1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,760 Well, what's up everyone? 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:06,880 Welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast. 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:12,640 Steve Pavlovich, known as Pav, is a Croatian-Australian music entrepreneur, from booking some of the 4 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:17,840 biggest bands in the 90s to starting his own record label, putting on festivals in Croatia. 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,560 He's done it all. 6 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,920 And I'm going to read these opening sentences of an article that I found online because 7 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:23,920 I think it's cool. 8 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:29,920 For a fair bit of the 1990s, Steve Pavlovich was the coolest guy in Australia. 9 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,480 Pav had the home phone numbers of everyone on the cutting edge, from Kurt Cobain and 10 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:37,320 Dave Grohl to the Beastie Boys and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,640 I just thought that'd be a super cool introduction, but Pav, thanks for coming on the podcast. 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,840 Well, thank you for having me, Stunt. 13 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:44,840 I would have said that. 14 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:45,840 That's so flowery. 15 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:47,840 It might as well have been written in Croatian. 16 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:53,120 Oh, I wish I could speak Croatian as well as I actually my English wasn't that great reading 17 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:54,120 that intro either. 18 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:56,640 But yeah, definitely a cool intro. 19 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,080 I'm really excited to learn a little bit more about you. 20 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:01,840 But first, you're on Veece. 21 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,680 We spoke a little off camera and I've been messaging you. 22 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:06,220 I know you're on Veece. 23 00:01:06,220 --> 00:01:10,640 Can you, keeping that in mind, talk a little about your Croatian heritage? 24 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:11,880 Sure. 25 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:17,360 So my father immigrated to Australia after the Second World War, maybe sort of early 26 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,000 50s or something. 27 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,320 And he met my mother, an Australian woman, and they fell in love. 28 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:28,160 And he bred strongly, had six children, and had to work like three jobs to sort of take 29 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:29,840 care and pay for everything. 30 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:31,960 So we spent a lot of time growing up with our mothers. 31 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:33,680 We never really got to speak. 32 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,960 So I didn't really feel any connection to my Croatian heritage. 33 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:43,040 Much later, when I was dating a Croatian girl, she was from Zagreb and she was living in 34 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:44,040 Australia. 35 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,280 And I'm like, oh, I'm Croatian and she's like, bullshit. 36 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:49,280 You can't even speak. 37 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,720 So I'm like, okay, I feel a bit weird about this. 38 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,400 So I'm like, well, I want to know more about where my father was from and my background. 39 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,360 So I'd sold a business at the time and things were going pretty good. 40 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:06,320 So I took my father and my mother and the girlfriend at the time, Tanya, to Zagreb. 41 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:07,720 Along the way, my brother heard I was going. 42 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:08,720 He's like, well, I really want to go. 43 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:10,440 I said, okay, I'll bring you and your wife. 44 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,400 And then my sister found out, oh, you're taking those guys as well. 45 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,600 So in the end, I ended up taking a whole bunch of us. 46 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,280 And we went and saw where my father was from, traveled around, saw where he grew up, school 47 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,800 and stuff, met some of our relations. 48 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:28,960 And then after that, Tanya and I took a holiday along the island. 49 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,960 So we went to Kočla, Brac, Kva and Vis. 50 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,640 And then when I was there, I was like, man, we're pretty serious about things. 51 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:40,040 If we're going to have a family, I would like our children to be more connected to their 52 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:41,800 heritage than I was. 53 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,800 And we'd been drinking too much wine. 54 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:45,800 And I saw a house for sale. 55 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,200 I'm like, let's buy that house. 56 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,520 So I ended up buying this impulse sort of house thing. 57 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,320 And the following day, I kind of woke up with a hangover. 58 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:55,880 I'm like, oh my God, what have I done? 59 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:58,840 I just bought a house 24 hours away from my house. 60 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:00,640 It's the worst thing I've ever done. 61 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:03,640 But it turned out to be quite possibly the best thing I ever did. 62 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:06,800 And then my daughter was born a year and a half later. 63 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,520 And so she's been coming every year since she was born. 64 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,160 So she understands, well, she speaks well, she's not so confident. 65 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,080 But yeah, so I feel like she's got a good handle on her heritage. 66 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,800 It's given me the opportunity to spend a lot of time here. 67 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:20,800 Wow. 68 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,720 That's crazy, crazy how life sort of gives you twists and turns. 69 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,840 And then you sort of end back up where it all started, at least for your father. 70 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,600 Had your father been back at all before you took the whole family over? 71 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:34,400 Or was that his first time back? 72 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:35,400 Yeah. 73 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,760 No, he'd been back once before, maybe twice. 74 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:40,040 I think once really. 75 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,600 And at that time, I was just a sort of young rebellious child that just loved my music and 76 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,600 stuff when I wasn't really interested in too much about culture. 77 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,760 I was pretty obsessive about music growing up. 78 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:51,760 So I just didn't pay a lot of mind. 79 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:57,520 It wasn't like I said until too many years later, I met this woman, Tanya, and there 80 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:58,520 we are. 81 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:00,640 And here I am, and deeply loving being here. 82 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,240 Yeah, that's awesome. 