WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.879 Hi, this is Bermuda Schwartz with the Weird Al 00:00:01.879 --> 00:00:04.360 Yankovic Band, and you're listening to My Weekly 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:18.879 Mixtape with Brian Colburn. What is going on, 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.500 friends? Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, the show 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:25.000 that takes the classic mixtape approach to building 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.679 a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn. 00:00:28.269 --> 00:00:30.550 And each and every week, I love to cover all 00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:33.310 aspects of the musical world here on the show. 00:00:33.469 --> 00:00:36.270 And I get especially excited when I get to speak 00:00:36.270 --> 00:00:38.490 with the people responsible for the soundtrack 00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:41.729 to my youth. However, my guest this evening isn't 00:00:41.729 --> 00:00:44.789 only a part of the soundtrack to my youth. He's 00:00:44.789 --> 00:00:48.289 also a part of my children's as well. Serving 00:00:48.289 --> 00:00:51.189 as the heartbeat of Weird Al Yankovic's band, 00:00:51.310 --> 00:00:53.850 it's my absolute honor to welcome the one and 00:00:53.850 --> 00:00:56.670 only John Bermuda Schwartz to the show. Bermuda. 00:00:56.890 --> 00:00:58.689 Thank you so much for joining me this evening. 00:00:58.909 --> 00:01:01.670 Well, thank you for having me, Brian. So since 00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:04.150 this is your first time on the show, let's start 00:01:04.150 --> 00:01:07.409 with the basics here. What does the word mixtape 00:01:07.409 --> 00:01:12.790 mean to you? Well, the real origin, when we made 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:16.209 cassettes for our cars before we had CDs or could 00:01:16.209 --> 00:01:19.290 burn CDs or didn't like every song that was on 00:01:19.290 --> 00:01:23.290 the radio, we made tapes of our personal mixes 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:25.370 of the songs we liked. So we put together our 00:01:25.370 --> 00:01:29.620 own best of. It was a mix of our best of songs 00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:33.540 on a tape, hence mixtape. You got the assignment. 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.819 I love it. I did that too. And I did it with 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:39.519 CDs as well. Of course. And we still called it 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:42.500 a mixtape, even though it was a disc. By all 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:44.599 means. And now it's made its way to playlists. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.200 And I still take a lot of thought into how I 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.079 craft the order of the songs. It's not just throw 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:53.260 a bunch of random songs on a playlist and hit 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.700 shuffle. That takes all the fun and love out 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:59.090 of it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So let's get into 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:02.409 business here. You met Weird Al Yankovic through 00:02:02.409 --> 00:02:05.950 a chance meeting on the Dr. Demento show in a 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:09.590 what I would call a right place, right time moment. 00:02:09.770 --> 00:02:12.210 And the first time you performed with him was 00:02:12.210 --> 00:02:15.610 in the studio playing Another One Rides the Bus 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:19.849 on Al's accordion case. Did you realize at the 00:02:19.849 --> 00:02:22.030 time the musical fuse you were lighting during 00:02:22.030 --> 00:02:25.389 that moment? No idea. No idea. And I knew who 00:02:25.389 --> 00:02:27.810 Al was, of course. But I met him that night and 00:02:27.810 --> 00:02:30.069 literally began working with him that night. 00:02:30.849 --> 00:02:32.770 Unbeknownst to me, I had no idea what was to 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:35.629 follow. And, you know, we exchanged numbers. 00:02:35.870 --> 00:02:37.689 You know, he knew I was a drummer, of course. 00:02:37.750 --> 00:02:39.870 And, you know, I told him, you know, you should 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:41.909 have a band, you know, and I'll be your drummer. 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:44.669 Don't know why I said that. Just it was, again, 00:02:44.789 --> 00:02:46.949 right place, right time, right thing, spouted 00:02:46.949 --> 00:02:49.270 off. Again, you know, not something I say when 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:51.509 I meet everybody. But there was just something, 00:02:51.629 --> 00:02:53.780 something said, You know, you should see this 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:57.500 guy again. And it was after that meeting that 00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:00.819 Al coined the term Bermuda for you based on Bermuda 00:03:00.819 --> 00:03:04.520 shorts. Yeah, that's the connotation. But I am 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.099 not the first Bermuda Schwartz in entertainment. 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:11.099 There was at least one other. And that was on 00:03:11.099 --> 00:03:13.659 the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. Oh, yeah. There 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.159 was a Dr. Bermuda Schwartz who invented the Hushabomb, 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:20.939 which was a silent bomb. Yes. And I don't know 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:23.379 if Al referenced that specifically. I think it 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:26.400 was more a case of Bermuda shorts. But that same 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.300 thing that spawned Bermuda shorts from shorts 00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:30.340 obviously spawned that back with the producers 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.180 of Rocky and Bullwinkle. And that was the connotation 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:35.800 then as it was almost 20 years later with me. 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:40.240 Now, as important as Dr. Demento was to Al's 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:44.819 career, one would have to assume that MTV played 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:49.020 just as significant a role in making him a household 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:52.460 name. Can you talk about those early days on 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:57.039 MTV and the impact that exposure had on his professional 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:00.539 trajectory? Well, the timing was absolutely right. 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:04.759 MTV was in its infancy, as were we. And that 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:06.979 was a place where that was like the only place 00:04:06.979 --> 00:04:09.919 you could see videos. And it was great. It was 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:11.780 a great promotional tool, except not everybody 00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:14.259 really had gotten, you know, entertainers hadn't 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:16.060 really gotten on the video bandwagon. They sort 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:19.709 of. Came a little late to that. And so MTV was 00:04:19.709 --> 00:04:22.790 hungry for product. And it was not any problem 00:04:22.790 --> 00:04:25.730 at all to play Al's funny videos, parodies of 00:04:25.730 --> 00:04:27.810 songs that they were already playing. You know, 00:04:27.810 --> 00:04:29.290 but again, when I say the time was right for 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:32.009 that, you know, there's really not such a thing 00:04:32.009 --> 00:04:33.949 now. There are a million outlets for videos. 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:36.230 The problem is how do you get people, you know, 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:39.269 MTV had an audience and you had to watch MTV 00:04:39.269 --> 00:04:41.509 to see that stuff. I mean, that was the deal. 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:44.029 Now there's a million places anybody can put 00:04:44.029 --> 00:04:45.990 out a video, but how do you draw people to it? 00:04:46.189 --> 00:04:47.649 Because people are looking at all sorts of different 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:50.269 places. You can put stuff on Facebook and YouTube 00:04:50.269 --> 00:04:52.250 and, you know, put stuff on your own website. 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:54.430 There's a million ways to put that stuff out 00:04:54.430 --> 00:04:55.689 there. But how do you get people to see it? Because 00:04:55.689 --> 00:04:57.610 they don't always come to you. Well, they came 00:04:57.610 --> 00:05:01.310 to MTV back in the day. And we were there. And 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:04.029 that certainly, that was huge. And the fact that 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:07.009 Al, over the next couple of decades of MTV, still 00:05:07.009 --> 00:05:09.370 playing videos, Al was able to keep producing 00:05:09.370 --> 00:05:12.970 entertaining product and stuff that viewers wanted 00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:16.040 to see. And that got good ratings. and spawned 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:20.160 MTV to bring Al in and do some specials called 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:23.199 AlTV. AlTV, yes. I don't know where he came up 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:26.480 with that, but it seemed to work very well. And 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:28.319 where he would play the videos that he wanted 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:30.899 to watch, and he would take over for between 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:34.079 two and four hours. He would have a block on 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.800 there, and of course he played a few of his own 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:38.519 videos, but he played all sorts of other videos. 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:42.000 He did fake interviews. He would... overdub like 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.100 different character voices and stuff on these 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:46.519 other you know regular rock videos i mean he 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:50.180 just it was just a fun thing and those got great 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:52.620 ratings i mean very popular and and those things 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:54.699 are all on youtube and the fans still love them 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:58.699 30 35 40 years later as a fan that would be something 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:01.939 that i would love to have a blu -ray box set 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:04.879 of but obviously the licensing rights would make 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.139 that nearly impossible between all the different 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:09.839 labels and companies and artists you'd be dealing 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:12.639 with in that situation. Yeah, you know, that's 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:15.139 hard to say. You know, that's kind of the story 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:18.100 of all product now, all video. I mean, do we 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:20.379 need physical products at all? It's all out there, 00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:23.100 you know, whether it's legal or not. And the 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:24.939 quality is pretty good. I mean, you know, and 00:06:24.939 --> 00:06:27.399 I hate to say it because I have a lot of CDs 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:29.199 and I have a lot of vinyl and I have a lot of 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.319 videos, you know, physical product, but I rarely 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:34.079 listen to them. I mean, if I want to hear something, 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.990 I just go find it on YouTube or, you know. Or 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:41.730 YouTube. Yeah, exactly. And it's all there. You 00:06:41.730 --> 00:06:44.149 know, it's all there for you. And before we dive 00:06:44.149 --> 00:06:47.050 into the actual music of Weird Al Yankovic, I 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:49.269 want to let the listeners know all the songs 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:52.149 we talk about tonight, you can find over on the 00:06:52.149 --> 00:06:58.509 episode page at myweeklymixtape .com. So we touched 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:01.089 on Dr. Demento. We touched on the early days 00:07:01.089 --> 00:07:04.189 of MTV. And now I want to talk about a critical 00:07:04.189 --> 00:07:07.579 moment that I consider to be. a pivotal point 00:07:07.579 --> 00:07:10.540 in Al's catalog, and that is the time period 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:14.420 between Weird Al's self -titled album and In 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:18.480 3D, because his self -titled album was, dare 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:22.420 I use the term, almost punk rock in its production 00:07:22.420 --> 00:07:27.420 style. Then In 3D arrives, and there's this tactical 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:31.860 shift from Al's accordion -driven sound on the 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:34.860 self -titled album. Towards making the songs 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:38.160 sound as close to the original recordings as 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.800 possible, which over the years has become his 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.680 signature of an Al parody where you can't tell 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:46.899 if it's the original or the parody until the 00:07:46.899 --> 00:07:50.439 lyrics actually start. Was there a moment or 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:54.920 a person that drove that transition? Well, there 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:57.519 was a very obvious transition. And yeah, the 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.980 first album was very just kind of rock accordion 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:03.290 based album with little effort to. other than 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:05.470 melodically and arrangement wise sound like the 00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:07.810 songs we were parodying i mean it was just you 00:08:07.810 --> 00:08:09.970 know it was an accordion and that was the gag 00:08:09.970 --> 00:08:13.730 and uh you know yet uh ricky and i love rocky 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:17.209 road did very well you know on mtv and and uh 00:08:17.209 --> 00:08:19.569 you know as singles but when it's time for the 00:08:19.569 --> 00:08:21.649 second album and i i really don't know who came 00:08:21.649 --> 00:08:24.250 up with it you know you you want to say the producer 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:27.269 rick derringer uh you know suggested that you 00:08:27.269 --> 00:08:29.290 want to say the label suggested it you know not 00:08:29.290 --> 00:08:31.810 that the album didn't sell well before but Maybe 00:08:31.810 --> 00:08:33.690 we'll sell more albums if you sound more like 00:08:33.690 --> 00:08:35.669 the original song. If it was something that Al 00:08:35.669 --> 00:08:38.129 or his manager had, it had occurred to them to 00:08:38.129 --> 00:08:41.730 target the originals more, you know, meticulously. 00:08:42.029 --> 00:08:44.850 I don't know. But that was a turning point. And 00:08:44.850 --> 00:08:48.129 that was a huge leap in terms of popularity, 00:08:48.389 --> 00:08:51.590 in terms of sales, when we started sounding like 00:08:51.590 --> 00:08:54.029 the song, you know, and the parodies, the song 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:55.929 we were targeting. You know, and we listened 00:08:55.929 --> 00:08:58.070 to that first album and Dare to be Stupid after 00:08:58.070 --> 00:09:00.149 that. The first several albums where we were 00:09:00.149 --> 00:09:03.009 in there trying to duplicate those sounds, you 00:09:03.009 --> 00:09:05.070 know, trying to keep up with modern production 00:09:05.070 --> 00:09:08.549 techniques. You know, we got, we did okay. We 00:09:08.549 --> 00:09:11.330 did, you know, well enough. But we got really 00:09:11.330 --> 00:09:13.490 good at it later. We got really, really good. 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:15.970 And if you listen to our last few albums, if 00:09:15.970 --> 00:09:18.490 you were able to listen to just those, just the 00:09:18.490 --> 00:09:21.710 audio, you know, just the instrumental. of the 00:09:21.710 --> 00:09:23.990 parody and of the song we went after that we 00:09:23.990 --> 00:09:26.710 targeted. If you listen to both of those side 00:09:26.710 --> 00:09:29.090 by side, if you like, you probably wouldn't know 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:30.970 which one was theirs and which one was ours. 00:09:31.110 --> 00:09:33.929 We had gotten that good. And as a drummer, you 00:09:33.929 --> 00:09:36.289 know, who basically, you know, had very little 00:09:36.289 --> 00:09:38.169 melodic background, you know, I had to learn 00:09:38.169 --> 00:09:40.730 a lot about programming. I learned sound design. 00:09:40.970 --> 00:09:43.909 I mean, I just, and a lot of that came from you 00:09:43.909 --> 00:09:46.809 listen, but we'd always done that with Al. That's 00:09:46.809 --> 00:09:48.669 a, well, listen to this song. That's the one 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:49.909 we're going to parody. That's going to be the 00:09:49.909 --> 00:09:52.330 single. Well, That was the instruction, to listen. 00:09:52.710 --> 00:09:55.389 But that came in very handy in terms of honing 00:09:55.389 --> 00:09:57.330 our craft. And for each of us, I mean, we were 00:09:57.330 --> 00:09:59.730 all involved in electronics to different degrees. 