shit that constantly not only evolves, but deepens my appreciation for the stuff you make. - Thank you. - Every time I listen to it, I never go in like, oh, they're just trying to do that. It's like there's always this stuff of like, man, this is awesome. This evolution is awesome. Everything from, you know, it's just album to album. Keep making shit. Thank you for the way you make stuff. And thanks for making the music that a lot of us uses brain ointment to massage our brain. - Compliments are so painful. Thank you. - Thank you for saying that. - Yeah, I appreciate it. I know you've said so many nice things and I just thank you for saying that. The new album is perfect and it'll be coming out soon and it fucking rules. (upbeat music)