83 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:03,240 That's awesome. 84 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:04,240 Well, you mentioned music. 85 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,120 And of course, I want to ask you about that. 86 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,720 Where did you sort of get your start, musically speaking? 87 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,160 Well, it wouldn't have been for my family. 88 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,400 They listened to terrible music growing up around it. 89 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:20,560 But I remember when I was about 11 years old, I had a couple of friends, Matt and Chris 90 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:21,920 Eddy. 91 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,120 And they had older brothers and sisters that had a lot of vinyl albums. 92 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:27,520 And I would go to their house. 93 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,080 And their house was so Australian. 94 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:39,040 It's like beer, like precious beer, and tobacco, and the smells, meat pies, and all this stuff 95 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:40,360 was really Aussie house. 96 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:46,440 And they had all like David Bowie, and Lou Reed, and all these kind of guys at Iggy Pop. 97 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,640 So I started from the Beatles, particularly the Beatles, when I first started listening 98 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:51,960 and going, wow, what is this? 99 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,280 So I discovered all that kind of music at their house. 100 00:04:54,280 --> 00:04:58,200 And my house is more like as much as the rest of my family is pretty wide. 101 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:03,800 My father, Vinc Reiche, we had Chavapi, Wally Popovich, Tony Smolcich, all those guys around 102 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,080 their house, drinking homemade rakia and stuff. 103 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:12,640 So for me, it was usually the dynamic between my family and sort of their family. 104 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,080 And the thing I really took from their family was that music side. 105 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,000 So we discovered a lot of stuff through them. 106 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,240 And then just got really passionate about it. 107 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,520 I started just collecting records and buying albums. 108 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,440 So I would do some work with my father after school and on weekends. 109 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:29,720 And then every bit of money I made, I would just go buy vinyl albums. 110 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:34,240 And so that was pretty obsessed from about 12 years old. 111 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,920 And so I'll give you a long-winded version of this. 112 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:46,200 After that, I just was around as much as I can. 113 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,920 I got to see as many live bands as I could. 114 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:54,600 And then one day I finished school, it must have been like 18, 19 or something. 115 00:05:54,600 --> 00:06:00,080 And a friend of mine was in band and I'm moving to Sydney. 116 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,640 And I was doing a pretty boring, straight down job. 117 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,560 And I was like, what am I doing with my life? 118 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,720 I've been seeing this girl Rosalind Dixon for two years. 119 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,840 I'm going to be married to and breeding with her in the suburbs in no time. 120 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,680 And I had this sort of epiphany that I had to change my life. 121 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,480 So I just hitched a ride with these guys to Sydney. 122 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,160 And by the time we got to Sydney, they said, you used to organise things and manage things 123 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:22,160 at the YMCA. 124 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:23,480 Why don't you manage our band? 125 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:28,400 So by the time we got to Sydney, which is a four-hour drive, I was their manager. 126 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:30,960 And then I started just, I didn't know what I was doing. 127 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:35,160 So I just called people up and then eventually I started getting more and more shows and 128 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,360 I met more and more people in the industry. 129 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,680 And then a good friend of mine was in this local record store I shop at all the time. 130 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,480 And he was like, this man might want to come to Australia. 131 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:45,480 You should do it. 132 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:46,480 I'm like, yeah, I do it. 133 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,360 So he just gave me their number and I would speak to them. 134 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:55,920 And we organised a pretty sort of rudimental sort of bare bones tour. 135 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:56,920 And I was pretty naive. 136 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,560 I asked anyone I could for help, what I should do. 137 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,320 And they came out and we had a really great time and they were like, you should tour our 138 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:05,320 friends in Nirvana. 139 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:06,640 I'm like, I love Nirvana. 140 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,800 At this point, the bleach out had only been released. 141 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,800 And I'm like, I love Nirvana. 142 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,640 So he said, well, here's Kurt and Chris' number. 143 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:15,640 So I just called them up. 144 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:16,640 Hey, this is Pav from Down Under. 145 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:17,640 I want to bring you to Australia. 146 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:18,640 And they'd be like, oh, we're making an album. 147 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:19,640 Yeah, give us a few more months. 148 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:20,640 This went on for about a year and a half. 149 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:26,640 And so eventually they said, oh, we've got a manager, this guy now, John Silver. 150 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,440 And I'd known John, I'd met him previously. 151 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,040 And he was like, yeah, dude, we'll stick with you. 152 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:32,040 We'll show you. 153 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:33,040 Records coming out in two months. 154 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:34,040 And so then Nevermind came out and was like, we just recorded everyone. 155 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:35,040 And six months later, I had them in Australia. 156 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:36,040 So it's not a bad start. 157 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:37,040 Yeah, not at all. 158 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,040 That's awesome. 159 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:39,040 That's crazy. 160 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:50,040 So you're calling up, I mean, with Mudhoney, I guess, was your sort of first big break. 161 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,080 You're calling up venues and saying, hey, I've got Mudhoney. 