December 1, 2025 • 55 mins
: Join us as Comedy Saved Me host Lynn Hoffman talks with Jeremy DeBardi of Steel Beans, a creative force who’s blending unique style with fresh sonic experimentation, while utilizing a comedic approach to performance. In this comedy interview, Jeremy opens up about his distinctive artistic vision, the creative process behind his new music, and how he’s carving out his own lane in today’s landscape. From the comedic inspiration that fuels his sound to the risks he takes in pushing boundaries, we explore what it means to stay true to your creative instincts while constantly evolving. Steel Beans is developing a following of famous artists in music history including: Lenny Kravitz, Jack Black (Tenacious D), and Jason Momoa and we are sure that list is growing as we speak. Jeremy DeBardi collaborated on his new release with Anderson Paak, and Troy Van Leeuwen from Queens of the Stone Age and he discusses the surprisingly unique influence that comedy plays in his role as an emerging musician. Whether you know him from Steel Beans or you’re just discovering his work, this is an intimate look at an artist who refuses to play it safe.
If this episode of Takin’ a Walk – Music History on Foot struck a chord with you, we invite you to keep the journey going by exploring the many other stories, conversations, and musical pathways waiting in our episode library. Every installment of the podcast opens a new door into the world of music—whether it’s a deep dive into a legendary artist’s creative process, a walk through the overlooked corners of music history, or a compelling conversation with the people who shape the soundtrack of our lives. There’s an entire universe of rhythm, narrative, nostalgia, discovery, and behind-the-scenes insight spread across our past episodes, each one crafted to make your next walk, drive, workout, or moment of downtime more meaningful, more memorable, and more connected to the music you love. So don’t stop here, take a few extra steps and check out the rest of the Takin’ a Walk – Music History on Foot catalog. The stories waiting for you are as timeless, surprising, and inspiring as the songs that have carried you through your life. Keep listening and discover your next favorite episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Comedy Saved Me. What happens when a musician decides that
making people laugh is just as important as making them move.
Today's guest proves that sometimes the best performances are the
ones that don't take themselves too seriously. As I'm watching,
my guest, Jeremy Devardi, is the frontman of Steel Beans,
(00:24):
a band that's as much about entertainment as it is
about music. And while Jeremy may not have a Netflix
comedy special yet, Jeremy brings a comedic energy to the
stage that transforms every show into something unpredictable and joyful.
And he's a performer who understands the connection happens when
you're willing to be playful and spontaneous, but most importantly,
(00:47):
completely yourself. Today we are talking about how humor shapes
his performance, the moments when laughter pulls him through, and
why sometimes the best medicine comes from a killer guitar riff.
Welcome to Comedy Save Me. I'm Lynn Hoffman and this
is Jeremy de VARDI Jeremy from Steel Beans. Welcome to
the show.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
That intro is puts a lot of pressure on me,
but I appreciate it. That's amazing. I don't know if
I've already won articulated like that, but yeah, absolutely, Well
you're very special.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
You are a man who's most known for a song
called Malotov Cocktail Lounge, which I just love rush, and
you once referred to yourself when you are completely solo
and playing every instrument yourself, which I have such mad
respect for. You are a self indulgent, arrogant, one man
band comedian. You do know I have a music podcast
(01:41):
as well. So this is a little confusing because we're
going right down the middle on music and comedy.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Ah. You know, yeah, I would say that's an apropos
description of what the solo show is for sure. But
I think it just comes down to people that some
people are on when they're on on stage, and some
people are always on. And I think that's just my
case is It's like it's just my personality. Yeah, a
(02:08):
lot of the things that people will compliment me on
I can hardly take credit for because it's I'm just like, oh,
I'm like that in the van driving to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
You know, that's really special though, really special. And also
the fact that you're so I mean, you don't even
know what it is, you just do what you do
and people love it.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, that's just it like half of the stuff, Like,
you know, I like to think I'm a you know,
I'm a funny person, but also with me, there's this
blurry line of what I'm doing to intend to be
funny and what is just funny by the sheer absurdity,
Like people will get the laugh and it's not even
(02:51):
the joke. It's just the fact that I happen to
be going so far out on a limb. And that's
what it's like to be in the band is the
band is constantly in some situation where like, you know,
the first take is funny, the tenth take it's not
as funny, and then the twentieth take it's like, all right,
what are we doing? Like people are sweating and going, okay,
(03:14):
we're doing this again, and I'm like yeah, and then
it becomes funny again because you're wearing like a child
size Telemundo superhero outfit and you're in public in front
of people doing something dangerous or illegal, or there's like
cars honking and I'm actually blocking traffic to get this
take where I'm like pretending to hit buy a car
(03:35):
or something. It's like it's never short of it gets
absurd really quick here. You know, the band doesn't know
that when they sign up, because it's not like I
pitch it to him, like, well, it's a band, but
it's also you're gonna be doing like theater, performance arts.
Sometimes there's also some sketch comedy. They just show up
and then I put them through hell, and you can't
(03:56):
help but laugh in the end because I don't know
what he's doing, but he's doing it.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I love that, and any chance that you could do
that for a living is going to be like a
dream come true. And I would love to be a
band member, even if it was just shaken a tambourine.
I want to get into this more detailed with you.
Oh thank you. Let's find out what my job will
be when we come back right after this with Jeremy
de Barti from steal Beans, right after this Comedy Saved Me.
(04:27):
Welcome to Comedy Save Me, Jeremy de Barti. For people
who haven't experienced Steal Beans your incredible bands live, how
would you describe what happens at one of your shows
and what is the energy like not just from the
stage but also the.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Audience for for almost twenty years. When I get up
with the band behind me, it's kind of an it's
more of an orchestrated thing. With the band, it's song
after song, and there may be a theatrical bit I
have planned or I don't have plan that ends up happening.
But in my solo show, where I'm by myself, it's
(05:01):
completely you know, like sometimes thirty percent, sometimes sixty percent
of it is totally free form and anything can happen,
and there's just this like one of my favorite things
in the last couple of years has been taking the
solo show in front of audiences that only know me
from the internet and then finding out really fast, like, damn,
(05:21):
this is such this could go off the rail that
any second, and it does. I take enough risks that
it does fall on its face, and you know, I'm
not doing just solely stand up, but there are times
where I'm improvising long enough that it's riding high and
then it kind of it kind of starts to volom
a little or drag, and then I win everybody back
(05:44):
by twisting the energy and bringing up the tempo or
doing something. And I feel like there's this constant balance
where anytime something goes to it gets a little too
deep or emotional. I have to offset that by doing
something silly or something's funny to take the light. It's
almost like getting everybody to go there's Honestly, the solo show,
(06:09):
I think the presence of it itself is like kind
of a It's confusing and uh, almost intimidating because I
get into it, I'm slamming the drums and then when
I'm done, I'm like, so anyways, and that's like, that's
the dynamic I'm constantly playing with and I avoid toying
with people. The nervous system for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Oh absolutely, because you know that the audience feels for
you while you're up there, so they want to support you.
But if they feel like that you're seemingly bombing or
going some a wry place that they when you give
them the okay to laugh at it, they feel like, oh,
thank goodness.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It's like watching somebody on a tightrope. You're so worried
for them. You're like, oh, this is going to go wrong.
He's going to drop a stick, he's going to do this.
But really I'm just I'm making it look harder than
it is because it's what I do, and it's actually
pretty effortless for me or pretty you know, I'm locked in,
I'm in a flow state. But if something does go wrong,
they find out that I'll just make that part of
(07:10):
the show no matter what. If I die trying, doesn't
matter if I ripped my pants or I mess up apart,
or something goes terribly wrong. I'll just turn that into
the part of show, flip it on its head, and
then make that the joke. And it's like that's just
worked for me, and it's from like, you know, going
on twenty years of stage time. I did these shows
(07:32):
with Tenacious D and then Tool a couple of years ago.
First I went from playing to twenty people or one
hundred people to like sixteen thousand, and Dude, that never
once phased me. I just walked out there and I
felt as comfortable as I would have here in my
room at my house.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, that's what you're making me. You made me feel
comfortable like I was at your house immediately when you
popped on the screen. And I've never met you before,
and you also have a very playful energy about you
with comedy and with not just with your performances, but
just in your personal interactions. So it's very disarming. So
I can only imagine, because I haven't seen you live,
(08:12):
what it's like in that type of setting, and you
painted quite a picture. Was this always your plan or
part of your musical identity or did this develop for
you over time? You mean because you started with music
very young, right, You started like when you were three playing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, I was banging on pots and pans, and my
grandparents put you know, buckets in front of me, and
then when I played the buckets, they put a little
drum set in front of me. And I never had
any lessons. I wasn't no prodigy. Like now on the
internet you see kids that are three and they're like,
but I don't know about it. I wasn't like that.
I was like boom tat, boom tat. I was having
(08:48):
dinner with these people a few weeks ago, and my
grandpa was there and I was just I ah, just
being the sixteen year old, thirty seven year old that
I am, and they looked at him and they joke,
as you always been like this, and he goes, yes.
I would go through my grandma's closet and put on
like these little I called it my tappy shoes. I
don't know what they were, but they're like these elactic
(09:10):
ankle band shoes, and I would tap around and like,
I'm always trying to put on a show or something,
but not into Like I was never an attention horror.
I just I'd be off in my own world, doing
my own show by myself. Anyways, So did.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
You like making people happy and feel good? Is that
sort of a podect?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
That that is one of the meanings in life if
there ever was one. But also again, like so much
of so much of my story is like inadvertently doing things,
you know, Like I feel strange to say this, but
no one else is here to say it for me.
But I have changed some people's lives in the local
(09:50):
you know, art community, and the people that have been
in my band now, which is almost fifty people. I've
seen some of those people go off with a fire
under their ass to really get their thing together, and
people that used to be in the band have gone
and formed their own bands years later. And yeah, I
feel like it has brought some people up. You know.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Well, that's very very cool that you're not only you're
doing it, but you're inspiring others to do it as well.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I try not to soak in it too much
because it'll choke me up. It puts a lump in
my throat to think I'm having a positive impact on anybody,
because I've just been sitting in a bedroom writing song
as a totally self serving addiction for so long now
that when anybody messages me or like I met a
(10:38):
guy at a show in Boston. I met a guy
in London. He's lost his leg in a motorcycle accident
and sold his drums, and then he saw my video.
He started watching my videos and he said, I finally
got a prosthetic and bob drums again. And I'll cry
just talking about it. But that's the craziest thing. You
(10:59):
never when you're sitting in your bedroom just going that
you'll go out and somebody will hit you with that bomb.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You know, that's not an easy thing to take. I mean,
when someone tells you that, what do you even say?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I mean, I try not to tear up, and I
don't know, I don't know. That's such a that's such
a heavy thing to say that. Man. You know, I
can only feel this shift in what was the thing
that I do in my basement or whatever is now
the people to some extent, and if somebody somewhere is
(11:32):
in traffic and I make them smile, it's like, damn,
that's just such a higher purpose for all of this,
rather than just amusing myself.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
It's pretty awesome. You know, a lot of musicians take
themselves very seriously. I've interviewed many of them over the years,
but on stage mainly even more so, what made you
decide to lean in on the humor part and entertain
payment side of performing, because I've really never witnessed anything
(12:03):
other than maybe like a weird awl or you know,
a tenacious d that much.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I think that's an interesting question because for me, I've
never like, I've made some silly songs, but really I've
kind of like separated the or at least over time,
i've separated the songs aren't inherently silly. I'm just silly.
