878. - Roddy Bottum

3 Dec 2025 · 1 h 14 min

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In short

Podcast Notes: How Long Gone - Episode 878: Roddy Bottum

Episode Summary In this episode of "How Long Gone," hosts Chris Black and Jason Stewart are joined by musician Roddy Bottum, known for his work with Faith No More and Imperial Teen. The discussion revolves around Bottum's memoir, *The Royal We*, covering various topics such as pop culture, personal stories, and the dynamics of life in different cities.

Key Themes and Discussions

Hosts' Introductions

  • Location: Chris is in Chicago surrounded by snow, while Jason is at home in Glendale, California.
  • They humorously discuss food options available in Chicago and their preferences.

Year-End Lists

  • The hosts discuss year-end music lists and how they reflect personal tastes.
  • They note the overwhelming amount of music today compared to previous years, leading to a diverse range of options.

Roddy Bottum's Background

  • Transition to Guest: Chris and Jason introduce Roddy Bottum, who is currently in Provincetown.
  • Provincetown: Roddy describes Provincetown's gay history and culture, mentioning his own experiences in the area.

Personal Stories

  • Dick Dock: Roddy talks about the infamous cruising spot in Provincetown, sharing humorous anecdotes about its popularity and atmosphere.
  • Bottum’s Life: He opens up about his experiences growing up in Los Angeles, including the drug culture and his time as a bike messenger.

Conversational Highlights

  • Heroin Culture: Roddy discusses his past with heroin, comparing it to the current state of drug use, emphasizing the absence of Fentanyl during his early experiences.
  • Courtney Love: The conversation touches on Bottum's past relationship with Courtney Love, leading to discussions about her legacy in music.

Investing and Apple Stock

  • Roddy shares a story about buying Apple stock early in his career, which he considers a lucky investment that significantly impacted his financial situation.

Los Angeles vs. San Francisco

  • Roddy reflects on the contrasting cultures of Los Angeles and San Francisco, discussing the perceived lawlessness and the changes in both cities over the decades.

Wrap-Up

  • The episode concludes with light-hearted banter about underwear preferences, with Roddy expressing interest in Skims, the podcast's sponsor.

Key Takeaways

  • The importance of storytelling in sharing personal experiences and cultural commentary.
  • Acknowledgment of the complexities surrounding drug use and the changing landscapes of cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
  • Recognition of influential figures in music and the lasting impact of their work.
  • The blend of humor and serious topics creates a rich conversational atmosphere that engages listeners.

Notable Quotes

  • "Los Angeles is a horrible place for a child." - Roddy Bottum
  • "Take what you can get." - Roddy Bottum

Further Engagement

  • Follow Roddy Bottum on [Instagram](https://instagram.com/roddybottum) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/donetodeath).
  • Visit the episode’s website at [howlonggone.com](http://howlonggone.com) for more details and future episodes.

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This episode of "How Long Gone" provides a candid and entertaining glimpse into the lives of its guests and hosts while addressing broader themes in culture and music.

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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:17Roddy Bottum:How long gone? It is your fearless co-host Chris Black. I'm in Chicago, Jason, and there's hella snow on the ground, which I was only mentally prepared for. I mean, how else could you really prepare for it? I guess you could... Physically, I wasn't ready to brace for, you know, like I'm wearing boots, you know, but you know, the step in the snow. This is something you don't experience that much. Thank God. No. You're lucky.

0:43Jason Stewart:Yeah. I mean, I chose not to go to Chicago today, but that's just on me, you know?

0:49Roddy Bottum:I mean, in life in general, you've been able to avoid snow by living in Los Angeles, which is, you know, has it ever snowed there?

0:58Jason Stewart:Not actual real snow. I mean, there's been times where I was in elementary school and the teacher will be like, it's snowing, and then everyone screams and runs outside, but then, you know, there'll be one single snowflake that you could watch turn to water in front of your eyes.

1:16Roddy Bottum:Immediately as soon as it touches the ground, but I'm staying so...

1:18Jason Stewart:Oh, it doesn't make the ground, honey.

1:20Roddy Bottum:I'm staying at a very, an undisclosed hotel that Katie loves, and so the band is staying here. I was like, sure, I'll be a team player. And just to be, you know, Jason, I'm not as much of a snob as you, even though I get a bad rap, but I'm sitting in my room. Are you a team player or are you a cosplayer? Both, depending on the situation, I'm both. I just thought it would be funny, you know, whatever. And I get here and I was joking that I needed Jimmy John's for lunch to solve my travel day. And this hotel is situated in something I've never seen before. It's almost like they plopped a three-star hotel in a food court.

2:00Roddy Bottum:So I'm looking out the window, and it's five guys. Oh, sorry, five guys at the restaurant, not just five guys. There's also five guys, actually, but they're in moose knuckles jackets in front of the five guys. So we got five guys. We got Buffalo Wild Wings. We got Auntie Annie's. We got Starbucks, Jimmy John's, Smoothie King, Panda Express, Slotsky's Deli, as well as a store I've never heard of before, Scrub Depot, where you get all of your scrubs if you work in the medical field. It's one of the most twisted things I've ever seen. Scrub Depot. That's where you found your man, over at Scrub Depot.

2:36Jason Stewart:You a fool for that one. Okay, so I mean, that is interesting because whenever we stay in Chicago, whenever you're traveling with me, we like to be over at the Waldorf, and there is a Jimmy John's in the subfloor of that location, remember?

2:52Roddy Bottum:That's also, you're right, actually, and I did forget that this one I had to traipse outside through a small amount of snow.

3:02Jason Stewart:When I'm over at the Waldorf, you look out the window, oh, there's the Bottega store, there's the Prada store, there's this and that. Go around the corner, and that's Joe and the Juice. We'll get a little tuna melt.

3:14Roddy Bottum:Sorry, Joe and the Juice, that's on Starbucks level. Let's not put Joe and the Juice on the same level as designer stores in the Gold Coast. Let's be respectful.

3:24Jason Stewart:I think healthy travelers know that Joe and the Juice is a great resource.

3:28Roddy Bottum:Bro, Joe and the Juice is one of the worst.

3:32Jason Stewart:I mean, ask Diplo. I mean, obviously, I don't want to go there, but if it's that or Five Guys, Jimmy John's, Panda Express, or whatever. Oh, Jimmy John's 100 times over 100. I know, but if you want to be a healthy eater, you can go to Jimmy John's. healthy about Joe and the Juice? You can get smoothies, juices, coffees, alternative milks. You can get protein wrap.

3:58Roddy Bottum:I don't think those juices don't feel like juice to me, if you know what I'm saying. It feels more like mixers from the club.

4:03Jason Stewart:No, this shit is Scandinavian in origin. They don't play with that shit, bro.

4:08Roddy Bottum:Hey, it is Scandinavian by blood, and they do not play with that shit, bro. Show me the lie, bro. Show me the lie. That's true. I haven't pulled up the car facts on on Joe and the Juice. And obviously, like I said,

4:19Jason Stewart:this is a desperate traveler's resource. This is when we're, yeah, this is when under - I mean, I watched a little interview or something like that with a friend of the show, Diplo, and he said when he's traveling, that's what he does. He hits a little Joe and the Juice. He can get a little something, something. Oh, great. Put something clean in the stomach.

4:37Roddy Bottum:Whatever Diplo's doing is what I want to be doing because he's rich and he stayed out of jail. So I guess I'm going to take a second look at Joe and the Juice. He eats a lot of avocados for his complexion. If he would chill out on the run clubs, he'd be the perfect guy, but he just can't help himself. You know what I mean?

4:53Jason Stewart:Everyone has that one little thing that ruins them.

4:56Roddy Bottum:Totally, totally. I'm not above it. I've been seeing all these year-end lists have been coming out, Jason. They've been trickling out. It is that perfect combination of things I really like, things I don't like, and things I've absolutely never heard of, which is kind of, that to me makes up the perfect list. I don't know how you feel.

5:13Jason Stewart:I agree with you on that, But I guess when I was maybe under 33 years old, the amount of things on those lists that I didn't know were closer to zero than they are now.

5:26Roddy Bottum:Yeah, but I think everything's gotten a little crazier. What do you mean by that? I just mean there's a lot more music than there was 10 years ago, 15 years ago.

5:35Jason Stewart:Yeah, less of the monoculture. When you see the pitchfork list, you can expect the standard, the arcade fires and your beach houses and your this and your that, and then one or two curveballs. You know, like, oh, we did a really freaky Erykah Badu album that nobody ever knew even came out, but they give it number four, you know, that kind of thing.

5:58Roddy Bottum:Yeah, it feels a little more.

