July 14, 2023 • 44 mins
Josie Cotton joins Chris in the Outhouse Lounge as we talk about her new album, Day of the Gun right after shooting the video for the title track. We also dive into the record company she started, Kitten Robot Records and its stellar talent. Josie and host Chris Cordani also get into the singer/songwriter/producer/entrepreneur's musical stylings, lyrical inspirations, what the music industry needs today and the inner workings of Josie's creative mind. Sit back, enjoy your time with us in the Outhouse Lounge, where we relax and talk about s...
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome once again to the Outhouse Lounge. What were we relaxing to talk about
stuff? He's joining me in thelounge today. It's someone I have had
on other programs in the past.Over the last year, Plush. She's
recorded a bunch of great new songs, produced new videos, including one on
the way Howlong's your own record company, Hitting Robot Records. Josie Cotton,
(00:28):
Welcome to the Outhouse Language. Thankyou, Chris Kojohnny very pleasure to be
here. I'm glad to have youhere too. You have a new single
and video coming out. In fact, you were working on it over the
weekend before we recorded this one.Yes, I was. I was working
Saturday and Sunday during the last thelast you know, segments you have to
(00:53):
plan for and all this, sothen we have to edit it so much
footage it's too much. I don'tknow how are gonna have three minutes?
But you might have to play thesong three times because it's so it's so
dense. I don't know why Ido it. There you go, might
as well. You might have toadd another verse or two to this one.
(01:14):
I guess just for the h startedover, we'll repeat I saw the
video tas it looks rather intriguing,so it's gonna be yeah, oh yeah,
oh yeah, it's uh yeah,I think I'm an you know,
I'm an armory kind of character inthis one, so it works respectable.
(01:41):
Day Are the Gun? Yeah,Day Are the Gun the full album.
I'll talk about the song in thealbum. You tell it as a dystopian
musical with David Lynch as a reincarnatedFrench poodle over things. That's that's interesting.
I'm a David Lynch guy. Tipsyeah, yeah, I like the
overthinking part especially, but uh,you know, it's kind of true.
(02:04):
I mean I said it like justyou know, it just kind of came
out of my mouth and uh,you know, and uh I realized it's
actually true, not just nonsense.It's true nonsense. So so nothing wrong
with true. Yeah, that's thebest kind of nonsense, the true nonsense.
You don't want. You don't wantthe bold nonsense. That's not a
(02:27):
lot of fun. Yeah, that'syeah. Yeah. I'll assume you're a
pretty big David Lynch fan. Isuppose, well, I mean I am
a fan of his. Yeah,I mean that was that was the first
time I think my my analytical mindshut off when I was watching one of
(02:50):
his movies. I think it wasBlue Velvet, and it was so obtuse
and so uh nonsensical in touch insuch a you know, beautiful way,
and I couldn't figure it out.I didn't know how it was going to
end, and so it was kindof a freeing moment. I remember,
that's going, Okay, this isnot compute, and really liking that feeling
(03:13):
because I analyze things to death.You know I do too, And I
like the way that David Lynch hasalways made you feel sorry for certain characters,
either he puts or even the badguys that the villains even makes you
feel sorry for. Yeah, there'syou feel sorry for it. But at
the same time, they're not sympatheticcharacters. Like in a racer Head the
(03:36):
main guy is not. I'm notreally on his side, but I do
feel sorry for him. I wason his side. I used to.
I used to have a puppy whoscreamed like that baby whenever I left the
house for work. The baby,the baby. I was supposed to have
pity for that creature, but thatwas a bit of repulse going on.
(04:00):
I think that I think that wasthe desired effect too, like just and
I heard that they used a anunborn lamb that thing. I think I
heard that too. What I likedabout the movie was I liked about the
character, the guy, and Iknow you weren't on his side. I
will put me on his set ashe tried his best to take care of
the baby and everybody he did.His lady left them and it was him
(04:26):
alone. He had to work.He didn't have a very big place to
live. And it was I know, and that that weird hum of machines,
like giant machines humming through the wholething of just this bleak world.
I think, yeah, I thinkit was the world he was in.
It was so it was not quitethis world, but something pretty close,
(04:48):
you know, in the in theastral worlds we're talking, you know,
you know about those exactly and dayhave the gun. You really go back
to this whole thing. I likethe David Lynch reincarnated, reincarnated as a
French poodle overthinks everything in her path, right right. I I you also,
(05:14):
I will talk about Paul Roster becauseyou call him you're you're using that
in that phrase here. But yeah, lady is what you have a story
involved in Day of the Gun.That's what. That's one of the things
I really enjoy about a lot ofyour work. You do put stories together.
Yeah, thank you, Yeah,I try. I really it's important.
It's the only thing that keeps myinterest going, you know, like
I the story, you know,and you know, of course the feeling
(05:38):
and you know that that that song, that particular song, day of the
Gun, was it really I channeledthat one. I mean I didn't write
it something else, you know,some some alien uh something I don't know,
but it didn't seem like I waswriting it and including the line day
of the Gun. It was justit was and I just picked the guitar
(06:00):
and it kind of happened the song. That's rare for me. I usually
like agonize over you know them justlike uh, it's just like a wrack
until they're done, and sometimes theyget done and uh but this one,
just like boom boom boom, anduh you know what, Day of the
Gun. That that's a really goodline. That's that's cool. That's like
(06:20):
a spaghetti western. That's that wasexciting to me. It's like because it
sounded like, you know, therewas nothing to do with guns per se.
It was like the moment when youhave to take actions, you know,
the moment of you know, you'reyou have to uh, you know,
just take make a move, busta move, and just you know,
(06:40):
and it was seemed like, Idon't know, its just seemed fitting
for everything around me and me andthe world and and um yeah, so
that, you know. And thenI looked it up because I thought,
sure someone used this, This isno way no one wrote a song called
Day of the Gun or or something. And sure enough no one had.
But it had been a movie.It was a Western movie, obviously,
(07:01):
and and I think in the nineteenI think in the nineteen early eighties,
you know, but I don't rememberit, and I don't know if I
ever saw, you know, possible, But anyway, it just it just
seemed like such a like in amovie poster, you know, a day
of the Gun. And so yeah, so that's what that was. You
(07:23):
can find Josie Cutton's music on Spotifyand wherever you get your wherever you get
your downloaded music or better yet,I always enjoyed holding the CD, but
that's another different story for a differentday. You can pick up really cool
Josie Cutton CDs and get things throughher Kitten Robots website. We're going to
talk about the record company, butI want to get back to the album
(07:43):
and the song Day of the Gun. I was always a big Western fan.
Westerns, I would say, fascinatedme in a lot of ways because
they were fun to watch back inthe thirties forties, and there was the
reimaginations of the westerns when get FrankSinatra a story and some of those you
had the movie Westerns. So I'mgoing with this the Western theme. The
kind of Western twang in your guitarstill brings me back to that great style
(08:09):
of sixties seventies b movie soundtracks.You were You've done for so long,
and I'm kind of made it aJosie Cotton special if you will. Well,
I mean, you know, andthen there's all the Italian Westerns,
so they took into a whole newrealm that was so beautiful to me too,
and and it's kind of one bigthing to me. But m yeah,
(08:30):
you know, I love the twang. I just can't. I can't
let go the twang. I justit just always works for me, you
know, And I guess that's thepart of Texas. You know, that's
kind of in there. But also, you know, surf music had some
really great twang. It's just youknow, like you know, just all
kinds of music I love, andyou know, Wanda Jackson and all that.
(08:54):
But um, yeah, I meanthey just seem to work, and
every I try and put them inany song I can. Josie. Recently
was the one year anniversary of therelease of The Ballot of Elvis Presley.
The single you did with Kevin TowerPreston that's on the album. By the
way, you say he's your favoritesinging partner, you call him his George
to my Tammy Jim to Tammy Faye. But that's a different story. George
(09:20):
Jones, h Yeah, it's anice it's a nice yeah. Yeah,
And you know, and we've doneseveral projects together. He was in my
band before he betrayed me and wentto Green Day. You know, I
kid him around that. Of course, you take an opportunity like run run,
(09:46):
you know, into the night.It just you know I would,
but I tease him like you knowthat, you know, I was happy
for him. He's my friend.But yeah, we did a John Waters
event like about a year Ago andon it in and U and that was
really fun. And uh, youknow, we did the Bad Reputationation video
(10:07):
for Mike and his Yuke, whichwas so fun and because he was playing
guitar on it and I was singingand I didn't know he was going to
be on it, so it wasjust so fun. And so we end
up doing the video together. Andhe's a very handsome guy, and we're
gonna do a show together in thenext couple of months just to him and
I doing like hand of an acousticsaid of different songs, and we're talking
(10:33):
about making a record together and stuffbecause I love singing with him. He's
he's incredible. Well, your tributeto Elvis was absolutely fantastic. You guys
really sound like you work well together. So I'm looking forward to hearing what
you put in this new album.Yeah, I've enjoyed one in some of
your songs in recent years, yourcreations with hybridten classic country and America Americana
(10:58):
genres. I want to ask though, before we get into the influences in
this part. Yeah. Um,A lot of people like to ask the
question the Beatles or Elvis while theyfall into rock, they're two completely different
styles. What's your take of whois more rock and roll or what do
(11:18):
you like better? Oh? Ihave well, you know, I mean
there's no way to like, uhsay anything but great things about Elvis.
