572. - Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene)

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. How long gone? This is a pre-Thanksgiving recording. Due to our busy schedules, Jason's got three turkeys in the garage in the hot oil right now. I really shouldn't have put those on before the podcast because I should keep an eye on them. It's going to be an hour. Are you doing any Thanksgiving food preparation? Not to steal thunder from Alison Roman or anything, but are you working on any sort of macaroni and cheese or maybe a stuffing or anything? Actually, I was just talking to a friend of the show, Bryn, right before. She posted on Instagram. I'm looking for a mac and cheese recipe white people need not apply. And I was like, damn. Bryn said she needs a mac and cheese that make you want to slap your mama type of shit. You know what I mean? It's a let me get a plate style mac and cheese. But I'm actually, I have not had a chance to go shopping yet. And I'm going to do that as soon as I finish this episode. So I'm a little bit afraid of what the Glendale Whole Foods is going to be looking like. I think all the celery is going to be ran through, like Sadie Hawkins last night. It's going to look like a nightclub at 4.30 a.m. when the lights come on over at the Whole Foods. Don't even go to Ralph's. That's crazy. Well, because Alison Roman, she has her recipe this year for the turkey leg. And it's done in the style of a...

confit like a duck confit if you've ever heard of that and it's a genius idea because turkey notoriously kind of boring nasty dry whatevs and you know you take this method of slowly uh cooking it in you know duck fat or something like that it's gonna come out all yummy yummy so i'm gonna try doing that today i got some turkey turkey legs on hold over at my local purveyor You're picking up some organic farm-raised turkey legs. Brother, it can't be any more pasture-raised than this. I'm pretty sure this is... The turkeys are still mooing, and they died a happy death. Of course, yeah, of course. And I'm not going to go... Serving their country. I'm not going to go pita mode on you. I'm going to let you cook, no pun intended. But is the... What sides are we working with? Are you preparing sides? Is this something that you... Who, me? Oh, I'm glad you asked. I'm going to do, I don't know, creamed corn. I feel like that's pretty nasty for you, right? That's high on the nasty scale, right? That is disgusting. Continue. Your mom probably likes creamed corn though, right? And your daddy? My mom's not a big vegetable person, as you know. She enjoys dairy. She does enjoy dairy. That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. And as far as vegetables go, corn is an entry-level offering. Yeah, corn is not toothy like broccoli or something. Corn goes down smooth. Corn go down smooth. going to do a nice vegetarian gluten-free stuffing so at that point what's the point but hey you know there's a lot of people out here who are living with fake illnesses and all these things that we have to abide by no of course and and i think that that's nice of you to do and respectful and um i'm sure it's going to taste terrible but that's not your fault no actually i made it last year for all my gf hotties and i surprised myself i mean expectations were low all you know because it is

Stuffing is 94% yummy bread. And since yummy bread that's gluten-free doesn't exist yet, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot. But it ended up being good. No, RIP to bread block, the only good gluten-free bread. Unless you spend $37 a loaf. And who knows what's happening in the digestion with that. You know how much money I've spent on fucking gluten-free loaves in my short life? But it's true. It's an interesting thing that the gluten-free, you have to be rich to be gluten-free, I guess, is kind of what they're aiming for. Only rich people are gluten-free. You ever met a poor gluten-free person? They said, what are you going to do, not eat it? You find a way. You push through. Yeah, you push through. And I think that the gluten-free bread prices prove that it's a kind of capitalist scam is the reality. $40 for a loaf of bread, that's not in my America. Get out of here, Jack. Um, what else do I got cooking? Ooh, there was one more thing. Oh, no, I hope that's fucking it. No, there's one more thing. I don't fucking know. KK is making some Molly Ba's taters. They're probably going to be scrumptious, adorbs, yummo. What is her? Can I ask what her style of potato is? Hers is going to be, it'll be kind of like a smash style. So you kind of boil them. And then they come out soft. And then you kind of, instead of cutting them precisely with a knife, you kind of rough them up with a spoon or a fork. You want some oblong, esoteric shapes. Each one more random and insane than the last. This feels more like art, actually, than food. The art of cooking? Yeah, I mean, I don't want to, you know. I don't want to be the one to say it. The Art of Cooking by DJ and M. Gene, Simon & Schuster, 2027. It feels like that. It does feel like that. I wanted to give a shout-out to former guest and friend of the show, Jim Goldberg. He just did the new issue of The Face, the cover of The Face. He did the Olivia Rodrigo editorial. Go, Goldberg! It's very cool. It's very good. The Face.

Rodrigo. Is that going to get us across the... Oh, here we go. She's got an apple on her head. Yeah, it's great. It's so cool and it's so nice to see. I just feel like she hasn't been shot this way before. You know what I mean? Yeah. Damn, she looks cool. It's very refreshing. But shout out to Jim. Damn, her seeing the apple on the head really reminds me of the Michael Jackson documentary. You remember that? I didn't watch that. And when he would write... Also, there's a picture of her sort of laying in some... uh silver lake backyard on some tall grass yeah this is cool and good but in the in the michael jackson documentary it would show kind of written correspondence faxes letters things like that between michael and his uh tiny homies okay he would affectionately call one of one or some of these children that he pokes on apple head And I think this documentary came out around quarantine time. Not unlike our guest's album recording. I'm assuming it was made in COVID. But during that time, we were all sort of going through a little bit of a delusional psychosis. Our brains had stopped working. Some people call it unhinged. I've heard that line. I've heard that line before. Carolyn and I would call each other Applehead in a Michael Jackson voice sometimes. It would create an eerie aura in our home. Yeah, yeah. You want to give it a try, Chris? No, I'm good. I don't – Applehead. I don't know. Hey, Applehead. His voice, when singing, obviously, was beautiful. When talking, it did leave – it left a little on the table for me. When you're going to let me fuck, Applehead. But he's – Applehead. I think we can go to Six Flags tomorrow, Applehead. The worst. You play too much, Applehead. Let's move on. One of the worst, but he's forgiven. Michael Jackson is not one of the worst. One of the worst. One of the greats. I mean, I don't listen to his music, personally. Well, nobody does now, but you have to. That's not true. He's an undeniable talent. No, he is an undeniable. I'm more of a Jackson 5 cat.

