943. - Hrishikesh Hirway

28:49Yeah. Because they're pretty lit. Live, it's like a show. You know what I mean? So you're saying you would be opening these shows, you're up there solo dolo on a chair. Standing, standing. So, okay.

29:01Jason Stewart:Okay, all right. I respect that. This has a real get you a fan who could do both kind of. because I love stuff like that because when you have a lineup of like a crazy intense screaming band you know thrashing their bodies all over the stage and you know kicking a hole in the drum kit and then we got your Pedro the lion ass up there doing your little acoustic guitar and if you like I'm in a room in North Carolina with 78 people who all love both of these acts these are my people if i'm like if i fit in this room then i'm i'm surrounded by my future wife or husband or best friend or whatever it is you know yeah exactly yeah my set would be when everybody would sit down and all the kids um would sort of huddle together in their their hoodies and hold hands wow really wow yeah yeah yeah like there's a school shooter no no no like the couples would sorry not everybody holding hands all together yeah it wasn't a cuddle it wasn't a seance no I just think that because we've said stuff like this before.

29:59It's like an interesting because there just wasn't like in theory, you shouldn't you should have been playing somewhere else with someone else. You know what I mean? But there wasn't somewhere else or to play. That was like sort of where if you were in any sort of underground music, no matter what the actual genre was, you kind of got grouped in together and would play together because that's all there was. Yeah. Yeah. There was no venue for like fugazified singer songwriters. sure yeah that's a small yeah i know what you mean but it's like when people yeah i don't know people like oh that's so weird i'm like it really wasn't weird it was like that that's i'm sure elliot smith was playing hardcore shows too like everybody that's what everybody did it was the

30:39Jason Stewart:whole thing i remember thinking back now you would see those crazy weird lineups and everyone really was respectful and it was at the peak disrespect was happening in the rest of the world but we didn't think it was that weird for pedro the lion to open for kill switch engage you know it's just like yeah this is just what we do man there's a singer songwriter opening for botch in every city in america it's like yeah shit whatever bro i'll buy your record too man this is sick absolutely so you were were you touring if you're solo were you like in the car yeah we would sometimes we would tour you know um so jerome's dream was a trio so we just split it up two cars two of us in each car.

31:16Wow. Okay, you're playing acoustic or you're playing electric? No, I'd play electric and I had a little drum machine. Yes, yes. Foot switch operated drum machine. Of course, okay. So before, so basically before every song, you just hit the button. Well, because it was foot switch operated, sometimes I could do it in the middle of the song. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch the foot. Okay, oh shit, I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. You're on some other shit. Yeah, really high tech. Alright, so you think you're Ed Sheeran up there in the fucking band? Okay, alright, alright. You got the little, okay.

31:42Jason Stewart:So, you were the proto-digital busker before. This is great. What was this foot-operated drum machine model number just for our audio files? I think, if I'm not, it was the Dr. Rhythm Boss 770 maybe is the model. Dr. Rhythm couldn't be a better name for a product than Dr. Rhythm. How long did you do this and how much did your parents hate it? Even by having my drum machine called Dr. Rhythm, it somehow didn't satisfy my Indian parents. They're like, oh, Dr. Rhythm. How about you fucking try that? That's a good name. It's better than the name you had before. And you're like, no, that's not the band name.

32:26Jason Stewart:That's the name of the drum machine. Your drum machine went to medical school. Would it kill you to go to graduate school?

32:35How'd this fucking machine graduate? I didn't even know machines could do that.

32:38Jason Stewart:Okay, so when you started getting success with the podcast, did your parents begin to respect you yet or not so much what is it going to take well they didn't know what a podcast was so um it took it took a while took a while what do you think their dreams for you were oh i mean before i could express my disinclination they definitely hoped that i would be a doctor okay are either of the are either of your parents doctors my dad has a phd technically so he is Dr. Hereway. Okay. But, but no, my, my mom had lawyers and doctors in her family. And so when I said no, and her, and her father was a judge.