162 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:54,280 I'm trying to book them on a tour. 163 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:55,640 Like, well, you take them. 164 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:56,640 How does that process work? 165 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,280 How do you even book a whole tour for a band? 166 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:01,280 Yeah. 167 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,920 So like, first thing is you've got to work out a budget. 168 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:05,760 So I got like four guys coming down here. 169 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:06,760 Here's the air flights. 170 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:07,760 Here's the accommodation. 171 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,280 Here's the sound production, marketing we're going to spend. 172 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,600 I would book a venue and I promoted the shows myself. 173 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,480 So I would rent a venue. 174 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,040 Maybe it was on some Greek theater or something in Melbourne. 175 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:21,560 It has a host of thousand people. 176 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,480 And I feel like there's enough buzz around that maybe we could fill that. 177 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:30,240 And so then you book the venue, you bring your sound lights in and put the show on and 178 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,640 you hope that it all sort of pans out and you sell enough tickets so it works. 179 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:35,640 I was very fortunate. 180 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:36,640 The things just kind of worked. 181 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,640 All the first few things I did. 182 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:44,800 And I was lucky that I knew other people over the journey who would help me with stuff. 183 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:49,920 So one of the first tours, this woman, Kate Stewart, she worked for another promoter. 184 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:51,640 So I was like, Kate, how do I do a budget? 185 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,400 How do I get a visa for a band? 186 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:54,400 I can't even get in the country. 187 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:55,400 She would help me do it. 188 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,080 Unless you didn't even have a computer at the time. 189 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,160 So she would just like, you know, type all these budgets out and letters for me and I'd 190 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:04,680 send them back then we're faxing each other, you know. 191 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:05,680 So it was all pretty raw. 192 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:10,760 Now I'll tell you another funny part of the story with Nirvana. 193 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:11,760 I'd met this woman. 194 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,480 I'd been to New York three years earlier, her name was Alexa. 195 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:22,000 And I met her in a bar watching bands at something, a new music seminar at the time. 196 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,600 And then she's like, oh, I've always wanted to go to Australia. 197 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,320 I'm like, oh, yeah, well, you know, I've got a spare room in my house. 198 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:29,320 And you know, is that kind of falls out of your mouth? 199 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:34,480 You don't really expect that someone show up two weeks later and then stay for six months. 200 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:36,720 So she literally showed up and just stayed for six months. 201 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:38,600 We became really good mates. 202 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:40,880 And then she went back to America, was working for AT&T operators. 203 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,120 And she's like, oh, I can give you this bogus calling card. 204 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:45,760 It's just a number. 205 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:50,880 So and in those days, international phone calls were quite expensive for me anyway. 206 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:52,640 And we didn't really have mobiles. 207 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:58,560 So I booked all Nirvana's tour from a pay phone on the post office box outside my house 208 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:00,800 with his dodgy calling card. 209 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:01,800 So I call him up and everything. 210 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,800 Yeah, I just threw it all there on the pay phone while I'm sipping a juice. 211 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,800 I just come off the beach, have a swim. 212 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,720 I spent two hours in the phone booth doing my business. 213 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,640 It's like complete opposite of, you know, today's day you're in an office, you got the 214 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:16,640 AC, you're in a suit. 215 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:17,640 Maybe, I don't know. 216 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:18,640 That's just how I imagine. 217 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,800 But that's classic, classic story at the pay phone with Nirvana. 218 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,400 I want to ask a little bit about the guys. 219 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,240 You know, everyone always wants to know about Kurt. 220 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,800 But you know, one thing probably a lot of the listeners know is that Chris, you know, 221 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,360 the bassist was also Croatian. 222 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:39,040 And I believe maybe even a few years during high school, he moved back to Croatia somewhere 223 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:40,040 near Zadar. 224 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:45,400 Actually, I read that in one of my Croatian language textbooks that I discovered that. 225 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,440 So I was wondering, did you guys ever talk about that? 226 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:49,440 Yeah, no. 227 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,160 One thing we connected on, like he would swear at me in Croatian. 228 00:10:53,160 --> 00:11:00,520 I think that's a good, that was maybe one of the first connectivity points I had with 229 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:04,840 Chris was because of our background, you know, and he'd obviously grown and spent a lot more 230 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:07,120 time in Croatia, and I hadn't. 231 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,200 But I kind of knew a little bit of what's going on. 232 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:10,720 So we were kind of bonded about that. 233 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,920 We had a like, he's a wonderful man. 234 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:14,360 I really, really like Chris a lot. 235 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:20,280 Very smart, very caring, and, you know, generous with his time. 236 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,600 And so, you know, it was, I'd spent a lot of time hanging out with him and his wife 237 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,520 at the time, you know, because when they go on tour, you know, and spend a couple of weeks 238 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,480 with people, you drive around the country, you're in a van together. 239 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:36,120 But I took them camping in between shows, you know, and they're like, wow, on a beach, 240 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:37,560 so they want to see some kangaroos. 