September 24, 2025 • 30 mins
Graham is reunited with John Paul who shares his concert review of Nine Inch Nails.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
From the major label debut podcast network. This is your
MLD News. I'm Graham Wright and the really good news
today is that I am once again joined by returning
longtime guest producer, co host second Mike, dear friend, beloved
hero John Paul Bullock, after a brief absence from MLD News,
(00:28):
has returned to us. John Paul, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I am doing so well, Graham and so happy to
see you.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
You've been away working on a mysterious project I sort
of envisioned on some kind of like skull shaped island.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
That is exactly where I was. I was on Skull
Island making a new TV show that I cannot mention
here but will hopefully be announced in by the end
of the year.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Maybe I don't know, but I.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Was told not to say anything about it. So the
last four weeks I've been in a writer's room on
Skull Island. Thank you WGA for the breaks and taking
care of us.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
You've been creating the interdimensional squid creature from Watchmen.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
That's exactly on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Ozzy Mandius's secret Island. Don't take any boat rides on
your way home.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
What are you watching these days? Is there anything are
you up to date on Alien No.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I watched the first two episodes of Alien Earth and
then I ran out of time when I have the
TV to myself. But I you know, I thought it
was cool watching that alien kill all those soldiers. It's
pretty dope.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I need a new show, so maybe we can send
me some res later, say.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
My wife and I have been rewatching Lost.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I'm not going to rewatch Lost.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
We're all looking forward to the drive Shaft episode of
Major A little tipbuto you all everybody coming in twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
An episode about the music of Lost.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I want to do. I genuinely want to do an
episode where I talked to like the writer of the
episode about drive Shaft and whoever they hired to write
the song you all everybody, and like the consultant they
had to show Dominic Monaghan how to pretend to play bass.
I think it's such a classic TV band, and it's
such a funny it's such a funny version of the
(02:12):
rock and roll myth and narrative that we're really all
about deconstructing. Here on major label debut, and they do
they literally get like a brown Manila envelope. We got
a record contract it's a surprise, you know. Charlie's just
a confession in church and his brother, not Liam Gallagher,
comes in and says, we we got signed, baby brother,
(02:33):
but he doesn't know about it. He didn't sign it.
It's just in an envelope. And then they become rock gods.
And I really think that is what a lot of
people do secretly, just assume it is to get signed
and to be in a band. So I think that
the Drive Shaft episode is going to be a real
special one in the history of major label debut.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
I've always loved the meta use of Hurley and Hurley's
photograph on that for that Weezer record, that's like, it's
such so aggressively beautifully strange. Although I can't if you,
I don't know what's the what was the single from
that album that is from Hurley?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's right where I really lose track. You know, there's
a few Weezer records in there where they seem to
be coming out at a shocking clip, and each one
had some new bizarre fact about it, And the pinnacle
of all of it was the record that was called
Hurley and had Hurley from Lost on the cover. But
there was a conspiracy theory. I read about on the
(03:31):
internet that Weezer had taken sponsorship money from like the
skateboard company Hurley to call it that, and then they
put Hurley on from Lost on the cover to like
obscure the fact that they had sold out to Hurley
the skateboard company. I don't believe this is true. This
is not part of the MLD news. This is part
of the MLD catch up. Portion of the way I
want to go.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I want to start this that both they took money
from This is a new conspiracy right now being formed.
They took money from Hurley the skateboard company, and they
took money from ABC and Disney to put and it's
a synergy of both thos and both of them sort
of double helix cloak the other so that it's so
confusing that you can't possibly believe that. But they got
(04:11):
paid twice for it. I hope they got paid twice
for it.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Please.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That seems like the kind of thing that Rivers Cuomo
and his beautiful genius who would totally figure out how
to do how to get paid twice for that before
that covered all of the album's production costs.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Rivers Cuomo in the career of Weezer in general is
kind of like a perfect MLD embodiment of a man
who is such an artist and such a commercialist and
has synergized the forms so thoroughly that it's impossible to
know where the art ends and the commerce begins. And
(04:47):
I find it to be endlessly fascinating.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, I think we should try to approach friend of
Tokyo Police Club Matt Sharp to maybe be on this
show as y'all covered Friends of Pee the Rental Classic. True,
but also like all those guys should be, We should
have a we should individually interview You should individually interview
every single member of Weser as you toured with them too,
Like I mean, that's the bit.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
That would be much more speaking to them than I
did on the tour.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I like that Josh played trouble Mat was Troublemaker right,
Like yep, that's actually the only LA took a police
Club show. I never I did not see when y'all
played at the Forum with Weezer because I had to
work late at Desper Housewives and Rachel and a writer
from Desper Housewives went in my place with his family.
(05:34):
I think because he had lent Dave a guitar or
something the day before. But he was also a fan
and a great guy, and I was happy that he
got to go, but I was deeply jealous also not
to see Josh play Troublemaker.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah that was I mean, you also had to miss
the twenty four minute long six thirty PM took a
Police Club opening set where four nineteen year old sort
of flailed wildly as at Antie on the stage of
the form in front of the angels and airwaves one
thousand amp wall set up. Those were beautiful days. That's
(06:08):
when I was first watching Lost. I was plowing through
those DVDs in the van every day.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
No, no, no, as a well, I'm glad that you
have Actually I'm not glad. I'm worried about you rewatching,
taking your precious life that the Lord gave you and
used to get to rewatch Lost at this day in
the year of our Lord twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I like old TV. It's so it's so functional and practical.
They're like, in this episode the a story is this
an alien? They're like, these guys are all from Peter
Pan and now there's going to be four hints and
teases for some weird shit that won't pay off until
episode eleven season four. I know Lost invented that, but
the first season is so TV.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
They certainly invented riding ahead of themselves without any place
to go and not delivering at.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
The end of the series.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I know it does feel there's no way we're going
to make it through to the end. I'd be shocked
if we make it through the first In the beginning
of season two, when they're all in those cages or
season three or whatever that is, I could see my
wife no longer being interested in that.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I do.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I mean, I was super into like the Polar Bear
and the Smoke Monster and all that stuff early on.
It's impossible not to love. But well, speaking of the
fabulous form in Englewood, I just saw Nine Inch Nails there.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yes, this is as well as just to check in
on where John Paul and I have been hanging out
which mysterious islands. It's also the Nine Inch Nails concert
recap review. I myself have never been like a big
Nine Inch Nails head. I've always thought they were cool.