Um, but I mean I didlove the I did love the Beatles.
I mean, I think the Beatlesthere they're you know, for me,
(11:43):
it was just an important, youknow, phase of my musical education.
It's either the Beatles or Elvis fora lot of people, but they're really
equally respected on both sides because Elvisis a different guy. He was the
guy who both the country and soulmade ron Well. The Beatles took took
(12:03):
what what they had, what wascreated before, and made something totally different
than they added jazz. They addeda whole different kind. And Elvis was
one of the great gospel singers ofour time. Yeah, he was pretty
magnificent. And Uh, It's funnythough, because the the Beatles they kind
of they almost more of the Stoneswho took on the kind of uh you
(12:26):
know, the R and b accentsof you know that we're not British accents
and all. Yes, what areyour influences in the in the style you
put together? Though you had thatJosie Cotton style. Were you kind of
hybrided a load of genres into one. Hello, So yes, I do,
(12:48):
and uh, you know that's it'sit makes it hard to book me
because I'm just artist. Part fromme has been a book finding a booking
agents who kind of got me,and and uh and uh and and you
know they liked people to be onething and and I understand that. You
(13:09):
know, it's so, but I'mdifferent things and so but I did I
have found someone. I'm it's gonnabe a whole different world for me having
someone, uh, you know,being able to work for me in that
in that world. And yeah,so, um, what's the question.
(13:30):
I was talking about your influences whenit came to putting together all those genres
even Yeah, but it's just likeyou with your your your different kind of
lounges. It's like you're putting you'reyou're putting together disparate elements and then you
come up with something. Maybe it'snot beautiful, but it's a hybrid.
(13:52):
It's never been made before, orit's or not exactly like that. You
know, it's just like it becauseI don't know, it's kind of like
mutating into the future. I likethat mute hitting and reaching into the past
to mutate into the future. Iactually like that concept. That's and that
brings me to your song Ukrainian Cowboy. We talked about it a couple of
(14:13):
years ago eighty show. But thisputs all that together. It has the
old style Western, it has themodern Americana, and it has of course
you're Josie h Swagger involved in allof that, but a neat story and
everything and all said in a polkaIn a polka song, I mean it's
(14:37):
a cowboy song. I mean reallya sad cowboy song. And it's funny.
You know. When people see thevideo, they think it's like a
funny song, you know, andthey know listen to the words when they
watch videos, I guess, butyou know, it's it's it's it's sad
and it's funny. It's it's both. You have to listen to the words
(14:58):
to a song. There are somesome grate upbeat songs. I actually talked
about this on a past show.There's some great upbeat songs that if you
really really listen to them, they'renot as pleasant as you think. Yeah,
who remember Timothy this song? Timothyfrom the boys. It was an
updatb that's the song. There werethese three guys. There was an upbeat
(15:18):
song. Three guys. There wasa rock tuned big hit and they were
out camping or something. They woundup eating their friend Timothy and taking that
secret to the grave with them.But that was this, that's what the
song was about. If you're dancingtoo, you're listening and you really wait,
they ate the guy. But Ikind of like that because they you
know, like it's kind of andit just shows people where they're not listening.
(15:41):
Once they finally hear it that,you know, they become aware.
You know, let's go back today. Let's go back to day of
the Gun. I talked about yourintertwining all this music and everything and bringing
that sixty seventies B movie influence.This of course leads me to disco ball.
The beat, the voice, thefun, and the pacing. Yeah.
(16:03):
Yeah, that's uh, that's afew different things. That's a true
statement. That's um, it's aI mean really it's kind of an homage
to James Brown, who was ahuge influence on me. And that was
one of the first kinds of musicI sang was soul music. I was
all into James Brown from It Wasa Little Girl and uh my one of
(16:26):
my first you know records I evergotten, you know, it was James
Brown and I went to concerts whenI was fourteen and then later on in
the eighties, and you know,so he just kind of injured the song.
And I didn't start off going I'mgonna write my love song to James
Brown, which is the lyric justcame through and I'm gonna keep that.
(16:47):
But I don't know why, becauseI just loved James Brown. And uh
yeah, and uh, you knowthat was another one. It was just
channeled and uh it wasn't you know. It was just like random, random
ideas and random. At one pointthey were like four bridges and no chorus,
you know, and it was justyou know, and Paul Rossler he
(17:07):
was just saying, oh, justlet it fly, you know, like
this, let it go out therelike it is, and uh, just
exactly how it came out of you. And uh and I was trying,
you know, it's like, oh, there's no chorus, like there's no
need a chorus, and there's notitle and and and uh and so I've
(17:30):
you know, finally a friend ofmine just just said you use that part
that section, use that as achorus, because that's really pretty. And
that's what we end up doing.And it's and we got rid of something.
One of the bridges became the instrumentaland but it was just you know,
so I'm just kind of dipping intothe invisible universe right now. I
just, uh, it's pretty wild. You know. The hard part is
(17:52):
you have to figure out what thesong is about. And I and I
didn't know. I just it wasthat's when you have the music and all
of that and uh and the melodiesand the chords and and uh, but
you don't know the title and thewhole world is open to you and it's
just like it is such an empty, lost feeling. I'm just like,
(18:12):
I don't know what what are youtrying to say? And um, yeah,
so that well in that song,That's what that was. It's fascinating
learning from artists like yourself and othershow a song comes together and to a
man or to a woman, toa human. I'll say a lot of
(18:33):
times these stories are different. Ohyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
very different. And what I whatI've learned about, you know, just
people. So how do you sayinspired or I couldn't write unless I was
inspired? And um, you knowwhat I've learned, uh, pretty recently
is that um you you you,when the inspiration comes, you have to
(18:57):
listen to it and you have tochord it in some in some way.
You have to jot it down,you have to record your voice or you'll
forget it for sure. And andso that's the thing. It's like,
you don't question you You invite itin, you know, and then you
have to stop and you know whetherit's from a dream. But the thing
that the thing that takes discipline iswhen you go back and you listen to
(19:21):
what you've done. And that's whenit becomes like a you know, like
a puzzle. You have to pieceall these things together in a way.
But uh, and that but that'sfun too, you know, that's the
other side of your brain. Andso you don't need inspiration for that.
This is where you go, well, that's going to be the chorse and
I'm gonna add these chords here andblah blah blah, and you know this
is you know, so I meanI had to break it get down into
(19:45):
two phases because you know, toforce yourself to be creative. That's torture,
Like okay, now I'm going tobe in right now, starting now,
right now, it's like nope,and then you get discouraged, you
know, from from trying and soit's just different parts of the brain are
doing the writing, I believe atleast. So it's always good to have
(20:07):
a great partner too. And backto that quote from the beginning. We
discussed many to think, but especiallyto Paul Rossler who mentioned my brilliant moves
mus moves. Boy, here's myproblem with Rita like news and co conspirator
on this long musical journey we've beenon. Yeah, yeah, you know,
I write alone, so I don'tI don't really know how to play
(20:32):
with others. I guess, Iwell, uh, I it's it's it's
a solo venture for me, andI wish it wasn't the case because I
love collaborating, and we collaborate onthe production and the mixing, in the
in the arrangements, you know,it's it's like an equal footing. But
the writing, that's that's you know, me in a rowboat on the at
(20:56):
night on the ocean. It's justlike I got you, No, not
too many hands in the creative jar. But I do know what that last
a tailing of what you said abouthim. He said he made you brave,
he made made me brave. Yeah, because he is my sounding board.
I mean, that's a beautiful that'sa beautiful thing where you know.
(21:17):
I remember when I was writing ukreaneanCowboy and I say, can I say
the Purge of Stalin in a popsong? Because that's Whelarc's coming out?
And he said yes, and Iwent, Okay, I believed him.
I believe I believe more people shouldn'tknow about the Purge of Stalin, about
that funny put that in a lovesong? You know. See that's what's
(21:41):
unique about it. You have toput these things on a love song.
