Hey, this is Jim Laughlin from Moe. This is my
third time on My Weekly Mixtape, except this
time I get to decide what y 'all are going to
hear. Hope you enjoy it. Welcome to My Weekly
Mixtape, a podcast that takes the classic mixtape
approach to building a modern playlist. I'm your
host, Brian Colburn. Tonight, we're continuing
some summer concert love by welcoming back Jim
Laughlin of Moe to the show. Jim, it's great
to have you back, man. Great to be back. Well,
you've been on the show twice already, so this
is the third time. The first time was a catalog
dive into Moe's entire career. And then we did
recently an album dive into your newest album,
Circle of Giants. But tonight. It's a totally
different animal. Yeah, yes, it is. We're going
to be talking about Mo. Don't get me wrong, but
it's not going to be as direct as our prior conversations
because tonight it's all about you and your ultimate
concert, meaning you have carte blanche to build
your own set list using any band, any song, any
era, zero limitations. But before we get to that
fun. What would you say is the art to building
the perfect concert set list? Wow. I mean, it's
been a bit since I've done a set list. The pressure
of doing set lists sort of got to me for a while
there. I need to get back into the loop. So when
I'm doing it, there's a handful of sort of rules
that I try to follow. One of the biggest things
I pay attention to is who's singing. Generally
to start, what I like to do is start each vocalist
takes a turn right in the beginning. Then so
I can get that out of the way so anybody who
sings lead vocals in songs gets to sing and we'll
take care of that in the first set. Then I also
try to spread it out. Over a course of a show,
you don't want this thing where Rob singing six
songs, Al singing one. you know chuck singing
one and nate singing one or nate like you don't
want to stack singing on anybody because honestly
over the course of a tour if you have too many
shows where someone's singing too many songs
that's just going to go through their voice way
too soon then you you know for segues and stuff
i i pay attention to key signatures and tempos
i don't want vin having to do something crazy
and just like flip a switch in the middle of
a segue and speed up, slow down, or have some
really bizarre time signature switch. And as
far as the keys of the songs, I don't want anything
that's too drastic. Most of the time I'll stick
with either very relative keys or something that's
like the same key. You'll hear us do a lot E
to E to E or D to D to D. But there are things
like D to G is pretty easy. E to B is very easy.
E minor to E major. That's something I try to
do because that switch is like, it just catches
an ear. That sudden turn from major to minor
either direction. And then length. Length is
what kills me. It's so hard for me to know. And
especially now with... Circle of Giants has some
short songs on it, you know, like five minute
songs, four minute songs, like in stride. And
then it has like 12 minute songs, 13 minute songs.
A lot of our bigger songs are longer songs like
Meat and Moth and Brent Black. It could be 13
minutes. It could be 25 minutes. Whatever kind
of happens is going to happen. So I try to keep
us conscious. of that as I possibly can, because
it's, you know, it feels terrible to like write
a set or a show. And then after the first set,
you've cut off two songs and then you cut three
off the end of the second set and like, you know,
trying to squeeze it in. And then the flow is
there has to be a flow to, you know, there has
to be highs and lows. There has to be sort of
breathing points for both the band and the audience.
And it's just everything kind of has to go smooth
throughout a night. Like you don't want just
peak, peak, peak, peak, peak, peak, peak. And,
you know, you don't want this like modeling kind
of meandering thing happening. You want to kind
of mix it all up and just to present what you
think the audience is going to like and what
it's going to give a good experience. It'd be
interesting to see a Mo show where you did set
one of very chill. And very mellow and maybe
just kind of the more subdued stuff. And then,
like you said, have set to just be the total
opposite of peak, peak, peak, peak, peak, peak,
peak. We've had some second sets that have gone
into that kind of because the second set is easier
because you're usually going to end the first
set pretty upbeat. And then the first song of
the second set, you're going to want to snatch
the audience back immediately from whatever the
hell it was they were doing for the last 20 to
30 minutes. So a lot of times for us, the second
set will be that we have a strong song and then
you're kind of like you've built all this stuff
up. So you just want to keep the second set going.
And when you do that, then you're like, well,
what am I going to do if we get an encore? Like,
what would we play? Because do you want now to
step it up or do you want to kind of bring it
back down and let everybody kind of leave on
a, you know, a nice something, a song stuck in
their head that isn't like some crazy. long super
jam of energy like you know songs like that's
why we play letter home a lot comes out in the
second set um and then i mean in the encore and
then they'll you know we never know how much
time we're gonna have also by the time we get
to an encore sometimes it's like yeah sorry good
night that's it we can't do anything and you
know sometimes they're like we need to play three
songs in our encore so considering the set lists
change night tonight what is the current rotation
of who's choosing the set lists on this tour
right now so now we've gone around to it goes
alphabetically and it's everybody except chuck
and myself i don't think chuck's wrote a set
list since he's come back and it's been at least
a couple years since i've i've written a set
list Now, before we get to your ultimate concert
set list, I'd like to remind the listeners that
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again, that's patreon .com forward slash my weekly
mixtape. All right, Jim, let's get down to business.
The real reason you're here tonight, instead
of being on stage for a Mo show, you're in the
audience, your front row. Let's give you the
primo seats for this. It's your set list. You
got front row center. The lights just cut out.
Who's the first band or artist to take the stage?
And what song kicks off your ultimate? concert
set list so the first song that i picked was
bleed by my sugar wow yeah because if you're
gonna really like get attention from a whole
group of people that song will absolutely do
it just from the first 30 seconds of it you can't
i mean it hits with so much energy and it's so
tight and oh my god These days, it's almost cliche,
I guess, to pick that song from that band. It's
their signature song. If you go on YouTube or
Instagram or whatever, you can find constant
guitar playthroughs, drum playthroughs, bass
playthroughs from every musician going because
it's definitely probably their most popular song
at least at this time. I didn't want to be cliche,
but it's their most popular song for a reason.
Oh, it's a great tune. Yeah, it's unbelievable.
And they're also killing it right now. I mean,
their light show right now is amazing. You know,
their live concerts are just top notch. They
are definitely turning everything on all dials.