241 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:40,120 So I took them to this little coastal town on Ewan. 242 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,440 There's a grass headland down there and you can camp and there's some cabins and stuff 243 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:49,360 and they all spent the night down there and we cooked sandwiches by the fire and shit. 244 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,760 And then, you know, yeah, and they saw the kangaroos and Chris was like flicking them 245 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:55,760 with towels and stuff. 246 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:56,760 It's pretty funny. 247 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:57,760 Everyone was like scared. 248 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,760 He's like, he'd march straight over the Balkan walls with a towel. 249 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:03,760 Boom, get out of here, kangaroos. 250 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,200 I've never been to Australia. 251 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,040 That's still so crazy to me that, like, first of all, that kangaroos exist, but that you 252 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:14,560 guys are just so like whatever around them, you know, like, oh, yeah, it's a kangaroo. 253 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:16,760 Go flick it with the towel. 254 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:18,760 That's nuts to me. 255 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,840 It's strange because like when you see something, they're not for you grow up with it. 256 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:27,560 It seems like a big deal, but literally pretty much all bands ever worked with like one and 257 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:32,120 see kangaroos so bad and then they're like, wow, really? 258 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:36,240 Yeah, that's awesome. 259 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:37,240 That's awesome. 260 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:40,240 Chris, I'd like to get him on the podcast as well. 261 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:45,240 I hear he's a little bit off the grid these days, I guess, up in Washington, just kind 262 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,600 of, you know, chilling there. 263 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,120 Are you still in contact with, you know, Dave Grohl? 264 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:54,160 Yeah, I mean, you know, I just had an exhibition. 265 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,320 I haven't really been in the music biz for the last several years, right? 266 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:01,280 So after I did all those tours with those bands, I did, you know, like Beastie Boys 267 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,240 and Pearl Jam and Offspring and all kinds of stuff like that. 268 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,920 And then with the record label, that was really fun for me to do for another 10 years. 269 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,320 And I got tired of that. 270 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,160 And so I recently did an exhibition at a museum in Sydney. 271 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,640 The exhibition was called Unpopular. 272 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:21,440 And as part of that process, I interviewed most, not most of the people, a lot of the 273 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:22,440 people I've worked with. 274 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:27,680 So we had some sort of oral history stuff that was throughout the exhibition. 275 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:32,400 So I interviewed Dave like about a year ago, which turned out really great and had a great 276 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,320 chat with the Beasties and Figuazi and guys from Sonic Youth. 277 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:38,120 And it's been really fun to do. 278 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,880 And then there's a book that accompanies this exhibition as well. 279 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:41,880 So that's almost completed. 280 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,560 So there's a lot of images then from all the tours we've did. 281 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:47,920 We filmed a lot of things back then as well. 282 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,880 So there's like really cool images and stuff that people wouldn't have seen before. 283 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,160 And even just the communication, I've got all these postcards from everybody. 284 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:55,800 And no one had mobile phones. 285 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,360 You would just write postcards to everyone. 286 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:58,360 Hey, I'll see you in Tokyo. 287 00:13:58,360 --> 00:13:59,360 Here I am with Sonic Youth. 288 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:00,360 Yada yada yada. 289 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:04,760 And some of those letters and postcards are pretty cool to read. 290 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,040 So the book's sort of a compile of all that stuff. 291 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,920 But I'll share these interviews with you if you're interested in listening to them. 292 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:11,920 Just let me know. 293 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:12,920 We'll figure it out afterwards. 294 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:14,120 Yeah, that'd be great. 295 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:16,800 Where's this exhibition located? 296 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:22,600 It was in Sydney, an exhibition museum called Powerhouse. 297 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:24,880 You know, so yeah, it's just finished now. 298 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:26,360 It was up for the last eight months. 299 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,720 And it closed down and I came on holidays to Vise. 300 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:31,720 That's awesome. 301 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:33,520 And you said you said you're working on a book as well. 302 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,600 Yeah, I'm just going to finish the last bit of the book. 303 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:39,920 And I've got to say, I sort of hope to have finished it by now. 304 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,760 But every day I seem to get distracted around here with a bunch of friends. 305 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,360 And you know, Vise is a beautiful island and there's a lot of great beaches and connovers 306 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,120 and places to eat and drink. 307 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,680 And all my friends have vineyards and bars here and restaurants. 308 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,320 It's kind of hard to get a lot done. 309 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:56,600 Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. 310 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,520 Yeah, I mean, the weather's been so nice too lately when you see weather like that and 311 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:02,080 you see the sea. 312 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:07,360 I mean, you can't help but go outside and go swimming a little, go sit at the coffee 313 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,560 each, drink a little coffee or beer. 314 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:10,560 Yeah, and that's awesome. 315 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:11,560 Exactly, you know. 316 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,640 And you're like, oh, that's what I'm supposed to be sitting inside writing and finishing 317 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:16,640 up this last part of the book. 318 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,640 I'm like, oh, okay, I'll get back to that. 319 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:20,640 Yeah, yeah. 320 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:21,640 It's almost finished. 