Hey everybody, how you doing? This is Aaron Comis
of the Spin Doctors, and you're listening to
my weekly mixtape with Brian Colburn. We had
a great time picking a bunch of Spin Doctors
songs, and I hope you enjoy it. Have a great
one. Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast
that takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight as guest curator is the drummer
of a band that I've been a fan of since first
hearing the opening drum fill that slides in
under the lead riff to Jimmy Olsen's Blues, and
that's the one and only Aaron Comis of The Spin
Doctors. Aaron, thank you so much for joining
me on My Weekly Mixtape. Hey, thanks for having
me, man. How you doing? I'm doing great. Hope
you could say the same. Yes, sir. Well, I'd like
to start by asking you the same question I ask
all of my first time guests. Aaron, what does
the word mixtape mean to you? Mixtape? Well,
I mean, it reminds me of back in the day when
we had cassettes and we would make mixtapes and
just put our favorite songs on them. I certainly
did a lot of those back in the day. And then,
of course, we started doing them on our computers
and iTunes. And now I can't even figure out how
to work with it anymore. It's so confusing. but
uh yeah that it was those were fun and i know
sometimes people would make tapes for their friends
or their girlfriends you know and uh there's
a lot of a lot of memories and meanings and songs
for people so uh mixtapes are always sort of
a cool way to capture that you know Well, what
we're hoping to do tonight is capture the ultimate
Spin Doctors mixtape. And Aaron and I are going
to do that tonight by using the old cassette
deck approach. Aaron, as my special guest, will
begin side A with his first song choice, and
then I'll add a song that I feel best follows
up that choice. We'll then flip -flop choosing
songs until we've mapped out 10 songs for side
A. Wow. We'll then give that mixtape a proverbial
flip, and we'll map out side B, only this time
I'll kick the side off. with Aaron choosing second.
Our overall goal for this episode is to craft
the best Spin Doctors mixtape possible through
only 20 songs. At the end of the show, you can
take our conversation to the next level by visiting
the episode page at myweeklymixtape .com where
you can give our final mixtape a listen. via
the embedded playlist. If you like what you're
hearing on the show, you can help me out by either
telling a friend about the show, leaving the
show a five -star review wherever you're tuning
in, or by becoming a Patreon mixtape or at patreon
.com forward slash myweeklymixtape. So Aaron,
I'm officially pressing the record button on
our mixtape and the floor is yours. Why don't
you dive into the song you're going to choose
to kick off side A? Wow. Okay. I've been the
pressure on. You know what? If I got to start
off a Spin Doctors mixtape, I'm going to go back
early on, back to our first release, which was,
well, actually our first release was a record
called Upper Grabs, Live at the Wetlands. And
then we re -released a longer version of that
called Homebelly Groove. So I don't know if this
song was on both, or I know it's on Homebelly
Groove. And I'm going to start with a song called
Yo Baby, which is one of a very early Spin Doctors
song. that we played regularly. It's sort of
just a classic, old -school, early Spin Doctors
funk song with killer, sort of funny Chris Barron
lyrics. Some songs, various members or individuals
would write a song and bring them in. Other songs,
sometimes we would just make up on the stage,
and Chris might have a set of lyrics. And if
I recall correctly, Yo Baby was one of those.
So that's going to be the first song on the playlist,
Yo Baby. Well, my question for you is, that song
was on the Homebelly Groove. live release why
was there never a studio version because that's
a fantastic upbeat song that feels like it would
really fit in with the studio catalog yeah you
know it's a good question i mean i know we talked
about putting it on records um it just never
you know we've always had so much material and
especially like early on when we first those
first two years of a band we wrote so many songs
such a big repertoire So when it came time to
making Pocket Full of Kryptonite, you know, it
was kind of difficult to hone it down to the
11 songs we wanted to use. And then moving on
to Turn It Upside Down, we had written some new
songs and we took some old ones. I don't know.
I mean, I'm not sure why we never put Yo Baby
on a record, you know? Maybe we still will someday.
Who knows? All right. But, you know, it's a great
version. Some songs are just sort of meant to
be. I mean, it's such a classic version with
a live one. I probably just felt like, you know,
that's good enough. Well, that actually makes
my follow up for track two pretty easy because
I don't ever come into an episode saying I'm
putting this song here in this song here because
you never know what the other person is going
to choose. So you kind of have no idea of how
it's going to unfold. But for me, if you chose
any spin doctor song other than the song that
I had in mind for track two, I needed to put
this song at track two because to me. When I've
seen the band live, I've seen you perform this
in the number two slot before. And it's just
the perfect second song of the night to get people
up and moving. And it is the first song on Up
for Grabs Live. But I'm actually going to go
with the studio version that kicks off 1994's
Turn It Upside Down. And I'm going to go with
Big Fat Funky Booty. Just a silly, fun, exciting
song that gets you shaken and gets you moving.
And that's a song that... When I look back, I
was actually shocked. Didn't make pocket full
of kryptonite, but I'm so glad that it was represented
in studio form on the followup. Yeah, that's
cool. And again, it's really sort of in the same
family as your baby. Those are both really early,
early spin doctor songs and, you know, really
representing the funk side of the band hard.
So good choice. So we're starting off, we're
starting off right with the funk here. All right,
and I'm throwing it back to you now to follow
up with track three. Wow, okay, let me think
about this for a minute. All right, you know
what I'm going to do? I think I'm going to go
with, I'm going to take something off of the
Pocket Full of Kryptonite record. I think I'm
going to go with Refrigerator Car. Nice. So I'm
going to go into that rock side of things a bit,
you know? Do you feel like there was a challenge
trying to balance the rock and the funk side
of the band? At the time, you had different bands
out there like the Red Hot Chili Peppers that
leaned very heavy into the funk. You had groups
like Fishbone that kind of took the funk and
almost lent like a ska and a punk vibe to it.
And you guys were a little bit more of a, I don't
want to say jam band, but there was that jam
band element with funk music. How did you kind
of find that balance across your live shows and
on albums? You know, we never really thought
about it too much, to be honest. I mean, we never
really sat around and said, okay, we're going
to... be a funk band or a rock band or a jam
band. We really just took a very organic approach.
And I think being that we all shared a lot of
similar influences, but we all brought different
things to the table with the playing and the
writing. So we ended up with sort of a cool,
diverse catalog of material, but it all kind
of worked together. But in making a set list
or putting an album together, for instance, Pocket
Full of Kryptonite, I mean, we certainly thought
about, okay, how can we represent the band on
this debut record and also you know pick songs
that float well together you know from start
to finish and we so we definitely put a lot of
thought into and we really wanted to represent
different sides of us obviously we had we used
to always call like the we used to have part
of our set what we call the white bread hits
and those were like songs like funky booty and
two princes a little bit and jimmy olsen And
then we had sort of more of the rock stuff, like
a song like Refrigerator Car, Shinbon Alley.