I've always sort of seen I was a Radiohead super fan,
and you could sort of see that they were a
very similar entity to people, and they meant a lot
(07:43):
to people, and they were you know, bold and interesting
and pushing the medium forward in a lot of ways.
But for whatever reason, I just never got fully into it.
But the thing I knew the most about them was
that they've been putting on a really, really impressive live
show for a really long time, Like they've only elevated
that form further.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I mean, I am a person who owns two, not one,
but two nine inch nails comfort sweatshirts. I have one
that keep in my car and then one that I
have in my home that I wear in secret.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Maybe I'll wear one time on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
But I've seen them three or four times over the
course of my life. Each of the shows has been
wildly different. I celebrate their entire catalog, but I their
live performances are something really unique, and this tour is
the best of them. I've seen really truly beautiful Licoasis.
(08:40):
I had gotten through the pre sale, like fan presales,
the ability to get tickets for this nine nail show,
but because of the crookedness of ticketmasters or I don't
know for yeah, that like whatever it is, I don't
know if it's snipers or some sort of weirdness. There
was not a single aisle seat I could find at
(09:00):
either Oasis or Nine Nails, and I more specifically, my
wife refuses to go to those big shows unless she
can like escape very quickly, so we we just didn't
get tickets for them, and I figured maybe on the
day of I'd try the aftermarket crap shoot and see
if I could roll big and get something nice. But
(09:22):
thanks to my friend and friend of major label debut,
longtime friend of major label debut, mister Tim Plumley, I
got four tickets and went with him as his date,
and it was amazing, truly one of the best live
shows I've ever seen, and really interestingly a preview of
the stuff that they're going to do at Coachella as
(09:44):
nine Inch Noise on me, so that they were sort
of like rebranded on the poster.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Is that yeah, which comes from some they did like
there's like a collaborative portion of their set with the
support band, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So the performance for this Peel It Back tour was
like it's actually four separate performances and then there was
an opener, which is electronic arts named Boys Noise who
was on a kind of platform, very small platform raised
above the crowd on the floor, but kind of off
to the side. And then when the Nine Is Nails
(10:17):
show proper started, they were on a small but larger
than the boy Stories platform in the center of the
floor where it started with Trent and Resnor playing solo
piano song and then each track moving forward or each
you know song moving forward, they added another band member
so it'd be like Robin Fink and then Alesandra Cortini
(10:37):
and then Atticus Ross being the last one, I think
while the songs grew in intensity, and then when Josh
Freeze the drummer started playing live drums, he came up
as a projection on the main stage, and then everyone's
attention shifted. The band lowered down under the floor and
(10:59):
then took a secret tunnel to the main stage and
they came up and the main stage was decorated with
this translucent screen in front of the band, and then
there were layers of it behind each band member, so
Reznor and Akis Ross were behind a projection screen, and
then they had a projection screen behind them that was
(11:20):
in front of Alexander Cortini and Robin.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Finked it was.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
There was another one that was in front of Josh Freeze,
and they did this like multi stage projection that gave
the illusion of depth, and they did all these kind
of really interesting tricks with that that I had never
seen anything like it before. It was really fantastic, and
it was particularly interesting with Josh free You know, Josh
(11:46):
frees the the Nine Dales drummer had been in Foo
Fighters and he had replaced Taylor Hawkins and had been
this whole big thing and then they the rumor was
he was going to get fired, and then all of
a sudden it wasn't that he got fired. It is
that they like swapped drummers with nine inch Nails and
he had been in ninety Nails before, so he went
back to being in nige Nails so he could do
this tour. And the Foo Fighters got the guy who
(12:08):
had been playing in nine inch Nails.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Now was there drummer.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
But so they did this like incredible thing, and then
meanwhile Boys Noise came up on the smaller stage in
the middle the band rejoined him where they did a
second set, now third set to this point of kind
of the hits, but they live remixed them as dance numbers.
(12:33):
They play that closer as a like a club banger,
driven by the opening act, which was really neat and
interesting to watch them do that. And then they ended
up back on the main stage for the last like
six or seven songs where they dropped those screens, played
without adornment, just flashing huge strobe lights, and played the
(12:56):
hits and it was amazing and it was almost everything
I wanted to hear. But you know, I think they're
probably twenty or so songs the entire time. Dude, I
could talk about it all day, all night. It was
so inspiring. The lighting was extraordinary, and it was just
a good hang with an old friend too. You know,
I saw everyone going to Oasis, including you, and I
(13:18):
was super fomo as I was trapped in on Skull
Island making this TV show and to have had my
own little version of it.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
It was everything I wanted.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
It sounds amazing and it's so impressive to me, particularly
because it sounds very it sounds very contemporary, just the
notion of you know, having these moments and going to
the multiple stages and these things that sort of maybe
come from like what was traditionally pop concert things where
you know, it was a lot more of a performance
with costume changes and dances and sets and stuff. There's
(13:48):
certain you know, if I can call nine is nailed
broadly like a rock band compared to a pop band.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Who have been taking some of these ideas, and it
makes a lot of sense in the social media age
to have these clear moments in your set. They're sort
of oh, you know, instagram bable for lack of a
better term. But Trent Rezner at this point is an
elder statesman who has graduated from making rock music to
winning Academy Awards for making you know, interesting and dare
(14:16):
I say, even sometimes tasteful film score work. And then
he comes back to hit the road with Nine in
Nails and he's still doing something that feels of the
moment and exciting and you know, if not innovative, at
least like a pretty new spin on an old classic.
And it's just it's amazing to me how some people
keep the vitality for so long. And I don't know
(14:38):
how he does it.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I mean, this was full of those moments, Like for
when they played I'm Afraid of Americans, he just came
out on stage and for a moment held and then
said David Bowie and the crowd went, you know, everyone
knows what's gonna happen, and then everyone went berserk and
then they launched into like an awesome version of that song.