321 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:27,000 So once I deliver my last part of it, the design, the images have been selected, cleared 322 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:28,000 all these things. 323 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,000 I've written about 30,000 books. 324 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,680 I'm just tweaking them a bit, you know. 325 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,520 So yeah, hopefully people will enjoy it. 326 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:36,080 But there's some good stuff in there. 327 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:37,080 That's awesome. 328 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:41,320 Do you have maybe like a website or a link, a social media or something that you can share 329 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:46,240 now that people who are waiting for that book to come out can sort of follow it or hear 330 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:47,240 it? 331 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:54,600 Yeah, there's an Instagram account called this underscore is underscore unpopular. 332 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:56,640 And there's a bunch of images there from the book and stuff. 333 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,000 You get a taste of what was happening in the exhibition. 334 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,440 And there's some Polaroids have taken like Kurt and Chris and everyone when we're hanging 335 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,720 out and pretty much all the different bands. 336 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,840 There's bits and bobs of you know, so it gives a bit of a taste. 337 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:09,840 Okay, that's awesome. 338 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,440 I'll include that link down below in the episode description. 339 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,920 So if people listening can click on that and follow. 340 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:19,640 You mentioned earlier, you know, you started a record label. 341 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,120 Can you talk just a little bit about that? 342 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:22,120 How did that start? 343 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,160 What are some of those bands that you signed on that label? 344 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:30,160 I mean, it's like when I was doing the tours in Australia, you know, we often have to put 345 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:31,160 on an opener. 346 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,880 So I would choose the Australian openers had to play with the international artists. 347 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,560 And I noticed a lot of people I chose would then go on to become quite successful. 348 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,720 So I thought I had a bit of an ear for it. 349 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:48,120 And then a friend of mine randomly from America said, Listen, I got this guy is English. 350 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:49,120 He's coming to Australia. 351 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:50,480 He's gonna be running a my records. 352 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:52,480 He doesn't know anyone would you have a coffee with him? 353 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:53,480 I'm like, yeah, of course. 354 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:59,080 I feel you know, so we sat down and he got there and we talked about stuff and he's like, 355 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,880 what are you doing with your true and explain that to him. 356 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:03,880 And he was like, well, man, you should do a label. 357 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,440 Yeah, I thought about doing a label. 358 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:07,600 My god, man, I love to do a label. 359 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:08,960 And so we just hatched this plan. 360 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,840 I started this record company called modular. 361 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:17,800 The first band I signed was a band from Melbourne sent me a demo tape called the avalanches. 362 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,080 And then, you know, he sent me a demo tape because they wanted to support one of the 363 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:23,880 bands that I was touring at the time. 364 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,520 So I signed them, I thought they were really great. 365 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,440 And then I started another band, The Living Hand, and they started to keep Ben Lee. 366 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:36,240 And so the first record was by the band The Living Hand came out, we told four or five 367 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:37,800 times platinum in Australia. 368 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:39,620 So I did like really well. 369 00:17:39,620 --> 00:17:43,720 And then the second record was Ben Lee's record that went platinum. 370 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,720 And there's been the avalanches, we went platinum with that one as well in Australia, but also 371 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:54,080 a translator and was a top 10 in the UK, sort of album debut, you know, so I did real well. 372 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,080 And then suddenly, I'm like, wow, this record stuff's real easy. 373 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:00,640 I should do more of it. 374 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:06,080 And then, you know, I signed some other local bands, one was the presets, one was cut copy 375 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,400 and then I licensed some international stuff. 376 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,560 And then a friend of mine called me up and said, hey, listen, there's this guy, Jack 377 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,040 Johnson, we know he's looking for a label. 378 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:14,040 Do you know any labels? 379 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,320 I'm like, oh, I just started a label a while ago, since the last time I saw you. 380 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,480 And she's like, oh, can I give him your deals? 381 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:21,480 I'm like, yeah. 382 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,000 So then I'm talking to Jack Johnson, so we signed Jack Johnson. 383 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,240 And that did really, really well for us. 384 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,800 And then I signed a band called Wolf Mother and Tame Impala. 385 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,040 And again, those things did very well for us globally. 386 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,840 And I would license different, you know, American artists and English artists, and we did some 387 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,680 as Klaxons and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and all this kind of stuff. 388 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,240 So I had a good dream running that for 10, 15 years. 389 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:44,720 It was a lot of fun, you know. 390 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:50,680 And at the time, I found promoting, you know, it just became really a bit dull to me in 391 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:51,680 a way. 392 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,120 I felt like really, when I started out, it was like, literally like, hey, here's Chris's 393 00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:57,360 number, here's Chris's number, call him up. 394 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:00,920 So I felt it was really sort of personable. 395 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:05,560 And I would work with people and, you know, with them and their small time management, 396 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:10,560 small agents, but as that became really successful, I got big management companies, big agents. 