And then we had more of the sort of psychedelic
ballads, like 40 or 50. And so we just sort of
tried to put those together in a way that worked,
you know? Oh, yeah, definitely. But when coming
up with material, we never really, we didn't
put a lot of thought into it. It was sort of,
it was a natural thing, you know? Completely
understand. And from there, I'm going to leapfrog.
into the next decade and i want to go to 2005
for my next pick and i'm going to go with the
title track from the band's first album which
at that point had been in six years since 1999's
here comes the bride 2005's nice talking to me
was the spin doctors return to form after what
was a kind of tumultuous time for the band with
Chris dealing with losing his vocal cords with
the paralysis and some members coming in and
out. And then the band reforming to me, this
felt like a rebirth of the band. This album came
out the year I got married. And I remember going
to vintage vinyl in Ford's, New Jersey. The day
this album came out, I needed to get my hands
on a copy and hear the first new spin doctors
music in six years. And the opening track, the
opening riff to nice talking to me just took
me right back. it's a pocket full of kryptonite
and felt like the band never missed a beat. And
to me is a signature song from the group. So
I'm going to follow it up with the title track.
Nice talking to me. And I'd be curious, did things
come together organically when putting that album
together? Did you feel there was a pressure to
live up to whatever the past was, or were you
trying to move forward? Because it was kind of
a strange period for the band leading up to the
album's release. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was
sort of the beginning of, The band getting back
together after, you know, Eric leaving for a
while and then Chris having a couple different
formations of the band and, you know, Chris losing
his voice. And then we got back together for
the Wetlands reunion, you know, when they closed.
Yeah. Just a couple days before 9 -11. So after
that, we sort of started to like just put our
foot back in the water again. We did a few gigs
and got busier and busier, which led up to that
Nice Talking To Me record. So I don't think we
really felt a lot of pressure. We were trying
to have a good time. We wanted to come up with
a really good batch of material. And like we
always do, we did a series of writing sessions,
different members, different people getting together
until we came up with the songs we felt were
strong enough. And then we hooked up with a great
producer, Matt Wallace, who really did a great
job. And he did something we had never done before.
We did a couple of weeks of pre -production.
We'd done pre -production, but his version of
pre -production was to, before we got on our
instruments, just to get on a couch with acoustic
guitars. and flush out the arrangements and really
make sure we had a really strong song before
we actually got on an instrument. Because sometimes
when you're working on songs and everybody's
loud or whatever, you know, sometimes that works
really well, but other times you might not be
able to get really deep into what the song is.
So it was a really cool way to work. And that's
how we did it with this record. So once we've
got everything arranged to where we felt like,
okay, this song is, we're going to get it and
move over to our instruments and working out
there. But nice talking to me. is a great example
of that because you may not know this unless
you dug way deep into like the archives and got
like vintage bootlegs of the band. We had a version
of Nice Talking to Me going way back to the early
days. And we didn't play it a lot, but it was,
and it was basically just that riff. It didn't
have the whole chorus part yet. It was just that
riff and the Nice Talking to Me thing. It never
really kind of felt like a complete song. which
is probably why I fell by the wayside. But when
we were writing for the new record, we were like,
you know, that thing really has a vibe. It's
a classic Spin Doctors vibe, just a great guitar
riff. And the lyric is cool. Let's see if we
can like, you know, finish this song. And so
that's what we did. You know, in pre -production,
we sat there and like finished it off and came
up with that whole chorus idea. And it turned
out to be a great song. I really liked that record.
And, you know, it... It wasn't a very successful
record. The record label went bust a week after
we put it out, sadly. But the cool thing about
it for me is that a good amount of those songs
on that record, we play to this day pretty regularly
live. Nice talking to me to be one of them. I'm
going to continue on this from my song now. One
of my other favorite songs from that record that
we also play live a lot that I love is Sugar.
Nice. I'd like that in the next song. It's another
great song. That album to me is probably the
band's most underrated, I think, across the whole
catalog because I don't want to mention any other
song titles because there may or may not be some
other ones coming up in our discussion. But to
me, this album had a renewed energy about it.
It felt like the boys are back, so to speak.
And it felt like you didn't miss a beat. No pun
intended. And the music all felt very fresh and
very modern in 2005, even though it's still held
on to that 90s sound that has kind of been across
the entire Spin Doctors career. Yeah, I agree.
I do want to touch back, though. You had glossed
over something as you were talking before, and
it's something that to me, I think, is a very
pivotal part of the band's history. And that
was September 7th of 2001 when you reunited at
the Wetlands for the first time having played
there since 1994, the week before the Wetlands
shut its doors. I know from a lot of people writing
online and through Spin Doctor lore that that
is kind of a significant show for the band. that
was kind of a revival for the next 20 plus years
of the spin doctors that night. A hundred percent.
I mean, you gotta remember we hadn't played the
four of us together since 1994 when Eric left
the band. And then after we, you know, we, we
went on and then it had been a couple of years
since any form of spin doctors existed when Chris
lost his voice, you know, right around the time
of here comes the bride came out. So it was definitely
the moment. It was a, it was just a nice moment
because, you know a lot of us hadn't spoken to
each other in a while the vibe wasn't very good
and i got a call from i think it was from um
pretty sure it was pete shapiro because he owned
the wetlands at the time he called me up one
day out of the blue he's like hey man you know
we're closing the wetlands we're calling some
of our favorite bands to play them over the years
to finish it out we'd love to get the original
spin doctors so that was really Who knows what
would have happened if that call wouldn't have
come. My guess is we probably would have done
something eventually, but it was really... So
I called everybody. I hadn't talked to Eric in
probably five years. I hadn't spoken to Mark
in a couple of years. Me and Chris spoke all
the time. So I called those guys, and everybody
was cool, and it just felt right because we had
so many memories and so many great gigs at the
Wetlands. Everybody agreed to do it, and we had
a rehearsal the day before. And it was just like,
you know, I mean, it was like riding a bike,
you know, we just, it was just like, boom, you
know, everything felt great. We had a great gig,
packed house. And, you know, it's not like we
walked off the stage that night and we're like,
hey, let's get together tomorrow. But it opened
that door. And pretty short after that, you know,
we got some offers for some gigs and we were
like, you know what? Yeah, let's go out and see
how it goes. So, yeah, there's no question that
night was, was the sort of the new beginning
of the next 20 years or so. Excellent. Well,
I am going to now choose my first song from Pocketful
of Kryptonite for track six on Side A. And this
is a song that is very important to me because
I have been covering this song when I play live
for the better part of the last 25, 30 years
myself, because the vocal delivery in this song
is something that I just gravitate to. And it
is. The song that introduced me and millions
of others to the Spin Doctors and it's Little
Miss Can't Be Wrong. I love the groove to the
song. I love Chris's delivery of the vocals.
