#385 - Chris Shiflett On the Difference Between Touring Solo vs. with the Foo Fighters + FINALLY Sets An Internet Rumor Straight + Taking the Role as Frontman…and Did He Feel Unsafe Playing Punk Shows? - Bobbycast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
None of that ever happened. What it was was a
friend of mine mentioned one day said hey, dude, I
think I could get you an audition, And in that
conversation I said to him, hey, I heard Food Fighters
are looking for a guitar player. And he actually did
wind up getting my name thrown in the hat. Episode
three eight five. Chrish Shifflet solo artists but also lead

(00:25):
guitars for Food Fighters, punk rock veteran. I mean, the
guy has done at all. I think we could have
done two different episodes, one of him just talking about
the music that he likes and creates, and one of
him just talking about Food Fighters. I mean, it's funny
to hear him talk about the difference in touring, like
when he's by himself versus when he's with Food Fighters. Yeah,

(00:45):
what are crazy difference? And how one of them is
wildly rich and one of them is a solid artists,
you know, still trying to make it, figure it out.
I really like Chris Shifflet. Um. I liked him more
than I thought I would. Not that I didn't think
I would like him, but usually when guys coming from
l A or New York, they just feel a bit different.
Even if not purposefully. I thought he was awesome, didn't

(01:06):
he was really nice, just like chill walked in because
you don't know he's he plays hundred, hundreds of thousands
of people with food Fighters, like he's one of the
faces of food Fighters. So I thought I was super
cool that he came over because he was playing a
show in town at the Rhyme and with it, BlackBerry
smoke got him. So he's got a song called Blacktop
White Lines just came out here to the go ahead

(01:28):
you had that and he recorded it in Nashville. He
wrote it with Jared Johnson of Catalect three and John
Osborne and brothers Osborne, and so we talked about a
lot of stuff including food Fighters, growing up in California,
his family, and you know, just life as a dad

(01:48):
and also as a rock star. So you can follow
him on Instagram at shifty seventy one. Michael was your
biggest takeaway from this interview? I love every time we
talked about the punk rock stuff, like that's what I
knew him for, like before food Fighters. So you did
not I didn't know if you knew him before or
you learned that he was in those groups in the past.
You know the band he was in no use for
a name. I've seen them live before before, like after

(02:10):
he left the band, but one of my favorite bands
growing up. Really yeah, dang, you really were into it then? Yeah,
it was awesome, Like food Fighters are one of my
favorite bands of all time, so it was super cool.
Here he is Chris Shifflin. I'm just genuinely interested in,
for example, you and your career, Like I have just
been a fan of different things that you have done.

(02:32):
So people come to my house when I'm really interested
and we'll do an hour and then this gets put
on in a lot of places. This lives as a
podcast that does you know, seven figure streams. Then I
put it on other shows. So the answer is, it's
a lot. And sometimes I I got I was at
the doctor a little bit ago because I got a
signis infection, which you know when you get something here

(02:53):
or here and you have to even saying because you
know you're doing your stuff now. It's like a ball
player having a hurt ankle. Yeah. I don't think people
realize how much like one year, because you know, I've
historically been the guitar player in a band for most
of my you know, adult play in life, and when
I'm out doing my own shows, even this week. I mean,

(03:15):
I'm doing one show this week. I'm just coming out
here to play at the rhyman Um and that's the
only gig. But like, both my kids were sick this
week and all week long leading into this, I was like,
don't I know. I mean, that's the life that I live,
is where I'm always worried I'm gonna get sick. Yeah,
and I think it's where the germophobe part of me started.
I you know, my I've come from a very humble

(03:37):
upbringing and so I have to show up to work.
I always had to show up to work. So I
was like, if I get sick, I can't work, and
if I can't work, and I still deal with a
lot of that now. But to answer the question, um,
I'll like you and that's why you're here. Otherwise, you know,
we didne at the studio for ten minutes and a thing.
But yeah, it's I probably do this. I do a
sports show just audio wise, thirty hours of ont in

(04:00):
a week, which gets to be a lot to why
I don't lie that much because I can't remember right,
or I would I would just do some I thought
my forty five minute podcast than I do like once
every you know, two weeks was felt like a lot. Well,
it is, it is. You know. I'm like a marathon
runner though, so you would train all the time. That's
what you do. You go when you do it. You know.

(04:22):
For me, I was thinking about you when I was
coming over here. Um. And my point was, I left
the doctor a second ago, and um, I have nothing
wrong with me, except like a week and a half ago,
I had a sinus infection that had developed from a
cold and I just couldn't get rid of this, like
this last lingering cough thing it just stay stays for
like a two months, right, And so I go and
he says he had nothing wrong with you. It's just

(04:42):
one of those where you're bronchial stuff is all ye inflamed.
And so they put me on this little machine and
you're like, it's like you're smoking a clear pipe of
health and like foam steams coming out of it. And
he says, you're gonna be a little like light headed
and jittery when you leave this, and I'm like, I'm

(05:04):
all right, I left it just legitterious crap. So I'm
pretty sure that was my point here. Hey, so let's
go first. It's super cool to have you here. Just sink.
I'll geek out on that part for a minute. Just
super cool to have you here. UM been a big
food fighter guy, well always like my whole life, and

(05:26):
so I've known and when you become a big fan,
you start to not be a fan of just the
songs or just the lead singer, but how the different
entities came in and developed. And so I'm very familiar
with your story and super cool you're doing your thing now,
and I would definitely wanta talk about the fulfillment there

(05:46):
and just the life that you've lived. And as I
was kind of getting ready for this and thinking about
you were coming, I spent the last week in California.
I went over and hosted some um red carpet stuff
for the Emmys and just some whatever, and I lost
track of what day it was, meaning was that Tuesday
or Wednesday or Thursday? And I live in a space
where I've got to know what day it is all

(06:06):
the time because I'm on the air Monday through Friday,
and I'm touring and traveling. I don't know, but I
wonder the lifestyle that you have lived, traveling so much,
did days even matter for the most part, you know?
I mean I think that there was a time, maybe
when I was younger, when I just didn't pay attention
that much to what day of the week was. And

(06:27):
did a Wednesday matter versus a Friday? Well, it matters
when you're you know when it when you're in a
band and and um, and you gotta play on a
Tuesday night somewhere, you know, those are always like the
weaker gigs, you know. And I'm thinking more like before
I was in the food fight, like when I was
I was in a bank called Nicks for name, and um, yeah,
so you pay attention to that sense. But I think, like, uh,

(06:48):
having kids, and I'm and my kids are pretty grown now,
so it's been a long time. But that that made
me turn back into like a Monday, you know, paying
attention to to Monday through Friday little bit more. In
that sense. It was tough for me because I live
on such a regimented I have to, like, I mean,
I'm pretty regimented to I mean, to be honest, like

(07:09):
in order to do like because like I got a
lot of a lot of balls down there at all
all the time. So my life is pretty compartmentalized, and
it kind of has to be. You know, I gotta like,
I gotta be. I gotta be dad first thing in
the morning, I gotta get my kids off to school,
and then I gotta get Then I have like a
few hours where I can sort of do the stuff
that I need to do for me. A big calendar guy. Yeah,

(07:30):
oh yeah, like everything in Oh yeah, I know, a
dent or I just you know, asked shame my manager.
I forget entirely and then he's called me, like, dude,
you get on that interview or what. Um yeah, no,
like you know, especially if if we're in the middle
of like food fighters stuff, you know, then that's gonna
take up. That's that's a big that's like your whole life,