Everything's to 11. It's pretty wild. Yeah, I'm
a huge metal fan. I took the whole family to
see Lamb of God at the Wellmont. I have to be
honest, that didn't go quite as well as I planned.
I think my oldest had a panic attack because
she had never seen a mosh pit the way a Lamb
of God mosh pit is. Yeah. But I have to ask,
I'm a huge metal fan. A lot of the Mo fans listening,
do they know that you're a metal fan or is this
coming as a surprise to them right now? It's
probably 50 -50 at this point. I think. when
i released you know i i wear a lot of uh like
maiden shirts and metallica shirts and stuff
on stage anytime i do anything like this like
it ends up either being like jazz oriented and
like like classic vibraphone players and stuff
like red norvo and lionel hampton or it ends
up being like this metal thing and when i released
the ep and then the first album that i did i
think that that just solidified it for a lot
of people that like yeah okay is the metal album
for more or less and you can see it now it's
it's it's definitely that's what i do all right
well they have now left the stage and another
band is coming out what is track two um track
two i picked sabbath bloody sabbath by black
sabbath nice iconic riff iconic It's, yeah, again,
like a semi kind of a signature song. But for
me, it's that the album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
is the first Black Sabbath album I ever heard.
Well, outside of Paranoid, you know, I'd heard
that song. And obviously, I knew Iron Man and
War Pigs and some random Black Sabbath songs,
but actually sat down in my friend's basement
and listened to that whole record. And that particular
song, like, almost scared me. There was, I kind
of, after that song felt like almost like I was
doing something wrong, you know, listening to
it, but I have never forgotten it. Like it hooked
me. I knew, you know, that was the song that
I walked out with stuck in my head. And it's
just, it's such a great song. And it's, you know,
it's slow, but it's heavy. Like it's so heavy.
especially for the time. Nobody was really doing
anything like that. The breakdown in the middle
of the song is just so awesome. Well, I have
to thank my father for introducing me to Black
Sabbath because I was getting into Ozzy in the
80s. So I was listening to Blizzard of Oz, No
Rest for the Wicked, all the way up to No More
Tears. And I'm a teenager around the time that
No More Tears comes out. And I'm at the store
with my father. And he said, you know what? I'm
going to throw you for a loop. I'm buying myself
a CD today. And he picked up a copy of We Sold
Our Souls for Rock and Roll. And we got in the
car and we drove home. And he's like, I want
you to hear this album when we get home. So you're
going to dedicate an hour with me. And he put
it on. And I'm listening to it. And I'm going,
these guys are good. And he goes, yeah. Does
that voice sound familiar? And I'm sitting there
going, kind of, but I can't quite put my finger
on it. And he goes, that's Ozzy. Now picture
11, 12, like my head exploded. I'm like, wait
a minute. There's more Ozzy to be had versus
Blizzard of Oz. And I became an instant Sabbath
fan that day. That was, it was kind of the same
for me. I mean, when I found out, I found Ozzy
first. And when I. found out that he was the
singer in black sabbath well it's like oh well
i gotta hear you know this black sabbath and
that like i said that it it turned into hearing
a smattering of them and then finally like being
exposed to an entire record of it which was just
It changed a lot for me. For all of us. There
might be somebody listening right now, I hope
not, but there might be somebody listening right
now whose minds we just blew with this fact that
Ozzy sang in Black Sabbath. But you never know.
This show is for all levels of music enthusiasts,
whether you're general or hardcore, we're here
for you. Okay, Sabbath is done. They're unplugging.
Where do we go from here for track three? So
track three is definitely a switch. It's a song
called Hold by KRS -One. Whoa! Yeah. I think
it's a self -titled record, the one he released
in 95. And I picked it kind of because lyrically,
the song's absolutely brilliant. It's a slower
song. It has a really, really, really simple
bass line and drum track underneath it. Lyrically,
it's just amazing. Anything KRS -One ever did
lyrically is phenomenal to me. He's in the top
five rappers of all time, easy. And he's just
a legend, especially if you talk about East Coast
rappers. He's been around, he started in the
late 80s, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's
still making records. I lost touch with him somewhere
in the early 2000s. And this song, the hook is
so cool. The way he keeps using the word hold
and hole over and over backwards, and he switches
them, and that's kind of the end of each line.
And you can tell an entire story through doing
this. And it's an unbelievable song. I wanted
to pick one of his songs specifically off that
record, and I kept going back and forth between
three or four of them, and this was the one that...
Like it always hits me when I when I listen to
the album, which I listen to that album a lot.
I mean, you don't get true 90s hip hop without
Boogie Down Productions. Yeah, I mean, like he
is one of the I don't want to say the founding
father, because obviously there's Run DMC, there's
Grandmaster Flash, there's all the the early
classics, but. To get to where you get in the
90s, I feel like Boogie Down Productions and
KRS -One, and then you add in Public Enemy, they
were kind of the people that bridged it from
that early sound of hip -hop into what the 90s
were. And I'm 47 years old, so the 90s are the
golden era of hip -hop for me. And I can't picture
hip -hop in the 90s without KRS -One. No. He
bridged, I mean, he did it, like I said, even
at the turn of the century, he bridged the 90s
into the 2000s. He was, him and Boogie Down Productions
were definitely pioneers. I mean, like you said,
you had Houdini, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC in
the beginning, but those guys kind of, even Sugar
Hill Gang, they never changed what they did so
much. Every Run DMC album to me is amazing, but
they're all very similar. They had a definite
way to go. But when you talk about Public Enemy
and the Bomb Squad and KRS -One and Boogie Down
Productions, they constantly evolved. The rhyme
styles, the rhythms that they used in their rhymes
were constantly going. KRS -One was one of the
first that started doing the whole triplet thing.
And then this brought you Busta Rhymes and Tribe
Called Quest and all these other guys that kind
of took that and ran with it. And it was the
same thing with Chuck D and the Bomb Squad and
Public Enemy. They just continually kept evolving.
