Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed. Thanks
for listening. Got a really exciting episode
this week. Let me set the stage for you. I went
to pick up my media pass and everything for AthFest.
Headed over to where Slightly Famous Somebodies
was being interviewed by another podcast called
Joker TV. And so after that interview, we all
went to this amazing Mexican place. The Airbnb,
I believe it was, of Jonathan Spencer. And we
set a mic in the middle of the room and we just
talked for about 90 minutes. And I got to say,
it was a lot of fun. I feel like if you have
half as much fun listening to it as we had just
talking, then you're going to have a great time
too. Slightly Famous Somebodies is a super group
of slightly famous somebodies. They have a cast
of characters that comes and goes. I spoke with
four of them. Jonathan Spencer, who you'll recognize
from a lot of different projects. Laura Wiggins,
who played Karen on Shameless, among other films.
Valor Trucks, the son of Butch Trucks, the little
kid on the cover of Brothers and Sisters, the
Allman Brothers band album. And then Kane Stanley,
who's the drummer of Cosmic Charlie and... dozens
of other Athens, Georgia bands. Cosmic Charlie's
been a band for 26 years. Grateful Dead tribute
band. I'll be going back to Athens to catch their
show next month at the Georgia Theater. Slightly
Famous Somebodies was playing their first show
at AthFest the following night. They put on a
great show. I'll talk more about their show after
I play you this interview. Stick around for that.
Here's my interview with slightly famous somebodies.
Let's dive. We're on overeducated and underemployed.
I'm here with three slightly famous somebodies,
which means that you're barely famous. We're
slightly. We're pie charred. That's fine. No,
we had a train go by on the interview earlier
twice, so anything that happens, it's great.
I don't care. The wheels are already off. I don't
care about my benefits. I threw it on the ground
because I'm an adult. And my dad's not a phone.
Perfect. So I'm just going to start by asking
you each of your names and why are you slightly
famous? Okay. Hi, I'm Laura, and I'm a slightly
famous somebody because I was on Shameless. I'm
Jonathan's friend. And I'm a singer in the band,
and sometimes play guitar. Sometimes play guitar.
And write songs. And a songwriter. And a harmony
singer. And a lead singer. But that's not singing.
That's not singing. We kind of, we're like, because
we're, I don't know, we'll get to that part later.
How we structure the band. But we're kind of
like guest stars, recurring, regular. What do
you need? Do you need to go? On vacation, go
on vacation. We'll find someone to do your part.
We're characters that come and go, and people
watching the show are like, oh, that guy from
season two is back. Oh, good, a person from season
one. Oh, I hope they come back next season. So
it's a fluid ship at sea. I'm Jonathan Spencer.
I'm slightly famous as Laura's friend, too. Yep,
true. That's fair. I would say my kind of first
little thing that a lot of people know is Pineapple
Express. I'm in the first couple scenes with
Bill Hader. making him smoke the item, not the
lazy -eyed scientist. Laura and I were in L .A.
for almost a dozen years doing TV and such, but
always something in Philly is one a lot of people
know as the morgue worker who likes yogurt up
his ass and a popsicle stick in his mouth. Sorry,
Mom. Like I do. Like I do, yes. Maybe it was
improv, maybe it was truth. I don't know. It's
been a while, so I can't really... answer that
correctly. It was really, it was Charlie work.
So it's fine. Yeah, exactly. You're one of those
people that's been in like so many things like
briefly. Yeah, exactly. They keep popping up.
Everybody thinks that they know you. The mentalist.
Totally. The first season of Mad Men, I was,
I shared an office with Peggy in the last two
episodes and currently I can now talk about this
and I couldn't until a week ago, but we just
wrapped. Murdoch Murders for Hulu in Atlanta
at Assembly Studios and that comes out in October
about the Alex Murdoch Murders in South Carolina
and it's Mandy Matney's version so it's the version
yeah the reporter who broke the story of the
Hilton Head Island Package she's the exec producer
and it's all based on her podcast Mandy Matney
and she's she's played by Brittany Snow and all
my scenes are with her because I'm playing the
asshole old guard reporter like Citadel type
guy who tries to steal their steal their story,
and I'm in there briefly, but yeah, it's cool.
It was a really fun experience, so I'm excited
that's coming out. And I've got another feature
film I just wrapped in New Orleans about four
months ago called The Designer with Gina Gershon.
I think that comes out in November, actually.
Yeah, very slightly, but yeah, here we are. Yeah,
and it seems like both of you are like... Took
some time off and dealt with my wife. Absolutely.
And then you're now getting back into a lot of
stuff. It's funny how life .com gets in the way
and you've got to take care of life a little
bit. But yeah, it really has come full circle,
literally and metaphorically, for all of us.
Yeah, things are rolling again. It's like I'm
still trying to find time to sleep and shower
now. Things are so busy. So I feel blessed. See,
I've got a kid who just graduated college. So
I know Jonathan from iCarly. iCarly. I'm still
jealous because I wanted to do Disney. I didn't
Showtime Ron. He was on Disney. Disney. I was
just pleased. So jealous. What a jerk. I was
so happy because at that time, I had Carly, 20
years ago. I was happy that I passed the Disney
background check, which was like, they send you
a 35 page report. It costs $400 for them to,
but once you pass the background check, then
you get on all the Disney and Nickelodeon shows.
I really want to make a joke. I'm not going to
make that. And I just knew the background. How
does producers pass the background check? I was
like, how hard could it be? You were fine. Because
you were like 20 and we were drinking two buck
chucks. So the background check wasn't that thorough.
But honestly, if you don't have like real crimes,
then you're good. So I was happy to have that.
You didn't get caught. Well, I made a lot of
copies of the background report that was the
background check, and I was like, see, I'm a
good person. And anybody who tells you that is
probably not a good person. I don't think you've
actually gotten in trouble for anything. He's
never gotten in trouble. That's some added value.
It does. It really does. It's just a rock star.
Moral credibility. And to show up with your paperwork
saying you're a good person, that's got to work,
right? I feel like that's something, like, nerd
-averted people are, like, that's nerd -averted
as hell. And I'm like, yeah, that makes total
sense to me. Here are my papers. I'll give the
table to Valor in a second, but on that note,
our entire band is... So we originally were going
to title the album Athens -ish because it was
all these Athens -y bands. And we've recently
changed the title of our debut album is called
The Spectrum. There you go. Oh, yeah. I stole
your iCarly thing. Yes, all good. And you got
to introduce yourself. My name is Valor Trucks.
My father is Butch Trucks, who's the founding
drummer of the Allman Brothers Band. My cousin
is Derek Trucks, who's... front of the Tedesco
Trucks band, played with Allman Brothers for
a while. His little brother and my other cousin
is Dwayne Trucks, who currently plays with Widespread
Panic and has been recently going out with Umphreys
McGee. If you are familiar with the 1973 Allman
Brothers album called Brothers and Sisters, the
one with Ramblin' Man and Jessica on it, the
little boy on the cover is me. The little two
-year -old blonde cute kid in the leaves is Thaler
on the cover of that album. So my first question
is, what happened? Time has not been kind to
this one. Thaler is adorable, y 'all. What are
you saying? She's not wrong. This is true. She's
not wrong. Very infectious. Yeah, just make sure
you give me your Venmo on for me. At least they
did Nirvani. You're going to kill overalls. A
little haircut. I play guitar in this band. Jonathan
and I actually met because during the pandemic,
look, I'm employed rather gainfully, so I didn't
want to take any of the few remaining music jobs
away from gigging musicians, people who actually
needed the money. But I didn't want to disconnect
myself from music entirely. So I said, you know
what? I need to hold myself accountable. I need
to do something that gets me plugged into the
music, but is not something that I can sit at
my desk and say, yeah, I'll do it tomorrow. So
I made a list of the 24 albums that I should
have heard by now. We've all got the list. These
albums that, how have I made it to this old and
I've never heard Elvis' first album, for example.
So I made that list and I said, to hold myself
accountable, I'm going to listen to one a week.
Exclusively. Multiple times a day. Not just do
a reaction video, but know the music inside and
out, and then make about a 15 -minute video talking
about it. And five years later, I'm still doing
this thing. It's called The Albums I've Missed.
It's super fun. I love it. Season four, each
season I have a different theme. Season two,
I had my kids suggest all the albums. Season
three, I inherited a vinyl collection. It was
a deep dive into that. Season four was user requests.
And Jonathan was one of the ones that requested
an album. It was a Donald Byrd album. Called
Ethiopian Nights is one of his fusion albums.
The album he made right before Blackbird, which
is... Blackbird is an enormous album, but it's
the one he made right before that. So that's
how I officially met Jonathan. And then he just
said, hey, we're recording. You want to come?