397 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,640 And after a while, I felt like I was working in a public service, you know, they were just 398 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:18,640 like, here, play this, and you use this artwork, do this, do that, and if it all sells out, 399 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:19,640 then you'll make a little bit at the end. 400 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,360 I'm like, man, I felt like a stamping light in the public service. 401 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:24,840 I found it so boring. 402 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,680 And I'm like, and then opportunity to do the record label stuff to find a band from really 403 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:34,840 early stages, be involved in all the creative stuff in terms of like the album cover design, 404 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,560 even making music videos, taking photos, I found it way more sort of interesting and 405 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,040 compelling for me creatively. 406 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,200 So I enjoyed that a lot for like, so 10, 15 years. 407 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,720 And then I kind of got to the end of that too. 408 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,040 I feel like maybe I've only got a 10 year concentration span, then I need to do something 409 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:54,040 new, you know? 410 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,800 And yeah, that's kind of what I'm today, looking for that next thing. 411 00:19:58,800 --> 00:19:59,800 Yeah. 412 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,480 Well, I mean, you have a great track record, of course, with the label. 413 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,080 You also put on a lot of festivals. 414 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,960 And I want to ask you all first about that, putting on festivals, but you also put one 415 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:10,960 on in Croatia. 416 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:16,280 Yeah, that was an adventure in time, man. 417 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:21,160 I decided I was coming to Vista every year, and it's a long way from Australia, it's like 418 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,840 24 hours almost, flying time. 419 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:29,520 And then, you know, I get here, and I'd spend four to six weeks and then feel this like 420 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,840 push to go back to the office and everything in Australia. 421 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:37,360 And I'm like, what if I created some business opportunity in Croatia, so that it's justifiable 422 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:39,640 I spend three months here? 423 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:41,940 So I'm like, I'll do a music festival. 424 00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:45,880 So I reached out to some of my Croatian friends I've met over the years, and you know, some 425 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,240 of them are involved in sort of creative industries, they sort of helped push me and introduce 426 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:51,040 me to different people. 427 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:55,560 So we ended up doing something on spa, where we had a day party. 428 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:00,160 There's a little island just off the coast called Jerolem. 429 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:05,040 And a friend of ours, Marare, with her family, out of this island for a long time, there's 430 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:06,200 like a nudist beach on it. 431 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,560 So we just do like DJs on the beach there from 2 to 8pm. 432 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,800 And then everyone would come back into town on the small boats. 433 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:18,440 And then I'd say, well, now, then you can have some dinner and then you can like maybe 434 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:24,520 go to a bar, shower, whatever, really, super chill. 435 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:29,360 And so then we, at 11pm, we would start the live bands in a little venue in town called 436 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:30,360 Vedaranda. 437 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:34,720 And so we'd have that from 11pm to 1am. 438 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,360 And then we have the little, I think they're called baka olis, these little boats and the 439 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:43,760 drivers, they would take us back out to another island, Carpe Diem in Stupanska. 440 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,280 And then I would go to like 6am. 441 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:50,880 So those three different sort of venues we used across the island, a few days. 442 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:57,120 And you know, we had live bands like, you know, Tame Impala, Nina Cherry, James Blake. 443 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:04,160 I had DJs like too many DJs, James Murphy, Mark Ronson, we had the Plaxons play. 444 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,280 I mean, a whole bunch more stuff I can't recall from the top of my head. 445 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:09,760 But you know, I did that and it was super great. 446 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:14,280 And everyone had a really good, intimate experience because you spend a few days on an island, 447 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,200 you know, you're on a boat with the same group of people, you see them walking up and down 448 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,920 the street, staying in the same sort of hotels, people had really good connections, you know. 449 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:24,520 And it was really friendly, it was quite small. 450 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,480 They did like that thousand people the first year. 451 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:32,480 So then the second year I did it again, and it grew again to about 1500. 452 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:36,600 And then the third year when I was going to do it, I was involved in a legal matter in 453 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:37,600 Australia. 454 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:42,160 And then the judge set the court date for right when the festival was going to be. 455 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,160 So I'm like, oh, stuff, we'll just move it back to what it was in June. 456 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,240 I'm like, we'll move it to September. 457 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,360 So we set a new date in September, we started marketing and telling everyone. 458 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:55,040 And then I lost in the court, in the Supreme Court, first time around. 459 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:56,840 And I felt really kind of hard done by. 460 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,360 So I said, I'm going to take this to the Court of Appeal. 461 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:04,920 So we went to the Court of Appeal and they set the new date for when I move the vessels. 462 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,960 So I was like, you know what, I'm just going to do my shit here for a while. 463 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,960 Let's forget about doing the festival in Croatia. 464 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:11,960 It was kind of a luxury. 465 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:12,960 It was super fun. 466 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:13,960 I'm really glad I did it. 467 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,120 And I met a lot of really wonderful people here too, you know. 468 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:18,600 Yeah, that sounds awesome. 469 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,640 Did you ever think about putting another one on? 470 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:28,560 I mean, when I've done things, I find like I've done it. 471 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:29,560 It's kind of enough. 