Or when they played the single from the New tron
(15:00):
Ares soundtrack that Nine and Nails did, it had like
the same lighting scheme and colors that you've seen in
the trailer for tront Aris. It was like a kind
of synergistic I mean, every moment of it was choreographed
and thought out really well, but it was I was
genuinely kind of touched. He had a moment where he
(15:22):
came out and said, look, we didn't think we were
ever really going to do this again, and now that
we've done this, I feel so happy and inspired. Basically,
I'm going it was simpler than this, but he was basically,
I'm really glad I did this because we're going to
do more. Essentially is what it sounded like. And then
they announced Coachella, right yea, but the like, yeah, he's
(15:43):
he's a guy at the top of his game. He's
like on his way to an egot, right he I
think he has now Grammy Oscar and Emmy.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's always the tea.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
The tea.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
McCartney too is one tea away, but that's an elusive tea.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, I mean I think it's. Look, this guy can
do anything. I really he is truly inspired. I was
thinking about why there aren't nine is Is Nails cover bands
that do it, Like I'm sure there are, but like,
why isn't there the kind of why haven't there? They're
like the led Zeppelin cover or an Oasis cover band,
for example, Like and I thought, oh, you probably you
need like half a million dollars worth of synthesizers or
(16:21):
just like it just seems too annoying, Yeah, to do.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
It, you know all that.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I mean, you could do all the programming, I guess.
But maybe we should start a Niche Nail's cover band.
Would you join me in my nine Nael's cover band?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I would be the atticust to your trend.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Oh, I like that. I like that a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
You can really you know, I've got like like the
role in Phantom O six workstation that I used for
the last Tokyo tour because it can contain a lot
of patches at once, and I can really imagine dialing
in a bunch of sound alike patches for Ninche Nails
songs and you know, on your headphones, it seems really right,
But then when you're in the venue there's just a
Ninege Nails show. Seems like it's like a physically visceral
(16:58):
experience sonically chiefly, and I think that you would be
really hard to duplicate that. There's something they got going
on with the with all of it, including him being
there at the center of it with his like muscles.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Well yeah, I mean I saw the Pitchfork referred to
him as a health goth, which I think is hilarious.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Two hundred percent who that guy is.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, But also like, for as choreographed as the thing was,
it was surprisingly raw, especially when it came to the
you know, it's real people playing real instruments. There were
track elements and whatever, I'm sure, but it did not
seem to be dominated by that, And I'm I'm not
sure how much of it was that. I mean, I'm
sure the recorded pieces, it seemed like everyone was like
(17:39):
individually triggering stuff and the sub base particularly was like
organ rearranging and it's just brutality, Like it was just
just you know that, and then being blasted by lights
at unexpected times. Yeah, it really did create a kind
of like CIA torture situation.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Worry you're like just being just.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I highly recommend anybody who has any passing interest in
it to go see it. I know we're running along
on this short podcast, but I could if you want
to talk with me about this, just call me and
I will just jabber at you like a monkey for
at least fifteen more men.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
The phone lines are open. It's really amazing to me
the way that certain these like legacy blue chip rock
bands are elevating their entire show. And you know, the
ticket prices seem to be rising proportionally. And I don't
know which one is driving which or if it's totally coincidental,
(18:43):
but it certainly sounds like everyone got their money's worth
at this show. But it does it makes me think about,
you know, just to sort of put like a more
a big picture mld chin stroke filter to wrap it up,
I had I had dinner last week with a dear
friend of mine who works in music business and who
Tokyo worked with for many years, who by by his
(19:03):
own choice, is not a character on this podcast. But
I think this knows a lot about the touring world
and the business world and has been in and around
it for a long time, and he was sort of saying,
how it's this development is very strange where bands that
were you know, B plus or A bands have become
A plus bands. You know, your oasis is your cold plays,
(19:25):
your radio heads were always big touring bands, and now
all of a sudden they're doing, you know, ten nights
at Wembley, just making unfathomable amounts of money on tickets
and then again on merch and then again on VIP
packages or whatever else. And meanwhile all the bands that
were like B B minus bands are sliding down to
being C C minus bands. This is in terms of
(19:47):
you know, how big a venue they can do, how much.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Money they can make.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's not a qualitative process, right, But like so, yeah,
you got to start packaging, you know, or you got
to have some I hate to use the word gimmick
because it sounds dismissive, but like this time last year,
I was out on the biggest tour I ever went
on in my entire illustrious career, and that was entirely
because we told everyone that it was the last chance
(20:09):
they got to see us, and that drove everyone out
and it elevated our band. And it seems like unless
you have a gimmick like that, the only gimmick that
really works is like you're an ip. You know your
Nine inch Nails, your Radiohead, your Coldplay. You've been around
long enough, you are knowing enough that it feels like
I don't know if it's like a safety that people
(20:30):
feel spending the money or if people are gravity are
searching for some kind of monocultural remnant in this fractured age,
but it's really interesting that well, bands like Nine Inch
Nails are doing these amazing things that are, you know,
artistic triumphs, and I don't want to take anything away
from them. You know, when you spend five hundred dollars
on floor tickets to nine Nails, you don't have forty
(20:52):
dollars to go to ten other shows that season. And I, like,
I find myself, I go to two concerts a year
now and it costs me much as it used to
cost me to go to seventy concerts a year. What
it means for the industry remains to be seen, but
I think it is remarkable literally to sort of look
at what's going on.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, I think it is significant that all these bands
are pre Internet, like the big the bands that are
filling these stadiums, Science Nail's Oasis. They're not even Taylor Swift.
I think of as you know, still at the last
of the CD era artists, right, I don't know. I mean,
I still consume a lot of live shows in small clubs,
(21:32):
and I think we're just in a period of transition.
I'm not sure what that is, but yeah, I hear you.
I mean, for Oasis in Financial Nails, I probably would
have bought in previous years less desirable tickets if they
had been less expensive, but no, like the tickets that
I did not want were still you know, for myself
(21:53):
and my wife's to go to that show, it costs
one thousand dollars. It's three hundred dollars a ticket each,
plus one hundred dollars for parking, plus drinks which are
like fifty bucks each, and then you're like you got
to go get dinner and whatever on the way there.
