Join @thebuzzknight with this episode Kevin Wasserman, known as Noodles from The Offspring. We explore the journey he has had as guitarist of The Offspring, discussing the formation of the band in 1984, their rise to fame in the 1990's punk rock scene, and their continued success with new music called "SUPERCHARGED"
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Taking a Walk. When we started this, we never thought we were going to be traveling the world ever, you know, we you know, we knew we wanted to get in a van and just try to go places and you know, play for different people in different parts of the country. But we never thought it would become what it became. For ten years, it was driving in a van and well, first it was Dexter's pickup truck. I'm going across Guttry in his pickups truck.
Welcome to another episode of the Taking a Walk podcast with your host, Buzz Night. Buzz speaks with musicians about their music, their passion, and their latest work. Today, Buzz is joined by Kevin Wasserman, better known as Noodles, the guitarist of the iconic punk rock band The Offspring. Noodles has been a driving force behind The Offspring's energetic sound for over three decades, helping shape the landscape of punk rock and alternative music. From their breakout success with Smash in nineteen ninety four to their continued relevance in the music scene with new music super Charged, Noodles has been there every step of the way. Here's Buzznight with Noodles on Taking a Walk.
Noodles, it's so great to have you on the Take Out a Walk podcast.
Thanks, buzz. Yeah, it's good to be here.
So what was the first time you remember noodling on a guitar?
Oh?
Gosh, really, when I was probably twelve or so, I actually took lessons from the sweet old lady in the neighborhood who wanted to teach me Flies in the Buttermilk Shoe, Fly Shoe, and I just couldn't have been more bored with that, so I kind of put it away for a while. There was always guitars laying around both Mike, we had a cousin who came and lived with us, and he was a lefty, but we restrung his guitar right handed anyways. And then my dad had a classical guitar always laying around, and so I just always kind of pick it up. But it wasn't until I was really about eighteen when I really started learning how to play guitar properly.
Would you ever consider a punk version of Flies in the Buttermilk Shoe.
Fight you, Oh God, let's talk. Let's talk to me first. In the GIMMI gimmes see what they see, how they could put that together.
So what were the other influences at that time? It was like Hendrick I'm sure was a big deal growing up, and.
A lot of like really, you want to know, what really got me to want to play guitar was the theme song to mash Suicide Is Painless. I just thought it was so beautiful. In fact, I in fifth grade I learned how to play the flute because of that song. I wanted, you know, the flute and the guitar thing. And then the flute seemed a little, i don't know, a little too uh, I don't know, I don't know what's the right word for it. A little too wimpy, I guess. So then in sixth grade I switched to the trumpet. And my dad was a big trumpet player. He loved the trumpet, and so I think I was trying to, you know, emulate my dad a little bit.
You were trying to find your way a little bit, right exactly.
Yeah, Yeah, And we're still trying to find our way absolutely.
You know, you never you're never too old to try to, yeah, to try new things and try to learn new things.
So the band's been around for nearly forty years. What is the secret to this amazing longevity of the band.
I mean, you gotta love doing it. I love playing music, you know, from the very obsessive, compulsive part of you know, being in the studio trying to come up with new music that it sounds good something you like, you know, from nothing to just rehearsals and you know, going over the same stuff over and over again, and then getting out and you know, finally playing you know, songs for an audience and connecting with them. I mean, it's just it's it's what I love to do, absolutely love it. And all the guys in the band right now feel the same way. It's it's we're having a lot of fun doing what we do.
Congratulations on super Charge. We'll talk about that in a little bit.
That's really astounding and really great music as well.
For sure. First concert experience that you ever can remember.
Oh gosh, yeah, early days. I remember going and seeing just punk bands in backyards really, you know, and bands that would play in my high school quad and I just thought, man, these guys are just doing it. They figured out how to play instruments and get together with people and play music. I just always thought, even like some of the crappiest bands. I always thought there's something really special about getting together with you know, three or four other people and making music together and just vibing with each other. I've always I've always dug that first big concert might have been Rush and thirty eight special at the Forum here in.
LA And I mean it was a positive experience, obviously, Yes, yeah.
Yeah, I dug it. You know it was, Uh, it was. I always preferred smaller venues, you know, and and clubs, going to see Gosh, the Dickies at Ichabod's in Fullerton, you know, stuff like that. I guess the Ramones at the Pladium were that was kind of kind of a big, big show, you know, compared to some of the some of the smaller clubs.