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:02.210 You know, I probably came along the latest in 00:10:02.210 --> 00:10:04.809 terms of drum machines and samples and things 00:10:04.809 --> 00:10:08.049 like that. But I have to be modest when I say 00:10:08.049 --> 00:10:10.250 I got really good at it. And I listened to that 00:10:10.250 --> 00:10:11.950 stuff. It's like, you know, that's something 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:15.070 I couldn't have done 30 years ago. Now, 30 years 00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:18.490 ago, on In3D and Dare to Be Stupid, you were 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:21.200 doing this to tape. Was there a challenge in 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:24.700 doing it analog versus when that shift went to 00:10:24.700 --> 00:10:27.220 digital and Pro Tools? Did it make life easier 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:29.980 for the band to be able to capture those sounds 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:33.299 and styles? From a production standpoint and 00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:34.980 a mixing standpoint, certainly it was easier 00:10:34.980 --> 00:10:37.840 once everything went digital. In terms of what 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:39.899 we did, in terms of providing sounds and playing 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:41.759 our instruments and stuff like that, I don't 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:43.580 think there was a real difference. And I actually, 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.299 I don't have a preference. And sound -wise, it 00:10:46.299 --> 00:10:48.230 all sounds great to me. You know, people talk 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:51.169 about the analog sound and all that. And I know 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:54.070 where that comes from. And, you know, I dare 00:10:54.070 --> 00:10:56.009 say you can duplicate that in the digital world. 00:10:56.250 --> 00:10:58.830 Not on MP3s, you know, not listening on YouTube 00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:01.929 and stuff, but on a CD or a higher quality item 00:11:01.929 --> 00:11:04.750 like that, you can sound like vinyl. You know, 00:11:04.769 --> 00:11:07.250 you can sound analog. But whether anybody wanted 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:09.629 to do that or not, I don't know. You know, the 00:11:09.629 --> 00:11:12.350 target songs we went after to parody at a certain 00:11:12.350 --> 00:11:14.929 point were basically all digital anyway. Right. 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:17.840 So in that realm. you know for us to go digital 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.379 that just you know there was no real change in 00:11:20.379 --> 00:11:23.980 fact it only made sense to do so and to accomplish 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:26.600 what we wanted to but but i think in in terms 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:30.600 of uh editing and mixing i think a digital platform 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:33.279 and cutting and pasting and and you know pushing 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:35.799 buttons in and out and muting stuff and and blending 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:39.399 stuff was infinitely better than you could do 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:42.080 on tape I mean, I remember the old days when 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:44.340 they'd be mixing songs and Al would record. This 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:47.120 is a thing that a lot of singers do. He'd record 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.080 three, four, five, six vocal takes on something. 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.340 And he would listen to each of them. He'd go 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:54.340 home that night, listen to each one all the way 00:11:54.340 --> 00:11:57.220 through, decide which phrases, which sentences, 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:01.419 which choruses, which words sounded best from 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:03.720 which take. And he would piece them all together. 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:06.539 And then he and the engineer would sit down when 00:12:06.539 --> 00:12:10.500 it was time to mix. compile comp the different 00:12:10.500 --> 00:12:13.340 parts from these different takes into one master 00:12:13.340 --> 00:12:17.620 take that didn't really exist before well that 00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:20.379 was a lot of mute this and and you know unmute 00:12:20.379 --> 00:12:23.179 that and and pan you know there was a lot of 00:12:23.179 --> 00:12:25.299 hands -on to make some of those things happen 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:27.299 i mean there were some times where he split words 00:12:27.299 --> 00:12:30.840 i kid you not wow you know on the on the syllable 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.960 of course but there were i kid you not because 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.179 al is that meticulous And Al was lucky because 00:12:37.179 --> 00:12:39.419 we are all that meticulous. We didn't learn that, 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:41.639 you know, it's not like our boss makes us, you 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:44.700 know, be really particular about things and do 00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:46.600 things exactly right. We just, we were all on 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.220 the same page. So he happened upon, he got very 00:12:49.220 --> 00:12:52.559 lucky, really, first time through from first 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.559 album to the last one to this upcoming tour with 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.379 the same band. Because we just all, he likes 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:02.159 us, we like him. And, you know, it's a lot of 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.799 fun. That's a lot of work. Uh, you know, it's 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:06.940 not, you don't just come in and, and just, uh, 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:10.679 play and, and, uh, goof off. Well, yeah, it's 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:13.440 supposed to look like that, but it's actually, 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:15.759 it's, it's a lot of work and, and we're all very, 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:18.740 uh, meticulous and, and, uh, what's, uh, you 00:13:18.740 --> 00:13:20.580 know, persnickety about stuff and all that. And 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:22.940 he hears that and he's, and that's why the product, 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.759 that's why the albums sound that good. That's 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.860 why the videos look that good. He produces, he's 00:13:28.860 --> 00:13:31.620 been directing those videos forever. Well, not 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:33.960 forever. Since 1993, I think he directed his 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:37.120 first video. And he knows what he wants and he 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.440 knows how to get it. And what he wants is a good 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:41.879 thing. And what he gets is a good thing. And 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:44.580 that's why our videos were that popular. That's 00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:46.840 why the records sold the way they did. I mean, 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.120 we sold a lot of records for a comedy artist. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.620 We've done very, very well. Oh, yeah. When I 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:54.460 think of music videos, the first thing that pops 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:57.070 into my mind anytime I talk about... because 00:13:57.070 --> 00:14:00.090 I went to college for broadcasting, so in shooting 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:03.230 video and doing film and everything else, was 00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:06.230 the Amish Paradise video and the whole ending 00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:09.750 segment where Al shot it in reverse and then 00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:12.509 rolled the tape backwards to show everything. 00:14:12.830 --> 00:14:15.850 Nowadays, that would all be done digitally. But 00:14:15.850 --> 00:14:18.429 the fact that he had the wherewithal in a time 00:14:18.429 --> 00:14:21.929 when there was no digital effects and no AI and 00:14:21.929 --> 00:14:25.470 no CGI. to have the horses walking backwards. 00:14:25.590 --> 00:14:28.169 And meanwhile, Al is taking the lyrics and literally 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:33.649 lip syncing them. It was brilliant. Yeah. I mean, 00:14:33.649 --> 00:14:35.909 that that's a, yeah, all of that would be AI 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:39.029 now, of course. Yeah. But back then, you know, 00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:40.509 what are you going to do? Well, you do it in 00:14:40.509 --> 00:14:42.370 reverse. You want it to, to look like things 00:14:42.370 --> 00:14:44.269 are backwards or, you know, or it looks, looks 00:14:44.269 --> 00:14:45.769 like everything's right until you see the horse 00:14:45.769 --> 00:14:47.889 and the carriage going, you know, that's just, 00:14:47.909 --> 00:14:50.309 that's how you had to do it. And Al did it. And 00:14:50.309 --> 00:14:52.029 everyone else was, you know, you always got. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.659 good camera people. And, you know, he just, everyone 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:58.259 has always been on board with him in terms of 00:14:58.259 --> 00:15:00.740 how he wanted to do stuff. He was very good at 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:03.340 conveying what he wanted to do. Sometimes it 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:05.379 was a case of showing, in the case of the Target 00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:08.700 song, their video, he would show them that video. 00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:10.120 He said, I want it to look like that, but instead 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:12.399 we're going to have a monkey up here or something, 00:15:12.419 --> 00:15:14.759 you know, whatever. And he was all about explaining 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:17.519 it very carefully. how he wanted it done. And 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.539 people were able to do it. I don't know if there 00:15:19.539 --> 00:15:21.860 was ever a time he wanted to do something and 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:24.600 somehow it just couldn't be done. You know, he's 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:26.440 always been able to get what he wanted in those 00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:29.480 videos. And what he wanted was always good and 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:32.200 was always entertaining. He has a real keen ear 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:34.919 and eye and brain for what works and for what 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:37.200 translates what he's trying to do, which is, 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.139 you know, add some humor to some of these songs 00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:42.279 in some cases. You know, and whether it's a song 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:44.080 that we're parodying or one of his originals. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.039 which also is humorous and very often targets 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:50.879 some favorite band to his. It's supposed to sound 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.399 like that band was doing that song. Now, legally, 00:15:53.500 --> 00:15:55.340 obviously, it didn't sound exactly like that. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.039 We didn't copy the parts. We didn't copy the 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.639 song. But we got enough of the flavor, the production, 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:03.179 to have people think if Weezer was doing this 00:16:03.179 --> 00:16:05.980 song, that sounds like Skipper Dan, I think, 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.360 was a takeoff on Weezer. I don't remember which 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:10.559 specific songs we kind of listened to to get 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:13.539 the vibe for that. or going after Hanson with 00:16:13.539 --> 00:16:16.919 If That Isn't Love, which Al then, of course, 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:21.360 got Taylor Hanson to come in and play piano on 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.580 that, just for some authenticity. Not like Ruben 00:16:24.580 --> 00:16:26.399 could not have done it, or not like, honestly, 00:16:26.539 --> 00:16:29.100 Al turned into a very good piano player. Not 00:16:29.100 --> 00:16:30.639 like they couldn't have done that. It just was 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.419 very cool. There was some cachet in having Taylor 00:16:33.419 --> 00:16:35.799 Hanson come in. There was cachet in having Dweezil 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.500 Zappa come in and do the opening solo on our 00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:42.340 Frank Zappa pastiche, Genius in France. It was 00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:44.720 just not like Jim West couldn't have done that, 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:47.840 but it was very cool having Dweezil come in. 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:51.059 I got to add two more to that list. Guy Fletcher, 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.200 who is a former guest on this show from Dire 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.320 Straits, when he was on, he talked about working 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.519 on Money for Nothing and Beverly Hillbillies 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:02.179 for UHF. And then in another instance, you got 00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:05.559 Ray Manzarek from The Doors to play Keys on Craigslist. 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:09.180 From the band's perspective. Especially because 00:17:09.180 --> 00:17:11.380 in these instances, you're bringing the artists 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:15.500 on board. When you're parodying and stylizing 00:17:15.500 --> 00:17:18.000 their sound, what's it like having them join 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.440 in on the fun, for lack of a better term? Well, 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:24.000 it's very cool. Honestly, a guy did not. And 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.500 Mark Knopfler was on that, too. He did all the 00:17:27.500 --> 00:17:29.619 guitar on Money for Nothing, Beverly Hillbillies. 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.539 Guy Fletcher did the keyboards. But they did 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:33.500 that in England. They didn't come in and work 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:37.039 with us. Okay. Ray Manzarek was up in the San 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.480 Francisco area. Al went up there and recorded 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:41.960 his parts up there. I was not in the studio. 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:44.259 The Dweezil or Taylor were in the studio. So 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:46.180 I missed. I could have been. It just wasn't my 00:17:46.180 --> 00:17:49.259 day. Those were basically overdubs. Quick note, 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.539 though, about Guy and Mark. Well, two things 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:55.859 about Mark playing on that is our version of 00:17:55.859 --> 00:17:57.579 Money for Nothing was about five years later 00:17:57.579 --> 00:18:00.839 than his. And, you know, of course, he'd been 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:03.940 on the road and parts change a little bit. And 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:06.180 so the part that the guy that wrote the song 00:18:06.180 --> 00:18:08.700 played on our parody while we're trying to duplicate 00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:12.359 what he did wasn't quite exactly what he did 00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:15.559 on his original one. In fact, I have a recording 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:18.200 of us doing it with Jim on guitar who played 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:21.220 the part. And then you listen to Mark and it's 00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:24.039 like, it's really close. It's not absolutely 00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:26.259 identical, but it's really close. I doubt most 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:28.880 listeners would know the difference. And frankly, 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:31.690 it's Mark Knopfler. I mean, you can't tell them 00:18:31.690 --> 00:18:34.569 it's wrong. It's not wrong. You can't tell them, 00:18:34.609 --> 00:18:36.630 oh, don't you, did you forget what you did five 00:18:36.630 --> 00:18:39.670 years ago? Come on, what is this nonsense? And 00:18:39.670 --> 00:18:43.190 I should add one other thing. My brother, Richard 00:18:43.190 --> 00:18:45.730 Bennett, ended up recording and touring with 00:18:45.730 --> 00:18:48.950 Mark for many, many years up until, well, up 00:18:48.950 --> 00:18:53.230 till now. Wow. He joined him back in 94 and had 00:18:53.230 --> 00:18:56.630 been recording with him and touring with him 00:18:56.630 --> 00:18:59.710 up until just a couple of years ago. And one 00:18:59.710 --> 00:19:02.710 other thing, the drums that I recorded, our Money 00:19:02.710 --> 00:19:04.869 for Nothing version, are in my brother's basement, 00:19:05.029 --> 00:19:08.150 which I gave to his son a long time ago. So there's 00:19:08.150 --> 00:19:10.029 all this kind of like, you know, two degrees 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:13.009 of weird Al Mark Knopfler, Bermuda's drums going 00:19:13.009 --> 00:19:17.069 on. But having those guys on there is very, very 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:19.089 cool. I mean, having, if you go back to the original, 00:19:19.250 --> 00:19:22.809 and Jim West wasn't quite, he didn't show up 00:19:22.809 --> 00:19:25.009 in LA quite in time to be on the first album. 