And then it's like for that, you can fly to Spain,
you know, you can go to like it's it's like
and to see a band that probably most of you
(22:14):
know not in the case of Oasis, but like a
lot of my friends saw Oasis back when Oasis was
a going concern, and I I mean I'd say night
Shales multiple times before, so I mean I didn't buy
the tickets. But then again, there is the whole younger
I mean, there's this, the Chapel Rowans, the Olivia Rodrigo,
(22:35):
and that might be a thing that I'm just I
promised myself during this podcast I would not be like,
maybe it's just because.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I'm old, like I do, like I'm moving back towards
that the commitment is maybe I don't think we have
to take it as read In general, both us and
probably the primary listenership of this podcast is you know,
that is always part of the stew of all of our.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Experience, simply because we are no longer you're young, and
that's just the way she goes.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I agree, agree, agree, I mean, I feel like the
live concert industry, for me personally and particularly in Los Angeles,
it is there's never been more options, and I'm sure
that everyone is getting paid paid less. Most ninety nine
percent of bands are getting paid less than they used
to be. And I just I you know, every night
there's two things I want to see. I'm going to
(23:23):
show tonight and I want to see Reverend Hord and
Heat and the Mccharmleys meser Chups was originally on the lineup,
but they left that lineup and are having their own
show at the Paramount. And that is an instrumental surf
band that is playing at a fairly large venue and
it's you know, I'm not sure that would have been
possible even like ten years ago. I guess there's like
(23:45):
man or astro man or stuff like that, but even
then it's like hard to tell. I do feel like
we're in a period of flux. Yeah, period of like
what is this becoming?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It's strong locally, it's like if you I mean, if
you're lucky like we are to live in a city
that has a scene at all. Anywhere there's a scene
seems to be thriving at least as far as options
and bands to go see. If not, you know, the
Luker available for everyone to split. But that really reminds
me of stuff like the you know, the Orange County
punk scene we talked about with with Nayan Daniel when
(24:15):
we spoke about their book and rock music kind of
started as being a local and regional concern. It's literally
easier to play concerts in the town you live in
than it is to get in a van and drive
across the country to do it. So maybe we're going
to see a snap back to that, and again, you know,
maybe that the way the Internet has sort of like
crushed all the borders between where people are from and
(24:37):
where their music is consumed, maybe there'll be an inverse
converse reaction where there's you know, live music becomes like
an increasingly local concern. It's probably unwise to prognosticate, but
you know, we're almost at minute thirty, so I'm going
to treat myself well.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I know that we're going to have big fan basis
for our Ninitionell's cover band. I think it will be
uh international. I think we can we can take we
can become like those grateful Dead cover bands that like
Jay rad Or you know, tour and play like the
Greek and the as As. We're just together sharing a microphone,
(25:16):
screaming had like a hole. Towards five thousand.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Four, Hugh light Bulbs doing the best approximation weekend of
the everyone.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Dressed in black, what's the funniest cover band you've ever
heard of or been a part of.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Or like.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I didn't go see them, but when I was a
younger lad the church that we went to played host
to a band, a tragically hip cover band that rewrote
all the lyrics to be Christian that were called liturgically hip.
That is amazing, the best idea I've ever heard my
entire life. I remember that at the peak of the
like impossibly cool scene at the Smell when no Age
(25:57):
was blowing up and becoming like a pop band and
all that, that someone and I don't know who was
involved with it, but started a cover band called yes Age.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That was like a no Age government. That's the greatest.
The other the other thing I saw I saw when
I was in I think I did see that. I'm
so glad I saw it was in Pittsburgh at Spirit Hall.
In the basement of Spirit Hall. I saw a cover
band was made up of a group of dudes from
a bunch of other Pittsburgh bands, including the Go to Beds,
(26:27):
that was called Wrestle with Jimmy the lesser known songs
of Weezer. To bring it back to Weezer, that was
just like, let's just pick you know, the worst quotes
song on every Weezer album, and then that was what
this band chose to cover, and it was it was
pretty aggressively weird, like people were there because they liked Weezer,
(26:50):
but we're.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Having a hard time.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I think a lot of people are having a hard
time like placing the songs, and they did not like
pretty faithful bad Weezer songs, which it's like, you know,
none of them are bad, but.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Some of them are bad.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I think the best cover band I've ever really been
associated with was Toronto's legendary Shecheezer, which was what it
sounds like, but it was they only played Blue and
Pinkerton songs and it genuinely obviously they all kicked ass
at music and they were all super cool women, so
it was just like a fun night of the movies.
But also, particularly with the Pinkerton songs, it actually sort
of served as like an act of like critical radical
(27:27):
reappropriation to like put all those fucked up misogynist lyrics
in the mouths of women but who were singing them
from like a place of tribute and respect and celebration,
and it just created like a really cool, interesting but
also you didn't have to again stroke your chin about it.
You just get in the pit, which is what I did.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Well.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
I think this is for another podcast, but I'm gonna
go ahead and say that the Green Album is far
superior to Pinkerton. And I spent a long time loving Pinkerton.
I still love Pinkerton, but I think that the Green
Album is better for a lot of reasons, and I
would if you would like to, I would indulge in
(28:06):
in like a very long podcast about this with you.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Absolutely. I think that the another path in the future
of MLD, you know, much like a rush of pod
to the head, the in depth multi part Coldplay exploration.
I think we need to just stop stopping ourselves from
nerding out completely about the records we love.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I think Major Labels Debut's Heart is kind of you
and me spending two plus hours talking about Weezer records
and arguing over which one is truly the best. So
I think we get it on the books. I think
it's going to be our best shit ever. And I'll
see you at the podcast when we get an EGOT
the Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony Podcast Award. I'll be there
(28:48):
on stage singing nanij nails with you.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Is Tired of Sex, a good name for the for
the podcast. It's like two men who will never get lady.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
They're going to be very specifically GEO blocked outside of
our retrospective homes, so our wives can never know of
their existences. John Public, it is such a delight to
have you back. I have enjoyed talking to myself about
myself on this podcast on the news portion for the
last month, but it's a hell of a lot more
fun talking to you, my friend. So welcome back, Thank you,
(29:22):
and listen. We need that giant squid now more than ever.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So I've enjoyed listening to you from the distance, just
grasping it air, being like Graham, where are you?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I missed you. I love you.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I could feel it. It was like the nuts Faratu
shadow hand coming across my bed every night.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I do love you.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I love Josh Hook, and I love Greg Alsop, and
I love all of you for listening to this podcast.
Thank you for putting a while on thirty two minutes
of your life into this. We've got so much more
good stuff coming, including a very special episode next week
with one of my mus school heroes.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
A great episode. I'm so excited to release this one,
a whole new frontier for MLD, so stay tuned for that,
and thank you for staying tuned for this. As John
Paul mentioned, the podcast is produced by Josh Hook by
John Paul Bullock, Our music is by Greg Alsop. Our
listenership is by you, our beloved listener. Please like, please subscribe.