And I think that in the early stages, like two
thousand and five and the early two thousands, I was
(12:30):
playing house shows or my first shows playing in bars.
It kind of takes the pressure off of like, oh
what if I fuck up? Yeah, everybody, I know, I
got everyone to come out my folks are here. You know,
I think that you just kind of start to you
gotta lighten it up, and it's if you mess up,
it's not the end of the world. And having a
sense of humor on stage really bridges that. But it's
(12:53):
a lot of people never get that comfortable, you know, no, and.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's extremely comfortable. To be able to show your weekness
is like just but it's it's got to be so
inspirational to see someone almost appear to fail but then
turn it around and rise like a phoenix. It's it's
like that old story that but you do it all
in one show, as opposed to an entire movie where
the good guy wins.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
The dally, you know. I mean, here's a major shift
for me is that when I had a trio in
two thousand and six or seven and I was first
doing these shows, I would tell jokes and joke with
the audience, and my talking between songs and the rest
of the band would be kind of like adjusting their
their knives and kind of like al right, we're gonna
(13:37):
play a song, and they'd get frustrated, and that would
really piss me off because I'm like, it's like, come on,
just let so the pressure of them like, come on,
let's play a song. Well, when I started doing the
solo act, I was like, oh, I can just do whatever.
I'll stop in the middle of the song because someone's
doing something distracting and then just rip on them or
(13:58):
whatever feels like it's going to be. And I felt
that freedom, like, Oh, in the solo show, I can
just do whatever I want. There's no pressure of the
band going come on, man, let's play a song. Also
a good A good side note here, and I think
that every comedian can relate to this is that I
struggled to get the band in front of audiences and
(14:21):
to get us gigs for so long that when I
started doing the solo show, it was kind of immediately
really loved, like twelve years ago, and I kind of
hated that even though people I liked that people liked it.
I was like, well, I've been trying to do the band,
what the fuck? So then I leaned into that and
abused that, and I kind of went Steve Martin like
asshole alter ego, like, oh, you guys didn't pay enough
(14:43):
to see me. And I kind of leaned into that,
and it was kind of funny because I could get
away with anything. I could get away with murder. I
was late. I was having balloons on stage and some
of them were heliums, some of them were nitrous, and
I'd huff those and then play a song. And there
was this show at Tim's Tavern Seattle, I'll never forget.
(15:05):
I go and everybody be sure to tip me. Be
sure to tip the bartenders, but tip me first, because
I'm playing drums, guitars, singing at the same time. They're
just pouring liquid into a bottle. I could do that.
I could do that all day, So tip them, but
not before you tip me. And the people at the
bar were like, I love this guy. I was like, God,
I could get away with any of it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's so fun. I'm jealous. That is the coolest thing ever.
Do you see comedy as music as separate skills that
you're combining because of what you sort of created, or
they totally intertwined for you at this point, music and comedy,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
That's a good question for me. They're inseparable. I don't
even really think about it. But sometimes there's just huge
there's so many different kinds of humor, and I really
love all of them. There may be a couple that
I lean into or something, but I really I like
all the different forms of comedy. And sometimes the joke
is within a song, like if you get into full
(16:04):
nerd level, like like Steely Dan, for example, or Zappa,
the jokes aren't always literal or verbal. There'll be a
joke in the arrangement or the notes and they're like,
oh man.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Wait, wait, wait wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, I'm interrupting.
Steely Dan is one of my all time favorite bands,
and you're telling me there was comedy mixed in with
Steely Dan.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's it's very dry. Yeah no, I think that Donald
is throwing in little uh dry sardonic kind of you know,
what's the word. What do the British fuckers say? Cheeky
little things all over the place. And if it wasn't
in the yeah, yeah, I'm the lead.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Now we're gonna listen all over again.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Man out as songs like Everyone's Gone to the Movie,
which is like dark humor.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I never knew, never even picked up on it. Not one,
it's just love, the melodies, the harmonizing the song.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, they've they've got all kind of shit. I mean,
the more you dig into it, he's kind of he's
a funny guy. But I think those guys take themselves
pretty seriously, and that's fine. They should, they're incredible. But
I've always really gravitated towards I'm a person. I totally
separate the art from the person. You could be the
(17:24):
worst person in the world, but if you make art,
I'll be like, ah, that's great, because they're totally different.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, I love Zappa because he's a guy that's so qualified,
but at the end of the day, he doesn't take
himself seriously at all. And he'll do something jazz and
then two minutes later he'll do a doo wop song,
and then he'll do he'll do a heartfelt like love
song vallad and then something extremely silly right after that.
And that's like that kind of steered me into direction.
(17:52):
It's like, Okay, I don't have to. When I was
in high school just learning how to write songs, I
looked into like Echoes by Pink Floyd, and I go, damn,
how do I overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air.
How can I ever be that deep or poetic or
that's so cool, and it just kind of stunted me,
like I don't know what to do now, because I'm
(18:14):
you know, this is like that's so good that it
actually kind of it fucked me up. But then I
downloaded I downloaded some Zappa songs and I just heard
how like serious the music was but unfurious the lyrics were,
and I was like, oh, I don't have to be
that deep or serious all the time. I can just
have fun with this and not, you know, not every
(18:35):
song has to be some tear jerker with crazy level lyrics.
So that was very freeing.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Two Lost Souls swimming in a fish bowl.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and that's so yeah, that's insane.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You're not the first person to blend music and comedy,
but the way you're doing it is very rare and
unique and fun. And I can't wait till you come
through town so I can come your show.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I have a lot of songs out there that are
released that are silly, but i'd say now as I'm like,
you know, approaching forty, I've never written more mature, heartfelt
songs in my life. But if you see me live,
you're getting those songs. And some of those songs are
I hold very dear And I'll choke up and try
(19:21):
not to cry during some of those songs. But you're
getting the songs, but you're getting me. And that's like,
I'm gonna dick around and do something silly. I can't
help myself. I've had critique over the years from so
many people that'll see the show and go, you know,
maybe you should just do songs, and I'm like, yeah,
but I'm not doing a It's not that I'm trying
(19:44):
to do a bit. I'm just being myself up there
and it comes out silly. Sometimes that's all right.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, Jeremy, I ask a lot of comedians this question,
and you just hit on it. I'm going to ask
you the same one. Do you think more of us
need to laugh at ourselves? Is that an important thing
for us to be able to do as humans, to
not only look inward, but to laugh at ourselves.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah. Life is so silly, and no matter how hard
your times are, it's like, that's kind of my thing.
And I think that I saw that from my dad
and some of the people that inspired me, is that
you could be having the worst day of your life,
you have to be able to laugh at it. Otherwise
you're done because sulking about it and all that it's
(20:29):
not going to do anything for you. And that's my way.
And if I'm ever around the band or anybody that
gets to see it firsthand, I'm kind of proud that
they get to see fucking how to really do it,
because I'll be with the band or anybody in the
wheel fucking come off like could be literally and how
I go, yeah, we're making damn good time though, or whatever.
(20:49):
You know. It's like, And I'm gonna work with a
lot of like I'll work with people five ten years
younger than me, and I'll see them get so work
up and go, oh man. I'll go, hey, it's fine,
it's fine, and they're like, oh no, but this went
wrong and that's fucked and we're laying I'm like, we'll
(21:10):
get there. It's gonna be the best show you've ever played,
or it won't. It's still gonna be fun. I just
tell people have fun. I work the band and I go,
they'll go, hey, all right, So I'm leaving at ten, Well,
midnight comes and I go, you got one more in you?
And these guys are like falling over sleepy, and I go,
let's run in two more times. I build it all up,
(21:30):
but then when the show actually comes, I'm like, whatever,
do it doesn't matter, you know, Like I just I
want them to do their work and feel comfortable so
that when they're on stage, they're not thinking about everything
they do and it just they get in that flow
state and just do well and they're not stressed about it.
But it's the hardest switch to turn off for people,
I think is to not worry. If you're self aware
(21:52):
enough to not take yourself seriously and be able to
laugh at yourself, I think that's the thing that will
really carry you, especially in comedy. Is like, although I
think that there's nothing funnier than like guy that thinks
he's the shit kind of comedy, I think that like
Kenny Powers is like a good example of that kind
of brain of comedy. Is somebody that doesn't laugh at themselves,
(22:13):
They take themselves seriously, they don't have that awareness, and
then you watch them fall in their face. It's like
that's a timeless device right there. You know. Sometimes we're
all that guy and you know.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
What you're saying is you're an optimist eternally and also
looking inward doesn't just help you as a musician or
a comedian. It can help you in life, Yeah, in
anything in.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Life, absolutely really yeah. And I think that where I
rest in like the craft of songwriting, which is truly
my life. You know, I consider myself a writer before
anything else. I write songs every day, and the science
and the craft of that and the spiritual nature of
that is like I live for it. I'm like a
junkie for it's it's literally it can be problematic, But
(22:59):
I think that a comedian or a writer, the line
between these two forms of art is that you're figuring
yourself out all the time, and then you put her
under a glass case and you move on to the
next thing. And I'm finding out all the time that
the better I get at my craft, the more I
can articulate something that maybe I never vented, that was
(23:21):
from thirty years ago. And I think the comedy is
the same way. There's a certain vulnerability to it, all
that vulnerable vulnerability.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Nice job.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I'm not usually I'm not usually awake at this hour.
That's why this is my seventh shot of espresso.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Well, that makes sense. Comedians usually are working late into
the night, especially musician comedians, you got a lot going on.
You don't just walk on stage. You got to bring
all the instruments and the tech and the gear and
the aw the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh, let me tell you, that's a lot. It's crazy.
It's crazy all these years. Like sometimes, the best idea.
I don't want to discredit all the stuff I do
that I plan out and put a lot of work into,
but some of the things that people still bring up
the memorable moments of past shows was an idea that
I'm an hour late to the show I forgot I
(24:09):
even have one, or I'm driving there, I open the trunk,
I start to unload the gear, and I see a
mannequin head or rubber iguana, an all deflated birthday balloon,
and some a bag of novelty canoes. And in the
time that I've carried my stuff in, I go, I'm
going to bring the iguana out to the audience and
(24:31):
it's going to be his birthday. We'll have the birthday balloon,
and then I'll have everyone play Happy Birthday with those
cheap kazoos while petting it. And then I always go,
I'm gonna need those kazoos back by the way, because
I got a AIDS clinic I do on Thursdays where
we use those or something that was that was the
thing I used to do.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
But you just came up with that when you pulled
that out of the car as you're walking in every day.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Like I had some jumper cables, jumper cables in my
trunk and some mannequin head and I did a show
that like I have no setlist, a love of the
time in the solo show, and so I was like,
I'm gonna hook the jumper cables up to the front
of the bass drum and then to this guy's head
and then at some point in the show improvise a
bit where I don't know. It's like, yeah, it's what
(25:17):
can I make out of what I have with me?
And I think that if you expand on that, that's
kind of the perspective of like, that's how I see
the world, is that you become an executive producer for
everything around you, every single thing in this room, every
human This is my world. You're just living in it,
and you're all in my play. It's like, what do
(25:37):
I decide is art? It's not just paint and a
palette and a canvas. It's like that iguana head, this
melody I've been kicking around, and a catch phrase I
learned on a construction site ten years ago. It's like,
all of these are all elements and odds to be combined
into something, and that's how abstract people should look at art.
