December 17, 2025 • 57 mins
Joining is Dan Cleary, guitar/bass tech for Jane's Addiction. Dan gets candid about their infamous fight and breakup. Plus, stories about Guns N' Roses' recent tour (filled in for Duff's legendary bass tech, McBob), alien encounters, and Yankees / Red Sox rivalry, and more!
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More info:
https://www.instagram.com/dancleary79/
https://x.com/DanCleary79
Our website:
www.afdpod.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was happy that in my fourteen shows, I at
least got a little bit of an Axel moment.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Distortion. My name is Brando.
Episode number five hundred and forty five. Welcome to the podcast.
Mister Dan Cleary, how are you here?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm doing good. How are you five hundred and how
many have you done?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Forty five? Five forty five?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
That's quite a fea. Congratulations, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you actually, because it's it's sparked a very recent
memory that happened literally just happened as we just started
signing on here. I was having some issues loading onto
iHeart because this is a video podcast and also audio,
also all these different platforms. So iHeart which I work for.
This is not an iHeart podcast. I just happened to
(00:48):
work for it and sometimes seen the wires get crossed
or whatever. So I reached out to somebody there was
having trouble loading it onto iHeart I hadn't spoken to
in a few years. And he's like, wow, he's like
just a plug get away. You're still doing it. I'm
very proud of you. I'm like, yeah, I haven't given
up yet.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Because it's fun. That's why you do because it's fun.
That's the whole point.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It wasn't fun.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I don't think most of us would be doing stuff like.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This exactly because you're a podcaster, and we'll get into that,
and we'll get into all the musicianship everything that you
haven't have in store for our conversation today. So because like, yeah,
that's why I keep continuing. I get to talk to
you not just about you know, guns and roses and
Jane's addiction, but we got to address the elephants in
the room, or the elephants in the room. I mean,
(01:32):
if you're watching, I'm wearing my Yankee hat. Yeah, you're
wearing your red Sox hat. I feel like I'm back
and I started got my professional radio career in Cape Cad.
I feel like I'm back in Cape Cad.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And the first thing I noticed was your hat, and
it reminded me that nobody's perfect. So it's nice to
see even people like you doing good in the world.
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That reminds me And I was hoping the story would
come up organically, is that when I lived in Cape
cod working for Pixie one oh three, it obviously being
the only Yankee fan there. I was probably the only
Jewish person there too. I was a real real you andicorn.
On the way walking with my friend to the Cape
Cod Mall wearing the Yankees hat some Rando, just Rando
(02:12):
stopped the Brando and he goes, you're going to buy
a new hat.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Of course, of course that's great.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It made me. I loved it. I love the massholes
you guys are. Is that where you're originally from?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah? I grew up about like twenty minutes outside Boston
in a small town like the suburbs of Boston, and
moved to la when I was nineteen. So I've been
here for twenty six, twenty six years now.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
In l Okay. Yep, all right, because the accent's gone.
You don't have it.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You don't have I didn't have.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It super thick before.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
But the only time you'll ever really hear it is
if I get incredibly angry, which doesn't happen very often.
But yeah, my parents, my dad passed earlier this year. Yeah, yeah,
he had a pretty good My mom has it pretty good.
But I avoided it somehow.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yep, Well, already hear about your your dad.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
He'd be making fun of your hat. Too, So don't don't.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I gotta do it for him.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
My my dad, who passed about twelve years ago. He
got to we had like growing up when the actual
baseball tickets, when sporting events were affordable, we had a
share of season tickets that were eight rows behind the
Yankee dugout. Okay, so I mean saw some great games there.
Couldn't get those seats. However, I was actually Game seven,
(03:30):
Aaron Boone, Aaron Bleep and Boone, don't you guys already won.
It's it's like it's like it's not even like a
good memory anymore, because I know what's happened since then.
So I was. I was at that game man with
my college roommate, who was a Red Sox fan.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
That must have been, as a sports fan, just such
an unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Thing to be at. It must have been unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
It was.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It was insane and I'll never forget and you'll appreciate this.
I remember after the home run there were obviously some
Boston fans there, including my sweet mate, my roommate, because
I had a retro roomate, Sweetete, where nobody cares about that.
Uh So, so I will never forget there are these
two random Red Sox fans. Everyone's leaving the stadium New
(04:18):
York and New York is playing whatever, and they're everyone's
like braiding them whatever. I walk up for them. I
put my hand out, good game, great.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Thank you. That's the kind of fan.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I think. I'm the same kind of guy. Like, I'm
not the shit talker. I'm not like the push, shove
it in your face kind of person. I'm the good
game guy too. It's the best way to be a
little talking smacked and the game is fine. But at
the end of the day, it's a game and it's fun.
And Aaron Boone walking off Tim Wakefield on the first
pitch of the eleventh inning, I think it was right. Yeah,
(04:50):
not that I remember it or think about it too much.
That set up the greatness of what happened the next year,
and it's been good ever since. So it's all part
of the story. It's all part of the story, and
it's it's great.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Oh, I know, and I'll guess we'll get this one.
Last week people were like, we talked about sports. Sorry,
we have to at the beginning because we're bonding. I
was also at the game that Jeter Dove into the stands.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Oh really the blood face?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah yeah, I was at some unfortunate enough to go
to some of these some cool sporting events, but trying
to make up for it with concerts. Sure, there's my segue.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
That was smooth.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
You've been doing this about over five hundred shows.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I can tell well hopefully, yeah, five hundred shows and
in over twenty years in the podcast business. Excuse me,
in the radio business. I was telling you off air,
and it's a good segue. How my technical title for
iHeart Radio, which is this is not an iHeart podcast.
I'm an employee of iHeartRadio and Premiere Networks, and I've
(05:45):
just been lucky enough to you know, use your contact
sometimes or whatever that I'm a technical producer. That's my title,
technically technical producer. But I'm not very technical, which is
very strange. I know what I have to do, and
that's right. So you are actual technical guys. So let's go.
We could start here. How did you go from a
(06:06):
Boston you know, go from Boston moved to LA I'm
sure you know, musician and heart. How did that road trip?
How did the trip begin to become a tech for sure? Sure,
his guns and roses recently.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I started playing bass when I was
twelve years old and pretty quickly knew that, like, this
is what I want to I want to do this
for a living.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I want to be in a rock band. I want
to play music for people.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And then I moved to la in ninety nine and
the first friend that I made, the first guy I met,
was a guy named Steve Isaacs, who actually used to
be a VJ on MTV. He was like a Broadway singer.
He was a Tommy in the Who's on the Who's
Tommy on Broadway? And it was the first friend I made.
And that was in ninety nine. And then in two
(06:52):
thousand and four, Jane's addiction had broken up again for
the you know at that point, the third or fourth time,
and the three remaining guys besides the singer, so Dave Navarro,
Chris Cheney, and Stephen Perkins wanted to keep going with
a new band, and Navarro had a manager named Larissa.
(07:16):
Larissa's boyfriend was my friend, Steve Isaacs, and she recommended
him to these guys, and they went in and started
writing songs and they clicked pretty quickly, and then they
had a tour coming up just like a little doing
a little club tour, and my friend Steve asked me,
do you want to come be my guitar tech?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And I was like, sure, what is that?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Like, what do I have to do? And he just said,
you know, set up amps, change strings, make sure nothing
was wrong during the show. And I had never even
considered that, and I just said sure. And that's where
I first met the James guys and hit it off
with everybody, especially Navarro.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
On that tour.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And that was two thousand and five and twenty years later.
That's now what I've been doing for a living for
the last two decades. So I kind of just fell
into it and you know, learned learned on the job.
You know, made tons and tons of mistakes, some really
embarrassing mistakes, but people kept me around and yeah, that's
(08:16):
how it all started.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh that that's that's so cool. And the best stories
are when it just happens. Yep, you know, and it's
not something you were looking for, did you know when
you were like, because yeah, I've made a lot of mistakes.
I'll never forget when I was in Cape cod trying
to fire like the next to the elements instead of
just like one button, letting the automation do its thing.
I was so green. I'm like when we pressed every
(08:39):
single button and like fired five commercials at once. I mean,
I still make mistakes these days. How did you? When
did you decide that, like, okay, this thing I fell
into maybe making mistakes here and there, but this is
where I belong. This is what I'm gonna keep doing.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I still don't feel that way. I mean it's funny.
I mean, in all seriousness. About about ten years ago,
I retired from touring. Like I told the Jane's guys,
I said, listen, I want to I want to be
home more.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I want to work in the in the in town.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And I just missed my my wife and my friends
and my life. And so I retired. And then they
called again and I was like, okay, let's let's go
back and do it. Because you realize, or at least
for me, when I haven't done it for a while,
you really miss you missed doing it, like I don't
(09:30):
miss the travel, like I'm not someone it really drives
my friends and my wife crazy because I don't care
about seeing the sights. I don't care about going to
new cities and I've never cared about, like learning new cultures.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I don't know what is I just I'm not super interested.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It's cool, and if I'm in Paris, I'll go see
the stuff and I'll because I'm kind of because I'm
supposed to. But what I miss most is that camaraderie
with Bandon Crewe and knowing that I participated in something
that made so many people happy.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Hopefully, so at.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
The end of the night when the when the crowd
is going nuts, I feel like I helped that.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And that that makes me feel really good.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
But more like just yet, it's that it's that like roaming.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Gang feeling of being in.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
A good crew where every day you roll into a
new city and you guys together take over and turn
this empty venue into a special place where people are
going to go home with incredible memories. Hopefully sometimes the
memories aren't great, but there's something really really cool and
(10:43):
rewarding about that, because I know how much music meant
to me when I was a kid, and I remember
going to see Nine is Nails when I'm a teenager
and just being blown away by how amazing it was
and never thinking like, oh, there's people behind this that
make it happen, Trent Resnor isn't on stage lugging gear
and setting up his own stuff, you know. So that's
(11:05):
the stuff that keeps bringing me back. And I've gotten
more and more comfortable and being proud of like the
work that I do the last few years, especially since
COVID when it all went away and you really realize like,
oh this things can change really quickly and try to
enjoy it. Well, you can still do it, And That's
what I've been doing ever since.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I love that. Do you still remember your first Jane show?
Is that it still be implanted or you've done so
many over the years.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Technically, yes, the first show I did was the original
bass player Eric Avery. For people that don't know, he
quit in nineteen ninety one. I think during the Lola
PLUSA tour or right after the Lalla tour, at the
height of the band. He left the band. He was
like kind of recently sober and just you know, struggling
with particular personality for our personalities within the band perhaps.
(11:58):
And in two thousand an eight nm ME magazine reached
out to Jans to ask if they wanted they wanted
to honor them with something called the Godlike Genius Award,
and they wanted to get Eric Avery back with the
original guys for the first time in At that point,
it was like seventeen years or something ninety one to
twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, seventeen years.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So the four guys got together and they performed three
songs at a place in LA called the l Ray Theater,
and that was technically my first show with James was
Eric's first show back, and that was two thousand and eight,
and it was awesome. There's three songs and I was
a huge Jans fan as a kid, so it was
(12:42):
very surreal. And Eric Avery is the reason I started
playing bass. He's my favorite bass player of all time.
So it was a very surreal and cool thing.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
But yeah, that was my first Jane show.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Awesome, no pressure, there, no pressure. Yeah, no reunion. So
if you're a bass you know, and then that's you know,
you talk about Eric Avery. How did the guitar? I mean,
I know you obviously you're you know, if you're a musician,
usually I'm not edgency. Usually I mean I'm not a musician.
If you that isn't that obvious? How did you go
to being Dave Nabarro's tech and why not the tech
(13:17):
for you know, a bass why not based?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Sure? Sure, I don't know. I think that's what I
was offered at the beginning, and a lot with Jane's
I would do guitar and bass tech.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
For most of my time with James, I would do both, guys.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
But if you can do one, you can sort of
do the other. Based historically is a somewhat easier job
because for whatever reason, a little bit less can go wrong.
Basis stay in tune easier and longer.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
But I just, I don't know, I just I do both.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
But I've gotten more guitar gigs and I have bass gigs.