And it was amazing to watch from the late 80s
through the entire decade of the 90s. Oh yeah.
When I get into a mood on a Friday night and
I just want to like get my head bobbing, I have
a playlist that's basically nineties boom bap
hip hop. So it's like DOS effects. It's got some
ice cube. It's got that house of pain, anything
that has that flow and that rhythm. That's like
my fun hip hop playlist. So I'm not going to
lie. I'm surprised that we got hip hop in the
mix here, but I absolutely love it. I love it.
I had to throw that one in. I couldn't, I couldn't
not. Okay, so we have Meshuggah. We have Black
Sabbath. We have KRS -One. Where are we going
from here? So next is we're back to Black Sabbath,
but we're changing singers. Oh, so they just
took a break off stage while KRS was doing his
thing. Yeah. Ozzy sat down, and we're going to
bring in Ronnie James Dio, and we went to Mob
Rules. Ooh. off the album the mob rules um from
black sabbath which is uh it's semi -mo related
because we cover the song or have covered the
song and i've gotten to sing the song which is
like it's awesome when you get to sing a song
that you've always kind of wanted to and um singing
a dio song is not easy really i'm shocked at
all and uh He was like, if you're going to replace
Ozzy with anybody in a band and you're going
to go with Ronnie James Dio, you really haven't,
you've maybe stepped sideways. You haven't taken
a step back. You haven't. Ronnie is one of my
all -time favorite vocalists. His voice is so
strong. So when we were learning the song, and
you know, I've heard this song a million times.
and stepping up to sing it and then realizing
that it is way higher than what i had imagined
because he's doing this effortlessly his voice
is so strong and his range is so wide but you
don't notice it because there's no screams there's
no breakup in his voice at all it's just his
voice So we actually had to lower it down a step
so I could actually sing the song. Only a step?
Dude, that's still a compliment. I can just barely
get it if we drop it down a step. And yeah, it's
up there. Again, one of my favorite. Heaven and
Hell and Marlboro's are just two. They're up
there on the best Sabbath albums. Everybody talks
about the first six, but it's really, you have
to add those two on it. for the, you know, the
pure Sabbath collection, the other stuff, you
know, it's good, but the Ozzy and Dio Sabbath
is the black Sabbath to me. All right. Well,
I'm going to get real now. You're at a concert
festival because we're talking hypotheticals
here. I could go wherever I want with this, but
there's two stages and you've got Ozzy Sabbath
playing on one stage and Dio Sabbath playing
on the other stage at the same time. which stage
are you at oh my god i'm running back and forth
between the two i get you know but depending
on the songs i got i i can't that's that yeah
that would break me that would leave me in a
quivering i would not know what to do i'd have
to somehow know what the other stage is playing
so i know when to go back and forth Or you just
stand in the middle and hope that you could consume
all of the awesomeness in your right ear and
your left ear. That is actually probably what
I would try to do. I just keep turning my head.
All right. So coming out of Sabbath, we're up
to track five. Where do we go from here? So track
five, I picked Screaming for Vengeance by Judas
Priest. Again, off the album Screaming for Vengeance.
And again, it's a song. that the first time I
heard, I was just absolutely blown away. Rob
Halford's voice is unbelievable. Glenn Tipton
and K .K. Downing write some of the coolest harmonized
melody lines ever played, at least to me. And
they just looked so cool, man. I remember seeing
them when I was a kid. For the encore, they come
out and do Hellbent for Leather. And, you know,
stacks of marshals on the stage and two of them
open up and Rob Halford comes riding out on a
Harley Davidson that's just making the entire
Nassau Coliseum just shake. And it was unbelievable.
You know, he's huge. And they just looked so
cool on stage to me. Definitely, you know, I've
seen them maybe four times. And I've never walked
away for the greatest shows I've ever seen. And
Screaming for Vengeance was the first album that
I bought that I didn't skip a song. You know,
every song just was awesome to me. And then I
went and bought all the stuff before that and
just continued to collect their stuff. They just
released a record last year, which is awesome.
They still sound just as great. I'll tell you
right now. The way you just talked about Dio's
register being so high, Rob's hasn't changed
either. Even with age, he still is effortlessly
hitting these notes. Yeah. And it's like there's
got to be some sort of, I don't know what deal
he signed, but his voice is still right there
where it's just freaking perfect, even at his
age. So this was the first Judas Priest album
I had. When I went back and bought the older
stuff, the stuff that was released in the early
70s, late 60s and stuff. And there were songs
like Last Rose of Summer and Dreamer and songs
where he sings and his voice is just beautiful.
Like it's not these screams that he can do in
this incredibly high register. It's this huge,
deep chest voice, like this full voice. And I
was like, oh, holy cow. You know, and then they
released Painkiller and. That vocal track is
just ridiculous. And to see what he is capable
of, like I put Rob Halford up next to Freddie
Mercury. Like he's that good. He has the same
range. He can sing unbelievably high. He can
sing low. He can do the sweetest, sweetest melodies
and he can scream like a banshee. And it's so
impressive. And yeah, he's still doing it. Like
if you want to see something really cool, go
and, search on YouTube for when he sang in court,
when they were brought to court and he was in
a courtroom and they're like, can you sing it
now? And he was like, sure. And he stood up and
it's amazing. Well, if that's on YouTube, I'll
make sure to embed it on the episode page. So
people can go right there to check it out there.
I think I have it saved. All right. Well, I'm
going to ask you a tough question here because
I posted a Judas priest song once on the socials
and I. caught a little bit of flack and a little
bit of love all at the same time. So I'll be
curious where you stand on this. I'm a huge fan
of cover songs, especially when bands reinvent
the song in their own sound. Judas Priest's take
on Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Good. Thumbs up or
thumbs down. I like the Johnny B. Good that they
did. I thought it was really cool. This is from
a huge fan. They also do Green Manalishi. Oh,
yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. And Diamonds and
Rust. And holy crap. It's like two of the greatest
covers ever recorded because they completely
made the song their own. So much so that me and
all my friends learned this stuff after the fact.