And when you really dive into the lyrics, it's
pulling no punches in this song. And there's
something about it that holds up. It still feels
fresh and modern. God, 30 plus years later. And
to me, it's a signature song for the band. I
know it's one of the big radio hits, so it's
an obvious pick. But this song to me never got
overplayed because every time I hear it, it always
puts a smile on my face. Well, that's great.
Well, I mean, that's the song that broke us.
So we're all very grateful for it. It was a slog
to get any sort of help from Epic Records at
the time. I mean, as you probably know, it took
over a year before that record even got any airplay
at all. And it was a disc jockey in Vermont,
a guy named Jim McGuinn on a station called WEQX
up in Vermont and went down into Albany as well.
And he started playing Little Miss on his own.
And it went to number one on the station. And
he wrote a letter to the president of Epic Records,
Richard Griffiths, saying that, you know, what
are you guys doing? You should get behind this
band. It should be a really big band. And that's
what started everything for us, that letter.
And so then they released Little Miss Can't Be
Rolled into rock radio. And we made a video and
it got on MTV. And then, you know, that was the
beginning of the whole thing. So we're all really
grateful for it. And it's the classic sort of
rock and roll song, you know. I remember the
day Chris called me up one morning. Me and Eric
were living together on Elizabeth Street in New
York City. And Chris called me one morning. He
was like, hey, man, I got this new song I like.
I want to come over and play it for you. And
he came over and he played it for me. And I remember,
I remember it was like the first time I thought
something like, you know what, this song could
maybe do something, you know? And we were never
really like, that was never our focus to like
be like seriously. And I honestly say our, our
goals were always to write original songs and
make a living playing them. Of course you want
to have success, but we didn't get, we didn't
form the band. It wasn't our focus to have radio
hits, you know, it just wasn't the way we were
thinking. But I remember when I heard that song,
it was the first time I was like, you know, this
is the kind of song that could maybe do something.
And we never, we played it, I think, that night.
We had a gig at the Nightingale Bar. And, you
know, we never rehearsed it. We just learned
it on stage, you know. And Eric came home. We
were jamming around with it in the apartment.
I remember I was playing the piano and Eric was
playing guitar. We put that little bridge on.
We added that bridge on. And we had a gig that
night or maybe the night later. And Eric just
showed Mark the chorus. He's like, hey, man,
you know, just. G, D, C, the bridge is going
to be flat. And that was it, you know? And we
just played it. And it just developed over time.
And that Chuck Berry hook that Eric plays in
The League of Dark, that never even happened
until we went to the studio to record the record.
Really? It was just always the da -na -na -na
-na. And that part is all it was for a long time.
And when we recorded the song, we recorded it
like that. And then during overdubs, Eric added
that Chuck Berry thing, you know? So it's a really
cool example of like a big moment happening in
the studio. And anyway, all right, so let's see.
So, so I'm, you know where I'm going to go from
there. I'm going to actually, I'm actually going
to take another song off talking for the kryptonite.
And this, this is a song that was one of the
things that got me really into the band when
we first started, you know, I'd, I'd moved to
New York in 1988 and I was, we were all going
to the new school and being Chris and Eric and
Eric and Chris had already met up. And so they
had already kind of put the idea together to
form this band and they didn't have a bass player,
a drummer. So I'm practicing behind a closed
door. There's a knock on the door and I open
the door. It's Eric. He's like, Hey man, you
sound good. I'm putting a band together. You
want to be in it? You know? And I was like, okay,
I'll check it out. And so we got together and
it was cool. But a couple months into it, we
started, you know, remember we had a, we had
a writing set. We were doing some demos at the
new school on our little four track. And we were
writing some stuff and I had this piece of music
and I brought it in. I showed it to the guys
like, Hey, I got this cool piece of music. Chris,
if you want to, what do you guys think? Maybe
you want to write some lyrics to it. And Chris
just sat then and wrote those lyrics. So that
was what became 40 or 50. And that was like the
moment for me where I was like, okay, this is,
this is really cool. Cause not only this is an
opportunity to be, everybody wants to have, when
you're in a group, it to be a good creative experience
for them, you know? For me, besides being a drummer,
I also like to compose music. So it was that
moment where I was like, this might be something
cool to stick around with for a while and see
how it goes. So 40 or 50, really cool song. I
love the version we did on the record. So let's
go with that one next. It's a fantastic track.
And I think now if we're looking at the Pocket
Full of Kryptonite. track listing we've covered
tracks three four and five with little miss 40
or 50 and refrigerator car so now i'm going to
jump a little bit later into the 90s and i'm
going to go with one i'm a massive fanatic of
cover songs i just love when i hear a band take
a song that's been already established and put
their spin on it and another thing that i always
am excited about is when bands from different
genres and different musical mindsets come together
and create something that might be seen as different
or wow you have this artist from this genre and
this artist collaborating this doesn't make sense
but for some reason it works and this was a song
you guys did for a soundtrack and it was also
a bonus track on you've got to believe in something
and it's your cover of that's the way i like
it with biz marquee Hip hop legend. Yeah. This
song is so much fun. I know it was for a Warner
Brothers Looney Tunes movie, but when you listen
to this version, it sounds like you guys are
literally throwing a party in the studio. And
it's like your live show on stage is coming through
the speakers in this cover. And I'd love to know
what was it like working with a hip hop legend?
Because at the time. Hip hop and rock were only
getting together in terms of heavier music like
Anthrax and Public Enemy doing Bring the Noise
and the Judgment Night soundtrack. This was hip
hop coming together with party rock and funk
rock in a way that had never been done up to
that point. Yeah. You know, we. So I think trying
to remember. So our manager, David Sonover, was
also managing Bismarck at the time. So, and I
forget, like, I think, I guess I got asked by,
you know, Space Jam to do a song for the soundtrack.
I can't remember if they specifically asked for
that song, but I remember we had a session at
Acme Studios up in Maranac with Bismarck Key.
We recorded two songs that day. We did That's
the Way. And we also did a version of Steve Miller's
song. What's one of his big hits? Not Fly Like
an Eagle. The Joker. We did The Joker. Really?