And we met on your podcast over Zoom. He was
interviewing me and we were doing the things.
That's available on your channel. It's true.
I'm going to fall asleep tonight. It's good stuff.
It's quite a good way to start, for sure. Timing
was... Right. I'm usually interviewing one person
at a time, and I do a deep dive. And I don't
think this is just not the time for that. Maybe
we'll find another time another day. But I will
ask you all each the question that I start with
everybody. What is the first song you remember
loving? I actually have an answer for this. When
I was two or three years old, when my mom and
dad were still together. The story goes that
you could not get me to go to sleep at night
unless you put Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage
on headphones. Oh, wow. So Herbie Hancock's Maiden
Voyage is the first song I remember loving. That's
awesome. Yeah. That's an answer I've not heard
before either. That's awesome. It could be from
a different world. I'm still the same five -year
-old kid jumping around the bedroom to disco
that I was in 1978. And the one that sticks with
me is the Kiss disco song. I was made for loving
you, baby. You were made for loving me. Which
could easily be, like, Diana Ross. It could be,
like, if you take the Kiss element out of it,
it could be, like, any. Warner Brothers could
have done it. Yeah. Yeah, they did. So when I
was five and that was out, I wanted the Kiss
makeup and the platform shoes, but not for all
the reasons that everybody else did. I liked
the disco tunes. The only way you're loving me,
baby, is if you pay a hefty fee. Exactly. Have
you ever seen any of the Robert Fripp and Toya
Sunday lunch videos? Yes, I have. They did that
one with Toya dressed as a big pink dinosaur.
Oh, hilarious. And the first kind of album that
i remember was also the first concert that my
parents took me to which was i think i was five
or six and it was john denver at the omni in
atlanta yeah so i knew every word i didn't have
the words but i knew the john denver album that
was out at that era any song right here that
was always in the eight track and dad's wagon
yeah so yeah yeah somewhere between kiss and
john denver is your answer for me yeah that was
awesome yeah i've got a guess too because And
I always forget the name of it, but there's that
ELO record where you could play it backwards,
and it says, the time is always forward, but
the music is not. return return or something
like reverse reverse it's really creepy and my
dad would play it and of course ELO is like big
dancey like kids love that but then he would
start to play it backwards and I still don't
like we have the record I don't have something
I can play backwards on anymore you can flip
the mp3 backwards millennials we have a hard
time that was really easy And they were fucking
up your needle. They were tongue in cheek. You
mean go on digital and just go like put it backward.
And they were making fun of all of that, like
Satan scare stuff that was going on. You know
what? That's not as fun. And I can never touch
the record, of course, because that's really
hard. You're right. To do the rap. And in other
words, my dad always sang that Willie Nelson
song, like, Mama, don't let your babies grow
up to be cowboys. He sang that every night to
me because I was like, I just love it. No, I
think it encouraged me to become like a cowboy.
He's an attorney, and I'm just like, I don't
know what I'm doing over here. You've always
been like 25 % cowgirl. You know. Yeah. Needed.
Even needed. But as it is too, I wish I could
remember that ELO song. Do you remember what
it's called? Which one? The one that you can
play backwards. Is it Turn to Stone? I think
it is Turn to Stone. You're right, it is Turn
to Stone. Because in music, they have all this
stuff. All I can think about is Little Mickey
when they play. It sticks backwards and it goes,
I command you in the name of Lucifer to spread
the blood of the innocent. No, it's just in the
movie. Oh, okay. I think you're actually referring
to this ELO song that you're talking about. There's
all this stuff that like, Stairway to Heaven
as like the devil referenced in it. The more
I've been in the industry, I've said don't really
believe in the Illuminati. I believe there could
be like powerful people that think they're doing
something, but it's so unorganized. I'll cut
that out for your own protection. If Bill Clinton,
the most powerful man in the world, couldn't
keep Monica Lewinsky a secret. Is he? I just
thought that was something like, they fit all
this dumb stuff out of there. I'm like, that
would be cool, but like, I just, humans are so
disorganized. Well, they've just learned to hide
and wait a second. Cool. Real cool. Like, we
didn't care. We didn't care anymore. We're so
tired right now. After the pandemic and the jobs
and the inflation. And I'm going to tell you
something. If you get on a Timu, they will not
sell you something for a cent. They'll say, you
can have this bounce house for a dollar. They
said, for one cent, you can have this because
you already spent a lot of money. And then they
trick you again, so just saying. The whole world's
a scam. It is. That's why we exist, so you can
get some real honest music. So speaking of honest
music, at what point did each one of y 'all decide
you wanted to make music instead of just liking
it? That may have been super young, I think,
in probably your case. But maybe not. Maybe not.
Maybe your way of rebelling is I'm not going
to touch it. Well, here's the thing about that.
When I was very young, for Christmas 1972, right,
so I was two and a half years old, my father
got me a drum set. And it wasn't a little kid's
drum set. It wasn't a little toy beginner instrument.
It was a set of Primo Bebop Camco drums. And
I still own them. They're still in my studio
to this day. But when I was two years old, I
got good enough at it that my tiny brain says,
okay, I know how to do this. Let's go do something
else. So the drums started gathering dust. And
over the years, I cycled through a bunch of instruments.
I took piano lessons. I took harmonica lessons.
I played tenor sax in the junior high band. My
mom got remarried, and the man that she remarried
was a guitar player. And so he taught me a couple
of chords on a guitar. And we had these sheet
music books in the house. And I said, this pattern
of dots looks like the shape my fingers make
when I make this chord. It's got the same name.
So I taught myself all the songs and all of those
song books. And then I've just been on guitar
ever since. But since I've gone through the process
of learning sheet music, learning theory, taking
lessons, everything else. I'm autodidactic when
it comes to music. I can play about 15 different
instruments. Including melodica? Yeah, I play
some melodica today. So yeah, but I made a decision
because my father is who he is, right? So here's
the thing. This is a digression, and I don't
usually go into stuff like this. I graduated
high school in 1988. The Allman Brothers got
together in 1969. They broke up for a time in
the mid -70s, got back together, then broke up
for an extended period in 82, and didn't get
back together and start touring again until 89.
So my entire high school year would have been
real nice to have a rock star dad. No one gave
a heck about the Allman Brothers. Interesting.
Any time it would have been really useful to
say, hey, you want to know who my dad was? You
want to go see a show? Nothing like that. In
fact, he was not financially, none of the Allman
Brothers were doing real well in the 80s. So
during my formative years, when I was looking
around at these guys that were supposed to be
big stars, they broke the world attendance record.
Watkins Glen, New York, the Allman Brothers,
the Grateful Dead, and the band broke the record
set by Woodstock for the largest crowd. And in
1983, he's living in a trailer, mowing the yards
and working for like a stereo company. And so
I made a decision when I graduated high school,
music will always be part of my life. Music will
always be something that I do, but I won't ever
make it my primary means of living because it's
like the difference between baseball and figure
skating. With baseball, you can point your statistics.
This is how well I field, how well I hit, how
well I run. Pay me based on that. With figure
skating, you can do everything perfect, and if
one of the judges don't like you, you don't get
a perfect score. I have other means of making
a living, but music, I get to choose my gigs.
I get to be selective about the music I play.
And that's just a decision I made when I was
18, and I'm stuck to it. Hence how being slightly
famous is a good thing, actually. And Ruben's
got slightly more famous. I was having a hard
day, honestly. I got an extra career. And when
you told me that, I was like, that actually freed
me up a lot. I feel like we're always so tempted
to try to, it's got to be up here. But it actually
can hurt you because now all of a sudden you're
playing into not what. You like what's good.
You're not hitting what you want to hit. You're
just hitting... I have two little girls, too,
so it starts to change. You're like, I don't
want to do it. It can be a very crazy game when
you're trying to keep up with... I feel like
everybody in the band, one of the cool things,
everybody's been close enough to the industry
to know what it is. It's not a bad place, but
you're not... It's not Athens, Georgia, I'll
tell you that. This place is fun. The Atlanta
music's fun, but it's not that. When you know
enough to know how close you want to be to it
or how far you want to be from it, it seems like
all of you seem to be very intentional about
how you navigate what projects you might choose,
what you even want to be doing in the first place.
And I think all acknowledge that's a privilege.
But also, it allows you to really only do projects
that you actually care about. In the film world,
I just do whatever they offer me half the time.
Honestly, but in the music world, I'm like, all
right. Well, you want to keep your agent. They
get mad. So we've been joined by your drummer.
Finally. He's not doing it. He was taking care
of business. I know, we sent him out on a thing.
But I've been out there. I've been in the field.
I've been in the field. It's looking good out
there. Yeah, I was there for the first band.