(07:50):
you know. So you're trying to fit these things sort
of in the margins here and there side. Now, I
I gotta be. It always drives me nuts when I'm
dealing with people who are like living living loose. You
know that that aren't fairing attention that I'm talking to
you musicians, yeah, really mean creatives, Yeah, you know what
I mean, where you're like, dude, I got like forty
five minutes right now, like, we gotta go. It's been

(08:12):
hard because I do a lot of different things, and
none of them great. I do a lot of things
pretty well. But Ryan Seacrest, who I became friends with
that worked on American Idol for four seasons, working with
the contestants on picking songs, how to sing, that kind
of stuff. I was on camera for four years there
working with them, and he said to me once, he said, hey, look,
people have to learn to respect your calendar. I was like,

(08:33):
what does that mean. He goes, if you say you
gotta go at four, you leave it for and they'll
never again question it. And so I then because I
was gonna ask you how you're juggling this, because I
do want to get and have a lot of things
that to talk about about your new project. But I
was like, damn, that's pretty good. Like it's president, we
have a meeting. I gotta go at three. I'm gonna
show up on time, and then I gotta go at three. Okay, sorry,

(08:55):
I gotta go, and they'll never question you again. Now,
when you got a lot of money, like Ryan, I
think it's a little easier to walk out of that,
but I thought it was great advice and with what
you're doing now, and can I Mike, we have a
clip of black top white lines please. So you wrote

(09:16):
this song with two of my friends, which is pretty
freaking cool, right on? Yeah, John too. I mean those
are like my dudes. I love them, and when I
hear you, they are great dudes, like just as humans,
the best great musicians. And I gotta say Jaren was
like really knocked out, knocked it out of the park

(09:38):
producing this record. Well that's what I was going to
ask about the production of it because when I hear this,
because I'm big Catalect three, Like, I grew up in
the South, so I grew up being kind of forced
and then eventually loved like real Southern rock but also
soul um southern rock, the tone, guitar tone a bit,
and when I hear this, I can deaf only here

(10:01):
some of that jarring production influence. Well, that riff, the
riff in the main riff of this on that boodle
that is Jared all day on. He came into because
we were gonna get together, right and we're doing it
over zoom because it's like during the lockdown or whatever,
and and before we jumped on there, he was like,
hey man, you know it's a cool with John Osborne

(10:22):
joints like yeah, of course, um John find nervously waiting
like okay, man, just let me know if he lets
me into this, it's cool. Does not probably, But I
was stuked. Yeah. I was like, you know, made it
made it that much better and um, but Jarren brought
that riff into it, you know what I mean, And
then we kind of wrote the song around that. Mike,
we hit that again. So when you're putting out and

(10:51):
you're the face, now that's you, just I mean it is,
that's you. Now, it's just your name, it's yours. No band,
by the way, I mean, do you have a band?
But it's you? Yeah, you know. And I'll tell you
the reason why I didn't do that for a very
long time. Um, when like when I was a little younger,
intentionally even stuff that was basically like a solo project,

(11:12):
Like I had a band called Jackson United that was,
you know, legitimately a band here and there, but with
a bunch of different lineups. And then I was when
I first started doing some kind of more like Americana
flavored stuff. Um, I had a band called Chris Shifflett
and the Dead Peasants, and I just found like every
time I would go to make a record, every time
I would go to do some shows, it would always
be different people because you can't really keep a full

(11:33):
time band together. When you're in a full time band,
you know what I mean, it just doesn't work. Uma
salary just to hang and yeah that's that that that
ain't an option. Um. But yeah, so I finally just
kind of like, you know, like grudgingly just make it
my own name, you know what I mean. Like, but
but it's interesting because with each record and then with

(11:57):
each like tour, like you know, groups of shows video,
you do have these moments of like you know, like
the group of musicians that played on my new record,
it's consistent for the most part, all the way through,
you know, all ten songs. There's a little bit of
change here and there, um, and all those cats make
a massive impact. So it's like you just it's like

(12:17):
it's like having this little mini band relationship for a
couple of sessions, you know. Yeah. And I guess my
point was saying, it's just you as okay, Dead Peasants,
It's still you I mean a lot of artists. Tom
Petty had the Heartbreakers. We could go through all the
people who had great bands with them as well. But
this sound that you're making is just you. This is

(12:38):
just your sound. Now. Jack White can do and we
can go through all the different versions that he does,
but and they all have slightly have a different sound.
It could be Jack, but this is just you. And
so you have to decide who your presentation of you
by yourself, what that set, what the phone is that?

(12:58):
Do you think about that? Are you just like man,
let's just make some music and see what happens. I mean,
I think about it a little bit like one of
the first conversations we had when I asked Jared if
you would produce um produce this record was was we
had the conversation about like kind of pushing me into
an unknown territory or you know, sort of sonic territory.
That was that was maybe a little uncomfortable or something
I hadn't done before. And like this first song was

(13:19):
definitely definite. We definitely went there. What sonically because it
sounds so natural because I know those guys that I
know you, but what sonically to you, I don't want
to use the word hesitant. But what sonically to you
made you kind of weighed in a little slower because
you weren't that a custom? Is that the is it
the tone? Is it that the Yeah, it's just maybe
an overall gloss on the whole thing or so, I

(13:40):
don't know, you know what I mean. It's it's probably
more in my head than anybody else likes. It's funny
because as a musician you tend to just overthink everything.
I know I do. I always do um and overthink
how it's going to be receiving all that sort of stuff.
So um, and the song is not out yet, so
I guess we'll find out pretty soon by the time
said when says it'll be okay, cool cool um yeah.

(14:03):
So uh, but you know, the response so far in
the little snippets that I put up, like, there hasn't
been one comment on my Instagram that's like this sounds
like a radical departure for you, you you know what I mean.
So I think that's stuff that like we think about
more than anybody else. I think most people just listen
to music. They just take it as it comes, you know,
Do I like this or do I not? Does this

(14:23):
make me want to dances and making me happy does
make me say, I don't think most people sit there
and think about production elements and all that kind of
you know, that that that maybe the musicians think about
in the difference between this type of you know what
roots the Americana sound is versus a slicker, more kind
of like you know, radio friendly, you know, all that

(14:44):
kind of stuff. I just don't think people the average
listener just doesn't care. And they don't. And when you
said gloss, I don't you know this is me and
you I've heard that song a bunch. I don't really
hear gloss as as that's not either a compliment or
it's not it's nothing except I don't hear gloss. I
just hear like a like a pivot, a slight pivot

(15:04):
that feels like the narratives a little more honest, interesting,
And again that's just there's no real definition of art.
But it feels like like your your narrative feels a
little grittier. And I don't hear gloss at all. Well,
that's that's good to hear. Maybe gloss was the wrong word,

(15:26):
but like I mean, but you know, like, um, I
do think that this record, when you kind of add
it all up, it's got like and I feel like
like an edge closer. This maybe with every solo record
I do, which is more and more kind of all
of my musical influences represented the big ones at least,
you know, the Stones and whatever Bad Religion or Jawbreaker

(15:49):
or something mixed with you know, Merl Haggard and Bucko,
and you like, it's kind of all in the in there.
Give her the Eagles is easy, top whatever it is,
you know, it's just kind of it's all in there.
You ever have be so influenced? And I'm not And
this is not the same thing as because I'm a
comedy and I definitely don't still jokes on purpose, But
there are times when I write things that are similar
to other people because we have like minded sensibilities and age.

