Live From LA - Part 2

Jordan speaks with producer Adam Lasus and actors Charlie Saxton and Tim Jo about how they got their starts in their careers.

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Welcome back in it's the Dirtback CultureHour here on ninety seven one The Freak.
I'm your host, George's TC ison a jet ski, I assume
reliving all of the memories of lastweek's Metallica shows in Dallas. This week
Metallica does a takeover of Los Angeles. I'm going to go on Sunday night

(00:30):
to Sophi Stadium to see night twoof Metallica's LA takeover, and then next
week TC and I will be ondiscussing all things Metallica, including there I
think it's two thousand and one,two thousand and three something like that documentary
Some kind of Monster, which Idon't know if you guys have ever seen

(00:53):
that, but it is a realshows is classic. We're gonna get into
some psyches psychology of music today,and few listeners out there who've never never
seen Some Kind of Monster highly suggestyou picked that up and we'll be talking
about it next week. But thisweek I am joined with longtime bestie and

(01:14):
producer extraordinaire of Son of Stan andso many countless other amazing records that we're
going to get into. Adam Lazis. Adam, thank you for being here
and thank you for letting us takeover your studio to record our radio show,
My pleasure Loving it great, greatto have you. We're also joined
by Charlie sacht with We're also joinedwith yeah, and joined with We're joined

(01:38):
within. Charlie Saxton is in insideall of us. Sorry I have I
don't want to lose my dual lingo. She does not want to lose his
Duolingo streak. My wife Mallory ison a duolingo streak too, so it's
it's pretty epic at this point.And we're shooting the movie in France,
so I gotta make sure I knowhow to say it's a cat the pizza

(02:00):
in France. It's both pizza,it's both hullo. I'm making movies in
France. It's very special. We'realso joined by Tim Joe, who is,
uh, what's what's the name ofthe movie, Guys, I don't
think we can say that. Ohwe can't. Okay, we can't say

(02:21):
that yet. Fair fair enough,but you'll all we'll all know. We're
gonna do a compendium podcast episode afterthe strike is over. Well, I
where we fill in all the blanksof the innocent the names out there,
but we just want to Sorry,no, not at all. We're also
joined by Tim Joe and Uh,We're really happy that the three of you

(02:44):
guys the proverbial way, I amreally happy that the three of you guys
could join us here for this thisHollywood, Hollywood late night takeover of the
Dirt Back Culture Hour. It's anhonor to be here, man. Yeah,
having it. Thanks, guys,I kind of want to do start
at the beginning with everyone a littlebit, and uh, Charlie, I'll

(03:05):
go with you first. At whatpoint did you know that entertaining was something
that you, you know, atleast had had a bit of a had
a bit of a knack for,let's say, not even a desire,
But when did you know that youmight be good at, you know,
playing music, entertaining people singing anddancing. You know. It's funny like

(03:28):
I never really had like the momentof like, oh, this is what
I want to do. It wasalways kind of Uh. My mother is
an actor and a director and ateacher, and my dad was an actor
and a stage manager. So Iwas always kind of raised around this environment
of just going to plays and myparents are also musicians and so they had

(03:49):
a very cool Yeah, they hadan Irish band called the Connameric Codfish Company.
That's incredible. Yeah, they werethe best band name I've heard today.
Saying a lot hanging out in ared so I watch out for the
narrow urethra on Catheter records. Butso, yeah, I just spent a

(04:10):
lot of time surrounded by artists andmusicians. And I was a very hyperactive
five year old and my sister,who was three years older than me,
was very interested in becoming an actor. And so they took her to a
management meeting and they just brought mealong because they didn't want to get a
babysitter. And I couldn't tell youwhat I did or what I said.

(04:31):
But the manager saw me just likerunning around this office like a Tasmanian devil.
Yeah, and she was like,I want to talk to you,
and I was like, okay,Yeah, I went into this room.
And she's been my manager for almostgosh thirty years. Come on. Yeah,
her name is Eadie rob She isamazing. I've heard you and I
kind of recall you mentioning her.She's the best. Yeah, shout out

(04:57):
to st in my mind, anyonewho manages, you know, as an
agent for a little kid actor.It's, you know, someone who's who's
chained smoking cigarettes a little tiny woodpanels. That's the thing. She sounds
like. She talks like this.She calls hey, every hey, hey,
ugly, what are you doing?Hey? Bratt never never smoked a
cigarette in her life, and she'sshe's awesome. She is. Yeah,
she's a great person to have inyour corner. And so yeah, it

(05:20):
was kind of just one of thosethings where I was just going on auditions
from the age of six years oldand hey man, I got to get
out of school for a day ortwo. There was a nothing better than
that free food. Like it was. It was. It was a little
kid's dream. And so yeah,I did commercials and theater and you know,