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:27.630 So Rick Derringer did all the guitars on the 00:19:27.630 --> 00:19:32.029 first album. So that first band really was me, 00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:35.670 Steve J., Al, and Rick Derringer on guitar. That's 00:19:35.670 --> 00:19:38.109 pretty cool. I mean, Rick's a great player and 00:19:38.109 --> 00:19:41.930 a great guy. And that was just very, very cool. 00:19:42.390 --> 00:19:45.849 Jim was kind of in the background. And we had 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:47.910 a gig a couple of weeks after we did that first 00:19:47.910 --> 00:19:49.990 album. And Jim was already on it. So Jim was 00:19:49.990 --> 00:19:52.630 just, you know, he was like this close to being 00:19:52.630 --> 00:19:54.490 on that. Actually, I think he played on Ricky 00:19:54.490 --> 00:19:57.730 and Buckingham Blues, which are two tracks we 00:19:57.730 --> 00:20:01.910 added. later, and Jim was already in place. Rick 00:20:01.910 --> 00:20:05.490 did go on to do a few other bits and pieces throughout 00:20:05.490 --> 00:20:08.569 the next few albums, but at some point, he just 00:20:08.569 --> 00:20:11.250 stepped back into the producer's role, let Jim 00:20:11.250 --> 00:20:14.970 do what he does best as well. And, you know, 00:20:15.009 --> 00:20:17.509 Rick produced our first six albums, produced 00:20:17.509 --> 00:20:20.250 everything through the UHF soundtrack, and did 00:20:20.250 --> 00:20:23.170 a great job. You know, in the meantime, Al is 00:20:23.170 --> 00:20:25.369 watching everything and absorbing an Al on the 00:20:25.369 --> 00:20:28.410 very next album off the deep end for 1992. Steps 00:20:28.410 --> 00:20:31.549 in as producer and did a great job, does a great 00:20:31.549 --> 00:20:34.490 job because he knows what he wants. He either 00:20:34.490 --> 00:20:36.250 knows how to get it or how to tell the engineer 00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:39.769 how to do it or to say, I want it to sound like 00:20:39.769 --> 00:20:41.490 this thing. And maybe he'll bring in a recording 00:20:41.490 --> 00:20:43.150 of something that he wants something to sound 00:20:43.150 --> 00:20:45.829 like. So the engineer knows how to tweak it. 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:48.829 But Al got very good at doing that stuff as well 00:20:48.829 --> 00:20:50.869 and can, you know, could certainly sit down and 00:20:50.869 --> 00:20:54.970 engineer an album if he was so inclined. I want 00:20:54.970 --> 00:20:56.589 to dive into something you were talking about 00:20:56.589 --> 00:20:59.920 earlier. Could you walk me through how the band 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:05.339 deconstructs an artist's style to honor it so 00:21:05.339 --> 00:21:08.400 perfectly during Al's originals, however, not 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:12.000 stepping on the toes of the original songs? Because 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.380 in a style parody, and I'm just going to use 00:21:14.380 --> 00:21:18.579 Dare to be Stupid and Devo, for example, because 00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:21.900 Devo has gone on record saying it's essentially 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:26.309 the best Devo song that Devo didn't write. I 00:21:26.309 --> 00:21:30.269 don't care how much studio wizardry you have 00:21:30.269 --> 00:21:34.609 without the proper gear and without the proper 00:21:34.609 --> 00:21:37.670 miking techniques and all the other stuff that 00:21:37.670 --> 00:21:40.369 goes about. Those sounds are going to be so difficult 00:21:40.369 --> 00:21:44.410 to achieve. Can you talk about how that comes 00:21:44.410 --> 00:21:47.849 about for each and every style pastiche that 00:21:47.849 --> 00:21:50.829 you do? Well, you know, of course, listening 00:21:50.829 --> 00:21:54.430 to the sounds you're trying to get and then knowing 00:21:54.430 --> 00:21:58.119 how to. get them. In my case, for a long time, 00:21:58.259 --> 00:22:00.680 you know, I was dealing strictly with acoustic 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:03.559 drums. I would go out and buy different drums 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:06.859 and cymbals to approximate the sounds as best 00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:09.460 I could. Now, you know, guitar player, bass player, 00:22:09.500 --> 00:22:11.640 keyboard, you know, patches and outboard gear 00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:13.079 and all that stuff, you know, you have to know 00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:14.779 what they do and all that, but you have to also 00:22:14.779 --> 00:22:16.880 have the gear. Sometimes the guys went out and 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.319 bought specific guitars or, you know, products 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:23.079 to make those sounds. They say, well, I just, 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.099 you know, a patch on this. Keyboard isn't going 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:26.500 to, I'm going to have to buy this other keyboard 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:29.140 that's capable of making this sound. And that 00:22:29.140 --> 00:22:32.339 was what we did. So, you know, as it turns out, 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:35.180 I ended up with a lot of equipment. I still have 00:22:35.180 --> 00:22:38.819 a lot of equipment. Honestly, 90 % of it I don't 00:22:38.819 --> 00:22:41.720 use because I don't, you know, one, we've stopped 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:45.279 making new albums. The last several recordings 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:47.559 we did were pretty straight ahead drum sounds. 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:50.240 And what I use on the road, I mean, I get one 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.000 kit I can take out on the road. I don't get to 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.369 change drums for every song we do. You know, 00:22:54.410 --> 00:22:57.390 my drums are not electronic where I can change 00:22:57.390 --> 00:23:00.009 the patch and suddenly my whole drum kit sounds 00:23:00.009 --> 00:23:01.869 different for this next song. Well, like it would 00:23:01.869 --> 00:23:03.470 for a keyboard player, a guitar or bass player. 00:23:03.589 --> 00:23:06.049 They have the luxury of doing that. I have to 00:23:06.049 --> 00:23:08.589 have drums that will basically work on every 00:23:08.589 --> 00:23:10.309 song because that's just that's what I've got. 00:23:10.430 --> 00:23:12.529 I don't have the opportunity to change it. That's 00:23:12.529 --> 00:23:15.789 not something they can do very effectively out 00:23:15.789 --> 00:23:18.269 at the soundboard. I mean, there's only so much 00:23:18.269 --> 00:23:21.519 they can affect my drums. So, you know, it's 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:23.480 not something I can leave up to them. Consequently, 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:27.900 I use very, I dare say, average sounding drums, 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:31.420 meaning my snare drum doesn't sound, wouldn't 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:33.779 sound out of place on anything we do. It's not 00:23:33.779 --> 00:23:36.960 tuned so far one way or the other to a specific 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.380 song where, oh yeah, it works great for that 00:23:39.380 --> 00:23:41.220 song, but it doesn't sound quite right on the 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:43.539 other 18 songs they're doing in the show. You 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:45.220 know, I have to have something that's like, you 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:47.380 know, yeah, that works, that works, it works 00:23:47.380 --> 00:23:48.880 for that song. It sounds great on that song. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:50.970 Sounds pretty good on that one. You know, it's 00:23:50.970 --> 00:23:52.529 got to work, you know, the whole way. And those 00:23:52.529 --> 00:23:54.470 are decisions I make. You know, nobody had to 00:23:54.470 --> 00:23:57.230 tell me to do that. It's just, I know going in, 00:23:57.269 --> 00:23:59.650 I better have a kit on the road that's going 00:23:59.650 --> 00:24:02.509 to work for everything we play. Well, when we 00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:04.589 go in and record the songs in the studio, we 00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:06.950 do have the luxury of picking and choosing gear 00:24:06.950 --> 00:24:09.589 and making specific sounds as close as we can. 00:24:09.789 --> 00:24:11.769 And, you know, again, I get as close as I can. 00:24:11.849 --> 00:24:13.329 And there's a certain amount that the engineer 00:24:13.329 --> 00:24:16.109 has to take it from there. But there's certain 00:24:16.109 --> 00:24:18.250 things I bring in. And I would go into the studio 00:24:18.250 --> 00:24:21.279 and bring in. two or three different kits you 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:23.619 know maybe five different snares you know maybe 00:24:23.619 --> 00:24:26.720 30 symbols i would bring different cowbells different 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:28.779 tambourines you know whatever we needed i really 00:24:28.779 --> 00:24:31.279 would go after those sounds and you know and 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:33.000 whatever i didn't have in my arsenal i would 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:35.480 go out and buy it he said i was ready to record 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:39.099 but i never sold any of it so i just built up 00:24:39.099 --> 00:24:41.680 this arsenal of stuff which honestly i'm just 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.359 not really using anymore i mean i'm not using 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.319 the the bulk of it you know i'm using just very 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.289 sort of normal I have all sorts of sound effects 00:24:49.289 --> 00:24:52.369 and whistles and horns and bird calls and stuff. 00:24:52.670 --> 00:24:56.769 And I just, some of them were used once. And 00:24:56.769 --> 00:24:59.990 that was it. You should just set up a kit on 00:24:59.990 --> 00:25:02.230 the stage that just has every drum you've ever 00:25:02.230 --> 00:25:06.450 used. Just kind of this massive. Stage, we don't 00:25:06.450 --> 00:25:11.450 play stages that big. Well, we do, but we don't, 00:25:11.450 --> 00:25:14.369 no, there's no. I bring actually a very, I have 00:25:14.369 --> 00:25:18.000 a very modest setup. I really do. Yes. And, you 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.480 know, was even toying with the idea of shrinking 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:23.200 it a little bit. And I just, and I would think 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:24.660 of all the songs we were doing and say, I can't 00:25:24.660 --> 00:25:26.740 even lose like one cymbal or, you know, or one 00:25:26.740 --> 00:25:28.720 tom or something. You know, I just, it's got 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:30.900 to be this. And there were times I had slightly 00:25:30.900 --> 00:25:34.380 bigger kits and I kind of played a little, you 00:25:34.380 --> 00:25:36.700 know, I found ways to use everything, which wasn't 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:40.059 always good. So I've found a setup that I've 00:25:40.059 --> 00:25:44.160 been using steady for, well, now 30 years. And 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.460 I mean, I use different drums, but the actual, 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:49.819 the piece count and the layout has been the same 00:25:49.819 --> 00:25:52.259 for the last 30 years. Wow. And it has served 00:25:52.259 --> 00:25:55.720 me very, very well. I can't get too crazy on 00:25:55.720 --> 00:25:58.279 it. I never find myself limited by it. I mean, 00:25:58.299 --> 00:26:00.839 it's the right setup. And for the drummers out 00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:03.640 there, it's a basic five -piece kit. You know, 00:26:03.660 --> 00:26:07.059 kick, three toms, snare. I've got five cymbals 00:26:07.059 --> 00:26:09.160 up in the air, a ride, three crashes and a china. 00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:13.140 Hats, of course. I've got a cowbell. When we're 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:14.839 doing songs that require a cowbell, I have a 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:17.460 cowbell sitting right above my hi -hats, so I 00:26:17.460 --> 00:26:19.079 can go back and forth between that and the hat. 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:20.980 You know, it's just a matter of about six inches. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.640 And then I've got electronics. I've got my electronic 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:28.940 pad up there, which had evolved from... Now I 00:26:28.940 --> 00:26:30.779 just play sound effects, but back in the day, 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:34.380 I started using electronics on stage, I guess, 00:26:34.380 --> 00:26:37.940 the early 90s. On the 92 tour, I first brought 00:26:37.940 --> 00:26:42.490 out a Kurzweil rack sampler. meaning that was 00:26:42.490 --> 00:26:44.750 the electronics. That was a brain behind a Kurzweil 00:26:44.750 --> 00:26:47.910 keyboard, just no keyboard. And when I say rack, 00:26:48.029 --> 00:26:50.710 I mean, it fits like in a 19 inch wide vertical 00:26:50.710 --> 00:26:53.069 rack or whatever. In this case, it sat on top 00:26:53.069 --> 00:26:56.150 of a big road case that I had. And so I had all 00:26:56.150 --> 00:27:00.049 sorts of stuff in there, but I triggered some 00:27:00.049 --> 00:27:02.470 of the tracks that went to the front of house. 00:27:02.509 --> 00:27:03.930 Some of the tracks that we used, you know, the 00:27:03.930 --> 00:27:05.789 percussion things and stuff like that. Those 00:27:05.789 --> 00:27:07.849 all came from me because I had the most capable 00:27:07.849 --> 00:27:10.329 piece of gear to do that. We weren't really. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:13.160 We always ran video and stuff, but we really 00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:16.019 didn't have the kind of sound capabilities with 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:18.559 just a straight video, whether it was a U -matic 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:22.819 or later a beta cam tape, later DVD. We just 00:27:22.819 --> 00:27:24.880 didn't have all the sound options on those yet. 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:28.599 Eventually, we went to proper servers that sent 00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:31.220 out video and audio, multi -channel audio, and 00:27:31.220 --> 00:27:33.579 that Al can configure. He knows how to do all 00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:37.400 that stuff. And that took over my having to hit 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:41.170 a pad to trigger a song. for example but my stuff 00:27:41.170 --> 00:27:43.509 was so just to play like sound effects in the 00:27:43.509 --> 00:27:45.210 tambourine or hand claps or something like that 00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:48.049 was so over the top it was just it was ridiculous 00:27:48.049 --> 00:27:50.630 well it eventually got down once i had the opportunity 00:27:50.630 --> 00:27:53.430 to just i was relegated back to just some simple 00:27:53.430 --> 00:27:56.089 sound effects and percussion i went back to a 00:27:56.089 --> 00:28:00.309 much simpler smaller sleeker more compact less 00:28:00.309 --> 00:28:04.029 expensive situation and less to hook up I mean, 00:28:04.029 --> 00:28:05.910 I had to hook up all these other things. I had 00:28:05.910 --> 00:28:07.930 a separate pad that talked to the Kurtzweil. 00:28:07.990 --> 00:28:09.690 Then I had to get a second Kurtzweil because 00:28:09.690 --> 00:28:11.670 if the first one went, the show went down. So 00:28:11.670 --> 00:28:14.029 I bought a second Kurtzweil and I had the two 00:28:14.029 --> 00:28:16.650 of them, you know, one on top of the other. It 00:28:16.650 --> 00:28:18.670 was just, it was getting out of hand. I'm so 00:28:18.670 --> 00:28:22.069 glad the video servers came in and someone runs 00:28:22.069 --> 00:28:24.670 those and we all just listen to those instead 00:28:24.670 --> 00:28:26.049 of me having to start something. If something 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:28.990 goes wrong, it's my fault. So that's a lot of 00:28:28.990 --> 00:28:31.210 extra. And again, that's those two Kurtzweil 00:28:31.210 --> 00:28:34.720 units and I had two. you know, big pads are things 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:37.059 that are just sitting in storage that will never 00:28:37.059 --> 00:28:39.859 get used again, that I haven't used in, you know, 00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:43.519 about 15 years. And that I hope I don't have 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:46.579 to use again. I mean, I had to learn so much, 00:28:46.579 --> 00:28:48.579 again, at a time, and that was not my first sampler, 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.680 but the Kurzweil, and I had an Akai S900. The 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:57.019 S900 in the late 80s was the popular sampler 00:28:57.019 --> 00:29:00.000 unit for artists doing a lot of rap and stuff 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.400 like that. And it was great piece of equipment, 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:05.579 except it was very, it wasn't extremely capable. 00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:09.920 In other words, the RAM in it was like, it was 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:12.660 very small amount of RAM. Meaning, you know, 00:29:12.660 --> 00:29:15.539 depending on the sample, you know, you couldn't 00:29:15.539 --> 00:29:17.099 necessarily have a sample on there. If I wanted 00:29:17.099 --> 00:29:19.519 to have a sample of a symbol with a nice decay 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:21.839 on it, like a 10 second decay, like a real symbol 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:25.680 would have, it wouldn't do it. Okay. So how did 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.539 all these people making all this, you know, deal 00:29:28.539 --> 00:29:31.279 with? a unit that could only hold a few samples 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:33.519 in it, really. They would have stacks of these 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:38.900 S900s in the studio to all at once generate all 00:29:38.900 --> 00:29:41.279 the sounds you could because one unit couldn't 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:43.180 handle it. Well, the Kurzweil could do that. 