(30:18):
We're on the socials media, and you know, get at
us with your Weezer hot takes or your furious ire
about our Weezer hot takes. We welcome it all and
we look forward to talking to you again. That's all
for today, but Major Label Debut will return with more tales,
news analysis, and interminable banter from the intersection of art
and commerce.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
So long bye,
From the major label debut podcast network. This is your
MLD News. I'm Graham Wright and the really good news
today is that I am once again joined by returning
longtime guest producer, co host second Mike, dear friend, beloved
hero John Paul Bullock, after a brief absence from MLD News,
(00:28):
has returned to us. John Paul, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I am doing so well, Graham and so happy to
see you.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
You've been away working on a mysterious project I sort
of envisioned on some kind of like skull shaped island.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
That is exactly where I was. I was on Skull
Island making a new TV show that I cannot mention
here but will hopefully be announced in by the end
of the year.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Maybe I don't know, but I.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Was told not to say anything about it. So the
last four weeks I've been in a writer's room on
Skull Island. Thank you WGA for the breaks and taking
care of us.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
You've been creating the interdimensional squid creature from Watchmen.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
That's exactly on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Ozzy Mandius's secret Island. Don't take any boat rides on
your way home.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
What are you watching these days? Is there anything are
you up to date on Alien No.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I watched the first two episodes of Alien Earth and
then I ran out of time when I have the
TV to myself. But I you know, I thought it
was cool watching that alien kill all those soldiers. It's
pretty dope.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I need a new show, so maybe we can send
me some res later, say.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
My wife and I have been rewatching Lost.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I'm not going to rewatch Lost.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
We're all looking forward to the drive Shaft episode of
Major A little tipbuto you all everybody coming in twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
An episode about the music of Lost.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I want to do. I genuinely want to do an
episode where I talked to like the writer of the
episode about drive Shaft and whoever they hired to write
the song you all everybody, and like the consultant they
had to show Dominic Monaghan how to pretend to play bass.
I think it's such a classic TV band, and it's
such a funny it's such a funny version of the
(02:12):
rock and roll myth and narrative that we're really all
about deconstructing. Here on major label debut, and they do
they literally get like a brown Manila envelope. We got
a record contract it's a surprise, you know. Charlie's just
a confession in church and his brother, not Liam Gallagher,
comes in and says, we we got signed, baby brother,
(02:33):
but he doesn't know about it. He didn't sign it.
It's just in an envelope. And then they become rock gods.
And I really think that is what a lot of
people do secretly, just assume it is to get signed
and to be in a band. So I think that
the Drive Shaft episode is going to be a real
special one in the history of major label debut.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
I've always loved the meta use of Hurley and Hurley's
photograph on that for that Weezer record, that's like, it's
such so aggressively beautifully strange. Although I can't if you,
I don't know what's the what was the single from
that album that is from Hurley?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's right where I really lose track. You know, there's
a few Weezer records in there where they seem to
be coming out at a shocking clip, and each one
had some new bizarre fact about it, And the pinnacle
of all of it was the record that was called
Hurley and had Hurley from Lost on the cover. But
there was a conspiracy theory. I read about on the
(03:31):
internet that Weezer had taken sponsorship money from like the
skateboard company Hurley to call it that, and then they
put Hurley on from Lost on the cover to like
obscure the fact that they had sold out to Hurley
the skateboard company. I don't believe this is true. This
is not part of the MLD news. This is part
of the MLD catch up. Portion of the way I
want to go.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I want to start this that both they took money
from This is a new conspiracy right now being formed.
They took money from Hurley the skateboard company, and they
took money from ABC and Disney to put and it's
a synergy of both thos and both of them sort
of double helix cloak the other so that it's so
confusing that you can't possibly believe that. But they got
(04:11):
paid twice for it. I hope they got paid twice
for it.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Please.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That seems like the kind of thing that Rivers Cuomo
and his beautiful genius who would totally figure out how
to do how to get paid twice for that before
that covered all of the album's production costs.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Rivers Cuomo in the career of Weezer in general is
kind of like a perfect MLD embodiment of a man
who is such an artist and such a commercialist and
has synergized the forms so thoroughly that it's impossible to
know where the art ends and the commerce begins. And
(04:47):
I find it to be endlessly fascinating.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, I think we should try to approach friend of
Tokyo Police Club Matt Sharp to maybe be on this
show as y'all covered Friends of Pee the Rental Classic. True,
but also like all those guys should be, We should
have a we should individually interview You should individually interview
every single member of Weser as you toured with them too,
Like I mean, that's the bit.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
That would be much more speaking to them than I
did on the tour.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I like that Josh played trouble Mat was Troublemaker right,
Like yep, that's actually the only LA took a police
Club show. I never I did not see when y'all
played at the Forum with Weezer because I had to
work late at Desper Housewives and Rachel and a writer
from Desper Housewives went in my place with his family.
(05:34):
I think because he had lent Dave a guitar or
something the day before. But he was also a fan
and a great guy, and I was happy that he
got to go, but I was deeply jealous also not
to see Josh play Troublemaker.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah that was I mean, you also had to miss
the twenty four minute long six thirty PM took a
Police Club opening set where four nineteen year old sort
of flailed wildly as at Antie on the stage of
the form in front of the angels and airwaves one
thousand amp wall set up. Those were beautiful days. That's
(06:08):
when I was first watching Lost. I was plowing through
those DVDs in the van every day.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
No, no, no, as a well, I'm glad that you
have Actually I'm not glad. I'm worried about you rewatching,
taking your precious life that the Lord gave you and
used to get to rewatch Lost at this day in
the year of our Lord twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
I like old TV. It's so it's so functional and practical.
They're like, in this episode the a story is this
an alien? They're like, these guys are all from Peter
Pan and now there's going to be four hints and
teases for some weird shit that won't pay off until
episode eleven season four. I know Lost invented that, but
the first season is so TV.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
They certainly invented riding ahead of themselves without any place
to go and not delivering at.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
The end of the series.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I know it does feel there's no way we're going
to make it through to the end. I'd be shocked
if we make it through the first In the beginning
of season two, when they're all in those cages or
season three or whatever that is, I could see my
wife no longer being interested in that.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I do.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I mean, I was super into like the Polar Bear
and the Smoke Monster and all that stuff early on.
It's impossible not to love. But well, speaking of the
fabulous form in Englewood, I just saw Nine Inch Nails there.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yes, this is as well as just to check in
on where John Paul and I have been hanging out
which mysterious islands. It's also the Nine Inch Nails concert
recap review. I myself have never been like a big
Nine Inch Nails head. I've always thought they were cool.