But when I do get a bass gig, I really
love it because I can just focus on my favorite
instrument right on.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
And we'll again, we'll get to the plethora of things
that I guess you did on the gn R tour
filling in, but I guess wanted to. Obviously I wanted to.
I finally got the chance to see Jane's Addiction, even
though it was kind of one of the newer lineups.
This was I don't know, three four years ago, so
it was more of a recent one at Madison Square
(14:20):
Garden with pumpkins with pumpkins, So you worked out one
last ume?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Right, yep?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Great show, this great show. I mean I wish I
got to see Dave, but I think he was still
kind of biting long cold yet.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That was Troy van Lewin on that with that.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Me and said, and then I asked you off the
air if it's cool, you know, because I remember thinking
how good Perry was that night. Yeah, and just the
way things unfolded, because I didn't even like miss Dave
that much. I'm like, wow, you know, this was the
Perry Show. I wish I saw them more, and just
the way things went down, which is obviously all news
(14:55):
by now. It was just I was in shock. You know,
you were you were the one who broke it up. Yeah,
I mean is that something you think? How often do
you think about that? Because that's kind of is that traumatic?
Because that was all over the news like it's kind
of become a meme.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, I'm glad you asked, because no one has actually
asked if it was traumatic yet. But the answer is yeah.
I was with that band for seventeen years.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I mean, that was my.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
In some ways, that was more my family than my
real life family, Like I've been all over the world
with those guys. We've been through everything. I love them.
They've given me, you know, a life that I couldn't
have otherwise. We had the best crew, like the number
one best crew in the business. Like we there was
(15:46):
no big egos. Everybody was pulling in the same direction.
Every day. We supported each other. We went to bat
for each other. So when that happened. When when when
Perry kind of went after Dave on stage in Boss
by the Way, So it was in my hometown. I
had family and friends on the side of the stage,
my niece, it was her first concert. Afterwards, she asked me,
(16:09):
She's like, does that happen at every show? I'm like, no,
you just saw me. She was fifteen, No, she was
she was thirteen at the time. She was thirteen. So yeah,
he saw me lose my job. But yeah, it was
traumatic because it felt like, like I tell people, it
felt like losing somebody in a car accident, because it
(16:31):
just it was so abrupt and out of nowhere, and
none of us still know exactly what happened. And as
soon as it happened, as soon as the kind of
punch and the scuffle happened, in my mind, I knew
this is over, like this is done. And I know
a lot of the fan base was like, you know,
(16:52):
they'll work it up, they'll work it out. They're grown men.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
This happen, This stuff happens.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
But I was like, no, this is We're going home
and we're not going to do this again. And it
was really sad.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
It really was really really sad. I mean, that was
my home. I was I was the longest tenured crew guy,
and I.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
You know, I just it. It was a family unit
that was you know, now mom and dad and dad
and dad are divorced.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I mean, so you to not It's one thing again
for a fan not to see it coming. And I
had seen some friends who had seen Jane's shows leading
up to it, and I guess if you read their
status is now in hindsight, it's like yeah. But for
a crew member, especially like you, not to see it coming.
Is it like a car crash where you really don't
(17:41):
remember what your first thoughts were and you were reacting
to it. Do you remember like, like, fully, crap, this
is happening or is it all just complete blurred And.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I remember every second of it. By the way, this
is this is Navarro's final set list from the Boston show.
That that's the last Jane setlist right there. Okay, yeah,
I collectical setlist, but that's one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I was going to make attention to give the attention
to that. Your your background at some point, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Got some cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, so things.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
There was a couple of shows earlier in the tour
that were off for reasons I've already talked about before.
But then in the Boston show when this kind of happened,
I just I saw a look in Perry's face which
I'd never seen before, and he was saying stuff in
the mic that was kind of adversarial towards the band,
(18:31):
and it was just I'm like, what's What's what's going
on here? And there's one video angle someone posted somewhere
where I'm tuning the guitar and you see Perry do
the initial push and it was full reactionary. I just reacted,
So guitar came off and I walked directly towards those
guys and mayet there right after Perry threw the first punch,
(18:54):
and it was more.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I wasn't thinking.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I was just like my it felt like in that moment,
Navarro felt like like my younger brother, and I was like,
somebody's going after my younger brother. I can't.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I'm not gonna let that happen.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And I got in the middle of it and it
kind of just got a little bit crazier from there.
And and well, I'll say also like Perry has done
so much for me in my life. I've been on
tour with him with Jane's and Porno for Apios and
kind of an orchestra, which was a side project he
had where I even played guitar in that band. I
(19:31):
played on Stephen Colbert with Perry. He's given me a
lot of really amazing experiences. So getting involved in that
way was really hard because of the way I felt
about him as well. So it's not like he was
not like the enemy or whatever. It was just he
was in that moment, he was kind of the aggressor.
But to put my hands on him felt really bad.
(19:53):
It was it's not a good feeling. Yeah, it was
a really really sad, it was really really sad experience.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I'm really sorry that happened. I know there were a
lot of you know, a lot of memes. I there's one.
I don't think I've made a because I'm somebody who
missed their flaws and when I you know, maybe I
might hypocrite with things. I don't think I made a
joke about it. But there was one picture of I
remember it posted like a picture of Perry and Slash
and said if you had a guess which one would
(20:22):
have a fight with their singer on stage, you know,
with their bandmate on stage, Like who would you guess?
So I mean that was that was the closest thing,
and I, you know, even I felt bad about that.
I was like, I don't know, this is obviously these
are real people. You know. That's something I really have
learned from doing this podcast. Is more than just yeah,
they could be rock stars and have all this money,
but it's just people and then all the people at
(20:43):
effects just like you, not just the fans and the jobs.
So it's it sucks, and I hope it's not just
for music's sake or musician, you know, Jane's addiction reunion's sake.
I guess hope as brothers, as a family, at some
point down the line it could be resolved and maybe
we us fans won't even know about it. Because it
(21:04):
like short.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Nope, but I will say the.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
The memes were funny.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
It's okay to laugh at the memes because there were
some really, really really good ones. There were some good jokes. Yeah,
I've got a joke. I'm uh, since I was a kid.
Might be an East Coast thing because New York's the
same way where in my mind there is nothing off
limits to joke about, absolutely nothing, and it's kind of
the only way for me. I mean, that's how I've
survived my whole life. You got to joke about tough
(21:32):
stuff or it'll consume you.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
You have to make it a joke.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Well, I'm glad you're you're able to do that. I'm
definitely sopping with age. I used to be one of
those like I gotta make fun of everything, and now
I'm just I don't know. Maybe it's my kid. They
have a family. How dare you say that?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Fair enough? Fair enough?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
No, I I there's a there's a line, and I
don't know what it is. I'm not gonna be the word.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know, everyone has their own lines.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
For sure. Well, I appreciate you you sharing that and
sucks that it happened. But let's talk about maybe some
cool things and just so you know, I do want
to get some thoughts about you know, your podcast and
aliens after.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
But oh sure, sure.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
But with Guns n' Roses though, you filled in for
their most recent tour, you know obviously at the end
of the year twenty twenty five. Right, so some Mexico
dates and Argentina. All right, So who did you fill
in for? Because GENR has also a very tight knit,
tight knit group, so very much.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, they kind of remind me of the Jansition Crew.
Most people there have been there for well over ten years,
some fifteen sixteen years. But I took care of Duff
McKagan of course, on the on the tour the Southern
you know, it was the Latin America, Mexico and South
America fourteen shows. I filled in for Mick Bob, who is,
(22:55):
as I'm sure your whole listenership knows, is Duff's tech
for the last thirty eight years. And I've known mcbob
for about twenty years and I've known Duff for about
the same amount of time. So it was I was
honored to be asked, and I was really nervous to
say yes, because I mean, you're stepping into someone's shoes
(23:18):
who's been there from day one, and like it's someone
who I mean kind of reminds me of Navarro and myself,
where he trusts me to do everything he needs. And
like when you work with people for a long time,
you get like a almost like a psychical link with
people where you can see them on stage doing something
and you know what they need before they even say it.
(23:40):
Like you learn people's body language, you learn all the tricks,
and so I didn't have that with Duff, So I
was kind of coming in cold. But we had two
or three weeks of rehearsals and mcbob was so thorough
about showing me how everything worked, and he made it really,
really painless.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
So the tour was very move And.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I will say that Duff is just one of the
greatest human beings that I've ever been around in my
entire career. I felt that way for a long time,
but never really it was a whole new level, like
working for him and seeing him, you know, go to
the office every day and just kick maximum mass and
as a bass player, it's fine. I told him this
(24:22):
like a couple of weeks in, I said, you know,
I've known my whole life that you're a good bass player,
but I never realized just how great you really are,
Like you write some phenomenal bass parts. So it was
a real treat to listen to him and listen to
the whole band for a minimum of three hours every night.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Awesome. And I can't for myself, I can't wait to
see them again. I got tickets to go see them.
Saratoga recently announced openers of Public Enemy, so Flavor Flavor
finally get to see see them. So that just happened
today as we're recording what's.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Just the last show?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
The show he had Mexico City, Public Enemy opened, so
I got one of their setlists as well.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Awesome. See I didn't even know that, and it pertains
and it pertains show, AND's hell here at the Appetite
for disortion. I love that you didn't have to do
the mcbob opening though.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
No, you didn't want to or you that's it.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
That's not mcbob, that's his brother Tom.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Oh Okay, that's Tom Mayhew.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Tom Mayhew is the one that does the yelling intro.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Why did I think? I guess I should be embarrassed
as a G and R podcast I was over five
hundred episodes. Why did I always think that it was
mcbob doing the intros and not Tom Mayhew.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
You're not the only.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
One, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I've met Tom before, but he wasn't on this run either.
So this was the first Mayhew list stage I think
since Appetite, since.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
The Appetite Tour.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Oh wow, So it was a People said it was
very strange not having either one of those guys around.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But you and I don't know how you can tell
me how serious or how sarcaster you were being when
he posted a picture of you of Duff reaching like
I guess like talking to you mid song or something
like that. And part of your job was to update
him on sports scores. True story was that when the
Mariners were still in the playoffs and he really needed
(26:15):
to know that was it was really cool.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, he's a Mariner's nut.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And I will say for the last twenty years, as
you know, it's been a good time to be a
Boston sports fan, with the Patriots and the Red Sox
and the Bruins and the Celtics all winning in the
last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Let me get say. I'm a Giants fan and I
was living in Cape Cod when that happened.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So I was at the second game.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I was at the second Giant Super Bowl that they beat,
Brady Win. Okay, but yeah, so during this playoff run,
I was pulling for the Mariners. For Duff. I really
wanted them to make it. But during the show, I
would give him score updates if I didn't have the
game on. Usually I would have the game on my
laptop and he would come over and sneak little little views.
(27:03):
But yeah, I had to update him as much as
I could with that and NFL scores and some college
football scores.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
He really loved sports.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
He really loved sports.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I know when to college. Okay, interesting guess because like
the time of year, because I was also, i mean
the Yankees were out at this time. I'm like the Mariners.
I mean I grew up. Everybody loved King Griffy Junior.
They've never won, you know, let's let's let's get there,
you know, and it would have been fun to maybe
see uh, you know him and Melissa also with Seattle
(27:37):
Roots and I feel like, you know, all the LA fans,
so you know, I see slash and stuff. Anyway, that's
my that's my sports meets guns and roses, Fantasy multiverse
kind of thing. So I'm thanks for for confirming that there.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Was one of the there's one of those games. One
of those playoff games went like you know what was
the sixteen innings, seventeen eighteen innings, whatever it was. So
him and I we both had an off nine, right,
So it was so stressful, and I was texting through
the whole game, and when something really crazy happened, I'd
call him and just be like, dude, just take some
deep breaths. I've been here before. Just enjoy it, stay calm,
(28:12):
they're gonna do it. They're gonna come through. So it
was a really fun experience. I'll never forget going through
that kind of playoff run with stuff on that on
that run, it was cool.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I love hearing that. That's so that that is very
very cool. I guess now I'm glad that I'm interviewing
you because I know we've tried to schedule before, but
I'm glad today's the day because now the new songs
are out. Nothing an autless correct me if I'm wrong.