It makes people think and it's wait, did you just do that? Yeah?
Are people like a little bit?You know? Which is I think
I think I'm I am trying tostartle people sometimes, you know, just
just to get through you know,the blood brain barrier or whatever. That
is just a little And I thinkyou know people who you know who write
(22:04):
writers and poets and songwriters, you'reI mean, I I don't know if
everyone said probably not, but butthat's you know, just to explore,
to be really curious about ideas andand and have that sense of wonder about
the world and what you see.I think, you know, it's like
(22:26):
having a child like part of yourself, you know, and just kind of
running the show. Well, it'snot the way it should be. One
thing, isn't that, I say? One thing that I really want to
get in there? Because you mentionedthat you would like to stir the pot,
and you have done it throughout yourcareer. You even were brave enough
to take on the mantle of recordingJohnny, are you queer? You would?
(22:51):
You would have been canceled. Youwere almost canceled back in the eighties
by a different breed of people whowould have canceled you had that song been
released today. I mean, likeI think, I like to think of
it as I brought together a wholelot of people who didn't like each other
in the in the joint, youknow, like organization of going after me.
I remember, I remember the onewoman who went after you really hard.
(23:15):
It was the girl with the pinkhair, the lady with the pink
hair who cried on Q when hedid when she did some kind I forgot
why I used to see her onWTB Y in Pekeizsie, So it was
a network, right, But shewas so loud and vocal against your songn't
didn't really realize what the song actuallymeant, right, what the MENI behind
it was. And other people gota little offended here and there. But
the fact is it's an iconic song, it's a classic, and you had
(23:37):
a lot of support. Not onlyhave you had a lot of support with
the song over the years, evenduring the uh the rougher years of the
censorship era now, but a lotof the a lot of of LGB artists
have to have taken your song andplayed with it. The Elephant guys,
the guys in the ear, pussyCat Bad a great rendition. Yeah,
(23:59):
that was I was super modern versionof it and actually really angered the writers
of the song, the Pain Brothers, they were. But they can't win
anyway, Like, you know,you can only open the door this far,
but maybe it needs to go alittle farther, like twenty years down
(24:21):
the line, you know. Andthey were just like, no, that
was interesting, but I just likekeeping opening the door, you know,
wider, and you know, Iguess I am I'm easily bored I think
with my own thoughts. So youknow, I just uh and I just
like kind of like mix it up. You know, Josie has a big
(24:44):
tent. That's it. That's yourmusic. It's a tent. Everybody wants
a big tent, but you actuallyhave one, Thank you so much.
And you know, like when buteven when I came to Ellen, I
originally they I was you had demotapes song because I was just trying to
be a songwriter. Uh. AndI was just playing people, you know,
my songs and um and uh whenthey would listen, they always tune
(25:06):
into my voice. And there yousing too many different styles of music,
you know, like you what areyou doing? You know? And it
was like it worked against me.And and now it seems like people that
are starting to appreciate that a littlebit, you know, like like it's
a bad thing to actually expand andsing other or combined genres were singing different
(25:29):
styles. Yes, what kind ofpeople are in this industry these days?
Oh? I don't formulate people,right, it's a science. Now music
has become a science. Josie,I get asked, where can you find
good music nowadays? Where can youfind people will put out good music.
Well, thank goodness, I haveyou here, and we're going to tell
people where to find it. Iknow it should be my job ased to
(25:52):
host. I can't just say,uh, Josie tell me. So here's
what we're gonna do. I'm gonnatake you to it. Kitting Robot Records,
this is your company. You've broughtsome you've brought for some really interesting
artists, artists that play again verygenres. They seem to have a lot
of fun with what they're doing andtheir music is absolutely absolutely very different from
(26:12):
the science they're putting out today.It's we we try and and uh bringing
on you know, people who whoalready have there's no artist development at Kitt
and Robot. We just people whoare fully developed and have you know,
or you know, making their ownvideos or they you know, they bring
(26:33):
something like magical you know to thetable and and they're like a finished you
know, a piece of art.And um and so because you can't I
don't think you can give people art. You can't groom them into you know,
into that. So um, sothat's been really fun, you know,
and uh, and yeah there's someum, there's some really interesting artists,
(26:56):
uh coming out and there right now. And you know, the sad
thing to me was when you know, um dark you know Mark who was
on on Kitt and Robot, hedied, the artist he was in a
(27:17):
Sparkle Horse. I can't believe himforgetting his name, but he died before
his record came out on our label, Um Mark Sparkle Horse. He's anyway,
he's on. Uh let me see, oh I can see yah.
Yeah, oh you're going down.You're scrolling down. But I'm taking him
(27:38):
off now because they're not. Butye, spark Mark, it was his
name with us, dark Mark.Do you do have some great names amongst
the talent here? I personally likeEddie Spaghetti and Frank Meyer, and of
course dark Mark versus Skeleton Joe,I like it not end Skeleton versus Yes.
(28:02):
And then Harry Cloud is like atotal artistic mess. He's just he's
just so talented and he just hemakes songs too fast. And and we
have Inger Laurie coming out like youknow, very soon, and which is
amazing. She hasn't you know fromthe Nymphs. She hasn't done a record
in so long and and uh,that's been a journey, I can tell
(28:25):
you that I always listening to LarryCloud. Larry Cloud offers a rather interesting
take on music in general. Evenit was a one song, He's changing
time signatures bank and forth. Ienjoy that. That's something I like to
listen to. We use different kindor I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen who use
different times, different kinds of timesignatures for their music. Yes, yeah,
(28:45):
he's on a he's you know,in some other world. He's absolutely
you know, um, I justhe's going places I've never seen and is
amazing. She's her her new musicis sounding fantastic. And uh and yeah
you know Eddie Spaghetti he was inthe Supersuckers and which is a they have
(29:07):
some great songs. And Kia Rossler, you know she was that's pretty epic.
H you know score of course youknow it's Paul's sister. Pretty easy
to get her. But you know, just just some amazing some people and
haling the crushers. She's like,you know, it's a young band.
She's just like this punk rock youknow, Harley has a captivating voice.
(29:30):
Now let a punk rockers have thatcaptivating voice. She has that that's a
beautiful voice. And um, andshe were not a train suner at all.
She was a writer in uh youknow, like a magazine articles and
whatnot and uh and so yeah,so, um, you know it's really
cute and Loki's Folly is our newsigning. All these are really really young.
(29:52):
I don't I think they're they're ingrade school or I don't know.
The Filings is a great name.I like that they bring back the He's
with a look. They make alittle modern look with the second six.
Yeah, but I mean that's BritishInvasion straight up, you know, like
it it's it's which is dear tomy heart. That's my that's my favorite.
You know. I guess that's whyI veered towards the Beatles, because
(30:15):
the British Invasion to me was justlike that was my coming you know,
into my music realizations. Um,you know in the in rock and um
and so yeah, so um theycapture that and um and uh yeah he's
adorable. He's just turned twenty.I mean he's we've had him since he
(30:37):
you know, he was seventeen.So my first show, my first out
Hoouse launch is with Shari Curry,who obviously you know, but she has
dedicated a lot of her time tohelping young artists navigate through problems with club
owners or or or the industry tryingto mess with them, trying to rip
them off and things like that.Yeah, you're doing the same. You're
(31:00):
helping a lot of these young You'rebring these uh you're bring these nice these
these young artists into a fray wherethey can play their own music, um,
not get thrown around or or pushingit something they really don't want to
do. And I think that's agood thing. And we need more of
that, right and to be treated, you know, be treated well,
and they keep them on publishing andyou know, like all all those things,
(31:22):
you know, and yeah, itfeels good. I I love I
love you know, being a conduitfor for this. It takes a lot
of the heat off of me becauseat first, you know, it was
it was just so all my thingscould be in one place and uh and
then it was just like I realize, you know, God, there's so
(31:42):
much great music that never gets hurt. We've we've got to we've got to
step up, you know. AndU in uh in in Los Angeles alone,
um and yeah there's all the artistsand uh yeah, tombstones in their
eyes. That's a. That's A. The great name. The names,
the names are absolutely fantastic. No, it's so good. I want to
(32:05):
give another shout out to Paul Roslerbecause I spend a lot of time listening
to this his music before we goton the air. This guy, this
guy can use his voice as aninstrument. No, he's a great singer
and uh and a poet and anda deep thinker. I mean he's and
also like it's totally irreverence kind oflike you know, you know, like
(32:29):
you know, Pal just to jokearound with. He's just he has all
these elements and he's just damaged enoughfor me to you know, so much.