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:45.380 It was certainly capable of doing that. Anyway, 00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:49.039 I finally evolved out of that technology, got 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.619 a lot simpler. You know, now I don't even know 00:29:51.619 --> 00:29:54.099 if you would have a sampler unit. You would have 00:29:54.099 --> 00:29:57.079 a laptop or a server, which, you know, is a nice 00:29:57.079 --> 00:29:59.859 laptop without the screen. So that's what it 00:29:59.859 --> 00:30:01.460 became to. And none of that stuff is mine. So 00:30:01.460 --> 00:30:03.900 that's something taken off my plate. I still 00:30:03.900 --> 00:30:06.579 make a couple of sound effects, but, you know, 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.059 I don't have that. It's not as complicated as 00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:11.940 it once was for me. And I can just, you know, 00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:14.240 I can relax a bit more when I'm playing. And 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:17.279 there's a lot less on me, you know, about the 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:18.880 success of the show. And there's a lot on all 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:21.039 of us about the success of the show. But, you 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.500 know, if something doesn't happen right, it's 00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:25.819 not my fault anymore. And I dare say there were 00:30:25.819 --> 00:30:27.799 probably a couple of times that something didn't 00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:30.910 go quite right. But that's not why it was taken 00:30:30.910 --> 00:30:33.130 away from me. It just, there were better systems 00:30:33.130 --> 00:30:36.750 and things that Al could deal with if he needed 00:30:36.750 --> 00:30:38.869 to. Like when we go out and start a tour and 00:30:38.869 --> 00:30:42.710 he's got a video, a whole series of video montages 00:30:42.710 --> 00:30:45.029 put together and those allow us to change costumes 00:30:45.029 --> 00:30:48.390 between songs. Sometimes a video will run while 00:30:48.390 --> 00:30:51.410 we're playing a song. Anyway, what he'll do is 00:30:51.410 --> 00:30:54.400 on these sections between. the songs where we 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.619 change costumes he pays pretty close attention 00:30:56.619 --> 00:30:58.759 to how the audience responds to certain clips 00:30:58.759 --> 00:31:00.640 that are in there it's a montage of all sorts 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:03.859 of different clips he pays attention to well 00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:05.940 we're we're already all in our costumes and there's 00:31:05.940 --> 00:31:07.960 still another 90 seconds worth of video this 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:09.940 is ridiculous i'm going to cut it down so once 00:31:09.940 --> 00:31:12.240 we're on the road he can go in and he adjusts 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:15.500 all that and he modifies it and tailors it to 00:31:15.500 --> 00:31:18.059 the show and if if something uh you know if one 00:31:18.059 --> 00:31:20.079 of the costume changes if it's if it's a little 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:22.410 too tight he'll put something back in No, you 00:31:22.410 --> 00:31:24.829 need another 30 seconds. We'll put this clip 00:31:24.829 --> 00:31:27.690 back. So the first week or two or even three 00:31:27.690 --> 00:31:30.529 are dedicated to massaging the video content. 00:31:30.829 --> 00:31:33.569 Again, Al does all of that. And by the time, 00:31:33.569 --> 00:31:35.410 you know, someone that comes to see our first 00:31:35.410 --> 00:31:37.269 couple of shows, we'll see pretty good shows. 00:31:37.490 --> 00:31:39.109 But if they were to come back a month later, 00:31:39.269 --> 00:31:41.509 it would be probably a slightly better show. 00:31:41.630 --> 00:31:44.029 Might, if they're like really meticulous, you 00:31:44.029 --> 00:31:46.289 know, if they really observant about the video 00:31:46.289 --> 00:31:48.269 clips, they might notice that there's some changes. 00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:50.319 You know, things like that. And we have some 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:53.039 super fans that come to a lot of shows and they 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:55.680 know. They know when something's been taken out 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:57.539 or when something's been added because they're 00:31:57.539 --> 00:32:00.299 that intent on what's going on on stage and on 00:32:00.299 --> 00:32:02.319 that screen. They just know every little thing. 00:32:02.579 --> 00:32:04.279 And, you know, they're that devoted. They're 00:32:04.279 --> 00:32:07.700 that into what we do. And that's cool. I mean, 00:32:07.740 --> 00:32:11.500 they're as into what we do as we are. Can't beat 00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:14.059 that, right? No, that's, you know, we should 00:32:14.059 --> 00:32:17.269 all be so lucky. Amen. And before we move on, 00:32:17.289 --> 00:32:18.970 Bermuda, I just want to remind the listeners 00:32:18.970 --> 00:32:20.910 that they can hear all the songs we're talking 00:32:20.910 --> 00:32:23.609 about tonight in this discussion over on the 00:32:23.609 --> 00:32:28.730 episode page at myweeklymixtape .com. We were 00:32:28.730 --> 00:32:31.910 talking about the sounds that you create. I want 00:32:31.910 --> 00:32:35.769 to dive into your mind as a writer, because in 00:32:35.769 --> 00:32:38.769 a lot of these original tracks, yes, you're emulating 00:32:38.769 --> 00:32:43.089 an artist's sound, but you also need to get inside 00:32:43.089 --> 00:32:46.710 that original drummer's head. and write a new 00:32:46.710 --> 00:32:50.210 song as if you were them. So two examples that 00:32:50.210 --> 00:32:53.349 come to mind, Stuart Copeland of The Police on 00:32:53.349 --> 00:32:56.750 Velvet Elvis or Brad Wilk of Rage Against the 00:32:56.750 --> 00:33:01.210 Machine on I'll Sue Ya. How do you get into these 00:33:01.210 --> 00:33:03.690 artists' heads if you don't know them personally, 00:33:03.890 --> 00:33:06.529 listening to an entire catalog saying, you know, 00:33:06.710 --> 00:33:09.690 Stuart here, because Stuart Copeland is not a 00:33:09.690 --> 00:33:13.349 drummer that you could probably figure out. a 00:33:13.349 --> 00:33:15.630 pattern for, if you want to put it that way, 00:33:15.670 --> 00:33:17.970 because he's a very eclectic drummer. I mean, 00:33:17.970 --> 00:33:19.869 you listen to the stuff he's done with Oysterhead. 00:33:20.150 --> 00:33:24.289 He kind of improvises a lot. How do you get inside 00:33:24.289 --> 00:33:28.210 that mind and put it out for a Weird Al song? 00:33:29.130 --> 00:33:32.049 Well, you know, again, listen, you have to listen. 00:33:32.170 --> 00:33:34.950 And the idea is not necessarily to play exactly 00:33:34.950 --> 00:33:37.329 what they played, but sometimes there is a signature 00:33:37.329 --> 00:33:40.170 thing. There's a little signature fill or, you 00:33:40.170 --> 00:33:43.019 know, a push that they do. And I try and incorporate 00:33:43.019 --> 00:33:45.700 those without just stealing parts. But yeah, 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:47.980 absolutely. Getting inside their head. And that's 00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:51.059 fun. It's like, I get to be that drummer. I get 00:33:51.059 --> 00:33:53.599 to be a lot of drummers and most drummers don't 00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:55.799 get to do that. They get to be a rock and roll 00:33:55.799 --> 00:33:57.839 drummer, you know, or they get to play jazz and 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.920 that's kind of, and they're not out there imitating 00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:03.440 and being all these other different guys. And 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:05.819 that's one thing I really, really like. So for 00:34:05.819 --> 00:34:08.500 me to sit down and when Al presents the originals 00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:11.059 to us, he'll say, you know, sort of get the vibe 00:34:11.059 --> 00:34:14.239 from, these two or three or five or six songs 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:16.980 from this artist and that's kind of what we're 00:34:16.980 --> 00:34:18.900 doing obviously don't you know melodically don't 00:34:18.900 --> 00:34:21.599 duplicate anything exactly but the flavor the 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:25.179 sound just the attitude of the song and so i 00:34:25.179 --> 00:34:26.760 mean i just i try and get that in my head and 00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:28.760 when i'm listening to these songs it's like you 00:34:28.760 --> 00:34:30.380 know i like that little thing i'm going to do 00:34:30.380 --> 00:34:33.340 that little thing from this song and but i like 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:34.920 the beat from this other song and then he did 00:34:34.920 --> 00:34:36.719 a fill over here that i'm going to modify a little 00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:38.780 bit but that's going to be from this song so 00:34:38.780 --> 00:34:41.860 i would go from different places and put together 00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:45.360 my parts and do that stuff. And usually, you 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:47.860 know, for all of us, Al would was, you know, 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:49.460 we would go through a rehearsal process on the 00:34:49.460 --> 00:34:51.179 originals. We didn't just, you know, he didn't 00:34:51.179 --> 00:34:52.559 just tell us what we're doing and we showed up 00:34:52.559 --> 00:34:55.019 in the studio. The process on the originals is 00:34:55.019 --> 00:34:58.199 that Al would do his own demo, sometimes just 00:34:58.199 --> 00:35:00.360 on a little keyboard. Maybe there'd be vocal. 00:35:00.460 --> 00:35:03.179 It just depended what the deal was. Sometimes 00:35:03.179 --> 00:35:05.380 he got more imaginative. There'd be drum tracks 00:35:05.380 --> 00:35:07.380 on it, you know, drum machine track, you know, 00:35:07.380 --> 00:35:10.940 just to give us an idea of what he what the song 00:35:10.940 --> 00:35:13.360 was, what the arrangement is, the tempo and melodically 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:15.519 what he's trying to do. We would listen to that. 00:35:15.579 --> 00:35:17.940 We would get together as a band then with him 00:35:17.940 --> 00:35:21.239 and rehearse those after we'd listened to his 00:35:21.239 --> 00:35:25.340 demos and we would record band demos with Al. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:28.739 So now Al's got, you know, a full band version 00:35:28.739 --> 00:35:31.559 with him of that song that he can listen to and 00:35:31.559 --> 00:35:34.019 sort of. you know oh this is really close or 00:35:34.019 --> 00:35:35.940 you know that's exactly what i wanted you know 00:35:35.940 --> 00:35:38.159 he would he would massage those parts with us 00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:40.380 a little bit you know by email or over the phone 00:35:40.380 --> 00:35:43.199 or whatever and we would then get together in 00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:46.820 the studio and uh usually run through it once 00:35:46.820 --> 00:35:49.219 or twice if we had any changes sometimes we'd 00:35:49.219 --> 00:35:50.920 go in and just start playing just start playing 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:53.579 and recording and you know because he'd say the 00:35:53.579 --> 00:35:55.659 demo was great let's just you know let's do that 00:35:55.659 --> 00:35:59.360 just like on the demo uh sometimes and this is 00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:01.579 a common phenomenon You know, you would, you 00:36:01.579 --> 00:36:03.960 would think not, but sometimes the demo is, is 00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:06.099 really good. Sometimes there's something about 00:36:06.099 --> 00:36:08.039 the demo without that pressure of, you know, 00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:09.880 we're in the studio on the clock and this is 00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:11.920 like for all posterity and this is going to govern 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:14.519 sales. Sometimes you're just in the studio, just 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:16.539 having a good time making the demo and it sounds 00:36:16.539 --> 00:36:19.559 and feels really good. And it's, and it's a, 00:36:19.559 --> 00:36:22.119 it's a phenomenon called chasing the demo. You 00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:25.800 wanted the final track to be as engaging as the 00:36:25.800 --> 00:36:29.659 demo was. There's, there's probably, I can't 00:36:29.659 --> 00:36:31.719 think of any specific ones, but you know, I know 00:36:31.719 --> 00:36:33.539 there were some songs that's like, gee, I thought 00:36:33.539 --> 00:36:36.380 the demo sounded a lot better than the final 00:36:36.380 --> 00:36:39.300 track. Now that's for the originals. There aren't 00:36:39.300 --> 00:36:41.780 any demos for the parodies because we don't have 00:36:41.780 --> 00:36:44.159 any reason to do a demo. We don't have to rehearse 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:46.619 them. We don't have to do anything. We, we just, 00:36:46.659 --> 00:36:48.239 we know what we're supposed to do. If there's 00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:50.119 a tempo change, if there's a key change, if there's 00:36:50.119 --> 00:36:52.800 a, an arrangement change, that's what we do. 00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:54.699 We come into the studio and it's like, we play 00:36:54.699 --> 00:36:56.860 it for the first time in the studio because we 00:36:56.860 --> 00:36:59.940 know what to do. And we know how to play in a 00:36:59.940 --> 00:37:02.940 band together. So that works obviously too. And 00:37:02.940 --> 00:37:05.719 then there's times we don't even, I mean, if 00:37:05.719 --> 00:37:10.659 a parody has all sequenced parts on it, we don't 00:37:10.659 --> 00:37:13.079 even have to be in the studio at all. We just, 00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:15.860 we work on those on our own. In fact, that's 00:37:15.860 --> 00:37:18.219 what we did on the last album, Mandatory Fun 00:37:18.219 --> 00:37:21.260 from 2014. Every parody on there, there were 00:37:21.260 --> 00:37:23.179 five parodies on there. Every one of those was 00:37:23.179 --> 00:37:26.019 completely sequenced. Wow. And there was no, 00:37:26.139 --> 00:37:28.579 I mean, maybe there was some live something I'd 00:37:28.579 --> 00:37:30.619 have to look at the tracks, but in terms of, 00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:33.019 of any of the keyboards, any, you know, it was, 00:37:33.019 --> 00:37:35.980 it was all sequenced stuff. And, uh, we just, 00:37:36.019 --> 00:37:37.820 we work on that stuff at home and then just email 00:37:37.820 --> 00:37:41.179 the files, email them all to Al. And we go into 00:37:41.179 --> 00:37:43.340 the studio just because we go in and Al would 00:37:43.340 --> 00:37:45.500 buy pizza. You know, that was, but we didn't, 00:37:45.500 --> 00:37:47.639 we didn't need to be there to do anything because 00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:50.099 the tracks are already done. And, uh, I, that 00:37:50.099 --> 00:37:53.139 might be the first album. Where every parody 00:37:53.139 --> 00:37:55.340 was sequenced. But we began sequencing stuff. 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:59.960 We began sequencing stuff back in 1985. Or really 00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:03.000 even before that. But I began personally doing 00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:05.920 drum machine stuff for Dare to be Stupid. In 00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:07.739 fact, the Dare to be Stupid song, the Devo song, 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:10.400 is a drum machine. Which is interesting because 00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:12.920 Devo didn't use machines in the beginning. They 00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:15.179 had Alan Myers was the drummer. And they would, 00:38:15.340 --> 00:38:18.900 at a certain point, they would trigger a Lindrum. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:23.329 Which was kind of the first cool machine. circa 00:38:23.329 --> 00:38:26.829 1980, 79 or 80. They would trigger what he played 00:38:26.829 --> 00:38:28.809 through that. So they would get his parts, but 00:38:28.809 --> 00:38:31.210 they would get the Lindrum sounds. So the production 00:38:31.210 --> 00:38:33.489 sounded a certain way, but the parts were still 00:38:33.489 --> 00:38:35.289 played live. Well, in the case of Dare to Be 00:38:35.289 --> 00:38:38.650 Stupid, that was all just a machine, which is 00:38:38.650 --> 00:38:40.409 okay. Now we do that live and I play it live, 00:38:40.530 --> 00:38:42.650 because I wanted the sound and I thought, well, 00:38:42.710 --> 00:38:45.849 what's the difference if it's a machine or me 00:38:45.849 --> 00:38:47.909 playing and trying to trigger those sounds? It's 00:38:47.909 --> 00:38:49.369 just, we didn't really have that capability. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.739 at the time it wasn't that easy so that wasn't 00:38:52.739 --> 00:38:54.860 a question in my mind you know that was just 00:38:54.860 --> 00:38:58.360 we had to had to be a sequence part and that's 00:38:58.360 --> 00:39:01.360 fine and so there was there was almost always 00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:05.059 at least one or two or more sequences on these 00:39:05.059 --> 00:39:07.159 albums and again that that had a lot to do with 00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:09.739 uh you know did didn't all in my case come from 00:39:09.739 --> 00:39:13.179 machines i i at some point actually and starting 00:39:13.179 --> 00:39:17.699 i think in 89 for uhf i had a sampler and i had 00:39:17.699 --> 00:39:21.460 created sounds I had that Akai and I had to create 00:39:21.460 --> 00:39:23.320 sounds, which was not easy without a computer. 00:39:23.719 --> 00:39:26.800 You know, a lot easier to create sounds on a 00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:29.980 computer, load them into a sampler or, you know, 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:31.880 trigger it through a unit out of the computer. 00:39:32.099 --> 00:39:35.179 But that's where I first got into. That was the 00:39:35.179 --> 00:39:38.559 very earliest kind of sample stuff for me. And 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:43.420 by the mid 90s and certainly by 99, by, you know, 00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:45.880 running with scissors and thereafter, I had gotten 00:39:45.880 --> 00:39:50.320 into computer based samples. And, you know, originally 00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:52.900 those were triggered out of my Kurzweil. I would 00:39:52.900 --> 00:39:54.940 create MIDI files for the sequence of the song, 00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:57.480 triggering the samples I had created. So I would 00:39:57.480 --> 00:40:00.420 basically play the drum and percussion parts 00:40:00.420 --> 00:40:03.980 into the recorder, into Pro Tools or whatever. 