But instead they're like, well, I got to watch a
(25:58):
how to video and I got a buy a guitar.
I gotta do open mics. It's like, no, you don't
just quit being inhibited and just fucking get weird. Do it?
Do it?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Get in touch with your weird side. Everyone has to
be a little bit weird.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
You will be right back with more of the Comedy
Saved Me podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Now I'm going to change the subject a little too,
a little more serious. Can you think about maybe because
you seem so happy and fun loving, but I can't
imagine that there hasn't been strife in your life. There
is in everybody's life at one time or another. Is
can you think about a time in your life that
was a little bit difficult and how humor helped you
get through it, Or when you're going through something heavy,
(26:48):
like you know, how do you process it? Does it
through music? Is it through writing? Is it comedy? Is
it going for a bike ride?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Oh? I think like any American man, I shut it
down and not face it whatsoever. But that's where art
comes in, because ten years later I can make a
song about it. And as I'm getting older, I feel
more and more comfortable with talking about anything and kind
of venting, and I'll sit down at the piano and
make something and then when it's done, I'll go, man, like,
(27:16):
I can't believe I wrote that. Like I I think
the reality is is the way that my body works
is my defense mechanism is Like it's like self numbing
to a point where I may be still figuring out
how terrible my life actually was through writing songs about it.
You know. I think that's the thing is all of
(27:38):
my strength are built out of weaknesses, whether I realized
it or not. My parents split up when I was two,
so my inner voice is still intact from being a child.
Because I'd be off dancing to jungle Book or something,
listening to my inner voice and creating and making life fun.
(27:58):
I didn't realize what I was doing, but I was
creating this independence that it's still what I live by,
you know, and I've never lost, at least not in
the last ten years or so, because music and art
always guides me back.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
It's a really roundabout long way to answer the question.
But you know, I look at a lot of people
I know and people that I see out there, and
I go, my life has been way harder than that guy,
and he sure complains a lot more. I just I
feel like I try not to talk about it because
I don't want to be a downer, but it's you know,
(28:34):
people got to see the other side of the token,
like I'm such an optimist and I'm such a I
want to be happy because my shit has been so rough, honestly,
you know. And there's a lot of people that grew
up in a suburb in the middle of nowhere that
their life has been perfect. They all write the status
music because insand they want the pain. But me, man,
(28:58):
I want to write happy music. I've already I've already
seen sad shit, Like there's already enough sad music in
the world. So whenever I write something deep or emotional
or kind of sad ish, I wanted to have an
impact in a meaning that's that's not shallow like it
has to be. It has to be timeless in a
way that I can feel like. It's not a woozy
(29:19):
saying it. You know a lot of emotional music out there,
they're just woosies. And I want to write stuff like
I was sitting here in this room and I just
thought a few years ago, I thought, man, there's gonna
be a day where I die and my son is
left without me. And that just is like a paralyzing thought.
So you know, I wrote some songs in that mindset.
You would never know because they don't sound as sad
(29:41):
as that would imply. But that's the whole thing is
is finding you a way to put sugar on the
medicine of life. And that's where comedy brings all this
stuff together. It's like if you can't laugh or you
take stuff so seriously. I live like I could die
next week. So what am I gonna do? Save my money? No,
I'm gonna buy that guitar, I'm gonna buy that keyboard.
(30:01):
I'm gonna drive around with no real aim of where
I'm going, just to listen to music. And I think
that the only way to really live is to live
by that you know.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It's a great It's first of all, it's very selfless
the way that you attack writing songs. But I would
like to coin a new phrase with you. Maybe you
can use it the Steely Dan effect. You hear something
you think is so serious but you don't realize it,
or the opposite comedy and it's actually really telling the job.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I think that it speaks volumes to the fact
that Steely Dan were masters of music and their craft
and of jazz, but as people they were silly. So
it's like, where does the personality peak through in the music?
What we go as far back as Cheech and Chong
and then Fire signed Theater and then for me in
the nineties in grade school, I was listening to the
(30:50):
Adam Sandler records were amazing. I just went and re
listened to They're All Gonna Laugh at You. Honestly, some
of those bit hit way harder. Now. The thing is,
there are people that write really heartfelt songs, but I'm
never I'm not always convinced that it's sincere and if
they take themselves really seriously, that's kind of a giveaway. Like, well,
(31:14):
I'll listen to Mark Lanagan and when it's a really deep,
profound emotional song. I really feel it, and I'm like,
I believe it. And when somebody's singing on stage, like
I like to know that guy's been through hell. You know,
I think there, you know what I mean? Like, I
think the emotional music, emotional music that's written by like
(31:35):
a diverse person, Like I think that the future. I
think the future of of man on Earth is going
to be a guy that can run a chainsaw and
kick your ass and is masculine, but it's also completely
emotionally like I feel you. Yes, the soft muscleheads. I
don't know what it is, but I've never felt more
(31:56):
in touch with that in my life. And it's like,
I'm an artsy fend me weirdo, but dude, I also
mill lawns and pick up a mower. The older I get,
the more comfortable I am with being masculine, it's like
that's okay, but never, but never, just don't be a dick,
you know.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
No, it's you know what, You're so right? I think
it's like you're going at it from the opposite way,
but it makes perfect sense either way, because women do
need some type of depth in there, so that you
can have a conversation because we like to talk about
deep stuff, but we also want the guy who can
pull the chainsaw and go take care of business. So
(32:36):
you know, it's a wonderful combination and funny enough. Now
in twenty twenty five, it's actually okay to talk about
your feelings if you're a guy, and it's not a turnoff.
I don't think from women.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Not of the construction site. I think there's still maybe
a little behind out in the general world of man.
But I always live this dual life because that'd be
at home writing songs and like I'm practically shakes here
in my basement and I'm a I'm like a I've
been with like ten people in my life, and I've
always just been in relationships, and I'm like this romantic
(33:10):
I want to shove all this stuff on the counters
of the kitchen, shove that under into the cupboards, make
it look nice, and then go use my food stamps
to get like some kind of a pasta thing. And
then I'm like playing acoustic guitar, you know what I mean.
That's the life I'm I'm leading. But then I also
go to work on a construction job site. In a
(33:31):
flannel and I'm lifting this shit and you're like kind
of with the boys and everyone's really vulgar, and I
can connect with that. But there's also part of me
living this dual life where I'm like, yeah, I know
what you mean, but I don't at all, Like you know.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You have no idea, but you just but it looks
good and it relates. I mean, if people think that
you hear.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
There's a point of man show where I'll connect and
then it falls off where it's just like kind of
you know, SARTs and woman and I thing something and
then I'm like, all right, that's but I grew up
with a single mom and and a little sister and
a you know, so it's like there's there's also that
side too, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Well, what can I ask, what was the most ridiculous
thing that's ever happened during a Steel Beans show?
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Oh, you're rubbing your hands together. You've got a good one.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's so it's so vast and nebulous. I honestly, god,
the most absurd thing to happen in my show is like,
what's the windiest wind at a hurricane or something? I Mean,
there's been some crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
The wiest wind of a hurricane.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
There's one time when this is not even that crazy,
but for the people that were there, it was. I
got a text in the middle of a show that
and by the way, this is like a small venue
where I get two three hours to do whatever I want,
so it's not like a thirty minute set whatever. But
I get a text that like, I thought that my
girlfriend was going into labor, and I go, I think
(35:01):
we're having the baby now. So the whole venue rushed
up and all grabbed my stuff and we all crammed
it into my little saturn ion. It's like drum set, keyboard,
all this stuff, and now ruy thol over and I
went to the hospital and it was like a fault alarm.
Oh no, but I've also done here's the thing. He's
like people told me for years back in the day,
like kind of remind me of Andy Kaufman a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
I didn't really see that at the time, so I
was like, huh, I guess thanks. I love Andy, but
I didn't see the connection. And now years later I
kind of get it. It's pretty in your face that
steeled beans or salmonella records, which are kind of like synonymous.
It really is such an inside joke that sometimes it's
(35:45):
only inside to me. And now I realize, like what
they meant by that. Like I've done shows where I
responded in the email. One time, h No, I'm not available.
This guy offered me a gig. I looked at the bill.
It was like Country America con artists, and I said,
I'm not available. But these guys staying in my house
from Nashville are a legit country duo. I'm sure they'd
(36:07):
love to do it. This is perfect. So then my
friend Zach and I was a great comedian a great songwriter.
We both went as these characters from Nashville and talked
in an accident. We came up with our whole backstore.
We wore our western best and we went in there
and like maintained it the entire night, telling everybody there
we're from Nashville, the owners of the play, whoever it was,
(36:30):
or like, well, thank you kindly, and it's called the
We called it the Runny Nose. Bros.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
You are killing me. Did you come up with that
on the spot when the call came in and literally
went with it from that minute on.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah, that is insane. We carried this song the whole time,
and there's even a moment that we're talking to somebody,
she's like, oh, yeah, I'm from down by wherever, and
we we looked up in a neighborhood, so we're like, yeah, yeah,
he's actually born in Bowling Green. But like we were
(37:03):
practicing our access three in the morning, we get into
his little tiny car and we close the doors and
we go and we're just dying because it's like we
just have this, you know. But it's always been something
like that. I'll call the baseball stadium and just make
some shit up and pretend I'm some other dude and go, yeah,
we really want to get this Steel Beans group in
here to just perform something in the center of the field.
(37:26):
It's like the inside joke is it's it's such an
onion layer. I do jokes all the time that are
relative to something we've been joking about in the van. Yeah,
I do this all the time, and I'll throw it
out there and I know that a couple people laugh
just because it's silly, but the band, they're getting it.
I'm like playing to them, and that happens all the time. Anyways,
I'm gonna stop talking about that.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
No, it's awesome. I mean it's like, you know, that's
like a letterman. Uh. I was trying to figure out
was that a Letterman or Seinfeld thing? Where you can
bring it back like the initial joke, and then you
can bring it back around in the end too, and
everyone gets it.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Right, right. I think those call those those callbacks are great,
and throughout my solo show, I kind of do that
a lot. If somebody, if somebody does something that stands out,
or I'll do these I'll build a song from scratch
and I'll ask for people to call out the weirdest
thing they can think of, and they'll be like centaur, platypus,
tits tractor, and I go, what kind of song is it?
(38:23):
They'll go it's a reggae, it's a metal and I'll go, okay,
it's a reggae song. It turns into a metal soone
and it's about a centaur and a break and I'll
kind of like fire on these cylinders and hammer back
all these things they just said, and I'll even impress
myself if I can pull it off. But then forty
minutes later, I'll like bring it back around to the
centaur and tell a story about them or something. You know,
(38:44):
it's and the plan. It always feels like bonus points.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
It's awesome. I mean, I've never heard did First of all,
can we just rewind real quick from that last question
I asked you. You said they called you to book you,
and you said, no, but I have a country band here.
And then did they know that was you coming to
the venue? Who booked you? Or did they think you
were the match fie band?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
No, dude, it's always something like that with us. Let
me tell you. We just recently went on a tour
down the West Coast and I go, guys, I took
my bassis Sean and a new drummer we've worked with
West and I go, here's the thing. We're gonna wear
the reds of our dogs beetle suits every day, not
(39:29):
on stage, but on all of our off days. So
we drove fourteen hours to San Francisco from here. We're
wearing black to black tie and aviators walking into a
gas station in the middle of nowhere, and we kind
of look at each other and people are like, what
the who the fuck are these guys? So every single
day off days, travel days and even when we'd load
(39:51):
into the venue, we'd be dripping sweat, loading the shit.