(16:13):
So this is not that type of question, but it's
do you ever feel like you're so influenced by an
era of the Eagles and you've written this song and
you're like, man, I just hear like seventies Eagles so
much that I can't stop hearing the Eagles from the seventies,
not specifically a song, but like you were so encapsulated
by whatever that motivation was when you wrote that song
that you're like, man, this might be a little too

(16:34):
much Molly Crewe. Yeah, I mean, I guess, but like
I kind of seem feel like it's usually the opposite.
It's the thing that you think, you're like, Wow, it's
a little close to the bone, you know, like maybe
maybe that's you know, a little too much borrowing, a
little too much influenced. Is like then other people hear
it totally differently, you know, because I think that's a
big I think that is a big part of music.

(16:54):
I think we're all borrowing from the people that we
grew up listening to or whatever, or even just the
current stuff, and but then you put it through your
filter and it becomes this this different thing. You like
being the front guy, You like singing. I do like singing.
Let me ask it again. You love singing? You know,

(17:15):
I can't. I came a singing late, you know, versus
playing guitar. I mean I would, I it's it's it's
it's an interesting question because it's something that slowly I've
gotten more and more comfortable doing, and even in writing,
used to sort of view writing the lyrics and stuff
is almost kind of an afterthought and and whereas that's
more like front and center to me now as when

(17:37):
I'm when I'm writing. But um, yeah, I mean I
I would love to someday be able to sing with
as much ease and sort of like, um, I don't know,
just the kind of like not even thinking about a
thing that I feel like I do with guitar playing.
I don't think I'm there as a singer, you know
what I mean. I still gotta like work at it,
but I like it and I enjoy it, and it's fun,

(17:59):
you know that. And it's fun to like to even
just playing live, like to see what kind of works
and doesn't work, and putting a show together and and
and putting us interacting with the crowd. You know, it's
that weird thing that like he it's hard to even
put your finger on, you know, sometimes you just feel
like you're so connected to the crowd, and sometimes you

(18:19):
feel like there's this wall between you and you know
what I mean, And and it's trying to like, you know,
sometimes after shows like oh did that feels so good tonight?
You know wh I was why I was that spark
there with everybody in and at the bar or whatever,
you know what I mean. And have you found a
difference and exactly that the cinement you're making there? Have
you found a difference in being the front guy and

(18:43):
technically how your stage is set up? Meaning if I
do comedy music, I can't wear ears because I have
to hear laughs. Right, if I'm doing just music music
and we're part I have to wear ears so I
can hear. And so there are for different reasons monitors versus.
Have you found that being that guy up front now
technically you maybe you've had to rethink how the stage

(19:05):
is set up or how it's technically coming to you. Well,
I am a recent in ears convert, so you were
you haven't wear ears forever? No, I was earplugs for
a long time, but I'm just sort of recently started,
especially with ear plugs with sound. You're saying, well, like
like those moldy places, no with no sound, which is
which is the worst thing for a guitar play. It
tikes out all the high end. It's annoying, but you

(19:26):
can still here, Oh you can still hear. Yeah, But
it's like you know those moldy ear plugs that they're
little ear Okay, you gotta talk, take it down for
me level. I'm done with this. So I wear ears
to do my radio show because it's also visual. But
you can't see they're not they're not the molded ears,
but they're plugs. But I can hear everything. Now you're saying,
I'm talking to straight ear plug. Why would you plug

(19:48):
your ears to save my because I spent so do
you know how many years I spent in little garage?
I hear you hear the symbols right here, Like I
remember I went to go get my hearing jacked, like
probably fifteen years ago, and uh, it's not too long
after we first started having kids and the doctors freaking
me out. He's like, yeah, you don't care now, but
you know when you're my age and you can't hear

(20:08):
your grandchildren or you know, you're gonna care. And I
was like, get me the thickest ear plugs I possible,
but no now, and now I use any ears. You
know like what you're talking about, And for God, that's
the greatest thing ever for for singing it your sounds
like and you don't blow your voice, don't blow your
voice sounds. It just sounds like you're singing in your head.
You know it's the best, So okay, you gotta help

(20:28):
me out on because I was never really comfortable with
with with loud monitors on stage. And how do you
hear the the base are you? Are you just running
like a metronome and you're I mean, what are you
doing if you're playing with ear plugs? I'm not getting
I'm dumb right now, Chris. You know what you're doing.
You're overcompensating and just turning your amp up. That's what
you're doing. So it probably amounts to the same thing. Okay,

(20:49):
so you can still hear, well, you get there's the
fancy mold of ones that have like little different caps
where you can bring it down ten dB. But but
in the plugs that you're wearing, well, the ones that
used to wear Yeah, yeah, I never even heard of that. Yeah,
you started playing guitar. What age do you feel like?

(21:12):
You're someone who music came to I don't think there's
a such thing as easy, but more naturally? Did you
understand it quicker? Um? I wouldn't say that. I think, um,
I was lucky that I grew up in a family
of musicians. You know, both my older brothers played and
played really well, and we're like really good. By the
time I ever picked up a guitar, which was probably
a little daunting, and I was a terrible student. It

(21:35):
wasn't really like a guitar student. I would just never
really practice what I was supposed to practice and all
that sort of thing um and like, you know, this
was like the early nineteen eighties, so and I was
listening to people like in Babe Almstein and stuff. So
I would I remember, like everyone would talk about, oh,
you have to take classical guitar lessons because that's what
Vay did or that's what Julie john Roth did, all
these guys that we all looked up to. And so

(21:57):
I was a little kid and I would go take
classical guitar and I could not figure out how that
connected to like the Ozzy Osbourne records. I was like,
it just didn't make any sense, and so I just
wouldn't play it, you know. And it wasn't until it
wasn't until I started playing in bands in high school.
That's when I started. When it started to when I
started get like, you know, more fluid, But what's classical

(22:19):
guitar I know classical piano, but what do you learn
at a classical guitar lesson? I didn't learn anything. Okay,
what are you supposed to learn? Do you learn? Like,
are you supposed to learn how to read music? I
could never really do. And like you know, it's a
lot of finger style, you know, like you know beautiful.
It's almost like almost like a level of discipline that

(22:41):
I just I wasn't recognizing in the heavy metal music
that I was listening to. I couldn't figure out how
that became that, and I just wanted it to be that.
You know, as you have two brothers that are both
playing guitar, how come you gting get stuck with the bass?
Usually they Yeah, my brother Scott, my first my brother
Mike started playing guitar. Then my brother Scott started playing bass,
so he was like a he got it, ok he did,

(23:01):
But he also just you know, took my brother Mike's
guitar and figured out how to play that thing better
than than all the rest of us, you know, so
he kind of did it. All you get drums, you're handsOn.
If they just give you drums, all, yeah, Well I'll
tell you because my older brothers were guitar and based respectively.
My first choice was piano. I was gonna be a keyboardist,
and then my mom even bought me a piano, and

(23:22):
then I never I didn't take those lessons either, So
it just eventually I just had to pick up the guitar.
It just had to be that, you know, that was
that was the air. It seemed like the guitar player
in in all those bands was always the person that
I was drawn to. Born and raised in California, like
beach California, Yeah, Santa Barbara, like surf California. I mean

(23:43):
I actually came to surfing kind of late. You know,
we're a relative to a lot of other people. But um,
but I mean I grew up at the beach anyway,
so skateboarding and what a book you I'm a little
embarrassed to admit that when I was a kid, I
was a boogie boarder. It's a sponger, is that the
thing on your knees, not not not on your knees,
but like, you know, the more a boogie you know.
I just I grew up in Arkansas, so I don't

(24:05):
have any I don't even like the beach because I
don't get it. It's only because I was never around it,
like my friends who grew up either going on vacation
to beaches or they love it, and I'm like, I don't,
what do I do? I just sit there. Yeah, that's
eventually you pick up a surfboard and then it opens
up that whole tarn a c L. Yeah, i'n't even
skiing because I'm afraid to go tearing a c L