But that didn't come out that well. We never
finished it. The idea of it was great because
we always got a lot of comparisons of Steve Miller,
you know, which I can actually see. I understand
that. But we didn't finish it. We did finish
That's The Way I Like It. And it was a really
fun session. First of all, I remember the thing
that really blew my mind about Biz Marquis is
he was like a music encyclopedia. I mean, this
dude knew, and particularly with rock music.
He knew every detail, songs, who wrote them,
where they're recorded, who played all of them.
It was wild. So he really knew his stuff, man.
Really nice guy. And I remember the first time
I ever heard that song, what is it? Just a Friend.
Just a Friend. When I first heard it, I was like,
I couldn't figure it out. I was like, what is
this? But then I grew to love it. I mean, it's
awesome. But the first time I heard it, I was
like, what the fuck is this? But he was great,
man. He was a lot of fun to work with. He was
so cool. And we cut that song. That was kind
of the tail end of what we're making the You
Gotta Believe in Something record. So we were
working with producer Danny Korchmar, who was
great. And Danny actually played some guitar
on that song. You know, everybody, if you don't
know who Danny Korchmar is, he's... legendary
session guitar player. He played on Tapestry.
He played on a lot of James Taylor. He was part
of that scene in the 70s that played on everything
out in LA. And he also had a massive success
producing that big Don Henley record, among other
things. And he was great. And besides being a
great producer, he was a great guitar player.
I remember that day, and he didn't... play guitar
on the spin doctors record. But I remember this
was like the end of the whole thing. I just,
I'll never forget. He was like, you know what?
Fuck it. I'm playing guitar on this. And he played,
he played some great guitar on it. And we, we
kind of did that. We made like a loop, a drum
loop, backwards sort of drum loops. It was sort
of a different kind of thing. And it was cool,
you know? And it, it actually, it was on this,
you know, this, that soundtrack, which was massive.
And it was back in the days when soundtracks
were such a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously that
movie was huge. So that, that soundtrack sold
a lot of copies. And that, that song actually
was a hit in like Japan at the version, you know,
but anyway, it was a fun experience for sure.
So let's say, you know, maybe, maybe since we're
all in that era, that period, maybe I'll play
a song. Let's play, let's play. One of my favorite
songs off that record was the title track. You
got to believe in something. Yes. And the great
Bernie Rorell played keyboards on that song.
We had him come in the studio and play keyboards
on a few songs, that being one of them. That
was a fun period. Eric wasn't in the band at
that time. It was shortly after Eric left the
band. We got Anthony Kriz on board. We had a
good time making that record. We all were in
New York City. We were getting together every
day, having writing sessions. I had a studio
down on 12th Street at the time. We would get
together and write. It was fun. We had a really
good time making that record. I think it was
a good record. Sadly, it didn't really do much.
It was sort of coming off the massive success
of the first two records, and it was considered
a major bomb. But I like the record, and I think
one of my favorite songs on it is this one, You
Gotta Believe in Something. It's a great tune.
I love the opening to it. It almost gives you
that old time feel where the album cover makes
sense because it almost feels like you're watching
a 1920s movie. The film is spinning and then
the music starts. It was a really interesting
kind of rebirth. And I know there's a dynamic
difference with Anthony on board instead of Eric.
But musically, the core of you, Chris and Mark
held that foundation together. And to be honest.
for most fans, if they were just opening the
CD and putting it in, they might not have known
that there was a change. Because at that point,
while there was internet, it wasn't like the
social media -driven land we live in now. You've
kind of found music in the record stores and
kind of, until you read the liner notes, realized,
oh my God, there's been a lineup change. But
musically, I still think the core was there.
And I think it shines on the whole album. Yeah,
it's a strong record. I like it. I mean, I think
with our band, you know, look, I mean, we're,
we're certainly one of those bands where everybody
has contributed a lot to the sound of the spin
dockers. And, you know, we've gone through periods
where like, you know, right now, you know, Jack
Daly on a base, you know, Mark's on the band
and Jack's phenomenal. And, uh, I'll always have
a deep respect and love for what the four of
us did, you know, together sort of the classic
lineup, but you know, when you have different
members or different lineups, you're always going
to make it as good as you can. I think, uh, I
love what we're doing right now with Jack. And
I think this record with Anthony was an excellent
record. Well, closing out side A, I get one chance
to close out something. And for me, I feel like
I want to close out a side of Spin Doctors with
a studio song that I think truly represents the
live Spin Doctors experience only done in the
studio. And for me, the first song that comes
to mind. You mentioned it earlier in the night.
Was Shinbone Alley hard to exist? I mean, that
song, because when the spin doctors perform live,
you guys open up the songs and let them breathe
and you jam them out a little bit. And on the
album, the songs are more kind of in their concise,
I don't want to say radio ready format, but they're
cut down to the three, four, five minute versions.
Not this one. This one jams and it goes on and
it's just the spin doctors live, but in the studio.
And I'd like to know, did the label give push?
Cause a 10 minute song in the nineties was not
something that happened very often. The labels
were pushing three minutes, three minutes, even
the alternative bands, they were trying to keep
it short and sweet for radio play. Did you guys
have to fight for that song in any way? Or was
that something that. Well, one of the things
we were lucky about is that. the label wasn't
paying any attention to us whatsoever we had
this label deal but they didn't really care about
us you know what i mean like so they weren't
really thinking of us i think as this band that
was going to like be their big hit for next year
i think they thought okay this is a cool band
maybe this is a thing we'll build up over a few
records but you know everybody who saw us or
anybody that came that wanted to sign us and
knew what we were about if you came and saw our
show You know, you saw that we had these sort
of shorter, what I used to, we called the white
bread hits, you know, like Little Miss and Jimmy
and Two Princes and Booty. But you came and saw
the Spin Doctors, you heard songs like Shimon
Ali and Hard to Exist and Freeway to the Plain
and songs where we stretched out for a long time.
That was a big part of what we did. And so it
was important to us to represent that on the
record. And we got no pushback at all. And in
fact, the guy that produced, we had two different
producers. The first producer we used was Frank
Aversa. Because originally we were going to,
originally we were going to put out an EP. So
that's another reason, you know, like the idea
was let's put out an EP, like a five or six song
EP before we cut out the record. So we have a
studio EP. So we went in the studio at Power
Station with Frankiverse and we cut Shimon Harder
Exists, Two Princes. We cut a couple other things.