00:40:04.300 --> 00:40:06.400 With the push of a button, I'd have eight outputs 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:09.320 on the Kurzweil. And if I had eight more parts, 00:40:09.420 --> 00:40:11.000 we would come back and we would do it a second 00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:12.960 time and trigger like a different set of samples 00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:15.480 to make up the difference. But then that turned 00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:17.500 into, from being a piece of machinery that I 00:40:17.500 --> 00:40:19.460 brought in, that turned into me just creating 00:40:19.460 --> 00:40:22.500 the files myself, you know, knowing what the 00:40:22.500 --> 00:40:24.739 resolution for Pro Tools was going to be, which 00:40:24.739 --> 00:40:31.500 I think was 192 instead of 1644 is CD quality. 00:40:31.659 --> 00:40:34.139 Yes. While you recorded a higher resolution than 00:40:34.139 --> 00:40:36.699 that. And it was something, something, something 00:40:36.699 --> 00:40:39.800 192, which is many, many, many times what it 00:40:39.800 --> 00:40:42.190 needed to be. But that allows you to... massage 00:40:42.190 --> 00:40:44.349 things without getting all sorts of artifacts 00:40:44.349 --> 00:40:47.389 in the sound the higher the resolution the more 00:40:47.389 --> 00:40:50.489 you can play with it so i would create files 00:40:50.489 --> 00:40:53.010 you know in that resolution send them off to 00:40:53.010 --> 00:40:56.050 al and uh he'd walk him into the studio we'd 00:40:56.050 --> 00:40:57.630 meet him there we'd hear it all together for 00:40:57.630 --> 00:40:59.829 the first time as a band you know while we're 00:40:59.829 --> 00:41:01.530 just sitting in the control room you know eating 00:41:01.530 --> 00:41:05.530 pizza and uh that's what it became and uh which 00:41:05.530 --> 00:41:07.929 is fine you know as long as i'm creating and 00:41:07.929 --> 00:41:11.380 making the drum parts I'm happy with it. I think 00:41:11.380 --> 00:41:13.179 that's why I got into machines in the first place. 00:41:13.219 --> 00:41:15.800 I realized if I didn't do it, he would go find 00:41:15.800 --> 00:41:18.559 someone else to come in for those tracks to handle 00:41:18.559 --> 00:41:21.219 those drum parts. And I didn't want that. I'm 00:41:21.219 --> 00:41:23.440 the drummer. And if I'm not playing it, I'm going 00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:25.760 to find a way to create it the way the producer 00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:28.460 did on the song that we're going after. If there's 00:41:28.460 --> 00:41:30.400 people out there doing it, they're a little ahead 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:32.599 of the curve than we are. We could certainly 00:41:32.599 --> 00:41:36.250 figure it out. And like I say, we got... We did 00:41:36.250 --> 00:41:38.349 figure it out. We got really good at it. We got 00:41:38.349 --> 00:41:40.650 really, really good at it. And I dare say that 00:41:40.650 --> 00:41:43.289 I could, without having a template, you know, 00:41:43.309 --> 00:41:45.650 without, well, you listen to blurred lines and 00:41:45.650 --> 00:41:48.449 reproduce all of those parts and sounds. That's 00:41:48.449 --> 00:41:50.469 easy. Well, it's not easy, but I can listen to 00:41:50.469 --> 00:41:52.050 it and I know when I've got it and it's done. 00:41:52.190 --> 00:41:53.929 Well, if Al said, we're going to do this and 00:41:53.929 --> 00:41:56.929 I want you to create sounds and stuff from scratch, 00:41:57.150 --> 00:42:00.650 you know, you don't have any template or kind 00:42:00.650 --> 00:42:02.929 of thing to go by. You just, you make the sounds 00:42:02.929 --> 00:42:05.170 and do it. I would feel comfortable doing that. 00:42:05.610 --> 00:42:07.590 I wouldn't have felt comfortable back in the 00:42:07.590 --> 00:42:10.769 90s probably doing that. But like I say, I grew. 00:42:11.369 --> 00:42:13.409 And, you know, I got to thank Al for that. I 00:42:13.409 --> 00:42:16.769 mean, he didn't ask me to. I just knew that if 00:42:16.769 --> 00:42:18.730 I wanted to maintain my position as the person 00:42:18.730 --> 00:42:20.570 responsible for the drum sounds, I would have 00:42:20.570 --> 00:42:23.070 to grow as he was growing, as we were all growing, 00:42:23.150 --> 00:42:25.570 as the artists that we were going after with 00:42:25.570 --> 00:42:27.929 the parodies were growing. You know, so we're 00:42:27.929 --> 00:42:30.329 always like chasing them and we're chasing that 00:42:30.329 --> 00:42:34.050 technology. And we got good. We got really good. 00:42:34.639 --> 00:42:36.940 So what would you say over the years was the 00:42:36.940 --> 00:42:40.699 hardest drum sound for you to reproduce? Well, 00:42:40.760 --> 00:42:44.420 there was one that specifically I had to go outside 00:42:44.420 --> 00:42:50.599 and get. I went, we were doing Imagine Dragons 00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:54.599 instead of, yeah, we did Inactive for Radioactive. 00:42:54.860 --> 00:42:59.500 And I had sort of all the parts and stuff, but 00:42:59.500 --> 00:43:02.719 there was just, I wasn't able, you know, with 00:43:02.719 --> 00:43:06.059 AI now. it would be a little easier to pull the 00:43:06.059 --> 00:43:08.659 drums out and get a better idea of what it sounds. 00:43:08.739 --> 00:43:11.340 Not perfect technology, but it could be done 00:43:11.340 --> 00:43:14.659 in a pinch. Well, I didn't have that. And I was 00:43:14.659 --> 00:43:17.659 really, I wasn't happy with the sounds I was 00:43:17.659 --> 00:43:20.300 getting for the snare on that. And I didn't know 00:43:20.300 --> 00:43:22.800 why I wasn't happy with it, but I just knew it 00:43:22.800 --> 00:43:25.119 wasn't the sound on the record and it wasn't 00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:27.920 a sound that was going to be okay in my mind. 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:29.639 It wasn't something I wanted to bring to Al and 00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:32.159 say, well, here's my snare. And, you know, that 00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:34.880 I cooked up and for him to say, that sounds nothing 00:43:34.880 --> 00:43:37.119 like the one on the record, you know, that we're 00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:40.840 going after. So I reached out to Daniel Platzman, 00:43:40.960 --> 00:43:44.119 their drummer, Imagine Dragons drummer, knowing 00:43:44.119 --> 00:43:46.000 that he may not have had anything to do with 00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:48.000 it. But I mean, the way I presented it was, you 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:50.039 know, is there any way you can find out what 00:43:50.039 --> 00:43:53.460 that snare sound, you know. Give me some direction 00:43:53.460 --> 00:43:55.460 on it, you know, and i've never i've never ever 00:43:55.460 --> 00:43:57.519 reached out to anyone before and asked for their 00:43:57.519 --> 00:44:00.119 help But I just this is one I want to get it 00:44:00.119 --> 00:44:02.699 right and I just I haven't got it I'm about 80 00:44:02.699 --> 00:44:05.380 there and that's not good enough And I hadn't 00:44:05.380 --> 00:44:08.179 heard back from him and i'd already had i'd already 00:44:08.179 --> 00:44:10.500 pieced together the whole song and a snare that 00:44:10.500 --> 00:44:13.780 I thought Maybe would work, you know that in 00:44:13.780 --> 00:44:16.719 a pinch and the day that I was getting ready 00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:21.309 to send the parts in I got an email from their 00:44:21.309 --> 00:44:26.309 guitar player and he had sent me at length the 00:44:26.309 --> 00:44:29.210 snare uh a verse and of course worth a snare 00:44:29.210 --> 00:44:33.829 from radioactive oh wow the actual snare and 00:44:33.829 --> 00:44:36.010 and listening to it was nothing like why i had 00:44:36.010 --> 00:44:37.949 what i had cooked up i could not hear at all 00:44:37.949 --> 00:44:39.550 what was going on there first off there was a 00:44:39.550 --> 00:44:41.750 whole thing where there was a sweep that led 00:44:41.750 --> 00:44:45.050 up to like a reverse sound that leads up to the 00:44:45.050 --> 00:44:48.059 hit There's a sweep that led up to that. But 00:44:48.059 --> 00:44:50.260 then there was a gap between the sweep and the 00:44:50.260 --> 00:44:53.719 snare hit. I didn't hear that at all. I mean, 00:44:53.739 --> 00:44:56.019 it wasn't even a question of the sound of the 00:44:56.019 --> 00:45:00.780 hit. It was this other part, too. So I thanked 00:45:00.780 --> 00:45:03.880 both of them profusely, of course, and put that 00:45:03.880 --> 00:45:06.219 together for the whole song, made a stem of the 00:45:06.219 --> 00:45:08.559 snare for the entire length of the song. And 00:45:08.559 --> 00:45:11.139 when I sent that in, I said to Al, I said, this 00:45:11.139 --> 00:45:14.480 is the snare from the Imagine Dragons song. Do 00:45:14.480 --> 00:45:18.170 not. compress it don't you know eq it this is 00:45:18.170 --> 00:45:21.570 actually the snare from the guys in the band 00:45:21.570 --> 00:45:25.809 so that was pretty cool and and honestly if i'd 00:45:25.809 --> 00:45:28.010 been able to hear that and hear what it did i 00:45:28.010 --> 00:45:30.590 could have gotten pretty close but i couldn't 00:45:30.590 --> 00:45:32.170 i would have never it wouldn't have been exact 00:45:32.170 --> 00:45:33.630 and you would have listened to it al would have 00:45:33.630 --> 00:45:36.309 listened to it as the producer and listen to 00:45:36.309 --> 00:45:38.429 it he goes it's it doesn't feel the same it's 00:45:38.429 --> 00:45:40.010 not quite there's something not there and what 00:45:40.010 --> 00:45:41.889 was not there was this little sweep that leads 00:45:41.889 --> 00:45:44.550 up to it this little almost like a reverse echo 00:45:44.550 --> 00:45:46.989 thing they used to do you know back in the day 00:45:46.989 --> 00:45:49.510 and then this little gap for some reason there's 00:45:49.510 --> 00:45:52.409 just a little tiny gap between that and it's 00:45:52.409 --> 00:45:54.710 very strange very very strange to hear it it's 00:45:54.710 --> 00:45:56.789 like i never would have got that never ever ever 00:45:56.789 --> 00:45:59.469 but that's the only time that i really had a 00:45:59.469 --> 00:46:01.309 tough time with something and reached out that's 00:46:01.309 --> 00:46:03.210 not to say i didn't spend a lot of time on a 00:46:03.210 --> 00:46:05.130 lot of sounds i mean there were things that were 00:46:05.130 --> 00:46:07.630 perplexing and took a while but i got them there 00:46:07.630 --> 00:46:09.550 was nothing so impossible that i just gave up 00:46:09.550 --> 00:46:12.920 on it well except for Imagine dragging. And I 00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:15.300 didn't quite give up, but I was ready to give 00:46:15.300 --> 00:46:17.840 up. And I thought, I'm going to give it one more 00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:20.599 chance to try and get the right sound. I'm going 00:46:20.599 --> 00:46:23.340 to ask them for it. And they did, which was very, 00:46:23.420 --> 00:46:25.280 very cool. It's going to make me listen to it 00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:28.780 a completely new way now. Well, yeah. It's just 00:46:28.780 --> 00:46:31.539 knowing that that's the one tie -in, a direct 00:46:31.539 --> 00:46:33.719 tie -in with the original band. That's their 00:46:33.719 --> 00:46:36.840 drum. Now, earlier you were talking about when 00:46:36.840 --> 00:46:39.619 the band works on original music. And I would 00:46:39.619 --> 00:46:42.000 be remiss if I didn't talk about my favorite 00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:45.199 Weird Al song of all time. And that's the stream 00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:49.260 of consciousness known as Albuquerque. Oh, indeed. 00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.460 The lyrics on my original Running With Scissors 00:46:52.460 --> 00:46:56.179 CD become a written apology from Al. Like, that's 00:46:56.179 --> 00:46:59.519 how long this song is. And it's 11 plus minutes 00:46:59.519 --> 00:47:02.760 of basically everything I love about Weird Al's 00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:05.619 sense of humor. Since the first time I heard 00:47:05.619 --> 00:47:07.880 this track, I've always wondered what the story 00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:10.960 behind it was and how it came together in the 00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:14.039 studio, because there are so many nuances of 00:47:14.039 --> 00:47:17.699 how the song follows his story. It feels like 00:47:17.699 --> 00:47:19.900 it would be a pretty complicated song to track. 00:47:20.880 --> 00:47:24.039 Well, and again, that was a song that Al had 00:47:24.039 --> 00:47:27.679 demoed for us to then demo for all of us to listen 00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:30.340 to and then go into the studio and cut it. And 00:47:30.340 --> 00:47:32.639 we did that. I don't want to say we did it in 00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:34.679 one take. I think there were three sections that 00:47:34.679 --> 00:47:37.619 we did. I think we got to a certain point and 00:47:37.619 --> 00:47:39.559 something didn't happen. It might've been me. 00:47:39.900 --> 00:47:42.079 You know, it's a fast song and it's relentless. 00:47:42.739 --> 00:47:44.900 And that's, you know, you get past the five or 00:47:44.900 --> 00:47:47.539 six minute mark playing at that tempo at like, 00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:50.920 I think it's 186 beats per minute. And, you know, 00:47:50.940 --> 00:47:53.139 you, you make a mistake. It's like, I cut, we 00:47:53.139 --> 00:47:55.159 got to, you know, so we would go back to a point 00:47:55.159 --> 00:47:57.400 where we could punch it in. So we didn't go all 00:47:57.400 --> 00:47:59.039 the way back to the beginning. And I think that 00:47:59.039 --> 00:48:01.300 was done in three sections. which is not too 00:48:01.300 --> 00:48:03.639 bad for a song that long. But again, there's 00:48:03.639 --> 00:48:06.400 not, the parts aren't that hard. It's just relentless. 00:48:06.579 --> 00:48:08.659 You know, it's, it's just, uh, just beats you 00:48:08.659 --> 00:48:11.980 up. So, and I felt bad for having to kind of 00:48:11.980 --> 00:48:13.880 start over because you got bass and guitar player, 00:48:13.940 --> 00:48:16.659 you know, you know, that's, that's as hard as 00:48:16.659 --> 00:48:18.579 what I'm doing. It's like, they're going to hate 00:48:18.579 --> 00:48:22.260 me, but we, we got that done. We, uh, the, well, 00:48:22.280 --> 00:48:24.219 the, the fun part though, was to come when we 00:48:24.219 --> 00:48:26.719 would do it live in concert. It's been my white 00:48:26.719 --> 00:48:29.199 whale. I've never seen it live as many times 00:48:29.199 --> 00:48:32.150 as I've seen Al. That song has just evaded me. 00:48:32.409 --> 00:48:35.889 Well, you would see us then. Part of the gag 00:48:35.889 --> 00:48:38.030 is because, again, it's a stream of consciousness 00:48:38.030 --> 00:48:39.809 sounding kind of a thing. And there's a point 00:48:39.809 --> 00:48:42.769 later in the song at about the nine or 10 minute 00:48:42.769 --> 00:48:45.849 mark, I guess, where Al just sort of pretends 00:48:45.849 --> 00:48:49.230 like he's forgotten where he's at and makes us, 00:48:49.250 --> 00:48:50.530 you know, he says, stop, stop, stop, everybody. 00:48:50.670 --> 00:48:54.269 And says, I lost my place. We got to start from 00:48:54.269 --> 00:48:56.429 the beginning. And so we would go back to the 00:48:56.429 --> 00:48:59.559 beginning and play the song. Again, so we get 00:48:59.559 --> 00:49:01.699 about a 10 second break and we'd have to start 00:49:01.699 --> 00:49:04.019 over. And then we would get to a certain point 00:49:04.019 --> 00:49:06.000 and Al goes, oh, okay, I remember where we're 00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:07.920 at. And then we would pick up, you know, where 00:49:07.920 --> 00:49:10.539 we left off kind of, you know, because again, 00:49:10.639 --> 00:49:13.500 the music is all the same. So whether, you know, 00:49:13.500 --> 00:49:15.199 whether it was two minutes in or 10 minutes in, 00:49:15.280 --> 00:49:17.159 we're still playing the same parts. So he would 00:49:17.159 --> 00:49:19.460 just kind of pick it up, you know, where we left 00:49:19.460 --> 00:49:22.500 off. So the song would become about a 14, sometimes 00:49:22.500 --> 00:49:25.360 15 minute experience. Now we all always, always 00:49:25.360 --> 00:49:27.460 did this at the end of the night. So we've already 00:49:27.460 --> 00:49:29.650 been on stage for. an hour and a half or more 00:49:29.650 --> 00:49:32.050 and now we got to do this song that's already 00:49:32.050 --> 00:49:35.150 long and that's now become like 14 or 15 minutes 00:49:35.150 --> 00:49:38.750 long at the fastest song we do at the end of 00:49:38.750 --> 00:49:40.610 the night you know it's like oh jesus christ 00:49:40.610 --> 00:49:46.449 so there was one night where we started over 00:49:46.449 --> 00:49:49.809 and al just kept going and we did the whole song 00:49:49.809 --> 00:49:55.489 again we did it was about 18 19 20 minutes long 00:49:55.489 --> 00:49:58.539 by the time we finished the whole thing And I 00:49:58.539 --> 00:50:00.179 know I've got a recording of it somewhere. I 00:50:00.179 --> 00:50:01.960 know I've got it written down somewhere. And 00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:04.760 we're kind of like waiting for him to stop and 00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:06.460 then like jump ahead where we left off. And he 00:50:06.460 --> 00:50:10.559 just kept singing the song. And that was a tiring 00:50:10.559 --> 00:50:12.699 night. I was going to say, that feels like something 00:50:12.699 --> 00:50:14.679 that should be released digitally. I'm just throwing 00:50:14.679 --> 00:50:17.679 that out in the universe. And the good news is, 00:50:17.739 --> 00:50:20.360 it's just as hard for him as it is for us. So 00:50:20.360 --> 00:50:22.420 it's not like he was having fun at our expense. 00:50:22.699 --> 00:50:26.679 I mean, he was getting beat up too. But he just... 00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:28.719 He just kept going and I guess thought he would 00:50:28.719 --> 00:50:30.639 be funny. And I think, you know, certain members, 00:50:30.780 --> 00:50:32.679 you know, a lot of the audience has been to multiple 00:50:32.679 --> 00:50:35.760 shows and they know the bit. And so they saw 00:50:35.760 --> 00:50:37.840 a very special performance that night as well. 00:50:38.159 --> 00:50:40.599 You know, they knew past a certain point that 00:50:40.599 --> 00:50:42.860 it looked like we were going to do the whole 00:50:42.860 --> 00:50:46.119 song again. And we did. Anyway, that's just, 00:50:46.280 --> 00:50:49.719 there's a couple of little fun concert type things 00:50:49.719 --> 00:50:52.159 like that. You know, not a whole lot, but I mean, 00:50:52.179 --> 00:50:54.400 we already do a long show. We already do like 00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:57.159 two hours. eight, two hours and 10 minutes, something 00:50:57.159 --> 00:50:59.480 like that. There's only, we can only stretch 00:50:59.480 --> 00:51:01.920 something or, or, you know, throw something in, 00:51:01.960 --> 00:51:04.519 you know, that changes things by five or 10 minutes. 