I've always sort of seen I was a Radiohead super fan,
and you could sort of see that they were a
very similar entity to people, and they meant a lot
(07:43):
to people, and they were you know, bold and interesting
and pushing the medium forward in a lot of ways.
But for whatever reason, I just never got fully into it.
But the thing I knew the most about them was
that they've been putting on a really, really impressive live
show for a really long time, Like they've only elevated
that form further.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I mean, I am a person who owns two, not one,
but two nine inch nails comfort sweatshirts. I have one
that keep in my car and then one that I
have in my home that I wear in secret.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Maybe I'll wear one time on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
But I've seen them three or four times over the
course of my life. Each of the shows has been
wildly different. I celebrate their entire catalog, but I their
live performances are something really unique, and this tour is
the best of them. I've seen really truly beautiful Licoasis.
(08:40):
I had gotten through the pre sale, like fan presales,
the ability to get tickets for this nine nail show,
but because of the crookedness of ticketmasters or I don't
know for yeah, that like whatever it is, I don't
know if it's snipers or some sort of weirdness. There
was not a single aisle seat I could find at
(09:00):
either Oasis or Nine Nails, and I more specifically, my
wife refuses to go to those big shows unless she
can like escape very quickly, so we we just didn't
get tickets for them, and I figured maybe on the
day of I'd try the aftermarket crap shoot and see
if I could roll big and get something nice. But
(09:22):
thanks to my friend and friend of major label debut,
longtime friend of major label debut, mister Tim Plumley, I
got four tickets and went with him as his date,
and it was amazing, truly one of the best live
shows I've ever seen, and really interestingly a preview of
the stuff that they're going to do at Coachella as
(09:44):
nine Inch Noise on me, so that they were sort
of like rebranded on the poster.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Is that yeah, which comes from some they did like
there's like a collaborative portion of their set with the
support band, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So the performance for this Peel It Back tour was
like it's actually four separate performances and then there was
an opener, which is electronic arts named Boys Noise who
was on a kind of platform, very small platform raised
above the crowd on the floor, but kind of off
to the side. And then when the Nine Is Nails
(10:17):
show proper started, they were on a small but larger
than the boy Stories platform in the center of the
floor where it started with Trent and Resnor playing solo
piano song and then each track moving forward or each
you know song moving forward, they added another band member
so it'd be like Robin Fink and then Alesandra Cortini
(10:37):
and then Atticus Ross being the last one, I think
while the songs grew in intensity, and then when Josh
Freeze the drummer started playing live drums, he came up
as a projection on the main stage, and then everyone's
attention shifted. The band lowered down under the floor and
(10:59):
then took a secret tunnel to the main stage and
they came up and the main stage was decorated with
this translucent screen in front of the band, and then
there were layers of it behind each band member, so
Reznor and Akis Ross were behind a projection screen, and
then they had a projection screen behind them that was
(11:20):
in front of Alexander Cortini and Robin.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Finked it was.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
There was another one that was in front of Josh Freeze,
and they did this like multi stage projection that gave
the illusion of depth, and they did all these kind
of really interesting tricks with that that I had never
seen anything like it before. It was really fantastic, and
it was particularly interesting with Josh free You know, Josh
(11:46):
frees the the Nine Dales drummer had been in Foo
Fighters and he had replaced Taylor Hawkins and had been
this whole big thing and then they the rumor was
he was going to get fired, and then all of
a sudden it wasn't that he got fired. It is
that they like swapped drummers with nine inch Nails and
he had been in ninety Nails before, so he went
back to being in nige Nails so he could do
this tour. And the Foo Fighters got the guy who
(12:08):
had been playing in nine inch Nails.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Now was there drummer.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
But so they did this like incredible thing, and then
meanwhile Boys Noise came up on the smaller stage in
the middle the band rejoined him where they did a
second set, now third set to this point of kind
of the hits, but they live remixed them as dance numbers.
(12:33):
They play that closer as a like a club banger,
driven by the opening act, which was really neat and
interesting to watch them do that. And then they ended
up back on the main stage for the last like
six or seven songs where they dropped those screens, played
without adornment, just flashing huge strobe lights, and played the
(12:56):
hits and it was amazing and it was almost everything
I wanted to hear. But you know, I think they're
probably twenty or so songs the entire time. Dude, I
could talk about it all day, all night. It was
so inspiring. The lighting was extraordinary, and it was just
a good hang with an old friend too. You know,
I saw everyone going to Oasis, including you, and I
(13:18):
was super fomo as I was trapped in on Skull
Island making this TV show and to have had my
own little version of it.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
It was everything I wanted.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
It sounds amazing and it's so impressive to me, particularly
because it sounds very it sounds very contemporary, just the
notion of you know, having these moments and going to
the multiple stages and these things that sort of maybe
come from like what was traditionally pop concert things where
you know, it was a lot more of a performance
with costume changes and dances and sets and stuff. There's
(13:48):
certain you know, if I can call nine is nailed
broadly like a rock band compared to a pop band.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Who have been taking some of these ideas, and it
makes a lot of sense in the social media age
to have these clear moments in your set. They're sort
of oh, you know, instagram bable for lack of a
better term. But Trent Rezner at this point is an
elder statesman who has graduated from making rock music to
winning Academy Awards for making you know, interesting and dare
(14:16):
I say, even sometimes tasteful film score work. And then
he comes back to hit the road with Nine in
Nails and he's still doing something that feels of the
moment and exciting and you know, if not innovative, at
least like a pretty new spin on an old classic.
And it's just it's amazing to me how some people
keep the vitality for so long. And I don't know
(14:38):
how he does it.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I mean, this was full of those moments, Like for
when they played I'm Afraid of Americans, he just came
out on stage and for a moment held and then
said David Bowie and the crowd went, you know, everyone
knows what's gonna happen, and then everyone went berserk and
then they launched into like an awesome version of that song.