But we're in our black ties and our matching black
dark aviators, just looking like secret service everywhere we went.
But then before we go on stage, I would change
into the other clothes so people like they couldn't figure
us out. Dude, I brought all my fake plants. So
I bring all these fake plants with us a lot
(40:12):
of the time, so they can see us coming in
with fake plants, a leaf blower suitcase. We're in the suits.
They're like, what the fuck band is playing tonight? You
know that is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I can't even imagine anyone listening to this who's not
waiting to find out when steel Beans is going to
be playing at a venue near them, because you just
don't know what's going to happen next. I need to know.
Now two questions, and then I think I might let
you go. Now I have three more. But what do
you think music and comedy have in common at their core?
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Well, of course, there are forms of expressing yourself, and
I think that there's something that it takes a law,
It takes a long time to really get good at it.
I see a lot of musicians or comedians kind of
learned the beats or the form and they can imitate
a song, but it takes a long time to get
good at it where it's like, oh, this is real,
(41:11):
this stands up there with the greats. You know. It's
like I see anything comedy a lot now too. Because
of the Internet. We have so many people getting videos
that are on stage and they kind of know the
timing and the phrasing, but they're writing just isn't there.
And I'd say the same for a lot of young
bands that bless their heart, Like I don't want to
(41:33):
discourage anybody, but there are a lot of bands that
I'll see and I'll go, all right, I really wish
these guys well. But you know what, go in your
basement for another five ten years and come back when
you're Hendrix. You know, that's the self awareness that a
lot of people are lacking, because it's that Dunning Fruger effect.
(41:53):
You don't realize how good you are because you're not
qualified to understand what the quality is, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And how to even achieve it.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah, I think that's the real correlation between comedy and
music is that you have to work on this a lot,
and you have to write all the time, you know,
like the old saying, and this is one of my
favorites is help me with this if you remember. But
it's like if I don't write for two days, I notice,
if I don't write for a week, the audience notice,
(42:23):
I'm messing that up. I believe it's Steve Martin. But
like I really think like that. It's like, you gotta
stay sharp and stay up on this. And I think
comedy is really hard because that's like my solo show.
I cannot practice it at home. I don't sit and
play drums and guitar at the same time. Ever, the
last time before this tour was almost two years ago.
(42:47):
I may do it here and there, yeah, but it's
never my goal because it's a show that relies on
having the people there. It's like trying to do a
stand up set in your bedroom. You can stand there
and practice the things, but you got to the room
and like in real time, kind of carry it a
little bit, make it, do it for yourself and stick
to what you like, but you also have to kind
(43:08):
of keep everybody in it. And it's this perfect, this
perfect balance between like selflessness and narcissism or something where
you got to believe in yourself so much. I know
I'm good, but then you also have to connect just
enough to keep people keep people in. But it's a
slippery slope to be in the arts because everybody is
(43:30):
really right on the edge of being called that. But yeah,
one thing that happened to me over the years, for sure,
and I mentioned it earlier, is that switching to the
solo show and getting a good reaction. I played to
empty rooms for so many years, I started getting a
little bit of that loathing for the audience, and so
by default I do these shows in the middle of
(43:50):
nowhere to pay my rent, like one hundred and fifty
dollars for three hours at a bar in the middle
of the country, and so many people are just like
eating a burger, drinking, they're not even paying attention to
the music. That I kind of learned to like load
the audience and the audience of the enemy, and they're
the target. And so that became kind of like the
default of the show is kind of not trashing the audience,
(44:13):
but like I'm against them. They're they're the they're the enemy.
Until people are paying attention, there will be three people
over here that are paying attention. I start playing to
them and like talking them up, and I'm like celebrating them,
and then I'm just ripping like, Hey, I was fucking
guy over here.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
And then the rest of the audience kind of pulls
in with, you know, when they go, oh, wait, something's
going on over here. You said narcissism. I think it's
just a hell you have to have a healthy ego. Yeah,
but I don't think you have. You don't have to
be a narcissist, but a healthy ego. And also what
else did you say? Oh? The enemy? Uh, what a
great idea. You know, if they're the enemy, then how
(44:51):
can you fail? Because that and you also have to
deal with all the things that are happening that are
unknowns at the same time.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Well, I think that, you know, Bill Hicks and George
Carlin two of my all time favorites. They kind of
displayed this for us in such a classy way that
like they clearly are exhausted with the human race and
they're just over it, yep. And they have such a
good way of painting that, and I like really connect
with that because I love people and I'm fascinated by them,
(45:20):
but like, god, you know, these days it's like a
comment section is what we'll like. I'll look at my
comments on Facebook and it'll be like fifty subtract subtract
fifty from the IQ of what the comments would be elsewhere.
Oh and it's like, oh my god. It's like, you
(45:40):
guys are the reason I go on stage, and my
default is ripping the audience. You know, and you deserve it.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
The keyboard cowboys who are fearless because they're nameless and faceless. Ye,
in a world that can feel really really heavy, speaking
of which, because that really does add to it, which
is why I try to stay off social media as
much as possible, because I do believe it is really
the worst version of yourself. It's great for business, but
not for humans, for people I don't know, But in
(46:06):
a world that can feel really heavy, what role do
you think entertainers like you play? You know, people who
are deliberately You're deliberately going out to try to make
other people smile and heal.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
You're you're sure on time, but you're hitting me with
these really profound questions that are I can't answer that
without giving deep But on a personal level, our role
is to fulfill our own journey to be the best
artist we can be, and that's the end of the story.
But when it comes to being public and our role
(46:40):
is to uplift people, and it's it's you know, I'd
love to make some money someday, but that's really not it.
I can make money a lot of ways. At the
end of the day. It's like, I want to be
so I want to be proud of myself and impress
myself by coming a long way and being good at
what I do. But I want I want to create something.
(47:01):
It's a tricky question because I make everything for myself,
but I know that there is an audience of like
minded people where that overlaps and they'll enjoy it. I
think that the role of the artists is the same
as it was in the medieval days of jestures and
muses or whatever. Is that I have my problems, you
(47:21):
have your problems, and I have these songs I worked
really hard on. And there's these business and all this
bullshit of the booking and the loading. But then once
I get on stage, or any band gets on stage,
you know, the people in the audience for a good
thirty minutes or an hour, they forget all their problems
and they shut them off, and you're the distraction. To you,
(47:44):
you're reminding them what life is really about. It's like
smiling like there's no tomorrow and having a good time.
And that's like, that's the deepest end of public performance
is that people got a babysitter, they went and sound parking,
they slept all the way into your place and did
all this stuff, and then while you're on they can
forget about their problems if you're doing it right. And
(48:06):
I think that's the role of any performer.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
If someone's going through a rough patch right now, what
would you tell them about the power of laughter? Go ahead?
I feel like it's a game show all of a
sudden there on the East Coast.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Yes, you said go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
Good And I'm from Boston originally, so I'm surprised it didn't.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
You know. I love Buffalo sixty six where goes one
two tree Tree, and now I love counting to Tree.
Remember to be able to laugh at yourself, you know,
it's like yep again. There are some moments where I'll
be like, I'll be committing to some premise that is
so ridiculous. And not worthwhile, or wearing something hideous and ridiculous,
(48:52):
and I'm dragging the band or the audience along with
me to make this big leap, and it's like I
could take it so seriously, but then at some point
I laugh with the audience laughs, and it's not even
because of the joke. It's because of how far I'm
trying to go to make this thing work. That is
just such such a long shot that's not really worth it.
(49:14):
And it's like being able to find the humor in
anything is That's always been one of the things for me,
is you don't you don't always know where the joke
is because sometime like I put on you know, like
for example, the silver spandex onesie the silver face paint
in that wig, like that's not that crazy where I
(49:34):
come from, Like infant, that's my go to when I
can't think of what to wear. I have those, and
the silver is like a metallic powder and it takes
two minutes. I go, I don't know what to wear,
so all default to that, and I kind of forget
what I'm wearing, right, I'll forget that I'm even wearing that,
And I'm up there and I'm doing a drum solo
(49:55):
and a guitar solo at the same time, and then
when it sits over, then I'll make a joke and
then I'll remember what I'm wearing. And it's just layers
of not taking yourself seriously upon layers. It's like the
I take the craft of music really seriously, and I
take the uh in the face of music and and
(50:15):
all who stand before me. I want to create something
that stands up to that and honor the seriousness of
the craft. But I never take myself seriously. No. I mean,
I think I look pretty cool, but I'm not really trying. Well.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
If you want to know what he looks like, go
to silvertone guitars dot com, because there's a picture of you.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Oh really in.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
That outfit you're describing online there. Yeah, so you did
you didn't know?
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Oh yeah, Oh thanks guys, it's silvertone.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
No problem. Did Did comedy save you?
Speaker 2 (50:49):
Oh yeah? Comedy has saved me, and it saves me
over and over again. If you can't laugh, then you're
down bad. You know. At this point it is really
hard to get me to physically laugh. I feel like
a stone, you know. I mean, I've just like seen
a lot or something, but it's got to really tickle
me in the right ways. I'll make little I'll make
(51:12):
a comedy sketch or a promo video for a show
that's funny. It doesn't physically make me laugh because I'm
experiencing my own thing, but as soon as I show
it to somebody else, I'll kind of laugh when they
laugh for some reason. It's like contagious like that. Yes,
it's strange about your own thing that you're creating, and
then like studying where people laugh and what they find
(51:35):
funny about. You know. I think that every comedian probably
suffers from that because you can't You can like be
aware like oh that's funny, but it doesn't like make
you laugh gut laugh, you.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
Know, totally. I mean, And can I give you a
quick example. My best friend Scott would tell me a
story about something that happened to him in his childhood
that was horrific with like his dad or his mom,
and the way he would tell the story, I would
burst out laughing in the end, and then he would laugh,
but then he would go, no, but that was serious.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
You know, yeah, if I love that, Like.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
You know, I was climbing up a tree to get
away from my father, and you think this is funny.
This scarred me for life.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
You know, that's the thing. That's the that's the key
right there, is being able to laugh at all of
that stuff. It's like, you know, everybody when they grow up,
they reach a certain age where they take mushrooms and
they think about everything their parents ever taught them, and
they go my parents were literally like, I'm in my
twenties and my parents had me what I was like
(52:37):
me right now, like they hardly know what the fuck
they were talking about. That's just shit that other people
told them. And you kind of reevaluate everything you've been
told and you're like, all right, half of the stuff
is maybe not correct. So I'm gonna rebuild and be
my own person and just kind of take the good
and then you know, filter out the shit that maybe
(52:58):
people were just making it up and going along.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
You know, yeah, that that is, in a nutshell, what
we're supposed to do, right, take all the best qualities
and then leave all the worst. And there's no book written,
so everyone's practicing.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
Most people do the opposite. They're like, okay, so I'm
gonna drink heavy, and that is.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Smoke copious amounts of marijuana. Oh my goodness, Jeremy DEBARTI
I don't want to let you go. Give me one more,
one more question. What's next for steel beans? Where can
people find you? See you experience you immerse themselves in
all things.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
You well, you do yourself a favor. Follow me on
all platforms. I'm mainly on an Instagram, but I'm trying
to get people on the YouTube channel, YouTube dot com,
slash Salmonella records, I'm on Twitch or whatever. I'm not
(53:53):
really good at it. Get them on socials and see
me do something over the next month before I smash
my phone and get back on the road. You know,
I just I just head on an album. I'm working
on the next one. We're going to be getting back
on the road soon, trying to get out to the
UK and Europe and the East Coast as soon as possible.