How Could You Want Them? I think we cut a version
of Hungry Hamids. But then we decided. you know
what, let's put out a live EP. So then we, we
went in and did that wetlands. But then we decided
let's use from this session. We really loved
how Shinmon hard to exist came out and two princes
as well. So we decided, okay, we're going to
use those three from this and we're going to
go in the studio and do the rest of the record,
which we did with Peter Denneberg. So anyway,
when we were working with Frank verse, I remember
he was really into this. I remember we were playing
a gig at the Lone Star Cafe one day. I think
it was live on W. No, no, no, no, no. This was
earlier than that. And he came out with our manager
and we played Shimon Ali Hard to Exist. And I
remember after the show, they were both like,
wow, I loved it. That song is so cool. And that
whole segue in the middle, the thing that, you
know, the drums and bass are doing. And they
were like, we should cut that. You know, we were
like, yeah, we should definitely cut that. You
know, so we actually. When I think about it,
we actually got encouraged to do that for the
record. And, you know, again, I mean, I love
Pocket Full of Kryptonite, you know, so much
because I think it really, it just represents
the Spin Doctors so well. I mean, it really represents
all the different sides of the band just fully.
And so to put something like that on, it was
a great thing. And it closes out the record and
you're closing side A of our little mixtape.
Oh, there you have it, mixtapers. Side A of the
ultimate Spin Doctors mixtape, which consists
of Yo Baby, the live version, Big Fat Funky Booty,
Refrigerator Car, Nice Talkin' to Me, Sugar,
Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, 40 or 50, That's
the Way I Like It with Biz Markie, You Gotta
Believe in Something, and Shinbone Alley, Hard
to Exist. Head over to MyWeeklyMixtape .com to
hear all the songs we've discussed in this mix.
through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. Now, Aaron, along with the Spin Doctors,
one of my other favorite 90s groups was a band
that I'm going to assume you're quite familiar
with because of the Spinning Traveler shows.
And that would be the one and only Blues Traveler.
I'd love for you, if you would mind, to talk
about the relationship you've had with them over
the years and how you guys have remained so tight
across the decades. Yeah, I mean, well, first
of all, you know, Chris, grew up with those guys.
Yup. They went to, they grew up in Princeton
together. So Chris has known them forever. And
blues travelers, one of these bands that were
like all good friends in high school and formed
in high school. And then they moved to New York
city in the late eighties. And, uh, you know,
they encouraged Chris to come. Chris was writing
songs and doing like solo sets and they encouraged
Chris to come. They were like, come to New York.
You can live with us. He can open up for us.
So he would, he would often open up the shows
by himself. And then when the Spin Doctors formed,
it was just, you know, John, all those guys went
to the new school as well. You know, Eric and
Chris and me were going to the new school. So
it just became a real scene. You know, we started,
we would open for them. We'd be playing at the
Nightingale one night. They'd be playing another
night. We'd be playing at the Mondo Colony one
night. They'd be playing another night. Or like
there were two clubs on Bleeker, the Mondo Colony
and the Mondo Parasite. They might be playing
one. We might be playing the other. It was just
a scene where like, Eventually, Blues Traveler
was always one step ahead of us, but we sort
of like quickly developed our own following.
And a lot of the, we just had a lot of the same
people following both bands around, you know,
it was just a, I mean, it was a real scene, you
know, when you think of like, you know, a scene,
a music scene and a scene around bands, the scene
in New York City with Blues Traveler and Spin
Doctors and some other groups as well, you know,
was just incredible. And we were all good friends.
and supported each other. And it was just great.
John actually played our first gig with us. John
Popper, the very first gig we ever did. He's
always been sort of an honorary member of the
band. He's welcome with us anytime. We love it
when he plays with us. I think he sounds unbelievable
when he plays with us. And he always lifts us
up in a way that's really cool. So we're like
brothers. It was such a special sort of moment,
those early years in New York City with both
bands, for sure. Well, before we get into side
B outside of the spin doctors, you've also played
drums for a ton of other artists, such as Joan
Osborne, Rachel Yamagata, Isaac Hayes, and Mark
Cohn, just to name a few. If you had to pick
three songs that you've recorded outside of the
spin doctors that truly resonate with you as
an artist yourself, what three songs would you
pick? Oh my God. I had a dig for like my, uh,
Geography nasty. Oh man, I don't know. I have
done a lot of records with Joan Osborne, Rachel
Yamagata. Let's see. There's a song called Letter
Red on a Rachel Yamagata record. Her record Happenstance,
which I just love. Beautiful song. That would
be one of them, I think. Joan Osborne, there's
a song on her second record. I have that actually
co -produced and played drums and bass on called,
um, baby love, which I just great. That's on
her. I forget what her second record righteous
love. I think it's the name of the record. It's
almost called baby love. Really great. What else?
I mean, there's, there's a lot, there's a lot
of different things. I mean, I've put a bunch
of my own records out as well under my own name.
So how about, how about, let's go with one of
my songs on, uh, let's see. I think it was on
my record called, uh, Beautiful mistake, past,
present, and future. Awesome. So we'll go for
those for three off the top of my head. There's
a lot. It's hard to think of them off the top
of my head, but those all kind of stand out.
Fantastic. I like to come up with those hard
questions every now and then. The real tough,
hard -hitting journalism here. Well, moving on
to side B, I'm going to kick things off. And
I mentioned this right when I introduced you.
If I'm kicking off a side, I am going back to
Pocket Full of Kryptonite. I am a sucker for
album opening tracks. And that opening guitar
riff of Jimmy Olsen's Blues always resonated
with me. And there's a reason for that. In 1991,
I was a teenager. My parents and I did not see
eye to eye musically. They were from a different
generation, but there were certain songs that
I would play around my parents and they would
go, hold up, wait a minute, turn that one up.
And there were songs that we bonded on. And Jimmy
Olsen's Blues was one of them. My father absolutely
fell in love with that track. And he always kept
saying, put on that Spin Doctors tape. That's
something you and I can agree on musically. So
for me, that song always holds a special place
in my heart. So I am kicking off Side B with
Jimmy Olsen's Blues. And I want to give a shout
out to Patreon playlister Cactus Pete, who also
chimed in with that as the song he would kick
off his Spin Doctors mix with. Love it. Great
song. Classic. Let's see. So where am I going
to go from here? I think I'm going to go with
a song. And it's another really early song that
we used to play. When we first started out, I
mentioned these two clubs before, Mondo Connie
and Mondo Perso. And so at the time, Mondo Perso
hadn't come up yet. But Mondo Connie was a blues
bar right off of Leaker Street. Blues Traveler
was playing already. And it was a blues bar.