33:19So it was like either, you know, be a doctor. And if you're not going to be a doctor, okay, I suppose we can settle for the family tradition of law school or, you know. Okay. So when you, when you try to explain them, the sort of discord records values, they weren't interested in that. So you're saying, okay, got it. I'm not surprised. I'm not totally surprised okay so you're doing all that are they like letting you cook obviously because you're going on to me you're young when you're doing all this music stuff and you're touring in a car and shit that's like a whole are they just cool they're like this is a phase or was it sort of like we've lost this motherfucker let's just pray and at that point that i think they were still like do your hobby that's okay that's fine because you were you're made yeah i'm sure you had good grades and you were pretty reasonable as a person yeah they they noticed that I was, I think they were losing me a little bit when I decided to be an art major in college.

34:08But then I said, look, I'm learning graphic design and then I'm using that graphic design to make websites. And that was a big freelance job back then. And so they were like, okay, there's a practical thing. You're using a computer. We understand that software engineering is also a job. And I guess that's maybe close to that. I love it. They're just doing hula hoops to figure out a way to be like,

34:30Jason Stewart:okay wait this one i think is gonna this one's gonna work so how many how many websites for you know corporate accounts did you get back in the day you know it was more like it was more like i made a website for my friend's band and uh they bought me a burrito yeah i knew i knew i knew there was a burrito payment involved in this i knew i knew yeah but it's funny because i know a lot of I know a lot of people, obviously hardcore is, is full of kind of people like, like this, like sort of like your parents want more for you. They've been relatively successful. You didn't, you weren't in the slums.

35:07You know what I mean? You, you, you had the opportunity to do whatever you wanted. And then they're, they're a little bit bummed when you choose to do something else. But I, what my point is, I know most of my hardcore leaders did go to college and graduate Right. Right. Yeah. Which I didn't and neither did Jason. But I think a lot most people I knew did. Yeah. Was that something you wanted to or you felt like you had to or a little bit of both? I mean, there was no choice involved. Education was for my parents, you know, that was the thing. We came to this country for opportunities. Education was the way to have any kind of a good life.

35:43You know, they just wanted to make sure that I could pay my bills and have some kind of stability, which I didn't have for, well, still don't have, but they just really, you know, I know it came from a good place, but they were just like, like music was not any kind of paradigm that we had any exposure to or or anything they really liked you learn an instrument because that's like well-rounded kids exactly oh yeah yeah yeah they're like they're down with that oh piano all right bet like go ahead exactly yeah it was their idea brothers do you have brothers and sisters that are are in more traditional let's say jobs yeah i have an older sister who really took the the heat off me because she was a you know bio major and she's a biostatistician epidemiologist she has a master's degree you know she like what are her thoughts on ivermectin damn she really is shit on you you're like mom i met dua lipa it's on camera like what the fuck what do you mean you don't like that song everybody likes that song

36:39Jason Stewart:okay so your job only seems to impress the younger cousins in the in the hereway family maybe oh it was it was so exciting to discover that yeah my my cousins even knew anything about this world but my my cousin say uh i found out you know just she lived in india at the time and um and i was like say i feel like i know a little bit about your music like what you might like this band i think it was a sobi sexu i sent her i was like i think you might listen she was like oh yeah i read about them on pitchfork last week and i was like you know you know i know the internet's everywhere but i know pitchfork.com is accessible from all regions but this seems crazy yeah i mean I guess that must have happened to you at some point.

37:24Jason Stewart:You went from being just a regular cousin to a Pitchfork reader. It happens to all of us, you know? Yeah. I have a gay cousin who will hit me every six months with some like, do you know Lana Del Rey? Have you met Lana Del Rey yet since the last time I texted you? It's literally every six months there's a gay icon. And I would say one of four times I do know them and I feel really good about myself. The other three I'm like, something to work on, Connor. something to work on bro i'll get there i'll get there one yeah you know no i mean i was doing all of this uh i was trying to thread the needle between um doing what i wanted and also still trying to like win the respect and admiration of my parents yeah um especially when my mom was still alive now i'm really just doing stuff to try and impress my 11 year old niece look it's gonna that's what i'm saying it graduates it fluctuates it moves it ebbs it flows i think there's always got to be a north star so is it is it easier dealing with your 11 year old niece than than your dad like is is your dad saying like when are you going to pivot to video motherfucker or is your niece saying like why why aren't you pivoting to video yet um my niece you know will be like you should do an episode of song exploder with this youtube uh creator who i love their songs are really funny you know um you're like have you listened to my shit ain't funny that ain't the point we go wrong bitch we ain't trying to be funny we're talking to cat stevens all right listen up i think she might have listened for the first time when i had sabrina carpenter on then she was very very excited that's fair i mean that's fair sabrina carpenter that cousin a crowd yeah oh i just dropped a new episode i forgot who it is you know sabrina carpenter or something like that i think she was like a disney she was on tv or something what sabrina carpenter song did you do by the way sorry uh please please please two so when you're listening to these songs how how many what do you think your average listen is before you before you sit down to chop it up with whoever it is like how many times am i listening how many licks does it take to the to the get to the center of the how many times you gotta hit until it explodes yeah yeah exactly a song a song you got how many times you gotta hit before the song explodes i mean because i Look, when I like a song, like, you know, if I like, I have a song right now on my phone, I've probably listened to 30 times in the last two days because it's new and I like it.