We need more damaged people around hereto kind of feel better about ourselves
just because you can relate to them. I mean it's like, yeah,
(32:49):
I'm I'm messed up. Like sonow I know why you like coming on
my shows with me. Okay,I'm pretty Josie. What makes for a
real what you look for in ayoung artist or an up and coming artist
that you say, hey, thisare these people, this group, this,
this solo artist. It would beperfect for kitting Robot records. Well,
(33:09):
I mean, like passion is likeso important to have passion for what
they do and just you know,something unique to them and um um that
just makes us go oh my god, or like oh, I mean all
(33:30):
these different reactions where you have somekind of visceral reaction to what you're hearing,
you know, it's like you know, and it's it's it's not just
one reaction, and it can bepain it can be painful. You know.
Sometimes art is you know, um, painful if it's weird enough and
that, but I mean I thinkthat's good too, So we just need
(33:52):
to It's an emotional, actual decision, I think for most of this,
and you know, and just knowingthat their art has come, it's it's
full road, um without having togo okay, okay, well maybe if
you change your all your shoes,you know, I don't know, you
can't package, you know, orchange the change the color of your jacket
(34:14):
maybe or tie off and it permsand we're ponchos like yeah, that's it.
I mean, like this is whatthis is my problem. Besides the
fact that I stink I would betold to change your clothing, Where's something
decent eat like a human I don'tknow, comb your hair cut? Your
(34:35):
hair all eat like a human.I'm joking. I had to throw that
one in there just to say,is that direction? I want to do
one more thing on the on youralbum A Day of the Gun, I
did not mention a song that Iwanted to mention, and I'm going to
(34:58):
go back to that right now.It was another song that intrigued me.
All they are all, they're allintriguing, but I like the Feathomless Tale
of Silky and Sam Yeah, ohyou do, oh, but you tell
stories and I missed that. Notonly you put great style and I get
to listen to my favorite Josie Cottonmusic from back in the day, and
(35:21):
of course my personal favorite album fromyou. And I'm going to say it.
I don't want to sound like oneof those fans, but I will
always recommend Invasion of the b Girlsas one of the funnest Oh it was
the most fun to make too,and those songs, many of them tell
stories. I had a show thelast show. As a matter of fact,
we did episode number fourteen. Ihad a couple of my favorite people
(35:44):
I work with on another show andTaco was actually on with me too with
this panel, and we were discussinghow the story song has gone the way
of the I guess of the dinosaur. Yeah, we need more story songs
once some people can listen to nowadays. That's why music was that's why pop
(36:04):
music was actually cool in the seventies. We had stories. I know,
I could not agree more. Anduh, it's funny. That song came
from a dream I had about aspider and we were and it was this
giant spider and uh, but Ifell in love with the spider and we
were in some eastern European town withthere were no humans and and it was
(36:28):
just I was like in another worldand this spider had such long legs and
U and I woke up and itwas just like that dream. And I
was trying to write it down,and I had an unfinished song that I
was still in my head, andthe line from this that I was writing
from the dream kind of intersected withthis melody, and it was like,
oh my god, it's a dream. It's a song about a spider,
(36:52):
you know, like and and soI started describing, you know, parts
of the dream and everything, butyou know, in this in this imaginary
house, and obviously circles or abig you know element on this record.
There's a lot of circles like anduh, you know, there's clocks and
there's calendars, and there's you knowthings uh you know coming to an end
(37:14):
and and uh, you know,the cycle of life all that. But
um yeah, that's that's one ofmy favorite songs on the record. And
no one really mentions that too much, but um yeah, that was like
discovering the story as I was writingit. That was kind of beautiful.
It's like, Okay, there's aspider blah blah blah, and then towards
the ends, oh my god,she's she's the creator of time, the
(37:37):
spider, And how do I youknow, like knit it together to tell
the story of you know, herand and her the Spider. She'd be
friends and and they've traveled the worldand they they're you know, they you
know, they're you know, theyare eternal all and and they're the ones
and the and and their their timeis about to end, which means all
(37:59):
of our time it's coming in.But it's like it's celebrating it, you
know, like counting it down.We're counting it to the end. And
so yeah, and so that thatmakes me so happy to hear to listen
to that song. Still, it'sjust because it's it's not about me,
and so it has it is soremoved for me. But it's just like
(38:19):
I love these characters, you know, I just love them. And yeah,
thank you so much for noticing thatsong. For sure, it shows
there are people that in your inyour life, that you have a journey
with. You'll always know and lovethem, even if you don't see them
that often or if you're attached tothem. They're they're always near you.
We're always around you. Still,there are certain people that will always affect
you and you'll be around you untilthe end and you'll share life's adventures with
(38:43):
each other. That's true. It'strue. Yeah, that's very important.
Yeah, and it's just like youknow, she's taught you know. And
then there's a kind of the apocalypseapocalyptic you know, you know in the
chorus, like you know, likeI just see it's the underground. If
I was going to do the video, I think I'm gonna have that that,
you know, talking on a shortwave radio like she's alone, you
(39:05):
know, and she's like you know, like talking on this trying to see
if there's life out there and youdon't know if if this what happened,
is it a dream or is thatyou know, her imagination. You know,
it's just because she's going insane andthis bunker, you know, during
you know, all the stuff.So there's that element too in the in
the choruses, which sound really happybut actually they're not. It's a touching
(39:29):
track and it's something that it reallystood out to me. Also, I
believe more songs should have the wordfathom lessening. That's the other thing.
I thank you. I I questionedmy my judgment, like later on when
I was trying to you know,the title is so long. I'm just
(39:50):
used to like, you know,really snappy titles, and but yeah,
I just seemed like I searched.I searched for the right word to describe
it. You know, if Iknew like a fairy tale, this song
is like a fairy tale and umand um and so it's like fairy tales,
are you know? Um? Andthat was just a word. I
(40:10):
was just like, that's an Noone uses that word. That's a beautiful
word that you don't know how deepyou know something is that's fathomless. It's
like, well, a fathom ofthat's a kind of depth measurement in the
ocean, right the fathoms. Yeah, and thanks to you, Josie.
I'm going to use that word ina sentence more often every day. Yes,
(40:34):
and thanks then and thanks the BlackEdder, writes fourth of the TV
the British TV show Gobbled Book alot more so. How is your How
is your today? Fathomless? Yeah? Exactly fathomless. Are you feeling rather
fathomless today? Right? It's better? I feel good. I mean that
(40:58):
the fathomless Like, tell me more, Jersie. One thing you can teach
people here, and people can learnfrom listening to your music over the years,
is you can teach people how tosing. You can teach people how
to play instruments. You cannot teachimagination, but each has their own and
there are different ways to nurture suchimagination. Yes, I do feel like
(41:22):
that. And I think if wetaught you know, we went back to
teaching art in school. I thinkit helps develop different parts of the brain,
even if you're not going to bean artist. You know, it's
like communicates, you know, youknow, different regions of the brain we
don't even know about exactly. Thefirst off, you should be teaching regular
(41:43):
subjects back in school again too.But I over there right, Well,
yeah, I can get in thewhole thing about education today. But over
the last fifteen twenty years, I'veseen schools bit by bit. I don't
off cutting off the arts programs.I know we're not putting out well rounded
students. No, this is oneof the reasons we're not doing well when
it comes to the stems either,that's another thing. But we need to
(42:06):
nurture the whole student in a way, and teaching art, teaching music,
teaching science, teaching math, allof that is all of that is very
very important in communication, like youknow, like with other humans in person,
I don't need that anymore. Wehave text messages, so we're good.
There are eyes will communicate for us, I guess in the future.
(42:30):
Josie Cutton, thank you very muchfor being with me on the Outhouse Lounge.
Thank you, Chris. I'm soglad I made it. It's not
good to actually see you and you'retalking. You actually have a mouth and
you're like a human that's right.I know what you look like. They've
seen you in videos and everything,but you unfortunately had to see me this
time. Because I have the video, I have no complaints. Once again.
(42:54):
The new album is Day of theGun. I have it here.
For those who are watching on video, it's this is the Spotify page.