So you basically had to be. a blues band so we
basically made a demo of all blues material just
really so we could get a gig at this place because
they put they paid it was like on a weeknight
you could get 250 bucks on a weekend if you get
500 bucks which was a ton really good money yeah
so we basically just wrote a whole repertoire
of blues songs and made a demo and basically
went in there and pretended like we were a blues
band we would play four sets so the first set
would be totally blues all these original songs
and then we would sort of slowly start to slip
on our originals, and by the end of it, we were
playing all originals. Turned out they loved
us, the club loved us, the people loved us, and
it worked out. So years later, we decided to
record all these songs, and we put out a record
called If the River Was Whiskey. Yeah. And we
did it live. We did it in my studio, live, no
overdubs. In fact, we weren't even planning on
making it a record. We were just like, let's
just record all these songs, you know? And it
was just for fun. We had a couple days off in
New York. And when we were finished, we were
like, wow, this really came out great. And we
just said, okay, let's release it. So one of
my favorite songs on that record is called Sweetest
Portion. I really love that song. I feel like
it's different than anything we've ever done
before. So that's going to be my next, that's
going to be number two on Sun B. I love it. And
I am going to follow that up, I think, with a
song that actually is from the same album, as
well as... You've got to believe in something.
And it's the only, if I'm correct, it's the only
spin doctor studio track that's had two iterations
across the discography. And that's about a train.
Yes. And I'd love to know what the reasoning
behind redoing it for. If the river was whiskey,
was that just because Anthony was on, you got
to believe in something and you wanted to get
a version with Eric involved. Is it as simple
as that? Well, that's part of it. So basically
here's the deal. So that a train is a. Another
song that we wrote pretty early on. And that's
another song that me and Chris wrote together.
I wrote the music to that. And we, you know,
it was always a really cool song. It never made
one of the earlier records for whatever reason.
And then with Anthony, we started playing it.
And the truth is, it's a song that I don't like
the version we did on You Gotta Believe in Something.
I just simply don't. And it's not necessarily
the way Anthony played it. It's because we sort
of rewrote it. We changed it around. A lot of
that was, you know, Danny Kortschmar's suggestion.
Again, I love Danny. He was trying to do a great
job, and he sent some suggestions, and we sort
of rewrote the song a bit. And it was cool, but
it didn't sit with me well. I was like, I feel
like we kind of ruined that one, you know? And
so when Eric was back in the band, it was just
like, you know, it's not necessarily a traditional
145 blues song, but it's a very blues -based
song. And so we decided to do it on this record.
I'm really glad. I feel like we redeemed ourselves
and really captured what that song is supposed
to be. And, you know, Eric plays it so well,
and that's the original way it's supposed to
go. And it's funny because it's become recently,
in the last couple of years, it's become a real
staple at our live show. I mean, it's really
gone, like, to the next level recently. We do
it not every night, but almost every night lately.
It's just become a beast live lately. So it's
cool how you see songs, you know, grow over time
and change over time. And about a train is an
example of a song that's, you know, well over
30 years old and it's just, it's better than
ever. It's really just turned into a beast. All
right. Well, following up, we had Jimmy Olsen's
blues and a pair of blues songs for side B so
far. Yeah. So are we sticking with the blues
theme here? Do you have something else up your
sleeve? I want to take a little detour here.
And I want to get something off the Here Comes
the Bride record, which is a strange record and
a strange time for the band because really, it
was almost like we didn't have a band because
this was after You Gotta Believe in Something.
And we decided to part ways with Anthony. And
we went through a period where we didn't have
a guitar player. We didn't really have a band.
We weren't even really sure we were going to
continue the band. And I remember... Me and Chris
were having lunch. We would go get together and
have lunch all the time. And I had just built
a studio in my apartment on 12th street. I was
feeling really inspired, you know, at all these
instruments laying around and I was doing a lot
of writing. And I was like, we just decided like,
let's just write a bunch of songs together and
not think about anything. Not, not a spin doctor's
record, not just, let's just have some fun and
just write a bunch of songs with nothing really
in mind. And that's what we did. And we just
ended up writing like that. Shit ton of songs.
We were having a blast. It was all very experimental
stuff. Like I said, I just got in a studio. So
I was just going out there like three in the
morning and like doing the weirdest shit I could
come up with and running drums through guitariums
and pedals and playing other instruments. And
it was a really creative time. So ultimately
we decided to make a record out of it. And, you
know, Mark was still the band. Ultimately Mark
didn't like the direction we had to fall in and
he quit. And Ivan Neville had been playing with
us. during the You Gotta Believe in Something
period. So, you know, he plays on a lot of the
record. And then we, shortly after that, added
Iran Tadbib as the guitar player. So he played
on some of the record. But a lot of it is just
me and Chris, you know. And I really liked the
record. And sadly, it didn't see the light of
day because Chris lost it. We had a nice deal.
We had a deal with Universal Records. It's actually
looking like we're going to get a nice little
push and go on a tour. And Chris lost his voice
the week the record came out. It was really pretty
disappointing. But I really like the record a
lot. And I want to make one of my favorite songs
on it is Working for the Man. Let's go with that.
It's a great tune. It's a great album. I have
a personal story about that because in 2005,
my father lost his voice for an entire year.
And the difference between... chris and my father
as my father's career did not hinge upon his
ability to sing so when i heard the story about
chris having paralysis being a vocalist knowing
just how hard it was for my father to communicate
with my wife and i he couldn't talk above a whisper
for a whole year i can't imagine the toll it
took on you guys in the band and that album to
me was fantastic and i'm going to follow up working
for the man with the title track because That
title track to me, I always, when my wife and
I were engaged, I always would play it and be
like, you sure you don't want to come down the
aisle to this? I'm like, this is like, this is
who we are. Like, this is fun and funky. And
she goes, maybe the reception, not, not the church,
but I love that. I love the, here comes the bride
because it's, it's lyrics that everybody knows,
but the groove you guys have going in that title
track is vintage spin doctors, but it's. Got
a twist to it. It's a little slower. It's a little
more psychedelic. And I just love that about
the album. That's cool. Yeah, it's a very cool
record that sadly not a lot of people have heard.
And it's really sort of like, we almost didn't
call it The Spin Doctors. Even when we had our
deal with Universal, we were really close to
just making it a new band. Because it really
didn't feel like The Spin Doctors. I mean, it
really wasn't The Spin Doctors. It was just me
and Chris at that point. And so we really considered
that. And the record company was on board. And
then, and ultimately I think they were like,
you know what, let's, we're going to have a much
better shot if we call this the Spin Doctors.