5:59Jason Stewart:But now it truly is everything, and you have to do one album or one song or one jacket or one book out of every category there's

6:11Roddy Bottum:just too many categories now yeah there's way too many fucking categories that's it that's a good way to put it i've learned about some new stuff um and i've also learned that the the passion people have for the band geese is something that i wish um i could inspire in anyone and i don't think i'm ever going to achieve that in my adult life what is what is it about these geese huh

6:31Jason Stewart:like i said before it reminds me of early radio head fever yeah no no i i don't i don't know what

6:38Roddy Bottum:it is necessarily i just think that also i saw that somebody was saying smurs has a one of the members of smurs has a dad that's in nato i guess second second nato reference of on the pod this week which i which i wasn't aware of i didn't do any research on that i just saw that in a tweet and i thought that was a pretty funny like that that's not i don't know what that's supposed to signify is that like are they trying to make nepo claims because that's not really that's a little

7:05Jason Stewart:different yeah that could be a reverse nepo actually who knows that could work i mean that's something that you'd want to perhaps hide but i guess i know they're from uh i think they're from

7:15Roddy Bottum:Copenhagen i think they're from norway i feel like they're from oslo but whatever they're scandinavian they up in there so you know like joe and the juice they're they're scandinavian blood

7:26Jason Stewart:Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I know that NATO, I don't know really what they're doing up in there, helping out Ukraine. I don't know what. Testing out quantum technologies in Copenhagen. I'm Googling. Smurfs dad NATO. There's a NATO accelerator test site. Don't worry. You already know what the business is.

7:43Roddy Bottum:Katerina Stoltenberg is the daughter of Norwegian politician and former NATO Secretary General Jens Schlotenberg. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right.

7:53Jason Stewart:So you can have whatever synth you want.

7:58Jason Stewart:I don't know. We're not getting a new 808. We're getting the original.

8:03Roddy Bottum:I like it, though, because immediately you look at tweets like Sophie Kemp. There's a tweet from a month ago that says, I love that the girl in Smur's dad controls NATO. Do you see how quickly this spins out of control? He's the minister of finance. That's not really. I don't know if that's controlling NATO necessarily, but it's a fun little tidbit.

8:24Jason Stewart:He's not picking enemies out of the sky.

8:28Roddy Bottum:No, no, no, no, no. He's definitely at a desk wearing a suit. It's not, but I love that this is what people really choose to get worked up about, you know? And the sort of, also people like to get worked up about the sort of technicality of things where it's like, well, that was actually released in December of 2024, so can it count? And it's once again, it's -

8:51Jason Stewart:Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar is up for Best New Artist this year. And his new record, Damn, is up for Album of the Year.

Read the full transcript

8:59Roddy Bottum:Album of the Year, once again, Damn, is coming through. Yeah, I don't really understand how that stuff works, but it reminds me of when there was a kid in your grade that was a little older than you because the cutoff was sort of pulled out of the – it doesn't really make a lot of sense necessarily, but it has to exist, I guess. It feels similar to that where I'm not going to – things i'm not gonna judge you know i'm not gonna judge these rules i don't make them i don't i don't work at stereo gum or pitchfork so i don't really care there are no more rules anymore that's what's

9:29Jason Stewart:dope about media uh let's see here we're we're gonna go to war with venezuela maybe soon but more importantly netflix has a ditty docuseries coming out today i don't i i weirdly could not care less about it for some reason you're still gonna watch it though no i don't think i will i

9:50Roddy Bottum:I don't really watch stuff like that. I don't care. I watched Kevin Hart's stand-up special because I hate myself. What? Yeah, I don't know.

9:59Jason Stewart:Okay, you don't have a little leg to stand on.

10:01Roddy Bottum:I don't.

10:02Jason Stewart:Why did you watch that? It's quiet for Lil' Kev. I find him cold.

10:06Roddy Bottum:It's really annoying. I got to say, he had a pretty good pair of pants on. I was surprised because I didn't know they made him in his size. But it's a nice pair of pants. But no, it's not funny. I don't know. I just do. Because that to me, like a Diddy thing from like 50 Cent making a spite doc is obviously I respect it from a pettiness level. There's no one better at it. But it doesn't make me want to actually watch it because I don't care what happens. Do you know what I'm saying? Like I don't care what information is there because I don't care about Diddy. I don't really care anymore. It's over.

10:38Jason Stewart:But, you know, during these trying times when we'll watch documentaries about just truly any old bullshit, as long as it's a captivating, well-made doc, you know, we'll watch a documentary about a meth head in Florida who has tigers or whatever.

10:53Roddy Bottum:But that's more captivating because that's not a story I already sort of know. You know what I mean? It's like so out of the blue that it feels like that's why it captures.

11:00Jason Stewart:I also love it when a story, I don't know how a story is going to end. And we know how the Diddy story is probably going to end based on living in current present time and everything. But, you know, hopefully 50 doesn't let us down. I know that there's a NS, Variety Magazine says an NSFW interview with a gigolo who did freak offs for eight years. Details. Eight years? Damn, bro. Retails his sexual marathons, paying tribute to Biggie's death.

11:33Roddy Bottum:Whoa. Nothing says pay tribute to my death more like a freak off. All right. Our guest, we have a guest today. All right. Roddy Bottom is joining us. His book, The Royal We, is out now everywhere. You might know him from his musical endeavors. He was in Faith No More. He's put out a bunch of stuff. He's scored a bunch of things as well. Imperial teen. Let's tap in. Let's tap in with Roddy and see what's really good. All right. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Cheers. we're up early we got workouts we're traveling we're tracking our sleep score uh but after the age of 30 um which unfortunately we are uh even responsibly drinking a little booze uh 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 all 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?

12:28Roddy Bottum:What do you think? Is there a fix for this? Is there a way to sort of hack this?

12:31Jason 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. Let's go. And now Cheers is sold in over 30 ,000 stores, Walgreens, CVS, 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.

13:11Jason Stewart: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 howlongatcheershealth.com just head to cheershealth.com and use promo code howlong for 20 off after your purchase they will ask you where you heard about them please support our show and let them know we sent you this episode

13:43Roddy Bottum:of how long gone is brought to you by our dear friends at better help we are back with better of help, 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.

14:16Roddy Bottum: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.

14:26Jason 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 dot com slash how long.

15:09Roddy Bottum:How are you guys? We're good. I just, I'm sorry. I was stuck on the tarmac at beautiful O 'Hare. so thank you for being uh able to adjust by one hour i appreciate it oh yeah no problem what was going on in chicago um i'm here for a show um but i guess there was a plane that just refused to leave its gate you know a tale as old as time um but there's snow on the ground so i'm i i feel i feel like i'm in winter mode now i've switched off i forgot my earmuffs but you know here we are so you're in chicago now chris that's right i'm in chicago as we speak you can't tell by the depressing low-end hotel decor.

15:45Chris Black:Well, I can tell it's a hotel, but I can't get any city vibe from it. How about you, Jason? Where are you at? I'm at home in Glendale, California. Glendale, nice. Are you in New York? No. You know where I am? It's crazy. I'm in Provincetown. Do you guys know what that is? Yeah, we're honorary gays.

16:02Jason Stewart:Yeah. Despite our heterosexuality, we are very familiar with Provincetown.

16:07Chris Black:You're aware of Provincetown because it is very gay. For you listeners who don't know, It's the tippity tip of the very end of Cape Cod, which is the stretch. Yeah, very, very tip.

16:19Jason Stewart:Okay, so they get the Cape Cod and they stretch the skin out and then it just gets to the very tippity tip top.

16:25Chris Black:Yeah, right where there's that slit. It's like at the very end, it's a very gay town. It's got a very gay history. It's got a very queer sort of heritage to it. It's where a lot of theater people came in the early 1900s. People came up here from New York City.

16:44Roddy Bottum:Hold on. You're telling me there were gay guys in the early 1900s?

16:48Chris Black:Well, yeah. Closeted. But they were here. And Eugene O 'Neill put on his very first play here. And then there's just a crazy collection of weirdos that come here over the course of...

16:58Roddy Bottum:We've been talking about Provincetown a lot because we were told that we should do a show, a How Long Gone show, at the Dick Doc. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. And then that would be funny. Really good idea. And then if several people were like, we'll help you set that up and then get you out of there before sundown. You know what I mean? So everything stays above board.

17:17Chris Black:It's a genius idea. I've seen performances done there. The dick doc, for those of you out there who don't know what it is, it's underneath this. It's a literal space underneath a dock on the sand at the water where guys go and get it on. And it's so renowned. And it's so like such a thing. You want to get it on? Yeah, you can look it up on Google Maps. It's there on Google Maps.

17:41Roddy Bottum:It comes up as Dick Doc or maybe something else? As the Dick Doc. That's cool. I'm glad that Google didn't block that or censor it. Right?