Were those on the set lists all set list then?
Or were they rehearsing in it at that point. Did
(28:42):
you know about them at that point or no?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Never never heard them before? No, never heard them before.
I don't think.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I don't remember if they even attempted them in rehearsal,
no sound checks.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I don't think. No, those are those are brand new to.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Me, okay, because I then somebody else can correct me,
can correct me if I'm wrong. So I'm watching my
wife fix a toy bulldozer with a fork, looking at
the voice. Uh, correct me if I'm wrong. I thought
that it was Duff announced like we're working on a song. Nothing,
(29:19):
and this was in Japan at like a Gibson event
with Isaac. I'm just curious how close to the surface
it was going to be. I don't know, ye fair
fair figure, you never know what what rock you can
uh overturn to get a story out of whatever. But
I think what you think of them, I will mention
I'm gonna do a full episode review, but I I
(29:40):
do like them. I wasn't sure. I really wasn't sure
from and I try to stay away from the leaks
now ever since Chinese Democracy because they really do ruin
the experience and you end up comparing it to the
older version.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So I might listen once or twice, you know, just
because I got it. These songs may never come out.
So nothing really, especially the last half and nothing Atlas.
I've enjoyed it more listens, but the conversation needs to
extend to which a lot of fans are like, where's
the hard rock? You know, where's you know, writing songs
(30:15):
from scratch with all these guys. I mean, these are
things that you and I don't know. You know where
they are creatively? You know why it's you know, Hey,
I like Chinese leftovers. I hadn't just had an extra
egg roll and the chicken and broccoli. I'm good, So
I don't. I don't want to diminish them by calling
them Chinese leftovers, because Chinese Democracy should have been two
(30:35):
or three albums to begin with, right, these are songs
that I don't know. We weren't fully cooked by the
time it was forced out the album. So there's my
preview to a longer All right, cool?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
What about you?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Have you spent time listening to them? Or are you too busy?
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I listened to them both once, and the truth is
I don't listen to a ton of music. There's one
negative part about doing this for a living, is you
kind of at least for me, you sort of lose
your love of music, which is really unfortunate, at least
as far as like, if I'm in my car, I
am almost never listening to music, almost never. But now
(31:10):
that I'm just just so quickly removed from the from
the guns thing, the new songs came out, so I'm like,
I gotta listen to these.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I'm very curious what it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
And I was. I was impressed.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I thought they were good.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I think, uh, yeah, axel Is is uh still singing
great and and writing writing cool songs.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I don't know. I think I think the whole band
wrote this.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Just reading the liner notes, I think they were all
part of it, or maybe they just played on I
don't really know.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
So, yeah, these songs have brain on them. And oh
and Robin Fink Robina and yeah, so I mean Slash
and Duff have attitude, but Isaac is not on there,
Melist is not on there. So these are we're songs
that had different leaks beforehand, and oh gosh, that's what
all these songs have kind of been have kind of
(31:56):
been touched by Slash and Duff and been in in
Axel's vault for quite some time, and even as we're
recording this today, there have been I don't know who
these fans are that are doing this.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
There is a leak.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We've known about it for a while. Children of the Revolution,
the cover of t Rex because Richard zach Starky, the
son of Ringo, has worked on it and wants Axle
to put it out, and apparently there's it goes to
charity and gets cancer. I don't I don't know why.
I'm sure there's a reason why it's not out, but
that leak today and so did another version, or it
(32:33):
may maybe a more mixed version of the song Monsters,
which I don't know when it was recorded. All i'm
gonna say is Axel sounds phenomenal on both and apparently
the were vocals for Children of the Revolution maybe twenty seventeen.
The Monster sounds kind of fresh. So I mean this,
all things considered, I think these are good things to
be excited about. And people forget November Rain was written
(32:55):
during the Appetite era, came out years later, you know,
Yesterday's Late eight came out, So I mean, I know
it's not exactly Apple's the Apples comparison, but it's new
to some people.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Sure, sure, I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I think I would love to have these guys get
into a room together for a couple of months and
write write a batch of songs as a band and
see what comes out. I bet it'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
I hope. So my fan theory is whenever the wheels
fall off of the tour, and they just said, because
it's getting hard for everybody. I was fortunate enough to
have just interviewed Del James, and he's been on tour
with them forever since the beginning, and they're all in
their sixties. So maybe when it's like, all right, we're
not going to screw up the tour right now, so
let's go fight about it whatever may come out again
(33:42):
in the studio. I don't know, these are made up.
We all make up theories in our head. Like it's
so like I'll have like a puppet show of backs
and slash conversations they have going on in my brain.
But he said it was like a great atmosphere there. Yeah,
that's why I always go back to Look. It seems
like a very family atmosphere there, and it's not just
(34:04):
about the money and just putting things to put out,
and that seems to be the feeling I get from you. Yeah,
it was without revealing you know, conversations axle where people
may have had I mean, right, or did the people
just go up the corner.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
No, it was it was pretty It was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I mean the band is uh, like I said, I've
known I've known Duff for twenty years. I've sort of
known Slash for the same amount of time, so I
already had a little bit of a comfort level with them,
and I knew I knew Slashes tech Ace. I've known
him for for a long time, so there are at
least some familiar faces. But yeah, everyone is super welcoming.
(34:43):
The band and crew interact really well. Like so there's
some bands where they just don't interact with the crew.
It's like a full separation of band and crew.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
This was not that people had family out there.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You know, people and the crew would bring their wives
and their kids to the shows, and they were kind
of on the side of the stage. It was very
welcoming and comfortable atmosphere to be in. Yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
I didn't expect that.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Actually, I expected it to be a little bit more
stiff and rigid and kind of cold. I don't know
why I thought that, just I think the bigger the band,
the more.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Separation there is between people. But this was pretty great.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
And you just mentioned Del James. He was one of
my favorite guys that I interacted with on the tour.
I mean, he was, He's so funny and we have
a shared love of horror movies and he was. He
was awesome. Yeah, A big big fan.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Of Dell len he Es Sports talk with Dell as well.
Oh yeah, more in New York focused And I'm glad
it just came to me. Were you at the show?
When were you working the show? When Axle through the
mic at the well? I can't believe always forgot to
ask that. So I what I I'll get preface it
with this. I thought he was the funniest thing. I
(36:01):
cannot believe it blew up the way that it did.
People getting pissy. You know, many times I throw things,
look at this, this rattle, get out of here, throw
it like things piss you off? It happens.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
So what was?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Can you give your your take of drum gates or
whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
All I will say is that I mean, when when
you're an artist and you're having a struggle up there
for whatever reason, if things don't sound right to you
or you're uncomfortable at about something, I think you feel
(36:41):
like there's a microscope on you and and you're kind
of just like, fix this so I feel better. One
of those kind of things. I don't really I don't
really know exactly what was happening, to be completely honest
with you, but I was happy that in my fourteen
shows I at least got a little bit of an
axual moment. I was glad that you hear about it.
(37:05):
I'm forty six, I've been listening to Guns and Roses
since the late eighties, big part of my life. I
love the band, and you hear all the stories and
you know the riots and the fights and all the stuff.
So on a smaller scale, the fan in me was
excited to see a little bit of a of a
mini kind of meltdown. But after a couple of songs,
(37:27):
whatever the problem was was sorted, and it was it was,
It was fine, but I was I was super shocked
with how it blew up as well, and the amount
of text messages that I got about it, and I'm
the new guy. Like most people.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Didn't really know I was there.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
I can't imagine how many messages the long time crew
guys got about like what happened? What's going on? Is
he okay? What's happening?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
It was so much smaller than it appeared.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
But it was pretty funny and awesome and to watch
in the moment.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
That's what I again, that's what I thought, just because
you don't want him to actually have a meltdown. You
don't want guns of Roses actually the break break up
the way obviously Jane's addiction did or something like that. Yeah,
so when it's just it just went to show that
any little thing that people can get on Axel Rose about,
they will. They will because it's like, oh, where where's
(38:20):
the old act? So where's the fire, where's the anger?
And then when he shows it and it's not even
like a big deal, he just got piled on. So
thank you, because I actually did a whole show review
from a fan from Argentina about that, because all the
fans that were there said it was nothing like it
was just one. It was like one of the greatest
shows that they've ever been to. So I can't believe
(38:41):
that I almost forgot. I would have been kicking myself
if I forgot to ask.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
You we could do it again, and iays do it again.
But I will say quickly, I want to say that
Buenos Aires, you guys, it is the best, the best
audience in the entire world. Every time I'm there, is
in Buenos Aires the most while old fans and the
loudest and the most sing along hands in the air
(39:05):
like it's the best. It's the best live live music
city in the world.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It's a it's certainly a bucket list for me to
attend this show there. I don't know if I could survive.
I can be in.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
The crowd, you'd be fine.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
I'd be I get my eighty A seats, I mean,
I can't. I know I'm special in many ways. So
that's that's that's cool. Thank you for for you know
that that response and another one last g NR thing
before I everget because Duff also had a moment in
the sun with Jane's addiction.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
He did.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Yeah, so any obviously didn't work out, but any cool
stories maybe from from that time.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Absolutely, I'll tell you one of my favorite stories of
my entire career and something that uh one of the
more I've had a lot of really surreal moments doing this,
uh for a living. And like I said, Duff and
I had already known each other for about ten years
when he joined Jane's for about eight months, and the
(40:06):
bass parts that Eric Avery wrote and the style in
which Duff play are different, like they're different bass players
and the parts are much different.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
And I don't think.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Duff would mind me saying this, but at one point
he called me because I was trying to get the
job as the bass player. During that time, I was
trying to become the bass player Jane's, and it was
there was talks. I don't know how close it really got,
but Duff called me once before they started rehearsals because
he was learning the songs, and he said, you know,
we're starting to rehearsals. I know you know these songs.
(40:39):
Would you mind meeting up with me a couple hours
before rehearsal and like showing me some of these parts.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
So there was a time.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Before he joined where it's him and I sitting on
two stools. And if you told like ten year old
me that someday I would be teaching Duff McKagan Jane's
addiction bass lines. I would have ship myself. You know.
It was just one of the coolest, most surreal moments ever.
(41:07):
And the fact that he was just like some guy's
egos would be so big they would they wouldn't want
to ask anybody for any kind of help, never mind
like the tech of the band that he's working for.
But that was very very that was very, very awesome.
And Duff came in. He was a total pro of course,
got along great, helped helped write some of some of
(41:28):
the songs on the last record they put out, and
it was a complete joy having him having him around. Yeah,
it was.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
It was a It was a really cool experience.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
And if I think they did like four or five shows,
but if you got to see one of those, you
were pretty lucky.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Very cool. Yeah, well, I thank you for for sharing
that as well. Yeah, you got so many great stories.
This is why you have a podcast? Sure, the two podcasts.
How does this work for you?
Speaker 1 (41:54):
You have two podcasts? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Okay, so you got rare Form radio yep, and then
you have others from another mother, yes, sir, all right,
so tell me about those please.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Well, I did a radio show with Dave Navarro for
ten years called Dark Matter Radio, and that's kind of
where I learned how much I love doing this. And
then that kind of ended in twenty nineteen and myself
and another one of the co hosts from that started
Rare Film Radio, and it was just like, you know,
we're we grew up Howard Stern fanatics. So it's just
(42:26):
complete idiocy, as dumb as possible. We have guests on.
We interview comedians and musicians and actors and just have
friends come on and just do roundtable talks and joke around,
and I love it. We've been doing that for six years.
And then I've been a lifelong I've had a lifelong
(42:47):
interest in UFOs since I was eight years old, and
last year I started on like a UFO podcast called
Others from Another Mother, and the main focus of that.