And we're at AFS 2025. Yeah. Slightly famous
somebody's are playing tomorrow. It's Friday
night. The fest just kicked off this evening.
And there's electricity in here, I think. Is
that fair to say? It's the solstice. And if anybody
comes to our show, I'm going to put a spell on
y 'all. It's going to be a good spell. It's fair
tomorrow. And Bailey's birthday is the solstice.
It's true. And I got a song called Hidden Track.
We're going to put a spell on everybody. We're
going to get out of our way this time. It's true.
We're getting there. We're going to quit lying
to ourselves and start going out the door. So
can you introduce yourself and tell us why you're
slightly famous? I'm Kane Stanley. That's one
thing I'm sure of. I'm not sure if it's a claim
to fame, but I'm an Athens, Georgia native, and
I've been here playing music for over 30 years.
I did spend some time away from Athens before
college, and I came back up here to go to school,
and really I just wanted to play music, and I
got a degree while I was doing it, and I've been
playing ever since. And I've probably played
in more bands than there are Letters of the Alphabet
out of Athens. And I've toured the country several
times playing music. And you'll be touring this
summer with... Cosmic Charlie is the group that
I've been playing with the most out of that time.
It's a Grateful Dead tribute based out of Athens.
We started in 1999. So the band turns 26 this
summer. Last summer, we did a national tour.
We ended up all the way out in Orcas Island.
We were in the just outer banks of Washington
State, and we drove all the way across the country.
It was so beautiful. And this summer, we're going
up the East Coast. We're going up into New York
and Providence. We're going into Rhode Island,
and then we're doing the Midwest. We do a lot
of that, and then we still have time for our
families and our lives. So it's been good to
be in a band like that, and it has really helped
me build my chops. We play improvisational shows
based on the music of the Grateful Dead, but
we don't use set lists. Oh, cool. And there's
two drummers. We always do a big drum feature,
which people come to see, and that's something
I really enjoy doing. But it helped me build
my chops because our shows are two sets. They
clock in over three hours, and there's a 20,
15 -minute drum solo there. That's the intermission?
That's when the band goes and takes a break and
leaves me out there. They take a break. They
leave us out there. We have to play our way out
of it. You want to give people their entertainment's
worth. I've seen the Grateful Dead several times
back in the 90s. I was lucky enough to see them.
I feel it's something we want to share with the
world. That has really trained me to be a...
professional musician I've toured multiple clubs
and cities and I'm bringing that to this group
and that music is vast and it's there's so many
different genres it's there's a Americana genre
there's there was a disco genre there's jazz
there's this jazz infusion and rock and all the
other bands I've played in I toured with this
funk band out of Atlanta called Entropy for about
12 years and Did a lot of the shrimp and grits
circuit with them. Instead of the chitlin' circuit,
we called it the shrimp and grits circuit. The
bougie circuit. Yeah, Savannah Charleston, get
up and down Jacksonville. Jacksonville. It's
in Florida. Yeah, we got into Jacksonville. But,
like, locally, I've had a lot of different things
going on. I had a Brazilian jazz trio going for
about 12 years called Cachaca, and that was really
fun. And I've just, this, being in Athens, it...
has so many opportunities to play music but it's
like you were saying when i walked in it's good
to be able to pick and choose and make sure it's
like really fulfilling because that's that's
really if you're out there and you're schlepping
your instrument around and you're dealing with
parking and insane night life you want to make
sure it's good for your soul yeah yeah that's
what i like about the groups that i've been playing
with and one interesting thing with slightly
famous somebody's Aside from the 30 -year relationship
I've had with Jonah is that I've met a lot of
great people through it that are slightly famous.
But also, I've met some really great players
and some really great people. And I can tell
that they're all genuine and people I would actually
want to be around. And we don't tour. And we
have pretty much just been doing studio work.
And that is pretty much, in my opinion, after
touring and burning up the road for almost 30
years. I love that. I love going to a studio,
half the time there's drums already set up and
tuned for me. All I got to do is sit down and
think about making it the best I can. And we
have really put a lot of energy into that. Absolutely.
We've organically found a formula that works
for everybody, that doesn't overcommit anyone.
And for example... John Neff started as just
like a guest pedal steel player, but he loved
the project and we loved everything he was doing.
And just as we added singles. What's not to love
about John Neff? Yeah. So we don't sit around
and plan what's next. We just like organically
flow. We pick the song and then we flow into
the next bit and see where it's at. And we learned
that like. Neff plays best in his pajamas or
his boxers at home at 3 in the morning. So he
listens to the song and rehearses with us once
and then goes home and does his bit and phones
it in and it's perfect. That's how he plays best.
It works for us wonderfully. So we always leave
space for him to bring his color back in. I love
hearing it. psychedelic pedal steel. It is psychedelic
pedal steel with intention. I can't wait for
you guys to hear some of the tracks we're sitting
on. I'm excited to hear it. He's been one of
my favorite players for 20 years, so I'm excited
any time he's working with anybody. I started
talking to y 'all not even knowing that he was
working with y 'all. He works with so many people.
He's a throwback character too. He's like a pedal
steel guy from 71. He's just the real deal. Is
it closet? Two -life crew fan. Oh, yeah. See
him get excited. Pull up some two -life crew
videos. It brings out a whole side of him. We
do have a big screen behind us tomorrow. That
would confuse a lot of people. Should we play
in front of a two -life crew video? Right before
he has to go play with the bad scenes, too. It'll
just cause conflict for no reason. I want to
go do my job. Show's on. He just turns around
and he just doesn't move. We can play that pedal
still. I was in Tallahassee during the whole
music censorship labeling too light proof thing.
I actually organized protests and hearings in
the Tallahassee Capitol building to try and keep
Florida lawmakers from putting these giant yellow
labels on any album that they considered obscene.
And you were in Zappa when you spoke to Congress.
He was putting out instrumental music. Yeah,
at the time. Even though we're about the same
age, I feel like they put that stuff on the record,
so we're like, we need to get that. We want that.
That's true. That was good. It was at least going
to piss off our heads. Let's give it a listen
now. A lot of life's best things start as an
idea to piss off your bear. I'm wondering how
many people... got into the Limp Bizkit and Marilyn
Manson just because it had that sticker. Definitely
not me. There was like a weird album. Are we
going to have to put a sticker on our album?
Only because of the nudity. I will say, albums
and records used to be cassettes in the 80s for
me. Tuesday was the record release day. That
was my day. Before drugs and alcohol, Tuesday
new records was my biggest high I could possibly
get at age 12, 13. And I would always have my
mom drive me to Turtles Records and Tapes in
Atlanta on Tuesday evening and go get a new release
or look at the new release. I was about 12 when
I got super obsessed with Led Zeppelin, not just
the radio, but it started to be like the deep
cut. 12 -year -old who's... So imagine a 12 -year
-old boy explaining Led Zeppelin to his mother
and then putting on Whole Lotta Love in her 83
Peugeot and making her listen to the Whole Lotta
Love break. Wait, Mom, no, we have to listen
to this before we drive home. So yeah, that pissing
off the parents for me was being 12 and making
them listen to Led Zeppelin. My mom took me to
see the South Park movie when I was 13. It was
fucking cool. I'm all these fucking cool. I will
say amen to that. And my mom is too. She's going
to sing with us tomorrow, actually. We're used
to cool parents. My mom got me into Hendrix.
I'm sorry, Mommy. I love you. I love you too.
I'm not sure which one of us was traumatized
more by that experience. When the giant clitoris
came out and started talking, thankfully she
left to go to the restroom or something when
Saddam started pulling out the rest of her penis.
So I didn't have to say that. Wait, are we still
talking about South Park or no? I don't know
anymore. Kane, back to you for just a second.
There's one question we went around the room
with that I'd love to ask you, too. What's the
first song that you remember loving as a kid?
Oh, man. Purple Haze. Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah,
my mom had an awesome music collection, and some
of it was, like, in a special little area, and
I started crawling through it, and I found Hendrix
Smash Hits or something. Smash Hits, of course.
It blew me away, and then... I loved guitar before
I ever played drums. I just didn't have the patience
to learn it. And I focused on drums, which takes
a hell of a lot of patience, too. But I just
started playing music, and I was like, oh, you're
the drummer, you're the drummer. And I didn't
really write music on guitar now, and I taught
myself. It took me until I was 30 to start playing,
and I'm 48 now. If you're a good drummer, like...
Sometimes people just make you do that. You're
obligated to keep the shit. You can keep it in
the pocket and you show up on time. Those are
two things on my resume. Those are things that
a lot of people take for granted. Those are rare
qualities and are super important for a drummer.
Knowing when to be able to hold back, knowing
when to show off. Sure enough. And being consistent.