So your guitar playing is so core to the band.
Has it evolved in certain ways over time?
Do you think?
Uh? I suppose. I I like to think I've gotten better and more consistent in my playing. I'm less sloppy over time, but I still have sloppy days, you know. And uh, you know, I kind of I kind of joke about I'm I'm the guy who comes in and puts the tattered edge on everything in the studio. I think there's some truth to that, but I'm think there's also some energy to my playing that just adds something rather than takes away from from a recording.
I'm glad you talk about imperfection because I think it is part of the beauty of the sound. Really, I think and do you feel at times today, especially with technology.
And everything, that there's sometimes too much perfection?
Well, I think that was what got me into punk rock. You know, there was a lot of really just overproduced, big arena rock bands where everything was you know, had to be perfect, and punk rock was kind of the antithesis of that. You could, if you had three chords and you know, something to scream about, you can you can make songs and make music.
Now, were you somebody with your guitar where you would you know, fool around and reverse engineers certain things maybe that you wanted to get out of a guitar. Would you sort of you know, tech around with.
Things a little bit, you know, experiment with different you know, different types of effect boxes and stuff. You know, when I was first learning, you know, everything was analog. You didn't have all the digital tools that you have today, you know, So yeah, I mean you know, gosh, what was the like the memory man? Uh, you know, effects boxes were so weird, you know, and you can get some really weird sounds out of those and the different delays and stuff where there was a lot of fun messing around with that stuff and trying to figure it out. And then also yeah, like you know, trying to make a citar by putting you know, a piece of like metal coat hanger over the edge so that it it buzzes right next to the bridge, you know, trying to make a gitar sound like that, and the different things like that, try to make it sound like bells by how you how you pick it differently, you know, I know, and listening to you know, other people talking about how they made music. I know, the Stones talked about you know, Street Fighting Man was an acoustic guitar that they taped onto a little I think a little tape recorder and then played it back into the microphone and it just distorted. And that's how they got that sound for Street Fighting Man, you know. And so you kind of you listen to what other people are doing and then experiment, you know, with your own your own equipment.
And I see you got some guitars behind you there. What are some of your your favorites. I'm sure they're all favorites, but are there some particular ones that you can highlight?
Yeah? Right here, Well, there's my signature model, the kind of Start or Sunburst Talman. That's my latest signature model, and I love the Talents. They just they play great. They have kind of like a sixties vintage feel to them. They're lightweight, which is great if you're jumping up and down on stage for an hour and a half. It's nice to have something that's not too heavy. I never could handle the especially jumping up and down handling of les. Paul's a little heavy.
But I love them.
In the studio, I love you know a lot of guitars, I guess I don't know if you can see the class but one that's the my dad's classical guitar. I have a Sunburse Telly and that's a reissue of the very one of the very first guitars I ever bought was a Telly and I used to play that in the early days and eventually realized that the feedback from that that bridge pickup was just a little too much. It was it wasn't I mean it was like screaming microphonic feedback, you know, and it would be a little bit, a little bit too much. So then I got a humbucker and and made it a little bit less noise. I think my first humbucking guitar was a Gibson Sonics like a and then I had a I couldn't afford a full on less Paul, so I got an epiphone less Paul and and made that work and sounded great. And that was probably around the ignition era I started using that stuff.
You mentioned your pop, who I know you've you've lost fairly recently. I know he meant the world to you. Can you talk about your dad and the great inf ruins he had on you.
Yeah, so it's still a little a little raw, but yeah, sure. You know, my dad always encouraged me to to to play music, well, you know, just not as loudly sometimes, you know, and as and he hated he hated punk rock. Like I remember him yelling at me, there's no such thing as a holiday in Cambodia, and I'm like, you know, Dad, you might be getting it, you might be getting it now, and uh, but he always encouraged me to play, you know, and and was always proud of just by meagerest accomplishments. He didn't I didn't need to sell a million records, you know for you know, to earn his appreciation, and and uh, you know, he just he was always there, so yeah, that you know it was And he was always playing music from Simon and Garfunkle with the harmonies and and uh Crossby Stills, A Nash Creden's clear Water for the Swampy Rocks that he loved Credence. And then you know classical stuff Christopher Parkning, you know on guitar, a classical guitar eighteen twelve overture would always play like in the morning that I think he would do that when I was a teenager in my twenties and I'd be sleeping it, sleeping in he would blare eighteen twelve overture to try to get me out. But fortunately I really liked that that music a lot.
