857. - Hot Chip

11:26Jason Stewart:Or you got the real slick barber who's got like a gray mustache and he does like sheer. Yeah. You know, like when the mixology guys move there, all they're flipping the shit around. He's doing that with the shears.

11:38Alexis Taylor:When the mixologist has the big spoon, like that long ass spoon. Like, bitch, you do not need a fucking spoon and a beaker to make a vodka soda. Stop, bro. Stop. He's swizzling.

11:49Jason Stewart:And then, you know, when you do, you know, like the Instagram boyfriend, when they're taking photos of his girlfriend on the street, and you kind of get into the squatting photographer stance. Oh, yeah. You know, when the barber starts doing that, looking at it from angles that aren't necessary.

12:05Alexis Taylor:Yeah, it's like, bro.

12:06Jason Stewart:You know it's going to be fucked up.

12:07Alexis Taylor:You ain't seeing anything good when you're crouched down and engaging your quads like that.

12:11Jason Stewart:When the last thing you hear is, do you want any, like, beard oil? You know, just got to run, bro. See, and that's the thing.

12:17Alexis Taylor:This girl, she didn't even know what beard oil was, which is a gift in itself. True. Before we talk to our guests, we should give a shout out to our friend, George, Daniel. Male model, George. Male model, George. Lose the Daniel. It's cleaner. Charlie XCX. There's the new cover of Vanity Fair just came out today. Charlie's on the cover. but inside in the pictorial as we would say about you know playgirl there is uh george is prominently featured sort of laid back sexily on the bed with his bride and i just wanted to

12:52Jason Stewart:look like a savage garden album insert i just wanted to i just wanted to give him a pat on the

12:58Alexis Taylor:back for for having the bravery to do that and stand with his with his wife in in in these trying

13:04Jason Stewart:times i'm proud of we all know he didn't have a choice in that matter definitely no we have our

13:08Alexis Taylor:guest here today our guest today is alexis from the legendary band hot chip they have a new greatest hits i love when anybody reaches the point where they can put out a greatest hits yeah uh album that is out everywhere now it's called joy and repetition it's got amazing artwork um that jason you said is by the same guy who who did sergeant peppers yeah just a little

13:30Jason Stewart:sergeant peppers just a little light album like that that's really known as maybe like the most

13:35Alexis Taylor:important album art of all time that's true that's just one of the bigger flexes that i've ever encountered as far as album artwork goes i've just never heard everything real talk all right let's give alexis a buzz this episode of how long gone is brought to you by superpower super power jason yeah recently i went to see the old doctor you know and i i left the medical facility in beverly hills and uh i just i felt like i didn't get any good info you know it was Sort of like, you're fine. Drink more water.

14:05Jason Stewart:I'm going to try this and let me know in three months. And I said, that doesn't seem very efficient, Doc.

14:10Alexis Taylor:Am I even going to be alive in three months? Because I need real data. I want a game plan. I don't need a pat on the back. I get that all the time in my personal life. But Superpower, on the other hand, is giving you the shit you need, bro. Superpower sends a licensed professional to your house, or you can visit a nearby lab if you're feeling crazy. It's a simple blood draw with over 100 biomarkers, which is way more than what you usually get. and it unlocks a real understanding of your body as you head into the Q2 of this year. The app includes detailed information on your heart, liver, thyroid, hormones, metabolism, vitamin and mineral levels, and even environmental toxins.

14:44Alexis Taylor:Uh-oh. So from disease prevention to treating that annoying brain fog or simply optimizing your gym game, let's fucking go. Superpower is the most comprehensive and advanced system on the market.

14:54Jason Stewart:Yeah. Also, if you know yourself, you know your body, and you just simply want to have one of those cool, like, what's my biological age? and you can kind of compare yours with other people and kind of rub it into your friends and family that even though you may be older than them, you will actually outlive them because of your biological age because you've been using your nutritional guide and your behavioral adjustments that our friends at Superpower have told you to do. Do this, don't do that. Eat that, don't eat that. And next thing you know, your bio age, you're entering Brian Johnson territory even though you're what, 60, 70?

15:28Alexis Taylor:I'm 26, so it's really working for me.

15:31Jason Stewart:Superpower used to cost$499, but right now it is$199 for the full experience. More affordable than anything else out there on the market. Some of these places are doing$500 ,000 for something similar or even worse.

15:45Alexis Taylor:Hell no. So know your numbers this year with Superpower. Know yourself, know your worth, Jason. Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with Superpower. Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just$199, but for a limited time, our listeners at HowLongGone and get an additional$20 off with code HOWLONG. Head to superpower.com and use code HOWLONG at checkout for$20 off your membership. After you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them and make sure you mention this podcast to support the show. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Cheers. We're up early.

16:15Alexis Taylor:We got workouts. We're traveling. We're tracking our sleep score. But after the age of 30, which unfortunately we are, even responsibly drinking a little booze will make you feel less than 100 % the next day. And look, there are obviously more negative effects from alcohol than just dehydration. Otherwise, how could alcohol be hard on your brain and liver? It has a depressant effect on specific receptors in your brain, and it's toxic to your liver. That's bad, Jason. What can we do? What do you think? Is there a fix for this? Is there a way to sort of hack this?

16:48Jason Stewart:That is bad, Chris. There is a good one. I like to drink. I like to put them down a little bit. Certain alcohols give me certain feelings and headaches and bad feelings. When I drink wine, I won't be feeling so good the next day compared to something else. And that's where I like to grab a little Cheers. They appeared over on Shark Tank.

17:08Alexis Taylor:Let's go.

17:08Jason Stewart:And now Cheers is sold in over 30 ,000 stores, Walgreens, CBS, 7-Eleven, all that stuff. Served over 50 million doses. So that's why we reach for Cheers, Chris. You're going to feel at least 50 % better the next day or your money back. Basically, two drinks feels like one the next morning. All you do is take three capsules after your last drink or before bed. I've taken it. Start your day and your morning better with Cheers. A limited time, our listeners get 20 % off their entire order by using promo code HOWLONG at cheershealth.com. Just head to cheershealth.com and use promo code HOWLONG for 20 % off.

17:51Jason Stewart:After your purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and let them know we sent you.

17:58Alexis Taylor:This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by our dear friends at BetterHelp. We are back with BetterHelp, Jason. Sometimes it can feel like everyone else has it all together in their love lives. You know what I'm talking about. Whether married, dating, or single, the truth is most of us are still figuring it out and finding our way. And no matter where you are in your romantic journey, therapy can help you find your way, help you determine what you want, what feels heavy, and how you can take some pressure off of yourself. February, I mean, we're in the heat of it, Jason. It's full of flowers, candy, stuffed animals, and of course, lots of talk about relationships and dating.