39:54And I just, you know, but I don't know if that would prepare me.

39:56Jason Stewart:Noah Kahn, you know, so soon. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if that would prepare me to talk the way you talk because you have to go into it with a mindset of what the end result is. Or can you just listen passively and the sort of thoughts come to you? You know what I mean? When I'm doing the interview? I'm saying in preparation, because you're clearly preparing, something we don't do here. And I guess I'm saying I could listen to a song a million times. You mentioned the 1 a.m. radio, Chris. That is incredible preparation. Well, Chris didn't do his research. Chris was there. I lived it, baby. I lived it.

40:26Jason Stewart:It's a lived experience. He wasn't there. You were. No, but I guess I'm saying that I listen to songs over and over and over, and maybe I'll learn the words passively. But I'm saying you're getting so in-depth on the structure of the song. you're listening but you're having to like take notes and think about it in a different way. You can't just do that off the dome. Yeah. Well, you know, the real secret of the show, the whole reason the show exists and, you know, I don't, it takes zero licks because I get the stems for the song so I can go straight to the center of the Tootsie Pop. Ah, okay. I'm losing the metaphor here.

40:58To the center of the what?

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41:45Jason Stewart:looking for a car that'll stop getting me beat up at the office or whatever you know sure i want to i want a car where my friends respect me or whatever maybe i play hockey and i need a little extra storage space in the Honda Fit, whatever it could be. And I think this is really cool and interesting because not everyone is just looking for a blue car that costs$4 ,000. We all have specific needs and wants and lifestyles. And it's great that we've sort of broken out of your grandma's filtration systems. I'm sick of that shit. I need a brand new CarGurus system. It's no wonder CarGurus is the number one must-visited car shopping site, according to SimilarWeb's estimated traffic data.

42:23Buy or sell your next car today with CarGurus at CarGurus.com. Go to CarGurus.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal. That's C-A-R-G-U-R-U-S.com, CarGurus.com. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world. And I know you particularly have quite a lot of questions a lot of questions but how often because we do

42:54Jason Stewart:this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot how many times do they do three times a week and i i have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do that's just a guess the guardian is not some billionaire owned platform they're not afraid to say what they want to say brother yeah rupert ain't sniffing around in in what uh journalists kai wright and carter sherman are up to over there at at uh stateside but yeah listen wherever you get your podcast you can watch on youtube is three times a week and and who couldn't use more news you know especially especially when it's when it's not you know from here let's say give it give it a listen give it a listen much like a dj like them jeans who's been hired to do one of his famous re-edits they send you the stems and you're you're you're breaking it down from the get-go i bet you've heard some nasty raw vocals oh baby oh my goodness okay well some of these songs like when i would get a stem for a remix it's because i have been asked to remix a song and they trust that i will not share these files and i will send them back a remix what happens when you get some of these songs where the the stems are not meant to be released at all to anyone do you have to sign an nda or is there some okay yeah it's some of some of the tunes they're getting you some real they're dusting off the the fine shit from at the top of the cellar like it like reel to reel stems and like shit like that sometimes i mean that's that's been some of the craziest uh times on the show and i mean we just did uh an episode with uh buckingham nicks and the stems didn't exist and they didn't even know where the tapes were so they want they wanted to do the show bro we were we were two eight balls in we put those in a basement somewhere bro exactly i think they i think we snorted those tapes by accident i don't even know okay so did you have to use ai to break those stems down no although that has been suggested a few times okay um but no they actually tracked down the tapes in the archives found them dusted them off digitized them and then and then we got to do it damn that's that's honestly powerful because i feel like you're do you feel like you get what you want most of the time because it's like pretty prestigious and sort of a rite of passage or do you think people are a little scared to have the raw stems exposed on such a large platform?