And I imagine he had a sense of humor. He did well that you might have obtained from him.
But also listen to Steve Martin records and Cheech and Shawn records. You know, I still have all those. I still have all those records. Yeah, very fond memories.
And as life comes full circle, you've recently become a grandfather.
Congratulations, thank you, thank you. Yeah, I'm just so excited, so excited, and people to call me grandpa like it it's an insult, but oh, hell no, it's a badge of honor. I love it.
Boy or girl, A little girl, Emily, congratulations.
I bet it's full of so much energy that.
Yet. But yeah, she's very inquisitive. She's strong, you know, you know, but I know, like you know, as soon as she starts walking, she's gonna run, I'm sure. But she's she's her eyes. She's very inquisitive, very you know, she focuses on things, and yeah, I can't wait to I can't wait to see her again.
And I wonder what the conversation is going to be like when you explain to her.
What you do for a living.
Yeah, I'm sure she'll grow up just kind of being used to it. You know, isn't everybody's grandpa do something similar, you know, when it's your grandpa. I know, with my kids, what I was doing wasn't cool. You know, really, I think they appreciate it more now than they did. You know coming out, it was just kind of what, you know, what dad did? I know? My daughter, the one who just had the baby, she didn't really think much of my band until weird Al covered pretty Fly for a well, Pretty Fly for a Rabbi. My daughter saw that. It was like, Dad, weird Al covered one of your sons. You're you're like in a real band, thank you?
Yeah, that is funny.
Yeah. And my son, you know, had a kind of a you know, I think he appreciated what I do a little bit more because he was a big fan of He got into punk rock with a through a friend of his. Really, then he started to realize, I know these guys, like I know the guys in ts so well, I know Dave Dictor from MDC, you know some of the some of the bands he loved the most. So it was kind of it was kind of cool. So what for you?
Were the uh Or are still the the quintessential punk albums of all time?
Well, the first two records that I ever heard. It got me into punk rock. Where the Dicky White vinyl ep, I think it was a promotional thing, and then never mind the Bullets, the sex Pistols, and I was like and they're both different. The Dickey's definitely had a sense of humor, but also that raw energy and power, you know, and in your face, you know, punk rock music. And then you know, the Sex Pistols had a sort of a dry, witty sense of humor and just tons of just guts and viscera, you know, and they're playing and I just love that. And that was the first time I heard that. I was like, what is this? You know, Like I said, I grew up with my dad's music a little bit more polished and pretty. You know, I still still love that stuff, but this was just all leaving on the floor, you know, bloodied and battered and bruised, and and I loved that about about punk rock music. Some of the some of the records of Ramona's first record stayed on my turntable for a month. Tsol's Dance with Me. So the TSL is a local Huntington Beach band, Huntington Long Beach band, and h if it wasn't for TSOL, I don't think there would be any offspring. That was the band that tied us together the most. We all we all love that band.
So described the first encounter with with Dexter Yeah, you know what.
I always kind of known who he was. We grew up in the same neighborhood. I was actually in boy Scouts with his older brother. We were in the same uh uh was a true pack and was a it was the unit called I can't remember that. Yeah, we were in the same little group, you know, within the bigger troop and UH and so I just kind of always knew of the Hollands. Our mothers did UH children's theater together when we were really young. So I just kind of always knew him, and then I met him. I was playing drums with our original drummer, James Lilia, who's now a oncological surgeon up in the in the Santa Santa Cruz area, and Uh I was playing in a band with James and and uh Dexter sat with that band. It was called Clowns of Death. We stole the name from That was oingele Boingo's undercover band name. They would do shows built as the Clowns of Death. Like when they would have a big show like US Festival or cal Jam or whatever it was, they would be on that stage and they would play as Clowns of Death, you know, just in a small club as a warm up gig, so we sold a name. I was playing with James and then Dexter sat in and I was like, oh cool, you know this I always knew him was like the you know, straight a stude and you know, brilliant guy. It didn't knowing what I know about punk rock, it didn't surprise me he got into punk rock, but you know, so we kind of connected over that, and then he stole James from my band and then eventually asked me to join what was then Mannic Subsidaled and then would eventually become the offspring shortly after.
Would you ever have imagined that he'd be flying you guys back and forth to gigs and stuff like that.