So really, right now, we're just waiting for the time
where it's safe in my rear wheel drive van because
(54:16):
in the you know, it's it's kind of random. The
mountain passes will get snow, so I want to be safe.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
It's been such a pleasure. To have you here. Really,
I mean, what a refreshing conversation with like just such
a real human being, but who's also going out there
and actually you're saving people with your comedy, not just yourself.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
Oh, thank you, I hope so yeah, and if that's okay,
but I think anybody paying attention it'll find the right people.
And yeah, man, thank you so much for having me.
I will keep talking forever.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
So Jeremy Debarty, Steele Beans Comedy, save Me, Thank you
and all the best to you and yours.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
Thank you so much,
Comedy Saved Me. What happens when a musician decides that
making people laugh is just as important as making them move.
Today's guest proves that sometimes the best performances are the
ones that don't take themselves too seriously. As I'm watching,
my guest, Jeremy Devardi, is the frontman of Steel Beans,
(00:24):
a band that's as much about entertainment as it is
about music. And while Jeremy may not have a Netflix
comedy special yet, Jeremy brings a comedic energy to the
stage that transforms every show into something unpredictable and joyful.
And he's a performer who understands the connection happens when
you're willing to be playful and spontaneous, but most importantly,
(00:47):
completely yourself. Today we are talking about how humor shapes
his performance, the moments when laughter pulls him through, and
why sometimes the best medicine comes from a killer guitar riff.
Welcome to Comedy Save Me. I'm Lynn Hoffman and this
is Jeremy de VARDI Jeremy from Steel Beans. Welcome to
the show.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
That intro is puts a lot of pressure on me,
but I appreciate it. That's amazing. I don't know if
I've already won articulated like that, but yeah, absolutely, Well
you're very special.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
You are a man who's most known for a song
called Malotov Cocktail Lounge, which I just love rush, and
you once referred to yourself when you are completely solo
and playing every instrument yourself, which I have such mad
respect for. You are a self indulgent, arrogant, one man
band comedian. You do know I have a music podcast
(01:41):
as well. So this is a little confusing because we're
going right down the middle on music and comedy.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Ah. You know, yeah, I would say that's an apropos
description of what the solo show is for sure. But
I think it just comes down to people that some
people are on when they're on on stage, and some
people are always on. And I think that's just my
case is It's like it's just my personality. Yeah, a
(02:08):
lot of the things that people will compliment me on
I can hardly take credit for because it's I'm just like, oh,
I'm like that in the van driving to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
You know, that's really special though, really special. And also
the fact that you're so I mean, you don't even
know what it is, you just do what you do
and people love it.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, that's just it like half of the stuff, Like,
you know, I like to think I'm a you know,
I'm a funny person, but also with me, there's this
blurry line of what I'm doing to intend to be
funny and what is just funny by the sheer absurdity,
Like people will get the laugh and it's not even
(02:51):
the joke. It's just the fact that I happen to
be going so far out on a limb. And that's
what it's like to be in the band is the
band is constantly in some situation where like, you know,
the first take is funny, the tenth take it's not
as funny, and then the twentieth take it's like, all right,
what are we doing? Like people are sweating and going, okay,
(03:14):
we're doing this again, and I'm like yeah, and then
it becomes funny again because you're wearing like a child
size Telemundo superhero outfit and you're in public in front
of people doing something dangerous or illegal, or there's like
cars honking and I'm actually blocking traffic to get this
take where I'm like pretending to hit buy a car
(03:35):
or something. It's like it's never short of it gets
absurd really quick here. You know, the band doesn't know
that when they sign up, because it's not like I
pitch it to him, like, well, it's a band, but
it's also you're gonna be doing like theater, performance arts.
Sometimes there's also some sketch comedy. They just show up
and then I put them through hell, and you can't
(03:56):
help but laugh in the end because I don't know
what he's doing, but he's doing it.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I love that, and any chance that you could do
that for a living is going to be like a
dream come true. And I would love to be a
band member, even if it was just shaken a tambourine.
I want to get into this more detailed with you.
Oh thank you. Let's find out what my job will
be when we come back right after this with Jeremy
de Barti from steal Beans, right after this Comedy Saved Me.
(04:27):
Welcome to Comedy Save Me, Jeremy de Barti. For people
who haven't experienced Steal Beans your incredible bands live, how
would you describe what happens at one of your shows
and what is the energy like not just from the
stage but also the.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Audience for for almost twenty years. When I get up
with the band behind me, it's kind of an it's
more of an orchestrated thing. With the band, it's song
after song, and there may be a theatrical bit I
have planned or I don't have plan that ends up happening.
But in my solo show, where I'm by myself, it's
(05:01):
completely you know, like sometimes thirty percent, sometimes sixty percent
of it is totally free form and anything can happen,
and there's just this like one of my favorite things
in the last couple of years has been taking the
solo show in front of audiences that only know me
from the internet and then finding out really fast, like, damn,
(05:21):
this is such this could go off the rail that
any second, and it does. I take enough risks that
it does fall on its face, and you know, I'm
not doing just solely stand up, but there are times
where I'm improvising long enough that it's riding high and
then it kind of it kind of starts to volom
a little or drag, and then I win everybody back
(05:44):
by twisting the energy and bringing up the tempo or
doing something. And I feel like there's this constant balance
where anytime something goes to it gets a little too
deep or emotional. I have to offset that by doing
something silly or something's funny to take the light. It's
almost like getting everybody to go there's Honestly, the solo show,
(06:09):
I think the presence of it itself is like kind
of a It's confusing and uh, almost intimidating because I
get into it, I'm slamming the drums and then when
I'm done, I'm like, so anyways, and that's like, that's
the dynamic I'm constantly playing with and I avoid toying
with people. The nervous system for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Oh absolutely, because you know that the audience feels for
you while you're up there, so they want to support you.
But if they feel like that you're seemingly bombing or
going some a wry place that they when you give
them the okay to laugh at it, they feel like, oh,
thank goodness.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It's like watching somebody on a tightrope. You're so worried
for them. You're like, oh, this is going to go wrong.
He's going to drop a stick, he's going to do this.
But really I'm just I'm making it look harder than
it is because it's what I do, and it's actually
pretty effortless for me or pretty you know, I'm locked in,
I'm in a flow state. But if something does go wrong,
they find out that I'll just make that part of
(07:10):
the show no matter what. If I die trying, doesn't
matter if I ripped my pants or I mess up apart,
or something goes terribly wrong. I'll just turn that into
the part of show, flip it on its head, and
then make that the joke. And it's like that's just
worked for me, and it's from like, you know, going
on twenty years of stage time. I did these shows
(07:32):
with Tenacious D and then Tool a couple of years ago.
First I went from playing to twenty people or one
hundred people to like sixteen thousand, and Dude, that never
once phased me. I just walked out there and I
felt as comfortable as I would have here in my
room at my house.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, that's what you're making me. You made me feel
comfortable like I was at your house immediately when you
popped on the screen. And I've never met you before,
and you also have a very playful energy about you
with comedy and with not just with your performances, but
just in your personal interactions. So it's very disarming. So
I can only imagine, because I haven't seen you live,
(08:12):
what it's like in that type of setting, and you
painted quite a picture. Was this always your plan or
part of your musical identity or did this develop for
you over time? You mean because you started with music
very young, right, You started like when you were three playing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, I was banging on pots and pans, and my
grandparents put you know, buckets in front of me, and
then when I played the buckets, they put a little
drum set in front of me. And I never had
any lessons. I wasn't no prodigy. Like now on the
internet you see kids that are three and they're like,
but I don't know about it. I wasn't like that.
I was like boom tat, boom tat. I was having
(08:48):
dinner with these people a few weeks ago, and my
grandpa was there and I was just I ah, just
being the sixteen year old, thirty seven year old that
I am, and they looked at him and they joke,
as you always been like this, and he goes, yes.
I would go through my grandma's closet and put on
like these little I called it my tappy shoes. I
don't know what they were, but they're like these elactic
(09:10):
ankle band shoes, and I would tap around and like,
I'm always trying to put on a show or something,
but not into Like I was never an attention horror.
I just I'd be off in my own world, doing
my own show by myself. Anyways, So did.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
You like making people happy and feel good? Is that
sort of a podect?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
That that is one of the meanings in life if
there ever was one. But also again, like so much
of so much of my story is like inadvertently doing things,
you know, Like I feel strange to say this, but
no one else is here to say it for me.
But I have changed some people's lives in the local
(09:50):
you know, art community, and the people that have been
in my band now, which is almost fifty people. I've
seen some of those people go off with a fire
under their ass to really get their thing together, and
people that used to be in the band have gone
and formed their own bands years later. And yeah, I
feel like it has brought some people up. You know.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Well, that's very very cool that you're not only you're
doing it, but you're inspiring others to do it as well.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I try not to soak in it too much
because it'll choke me up. It puts a lump in
my throat to think I'm having a positive impact on anybody,
because I've just been sitting in a bedroom writing song
as a totally self serving addiction for so long now
that when anybody messages me or like I met a
(10:38):
guy at a show in Boston. I met a guy
in London. He's lost his leg in a motorcycle accident
and sold his drums, and then he saw my video.
He started watching my videos and he said, I finally
got a prosthetic and bob drums again. And I'll cry
just talking about it. But that's the craziest thing. You
(10:59):
never when you're sitting in your bedroom just going that
you'll go out and somebody will hit you with that bomb.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You know, that's not an easy thing to take. I mean,
when someone tells you that, what do you even say?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I mean, I try not to tear up, and I
don't know, I don't know. That's such a that's such
a heavy thing to say that. Man. You know, I
can only feel this shift in what was the thing
that I do in my basement or whatever is now
the people to some extent, and if somebody somewhere is
(11:32):
in traffic and I make them smile, it's like, damn,
that's just such a higher purpose for all of this,
rather than just amusing myself.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
It's pretty awesome. You know, a lot of musicians take
themselves very seriously. I've interviewed many of them over the years,
but on stage mainly even more so, what made you
decide to lean in on the humor part and entertain
payment side of performing, because I've really never witnessed anything
(12:03):
other than maybe like a weird awl or you know,
a tenacious d that much.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I think that's an interesting question because for me, I've
never like, I've made some silly songs, but really I've
kind of like separated the or at least over time,
i've separated the songs aren't inherently silly. I'm just silly.
And I think that in the early stages, like two
thousand and five and the early two thousands, I was
(12:30):
playing house shows or my first shows playing in bars.
It kind of takes the pressure off of like, oh
what if I fuck up? Yeah, everybody, I know, I
got everyone to come out my folks are here. You know,
I think that you just kind of start to you
gotta lighten it up, and it's if you mess up,
it's not the end of the world. And having a
sense of humor on stage really bridges that. But it's
(12:53):
a lot of people never get that comfortable, you know, no, and.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's extremely comfortable. To be able to show your weekness
is like just but it's it's got to be so
inspirational to see someone almost appear to fail but then
turn it around and rise like a phoenix. It's it's
like that old story that but you do it all
in one show, as opposed to an entire movie where
the good guy wins.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
The dally, you know. I mean, here's a major shift
for me is that when I had a trio in
two thousand and six or seven and I was first
doing these shows, I would tell jokes and joke with
the audience, and my talking between songs and the rest
of the band would be kind of like adjusting their
their knives and kind of like al right, we're gonna
(13:37):
play a song, and they'd get frustrated, and that would
really piss me off because I'm like, it's like, come on,
just let so the pressure of them like, come on,
let's play a song. Well, when I started doing the
solo act, I was like, oh, I can just do whatever.