(24:25):
at this point. Yeah, I'm tearing everything that's it could happen.
That is, it's dangerous you are. And then there's the sharks. Yeah,
that doesn't scare me. I've done shows on that geo
and those animals. I'm all good, We're good. I'm doctor
doo a little, I'm freaking doctor doodle at out there.
Then hit me, I can't tarn a c L with
a shark. Well, tear my head off and I won't
even know it. You have two brothers. Do you have

(24:47):
any other siblings? Um? I have a step brother who
was who was around a lot to music at all. Um.
He played a little bit, but not real but he
was more of a musical influence just because of what
he was listening to and and you know, just bringing
that to it, mom and dad were they together? They
were not? And did you know I didn't know my

(25:07):
dad at all? My left So did you know your
mom and dad? Yes, so my mom and dad were together. Uh,
we lived. I was born in Santa Barbara. My dad
got a job out in Maryland, so we all moved
out to Maryland. So when I was real estate, do
you move all the way across yeah? Yeah, And then
my parents separated. My mom moved back to Santa Barbara.
So then there was a few years where we were

(25:29):
bouncing back and forth, like we'd be in Maryland for
a little bit, then we come out to Santa Barbara,
back and forth until like until my mom finally got
custodied of us full time. And then my dad stayed
out there. And you know, sadly now because my dad
passed away when I was you know, around twenty eight
or something, and I never lived in the same town
as him again from the time when I was after

(25:50):
after they split, Yeah, and he moved back to California eventually,
but he was a couple of hours up the coast.
So have you ever did the drive across. No, But
there was a funny story where my um We didn't
know this because you know, we're just little kids. But
when when we figured out after the fact, when when
my dad like officially lost custody the office, he's fine,
like all right, everybody get in the car, going for
a drive, and we drove, like to like St. Louis

(26:12):
or something, so yeah about halfway or like what are
we doing? Your mom? Was she musical and in her
love that you listened to a lot of music. My
mom had what I thought at the time was the
worst musical taste in the world. Some of it, in hindsight,
not so bad. But she would do this thing like
she bought this Anne Murray record and there was like
one whatever the hit was at that moment, and she

(26:34):
would just play it over and over and over. But
if it wasn't and Murray would be like, you know,
stuff that like now I can appreciate, like James Taylor
and Fleetwood Mac and stuff like that. But now we
got more of the music stuff from my dad. My
dad had kind of hip taste, hip as in rock metal,
not at all like hip like this is the Beatles,

(26:54):
this is Bob Dylan got I know, even like you know,
when I was when I was in the seventies. I
remember him listening. He would listen to like almost nothing
but Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley and stuff that we
weren't you know, like I didn't. I'm not gonna pretend
that I liked those records necessarily, but but it was
on in the house, and you know, it just kind
of seeped in and stuff that you sort of you
grow up a little bit and you go, wow, that
was better than you know, the Wasp records we were

(27:17):
listening to or whatever. It's your oldest brother's interest and
how good he got a guitar? Is he the reason
that your other brother and yourself were in music or
were in music? Yeah, pretty much. I mean it all
started with him. He was the first one that got
a turntable and got some vinyl and you know, and
we all got hooked. So what's what's what's his deal?
Was he a good artist? Does he still play? Is
he does he alive still? He's a yeah, he's oh yeah,

(27:39):
he's going. He's a guitar teacher at the shop Jensen
Music in Santa Barbara that we all grew up taking
lessons from man. That's how you know he's good I know,
and when he got I mean, he's done that for
a long time now, but man, being a guitar teacher
made him like a million times better and he was
already real good. It's like studio like session players here
in town because there are get our players, are instrumentalists whatever,

(28:01):
and they go on the road, they play all the
big shows and it's like, oh cool, you play guitar
for him, and then you meet somebody's like, yeah, I'm
a studio session player for oh you're good. Like there's
a there's a real difference in and no offense to
you because you're obviously awesome. But I'm saying these technical
guys who can look at a chart here in Nashville
and go, all right, I'm gonna do three sessions today,
We're gonna walk into this one. Got it all right?
But it's crazy. Oh yeah, no, I know because some

(28:24):
of those cats have played all my records and yeah,
it's it's humbling to say the least. What about writing,
because obviously you've written songs in all capacities, but now
for this project, did you write different? I don't and
that's really not a good question. But sonically it's a
bit different. You say you're challenged the writing side of

(28:46):
the same feeling. Well, a lot of these songs were
written during the lockdown, so it was it was just
a strange moment in you know, in life. Um so
something probably about it's probably about in songs that were
co writes with other people. And even that was a
little bit different and kind of weird because you're doing

(29:07):
it over zoom. Um, you're not just like sitting in
a room with your friends. But um, but then, but
just the writing process for me probably not much different. Um,
but the process of making the record was very different.
It was over time. So by the once we got
to the end, because we recorded in three different sessions,

(29:29):
once we got to that last session, it was sort
of clear, uh, like the kind of the elements that
that needed to be there that weren't there yet, and
that's what we were kind of aiming for. So we're
sort of going through I'm sending Jared little home demos
and stuff and trying to figure out, you know, what
songs we should we should jump in there and record.
Why here though, I mean obviously Jared John but why here?

(29:50):
Why Nashville? Why are you basing this whole thing here.
Um well, I made my last couple of records before
this out here as well. Um And you know, for
if you're making like kind of roots Americana country tinged music,
can't really can't really go wrong making it in Nashville.
You know your isn't your podcast based like Americana country?

(30:11):
Maybe maybe kind of less so now, but like, yeah,
that was that was the That's been the main focus
of it. If you who were your musical I don't
want to say heroes because when people ask me that question,
I tend to answer a lot cooler than I really feel.
So I'm gonna say who do you? Who? Do you
listen to a lot even now? And it can be

(30:32):
old music because a lot of stuff I listened to
his stuff I loved years ago, especially when I'm trying
to relax, not a big new music guy, whenever I'm
just trying to chill, who over the past twenty five years,
will you still put on and just go like, man,
this is some good music. I'm just gonna drive somewhere. Yeah.
Um year, Well, like that first sun Volt record is

(30:54):
a huge one for me, you know, and when that
came out, that was really like that record was one
of my big introductions into like, you know, back then,
I think it was just called All the Country, but
what you know, we all know is Americana or however
you want to look at it. Um. That one never
gets old to me. Um especially, I mean, I just

(31:16):
have like these vivid memories because it was really the
singer in my old band, Tony Sly was the singer
of this band No Use for a Name, that I
was in, and he was into all that stuff, you know,
and he would always bring an acoustic guitar on tour,
and so we'd be driving down the road in our
van and he'd be sitting there, you know, strumming sun
Volt songs and Whiskey Town songs and you know, the

(31:37):
will Coast I was gonna Tupelo and all that, you know,
all that stuff. Um, he's the one that turned me
on all that. And then through that I found you
know whatever, Steve Earle and listen to Williams and even Merle,
Haggard and Buck and all the you know, I just
kind of worked my way back. I was just about
to go to Wilco when you said it yet a
cute Well, those first couple, you know, the first couple
of song Vote actually the first couple of Wilco records.