45:18No I mean so now we have this thing going where there's there is a label who will just not work with us anymore because they they don't want to share their stems at all but there was a I imagine there was a tipping point for this stem.

45:34Jason Stewart:Yeah is this like a Celine and Condé Nast type of thing? Yeah, like you gave a bad review of the show and they won't let you ever come to another show again? No, no. It's not like personally directed at Song Exploder. It's just sort of a blanket policy and we're catching it. We don't stem. It just seems like such a, I mean, I don't know. It just seems like such a great, as far as like, because all the discourse now is about how, you know, quote unquote celebrity interviews are trash. It's people saying nothing. They don't know anything about this. They don't know anything about that. They're asking about smoothies and fucking, you know, what TV show you watch.

46:08So I feel like musicians, a lot of them would love to be taken seriously as artists. Like Sabrina Carpenter, I think is a great example. Like she's so big that no one even thinks of her like that because she's such a pop star. It's like that doesn't even cross people's minds. So the opportunity to showcase that with you seems like for a label, a great opportunity. I think, you know, for some people, for some musicians, it is the thing that feels right. I mean, it's the reason why I made the show is because I was like, I want to make a show that asks the questions that I wish somebody would ask me.

46:39Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, sure. I mean, that makes sense. I just feel like it's palatable even though it's serious and kind of in the weeds. I think it hits a sweet spot where it's still entertaining. I mean, bro, the fucking Netflix thing, is that happening again or was that a one and done? That was one and done, unfortunately. Those motherfuckers. Come on. You got in too early, bro. You got in too early. They spent$100 million on a roast at Kevin Hart. they can't break you off a couple bills i don't i mean okay well what if it what if they turn it

47:06Jason Stewart:into a video podcast instead of a tv show you know what i mean i don't think we could do it i mean still get the same amount of money just none of your employees get paid is that cool yeah yeah as well as no benefits whatsoever yeah yeah no yeah no health care i just i thought it was i was like this is such a great i mean i'm a big rem like that shit i was getting choked up that shit is no joke yeah like watching stipe react to that it's like unbelievable to me i was like this is exactly what I want to watch on television. Goosebumps on those white big thighs, huh, Chris? Really, though. And I understand that it's not for everybody, but I also feel like you guys went pretty like, maybe mainstream's the wrong word, but it was pretty palatable.

47:46It was R.E.M., The Killers, Dua Lipa, I think there was one more. Yeah, there was also Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalia LaFarcade, Ty Dolla$ign.

47:57Jason Stewart:Except for Lin-Manuel Miranda, all those are legends. yeah yeah good musicians but Lin-Manuel Miranda I get it you want the Broadway crowd I get it like you got to pander a little bit but I'm saying like that to me feels like the Hamilton stems dot zip I got I got held up at gum point for my Hamilton stems but I think that that's a that's what I mean it felt like a I don't know that's disappointing and I know that's how it goes but it felt like that was a you guys played ball as far as like the actual and I'm sure you didn't have much of a choice but still when you say people you you want to have a situation where you can ask people questions that you wish you would be answered and maybe there's a void that you're trying to fill have you ever had a moment where you were going through the stems and you are a musician you have a musical ear you're proficient in pro tools and and things like that so have you ever been like i finally got the fuck these fucking fleetwood max stems i've been dying to hear what it sounds like with just the bass and the drums in the pocket you know without all the other stuff like have you ever hit that moment you're like do you guys ever hear with just this and this and then have the the guests be like dude yeah i mean it's really fun to get people to because the other thing that makes it magical besides letting the listeners hear those parts uh on their own is it's a real like memory triggering device yeah yeah for people because it's hard to get people to think about what their actual mental state was what their creative intention was in the moment if you're just talking about it but when you play that stuff sometimes it's the first time they've heard it since making the track and when they hear it it's like a you know proustian uh that's what i'm saying that's the trick that's what makes it that to me is what i i do think that's the whole thing that's the ratatouille moment exactly it's like when they play like old you know songs from the 30s and 40s to people with alzheimer's and you know they've been non-verbal for five years and then they hear and they just get up out of their seat and start dancing that sound memory it hits you doesn't it yeah exactly almost as much as the smell but that's what i mean i think when you're asking somebody to explain a lyric in a fucking hotel room it's a little different you know what i mean it's a little it's a little it's just a different you know whatever it's just a different sort of approach to the whole thing yeah here they they only have to react to themselves have you ever made a remix out of the stems and presented it to them uh you know yeah let me hold on unsolicited of course while i have you just while i have you if you want to check this out.