Back in 1994 and 1995 in Athens, I had a house
on Saxon Woods Drive, which I'm not related to
John Spencer from the Blues Explosion, and I
always go by Jonathan. I've never been a John.
But everybody in Athens called that house the
John Spencer House Explosion because it was a
five -bedroom house with a full basement that
we had seven bands practicing in twice a week.
So it was nonstop. It was dirt, weed, and jams
24 -7. That place was slightly famous. It was.
Before any of us had any... real job and the
rent from the band's practicing paid the rent
on my house for years and so many people came
and went then but kane i don't even know if kane
knows this but So we had tons of everybody wanting
to turn their Marshall stack up and the mega
drum kits and everybody beating the crap out
of the drums. And Kane would come over with his
maple kit. And your nickname was Maple Touch.
I was like, this song, we need Kane because he's
the touch guy. He's not the hammers breaking
the skins playing as loud as he possibly can
all the time. And we were like, and Reed too.
Reed was around then. He was like, we need the
Maple Touch. Call Kane. That's 30 years ago,
brother. Yeah, you've been sitting on that one
for a while. You're able to touch. You still
are. That might be one of the biggest compliments
of a drummer. Especially considering I was 20
years old. I've been trying to work slowly back
into this movie. I know we've got better stories,
but I do think one of the biggest credits of
this band is there's not... every single person,
you will have a moment where you just zone out
listening to their instrument. And I think it's
just the coolest freaking thing, whether it's
like Kane bringing some like jazz into it or
just really heavy metal going on with that guitar.
We got like... ethereal like we got it all and
it's really been Jonathan's bass lines are just
they're leading they bring the turnarounds like
nobody has phoned it in apparently except for
John Neff which I think is hilarious because
he is literally we were just giving him shit
yesterday but like his stuff if you listen this
is iconic shit I think the first rule of nicknames
you can't love your nickname and the second rule
is you can't choose it yourself and the third
rule is it's got to sting just a tiny bit but
from a good place Yeah. So I think Neff's new
nickname might be Pajama Neff because he likes
to record in his pajamas and that's what works
unbelievably well for him. Pajama Neff. That's
what comes of this. Pajama Neff. Plus, Neff,
buddy, if you're listening to this, I just made
it so he can always record in his pajamas so
he won't hate me. I know, right? That's brilliant.
Thank you. That's me. Send me the track. I'm
in my pajamas. I was first of all had a long
day of like where you just keep trying to eat.
You don't need anything. Just everything is pushing
against you. So instead of being mad, I was just
let myself be weird as I could be. And I just
remember the first time I met Neff being like,
he was like, what am I? My stuff's like over
your vocals. And I was like, no. I should not
mess up your vocals. You are a legend. This was
awesome. This is the Laura I've been for a long
time. And then he's sitting over there and he's
like, Laura, it doesn't work that way. And I'm
like, that's a stupid rule. You're making a John
Neff album today. Whatever you said. Your coaching
work. It is Neff Fest. I'm a big fan of all these
people. Somebody buy NeffFest .com for $18. I'm
going to buy it before this airs. We have to
roll over. I'm going to start a tribute band
called Neffs and Neffs. Neffs and Neffs. That's
the best one right there. And everybody in the
show has to wear or play pajamas. I got no problem
with that. People's face all over the place.
Jolly's face all over. I believe. Nice. He's
going to be like, man, I'm so sorry I missed
the podcast. I was like, dude, you're the star
of the podcast. I'm supposed to talk to you tomorrow
or Sunday, so I'm not going to tell him any of
this. Wear your pajamas. He'll be in his pajamas.
But he should remember that thing because I was
still like, no, I don't know. I don't want to
be messing with your stuff up with my stuff.
Sometimes I don't like those rules. I don't know.
It worked. Whatever. It was fun. Him trying to
be great. Me and Baylor, like, were, it sounded
very musical, very young. Yeah, I definitely
was, yeah. Same. Yeah. And you, Jonathan and
Laura, have started more with acting, and, or
have you always been into music? Tell me, like,
I like my little, my little jingle -jangle line
I like to say. It's a great question. My little
jingle -jangle answer to that is that I've always
done both music and acting with equal passion
and vigor. It's just the world has paid. attention
to one or the other at their own at their own
pace right and it's rarely both at the same time
and this right now this very minute is the first
time in my life where both are converging at
the same time and you're getting like yeah I
was acting for 20 years before I made one dollar
acting I was in all the musicals and all the
plays in all the high school and community theater
and To be honest, I just like hanging out with
the girls and building sets and getting good
at listening to all their problems. And half
the dudes didn't care about the girls, so the
odds were good for a chubby kid like me. It worked
out, and I got to be the cheerleader's best friend.
So that's the thing. The odds are good, but the
goods are odd. But when I was 13, I may have
not known the major scale. Sorry, guys. No, you
can't hold that one back. That one goes. I'm
going to steal that. I'm going to steal that.
Freaking nailer over there. Sorry. No, I'll come
back out in his mouth. His guitar is beautiful.
He got all kinds of stuff. We have a little acronym.
Laura and I have a life acronym that we've shared
with the band, NSBR, which is Never Stop Being
Ridiculous. Don't let anybody steal your ridiculous
and tame your instincts. Embrace it. Don't get
mad. Get weird. We don't shush each other ever.
Don't get mad. Get weird. Channel your weirdness
into an illusion of creativity. Yeah, sometimes
you gotta let someone know what's up. It's okay
to be mad sometimes. That's the moment where
you're like, it's okay to have our late feelings.
Sometimes you're like, gosh, I must be weird
about it. Here we go. Because I started in an
abandoned heist moment. Jonathan, we were called
Irrational, spelled with an E. We were taking,
like, Backstreet Boys and, like, Cobra Starship.
And all these, like, we had changed the words
to, like, she's too stoned. It was, like, all
about Mario, Nintendo. I just saw that band reunite,
like, last fall, American Hi -Fi. Because I never
thought I could weasel it into a conversation
again. When I met Laura Slade -Wiggin, she was
17, a senior in high school, and she auditioned.
I was a casting director for a small movie in
Atlanta called Dance of the Dead. And Laura had
done a table read of the script, and she came
in and auditioned for the movie. And it wasn't
her read itself. Like auditions, in -person auditions
always begin with a little bit of small talk.
And she came in, we had the director, the writer,
and myself, the casting director. We had the
auditions at my church, Holy Innocence. And Laura
comes in and we start the small talk and we're
like, what's going on? How's your day? And the
first thing she says, my band just played on
the roof of the Waffle House in Athens. We're
like... Like U2? Wait, what? Yeah. Not like U2.
Like what? Trying to get a giant bass amp? From
the Waffle House? Here's someone playing on the
roof and your first instinct is U2 and not the
Beatles. It's this little girl who can barely
play the bass. We had to put Jacob's drum kit
on there. It was U2 played on the roof of a Waffle
House. And, like, they don't work there, so it
doesn't matter. But, like, they were, like, we
were best friends with them. Rick and Renata
were our people, and we would sneak out of our
house to go to the Waffle House in Oconee. And
she, like, pitched, like, rotten tomatoes to
us. And she was like, sure, put your stuff up
there. But when the police came, they were, like,
confused. They were, like, getting down. The
police came down. If you say so. Wild cherry.
One, two, three. I think it was one year before
everyone started suing everybody for everything
in the world, but we got away with it. It was
funny. Did you base your set list on the Waffle
House jukebox? Yeah, but we had a lot of loves
in those. We have some love for the Waffle House
jukebox. Look, I can't play very many songs anymore.
I'm a Canadian mom. I'm actually like... My dad,
Ronnie Millsap, 8 -track, is burned in my head
forever of life. Ronnie's got a couple of Waffle
House kids. My sister and I went to school with
Ronnie Millsap's kid. Oh, boy. She did. Yeah,
no, we lived in Nashville for a while, and I
went to a private school up there called Franklin
Broad Academy, which is a performing arts school.
Yeah. I've heard of Franklin. That's a Rudolph
song. I don't mean to call you that. No, here's
another one. I told you who my dad and my cousin
are. My godfathers, the two people who were there
to be my godfathers when I was baptized, Spooner
Oldham and Dan Pence. Spooner Oldham. Spooner's
the man. Spooner's the man. Yeah. The man who
played the Rhodes intro at the beginning of Aretha
Franklin's Never Never Demand the Way That I
Love You. One of the Swampers from Muscle Shoals.
Oh, wow. We synchronized the show in Tallahassee
one time as part of a music festival. Spooner
came down. Uncle Donnie Fritz before he passed
away. David Lillard. And they played a bunch
of Eddie Hinton songs. Oh, I love Eddie Hinton.