17:51Jason Stewart:But you've been there enough times. You're able to get to the Dick Doc without having to type it into your ways or drop a pin, right? I know exactly. By smell?

17:59Chris Black:I know exactly where it is, yes. But it gets so crazy down there. like i don't really go there i have a boyfriend so i don't really like go there too much but i have been there before but um my friend was here last summer it ain't a crime to look roddy it ain't a crime to look yeah i mean i'll go there i will i mean i go my friend was there last uh summer and he was like texting me from there and i was like just like how many guys are down there right now it was like 11 o 'clock at night like on a thursday and he's like all right i'm gonna um walk the course of the dick talk and count and there were over 90 dudes down in there like getting their dick sucked.

18:35Chris Black:90 men just on a Thursday night. That's actually overwhelming

18:40Roddy Bottum:to the point where I feel like that could turn some users off maybe. It's like going to a movie theater and you can't find a seat. It's part of that. So many options though. So many options. That's a good point. I guess you can go do your shopping.

18:55Jason Stewart:Yeah, because it reminds me of obviously the proximity to the water. It reminds me of the surf report you know i got a little cam set up you know oh it's too busy out there i'm gonna wait until later until it dies down but maybe with the in the dick sucking community it's kind of like a little more people more the better the more like we're we're way beyond privacy at this point

19:17Roddy Bottum:at the dick for sure max it out and no one's being shy you know no i that yeah that that is not something your community is necessarily known for is shyness no it's a it's a free-for-all

19:26Chris Black:but it's really pretty here you guys should come here like provincetown is so great

19:30Roddy Bottum:over the summer it's great i want i've always wanted to go but i guess is what is the where do you think i would be the most happy in provincetown or fire island based on knowing

19:40Chris Black:me for the last five minutes okay provincetown is more of like uh uh it's definitely like you're separated from the rest of the world yeah like fire island is very close you're pretty much still kind of in new york city and you only get like that demographic and it's very close and you feel like yeah you're in the city pretty much provincetown is very isolated it's really at the end end end of the world so to speak you gotta want it yeah how long does it take to get there from new york i mean that's the catch chris it's like five and a half six hours drive okay can we fly that's glendale to san francisco no biggie yeah yeah you can fly but it's like um they're tiny little planes you know those little like six seaters that are so scary that's well roddy that's

20:21Roddy Bottum:how I want to die so I'm kind of trying to take any opportunity I can to get on something of that size. You can do that. It doesn't come up that often so I have to take the opportunities when they present themselves.

20:32Jason Stewart:When you die in a plane crash when they find out it was headed to P-Town that's going to be what a heavenly way to die.

20:39Roddy Bottum:I'm not going to beat the allegations if I die on the way to P-Town. Oh my god

20:43Chris Black:you had a speculation and the rumors. Where was he going?

20:47Roddy Bottum:P-Town. He was on his way to P-Town.

20:50Chris Black:way to well how you've been going there i assume for for decades not so long like i grew up in california and i moved here in like uh the east coast in like 2010 and i started coming up here then and then like during the pandemic my boyfriend and i got a place up here and he started a store up here so really we come up just for the summer times basically yeah um he started a really cute boutique sort of uh souvenir store here so what is he ped what is he peddling at the boutique what kind of wears he makes shirts and hats and sweatshirts and really tasty like clothing stuff okay and he sells it in this really adorable tiny store it's called the old baby that's really nice but we usually we come up for just like uh the summer usually but we're moving in new york so we're kind of biding time until the place that we move into in new york is done so we're up here for the winter which is kind of a stretch you're saying it's is everything closed type like oh my god so fucking tight it's so it's so boring you can't imagine yeah i mean even salt the famous

21:51Jason Stewart:restaurant sals in p-town they are they famously leave and then come to la now the last couple years yeah have you been to the one in los angeles jason yeah i've been a handful of times yeah she's uh you like it yeah yeah it's a it's a great vibe you know just you walk in everyone knows your name nobody is straight except me the martinis are strong the pasta's flowing everyone you know cash only they're cool you got a call to make a res it's a good vibe i like it a lot they're cool

22:21Chris Black:i like those people siobhan is the boss woman i'm going to say something that i shouldn't but i want to say it anyway it's fascinating it's like a thing over the summer people who dine at sales in the summertime in provincetown they don't pay for their meals if they live here you mean

22:39Roddy Bottum:you mean that's the the trade if you're like a real a real provincetown resident yeah this is

22:45Chris Black:your canteen yeah and for a while for a while we were paying and stuff we're like what's up what's up but i think we kind of crossed the line and we're kind of recognized oh congratulations right now as such as locals yeah it's it's huge wow i mean i've never paid there thanks to our friends

23:03Jason Stewart:at purple pr but it's for different reasons i guess um what's that mean what's purple pr It's just a PR agency that we're friends with, but they happen to represent that restaurant. And our dear friend Stevie, who's probably listening to this right now, is always generous with inviting us over for fabulous birthday dinners and things like that over at Sal's.

23:22Chris Black:Damn, okay, bragger.

23:24Jason Stewart:I mean, you're bragging too. We're both getting free clamps, just two different ways to get there, brother.

23:30Chris Black:But I feel like mine is kind of earned. Like I earned the status of mine. Well, it's a purple PR. are what's the benefit how are you what are they how do you get that i'm a mic i'm a i'm a micro

23:42Jason Stewart:influencer roddy so when i go there i'll talk about it on this beautiful podcast post a photo

23:47Roddy Bottum:on my instagram someone's getting paid it's just not us or the restaurant you know what i mean it's

23:51Jason Stewart:no it makes sense yeah i want to know how you a homeowner is able to go into a small local business

23:57Chris Black:and refuse to pay their money what's up with that roddy you're right i'm really honestly just on the coattails of my boyfriend and his store he's a small business owner in the area as well yeah so it feels like because this happened because we went together and we got like the treatment it was so great and then i went again later by myself they forgot your ass didn't they they didn't know who you were nothing nothing imperial tea nothing okay i like your guys podcast i'd never heard it before i started listening to it after we talked to chris i've listened to a bunch of episodes is really fun oh great i'm sure you had some friends in the mix probably over the i did i started out listening to theirs but then i really like the two of you talking is really fun you guys have a good chemistry hey thank you see you're a real head thank you for saying that that's important do you guys fight a lot or you get along just like famously all the time we don't

24:47Roddy Bottum:fight we've never gotten a fist we've never gotten a fist fight actually which is good for

24:51Chris Black:both i didn't mean that but is there any like passive aggressive behavior or anything like

24:55Roddy Bottum:that oh yeah definitely jason's the king of passive aggressive you should ask his wife about

25:00Chris Black:it i thought i got it bad and then he got married i'm a bomb dropper it's cool but i like your conversations it's really fun to like tap into like people who are friends and are just chatting it's really fun to sit on the sidelines of that like i did listen to a bunch of like um guest shows you know that were fun but then i kind of like yeah i like your uh camaraderie i like the

25:21Roddy Bottum:talk between the two of you yeah thank you thank you that that's it's a funny um that's usually what our friends tell us or people that we respect right tell tell us that yeah and also

25:32Jason Stewart:people like to listen to a podcast just to kind of turn off their inner dialogue and all the stuff they got to worry about every day and i i have more fun listening to two people just bullshit and chat about whatever they're doing it could be i went to the gas station and whatever versus like interviewing somebody you know it's kind of the same thing every time i think so too like i don't

25:55Chris Black:really i don't care much for an agenda but i do love a cozy place and you guys are creating that you know we're gonna steal we're gonna steal that how long ago on a cozy place it's an agenda not an agenda dot dot dot a cozy place you're welcome that's a that's a freebie that's a freebie

26:18Jason Stewart:thank you for that for our three sold out nights at the dick doc that's going on the poster those

26:23Chris Black:are limited edition silk screen you guys that is such a fun idea though doing it at the dick doc would be monumental okay we're gonna you know what we're gonna make this happen yeah make it

26:33Jason Stewart:happen i have some personal hang-ups that i'll run by you as two straight guys going there is this performance art is it gay baiting you know could it be taken as appropriation or something the by some people. Obviously, I think it'll be most people it's funny to just watch a couple of guys hang out and interview some people and we have an open mind. It's all good. But I've experienced some people who are a little bit turned off by... I can see that.

27:03Chris Black:I could go there. But also, if you embrace it and you have a couple gay guests and you're in the mix, that's fine.

27:09Roddy Bottum:Also, Jason, if they don't like it, they can go fuck themselves. I mean, if we're... I don't think it's a... I understand where you're coming from, but at a certain point, it's like we're having fun. We gotta have fun.

27:21Chris Black:I like your attitude.

27:24Roddy Bottum:You're the first person to ever say that, so thank you.