00:51:04.579 --> 00:51:06.840 You know, that's hard after that length of time. 00:51:07.179 --> 00:51:09.500 And we're going to continue to dive into the 00:51:09.500 --> 00:51:11.739 live show in a moment here, but I just want to 00:51:11.739 --> 00:51:13.980 remind everyone listening that all the songs 00:51:13.980 --> 00:51:16.019 we're discussing tonight, except for that live 00:51:16.019 --> 00:51:18.780 version of Albuquerque can be found on the episode 00:51:18.780 --> 00:51:24.860 page over at myweeklymixtape .com. Now. Bermuda, 00:51:24.860 --> 00:51:27.300 it's well known that artists have spoken directly 00:51:27.300 --> 00:51:30.000 to Al about their thoughts on a parody from a 00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:33.539 lyrical or comedic perspective. Have you ever 00:51:33.539 --> 00:51:36.639 received feedback or thanks from the different 00:51:36.639 --> 00:51:39.679 drummers and musicians regarding the band's performance 00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:42.639 on reproductions that you guys have been able 00:51:42.639 --> 00:51:46.199 to achieve? I know some of the drummers that 00:51:46.199 --> 00:51:48.719 I've parodied. I don't think I've ever had a 00:51:48.719 --> 00:51:51.320 comment from any of them. good or bad, which 00:51:51.320 --> 00:51:54.219 is fine with me. I don't want Chad Smith to tell 00:51:54.219 --> 00:51:57.639 me that our Chili Peppers parody didn't sound 00:51:57.639 --> 00:52:00.099 like him. I don't want to hear that. I think 00:52:00.099 --> 00:52:02.920 I did pretty good on that, on Bedrock Anthem. 00:52:02.980 --> 00:52:04.639 I was going to say, you nailed it. Oh, thank 00:52:04.639 --> 00:52:09.260 you. Thanks, Chad. I mean, Brian. But I've run 00:52:09.260 --> 00:52:11.119 into the few of the drummers that I've parodied, 00:52:11.199 --> 00:52:14.699 but it's never really come up. The guy in Cherry 00:52:14.699 --> 00:52:18.420 Pop and Daddy's, Tim Donahue, I'd run into him 00:52:18.420 --> 00:52:21.059 and I said, you know, we did a... parody of Zoot 00:52:21.059 --> 00:52:23.039 Suit Riot, you know, called Grapefruit Diet. 00:52:23.519 --> 00:52:25.579 And I said, that's hard. You know, that's, and 00:52:25.579 --> 00:52:27.900 I grew up playing like swing stuff and stuff 00:52:27.900 --> 00:52:30.179 like that. But I mean, I hadn't really done a 00:52:30.179 --> 00:52:31.880 lot of it. I mean, I'd been mostly a rock drummer 00:52:31.880 --> 00:52:34.780 in my professional career. So I had to sort of 00:52:34.780 --> 00:52:37.139 get up to speed for that one song. And I, I didn't 00:52:37.139 --> 00:52:39.139 do quite as well as, as you know, when we would 00:52:39.139 --> 00:52:40.699 do it live. I think we've done that one live. 00:52:40.760 --> 00:52:42.639 I know I got better at those parts, but I told 00:52:42.639 --> 00:52:44.000 him, I said, that's, that's hard. He says, nah, 00:52:44.119 --> 00:52:46.000 it's easy. It's, you know. Well, it's easy for 00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:48.300 you. You know, that's what you do. That's not 00:52:48.300 --> 00:52:50.780 what I do. You know, I had to step into that 00:52:50.780 --> 00:52:52.920 role for that song. And, you know, I don't do 00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:55.380 it as well as someone that plays that stuff as 00:52:55.380 --> 00:52:58.039 a steady diet or a grapefruit diet. There you 00:52:58.039 --> 00:53:03.059 go. Steady diet. Now, I can't talk about Weird 00:53:03.059 --> 00:53:06.099 Al without bringing up Pocas. And I've always 00:53:06.099 --> 00:53:08.739 wondered about the challenges in connecting the 00:53:08.739 --> 00:53:11.760 musical dots between the songs chosen. And I 00:53:11.760 --> 00:53:14.989 mean, that could be in terms of song key. pacing, 00:53:15.190 --> 00:53:18.670 and what sections of the song you decide to pull. 00:53:18.929 --> 00:53:22.530 Can you talk about that polka arrangement process? 00:53:22.789 --> 00:53:27.269 Because it's been done ever since in 3D on every 00:53:27.269 --> 00:53:29.969 studio album, except for even worse. So in the 00:53:29.969 --> 00:53:32.269 grand scheme of things, most Weird Al studio 00:53:32.269 --> 00:53:34.510 albums have one. Most albums, and we were doing 00:53:34.510 --> 00:53:37.329 polkas live prior to that first album, even. 00:53:37.429 --> 00:53:39.670 So the polka medley thing, in fact, he had been 00:53:39.670 --> 00:53:43.010 doing it when he would get up in front of his 00:53:43.010 --> 00:53:45.340 college. classmates you know back in the day 00:53:45.340 --> 00:53:46.980 with just him and the accordion and he was doing 00:53:46.980 --> 00:53:49.380 polka medleys and stuff he does all the arranging 00:53:49.380 --> 00:53:51.539 on that he's a great you know a lot of people 00:53:51.539 --> 00:53:54.619 don't understand exactly you know where all this 00:53:54.619 --> 00:53:56.980 stuff comes from you know where these ideas and 00:53:56.980 --> 00:53:58.699 where the arrangements but it all comes from 00:53:58.699 --> 00:54:01.360 al he's really he's really really really good 00:54:01.360 --> 00:54:04.320 at that stuff he's got a good mind for wanting 00:54:04.320 --> 00:54:06.320 to hear a certain thing and a good mind for telling 00:54:06.320 --> 00:54:09.360 us how to get it and we have good ears for listening 00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:10.980 to him and it's uh you know that's it so all 00:54:10.980 --> 00:54:12.980 of the transitions the sections of whichever 00:54:12.980 --> 00:54:16.300 song whatever tempo changes whatever has to happen 00:54:16.300 --> 00:54:19.300 in the polka medley all comes from him and we 00:54:19.300 --> 00:54:23.159 just fall into line now we will usually do well 00:54:23.159 --> 00:54:25.139 we do we do demos of the polka medley because 00:54:25.139 --> 00:54:27.639 we have to play that and we have to massage those 00:54:27.639 --> 00:54:29.659 parts so it's not just well i know what all the 00:54:29.659 --> 00:54:31.539 little parts sound like you know and we'll just 00:54:31.539 --> 00:54:33.139 figure out how to put them together in the studio 00:54:33.139 --> 00:54:36.050 well not On the studio's clock, we're not going 00:54:36.050 --> 00:54:38.289 to do that. We go into rehearsal, figure out 00:54:38.289 --> 00:54:40.230 how to put it all together, make sure it all 00:54:40.230 --> 00:54:42.630 works. I mean, sometimes something doesn't necessarily 00:54:42.630 --> 00:54:44.969 work, you know, and that's the time to work that 00:54:44.969 --> 00:54:46.949 out. Not while we're sitting, paying for studio 00:54:46.949 --> 00:54:49.730 time, rehearsing in the studio. That's a very 00:54:49.730 --> 00:54:53.630 old thing and an old and expensive thing that 00:54:53.630 --> 00:54:56.250 bands used to do a long time ago and figured 00:54:56.250 --> 00:54:58.710 out how to stop doing that. Well, Al knew that 00:54:58.710 --> 00:55:01.530 right away. You know, he'd rather pay for a rehearsal 00:55:01.530 --> 00:55:05.599 room at 12 bucks an hour. than a recording studio 00:55:05.599 --> 00:55:07.639 at whatever they're going to bill him back for, 00:55:07.719 --> 00:55:10.340 you know, when the album sells. So those things 00:55:10.340 --> 00:55:12.960 that all of that stuff, the beauty of those polkas 00:55:12.960 --> 00:55:16.119 all comes from Al. And we've done, it's interesting, 00:55:16.239 --> 00:55:19.019 now that I think of it, we've done since our 00:55:19.019 --> 00:55:21.300 last album, and I hate to call it our last album, 00:55:21.400 --> 00:55:23.940 but that could very well, you know, in 2014, 00:55:24.280 --> 00:55:27.219 Mandatory Fun, be our last actual album of, you 00:55:27.219 --> 00:55:29.619 know, a dozen songs, that almost everything we've 00:55:29.619 --> 00:55:33.280 done since then has been a polka. We did the 00:55:33.280 --> 00:55:37.199 Hamilton polka. Yep. We did polka versions of 00:55:37.199 --> 00:55:40.119 Portugal the Man songs. There were two songs, 00:55:40.300 --> 00:55:43.780 Feel It Still and there was one other. And we 00:55:43.780 --> 00:55:45.579 did, those weren't polka medleys, but we did 00:55:45.579 --> 00:55:48.179 a straight polka version of that. And we got 00:55:48.179 --> 00:55:52.380 their actual tracks and just basically took the 00:55:52.380 --> 00:55:55.000 drums out. I think we used their vocals. We basically 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:57.280 provided the music track. I think Al put accordion 00:55:57.280 --> 00:55:59.460 on it. I polka -fied it with the drum beats. 00:55:59.599 --> 00:56:02.489 And we did those two songs for them. We did, 00:56:02.489 --> 00:56:06.050 as an Al Polka, we did Polka Mania, which came 00:56:06.050 --> 00:56:11.190 out in 2024 and was basically, since it had been 00:56:11.190 --> 00:56:13.309 10 years since our last album had come out, since 00:56:13.309 --> 00:56:16.130 our last Polka as well had come out, he wanted 00:56:16.130 --> 00:56:19.670 to include 10 years worth of hit songs in the 00:56:19.670 --> 00:56:21.969 Polka Mania song. So that covers a 10 -year period 00:56:21.969 --> 00:56:24.650 since the last Polka that we had done, the last 00:56:24.650 --> 00:56:26.469 Polka medley. And then that was something also 00:56:26.469 --> 00:56:29.610 new that we could do on the Bigger and Weirder 00:56:29.610 --> 00:56:32.769 tour. So we do polka medley is, is, uh, comes 00:56:32.769 --> 00:56:35.869 on early in the show. And, uh, so that's, that's 00:56:35.869 --> 00:56:38.530 a new song as it were. There's one other new 00:56:38.530 --> 00:56:41.070 song that we do in concert now that was done 00:56:41.070 --> 00:56:44.730 actually as part of the, uh, weird, the Al Yankovic 00:56:44.730 --> 00:56:48.250 story biopic with Daniel Radcliffe and et cetera, 00:56:48.349 --> 00:56:50.670 et cetera. And we did it. We did a side. Now 00:56:50.670 --> 00:56:53.190 with the band recorded, I think just about all 00:56:53.190 --> 00:56:55.869 of the songs you hear in there, whenever there's, 00:56:55.869 --> 00:56:57.369 there's a live shot and all that, that's us. 00:56:57.849 --> 00:57:00.510 playing the stuff live we re -recorded things 00:57:00.510 --> 00:57:03.510 live in some cases having to go back to earlier 00:57:03.510 --> 00:57:06.769 versions of the way we do things now because 00:57:06.769 --> 00:57:09.989 it had to sound like it was 1985 so we we had 00:57:09.989 --> 00:57:12.070 to kind of relearn what we were doing 40 years 00:57:12.070 --> 00:57:14.630 ago but there was a new song in there that played 00:57:14.630 --> 00:57:17.530 over the ending credits called now you know and 00:57:17.530 --> 00:57:20.469 it's al sort of talking about you know, how all 00:57:20.469 --> 00:57:21.929 this stuff you just saw in the movie, none of 00:57:21.929 --> 00:57:23.909 which is true, you know, talking about, you know, 00:57:23.909 --> 00:57:26.550 well, this is, this happened, you know, and it's 00:57:26.550 --> 00:57:28.230 absolutely true. And now, now, you know, you 00:57:28.230 --> 00:57:30.769 know, and it's, uh, it wasn't, none of it was 00:57:30.769 --> 00:57:33.909 true, but actually it might be more interesting 00:57:33.909 --> 00:57:35.449 than the truth. I don't know. I thought it was 00:57:35.449 --> 00:57:37.769 a great movie. Oh, I loved it. I thought it was 00:57:37.769 --> 00:57:40.110 done really well. I thought the acting was really 00:57:40.110 --> 00:57:42.469 good. You don't necessarily, it helps to be an 00:57:42.469 --> 00:57:44.250 Al fan, but you don't have to be an Al fan to 00:57:44.250 --> 00:57:47.349 appreciate it. It's not like silly and misguided 00:57:47.349 --> 00:57:50.590 and poorly done. It's just, it's very dramatic 00:57:50.590 --> 00:57:53.989 at times. I mean, it's very dark at times, but 00:57:53.989 --> 00:57:56.650 I think it's really, really well done. The pool 00:57:56.650 --> 00:57:59.090 party scene in that movie is one of the best 00:57:59.090 --> 00:58:01.909 uses of cameos I think I've ever seen. Yeah. 00:58:01.929 --> 00:58:04.670 And it's interesting, not only were there people 00:58:04.670 --> 00:58:07.099 in there portraying you know, well -known people. 00:58:07.179 --> 00:58:09.699 There were well -known people in there as well. 00:58:09.880 --> 00:58:12.079 You know, you had Conan O 'Brien playing Andy 00:58:12.079 --> 00:58:14.820 Warhol. You know, I mean, that's really cool. 00:58:15.099 --> 00:58:16.920 You could have got someone else to look like 00:58:16.920 --> 00:58:19.500 Warhol, but no, it was cooler to have him do 00:58:19.500 --> 00:58:21.659 it. It's funny that the other people that they 00:58:21.659 --> 00:58:24.599 got to try and look like Alice Cooper and, you 00:58:24.599 --> 00:58:26.440 know, the other people in there and Pee Wee Herman 00:58:26.440 --> 00:58:30.219 didn't quite really, you know, I mean, but that 00:58:30.219 --> 00:58:31.860 was okay. You knew who they were supposed to 00:58:31.860 --> 00:58:34.659 be. And there are a lot, I still look at that 00:58:34.659 --> 00:58:36.670 scene and I still think. That's somebody from 00:58:36.670 --> 00:58:38.769 the B -52s in there. That's supposed to be like, 00:58:38.829 --> 00:58:40.849 you know, Cindy Wilson or something. Anyway, 00:58:40.969 --> 00:58:43.550 but we do that song, Now You Know, we do that 00:58:43.550 --> 00:58:46.289 live, which is a fun song to do. You know, so 00:58:46.289 --> 00:58:48.369 that's something new for the tour as well. So, 00:58:48.389 --> 00:58:50.030 you know, there is the danger of going out on 00:58:50.030 --> 00:58:52.489 the road and not having very much new product 00:58:52.489 --> 00:58:55.510 in a long time. But there's also our fan base 00:58:55.510 --> 00:58:58.349 is with us. And not only that, it's grown a lot. 00:58:58.590 --> 00:59:00.750 And I'm not sure how that's happened without 00:59:00.750 --> 00:59:03.230 the... benefit of any new albums. I mean, there's 00:59:03.230 --> 00:59:05.449 been some new things happening, but an actual 00:59:05.449 --> 00:59:08.150 album and a theme tour and stuff like that, we 00:59:08.150 --> 00:59:10.409 really, we haven't done that. There's just the 00:59:10.409 --> 00:59:13.250 fans are with us. Now, what Al has done is, you 00:59:13.250 --> 00:59:14.650 know, so it's not just going to see the same 00:59:14.650 --> 00:59:17.869 show or the same production. He's changed that 00:59:17.869 --> 00:59:19.929 up a little bit over the last few years. We did 00:59:19.929 --> 00:59:22.210 a couple of tours where we were kind of stripped 00:59:22.210 --> 00:59:25.230 down. It was the self -indulgent vanity tour, 00:59:25.409 --> 00:59:28.469 meaning, you know, it was just originals. And 00:59:28.469 --> 00:59:30.030 he thought, you know, we didn't need costumes 00:59:30.030 --> 00:59:32.329 and we don't need videos. And we'll just sit 00:59:32.329 --> 00:59:34.869 there and play for two hours. And we'll just 00:59:34.869 --> 00:59:37.329 play to our hardcore fans that love the originals. 00:59:37.329 --> 00:59:40.090 And they did. They loved it. Saw that tour. That 00:59:40.090 --> 00:59:42.449 was amazing. And we did, you know, it's mostly 00:59:42.449 --> 00:59:44.690 a theater tour. And, you know, so we're playing, 00:59:44.769 --> 00:59:48.369 you know, 1800, 2500, 3200 seat places. One of 00:59:48.369 --> 00:59:51.030 the tours we did, in fact, the tour we did for 00:59:51.030 --> 00:59:53.829 mandatory fun, we didn't tour when that came 00:59:53.829 --> 00:59:55.449 out. We toured the next year and the year after, 00:59:55.489 --> 00:59:59.130 2015 and 16. And we played the Hollywood Bowl 00:59:59.130 --> 01:00:01.730 here in LA. We did two nights at the Hollywood 01:00:01.730 --> 01:00:04.809 Bowl, in fact. And we played during the summer 01:00:04.809 --> 01:00:07.670 and the Hollywood Bowl, I guess that's partly 01:00:07.670 --> 01:00:10.469 their concert season. And so they said, well, 01:00:10.610 --> 01:00:12.349 you know, if you're going to play here. You know, 01:00:12.369 --> 01:00:14.090 you're putting the orchestra out of work. You 01:00:14.090 --> 01:00:16.030 know, you have to hire the orchestra. You don't 01:00:16.030 --> 01:00:17.530 have to have them play with you. You could just 01:00:17.530 --> 01:00:19.409 pay them off, you know, but they have to be paid. 01:00:19.909 --> 01:00:22.090 So Al says, no, they can play with us. They'll 01:00:22.090 --> 01:00:23.349 write the charts, right? They said, oh yeah, 01:00:23.389 --> 01:00:24.909 they'll do what they need to do, but they're 01:00:24.909 --> 01:00:26.349 going to play on every song that you play. And 01:00:26.349 --> 01:00:29.190 he said, okay. Again, not the first time an orchestra's 01:00:29.190 --> 01:00:32.670 played behind a rock band, but that was, we got 01:00:32.670 --> 01:00:35.230 paired up with an orchestra and a great orchestra, 01:00:35.369 --> 01:00:37.489 I should add. And we rehearsed with them that 01:00:37.489 --> 01:00:39.969 day. We were in the middle of the tour. And we 01:00:39.969 --> 01:00:41.409 rehearsed with them that day and went through 01:00:41.409 --> 01:00:43.710 everything and it was great. It really sounded 01:00:43.710 --> 01:00:45.550 great. And we did the show and it was great. 01:00:45.769 --> 01:00:48.550 Did the show the next night. Great. So Al gets 01:00:48.550 --> 01:00:51.130 it in his head that it would be cool to do an 01:00:51.130 --> 01:00:54.230 orchestral tour. Okay. So this is 2015 or 16. 