(31:58):
Just yeah, I could never get for those records. What
about is a kid? What did you love at sixteen
years old? Sixteen? Well, okay, so I when you know,
when I first started going to shows, I mean I
was listening pretty much just like heavy metal was with
the music of the day. And and then there was
this this change that happened. We're around like eighty four,

(32:23):
the glam rock things started cooking up in in l A.
And there was a band from Europe called handle Rocks,
and yeah, and so I discovered I got turned on
a Hando Rocks right right at the end of them
being a band, because they basically they had made a
bunch of records. But then they put out their major
label record, The Drummer Dies, and the whole thing falls apart.
But as that was all kind of happening, we got
my brother brought home that last record, and then you know,

(32:46):
like with everything else, you sort of work your way
back and get the other ones. But that record had
a massive impact on the l A rock world, and
all these bands started coming up, bubbling up, like you know,
Guns and Roses and Poison and Jet boy Who from
up North and Faster pussy Cat and Ally Guns and
that whole thing. And this is like pretty early in that,
like probably like eighty five, Fish started to go see

(33:09):
those bands, and it really was like so I was, yeah,
I was around like fourteen fifteen sixty in those years
as that whole thing was kicking off. Um, I would
go down. We were just going down and it just
see my memories. We're just going down to l A
all the time to go see those bands like the
Troubadour and oh yeah, no, I said, Man, I started
going to shows on about twelve or so. And then,

(33:32):
and I look back on as a parent, helm why
did my mama allow this to happen? How did you
get where? Would go? And even before that, I was
going down to see like you know, Keel and Armored
saying all all that kind of stuff because they were
all ages show. All the shows were all ages shows. Um.
And then maybe somewhere in the middle of all that
in really kind of like in high school, like where

(33:53):
I grew up was just far enough away that there
was no like rock and roll scene really and so
if you were going to see live music, it was
punk rock or was thrash metal or was something like that,
you know, or something like weirdo college band at the
at UCSB, And so it was just cool. That time
was just cool because it was all this mix of
music happening and you know, you're sort of getting turned
on to all this different stuff. And like me and

(34:16):
my I had this little tight group of friends and
when we were into this thing that was happening in
l A that eventually became very mainstream, but at that moment,
you know, for there was like a couple of years
there where it felt like it was like our little secret,
you know what I mean. Your mom obviously didn't throw
a fit or she didn't know you were going to
these shows, But do you think it's because you had
two older brothers blocking for you? Yeah? She she was.

(34:40):
She was broken by the time I came along. She's
given up. And did you guys ever, because the age
if you were your older brothers, how much older than you?
He's about seven years old, okay, in your middle brother
would be how about five? Yeah? Okay, that's significant an age.
But did you guys ever bond as brothers and have
real true brother mo much over music? Oh? For sure?

(35:02):
I mean where you're all cool with each other. Yeah, yeah, tons, tons,
but sort of as we you know, as each one
of us got to a certain age. You know, when
I was a kid, just whatever my brother thought was cool,
I thought it was cool. But would you ever think
you were a cool at fifteen and be like, hey, fifteen, yar,
will come with me. I'm twenty two, and our other
brothers seventeen. Let's get in the car and go to
a show that probably never happened. I mean, and maybe

(35:23):
here and there, maybe more so me and my brother Scot,
because me and my brothers got also, like you know,
played bands together and stuff like, you know, like lived
in l A together, and um, so that was probably
a little bit more of that with him. But yeah,
now we we all kind of broke off and had
our kind of specific musical interests once we got to
a certain age, you know. And and it is a

(35:44):
funny thing because, like I learned so much about playing
from my brothers, but we probably never sat down and
had them go like, okay, here's how this lick goes.
It was just kind of osmosis. It was just being
in the room. Did you were you ever good enough
to where the older brother would go, hey, that's pretty good.
It uh not when I was not when I was
a teenager. No, you you know what I did. I

(36:06):
did a few years ago we were making a document
of food fighting documentary and and and I went back
and found all the old like footage of my high
school bands that I could get my hands on, you know,
like the drummer in my band that played the ninth
grade talent show. I had a video of that, and
then you know, another person had a video this, and
then and so I wound up cobbling together my ninth

(36:29):
grade talent show, this club gig when I was in
maybe tenth grade, and then a gig when I was
a senior, or wouldn't when I would have been a
senior um. And so it's just really over the course
of like four years, and it's wild to see. It's
like the first one, you can't even tell what we're doing,
and so we're playing kiss songs. It just sounds like

(36:49):
it's madness. Nobody's playing the same thing, you know, just
total chaos. The second one, it's like songs, but it's
really stiff and jan kee and not very together, and
I'm trying to play guitar, so all those and it's
not really working, you know what I mean. And then
by like that third one, we're like it's kind of Shredden,
you know, like it's it's like you could see the
evolution of just like because it was all we did.

(37:12):
It was just play. You know. We were either playing
keg parties or you know, bar gigs once we could
sort of start to get him and or just rehearsing
to my friend Luke's garage, or we just played all
the time, you know. And the more you played, obviously
the better he got. Yeah, and the more the more
you played. I mean it's like the Beatles in Germany
and they played clubs for twelve hours a night. Yeah,
of course they got great. They had to. They wouldn't

(37:33):
have been able to survive. They'll learn everything. You evolve
really fast and then you just kind of hold steady
for the next forty years. You rat Pack, did you
play bass? I did play bass in rat Pack. Bass
in a punk band? Is that consider punk? Would? Yeah? Okay?
Yeah there that the edges blur for me a bit
punk and thrash, well especially you know, I mean at

(37:56):
that moment in time in punk rock, like like you know,
rat Pack was was like a local punk rock band
at Santa Barbar where I was at, but like they
were also listening to guns and rows this and stuff,
so you get a little bit of that. Nobody wants
to admit that now, but there was. There was a
lot of crossover. What's a bass player? What's the comment
throw and a bass player in a punk band and
a guitar player in a rock band because I feel

(38:19):
like overplaying. I remember the guitar player in rat Pack
one time and I was like, yeah, I was probably
like six teams, so I didn't it wasn't really a
bass player. But um I remember rehearsal him stopping us
in the middle of the song, and it was like, dude,
quit playing lead bass. It's not lead bass, it's just basse. Stop.

(38:39):
That's funny. Did you take to bass pretty easily from
playing guitar at the house? I mean, you're a kid now.
I played bass like a guitar player. My brother plays
bass like a bass player. It's a different thing. It's
I tried to play bass a little bit, and again
I'm not. I mean, I'm close as good as you,
but not really, but not at all. But it's it

(39:00):
feels like I'm walking with different legs to get to
the same destination. It's like because you know, with the guitar,
especially if it's like a rhythm guitar, but bass, it's
like I'm having to play notes in places where I
never even heard the note to begin with, and I'm
setting things up, I'm building like tables for other notes
to sit on, Like this is way too smart for me. Yeah,

(39:22):
I think like when I'm playing bass on like my
own little demo or something, I just trying to play
like it's like one of those real like less is
more kind of guitar player. You can kind of be
clacking around, floating above everything else and making a racket.
But the bass, I don't know. It depends on the
genre too, But it's like for most of the stuff
that I'm doing, I'm trying to like like not just

(39:43):
kind of like not fill every little nook and cranny.
I'm music illiterate and I need to prove myself, so
I'm trying to everything. I'm trying to tell every new
But when I played long View the first time, I
was like, I'm good, I'm put it down after a
green day and I was like, I'm good. I'm good
at bass. I just mastered it. I'm good to go.
So guns and Roses obviously massive, just in general in

(40:07):
the eighties. And there was a story that I read
about a friend of yours. Did he go an audition
for Guns and Roses or tell you should know, my buddy.
It's funny because that that thing. I should have never
told that story um in an interview, because it didn't
well yeah, so it's it's this funny thing that's become
like like a internet that ever I know. But so okay,