27:28Jason Stewart:He has a notoriously awful attitude, so yeah, I just kind of like that.

27:31Roddy Bottum:So where are you moving in New York? Just a new apartment, same neighborhood, or are we switching the game up?

27:36Chris Black:A new apartment. No, we were in the West Village for a long time. I've been there for almost 15 years. I was on Jane Street. You know where the Jane Street Hotel is? The Jane Hotel. Of course, of course. but right across the street from there I lived for a long time and there's this big parking lot next to our building that's been sort of this big like empty space between where I lived and the West Side Highway and it's been dreamy for like you know 10 years and they started building a high rise in that space and I have the top floor of my building so I have the rooftop which is nice and it's not just the view that's getting taken away from me like by this high rise but it's the aggression of the build is insane the aggression of the build is that's what i'm trying

28:18Roddy Bottum:to achieve in the gym so i get it but i know this happened to me on broom street too it's

28:23Chris Black:fucking crazy house it's so loud and noisy and the dust and just like so many things and it just like i never thought i would move from that apartment but i just kind of like i don't know once we made the decision like you know what we could move from here it just kind of all fell into place so we're moving to we're moving to great street bond street between lafayette and bowery which is amazing and it's gonna be really i like this i'm glad that you live in i'm really glad you

28:49Roddy Bottum:didn't say some fucking far-flung part of brooklyn i i'm happy yeah who's your boyfriend bond street

28:55Chris Black:okay no way man that's all me joey is my boyfriend but uh he did like he had his eye on bond street for a long time we kind of always look at real estate stuff and just this crazy old weird loft went on the market where this woman lived a painter and she passed away like three years ago and her kids own the space and they were looking to get rid of it and it's a big empty space that we kind of have to build up but it's really beautiful it's on that street that street is

29:22Jason Stewart:so nice this is the new york this is the new york dream i don't know what you know well i just remembered yeah daddy got apple stock early right daddy did did you read the book uh i did not read the entire thing but i i did pull i i did a a large skimming and i i have a lot of the the large moving pieces so it's funny that that's one of the pieces that you would pull the apple stock say no if it's too much but are you able to say what year and how much

29:53Chris Black:apple stock you bought well i'll tell you yeah yeah yeah i will um the guys to your listeners are talking about in my book. I wrote a book and the book is very revealing. There's a lot of stuff in the book that is insane.

30:07Jason Stewart:It's a memoir style book. It's a memoir style book.

30:09Chris Black:It's more than a memoir style book. There's so much that I reveal.

30:13Roddy Bottum:You bust it wide open.

30:14Chris Black:It really is crazy. Like I talk about like having sex with older men in the bushes when I was like 12 years old, just for starters.

30:21Jason Stewart:We're going to get into all that.

30:22Chris Black:Yeah, we can get into all that. But one of the things. I've got my bullet points. Don't worry. Jason is talking about. So I was in the band Faith No More, and we had toured for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. And we just toured in the band and toured in the band and toured in the band. And we didn't make any money for a really long time. That's just the way that it went. And at one point, we started to get a tiny bit of notoriety. And one Christmas, we each got a check. Like, we had finished our tour, and we were going back on tour, like, soon after. But we each got a check, each of us in the band, for$12 ,000.

30:54Chris Black:which this was like 19, I don't know, like maybe 91 or something. I'm not good with years. But it was really a lot of money at the time,$12 ,000. And I had this insane boyfriend at the time who was, it's kind of a crazy backstory, but we all were just like crazy scrappy kids in San Francisco with dreadlocks, bicycle messengers, pot smokers. We were just hooligans, basically. and we were very provocative kids and one of the things that we did in that era just to fuck with people was uh we would watch the stock market just because it was the most outlandish crazy behavior of kids in that sort of realm doing that like you didn't even imagine like what are these kids

31:41Roddy Bottum:what and we would like talk about stocks yeah you okay so you were talking about stocks while like squatting so it felt like counterintuitive so so there's people walking around with like

31:51Jason Stewart:like crass patches and just like full san francisco crust exactly like lighting shit on fire crazy

31:59Chris Black:street art taxidermy murder all this stuff and you're like their vital research laboratory dot dot dot so much shit and we would like just to provoke and fuck with people we would talk about yeah did you hear like uh yeah microsoft is really doing pretty good this quarter like just to fuck with people but anyway that's where we were as kids just provoke course and so when i got that $12 ,000, the boyfriend that I had at the time was like, just buy Apple stock with it. Like, you're not going to do anything with the money. Anyway, we were living together, me and the boyfriend and we were going on tour soon.

32:29Chris Black:And we kind of had enough money to take care of ourselves when we went on tour. So I just bought Apple stock at that point,$12 ,000 where you put it all, you put it all. Yeah. Yeah. I put it all on Apple stock. And that was like 1990. So I don't know, I would dot, dot, dot, let the listeners get out the calculators and figure it out.

32:49Jason Stewart:Okay, the December 31st, 1991 year-end closing price of Apple stock was 40 cents per share.

32:59Chris Black:Also, Jason, it's split a bunch of times. So I'm not even really sure how accurate.

33:06Jason Stewart:Right now it's at 285 and then I know it's split many times.

33:11Roddy Bottum:Of all the things you could have done with that money at that age, I am shocked that this joke worked out as well as it did. I'm really happy for you. Isn't it insane?

33:22Chris Black:It's so wild. Like, I don't feel bad bragging about it because it's such an outlandish, crazy story. It's like winning the lottery. It's like, how did that even, like, I mean, a lot of things in my life have happened in that same way. But that particular instance was so insane. And when I was writing my book, you know, a lot of people, like, my boyfriend was like, are you sure you want to put that in the book? And even the publishers were like, are you sure you want to reveal that? I was like, yes, I do. I don't think that's such a crazy thing.

33:51Roddy Bottum:Yeah, it's a fun story. I don't know. It's not like it's...

33:53Jason Stewart:Also, I just checked Apple stock has split a total of five times. So, you know, I would say you could do the math because I can't on how all that works. But it kind of reminds me of the artist David Cho and his Facebook stock. Do you know that story?

34:11Roddy Bottum:No. He traded his bad art for stock.

34:14Jason Stewart:They hired him to paint a mural in the Facebook offices very early days. And they said, we'll give you five grand or we can pay you in stock. And he just took stock randomly. And I think he became maybe like a hundred millionaire from that.

34:31Chris Black:It happens so rarely. And it is. It's like winning the lottery. That's why I kind of felt fine about talking about it. But it's one of those things. It really just changed my life. I love that. I love that.

34:42Jason Stewart:Are you still active in investing and things like that?

34:45Chris Black:I don't really invest, honestly, Jason. I just have that stock. I have that Apple stock still. I've chipped away at it. I don't invest. I just spend. And I bought an apartment in New York at one point. And I'll do stuff like that. But yeah, I don't really do stock stuff. And honestly, I really wasn't so into stock back at the time. I was posing a little bit when I was talking stock.

35:06Roddy Bottum:No, this is the best case scenario to make that much bread and be like, you know what i don't need to do this again like i don't need to play the market i figured it out

35:14Chris Black:once that's the best i'm gonna do for a while i was like i remember i was like oh i'm gonna get pepsi stock because know why pepsi owns taco bell and i love taco bell but that didn't really pan

35:24Roddy Bottum:out they do they do say only buy stock and things that you support that you love you know yeah yeah yeah that's why i lost i lost my house on american apparel but here we are you know

35:34Jason Stewart:oh you did no no i'm joking no it's funny because my my wife's dad has like a little bit of investing rule of thumb like if you invest in a company with america in the name the chances of it ever you know completely shutting down going bankrupt are low because the government will bail out american airlines or you know any of these larger companies but then american apparel is the exception to the rule that's interesting couldn't get that bail out i dove could get it from trump

36:04Roddy Bottum:but he couldn't have gotten it back when he needed it is that dude involved in the new american

36:10Chris Black:apparel or no oh yeah yeah he's do we talk about this i went we went into the store because they

36:15Roddy Bottum:reopened the store on broadway and it's in the old top shop it's fucking huge it's unbelievable like if you go in there you're just sort of like i can't it's exactly the same like but it's the scale is so large and the furnishings are so cheap that it doesn't feel like as sexy as it did obviously the first time around but the product is good like the actual product is is good they make a fine t-shirt the product was always good we always liked that didn't we yeah everybody oh yeah i don't know any person that's like from our general age group and world that didn't wear

36:47Chris Black:american apparel that didn't from a from a band perspective too i remember like for a while there we were all like oh yeah we only use american apparel for our merch stuff yeah it's just the right thing to do it's the right thing to do yeah it's support support men if y 'all like it at the time i like their briefs too were super sexy i don't know if you guys ever went there but i like

37:06Jason Stewart:their briefs yeah i was just going to ask you what what colors were we using for our briefs

37:10Chris Black:so many there were so many there was like a lavender that was really fetching there was a light brown that was so pretty what are we wearing now then are we wearing calvin clott are we traditional or do we no i'm like um boxer guy i will either go um la flora ralph loren boxer or or Sunspell boxer? How about you guys?