For the most part, sometimes I'll talk just myself my
co host, or by myself. I'll chat. But I've noticed
that people who work in music, or people that are
(43:09):
painters or sculptors, or people that work in the arts
tend to have sometimes more more experiences with either seeing
something or experiencing something unexplainable, and so it's a lot
of talking about that connection and just people's experiences with
(43:31):
with with UFOs.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
It's fascinating, though I can see.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
I wish I could say I had an experience over time.
I'm like, there's something out there, well there, I don't
know if it's little green men, it's it's et. It
could be something we don't even we can't wrap our
mind around, some sort of matter. You know that it's
a life form that we just can't grasp yet, or
(43:57):
all of that, or all of that. It could be
the entire Morty episode that those could be, That could
be a documentary all these these creatures that are out there.
I'm telling I just I want this to go out
into the universe. Maybe you should tell me like I'm wrong.
I want an experience. I say this with ghosts. If
there's a ghost out there, poke me, you know, do
(44:17):
something move. So I've just never had an experience like
you know, this was so weird? What could this be?
So alans? I wish I want that experience?
Speaker 1 (44:26):
What have you? What? Yes, I have?
Speaker 3 (44:28):
What what do you want it for?
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Just to know that there's something out there, just to know,
just to know to know that this life, this very
tangible and finite life that humans have, isn't it? Like
I know, I feel, how you know, confident in that
because of how vast the universe is. If I can
use just one word there, but I would like to
(44:54):
I know it's the confirmation. I need a confirmation, which
I don't think it's going to happen, otherwise it would
be we'd be living in a different world if we
knew actually, you know, ghosts and aliens that were all
part of everything.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
So if you we can get really weird if you
want to.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
For a minute, Yeah, for a minute, for a minute, so.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
You I think you can have that experience.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
I mean, I think it's the kind of thing where
if you have the right intention and you really want
to see something, you kind of can just ask and
something will show itself to you or will Because that
happened to me in an incredible way on June tenth,
twenty twenty three, I had just that exact thing happened
(45:37):
where I've always known that, like consciousness is part of
the UFO thing, where there's some kind of mind universe
consciousness connection.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
I know we're getting weird, but I'll make the story quick.
I was at a.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Diner not far from where I live and decided I'm
gonna I'm gonna try something.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
And I went and sat in my car. I do
not meditate.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
My wife meditates all the time and she can do
it anywhere. But I close my eyes. I'm sitting in
my car, and bear with me. I started thinking and
speaking into the universe, whatever that means. It sounds so stupid,
but putting my thought, imagining my thoughts going across the universe.
(46:24):
And I was saying, I know something's out there. I
would like to see something. I'm unafraid and I kind
of I want to learn. I'm here to listen if
you're willing to show me something. And dude, I heard
a voice in the middle of my head, the clearest
(46:45):
voice I've ever heard in my life. It was it
was a masculine voice. It was not my voice, but
the clearest message I've ever gotten in my life. And
it said, I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Forget the words.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
It said, close your eyes and looked I'm sorry, open
your eyes and look to the right.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Okay, I'm completely sober, by the way. I wasn't no edibles.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
I've never been drunk in my life.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
So I opened my eyes.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
I look across the street and I watched a craft
materialize right in front of me, up above the trees,
right across the street from me. I was like an
old television, like an old static television. I watched this
thing flicker into existence. I don't even know how else
to describe it. So I'm just mesmerized. And I watched
(47:29):
her for two minutes. It was never fully solid, like
it was never fully here with us, but it was
there and it kind of just did this just barely
moved for two minutes, and just the way it came,
it kind of just flickered out. And it was, without
(47:50):
a doubt, the most profound moment of my entire life.
And my wife and I talk about everything. We're very open.
There's nothing I can't bring up to her. And I
didn't even tell her for three weeks, and she's open
to this kind of stuff. It just felt like it
was something that was like just for me. I asked
in that moment with complete sincerity, and something listened and
(48:11):
showed me something.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
I believe you now, now it's my turn.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Now, That's what I mean. But there's thousands of people
that have had this kind of story where you just
have to really mean it and for the right reasons.
I don't even know what that means. But and by
the way, I never thought for a second to get
my camera, to get my phone for a picture. That's
another thing you hear from people is that it doesn't
even go through your mind. So if you want to
see it because you want a picture to show people,
(48:39):
you're not going to get anything. But I asked sincerely
for my own I needed it for me, and it responded.
And there's been stuff that's happened since then, too, but
that was the most That was the most profound one.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Okay, I mean, if this is a teaser to your podcast, man,
this is that's certainly.
Speaker 3 (48:56):
Oh yeah, we talked about some some fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Very cool man, I did for my my actual radio job.
I think you interviewed somebody from it. It was like
a new documentary that came out about all the government, oh,
the age of disclosure. Yeah, yeah, so I I listened
in because I was a tour producer for that of that.
The director of that, Dan far Yes, doing all these
(49:22):
interviews about it, and I mean, yeah, there's abous this
It's it's just crazy. It was really interesting that the
world that my son is going to grow up in,
you know, compared to what we grew up in. I
mean now, I mean, my god, back then it was aliens.
We're all again green people, and now aliens are admitted
to and you can get we delivered to your door.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
And they live in the ocean.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
That's that's one of the weirdest things.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
They're in the ocean. That's what it seems like.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
What a world that we live in. I know, Uh, Dan,
this was a pleasure. I thank you for all the
stories that you shared. You know, it's this is why
I can get along with Red Sox fans. It's okay,
and so.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
I say this all the time. I would rather talk
baseball with a Yankees fan than a Red Sox fan.
And also, Aaron Judge is my favorite non Red Sox
baseball player.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
I love that dude.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
He's a hard guy to like this. I know, he
can get stuff about. It's the way that US Yankee
fans are, you know, championship or bust. Yeah, and he
got a lot of flak. It wasn't like he blew
the game against the Dodgers. You know, hey, he had
a moment. Yeah, they were still losing. They could have
still lost that game. All this hindsight stuff.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
That was a calamity. I mean, that was they that
was that was an ugly, ugly end to that series.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
Oh yes it was. But I'm telling you nothing after
two thousand and four, man, I'm sorry. I know your
life changed, all our lives changed. I'm just like, I
don't know if I've been this same sports fans. It's
you have a Red Sox tattoo.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
I got this tattoo within a week after that Aaron
Boone home run. So I got this after they lost,
and I was like, I'm in this for the rest
of my life. I punched the ground.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
After that happened.
Speaker 1 (50:59):
I think I broke my hand, and then a week
later I got that so.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
Hard. I respect it. Thanks, thanks, They still get me.
But I have to control and now that you know,
because I'm an Island just fan too, and they're good
this year, but they used to being terrible. And it
just goes back to throwing things. I've thrown things, Axel,
do not judge h for throwing things. Never forget throwing
like the remote against my college dorm room. Sure, and
the Island is lost in the playoffs. Against the Maple Leaves. Anyway,
(51:24):
we're going off on another sports tangent here, please come
back on. Obviously, there's so many things I would love
to anytime.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
This is the Blasts. Yeah, you do a great job,
great interview.
Speaker 3 (51:34):
This is very smooth, and I look forward to it.
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
I appreciate it, and I hope he's nickname is Baby
Brownstone Harrison Rex is his real name. If he wasn't too.
Did you hear him scale around him a little bit?
It's great, It's great, all right.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
It's how old two and a half?
Speaker 1 (51:51):
Oh boy, I hear those are the fun years.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
Huh for the most part, Yeah, for the most part. Yeah.
And I'm going to take him to go see Guns
and Roadses next year. I can't I can't wait. We
took him to see Paul McCartney and he slept through
half of it. Well, he has headphones. But the fact
that I get to see G and R with him
and and now Flavor Flavor and Bubble Agatomy, I'm like,
I'm more excited for that than than the actual show.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
How many show has you been to?
Speaker 2 (52:19):
I don't know, because my first show because at my age.
I'm forty two. I didn't have an opportunity into until
two thousand and two. Okay, so maybe twelve okay, awesome, Yeah, awesome. Yeah.
So I mean every year that they've gone, and I
think it was only one year I went multiple times,
and that was because my wife is awesome and she
likes to go all these shows. She's even saying she's like, well,
(52:40):
who's opening up for met Life? Who's opening up for
in herstry Park? Maybe we'll go to those two. I'm like,
favorite night, favorite GENR song, November Rain is mine.
Speaker 3 (52:49):
That's your, that's your, that's yours.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
Okay, yeah, yeah, that's what you talk about tattoos. I
don't want to disappoint you. I'm not gonna take my
shirt off, but that's what I right my left shoulder blade.
I have the boy writing in the book.
Speaker 3 (53:01):
For Beautiful for gn R. I've always said night Train
is the best rock song of all time.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
Oh cool, Yeah, I have the Robot guy also right
on Elliot. I mean night Train, you can't go wrong
with that, man.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
I have the best, the best rock and roll song
of all time lyrically, musically, it's just like, oh it's
so great.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
Did you have a hard time like whether it's I
mean maybe with more of gn R because you were
new with that and and this will be my last question,
I guess sure not rocking out sometimes and just like
wanting to, you know, wanting to rock out, like oh crap,
I have a job to do.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
I would get lost in a couple of times because
I also would you know, when you take care of Duff,
you have to do his turn, his chorus pedal on
and do a couple of effects for him. So there
were definitely a couple of times where I was like
watching the show and missed my cues. I missed the
stuff I was supposed to do. And I'm someone too
like I enjoy the show. So I'm I'm the only
(53:57):
guy in the crew who's like bopping my head and
I was. I was in do it every single night.
Speaker 3 (54:01):
I was into it.
Speaker 1 (54:02):
So is I'm at work. But it's also it's a
pretty cool place to go to work. But I definitely
made sure to enjoy it. And I also knew I'm
a filling guy. I'm just a placeholder.
Speaker 3 (54:14):
This is not my job.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
I'm just keeping the seat warm for a friend of mine.
But I wanted to make sure I took in every
second of it, and I watched the crowd like I've
been part of shows with big crowds before, but never
when it was that band's crowd, like that was all
for them, you know, forty to sixty thousand people, and
you know when he's doing Knock on Heaven's Door and
(54:37):
he puts the mic out for the crowd to sing, like,
if you're not affected by that, you're not a human being.
So it's goosebumps. It's like, you know, seeing everyone go
through something together in a positive way never gets old,
and it was never lost on me. I didn't take
it for granted, and I paid attention and enjoyed every second.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
Of that of that six weeks awesome. Is that a
special poster behind you, the gn R poster or is
that just one last show?
Speaker 1 (55:04):
And tell this is from the Buenos Aires shows they did.
They had two joint posters.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
But this one in particular. I don't know if I've
told this yet, but.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
There was a day that Duff was sick and he
texted me and said, you know, I'm not coming to soundcheck.
Do you think you can play sound check for me?
I was like, uh, I don't, I don't, I don't know.
I mean, I don't really know.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
I don't really know a whole lot of Gen R songs.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
So Slash came up to me before soundcheck and said,
you know, Duff said, you play bass, what do you know?
And I said, well, I can do Rocket Queen, I
can do patients to check acoustic guitar, and he said okay.
So I did sound check with Guns and Roses in
(55:55):
Buenos Aires, which is another one of these surreal moments
where I'm out there, I'm looking to my left and
there's Slash, you know, playing guitar while I'm playing bass
for Rocket Queen and then just playing patients with those guys.
So I got one poster just from from that night
because it's the day that I did sound check.
Speaker 3 (56:13):
With fucking Guns N' Roses.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
Awesome, Dan, Yeah, what great, awesome stories man, Awesome dude.
Just we'll do this again and then something, whether it's
the New year, whether you have something to promote, you
can always come on. We go Bassemare season and we
can argue, oh yeah, fun a way. So happy New Year, man,
and happy holidays because at the end of the years
(56:39):
and so everyone out there. I'll have one more episode
before actually I'm going to Colorado for the holidays. Actually,
so before I leave for that, in a couple of weeks,
i'll actually i'll do a whole review of the new songs.
But I appreciate you asking, so I can give a
little teaser for that. So that does it for this
episode of Appetite put Distortion. When will we see the
next one? In the words of Axle, was concerning Chinese democracy.