If you're listening on audio, youcan get the album on Spotify or wherever
you download music. I for one, prefer the old fashioned CD. Can
you get all that stuff on thekitten Robot Records page. Yeah, and
it's it's kitten robot dot Com ishow to get on the website, and
(43:19):
then it goes into the studio andthe record in the recording studio in the
uxo the record company. So it'stwo different companies because we have they're both
combined under kitten robot dot com.And yes, come see us. We
have a really interesting website. Ithink you have a store. You can
pick up the downloads as well here. So that's that's the place to go
(43:39):
kitten robot dot com. It's whereyou can get Josie and all of the
artists here who are absolutely fantastic.Thank you so much, Chris Well,
thank you very much, Josie,and thank all of you for joining us
in the Outhouse Lounge. Have anenjoyable rest of the day. I keep
listening to creas then about the
Welcome once again to the Outhouse Lounge. What were we relaxing to talk about
stuff? He's joining me in thelounge today. It's someone I have had
on other programs in the past.Over the last year, Plush. She's
recorded a bunch of great new songs, produced new videos, including one on
the way Howlong's your own record company, Hitting Robot Records. Josie Cotton,
(00:28):
Welcome to the Outhouse Language. Thankyou, Chris Kojohnny very pleasure to be
here. I'm glad to have youhere too. You have a new single
and video coming out. In fact, you were working on it over the
weekend before we recorded this one.Yes, I was. I was working
Saturday and Sunday during the last thelast you know, segments you have to
(00:53):
plan for and all this, sothen we have to edit it so much
footage it's too much. I don'tknow how are gonna have three minutes?
But you might have to play thesong three times because it's so it's so
dense. I don't know why Ido it. There you go, might
as well. You might have toadd another verse or two to this one.
(01:14):
I guess just for the h startedover, we'll repeat I saw the
video tas it looks rather intriguing,so it's gonna be yeah, oh yeah,
oh yeah, it's uh yeah,I think I'm an you know,
I'm an armory kind of character inthis one, so it works respectable.
(01:41):
Day Are the Gun? Yeah,Day Are the Gun the full album.
I'll talk about the song in thealbum. You tell it as a dystopian
musical with David Lynch as a reincarnatedFrench poodle over things. That's that's interesting.
I'm a David Lynch guy. Tipsyeah, yeah, I like the
overthinking part especially, but uh,you know, it's kind of true.
(02:04):
I mean I said it like justyou know, it just kind of came
out of my mouth and uh,you know, and uh I realized it's
actually true, not just nonsense.It's true nonsense. So so nothing wrong
with true. Yeah, that's thebest kind of nonsense, the true nonsense.
You don't want. You don't wantthe bold nonsense. That's not a
(02:27):
lot of fun. Yeah, that'syeah. Yeah. I'll assume you're a
pretty big David Lynch fan. Isuppose, well, I mean I am
a fan of his. Yeah,I mean that was that was the first
time I think my my analytical mindshut off when I was watching one of
(02:50):
his movies. I think it wasBlue Velvet, and it was so obtuse
and so uh nonsensical in touch insuch a you know, beautiful way,
and I couldn't figure it out.I didn't know how it was going to
end, and so it was kindof a freeing moment. I remember,
that's going, Okay, this isnot compute, and really liking that feeling
(03:13):
because I analyze things to death.You know I do too, And I
like the way that David Lynch hasalways made you feel sorry for certain characters,
either he puts or even the badguys that the villains even makes you
feel sorry for. Yeah, there'syou feel sorry for it. But at
the same time, they're not sympatheticcharacters. Like in a racer Head the
(03:36):
main guy is not. I'm notreally on his side, but I do
feel sorry for him. I wason his side. I used to.
I used to have a puppy whoscreamed like that baby whenever I left the
house for work. The baby,the baby. I was supposed to have
pity for that creature, but thatwas a bit of repulse going on.
(04:00):
I think that I think that wasthe desired effect too, like just and
I heard that they used a anunborn lamb that thing. I think I
heard that too. What I likedabout the movie was I liked about the
character, the guy, and Iknow you weren't on his side. I
will put me on his set ashe tried his best to take care of
the baby and everybody he did.His lady left them and it was him
(04:26):
alone. He had to work.He didn't have a very big place to
live. And it was I know, and that that weird hum of machines,
like giant machines humming through the wholething of just this bleak world.
I think, yeah, I thinkit was the world he was in.
It was so it was not quitethis world, but something pretty close,
(04:48):
you know, in the in theastral worlds we're talking, you know,
you know about those exactly and dayhave the gun. You really go back
to this whole thing. I likethe David Lynch reincarnated, reincarnated as a
French poodle overthinks everything in her path, right right. I I you also,
(05:14):
I will talk about Paul Roster becauseyou call him you're you're using that
in that phrase here. But yeah, lady is what you have a story
involved in Day of the Gun.That's what. That's one of the things
I really enjoy about a lot ofyour work. You do put stories together.
Yeah, thank you, Yeah,I try. I really it's important.
It's the only thing that keeps myinterest going, you know, like
I the story, you know,and you know, of course the feeling
(05:38):
and you know that that that song, that particular song, day of the
Gun, was it really I channeledthat one. I mean I didn't write
it something else, you know,some some alien uh something I don't know,
but it didn't seem like I waswriting it and including the line day
of the Gun. It was justit was and I just picked the guitar
(06:00):
and it kind of happened the song. That's rare for me. I usually
like agonize over you know them justlike uh, it's just like a wrack
until they're done, and sometimes theyget done and uh but this one,
just like boom boom boom, anduh you know what, Day of the
Gun. That that's a really goodline. That's that's cool. That's like
(06:20):
a spaghetti western. That's that wasexciting to me. It's like because it
sounded like, you know, therewas nothing to do with guns per se.
It was like the moment when youhave to take actions, you know,
the moment of you know, you'reyou have to uh, you know,
just take make a move, busta move, and just you know,
(06:40):
and it was seemed like, Idon't know, its just seemed fitting
for everything around me and me andthe world and and um yeah, so
that, you know. And thenI looked it up because I thought,
sure someone used this, This isno way no one wrote a song called
Day of the Gun or or something. And sure enough no one had.
But it had been a movie.It was a Western movie, obviously,
(07:01):
and and I think in the nineteenI think in the nineteen early eighties,
you know, but I don't rememberit, and I don't know if I
ever saw, you know, possible, But anyway, it just it just
seemed like such a like in amovie poster, you know, a day
of the Gun. And so yeah, so that's what that was. You
(07:23):
can find Josie Cutton's music on Spotifyand wherever you get your wherever you get
your downloaded music or better yet,I always enjoyed holding the CD, but
that's another different story for a differentday. You can pick up really cool
Josie Cutton CDs and get things throughher Kitten Robots website. We're going to
talk about the record company, butI want to get back to the album
(07:43):
and the song Day of the Gun. I was always a big Western fan.
Westerns, I would say, fascinatedme in a lot of ways because
they were fun to watch back inthe thirties forties, and there was the
reimaginations of the westerns when get FrankSinatra a story and some of those you
had the movie Westerns. So I'mgoing with this the Western theme. The
kind of Western twang in your guitarstill brings me back to that great style
(08:09):
of sixties seventies b movie soundtracks.You were You've done for so long,
and I'm kind of made it aJosie Cotton special if you will. Well,
I mean, you know, andthen there's all the Italian Westerns,
so they took into a whole newrealm that was so beautiful to me too,
and and it's kind of one bigthing to me. But m yeah,
(08:30):
you know, I love the twang. I just can't. I can't
let go the twang. I justit just always works for me, you
know, And I guess that's thepart of Texas. You know, that's
kind of in there. But also, you know, surf music had some
really great twang. It's just youknow, like you know, just all
kinds of music I love, andyou know, Wanda Jackson and all that.
(08:54):
But um, yeah, I meanthey just seem to work, and
every I try and put them inany song I can. Josie. Recently
was the one year anniversary of therelease of The Ballot of Elvis Presley.
The single you did with Kevin TowerPreston that's on the album. By the
way, you say he's your favoritesinging partner, you call him his George
to my Tammy Jim to Tammy Faye. But that's a different story. George
(09:20):
Jones, h Yeah, it's anice it's a nice yeah. Yeah,
And you know, and we've doneseveral projects together. He was in my
band before he betrayed me and wentto Green Day. You know, I
kid him around that. Of course, you take an opportunity like run run,
(09:46):
you know, into the night.It just you know I would,
but I tease him like you knowthat, you know, I was happy
for him. He's my friend.But yeah, we did a John Waters
event like about a year Ago andon it in and U and that was
really fun. And uh, youknow, we did the Bad Reputationation video
(10:07):
for Mike and his Yuke, whichwas so fun and because he was playing
guitar on it and I was singingand I didn't know he was going to
be on it, so it wasjust so fun. And so we end
up doing the video together. Andhe's a very handsome guy, and we're
gonna do a show together in thenext couple of months just to him and
I doing like hand of an acousticsaid of different songs, and we're talking
(10:33):
about making a record together and stuffbecause I love singing with him. He's
he's incredible. Well, your tributeto Elvis was absolutely fantastic. You guys
really sound like you work well together. So I'm looking forward to hearing what
you put in this new album.Yeah, I've enjoyed one in some of
your songs in recent years, yourcreations with hybridten classic country and America Americana
(10:58):
genres. I want to ask though, before we get into the influences in
this part. Yeah. Um,A lot of people like to ask the
question the Beatles or Elvis while theyfall into rock, they're two completely different
styles. What's your take of whois more rock and roll or what do
(11:18):
you like better? Oh? Ihave well, you know, I mean
there's no way to like, uhsay anything but great things about Elvis.