You didn't even know there were covers. No, no
idea. Until years later. You know, it was my
brother, Michael, who was, you know, pointed
out. He's like, oh, my God, that's a Joan Baez
song. I was like, what? With Diamonds and Rust.
And he's like, yeah, you know, this is any. That's
when he told me about the whole back and forth
thing between her and Bob Dylan and all this
crap. And I was like, wow. And I can't remember
who had mentioned Green Manalishi being a Fleetwood
Mac song. And I was like, what? This sounds nothing
like I can't imagine those two artists. doing
those two songs and and they'll they'll always
be to me that judas priest version of both those
songs is if you mention those titles that's where
i'm going i'm not going to the original arts
all right so coming out of judas priest where
do we go from here i'm sensing maybe like merciful
fate or king diamond or there are some king diamond
songs i actually thought about putting on this
at close I went with 10 Speed of God's Blood
and Burial by Coheed and Cambria. Nice. Yeah.
It's off the album Good Apollo Star 4, which
that's the album that got me into Coheed. I think
Claudio has an amazing voice. I love high register
stuff. And they just, they write great soundscapes.
They're very Pink Floyd -ish. I mean, they, on,
I think it's on God Apollo Star 4. The last song
is the final cut. It's called the final cut.
And they make like several tributes to Pink Floyd
in the last two songs of that record. So that
is obvious. They have a song 2113. They're obviously
Rush fans. You know, again, you can hear that
in Claudio's voice. They're all top notch musicians
and he writes. So all their albums are connected.
You know, he writes graphic novels and that.
revolve around the music and the albums that
they release and it's this huge long story and
i'm even lost in it like i'm not ever really
sure what's going on but i i'm a huge huge coheed
and cambria fan they were actually my my most
uh listened to artists last year and in apple
music nice i personally feel like coheed is underrated
in terms of what they bring to the musical table
because You think about bands like Dream Theater
that now that Mike's back in the band, they're
selling out everywhere. Coheed does the same,
but I feel like they're not talked about as much.
Yeah, I don't think so either. I think they're
very underrated. Their fans are rabid and fanatics,
all of them, which is the thing that drives them
and keeps them going. It's kind of like Rush,
like Rush's career. You know, they weren't. like
super radio friendly they weren't really talked
about as much as they should have been but their
fans if you're a rush fan man you are a rush
fan like they can the bands can do no wrong basically
people will buy the record regardless and it
might you know rank lower or higher in in their
catalog but for the most part anything that coheed
releases to a coheed fan is better than anything
else like the worst coheed record is better than
the best record of most other bands and i feel
like that's definitely something that happens
a lot in the progressive world like i listened
to some late like in the 90s my buddy dom and
i went down the magna carta hole and got into
bands like enchant and other things like that
and they did a tribute to rush that had a like
sebastian bach on it and we were going through
these magna carta artists and Every time you
listen to it, if you found a CD and it said Magna
Carta on it, you knew what you were getting.
And you knew that there was some level that if
it was on Magna Carta, it had to be good. Yeah.
It also had to be, you know, slightly left or
slightly right or center. Yes. It wasn't going
to be a pop. You weren't going to get any kind
of like radio pop kind of song. You were going
to get like. A pretty heavy prog song that you
had to probably listen to like four or five times
before you got it. And then once you get it,
it's like, oh my, you can't, you know, like you
want more. Like it's so good. All right. What
do we have next? So next is, uh, I went with
the trooper by iron maiden. All right. Peace
of mind record. Again, another like signature
song of the band. The song is everything that
Iron Maiden is. It's Bruce Dickinson doing an
amazing job singing. It's amazing guitar harmonies.
Steve Harris playing that galloping, just crazy
bass line. And Nico McBrain drumming, which he
was just phenomenal. It hurts that he retired.
I was so sad that this happened, man. I get it.
I completely get it. Yeah. Like who do you get
to replace him? I'm not going to lie. I checked
off that maiden bucket list for the first time
this past November at the Prudential Center.
Oh, nice. And my favorite song of the night,
Stranger in a Strange Land. Seeing that live,
that was like, oh my God, that riff is just so
frigging dirty. It's a little different than
the. Typical Maiden gallop. But there's something
about it that always hypnotized me as a kid on
top of the album covers and Eddie hypnotizing
me because my cousins were always listening to
Maiden. And I don't know why, but seeing that
song live, I was equally as elated to finally
see them, but also angry at myself that it took
so fucking long for it to happen. It was my first
concert was Zion Maiden and Judas Priest. Oh,
nice. Yeah. And that was my, uh, I was always
a priest fan and I hesitantly liked Iron Maiden,
but I would never, you know, back in eighth grade
and high school admit that they were as good
as Judas Priest. Like I had a friend of mine
who was like a diehard Maiden fan and we'd get
in fights all the time. And I, despite how much
I liked them, I would not admit the fact that,
yeah, that they're as good as Judas Priest. But
they're not really. All right. I have to bring
up something, though. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath,
your second song of the night. In the 90s, there
was the Nativity in Black compilation. And Bruce
Dickinson did a cover with Godspeed. Have you
ever heard that version? And if so, what do you
think of it? Yes, I have. And it's awesome. There's
also Sepultura does Planet Caravan. on that record,
which is amazing. Biohazards after forever is
insane. And that's after forever is actually
one of my favorite Sabbath songs as well. Um,
it's funny when I was doing this, I didn't know
if I should go with like all B side stuff and
like deep cut stuff. Or if I should go, you know,
with like sort of the signature songs of these
bands. And I thought, like, if I did all the
deep cut stuff, then this would be a concert
that I would be the only person who enjoyed.
And if I wanted to like for everybody to have
a great time and be introduced to these bands,
like these are the songs that if you ask me,
you know, oh, man, I'd like to hear something
by whatever. These are probably the songs that
that I would play you. There's probably a couple
of exceptions in here, but mostly this is what
I would play and be like, this is the band. There's
different versions of this, but this is them.
This is their essence in one of their songs.