(57:01):
I don't know as soon as the word, but you'll
see it.
Speaker 1 (57:04):
Thanks to the lame ass security. I'm going home
I was happy that in my fourteen shows, I at
least got a little bit of an Axel moment.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Distortion. My name is Brando.
Episode number five hundred and forty five. Welcome to the podcast.
Mister Dan Cleary, how are you here?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm doing good. How are you five hundred and how
many have you done?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Forty five? Five forty five?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
That's quite a fea. Congratulations, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you actually, because it's it's sparked a very recent
memory that happened literally just happened as we just started
signing on here. I was having some issues loading onto
iHeart because this is a video podcast and also audio,
also all these different platforms. So iHeart which I work for.
This is not an iHeart podcast. I just happened to
(00:48):
work for it and sometimes seen the wires get crossed
or whatever. So I reached out to somebody there was
having trouble loading it onto iHeart I hadn't spoken to
in a few years. And he's like, wow, he's like
just a plug get away. You're still doing it. I'm
very proud of you. I'm like, yeah, I haven't given
up yet.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Because it's fun. That's why you do because it's fun.
That's the whole point.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It wasn't fun.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I don't think most of us would be doing stuff like.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This exactly because you're a podcaster, and we'll get into that,
and we'll get into all the musicianship everything that you
haven't have in store for our conversation today. So because like, yeah,
that's why I keep continuing. I get to talk to
you not just about you know, guns and roses and
Jane's addiction, but we got to address the elephants in
the room, or the elephants in the room. I mean,
(01:32):
if you're watching, I'm wearing my Yankee hat. Yeah, you're
wearing your red Sox hat. I feel like I'm back
and I started got my professional radio career in Cape Cad.
I feel like I'm back in Cape Cad.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And the first thing I noticed was your hat, and
it reminded me that nobody's perfect. So it's nice to
see even people like you doing good in the world.
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That reminds me And I was hoping the story would
come up organically, is that when I lived in Cape
cod working for Pixie one oh three, it obviously being
the only Yankee fan there. I was probably the only
Jewish person there too. I was a real real you andicorn.
On the way walking with my friend to the Cape
Cod Mall wearing the Yankees hat some Rando, just Rando
(02:12):
stopped the Brando and he goes, you're going to buy
a new hat.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Of course, of course that's great.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It made me. I loved it. I love the massholes
you guys are. Is that where you're originally from?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah? I grew up about like twenty minutes outside Boston
in a small town like the suburbs of Boston, and
moved to la when I was nineteen. So I've been
here for twenty six, twenty six years now.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
In l Okay. Yep, all right, because the accent's gone.
You don't have it.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You don't have I didn't have.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It super thick before.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
But the only time you'll ever really hear it is
if I get incredibly angry, which doesn't happen very often.
But yeah, my parents, my dad passed earlier this year. Yeah, yeah,
he had a pretty good My mom has it pretty good.
But I avoided it somehow.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yep, Well, already hear about your your dad.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
He'd be making fun of your hat. Too, So don't don't.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I gotta do it for him.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
My my dad, who passed about twelve years ago. He
got to we had like growing up when the actual
baseball tickets, when sporting events were affordable, we had a
share of season tickets that were eight rows behind the
Yankee dugout. Okay, so I mean saw some great games there.
Couldn't get those seats. However, I was actually Game seven,
(03:30):
Aaron Boone, Aaron Bleep and Boone, don't you guys already won.
It's it's like it's like it's not even like a
good memory anymore, because I know what's happened since then.
So I was. I was at that game man with
my college roommate, who was a Red Sox fan.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
That must have been, as a sports fan, just such
an unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Thing to be at. It must have been unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
It was.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It was insane and I'll never forget and you'll appreciate this.
I remember after the home run there were obviously some
Boston fans there, including my sweet mate, my roommate, because
I had a retro roomate, Sweetete, where nobody cares about that.
Uh So, so I will never forget there are these
two random Red Sox fans. Everyone's leaving the stadium New
(04:18):
York and New York is playing whatever, and they're everyone's
like braiding them whatever. I walk up for them. I
put my hand out, good game, great.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Thank you. That's the kind of fan.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I think. I'm the same kind of guy. Like, I'm
not the shit talker. I'm not like the push, shove
it in your face kind of person. I'm the good
game guy too. It's the best way to be a
little talking smacked and the game is fine. But at
the end of the day, it's a game and it's fun.
And Aaron Boone walking off Tim Wakefield on the first
pitch of the eleventh inning, I think it was right. Yeah,
(04:50):
not that I remember it or think about it too much.
That set up the greatness of what happened the next year,
and it's been good ever since. So it's all part
of the story. It's all part of the story, and
it's it's great.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Oh, I know, and I'll guess we'll get this one.
Last week people were like, we talked about sports. Sorry,
we have to at the beginning because we're bonding. I
was also at the game that Jeter Dove into the stands.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Oh really the blood face?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah yeah, I was at some unfortunate enough to go
to some of these some cool sporting events, but trying
to make up for it with concerts. Sure, there's my segue.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
That was smooth.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
You've been doing this about over five hundred shows.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I can tell well hopefully, yeah, five hundred shows and
in over twenty years in the podcast business. Excuse me,
in the radio business. I was telling you off air,
and it's a good segue. How my technical title for
iHeart Radio, which is this is not an iHeart podcast.
I'm an employee of iHeartRadio and Premiere Networks, and I've
(05:45):
just been lucky enough to you know, use your contact
sometimes or whatever that I'm a technical producer. That's my title,
technically technical producer. But I'm not very technical, which is
very strange. I know what I have to do, and
that's right. So you are actual technical guys. So let's go.
We could start here. How did you go from a
(06:06):
Boston you know, go from Boston moved to LA I'm
sure you know, musician and heart. How did that road trip?
How did the trip begin to become a tech for sure? Sure,
his guns and roses recently.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I started playing bass when I was
twelve years old and pretty quickly knew that, like, this
is what I want to I want to do this
for a living.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I want to be in a rock band. I want
to play music for people.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And then I moved to la in ninety nine and
the first friend that I made, the first guy I met,
was a guy named Steve Isaacs, who actually used to
be a VJ on MTV. He was like a Broadway singer.
He was a Tommy in the Who's on the Who's
Tommy on Broadway? And it was the first friend I made.
And that was in ninety nine. And then in two
(06:52):
thousand and four, Jane's addiction had broken up again for
the you know at that point, the third or fourth time,
and the three remaining guys besides the singer, so Dave Navarro,
Chris Cheney, and Stephen Perkins wanted to keep going with
a new band, and Navarro had a manager named Larissa.
(07:16):
Larissa's boyfriend was my friend, Steve Isaacs, and she recommended
him to these guys, and they went in and started
writing songs and they clicked pretty quickly, and then they
had a tour coming up just like a little doing
a little club tour, and my friend Steve asked me,
do you want to come be my guitar tech?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And I was like, sure, what is that?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Like, what do I have to do? And he just said,
you know, set up amps, change strings, make sure nothing
was wrong during the show. And I had never even
considered that, and I just said sure. And that's where
I first met the James guys and hit it off
with everybody, especially Navarro.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
On that tour.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And that was two thousand and five and twenty years later.
That's now what I've been doing for a living for
the last two decades. So I kind of just fell
into it and you know, learned learned on the job.
You know, made tons and tons of mistakes, some really
embarrassing mistakes, but people kept me around and yeah, that's
(08:16):
how it all started.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh that that's that's so cool. And the best stories
are when it just happens. Yep, you know, and it's
not something you were looking for, did you know when
you were like, because yeah, I've made a lot of mistakes.
I'll never forget when I was in Cape cod trying
to fire like the next to the elements instead of
just like one button, letting the automation do its thing.
I was so green. I'm like when we pressed every
(08:39):
single button and like fired five commercials at once. I mean,
I still make mistakes these days. How did you? When
did you decide that, like, okay, this thing I fell
into maybe making mistakes here and there, but this is
where I belong. This is what I'm gonna keep doing.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I still don't feel that way. I mean it's funny.
I mean, in all seriousness. About about ten years ago,
I retired from touring. Like I told the Jane's guys,
I said, listen, I want to I want to be
home more.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I want to work in the in the in town.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And I just missed my my wife and my friends
and my life. And so I retired. And then they
called again and I was like, okay, let's let's go
back and do it. Because you realize, or at least
for me, when I haven't done it for a while,
you really miss you missed doing it, like I don't
(09:30):
miss the travel, like I'm not someone it really drives
my friends and my wife crazy because I don't care
about seeing the sights. I don't care about going to
new cities and I've never cared about, like learning new cultures.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I don't know what is I just I'm not super interested.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It's cool, and if I'm in Paris, I'll go see
the stuff and I'll because I'm kind of because I'm
supposed to. But what I miss most is that camaraderie
with Bandon Crewe and knowing that I participated in something
that made so many people happy.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Hopefully, so at.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
The end of the night when the when the crowd
is going nuts, I feel like I helped that.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And that that makes me feel really good.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
But more like just yet, it's that it's that like roaming.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Gang feeling of being in.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
A good crew where every day you roll into a
new city and you guys together take over and turn
this empty venue into a special place where people are
going to go home with incredible memories. Hopefully sometimes the
memories aren't great, but there's something really really cool and
(10:43):
rewarding about that, because I know how much music meant
to me when I was a kid, and I remember
going to see Nine is Nails when I'm a teenager
and just being blown away by how amazing it was
and never thinking like, oh, there's people behind this that
make it happen, Trent Resnor isn't on stage lugging gear
and setting up his own stuff, you know. So that's
(11:05):
the stuff that keeps bringing me back. And I've gotten
more and more comfortable and being proud of like the
work that I do the last few years, especially since
COVID when it all went away and you really realize like,
oh this things can change really quickly and try to
enjoy it. Well, you can still do it, And That's
what I've been doing ever since.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I love that. Do you still remember your first Jane show?
Is that it still be implanted or you've done so
many over the years.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Technically, yes, the first show I did was the original
bass player Eric Avery. For people that don't know, he
quit in nineteen ninety one. I think during the Lola
PLUSA tour or right after the Lalla tour, at the
height of the band. He left the band. He was
like kind of recently sober and just you know, struggling
with particular personality for our personalities within the band perhaps.
(11:58):
And in two thousand an eight nm ME magazine reached
out to Jans to ask if they wanted they wanted
to honor them with something called the Godlike Genius Award,
and they wanted to get Eric Avery back with the
original guys for the first time in At that point,
it was like seventeen years or something ninety one to
twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, seventeen years.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So the four guys got together and they performed three
songs at a place in LA called the l Ray Theater,
and that was technically my first show with James was
Eric's first show back, and that was two thousand and eight,
and it was awesome. There's three songs and I was
a huge Jans fan as a kid, so it was
(12:42):
very surreal. And Eric Avery is the reason I started
playing bass. He's my favorite bass player of all time.
So it was a very surreal and cool thing.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
But yeah, that was my first Jane show.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Awesome, no pressure, there, no pressure. Yeah, no reunion. So
if you're a bass you know, and then that's you know,
you talk about Eric Avery. How did the guitar? I mean,
I know you obviously you're you know, if you're a musician,
usually I'm not edgency. Usually I mean I'm not a musician.
If you that isn't that obvious? How did you go
to being Dave Nabarro's tech and why not the tech
(13:17):
for you know, a bass why not based?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Sure? Sure, I don't know. I think that's what I
was offered at the beginning, and a lot with Jane's
I would do guitar and bass tech.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
For most of my time with James, I would do both, guys.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
But if you can do one, you can sort of
do the other. Based historically is a somewhat easier job
because for whatever reason, a little bit less can go wrong.
Basis stay in tune easier and longer.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
But I just, I don't know, I just I do both.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
But I've gotten more guitar gigs and I have bass gigs.
But when I do get a bass gig, I really
love it because I can just focus on my favorite
instrument right on.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
And we'll again, we'll get to the plethora of things
that I guess you did on the gn R tour
filling in, but I guess wanted to. Obviously I wanted to.