Um, but I mean I didlove the I did love the Beatles.
I mean, I think the Beatlesthere they're you know, for me,
(11:43):
it was just an important, youknow, phase of my musical education.
It's either the Beatles or Elvis fora lot of people, but they're really
equally respected on both sides because Elvisis a different guy. He was the
guy who both the country and soulmade ron Well. The Beatles took took
(12:03):
what what they had, what wascreated before, and made something totally different
than they added jazz. They addeda whole different kind. And Elvis was
one of the great gospel singers ofour time. Yeah, he was pretty
magnificent. And Uh, It's funnythough, because the the Beatles they kind
of they almost more of the Stoneswho took on the kind of uh you
(12:26):
know, the R and b accentsof you know that we're not British accents
and all. Yes, what areyour influences in the in the style you
put together? Though you had thatJosie Cotton style. Were you kind of
hybrided a load of genres into one. Hello, So yes, I do,
(12:48):
and uh, you know that's it'sit makes it hard to book me
because I'm just artist. Part fromme has been a book finding a booking
agents who kind of got me,and and uh and uh and and you
know they liked people to be onething and and I understand that. You
(13:09):
know, it's so, but I'mdifferent things and so but I did I
have found someone. I'm it's gonnabe a whole different world for me having
someone, uh, you know,being able to work for me in that
in that world. And yeah,so, um, what's the question.
(13:30):
I was talking about your influences whenit came to putting together all those genres
even Yeah, but it's just likeyou with your your your different kind of
lounges. It's like you're putting you'reyou're putting together disparate elements and then you
come up with something. Maybe it'snot beautiful, but it's a hybrid.
(13:52):
It's never been made before, orit's or not exactly like that. You
know, it's just like it becauseI don't know, it's kind of like
mutating into the future. I likethat mute hitting and reaching into the past
to mutate into the future. Iactually like that concept. That's and that
brings me to your song Ukrainian Cowboy. We talked about it a couple of
(14:13):
years ago eighty show. But thisputs all that together. It has the
old style Western, it has themodern Americana, and it has of course
you're Josie h Swagger involved in allof that, but a neat story and
everything and all said in a polkaIn a polka song, I mean it's
(14:37):
a cowboy song. I mean reallya sad cowboy song. And it's funny.
You know. When people see thevideo, they think it's like a
funny song, you know, andthey know listen to the words when they
watch videos, I guess, butyou know, it's it's it's it's sad
and it's funny. It's it's both. You have to listen to the words
(14:58):
to a song. There are somesome grate upbeat songs. I actually talked
about this on a past show.There's some great upbeat songs that if you
really really listen to them, they'renot as pleasant as you think. Yeah,
who remember Timothy this song? Timothyfrom the boys. It was an
updatb that's the song. There werethese three guys. There was an upbeat
(15:18):
song. Three guys. There wasa rock tuned big hit and they were
out camping or something. They woundup eating their friend Timothy and taking that
secret to the grave with them.But that was this, that's what the
song was about. If you're dancingtoo, you're listening and you really wait,
they ate the guy. But Ikind of like that because they you
know, like it's kind of andit just shows people where they're not listening.
(15:41):
Once they finally hear it that,you know, they become aware.
You know, let's go back today. Let's go back to day of
the Gun. I talked about yourintertwining all this music and everything and bringing
that sixty seventies B movie influence.This of course leads me to disco ball.
The beat, the voice, thefun, and the pacing. Yeah.
(16:03):
Yeah, that's uh, that's afew different things. That's a true
statement. That's um, it's aI mean really it's kind of an homage
to James Brown, who was ahuge influence on me. And that was
one of the first kinds of musicI sang was soul music. I was
all into James Brown from It Wasa Little Girl and uh my one of
(16:26):
my first you know records I evergotten, you know, it was James
Brown and I went to concerts whenI was fourteen and then later on in
the eighties, and you know,so he just kind of injured the song.
And I didn't start off going I'mgonna write my love song to James
Brown, which is the lyric justcame through and I'm gonna keep that.
(16:47):
But I don't know why, becauseI just loved James Brown. And uh
yeah, and uh, you knowthat was another one. It was just
channeled and uh it wasn't you know. It was just like random, random
ideas and random. At one pointthey were like four bridges and no chorus,
you know, and it was justyou know, and Paul Rossler he
(17:07):
was just saying, oh, justlet it fly, you know, like
this, let it go out therelike it is, and uh, just
exactly how it came out of you. And uh and I was trying,
you know, it's like, oh, there's no chorus, like there's no
need a chorus, and there's notitle and and and uh and so I've
(17:30):
you know, finally a friend ofmine just just said you use that part
that section, use that as achorus, because that's really pretty. And
that's what we end up doing.And it's and we got rid of something.
One of the bridges became the instrumentaland but it was just you know,
so I'm just kind of dipping intothe invisible universe right now. I
just, uh, it's pretty wild. You know. The hard part is
(17:52):
you have to figure out what thesong is about. And I and I
didn't know. I just it wasthat's when you have the music and all
of that and uh and the melodiesand the chords and and uh, but
you don't know the title and thewhole world is open to you and it's
just like it is such an empty, lost feeling. I'm just like,
(18:12):
I don't know what what are youtrying to say? And um, yeah,
so that well in that song,That's what that was. It's fascinating
learning from artists like yourself and othershow a song comes together and to a
man or to a woman, toa human. I'll say a lot of
(18:33):
times these stories are different. Ohyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
very different. And what I whatI've learned about, you know, just
people. So how do you sayinspired or I couldn't write unless I was
inspired? And um, you knowwhat I've learned, uh, pretty recently
is that um you you you,when the inspiration comes, you have to
(18:57):
listen to it and you have tochord it in some in some way.
You have to jot it down,you have to record your voice or you'll
forget it for sure. And andso that's the thing. It's like,
you don't question you You invite itin, you know, and then you
have to stop and you know whetherit's from a dream. But the thing
that the thing that takes discipline iswhen you go back and you listen to
(19:21):
what you've done. And that's whenit becomes like a you know, like
a puzzle. You have to pieceall these things together in a way.
But uh, and that but that'sfun too, you know, that's the
other side of your brain. Andso you don't need inspiration for that.
This is where you go, well, that's going to be the chorse and
I'm gonna add these chords here andblah blah blah, and you know this
is you know, so I meanI had to break it get down into
(19:45):
two phases because you know, toforce yourself to be creative. That's torture,
Like okay, now I'm going tobe in right now, starting now,
right now, it's like nope,and then you get discouraged, you
know, from from trying and soit's just different parts of the brain are
doing the writing, I believe atleast. So it's always good to have
(20:07):
a great partner too. And backto that quote from the beginning. We
discussed many to think, but especiallyto Paul Rossler who mentioned my brilliant moves
mus moves. Boy, here's myproblem with Rita like news and co conspirator
on this long musical journey we've beenon. Yeah, yeah, you know,
I write alone, so I don'tI don't really know how to play
(20:32):
with others. I guess, Iwell, uh, I it's it's it's
a solo venture for me, andI wish it wasn't the case because I
love collaborating, and we collaborate onthe production and the mixing, in the
in the arrangements, you know,it's it's like an equal footing. But
the writing, that's that's you know, me in a rowboat on the at
(20:56):
night on the ocean. It's justlike I got you, No, not
too many hands in the creative jar. But I do know what that last
a tailing of what you said abouthim. He said he made you brave,
he made made me brave. Yeah, because he is my sounding board.
I mean, that's a beautiful that'sa beautiful thing where you know.
(21:17):
I remember when I was writing ukreaneanCowboy and I say, can I say
the Purge of Stalin in a popsong? Because that's Whelarc's coming out?
And he said yes, and Iwent, Okay, I believed him.
I believe I believe more people shouldn'tknow about the Purge of Stalin, about
that funny put that in a lovesong? You know. See that's what's
(21:41):
unique about it. You have toput these things on a love song.
It makes people think and it's wait, did you just do that? Yeah?