If you want to really understand them, listen
to this song. Yeah, for me, when it comes to
Maiden, I completely understand where the trooper
fits that bill. The only disappointment I had.
with the last tour was that rhyme of the ancient
Mariner from power slave was not in the set,
but it is in this year's set. So I'm hoping they
get back to the U S cause I got to check that
one off. That to me is an all time maiden classic.
It's, it's got the Gallup it's ridiculously long,
but doesn't feel long at all. Bruce's vocals
on it are perfect. Oh, it's another one of those
things where, you know, a lot of the lyrics that
Steve Harris wrote. are based on actual books
events like stuff like that and it's weird like
so that i was like well okay obviously i have
to go read this poem then because steve harris
liked it so i gotta go check it out the trooper
made me go and learn about the charge of the
light brigade which is like one of the most interesting
war stories you'll ever hear and terrific And
all this stuff. And, you know, just when I found
out that the actual call to charge in that battle
was a mistake that everybody just picked up on
and they went and were decimated is like, it's
just like, holy cow. So, you know, Maiden is
somewhat of a history teacher for me as well
as a lit teacher. You got me researching stuff.
Hey, it makes it more fun, too. Let's be honest.
Let's be honest. Oh, yeah. All right. So we got
Maidens the Trooper. Where do we go from here?
So from here, we'll slow it down a little bit.
And I got Xanadu by Rush. I assume they had to
be in here at some point. Oh, yeah. I had to.
And again, this is one of those things where
it's a song that really shows what these guys
can do musically. The lyrics are amazing. This
is another one of those songs that the first
time I heard it, I was just encapsulated the
whole or enraptured the whole entire time with
it. And there's the little glockenspiel parts.
This is a song where live they do the double
neck thing and Geddy's playing bass lines with
his foot, rhythm guitar while Alex does something
like all this stuff is happening. You hear the
record and you know that this is three guys.
And you wonder, can these three guys actually
do this live? Then you go see them do it live
and it's just jaw dropping because it's exactly
what you heard on the record. It's every note
is in there. Everything they played, they didn't,
you know, they don't drop tracks and stuff when
they go to perform it live. They can cover everything
that was recorded. And it's for a song like that,
that's... This anthemic thing, it's long. It's
got all these different parts. It's very pretty.
It's a beautiful song. And just to see three
people do it live, it's like, no way. It's crazy.
So I have to ask, is A Farewell to Kings your
favorite Rush album? I don't know that I have
a favorite Rush album. It's kind of based on
mood. Like really with them. I'm so familiar
with everything up probably until like Vapor
Trails. Like I know all the albums before that,
you know, back and forth. And at this point,
I probably couldn't tell you what songs, depending
on the albums, are on which albums. But they
cover so much ground throughout their career.
It really kind of just depends on what I feel
like listening to when I want to hear a Rush
record. I don't grab for my favorite Rush album.
That's a tough choice. Well, I'll be honest.
Don't sleep on Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork
Angels. They're both amazing. Even though they're
post -Vapor Trails, if you haven't gone down
that rabbit hole, there's some classic Rush on
both of those albums. It's funny. I mean, I have
everything that they have recorded. I just haven't.
Because the recent stuff is that much more recent.
I don't have the history that I have. Of course.
With it as much as their earlier catalog. But
there's really not a song I don't like. I mean,
I like Hold Your Fire and Power Wind. Like all
those, even the Synthie records. Yep, yep. I
love them. You know, if I'm in the mood for those,
always hit. And as when I was at my youngest,
my cousin introduced me to Rush through moving
pictures. So that's always going to be. the rush
album for me, because here in that opening to
Tom Sawyer as a kid, that's like, what is happening
right now? And as I got older, Lovilla became
my favorite rush tune of all time, because there's
just no denying that they take this instrumental.
And I think that's why I think Lovilla is a part
of why I love jam band music so much because
of what they did in that. It told the story without
lyrics. And that's, Hard to do. It goes so many
different places and it's smooth. Again, there's
no jarring changes. It goes from A to Z and flows
through each part. It's just a beautiful thing.
You close your eyes and it paints a picture as
you're hearing the sounds. And that's something
that when somebody uses lyrics to do that, it's
one thing because you're picturing what they're
saying. But when the music is doing that for
you, it's a totally different experience. Yes.
Yeah. It definitely takes you places without
telling you where you're going, like verbally
telling you. You mentioned the intro to Tom Sawyer
and there's an episode of the Goldbergs on the
show. The Goldbergs is one of the characters.
He's a huge Rush fan. He wears a Rush shirt every
time he's on the screen. And the daughter in
the family is like a musician. There's a scene
where he plays her. rush for the first time and
it's it's the opening note for tom sawyer and
her eyes just lock in you know and then she goes
and plays it for her friends and they have the
same reaction just like oh my god and how it
just bleeds that song just like turns them all
into these huge rush friends It's a great, it's
hilarious. I've never seen that show. I have
to find it now because that is exactly how I
experienced it as a kid. Yeah. When you said
that, I was like, Oh my God, it's just like,
it's really funny episode. All right. You have
to follow up rush and iron maiden. Yeah. This
is not an easy task. I'm very curious to see
where you go from here. So from here, I went
with Primus who I've seen open up for rush. but
not Iron Maiden. And it's a song, Ballad of Audacious.
Nice. It's a song I picked for the time capsule
that you had. Yes, the ultimate mixtape. Yes.
And this is, I mean, I guess this is kind of
a deep cut as far as Primus is concerned, because
it's off the album Antipop, which I don't know
why. I mean, I guess because Fred Durst had something
to do with a couple songs. People want to call
it a new metal record, which I don't see it.
It's a Primus record. And they're just in a category
of their own. Because even the songs of Andy
Pop, there's not a new metal band that you can
say, oh, yeah, it sort of sounds. No, it doesn't.