You know, if I had to, if I had to choose, if I had to, if I had to choose, if I had to gun to my head, do I go MJ or the five? Don't make me, don't make me choose. Uh, what is the, okay. So you're, you're ready. for tea day you're good to go no not at all have not even started i'm incredibly but you have the plan you have the plan though you know what you're doing yeah but tomorrow i have white people thanksgiving and then i have asian people thanksgiving on friday so it's it's two two days man you do so much family shit i feel sorry for you thank you it's you know you're a good guy for doing all that you got to drive two hours it's just it's honestly yeah i drove two hours right after after finishing work to palos verides how was it beautiful for a gender reveal soiree it was it was great actually and carolyn's mom made some food okay so what's the it was fucking delicious i had not eaten anything all day because i'm i'm on my intermittent fasting again oh welcome back so what is the for the holiday season what is the gender then if you don't mind me asking i don't know if i'm at liberty to tell the gender is Okay, okay. I didn't want to put you in a bad spot, but I had to ask, obviously. No, no, no. It's fine. It's fine. I 100% don't care what the answer is to that question, but I had to ask. Sure, sure, sure. I had to ask. I know you've been hanging on the telephone waiting for dat gender. Yeah, exactly. Dat. But it was cool. I was wondering, I was like, how are they going to do it? Because everyone does it in a fun way. And they did it in a cute way involving... involving a pie where she had these little QP cherub plastic dolls from when she was a kid that her dad gave them to her. And there was a boy and a girl little doll, and then you open it up, and one of the two little QP dolls were sitting inside of the pie, and that's how you knew. It was cute. Okay, the pie was edible? Have you ever seen the QP mayonnaise?

Yeah, the pie was delicious. It was store-bought. Oh, I see. Okay, that makes more sense. It was a banberry pie. Have you ever had that? Banberry? No, I've never heard of that. What is that? So imagine a banana cream pie, but then on top of it is a layer of strawberries. That sounds delicious. So it's like a strawberry and banana pie. Yeah, it's very good. Because when you hear the word banberry, you're like, that's going to be weird. But it's just a combination of banana and strawberry. Oh, I didn't even clock that, even after you fucking told me. That sounds delicious. It is delicious. All right, put me in. You know when you get the strawberry pie, it's got the thick, kind of gloopy, gelatinous strawberries in the sauce, but they're still a little undercooked, so you've got a little chew to them. Oh, I love a little chew. I saw, ran into Olive, Lawrence Schlossman, and this guy, Ed Cumming from London, who was visiting last night at Corner Bar. And Ed... is a writer at the telegraph and like we've been in touch before yeah i think i know ed ed told me a great noel gallagher story and i'm not going to repeat it here i don't want to give away his story he lived this but it involves noel just basically his excuse for all his behavior and refusal to do things being i have a hundred million quid um and saying i have a hundred million quid over and over which really tickled me it's a it's a card that not many can pull and when you do you're you're a prick but if you own it in the right way it does work it is a it is a flawless victory fatality even if you're him and you're in england it can't go wrong and you can't say dollars you have to say no quid you can't say pounds or euros no it has to be quid are there any other No. Any other currency types that it works for? Yeah, I got 100 million yen. I don't think that really hits the same as quid. 100 million yen, that'll get you a Happy Meal at McDonald's, you know what I mean? Exchange rate nowadays. What was Simon Rex saying yesterday? Lira? Yeah, that used to be. 100 million lira. We have a guest today, Kevin Drew. You know him from his work in the legendary Toronto act, Broken Social Scene.

He's put out a few solo records. The newest one is called Aging, and it came out pretty recently. It's on, don't worry, it comes on a nice opaque yellow vinyl, if you're interested in that kind of thing. But let's go to the Great White North and chat with Kevin. Okay. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web. So do our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues, maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world, writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly. A website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could, you know, have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools so those future graduates can find me. And, you know, I'm able to accept, quote, unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. Show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early. And we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional as your competition, if not more. So head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable. And they're just easy but, you know, still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. You know, they focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated.

but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada. That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. Kevin, thank you for joining us. Are you now? I know you're are you in Toronto right now or are you somewhere else? I am. So you guys aren't celebrating Thanksgiving or do you celebrate the American version as well? We don't celebrate Thanksgiving that much out here in the realms of Canada, but let alone the American one. Ours, I think, was a few weeks ago. Okay, so the October 1st, Canadian Thanksgiving. Kevin, how many more years do you think until it's fully done? We've pretty much rejected Columbus Day here. Thanksgiving is sort of teetering. How many more years until it's just gone? I think it depends on the social media intelligence of the world, but I'm looking at three to four years, and then it's over. Okay. All right. You give it three to four. I mean, I don't like it because the food is bad. We're post-holiday. I get along great with my family, but I don't have any use for it. But I like that. I like that it brings people together, but it also pushes people apart. That's what makes a great holiday. That's like Christmas with the depression rate going through the roof. Yeah. It's the same kind of thing. But in Canada, you guys have a lot of fake holidays. You guys have Family Day, which happens like once a month, doesn't it? What the hell is Family Day? That's not a joke, Jason. Tell him, Kevin. I'll ask Kevin. He's a real Canadian.

Family Day has bewildered me in the aspect that it kind of happened without me knowing that it landed since when you're sort of an artist, you have no idea of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which is a privilege yet also a burden. Check your privilege. I know. I know. I'm opening up. I'm opening up all wrong. I don't know much about Family Day. I do believe in family, so I think the notion of it is a wonderful thing. I'm glad you're able to say that. I just always found that to be funny. They couldn't come up with some more dramatic name for it. They just really called it what it is, which is kind of charming, I guess. That's what they say we are as Canadians. It's charming. Charming, I guess. That is important to include. Not an insult at all. No, just an observation. Just an observation. So, Kevin, we've been fans of BSS for a long time, by the way. We just wanted to let you know. It's cool that we get to talk. Well, I'm happy to do this, and I thought I could open with a question because how long gone? Where did that come from? It came from the same place as your Broken Social Scene. We started it in COVID, and here we are. No, it's a Brooks and Dunn song. oh really it sounds like a dylan lyric but it's brooks and dunn that's america for me right there well there i mean the brooks and dunn and dylan we'll take the dylan as a compliment are interchangeable personally i don't really see a big difference so i i think that's that's why you got there yeah the origin of it is still like we kind of it's been so long that we kind of forget exactly like it's a real chicken or egg thing but We were looking for, I was looking for kind of generic music to play as the intro song because we didn't want to use like a licensed song and get taken down by the DMCA, whatever. So I was finding the most kind of like random karaoke versions of songs I could find that no one will ever, you know, ever hear. Whoever made this song will never listen to this podcast when we find. And it ended up being just a very generic sounding country jingle.