50:20Jason Stewart:Look, I know Fleetwood Mac Dreams. It's a good little track, but I kind of mixed, did it move some things around. I think it kind of sings a little bit better. I think I added this shuffle that you're going to like. I think I, just stick with me on this. Do you have anything in the private folder? You know what I mean? For those DJ sets? Oh man, that would be. No comment? No comment. Yeah, sure. Of course you can't abuse. I need a little Arthur Russell rework ass version of some shit, you know? It's a remix. it's only the ums that i cut out yeah yeah of course yeah real podcast style it's your podcast um reflex at hand so you i heard you um on our friend of the show blammo's podcast and you were talking about how much you edit the audio version of your podcast and that's a big reason why the thought of pivoting to video might not work for you the format because you're doing what 20 cuts a minute or something you said yeah that's just going to be too jarring even for today's add standards um are you like super good at editing audio now and have you thought about giving video a try only out of necessity because now i have to make tiktoks because if you're a musician these days like you have to you're also putting out video so yeah i've been learning premiere making my little making my little reels you literally sound like jason you literally that's exactly jason has said those exact words to me before and and i also sound like how you just sounded which is like a five-year-old telling his parent what they did at preschool today like and then i made my reels yeah good good and then i got to have lunch okay so are you going at it with like a positive attitude or is it a like goddamn son of a bitch i hate that i have to do front facing to camera hey guys check out my new album you know like that kind of shit definitely the latter yeah yeah this is it's we got into audio for a reason yeah exactly and and like i said the first version i didn't even speak i would rather yeah yeah i'd rather just be like here's the thing and never have to you know say anything about it do you see it does it work though do Do you know what I'm saying?

52:33Is there tangible? I don't think it does work. See, that's my, that's my. Not yet. Yeah, I mean, I think it's like, I think it can and will, but I do think it's like, I think it's been sold to us as this sort of like instantaneous fix to all of your problems. It's like, oh, you just gotta do video. You just gotta do video, dude. You open the app, and the first one is a video that's got gazillions of views and comments, and it's somebody who's just like, imagine if these two bands were put together that would sound like this, and it's better than the guy in the car eating all the new crumble cookies every week you know what i mean at least at least this takes some talent yeah but there's always this little tease of like this could be you this could be maybe the next one is going to be the one that's going to going to suddenly make you feel legitimate as an artist well let's workshop some ideas because i

53:20Jason Stewart:feel like those songs then those moments that go viral on on social media a lot of times there's you know it's a reaction to a meme it is a new dance craze it's a new whatever like exciting forms of music you know club music hip-hop like that kind of stuff is going viral much easier than your iron and wine style of you know bedroom folk so we're gonna have to think outside the bedroom aren't we i will say it's not the most viral genre no no i i keep on starting all the videos with here's a song about death and yet it doesn't seem to doesn't seem to catch okay well here's another idea so you have a song on the album that's all about the buffalo that live on catalina island off the coast of la california listeners okay research see okay so that's a phenomenon where like a friend of mine who works for the la times he's got this video series called 101 i think and he will go and explain these little random anomalies like oh did you know the light posts used to be this or where you know random stuff i feel like if you did a little we're taking a boat to catalina and we're gonna check out the buffalo and i'm gonna give you a history lesson about all of these and i have a new song and it's about like do these buffaloes know that they're stuck on a little island off the coast of fucking malibu do they do they wish they were back with the buffaloes and whatever vancouver bc or something yeah you know now we're getting somewhere yeah and then they'll be forced to listen to the music yeah do you what label are you on keeled scales okay are they is there pressure from them or is it pressure from yourself it's pressure from myself do i talk to them about budgets or how does it work i think we've got i think we might have the budget as well as a performer on the phone right now with us i think he might i think we might be they're in the room with us now look i don't need a glass bottom boat but i'm gonna need something that's got a little horsepower okay No, but it is funny though.