I'll stop in the middle of the song because someone's
doing something distracting and then just rip on them or
(13:58):
whatever feels like it's going to be. And I felt
that freedom, like, Oh, in the solo show, I can
just do whatever I want. There's no pressure of the
band going come on, man, let's play a song. Also
a good A good side note here, and I think
that every comedian can relate to this is that I
struggled to get the band in front of audiences and
(14:21):
to get us gigs for so long that when I
started doing the solo show, it was kind of immediately
really loved, like twelve years ago, and I kind of
hated that even though people I liked that people liked it.
I was like, well, I've been trying to do the band,
what the fuck? So then I leaned into that and
abused that, and I kind of went Steve Martin like
asshole alter ego, like, oh, you guys didn't pay enough
(14:43):
to see me. And I kind of leaned into that,
and it was kind of funny because I could get
away with anything. I could get away with murder. I
was late. I was having balloons on stage and some
of them were heliums, some of them were nitrous, and
I'd huff those and then play a song. And there
was this show at Tim's Tavern Seattle, I'll never forget.
(15:05):
I go and everybody be sure to tip me. Be
sure to tip the bartenders, but tip me first, because
I'm playing drums, guitars, singing at the same time. They're
just pouring liquid into a bottle. I could do that.
I could do that all day, So tip them, but
not before you tip me. And the people at the
bar were like, I love this guy. I was like, God,
I could get away with any of it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's so fun. I'm jealous. That is the coolest thing ever.
Do you see comedy as music as separate skills that
you're combining because of what you sort of created, or
they totally intertwined for you at this point, music and comedy,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
That's a good question for me. They're inseparable. I don't
even really think about it. But sometimes there's just huge
there's so many different kinds of humor, and I really
love all of them. There may be a couple that
I lean into or something, but I really I like
all the different forms of comedy. And sometimes the joke
is within a song, like if you get into full
(16:04):
nerd level, like like Steely Dan, for example, or Zappa,
the jokes aren't always literal or verbal. There'll be a
joke in the arrangement or the notes and they're like,
oh man.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Wait, wait, wait wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, I'm interrupting.
Steely Dan is one of my all time favorite bands,
and you're telling me there was comedy mixed in with
Steely Dan.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's it's very dry. Yeah no, I think that Donald
is throwing in little uh dry sardonic kind of you know,
what's the word. What do the British fuckers say? Cheeky
little things all over the place. And if it wasn't
in the yeah, yeah, I'm the lead.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Now we're gonna listen all over again.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Man out as songs like Everyone's Gone to the Movie,
which is like dark humor.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I never knew, never even picked up on it. Not one,
it's just love, the melodies, the harmonizing the song.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, they've they've got all kind of shit. I mean,
the more you dig into it, he's kind of he's
a funny guy. But I think those guys take themselves
pretty seriously, and that's fine. They should, they're incredible. But
I've always really gravitated towards I'm a person. I totally
separate the art from the person. You could be the
(17:24):
worst person in the world, but if you make art,
I'll be like, ah, that's great, because they're totally different.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, I love Zappa because he's a guy that's so qualified,
but at the end of the day, he doesn't take
himself seriously at all. And he'll do something jazz and
then two minutes later he'll do a doo wop song,
and then he'll do he'll do a heartfelt like love
song vallad and then something extremely silly right after that.
And that's like that kind of steered me into direction.
(17:52):
It's like, Okay, I don't have to. When I was
in high school just learning how to write songs, I
looked into like Echoes by Pink Floyd, and I go, damn,
how do I overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air.
How can I ever be that deep or poetic or
that's so cool, and it just kind of stunted me,
like I don't know what to do now, because I'm
(18:14):
you know, this is like that's so good that it
actually kind of it fucked me up. But then I
downloaded I downloaded some Zappa songs and I just heard
how like serious the music was but unfurious the lyrics were,
and I was like, oh, I don't have to be
that deep or serious all the time. I can just
have fun with this and not, you know, not every
(18:35):
song has to be some tear jerker with crazy level lyrics.
So that was very freeing.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Two Lost Souls swimming in a fish bowl.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and that's so yeah, that's insane.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You're not the first person to blend music and comedy,
but the way you're doing it is very rare and
unique and fun. And I can't wait till you come
through town so I can come your show.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I have a lot of songs out there that are
released that are silly, but i'd say now as I'm like,
you know, approaching forty, I've never written more mature, heartfelt
songs in my life. But if you see me live,
you're getting those songs. And some of those songs are
I hold very dear And I'll choke up and try
(19:21):
not to cry during some of those songs. But you're
getting the songs, but you're getting me. And that's like,
I'm gonna dick around and do something silly. I can't
help myself. I've had critique over the years from so
many people that'll see the show and go, you know,
maybe you should just do songs, and I'm like, yeah,
but I'm not doing a It's not that I'm trying
(19:44):
to do a bit. I'm just being myself up there
and it comes out silly. Sometimes that's all right.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, Jeremy, I ask a lot of comedians this question,
and you just hit on it. I'm going to ask
you the same one. Do you think more of us
need to laugh at ourselves? Is that an important thing
for us to be able to do as humans, to
not only look inward, but to laugh at ourselves.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah. Life is so silly, and no matter how hard
your times are, it's like, that's kind of my thing.
And I think that I saw that from my dad
and some of the people that inspired me, is that
you could be having the worst day of your life,
you have to be able to laugh at it. Otherwise
you're done because sulking about it and all that it's
(20:29):
not going to do anything for you. And that's my way.
And if I'm ever around the band or anybody that
gets to see it firsthand, I'm kind of proud that
they get to see fucking how to really do it,
because I'll be with the band or anybody in the
wheel fucking come off like could be literally and how
I go, yeah, we're making damn good time though, or whatever.
(20:49):
You know. It's like, And I'm gonna work with a
lot of like I'll work with people five ten years
younger than me, and I'll see them get so work
up and go, oh man. I'll go, hey, it's fine,
it's fine, and they're like, oh no, but this went
wrong and that's fucked and we're laying I'm like, we'll
(21:10):
get there. It's gonna be the best show you've ever played,
or it won't. It's still gonna be fun. I just
tell people have fun. I work the band and I go,
they'll go, hey, all right, So I'm leaving at ten, Well,
midnight comes and I go, you got one more in you?
And these guys are like falling over sleepy, and I go,
let's run in two more times. I build it all up,
(21:30):
but then when the show actually comes, I'm like, whatever,
do it doesn't matter, you know, Like I just I
want them to do their work and feel comfortable so
that when they're on stage, they're not thinking about everything
they do and it just they get in that flow
state and just do well and they're not stressed about it.
But it's the hardest switch to turn off for people,
I think is to not worry. If you're self aware
(21:52):
enough to not take yourself seriously and be able to
laugh at yourself, I think that's the thing that will
really carry you, especially in comedy. Is like, although I
think that there's nothing funnier than like guy that thinks
he's the shit kind of comedy, I think that like
Kenny Powers is like a good example of that kind
of brain of comedy. Is somebody that doesn't laugh at themselves,
(22:13):
They take themselves seriously, they don't have that awareness, and
then you watch them fall in their face. It's like
that's a timeless device right there. You know. Sometimes we're
all that guy and you know.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
What you're saying is you're an optimist eternally and also
looking inward doesn't just help you as a musician or
a comedian. It can help you in life, Yeah, in
anything in.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Life, absolutely really yeah. And I think that where I
rest in like the craft of songwriting, which is truly
my life. You know, I consider myself a writer before
anything else. I write songs every day, and the science
and the craft of that and the spiritual nature of
that is like I live for it. I'm like a
junkie for it's it's literally it can be problematic, But
(22:59):
I think that a comedian or a writer, the line
between these two forms of art is that you're figuring
yourself out all the time, and then you put her
under a glass case and you move on to the
next thing. And I'm finding out all the time that
the better I get at my craft, the more I
can articulate something that maybe I never vented, that was
(23:21):
from thirty years ago. And I think the comedy is
the same way. There's a certain vulnerability to it, all
that vulnerable vulnerability.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Nice job.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I'm not usually I'm not usually awake at this hour.
That's why this is my seventh shot of espresso.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Well, that makes sense. Comedians usually are working late into
the night, especially musician comedians, you got a lot going on.
You don't just walk on stage. You got to bring
all the instruments and the tech and the gear and
the aw the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh, let me tell you, that's a lot. It's crazy.
It's crazy all these years. Like sometimes, the best idea.
I don't want to discredit all the stuff I do
that I plan out and put a lot of work into,
but some of the things that people still bring up
the memorable moments of past shows was an idea that
I'm an hour late to the show I forgot I
(24:09):
even have one, or I'm driving there, I open the trunk,
I start to unload the gear, and I see a
mannequin head or rubber iguana, an all deflated birthday balloon,
and some a bag of novelty canoes. And in the
time that I've carried my stuff in, I go, I'm
going to bring the iguana out to the audience and
(24:31):
it's going to be his birthday. We'll have the birthday balloon,
and then I'll have everyone play Happy Birthday with those
cheap kazoos while petting it. And then I always go,
I'm gonna need those kazoos back by the way, because
I got a AIDS clinic I do on Thursdays where
we use those or something that was that was the
thing I used to do.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
But you just came up with that when you pulled
that out of the car as you're walking in every day.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Like I had some jumper cables, jumper cables in my
trunk and some mannequin head and I did a show
that like I have no setlist, a love of the
time in the solo show, and so I was like,
I'm gonna hook the jumper cables up to the front
of the bass drum and then to this guy's head
and then at some point in the show improvise a
bit where I don't know. It's like, yeah, it's what
(25:17):
can I make out of what I have with me?
And I think that if you expand on that, that's
kind of the perspective of like, that's how I see
the world, is that you become an executive producer for
everything around you, every single thing in this room, every
human This is my world. You're just living in it,
and you're all in my play. It's like, what do
(25:37):
I decide is art? It's not just paint and a
palette and a canvas. It's like that iguana head, this
melody I've been kicking around, and a catch phrase I
learned on a construction site ten years ago. It's like,
all of these are all elements and odds to be combined
into something, and that's how abstract people should look at art.
But instead they're like, well, I got to watch a
(25:58):
how to video and I got a buy a guitar.
I gotta do open mics. It's like, no, you don't
just quit being inhibited and just fucking get weird. Do it?
Do it?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Get in touch with your weird side. Everyone has to
be a little bit weird.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
You will be right back with more of the Comedy
Saved Me podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Now I'm going to change the subject a little too,
a little more serious. Can you think about maybe because
you seem so happy and fun loving, but I can't
imagine that there hasn't been strife in your life. There
is in everybody's life at one time or another. Is
can you think about a time in your life that
was a little bit difficult and how humor helped you
get through it, Or when you're going through something heavy,
(26:48):
like you know, how do you process it? Does it
through music? Is it through writing? Is it comedy? Is
it going for a bike ride?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Oh? I think like any American man, I shut it
down and not face it whatsoever. But that's where art
comes in, because ten years later I can make a
song about it. And as I'm getting older, I feel
more and more comfortable with talking about anything and kind
of venting, and I'll sit down at the piano and
make something and then when it's done, I'll go, man, like,
(27:16):
I can't believe I wrote that. Like I I think
the reality is is the way that my body works
is my defense mechanism is Like it's like self numbing
to a point where I may be still figuring out
how terrible my life actually was through writing songs about it.