37:29Roddy Bottum:Sunspell's a really good boxer. My wife works at Calvin Klein, so I'm obligated to wear Calvin Klein.

37:35Chris Black:Oh, nice. I wear Arcteryx underwear. Oh, I don't know that brand. I mean, I know what they are, but I've never seen their underwear. Is it a boxer brief? Boxer brief, yeah.

37:44Roddy Bottum:I would say they're not known for the boxer brief, but it's a sleeper hit.

37:47Jason Stewart:I just happen to enjoy them. They just fit me perfectly.

37:50Roddy Bottum:They're kind of expensive, right? Yeah, they're like 30, 40 bucks a pair. I guess that's kind of what everything costs now. Tim wears the Turnbull and Aster. It's on the higher end. Charvet, Turnbull, and Aster. Those cotton ones for$150.

38:04Jason Stewart:Also, Roddy, Skims. Don't sleep on Skims. Kim Kardashian's underwear company. They make a lot of great low-profile boxer briefs. No, they do. I didn't know that. It's kind of new. They're one of our sponsors. The good people at Skims.

38:17Roddy Bottum:They'll come for anybody. They'll come for anyone. Men, women, children, non-binary.

38:22Jason Stewart:We'll try to get a three-pack over to the house, okay, Roddy? I would love it, but time out.

38:26Chris Black:Is Skims really one of your sponsors? That's right. Yeah. That is amazing. Good work, guys. That's so cool. Hey, thank you. Thank you.

38:36Roddy Bottum:I don't even know what to say to that. You know, we've accomplished so many of our goals, and when you check Skims off. Yeah.

38:43Jason Stewart:I think it's because Skims accomplished all of their sales goals in the women's department. So they said, you know, we're leaving this money on the table. so you know male centric podcasts are a good way to sell that well they also they also gave millions of dollars to the nba which is probably a post malone has a pair of uh real tree camo skim

39:03Roddy Bottum:underwear as well i think i could see you in some i could see you in some real tree i might go there

39:07Chris Black:you might go there i might go there i don't know i'm not super kardashian at this specific moment

39:12Roddy Bottum:but i would try it are you saying you've gone through phases where you love them and now you're

39:16Chris Black:at a low point season four was season four yeah i mean where she seems to be right now kim specifically is a little bit odd for me the trumpy connection is a little bit weird i do like the show though shows we started watching the show oh my god all of our friends although the whole gay my gay community is like it is the worst like yeah it's awesome you cannot believe how bad it is so good right

40:00Roddy Bottum: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

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42:55Chris Black:oh sorry i don't mean i don't mean meet the kardashians i mean the ryan murphy show oh

43:00Roddy Bottum:both of them are bad the ryan murphy show is unbelievable unbelievable levels of bad like to the point where you see not for me i love it love it love it love it love it she just came out and said that you know she's got having brain problems she's like her you know the frontal lobe is not firing the way it should i don't know if you saw this so people think people think it's a setup for some sort of new product they're going to release, like a vitamin or...

43:25Jason Stewart:I think she's trying to get a little bar exam, you know, a little side... Because she's failed the bar exam a couple times.

43:32Roddy Bottum:I thought she passed the bar exam. Unfortunately, no. She's not licensed. If she fails

43:36Jason Stewart:a third time, I think that's three strikes you're out. Or at least she has to wait another long amount of time. Yeah, I think you have to wait a little bit. A number of years before you can do it. So maybe she's, like, getting the brain scans and saying, like, you know, So I'm going to come to the bar with a note from my doctor. Next time I have an off podcast,

43:55Roddy Bottum:I'm going to come back and have a note from my doctor where I had an MRI and be like, look, there's a hole in the front of my brain.

44:00Jason Stewart:Give me half a bar. I could do so much with just half a bar.

44:04Chris Black:That's funny, though. Maybe she's on to something. Maybe she's going to do something with vitamins.

44:09Roddy Bottum:Well, she famously did the photo shoot with Elon's robot and was clearly in the bag.

44:16Jason Stewart:She's done a lot of robot stuff.

44:18Roddy Bottum:I feel like there's going to be something in the robot vitamin brain wave.

44:22Jason Stewart:Elon does the Neuralink. What if Kim Kardashian is the first person to have a hole drilled in her skull and then having Elon's microchip inserted? It's not out of the question. I can pass the bar.

44:32Chris Black:Some sort of mushroom something maybe might be in the works. Reishi and Lion's Mane are

44:38Jason Stewart:in play. Absolutely. There's definitely some Lion's Mane in play. I want to go back a little bit to the early LA days. I know you were born in LA and then moved when you were a teenager to San Francisco. A little pull quote that I pulled, you mentioned Los Angeles is a horrible place for a child. And do you still feel that way? Has it gotten worse?

45:03Chris Black:It was kind of a cheeky way of writing about Los Angeles. But like when I moved out of Los Angeles when I was like 17, I was so over it. Like growing up in that environment with like what I was saying in the book was like day after day after day of sun and, you know, the mundanity of that. And also coupled sort of with the entertainment industry and just sort of this allure of what Los Angeles is to the rest of the world in terms of like entertainment. And like back when I was a kid, it was like, man, I'm pretty and blonde. It was just like couldn't be further away from where I wanted to go with my life as a young 17 year old.

45:39Chris Black:And I was trying to sort of embody that sort of like mind ethic when I was writing about Los Angeles. I love Los Angeles and I go there still. But wow, Los Angeles is super dark right now. You know, I spent some time there just recently, just a couple of weeks ago. I was there. I did my book thing there. And it's sort of like I feel like it's sort of like creeping a little bit out of the darkness. But like just so much has happened. The fires, you know, and I was there specifically when the ice thing was kicking off. you know and that started and it was just like wow i mean we've experienced so many decades of los angeles just being this place of glory you know and especially you know people in new york they love to talk about how like people have moved to los angeles and just like the benefits of that oh it's so great there's so much space and it's just so but the classic it's just so easy it's just so easy and suddenly we're on we're in this era right now where it's not it's really really dark like the had a homeless situation is just so intense and the ice thing is so fucked up it's uh i don't yeah what i'm getting to say i think it's just like los angeles right now uh deserves our compassion that's where i'm coming from and i do love it my best friends are there and i still you

46:56Roddy Bottum:know i still love it there but it's doesn't every doesn't every city go through this you know kind

47:01Chris Black:of i don't know like los angeles like i mean you lived it you lived higher than any other ups like People always regarded it as just like this mecca. So it had that. And the downs, where we are right now, is really, really low. You've got to admit, Chris.

47:16Roddy Bottum:No, I agree with you. We always talked about this a lot. Jason really romanticized San Francisco growing up. And you lived there arguably during the heyday of when it was the coolest place in the world. And it had a terrible phase. And now people are considering it on the upswing again. And it's like sort of, you know, thanks to the AI money, et cetera, et cetera, it's coming. I just feel like this is the natural progression of cities. But what you're saying is LA had a longer run as sort of Pleasantville.

47:44Jason Stewart:Yeah, like every city has a lot of problems with homelessness as well as ICE, you know, Austin, Chicago, Miami, blah, blah, blah. But LA as well, but they were so highly esteemed and regarded, whereas Austin, maybe less so, you know. I think so. So it was a mightier tumble.

48:03Chris Black:I have a family perspective in Los Angeles, too. When I go there, I will stay with my sister. You know, she has kids. And all the kids are, like, in their 20s or, like, kind of, like, later teenage years, you know. And they're super, like, I love them all. But they're very involved in the politics of Los Angeles right now. You know, like, one of them works for the union that represents day workers. You know, they're very much, like, on the front line of sort of, like, fighting Trump and fighting this. So your sister's rich is what you're saying. Well, no, I mean, they get by. That's another problem in itself.