55:18I think it's like, it really is, it is sold to us as a heal all for all, you know, sort of creative problems is like video will fix you. And I think that they're forgetting sometimes that some people are good at it and want to do it and some people are doing it with a gun to their head and it maybe isn't going to translate the exact same way. And then there's always the disconnect potentially where the video does really well, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to go listen to the song no 100 somewhere else or like the clip on the clip of the podcast is going to go uh viral but does that mean that the actual episode gets more listens no

55:54Jason Stewart:they they say that the the clip is the content nowadays it's no longer the vehicle to get you to listen to the podcast or the album so that means you're going to have to start putting ads in your songs are you okay with that yeah yeah yeah let's let's go ahead and get a better help chorus in there and we'll see how it works yeah i mean we have to think out like this the this shit is moving fast like there was a basketball game there was a knicks game and they superimpose green screen kith logo on the floor and i know that other podcasts maybe they take place on a subway or something like that maybe there's gonna be some green screen ads placed on there or all of your favorite tiktok shows or video things where the clip is the content now we have to start putting ads on these clips.

56:40I like this for you. Yeah, yeah. You could fit a Squarespace mention in a bridge. Like, it's not that crazy. Yeah. It's not that crazy. I mean, you know, it's - This house is a Squarespace.

56:50Jason Stewart:This house is a home. Hey, I want to tell you about this middle eight. I want to tell you about this. I mean, I think that there is, yeah, there's going to be continuing pressure, but I think it's also, I think we have to give ourselves the grace to sort of figure out whatever the lane is that works for you. I mean, whatever that video thing is, it doesn't necessarily have to be what everybody else is doing. You know what I mean? Yeah. Be yourself. And if it doesn't work, start cooking. Yeah, or we just wait for some other app to rule our lives and then we adapt to that instead. Are you on TikTok as a user?

57:31I technically now do have an account as of like a month ago with 29 followers. Your label forced you to? You don't use it. You don't like scroll. You're not like watching. Yeah. That's powerful. Good for you. I'm glad you can resist. I'm too old. Well, I have Instagram and that's really like I've got to put all the screen time warnings and everything so I don't hang out on there too long.

57:56Jason Stewart:Why buy heroin when you got a free Oxy at home? I get it, brother. Oh baby I need a hit I tell you what No Chris no no no no But you seem like a very calm controlled You seem like you're a pretty measured guy overall I think that the calm and the control Are working against each other actually Like the control part is the thing That makes me the least calm So you're saying you can't like let go and let God Or let other people help you Because the control your grip is so tight That it's maybe negative in the long run yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean like i made this record where we did the whole thing live and it was just the most stressful thing in my life because i couldn't go and be you know go back and do the things i would normally do and you also had to have other people play instruments because you can only play one or two maybe at the most at a time exactly okay do you think there's somebody out there who can edit song exploder better than you can oh god probably but if you if you if you paid them to have that job they would make more money than you oh no well that's how that's how i feel about how long gone if i if i found somebody to edit the show with this with this cadence and you know three episodes a week and they go up the next day and blah, blah, blah.

59:20Jason Stewart:If somebody asked me to do that, I would ask for an annual salary that is a large amount. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, exactly. That's, yeah. To do this job for someone as a real grown-up job, it would, nobody would do it. It would make no sense. Yeah, you set the search parameter filters for what you're looking for and wouldn't you know it, zero results found. Yeah, exactly. It's just a picture of myself that... it's just yeah it's just you it just turns on the selfie cam it's you motherfucker get back to work

59:58Jason Stewart:but but now but also you're so good at it you're you know yourself you know the show you know the flow you do it all yourself the thought of you know splitting up that that podcast money with other people you know you have a you have a standard of living that we can't really upset Other people work on the show and I would absolutely die without them. What? Pussy. Just kidding. But when you're in the zone, you're in the zone solo. Yeah. I mean, we all kind of work solo and then we kind of come back and, you know. How many people are on the squad? Three of us. Four of us, if you include the illustrator who does all the artwork for every episode.