18:32Alexis Taylor:And no matter where you are, whether you're married or dating or single or just focusing on you, you're right on time. Therapy can help you find your way and see more clearly where you want to be.

18:42Jason Stewart:For whatever relationship you're in, however you're looking for love or not looking for love, however asexual you are, you still need to talk to somebody about the world and what's going on. That's why I love therapy and that's why we love BetterHelp. They have over 30 ,000 therapists, the world's largest online platform, served over 6 million people globally. It's very highly rated. If you don't like your therapist, easily switch it up. It's all remote. It's super easy to use. it's how we all do therapy now sign up and get 10 off at betterhelp.com slash how long that is better h-e-l-p as in patrick raddenkief.com slash how long are you are you ready yeah no he's fine

19:27Alexis Taylor:he's fucking he's fucking ready he's in a fucking pod are you at home or is this the lab i'm at home

19:33Chris Black:i'm in a room full of records in in the basement of our house so it's also a lab then yeah kind of yeah is this papa's man cave it's meant to be the dining room but it's been taken over by uh by if you want to call me papa you can it's it's records everywhere i would love nothing more

19:55Alexis Taylor:okay so there's there's some gear and but also your record collection which i'm sure is heaving

20:00Chris Black:it's mainly records but but i tried to give you just a view of something very tidy instead of all of the like um yeah all of the shit behind me that's it's you're presenting a nice background

20:10Jason Stewart:so typically most basements are used as this dining room and you decided to flip the script and use it as record storage i am confused by that i'm being sarcastic here yeah sorry we we we in the kitchen at a table there and we don't tend to eat where all the records are i just

20:32Alexis Taylor:listen to records in here got it okay so there's not okay dining rooms are a little outdated

20:36Jason Stewart:nowadays right we don't really need them yeah exactly a little antiquated do you have a family

20:41Chris Black:though yes i have a wife and a daughter my daughter's 16 16 yeah damn bro okay such a young fella though yeah you are yeah you gotta be i thought you were younger than us how old are you lex been putting in work i'm 45 i don't know how old you are bro we're basically the same damn age

20:56Jason Stewart:16 good for you and you've been touring this whole time pretty much yeah yeah for about

21:01Alexis Taylor:20 something years yeah does she think you're cool or is it touch and go for now it's not touch and go it's just she doesn't think i'm cool there's no it's just go this is straight up go she's like running away so you because this is something i'm always fascinated with when we talk to people that have had like a pretty successful you know prominent career and they have a 16 or 7 like i'm always wondering which what is the age where one of their friends is like oh shit your dad's in hot ship i fucking look you know what i mean like when does that start happening maybe when she was around 12 or something there was a bit of that and i think i wouldn't want to blow my own trumpet

21:39Chris Black:at all i think maybe some of her friends might think the band is cool yeah just about but prudence doesn't anymore although she she did join us on stage for a gig recently so um maybe she's kind of softening a little bit on her views does she play an instrument or does she just sort of come as your role model sally and dance around she's um you know she's there in a security guard capacity for me sure she's kind of making sure she's here to nobody gets hand and nobody gets handsy with dad yeah encore no she she was playing percussion but she's um she sings and she's been around music her whole life obviously she did play quite a lot of guitar and keyboards and drumming when she was younger, but at the moment she's doing more singing.

22:29Alexis Taylor:Okay, so she's in her pop star era is what you're saying? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, definitely.

22:33Jason Stewart:Okay, so she's more Dua Lipa than Pavement. Is it fair to say that?

22:37Chris Black:That's definitely fair to say. We took her to see Dua Lipa maybe six years ago or something, but more recently it's been Charlie XCX that she's wanting to see and somebody called Sombra she's going to see. Oh, no.

22:55Alexis Taylor:keep her away from somber is one of somber is one of the worst of all time but yeah i had to pay for those tickets you're like you're like i didn't even want to embarrass myself and call my agent to ask if he'd get us in the list i just bought him fuck it i can't i can't deal with this anymore

23:13Jason Stewart:okay well actually speaking of tickets i have a feeling i'm not sure but we just uh we just saw oasis in wembley a few few months ago i feel like you might not be the biggest oasis lover is

23:25Chris Black:that fair to say um so when i was younger when i was at school i went to see oasis play the day that their first album came out and i got my cd signed by liam gallagher shit and he struggled with the spelling of my name alexis so he he went for alex which is fine are you saying that are you

23:47Alexis Taylor:trying to say that liam gallagher is not a mensa member are you trying to say that he maybe can't

23:52Chris Black:spell too good is that what you're saying he was just definitely confused by why i had the name

23:56Alexis Taylor:alexis and he didn't know what it was he was like that's it he couldn't say that's a girl's name yeah he wanted to he wanted to yeah okay got it um that was the energy at the time i i liked them

24:08Chris Black:a bit back then yeah i liked them quite a lot back then but honestly i haven't i haven't been a fan really since that first album and that's not in a kind of oh i was there at the beginning i just didn't really enjoy what's the story morning glory and all of all of what came after that but i've i've got a um even before they reformed i made a bit of merch which was the oasis logo but it says my name instead so there's definitely some kind of um links to the band that

24:36Jason Stewart:sure there's a deep a deep history yeah 15 year old self oh yeah i guess i i felt like i was listening to an interview with you and you somebody mentioned i wasn't sure if it was you mentioned that you were watching something and noel came on to talk about something and then

24:52Chris Black:you weren't into it anymore oh yes you're right yeah it was about hypnosis the record

24:57Jason Stewart:design oh yeah the guy who designed all the pink floyd records yeah or the team i should say i mean

25:04Chris Black:And Noel's probably got a lot of good things to say in that program, but the only time I met him, I DJed when Prince had just died and I was booked to play at Glastonbury to play a tribute set of Prince tunes, but in a kind of club environment in Block 9 at Glastonbury. So after lots of house and techno DJs. So I made my set full of the best Prince songs that I've always liked and remixes. and Noel Gallagher happened to be in the booth right behind me as I was playing and I didn't know that he was there and when I finished my set and they only gave me an hour to play he just said, is that fucking it?

25:45Chris Black:What about all the hits? So I was like really on the back foot from that.

25:50Alexis Taylor:I mean, I don't want to side with Noel here but is this a don't bore us, get to the chorus situation? Were you playing B-sides and remixes and not kind of delivering the meat and potatoes from the catalog?