48:36Chris Black:Like her husband is like works for the entertainment industry and they're having problems because, you know, that too, like all of that, they've lost like their source of income. But anyway, my point was like the kids, like when I go there and I stay there, like I'm surrounded by those kids and their energy of teenage energy. And it's so intense. like the way that they're dealing with Los Angeles in its darkness is really just like wow so much it's really affect it's really affecting them and it affects me

49:05Jason Stewart:your and your ability to relax in Los Angeles kind of yeah we need a little more anarchism with our with our young people I think yeah they're they're Jason they're committing anarchy

49:16Roddy Bottum:they're paying 22 for a smoothie that's that's anarchism in its own way wearing your chrome heart sweatpants while protesting is its own way of going okay starting off early being born till

49:29Jason Stewart:17 you said in los angeles have been back many many times over the years i'm sure back in the 80s in the heyday what were the uh the best cruising spots in los angeles if you

49:40Chris Black:remember them you know i would go up to i would take my bike and ride up to griffith park like um do you know where trails is you ever been there of course oh yeah known for a veggie sandwich yeah right across from trails there's a tiny little pond and there's a whole scene in my book that i talk about like when we went up there like as kids we would ride our bike up there and just like go to the hills and smoke pot and we were super young we were probably like i don't know 13 14 and we got up there and we were around that little pond right across some trails and uh For some reason, there was a body in the pond, which is insane.

50:16Chris Black:We discovered this body that was in the pond.

50:18Jason Stewart:Like Law & Order style?

50:20Chris Black:Kind of, yeah.

50:21Jason Stewart:Was the body jacking off or was it floating?

50:23Chris Black:It was floating. It isn't really connected to the cruising, but in those initial days when I would go up there on my bikes, I would see men up in the bushes. And as a young person, I was like, oh, I couldn't get on my bike fast enough and go back quick enough to sort it out. So up there, right around there, like higher up into the hills, like right up from where Trails is. There was a lot, a lot, a lot of cruising up there. And then kind of around where the tennis courts are, you know, in Griffith Park and the other where the five is, you know, like at Los Feliz Boulevard.

50:58Roddy Bottum:Yeah, this is unfortunately the two places that I recognize the most from my time in Griffith Park. So I don't know what that says about me.

51:05Jason Stewart:Somehow interesting how those things line up.

51:07Roddy Bottum:I don't know. That's where Jason taught me to hike. Where to hike is that that's where we would enter. Good diversion. Flip it on to me. That's smart. It's just like your fascination with P-Town. Oh, is your Sherpa? No, it's just funny that of all the places to name, I have spent no time in that park except at those tennis courts and parking the car across some trails to go on a hike. Those are the only two places I've been.

51:27Jason Stewart:We do have an aesthetic eye, don't we? That's true. As well as some other people. That's true.

51:31Chris Black:But those places, that really doesn't exist so much anymore. Like you were saying, the 80s. And really much specifically, those places were very cruisy. You know where else was cruisy, which was crazy? At nighttime, down on Melrose, in between, I want to say, Fairfax and Martell, sort of, on Melrose Boulevard. There was this kind of, I guess it was an adult bookstore. It was called Drake's. It was on the south side of Melrose. Okay. And for some reason, there was just a hub around that. And guys would just get in their cars and just drive around the block and cruise each other. That was a really heavy scene back in the 80s.

52:08Jason Stewart:So for some reason, the sex shop got people horny is what you're saying.

52:12Roddy Bottum:In a shocking revelation.

52:14Jason Stewart:Okay, so just anywhere near there, you just drive your car around. Because I remember when I first came to LA, you would see all these signs up in some neighborhoods, you know, Silver Lake and things like that. And there would be signs that said, no cruising. Yeah, exactly. When I first moved there, I assumed that it was like an anti-Mexican lowrider type of initiative. Like, don't have all the gangsters rolling their cars cruising down the boulevard. I had no idea that it was like there was so much cruising happening that they had to put up signs. Like, stop chugging cock here, guys. Now go on and get.

52:51Chris Black:I kind of thought that, too. It could be both. It was like an older car choosing. It could be both. but right around there where the signs were up jason was a bar called um cost and cuff was great it's good it really walks that line i know really good gay bar names are so good but it's across from i think there it's across from now from where they're like maybe there's a spin studio right across the street you know where that is on like uh hyperion yeah yeah yeah but it was right across the street from there and it was a dingy little club and it was super like charged like so cruisy so much fun like there was a man in there who was like he was like a constant he was always there and he just sit on a stool and he had a big wooden paddle and guys would come by and they knew they knew they knew what his deal was and they come and they just like lay over his lap and he'd go at him with a wooden paddle wow wow that was just one of the many scenarios that was going on in

53:50Jason Stewart:I'll give you a little Werther's original afterwards. I mean, it stayed open late.

53:56Chris Black:It stayed open until like, I don't know, like four in the morning. It turned into an after-doward thing, and they'd shut the door, and then guys would get really crazy.

54:05Roddy Bottum:When I used to go to bars, there'd be a guy sitting there all the time, but he was just a Coke dealer. There was no paddle involved. I would have taken a couple spankings if he gave me a discount. How bad do you want the bag, brother? Yeah, let me get a gram for 30 if you can give me a couple smacks.

54:20Chris Black:yeah isn't that funny though the guy with the paddle like what the hell it reminds me of the um

54:26Jason Stewart:do you remember the guy that would roll himself up in a carpet and then go to bars because he got off on people walking on him i think it might still sort of happen it's not that old have you

54:36Chris Black:seen this roddy i've never heard of such a thing is it a gay thing or a straight thing i think it

54:41Jason Stewart:transcends i don't i don't i've never seen the guy like it literally just looks like a rolled up you know carpet or persian rug in the like just at a bar that sounds kind of straight it does feel kind of straight i think he likes it more when women walk on him than men you know what i mean

54:57Chris Black:right right it's kind of like it feels a little lazy and unimaginative but hell he's getting this

55:03Jason Stewart:but imagine how hard it is you have to go to a club or a bar and be like hey is it okay if i bring in this 12 foot persian rug roll myself up like a taquito uh create a massive fire hazard and a cause of injury for multiple people. And I just want people to walk on me. I'll give you no money.

55:19Chris Black:That's wild.

55:20Jason Stewart:I'm not going to buy any drinks. I like it.

55:22Chris Black:I do not like it.

55:23Jason Stewart:Hopefully he's hard in there the whole time. I wanted to see if enough time has passed. You're a wise man. Are you able to defend white dreads at this point in your life?

55:36Chris Black:Not really. It was a real stretch back then. But when I was a kid, I'd never seen it before. It was uncharted territory. yeah yeah i can't even i don't even know where we went like us as kids jason is talking about viewers uh listeners uh like when faith and more started we all like had dreadlocks for some reason and we were white kids with dreadlocks and to make it even more complicated which is like difficult for me but like we were really into like the last poets at the time this sort of black revolutionary sort of um word speak group that were very political and um so there was a deep kind of like embarrassingly like weird appropriation of that kind of culture that i don't feel great about but that's what it was that it was a different world and that's where we were but in that context yeah straight uh like like white kid dreads are a little a little uh triggering for

56:32Jason Stewart:me i think the original iteration that you're speaking of you know early 90s it had a little like cyberpunk hacker feel to it there and a little bit of like a techno kind of industrial feel to it as well i know like nine inch nails and ministry and bands like that had one or two

56:52Chris Black:dreadlocked members in it typically right for sure it turned into that for sure and even before that i think it was like you brought up crass before i think crass had sort of sense of that too like and real like sort of like scroungy like kind of like um squat it was very popular yeah you can

57:08Jason Stewart:white people can have dreads but they have to earn it in in a crass kind of way yeah it can't be in a ross trent kind of way andy sandberg or you know a guy guy uh going to a fish concert who goes to yale with the white dreads you know that one doesn't click but if the hair is dreading because you live on a train i think we can excuse it right i think so but anyway it's triggering for me still sure sure sure sure naturally so um so after you moved to san francisco um 80s 90s i've always thought of uh you know like chris was saying earlier when i was in high school late 90s era i'd love i heard all these rumors that it was like the best place to go paint graffiti and I heard that like on Sundays, the police wouldn't really enforce graffiti and you can just kind of go and paint in the daytime and, you know, sort of do non-violent crimes and the city would just kind of be okay with it.

58:07Jason Stewart:How lawless was the Bay Area when you first got there?

58:11Chris Black:I don't know what you're speaking of, the pink graffiti. That's fascinating to me though. But like when we got there, it was, yeah, it felt like that. It felt definitely lawless. and a big element of it was the bicycle messengers and i was a bicycle messenger for a long time and that was just such uh an insane realm of kids like there was a lot of dreadlocks in that crowd and just mohawks and attitude and uh it was just like crazy pirates out on the street on our bicycles and we would just like fuck with everybody there was this one area where we would sort of like camp and smoke pot and smoke cigarettes and fuck with the businessmen it's called the wall it was on sansom down a market and it was like this long stretch and all the bicycle matches the messengers we would meet there and just like fuck with people it's still

59:00Roddy Bottum:like no it's still there and it's still where bike messengers got like that is that true i've walked by that a million times i mean it may be not now now but i would say at least five years ago for sure yeah because i had a roommate who was a bike messenger in atlanta when i was growing up and i was always fascinated with it because it seemed like he made a lot of money because and correct me if i'm wrong is it a per delivery is that how you make money like every every package you drop off you're paid so the faster you are the more money you make yeah for sure it was

59:28Chris Black:commissioned yeah um but so much fun too like we have walkie talkies you know we're screaming in the streets that for sure had a real lawlessness to it but that's surprising me uh to me chris there's still do you think there's are there still uh bicycle messengers i'm sure definitely

59:45Roddy Bottum:less but they exist yeah but i feel like in san francisco it's still like it's still faster at this point than a car you know what i mean with traffic and shit it's still faster same same as

59:55Jason Stewart:i see it in new york as well a decent amount simply for this for the reason that a person who's really good on a bicycle can get around that city faster than somebody in a car yeah Just straight up. Depending on how much of a pirate you are and how willing you are to, you know, violate traffic laws and things like that.