And it was the karaoke version of this Brooks and Dunn song called How Long Gone. We needed a name and we were like, fuck it, let's just do that. It's sort of about how long will we be gone from our normal lives for. I love it. I do. And COVID ended up breaking much of my social scene. Yeah, yeah. It's stuck and it feels, you know, it looks nice written out, which is kind of what matters when you think about it. You know what I mean? I don't. Always think about that when naming something, but it's nice when it looks good together, the group of words. The alliteration of it all. It is. It's poetic. Thanks, man. Well, I mean, I'm a poet. It lands. All right, well, that's good. Have you heard of this before your publicist said you have to do this? I don't. See, you have to understand, I'm 47 years old, and people talking is what I listen to to fall asleep. So I'm not a massive. podcast person or audio book person because when I drive which I'm driving a lot because I live out of the city I have to understand that this is something now that I've chosen to help me sleep but I did listen to this podcast because it became so highly recommended and I was touched that you guys wanted to speak to me and I looked at your roster of everyone that you spoke to and this morning My girlfriend and I drove listening to your Simon Rex interview, and I realized that I got a little nervous. I just said, oh, these guys are funny. These guys are alive. They're enjoying themselves. I've got to make sure I take a shower and have some coffee. I'm not really an afternoon gentleman when it comes to the idea of answering questions. I'm more a morning person. but so here i am it's it's it's funny it's funny because we do record this at this we try to record at the same time every every episode and it is a lot of people and musicians of course like you know they're kind of night owls you know people like to sit down have a cocktail smoke something you know what i mean and then start talking or creating but we like to put you in a post-lunch

It's more of a struggle. We want to kind of make it as tough as possible. Yeah, it's still free-flowing. But I like Afternoon Gentleman, though. It kind of sounds like an aftershave or something from the days of yore. Real sting to it. All right, so are you an early riser in general? I am. I did do that part of life where you stay up late and, of course, when the world's asleep around you. It's a great time to create because of the frequency of just everyone not being awake. And then once I got older, I realized, oh, that kind of works as well if you get up early. That's right. I enjoy the morning. I enjoy it before something ruins the day. I think it's the greatest time, the first sort of four hours before you get out there. So I try to wake up as early as I can. Okay. And what are some of the... What are some of the top day ruiners in your life currently? Kids, pets, things like that? I think it's just the general sense of where we're at. Okay, so basically you log on and you're going to be upset. It's hard to log on right now. You fire up the X app and say, oh, brother, here we go again. Unfortunately, I'm not on that. But the reason I'm not on that is because I... have a hard time with a free for all in terms of looking at information coming at me rapidly. And I'm also kind of like an addict. So if I start getting into something, then I'll just consume it and consume it and consume it. And obviously we live at a time where we're staring at our phones so much that in the morning I try to remind myself that there's a day coming and you can actually witness it arrive. But it's, it's hard when you've got this, zero and one magnifying glass in your back pocket saying let's go let's do this together let's do it let's crush some candy bitch yeah you're right look at that sunrise you're right so you're getting up you're getting up quite early do you are you like a are we farming like how far out of the city are we talking about i'm a couple hours out and and fortunately i was able to hit that period in my age where i thought i can't handle the hustle and the bustle anymore and um

I was able to go out and find a place where the silence is what keeps me up now. It's not so much the noise of the city. It's more just sort of the quiet aspects of the wind and the trees. And I need that so that I can get back to the city and try to be the best that I can be for everyone around me. So you're recharging and then you pop in. You take the... You take the Gardner all the way down, and you're back in the city. You got it. It's more the 401, but, yeah, I appreciate the Gardner reference. I do. Could us Americans get a translation here, guys, please? It's just two highways. It's not that good. It's not that interesting. The highway is called the Gardner? Gardner Expressway. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you call it, Jason, locals, we call it the Gardner. You know what I mean? I want Jason to look like he knows. So I try to. Hey, guys. Give him all the information. I know I look dumb. I'm just trying to, for next time, I'm in Ontario, you know, and I want to fit in with my locals. Yeah, for sure. Jason, where are you, Jason? Where do you live? I live in Los Angeles. Okay. I grew up in Orange County, but I've been in L.A. my whole adult life. And Chris, where are you? I'm in New York, but also L.A., but I'm in New York right now. So when you're talking about silence, it's sounding quite good to me. Yeah. uh, near a kind of main thoroughfare that takes you to the Williamsburg bridge and every day between four and 6 PM, four and seven, let's be honest. Um, it's kind of a barrage of horns and yelling, um, that I am becoming, um, it's becoming, it's becoming harder to deal with, but I couldn't be like an upstate guy because that's too boring. So, you know, the answer is yet to be determined. It's tough to leave it all and not have things to do or be spontaneous. But the only winning aspect of it is you're not around reaction. And you're not around people reacting to people in horns.

And all the things that happen when your city becomes overpopulated and filled with condos and too expensive to live. And you get to be able to just breathe for a second and figure out how you're going. I've never heard it explained that way. Yeah, reaction. I like that. That's well put. But I feel like it's not unusual for a Torontoite to go out a couple hours somewhere. I feel like I know a lot of people who do that. It's not that strange compared to... the, the New York or the LA thing. I'm going to J tree. Yeah. It's more affordable. I think, I think it's just more affordable. And I went out to a wonderful town that wasn't the super expensive town. Cause all obviously, uh, if you follow where the people. The prices go up, but if you follow where the trees are your friends, the prices aren't as expensive. I was hoping the Drew compound was up in Muskoka. You had a couple boats, a nice big garage, but you're saying you did something a little more modern than that. A little more indie rock. You get all these grants and stuff. I don't know how it works. It seems like a different business to me. I don't know. I was going to say with the grant system, It was always amazing the people who thought you were buying jet skis within that realm in the aspect that everything you do within grants gets audited because it has to, and it has to go towards everything that you're positioning your proposition for. Vice needs another drum machine. Exactly, yeah. Because she knows she's only going to use that drum machine to the greatest ability that it can be used. I don't think any grant... We had to do it. Yes, of course. Yeah, the grant thing, when I first learned about grants, obviously many years ago, I was like, wow, this is so not American. Like, that would never... Were you jealous? Well, we just... We value the arts so little in this country that there's no way that any government would approve something like that, you know, even on a smaller scale. But I think it's like... I think it's interesting. I mean, I think that's one of the things that Canada's done is obviously the grants, but also like the...