472 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,120 You know, I know I can do something good. 473 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:33,680 Well, I'm like, oh, yeah, now what else can I do? 474 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,760 So it's not really in my mindset. 475 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:40,960 But you know, it's a difficult place. 476 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,400 I think when you're trying to do something in a country where you live on the other side 477 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,480 of the world, it's not so easy. 478 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,840 You know, I mean, I like the energy of a lot. 479 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,400 It was really great, you know, and people had a really wonderful time. 480 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:58,040 But I guess my head's just, you know, I'm working on this documentary project at the 481 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:02,720 moment, which is about music and stuff very similar to the exhibition in the book. 482 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,880 Maybe it's an accompanying piece to that. 483 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:22,040 So hopefully that gets the green light when we get into that. 484 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:24,960 Something I haven't done before, so I've got boundless energy for it. 485 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,720 That's really interesting, you know, the idea of putting on a show or doing concerts is 486 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:31,480 not maybe not so interesting to me. 487 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,480 Yeah, yeah, that makes sense, I guess. 488 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,320 Well, yeah, I wanted to ask you what sort of the future look like. 489 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:37,800 I know you're looking for a new project. 490 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,400 It sounds like that documentary, you know, as well as finishing the book, are sort of 491 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,080 the next big things for you. 492 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:44,080 Yeah. 493 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:47,000 So, you know, I'm trying to make a pivot into that sort of world. 494 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,560 I've found that kind of interesting and got a few ideas I've been talking to people about. 495 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,200 And it's sort of like two parts. 496 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:54,200 It's a documentary. 497 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:55,480 I'm pretty sure to get picked up. 498 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:57,600 It's pretty compelling. 499 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,640 And then after that, there'll be a second part to that as well. 500 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,200 So and then there's a fictional idea. 501 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:04,920 So that's what I would like to do in a dream world. 502 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:06,960 I'll have to see how it goes. 503 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:12,560 But I found out that, you know, I didn't know anything about putting on a concert when I 504 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:13,560 started doing it. 505 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,400 I didn't know anything about putting out records when I started doing it. 506 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:21,640 I just had a strong interest, a lot of enthusiasm for it, and a little knack for landing in 507 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:22,640 the right places. 508 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,240 And I kind of believe it will be the same with this. 509 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,040 I'll tell myself that anyway. 510 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,040 Well, yes, that's the attitude you have to have going into things. 511 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:34,200 You know, you got to believe in it and maybe a little bit of luck sometimes helps. 512 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:38,320 But definitely you got to have that confidence and go into things, you know, thinking that 513 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,360 you're believing that you're able to accomplish them. 514 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:45,760 So I definitely wish you luck on that and looking forward to seeing the results of those. 515 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:50,520 A couple sort of ending questions for you. 516 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,760 First one is something that I've been asking all the guests that come on. 517 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,000 What to you makes Croatia special? 518 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:02,720 I love I think there's a sense of honesty in people here and there's a real like charm, 519 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:08,920 you know, and much as there's a lot of pirates and Robbie blind tourists, but they do a smile 520 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,400 and a charm and a sort of warmness is so good, you know. 521 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,440 So there's this warmth about the people I really, really like. 522 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:21,280 And then just the island life has been the water here is so clean and blue and the food. 523 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:22,280 You know, I'm a big fan. 524 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,080 You know, I can see myself living here. 525 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:30,000 I just have to work on my speech, not a picture out of asking. 526 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,440 Even even on the islands, I know the dialect is a lot different than sort of what I've 527 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,560 been learning it up in Zagreb. 528 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:38,560 So yeah, definitely. 529 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:43,240 You got to sort of stay there for a long period of time and get used to hearing it and, you 530 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:48,280 know, speaking to yourself and, you know, it comes slowly, at least for me. 531 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,360 Respect to you, man, because I when you approached me, I didn't know much about your podcast 532 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,840 really, so I had to look around and I saw you interviewed on that one where you talked 533 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,360 about your journey and to come to the Zagreb and study it. 534 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:00,840 I'm like, that's a lot of respect, man. 535 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:05,600 It's hard to go to another country and learn a language from the ground up, even if it's 536 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:06,920 in your DNA. 537 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,680 You know, I've been around people speaking my most of my life going out, my father's 538 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,240 friends were all crow out. 539 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,880 But still, my head doesn't work like that. 540 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:16,880 So hard to process. 541 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,880 So, you know, when someone can do it, I'm like, respect, you know, so kudos to you. 542 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:22,880 I appreciate that. 543 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:23,880 It's definitely not easy. 544 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:27,200 I still struggle a lot and it's not something that's natural to me yet. 545 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:31,320 I still have to really think when I'm speaking and think, you know, when I'm listening to 546 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:32,320 try and understand. 547 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:36,800 But definitely I've come a long way and it's definitely been worth it to come over here 548 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,840 and do this program. 