1:00:13Chris Black:When's the last time you got on a bike? I still ride a bike every day. But, like, also, I'm thinking there's probably things that have to be delivered, like physical things, like maybe art things that, like, can't be, like, sent digitally.

1:00:26Jason Stewart:Large blueprints, I see a decent amount. Yeah.

1:00:29Roddy Bottum:During your era, wasn't it like legal documents that would be going from building to building? I mean, yeah, you can't put that in an Uber, really. You know what I mean? I don't know what the fastest way is.

1:00:41Chris Black:That's how I lost my job. I was moving something. I don't even know what the company Bechtel was, but I was delivering something to Bechtel. Do you know what that company is? No. No. I don't know. Back then, they were really evil, like conglomerate. I don't even know what they were. But I was delivering some court case negatives, I remember, and I had them in my pouch, in my bag. And you weren't ever supposed to leave your stuff in the bag on your bike for this very reason. And I took my bike home, and I remember I went upstairs, and I was watching TV, smoking pot, and I just left the stuff in the bag outside in front of my house.

1:01:18Chris Black:And it got stolen. Sure. And it wasn't so much like the bike. It wasn't my bike that mattered, but it was the court case negatives that I had lost.

1:01:28Roddy Bottum:Because the negatives are, at that point, that's a one-of-one situation. There's maybe not a copy of those lying around.

1:01:34Jason Stewart:And also, I just Googled Bechtel Corporation, an American engineering procurement construction project management company, one of the most closely guarded, secretive, multinational companies in the world. I fucked them up, didn't I? You lose some negatives. You might wake up in a pond. You lose those necks.

1:01:53Chris Black:Yeah, so I lost my job as a result of that one. And then I never went back. You moved on. Were you a fixed gear daddy? No, I don't think there were fixies back then. That hadn't happened yet. I mean, there were, but they were really old school. Yeah, we used gears for sure.

1:02:10Jason Stewart:Well, there's a lot of hills up there. A lot of hills up there. And the hills.

1:02:13Chris Black:I still don't know how those fixies work, too. how does like uh do you ride one of those jason i i i when i was a teen graffiti enthusiast

1:02:23Jason Stewart:well into my 20s i was a fixed gear rider every day my my main means of transportation i still ride but it's a single speed now so i've never understood this about fixies can you clear this up for me please like if you want to stop there's no break you start pedaling you start pedaling backwards you put your foot on the ground or you put your foot in the tire and try to go down from

1:02:46Chris Black:there but jason is it like the bikes that we had as children where like we had one gear bikes and we would like reverse the pedals and that would put on the brakes is it like that or is it different

1:02:57Jason Stewart:it's different that's that's a coaster brake where if you pedal backwards it just turns into a literal brake system this is you pedal the the cranks backwards and then the wheel starts rolling backwards you pedal forwards it starts when you when you're going fast on a hill and you start pedaling backwards it doesn't really work you have to like jump up and skid or you know do some other stuff so you're you're you're not able to it's for it's for hot dogging it's for hot dog you're not

1:03:25Roddy Bottum:able to slow down quickly the only reason to do this is to hot dog it's not practical in any way

1:03:30Jason Stewart:it's so it's like soul surfing you feel everything in the road you you become really truly one with the machine it is a amazing feeling actually but people swear by it it seems so psychotically

1:03:43Chris Black:dangerous though right yeah yeah but people ride motorcycles every day one of the things i can't

1:03:47Roddy Bottum:wrap my head around the danger level i don't i'm just like why on earth would you do that why would

1:03:52Chris Black:you do i do that for years and years at a motorcycle but like i see motorcycles these days and like think the same thing like why would you i'd rather i would rather do drugs i would

1:04:01Roddy Bottum:rather get as close as i can if i'm going to die i want to die in a plane crash or from drugs i I know. Talk about risks. Motorcycling is just like, that's a death wish. Yeah, I really have never understood it. Even with the helmet. Call me a pussy, bud.

1:04:13Jason Stewart:Yeah, I think now that the helmet laws are in effect for bicycles, they had to remove the brakes or else you would feel it was one thing or another. Before helmets were for pussies and now brakes are for pussies. It's just something to think about there, my friend.

1:04:29Roddy Bottum:I do want to talk about heroin a little bit. Sure, I love talking about heroin. I say, me and you both, King.

1:04:39Roddy Bottum:In your time, it was only baseline risky, right? Because it was like, this is pre-Fentanyl, this is pre - So you had to, it was like a real man's OD, is what I'm trying to say. You had to just do too much if you were going to have a problem.

1:04:55Chris Black:Yeah, I don't think there was ever a case of a bad batch or something. And definitely there was no Fentanyl. That was never an issue. It didn't feel safe. It felt dangerous and felt risky. And it felt like you were definitely fucking with something really serious.

1:05:14Jason Stewart:I mean, just the word, heroin, is so laden with just like this.

1:05:20Chris Black:Sends a chill down your spine. It really does.

1:05:22Roddy Bottum:It still is kind of like that, too. I still think it's pretty forbidden. And also, what kind of crazy person puts a needle in their arm? That's a crazy place to go. Well, that's what I was going to ask you. like the first did someone do it for you the first time or did you do it yourself uh someone

1:05:38Chris Black:did it for me the first time yeah i'm not gonna name names but she was famous does courtney have a steady hand with the needle it wasn't it wasn't she comes up in the book a lot listeners that's why i bring up courtney but it was not courtney but it was another famous person a famous woman uh but yeah you've got to be taught that but what a crazy thing like i remember like when i stopped doing drugs at one point i was like i'm not even sure i'm an addict because like i don't know like If anyone could get addicted to heroin, if you did it over and over, you just get addicted. Like it doesn't take an addictive personality for that to happen.

1:06:09Chris Black:And my friend was like, yeah, but it kind of seems like you're the type of person to get high. You're going to put a needle in your arm. And I was like, oh yeah, that's kind of weird.

1:06:22Roddy Bottum:That's a little bit extreme. You know, have you been sober for a long time or are you not? Yeah.

1:06:26Chris Black:I mean, I'm not strictly sober. I was sober strictly like going to meetings and stuff for like 10 years. and then I kind of I just don't care so much anymore I don't do anything I don't drink I don't ever do drugs but I'm just I don't care a whole bunch about it yeah yeah yeah what do you think happened were you just tired of it I don't know what happened it wasn't like the best of behavior I remember I was on tour of faith no more like later later later and it had been a while like almost maybe it was like eight years sober and I remember I I was at this festival and there It was in Denmark, and there was this Ferris wheel.

1:07:01Chris Black:This is really weird. There was a Ferris wheel, and it was like the motif and the theme of the Ferris wheel, if you were to look at it as a person at the festival, was mushrooms. And I was like, what is that? And I went over, and I got on the Ferris wheel, and they're like, here. And they gave me a cup of tea that they made from mushrooms. It was mushroom tea, like psychedelic tea. and you could ride the ferris wheel and get high from the mushroom tea and at that point i've been sober for a long time and i was just feeling kind of frisky and i was like all right and i just drank the mushroom tea and then from that point i smoked pot a couple times but honestly it never i never went back to a problematic place like my drug of choice was opioids and heroin i never went back there and i never i never i never felt the need to yeah yeah yeah i mean that's good are you are Are you guys sober?

1:07:52Roddy Bottum:Either one of you, Chris, you're sober. I am, yeah. I am. That's why I'm always fascinated, because I do feel like I hear these stories. People just have such different stories as time goes on. I mean, it's almost been -

1:08:02Chris Black:They're so fun. You will like my book. You'll like the read if you like lights. I love stories like that. It's so much fun. No, me too, especially if the person's made it out the other side. Yeah. Do you guys know that? Have you ever heard that podcast, Dopey? Do you know that podcast?

1:08:17Roddy Bottum:No. It's all - Oh, it's really fun. It's all about people talking about their journey. Yeah. Okay.