And it was just super, super random that it happened
in Tallahassee. Every time I see Chuck, I just
tell him how, and I don't even know how that
happened. But, man, yes, dinner was really important
to me for a long time. Wow. We were living in
Nashville. We used to spend probably every other
weekend at Squinter and Karen's house. Wow. Wow.
That's so amazing. This weekend, y 'all are playing
your, is it your first show? It's our first show.
Our first show ever. Ever. Yeah. As the Slightly
Famous Somebodies, or even like all, like the
two of y 'all played together 20 years ago. And
I haven't played since the Waffle House. No,
we've played, I haven't played in a long time.
It's been a while. But yeah, in Los Angeles,
Laura and I were there about a dozen years. And
we had, we had a little like comedy rock duo.
We'd go out and freak people out and dress silly
and do silly songs. But. They've morphed and
changed. And two of the songs on our record are
sourced from that band in 2008. Oh, cool. And
obviously they've enriched and become something
completely new, lyrically and musically, since
then. But yeah, it's good. It's not just full
circle. It's like our reinvention and a new growth
of what was before. But there's a lot more hope
than there was. That's serious. And these two
are like, they're actually rock stars. They're
this close. Then they'd be really famous. If
they were famous, then they'd have to start a
new band. They'd have to be like, we're a really
famous band. I'm not in that band. Reminds me
of... You'll see. You'll see. Being slightly
famous might be better than being fully famous.
Oh, yeah. Would y 'all agree with that? When
I wanted to get into college, yes. Don't know
what it's like to be fully famous. When you're
38... Yeah, but it seems like there's a lot of
consequences to that. It's more tongue -in -cheek
for me, but for Lauren Baylor, they've actually
had to deal with things in life, good and bad.
I don't want to speak on your behalf, but they
know both sides of that world. Well, I'm sure
that, for instance, I saw it today. People recognize
you all the time. I'm sure that... That's weird.
I'm sure on one hand it's wonderful. But it's
slightly famous. A couple people won't take a
picture of me. But when I see... Bill Mazie or
John Cusack or a lot of different people. And
sometimes when you're not in good mental health
and you've got, and I struggle with that kind
of stuff, and you've got to be on and you've
got to get to here and here and you can't miss
a beat or else there's so much to do. At the
same time, I do really like watching all these
very famous people's work. He's got his perks
to be rich and famous. Who wants to be naked
and famous? I know this. But at the same time,
I do think there is an element to it. Like, I
was just always... I just grew up in such a light.
My grandma was from Dawson, Georgia. I just came
from a small place. I just like to be in my room
by myself doing my thing. I don't like to be
out all the time. Have you made some friends
over the years that have helped you with some
advice or when you're feeling overwhelmed by
that sort of thing that have helped you through
some of those times? Or have you just had to
figure it out on your own? I've been... I feel
like my life did a 180. Everything was fast.
Everything was working out. The pandemic came.
Three of my movies were going to premiere. They
got scrapped. It happened to a lot of people.
And in different industries, different versions
of that. And at first it was agonizing. I thought
my life was over. I was just so sad about it.
And then all of a sudden, with my kids and everything,
I just started to find actual confidence, if
that makes sense. When you're like, you know
what? We can... It might come back again, but
it doesn't matter. Your happiness isn't tied
to it. Yeah, and I think that makes it better.
And you've got your family. You have to take
time to think about it. For a long time, I was
like, I don't want to be in a big crowd. Very
short. People act like I'm the person when they're
looking for how they're going to walk. They always
walk through the short people. They always pick
that path. They're like, excuse me. A lot of
us in this band have a like... a before and an
after moment kind of thing in our lives whether
it's the tv or for me like i had my last drink
eight years ago i'm not entirely sober but i
don't drink i don't touch alcohol and It's a
page turn for me. There's a before and an after.
But in this van, there's not a before and after
because I've got, Kane and I have the 90s. Laura
and I, I don't share LA and Athens with anyone
on the planet other than Laura Wiggins. Like
we had almost a dozen years there and we both
have Athens. We're in different decades, but
we have that shared thing and I don't have to
explain the jokes. It's just an unspoken. And
she sang in my dad's funeral and she was there
for my... ill -fated wedding and helped me not
have a second divorce. So that was great. And
Kane was there in the 90s. But at the same time,
when I was a complete disaster, it's such a joy
to have a new friend in Valor who didn't know
that guy. This guy. The new guy. Sometimes it's
really hard to be different when people expect
a certain thing from you. You know what I mean?
So I know exactly. I like to say that 75 % of
the people in my world now are new or post eight
years ago and the 25 that are not are the best
people i've ever known in my life yeah but that
that that kind of i'm not gonna use the right
metaphor but that little like choice point that
little turn mcguffin as they call it in scripts
or whatever like you've got a before shameless
and an after shameless and we were playing songs
and being silly before shameless like so laura
can always look to me like it's not a before
and after because We had songwriting and silliness
going on long before any of that stuff. I get
to sing lead tomorrow. I think it's really cool
that next time I don't have to sing lead. I'll
sing backup. It's really cool to be able to be
fluid like that and not have your ego involved
in it because you just get so many new colors.
And seeing someone else do it. We do watch everybody
do the same scene a thousand times. Sometimes
you're like, dude, I like their spin on it right
now. I like that a lot. You spend a lot of time
reading horror stories. Yep, he learned that.
It's really, I know everything about my terror.
I've got an audition I've got to get in due Monday
morning that Laura's going to help me with on
Sunday afternoon here. And she and I have been
reading. When we audition, you have a reader
on the other side of the camera that no one sees.
And I've been her reader and she's been my reader.
We're going on two decades now. It comes as easily
as playing music together. And it's shockingly
very similar. Let's try this. The vibe we bring
to the table in ensemble comedy or ensemble drama
is super similar to the way that we approach
music. It's very fluid. We don't commit to anything
for fear of closing the door on ourselves. The
best improv take is the one that you haven't
come up with yet. It's like an epistemological
circle there, right? Like the more you plan it,
the more you push it away from yourself. It's
the happiest. We love the little clever things
we come up with, and we take those. When we do
auditions, we're like, let's do that take, let's
do that take. But it's inevitably the one you
haven't thought of yet that you find in the moment
that's the one you end up using that's the best
one. So we try to create that space with the
music, too, hopefully, and not sit at Taco Stand
talking about the perfect song. I do love Taco
Stand. We do love Taco Stand. We want our reward.
And that Rock Lobster is right over there. I
think Rock Lobster is still there. I haven't
looked at him for a while. Didn't you want to
release our 33 and exclusively? He bounces a
lot of ideas off of me, and some of them sound
like they might actually go somewhere, and then
you never hear about it again. That's right.
And all of a sudden, it's like, hey, guys. We're
doing this tomorrow. It's never that bad. It's
never that bad. The nature of the great ideas
is you've got to be willing to kill the dog and
have four bad ones for every one. If you've got
to fully entertain the bad ones in order, if
you just sit and go, we have to come up with
the perfect thing, it'll never work. Yeah, for
five minutes, I was like, let's just release
a 45 and just... Give it away at Taco Stand if
anybody spends 30 bucks. And Kane's like, Jonah,
how are you going to spend $30 at Taco Stand?
$30 now? I'm at Taco Stand. Outside costs like
$300. That's my cherry coat. Outside is exclusive.
Just leaving the house costs a lot of money.
That cherry coat feels good. Y 'all are going
to cover a song tomorrow night that I'm super
excited about. I'm not sure I've ever heard anybody
play. Fever dog. Oh. Yeah, me neither. And I'm
also, like, I'm sitting here thinking about a
lot of... First of all, like, I grew up on that
movie. And all my friends, like, I worked at
a concert venue when I was a kid. So everybody
compared to being a William Miller. Okay. Which
is Cameron Crowe's autobiographical character.
Stillwater is of course based, they're a fictional
band based on. Partly on the Allman Brothers.
On the Allman Brothers. Yeah. And I'm wondering
like how, where did the decision to cover the
first slightly famous, somebody's almost famous
is like obvious, but I feel like it goes deeper
than that. Can you just tell me about what the
decision to cover, like. to cover that song of
all songs it actually started off as a segue
from another song we're doing called 45. it just
the feel of the two together was a natural segue
and then once we decided rather than to just
sting it but to make it its own song yeah it
got added to the set list it was originally just
going to be little easter egg at the end of the
tune However, it's a short song, but in my mind
it's a perfect song, and it's got a really good
ending for a concert closer, and that might be...
Well, we've worked with Jason Lee before. Yeah,
and in four episodes of mine, those are all that
we have. I'm just thinking about all these different
connections to the song. It makes so much sense
for you. One of the Athens, Cain's born and raised
in Athens. Laura is born and raised in O 'Connor
County, next county over, but basically Athens.