01:00:54.530 --> 01:00:57.329 The problem is he already has this vanity tour 01:00:57.329 --> 01:01:01.050 in mind for 2018. So, you know, you don't want 01:01:01.050 --> 01:01:03.349 to change that. So that wasn't going to be the 01:01:03.349 --> 01:01:04.750 orchestral tour. We're still going to do the 01:01:04.750 --> 01:01:07.050 vanity tour and then put together an orchestral 01:01:07.050 --> 01:01:09.880 tour, which we did in 2019. and we had we didn't 01:01:09.880 --> 01:01:11.699 travel with an orchestra that's really expensive 01:01:11.699 --> 01:01:14.559 but we would have sometimes there was an actual 01:01:14.559 --> 01:01:16.820 real orchestra like the colorado symphony or 01:01:16.820 --> 01:01:19.519 the national symphony out in washington dc you 01:01:19.519 --> 01:01:21.840 know an existing proper orchestra or they would 01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:24.079 put together a bunch of people from the union 01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:26.619 and they put together you know 40 50 people and 01:01:26.619 --> 01:01:28.360 it would be what they call a scratch orchestra 01:01:28.360 --> 01:01:30.780 you know and and they all had music of course 01:01:30.780 --> 01:01:32.960 they would rehearse the show during the day but 01:01:32.960 --> 01:01:36.019 they would rehearse to a track of us playing 01:01:36.019 --> 01:01:38.880 the show So we didn't have to do an entire show 01:01:38.880 --> 01:01:41.360 and then come back and do an entire show. Granted, 01:01:41.360 --> 01:01:44.440 they did, but, you know, violin players and stuff 01:01:44.440 --> 01:01:46.179 like that don't put out quite as much energy 01:01:46.179 --> 01:01:49.099 as we all do, certainly not Al. Right. So they 01:01:49.099 --> 01:01:52.360 would rehearse to a performance of ours, and 01:01:52.360 --> 01:01:53.760 then we would play together for the first time 01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:55.940 that night, that show. And there were a couple 01:01:55.940 --> 01:01:59.000 of areas, metro areas, where we would play around, 01:01:59.059 --> 01:02:01.380 and we would have the same orchestra, you know, 01:02:01.380 --> 01:02:03.000 like we'd come back in a month and play that 01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:04.880 same area, and it'd be the same orchestra that 01:02:04.880 --> 01:02:08.039 would play. In LA, we played a lot of famous 01:02:08.039 --> 01:02:10.559 players, played in the orchestra. We're hired 01:02:10.559 --> 01:02:12.500 to play at the Greek Theater in LA, which is 01:02:12.500 --> 01:02:15.760 a 6 ,500 seat outdoor amphitheater. Very cool 01:02:15.760 --> 01:02:18.280 place. So we played before and just not with 01:02:18.280 --> 01:02:20.599 an orchestra. It was just really cool to have 01:02:20.599 --> 01:02:23.619 them. So we had, what was interesting is there 01:02:23.619 --> 01:02:27.599 was the harp player that night was, I believe, 01:02:27.679 --> 01:02:31.400 Dorothy Remsen. Dorothy played the harp on the 01:02:31.400 --> 01:02:34.760 end of the Ricky song. in 1983 that we recorded 01:02:34.760 --> 01:02:38.400 it wow and here we are on stage with her and 01:02:38.400 --> 01:02:40.719 the orchestra you know 40 years you know whatever 01:02:40.719 --> 01:02:43.739 later that was pretty cool that's a full circle 01:02:43.739 --> 01:02:46.199 moment if i've ever heard one yeah and not not 01:02:46.199 --> 01:02:48.460 a lot of those i mean you know but that was a 01:02:48.460 --> 01:02:50.780 cool one that was you know so we and i was it's 01:02:50.780 --> 01:02:52.360 funny i was there when she recorded that because 01:02:52.360 --> 01:02:53.940 i was hanging around the studio i have photos 01:02:53.940 --> 01:02:56.760 of her from from there so i know i was there 01:02:57.340 --> 01:02:59.880 And so I had met her, this has been however many 01:02:59.880 --> 01:03:04.519 years, 30, was it 2019? So 36 years, close enough 01:03:04.519 --> 01:03:07.099 to 40. But anyway, that was pretty cool. And 01:03:07.099 --> 01:03:09.800 I made sure to bring Al out and like reintroduce 01:03:09.800 --> 01:03:11.639 him because that's not something we would have 01:03:11.639 --> 01:03:13.539 thought of running into people that had played 01:03:13.539 --> 01:03:16.219 on our records before, but it happens. You know, 01:03:16.239 --> 01:03:18.820 it's a small circle of pros that everyone works 01:03:18.820 --> 01:03:22.480 with and as do we. Now those two tours probably 01:03:22.480 --> 01:03:25.079 served as almost, I don't want to use the word 01:03:25.079 --> 01:03:27.849 palate cleanser, but. As a little bit something 01:03:27.849 --> 01:03:30.429 outside the norm from what you did for many decades 01:03:30.429 --> 01:03:33.409 leading up to them, given those outside -the 01:03:33.409 --> 01:03:35.909 -box songs that showed up during those runs, 01:03:36.230 --> 01:03:39.789 are there any songs in the band's catalog that 01:03:39.789 --> 01:03:43.050 you've never played to date that you would personally 01:03:43.050 --> 01:03:47.449 love to break out of the show? No. You know what? 01:03:47.489 --> 01:03:49.750 There's reasons that we don't play certain songs, 01:03:49.889 --> 01:03:53.409 and because they're not going to be workable. 01:03:53.510 --> 01:03:57.019 Not workable as is. One of those, a classic one, 01:03:57.139 --> 01:04:00.440 is Hardware Store. There's just no way that Al's 01:04:00.440 --> 01:04:02.519 going to be able to sing because he didn't sing 01:04:02.519 --> 01:04:05.079 it live live. It was comped. It was put together 01:04:05.079 --> 01:04:07.159 from several takes, that whole little bit in 01:04:07.159 --> 01:04:09.840 the middle, you know, Garden Tweezers, that whole 01:04:09.840 --> 01:04:11.460 thing where he just lists off all this crap in 01:04:11.460 --> 01:04:13.360 the hardware store. There's no way that could 01:04:13.360 --> 01:04:15.579 be done. And we had talked about, well, we'll 01:04:15.579 --> 01:04:17.260 play the song and when we get to the part, we're 01:04:17.260 --> 01:04:19.059 going to slow it down and just do it as kind 01:04:19.059 --> 01:04:21.059 of a ballad, a very acoustic little thing while 01:04:21.059 --> 01:04:22.619 I just talk through it. And then we'll pick it 01:04:22.619 --> 01:04:24.500 back up at the end. And we decided not to not 01:04:24.500 --> 01:04:27.190 do that. So basically that's a song, unless we 01:04:27.190 --> 01:04:28.989 completely change the whole song and then it's 01:04:28.989 --> 01:04:31.230 not the same song. Then it's, if you're going 01:04:31.230 --> 01:04:32.849 to play the song for the first time, play the 01:04:32.849 --> 01:04:35.230 song. We've done dare to be stupid as a completely 01:04:35.230 --> 01:04:37.449 different type song, you know, cause we've been 01:04:37.449 --> 01:04:40.190 doing that since 1985. So that's something to 01:04:40.190 --> 01:04:41.769 change up. That wasn't, you know, we weren't 01:04:41.769 --> 01:04:43.610 forced to do that. It just, that was a creative 01:04:43.610 --> 01:04:46.690 decision. Hardware store is something that, you 01:04:46.690 --> 01:04:48.670 know, if we changed it, it would be because we 01:04:48.670 --> 01:04:50.590 were forced to change it. Not because he would 01:04:50.590 --> 01:04:52.670 want to change it. Not because he wants to do 01:04:52.670 --> 01:04:54.730 the song so badly that he's willing to change 01:04:54.730 --> 01:04:56.599 it. You know, and then now you're not doing the 01:04:56.599 --> 01:04:59.599 song that people like anymore. Another one that 01:04:59.599 --> 01:05:04.639 we maybe could, but extremely unlikely, Genius 01:05:04.639 --> 01:05:08.199 in France would be very difficult. And there's 01:05:08.199 --> 01:05:09.780 just, there's so much going. And it's not that 01:05:09.780 --> 01:05:11.820 we can't play it because we recorded it. Of course 01:05:11.820 --> 01:05:14.539 we could play it. It's just vocally, there's 01:05:14.539 --> 01:05:17.500 a lot of stuff going on. Arrangement wise, there's 01:05:17.500 --> 01:05:20.360 a lot of stuff going on. And there's, we didn't 01:05:20.360 --> 01:05:22.940 record that in one pass by any stretch. That 01:05:22.940 --> 01:05:26.170 was done like in. 16 or 17 pieces because there 01:05:26.170 --> 01:05:28.530 were just some hairpin turns that just we knew 01:05:28.530 --> 01:05:30.369 up front we're just going to do this section 01:05:30.369 --> 01:05:31.969 then we'll piece it together with that section 01:05:31.969 --> 01:05:34.210 again this is where pro tools comes in uh it 01:05:34.210 --> 01:05:37.150 makes that very easy seamless so we went in and 01:05:37.150 --> 01:05:40.110 uh actually what's funny is we thought that doing 01:05:40.110 --> 01:05:42.210 it's like a six minute song or an eight minute 01:05:42.210 --> 01:05:44.110 song or something like that or 11 something like 01:05:44.110 --> 01:05:47.050 that it's a lengthy song but not impossible we 01:05:47.050 --> 01:05:48.829 thought it was going to take a whole day to do 01:05:48.829 --> 01:05:51.050 all the parts and we got through it and we were 01:05:51.050 --> 01:05:53.650 done in about three hours Wow. Which is, you 01:05:53.650 --> 01:05:55.090 know, stopping and starting and stopping and 01:05:55.090 --> 01:05:57.949 starting. And we were done and Al's like, oh, 01:05:58.110 --> 01:06:00.170 well, I guess we can start working on tomorrow's 01:06:00.170 --> 01:06:03.050 songs today. So we got a little bit ahead of 01:06:03.050 --> 01:06:05.530 schedule and not that he didn't trust us and 01:06:05.530 --> 01:06:07.210 not that he didn't think we could do it. We just, 01:06:07.309 --> 01:06:09.849 we all pretty much knew that that was going to 01:06:09.849 --> 01:06:11.469 be, it's going to take a lot of work, but we 01:06:11.469 --> 01:06:13.900 had rehearsed it. And, you know, we'd rehearsed 01:06:13.900 --> 01:06:16.119 it and done it. There's a demo of that. I think 01:06:16.119 --> 01:06:17.920 there's an Al demo. I'm sure there's an Al demo. 01:06:18.000 --> 01:06:19.800 That's how we knew what he wanted to do. There's 01:06:19.800 --> 01:06:22.320 a band demo, I believe. And then we came in and 01:06:22.320 --> 01:06:25.199 did it. So we had played the stuff and were ready 01:06:25.199 --> 01:06:27.300 to do it. And it just, it went very smoothly. 01:06:27.940 --> 01:06:31.280 Went smoother than a lot of songs. A third the 01:06:31.280 --> 01:06:33.679 length that didn't require all those hairpin 01:06:33.679 --> 01:06:36.619 turns and all the Zappa weird phrasing and time 01:06:36.619 --> 01:06:38.480 things and all that stuff. And that was a very 01:06:38.480 --> 01:06:41.280 fun song. That would be so cool if we could do 01:06:41.280 --> 01:06:43.420 that. I know the fans would love that. It's just, 01:06:43.460 --> 01:06:46.260 I don't think we can do it justice. You know, 01:06:46.260 --> 01:06:48.820 it already replaces like two or three songs and 01:06:48.820 --> 01:06:51.380 it would have to just be great in order to pull 01:06:51.380 --> 01:06:53.679 it off. I mean, if I had to vote for, you know, 01:06:53.699 --> 01:06:55.579 I don't know if I could vote for it. You know, 01:06:55.599 --> 01:06:57.760 I would hate to be the guy that insists that 01:06:57.760 --> 01:06:59.460 we do it and then we find out it doesn't sound 01:06:59.460 --> 01:07:02.239 that good, you know, after all, you know, without 01:07:02.239 --> 01:07:05.409 stopping and starting 17 times. So I don't know. 01:07:05.449 --> 01:07:08.630 Really, when we did the Vanity Tours, we did 01:07:08.630 --> 01:07:12.889 another Vanity Tour in 2022. We pulled a lot 01:07:12.889 --> 01:07:16.250 of songs, mostly almost all originals, except 01:07:16.250 --> 01:07:19.349 for a little parody medley at the end. We pulled 01:07:19.349 --> 01:07:21.070 out originals that we had never played before, 01:07:21.190 --> 01:07:24.550 stuff we played 30, 40 years later for the first 01:07:24.550 --> 01:07:28.590 time in 2019 and again in 2022, maybe. So there's 01:07:28.590 --> 01:07:31.070 not too many songs we haven't played. There's 01:07:31.070 --> 01:07:32.690 things that, you know, I mean, I don't think 01:07:32.690 --> 01:07:34.670 we ever played Georgia, the jungle, for example, 01:07:34.670 --> 01:07:37.929 that's not really an Al song, but I mean, it's 01:07:37.929 --> 01:07:40.090 on an album, but that's one of those tracks that, 01:07:40.090 --> 01:07:42.150 you know, I keep a list of what we've done live. 01:07:42.690 --> 01:07:45.489 And at some point when we started doing it live, 01:07:45.570 --> 01:07:47.429 so I don't just check it off. It's like, gee, 01:07:47.510 --> 01:07:50.210 did we, you know, a song from 1985, did we play 01:07:50.210 --> 01:07:52.590 that in 1985 or did we not play it until 2019? 01:07:52.969 --> 01:07:55.769 So I put the date. So I know it wasn't live until 01:07:55.769 --> 01:08:00.139 35 years later, 34 years later. So. I don't know 01:08:00.139 --> 01:08:02.480 if there's any really that, you know, there's 01:08:02.480 --> 01:08:05.639 a lot of songs. I'm perfectly happy with the 01:08:05.639 --> 01:08:07.900 selection of songs that we get to play. I mean, 01:08:07.900 --> 01:08:10.340 there's way too many than we can do in a single 01:08:10.340 --> 01:08:12.500 show or, you know, in a week's, you know, the 01:08:12.500 --> 01:08:15.800 fact that the Vanity Tours, every night was a 01:08:15.800 --> 01:08:18.000 different show. Maybe there was a song from the 01:08:18.000 --> 01:08:20.640 night before, but there were a bunch of different 01:08:20.640 --> 01:08:23.579 songs that were not the night before. Every list 01:08:23.579 --> 01:08:26.619 of songs, 16, 17, 18 songs was different for 01:08:26.619 --> 01:08:30.939 every show on each tour. And Al had written those 01:08:30.939 --> 01:08:33.340 all out in advance. We all got those set lists 01:08:33.340 --> 01:08:37.819 in advance of the tour, which in 2022 was like 01:08:37.819 --> 01:08:42.420 100 and some odd shows. And he had all of those. 01:08:42.479 --> 01:08:43.859 And I don't think there were ever any changes. 01:08:44.060 --> 01:08:46.699 It was whatever he wrote out in advance. Those 01:08:46.699 --> 01:08:49.319 were the set lists all the way to the end. He 01:08:49.319 --> 01:08:51.819 had a basic set list for the tour that started 01:08:51.819 --> 01:08:56.600 in 2025 in May of 2023, like literally a few 01:08:56.600 --> 01:08:59.680 months after we finished that tour. he sent a 01:08:59.680 --> 01:09:01.439 set list is this is what i'm looking at for the 01:09:01.439 --> 01:09:03.619 next tour and it's almost exactly what we're 01:09:03.619 --> 01:09:06.359 doing so he's he's got a lot of stuff in his 01:09:06.359 --> 01:09:08.520 head he's he plans stuff out he knows what he 01:09:08.520 --> 01:09:11.939 wants and we do it we do it so the things the 01:09:11.939 --> 01:09:13.520 songs that he pulled out that we hadn't played 01:09:13.520 --> 01:09:16.300 before are songs that he knew we could do justice 01:09:16.300 --> 01:09:18.840 to and i don't know if there's anything missing 01:09:18.840 --> 01:09:20.880 we played a lot of originals and a lot of parodies 01:09:20.880 --> 01:09:22.859 over the years and a lot of polkas over the years 01:09:22.859 --> 01:09:26.159 and a lot of medleys in the middle that included 01:09:26.159 --> 01:09:29.119 some of our songs sometimes a parody of someone 01:09:29.119 --> 01:09:31.199 else's song just to throw it in you know maybe 01:09:31.199 --> 01:09:34.800 we wanted to represent you know uh simple minds 01:09:34.800 --> 01:09:37.479 doing uh don't you forget about me well we did 01:09:37.479 --> 01:09:40.399 don't you forget about meat you know it was a 01:09:40.399 --> 01:09:42.260 song in a food medley every song had to do with 01:09:42.260 --> 01:09:45.319 food the girls just well girls just want to have 01:09:45.319 --> 01:09:47.380 fun we we recorded girls just want to have lunch 01:09:47.380 --> 01:09:50.020 that also ended up in the medley i mean basically 01:09:50.020 --> 01:09:52.380 that was a way to represent you know doing a 01:09:52.380 --> 01:09:54.439 lot of the parodies we had done or a lot of the 01:09:54.829 --> 01:09:56.909 funny ideas he'd have. We do a verse and a chorus 01:09:56.909 --> 01:09:59.010 from Simple Minds, for example, and then go on 01:09:59.010 --> 01:10:02.569 to something else. There was a Night Ranger song. 01:10:03.090 --> 01:10:05.909 I can't. Sister Christian? Sister Christian. 01:10:06.229 --> 01:10:09.850 And the chorus in there is motor and what's your 01:10:09.850 --> 01:10:12.430 price for flight? You know, something like that. 01:10:12.609 --> 01:10:15.770 So it became Burger King, what's your price for 01:10:15.770 --> 01:10:19.869 fries? And just a little tiny section. This was 01:10:19.869 --> 01:10:22.189 like 1985. And then it was, as soon as it came 01:10:22.189 --> 01:10:24.390 into the medley, next tour was gone. You know, 01:10:24.390 --> 01:10:26.109 it was something, so things would come and go 01:10:26.109 --> 01:10:27.989 out of this medley. So we would, we would just 01:10:27.989 --> 01:10:30.229 do all these little things. There's a bunch of 01:10:30.229 --> 01:10:32.550 stuff. There's really, there's not much we haven't 01:10:32.550 --> 01:10:34.890 done live and there's no way we could do it all 01:10:34.890 --> 01:10:37.090 live. I mean, there's just not a show long enough 01:10:37.090 --> 01:10:40.229 or an audience dedicated enough to sit there 01:10:40.229 --> 01:10:42.729 for 10 hours while we play everything we do. 01:10:42.789 --> 01:10:45.270 I mean, I wouldn't go so far. I think I could 01:10:45.270 --> 01:10:47.489 handle that, but not maybe it'd be tougher on 01:10:47.489 --> 01:10:49.529 you than me. Yeah. I don't think, you know, we're, 01:10:49.529 --> 01:10:51.189 we're all on Medicare. I don't think, I don't 01:10:51.189 --> 01:10:53.090 think we can handle it. We're going to have to 01:10:53.090 --> 01:10:57.409 start bringing a doctor on tour. And let me take 01:10:57.409 --> 01:10:59.689 this moment to remind everybody listening, all 01:10:59.689 --> 01:11:01.630 the songs we're talking about tonight, except 01:11:01.630 --> 01:11:04.189 for those little tidbits from inside the show, 01:11:04.270 --> 01:11:06.630 unless they're available on YouTube, they will 01:11:06.630 --> 01:11:10.250 be embedded over on the episode page at myweeklymixtape 01:11:10.250 --> 01:11:14.609 .com. Now, one thing I've always appreciated 01:11:14.609 --> 01:11:17.310 about the Weird Al live shows are the little 01:11:17.310 --> 01:11:21.380 nuances within. the performance that goes beyond 01:11:21.380 --> 01:11:25.180 the costumes, the video interludes, and the songs 01:11:25.180 --> 01:11:29.000 themselves. Moments like during Fat, when Al 01:11:29.000 --> 01:11:32.220 jumps up, hits the ground, and then the entire 01:11:32.220 --> 01:11:36.659 band kind of bounces in place afterwards. How 01:11:36.659 --> 01:11:39.699 much thought goes into making the concert that 01:11:39.699 --> 01:11:43.680 experience that lives beyond the songs and videos? 01:11:43.859 --> 01:11:47.180 Is that all Al, or does the band throw in some 01:11:47.180 --> 01:11:50.359 from time to time? I'm pretty sure that one was 01:11:50.359 --> 01:11:53.039 Al's. I'm pretty sure 99 out of 100 things are 01:11:53.039 --> 01:11:56.340 Al's. And maybe somebody comes up with something 01:11:56.340 --> 01:11:59.420 and if Al likes it, then that becomes a thing. 01:11:59.659 --> 01:12:02.579 But it still has to go past Al. But everything, 01:12:02.819 --> 01:12:06.000 Al puts that whole show together. He's in charge, 01:12:06.140 --> 01:12:09.539 100%. And again, maybe there are some suggestions. 01:12:09.640 --> 01:12:11.539 I'm not even sure I've ever come up with something. 01:12:12.579 --> 01:12:15.960 It's just, he's got it covered. The chances of... 01:12:16.350 --> 01:12:18.050 asking him, you know, you know, or suggesting 01:12:18.050 --> 01:12:20.050 something to him and then him saying no, because 01:12:20.050 --> 01:12:21.369 it doesn't meet up to his standards, probably 01:12:21.369 --> 01:12:23.569 worse than just shutting up and letting him figure 01:12:23.569 --> 01:12:27.069 it out on his own. You know, and I don't think 01:12:27.069 --> 01:12:28.689 he's got any things that he's put in there that 01:12:28.689 --> 01:12:30.670 don't fit or that don't work. I mean, it all, 01:12:30.689 --> 01:12:33.649 it's all good. I mean, but he's just that thorough 01:12:33.649 --> 01:12:36.689 and he's that good about what he wants and how 01:12:36.689 --> 01:12:38.569 it comes out. And again, we're all on that page. 01:12:38.649 --> 01:12:41.050 You want us to jump up? You know, if I could 01:12:41.050 --> 01:12:42.569 jump up, I would do it too. I mean, I just, I 01:12:42.569 --> 01:12:44.750 can't physically do that from my sitting position, 01:12:44.909 --> 01:12:47.819 but. I would certainly be on board. And honestly, 01:12:48.239 --> 01:12:50.539 nobody's really watching me in the back anyway. 