26:01Chris Black:I played loads of the most well-known songs. I just didn't play When Doves Cry. But I was trying to play within this context. It's like thousands of people wanting to dance to dance music. And I'm the biggest Prince fan in the world.

26:18Jason Stewart:This is no small feat as a DJ. This is a tall order to a high degree of difficulty.

26:25Chris Black:Yeah, but what is not difficult is to just be polite to somebody. And that's what Noel doesn't bother doing.

26:31Alexis Taylor:maybe it was more of like a just a gentle fun elbow to the ribs like you know yeah he was making a funny yeah yeah you're right you're right i can see you're on no side here and i'm no no no i'm not on the whole side because i do think i sympathize with the dj in that situation these people are on fucking molly and they've just had to hear whatever oakenfold for fucking two hours and then you come on playing some prince it's it's a tough transition yeah but it was it was good it

27:00Chris Black:It just felt like he, I felt like it went quite well. And there was just one person in the room saying, what are you doing?

27:05Jason Stewart:I was like, well. Well, let us be grateful that he was behind you the whole time and not, you know, arms crossed in the front row. Because that has happened to me a lot. And it really changes the way you play a DJ set. If somebody that you admire or look up to, you know, is sitting there and being like, wrong burial song, buddy. Yeah. You fucked up.

27:28Chris Black:Is Noel Gallagher doing that to you often?

27:30Jason Stewart:No, but just people, you know, not as famous. Maybe, you know, maybe a Tom York or something like that. You know, and you see somebody and you try to play for them. But I think we love watching a Gallagher brother be a knob in the world until they're a knobhead to you. And then you suddenly, you know, it's not funny anymore.

27:48Chris Black:Yeah, I really like Liam. He seems really, I like his sense of humor. I don't know him. I've never met him over the time that he signed my CD. Most people are team Liam.

27:58Alexis Taylor:Yeah. I'm just realizing now that that's how I stand at every DJ set because I'm so unhappy to be there. And now I'm like, I don't want to make you feel... It's not you or even the music you're playing. It's just the environment that I'm forced to be in. It's not personal.

28:14Chris Black:You stand like what? Behind somebody?

28:17Alexis Taylor:No, I'm saying I think I stand a little arms crossed vibe that could be taken as...

28:22Jason Stewart:Whenever he's in the club, it's under duress. He's doing a favor for someone. He doesn't want to be there, but he will be there, maybe especially to get a photo or something like that. Yeah, exactly.

28:34Alexis Taylor:He's a socialite. If the Cobra Snake's there, I'm there. But no, Jason and I have been friends for a very long time, and Jason's been a DJ that entire time. So I've seen him play countless times in countless cities throughout the - He's been forced to be in a bottle service environment against his will. He's a sober guy. He doesn't like dance music. Yeah, there's a lot of factors working against me, but now that you guys are talking about this as DJs, I'm now realizing like, oh, maybe I should pep up a little bit. So I'm not Tom York or Noel Gallagher, obviously, but I don't want to kind of dampen the mood.

29:09Alexis Taylor:People still want to impress you in the room. Yeah, sure. Yeah, the opener, maybe.

29:14Jason Stewart:You mentioned Cobra Snake, and I have a fond memory of him and I touring together. we would like i would go and dj and he would take photos and we go around to weird cities and he would always blast hot chip on the airplane and sing and like dance to your really yeah he was he's he's a huge fan and and it would be embarrassing because he would be singing out loud on an airplane you know looking like a freak you know wearing some fucking overalls with stickers on them and shit wow i'm hung over after opening for ratatat in oslo and he's singing yeah fucking hot chip at full volume and that's really funny well that takes me back to that era

29:56Chris Black:i mean the mention of ratatat when our band got signed at we we played at south by southwest festival like everybody i guess and um it was ratatat mia and us and lcd sound system and that was the show that got us signed to a bigger label, to EMI.

30:17Alexis Taylor:Okay, so were all the other bands already signed to majors? LCD were because they had DFA label and then DFA had been signed.

30:26Chris Black:All of the catalog had been signed over to EMI at that point. I think Ratatat might have been on XL.

30:32Alexis Taylor:Ratatat, they were really a moment, man. That was really like a thing and it burned out very bright very quickly. But that was like a moment.

30:40Jason Stewart:yeah i was a big fan not maybe that lineup is a kind of yeah those four bands right now could do you know could do a stadium yeah for sure yeah it would be a very interesting mix of people you know mia and lcd those are maybe two sides of different coins yeah it's like um proof if proof be need be

31:02Chris Black:of indy sleaze existing if need be i always my favorite part about ratatat was that the if i

31:08Alexis Taylor:If I remember correctly, the drummer was in Dashboard Confessional before he was in. No, I didn't know that. I did not know that. I believe that to be true. And I think he might have tried to bury that fact, you know, underneath a beard or whatever. But, like, I was there for both. And at least someone from that band, I believe, was in the Dashboard Confessional band. I believe it.

31:30Jason Stewart:Can't bullshit a bullshitter. Your emo detecting is strong.

31:33Alexis Taylor:So you lived the dream of being the indie band from the UK who goes to Austin, Texas and plays in a fucking barbecue restaurant and you leave with a record deal.

31:46Chris Black:Yeah, somehow. And also, it's not something I'm proud of, but I was definitely very, very drunk at that gig and don't remember playing very well. I think my bandmate Felix said that I spent a lot of the time just adjusting the microphone stand and not ever coming in with vocals.

32:02Alexis Taylor:it was a different time that's cool maybe emi was like we like this guy like he's on his rockstar

32:07Jason Stewart:shit he doesn't give a fuck yeah it feels a little ian courtesy he's fidgeting up there

32:12Chris Black:we don't know what's happening definitely some fidgeting yeah um uh what i remember is um paul etworth who went on to be this you know very well-known producer um he was mixing our sound and lcd sound at that show he was doing some wild moves like he was spinning around whilst mixing and he was putting delays on everything james murphy filled us all up with um with champagne and whiskey and i was carried on stage on his shoulders and sort of dropped down unceremoniously onto the stage and landed at my keyboard and started playing so i think maybe it was maybe

32:49Jason Stewart:it was a memorable show for the a and r people this is some of the most early 2000s south by southwest shit i've ever heard in my life and also when i would go to south by back then it was almost a requirement that you had to get wasted everyone was shit house drunk i've done

33:07Alexis Taylor:some really good coke in austin i just want to be up front like i've done some good cut like

33:13Jason Stewart:those cowboys know how to do it but um i was listening to sorry to interrupt chris i was listening also to you talk about i think the first time you played a show in new york maybe at pianos yeah james murphy was doing your sound for you which was very generous of him he was saying like hey you should tune this you know drum on your drum machine so it's like in key with the song yeah it's like sounds wrong and you guys are like didn't i didn't even think to do that bro