And I was here in 91, like in 99. Yeah, I was
here for almost a full decade. The one thing
that Laura and I share that we laugh about all
the time is... We, and this was true in 1991
when I got here, and this is true in 2025 right
now. We love being cringy and pissing off all
the hipsters. I'm also like, I'm just the cringy
dude with the history records. Embrace the cringy.
Full on embrace the cringy. So the fever dog
is like right within that. If I can make elephant
snakes roll their eyes at me, I have one. I got
one for you with that account. The last jam cruise
I did. One of the theme nights was about cooking,
about food. Oh. And my kid, I have a kid I'm
immensely proud of named Astrid, and they are
working as a teacher, a music teacher in Lexington.
And also they are in the intern at Wood Songs,
the folk and bluegrass radio show out of Lexington.
And do they play harp, is it? They play cello.
Am I meant to use that? Their main instrument
is cello. Their main instrument is cello, yeah.
Astrid knows that I like to cork. and made for
me this really spectacular pink and white frilly
apron with my name on it. It is so cute. Are
you going to wear it tomorrow night on your birthday?
No, no. I've got something else planned for tomorrow.
Okay, okay. That's for special times. The air
left the room. The only person for special occasions
like Jam Cruise. But one of the Jam Cruise nights,
like I said, was about... the cooking and stuff.
So I said, I'm going to bring the apron and I'm
going to, I'm going to wear it. I'm going to
wear it. And so I put on the apron and I'm out
mingling and I get to, do you know who Stan Moore
is? Oh yeah. Yeah, of course. So I get this look
from Stan. What the hell is this white boy doing?
And I was, I could not have been prouder. I said,
Hey Stan, my kid made this. It is what it is,
my friends. It's a great, it's a. I can't, I
didn't know they made it. What a great job. Like
in 91 in Athens, one of those things is there's
always two sides of the tracks here and a lot,
everybody debating what was cool and what was
not. And I would just roll my eyes and be like,
let's just go do something and make something
instead of sitting around and talking about what
is or is not the thing, right? Back to epistemology.
Like, we're just going to sit around and talk
about what the thing is or are we going to go
make shapes and just start making? And Los Angeles
really gave me the freedom to let go of it's
got to be this or it's got to be that or we have
to create that. Because everyone was talented
or you wouldn't have shown up. You didn't make
it to set or on stage if you weren't. So you
just took out the, aren't they good? enough out
of it and just assumed everybody's awesome now
let's make a cake and that's the energy that
this band has as well it's like the energy of
Athens Georgia in a lot of ways too I mean we
just start cooking man I'm not saying that people
get a pass if they suck but I think like everybody
gives everybody the benefit of the doubt until
they have a reason not to everybody lifts each
other up artistically I've seen Michael Stipe
used to have a venue called Go Bar and it was
like my church over here I love Go Bar so much
but one of my favorite things is you could go
there and it would be like unlistenable to like
feedback and guitar but it was allowed it was
permitted yeah and there's something about allowing
it to be there for some reason and just loud
and in your face and then it turns all of a sudden
into this other bar where it's really good you
might have a great thing going through there
but yeah yeah Just the, like, opportunity to
just be terrible, but also you have, I don't
know. Or to just be. Just to be. And not worry
about whether it's good or not. Some people embrace
dissonance, you know, more definitely. I don't
know. It just reminds me of a child. Just being
like, I enjoy making the noisy mess you are,
but I don't know. Let them paint the walls. Let
them hit the pots and pans. In L .A., of course,
you never know. Everybody's going to try everything
out there. There's a new take on everything in
Los Angeles. So I'm here covering Affest. That's
why I'm in town this weekend. Y 'all are playing
Affest. Some of you, I'm guessing, have played
many Affests. Some of you have never played Affest
before. But I was the intern in 2007. Laura,
will you tell us about your internship in 2007,
please? Let's start there. Okay. It was still
Troy Aubrey, and there was another guy that was
doing it, too. I can't remember who it was. I'm
sorry, that guy. A long time ago. I was going
bar to bar, getting the wristbands to the band
so that it wasn't chaos to get the wristbands.
I like the no choice. Whatever bar they were
playing at. I keep forgetting. You couldn't just
text everybody or anything. I'm finding people
on MySpace. There is Facebook, but it's only
college students. I went to, it was called Gainesville
College, but that's gone now. But, like, I had
a dual thing. Like, I did high school and college
at the same time, so I had a faith. But it was
just chaos. But it was so cool, so much fun.
And, like, I was even talking to 5 '8". Like,
they played a rock and relief benefit we did
for our kid Katrina. And I was like, it's just
funny how that stuff, like, really, like. it
gets in your subconscious and the modern spirits
are back and unfortunately playing while we are
playing and they're probably tired of me saying
this but they were like yeah you're the competition
now but it was like they were i mean i went to
all their shows and they're just old my dad and
i would go to the 40 watt together i was always
proud of him because he was like all right if
you're gonna rebel then let me come with you
And he liked it, too. He liked it, too. My mom
would just hang out in the back. And the wigs
are still killing it. Yeah. I don't have an AthFest
story because the first AthFest was after I already
left town. Is this your first AthFest? First
time I've ever been here for AthFest. So, yeah,
I was either in Los Angeles or, yeah, I was always
gone when it was invented. So I was here in 91
to 99. and then coming back a bunch in 2000,
but I moved to LA in 2003. So I was there 03
through 2015. I think it's the 25th, but then
a couple of years didn't happen. Oh yeah, that's
true. So that means it did start in the 2000s,
which is weird. I didn't realize that was the
first time that was happening, Ben. My band,
Shank. Hey, what's up, Shank? We were on one
of the first AthFest samplers. They used to put
out... I miss those. They're still doing that,
aren't they? I miss those. Those are good. Okay,
there used to be dips that they would put together.
Orchids. Any band that released an album that
year was able to submit. And then, yeah, we got
a song on there. And we didn't play that year,
but I was happy to be on the album. And then
my Afro -Caribbean folkloric drum ensemble called
Muyuba has played several times, and we've opened
up some shows. And then I've played twice with
a reggae band called Maddie Lovejoys on the main
stage, and that's always been really fun. And
there were several years where I was not in town
for it, and I don't know. I really like that
we're doing a night show. This will be my first
night. show for FFest, which is really the coveted
time. Weather's supposed to be great. Have you
ever debuted a band at FFest before? Has anybody
ever done it? That is a fun thing, though. I'm
really glad we're doing it. I remember my parents
used to, when I was a kid, my parents would take
me to the Friday night movies, and I'd get to
see a lot of movies that I probably shouldn't
have seen at age 9 or 10. Stir Crazy, I can remember
going to see the premiere of that. But one of
the ones my parents took me to in 1980 was when
Bo Derek married John Derek, the movie 10. And
she's running down the beach. And I remember
the trailer specifically saying, and introducing
Bo Derek. And I remember turning to my mom, even
at that age of eight or nine years old, going,
how can she be the star of the movie if this
is her first movie? And not that we're the stars
of AthFest, but like, this is our first gig and
we're playing AthFest. It's pretty, pretty cool.
So I've been half winking at. Introducing slightly
famous somebodies. We're introducing. Yeah. That's
part of the fun. You've got to show up to see
who's going to show up, and you never know when
the next one will be. How many F -Fests have
you played? Fests in general. I've played a lot
of festivals. I feel like we'd be here all night.
Part of it is that the Allman Brothers founded
two festivals. So I've played both of those multiple
times, but many others besides. But no, this
is my first time at F -Fest. I've lived what's
a fantastic fest and a terrible fest experience.
Not the fest itself, but like one that, I don't
know, rain or mud, and another one that was just
unbelievably rewarding and wonderful. The rewarding
and wonderful one would have been Wakarusa in
Kansas. Oh, wow. It was hot as monkeys out there.
It was terribly hot, but the music went on until
about six in the morning, and we played the same
tense that Buckethead had played. Oh, wow. That
brings back some memories. So I got to see Buckethead
and be backstage. I didn't get to talk to him
or see him without the bucket and the wig or
whatever, but I did at least share hair with
Buckethead, and that was pretty cool. In terms
of... Wait, that's a wig? It's a bank seat. Just
kidding. It's not his real head. It's like Rick
and Morty when they take the thing off. The four
-four times guy, and he just has the mustache
and really white face. That's how he looks like.