Or when they played the single from the New tron
(15:00):
Ares soundtrack that Nine and Nails did, it had like
the same lighting scheme and colors that you've seen in
the trailer for tront Aris. It was like a kind
of synergistic I mean, every moment of it was choreographed
and thought out really well, but it was I was
genuinely kind of touched. He had a moment where he
(15:22):
came out and said, look, we didn't think we were
ever really going to do this again, and now that
we've done this, I feel so happy and inspired. Basically,
I'm going it was simpler than this, but he was basically,
I'm really glad I did this because we're going to
do more. Essentially is what it sounded like. And then
they announced Coachella, right yea, but the like, yeah, he's
(15:43):
he's a guy at the top of his game. He's
like on his way to an egot, right he I
think he has now Grammy Oscar and Emmy.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's always the tea.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
The tea.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
McCartney too is one tea away, but that's an elusive tea.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, I mean I think it's. Look, this guy can
do anything. I really he is truly inspired. I was
thinking about why there aren't nine is Is Nails cover bands
that do it, Like I'm sure there are, but like,
why isn't there the kind of why haven't there? They're
like the led Zeppelin cover or an Oasis cover band,
for example, Like and I thought, oh, you probably you
need like half a million dollars worth of synthesizers or
(16:21):
just like it just seems too annoying, Yeah, to do.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
It, you know all that.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I mean, you could do all the programming, I guess.
But maybe we should start a Niche Nail's cover band.
Would you join me in my nine Nael's cover band?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I would be the atticust to your trend.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Oh, I like that. I like that a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
You can really you know, I've got like like the
role in Phantom O six workstation that I used for
the last Tokyo tour because it can contain a lot
of patches at once, and I can really imagine dialing
in a bunch of sound alike patches for Ninche Nails
songs and you know, on your headphones, it seems really right,
But then when you're in the venue there's just a
Ninege Nails show. Seems like it's like a physically visceral
(16:58):
experience sonically chiefly, and I think that you would be
really hard to duplicate that. There's something they got going
on with the with all of it, including him being
there at the center of it with his like muscles.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Well yeah, I mean I saw the Pitchfork referred to
him as a health goth, which I think is hilarious.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Two hundred percent who that guy is.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, But also like, for as choreographed as the thing was,
it was surprisingly raw, especially when it came to the
you know, it's real people playing real instruments. There were
track elements and whatever, I'm sure, but it did not
seem to be dominated by that, And I'm I'm not
sure how much of it was that. I mean, I'm
sure the recorded pieces, it seemed like everyone was like
(17:39):
individually triggering stuff and the sub base particularly was like
organ rearranging and it's just brutality, Like it was just
just you know that, and then being blasted by lights
at unexpected times. Yeah, it really did create a kind
of like CIA torture situation.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Worry you're like just being just.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I highly recommend anybody who has any passing interest in
it to go see it. I know we're running along
on this short podcast, but I could if you want
to talk with me about this, just call me and
I will just jabber at you like a monkey for
at least fifteen more men.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
The phone lines are open. It's really amazing to me
the way that certain these like legacy blue chip rock
bands are elevating their entire show. And you know, the
ticket prices seem to be rising proportionally. And I don't
know which one is driving which or if it's totally coincidental,
(18:43):
but it certainly sounds like everyone got their money's worth
at this show. But it does it makes me think about,
you know, just to sort of put like a more
a big picture mld chin stroke filter to wrap it up,
I had I had dinner last week with a dear
friend of mine who works in music business and who
Tokyo worked with for many years, who by by his
(19:03):
own choice, is not a character on this podcast. But
I think this knows a lot about the touring world
and the business world and has been in and around
it for a long time, and he was sort of saying,
how it's this development is very strange where bands that
were you know, B plus or A bands have become
A plus bands. You know, your oasis is your cold plays,
(19:25):
your radio heads were always big touring bands, and now
all of a sudden they're doing, you know, ten nights
at Wembley, just making unfathomable amounts of money on tickets
and then again on merch and then again on VIP
packages or whatever else. And meanwhile all the bands that
were like B B minus bands are sliding down to
being C C minus bands. This is in terms of
(19:47):
you know, how big a venue they can do, how much.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Money they can make.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's not a qualitative process, right, But like so, yeah,
you got to start packaging, you know, or you got
to have some I hate to use the word gimmick
because it sounds dismissive, but like this time last year,
I was out on the biggest tour I ever went
on in my entire illustrious career, and that was entirely
because we told everyone that it was the last chance
(20:09):
they got to see us, and that drove everyone out
and it elevated our band. And it seems like unless
you have a gimmick like that, the only gimmick that
really works is like you're an ip. You know your
Nine inch Nails, your Radiohead, your Coldplay. You've been around
long enough, you are knowing enough that it feels like
I don't know if it's like a safety that people
(20:30):
feel spending the money or if people are gravity are
searching for some kind of monocultural remnant in this fractured age,
but it's really interesting that well, bands like Nine Inch
Nails are doing these amazing things that are, you know,
artistic triumphs, and I don't want to take anything away
from them. You know, when you spend five hundred dollars
on floor tickets to nine Nails, you don't have forty
(20:52):
dollars to go to ten other shows that season. And I, like,
I find myself, I go to two concerts a year
now and it costs me much as it used to
cost me to go to seventy concerts a year. What
it means for the industry remains to be seen, but
I think it is remarkable literally to sort of look
at what's going on.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, I think it is significant that all these bands
are pre Internet, like the big the bands that are
filling these stadiums, Science Nail's Oasis. They're not even Taylor Swift.
I think of as you know, still at the last
of the CD era artists, right, I don't know. I mean,
I still consume a lot of live shows in small clubs,
(21:32):
and I think we're just in a period of transition.
I'm not sure what that is, but yeah, I hear you.
I mean, for Oasis in Financial Nails, I probably would
have bought in previous years less desirable tickets if they
had been less expensive, but no, like the tickets that
I did not want were still you know, for myself
(21:53):
and my wife's to go to that show, it costs
one thousand dollars. It's three hundred dollars a ticket each,
plus one hundred dollars for parking, plus drinks which are
like fifty bucks each, and then you're like you got
to go get dinner and whatever on the way there.