33:42Chris Black:that's an awesome idea yeah that's right that's exactly right yeah it was it was felix who had the machine drum um which was this like really great drum machine that was used in lots of compact records productions and things like that these kind of german house records and i think james was just listening to this tom tone that was coming out and he was like that's just going to be a constant through this song in the wrong key so yeah things like that the very technical things were helpful to get his input on but it wasn't like we had as a band a long lasting relationship with him helping in that way it was only that one show that he but he's obviously my bandmate al is in lcd with him so they've they've continued on working

34:28Alexis Taylor:together for years well i can't figure out i mean that shit that they look like fucking edward sharp and the magnetic zeros up there they got 15 people i can't tell who's doing what i don't

34:36Jason Stewart:know what's going on that is true how many people does it take to play a drum machine

34:40Alexis Taylor:lots of people tuning the drum machine did you do did you do a record for dfa at any point or no

34:46Chris Black:yeah so when we when we first started working with them they put out over and over as a 12 inch oh

34:54Alexis Taylor:don't tell me that motherfucker made all the money on that there's definitely there's like a rapture

34:57Jason Stewart:remix of that shit right or something like that i think there's a rapture remix there's um there's

35:02Chris Black:an optimo remix um there's a eustace kernker remix and maurice fulton remix um really good remixes came out but yeah so we did a couple of things with them they were always involved but it was through emi as well so we we had jonathan galkin tim goldsworthy and james murphy working with us in some a and r capacity and also they they did record us in this in their studio but it only led to one track that came out called just like we break down but yeah it was more that we toured opening for lcd that was the big connection with that label and that band and also tim goldsworthy who no longer is part of that team but was at the beginning when we were there

35:45Alexis Taylor:he produced we read the book we know what happened yeah he produced a record of mine

35:49Chris Black:um years later maybe 10 years later so i i am still in touch with all of them in their disparate groups that they've gone off into.

35:59Jason Stewart:Are you still in touch with MIA or not so much? I don't know if I ever met MIA.

36:05Chris Black:I like that. I don't know who you're talking about. Is she a musician? No, I know who she is. I saw her. I remember seeing her. She's a 5G truther. She opened for Prince at the O2. What? At the O2? Prince was doing 21 nights there. And I remember she was one of the opens there. But obviously she was on that bill in South by Southwest. but I don't think I've ever had a conversation with her.

36:28Alexis Taylor:That's probably for the best.

36:29Jason Stewart:Man, it would have been so good if you guys opened for Prince at the O2 for those runs, huh?

36:33Chris Black:Yeah, I would have enjoyed that.

36:35Jason Stewart:You guys are way too white to do that, though.

36:37Alexis Taylor:They can't give you that one. What is your, have you made the pilgrimage to, I mean, I'm sure you've played in Minneapolis many times, but have you, like, tried to go to the house and shit? Like, how far are we taking this?

36:49Chris Black:Yeah, I went to Paisley Park. I took Joe from Hot Chip there on his birthday. that's nice what a treat and we've played at first avenue about five or six times um which is you know one of my favorite venues and has such a strong link to prints you know purple rain being recorded some of the audio and some of it being filmed there and so yeah there's been there's been a lot of time spent in in my life you know listening to him and watching video films of his and videos and yeah eventually got to go to paisley park which was great have a little juicy

37:26Jason Stewart:lucy with joe sounds like a nice afternoon in minneapolis i mean the most memorable bit of

37:31Chris Black:that tour was being told that prince would do these private screenings of films for an audience of fans of his and and the guy doing the tour said and you know what prince's favorite film was Finding Nemo 2 are you serious? yeah me and Jack were like oh right okay yeah that's a good use of the cinema screen

37:55Alexis Taylor:the cinema screen

37:57Chris Black:this is the same place where he does these private concerts and then it's like yeah now I'm going to just show Finding Nemo 2

38:02Jason Stewart:I love that I mean now I'm looking at Finding Nemo 2 through a different set of eyes I'm wondering what Prince saw in this storyline that I haven't Prince had that fentanyl patch on his left arm so Nemo is looking good. Maybe like cartoon more so when you have the patch on. Nemo is slow. Okay, I want to talk about musical instruments. How many musical instruments have you purchased purely based on the way they look?

38:28Chris Black:Let's say about 99 % of the instruments that I own. Okay.

38:35Alexis Taylor:So you're a vibes guy. You walk into Guitar Center, you see something that looks funky, you're putting it in the cart. what's the ugliest shit you got how big is the sitar that's in that basement right now yeah um

38:47Chris Black:i mean i should have done the interview from my studio then you could have seen all of these things i don't own a sitar i i am a vibes man i can play the vibraphone and i know that i know that's not what you meant um yeah i think that a good example of this is the so the gibson firebird

39:07Jason Stewart:guitar do you know that guitar shape yeah when i first started playing the guitar i played a really

39:12Chris Black:shit cheap guitar that never stayed in tune and it was awful and then my friend hagop chaparian who now releases music on that label that was called text records vortex label sure sure hagop used to be our tour manager and he used to play in a punk band called symposium but now he releases his own really good music he lent me uh firebird years ago it's such a kind of big guitar it's got a very heavy neck it looks unusual it's not your kind of go-to first good guitars to play but it's incredible and i just borrowed that and then i and then i was obsessed with that kind of guitar for years and i remember going into guitar center with joe um after a dj set in LA back in that early in the early days I remember going in and being like I'm going to get my own one of these firebird guitars I'm going to give Hagops one back and I'm going to buy one and I could see one in like a vintage one and I'd been paid for for a DJ set in cash and I was like I'm just gonna just gonna get it and the guy's like do you want to pay in cash or card and I'll pay cash and then he says right I'll throw in the case for free if you're paying in cash and I'm just like oh how much is the case and he said eight hundred dollars so at this point i realize that i've missed off a zero on the price of the guitar and it's not two thousand five hundred dollars which would have been the most i'd ever spent at that time on any instrument it's twenty five thousand dollars so and this was and this was yes a while ago so we're adjusting for inflation that's a lot of money yeah and it was yes the 60s gibson but anyway so for listeners

40:57Jason Stewart:at home that's kind of a zz top style kind of 70s you know bar rock kind of vibe is that fair

41:05Chris Black:to say the the firebird yes he's but like um paul mccartney played the other version of it the kind of non-reverse and funkadelic eddie hazel sometimes plays one sure members of oasis

41:15Jason Stewart:have played firebirds okay team firebird yeah but i'm saying all of that rambling stuff about

41:22Chris Black:fibers because that's that's a guitar that looks it gets your attention from the way it looks it sure does i mean you know electric pianos are things that i often buy and they they can they can look cool and they can draw me in by their looks more than more than they should do did you ever did you ever own a chaos pad good question i've never owned a chaos pad that's big i'm shocked you weren't inspired by the music of muse no i was not i have not been inspired by the music of muse let's go on record don't worry the whole country of america hasn't been either

41:55Alexis Taylor:to be fair.