I know him, too. I know him, too, Miller. I had
a prog jam band for a while I was in called Bonobos
Convergence. It was a couple of guys from an
Orlando jam band called Kinda who had moved up
to Atlanta, and they were looking to hire a bass
player, and I auditioned to play bass and guitar
because that's what I was doing with my fusion
band at the time. Simultaneously? Yeah. What
I would do is I have a MIDI pickup on my guitar,
and I would send the low two strings to a Moog
synthesizer so I could play. bass lines and chords.
Baylor, that's... Wow. Heavy magic. Charlie Hunter
moved to Greensboro. Charlie Hunter went to high
school with my friend Galadriel. Sometimes when
we are on the spectrum, that's one of the benefits
of being on the spectrum. You're still like,
I'm excited to do that. Bunbo's Convergence was
hired to play a solar -powered festival in central
Florida, just outside Orlando. They were going
to solar power the whole thing. The problem is
our organist, Pete, played through a real B3.
And what happens with the B3 is that it spins
its tone wheels based upon the cycles that's
coming from the plug. And the cycles we were
getting from the sun mean it was out of tune
the entire self. So not only was it hot, no shade,
in the middle of a field, in the middle of summer
in Orlando, but... We were out of tune the entire
slow is there a friend of any idea that was gonna
happen Is there a free jazz song in your future?
Solar Hammond, it's like intentionally you're
waffling tuning the whole the solar Hammond I'm
wondering if they've figured out a way. Because
I feel like that's probably one of the first
times everybody's tried to run a Hammond on solar
power. It sounds like a terrible idea. That might
be the new code for whenever a bad idea comes
up, you just go, nope, solar Hammond. But we
don't know that. We don't know that. It's a solar
Hammond. We're not doing that. We don't know
that. I like the idea. You've got a whole new
language tonight. I love the idea. Solar Hammond
is now the... Nope! Instead of 86. If it was
a heat. Pajama Neff. We got it. Pajama Neff.
That's how we came up with the spectrum. Pajama
Neff and the Solar Hammond. Holy shit. It's his
new band. His 150th band. Somebody was going
to run a festival in Florida off of mosquitoes
and humidity. Y 'all would be blown. Ooh. I shouldn't
make fans. The non -covered. I will be a good,
I will be a, I thought that was Charleston because
there's R that sounds like a freaking bird. But,
we'll be making our, our yearly trip to Florida
Snow White. We'd love. But then there's all these
jokes we can make. So you guys just wrapped up
your debut record. Today? Pretty much. A couple
overdub harmonies on Sunday, but yeah, we're
pretty trapped. And that's got a pajama and his
parts in. Right. You got it. We'll fly in the
pajama parts. You got it. So a little email mixies
back and forth, but yeah, it's basically done.
We've already got three singles out there all
over all the streaming services, and we're going
to keep releasing a single every couple of months
for a while, but this was like a planned... We
wanted to be the band that's... We're playing
the first show, and then we'll see you in six
months. Bye. Because we all got lives. We all
got... stuff. So you're not touring? Never. Never.
We'll see you in January at the Rock Lobsters.
How about that? Let me just go around the room
before we totally wrap this up. Yeah, cool. Tell
me what you're working on there, and then we'll
just go around the room. Tell me what you've
got. People can find you, what you want to promote,
whatever you want to plug. So I just wrapped
season five of my series, The Albums I've Missed,
and there is a season six in the works, but before
that comes out, I will have an album coming out.
For season three of my series, which was a deep
dive into prog rock and specifically the Canterbury
scene, I wrote original music for every episode,
and I've used all of that music. 45 minutes of
music all together. Oh, man. So I've got all
the demos done, so now I'm just retracking everything,
getting a couple of additional musicians in.
God Bulletin' and The Crick Don't Rise, it'll
be out by the end of the year. Who else playing?
You got Eric Sanders. Who else on that way? Vinny
D 'Agostino is going to be playing some flute
and some other reeds on it. That's quite the
name. Yeah. That is the best. If you remember,
you know who Puddles the Clown is? Of course.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Word out right now. Yeah, yeah.
He had a... an Elvis tribute band in town for
a while called King Size. King Size, yeah. And
I actually subbed for their guitarist New Year's
Eve at the Claremont Lounge one time. Ah, fuck.
Legendary. Yeah. But yeah, so Vinny was King
Size's reed player forever. Oh, okay. So that's
how I met him. Aside from Eric, my friend Brooke
Smith, who played with the Grapes, yeah, he's...
Eric and Brooks and I are a trio called the Yeti
Trio. Very loud, odd meter fusion. The best.
Yeah, but I've got some other folks I'm not prepared
to say just yet because I don't have all the
details yet, but maybe a Zappa alum or two might
show up on this album. Oh, man, I'm obsessed
with Zappa. Yeah. Oh, Mike Camillo? I think it
would be a smart choice. They would be in good
company, talented company. And of course you've
got, just to plug you a little bit, you've got
the Jam Cruise Masters, Gambit C, and you've
got your brothers. brother and sister but the
next kind of thing where you can see me and learn
from me is Roots Rock Revival the last week in
July at Full Moon Resort in the Catskills it's
me It's Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North
Mississippi All -Stars. I just had their assistant
producer at my house. Oh, okay. Cody Shade Harrell.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's Cedric's bass player.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Ray Holliman, who is
with North Mississippi All -Stars. Nth Power
with Nikki Glaspie. Oh, wow. Powerhouse. Dillick
and Starchild from P -Funk. What? P -Funk's from
my backyard. Yeah. Shout out to... So we just
took the slightly out. Now we're in famous people.
So it's a camp my dad started. 11 years ago,
and so I've taken over his spots. You ever been
over to the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic?
I haven't, no. It's happening next week. I know,
no, I have not. I haven't had a chance to do
that. Yeah, I've known the Harrell brothers a
long time. Cool. They played my house last Friday.
Nice. Their episode will be out Monday. Yeah,
have you heard the new North Mississippi All
-Stars album yet? We listened to it after their
set. Yeah. Yeah, it was awesome. I think it came
out like that day. Yeah, they're still releasing
singles. I know. Yeah, that's honestly like the
North Mississippi All Stars were like the band
that routed me into blues and Americana from
just like my rebelling against that shit going
on. You know what I mean? So that stuff's really
like Hill Country Blues is really important.
And Luther is one of the nicest, most grounded
folks. Cody is a joy to work with and a joy to
talk to as well. But Luther and I, since we share
an instrument, we talk all the time. Oh, yeah.
I love his playing, too. I love your playing.
I'll either have been a huge fan of Scott, as
long as I can remember. He really is a small
world, though. Yeah. The Harrell brothers, I've
known them 25 years. Oh, wow. Okay, wow. That's
great. What's Junior Kimbrough, then? Oh, I don't
know him, but, you know, of course. Some of his
songs would get him canceled these days. And
speaking of Zappa, I just wanted to, I almost
brought this up earlier, but when you were talking
about keeping the Grateful Dead's music and the
spirit of their music alive, I think that's really
important. I went and saw Zappa Play Zappa. I've
seen them several times. And it's the same thing.
There's only certain people that can keep that
music alive. So I think it's really important
that you're doing that. It's amazing, man. It's
the reason why I started Brother and Sister.
I took my inspiration directly from Zappa Play
Zappa. There's a lot of Allman Brothers tribute
acts out there. They tend to come in two categories.
Those that... Don't give a shit about the form
of the song. I just want to jam. And those that
are trying to put on a stage show and play the
solos note for note. And neither one of them
has anything to do with the original intent of
the band. So I said, I would like, if anyone's
going to do this, I guess it's on me because
I know how. So I put together a group of musicians
that I felt could execute that. And it's not
a full -time thing. It's not something that we
chase a lot. We don't tour that much. But that
was the reason why the band started. But it's
an essence instead of a show. It's like the core
essence. It's me treating the music of the Allman
Brothers as a body of work to be executed like
a small chamber ensemble. So improvise when it
says improvise. Don't play a solo note for note.
But more than anything else, get the intentionality
of the song and the composed parts correct. And
so many people screw that up. It's really, I
think, a blessing to have people that know how
to play that music the right way. whether it
be the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Allman Brothers,
to choose to do that. So thank you both for doing
that. You talked about some of your projects.
I ain't got nothing that cool. Just recapping.
Yeah, just small. Yeah, so I've got a small role
on Murdoch Murders. It's coming out on Hulu in
October. And a small movie I did in New Orleans
called The Designer that's coming out next fall.