(05:44):
student films all throughout elementary school andhigh school. And then it wasn't
really until the movie that we alldid together about fifteen years ago where it
was kind of like, all right, well, uh, I think this
could be a career for me,because it was. I also had after

(06:04):
we did the movie, I wasvery fortunate to get on a show and
I was graduating high school at thetime, and I was just gonna go
to a regular state school in Pennsylvania. And then we did the movie,
and then I signed with an agencyand I was like, oh cool,
maybe I'll you know, I'll goto a college in New York or Los
Angeles. And then I booked thepilot of that show, and I was

(06:26):
like, oh, okay, maybeI'll just go to like community college that
like I can still keep the inneryou know, keep keep the education going.
And then the pilot got picked upthe series and I was kind of
just like, all right, Ithink this is a sign. I'm gonna
ride this roller coaster as long asit takes. Yeah, And I've just
been very fortunate that too. Youknow. Don't get me wrong, there
are definitely ebbs and flows in theindustry. I'm sure we'll get into all

(06:49):
that business, but yeah, I'mlike labor stoppages and yeah, yeah,
I mean not even just strikes,but just like you know, sometimes when
you're hot, you're hot, andwhen you're not, you're not. And
that's kind of you know, thatis also the personal journeying experience that the
movie that we're working on the musicfor today kind of stems from. Is

(07:12):
me and Gaylon Kind of going throughthe motions of you know, the industry
and you know what it means,like what does it mean to be successful
in your eyes? Yeah, andso that's kind of that's that's where the
basis for it started. But yeah, as a long way, a long
story long, I don't know,I kind of just I've I've always just
enjoyed it, and I love playingmusic, and I love being on sets,

(07:36):
and I love being on stage,and I love there's nothing better than
making music with your best with yourbuds. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah with
that, Tim, would you saythat what did it start early for you
too? As as a kid?I mean, in a lot of ways
it did. I think I metyou when you're you know, late late
teens, early teens. We're aroundthe same age, I feel. Yeah,

(07:57):
yeah, so I looked like ateam at the time, but I
was probably one of the older ones. That's perfectly right. You know,
for me, it's hard to separatehaving been a minority growing up in America
with the what I decided to dowith my life. So you know,

(08:18):
oftentimes, you know, this isat the risk of sounding like I need
to get kicked in the face.But when people say when they pooh pooh
art and say we're not saving lives, we're just acting here, we're just
making music. When I saving lives, I'd like to think, you know,
coming well from my perspective, Ifeel this way, but I feel
this way and for art in general, for all of us really, which

(08:41):
is, you know, music savedmy life, and on top of that,
films saved my life, So findingan outfit in art saved my life.
So it was in a funny way, it was less about entertaining or
seeking to and to find to fillanything exterior. The discovery of acting and

(09:05):
the discovery of music and exploring musicand acting was actually the way I survived
my teenage years. And then thediscovery of acting, as you know,
when I got into college is reallywhat kept me going through that as well.
So and it wasn't until later whenit sort of became a career and

(09:26):
I had to really make the decisionis all this suffering worth? It is
one of the other factors of likewhat what does this storytelling mean? And
like at a certain point, yeah, you do have to acknowledge that it
is entertainment and how can I howcan you please you know, how how
can you stop serving oneself through thisart and understand that you can't just do

(09:50):
this only solely for yourself, butbecause hopefully you're you're telling stories that people
want to see or making music thatpeople will listen to. Right, that's
fantastic too. It's such a goodanswer in the face perfect. I know

(10:11):
it's a room of kind of miscreants. And I know a lot of people
you know, out there for anybodywho's out there who makes things out of
thin air, you know, increative positions, and you know, some
people slap it into a you knowcall that service industry. You know,
people djaying at a bar or doingyour singer songwriter thing or or you know,

(10:31):
and there is a there is aself service I know that goes on
with it because we're compelled every dayto make things and to make things out
of thin air. And I thinkI think that's really cool and really special.
How you voiced that, tim justfrom the standpoint of like, yeah,
it is it is providing this thingthat is consumed by people. I

(10:52):
mean that speaks to a strike andthe whole thing. It's a huge billion
dollar industry and it you know,there's so many multifaceted on the things that
kind of have to happen to makesure that this larger than life industry pumps
out and goes. But it isfilled with people who are, you know,
kind of doing what it is thatgets them out of bed every single

(11:15):
day. I think it's really reallycool and a special thing. And I
know, Adam, you've talked,You've told me personally before a lot of
tales about like coming up in WestPhilly and being like kind of finding yourself
in music and a little bit thatyou know a little bit around of those
things. If you could expand onthat a little bit, maybe sure,