41:56Chris Black:But Kid A used the Chaos Pad a lot, right? So I once played in a festival in Norway and John Paul Jones was playing at the festival. And the point of the festival was that you all collaborate with other musicians. And he comes in and he's up for playing on my song White Wine and Fried Chicken. And I'm incredibly happy that he's going to play. And he plays his lap steel guitar, but built into his lap steel is a Chaos Pad.

42:27Chris Black:and he made the most beautiful sounds i've ever heard he didn't use the chaos pad hold on hold

42:32Alexis Taylor:on hold on he had a chaos pad built into the front yeah that feels too powerful to exist on planet

42:39Jason Stewart:earth like you would plug it in and turn it on and it would just say no this is too much did you ask

42:44Alexis Taylor:any questions or did you just kind of go with it because i would have had a lot of questions you

42:47Jason Stewart:said the most beautiful sounds that have ever been created by a musical instrument so to be fair he

42:52Chris Black:didn't turn on the chaos pad but it was there okay it was there and i was a bit scared that he was going to use it but he didn't use it he played really he rehearsed with with me and like five other people and it sounded absolutely amazing and after he rehearsed he said yeah i'm not sure there's much space for me on this track actually i think that the fender roads is taking up too much like bottom end where where i would be playing so i was like i'll just play something

43:17Alexis Taylor:different i'll do it i'll do whatever dude you want me to play the tambourine i don't give a

43:22Chris Black:fuck so so i changed to another instrument i changed to the piano and then he stayed and played in the gig and it was really really good and he was incredibly nice um so chaos pads you know people can have them built into their purple colored um lap steel guitars but they don't necessarily always use them people like that john paul jones yeah well

43:42Alexis Taylor:John Paul Jones has a notoriously safe trigger finger. He knows when it's time to bring out the pad and when it's not. But I have to say, if I saw you coming from a mile away in Norway, I might think you're a pad guy. I might be like, you know what? This guy needs a dose of my pad.

43:59Jason Stewart:He's probably got the pad in every color.

44:01Alexis Taylor:Yeah, I would take you for a pad guy. But I'm glad to know that you're not. That festival sounds fucking twisted, though.

44:08Chris Black:Yeah, it sounds like a celebrity pro-am. It's a great festival. yeah it's in the arctic circle in norway and when we were there it was midnight sun so it's quite strange you know playing a show and finishing it one in the morning and it's already turned it was

44:24Alexis Taylor:never gone dark so so you have you have time to rehearse you're not just going up there with with an all-star cast it you you kind of are backstage hammering it out before you get up there yeah it's

44:34Chris Black:not like a hippie jam band kind of thing it's more um could have fooled me three days of uh rehearsals with people and you figure out who you want to work with and yes it's run by a friend of mine called michelle noak and it's a great festival sun station or snow station depending

44:50Alexis Taylor:on what time of year they do it all right but could you get stuck with a dud like can you you know what i'm saying or is it is it pretty good because you know it's like obviously john paul marshmallows really excited to work with you alexa yeah like how about because i feel like this is a fun thing in theory and then you start looking at the little names on the lineup or the big names in the lineup and you're like i don't i don't know about all that man jonas brothers hot chip i

45:12Chris Black:don't know i i totally get where you're coming from but you you know what the lineup is before you agree to go and it's not got that many people on it so it's kind of clear what's what's ahead i

45:23Jason Stewart:would love to see this reality show if this was a big brother style you know we put all these guys in a room together yeah give them a pedal steel that's purple and has a chaos pattern there and you guys just get drunk and start fighting alexis finds out what a dobro is and things change on episode three yeah um i saw a video of you playing piano and you had a blanket over the keys so you're playing blindly and it reminded me of how i learned how to type when i was like in summer school when i was a little kid yeah uh is that something that you still do to keep

45:57Chris Black:the the chops chopping i don't think i've done it more than the one time that i did it in that video that was about it was in lockdown and i must have been a bit bored i think yeah that is a

46:06Jason Stewart:covid ass thing to do is record yourself playing piano with the blanket over the keys still got it

46:10Chris Black:i love the fact that you saw that i only i only took it down today so you saw are you serious

46:17Alexis Taylor:yeah why'd you take it why'd you take it down pussy you didn't want to flex yeah i was high

46:22Jason Stewart:as hell yesterday like damn i can't wait to talk about this and i made a note of it in my notes app and you took it down that's god right there you're cleaning out the ig what's going on

46:30Chris Black:yeah i don't know really new album coming wipe the ig yeah no it's not that i do have a new album coming hey album in store soon let's talk about it but no um yeah yeah we will we will big things

46:44Alexis Taylor:coming soon big things coming the greatest hits that's just old i need to hear about the new

46:48Jason Stewart:record lxs is it okay is a new record hot chip or is it solo it's an it's a solo one okay well the last time i think chris and i saw you djing uh the palace party in in new york a few years ago yeah you were doing a great dj set and i remember i was like oh that's you know hot chip right there djing and chris is like oh this shit is actually good like i said earlier he's not a fan of electronic dance music so when he sees some it's rare when you're like oh this guy's actually

47:17Alexis Taylor:playing cool music i like anyway i do remember that i do remember that though do you remember

47:22Jason Stewart:if you got COVID at that party because I did.

47:25Chris Black:I did feel quite ill, but I did test. I did test and I didn't have COVID. Oh. It could have been the 15 Stellas.

47:33Alexis Taylor:Yeah.

47:34Chris Black:Yeah. That was fun, that party.

47:37Alexis Taylor:Great party. We love skateboard money. Yeah. Well, there's only three companies that have it and thank God Palace is one of them.

47:43Jason Stewart:Yeah. It's lucky that they have it. Job bless, Palace. Okay. Well, new album.