No way, yeah, no way. I'm not surprised. You know that he got his pilot's license and stuff. You know. I mean, he's such an overachiever. He really he's got to be doing something at all times. I'm kind of the opposite. I like doing nothing and just getting lost and whatever I'm doing, he puts his He he sees something, he sees a goal, and he aims for it and he gets it done. He does not like leaving things unfinished. That's why he went back and got his PhD recently. You know, he couldn't leave that unfinished. I really do admire that about him. He's one of the smartest people I know. But when we started this, we never thought we were going to be traveling the world ever, you know, we we you know, we knew we wanted to get in a van and just try to go places and you know, play for different people in different parts of the country. But we never thought it would become what it became. For ten years, it was driving in a van and well first it was his Dexter's pickup truck, going across country in his pickup truck.
You know.
And then after ten years come out and play came out as our third record, Smash, and then it things just went from there.
Well you were saying, how you know, he's always got to be overachieving and stuff like that, and and that's how he balances his life. But you find balance in interesting places. From the joy of fishing.
Fishing I always always have. Yeah, it's very you know, it kind of takes me out of the out of the world. I'm focusing on something's really pretty simple. You know, if you know what you're doing it's it's really pretty simple. It's takes a lot of patience, but that I don't know, that's that kind of focus for somebody with ADHD. It's surprising that I have the patience to do that the way I do. But I do love it. Yeah. Plus, it puts you in beautiful parts of the world, being out on a on a you know, a boat in the middle of the ocean, or uh, you know, being on a lake, or hiking along a stream in the in the mountains. I love. I love getting out into the you know, into the wilderness and forests or desert or you know, open ocean. I love all that.
Well, the other wonderful juxtaposition and about you is your bird watching.
I started doing that. Yeah, you know, I moved down to we moved down well here where we live is is you know, by the beach, and I could see the ocean, and I see these birds out there. I'm going, what is that? What is that?
You know?
I've seen all these different different birds and and I started just kind of trying to figure out what they were. Look at them, all the shore birds. There's some wetlands nearby where I all go hiking and and you know, some really interesting birds. I decided, let's let's try to figure out what those are. I'm a complete amateur. I'm not very good at it at all, but I'm starting to recognize some of my local birds, and I have a bird app for when I travel. You know, we were just in Iceland recently and I'm trying to figure out what kind of birds where. They're just out on a vacation with my with my wife and son.
Did you see anything odd there?
Bird was not really, you know, mostly just different kinds of seagulls. Really, it's all yeah, you know, yeah, what.
A beautiful country. Huh, thank god, it really is.
It's really unique. You know, it's such a new geographical country. There's not a whole lot like, there's not a whole lot of mammals. I think the Arctic fox is really the only the only native mammal there. You know. It's mostly all about sheep, which for introduced, you know, sheep, and then they have their own breed of horses also introduced, but they've become their own breed. Of course. People love the Icelandic horses for some reason.
One minute you think you're on Mars and the next minute you're in a completely different terrain that looks like it's almost out out west in New Mexico or something.
Right, it's in some of the volcanic hills kind of remind you if the green ones remind you of Hawaii even, you know, because it's very volcanic like Hawaii, so geographically it's it looks like that, only much much colder.
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
You know you've meant you love how you see fans, you know, bringing their kids to shows, and how the band has you know, passed on to other generations. Just talk about the feeling you get when you look out and you see that in the audience.
Yeah, it's it's super cool. You know, we and we do. You know, we run into a lot of fans at meeting greets or you know whatever. Sometimes I'll run into them just at the local supermarket and it'll be both the parents and the kids who are fans.
Now.
I know, when Smash first came out, most fans would go, dude, my mom hates you. I remember fans telling me that I probably for songs like Bad Habit more than anything. You know, and now you see, you know, the parents and kids both vibing out to our music. And I think it's just a great feeling. It's it's super cool. And I know how that is because, like I said earlier, when when my son got into punk rock, he and I were able to share that and could go to shows. Now he's you know, he's twenty two and he's all into still go to some shows together, but he's more into his own own thing and and uh, but but that time we had and you know, able to bond over that was super special and so so I get that and I love being able to be part of that.
For other people, you recalled the worst gig that you ever played, and why was it the worst gig?