And then it's like for that, you can fly to Spain,
you know, you can go to like it's it's like
and to see a band that probably most of you
(22:14):
know not in the case of Oasis, but like a
lot of my friends saw Oasis back when Oasis was
a going concern, and I I mean I'd say night
Shales multiple times before, so I mean I didn't buy
the tickets. But then again, there is the whole younger
I mean, there's this, the Chapel Rowans, the Olivia Rodrigo,
(22:35):
and that might be a thing that I'm just I
promised myself during this podcast I would not be like,
maybe it's just because.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I'm old, like I do, like I'm moving back towards
that the commitment is maybe I don't think we have
to take it as read In general, both us and
probably the primary listenership of this podcast is you know,
that is always part of the stew of all of our.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Experience, simply because we are no longer you're young, and
that's just the way she goes.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I agree, agree, agree, I mean, I feel like the
live concert industry, for me personally and particularly in Los Angeles,
it is there's never been more options, and I'm sure
that everyone is getting paid paid less. Most ninety nine
percent of bands are getting paid less than they used
to be. And I just I you know, every night
there's two things I want to see. I'm going to
(23:23):
show tonight and I want to see Reverend Hord and
Heat and the Mccharmleys meser Chups was originally on the lineup,
but they left that lineup and are having their own
show at the Paramount. And that is an instrumental surf
band that is playing at a fairly large venue and
it's you know, I'm not sure that would have been
possible even like ten years ago. I guess there's like
(23:45):
man or astro man or stuff like that, but even
then it's like hard to tell. I do feel like
we're in a period of flux. Yeah, period of like
what is this becoming?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It's strong locally, it's like if you I mean, if
you're lucky like we are to live in a city
that has a scene at all. Anywhere there's a scene
seems to be thriving at least as far as options
and bands to go see. If not, you know, the
Luker available for everyone to split. But that really reminds
me of stuff like the you know, the Orange County
punk scene we talked about with with Nayan Daniel when
(24:15):
we spoke about their book and rock music kind of
started as being a local and regional concern. It's literally
easier to play concerts in the town you live in
than it is to get in a van and drive
across the country to do it. So maybe we're going
to see a snap back to that, and again, you know,
maybe that the way the Internet has sort of like
crushed all the borders between where people are from and
(24:37):
where their music is consumed, maybe there'll be an inverse
converse reaction where there's you know, live music becomes like
an increasingly local concern. It's probably unwise to prognosticate, but
you know, we're almost at minute thirty, so I'm going
to treat myself well.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I know that we're going to have big fan basis
for our Ninitionell's cover band. I think it will be
uh international. I think we can we can take we
can become like those grateful Dead cover bands that like
Jay rad Or you know, tour and play like the
Greek and the as As. We're just together sharing a microphone,
(25:16):
screaming had like a hole. Towards five thousand.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Four, Hugh light Bulbs doing the best approximation weekend of
the everyone.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Dressed in black, what's the funniest cover band you've ever
heard of or been a part of.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Or like.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I didn't go see them, but when I was a
younger lad the church that we went to played host
to a band, a tragically hip cover band that rewrote
all the lyrics to be Christian that were called liturgically hip.
That is amazing, the best idea I've ever heard my
entire life. I remember that at the peak of the
like impossibly cool scene at the Smell when no Age
(25:57):
was blowing up and becoming like a pop band and
all that, that someone and I don't know who was
involved with it, but started a cover band called yes Age.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That was like a no Age government. That's the greatest.
The other the other thing I saw I saw when
I was in I think I did see that. I'm
so glad I saw it was in Pittsburgh at Spirit Hall.
In the basement of Spirit Hall. I saw a cover
band was made up of a group of dudes from
a bunch of other Pittsburgh bands, including the Go to Beds,
(26:27):
that was called Wrestle with Jimmy the lesser known songs
of Weezer. To bring it back to Weezer, that was
just like, let's just pick you know, the worst quotes
song on every Weezer album, and then that was what
this band chose to cover, and it was it was
pretty aggressively weird, like people were there because they liked Weezer,
(26:50):
but we're.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Having a hard time.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I think a lot of people are having a hard
time like placing the songs, and they did not like
pretty faithful bad Weezer songs, which it's like, you know,
none of them are bad, but.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Some of them are bad.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I think the best cover band I've ever really been
associated with was Toronto's legendary Shecheezer, which was what it
sounds like, but it was they only played Blue and
Pinkerton songs and it genuinely obviously they all kicked ass
at music and they were all super cool women, so
it was just like a fun night of the movies.
But also, particularly with the Pinkerton songs, it actually sort
of served as like an act of like critical radical
(27:27):
reappropriation to like put all those fucked up misogynist lyrics
in the mouths of women but who were singing them
from like a place of tribute and respect and celebration,
and it just created like a really cool, interesting but
also you didn't have to again stroke your chin about it.
You just get in the pit, which is what I did.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Well.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
I think this is for another podcast, but I'm gonna
go ahead and say that the Green Album is far
superior to Pinkerton. And I spent a long time loving Pinkerton.
I still love Pinkerton, but I think that the Green
Album is better for a lot of reasons, and I
would if you would like to, I would indulge in
(28:06):
in like a very long podcast about this with you.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Absolutely. I think that the another path in the future
of MLD, you know, much like a rush of pod
to the head, the in depth multi part Coldplay exploration.
I think we need to just stop stopping ourselves from
nerding out completely about the records we love.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I think Major Labels Debut's Heart is kind of you
and me spending two plus hours talking about Weezer records
and arguing over which one is truly the best. So
I think we get it on the books. I think
it's going to be our best shit ever. And I'll
see you at the podcast when we get an EGOT
the Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony Podcast Award. I'll be there
(28:48):
on stage singing nanij nails with you.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Is Tired of Sex, a good name for the for
the podcast. It's like two men who will never get lady.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
They're going to be very specifically GEO blocked outside of
our retrospective homes, so our wives can never know of
their existences. John Public, it is such a delight to
have you back. I have enjoyed talking to myself about
myself on this podcast on the news portion for the
last month, but it's a hell of a lot more
fun talking to you, my friend. So welcome back, Thank you,
(29:22):
and listen. We need that giant squid now more than ever.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So I've enjoyed listening to you from the distance, just
grasping it air, being like Graham, where are you?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I missed you. I love you.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I could feel it. It was like the nuts Faratu
shadow hand coming across my bed every night.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I do love you.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
I love Josh Hook, and I love Greg Alsop, and
I love all of you for listening to this podcast.
Thank you for putting a while on thirty two minutes
of your life into this. We've got so much more
good stuff coming, including a very special episode next week
with one of my mus school heroes.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
A great episode. I'm so excited to release this one,
a whole new frontier for MLD, so stay tuned for that,
and thank you for staying tuned for this. As John
Paul mentioned, the podcast is produced by Josh Hook by
John Paul Bullock, Our music is by Greg Alsop. Our
listenership is by you, our beloved listener. Please like, please subscribe.
(30:18):
We're on the socials media, and you know, get at
us with your Weezer hot takes or your furious ire
about our Weezer hot takes. We welcome it all and
we look forward to talking to you again. That's all
for today, but Major Label Debut will return with more tales,
news analysis, and interminable banter from the intersection of art
and commerce.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
So long bye,
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