I actually wish we wouldn't have called them
the Spin Doctors. I wish it would have been like,
it's sort of its own. And because to me, it's,
it's not really as, I mean, I guess it is a Spin
Doctors record, you know, but it's, it's very
different, but I love it. I mean, it's very close
to me because it's such a big, it's such a big
part of making it. So, but cool. Yeah. So let's
see, where do we want to go from here? I wish
we had our new record out because the new record
is incredible. Wait till you hear it. Well, I'm
going to get to that when we get through the
last 10 songs here because I have a few questions
about that one. So let's see. Okay, you know
what I think I'm going to go? I think I'm going
to go back. I'm going to go back to the Turner
and Upside Down record. And, you know, I think
I'm going to go with, I remember when we did
the record, I think we weren't planning on cutting
this song. And it was at the end of the day and
somebody just suggested, let's do this song.
We did one take of it and it just came out really
great. It's one of my favorite songs on the record.
It's called Someday All This Will Be A Road.
I love the song. I love how it came out. It was
just an afterthought kind of to record it. And
it just kind of has an effortless feel to it.
And, you know, it's a song we haven't played
a whole lot. Every now and then we'll bust it
out, but it's one of my favorite songs on that
record. I was just going to say that's one that
as many times as I've seen the band, I don't
think I've ever seen it live and I would love
to see it. You got. So I want to ask a question
about that. In my mind, as a fan trying to follow
up an album that is in everybody's musical lexicon.
I mean, the spin doctors pocket full of kryptonite
was everywhere. MTV radio. Was there pressure
from the label? Like you need to have a hit after
hit after hit on this one as well. Or did you
guys just say. We're going to do what we do.
And that's that. Because at the end of the day,
I feel like Turn It Upside Down is just as strong
of an album as Pocket Full of Kryptonite. Yeah.
I mean, you know, of course there was pressure.
I mean, people weren't like up our asses. It
was pretty odd. Nobody had to say anything. It's
like, you're coming off this massive record.
Of course you want to continue that success.
I mean, you know, I was always pretty realistic.
I mean, I didn't really think we were going to
be able to repeat that success. It was just such
a... Nobody, we never dreamed that we would have
as much success as we did. And Turning Upside
Down, I think sold like 2 million copies, which
I would have never dreamed it would have sold
that much to the gear wars. So obviously it was
just sending a big letdown after Kryptonite.
But, you know, so, I mean, we really tried not
to put a lot of pressure on ourselves, to be
honest with you. I mean, my memories of making
Turning Upside Down were pretty good. Chris had
bought a house out at the farm, like a farmhouse
outside of Seattle. We went out there and spent
some time and did some writing sessions and demos.
And we recorded the record here in New York City
at a studio called Clinton Studios. And we worked
with Peter Denneberg and Frank LaRocker again.
And it was, we had a good time, you know, and
I think I liked the record too. I mean, it was
sort of half and half, like new, brand new solves.
And we had going back and taking some of the
solves that didn't make the first record from
the early days. You know, I think kind of naively
we, we chose the wrong single, you know, Cleopatra's
Cat, which I love Cleopatra's Cat. And it's really
like a, a clap in Dr. Saul. And it always, it's
funny because it always got this incredible response.
Remember when we do it as an encore a lot on
our big tour the year before and people would
like clap and it was, it got this tremendous
response live. And I think, I don't know why
we, we thought that it was going to, it would
be a good single. And in hindsight, it wasn't.
I think we probably should have gone with something
like you let your heart go do fast, which, which
did pretty well, but it was the second single
and it was after Cleopatra bombed. So you should
have gone with something like that first, but
whatever, you know, at the end of the day, I
think it's a really good record. That's the main
thing. And, um, and, uh, yeah, something else
for your road was just sort of like, uh, I'm
glad we did it. It was an afterthought to record
it that day and it just came out great. Awesome.
I'm going to jump back to 2005's Nice Talking
to Me for the song to follow that up with. And
I'm going to go with what I think might be the
band's most infectious pop song. Because this
one is not funky, but there's just something
about it that to me is perfect pop rock radio.
And that is Margarita. You guys play it consistently
in all your live shows. And there's a reason
for that. Everybody knows all the words. To me,
that is... the Spin Doctors pop rock at its finest.
And I felt like I'd be doing this mixtape a disservice
if we didn't talk about this amazing track. Yeah,
well, I'm glad you brought it up because I love
that song. It's one of my favorite Spin Doctors
songs. We do play regularly live because it's
just a great, a great pop song, rock, you know.
I love it. It's one of my favorites. And, you
know, that's a song that I think. Had it been
the right place and the right time, it could
have been a hit song. Again, sadly, the record
company folded shortly after it came out, so
I never really got to see the light of day. But
I agree with you. It's a great song. So to follow
that up, since I think we both agree that it's
one of our best pop songs, I'm going to go ahead
and follow it up with our biggest pop song, which
is Two Princes. You got to put it on, you know?
Of course. And I got to say, just a lot of people
might think, oh, you must be sick of playing
that song or like, you know, whatever. But to
me, it's, I'm so grateful for that song because
it's kept us going all these years. And, and
the other thing I'm really happy about is the
song, you know, to this day gets so much airplay
and it's still all over the place. And I hear
it all the time. I'll be walking through a store
or whatever. It'll come on somewhere. And I got
to say, I'm so glad. it sounds fucking great.
And I always just let it kind of like take a
deep breath and say, shoot, because, you know,
sometimes, you know, some songs are their hits.
They, they might sound okay, but like it just,
two princes just sounds really good. I love the
drum sounds on them. You know, everybody in the
band just sounds phenomenal. It's, it's, it's
just all the stars really aligned. Cause I think
like to have a hit song, it's like, there's a
lot of things, there's plenty of songs that have
been written that deserve to be, you know, hit
songs. But there's just a lot of factors involved.
A lot of it's timing, the right song at the right
time. And a lot of it's like getting the right
version of a song. And sometimes you might not
hit the mark. You might have a great song and
you just never get the right version. There's
so many factors. Finding the right tempo, the
right combination parts, the sonnet, whatever
the sonnet quality of the track is. And everything
just came together on that track. We found the
right tempo. Everybody played some, there's a
real distinctive sound quality to the song. And
so I'm like eternally grateful to that. Well,
I have a story about that song because about
10 years ago, I went to the Black Potato Music
Festival, which is a festival that takes place
in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, which is where
I am from. And Chris was doing a solo show. And
I ran into him in the street. prior to the show
and we were chatting and he says yeah i have
this uh this guitarist here is going to sit in
with me for the night and eric walks up so it
was eric and chris doing an acoustic set and
when they played two princes he says i will forever
every day be thankful for this song and to me
that's something where i don't understand how
a band can almost turn on a song that is so beloved
by so many people and plus i mean for christ's
sake the band got to play it on Sesame Street.