I finally got the chance to see Jane's Addiction, even
though it was kind of one of the newer lineups.
This was I don't know, three four years ago, so
it was more of a recent one at Madison Square
(14:20):
Garden with pumpkins with pumpkins, So you worked out one
last ume?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Right, yep?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Great show, this great show. I mean I wish I
got to see Dave, but I think he was still
kind of biting long cold yet.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That was Troy van Lewin on that with that.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Me and said, and then I asked you off the
air if it's cool, you know, because I remember thinking
how good Perry was that night. Yeah, and just the
way things unfolded, because I didn't even like miss Dave
that much. I'm like, wow, you know, this was the
Perry Show. I wish I saw them more, and just
the way things went down, which is obviously all news
(14:55):
by now. It was just I was in shock. You know,
you were you were the one who broke it up. Yeah,
I mean is that something you think? How often do
you think about that? Because that's kind of is that traumatic?
Because that was all over the news like it's kind
of become a meme.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, I'm glad you asked, because no one has actually
asked if it was traumatic yet. But the answer is yeah.
I was with that band for seventeen years.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I mean, that was my.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
In some ways, that was more my family than my
real life family, Like I've been all over the world
with those guys. We've been through everything. I love them.
They've given me, you know, a life that I couldn't
have otherwise. We had the best crew, like the number
one best crew in the business. Like we there was
(15:46):
no big egos. Everybody was pulling in the same direction.
Every day. We supported each other. We went to bat
for each other. So when that happened. When when when
Perry kind of went after Dave on stage in Boss
by the Way, So it was in my hometown. I
had family and friends on the side of the stage,
my niece, it was her first concert. Afterwards, she asked me,
(16:09):
She's like, does that happen at every show? I'm like, no,
you just saw me. She was fifteen, No, she was
she was thirteen at the time. She was thirteen. So yeah,
he saw me lose my job. But yeah, it was
traumatic because it felt like, like I tell people, it
felt like losing somebody in a car accident, because it
(16:31):
just it was so abrupt and out of nowhere, and
none of us still know exactly what happened. And as
soon as it happened, as soon as the kind of
punch and the scuffle happened, in my mind, I knew
this is over, like this is done. And I know
a lot of the fan base was like, you know,
(16:52):
they'll work it up, they'll work it out. They're grown men.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
This happen, This stuff happens.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
But I was like, no, this is We're going home
and we're not going to do this again. And it
was really sad.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
It really was really really sad. I mean, that was
my home. I was I was the longest tenured crew guy,
and I.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
You know, I just it. It was a family unit
that was you know, now mom and dad and dad
and dad are divorced.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I mean, so you to not It's one thing again
for a fan not to see it coming. And I
had seen some friends who had seen Jane's shows leading
up to it, and I guess if you read their
status is now in hindsight, it's like yeah. But for
a crew member, especially like you, not to see it coming.
Is it like a car crash where you really don't
(17:41):
remember what your first thoughts were and you were reacting
to it. Do you remember like, like, fully, crap, this
is happening or is it all just complete blurred And.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I remember every second of it. By the way, this
is this is Navarro's final set list from the Boston show.
That that's the last Jane setlist right there. Okay, yeah,
I collectical setlist, but that's one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I was going to make attention to give the attention
to that. Your your background at some point, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Got some cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, so things.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
There was a couple of shows earlier in the tour
that were off for reasons I've already talked about before.
But then in the Boston show when this kind of happened,
I just I saw a look in Perry's face which
I'd never seen before, and he was saying stuff in
the mic that was kind of adversarial towards the band,
(18:31):
and it was just I'm like, what's What's what's going
on here? And there's one video angle someone posted somewhere
where I'm tuning the guitar and you see Perry do
the initial push and it was full reactionary. I just reacted,
So guitar came off and I walked directly towards those
guys and mayet there right after Perry threw the first punch,
(18:54):
and it was more.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I wasn't thinking.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I was just like my it felt like in that moment,
Navarro felt like like my younger brother, and I was like,
somebody's going after my younger brother. I can't.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I'm not gonna let that happen.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And I got in the middle of it and it
kind of just got a little bit crazier from there.
And and well, I'll say also like Perry has done
so much for me in my life. I've been on
tour with him with Jane's and Porno for Apios and
kind of an orchestra, which was a side project he
had where I even played guitar in that band. I
(19:31):
played on Stephen Colbert with Perry. He's given me a
lot of really amazing experiences. So getting involved in that
way was really hard because of the way I felt
about him as well. So it's not like he was
not like the enemy or whatever. It was just he
was in that moment, he was kind of the aggressor.
But to put my hands on him felt really bad.
(19:53):
It was it's not a good feeling. Yeah, it was
a really really sad, it was really really sad experience.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I'm really sorry that happened. I know there were a
lot of you know, a lot of memes. I there's one.
I don't think I've made a because I'm somebody who
missed their flaws and when I you know, maybe I
might hypocrite with things. I don't think I made a
joke about it. But there was one picture of I
remember it posted like a picture of Perry and Slash
and said if you had a guess which one would
(20:22):
have a fight with their singer on stage, you know,
with their bandmate on stage, Like who would you guess?
So I mean that was that was the closest thing,
and I, you know, even I felt bad about that.
I was like, I don't know, this is obviously these
are real people. You know. That's something I really have
learned from doing this podcast. Is more than just yeah,
they could be rock stars and have all this money,
but it's just people and then all the people at
(20:43):
effects just like you, not just the fans and the jobs.
So it's it sucks, and I hope it's not just
for music's sake or musician, you know, Jane's addiction reunion's sake.
I guess hope as brothers, as a family, at some
point down the line it could be resolved and maybe
we us fans won't even know about it. Because it
(21:04):
like short.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Nope, but I will say the.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
The memes were funny.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
It's okay to laugh at the memes because there were
some really, really really good ones. There were some good jokes. Yeah,
I've got a joke. I'm uh, since I was a kid.
Might be an East Coast thing because New York's the
same way where in my mind there is nothing off
limits to joke about, absolutely nothing, and it's kind of
the only way for me. I mean, that's how I've
survived my whole life. You got to joke about tough
(21:32):
stuff or it'll consume you.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
You have to make it a joke.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Well, I'm glad you're you're able to do that. I'm
definitely sopping with age. I used to be one of
those like I gotta make fun of everything, and now
I'm just I don't know. Maybe it's my kid. They
have a family. How dare you say that?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Fair enough? Fair enough?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
No, I I there's a there's a line, and I
don't know what it is. I'm not gonna be the word.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know, everyone has their own lines.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
For sure. Well, I appreciate you you sharing that and
sucks that it happened. But let's talk about maybe some
cool things and just so you know, I do want
to get some thoughts about you know, your podcast and
aliens after.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
But oh sure, sure.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
But with Guns n' Roses though, you filled in for
their most recent tour, you know obviously at the end
of the year twenty twenty five. Right, so some Mexico
dates and Argentina. All right, So who did you fill
in for? Because GENR has also a very tight knit,
tight knit group, so very much.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, they kind of remind me of the Jansition Crew.
Most people there have been there for well over ten years,
some fifteen sixteen years. But I took care of Duff
McKagan of course, on the on the tour the Southern
you know, it was the Latin America, Mexico and South
America fourteen shows. I filled in for Mick Bob, who is,
(22:55):
as I'm sure your whole listenership knows, is Duff's tech
for the last thirty eight years. And I've known mcbob
for about twenty years and I've known Duff for about
the same amount of time. So it was I was
honored to be asked, and I was really nervous to
say yes, because I mean, you're stepping into someone's shoes
(23:18):
who's been there from day one, and like it's someone
who I mean kind of reminds me of Navarro and myself,
where he trusts me to do everything he needs. And
like when you work with people for a long time,
you get like a almost like a psychical link with
people where you can see them on stage doing something
and you know what they need before they even say it.
(23:40):
Like you learn people's body language, you learn all the tricks,
and so I didn't have that with Duff, So I
was kind of coming in cold. But we had two
or three weeks of rehearsals and mcbob was so thorough
about showing me how everything worked, and he made it really,
really painless.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
So the tour was very move And.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I will say that Duff is just one of the
greatest human beings that I've ever been around in my
entire career. I felt that way for a long time,
but never really it was a whole new level, like
working for him and seeing him, you know, go to
the office every day and just kick maximum mass and
as a bass player, it's fine. I told him this
(24:22):
like a couple of weeks in, I said, you know,
I've known my whole life that you're a good bass player,
but I never realized just how great you really are,
Like you write some phenomenal bass parts. So it was
a real treat to listen to him and listen to
the whole band for a minimum of three hours every night.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Awesome. And I can't for myself, I can't wait to
see them again. I got tickets to go see them.
Saratoga recently announced openers of Public Enemy, so Flavor Flavor
finally get to see see them. So that just happened
today as we're recording what's.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Just the last show?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
The show he had Mexico City, Public Enemy opened, so
I got one of their setlists as well.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Awesome. See I didn't even know that, and it pertains
and it pertains show, AND's hell here at the Appetite
for disortion. I love that you didn't have to do
the mcbob opening though.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
No, you didn't want to or you that's it.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
That's not mcbob, that's his brother Tom.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Oh Okay, that's Tom Mayhew.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Tom Mayhew is the one that does the yelling intro.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Why did I think? I guess I should be embarrassed
as a G and R podcast I was over five
hundred episodes. Why did I always think that it was
mcbob doing the intros and not Tom Mayhew.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
You're not the only.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
One, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I've met Tom before, but he wasn't on this run either.
So this was the first Mayhew list stage I think
since Appetite, since.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
The Appetite Tour.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Oh wow, So it was a People said it was
very strange not having either one of those guys around.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But you and I don't know how you can tell
me how serious or how sarcaster you were being when
he posted a picture of you of Duff reaching like
I guess like talking to you mid song or something
like that. And part of your job was to update
him on sports scores. True story was that when the
Mariners were still in the playoffs and he really needed
(26:15):
to know that was it was really cool.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, he's a Mariner's nut.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And I will say for the last twenty years, as
you know, it's been a good time to be a
Boston sports fan, with the Patriots and the Red Sox
and the Bruins and the Celtics all winning in the
last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Let me get say. I'm a Giants fan and I
was living in Cape Cod when that happened.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So I was at the second game.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I was at the second Giant Super Bowl that they beat,
Brady Win. Okay, but yeah, so during this playoff run,
I was pulling for the Mariners. For Duff. I really
wanted them to make it. But during the show, I
would give him score updates if I didn't have the
game on. Usually I would have the game on my
laptop and he would come over and sneak little little views.
(27:03):
But yeah, I had to update him as much as
I could with that and NFL scores and some college
football scores.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
He really loved sports.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
He really loved sports.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I know when to college. Okay, interesting guess because like
the time of year, because I was also, i mean
the Yankees were out at this time. I'm like the Mariners.
I mean I grew up. Everybody loved King Griffy Junior.
They've never won, you know, let's let's let's get there,
you know, and it would have been fun to maybe
see uh, you know him and Melissa also with Seattle
(27:37):
Roots and I feel like, you know, all the LA fans,
so you know, I see slash and stuff. Anyway, that's
my that's my sports meets guns and roses, Fantasy multiverse
kind of thing. So I'm thanks for for confirming that there.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Was one of the there's one of those games. One
of those playoff games went like you know what was
the sixteen innings, seventeen eighteen innings, whatever it was. So
him and I we both had an off nine, right,
So it was so stressful, and I was texting through
the whole game, and when something really crazy happened, I'd
call him and just be like, dude, just take some
deep breaths. I've been here before. Just enjoy it, stay calm,
(28:12):
they're gonna do it. They're gonna come through. So it
was a really fun experience. I'll never forget going through
that kind of playoff run with stuff on that on
that run, it was cool.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I love hearing that. That's so that that is very
very cool. I guess now I'm glad that I'm interviewing
you because I know we've tried to schedule before, but
I'm glad today's the day because now the new songs
are out. Nothing an autless correct me if I'm wrong.
Were those on the set lists all set list then?