Yeah, we were, we were. Uh. Fortunately we had two gigs that night and were able to redeem ourself. The first one was we got uh, we got paid pretty for us back then, pretty good money to play this co op in Berkeley where a friend of ours was going to school and he lived in this co op and we played the dinner the dinner hour. I guess. So all these you know, young college students are coming through, clanking their plates and silverware and and getting food and then sitting down and we're in the corner of this cafeteria at this co op, trying to shred and play and you know, all this loud punk rock stuff and we still were weren't even as loud as the clinking plates and silverware, and people are just sitting there looking at us, eating their food. It was the most uncomfortable, weirdest show we ever played. And unfortunately, right after that we got to go play. I think it was Gilman Street. It might have been a backyard party. I'm not sure. It's around the same time. I think it was Gilman Street and had a great show at Gilman Street. Was always fun.
Playing at Woodstock though, was fairly nasty, wasn't it.
Yeah, yeah, it was. I mean it was really an inhospitable grounds to have any kind of concert, just no and mother nature took a real dump on us with the heat. You know, it was unusually warm and unusually hot. Eight dollars bottles of water and we could just feel that. We played on the first day and you could kind of feel the tension building even then. You know, we knew that this could go and get really ugly really quickly.
What was that gag, the trash gag that you guys would do.
Oh god, yeah, we we did that. I think the first first time we did it was at a local amphitheater we played it might have been the Weenie Roast or somebody was like one of the first times we played there, and Dexter says, you know, it's getting pretty messy out there. Why don't you guys take all that trash around you and throw it up here and we'll take care of it for you. You know. It's like right before the encore. So they started, you know, throwing this, and I thought, this is really funny. And then I realized both my parents are out in the audience. Dexter's moms out in the audience, my daughter, who I think it was six years old at the time, was out in the audience. But nobody got hurt. It was funny. It was a funny gag, and we got away with it, and I think we did it, I don't know, three or four more times. But then in Chicago it got real ugly and people started picking up full on trash cans and throwing them at each other, and somebody got hurt by hitting somebody threw a trash can on him, and so we had to stop doing that that gag. I think we might have upset the Chili Peppers too one night, because we did it right before they were on after us, and their crew wasn't wasn't too happy. So we went and we apologized. You know, we certainly didn't mean to cause them any any trouble. We're fans of the Peppers. Oops right, yeah, yeah.
Are bad.
They were they were what they were gracious about it.
You know, what do you think the state of the punk scene is now?
You know, there's still well, gosh, I think it's stronger than it ever has been. I mean last year we played though when we were young festival, I know, they just had it again and we're slated to play it again next year. So that's that's more like nineties and early two thousands, you know punk bands and emo bands and all the you know, the Warp Tour kind of you know era punk bands. But if you go to clubs, there's still young punk bands that sound like bands we were playing with thirty five forty years ago, and it's it's really varied. My son plays in a band and they're called the Grin and I go see their shows, and I see a lot of bands that they're playing with that sounded like bands we played with thirty forty years ago. It's kind of cool. You know, they'll add you know, new elements and different elements. You hear a lot more kind of hip hop and I guess chechno you know, infused you know, elements to the to the punk music. But it's still it's still happening. I think it's I think it's rad.
Are you familiar with the recent kurfluffle that occurred with Green Day where they were talking about Las Vegas in a disparaging way?
Did you Did you pick up on this story at all?
No, I'm not familiar with it.
I think what the the essence of it was.
You know, they were out in you know, San Francisco Bay area and they were talking about the departure of certain sports teams ultimately you know, moving to Vegas.
And they weren't too they weren't too thrilled.
With it, nonetheless, and they you know, said some things about Las Vegas, right, and then all of a sudden, you have a couple of radio stations thinking it would be a cool stunt to.
Ban Green Day. You know because of their comments.
Right, I heard about this and I'm thinking, wait, isn't that the essence of punk?
Yeah? Right, I know, yeah, totally. Yeah, I'm trying to cancel Green Day. That might work for a minute, but I don't think that's gonna I don't think that's gonna last too long.
It's not gonna work. Right, So let's talk about super Charged.
Talk about, first of all, the creative process, how this all came together, how you know, much fun it was putting it together, and maybe highlight a couple of your favorite tracks off of it.