(11:35):
Sure, I just want to say, you know, something Tim said that
was fantastic and also everyone can relateto, but I particularly relate to.
It is the whole music are acting, you know, saving your life.
It's true. It's you're doing thisthing, you're not sure why you're doing
it. You find people that alsolove to do it, like the three
of you, and you have abond over it. And every day when

(11:58):
you're driven and excited by music andacting and whatever it is, it keeps
you alive, it keeps you excited. So it's definitely saved my life or
and also giving me a purpose.Yeah, so that's that's huge. That's
huge, and it's what bonds allof us in doing it and makes it,
say can relate, and then youknow everyone's also got the ebbs and

(12:20):
flows that Charlie talked about. Whenyou're making it and it's going great,
you love it, you feel ontop of the world. You're a king,
you're a queen, you're you're justeverything's going and flowing. And when
you're not making it, it's messedup sometimes, like, ah, man,
I'm not doing anything. Things aren'tgoing well. No one cares.
I haven't made a hit record inten years, no one wants, no
one's calling me on the phone.I got two legs on Instagram, blah

(12:41):
blah blah blah blah blah blah.You know. So it's it's it's a
it's a roller coasters and you know, I've looked at it in this journey
for me, which is since Iwas maybe fifteen. It's up and down
and up and down. And nowI can help people see like, hey
man, you know you're you're twentyyears behind me on this journey. Like
you're doing great, You're awesome.You got all this talent, and all
these all these cool things, andpeople respect you and you're easy to work

(13:03):
with, like just keep going.So it's it's an interesting it's just a
really cool wild thing and a verycool journey. And you guys touched on
some stuff that that really I thinkis potent and important to talk about.
Yeah. Absolutely, at what pointdid you think, Adam, Because you
were playing music as well as likehaving this interest in in recording music and

(13:26):
producing music, and a lot oftimes that's one of those questions that people
get, I know, that's adifficult question to answer, like what does
it mean to direct a movie?What does it mean to produce a record?
It's kind of this amorphous job,when in reality, most people have
amorphous jobs in there. In there, hard Well, I'm a consultant for

(13:48):
a finance firm, and I ama liaise between middle management and upper management.
And so a lot of a lotof times, you know, in
the in the creative environments, it'sit's all of those things. You're your
own manager, You're you're your ownyou know, your own producer, your
own your own creator in a lotof ways. And I'm just curious to
know, like I know that youplayed bass, and you're interested in writing

(14:11):
songs and being in bands. Butwhat was that thing about, like being
on the other side of the glass, if you will, that became so
specialty? Do you to you towhere you know you kind of wanted to
focus on that side of it.That's a great question. Uh. You
know, started off in a band. I was a guy with the that
was good at the four tracks,so I became the default engineer. But

(14:33):
also it was creative, so Ihad ideas and you know the difference between
an engineer and a producer, asan engineer is doing the technical stuff and
a producer often involved in arranging,in creative aspects and the overall bigger picture.
So it kind of came naturally.But I didn't know what a producer
was at fifteen. I didn't evenknow what a producer was at eighteen.
But then at nineteen I decided tohave studio read. I had my eight

(14:56):
track reel to reel, and Idecided because my cousin Jeff, who was
in Miracle Legion that from being inspiredby him and seeing all what his band
was doing and other meeting other bandslike hey, you know, asked my
cousin, like, let's if youcan try to help me get people to
come record with me, you know, and he would come record all the

(15:20):
time. It just became a thingof like all I wanted to do is
record in my little studio, whichis in my bedroom at this point,
and I just had fun with it. I was enjoying it and still learning
engineering and learning how to interact withpeople, and still fascinated and also had
a lot of like fandom of youknow, one of the first big bands
I ever got to record as DumpTruck, and they were huge to me.

(15:41):
They were a big college rock band. They worked with Don Dixon at
Mitch Easter Studio and we're all overcollege radio. And I met them through
my cousin and they did demos withme, and they were like, hey
man, and they called me Red. My nickname is Red and studio Red,
Like Red, this is awesome.You did great in these demos.
We want to make the next recordwith you. So I'd never made a

(16:03):
record of that kind of caliber,so I was like, cool, let's
go. So I'm I'm gonna sayI was twenty or something like that.
They're from Boston and it was abig deal. So we make this record
and along the way. They introducedme to people like Phil Hurley from the
Jigolants, who became a great friend. And then I went on to do
the Jigolants records. Juliana Hatfield cameand recorded on that record. So it