Or were they rehearsing in it at that point. Did
(28:42):
you know about them at that point or no?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Never never heard them before? No, never heard them before.
I don't think.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I don't remember if they even attempted them in rehearsal,
no sound checks.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I don't think. No, those are those are brand new to.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Me, okay, because I then somebody else can correct me,
can correct me if I'm wrong. So I'm watching my
wife fix a toy bulldozer with a fork, looking at
the voice. Uh, correct me if I'm wrong. I thought
that it was Duff announced like we're working on a song. Nothing,
(29:19):
and this was in Japan at like a Gibson event
with Isaac. I'm just curious how close to the surface
it was going to be. I don't know, ye fair
fair figure, you never know what what rock you can
uh overturn to get a story out of whatever. But
I think what you think of them, I will mention
I'm gonna do a full episode review, but I I
(29:40):
do like them. I wasn't sure. I really wasn't sure
from and I try to stay away from the leaks
now ever since Chinese Democracy because they really do ruin
the experience and you end up comparing it to the
older version.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So I might listen once or twice, you know, just
because I got it. These songs may never come out.
So nothing really, especially the last half and nothing Atlas.
I've enjoyed it more listens, but the conversation needs to
extend to which a lot of fans are like, where's
the hard rock? You know, where's you know, writing songs
(30:15):
from scratch with all these guys. I mean, these are
things that you and I don't know. You know where
they are creatively? You know why it's you know, Hey,
I like Chinese leftovers. I hadn't just had an extra
egg roll and the chicken and broccoli. I'm good, So
I don't. I don't want to diminish them by calling
them Chinese leftovers, because Chinese Democracy should have been two
(30:35):
or three albums to begin with, right, these are songs
that I don't know. We weren't fully cooked by the
time it was forced out the album. So there's my
preview to a longer All right, cool?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
What about you?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Have you spent time listening to them? Or are you too busy?
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I listened to them both once, and the truth is
I don't listen to a ton of music. There's one
negative part about doing this for a living, is you
kind of at least for me, you sort of lose
your love of music, which is really unfortunate, at least
as far as like, if I'm in my car, I
am almost never listening to music, almost never. But now
(31:10):
that I'm just just so quickly removed from the from
the guns thing, the new songs came out, so I'm like,
I gotta listen to these.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I'm very curious what it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
And I was. I was impressed.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I thought they were good.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I think, uh, yeah, axel Is is uh still singing
great and and writing writing cool songs.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I don't know. I think I think the whole band
wrote this.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Just reading the liner notes, I think they were all
part of it, or maybe they just played on I
don't really know.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
So, yeah, these songs have brain on them. And oh
and Robin Fink Robina and yeah, so I mean Slash
and Duff have attitude, but Isaac is not on there,
Melist is not on there. So these are we're songs
that had different leaks beforehand, and oh gosh, that's what
all these songs have kind of been have kind of
(31:56):
been touched by Slash and Duff and been in in
Axel's vault for quite some time, and even as we're
recording this today, there have been I don't know who
these fans are that are doing this.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
There is a leak.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We've known about it for a while. Children of the Revolution,
the cover of t Rex because Richard zach Starky, the
son of Ringo, has worked on it and wants Axle
to put it out, and apparently there's it goes to
charity and gets cancer. I don't I don't know why.
I'm sure there's a reason why it's not out, but
that leak today and so did another version, or it
(32:33):
may maybe a more mixed version of the song Monsters,
which I don't know when it was recorded. All i'm
gonna say is Axel sounds phenomenal on both and apparently
the were vocals for Children of the Revolution maybe twenty seventeen.
The Monster sounds kind of fresh. So I mean this,
all things considered, I think these are good things to
be excited about. And people forget November Rain was written
(32:55):
during the Appetite era, came out years later, you know,
Yesterday's Late eight came out, So I mean, I know
it's not exactly Apple's the Apples comparison, but it's new
to some people.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Sure, sure, I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I think I would love to have these guys get
into a room together for a couple of months and
write write a batch of songs as a band and
see what comes out. I bet it'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
I hope. So my fan theory is whenever the wheels
fall off of the tour, and they just said, because
it's getting hard for everybody. I was fortunate enough to
have just interviewed Del James, and he's been on tour
with them forever since the beginning, and they're all in
their sixties. So maybe when it's like, all right, we're
not going to screw up the tour right now, so
let's go fight about it whatever may come out again
(33:42):
in the studio. I don't know, these are made up.
We all make up theories in our head. Like it's
so like I'll have like a puppet show of backs
and slash conversations they have going on in my brain.
But he said it was like a great atmosphere there. Yeah,
that's why I always go back to Look. It seems
like a very family atmosphere there, and it's not just
(34:04):
about the money and just putting things to put out,
and that seems to be the feeling I get from you. Yeah,
it was without revealing you know, conversations axle where people
may have had I mean, right, or did the people
just go up the corner.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
No, it was it was pretty It was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I mean the band is uh, like I said, I've
known I've known Duff for twenty years. I've sort of
known Slash for the same amount of time, so I
already had a little bit of a comfort level with them,
and I knew I knew Slashes tech Ace. I've known
him for for a long time, so there are at
least some familiar faces. But yeah, everyone is super welcoming.
(34:43):
The band and crew interact really well. Like so there's
some bands where they just don't interact with the crew.
It's like a full separation of band and crew.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
This was not that people had family out there.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You know, people and the crew would bring their wives
and their kids to the shows, and they were kind
of on the side of the stage. It was very
welcoming and comfortable atmosphere to be in. Yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
I didn't expect that.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Actually, I expected it to be a little bit more
stiff and rigid and kind of cold. I don't know
why I thought that, just I think the bigger the band,
the more.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Separation there is between people. But this was pretty great.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
And you just mentioned Del James. He was one of
my favorite guys that I interacted with on the tour.
I mean, he was, He's so funny and we have
a shared love of horror movies and he was. He
was awesome. Yeah, A big big fan.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Of Dell len he Es Sports talk with Dell as well.
Oh yeah, more in New York focused And I'm glad
it just came to me. Were you at the show?
When were you working the show? When Axle through the
mic at the well? I can't believe always forgot to
ask that. So I what I I'll get preface it
with this. I thought he was the funniest thing. I
(36:01):
cannot believe it blew up the way that it did.
People getting pissy. You know, many times I throw things,
look at this, this rattle, get out of here, throw
it like things piss you off? It happens.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
So what was?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Can you give your your take of drum gates or
whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
All I will say is that I mean, when when
you're an artist and you're having a struggle up there
for whatever reason, if things don't sound right to you
or you're uncomfortable at about something, I think you feel
(36:41):
like there's a microscope on you and and you're kind
of just like, fix this so I feel better. One
of those kind of things. I don't really I don't
really know exactly what was happening, to be completely honest
with you, but I was happy that in my fourteen
shows I at least got a little bit of an
axual moment. I was glad that you hear about it.
(37:05):
I'm forty six, I've been listening to Guns and Roses
since the late eighties, big part of my life. I
love the band, and you hear all the stories and
you know the riots and the fights and all the stuff.
So on a smaller scale, the fan in me was
excited to see a little bit of a of a
mini kind of meltdown. But after a couple of songs,
(37:27):
whatever the problem was was sorted, and it was it was,
It was fine, but I was I was super shocked
with how it blew up as well, and the amount
of text messages that I got about it, and I'm
the new guy. Like most people.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Didn't really know I was there.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
I can't imagine how many messages the long time crew
guys got about like what happened? What's going on? Is
he okay? What's happening?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
It was so much smaller than it appeared.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
But it was pretty funny and awesome and to watch
in the moment.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
That's what I again, that's what I thought, just because
you don't want him to actually have a meltdown. You
don't want guns of Roses actually the break break up
the way obviously Jane's addiction did or something like that. Yeah,
so when it's just it just went to show that
any little thing that people can get on Axel Rose about,
they will. They will because it's like, oh, where where's
(38:20):
the old act? So where's the fire, where's the anger?
And then when he shows it and it's not even
like a big deal, he just got piled on. So
thank you, because I actually did a whole show review
from a fan from Argentina about that, because all the
fans that were there said it was nothing like it
was just one. It was like one of the greatest
shows that they've ever been to. So I can't believe
(38:41):
that I almost forgot. I would have been kicking myself
if I forgot to ask.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
You we could do it again, and iays do it again.
But I will say quickly, I want to say that
Buenos Aires, you guys, it is the best, the best
audience in the entire world. Every time I'm there, is
in Buenos Aires the most while old fans and the
loudest and the most sing along hands in the air
(39:05):
like it's the best. It's the best live live music
city in the world.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It's a it's certainly a bucket list for me to
attend this show there. I don't know if I could survive.
I can be in.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
The crowd, you'd be fine.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
I'd be I get my eighty A seats, I mean,
I can't. I know I'm special in many ways. So
that's that's that's cool. Thank you for for you know
that that response and another one last g NR thing
before I everget because Duff also had a moment in
the sun with Jane's addiction.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
He did.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Yeah, so any obviously didn't work out, but any cool
stories maybe from from that time.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Absolutely, I'll tell you one of my favorite stories of
my entire career and something that uh one of the
more I've had a lot of really surreal moments doing this,
uh for a living. And like I said, Duff and
I had already known each other for about ten years
when he joined Jane's for about eight months, and the
(40:06):
bass parts that Eric Avery wrote and the style in
which Duff play are different, like they're different bass players
and the parts are much different.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
And I don't think.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Duff would mind me saying this, but at one point
he called me because I was trying to get the
job as the bass player. During that time, I was
trying to become the bass player Jane's, and it was
there was talks. I don't know how close it really got,
but Duff called me once before they started rehearsals because
he was learning the songs, and he said, you know,
we're starting to rehearsals. I know you know these songs.
(40:39):
Would you mind meeting up with me a couple hours
before rehearsal and like showing me some of these parts.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
So there was a time.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Before he joined where it's him and I sitting on
two stools. And if you told like ten year old
me that someday I would be teaching Duff McKagan Jane's
addiction bass lines. I would have ship myself. You know.
It was just one of the coolest, most surreal moments ever.
(41:07):
And the fact that he was just like some guy's
egos would be so big they would they wouldn't want
to ask anybody for any kind of help, never mind
like the tech of the band that he's working for.
But that was very very that was very, very awesome.
And Duff came in. He was a total pro of course,
got along great, helped helped write some of some of
(41:28):
the songs on the last record they put out, and
it was a complete joy having him having him around. Yeah,
it was.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
It was a It was a really cool experience.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
And if I think they did like four or five shows,
but if you got to see one of those, you
were pretty lucky.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Very cool. Yeah, well, I thank you for for sharing
that as well. Yeah, you got so many great stories.
This is why you have a podcast? Sure, the two podcasts.
How does this work for you?
Speaker 1 (41:54):
You have two podcasts? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Okay, so you got rare Form radio yep, and then
you have others from another mother, yes, sir, all right,
so tell me about those please.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Well, I did a radio show with Dave Navarro for
ten years called Dark Matter Radio, and that's kind of
where I learned how much I love doing this. And
then that kind of ended in twenty nineteen and myself
and another one of the co hosts from that started
Rare Film Radio, and it was just like, you know,
we're we grew up Howard Stern fanatics. So it's just
(42:26):
complete idiocy, as dumb as possible. We have guests on.
We interview comedians and musicians and actors and just have
friends come on and just do roundtable talks and joke around,
and I love it. We've been doing that for six years.
And then I've been a lifelong I've had a lifelong
(42:47):
interest in UFOs since I was eight years old, and
last year I started on like a UFO podcast called
Others from Another Mother, and the main focus of that.
For the most part, sometimes I'll talk just myself my
co host, or by myself. I'll chat. But I've noticed
that people who work in music, or people that are
(43:09):
painters or sculptors, or people that work in the arts
tend to have sometimes more more experiences with either seeing
something or experiencing something unexplainable, and so it's a lot
of talking about that connection and just people's experiences with
(43:31):
with with UFOs.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
It's fascinating, though I can see.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
I wish I could say I had an experience over time.