47:50Chris Black:what's the direction techno it's not techno it's made in paris and it was made at this musician studio nicola godow from air do you know the band air of course on tour look at us

48:04Jason Stewart:you think we don't know the band air come on now you know how many times i touch a titty to moon safari get out of here alexis how many times i'd say three or four three or four i'm at

48:16Alexis Taylor:question moon safari is a classic titty toucher jason that's a good point but i haven't i'm actually i'm upset i was in the wrong city every time they played this this tour and it looks

48:30Chris Black:amazing and i'm really upset i didn't get to go yeah it was really good living legends what's up

48:36Alexis Taylor:what's up in his studio how many cigarettes can you smoke in there before you gotta crack a window

48:40Chris Black:if you're in paris in the studio you're never very far away from somebody telling you that Serge Gansborg has stubbed out a cigarette on this piano that you're sat at. I've definitely been in multiple studios where that story is told to me.

48:55Alexis Taylor:You're like, I don't know about that. How many times? There's a tiny velvet rope around the cigarette

48:59Jason Stewart:marked on the console. Yeah, a guided tour.

49:04Chris Black:Please don't touch the artwork. There was no smoking going on, but it was a great studio to work in and I was working with a producer called Pierre Russo who is extremely talented and it was great to work with him so i did some of it there and then i did some of it in los angeles at another studio and i worked with the avalanches a bit um and with somebody called ollie baston in in london and green got side from scritty plitty um wow so lots of different people are involved in this record so how does that how does that work lola kirk as well the country singer from nashville um how does it how does it work with with that many

49:45Alexis Taylor:collaborators that means big daddy's the boss and you're kind of coming in with something and getting them to contribute or you kind of start from scratch with everybody um i made the record

49:55Chris Black:writing everything myself and playing most of it pierre russo was producing and then i would try and think who would be a good person to add something to this song this what does this song need so i got green to play guitar and then he added vocals to a track and he really you know added lots of amazing things to it it was quite a kind of slow process of of just building the record over a couple of years and then kind of adding in these people so lola kirk only added her vocal right towards the towards the end of the process and i'd love to see i'd love to see

50:30Alexis Taylor:your ass in nashville yeah well when do you want to meet there any i'm literally going tomorrow so if you want to get on the plane you let me know yeah i got i got a couple sessions book no no it's for a party yeah but i i i i like country did she send you the vocal via email or did you have to

50:49Chris Black:get in the lab together i would i actually thought about flying out there to to be in the session but she just sent it by email i've got a lot of time for country music and and it's an inspiration to me so it was quite nice to have a new like a modern country singer i'd like to hear that from

51:07Alexis Taylor:you because i'm that's my preferred genre of music in many ways yeah and i my other preferred genre is british okay so i'm glad that we can we're kind of a flip-flopping you know because i'm from the south yeah you're from the uk you know there's a there's a mutual respect happening yeah it's a yin and yang happening right now it's a yin and yang happening but yeah alexis if you get a lasik

51:29Jason Stewart:it's gonna be it's gonna be a real situation oh okay so you so you're saying you have a you have

51:35Chris Black:a soft spot for the country twang yeah i don't really ever try and sing as if i'm from nashville or something probably for the best probably for the best or produce things in a way that sounds overtly country but the song writing is influenced by that i mean towns van sant willie nelson hank williams these are people that i really really love and i've listened to a lot and some of that influence seeps into the songs and maybe if you're just playing them like i sometimes do on a electric piano and singing or playing them on a guitar you can you can kind of hear it more clearly but it's usually you know produced in a way to take it away from those things so that it's not just retro or kind of yeah trying to borrow from another

52:21Jason Stewart:genre or another place too much like how nelly does with his country music crossover type of stuff little ham fisted something very subtle very very subtle very very similar to nelly in in many ways music okay do you think there's ever going to be a time when when you're you know willie nelson age your whiskers are growing out and you finally just make a straight up country record we put the 909 down we take the 909 out back and shoot it yeah i mean i already i've

52:51Chris Black:already started making that record actually oh with a guy called johnny lamb who's a pedal steel

52:55Alexis Taylor:player pedal steel is the i'm the most crucial element of something like this yeah to me the

53:01Chris Black:driving force there's pedal steel on the new record on a cover i've done of wild horses by the flying burrito brothers or the running stones depending on whose version you know Thank you for the respect.

53:12Alexis Taylor:The Flying Burrito Brothers, it is their song. I don't want to nitpick. Graham gave gifts away to those heroin addicts all day long.

53:20Chris Black:I agree. I agree. I've always felt like it's his song and I've heard that story before. I read a good article with Jim Dickinson, the piano player from Memphis who played on Wild Horses on the Stones version. He talks about how nobody tuned an instrument at any point in the three days that he was in the studio. and when it when it came his time to get involved he only played because i think the other piano player was maybe passed out on their back on a sofa and so he had to step in and he went to three different instruments to try and join in and none of them were in tune with the like he was trying to play the piano but they're all out of tune and he's like i can't say to keith richards you've got to tune your guitar so that i can be in tune with you so he he kind of fumbled his way onto that track like i like that detail about it that's a very good that's a great detail

54:14Jason Stewart:i mean yeah who tells who tells keith anything about his guitar tune or tone yeah yeah you can't do that you shan't you can't do that i mean okay i love this yeah i'm i feel like the graham parson

54:26Alexis Taylor:stuff sort of comes in waves i feel like every like five to eight years it like bubbles up again as like very influential and people are talking about it because he also looks so cool and he was rich there was like a lot of backstory that made it really good but i feel like it comes you know when keith richard's book comes out or whatever it's peaking you know what i mean then it yeah and you know it comes back and forth but i i feel like it it um it's come up in my life a lot in the last like two weeks weirdly so it's funny you say that it's funny you say that because when i was

55:00Chris Black:growing up and when i first heard his music i just thought it was so incredible and then it seemed and everyone liked him at that point in the in the kind of mid 90s when i was first hearing about him as a teenager um and he was you know referenced a lot people like bobby gillespie would talk about

55:21Alexis Taylor:him or well no one loved nashville more than bobby gillespie for like three years yeah i mean

55:25Chris Black:yeah he's the king um it doesn't seem like he's getting name dropped nearly as much or to or listen to as much but i feel like it's very obviously everyone knows who he is and there's so much the the story the legend of him is that is out there people still go to joshua tree and go and stay in that hotel room and all that stuff but i don't feel like i'm meeting many musicians

55:48Alexis Taylor:who talk about him that's true that's true i think it's i i think like grievous i think songs get covered too like yeah it'll you know it's like oh this is you know but i just i just finished the evan dando memoir and there's a lot of i just started sort of like grandpa there's like a lot of that stuff in there because he becomes friends with keith richard's son marlin yeah and spends a lot of time with keith so there's this whole sort of kind of tangent about that whole kind of thing and and those people yeah which i i'm reading it's good i'm reading i'm reading that book as well um