You know. I think that's the thing is all of
(27:38):
my strength are built out of weaknesses, whether I realized
it or not. My parents split up when I was two,
so my inner voice is still intact from being a child.
Because I'd be off dancing to jungle Book or something,
listening to my inner voice and creating and making life fun.
(27:58):
I didn't realize what I was doing, but I was
creating this independence that it's still what I live by,
you know, and I've never lost, at least not in
the last ten years or so, because music and art
always guides me back.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
It's a really roundabout long way to answer the question.
But you know, I look at a lot of people
I know and people that I see out there, and
I go, my life has been way harder than that guy,
and he sure complains a lot more. I just I
feel like I try not to talk about it because
I don't want to be a downer, but it's you know,
(28:34):
people got to see the other side of the token,
like I'm such an optimist and I'm such a I
want to be happy because my shit has been so rough, honestly,
you know. And there's a lot of people that grew
up in a suburb in the middle of nowhere that
their life has been perfect. They all write the status
music because insand they want the pain. But me, man,
(28:58):
I want to write happy music. I've already I've already
seen sad shit, Like there's already enough sad music in
the world. So whenever I write something deep or emotional
or kind of sad ish, I wanted to have an
impact in a meaning that's that's not shallow like it
has to be. It has to be timeless in a
way that I can feel like. It's not a woozy
(29:19):
saying it. You know a lot of emotional music out there,
they're just woosies. And I want to write stuff like
I was sitting here in this room and I just
thought a few years ago, I thought, man, there's gonna
be a day where I die and my son is
left without me. And that just is like a paralyzing thought.
So you know, I wrote some songs in that mindset.
You would never know because they don't sound as sad
(29:41):
as that would imply. But that's the whole thing is
is finding you a way to put sugar on the
medicine of life. And that's where comedy brings all this
stuff together. It's like if you can't laugh or you
take stuff so seriously. I live like I could die
next week. So what am I gonna do? Save my money? No,
I'm gonna buy that guitar, I'm gonna buy that keyboard.
(30:01):
I'm gonna drive around with no real aim of where
I'm going, just to listen to music. And I think
that the only way to really live is to live
by that you know.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
It's a great It's first of all, it's very selfless
the way that you attack writing songs. But I would
like to coin a new phrase with you. Maybe you
can use it the Steely Dan effect. You hear something
you think is so serious but you don't realize it,
or the opposite comedy and it's actually really telling the job.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I think that it speaks volumes to the fact
that Steely Dan were masters of music and their craft
and of jazz, but as people they were silly. So
it's like, where does the personality peak through in the music?
What we go as far back as Cheech and Chong
and then Fire signed Theater and then for me in
the nineties in grade school, I was listening to the
(30:50):
Adam Sandler records were amazing. I just went and re
listened to They're All Gonna Laugh at You. Honestly, some
of those bit hit way harder. Now. The thing is,
there are people that write really heartfelt songs, but I'm
never I'm not always convinced that it's sincere and if
they take themselves really seriously, that's kind of a giveaway. Like, well,
(31:14):
I'll listen to Mark Lanagan and when it's a really deep,
profound emotional song. I really feel it, and I'm like,
I believe it. And when somebody's singing on stage, like
I like to know that guy's been through hell. You know,
I think there, you know what I mean? Like, I
think the emotional music, emotional music that's written by like
(31:35):
a diverse person, Like I think that the future. I
think the future of of man on Earth is going
to be a guy that can run a chainsaw and
kick your ass and is masculine, but it's also completely
emotionally like I feel you. Yes, the soft muscleheads. I
don't know what it is, but I've never felt more
(31:56):
in touch with that in my life. And it's like,
I'm an artsy fend me weirdo, but dude, I also
mill lawns and pick up a mower. The older I get,
the more comfortable I am with being masculine, it's like
that's okay, but never, but never, just don't be a dick,
you know.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
No, it's you know what, You're so right? I think
it's like you're going at it from the opposite way,
but it makes perfect sense either way, because women do
need some type of depth in there, so that you
can have a conversation because we like to talk about
deep stuff, but we also want the guy who can
pull the chainsaw and go take care of business. So
(32:36):
you know, it's a wonderful combination and funny enough. Now
in twenty twenty five, it's actually okay to talk about
your feelings if you're a guy, and it's not a turnoff.
I don't think from women.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Not of the construction site. I think there's still maybe
a little behind out in the general world of man.
But I always live this dual life because that'd be
at home writing songs and like I'm practically shakes here
in my basement and I'm a I'm like a I've
been with like ten people in my life, and I've
always just been in relationships, and I'm like this romantic
(33:10):
I want to shove all this stuff on the counters
of the kitchen, shove that under into the cupboards, make
it look nice, and then go use my food stamps
to get like some kind of a pasta thing. And
then I'm like playing acoustic guitar, you know what I mean.
That's the life I'm I'm leading. But then I also
go to work on a construction job site. In a
(33:31):
flannel and I'm lifting this shit and you're like kind
of with the boys and everyone's really vulgar, and I
can connect with that. But there's also part of me
living this dual life where I'm like, yeah, I know
what you mean, but I don't at all, Like you know.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You have no idea, but you just but it looks
good and it relates. I mean, if people think that
you hear.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
There's a point of man show where I'll connect and
then it falls off where it's just like kind of
you know, SARTs and woman and I thing something and
then I'm like, all right, that's but I grew up
with a single mom and and a little sister and
a you know, so it's like there's there's also that
side too, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Well, what can I ask, what was the most ridiculous
thing that's ever happened during a Steel Beans show?
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Oh, you're rubbing your hands together. You've got a good one.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's so it's so vast and nebulous. I honestly, god,
the most absurd thing to happen in my show is like,
what's the windiest wind at a hurricane or something? I Mean,
there's been some crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
The wiest wind of a hurricane.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
There's one time when this is not even that crazy,
but for the people that were there, it was. I
got a text in the middle of a show that
and by the way, this is like a small venue
where I get two three hours to do whatever I want,
so it's not like a thirty minute set whatever. But
I get a text that like, I thought that my
girlfriend was going into labor, and I go, I think
(35:01):
we're having the baby now. So the whole venue rushed
up and all grabbed my stuff and we all crammed
it into my little saturn ion. It's like drum set, keyboard,
all this stuff, and now ruy thol over and I
went to the hospital and it was like a fault alarm.
Oh no, but I've also done here's the thing. He's
like people told me for years back in the day,
like kind of remind me of Andy Kaufman a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
I didn't really see that at the time, so I
was like, huh, I guess thanks. I love Andy, but
I didn't see the connection. And now years later I
kind of get it. It's pretty in your face that
steeled beans or salmonella records, which are kind of like synonymous.
It really is such an inside joke that sometimes it's
(35:45):
only inside to me. And now I realize, like what
they meant by that. Like I've done shows where I
responded in the email. One time, h No, I'm not available.
This guy offered me a gig. I looked at the bill.
It was like Country America con artists, and I said,
I'm not available. But these guys staying in my house
from Nashville are a legit country duo. I'm sure they'd
(36:07):
love to do it. This is perfect. So then my
friend Zach and I was a great comedian a great songwriter.
We both went as these characters from Nashville and talked
in an accident. We came up with our whole backstore.
We wore our western best and we went in there
and like maintained it the entire night, telling everybody there
we're from Nashville, the owners of the play, whoever it was,
(36:30):
or like, well, thank you kindly, and it's called the
We called it the Runny Nose. Bros.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
You are killing me. Did you come up with that
on the spot when the call came in and literally
went with it from that minute on.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah, that is insane. We carried this song the whole time,
and there's even a moment that we're talking to somebody,
she's like, oh, yeah, I'm from down by wherever, and
we we looked up in a neighborhood, so we're like, yeah, yeah,
he's actually born in Bowling Green. But like we were
(37:03):
practicing our access three in the morning, we get into
his little tiny car and we close the doors and
we go and we're just dying because it's like we
just have this, you know. But it's always been something
like that. I'll call the baseball stadium and just make
some shit up and pretend I'm some other dude and go, yeah,
we really want to get this Steel Beans group in
here to just perform something in the center of the field.
(37:26):
It's like the inside joke is it's it's such an
onion layer. I do jokes all the time that are
relative to something we've been joking about in the van. Yeah,
I do this all the time, and I'll throw it
out there and I know that a couple people laugh
just because it's silly, but the band, they're getting it.
I'm like playing to them, and that happens all the time. Anyways,
I'm gonna stop talking about that.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
No, it's awesome. I mean it's like, you know, that's
like a letterman. Uh. I was trying to figure out
was that a Letterman or Seinfeld thing? Where you can
bring it back like the initial joke, and then you
can bring it back around in the end too, and
everyone gets it.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Right, right. I think those call those those callbacks are great,
and throughout my solo show, I kind of do that
a lot. If somebody, if somebody does something that stands out,
or I'll do these I'll build a song from scratch
and I'll ask for people to call out the weirdest
thing they can think of, and they'll be like centaur, platypus,
tits tractor, and I go, what kind of song is it?
(38:23):
They'll go it's a reggae, it's a metal and I'll go, okay,
it's a reggae song. It turns into a metal soone
and it's about a centaur and a break and I'll
kind of like fire on these cylinders and hammer back
all these things they just said, and I'll even impress
myself if I can pull it off. But then forty
minutes later, I'll like bring it back around to the
centaur and tell a story about them or something. You know,
(38:44):
it's and the plan. It always feels like bonus points.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
It's awesome. I mean, I've never heard did First of all,
can we just rewind real quick from that last question
I asked you. You said they called you to book you,
and you said, no, but I have a country band here.
And then did they know that was you coming to
the venue? Who booked you? Or did they think you
were the match fie band?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
No, dude, it's always something like that with us. Let
me tell you. We just recently went on a tour
down the West Coast and I go, guys, I took
my bassis Sean and a new drummer we've worked with
West and I go, here's the thing. We're gonna wear
the reds of our dogs beetle suits every day, not
(39:29):
on stage, but on all of our off days. So
we drove fourteen hours to San Francisco from here. We're
wearing black to black tie and aviators walking into a
gas station in the middle of nowhere, and we kind
of look at each other and people are like, what
the who the fuck are these guys? So every single
day off days, travel days and even when we'd load
(39:51):
into the venue, we'd be dripping sweat, loading the shit.
But we're in our black ties and our matching black
dark aviators, just looking like secret service everywhere we went.
But then before we go on stage, I would change
into the other clothes so people like they couldn't figure
us out. Dude, I brought all my fake plants. So
I bring all these fake plants with us a lot
(40:12):
of the time, so they can see us coming in
with fake plants, a leaf blower suitcase. We're in the suits.
They're like, what the fuck band is playing tonight? You
know that is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I can't even imagine anyone listening to this who's not
waiting to find out when steel Beans is going to
be playing at a venue near them, because you just
don't know what's going to happen next. I need to know.
Now two questions, and then I think I might let
you go. Now I have three more. But what do
you think music and comedy have in common at their core?
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Well, of course, there are forms of expressing yourself, and
I think that there's something that it takes a law,
It takes a long time to really get good at it.