kind of the rules about playing a certain amount of music on, you know, Canadian made music on the radio and stuff like that. It, it actually makes things work better, I think. And it seems probably at a low cost at the end of the day. And there's like health insurance or whatever you call it. Yeah, exactly. There's all of that. Health insurance is, the health insurance situation is crumbling right now. Um, the grant systems are, um, they're, first of all, you're right. And I think everyone who saw the way the Canadian government supported the arts, it was very educational and very helpful towards so many. And it's still existing and it's still out there and it's still so very important because it was sort of built around the aspect that we were drowned out by you guys as our neighbors. So they were trying to support a way of saying, okay, we've got such loud neighbors who are dominating this world. We need to turn. We need to go in. We need to give a Lexus on fire a hundred grand or they're going to get, we're going to have a problem. No, I mean, I think that's, but it is, it's smart. So is it safe to say America was stealing your sunshine? That's good. It's not good. It's not good. I think, I think America loved. the fact that that song existed and then provided a soundtrack to that song to yeah have an existence look if you were able to get to america and america was to be able to say we love you then it all started happening sure it was very difficult to happen within the realm of this country because of the loops and the patterns and the sort of guidelines of how things went down. And so many wonderful, incredible musicians and talented bands found it difficult to get outside of this country and bust into America. But like so much celebration amongst art throughout the world, if you were recognized by your country and supported by your country, it very much helped.

people in this country say okay we've got something going right now let's get behind them that makes i mean no it makes total sense it makes total sense it works i mean it works to an extent i mean we were just in australia like a month ago and we saw some like we we saw some bands play and there was one that i liked and and i like looked at their tour schedule and they were playing like 15 shows in australia And I was like, these are places I can't pronounce, things I've never heard of. But that made sense to me because they're so far from civilization. They have no choice but to do that, really. Whereas I'm sure you guys were playing in New York very early on. New York was what sort of broke us, doing the Mercury Lounge, getting out to the Bowery, being with the Bowery, presents people. We fortunately, across Canada and across America and then going into the UK, We had a support system that got behind the record that we made, You Forgotten People, and it allowed us to elevate out into playing for way more people than we were available to in the realm of staying within Toronto. Of course. You never lived in New York, did you? No. I spent a lot of time in New York also because my family was in the book business. We were always down in New York. You mean like cooking the books or you mean like bound books? No, bound books. They were in distribution. One of the big companies out of New York was Sterling. We were hitting New York all the time and hitting bar mitzvahs with people and staff members. We were hitting bar mitzvahs all the time. I was in Jersey. Beastie Boys was rocking Fight Free Ride to Party. There's a videotape of my brother and I and some other. kids at this bar mitzvah rocking out to fight for a ride to party when you could have those effects behind you remember when the vhs effects started to really take off around 85 and the green scheme the green screen just arrived sure it's a memory i have of new york always a simpler time a simpler time still a beastie boys fan still uh yeah i think they're one of the greatest of all time i really do i greatest of all time yeah

A lot of people would agree with you, Jason. Jason and I don't get it. Never gotten it. You never got the Beastie Boys. Oh, I got it. You never got the Beastie Boys. I'm saying I don't want to listen to that. The instrumental record is amazing. Very underappreciated. But the rest of it, I just can't do it. I don't know what it is. I can't do it. I understand that it's an important... thing in music especially in new york but it just never it never tickled me one of the only music takes that chris and i have agreed on in our lives honestly i don't know what it is we don't agree we don't we want to believe we don't agree on much um but that one we do i just remember i remember being a kid in school in in like high school like freshman year and then they would ever they discovered girls by the beastie boys You know what I mean? Yeah, the most sexist song they wrote, but there's many other jams you could point out, but I understand where you're headed with this. At the time, being sexist was not the offense for me. I'm 13. I don't even know what being sexist is at that point. But I just remember all the people who made fun of me or bullied me in middle school, they really liked this music. So to me, I was like... This is for, like, jocks and bros, and I don't like it. Well, okay, I understand that. And I think they corrected themselves, because they came out with Paul's Boutique, and even I was, I'm 47, so I assume I'm older than you guys, and the aspect of that was, I understand the jock aspect, because they came out with the jock aspect, and they also came out with the sexist aspect, but they came out at the same time as Run DMC. They were part of this hip-hop scene that for us, suburban white kids were like, what is going on? Sure. And then when they dropped Paul's Boutique, we couldn't quite understand what was going on. And in high school, Check Your Head came out, and it was over for me. Yeah.

It was over in the aspect that they followed that up with ill communication, and those are two of what I call the white albums, you know, on the Beatles record. I just call them the white albums of rap. Oh, I thought you meant because they were just white rappers, but I see what you did there. Some of the whitest albums ever made. I see what you did there. I don't know what to say. They have righted their wrongs. They have atoned for their sins. Oh, look, I'll give them a pass. MCA passed away. I heard it on the radio, and I was driving. Yeah. And I remember when River Phoenix died. I completely remember because I was such a River Phoenix fan as a kid. I loved him. Stand by me. Running on empty. You know, Indiana Jones. The Explorers. We could keep going. The Nightlife of Jimmy Reardon, whatever it was called. When MCA died, I pulled my car over. I was a river boy. When the MCA died, I pulled my car over, and it took about 10 minutes to just sit there and think to myself, thank you for the rebunctious childhood that you gave me to the aspect of just sort of rhythm and rhyme and melody. And that's what I loved about the Beasties the most. And, of course, I love Tribe, and, of course, I love Funk Dubious. I saw Funk Dubious, DeLinch Mob, and the Beastie Boys. here in Toronto on their ill communication tour. That's a Canadian-ass lineup right there, baby. It was a frat party, but there was also so much more to it. There was depth and intelligence, and there was just rhythm like no other. So I'm sorry that you were bullied. See, my bullies were more of the Metallica Slayer era. You know, that's the guys that were... Oh, for us. But those are also two bands I don't like. So I just don't I don't not not like I just never like I had friends that were so into Metallica and I was always like, this is kind of corny. But I mean, I don't know. I guess I was wrong. So is Metallica triggering for you then, Kevin? Not anymore. It kind of was kill them all days. I didn't quite understand. But then I realized that they were just kids that needed to, as all kids do back in the day, just.