56:22Chris Black:i went to see evan dando a couple of weeks ago in london and i've got a lot of time for his music and his voice and i think he's a great songwriter i think he's really alexis how was the show because it's one of the worst shows i've ever been to

56:35Jason Stewart:did he keep his shoes on alexis do you keep his shoes on for the whole 45 minutes

56:39Chris Black:he kept his shoes on but he emptied his rucksack onto the stage yeah at the beginning of the show

56:45Alexis Taylor:all of the contents of that empty like like took the rucksack upside down dumpy style

56:50Jason Stewart:yeah okay okay yeah like he was getting searched by the police like like amanda binds on a on a flight just dumping the bag upside down shit everywhere was there a reason did he explain

57:00Chris Black:he's looking for a lighter he didn't explain but um i saw him maybe three times in a two-week period having never seen him before but liked it liked him when i was younger and i thought the shows were really really good but there were other people who were at the same shows as me who found them really hard to endure um and they were really sad and really worried about his

57:24Jason Stewart:mental well-being okay so you you were able to put that aside and say like i love this guy's music he's rocking up there this is good let the guy have fun versus mourning well you know a drug

57:37Chris Black:addict's current life yeah when i've seen brian wilson over the years i felt more like he shouldn't

57:44Alexis Taylor:really be up there anymore yeah somebody's taking advantage of him type yeah and definitely i felt

57:50Chris Black:that with um amy winehouse i remember she was playing after us at a festival and she wasn't even on the isle of white at the time she was due to be playing the show and by the time she was playing it was just it was just really bleak to watch it whereas with evan he's having fun it took me a while to adjust but i was slightly more prepared for it and so i didn't spend the whole time thinking what's going on i just thought well he's playing all these songs that i love and his knowledge of not only his back catalog but all of these songs by you know um fred neil or towns van sant or tim hardin like he was covering all of these favorite songs of mine just throwing them out there.

58:36Chris Black:It was like a dream set list for me. And then I met him backstage, having never met him before, and he saw my Neil Young t-shirt, and he just played me all of Revolution Blues just in the dressing room afterwards, and it was incredible. Holy shit. Okay. I felt like it was good.

58:54Alexis Taylor:Some bears like being in the circus, you know? Yeah, I don't think that... The thing that struck me about the book, and I was talking to a friend about it, and what he said was so funny, he was like he he's dumb but he's like a genius like when you it doesn't feel it like feels like i can't explain it once you read it you'll you'll know what i'm saying but it's like it's just very plain speak like there is no flowery language there is no sort of like yeah pomp and circumstance it's just sort of but then i mean i was googling bands he was mentioning in the book that i'd never heard of you know and then i listened to it i'm like oh this is fucking awesome yeah and i you know it's like i i do think he poured his energies into the right place for him let's say that benefited him in his career you know yeah yeah yeah definitely a savant that's good that you i'm glad to hear that because maybe i'll go because i was i was jason i went when he when they were playing with jawbreaker which was notoriously bad and i was like you know what i don't ever need to i don't want to do this again because i'm afraid that it'll really stain my

59:57Chris Black:relationship to this music but it's rather obvious thing to say but maybe you just get lucky sometimes he's in a yeah for sure period where he's more focused and other times something else is going

1:00:09Alexis Taylor:on well i guess well he's he's i like that he says he's he's only he's he's off drugs which means heroin and coke yeah which is pretty that leaves a wide berth to sort of play yeah you know what i mean i'm still smoking xanax but i'm off yeah yeah i appreciate how sort of uh loose that definition is cali sober cali yeah alexis you seem like a guy who never really tangled with

1:00:35Jason Stewart:drugs too much is that fair to say it's completely accurate yeah were you just too focused on the

1:00:40Chris Black:music or alcohol i used to drink alcohol i stopped about two years ago in fact after a big night in minneapolis so that was quite a fun way to to have a last drink unless i do drink again i had a lot of fun with with my bandmates listening to music and kind of being silly and i just felt really really really shit the next day yeah and sure um and a few of us a few of us felt the same way like so i think we drank too much so i stopped at that point um drugs i've just never had any interest in taking them um but most people around me take them i mean i i spend i spend a lot of my time in clubs and djing and you know but i don't know how much of interest there is to say about somebody not doing something well i think it's interesting i think it's what is that what can i tell you even

1:01:40Alexis Taylor:the only reason it's even being brought up is because like you're saying the line of work that you are in shows you the absolute worst side of it yeah but also is alluring in many ways to most

1:01:51Chris Black:people especially at a younger age yeah i didn't at all mean that to be like why are you asking me i was just wondering whether i could say anything interesting about that no no there's nothing you

1:02:01Alexis Taylor:could say that'd make it interesting i completely agree yeah it was the original statement was not

1:02:05Jason Stewart:a question it was you know it was a judgment it was a judgment i think i'm quite honestly i think

1:02:10Chris Black:i'm quite frightened of what it would do to my brain to take various drugs anyway sometimes people

1:02:16Alexis Taylor:are like i need drugs to be creative you're like this might fuck me up i sit down at the roads and

1:02:21Chris Black:nothing comes out no more like um like one time years ago on tour i started to feel like my lack of sleep and drinking too much was making my brain stop working as i expected it to and i felt i felt really terrified by what was going on and that felt the closest to anything that would be a little

1:02:43Alexis Taylor:advice for me you just got to keep going you know and then once you get over that hump all of a sudden things are looking peachy it's it really gets to a place where you're blissed out and then of course like you said the next day you feel shit but yeah i think knowing your limits is powerful, especially as an adult.

1:03:02Chris Black:Yeah. I mean, I felt like that was a time where it was fun to, to just keep going and, you know, keep going and keep going. And, but then there was a point where, yeah, I had reached some kind of limit and it would just felt like brain malfunction and it was quite terrifying. So I don't think the things that other people maybe can take in their stride, if they have a bad trip or something that doesn't, I don't think I could take it in my stride. I I think I'd be like, oh, well, I've lost my mind.

1:03:29Jason Stewart:Yeah, I mean, we all have had the fear of, you know, if I take these mushrooms or do this acid at this John Mayer concert, will I have a bad trip and never come back? Will my brain be permanently broken the way you hear the wives' tales over the years of, you know, that guy took acid once. Never was the same, bro. Yeah. But I think that you, it sounds like you respect your brain so much that you don't want to risk putting it through that, and I think that's healthy.

1:03:59Alexis Taylor:Yeah, and your brain served you pretty well from what I can see. I mean, you have a basement. Yeah, you got a good thing going with it. Don't fuck it up. I don't have a basement, you know? It's just something to think about. Well, you know, you're also a pretty iconic glasses wearer, I feel like. No Elton, but what do you look for in a pair of specs? Is it just strictly these look good on me? Are there sort of parameters?