I mean, the song was so big, Elmo wanted a part
of it. I mean, like kids fell in love with that
song. That shows that the song has a timeless
quality to it. Yeah, we're all very grateful.
And like you said, some people have a love -hate
relationship with their big hits, you know? And
I never really understood that because it's like,
if you have a couple of hit songs, even one or
two hit songs, I mean, listen, you can have a
whole career on that, you know? At the same time,
you know, you followed us. I mean, we take ourselves,
our musicianship seriously. If we weren't, in
my opinion, sounding as good or better than ever,
we wouldn't be out there doing it. It's not just
about collecting a check for us. It's got to
be. I mean, I know for myself, if I didn't feel
like the band was really sounding great, I wouldn't
want to go out and do it, you know? And so I
do feel like that. But, you know, I also acknowledge
that, like, we didn't have those hits all on
them, especially Two Princes. We wouldn't have
40 gigs this year. You know what I mean? It's
like, it really, it really carries us. And people,
people like yourself know that there's a whole
lot more to us than Little Miss and Two Princes.
But a lot of the people that come see us, they're
coming for that. And then they see us, they're
like, wow, these guys have a lot more to offer.
So, you know, it's, I think it's, it's, you know,
we're very grateful. Well, for my last pick of
the night, because we each have one left, I'm
going to go with a song that you frequently use
to close out a lot of shows, especially recently.
And this is a song that has never had a studio
version. However, on three of my Spin Doctors
live albums, 1991's Up for Grabs and 1992's Homebelly
Groove, it's the same version on each of those.
And then 2015's Songs from the Road, Yo Mama's
a Pajama and She Ain't No Good. True classic
live funky spin doctors. I'm going to ask the
same question I asked about Yo Baby. Is there
a studio version that's sitting in the vault
somewhere? Will there ever be a studio version
of this? Or was this just meant to be a song
for the stage? You know, I don't think we ever
recorded that in the studio. And I think it just,
maybe we will. I think we've talked about it
before, but. it might just be meant for the stage
you know and it's uh it's just because it's always
a little bit different the ending is like just
especially you should hear it now i mean you
should hear what we're doing with it now at the
ending it's like it's gone full blown like it's
awesome you know you know so it's just one of
these songs that changes all the time it goes
through as different periods of the band different
things happen on it you know And which version
are you going to play? The one from Homebelly
Groove? Yeah, I'm going to go with the version
from Homebelly Groove. It's just a classic track,
the classic nature of those early shows that
really stands the test of time for me. Totally.
And, you know, that's another song that we never
sat in a room and wrote that. That was strictly
just something that happened on the stage. I
remember, I kind of, I think if my memory serves
me right, the first time we ever did any incarnation
of that was at Mondo Paris. And I kind of vaguely
remember Eric just doing that, you know, like,
oh, it's just going into some kind of funk gig
and Chris just riffing. And, you know, it's slowly
over time found an arrangement and is what it
is. But it's a real classic spin doctor song,
you know, like, you know, what time is it was
the same way. You know, we have these songs we
never really ever rehearsed or really even wrote
in the traditional sense. It was just jamming
on stage and sort of over the course of maybe,
10 or 20 gigs eventually found its arrangement
and your mama is that so now we have to this
do i have the last kick of the whole thing yeah
close this out the whole night what song are
you gonna go with that's deep well you know what
i think i'm gonna go with a song another solo
for molly groove and this song was actually cut
at the sound check and that's rosetta stone nice
i think that'll be a nice way to end it you know
nice as ballad It's an early Spin Doctors song.
Another song, we really don't play that often.
We maybe played it a few times in the last decade.
We should bring it back. It's a great song. And
that was, we did that. That was our sound check
at the wetlands for the live, at the wetlands
for the home of the groups. Let's close it out
with that one. All right, and there you have
it, folks. Side B of the ultimate Spin Doctors
mixtape, which kicked off with Jimmy Olsen's
Blues, Sweetest Portion, About a Train, Working
for the Man, Here Comes the Bride, Someday All
This Will Be Road, Margarita, Two Princes, Yo
Mama's a Pajama Live, and Rosetta Stone Live.
Remember, you can head to myweeklymixtape .com
to hear all the songs we've discussed in this
mix. through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. Now, Aaron, over the last year and change,
you mentioned this earlier, we touched on it.
So now I'm going to put on my reporter hat and
try to fish and get some information out of you.
The band's been playing some new tunes such as
Rock and Roll Heaven, Double Parked. Still a
Gorilla and Boombox, the latter being a song
that Shannon, one of the My Weekly Mixtape listeners
and a good friend of mine, chimed in with as
the track she'd kick off her Spin Doctors mixtape
with. But with all that being said, these songs
aren't commercially available, so we couldn't
include them tonight on our Ultimate Spin Doctors
mixtape. When will these songs be seeing the
light of day? And is there any new Spin Doctors
album information you could share with the listeners
tonight? Yeah, so the record is done, and it
is mixed, and we're going to get it mastered
soon. And without giving too much information,
it looks like we have a deal that we're going
to be doing, and so we're hoping that the record
will come out. I mean, I think it's probably
a little premature to say late this year, but
I think definitely early next year. Certainly
next year, hopefully the first part of the year,
the new record will be coming out. We're really
proud of it. I think it's a really strong Spin
Doctors record. And like you said, we've been
doing a lot of the material live and it's been
going over really well. And we're excited to
get it out there. Now, Chris did say on stage
through some of the live recordings I've heard
that the album is called Rock and Roll Heaven.
Is that something that we're not supposed to
say yet? Or is that subject to change? I didn't
say that. And we're actually, that was the working
title, but we've decided to call the record Boombox.
All right. The record is going to be called Boombox.
You can tell your friend. Fantastic. I love it.
I mean, that could change because the artwork's
not done yet, but I think pretty much set on
boombox as the title. I love it. I can't wait
to hear it. And Aaron, I thank you so much for
joining me tonight on My Weekly Mixtape. This
has been an absolute blast. This has been a lot
of fun. Thanks for having me, man. Remember,
you can find My Weekly Mixtape on almost all
the social media haunts at... My Weekly Mixtape.
You can also head to myweeklymixtape .com to
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myweeklymixtape. That's all for this week. Thanks
again for listening. Until next time, enjoy the
tunes.