I'm like, there's something out there, well there, I don't
know if it's little green men, it's it's et. It
could be something we don't even we can't wrap our
mind around, some sort of matter. You know that it's
a life form that we just can't grasp yet, or
(43:57):
all of that, or all of that. It could be
the entire Morty episode that those could be, That could
be a documentary all these these creatures that are out there.
I'm telling I just I want this to go out
into the universe. Maybe you should tell me like I'm wrong.
I want an experience. I say this with ghosts. If
there's a ghost out there, poke me, you know, do
(44:17):
something move. So I've just never had an experience like
you know, this was so weird? What could this be?
So alans? I wish I want that experience?
Speaker 1 (44:26):
What have you? What? Yes, I have?
Speaker 3 (44:28):
What what do you want it for?
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Just to know that there's something out there, just to know,
just to know to know that this life, this very
tangible and finite life that humans have, isn't it? Like
I know, I feel, how you know, confident in that
because of how vast the universe is. If I can
use just one word there, but I would like to
(44:54):
I know it's the confirmation. I need a confirmation, which
I don't think it's going to happen, otherwise it would
be we'd be living in a different world if we
knew actually, you know, ghosts and aliens that were all
part of everything.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
So if you we can get really weird if you
want to.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
For a minute, Yeah, for a minute, for a minute, so.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
You I think you can have that experience.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
I mean, I think it's the kind of thing where
if you have the right intention and you really want
to see something, you kind of can just ask and
something will show itself to you or will Because that
happened to me in an incredible way on June tenth,
twenty twenty three, I had just that exact thing happened
(45:37):
where I've always known that, like consciousness is part of
the UFO thing, where there's some kind of mind universe
consciousness connection.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
I know we're getting weird, but I'll make the story quick.
I was at a.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Diner not far from where I live and decided I'm
gonna I'm gonna try something.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
And I went and sat in my car. I do
not meditate.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
My wife meditates all the time and she can do
it anywhere. But I close my eyes. I'm sitting in
my car, and bear with me. I started thinking and
speaking into the universe, whatever that means. It sounds so stupid,
but putting my thought, imagining my thoughts going across the universe.
(46:24):
And I was saying, I know something's out there. I
would like to see something. I'm unafraid and I kind
of I want to learn. I'm here to listen if
you're willing to show me something. And dude, I heard
a voice in the middle of my head, the clearest
(46:45):
voice I've ever heard in my life. It was it
was a masculine voice. It was not my voice, but
the clearest message I've ever gotten in my life. And
it said, I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Forget the words.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
It said, close your eyes and looked I'm sorry, open
your eyes and look to the right.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Okay, I'm completely sober, by the way. I wasn't no edibles.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
I've never been drunk in my life.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
So I opened my eyes.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
I look across the street and I watched a craft
materialize right in front of me, up above the trees,
right across the street from me. I was like an
old television, like an old static television. I watched this
thing flicker into existence. I don't even know how else
to describe it. So I'm just mesmerized. And I watched
(47:29):
her for two minutes. It was never fully solid, like
it was never fully here with us, but it was
there and it kind of just did this just barely
moved for two minutes, and just the way it came,
it kind of just flickered out. And it was, without
(47:50):
a doubt, the most profound moment of my entire life.
And my wife and I talk about everything. We're very open.
There's nothing I can't bring up to her. And I
didn't even tell her for three weeks, and she's open
to this kind of stuff. It just felt like it
was something that was like just for me. I asked
in that moment with complete sincerity, and something listened and
(48:11):
showed me something.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
I believe you now, now it's my turn.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Now, That's what I mean. But there's thousands of people
that have had this kind of story where you just
have to really mean it and for the right reasons.
I don't even know what that means. But and by
the way, I never thought for a second to get
my camera, to get my phone for a picture. That's
another thing you hear from people is that it doesn't
even go through your mind. So if you want to
see it because you want a picture to show people,
(48:39):
you're not going to get anything. But I asked sincerely
for my own I needed it for me, and it responded.
And there's been stuff that's happened since then, too, but
that was the most That was the most profound one.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Okay, I mean, if this is a teaser to your podcast, man,
this is that's certainly.
Speaker 3 (48:56):
Oh yeah, we talked about some some fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Very cool man, I did for my my actual radio job.
I think you interviewed somebody from it. It was like
a new documentary that came out about all the government, oh,
the age of disclosure. Yeah, yeah, so I I listened
in because I was a tour producer for that of that.
The director of that, Dan far Yes, doing all these
(49:22):
interviews about it, and I mean, yeah, there's abous this
It's it's just crazy. It was really interesting that the
world that my son is going to grow up in,
you know, compared to what we grew up in. I
mean now, I mean, my god, back then it was aliens.
We're all again green people, and now aliens are admitted
to and you can get we delivered to your door.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
And they live in the ocean.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
That's that's one of the weirdest things.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
They're in the ocean. That's what it seems like.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
What a world that we live in. I know, Uh, Dan,
this was a pleasure. I thank you for all the
stories that you shared. You know, it's this is why
I can get along with Red Sox fans. It's okay,
and so.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
I say this all the time. I would rather talk
baseball with a Yankees fan than a Red Sox fan.
And also, Aaron Judge is my favorite non Red Sox
baseball player.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
I love that dude.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
He's a hard guy to like this. I know, he
can get stuff about. It's the way that US Yankee
fans are, you know, championship or bust. Yeah, and he
got a lot of flak. It wasn't like he blew
the game against the Dodgers. You know, hey, he had
a moment. Yeah, they were still losing. They could have
still lost that game. All this hindsight stuff.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
That was a calamity. I mean, that was they that
was that was an ugly, ugly end to that series.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
Oh yes it was. But I'm telling you nothing after
two thousand and four, man, I'm sorry. I know your
life changed, all our lives changed. I'm just like, I
don't know if I've been this same sports fans. It's
you have a Red Sox tattoo.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
I got this tattoo within a week after that Aaron
Boone home run. So I got this after they lost,
and I was like, I'm in this for the rest
of my life. I punched the ground.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
After that happened.
Speaker 1 (50:59):
I think I broke my hand, and then a week
later I got that so.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
Hard. I respect it. Thanks, thanks, They still get me.
But I have to control and now that you know,
because I'm an Island just fan too, and they're good
this year, but they used to being terrible. And it
just goes back to throwing things. I've thrown things, Axel,
do not judge h for throwing things. Never forget throwing
like the remote against my college dorm room. Sure, and
the Island is lost in the playoffs. Against the Maple Leaves. Anyway,
(51:24):
we're going off on another sports tangent here, please come
back on. Obviously, there's so many things I would love
to anytime.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
This is the Blasts. Yeah, you do a great job,
great interview.
Speaker 3 (51:34):
This is very smooth, and I look forward to it.
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
I appreciate it, and I hope he's nickname is Baby
Brownstone Harrison Rex is his real name. If he wasn't too.
Did you hear him scale around him a little bit?
It's great, It's great, all right.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
I enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
It's how old two and a half?
Speaker 1 (51:51):
Oh boy, I hear those are the fun years.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
Huh for the most part, Yeah, for the most part. Yeah.
And I'm going to take him to go see Guns
and Roadses next year. I can't I can't wait. We
took him to see Paul McCartney and he slept through
half of it. Well, he has headphones. But the fact
that I get to see G and R with him
and and now Flavor Flavor and Bubble Agatomy, I'm like,
I'm more excited for that than than the actual show.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
How many show has you been to?
Speaker 2 (52:19):
I don't know, because my first show because at my age.
I'm forty two. I didn't have an opportunity into until
two thousand and two. Okay, so maybe twelve okay, awesome, Yeah, awesome. Yeah.
So I mean every year that they've gone, and I
think it was only one year I went multiple times,
and that was because my wife is awesome and she
likes to go all these shows. She's even saying she's like, well,
(52:40):
who's opening up for met Life? Who's opening up for
in herstry Park? Maybe we'll go to those two. I'm like,
favorite night, favorite GENR song, November Rain is mine.
Speaker 3 (52:49):
That's your, that's your, that's yours.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
Okay, yeah, yeah, that's what you talk about tattoos. I
don't want to disappoint you. I'm not gonna take my
shirt off, but that's what I right my left shoulder blade.
I have the boy writing in the book.
Speaker 3 (53:01):
For Beautiful for gn R. I've always said night Train
is the best rock song of all time.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
Oh cool, Yeah, I have the Robot guy also right
on Elliot. I mean night Train, you can't go wrong
with that, man.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
I have the best, the best rock and roll song
of all time lyrically, musically, it's just like, oh it's
so great.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
Did you have a hard time like whether it's I
mean maybe with more of gn R because you were
new with that and and this will be my last question,
I guess sure not rocking out sometimes and just like
wanting to, you know, wanting to rock out, like oh crap,
I have a job to do.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
I would get lost in a couple of times because
I also would you know, when you take care of Duff,
you have to do his turn, his chorus pedal on
and do a couple of effects for him. So there
were definitely a couple of times where I was like
watching the show and missed my cues. I missed the
stuff I was supposed to do. And I'm someone too
like I enjoy the show. So I'm I'm the only
(53:57):
guy in the crew who's like bopping my head and
I was. I was in do it every single night.
Speaker 3 (54:01):
I was into it.
Speaker 1 (54:02):
So is I'm at work. But it's also it's a
pretty cool place to go to work. But I definitely
made sure to enjoy it. And I also knew I'm
a filling guy. I'm just a placeholder.
Speaker 3 (54:14):
This is not my job.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
I'm just keeping the seat warm for a friend of mine.
But I wanted to make sure I took in every
second of it, and I watched the crowd like I've
been part of shows with big crowds before, but never
when it was that band's crowd, like that was all
for them, you know, forty to sixty thousand people, and
you know when he's doing Knock on Heaven's Door and
(54:37):
he puts the mic out for the crowd to sing, like,
if you're not affected by that, you're not a human being.
So it's goosebumps. It's like, you know, seeing everyone go
through something together in a positive way never gets old,
and it was never lost on me. I didn't take
it for granted, and I paid attention and enjoyed every second.
Speaker 2 (54:56):
Of that of that six weeks awesome. Is that a
special poster behind you, the gn R poster or is
that just one last show?
Speaker 1 (55:04):
And tell this is from the Buenos Aires shows they did.
They had two joint posters.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
But this one in particular. I don't know if I've
told this yet, but.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
There was a day that Duff was sick and he
texted me and said, you know, I'm not coming to soundcheck.
Do you think you can play sound check for me?
I was like, uh, I don't, I don't, I don't know.
I mean, I don't really know.
Speaker 3 (55:32):
I don't really know a whole lot of Gen R songs.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
So Slash came up to me before soundcheck and said,
you know, Duff said, you play bass, what do you know?
And I said, well, I can do Rocket Queen, I
can do patients to check acoustic guitar, and he said okay.
So I did sound check with Guns and Roses in
(55:55):
Buenos Aires, which is another one of these surreal moments
where I'm out there, I'm looking to my left and
there's Slash, you know, playing guitar while I'm playing bass
for Rocket Queen and then just playing patients with those guys.
So I got one poster just from from that night
because it's the day that I did sound check.
Speaker 3 (56:13):
With fucking Guns N' Roses.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
Awesome, Dan, Yeah, what great, awesome stories man, Awesome dude.
Just we'll do this again and then something, whether it's
the New year, whether you have something to promote, you
can always come on. We go Bassemare season and we
can argue, oh yeah, fun a way. So happy New Year, man,
and happy holidays because at the end of the years
(56:39):
and so everyone out there. I'll have one more episode
before actually I'm going to Colorado for the holidays. Actually,
so before I leave for that, in a couple of weeks,
i'll actually i'll do a whole review of the new songs.
But I appreciate you asking, so I can give a
little teaser for that. So that does it for this
episode of Appetite put Distortion. When will we see the
next one? In the words of Axle, was concerning Chinese democracy.
(57:01):
I don't know as soon as the word, but you'll
see it.
Speaker 1 (57:04):
Thanks to the lame ass security. I'm going home
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