1:00:34Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, I mean, and how many are you banking? Like, how many are in the hopper at any given time? um you know if things are really really great then we've got like uh the next one on deck and the next one after that so two two in the hopper besides the one that's not that crazy yeah that's not that i thought it might be a little crazier than that because you but it's always on it's not seasonal right right exactly no it's always on yeah i mean again another reason why nobody would want this job well that's what i said the always on thing is also very podcasting 1.0 yeah yeah that's very podcast at one point i feel like no one really or if they do do that if they do do it it's like once a month you know or some like fake schedule where it's like it doesn't really count you know what i mean yeah yeah because we only do two a month so having having even two in there means we're you know six weeks out you got time yeah yeah and what's the pro what's the process of like choosing the song or is that is that kind of just you being like pitched plus what you want to do plus what other people are you just it's kind of a grab bag exactly yeah it's it's i've learned that no matter how good of an idea i think it is um the only way an episode is going to happen is if it's something that's getting pitched to me really really yeah it has

1:01:49Jason Stewart:it has to be their idea or else it's probably not going to happen yeah i mean have you tried to reach out to guests and uh as opposed to um you know sort of yeah reach out to guests all the time yeah they're not all elton john but you know yeah yeah i mean it's it's more often a situation where either we have some sort of relationship we have a intermediary like a friend in common or yeah i mean this happened a few times where i just like like something and i'm like damn that was sick i'm gonna dm them and see if they'll come on you know whether it's a book or whatever you know what i mean and more time that often works yeah because they're like oh that's cool let's do it but i would say the pitch thing is more like it i would say that's where some of the more surprising ideas come from whether they work or not is is sort of up to the audience i would say but like right like nathan lane coming up you know i got some you know blanket pr email about nathan lane i'm like i'll gotta get nathan lane on how long gone they're like oh shit that's funny and then he comes on he's like who are these fucking idiots and we're sort of like this guy's kind of a dick but it's fun you know what i mean it's like good for us nathan remember that one time on the birdcage that was awesome and he's like who are you people but yeah but the in between i think that the the sweet spot is like someone we know you know like socially that also has something going on that people like and their team also knows what they're getting into like there's a world where that or it's somebody that we actually talk to every day and the audience is like this is funny because it feels like there's no one's selling anything it's just like a bunch people talking you know yeah that that's also a big part but do you feel like your show could be considered like a little bit of a minefield for some of the artists where they're like i don't know if i want to take a look under the hood because i have so much you know post-production to it because like when i was thinking about chris like we have a lot of friends who are famous celebrities doing whatever they do they listen to the pod and if we're like hey you know blah blah come on the pod claro's gonna be like i'm i'm not fucking going on your show dog like I got nothing to lose everything to gain yeah yeah have like yeah like so so like your show it's more so you know you're in service of this artist and you're it's going to be a bit of a glaze off so it's not like I don't want to go on there and get a gotcha moment you know yeah I mean the the show's only made of the stuff they say yeah yeah it's it's their funeral yeah it's like you made your bed bro so I'm only going to read it back to you but I do tell them at you know I'm like at the end of this if you if you say if you feel like you said something that you don't want me to include just tell me and i won't yeah okay i mean has it ever happened with like we're going to listen to the duolipa vocal stems on unaffected by effects and they're going to be like maybe we don't need to hear the the 100 raw file um no i mean i think well two things one they control what they send me i was about to say they ain't sending you the raw you ain't ever heard a raw file you've heard 1am radio raw files that's about it they ain't sending you we sent you we sent you vocal file.web and that's it yeah yeah not 78 versions of it but usually um usually even if i get something that is really raw it's i mean you know like sometimes i get like the voice memo you know it's like the first thing they made yeah and it's really it's it has absolutely rough around the edges um but it's cool i think that everybody is okay with it because they know that in the end they've got a they've got a song that came out of it like a real finished thing so you can talk about all the weird stuff and the missteps um that got you there because you know that ultimately the story that's being told is a success story yeah that's true like however we got here it clearly worked is kind of the vibe yeah i mean like once you're the once you have the reveal you take off your glasses and you put down your hair and you're super hot it's fine to show the pictures of what you looked like when you were 12.