I see a lot of musicians or comedians kind of
learned the beats or the form and they can imitate
a song, but it takes a long time to get
good at it where it's like, oh, this is real,
(41:11):
this stands up there with the greats. You know. It's
like I see anything comedy a lot now too. Because
of the Internet. We have so many people getting videos
that are on stage and they kind of know the
timing and the phrasing, but they're writing just isn't there.
And I'd say the same for a lot of young
bands that bless their heart, Like I don't want to
(41:33):
discourage anybody, but there are a lot of bands that
I'll see and I'll go, all right, I really wish
these guys well. But you know what, go in your
basement for another five ten years and come back when
you're Hendrix. You know, that's the self awareness that a
lot of people are lacking, because it's that Dunning Fruger effect.
(41:53):
You don't realize how good you are because you're not
qualified to understand what the quality is, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And how to even achieve it.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah, I think that's the real correlation between comedy and
music is that you have to work on this a lot,
and you have to write all the time, you know,
like the old saying, and this is one of my
favorites is help me with this if you remember. But
it's like if I don't write for two days, I notice,
if I don't write for a week, the audience notice,
(42:23):
I'm messing that up. I believe it's Steve Martin. But
like I really think like that. It's like, you gotta
stay sharp and stay up on this. And I think
comedy is really hard because that's like my solo show.
I cannot practice it at home. I don't sit and
play drums and guitar at the same time. Ever, the
last time before this tour was almost two years ago.
(42:47):
I may do it here and there, yeah, but it's
never my goal because it's a show that relies on
having the people there. It's like trying to do a
stand up set in your bedroom. You can stand there
and practice the things, but you got to the room
and like in real time, kind of carry it a
little bit, make it, do it for yourself and stick
to what you like, but you also have to kind
(43:08):
of keep everybody in it. And it's this perfect, this
perfect balance between like selflessness and narcissism or something where
you got to believe in yourself so much. I know
I'm good, but then you also have to connect just
enough to keep people keep people in. But it's a
slippery slope to be in the arts because everybody is
(43:30):
really right on the edge of being called that. But yeah,
one thing that happened to me over the years, for sure,
and I mentioned it earlier, is that switching to the
solo show and getting a good reaction. I played to
empty rooms for so many years, I started getting a
little bit of that loathing for the audience, and so
by default I do these shows in the middle of
(43:50):
nowhere to pay my rent, like one hundred and fifty
dollars for three hours at a bar in the middle
of the country, and so many people are just like
eating a burger, drinking, they're not even paying attention to
the music. That I kind of learned to like load
the audience and the audience of the enemy, and they're
the target. And so that became kind of like the
default of the show is kind of not trashing the audience,
(44:13):
but like I'm against them. They're they're the they're the enemy.
Until people are paying attention, there will be three people
over here that are paying attention. I start playing to
them and like talking them up, and I'm like celebrating them,
and then I'm just ripping like, Hey, I was fucking
guy over here.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
And then the rest of the audience kind of pulls
in with, you know, when they go, oh, wait, something's
going on over here. You said narcissism. I think it's
just a hell you have to have a healthy ego. Yeah,
but I don't think you have. You don't have to
be a narcissist, but a healthy ego. And also what
else did you say? Oh? The enemy? Uh, what a
great idea. You know, if they're the enemy, then how
(44:51):
can you fail? Because that and you also have to
deal with all the things that are happening that are
unknowns at the same time.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Well, I think that, you know, Bill Hicks and George
Carlin two of my all time favorites. They kind of
displayed this for us in such a classy way that
like they clearly are exhausted with the human race and
they're just over it, yep. And they have such a
good way of painting that, and I like really connect
with that because I love people and I'm fascinated by them,
(45:20):
but like, god, you know, these days it's like a
comment section is what we'll like. I'll look at my
comments on Facebook and it'll be like fifty subtract subtract
fifty from the IQ of what the comments would be elsewhere.
Oh and it's like, oh my god. It's like, you
(45:40):
guys are the reason I go on stage, and my
default is ripping the audience. You know, and you deserve it.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
The keyboard cowboys who are fearless because they're nameless and faceless. Ye,
in a world that can feel really really heavy, speaking
of which, because that really does add to it, which
is why I try to stay off social media as
much as possible, because I do believe it is really
the worst version of yourself. It's great for business, but
not for humans, for people I don't know, But in
(46:06):
a world that can feel really heavy, what role do
you think entertainers like you play? You know, people who
are deliberately You're deliberately going out to try to make
other people smile and heal.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
You're you're sure on time, but you're hitting me with
these really profound questions that are I can't answer that
without giving deep But on a personal level, our role
is to fulfill our own journey to be the best
artist we can be, and that's the end of the story.
But when it comes to being public and our role
(46:40):
is to uplift people, and it's it's you know, I'd
love to make some money someday, but that's really not it.
I can make money a lot of ways. At the
end of the day. It's like, I want to be
so I want to be proud of myself and impress
myself by coming a long way and being good at
what I do. But I want I want to create something.
(47:01):
It's a tricky question because I make everything for myself,
but I know that there is an audience of like
minded people where that overlaps and they'll enjoy it. I
think that the role of the artists is the same
as it was in the medieval days of jestures and
muses or whatever. Is that I have my problems, you
(47:21):
have your problems, and I have these songs I worked
really hard on. And there's these business and all this
bullshit of the booking and the loading. But then once
I get on stage, or any band gets on stage,
you know, the people in the audience for a good
thirty minutes or an hour, they forget all their problems
and they shut them off, and you're the distraction. To you,
(47:44):
you're reminding them what life is really about. It's like
smiling like there's no tomorrow and having a good time.
And that's like, that's the deepest end of public performance
is that people got a babysitter, they went and sound parking,
they slept all the way into your place and did
all this stuff, and then while you're on they can
forget about their problems if you're doing it right. And
(48:06):
I think that's the role of any performer.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
If someone's going through a rough patch right now, what
would you tell them about the power of laughter? Go ahead?
I feel like it's a game show all of a
sudden there on the East Coast.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Yes, you said go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
Good And I'm from Boston originally, so I'm surprised it didn't.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
You know. I love Buffalo sixty six where goes one
two tree Tree, and now I love counting to Tree.
Remember to be able to laugh at yourself, you know,
it's like yep again. There are some moments where I'll
be like, I'll be committing to some premise that is
so ridiculous. And not worthwhile, or wearing something hideous and ridiculous,
(48:52):
and I'm dragging the band or the audience along with
me to make this big leap, and it's like I
could take it so seriously, but then at some point
I laugh with the audience laughs, and it's not even
because of the joke. It's because of how far I'm
trying to go to make this thing work. That is
just such such a long shot that's not really worth it.
(49:14):
And it's like being able to find the humor in
anything is That's always been one of the things for me,
is you don't you don't always know where the joke
is because sometime like I put on you know, like
for example, the silver spandex onesie the silver face paint
in that wig, like that's not that crazy where I
(49:34):
come from, Like infant, that's my go to when I
can't think of what to wear. I have those, and
the silver is like a metallic powder and it takes
two minutes. I go, I don't know what to wear,
so all default to that, and I kind of forget
what I'm wearing, right, I'll forget that I'm even wearing that,
And I'm up there and I'm doing a drum solo
(49:55):
and a guitar solo at the same time, and then
when it sits over, then I'll make a joke and
then I'll remember what I'm wearing. And it's just layers
of not taking yourself seriously upon layers. It's like the
I take the craft of music really seriously, and I
take the uh in the face of music and and
(50:15):
all who stand before me. I want to create something
that stands up to that and honor the seriousness of
the craft. But I never take myself seriously. No. I mean,
I think I look pretty cool, but I'm not really trying. Well.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
If you want to know what he looks like, go
to silvertone guitars dot com, because there's a picture of you.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Oh really in.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
That outfit you're describing online there. Yeah, so you did
you didn't know?
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Oh yeah, Oh thanks guys, it's silvertone.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
No problem. Did Did comedy save you?
Speaker 2 (50:49):
Oh yeah? Comedy has saved me, and it saves me
over and over again. If you can't laugh, then you're
down bad. You know. At this point it is really
hard to get me to physically laugh. I feel like
a stone, you know. I mean, I've just like seen
a lot or something, but it's got to really tickle
me in the right ways. I'll make little I'll make
(51:12):
a comedy sketch or a promo video for a show
that's funny. It doesn't physically make me laugh because I'm
experiencing my own thing, but as soon as I show
it to somebody else, I'll kind of laugh when they
laugh for some reason. It's like contagious like that. Yes,
it's strange about your own thing that you're creating, and
then like studying where people laugh and what they find
(51:35):
funny about. You know. I think that every comedian probably
suffers from that because you can't You can like be
aware like oh that's funny, but it doesn't like make
you laugh gut laugh, you.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
Know, totally. I mean, And can I give you a
quick example. My best friend Scott would tell me a
story about something that happened to him in his childhood
that was horrific with like his dad or his mom,
and the way he would tell the story, I would
burst out laughing in the end, and then he would laugh,
but then he would go, no, but that was serious.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
You know, yeah, if I love that, Like.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
You know, I was climbing up a tree to get
away from my father, and you think this is funny.
This scarred me for life.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
You know, that's the thing. That's the that's the key
right there, is being able to laugh at all of
that stuff. It's like, you know, everybody when they grow up,
they reach a certain age where they take mushrooms and
they think about everything their parents ever taught them, and
they go my parents were literally like, I'm in my
twenties and my parents had me what I was like
(52:37):
me right now, like they hardly know what the fuck
they were talking about. That's just shit that other people
told them. And you kind of reevaluate everything you've been
told and you're like, all right, half of the stuff
is maybe not correct. So I'm gonna rebuild and be
my own person and just kind of take the good
and then you know, filter out the shit that maybe
(52:58):
people were just making it up and going along.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
You know, yeah, that that is, in a nutshell, what
we're supposed to do, right, take all the best qualities
and then leave all the worst. And there's no book written,
so everyone's practicing.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
Most people do the opposite. They're like, okay, so I'm
gonna drink heavy, and that is.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Smoke copious amounts of marijuana. Oh my goodness, Jeremy DEBARTI
I don't want to let you go. Give me one more,
one more question. What's next for steel beans? Where can
people find you? See you experience you immerse themselves in
all things.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
You well, you do yourself a favor. Follow me on
all platforms. I'm mainly on an Instagram, but I'm trying
to get people on the YouTube channel, YouTube dot com,
slash Salmonella records, I'm on Twitch or whatever. I'm not
(53:53):
really good at it. Get them on socials and see
me do something over the next month before I smash
my phone and get back on the road. You know,
I just I just head on an album. I'm working
on the next one. We're going to be getting back
on the road soon, trying to get out to the
UK and Europe and the East Coast as soon as possible.
So really, right now, we're just waiting for the time
where it's safe in my rear wheel drive van because
(54:16):
in the you know, it's it's kind of random. The
mountain passes will get snow, so I want to be safe.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
It's been such a pleasure. To have you here. Really,
I mean, what a refreshing conversation with like just such
a real human being, but who's also going out there
and actually you're saving people with your comedy, not just yourself.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
Oh, thank you, I hope so yeah, and if that's okay,
but I think anybody paying attention it'll find the right people.
And yeah, man, thank you so much for having me.
I will keep talking forever.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
So Jeremy Debarty, Steele Beans Comedy, save Me, Thank you
and all the best to you and yours.
Speaker 2 (55:00):
Thank you so much,
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