(40:31):
here's the straight I know. I was never in Guns
and Roses. I never auditioned for guns and Guns and
Roses never asked me to join the band. None of
that ever happened. What it was was a friend of
mine UM mentioned one day say, hey, dude, I think
I could get you an audition for Guns and Roses.
And this was in so this is right about the

(40:51):
time when I joined Food Fighters, right and in that
conversation I said to him, Hey, I heard food Fighters
are looking for a good time. Our player could see
if you can, you know, And he said, oh, I
know somebody that worse than whatever, And he actually did
wind up getting my name thrown in the hat when
they were having auditions. So that's how I got how

(41:12):
I wanted up audition in for foods. But um, but
that was the like and my buddy Bill, he didn't
work for guns or there was no official anything. And
that was at a time when Guns and Roses wasn't
even Guns and Roses. It was like accel and and
you know it's like none of the original guys weren't
it besides actual So yeah, let's just put that to
bed right now. I never played in Guns and Roses

(41:33):
and and I would have gladly played in Guns and
Roses had anybody ever, right, especially if it was seven,
you know what I mean. Um. And I was also
never a professional soccer player. That's another one of those
weird internet rumors that I don't know, that one. Yeah,
that one, that one's following me. I wish I had
been a professional soccer player. That would have been great.
Like a couple of things myself. I was never an astronaut,

(41:55):
that's right. I was never a brain surgeon. I don't
have a massive wiener that people have heard about it.
It's not that side. You're gonna keep that one. Alright, good,
biggest crowd that you guys have ever played in front of?
I don't know, I remember, and this was a long

(42:15):
time ago. We played Rock and Rio two thousands in Rio.
That's in Rio. Well it's funny, you asked, because they
also did Rock and Rio in like Lisbon, but which
wasn't in real But um, yeah, I know rock and
Rio actually in Rio, and I remember at the time
maybe somebody said it was like a hundred thousand or
a couple hundred thousand people even big, and uh, get

(42:37):
more nervous. It's gotta be still up there. Now, you
get less nervous for that. You get less nervous for
that because it's so big. It's just like you can't
even see people's faces. What about your shows now? Way
more nerve racking, especially if they're sparsely attended. Those are
the most nerve wracking of all. Do you watch people's faces?

(42:58):
I have a bad habit when it's my solo thing
of of like getting distracted by watching people's faces, especially
if like somebody's like looking at their phone, somebody's like
like yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and still and somebody's like
looking at their phone and like elbowing their friend and

(43:18):
they're laughing, and all of a sudden, I start to
think about, like, what's that I'm dealing and then I
forget the verse that you know what I mean? Um, yeah,
I gotta I gotta figure out how to just tune
the crowd out but stay connected, but tune them out.
I drive myself crazy because if I I can't assign
my feelings on to other people. And I've even been

(43:39):
to therapy where I would go out and I'll do
a theater of a couple of thousand people. I'll be doing,
telling jokes, rocking it. If I see one person that
looks like they're tired or yawned or get up, And
it's a theater, so it's not only the environment where
people get up, but if they get up, Like god,
I'm a suck totally. And so I didn't have. The
weirdest thing was performing, Like it's so easy to misjudge
a crowd, but because I've assigned how what I think

(44:02):
on them. If they're yawning, they must be like me.
And when I yawned, I'm board. They may have a
yawn disease. What do I know? The old classic yawn disease,
and so what I would talk to my therapist about it.
She goes, let me get this straight. There's I don't know,
two thousand other people. They're having a great time, yeah,
laughing their butts off. But you see one person in
the third row that's like talking to their buddy or

(44:22):
and that's the thing that triggers you to go, maybe
I'm not good enough. Plus you immediately assume that the
thing that they're talking about is something negative about you.
That's the absolutely. It's like if two people are whispering
around you, You're like, well, for sure they're talking about me.
They probably heard that big penis rumor, and now so
they know it's not true because I revealed it. And
then here we are, oh yeah, and you know nine
times out of town when you actually encounter because I've

(44:44):
had that happen where the person you in the crowd
that you think is not enjoying themselves, you'd like talk
to them after the show and they're like, dude, that
was the best, and you just have completely and you
and I always gotta remember myself, like when I met
a show, I'm not like in the rogued dancing and
going you know what, I mean, it's like, you know,
I try to watch fourheads. Yeah, that is now what

(45:06):
I try to do. I only look at foreheads and
listen back. I tell you what, dude, Having played in
like punk rock bands in my younger years, it ruins
your ability to judge a crowd forever because the because
the bar was if there wasn't a big pit, it
wasn't a good show. And so you get conditioned and
I will never be unconditioned to that that, like the

(45:30):
crowd has to be going insane for it's a registers
a good thing and I always have, especially with like
with my solo stuff, that like runs way mellower than
punk rock. You know, even though a lot of it's
like rocking, it's not that kind of rocking, you know
what I mean, it's and and at the no, you're

(45:50):
not gonna be sad they're not, and like they're in
seats and stuff. So it's just not in it's it's
it would be genre inappropriate. Was ever dangerous for you
play and punk bands that young? Because I would be
scared to go heat. Mike is a huge punk guy,
goes to show still, It's like he's very valuable to me.
He's like my main guy, yet he's in there freaking
big in his neck broken, Like I don't understand, Like,

(46:12):
I just feel like you would get hurt too. Um,
like you're diving on drums, spitting in people's mouths. I
don't think anybody ever actually spit in my mouth. But yeah,
I'm like, I remember one time and this didn't really
seem like scary scary, but uh, but you do have
moments like this, like where we were on tour. Um

(46:33):
I was on tour with no used for name, and
and we were in somewhere in Spain and we were
playing and the crowd was really like going bananas, and
it was packed club and there was like, uh, all
the bouncers were lined up across the front of the
stage and they were really man handling the kids. And
so we got on our high arts. I'm like, man,

(46:54):
get that out of here, and you guys b and
all the bouncers just kind of went like all right,
and they all left and then we started playing the
next song and it was just a complete stage vasion,
like totally insane. But I'm sorry, guys, Okay, you were
doing something after all. I get it. Yeah, I mean
I've seen stuff like that. I remember touring with with

(47:14):
Unwritten Lawns and then we were down and when and
when I was playing a band called twenty two Jacks
and uh, and there was if I remember correctly, there
was some some the bouncers were being pretty rough and
one of them was standing like in the middle of
the stage, like not like crouched down, but like in
the middle of the stage while the while Unwritten Law
was playing, and Scott, the singer front Written Law, just

(47:35):
kicked him in the ass into the crowd and it
was like that time I was scared because the bouncers
wanted to kill everybody. At that point, I think I
think we had to sneak him out of there in
our van. Yeah, lost it see the record itself. So

(47:56):
I don't know. Whenever you go, when you play these
shows and now you're having and you've been listen, you've
been doing versions of this for a long time, right,
So it's not like this you're just going, I'm a
solo artist now from a first time, you have different
kind of incarnations of who you are. This to me
is the first project like this that's just you. You
can tell me I'm wrong, Am I wrong? I feel

(48:18):
like this is the mode from what I've heard of this,
it's way it's different sonically, and it feels like a
way different you than I've heard through other versions. Yeah, yeah,
I'd say that's fair. That's fair. Okay, So lost at
see you're playing these songs? Are you playing I don't know,
mostly songs from the new record? Are you playing any
of the other versions? I don't know. What you do?
It depends on you know, like the like, like if

(48:39):
we're supporting somebody else and we have a shorter set
library Smoke, for example, when you're opening for them, you'll
play three three songs off the new record. Okay, I think, yeah,
it's so two of which nobody will have ever heard,
um and then what else? And then songs from my
last couple of records. And then I put out a
couple of songs just on my own last summer, So
I'll probably play one or two of those. You know,