Let it out. Figure it out. Music is your identity. You're going to find people. You're going to find friends. You're going to find community through listening to these bands. What were the bands that the two of you were listening to back when you weren't getting bullied? What was it that you were listening to when you weren't listening to the Beasties? I want to be clear, Kevin. I've never been bullied. Actually, I'm more bullied now than I was as a child. Well, we all are. We all are. Yeah, that's true. Not me, actually. Not me. I'm good, baby. I was ironically listening to Metallica and calling people like you a pussy probably is the sweet irony on that. But yeah, I was listening to a lot of metal and shit like that. But also, you know. I was dipping into the world of Primus, unfortunately. Oh, I didn't know this about you. That's tough. 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 this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot. How many times do they do? Three times a week. And 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. They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? You know, especially when it's not, you know, from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone. It was brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need a fucking something put together, a cabinet. Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And, I mean, how it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture.

repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a Tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because Taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs, handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive, and that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world, is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code. How long taskers book up faster, especially for same day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code howlong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. Well, yeah, when I was like middle school, it was grungy. You know, your Alice in Chains is a little primacy. You know, but lots of Metallica. My middle school is when I discovered Operation Ivy, and then I went from there. One of the greatest bands that I think is, I mean, they only put out one record, which makes you good. As far as ska goes. I wouldn't even classify it as ska. I would classify it as something more, there's more depth than that. Kevin, I know you would agree. I don't even know Operation. I'm wondering. You don't know I'm Ivy? Probably. Look, I'm a New Order kid at the same time, so that's another thing that I'm sure I can speak to. Okay, good. I wondered if that was probably... I mean, New Order's the best. No, Operation Ivy was like a... I'm a huge, huge New Order fan. Operation Ivy went on to be rancid. Oh, of course. Okay. No, I skipped that whole scene. I skipped rancid and my boss... That's when I was getting into Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth. You're just a little bit older than us, but that makes you cooler in this particular instance. The Mighty Mighty Ballstones were like top 40. It was like a hit. My parents listened to that on the radio. It was unavoidable. I was listening to NoFX and you were enjoying My Bloody Valentine. There is a cooler answer out of those two.

And I think you're in the right place. You know what? Let's just say the 90s was incredible. Oh, yeah. Musically. I mean, look, that's all I listen to right now. So I can agree with you completely. Even the music of Green Jello? I don't. Okay. It's a good thing. We can send that to you. Send me all this stuff that I don't know. I would like you to explain the Tragically Hip to us. I know you've worked with them, and I've been aware of them for so long, but when did they peak? When was their biggest phase? I think it was throughout their career, especially in this country. They came out of the gates, and they just didn't look back. It was as if you just had this sweater that was made for you, and you put it on, and you wore it for like 16 years. Gored. Downey, the lyricist within this rock band. Is it Gord Downey? Yes. What a name. Sorry, continue. Legend, but the name Gord is very sick. It is. He had a lyrical way of looking at things that was simplistic intellectual observations that brought a wide variety of people together. So you didn't have sort of one fan. And that was their... I believe their greatest accomplishment. And for us, because it became a national anthem within the group's music, they could really do no wrong. And they constantly just kept putting out anthems for even when you're supposed to be moving on from certain, you know, as you grow older, like, well, I'm not going to listen to the beasties. I'm not going to listen to the operation. I mean, the hip always seemed to be able to. to emotionally connect to you with the memory muscle that you first heard when you first heard them and it was quite genius of them the hip they're your oasis in so many ways i would say yeah yeah i was gonna ask i was gonna ask though what is it comparable like because oasis obviously is is like the that band of england of a country in the same way you know what i mean but i don't know are we too are we too divided to have that in america because i i you know what i mean i can't think of what that would be

I don't think so, but I also don't think about it. I don't know how to answer that question. They could be like the Oasis, but Oasis only had a few records. We're talking about... Yeah, Charged of the Hips got a catalog. Yeah, they have a catalog, and we stuck by them until Gord passed away. And when he passed away, it was the biggest mourning that this country had gone through in history. Really? I'm not sure how to speak about them also because I'm... I'm in the inner world of that memory. Yeah, yeah, sure. But I love that you're asking about them because it's a band that I can put on right now and play you 17 songs and explain to you why they're all relevant in the world that we're living in. Yeah, I see what you're saying. When you worked with them, was that like a, I mean, you guys obviously had a relationship or was it kind of going in cold? I had a relationship with Gord. We had just finished a record called Secret Path with a friend of mine, Dave Hamlin, who played in the stills. We started this little production duo. Man, let me stop you right there. stills classic one of the most underappreciated vice records releases that shit i i have i have a stills song i think it's called being here i have that on i have that on my running playlist for 10 years great record that's a great record great record they made three incredible records i think and such a talented band and dave and i stumbled into each other's lives through doing this life He was working at a friend's studio where he was just kind of, the stills had broken up, and he was working on a project he had called Eight and a Half. And I was working with a gentleman named Andy Kim, who has written songs like Sugar Sugar with Jeff Berry, Rock Me Gently. He's a Lebanese Quebecois kid that came to the Brill Building when he was 16 years old, and his life changed. So we had met, and I...

Loved him so much that I just said, let's make a looking back album. Let's just go out there and push you forward by emotionally looking back. But he didn't want to sing around me. He's such a lovely gentleman, Andy. He's such a beautiful, beautiful human. But he's also a little kid at times. And he just said, I can't sing in front of you when we're making this. So I tapped Dave Hamlin's shoulder because he's Lebanese Quebecois. getting into production and the two of them went off and started working on vocals and reworking songs with andy and then i started going in the studio with dave and we made a solo record together and of mine called darlings and we were at the bath studios which is the hip studio and gord who i knew just a little bit started to come out and visit us and we said hey let's make a record together And we worked on a project called Secret Path, which we weren't sure what exactly we were working on. And when we finished it, he described to us that this was a record. Sorry about the siren. That's okay. Real life. You're always having a better time than somebody else. You know who said that to me? It was Jose. This gentleman from By Divine Rights said that one time when there was a siren, and he was speaking, and he said, you're always having a better day than somebody else, and I never forgot that. No, that's very good. I won't forget that either. Okay, so listen, anyways, where was I? Oh, yes, we made this record, and then Gord asked if we would come in with the band. I'm not sure the band completely wanted us, but once we got there and we started working, I really believed. They were absolutely wonderful to work with because they were just there to make music. There was no other agenda, and they would just say, what are we doing today? They weren't like, this is how I need it to be, and this is what I want. They obviously had goals, as everybody does, but they were wonderful, and it was such a strange and bizarre time.