Are people like a little bit?You know? Which is I think
I think I'm I am trying tostartle people sometimes, you know, just
just to get through you know,the blood brain barrier or whatever. That
is just a little And I thinkyou know people who you know who write
(22:04):
writers and poets and songwriters, you'reI mean, I I don't know if
everyone said probably not, but butthat's you know, just to explore,
to be really curious about ideas andand and have that sense of wonder about
the world and what you see.I think, you know, it's like
(22:26):
having a child like part of yourself, you know, and just kind of
running the show. Well, it'snot the way it should be. One
thing, isn't that, I say? One thing that I really want to
get in there? Because you mentionedthat you would like to stir the pot,
and you have done it throughout yourcareer. You even were brave enough
to take on the mantle of recordingJohnny, are you queer? You would?
(22:51):
You would have been canceled. Youwere almost canceled back in the eighties
by a different breed of people whowould have canceled you had that song been
released today. I mean, likeI think, I like to think of
it as I brought together a wholelot of people who didn't like each other
in the in the joint, youknow, like organization of going after me.
I remember, I remember the onewoman who went after you really hard.
(23:15):
It was the girl with the pinkhair, the lady with the pink
hair who cried on Q when hedid when she did some kind I forgot
why I used to see her onWTB Y in Pekeizsie, So it was
a network, right, But shewas so loud and vocal against your songn't
didn't really realize what the song actuallymeant, right, what the MENI behind
it was. And other people gota little offended here and there. But
the fact is it's an iconic song, it's a classic, and you had
(23:37):
a lot of support. Not onlyhave you had a lot of support with
the song over the years, evenduring the uh the rougher years of the
censorship era now, but a lotof the a lot of of LGB artists
have to have taken your song andplayed with it. The Elephant guys,
the guys in the ear, pussyCat Bad a great rendition. Yeah,
(23:59):
that was I was super modern versionof it and actually really angered the writers
of the song, the Pain Brothers, they were. But they can't win
anyway, Like, you know,you can only open the door this far,
but maybe it needs to go alittle farther, like twenty years down
(24:21):
the line, you know. Andthey were just like, no, that
was interesting, but I just likekeeping opening the door, you know,
wider, and you know, Iguess I am I'm easily bored I think
with my own thoughts. So youknow, I just uh and I just
like kind of like mix it up. You know, Josie has a big
(24:44):
tent. That's it. That's yourmusic. It's a tent. Everybody wants
a big tent, but you actuallyhave one, Thank you so much.
And you know, like when buteven when I came to Ellen, I
originally they I was you had demotapes song because I was just trying to
be a songwriter. Uh. AndI was just playing people, you know,
my songs and um and uh whenthey would listen, they always tune
(25:06):
into my voice. And there yousing too many different styles of music,
you know, like you what areyou doing? You know? And it
was like it worked against me.And and now it seems like people that
are starting to appreciate that a littlebit, you know, like like it's
a bad thing to actually expand andsing other or combined genres were singing different
(25:29):
styles. Yes, what kind ofpeople are in this industry these days?
Oh? I don't formulate people,right, it's a science. Now music
has become a science. Josie,I get asked, where can you find
good music nowadays? Where can youfind people will put out good music.
Well, thank goodness, I haveyou here, and we're going to tell
people where to find it. Iknow it should be my job ased to
(25:52):
host. I can't just say,uh, Josie tell me. So here's
what we're gonna do. I'm gonnatake you to it. Kitting Robot Records,
this is your company. You've broughtsome you've brought for some really interesting
artists, artists that play again verygenres. They seem to have a lot
of fun with what they're doing andtheir music is absolutely absolutely very different from
(26:12):
the science they're putting out today.It's we we try and and uh bringing
on you know, people who whoalready have there's no artist development at Kitt
and Robot. We just people whoare fully developed and have you know,
or you know, making their ownvideos or they you know, they bring
(26:33):
something like magical you know to thetable and and they're like a finished you
know, a piece of art.And um and so because you can't I
don't think you can give people art. You can't groom them into you know,
into that. So um, sothat's been really fun, you know,
and uh, and yeah there's someum, there's some really interesting artists,
(26:56):
uh coming out and there right now. And you know, the sad
thing to me was when you know, um dark you know Mark who was
on on Kitt and Robot, hedied, the artist he was in a
(27:17):
Sparkle Horse. I can't believe himforgetting his name, but he died before
his record came out on our label, Um Mark Sparkle Horse. He's anyway,
he's on. Uh let me see, oh I can see yah.
Yeah, oh you're going down.You're scrolling down. But I'm taking him
(27:38):
off now because they're not. Butye, spark Mark, it was his
name with us, dark Mark.Do you do have some great names amongst
the talent here? I personally likeEddie Spaghetti and Frank Meyer, and of
course dark Mark versus Skeleton Joe,I like it not end Skeleton versus Yes.
(28:02):
And then Harry Cloud is like atotal artistic mess. He's just he's
just so talented and he just hemakes songs too fast. And and we
have Inger Laurie coming out like youknow, very soon, and which is
amazing. She hasn't you know fromthe Nymphs. She hasn't done a record
in so long and and uh,that's been a journey, I can tell
(28:25):
you that I always listening to LarryCloud. Larry Cloud offers a rather interesting
take on music in general. Evenit was a one song, He's changing
time signatures bank and forth. Ienjoy that. That's something I like to
listen to. We use different kindor I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen who use
different times, different kinds of timesignatures for their music. Yes, yeah,
(28:45):
he's on a he's you know,in some other world. He's absolutely
you know, um, I justhe's going places I've never seen and is
amazing. She's her her new musicis sounding fantastic. And uh and yeah
you know Eddie Spaghetti he was inthe Supersuckers and which is a they have
(29:07):
some great songs. And Kia Rossler, you know she was that's pretty epic.
H you know score of course youknow it's Paul's sister. Pretty easy
to get her. But you know, just just some amazing some people and
haling the crushers. She's like,you know, it's a young band.
She's just like this punk rock youknow, Harley has a captivating voice.
(29:30):
Now let a punk rockers have thatcaptivating voice. She has that that's a
beautiful voice. And um, andshe were not a train suner at all.
She was a writer in uh youknow, like a magazine articles and
whatnot and uh and so yeah,so, um, you know it's really
cute and Loki's Folly is our newsigning. All these are really really young.
(29:52):
I don't I think they're they're ingrade school or I don't know.
The Filings is a great name.I like that they bring back the He's
with a look. They make alittle modern look with the second six.
Yeah, but I mean that's BritishInvasion straight up, you know, like
it it's it's which is dear tomy heart. That's my that's my favorite.
You know. I guess that's whyI veered towards the Beatles, because
(30:15):
the British Invasion to me was justlike that was my coming you know,
into my music realizations. Um,you know in the in rock and um
and so yeah, so um theycapture that and um and uh yeah he's
adorable. He's just turned twenty.I mean he's we've had him since he
(30:37):
you know, he was seventeen.So my first show, my first out
Hoouse launch is with Shari Curry,who obviously you know, but she has
dedicated a lot of her time tohelping young artists navigate through problems with club
owners or or or the industry tryingto mess with them, trying to rip
them off and things like that.Yeah, you're doing the same. You're
(31:00):
helping a lot of these young You'rebring these uh you're bring these nice these
these young artists into a fray wherethey can play their own music, um,
not get thrown around or or pushingit something they really don't want to
do. And I think that's agood thing. And we need more of
that, right and to be treated, you know, be treated well,
and they keep them on publishing andyou know, like all all those things,
(31:22):
you know, and yeah, itfeels good. I I love I
love you know, being a conduitfor for this. It takes a lot
of the heat off of me becauseat first, you know, it was
it was just so all my thingscould be in one place and uh and
then it was just like I realize, you know, God, there's so
(31:42):
much great music that never gets hurt. We've we've got to we've got to
step up, you know. AndU in uh in in Los Angeles alone,
um and yeah there's all the artistsand uh yeah, tombstones in their
eyes. That's a. That's A. The great name. The names,
the names are absolutely fantastic. No, it's so good. I want to
(32:05):
give another shout out to Paul Roslerbecause I spend a lot of time listening
to this his music before we goton the air. This guy, this
guy can use his voice as aninstrument. No, he's a great singer
and uh and a poet and anda deep thinker. I mean he's and
also like it's totally irreverence kind oflike you know, you know, like
(32:29):
you know, Pal just to jokearound with. He's just he has all
these elements and he's just damaged enoughfor me to you know, so much.