Okay, yeah, yeah, we you know, we well, gosh, we just came out of the pandemic and uh, you know the pandemic. We learned a lot during the pandemic. We we learned that we really miss playing live shows when it's taken away from us. We missed it so much that we we went in the studio and actually rehearsed. We went back and looked at every song that we played, and even songs that we don't play that often, and and tried to make sure we were all playing them together in time, because over thirty years, you'll develop bad habits and you won't even realize, you know, where you're just kind of coming in a little bit late on this one part where you're strumming is like, you know, me and Dexter won't be strumming the exact same thing, and it gets a little sloppy there. And so we went over all of that mostly with me, Todd and Jonah in the studio. Pete wasn't wasn't really well the time he lived out of town and it was before Brandon joined, So it'd be me, Todd and Jonah in there, just making sure everything's locked in, especially the guitar parts. You know, there's certain things where you want it sloppy. Not sloppy, but it can be a little bit looser. That adds to the energy. But if you know, there's a lot of times too where if you're not together on a really heavy, you know, rhythmic art, it takes away from the energy. It really does kind of kind of muddled, muddies it all up. So we just kind of spent a lot of time going over all that and had a really fun time doing it. We'd go into the studio and work on a few songs, working on our backing vocals too, making sure somebody's covering each harmony. It was a lot of fun. Gosh, I went way back into this, didn't I. So that's good. No, it's good.
Yeah.
And we you know, we released Let the Bad Times Role. Was pretty much done at that point and uh, and we didn't get to tour on it until things started opening up, and then we went back out you know, on tour. We had Josh Freeze on drums at that point and uh, and just started kicking ass. I mean, it just really felt really good. We we had really done our homework and got everything tightened up. Josh added a lot and uh, and then you know, we wanted to keep this going that we when we did Let the Bad Times Role, it was nine years in between records, and we didn't want that time to go by. But also right before that, like the last year of making that record, last year and a half two years was really a creative time for us. Most of the songs on Let the Bad Times Role happened within that two year period, you know, And so then we just kind of felt that once we finished touring, well, even while we were touring on Let the Bad Times Role, we started going in the studio the way we do it now is we'll go into the studio for like two weeks at a time, and Bob will fly out. He usually he lives in Hawaii. He also spends a lot of time in Vancouver, so either he would fly out here, wo'd fly to Hawaii or Vancouver and meet up for a week to two weeks and we just work on, you know, various songs and you try to get a song close to being done in that time. You know, a lot of times if things are tough and it's going slow, you'll shelve it and then go on to something else, you know, and see how that works. And then you know, kind of bounce around and within like two years of working or you know, whatever it took, we were we knew we were done. And then the record said, well, if you finish it by April of this year, we could have it out. And we're like, we can do that. And so I think we had to come up with the last two songs. Really everything else was pretty much done and it just really kind of kind of came together and fell into pieces. Working with Bob's great Bob Rocker producers is just phenomenal. He's like he's like an older brother. He's like a friend, a mentor, you know, we just have a really great relationship. We love his ideas, his his you know, feelings and beliefs about music and what makes good music, you know, really resonate with us. And I mean we have a good time.
I think this is amazing and so cool. That make it all? Right?
Hit number one both on the Alt Airplay and the Active Rock Airplay charts, That's that's freaking cool as hell.
I think that's the first for us. I don't think we've ever had an number one on both those charts at the same time. So yeah, that is that is really cool. I mean, it's a different world now than than it was, you know, than it has been in the past. But still I'll take it.
Well, but I have to say, as somebody who throughout my career, uh you know, helped manage some some mainstream rock stations, I mean, you guys were kind of saviors for that format as well. I mean I have to thank you for that because with the stations that I was part of, like w r I F and Detroit or w MMR and Philadelphia, you know, you guys were like a lifeblood for us.
Well, well, thank you. I don't know if I can, you know, take on that, but but you thank you. You know, we've always well, I mean grew up listening to radio. It's it means a lot to us. We still visit. We just hung out with Pierre at MMR a couple of months, a month and a half ago, you know, the the mmrbecue. Yeah yeah, so, you know, thank you for that. That's very kind, kind words and I appreciate that.
And then congratulations on the Spotify Billions club as well.
My god, that's so thank you.
Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's kind of hard to wrap your head around, Matt. You know, a billion a billion listens. You know, I think only we only need to hit like seven billion more people and we've hit the whole world, right something like that. Yeah, I think kids aren't all right? Is hot on its heels. I think at the end of the year that one should hit a billion.
And I want to talk about these amazing events that occurred where you guys were playing and were joined by some some special some special guests.
Amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's first talk about the Ed Sheer and experience. What was that like?