to be with this band that you grew up with and loved, and then I would always just try to go. That's why I ask, because that just seems insane. If you really grew up with it, your parents might have listened to this, you know what I mean, kind of vibe, is like a very crazy place to be in. Well, they were very welcoming, and Gord kind of pushed us in as his guys, but then we sort of started to realize there was this, we were Gord's lover, and if we... We had to be very careful about how we dealt with the band and trying to be their lover as we're trying to make this record. But they had been together so long that it was very simple when things clicked to capture what they were capturing because it was just this Velcro glue of melody. So all that Dave and myself and Niles Spencer, who was running the bathhouse and still does, and this is a key player in all these projects, Niles, I just... I've spent over a decade making albums with him aging. He just produced for me. We just found ourselves all taking different roles. And my role might have been going in with the fucking chorus like, you know, just like, I'm going in. And I would get in with these guys and just listen to everything that was going on. And I look back at it and I think to myself, one, how lovely was it that they trusted us to do this? And two, It was only after that we finished that record, not too far after that Lord found out he had a brain tumor. So the timing of it became a monumental moment in my life that I haven't really gotten past and worked with other bands, full records like that since. It's almost as if the gods were saying, here's a band that you're going to produce start to finish. And I haven't. I've worked with this band. Ambagazi, who I adore, but they were the first ones to come in many years later where I thought, oh, okay, I'm going to do this again. And they were also so very welcoming to me. And we just sort of dove in and you try to capture things really quickly. You try to capture moments really quickly. You don't want to spend time sitting around and talking about emotion.

As much as we know therapy is good for that and as much as we know the aspect of self-help and all those things are worthy of communication and conversation. Art, a lot of the times it's like whatever that first feeling is, if we don't catch it, then we're going to lose it. So that was very much how we were trying to approach everything. That's an interesting way to approach production in general because I do think that we have a lot of friends who are producers and songwriters and that whole thing and they talk about how it's such a funny job to go in with someone who sometimes is very famous and have to figure out how to make something together. It's endlessly fascinating to me. It is because you're dealing with not only their art, but their lives and their idea that they're on the back porch of their days. And for me, when I can be like working with Andy Kim, working with when Gord was on his way to the door, we were able to work together and we were able to dive into a record called Introduce Yourself, where he was writing letters through music we were writing together to his loved ones. And it really made me become addicted to the aspect of, I want to work with people who have nothing to lose. They've done what they needed to do. And now they're just trying to create music to go and explain how they feel within this moment in their life and play some shows and not have the weight of the world of their corporation within their bands. or their careers on top of them. It's the most incredible thing to work with people who've been there, done that, and now they're finding peace in the aspect of they just want to play three chords and sing a song. How close are you to that, personally? I think that was how aging came about. I'm not too sure how much longer I'm going to be doing this. Also in the aspect of it's just a different...

There's a different jukebox to it all now. And as I said, a lot of people, they don't think this is a cool thing to say, but I'm happy to be on your podcast. I've seen the people that you've brought on your podcast. I see the guests on your podcast. I'm not a popular person within the world of how things work these days. But I did a lot with a lot of people. I understand the life that I've lived, and I never thought, that I was supposed to have a career in what I was doing. And that's what Andy Kim sort of taught me was it was never supposed to be a career. It's just, as I said earlier to you both, Chris and Jason, it's just a reaction to what you're living. It was hard to imagine broken social scene being a career just in terms of financially, you know, how messy that has all been. And I'm sure you're sick of talking about that. But I heard recently that your dad, does or did do your books for a long time right i just left him i just said dad i can't i gotta go i gotta go to this podcast we're sitting having lunch okay you so you just left him physically you didn't leave him as a client is what you're saying no no no he's still running the show and i think he's running the show one because he's an incredible business he has incredible look on business but also because i needed help 20 years ago And he was starting to retire out of the book industry. And I said to him, just help us out for a little bit. But everybody in the band and the label that I own as well with Jeffrey Medios, Kieran Roy, we all realized what an asset he was. And now nobody in the band wants him to ever go away because he became our biggest protector. And when you have that sort of father figure out there calling the shots when it comes to your money, It's a really comforting feeling knowing that there's someone out there. Feels good. Yeah, exactly. And also, if it's your dad, is there a good chance that he don't take a cut? Well, he reminds me every day of how he could. When the Leonard Cohen story broke, he read all about it, and then he just kind of broke it down. It's like, here's how I could take the same amount of money that the manager took from Leonard Cohen.

He really can see how artists are vulnerable. We're daydreamers. Back in the day, it used to be like, I made a record. I burned 500 CDs. Where are they? They're under my bed. Okay, I get it. We need people to help us. And I think that's what's suffering within the TikTok, Instagram, Twitter world, is that so many people who... decided to devote their lives to breaking other people's dreams, now have their own dreams and their own microphones, yet they're still working at jobs that they're supposed to be focusing on others. And it's interesting to watch the demise of art as that becomes more and more, I believe, the cancer of what we're dealing with within society and art and all the things that make us try to find identity within. who we want to spend our time with. Damn. So no wonder you're getting out of the biz. Yeah, I mean, that's what I was going to say. When you say getting out of the biz, what does that mean? Like, what would you do with your time? Well, he didn't say that. I said that. But he said, I don't know how much longer I'll be doing this for. Yeah, I guess that's true. I guess that's true. You're thinking about it. Yeah, look, I've made a solo record. It's a very personal one. I wasn't sure I was going to put it out. I ended up doing that. And I can only look at what I'm receiving to move forward. I am so grateful for everything that I've had. And I'm especially grateful for everything that I have. It took me a while, as it does, to get here. But I'm here. And I lost my mom in the summertime. And that was my mom. And my mom was my greatest supporter. And she was... She filled every role for me that moms do through the good times and bad. But she saw that I was a struggling kid who was a daydreamer. And at first she thought it was wrong. Like I had problems. And as so many parents do, if their kids are autistic or on the spectrum or feeling different than others. But then she kind of realized it's this kid's got some kind of power and put me.