1:04:23Jason Stewart:Do you have a frame sponsorship maybe?

1:04:24Alexis Taylor:Are you getting them custom made?

1:04:27Chris Black:I used to buy them at flea markets. They were very cheap, like seven euros or something. So you could just find some vintage frames that you like the look of. And then there's a place in London called General Eyewear where they make their own frames, but they have loads of vintage frames as well. They would always just put the prescription in for me. So I guess I was thrifty. I was going around flea markets.

1:04:50Alexis Taylor:Yeah, but now we got bread. So let's talk about now. You said, give me the Jarvis Cockers. Yeah, let me get the Jarvis's in an XL.

1:04:59Chris Black:Big old glasses. I did get given these ones. Cutler and Gross gave these ones to me, which is great.

1:05:07Alexis Taylor:That's what I used to wear before I'd lace it. Great classic British eyewear brand.

1:05:11Jason Stewart:Yeah, they're very good. A man of taste you are, Alexis.

1:05:13Alexis Taylor:And they outfit several rockers.

1:05:17Chris Black:I think so, yeah. Also, I still wear these Ray-Bans that I was given if we're doing product placement, I was given on this very, very funny photo shoot. When Hot Chip first came to America on tour, probably the same tour as the South by Southwest trip, we were photographed by that iconic photographer, Mick Rock. Of course. For Playboy magazine. The group of you shaggers deserve to be in Playboy. we we were not we were not um the most obvious of uh people to be in that magazine half the band were virgins but we still agreed to do it and um but i remember yeah i remember that shoot very well i remember that nick rock had a he had a you know filthy filthy mouth he was very um his bottle of jack in one hand nikon in the other the way he the way he was speaking to joe or you wouldn't get away with that these days sure sure well you have to get your subject to do what you

1:06:21Alexis Taylor:want and sometimes that takes language that is that is not acceptable in today's world mix mick

1:06:26Chris Black:he has his waist yeah exactly but um but yeah i got given some glasses on that set and i still wear them to this day so haven't lost them which is very surprising as a journeyman traveler dj

1:06:38Jason Stewart:like yourself yeah but i guess you don't do drugs so you keep all your glasses i was with somebody

1:06:44Chris Black:I'm not going to say who it was. I was with somebody at a gig in Los Angeles recently, and they did lose their glasses while they were dancing. So it does happen to people. Of course. I went back after the show was over to look for his glasses, and then I turned around to go and help him get a cab home, and the security wouldn't let me back up the stairs to meet him and help him. And I was like, oh, my friend needs to get home, and he's lost his glasses, and they just properly turned on me. the security were like you're gonna need to give me something better than that you're gonna need to give me a better excuse and i was like oh it's not an excuse it's true and they just they just put this like they put this barrier up and they were like about to like kick off with me and i'm

1:07:25Alexis Taylor:like what are you doing wow but these are the guys these guys worked at the club that you had just dj'd in no i'd just been watching a band there well i mean in la you're supposed to say do you

1:07:34Jason Stewart:know who i am that's usually works every time that's true yeah because i feel like you and

1:07:38Alexis Taylor:hot chip are big in the security guard community you know what makes you say that i just i just feel like there's a pumps me up to to brick skulls yeah it's like yeah you know i think that like some of them probably listen to hip-hop or whatever but there's probably a pretty large faction that that is interested in hot chip and kind of what you do something to think about yeah you know i both i was telling jason when you were getting your headphones that i didn't know that lizzie truly's version of your song was not her song yeah like i had heard and i was like this song fucking rocks i love lizzie truly this is so good and then someone was like you know that's a hot chip song i was like i didn't know that and then i checked out the hot chip version also great

1:08:19Chris Black:it was a win-win for me oh that's nice to hear yeah and it was really good when she did that cover we don't know her super well but she's friends with lizzie bagatzos and chloe 70 and different people that we know from New York. So it was a nice connection.

1:08:35Alexis Taylor:Underrated. I thought that record was going to be really big. I thought she was really cool. I thought the music was really good. It was like that and the virgins I thought were going to be the two things that went and neither of them really did.

1:08:46Chris Black:Maybe she picked the wrong song. Maybe she needed a better song.

1:08:53Alexis Taylor:There's a little band called The Strokes. They have a pretty deep catalog if you're interested. You can take a look.

1:08:59Jason Stewart:Well, Alexis, the Hot Chip Greatest Hits record is currently out. It's great. I like the sequencing of the track list, not necessarily chronological. A couple remixes at the end, and both remixes are actually quite great, which I feel like is rare on a compilation record, not unlike the Pink Panther's bonus record with a bunch of great remixes on. I think British remixes are back.

1:09:24Alexis Taylor:Why are you doing the Greatest Hits, though? Are you guys trying to get out of a contract?

1:09:29Chris Black:If only the answer was something as interesting as that.

1:09:34Alexis Taylor:Like, well, no, actually, how much time do you have? Let me get my publisher on the phone. Because you're so young.

1:09:40Chris Black:You have so many more albums ahead of you. So we've done quite a lot of press about this Greatest Hits, and still at this point I haven't come up with a good answer to why we have a Greatest Hits at this point. Essentially, our record label thought it was a good idea, and I think they thought that about 10 years ago and we were like, no, no, we're not at that stage yet. And eventually this time around we were like, okay, if you really think that people would want a compilation, then let's do it. And we didn't have any real difficulty putting the thing together and it was quite nice to look back over what we've done and be like, okay, we've done that much.

1:10:19Chris Black:Maybe we can just mark this moment and then make some new music and keep going. Act one, complete. Yeah. But there's not like a big concept behind it really beyond that, I'm afraid.

1:10:31Alexis Taylor:That's okay. I prefer no concept. I mean, personally. The concept of getting more streams on Spotify, baby. Check in the mail. That's always the plan. That's the only plan we got.

1:10:41Jason Stewart:It's the only concept any of us have. All right, Alexis. Well, thank you for taking the time. When's the new album? When's the solo album coming out?

1:10:47Chris Black:That will be announced in November, although I've announced it on here. And it will come out in February.

1:10:53Alexis Taylor:Okay, great. We'll look out for it.

1:10:55Jason Stewart:Send it over. send me the waves please will do

1:10:58Alexis Taylor:I'll debut them soon I need the stems chief we'll talk to you soon thanks man we appreciate it

1:11:02Chris Black:no it was good it was good fun to talk to you cheers

1:11:55Chris Black:Safe!