(49:00):
that's a question of how you juggled that, especially when
you were kind of not rebranding but just showing a
different part of who you are music. Yeah, it's it
can be challenging to try to, like, you know, because
you want to just get up there and play everything.
But you gotta you gotta trim it down. Well, you
do double time and get double the songs in there,
you go faster. Indeed. Yeah, well we'll just set the

(49:20):
you know, the click track a little faster. Mike. I
know you're a big fan. What's the deal here with you? Yeah?
I mean I grew up on Fat Records, so now
you all right on? No use for her name me
first in the game games favorite bands growing up? Um,
I think the thing I loved about me first was
punk rock supergroup. Guys did amazing covers. If you could
form a supergroup now, like with him, of your peers,

(49:41):
who would be in that band and what kind of
songs would you cover? Oh man, who would be in it? Now?
Does it? Of I don't know. That's a tough one
because me first and then Gimme's just kind of fell together.
It was just like the you know, me and Joey

(50:02):
were living in San Francisco at that time. We had
just moved up there. Spike was working at Fat Records,
Dave was was living there because he was still in
r k L at the time, and you know, of course, Mike,
you know it's bat Record so he was there. Um,
so it just kind of came together without like any
real any real planning. But I always thought it would
be cool to make, like to corral a bunch of

(50:23):
folks from out here and do a really super badass
like classic country cover band and go play parties. But
there must be like a hundred people that already do that,
so I don't, well, not, I've never done that. Yes,
that would be fun for me, but not not. Yes
and no. The answer is yes, people do that, but
not people that are superior at least I'm in theory.

(50:50):
Or Okay, you say that, that's why I need a
bunch of really good players to come make it sound
really good. But like, like, how cool would that be
to take like everybody that played on on my new
record Coach play like you know, of just a classic
classic country cover set somewhere. I think it'd be super
I think, give me the analogy here. I'll set you

(51:12):
up if I do. Obviously, I had a showing that
GEO for a while on a small ish budget, and
we had fine catering. It was fine. You know, we
go out, we're all over the country on location. Fine
good crew, fine American idol. Network best food money is
awesome just a lot more time. But there's a difference

(51:33):
in the two when you're doing you versus food. I'm
assuming that's probably similar. Well, if you need a visual, uh,
send your camera crew to the Airbnb I'm staying at
right now and that will clearly illustrate the difference. And

(51:53):
if that doesn't make it clear enough, um, I'll drive
you around in my van that we tour in as well.
Is it a plus because that I say, I've said
it before, not just here, you're here. I think the
I think Food Fighters are the greatest American living band
right now period, just because two things. One three lots

(52:14):
of hits still relevant and the length of amount that
the time you guys have been relevant, meaning you're talking
about decades and yeah, I did an alternative based show
for a long time. And to me, Food Fighters are

(52:36):
extremely well respected and regarded and acculated, but still the
most underappreciated band, one of them in music history. And
I think up absolutely very much. So you can be
but you can also be overrated and be awesome. Not
Food Fighters, but I'm saying you can. You can be like, Wow,
that person's overrated and they can still score thirty five
a game and get nine rebounds. But the point is,

(52:58):
I think because of a couple of things, you guys
do not get the actual appreciation you deserve. Like some
of the absolute greats of all time, I don't think
you're great versus everybody, and I think great versus everybody.
Ever at the duration of success they hits. You keep
putting in the relevance. Now you put out a new record,
Now it's still boom go. I'll tell you when you
talk about the duration, it is funny because somebody posted

(53:20):
um on my Twitter feed the other day. I don't
even know when this. I think it was pretty early
in me being in the band. It must have been
like the first tour, some live clip and it just
you just look at it and you're like, oh my god,
we're kids were like, you know, but here was that?
You think? Well, I mean, I joined the band at
ninety nine, so it was probably like a clip from
like two thousand or so, I don't know, and like

(53:42):
I'm wearing like sleeveless. The thing that jumped out of
me was I had cut off sleeve T shirt, which
dates it from quite because I can't imagine I would
be doing that anytime recently. But um removed Food Fighters
from the conversation. Just just me and you're talking about music.
Remove food Fighters. Name another American band that's got years

(54:04):
of absolute greatness, just period. It could be from any time.
It's a what do you do? Who do you put there? Yeah?
I mean, you know, we're it's it's you gotta appreciate it.
You know, it's amazing, and you just you know, when
you're like in it and living at day to day,

(54:25):
you sort of you know, I think one of the
hardest things in life is to sort of be in
the moment and appreciate it as it's all happening. And
it's like you never really do. But when you look
back over the length of time, you just look at
like exactly what I'm saying, Like, I look at that
video footage, dude, that was that was like several lifetimes ago.
You know, I didn't I wasn't married, I didn't have kids,

(54:48):
and my son's in college now. It's like that's it's
literally like it's it's a long stretch. When we look
back at songs that you've written and they all come
to my head and you know, music for me, if
I hear a song that was a big part of

(55:08):
my life at a certain point, I automatically kind of
feel like that pointing and even for just a second,
it's one of the cool things music or even smells of,
like old food does, like oh my grandma used to
cook that. Okay, I kind of feel that. But it's like,
oh my, so you're one of the writers in the song, right,
like you're writer on in my life. I mean, you
know that's a that's like is that I'm not gonna
claim writing, like you know, aren't you but aren't you on?

(55:31):
Then you're on there where Yeah, I'm on that record,
but like you know what I mean, like like, yeah,
that's dude, that's Dave, that's Dave's riff man. No, okay,
I'm not talking about the Riff's mean the song in general.
But you we all we all played on it. But
you know what I mean, But you're not do you
get publishing for it? We're getting into the weeds? Um yes, okay,
so but it's but at the same but that said,

(55:53):
like I'm you know, like Dave is very much the
writer and the and the has always lad the sort
of creative vision of the band. You know, and I wasn't.
I wasn't. I wasn't saying he wasn't. I just think
that these songs and I was looking at through the
notes with your name through on the publishing, So I
just assumed I was on the publish any for sure.
You know one of the writers there? Do you when

(56:14):
you guys right? And I really don't have that many
food fin questions, but you just put me on to
another one. When you guys write, do you guys get
in a room and just if you write, do it
together or does he come in or do you come in?
Or is it different every time? It's it's changed here
and there over the years, you know, UM, And in
the in the past, maybe we would we would spend
more time, UM, like he would make it like record

(56:37):
some demos. Then we would learn the songs and maybe
we demo UM and then get into the studio. And
then there's been times where you know, he just brings
them in, we learned them in the studio and kind
of piece them together as as we're going. UM. So
it's it's a little bit of everything. Do you write.
I used to get really hung up on demos, you know, well,

(56:58):
like what what you know how the demo demo, Yeah,
and like you know and and that was well, that
was the part I played on the demo, and I'd
really try it. It's like I almost try to prepare
less now to be more responsive and so you're not attached.
Maybe if you prepare less, that means you're not married
to that. The first time I ever sort of learned
that was coming out here and making a record with

(57:18):
Dave Cobb, which is like he even in that before
I came out here for the first record I made
with him, he was like, don't make demos, and I
did anyway. I made it like a bunch of demos.
But then once you want to work tape, I mean,
then just recorded in the iPhone the general rough. I
think he would prefer you to just sing it in
the room on an acoustic guitar and then but yeah,
but what if you're write it's not here. I guess
it's my point. You said don't make demos because I