549 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:40,720 And now, you know, sort of decided to stay. 550 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,760 So yeah, I'm really enjoying it. 551 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:47,320 You know, sort of related to life on the island, I guess. 552 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,440 What's your favorite thing to eat while you're here? 553 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:54,800 And I have one restaurant here called Stonjitsa and the guy there on the grill, his grilled 554 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,960 lamb and baby goat or sardines and anything on the grill there. 555 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,560 And that place is top shot. 556 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:02,440 It's so freaking good. 557 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,240 And they make their I mean, everything pretty much growing in the backyard comes from the 558 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,240 backyard straight on to the plate. 559 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,320 So there's wild sort of garlic mashed potatoes. 560 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,800 It's pretty basic, but it's all super good, you know? 561 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:14,800 Yeah. 562 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:16,640 Then another restaurant here is Puyota. 563 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,520 They do really great sort of fish on the grill and stuff. 564 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,040 My neighbor, Marron, he's a grill master here in the Bronx. 565 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:24,760 So I always go there and sell it to him. 566 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,840 It's like 100 degrees in this little box in the back of the restaurant where he's grilling 567 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,560 all the fish and the lobsters and everything. 568 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:31,560 That's beautiful, you know? 569 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,160 And then there's another bar right below me as well. 570 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,760 It's called Lambok and they do pizza. 571 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,040 My friend Tom, he owns that, Tommy Slav. 572 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,760 And then, you know, that's really hard to get past there at night. 573 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,440 I got to go past that place to go anywhere. 574 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,360 So there's everyone sitting at the bar having a drink. 575 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,800 So I'm going to go past like, hey, sit down, have a drink with us. 576 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:55,400 So I find the night's quite distracting, but pizza there, storm titcher for the best grill 577 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,840 and then the seafood with Puyota. 578 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,080 Yeah, with all these restaurants around you, it's a wonder you can get anything done over 579 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,080 there. 580 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,080 I'm not getting anything done, brother. 581 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:07,080 That's my problem. 582 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:08,080 I believe it, man. 583 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:09,080 I believe it. 584 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:10,080 Not the worst problem to have, though, definitely. 585 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:11,080 Yeah. 586 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:16,880 I got to publish it back in Australia. 587 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,560 It's like kind of busted my chops a bit. 588 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:19,560 So when are we going to get the best book? 589 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:20,560 We need to put it out. 590 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:21,560 Oh, yeah, it's coming. 591 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:22,560 It's coming. 592 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:23,560 That's classic. 593 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:24,560 Last question here. 594 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:30,120 And this is only just because recently I've been interviewing a lot of fighters, you know, 595 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,960 UFC and ex UFC fighters. 596 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:36,640 And you know, you were in the music business, you were in the music business in the 90s 597 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:37,640 with the grunge scene. 598 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:42,440 A lot of that music is sort of, you know, angry music or at least, you know, some of 599 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:43,440 that is. 600 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,240 And so I was wondering if you had to have a walkout song for like a fight, what would 601 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:48,240 it be? 602 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:49,240 Oh, geez. 603 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:57,120 I mean, I've always found these questions tough because I was going to say touch me, 604 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:58,120 I'm sick. 605 00:31:58,120 --> 00:31:59,120 My mud honey. 606 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:00,120 Yeah, that's classic. 607 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:05,120 They flipped the lyric, they want to fuck me, I'm rich. 608 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,040 But yeah, man, I find it very difficult. 609 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,240 A lot of people ask, you know, if you could only do a few songs or what's your favorite 610 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:12,240 song, what's your design? 611 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,440 I'm like, I love all kinds of music. 612 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:19,280 I love so much different stuff at different times for different reasons, different moods. 613 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:23,440 So it's really hard to ever ever pick one thing out of it, you know, and also being 614 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:29,160 a little OCD, I change what I like a lot, too, you know, so I might like something today 615 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,320 and in two weeks I can never hear that song again. 616 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,800 Yeah, I'm the same way if I hear a song, if I listen to it too many times, it gets old 617 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,680 and I got to find something new to listen to. 618 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:41,680 I'll think about it, man. 619 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,200 I'll flip you a couple options of what would be my walkout songs. 620 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:50,720 Yeah, let me know in case it ever comes that you got to need a walkout song for some reason. 621 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:52,720 I'm going to throw down with someone. 622 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:56,640 I'm going to throw down with someone while I've got a song ready. 623 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:59,200 They're trying to close the grill early or something on you. 624 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,200 Get the walkout song going. 625 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:05,360 I'll never know if you hear this song, but there's travel coming. 626 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:06,360 Exactly. 627 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,800 Pat, it's been a pleasure, man, having you on the podcast. 628 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,880 Really, really cool speaking with you and hearing about your career and, you know, definitely 629 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,160 looking forward to big things to come from you. 630 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:16,160 Sweet, man. 631 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:17,160 I appreciate you. 632 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:33,600 Thank you.