It sounds like Primus. Exactly. And this song
just has one of the coolest bass lines and drum
lines in it. The guitar is perfect. And it's
a song about a rodeo bull. And it's music. that
should be in a song about a rodeo bull. And it's
just, it thumps, man. It's a great song. It's
a great story. If you've never heard of Bodacious
the Rodeo Bull, Google it, read his Wikipedia
page because it's super interesting. And Les
tells the story of this bull and one particular
rider who rode him at two different occasions
and almost killed him the second time. And it's
just a great, great song. And it's also I named
my last dog after the song because he was just
when I first got him, he was just very stubborn,
very ornery and wouldn't want to be controlled.
It took so long to get him to be a good dog so
that the name just came out. So he was named
Bodacious. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And it's
it's one of my favorite Primus songs. I'll be.
the first to say that I love Antipop. I don't
care anything about the whole new metal stigma.
And let's be honest, last time I checked, Limp
Bizkit's opening for Metallica all over the world,
and they're selling out arenas again. Limp Bizkit
is back, and I never got the hate for it. I feel
like there's a place for music for any type of
style. And I personally enjoy Limp Bizkit. I
think Wes Borland is a ridiculous guitarist.
I think John Otto is an incredible drummer. I
think the band is very talented. Are the lyrics
silly and sometimes corny? Yes. And that's kind
of the beauty of it. Like, why does everything
have to be so artistic? If the break stuff. is
a fantastic workout song. It makes me want to
get up and do shit. And we need that motivation
at this age, you know? It's one of those things
where people hate on a band. Korn sort of, I
mean, a lot of the new metal bands get this.
And people hate on them. And I don't know who
was really doing the gatekeeping at this point
in time. Like, you know, hardcore Metallica fans
and the Thrash guys and, you know, and they had...
Didn't want to call this metal in some way, so
they spelt new all weird and put it in front
of it. But the reality is when you put a lot
of these songs on, people like it. People go
crazy for it. They proved it at Woodstock. Two
bands started riots. It's the same, like Freak
on a Leash. You can make fun of Jonathan Davis'
voice as much as you want, but when he sings
that song, it's one of the coolest. things and
you know it was like no one was doing that no
one was singing like that no one was using their
voice as that kind of weird ass instrument so
yeah i i completely bought the album and totally
got in there's stuff about it i don't like but
there's a lot of stuff that i do you know i could
do without feely's bass tone like it's too nah
but overall man it's good music I don't really
see that much of a problem with it. Now, I told
you earlier that my oldest was not a Lamb of
God fan, but I'm taking her to Korn and System
of a Down at her request. She loves both of those
bands. So I was I wasn't far off with the Lamb
of God, but I think I needed to come a step or
two down just just a little bit. Like maybe maybe
I went one too many flights of stairs for the
first metal concert. So she's coming around.
See, and that's the thing. System of a Down is
the same. They would have gotten categorized.
They're playing with Korn with those bands as
well. And they're amazing. You know, you can't,
how can you not like them? I don't, I really,
sometimes I'm like, but all right, whatever.
Okay. All right. So coming out of Primus, we've
only got a couple songs left here. So we're nearing
kind of the crescendo of the night. Where do
we go from Primus? So from Primus, I went, with
a song by Queensryche off of Operation Mindcrime
called Spreading the Disease. Nice. And again,
I'm looking at this, I'm like, well, I picked
a lot of these because of the vocalists. I think
when listening to metal, and they've had so many
great singers throughout at least my history
with heavy metal, and I think the history of
heavy metal, the vocalist is a really important
part. And Jeff Tate is up there, man. Again,
easily in the top five, top three greatest singers
of all time. Mindcrime is, to me, it's one of
the best albums ever recorded. It sounds amazing.
You know, you listen to it now, it might sound
a little bit dated and over -processed and stuff,
but when it was released, like, holy cow. To
me, it had the same amount of impact that The
Wall had when The Wall was released. Fair. As
far as the concept album, in my opinion, it holds
up against The Wall. The Wall is one of my favorite
all -time records. And Mindcrime is, again, probably
in my top 10 favorite albums ever recorded. The
story is amazing throughout the album. It's just
as, to me, message -wise and stuff, it could
be put to today's society as much as it was.
to what was going on back then the lyrics are
great to look at it as a whole it's unbelievable
and it makes a tremendous statement like i said
that still stands up today and spreading the
disease is just a great song of course yeah his
voice is amazing in that song like the chorus
is unbelievable and the whole breakdown and they
do the weird thing where he's speaking and all
the different sounds that just the production
of it is is top -notch another record that just
sort of changed my perspective on, on music and
what is possible really. So I guess my followup
to that is I discovered Queensryche on the mind
crime album and then came empire. And then I
went back to rage for order in the warning. What
were your thoughts on empire after mind crime?
Cause I know there's a lot of talk about like,
Oh, it's. you know, they sold out on Empire,
and I don't necessarily feel like that's the
case. I feel like they just went away from a
concept record, and that was kind of the big
difference, because musically, I feel like there
are some themes that sway between the two albums.
Yeah, well, the song, the title track off of
Empire is definitely very similar to the statements
that they were making in Mindcrime. Exactly.
And that song just is awesome. I'll be honest,
when... And I think it's because Silent Lucidity,
I think that song is what turned a lot of people
off. And it turned me off when the album was
first released. I was like, I'm not even going
to get it. And probably since sometime in the
early 2000s, I really started listening to the
record. And sometime in the last 10 years, I
really got into that. And the next album, which
has I Am I on it. And just realizing how good
those albums are and how Queensryche they are.
If you pull Mindcrime out of their catalog and
go from Warning to Rage for Order and skip Mindcrime
and then go to Empire, it's a seamless progression.
It makes complete sense. So obviously they were
going for a specific thing when they did Mindcrime
and they really dug into it and everything. And
then that's sort of going to pull you out. And
the album just stands out because of all the
work they did to make this concept record. So,
yeah, the next thing is going to sort of seem
left footed, but it's not like if you look at
the whole entire sweep of their career, it all
of it makes sense. And I will say I did find
it odd when one of those monster ballad compilations
came out. And they put Silent Lucidity on a power
ballads mix. I was like, do they not understand
who Queensryche is? Silent Lucidity, yes, it's
a slow, hard rock song for the time. But I mean,
you play Silent Lucidity next to Miles Away from
Winger or Love of a Lifetime by Firehouse. Those
are power ballads. Silent Lucidity is still a
slower progressive rock song. Yeah. I mean, if
you listen to everything that's going on, and
that's what struck me years later, again, was
the production of these songs. Like, when you
listen to how thick everything sounds in it and
how full everything, and it's just a great recording.