1:05:44Oh, I was like actually so nerdy. Yeah, I mean, I think there's also some, I mean, I think when people can really sing or really write songs, it's like the voice memo is crazy. Yeah. Because you're sort of like, wow, I can hear it. This is exactly, I totally see it. Like I totally, totally get it. I'm not, that's not everyone, of course, but it's pretty powerful, I think, when it works that way. Indeed it is, Chris. What can I say?

1:06:09Jason Stewart:Okay, well, we're ending up, we're closing down, we're landing the plane. I want to know about what kind of pods you listen to. The Potter's Pods. I listen to a lot of Off Menu. Do you listen to that show? I have listened to it before. Can you explain it for our listeners? It is a food, in theory, food podcast hosted by the British comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble. And they have a guest on and they ask them to tell them about their dream. You know, it's a magic restaurant. You can have whatever food you want. Tell us about your dream entree and appetizer and side dish, dessert, drink. And I love a format, you know?

1:06:52Yeah, you're the opposite of a, I hate a, I'm allergic to a format, but I, that's actually a pretty, that's pretty open-ended though. That's like a, I know that's technically a format, but you can go a lot of places with that, I feel like. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say you guys have a format too. What's our format? It's the two of you.

1:07:11Jason Stewart:two two people is not a format two guys it's the two of you he's kind of basically it's a it's a vice then you put the the guest in between and then you just slowly squeeze okay how how pressurized do your temples feel at the moment as we're approaching one hour um you know it's actually uh it's a it's a gentle kind of pressure it's a temple grandin kind of um i don't yeah it's more of a a boiling frog we'll call it exactly a classic boiling frog all right that's a off menus i mean i've heard of it before i know it's pretty popular no i've listened to that and it's it's an example of how the british are heads and shoulders above the rest of america in terms of like quick witty banter and just they're just a non-stop fire hose of just filling dead space with perfect words.

1:08:04Jason Stewart:Yeah. I'm not saying that those guys are so good, but like that format, you chuck it on. It doesn't matter who the guest is. As long as you like the food, it doesn't matter if the guest food sucks. As long as you like the guest and then - It's very listenable, yeah. Print money. Yeah. Okay, okay, that's a good one. Yeah. But you also listen to How Long Gone? Well, you all are just too prolific for me to keep up with everything. I mean - That's a very nice way to put it. it sounds like you need to be walking the reservoir a little bit more come on man it's not that hard what do you mean you don't commute anywhere you ain't got no time to kill bro what do you mean also like just the the relaxing moment of not listening to something after after either working on music or working on podcast stuff and just my ears like oh have some peace yeah some peace in those ear canals take the cans off take the cans off he said all Well, that's great.

1:08:57Jason Stewart:Come home, cans off, bra off, hair in a pony. Get it done. I get it. I put on my OVO sweat, so I got my legs crossed. I'm watching Netflix. Take my headphones off. Oh, finally, there's a new episode of Love is Blind Poland. Babe, come here. I think we're going to order in tonight. Okay, well, thanks for taking the time to pod with us. Your new album is available now, streaming. It is not created with AI, and you can listen to it with your AI chatbot if you want. You're okay with that? oh i encourage it in fact stream is a stream i don't give a fuck he's like they're vinyl too bro we got vinyl too whatever it takes he's gonna be doing a uh some live show performances with some other guests in conversation a little music little talk little that yep uh with some cool names manzoukas and some other people all over the country check out the the ig for those dates and that's it bro thank you thank you so much for having me guys thank you it's really good it was really good to have you we love talking to a pro and and we are fans so it's nice to break bread That really means so much.

1:09:56I was so, so intimidated to do this. Please, bro. No. You know what? One thing about us, we can be assholes, but we respect professionals. That is one thing. I will say across the board, that is one thing that we can be pretty consistent about, especially when it comes to this medium. There are not that many people who have been doing it as long as you have. Really. You know what I mean? At the top, it's just us. At the top, it's just us. Now that Marin's gone. Now that Marin, R.I.P. Marin. R.I.P. Marin. How many cats do you think he has now? We don't have time for that A lot Alright thank you for joining us We'll see you soon bro Alright appreciate it Thanks man

1:10:53goes on and on and on.

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