1:08:24Chris Black:Yeah. But it's comedians also. So it's done in a really disrespectful, kind of like fun way. It's really fun. I just made friends with those people recently, and they're so fun. I really like them. I like disrespectful. It looks big.

1:08:37Roddy Bottum:I also wanted to ask you if you are a – have you had sex with a woman, or are you a gold star? I've had sex with a woman. You haven't read the book. No, I haven't read the book. I didn't have time to read the book either.

1:08:49Chris Black:Courtney Love, one of them?

1:08:50Roddy Bottum:Yeah, Courtney was one of them. We were lovers. I knew you dated, but I had a relationship. But I didn't know if you ever took it. You never know. Yeah, we went there.

1:09:01Chris Black:You know, it's funny. As a kid, as a young person, it feels like, I mean, as you're sort of growing up, really, as young people, as young, like, crazy, amped up, horny boys, we'll just have sex any which way we can. You know what I mean? Take what you can get. Yeah. Yeah, it holds a hole. oh my god not like that but kind of like that that's disgusting you're gross not like that but maybe a little bit like that was like you know what i mean though as a kid like you'll fuck anything of course but i don't i don't want to say crassly i'm sorry but that's what i don't

1:09:36Roddy Bottum:want to say courtney love is anything i mean i would say she's one of our most talented you know

1:09:40Jason Stewart:she's a step above a cantaloupe in a microwave we'll say that yeah yeah you sound like you're

1:09:45Roddy Bottum:in jail i always get i get in trouble i can't open a microwave that's a thing that's jail shit

1:09:53Jason Stewart:yeah you gotta know about that one roddy come on yeah you're lying i mean of course right now the kabocha squash is more in season but you can do uh you know what you can make it work i have a

1:10:02Roddy Bottum:pdf i get in trouble a lot roddy on this podcast because i say i prefer whole to nirvana all right and i will stand by that are you are you making roddy choose between the two i'm not making him choose between the two. I just feel like it's a subject that we could discuss since it was a part of his book. That's all. I would never make him choose.

1:10:21Chris Black:My head was still dealing with the cantaloupe, and when you said hole versus nirvana, I was taking it literally. I was trying to wrap my head around hole and okay. Nirvana or some hole. You're like me? Nirvana or some hole. You're like, I'd fuck a cantaloupe before I have to listen to In Utero again, I guess. You know, I'm low-key kind of like looking in the kitchen over there seeing what fruit's available.

1:10:45Jason Stewart:oh gross see here boyfriends at work till five i love bull though get a nice little butternut

1:10:52Chris Black:passion that was like such a fun band did you get into like the very first whole record chris do you like that one uh not lift through this but uh yeah i don't remember what it's called i like it all i

1:11:02Roddy Bottum:think that malibu is probably my all-time favorite uh but i think that she just possessed pretty on the inside is that the album pretty on the inside i hadn't seen i hadn't seen that kind of that kind a power before yeah kind of if that makes sense and i i also have gone on to be like a i love female singers that's sort of my bag and i do too that's my bag and i realize in a lot of ways she's the archetype for that as far as especially defining that time period in such a clear way

1:11:32Chris Black:such a force she was so strong he still is so strong like what a voice like not the voice voice voice but such a person in that realm that changed everything i don't think we have but we we're not

1:11:43Roddy Bottum:People don't have personalities like that anymore. They're not really allowed to.

1:11:46Chris Black:Yeah. I don't know anyone like that.

1:11:48Jason Stewart:Yeah, Hope, do you think in our lifetime, the world will sort of forgive Courtney and we will begin to respect and honor her the way that she deserves?

1:12:00Chris Black:I don't know. I don't really see her under sort of a thumb like that. Do you feel like people don't really respect her now? I don't really know that.

1:12:08Jason Stewart:I mean, like kind of post-Kurt's death, there was always some bad energy there a lot of people thought that she was responsible for pushing him to that level and i know that she's had some ups and downs with with drugs and some some issues with other people and she can be you know yeah it's funny like when i started i remember

1:12:30Chris Black:like talking about stuff if i talk about anything online and i mentioned courtney or anything like the the vitriol that kind of comes my way like i see that and i see those crazy fears but honestly to me it's more like it's like crazy talk it's like conspiracy theorists like more than anything it's like crazy people it's like what are you even like saying like really you think that courtney killed her husband are you serious yeah i i i used i used to think that but i don't think

1:12:57Jason Stewart:that anymore elliot smith on the other hand you know elliot smith i don't believe it for one

1:13:02Roddy Bottum:second jason i'm with you she did it no one stabs themselves that's too far that is a really weird death elliot smith it's too it's it's too weird it's really i got too many i got i got too many

1:13:11Jason Stewart:questions i got too many but when you make music like that that connects with people you know who knows i think that's the problem things out in people yeah it does it really does

1:13:20Roddy Bottum:it's a testament to how much the music connects with people because otherwise they wouldn't act

1:13:24Chris Black:like that chris did you read the uh mark lanagan autobiography no i didn't actually i've heard a lot of good stuff that's an amazing one that's a crazy ride read that one after mine i will

1:13:36Roddy Bottum:read it it's so good it's so intense okay i'll take you up on that i've only heard good things about that and it's it's fairly it's fairly i mean i know he's i know he died mark lanagan uh

1:13:47Jason Stewart:front man of screaming trees but it was that didn't come out that long ago right maybe six

1:13:53Chris Black:years ago he didn't pass that long ago yeah he died like four years yeah he died in 2022

1:13:59Roddy Bottum:yeah yeah okay that's i was trying to okay yeah i will i'll pick it up i'll hit amazon.com is

1:14:04Chris Black:Jason, always the one who looks up stuff on his computer. And Chris, you just kind of sit back and let him do that? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what's funny? It's like when I listened to you guys talk, I could tell that. I was like, oh, he's like on the computer. And then Chris feels just kind of lazy, just like sitting back and just like letting it roll.

1:14:21Roddy Bottum:If I don't know it before we start, then I'm not going to know it while we're doing it.

1:14:26Chris Black:That's kind of where I'm at. But that's why I think that's part of your combination. Like, Jason, you're kind of on it.

1:14:32Jason Stewart:Yeah. Fire and ice. Yin and the yang. I'm a researcher

1:14:36Roddy Bottum:Fire and ice

1:14:38Jason Stewart:You're like a pack of dentine Fire and ice But also since I talk in the pod And then I edit the pod And all that stuff I put myself in the head of somebody If I was listening to this That's how I edit it If I was listening to this And I said this sucks I just cut it But if I'm listening to this And I'm like oh these guys just said Mark Lanigan I don't know who the fuck that is I will look it up And say that's the singer of Screaming Trees

1:15:04Chris Black:and then they'll say who the fuck is the screaming trees good on you you're very efficient yeah good

1:15:09Jason Stewart:good follow through but also but it's a contentious thing in my mind because in our generation and even more so yours you would read something or listen to a band or whatever and hear a word or a name and you're like i don't know what that is and you would ask friends go to a record store go to a library do the research and figure out who that person was and then there's like a rewarding feeling in that versus you know having chat gpt just shoot you out an answer instantly or have me tell you the answer on the podcast so sometimes i like the idea of making people work for it a

1:15:44Roddy Bottum:little bit nobody wants to work for anything um roddy thank you that's how we sell underwear yeah roddy thanks for joining us on how long gone the book the royal we is everywhere you get books and go stream faith no more if you still make money off that i hope you do i mean kind of it's It's something from a long time ago for me, but yeah, give it a go. Are you guys going to send me some skims? You know what? Yes, I'll figure it out. I'll make it my personal mission to get you some skims.

1:16:10Jason Stewart:Yeah, we can send you some skims.

1:16:11Roddy Bottum:I would love that so much. Okay.

1:16:13Jason Stewart:Are we in XL? XL in the drawers? I think I'm an L.

1:16:18Chris Black:Okay. Are we sure about that, honey? Not 100%, but I'm going to go with L. I like a little bit of tightness. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I heard that before. All right, on that note. On that note, thank you, Ryan.

1:16:29Jason Stewart:If you got a vein, show it off, brother. I'm with you, Roddy. Thank you, Roddy. You look cool. We appreciate it, man. Hopefully, see you soon. See you later. All right.

1:16:37Chris Black:Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

1:16:47Bye. Bye.

From the publisher

Roddy Bottum is a musician most known for the bands Faith No More and Imperial Teen. His detailed new memoir, The Royal We, is out now. We chat about The Dick Dock in Provincetown, getting in early on Apple stock, Manhattan real estate, American Apparel briefs, Kim K's brain scans, the heyday of San Francisco, and early bike messenger culture, heroin, his favorite cruising spots in Los Angeles, why everyone had dreads back then, cantaloupes in the microwave, and we pry some Courtney Love stories out of him.

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