And it's now, I love hearing the song. Like,
I never wanted to. And like I said, it's a great,
great song. And I'll put that record on, I don't
know, probably a week ago. I just listened to
it. All right. So now we're moving on to track
11. We're really getting towards the end here.
How are we coming out of Queensryche? So this
is weird, but this is like what I was talking
about before, where sometimes you just need a
breather. So I picked a Pogue song. Oh. Because
they're one of my favorite. all -time bands and
the rum sodomy in the lash was an album i probably
listened to the record when i first got it for
a month two months straight like it was all i
listened to even kicking up other pogues records
and stuff i always went back to rum sodomy in
the lash it's just amazing from beginning to
end every song is gold on that record so i picked
the song a pair of brown eyes which was It's
a beautiful song. It's a beautiful story. It's
sad. That band extracts so much emotion out of
me, particularly that record. Shane McGowan was
a tragic figure. His life was messed up and everything,
but man, he wrote some of the greatest lyrics.
His voice was so his. It was clearly him singing.
He wasn't trying to do anything at all. He left
the accent in, he left the slurring in, he left
whatever it was, and he just belted these songs
out. And they're so cathartic, like listening
to them. You go through everything that he's
saying. And that song, again, it's a great, sad
story. And if we're looking at a set like this
to have something to just mellow out, and it's
really like... The chorus, everybody could sing
if they know the song. You know, it's a big sing
-along chorus and stuff. And it's a great song.
And again, it's another song that just embodies
what the Pogues are, what Shane, who Shane was.
And it's one of my all -time favorites there.
You know, this is something that if Mo were to
do like an acoustic style set, I could actually
hear this going over really well with songs like
Raise a Glass. thematically and musically, I
feel like there's a little bit of a connection
here. I would love, love to play the song with
Mo in an acoustic setting. It would be awesome.
Especially now Nate can play flute on it and
it would just sound very authentic and it's,
I would love to do it. All right. Well, we are
at track 12. So out of the pogues, we're going
to step it up many notches. We're going to go
to Metallica's Ride the Lightning album and Trapped
Under Ice. Wow. This is one of the B -side, the
sort of deeper cut songs, I think, that I picked.
Because off of that album, everybody talks about
By Fire With Fire. Obviously, the title track,
Fade to Black at the end of the second side.
Yeah, these big songs. But Trapped Under Ice
is a B -side song. And man, the first time I
heard it. that just blew me away like it is fast
and heavy and it's like just the concept of the
song i mean my god and he describes it being
trapped under ice like that is it's a definitely
a fear of mine ever since i saw the omen when
i was a little kid holy cow that just seems like
the most frightening thing and they just embodied
it in a song and it always that It's the song
off that record that hits me the hardest. Yeah,
I won't even say it's the best song off the record,
but man, leaving an impression, that song does
it. Now it's according to setlist .fm. This has
only been played 29 times. I'd have to go on
Metallica site to really like dig. I do a lot
of research for the show, but not that much.
Is this a wishlist song for you? Or were you
ever at one of those 29 magical shows where it
was played? I was not. It is a wishlist song
for me. They played, I saw them at Darien Lake
with Danzig and the Suicidal Tendencies. And
they used to do a thing called the pile of shit.
And they would, it was a medley of all the songs
that from previous albums that they don't really
play anymore and stuff. And that's the closest
I saw to them doing it was them playing the riff
and stuff and the groove through this. But I've
never seen the entire song. Nor have I. And I
don't think I think I could speak for both of
us that unless you were at that Orion Festival
that they did back in New Jersey in the 2000s,
we haven't seen Escape either because that was
the only time the song was ever played. No. Yeah,
there's a lot of their songs that I've never
seen. I have seen at that same show, though,
they did play Dire's Eve for maybe the second
time they ever played it live. I would love for
them to do justice in its entirety. I love justice.
Like justice is my favorite Metallica album.
And I catch a lot of flack from people, especially
because I love master of puppets, ride the lightning,
kill them all. But justice for me, even though
the base and there's all that controversy, there's
something about that album that just hits the
progressiveness of it. There was a story behind
it. And it was the first physical Metallica album
I ever bought. I went to the Sam Goody at the
Garden State Plaza in New Jersey. I went to buy
the cassette. And this was the best mistake that
ever happened to my wife. I went to buy the cassette
and they were sold out. And the woman said, we
only have it on vinyl. And I was like, oh, man.
And my mom said, look, it's your birthday. You
could get the vinyl and I'll buy you a blank
cassette so you could record it on the cassette.
And I was like. because cassettes were all the
rage in the late 80s. In hindsight, I still have
that vinyl framed in my basement, and it was
the best quote -unquote mistake that ever happened
to me because I still have it on the original
vinyl. That's awesome. That is a great mistake.
Yeah. So at this point, it is track 12, and it
would be the close of the night. So I'll ask,
is there an encore that you would choose for
your ultimate concert? Yeah, I couldn't do 12
songs when you sent the thing out. Because I
didn't know where to put this song, but I couldn't
leave it out. Actually, I knew it was going to
be the last song. But by the time I got through
12, I was like, oh, man. So I picked Pink Floyd's
The Trial off the wall. Wow. And like I said,
The Wall is one of my all -time favorite albums.
I spent a long time listening to that record
every day, over and over and over. That was my
first year in college is kind of what I spent
doing, which is kind of why I dropped out. But
that's a whole other story. But this song, it
caps off the record and it kind of, first of
all, it goes through everything that the rest
of the record explained about this guy's life
and who we assume was Sid Barrett. From when
he was a kid, all the way through all his relationships
with his mom, his teachers, the women in his
life and everything. And this, you know, so the
trial lets all of them speak against him in what
is a trial at the end of this record. And if
you listen to this song in headphones, holy cow.