Yeah? Amazing? You know, he is just such a natural, you know at it, or seems to be such a natural ad. I know he puts a lot of work into what he does, but he's just phenomenal. I really like some of his singer songwriter stuff, songs like the Boat or the Castle on the Hill. You know, I really do like some of that stuff. When I saw that we were playing with him, I sent off an email and said, let's reach out. Let's see if he wants to sit in with us, you know, million in one shot. Thinking. You know, I knew that he was a fan early on. The first record he ever bought was Conspiracy of One his aunt gave him. He told us the story when we met. His aunt gave him ten pounds for Christmas or his birthday or something, and he went out and bought Conspiracy of One. It was his first record. And he used to to pretend to sing and play million miles Away in front of the mirror. And so he came out and did that song with us and hit it out of the park. He sent me a demo of him singing, just playing acoustic guitar and singing. He tuned it down another half a step and I went, oh, this is going to be amazing, and he came out it was phenomenal. It was just so much funny. It's the nicest guy in the world too. He really is very down to earth guy for somebody as successful as he is.
And then there was the collaboration with with young Blood.
Yeah, what was that Like, we just.
Had to get out of his way. That guy's got so much energy. He really is, Dexter joked about. You know, that's the best hype man you could have. He came out just getting the crowd going from the get go. He's got a great voice, great personality, great energy. I mean, you know, it was really hard to keep up with him. He's such a ball of fire and also just a really really nice guy. Had a lot of fun hanging with him as well.
And then there's the Brian May experience. Tell me about that.
Well, that was the one that just, you know, blew my mind the most because we've known, I mean, I've known Brian May for as long as I've known music existed, you know, a big Queen fan. You know, even when I got into punk rock and kind of stopped listening to a lot of the more bigger rock bands, Queen was still kind of cool. Because there was something edgy and punk rock about about Queen. You know, I don't know, maybe it's just Freddie's style, uh you know, Brian's guitar, the drums, and I don't know what it is, but there was something kind of kind of punk about some of what they did as well. So yeah, that was just mind blowing. We uh, we wanted to do. Dexter knew about this festival that Brian does with a friend of his, Garrick Israelian, called star MOUs and it's it's uh, physicists and musicians, you know, and and astronomers, you know, like stars and music, astronomy and music, and and we wanted to do it. We just asked. So we kind of begged to let us play. You know, they don't have a big music budget. We only go out and play one concert. You know, it's not very big. So we begged and they let us do it. And then we we it Brian up to play with us. He or he hit does he wanted to come out and do gone gone away with us with the the Slovakian National Symphony and then and then Dexter said, Brian, will you do Stone called Crazy with us? And he agreed. You know, he says he doesn't get to play that much with with the current you know, uh, carnation of the Bear, incarnation of the band. So so it was just phenomenal. I mean our minds were literally blown hanging out with this legend, absolute legend, and and playing with him, you know, sharing music, sharing, you know, licks back and forth. Just incredible.
What awesome, awesome experience.
Is there anybody on a on a dream list that you haven't played with that maybe the next time we you know, who.
Knows, gosh, any in the Rolling Stones would be a blast. There's so many, so many heroes out there, it's hard to focus on just one or two.
Yeah, that would be a good one, that's for sure.
Yeah.
Well, in closing, what would be in a tremendous surprise to your fans that is on your playlist of music that maybe they wouldn't expect that you'd be listening to.
Oh gosh, yeah, I'm trying to you know, there's some pop stuff that I that I do listen to that I guess maybe people wouldn't think I love it here And you know, I've been listening to you more and more since since.
We met, and stuff too. I love Billie Eilish, especially like she did an EP of acoustic songs. Those songs just make me weak. They're so good. I like Billy Eilish a lot. She's great. There's a band out of San Diego called Steam Power Giraffe and they started they would just kind of busk at like a local theme park down there, a park and they're great, very theatrical. I like them a lot. Stuff like that.
I guess, well, I have to tell you this is one of these moments where I have to just say how grateful I am for what I'm doing, because I had the opportunity to speak with you today to hear about your work, your life, and your your passion for.
It all and your honesty.
And I'm so grateful Noodles that you took the time to be on taking a walk.
Well, well, thank you, it's been you know, it's been my pleasure you You really kind of got deep into some things and I appreciate that this was a good conversation.
Thank you for being on, and thank you for all the music you continue to give us.
Well, thank you for your time, Buds, I appreciate it.
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