And yeah, I'm just, I'm looking forward to the
next. It's weird in our acting world. We're all
under NDAs, non -disclosure agreements now is
the way it works. So it's like they're really
hardcore about what you can talk about and what
you can't. chant and all that. But I'm finally,
the best way I can say this, I'm finally in a
place where I can't talk about it. For a while,
it was just crickets and I had nothing to talk
about. So it's good to have a place where I can't
talk about it again. I think that everybody's
really excited to see what you got coming. Thank
you. I'm thrilled for a long time. Laura and
I were, I'll be perfectly honest, because we
had really good runs in Los Angeles. By any standard
you can count. Coming home to Georgia, we both
thought would be like this big victory lap. And
we both found that, like, Georgia was like, no,
we're going to prove that we can do it as good
as L .A. can. So they ignored us. And I'm like,
wait, I'm on your team, guys. They're like, we
want the Georgia choice. And you two, ironically,
can never be the Georgia choice. So that, we've
now outlived that. And it's now come full circle.
And now everybody's got to compete on the field.
And the great thing about that is now motherfuckers
got to compete with us again. It was funny. I
made more movies in Georgia when I lived in L
.A. Yeah. I had a lot of things. A lot of things
have changed. Some of it wasn't all this. We
had studios. Never been readjusting. There was
a casting director that was just saying, it's
not that the industry left Hollywood. It's just
you can live wherever you want to now. And so
it's just not only in Los Angeles. It's not just
in New York. It was a bumpy five years since
the pandemic, but I truly feel like we are just
rounding that corner now. I mean, for us and
where we come from and our shared experience
as things go. So Laura's got some new action
happening too. Had a movie premiere last weekend.
Yeah. We did, and that one is fine. It was shot
in Hyderabad, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, it was.
The first movie shot at Athena Studios. We shot
it in four days with a local. He does music videos,
but he's one of those guys I was like, I just
knew he could shoot really well. So if it's going
to be a beautiful project. I mean, a lot of directors
started with music videos. Dave Fincher. Yeah,
absolutely. With some good actors. But yes, we
have American Deadbolt and I'm hoping it will
come out on streaming or we'll see where it goes
next. But it's just fully Athens artists. Like
we have, like there's Jade Hernandez is from
here. She does a lot of the Flying Squid comedy.
Clifton and Jason. Jason. Does a lot of stuff
here in Athens. He's also at Landon and Clifton.
It was his first movie. It's all this cool stuff.
We shot it with like the lights were already
in the ceiling. So the director was so good with
his light. He can't hear, but he can light. So
Brian could like just make this beautiful. It's
just beautiful. We had the students helping us.
We got shut down for the strike. We got shut
down from a tornado. And it just, everybody was
like, no. Chris Hines, we are making this film.
It's happening. He was the producer. And it's
just cool to see that kind of. I feel like in
other places, it would be hard for actors to
want to actually make that happen. And do everything
in their power. Like, we're not getting paid
extra. We're not. There's absolutely nothing
in it for us. But everybody just wanted to. Well,
on the Rise All Ships ensemble energy. is like
hard to harness you can't manipulate that and
plan that and they were able to capture that
they had that it just like when it clicks it
works and it's oh i'm gonna feel it here but
it's like you have a support system and it's
the sum of the parts is bigger yeah is there
anything else that you can talk about right now
we both i'll do this we both have new headshots
with the coolest i've been taking it i've been
taking but here check this isn't even about me
i've been doing headshots for 25 years and i've
got the best photographer i've ever worked with
in my life Josh Stringer and Laura's shooting
with him next week. And I've never, he's from
New Orleans and we just had a vibe and hit it
off. And it's, it ain't about look through their
book. It's about people and it's about connections.
And I've never connected with a director of photography,
a cinematographer, or a still photographer the
way I did with him. And they're freaking great.
And I'm already getting appointments left and
right off of them. So I'm promoting Josh Stringer
and Laura's shooting with him next week. Awesome.
So y 'all just keep that in mind. You've got
shots from Jonathan Spencer. No, watch American
Deadbolt. If Landon Ashworth's Go On premieres
soon, then that's the other film that's coming
out. I've done a lot more indies. And there's
another one that we're hoping a Western that
might turn up that I'll be able to go out and
do like in Tombstone and stuff. But we're just,
we're still like fingers crossed. But I guess
I'm starting to feel better enough to like actually
say something. Save your Ellie Mae Clampett outfit
there. No, I got to do the whole. The ingenue
that's going out to the West. To save my husband.
And then she's got to go through the journey
and grow up. The story. Turn a room full of guys
into a fine red mist. Cain, you're about to have
a big tour. You got a big tour coming, right?
Yeah, I got a lot of things. Cosmic Charlie is
keeping me pretty busy. And we got a Northeast
tour coming up and then a Midwest tour. And that's
a lot to juggle with everything else in my life.
This project has been, we've been... finishing
up this album. Once that's complete, we're going
to work on one of my songs called Walking Song
that is an instrumental that I already released
last year on a different album that was a benefit
album for Project Safe. And Lauren, we're going
to workshop it and try to add some lyrics to
it and take it in a new direction and make it
slightly famous style and do the stacked harmonies
and all that beautiful stuff that we've been
doing in the studio. Because the studio is like
our other, it's like another instrument for us.
So we're really looking forward to that. It's
definitely got a cool aspect, too. It's got a
very open... It's cool. And I've just been working
on... I've got other studio sessions booked for
summer with some other bands. People are calling.
But also, it's just nice to sit on the porch
every once in a while, especially when you spend
a lot of time in a van. Oh, good job. So I do
live out in the country, and nobody can find
me. But if you want to find me online, it's drummer
.kanestanley .com. It's K -A -N -E -S -T -A -N
-L -E -Y .com. And I'll make sure that there's
links to all of his stuff in the description.
I really appreciate y 'all sitting down and talking
with me. This has been a lot of fun. Yeah, it's
fun. Is there anything else y 'all want to...
Anything you think that people need to know before
we cut this off? I don't think so. Give a shout
out to our official band photographer, Mike White.
Mike White. Yeah. He's been amazing. Our co -producer
with me, Chris Byron. Jesse Magnum also co -produced.
He's also a spy. I'm going to get to the bottom
of it. You know about Mike White's spy? Chris
Byron has been our co -producer on a majority
of the record. He's been an incredible partner.
And a huge shout out to Nucci Space in Athens,
Georgia. One of the most amazing organizations
in the world. I was there when they broke ground
for that. And I've been there in their journey.
I've worked there too. And it's been a huge part
of Athens since they started. And this is Nucci,
N -U -C -I dot O -R -G. Irrationalist. This is
not the first time we've talked about new cheese.
I could go all night about that. I would love
to have a conversation about new cheese sometimes.
And that's our official rehearsal studio, apparently.
And of course, Kevin Kinney and Anna Kinney,
who started this whole thing for us. because
we were invited by Hannah to contribute to the
Lady Tribute songwriting. So they're really the
impetus that started that. This was so much fun.
Thank you. Thank you all so much. Thank you for
everything. As you can tell, I had a great time
interviewing them. And their show was awesome.
They played right after Bubba Sparks. It was
a party already. And when she said, when Laura
said she was going to put a spell on us, she
was not lying, man. It was awesome. Check out
their music. Their album is coming out in the
next few weeks. I'll definitely let you know
when it is. Make sure to check out Valor Trucks'
YouTube channel where he's listening to all those
records. There's a link in the description. Check
out Brother and Sister. He and Melody, his sister's
tribute to the Allman Brothers that he talked
about in that interview. Of course, you can catch
Laura Wiggins on Shameless. That's still on Netflix.
I encourage you, if you've never watched that
show, definitely check it out. It's a classic.
She's also got American Deadbolt out now. I don't
know that it's being shown at some film festivals.
I'm not sure that you can watch it yet, but I
would petition. whoever you can to make it so
that you can see it. It was shot entirely in
Athens, Georgia. Jonathan Spencer, he's got the
Murdoch murders coming out, as he talked about.
Also, just check out his IMDb page. I promise
you've seen him in like a million things. Kane
Stanley is on tour right now with Cosmic Charlie.
I'm hoping to have him back on the podcast, especially
since he was a little bit late. He was picking
up the passes for the band. when we started the
interview so he had to come a little late but
hoping to talk to him a little bit more next
week we've got Jen Bryant check my mail if you
would please Jen she's the webmaster for the
drive -by truckers and has been since the late
90s really one of the first webmasters and I
would assume probably the longest running webmaster
in music If anybody's been doing it longer than
like 26, 27 years, send me an email. I'd love
to have you on the show as well. We have a great
conversation. She tells me all about how she
first met the drive -by truckers and how she
just made a website before anybody even thought
about making websites. She also explains the
origin. of the lyric where her name gets dropped
in hell no i ain't happy so make sure you hit
that subscribe button and tune in next week please
donate if you're able there's links on all the
platforms and on my website feddon .net f -e
-d -d -u -n .net thanks again to the sloan brothers
for the theme song thanks to lee baines for inspiring
the title thanks for listening y 'all