I mean, there's timpani, there's an orchestra,
there's all these different voices. There's...
The judge, like I said, his mom, his wife, ex
-wife, wife, his teacher, the usher for the court
and him. And plus like a group of background
singers in it and just all this stuff going on.
And it is unbelievable. Like, again, it was one
of those songs that the first time I heard it,
I was just thinking, I didn't know you could
do this. Like, not only. Is it possible to do
something like this? But you're allowed to. And
you're allowed to put it on a record. And you're
allowed to have a song like this on one of the
greatest selling records. People love that album
from beginning to end. And it's not just about
another brick in the wall and comfortably numb.
This song just caps this whole amazing journey
off. And it's perfect. By the time you're done
hearing this, you're just worn out. Trying to
listen to everything that's happening and really
understanding the rest of the whole entire story
and what happened. That's it. You can't do anything
more. This song just ends an album perfectly.
If they played it in a show, this being the last
song, it would probably take me 20 minutes to
get up and leave because it's trying to digest
all of it. Yeah, so I had to have it on this
list, and obviously it had to be last. Well,
I mentioned with the Pogues that I could hear
Moe doing them acoustically. I could hear Moe
doing the trial, segwaying in and out of some
Moe songs. I'm not going to lie. It could work.
It's one of those things that I think about when
we did the Peach Fest Pink Floyd tribute. We
did a lot of songs off the wall. And I got to
sing most of them because there's a lot of screamy
stuff and I always do the screamy stuff. And
it's just that every time I hear this song, it's
one of those things where I don't know if I'd
want to hear it without the timpanis, if I would
want to hear it without the string section. Like
there's a lot of things about Pink Floyd. And
I always used to say, like, if you can't play
a Pink Floyd song perfectly, don't bother playing
it. I don't necessarily believe that anymore,
but certain songs, if you're not going to do
this song, a lot of justice don't do this song.
If you're not going to play those guitar solo
in Hotel California exactly how they play it,
you're going to disappoint a lot of people. You've
heard this stuff so many times and there's certain
songs throughout rock and roll that It's so ingrained
in you. If a band covers it and it's not either
something completely different and awesome, it's
got to be almost spot on or else people are going
to be like, they tried. This is one of those
songs that I wouldn't want a they tried. It would
be awesome to have an orchestra and do this song
with an orchestra behind us. That would be unbelievable.
Make it happen. I could see a Moe Orchestra tour.
I would love that. Holy cow. Well, there you
have it, folks. Jim Laughlin's ultimate concert
set list, which kicked off with Meshuggah's Bleed,
Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, KRS -One's
Hold, Black Sabbath's The Mob Rules, Judas Priest's
Screaming for Vengeance, Coheed and Cambria's
Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial, Iron Maiden's
The Trooper, Rush's Xanadu, Primus' Ballad of
Bodacious, Queensryche's Spreading the Disease,
The Pogues' A Pair of Brown Eyes, Metallica's
Trapped Under Ice, and Pink Floyd's The Trial.
Remember, you can hear a playlist featuring all
of these songs over on the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com. Now, Jim, I know you mentioned you've messed
around with the mob rules in most sets. You didn't
do the trial, but if you had to pick one of these
songs to introduce into Mo's set list this summer,
which do you think would be the most realistic
choice that the band could do justice to? Wow.
Well, we've done The Trooper once, and this was
one of the songs, and I sang the song, and we
did a pretty convincing job of it. It's a hard
song to sing, but I'd probably say that one.
If not a pair of brown eyes, I would say The
Troopers probably. If we got time to rework it
and do it again, we can definitely do that one.
All right. We've done Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath
as well, when the Black Sabbath sort of tribute
-y Halloween show. Oh, you're right. Yes. Yeah.
That was in Philly, correct? Yes. I was not at
that one, unfortunately. It was fun. That was
the first time we did Mob Rules as well. And
I sang both those songs. And yeah, that middle
part of Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath is really tough,
man. I couldn't talk much the next day after
that show. It makes sense. That's fair. Very
fair. So Jim, if you were given full reigns like
you were tonight to pick your ultimate concert
set list, if you were given full reigns, for
your own personal opinion of a five song Mo set.
So this means you're not thinking fans. This
is just your personal five song Mo set. Cause
let's be honest, a five song Mo set could be
easily a full hour long set. Which five songs
would you pick? Let's see. Same old story. Annihilation.
Huh. Rainshine? I have to throw Meat in there
as one of the classics, but I love playing that
song. And, huh. What would the fifth song be?
Overlewd? Oh. That's a fun song. Very cool. Now,
Circle of Giants is still in its infancy. came
out this year. And I'll remind all the My Weekly
Mixtape listeners that there's a full album dive
episode of the record over at myweeklymixtape
.com. And during that episode, you dropped some
knowledge about a studio recording of Bear Song
that didn't make the final cut. Any updates on
when fans will get a chance to hear that? We
still haven't decided what we're going to do
with it yet. Possibly one of the best options.
that we can do is find another song that we haven't
released and maybe a 12 inch you know a and b
side with bear song on one side and something
else on the other george excuse me sorry that
that's one of the songs that that yeah we've
never we never it we tried and it just at the
time we tried to record it it didn't hit right
and it didn't fit with the rest of the record
so That's something we should probably look into.
That would be a great song for it. There's a
handful of other older ones, but yeah, we, we
don't have a definitive plan for it yet. Right
now it's, it's sitting in the locker ready to
go, but we're not sure when to release it upon
the people. I'll have to ask the next time you're
on the show, Jim, this has been an absolute blast.
Thank you so much for joining me. I can't wait
to talk to you the next time. Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely. I always enjoy doing it. And remember,
you can find my weekly mixtape on almost all
the social media haunts at my weekly mixtape.
You can also head to my weekly mixtape dot com
to check out the full catalog of my weekly mixtape
episodes, including the other two episodes with
Jim. Finally, if you like what you're hearing
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Thanks again for listening. And until next time,
enjoy the tunes.