in the arts world and put me in art school and put me in drama programs. So when my mom died, there's a part of me that thought, I so love making music. I love making music with people. I love the community of music. And I feel very satisfied with what I have done. It's not that I want to get out of the biz. If people allow me to keep doing this, I'll do it. But if people are saying, oh, we're going to, you know. go hang out over here instead, then I'm just grateful that I had their time and I'll go find something else to do where I can try to keep this vibe going of being a person who observes everything in life and tries to put it into some sort of format that helps others. That's all I ever wanted to do because that's all I ever got from music. It helped me. Yeah, me too. It was hard, and it helped me. Just don't start a podcast, and we're good. People told me to do a podcast years ago. Everything in my life, all I want to do is make films, and now I feel like I stand on a platform, and this train just doesn't stop. It just goes by. You don't want to make film. That's the hardest, most expensive. It requires more people than broken social scene. You don't want to do that. I'm doing it. You don't want to do that. I got to do it. No, you know, if I don't do it, then I die saying, I didn't do the thing that I originally wanted to do, which I can't do that. You can't stomach that. I can't be the person. Okay, all right. No, you know when you sit there and you say, oh, I could have done that, or I could have done this, and then you catch yourself saying that, and you think, oh, my God, am I going to become one of those people? But I understand who these people are. Am I going to make a flute album? Yeah, anything can happen. I'm glad he made that record. I am too. I'm glad he made that record because he made that record to remind people to be quiet. And he is one of the greatest rappers of all time. And 17 years later, he said, here's what I think you need. And I know people think they don't need it. But quite frankly, when I pressed play, I was grateful and thought, this is exactly what I need.

especially now i came i've i've come around on it i've come around on it oh really well i brought that up mainly because you were talking about you love when a musician or a band or someone is making somebody making something just because they want to make it outside of commerce and agents and advances and stuff and just like to have the financial freedom and creative freedom to just be like i'm gonna do this and it's not just flutes only It's just like a sick, nice, ambient record to listen to. It's an ambient album, and we need them. We need them more than ever. It's so loud out there. There's so many people yelling at each other, and the loudest person in the room is right, and everyone's going after each other, and there's so much divide, and there's so much awfulness. And Andre 3000 says, here's my flute album. What do you think I'm going to say? I'm going to say, yeah. Andre says, smoke on something real quick. pop this in sir yes sir situations like that i was i guess that i was hearing him talk about it being like what the fuck am i gonna rap about getting a colonoscopy i'm i'm you know what i mean like i have nothing i have nothing to rap about like that's not where i'm at and i was like okay that's a very good because rapping is is probably or hip-hop in general is the hardest genre to age in for many reasons. So I think that he, unlike a lot of his peers, his legacy will remain untarnished by these decisions. I think aging is the hardest genre to age in because what is he going to rap about? There's so much for him to rap about if he wanted to. I think he probably said that line. in a realm of like, well, what am I going to rap about? And we all grabbed onto it and we all made it a TikTok special and all that shit that comes with everyone stating their opinions. Damn, don't come for me, Kevin. Don't come for me. Oh, no, I'm not. It's helpful, Chris. You need to hear this. My arm is on your back. I say this rubbing your back. But what I am taking within the opportunity of you saying that is that it's just aging in general. I know for myself,

The last social scene record, Hug of Thunder, if you guys were to say, okay, let's see what he's talking about, I sang a few songs, but not a lot. And we had a lot of vocalists coming in, a lot of people writing tunes, because I couldn't quite figure out what to sing about at that point. I just couldn't. And I think when you grow older and we're growing older in a time that is, as you know, becoming about so much information, that the artistic mind usually clocks through observation. And observation is sort of down on the list because it's about information. And that's tough to put into a lyrical format. Well, you mentioned, what was that song called? What, Thunder? The album. Oh, sorry, the record was called Hug of Thunder. I just sort of pulled back lyrically. I only had a few jams where I actually sang because it was difficult for me to, And also you have this huge group of people where with this record, Aging, that I just put out, it was easy for me. I was coming up with lyrics very fluently because I was also looking at friends who had left. My mother was quite sick at the time. I found freedom in the idea that I said, oh, I won't put this out, but I'll make it. Because it was the pandemic. And it was about trying to remain occupied through creation in the fall of 2021. looking to go and hang out with Niles Spencer, who I told you about at the bathhouse, and just sort of do the journal. Just say, okay, here's my journal. And I shelved it for two years because I didn't feel like it was necessary to sort of... You made it for you. Yeah, exactly. And I was okay with that, but I had some encouragement. Did arts and crafts give you a big advance? Yeah, they finally opened the checkbook. Here you go. We want to lose this amount of money on your app. No, I'm just kidding. It was Cameron Reed from Arts and Crafts, and then it was Brendan Canning, who's my partner. I sent this record out to some people, and you know life's different when you send stuff to friends and they don't get back to you because they don't listen to it.

Not by their fault, by any means, but they're busy. They're living their lives. They're doing their things. And, of course, as I said about information and emails, you forget. And I've been on that end many times, which I always feel really bad about when people send me albums. And I forget this great band, Zeus, who I love and arts and crafts have put out for years. I only recently saw that they had sent me their record many moons ago. Yeah. And it stabbed me that I didn't. Catch that. And I even wrote back, like, gonna listen tonight. And then it just didn't happen. Gonna listen tonight. That was 2016. But Brendan was... We've all been there. Yeah, we have. Exactly. You know the deal. But Canning... Zeus got over it. I think they did. I have not spoke to them, but they made an incredible record because they're an incredible band and they're extremely talented musicians who deserve more than what they've been given. and what they're getting, which is a story that I see all the time with having this label, Arts and Crafts. It's so interesting to me to see what goes and what doesn't and what's timing is correct and what's timing is wrong. It's a bizarre world. But within this record of aging, just to get back to it so I can finish this so my brain doesn't have an ice cream headache, I decided to put it out, and my man Canning told me to put it out, Brendan. I feel happy that I did. Are you going to play shows? Are you playing shows? I'll be in LA and New York. I'll be in LA and New York. Check your local listings. I want to see both of you at the gig is what I'm going to say. What is the setup for this? Full band? What's the vibe? No, it's me and another gentleman, Danny Ledwell, a lovely guy I met through his wife, Jen Grant. I grabbed him because I know he's a multi-instrumentalist and basically just a very enthusiastic human being who, when you're going to do this raw world of, I'm solo when I usually have 12 to 17 people with me. I needed. It's usually got the polyphonic spree behind you. Let's call Austin back in 2016. We need you. Excuse me, 2016. I think that's 2005. We played a gig with him one time and I remember my ex-wife, I thought, I've lost her.