(57:41):
like that, and I liked what you just said there,
because you can definitely fall in love with the demo
and then anything that comes after you're just like, I
don't know, it's not really what I felt when I
wrote this original, but it's way more fun to be
open to just kind of getting banged into something different
when you're in the room. So if you right now,
we just write something and recorded on your iPhone like

(58:02):
in a voice note yeah, and then you know, to
truth be told. I'll still go make it demno it
in my studio, but I try not to get stuck
on it. That's the lesson. Do your kids think you're cool? Um?
Not to my face? Do you ever hear though? And
it makes you proud that they've told somebody they're proud
of you, but they won't tell you, but it comes
back to you they are, Um yeah, I don't know

(58:26):
if it's ever come back for me exactly. Um, you know,
my like, my kids are great. I think like they've
grown up with you know, they've they've grown up with
a dad who has a really weird job, you know,
and so they've been around that their whole lives. And
I think it's I think it's it's totally demystified. Like

(58:49):
if if my dad had been in you know, heart
or something, you know, and then I wouldn't have wondered
all the things that I wondered about. What happens on
the other side of them, you know, backstage door or whatever.
So you know, I think it's I think it's an
interesting thing. Like I think my kids definitely appreciate the
fact that I get to lead this weird life and

(59:09):
they get to, you know, lead a weird life because
of it. Um. They they musical. Uh, they've all well
I've forced them all to take lessons here and they
them have a passion to do it for their life.
My youngest has gotten really kind of into it now. Yeah,
he they all quit playing. My oldest wants to be
a filmmaker, so you know, that's his thing, that's his passion.

(59:32):
And and then my you know, they all played, but
my youngest has now kind of come back to it.
So we'll see. Do you ever practice? Do I? Oh, god,
all the time? I know, not so much in terms
of like practicing. I don't sit like I might sit
there and kind of would shed on something specific. Um,
but I'm being I just play all the time. Do
you still love to play? I still love to play?

(59:55):
You ever? Like, I just wish I had a guitar
right now all the time. Yeah, And isn't that if
you can move yourself from you, which is a hard
thing to do. Isn't that kind of awesome that somebody
who's done it through all different levels and stages and
seasons of life like still has that thing that they've
done and they still love doing It's so rare. It's
it's so like, I'm thankful that I get to do

(01:00:16):
what I do and still love doing it even though
it's a grind sometimes. Are you thankful that you still
love it? Totally? Yeah, Because there was a point, there
was one point that I remember, and it was a
long time ago now where I was kind of like
not playing that much in the off season and not
doing much, you know, and and and then um, a

(01:00:39):
series of things happen to kind of like reignited that
feeling in me, and I just never ever want to
lose it again. And I know, for me, like even
when you're not feeling like particularly motivated or whatever, I
just play through it. Let's play, I just play. I
bet it's it's almost at this point like that never
happens because either either you're writing or recording or rehearsing

(01:01:02):
or just sitting in my studio mess around with with
amps and pedals and different guitars, and so there's just
it's just always something. Are you on an eternal search
for the right tone? Probably more so now than ever? Yeah,
And do you know when you hit it or do
you still question it even though you got it? I
think he's still I think you you hit it and

(01:01:24):
then you lose it and then you start looking for
it again, or your or the you know what that
is changes, or you hear somebody else and you're like, whoa,
how do you do that? You know? Why is the
record called Lost to Sea? It's it's a part of
a line in one of the songs. Yeah, any lines
and these songs that are super personal because I did

(01:01:44):
see a thing where you're like, it's a very personal
record and that that means that is sure? I like that, right,
everybody's trying to write personal stuff because that's what we
have that's different than everybody else. But is there anything
a line or anything that's in there? It's like, man,
this is like a real personal and like, I don't
know if I should even put that out there. Yeah,
there's a couple. There's one of the songs. Um, you
don't even have to highlight it now. I just wonder

(01:02:05):
if that's ever yeah, I know there's a song on
there that I wrote probably, like I don't even know,
a long time ago, when I was going through some stuff.
Uh yeah you So, yeah, there's It's it's funny because
I don't think to anybody else would read it the
way that I hear, which is why I don't want
to ask you what it is. But it's just did
you get in that place where you're like, man, this

(01:02:25):
is something if but good for you? I mean you
you hung in there? Did you pull any out? Though
in the same way that was no, you know, I
mean they were definitely. It's a funny thing with songwriting
because like there it's like I like it the more
specific it is. But then you know, it's usually a
lot of these songs wind up being like it's like

(01:02:48):
ten different things that become one story. So the whole
thing is kind of just fictional pale, but it's based
on you know, it's like every line is like from
something that that you experienced, you know what I mean.
So it's like it's real and it's just a story.
At the same time. The most country song that you've
ever written is on this record, I think, So, yeah,

(01:03:09):
there's one. There's a couple of them. There's one called
Dead and Gone um, and there's another one called carry
Midnight Texas Queen. It's a lot of words. It's a
lot of words. Did you consider just Midnight Texas Queen?
A lot? I know? Name and songs and name and records.
It's always kind of challenging. Do you write on the
set list Queen? When we learn it? Yeah, now we're

(01:03:32):
in that fun part where now I actually have to
go in there and learn how to play my own songs.
Everybody Chris Shifflet music dot Com go to on Instagram
shifty seventy one. I saw that you're on TikTok now, yes,
which well, I mean, can you talk about my kids
thinking I'm cool? My kids roast me about my TikTok

(01:03:53):
posts constantly. You're not. I didn't even roast me on there,
like you're not dancing though, right, no dance, no dancing.
But they're just like, oh my god, dad's please stop
putting like the little like dancing cowboy boots or like
the filter like nobody does that, Like I don't know.
That's it's an option in there. It makes it look sparkly.

(01:04:14):
What do you mean it looks like snow's falling. It's cool.
The record is out in October. But when this airs, Mike,
just making sure we're all black top white lines will
be out. That'll be out. Um also quickly, you just
want to just highlight a couple of songs real quick.
Here is Long Long Year, here you go, and here

(01:04:43):
is Born and Raised. I mean, I I hear like
eighties Eagles, like because I love eighties. I mean that's
the most complimentary way, Like that's what makes me feel
that feeling. I yeah, where it's just like, ah, it's
funny because something like that. That is exactly kind of

(01:05:05):
what I was alluding to earlier, where in my head
I'm hearing it like Steve Earle, but everybody else hears
it like the Eagles. So it's cool either way, or
what I said. You know what, Chris, they are the Wiggles. Okay,
see exactly, all right, you guys follow Chris. You're out
on the road. But what are you doing on the road.
I know you're with black Berry Smoke here, but are
you with them all the time? No, we're just it's

(01:05:28):
a one off we got, you know, I got offered
to come out and play open one off uh here
and there. I just did a bunch of dates in
December out on the West Coast and then I've got
um a tour of the UK and Ireland coming up
at the end of March. Um and that's and we're
working on trying to figure out some other stuff. But yeah,

(01:05:48):
watch Foreheads. That's it. That's gonna leave you. I'll leave
you with a nugget. That's right, because obviously I'm your hero,
So watch Foreheads. You learned from me. This is a
big deal. Fee to be here, and it's actually the
opposite of all I just said I was. We're pumped
to have you. This has been a thrill for me.
I hope you had a good time it. We just
did over an hour and love and loved the music.
Thank you, love the music. All right, there is Chris Shiffick.

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#385 - Chris Shiflett On the Difference Between Touring Solo vs. with the Foo Fighters + FINALLY Sets An Internet Rumor Straight + Taking the Role as Frontman…and Did He Feel Unsafe Playing Punk Shows?

Episode Transcript

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Bobby Bones

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