(16:25):
was a catalyst for the rest ofmy career. But I didn't realize it
at the time. I was justdoing it and having a good time and
being myself right and enthusiastic, andyou know, I was scared, like
in I was like, man,am I doing a good enough job?
These guys are big, these bandthese guys you know, these bands from
Boston and bands that are signed,and I don't know, just sometimes somehow
I crossed that road of this iswhat I'm into doing and it was obsessed

(16:47):
with it and stayed in my littlebasement studio and my and my row house
in Philly for you know, twohundred and seventy days of a year and
made recordings. Right. It's ait's a it's a really cool thing to
think about because, like we weretalking about it earlier, I, my
wife and I went to see ashow and we were remarking on the kid

(17:11):
who was singing sounded a lot likeBilly Joe Armstrong from Green Day and sure
enough, at the end of theset, we sort of just decided to
look it up, you know,and sure enough it was Billy Joe Armstrong's
son in this club in Fort Worth, and uh, you know, he's
it made it look a lot morespecial to see him humping, like we

(17:36):
said, an eight you know,an eight by ten SVT base cab across
a parking lot in one hundred andfive degree heat. You just do it
because you love it. And whoknows if if Billy Joe from Green Day
is out there telling his son,hey, you need to get in a
van and do it the way thatyou're just gonna do it, or more
likely, what I would like tothink is that's just how you have to
do this stuff. You care aboutit so much, you got to get

(17:59):
in the van, you got totravel around. And even in this day
and age where gas prices are ridiculousand Live Nation owns every stinking thing out
there, every venue and all ofthat, like, there's still this true
heart that has to happen where you'rejust compelled to do this stuff and you
go out and you do it,and and whether you're the son of someone
in Green Day or whether you're justthe son of someone in Dukie. Yeah,

(18:23):
you know, it just kind ofhappens that way. You gotta put
the time in, yeah, youknow, and it's I've gone to see
bands, you know, they're playingfor ten people, but they play like
they're playing to a thousand people orfive thousand people. And that's how you
know that that band, right isgonna maybe do something because they're they're they're
oblivious to that or more songwriter thatthey don't they don't need to have the

(18:45):
pact room to sing their heartfelt,beautiful songs. And somehow seeing a performer
play to less people is even moreof a cool moment than more people in
my mind, because I recall seeingpeople playing you know where it's like,
oh man, this this, thesesongs are incredible, and there's a moment
you look around there's fourteen people allbeing blown away or something. Yeah,

(19:07):
and then you look around there's twentythousand people and you're kind of like,
oh wow, like, uh,that's not fun. It's fun. That
sounds cool, yeah right, yeah, yeah, you're you physically are literally
further away from the action of peoplelike pouring their heart out with six strings
and hitting drums and whatnot. Andthe best bands, like you say,

(19:30):
when you see them like play toten people and stuff like that, and
you see them like just sweating andjust doing the thing, it's because more
likely than they're playing to the tenpeople and they're giving they're being given that
proper energy. But you're kind ofdoing it for yourself too, and you're
just so into it and it's justsomething that's that moves you and it's very
important that you have to do it, that you're just that you're just doing

(19:52):
it. Yeah, that's one thingthat stands out about Adam is when we
met fifteen years ago doing this aboutbands slamming together at like a fast you
know, we were just wide eyedactors, me and Charlie. We didn't
know who Adam was or what youwhat your resume look like. But you

(20:15):
did come up to us as anequal, someone that was just as excited
as us, almost with the sameenergy. When you're talking about this dump
Truck Dumb Truck album. You camecame to us and enjoyed fully the experience
like we did. And the fifteenyears I've known, you've you almost tackle

(20:36):
each new recording each new band,each new thing that you do, you
have an equal sense of excitement,a little fear, a little bit of
just nerves, and just joy.That makes sense why you continue to do
it, but also why you havesuch an incredible resume of accomplishments. Like
when you have this kind of drivethat you can each new experiences. Is

(21:00):
this exciting? Do you here here? Yeah? Well, I appreciate that.
That's really nice to hear. Andyou know, it's hard to have
the perspective when you're doing it yourself. You're looking at the same monitors and
then you're lucky to look at thesame people. So for me, I'm
a people person. If I knowinglike today that you guys are coming and
it's like, all right, I'mgetting to work with my boys. People
have made records with, people,I've gone on tour with, people I've

(21:22):
done with stuff with. So it'sit's your posse, it's your tribe,
and that makes me feel the best. And that's where I excel. If
I'm really comfortable and it's my friendsand I can goof off and I can
encourage and be the cheerleader and thevibe master or whatever the hell it is
that I do. Let me stopyou right there. Let's pick it up
after the break and we're gonna keepmoving. He's leaving us with Yola Tango,

(21:45):
so that's a cliffanger. Guys.We'll be right back on the freak.