We need more damaged people around hereto kind of feel better about ourselves
just because you can relate to them. I mean it's like, yeah,
(32:49):
I'm I'm messed up. Like sonow I know why you like coming on
my shows with me. Okay,I'm pretty Josie. What makes for a
real what you look for in ayoung artist or an up and coming artist
that you say, hey, thisare these people, this group, this,
this solo artist. It would beperfect for kitting Robot records. Well,
(33:09):
I mean, like passion is likeso important to have passion for what
they do and just you know,something unique to them and um um that
just makes us go oh my god, or like oh, I mean all
(33:30):
these different reactions where you have somekind of visceral reaction to what you're hearing,
you know, it's like you know, and it's it's it's not just
one reaction, and it can bepain it can be painful. You know.
Sometimes art is you know, um, painful if it's weird enough and
that, but I mean I thinkthat's good too, So we just need
(33:52):
to It's an emotional, actual decision, I think for most of this,
and you know, and just knowingthat their art has come, it's it's
full road, um without having togo okay, okay, well maybe if
you change your all your shoes,you know, I don't know, you
can't package, you know, orchange the change the color of your jacket
(34:14):
maybe or tie off and it permsand we're ponchos like yeah, that's it.
I mean, like this is whatthis is my problem. Besides the
fact that I stink I would betold to change your clothing, Where's something
decent eat like a human I don'tknow, comb your hair cut? Your
(34:35):
hair all eat like a human.I'm joking. I had to throw that
one in there just to say,is that direction? I want to do
one more thing on the on youralbum A Day of the Gun, I
did not mention a song that Iwanted to mention, and I'm going to
(34:58):
go back to that right now.It was another song that intrigued me.
All they are all, they're allintriguing, but I like the Feathomless Tale
of Silky and Sam Yeah, ohyou do, oh, but you tell
stories and I missed that. Notonly you put great style and I get
to listen to my favorite Josie Cottonmusic from back in the day, and
(35:21):
of course my personal favorite album fromyou. And I'm going to say it.
I don't want to sound like oneof those fans, but I will
always recommend Invasion of the b Girlsas one of the funnest Oh it was
the most fun to make too,and those songs, many of them tell
stories. I had a show thelast show. As a matter of fact,
we did episode number fourteen. Ihad a couple of my favorite people
(35:44):
I work with on another show andTaco was actually on with me too with
this panel, and we were discussinghow the story song has gone the way
of the I guess of the dinosaur. Yeah, we need more story songs
once some people can listen to nowadays. That's why music was that's why pop
(36:04):
music was actually cool in the seventies. We had stories. I know,
I could not agree more. Anduh, it's funny. That song came
from a dream I had about aspider and we were and it was this
giant spider and uh, but Ifell in love with the spider and we
were in some eastern European town withthere were no humans and and it was
(36:28):
just I was like in another worldand this spider had such long legs and
U and I woke up and itwas just like that dream. And I
was trying to write it down,and I had an unfinished song that I
was still in my head, andthe line from this that I was writing
from the dream kind of intersected withthis melody, and it was like,
oh my god, it's a dream. It's a song about a spider,
(36:52):
you know, like and and soI started describing, you know, parts
of the dream and everything, butyou know, in this in this imaginary
house, and obviously circles or abig you know element on this record.
There's a lot of circles like anduh, you know, there's clocks and
there's calendars, and there's you knowthings uh you know coming to an end
(37:14):
and and uh, you know,the cycle of life all that. But
um yeah, that's that's one ofmy favorite songs on the record. And
no one really mentions that too much, but um yeah, that was like
discovering the story as I was writingit. That was kind of beautiful.
It's like, Okay, there's aspider blah blah blah, and then towards
the ends, oh my god,she's she's the creator of time, the
(37:37):
spider, And how do I youknow, like knit it together to tell
the story of you know, herand and her the Spider. She'd be
friends and and they've traveled the worldand they they're you know, they you
know, they're you know, theyare eternal all and and they're the ones
and the and and their their timeis about to end, which means all
(37:59):
of our time it's coming in.But it's like it's celebrating it, you
know, like counting it down.We're counting it to the end. And
so yeah, and so that thatmakes me so happy to hear to listen
to that song. Still, it'sjust because it's it's not about me,
and so it has it is soremoved for me. But it's just like
(38:19):
I love these characters, you know, I just love them. And yeah,
thank you so much for noticing thatsong. For sure, it shows
there are people that in your inyour life, that you have a journey
with. You'll always know and lovethem, even if you don't see them
that often or if you're attached tothem. They're they're always near you.
We're always around you. Still,there are certain people that will always affect
you and you'll be around you untilthe end and you'll share life's adventures with
(38:43):
each other. That's true. It'strue. Yeah, that's very important.
Yeah, and it's just like youknow, she's taught you know. And
then there's a kind of the apocalypseapocalyptic you know, you know in the
chorus, like you know, likeI just see it's the underground. If
I was going to do the video, I think I'm gonna have that that,
you know, talking on a shortwave radio like she's alone, you
(39:05):
know, and she's like you know, like talking on this trying to see
if there's life out there and youdon't know if if this what happened,
is it a dream or is thatyou know, her imagination. You know,
it's just because she's going insane andthis bunker, you know, during
you know, all the stuff.So there's that element too in the in
the choruses, which sound really happybut actually they're not. It's a touching
(39:29):
track and it's something that it reallystood out to me. Also, I
believe more songs should have the wordfathom lessening. That's the other thing.
I thank you. I I questionedmy my judgment, like later on when
I was trying to you know,the title is so long. I'm just
(39:50):
used to like, you know,really snappy titles, and but yeah,
I just seemed like I searched.I searched for the right word to describe
it. You know, if Iknew like a fairy tale, this song
is like a fairy tale and umand um and so it's like fairy tales,
are you know? Um? Andthat was just a word. I
(40:10):
was just like, that's an Noone uses that word. That's a beautiful
word that you don't know how deepyou know something is that's fathomless. It's
like, well, a fathom ofthat's a kind of depth measurement in the
ocean, right the fathoms. Yeah, and thanks to you, Josie.
I'm going to use that word ina sentence more often every day. Yes,
(40:34):
and thanks then and thanks the BlackEdder, writes fourth of the TV
the British TV show Gobbled Book alot more so. How is your How
is your today? Fathomless? Yeah? Exactly fathomless. Are you feeling rather
fathomless today? Right? It's better? I feel good. I mean that
(40:58):
the fathomless Like, tell me more, Jersie. One thing you can teach
people here, and people can learnfrom listening to your music over the years,
is you can teach people how tosing. You can teach people how
to play instruments. You cannot teachimagination, but each has their own and
there are different ways to nurture suchimagination. Yes, I do feel like
(41:22):
that. And I think if wetaught you know, we went back to
teaching art in school. I thinkit helps develop different parts of the brain,
even if you're not going to bean artist. You know, it's
like communicates, you know, youknow, different regions of the brain we
don't even know about exactly. Thefirst off, you should be teaching regular
(41:43):
subjects back in school again too.But I over there right, Well,
yeah, I can get in thewhole thing about education today. But over
the last fifteen twenty years, I'veseen schools bit by bit. I don't
off cutting off the arts programs.I know we're not putting out well rounded
students. No, this is oneof the reasons we're not doing well when
it comes to the stems either,that's another thing. But we need to
(42:06):
nurture the whole student in a way, and teaching art, teaching music,
teaching science, teaching math, allof that is all of that is very
very important in communication, like youknow, like with other humans in person,
I don't need that anymore. Wehave text messages, so we're good.
There are eyes will communicate for us, I guess in the future.
(42:30):
Josie Cutton, thank you very muchfor being with me on the Outhouse Lounge.
Thank you, Chris. I'm soglad I made it. It's not
good to actually see you and you'retalking. You actually have a mouth and
you're like a human that's right.I know what you look like. They've
seen you in videos and everything,but you unfortunately had to see me this
time. Because I have the video, I have no complaints. Once again.
(42:54):
The new album is Day of theGun. I have it here.
For those who are watching on video, it's this is the Spotify page.
If you're listening on audio, youcan get the album on Spotify or wherever
you download music. I for one, prefer the old fashioned CD. Can
you get all that stuff on thekitten Robot Records page. Yeah, and
it's it's kitten robot dot Com ishow to get on the website, and
(43:19):
then it goes into the studio andthe record in the recording studio in the
uxo the record company. So it'stwo different companies because we have they're both
combined under kitten robot dot com.And yes, come see us. We
have a really interesting website. Ithink you have a store. You can
pick up the downloads as well here. So that's that's the place to go
(43:39):
kitten robot dot com. It's whereyou can get Josie and all of the
artists here who are absolutely fantastic.Thank you so much, Chris Well,
thank you very much, Josie,and thank all of you for joining us
in the Outhouse Lounge. Have anenjoyable rest of the day. I keep
listening to creas then about the
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