She joined that band, and I know I couldn't find her at the venue for like hours. And finally I did. She's like, I was on stage. Okay, that makes sense. I'm sure you were. I'm sure you were. Polyphonic Spree and Broken Social Scene, just imagine the mixing board, how much tape is on there. There's no point in sound checking, right? There's not enough channels in the world. Yeah, I mean, we were able to make this band work by not selling people on love. But trying to sell them on, here's what we can give you. Here's what we can cut you into. Here's the songwriting that you will get. We know your career is going well. Would you help us out here? What can we do to help you? And I think that's how we existed longer than bands like that because Polyphonic Spree was so stunning and so beautiful, but I didn't know how they were paying everybody. I just didn't understand it from a financial point of view. I think it probably was an actual cult, and that's kind of how you have to get people feel like they're doing a service. That's the only answer I can find. Not even your dad could fix those books, right? Yeah. He's like, I looked at it every which way. I just don't see it. I'm just waiting for it. It's not a cult until there's a Netflix documentary, and then we'll call it a cult. But for now, I'm just going to call it a band. That's true. Yeah, no, you're right. It's coming down the pipes. Well, speaking of Hugging the Thunder, you have a song on Aging called Awful Lightning. What's going on here? I see a trend with dangerous weather patterns. Is this a coincidence, or is this something that you think about? That was... Oh, God. You're going to hate that. You asked me this. That was... The aspect... No, I won't. You know, just in the realm of... It was for my mom. And it was sort of about the aspect of aging. And I grew up with a great song by Rockin' Hyde. It was Bob Rock. They had the band, the Paolas. And they had this song called Talk To Me. And it was a beautiful song about just being ignored as you get older.

And I always listened to that when I was a kid because I loved their records. And it was a song that somehow made me look at the elders in our life quite differently. And back in 2021, when Niles and I were just constructing these songs very quickly, we went in to make a children's record and we switched it around once we started singing about the aspects of getting older in life. But maybe children don't actually need to hear, but we were trying to do it in a lullaby realm. And I just sort of was singing about the aspect of lightning is so beautiful and so striking and so incredible. And my mother was always such lightning to me, but her body was turning inward on her and folding into a napkin that was taking her mind from her. And I just thought about the sense of awful lightning. And it was where I, and I apologize to answer this question for you because it is a little in the aspect of personal heaviness. It's okay. It's what you do best. I observed her body shutting down. And it reminded me of this rock and hide song where as you get older, you don't become seen. And I always thought there was something really beautiful and truthful about that. I kind of took it from a page from that song. Yeah. Damn. Yeah, I mean, I think about that sometimes. I visualize it as sort of just a giant, just the waves just going in and sucking it back into the ocean. And, you know, 100 years later, it's all forgotten. It's heavy. It's heavy, man. Well, hey, the new one's album in stores now. Check them out. We're hitting the road. Come see us in your city. You guys are lovely. Kevin, it was great talking to you. The highs and the lows of aging.

Available now. When's the LA and New York shows? We're going to try and come out and see one of them at least. Yeah. I'm sorry I don't have the dates. It's January 19th, 20th, and I think sort of 26, 27, maybe in LA. So I'll be in New York first and then coming out. And gentlemen, thank you. Now, can I do something for you really quickly before we go? Please. Sure. Because I wanted to do something since I've listened to your show. But just give me... You don't have to put this on air, but just give me a little breezeway here. I thought I'd do a commercial for you. Please, please. Yes, go right ahead. We're going to give you more than a breezeway. Do you want me to send you a couple scripts? We have a McDonald's ad read that we're overdue on. I wrote something down for you. Oh, okay. Got it. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. It's an honor. When I'm feeling down, I get on that McDonald's app and I go grab my food by skipping the line. I grab my nuggies, I go home, and then I dip them in the Aethex Greens with the 75 Nutrigins while I lay on my Helix mattress and dream of a better world. Shit. There you go. How was that? I mean, the combination of those three things is so twisted that I think it works. Wow. If aging doesn't make me cry, that commercial will. Dipping your nuggets in the AG1? Aging 1? Yeah, AG1. That's what it's called. Does AG1 have a corner on the podcast market? Yes. Because I've heard AG1 a lot. Yes. I mean, some companies just choose. It works for them, and they lean in, and that's how they advertise. I mean, I think Athletic Greens, Jason, that's all they do. Yeah, they've been advertising on podcasts for years and years now. It's definitely. That's all they do. Well, guess who wants to get it? Guess who's about to get it? You're about to get it. Your siren song has been answered by the good folks at AG1. We'll make sure to get a nice little gift package out over there. I feel bad. I did mess it up a little. It might get stuck in customs, but we'll figure out what we can do. We'll see what we can do. I don't know. I know some people. I bet you do. We'll get a grant to get these things over there. I'm a whiz on the laptop. I'll clean it up in post. Oh, good. Thank you.

You put a little auto-tune on aging, which I don't touch personally. It's just a thing that I don't do. So no promises on that, okay? But you got a good clean take. Really quickly, you would be great in auto-tune because you have a very relaxing voice. Now, yes, this is your podcast, but I do believe if you were to go into that Wanderlust world of... self-healing and meditation you would rock and also just to address your auto-tune that was niles when we were making this children's record and i said to him i want to i want some kind of like grandmother mother woman to sing this and he threw me through auto-tune and i can understand why it's so addictive to the people like myself who sing like kermit the frog because it makes you sound like you're this glorious angel from The never-ending story. It makes you sound good. It's so weird. It's not anything I'm used to. A powerful tool. And it's also important, you know, you're like, hey, we're not going to hire another person to join the band. We're just going to auto-tune it, okay? And it's going to be tough for you, Kevin, but we can do it with just solo. All right, we'll listen. We can get it done. Thank you so much for that commercial ad read. Truly an honor. We appreciate you, Kevin. Thank you so much. I appreciate you both. And really quickly, you will see me soon because you and I, The three of us, I'm going to have you in Toronto. I'm going to have you up to my place. I'm going to get you really high, and we're going to listen to the Beastie Boys louder than you've ever heard music before. And when you leave, you will say, I understand it now. Damn, this is Canadian conversion therapy. I promise you. That's a big promise. That's a big, it's a big promise. We're going to take me up to your Clockwork Orange cabin up there. Ontario, and we're going to... Oh, it's beautiful. Don't worry. And I don't get high, so I would probably hire someone to do it for me, but then I would DJ being like, let's go! That's a more fun approach. That's a more fun approach. No, thank you for joining us, and we will talk to you soon. Okay, thank you, gentlemen. Thanks so much. Later, Kevin. Thanks. Bye.