01:12:50.579 --> 01:12:52.859 They're focused on Al and, you know, and there's 01:12:52.859 --> 01:12:54.819 two guys next to him, you know, Jim and Steve 01:12:54.819 --> 01:12:56.899 are on either side of him. And that's kind of 01:12:56.899 --> 01:12:58.619 their focus. You know, if we don't jump up in 01:12:58.619 --> 01:12:59.920 the back, it's not the end of the world, but 01:12:59.920 --> 01:13:02.579 everyone who can does, you know, we've got four 01:13:02.579 --> 01:13:05.680 extra people on stage on these tours. Now that's 01:13:05.680 --> 01:13:07.680 the bigger part of the bigger and weirder tour. 01:13:07.760 --> 01:13:09.119 I don't know what the weird part is. I mean, 01:13:09.119 --> 01:13:10.979 so far we've all gotten paid. So it's not that 01:13:10.979 --> 01:13:13.640 the money has money. Hasn't gotten weird yet. 01:13:14.890 --> 01:13:17.090 I don't know what the weird part is, but it is 01:13:17.090 --> 01:13:19.930 definitely bigger. And it is definitely, our 01:13:19.930 --> 01:13:23.810 audience has grown and the venues we're playing 01:13:23.810 --> 01:13:27.149 have grown. We're playing arenas. We weren't 01:13:27.149 --> 01:13:29.409 really doing that, you know, before. We're playing 01:13:29.409 --> 01:13:32.630 larger, what they call sheds, these outdoor amphitheaters, 01:13:32.649 --> 01:13:35.329 not a 6 ,500 seat Greek theater, but, you know, 01:13:35.350 --> 01:13:39.069 a 19 ,000 seat Pine Knob, 20 ,000 seat Blossom 01:13:39.069 --> 01:13:42.050 near Cleveland, you know, Wolf Trap, you know, 01:13:42.069 --> 01:13:45.300 all of these places that. We really, and Merriweather 01:13:45.300 --> 01:13:47.939 Post, stuff like that, that really have some, 01:13:47.939 --> 01:13:49.319 you know, big capacity and we're selling them 01:13:49.319 --> 01:13:51.539 out. So when I say, well, you know, we go around 01:13:51.539 --> 01:13:53.300 and we do stuff for the hardcore fans and we 01:13:53.300 --> 01:13:56.500 play for 2 ,500 or 3 ,000 of them a night, you 01:13:56.500 --> 01:13:58.279 know, and that's nice. That's all well and good. 01:13:58.399 --> 01:14:01.279 You know, we're playing for 15, 18, 20 ,000 people 01:14:01.279 --> 01:14:03.520 in some of these places. And some of these arenas 01:14:03.520 --> 01:14:06.619 are, you know, 16, 18 ,000. And again, I'm not 01:14:06.619 --> 01:14:09.279 sure exactly what happened. It's not for, you 01:14:09.279 --> 01:14:11.119 know, because we've got a new product out, but 01:14:11.119 --> 01:14:12.880 where things are growing, we're attracting new 01:14:12.880 --> 01:14:16.500 fans. And we're playing bigger places and filling 01:14:16.500 --> 01:14:19.500 them. And that's a very cool thing. Most bands, 01:14:19.600 --> 01:14:22.460 I can't think of a band that's done that. Well, 01:14:22.500 --> 01:14:24.199 that's something I kind of wanted to bring up. 01:14:24.279 --> 01:14:26.180 So you're leading me right into it because last 01:14:26.180 --> 01:14:29.520 year I brought my entire family to Al's first 01:14:29.520 --> 01:14:32.939 ever sold out show at Madison Square Garden in 01:14:32.939 --> 01:14:36.560 New York City. And at one point, he even paused 01:14:36.560 --> 01:14:40.239 the show to take the moment in, which in between 01:14:40.239 --> 01:14:44.079 all the laughs that that show provided. especially 01:14:44.079 --> 01:14:47.119 for me growing up with his music and now being 01:14:47.119 --> 01:14:50.279 there with my children who are big fans and kind 01:14:50.279 --> 01:14:52.420 of having that full circle moment for my family. 01:14:52.859 --> 01:14:57.020 It felt just as special to those in attendance. 01:14:57.199 --> 01:14:59.539 You could tell the people that have been listening 01:14:59.539 --> 01:15:03.380 to Al all through the years as it was for Al 01:15:03.380 --> 01:15:06.439 in that moment that he paused. When you first 01:15:06.439 --> 01:15:10.000 toured with Dr. Demento four decades earlier, 01:15:10.140 --> 01:15:11.819 like we talked about at the beginning of this 01:15:11.819 --> 01:15:15.239 interview. Did the band ever imagine the road 01:15:15.239 --> 01:15:18.520 leading you to that moment? Oh, not, not at all. 01:15:18.819 --> 01:15:21.840 Not at all. Every, every, uh, turning point, 01:15:21.880 --> 01:15:24.119 you know, every, every new chapter was, it was 01:15:24.119 --> 01:15:27.300 always a pleasant surprise and, uh, you know, 01:15:27.300 --> 01:15:29.659 enjoyable and, and we're grateful for it and, 01:15:29.680 --> 01:15:31.460 you know, work hard for it and we continue to 01:15:31.460 --> 01:15:33.939 work hard for it, but it just, you know, we stopped 01:15:33.939 --> 01:15:36.899 making albums per se and the growth didn't stop. 01:15:37.000 --> 01:15:41.579 It just kept going. And this leap into. arenas 01:15:41.579 --> 01:15:43.859 and and bigger sheds that we wouldn't normally 01:15:43.859 --> 01:15:47.300 play is just one that's really cool i mean we're 01:15:47.300 --> 01:15:49.460 selling a lot of tickets you know and playing 01:15:49.460 --> 01:15:52.119 for a lot of people and and you know that's great 01:15:52.119 --> 01:15:55.119 i i don't really have an explanation for it i 01:15:55.119 --> 01:15:57.859 mean it's not like al wasn't popular before uh 01:15:57.859 --> 01:16:00.560 it's just suddenly we're we're asking more people 01:16:00.560 --> 01:16:02.600 to show up basically in these bigger venues and 01:16:02.600 --> 01:16:07.220 they are and uh that's pretty cool and and playing 01:16:07.220 --> 01:16:09.539 iconic venues like madison square garden i mean 01:16:09.539 --> 01:16:12.430 we played carnegie hall you know, on a couple 01:16:12.430 --> 01:16:14.810 of tours ago. And actually at the end of the 01:16:14.810 --> 01:16:18.050 2022 tour was Carnegie Hall. And that's not a 01:16:18.050 --> 01:16:20.229 giant venue, but that's a really cool place. 01:16:20.409 --> 01:16:23.029 Radio City was a really cool place. You know, 01:16:23.029 --> 01:16:25.770 Red Rocks near Denver is a really cool place. 01:16:25.909 --> 01:16:27.689 There's just, there's certain places, certain 01:16:27.689 --> 01:16:29.850 iconic venues that, you know, if they're not 01:16:29.850 --> 01:16:32.949 big, they're cool. But, and Madison Square Garden 01:16:32.949 --> 01:16:36.020 is pretty big. I think we sold 13 ,000. seats 01:16:36.020 --> 01:16:37.340 there. You know, by the time they blocked part 01:16:37.340 --> 01:16:39.399 of it off to have abandoned, I think they, they 01:16:39.399 --> 01:16:42.180 can do like 13 or 14 ,000 and we sold it out. 01:16:42.239 --> 01:16:44.819 And that's pretty cool. That was pretty cool. 01:16:44.920 --> 01:16:46.739 I'm sure Al sold a few t -shirts that night too. 01:16:47.159 --> 01:16:50.659 I guess he did. I could vouch for that. And I've, 01:16:50.659 --> 01:16:53.859 I've got a book on sale on that tour. And I think 01:16:53.859 --> 01:16:57.039 I sold a few books that night. Now the next two 01:16:57.039 --> 01:16:59.239 questions, I'm going to apologize in advance, 01:16:59.319 --> 01:17:03.859 but after every Superbowl, I inevitably see posts 01:17:03.859 --> 01:17:08.340 about how the world needs a Weird Al halftime 01:17:08.340 --> 01:17:13.020 show. Has there ever been any remote discussion 01:17:13.020 --> 01:17:16.840 beyond social media discourse that could give 01:17:16.840 --> 01:17:20.659 fans just a glimmer of hope that this could one 01:17:20.659 --> 01:17:25.869 day maybe be a possibility? You would think so. 01:17:26.029 --> 01:17:28.350 And, you know, we would hope Al has enough mainstream 01:17:28.350 --> 01:17:31.470 appeal. But that's one thing to sell 18 or 20 01:17:31.470 --> 01:17:33.470 ,000 seats. And that's another thing to take 01:17:33.470 --> 01:17:37.130 a 10 or 12 minute block on national, international 01:17:37.130 --> 01:17:40.869 TV where ad dollars are at stake and eyes on 01:17:40.869 --> 01:17:43.850 the tube. You know, will people sit through 12 01:17:43.850 --> 01:17:46.270 minutes of Weird Al who are not already fans, 01:17:46.489 --> 01:17:48.550 you know, who didn't deliberately come there 01:17:48.550 --> 01:17:50.250 to see Weird Al like they did at Madison Square 01:17:50.250 --> 01:17:52.649 Garden? You know, are they going to stay tuned 01:17:52.649 --> 01:17:56.029 in? You know, are the advertisers going to appreciate 01:17:56.029 --> 01:17:59.050 it? And they have some pretty good artists on 01:17:59.050 --> 01:18:02.510 there that attract eyes. I don't know. You know, 01:18:02.550 --> 01:18:04.529 I would like to think Al is as mainstream as 01:18:04.529 --> 01:18:07.109 them. But in the bigger picture, in terms of 01:18:07.109 --> 01:18:09.029 will the advertisers go for it and the networks 01:18:09.029 --> 01:18:11.409 and all that? I don't think so. Or they would 01:18:11.409 --> 01:18:13.989 have done it already. You know, I don't think 01:18:13.989 --> 01:18:16.189 I've seen anyone on there where I thought they're 01:18:16.189 --> 01:18:18.710 not as well known or well liked or, you know, 01:18:18.710 --> 01:18:20.909 whatever as Al. I don't think that's happened. 01:18:20.949 --> 01:18:23.189 I think. You know, I think Al is probably in 01:18:23.189 --> 01:18:26.630 there somewhere with most of them. And that would 01:18:26.630 --> 01:18:29.710 be a very cool thing. I don't I don't see it 01:18:29.710 --> 01:18:32.329 happening, but it would be very cool. I mean, 01:18:32.350 --> 01:18:36.710 I will be there if it does. Well, Weird Alice 01:18:36.710 --> 01:18:39.609 had gold albums, number one singles. He's won 01:18:39.609 --> 01:18:43.869 Grammy Awards on this very show. I hosted an 01:18:43.869 --> 01:18:46.489 episode with Patreon mixtaper Philip Bergman, 01:18:46.609 --> 01:18:50.770 where the two of us made a 20 song case. for 01:18:50.770 --> 01:18:53.869 why we each believed that Weird Al should be 01:18:53.869 --> 01:18:56.050 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 01:18:56.770 --> 01:18:59.729 Is that something that's ever crossed the band's 01:18:59.729 --> 01:19:01.869 mind over the years? Because you would be a part 01:19:01.869 --> 01:19:05.829 of that as well. Well, it should be, yeah. I 01:19:05.829 --> 01:19:08.710 mean, you know, one, there are a lot more opportunities 01:19:08.710 --> 01:19:11.130 for the Rock Hall than there are for one shot 01:19:11.130 --> 01:19:14.210 at the Super Bowl. Yes. You know, so the opportunities 01:19:14.210 --> 01:19:17.649 are there. I don't see why not. I believe you 01:19:17.649 --> 01:19:21.029 have to have been... releasing albums for 25 01:19:21.029 --> 01:19:24.449 years and that's the qualification which is not 01:19:24.449 --> 01:19:27.189 hard to do you know so we're certainly al is 01:19:27.189 --> 01:19:29.890 certainly qualified i don't know if it was a 01:19:29.890 --> 01:19:32.430 popularity contest i think our fans would have 01:19:32.430 --> 01:19:34.229 us in there if it was a question of you know 01:19:34.229 --> 01:19:36.069 go to this petition and we'll pay attention whatever 01:19:36.069 --> 01:19:38.670 the petition says we'll do it they would go in 01:19:38.670 --> 01:19:41.050 there and al would be in it doesn't work that 01:19:41.050 --> 01:19:43.210 way there's a committee there in the rock hall 01:19:43.210 --> 01:19:47.239 and they make those decisions based on Popularity, 01:19:47.239 --> 01:19:48.779 of course, to a certain point, you know, longevity 01:19:48.779 --> 01:19:51.600 in the business, maybe contributions to rock 01:19:51.600 --> 01:19:55.479 music. You know, there's a lot of different qualifications 01:19:55.479 --> 01:19:58.199 for being able to get in. It's not strictly a 01:19:58.199 --> 01:20:00.859 popularity contest. I believe they have some 01:20:00.859 --> 01:20:03.220 sort of a machine at the rock hall and you go 01:20:03.220 --> 01:20:05.500 there and you can like nominate people. And again, 01:20:05.640 --> 01:20:09.170 it's for fun. It's just for fun to do that. There's 01:20:09.170 --> 01:20:10.750 not somebody looking at that at the end of the 01:20:10.750 --> 01:20:12.569 month and going, ooh, wow, Weird Al is number 01:20:12.569 --> 01:20:14.270 six on there, so he's going to be within the 01:20:14.270 --> 01:20:16.890 10 people we bring in every year. If it worked 01:20:16.890 --> 01:20:20.310 that way, Al would have been in already. So I 01:20:20.310 --> 01:20:22.390 think that would be very cool, though. Now, that 01:20:22.390 --> 01:20:25.890 said, I have been to the Rock Hall and took a 01:20:25.890 --> 01:20:28.369 tour of it, and it was pretty cool. I enjoyed 01:20:28.369 --> 01:20:31.630 it very much. And it would be cool if it happened. 01:20:31.909 --> 01:20:35.189 I don't know. I think he deserves it. I could 01:20:35.189 --> 01:20:39.539 not agree more. But again, that's not, there's 01:20:39.539 --> 01:20:42.340 all sorts of factors. But I think, you know, 01:20:42.340 --> 01:20:44.140 based on the people I see in there, based on 01:20:44.140 --> 01:20:47.539 his, he's become very mainstream. And, you know, 01:20:47.560 --> 01:20:49.920 I like to say the novelty has worn off. He's 01:20:49.920 --> 01:20:52.680 not just a funny accordion player. He's a mainstream 01:20:52.680 --> 01:20:56.000 artist. It's a humorous show. He does a lot of 01:20:56.000 --> 01:20:57.939 acting stuff and voiceover stuff. I mean, he's 01:20:57.939 --> 01:21:01.020 become a very mainstream entertainer. Agreed. 01:21:01.020 --> 01:21:03.760 And for that reason. You would go, yeah, but 01:21:03.760 --> 01:21:05.119 there's a lot of people that are mainstream. 01:21:05.319 --> 01:21:07.600 So I don't know. I don't know. It could happen. 01:21:07.640 --> 01:21:10.060 Again, there's a number of people that get inducted 01:21:10.060 --> 01:21:13.859 every year, and it's certainly possible. So we'll 01:21:13.859 --> 01:21:16.500 see. And I'll be there for that, too. I hope. 01:21:18.720 --> 01:21:21.739 Now, Bermuda, as a member of Al's band and having 01:21:21.739 --> 01:21:24.159 played on every single record he's released, 01:21:24.359 --> 01:21:26.680 is there one that stands out to you as a personal 01:21:26.680 --> 01:21:29.460 favorite? I mean, I always say that my favorite 01:21:29.460 --> 01:21:31.989 album is the last one we did because. One, it's 01:21:31.989 --> 01:21:34.289 the most current. And two, it represents our 01:21:34.289 --> 01:21:37.829 best work as a band. And Al as well. I mean, 01:21:37.850 --> 01:21:40.390 he's gotten really good. For example, a lot of 01:21:40.390 --> 01:21:42.310 his early songs, you know, and he will admit 01:21:42.310 --> 01:21:45.670 this, were about food. Eat it, you know, fat, 01:21:46.050 --> 01:21:48.270 girls just want to have lunch, you know, et cetera, 01:21:48.350 --> 01:21:51.449 et cetera. I mean, I love Rocky Road. I mean, 01:21:51.470 --> 01:21:55.270 a lot of songs about food. And you almost don't, 01:21:55.270 --> 01:21:57.750 I mean, that's almost not happening anymore. 01:21:58.390 --> 01:21:59.829 I mean, I don't know if there's anything quite 01:21:59.829 --> 01:22:01.930 like that on, on the last, you know, two or three 01:22:01.930 --> 01:22:04.850 or four albums that we did. So he sort of got 01:22:04.850 --> 01:22:07.829 out of that phase. And, uh, I don't know if that 01:22:07.829 --> 01:22:10.210 means the songs were better or worse, but, uh, 01:22:10.449 --> 01:22:13.229 you know, I think they're good though. I think 01:22:13.229 --> 01:22:15.909 as he put more thought into stuff and not just, 01:22:15.909 --> 01:22:17.670 well, any song that has the word love in it, 01:22:17.729 --> 01:22:20.489 I'm just going to change it to lunch, you know, 01:22:20.489 --> 01:22:24.189 Led Zeppelin, whole lot of lunch. We used to 01:22:24.189 --> 01:22:27.039 do that live stuff like that. Easy to see why 01:22:27.039 --> 01:22:30.100 that was never released. But I mean, that would 01:22:30.100 --> 01:22:32.720 be kind of the formulaic sort of a thing. You 01:22:32.720 --> 01:22:34.560 know, if it has this word, then it becomes lunch 01:22:34.560 --> 01:22:36.800 or whatever it is, you know, and I'll just make 01:22:36.800 --> 01:22:39.520 a song about it and it'll be funny and Dr. Demento 01:22:39.520 --> 01:22:41.640 will play it and we'll just make sure we have 01:22:41.640 --> 01:22:43.880 one or two, you know, good lead singles on the 01:22:43.880 --> 01:22:46.000 album. It's fine. I mean, that's not to say he 01:22:46.000 --> 01:22:47.840 didn't care about what he put out. I think he 01:22:47.840 --> 01:22:51.619 just got more dedicated about what he put out 01:22:51.619 --> 01:22:54.590 in later years. And the tracks became more important. 01:22:54.689 --> 01:22:56.750 They weren't just sort of like, ah, it's an album 01:22:56.750 --> 01:22:58.569 cut. That's not why they're buying this album. 01:22:58.630 --> 01:23:00.069 They're buying it to hear Edith or Dare to be 01:23:00.069 --> 01:23:03.310 Stupid or whatever, like a surgeon. It became 01:23:03.310 --> 01:23:05.890 more important that every song stand on its own. 01:23:05.949 --> 01:23:07.789 There was nothing on there that was throwaway. 01:23:08.029 --> 01:23:10.229 And in that respect, then I would say the last 01:23:10.229 --> 01:23:12.510 album, I would say Mandatory Fun is the best 01:23:12.510 --> 01:23:16.310 album for that reason too. I will also add that 01:23:16.310 --> 01:23:18.670 going into that, Al knew that that was going 01:23:18.670 --> 01:23:21.149 to be his last album with the record label. That 01:23:21.149 --> 01:23:22.970 was the last album on the contract. And he knew 01:23:22.970 --> 01:23:25.210 ahead of time that he wasn't going to re -sign 01:23:25.210 --> 01:23:28.829 with them that, well, frankly, albums just weren't 01:23:28.829 --> 01:23:31.489 selling anymore. Product, physical product just 01:23:31.489 --> 01:23:33.250 was not selling. There wasn't a reason to have 01:23:33.250 --> 01:23:36.770 a label behind you to distribute product because 01:23:36.770 --> 01:23:38.930 people weren't buying it. And if he wanted to 01:23:38.930 --> 01:23:40.489 record something, he could certainly do it on 01:23:40.489 --> 01:23:43.750 his own and put it out there. through Apple Music 01:23:43.750 --> 01:23:45.810 or whatever, you know, Napster at the time or 01:23:45.810 --> 01:23:47.369 whatever, and promote it on YouTube or whatever 01:23:47.369 --> 01:23:49.729 it was. He could do all that himself. He didn't 01:23:49.729 --> 01:23:52.229 need the label to step in there and work with 01:23:52.229 --> 01:23:55.130 these other entities. They're all designed, iTunes, 01:23:55.350 --> 01:23:57.750 Apple Music. You can just be an independent artist 01:23:57.750 --> 01:23:59.869 and get your stuff on there. That wasn't always 01:23:59.869 --> 01:24:01.810 really quite the case. You know, it always helped 01:24:01.810 --> 01:24:04.649 to have the label in there to negotiate a release 01:24:04.649 --> 01:24:06.590 date, you know, so you could talk about the debut 01:24:06.590 --> 01:24:09.289 and then the label would help coordinate all 01:24:09.289 --> 01:24:11.340 that. It wasn't happening anymore. The artist 01:24:11.340 --> 01:24:13.420 could do it and Al could do it and Al has done 01:24:13.420 --> 01:24:16.420 it. So he knew that's where things were headed. 01:24:16.739 --> 01:24:18.760 They were already there and it was just going 01:24:18.760 --> 01:24:21.939 to get, you know, in terms of physical product, 01:24:22.060 --> 01:24:24.819 it was just going to get smaller. And therefore 01:24:24.819 --> 01:24:27.699 he didn't need a label behind him. The labels 01:24:27.699 --> 01:24:29.880 like they do with many groups and it's called 01:24:29.880 --> 01:24:32.739 a 360 deal, 360 degrees. In other words, the 01:24:32.739 --> 01:24:35.260 label has their hand in. The tour sales, the 01:24:35.260 --> 01:24:37.720 merch sales, they basically, you know, get a 01:24:37.720 --> 01:24:39.239 cut of everything the band does because they're 01:24:39.239 --> 01:24:41.699 not selling records, you know, so the label can't 01:24:41.699 --> 01:24:44.100 profit from that. So, but they still, you know, 01:24:44.100 --> 01:24:45.840 they'll get bands in there and they'll, there'll 01:24:45.840 --> 01:24:48.020 be some product, but when the band goes out, 01:24:48.039 --> 01:24:50.159 you know, hopefully makes money on tour, you 01:24:50.159 --> 01:24:52.420 know, the label makes money from that. And, uh, 01:24:52.600 --> 01:24:54.939 you know, and the band makes less and it's just, 01:24:54.960 --> 01:24:56.920 you know, for some bands that may be an attractive 01:24:56.920 --> 01:24:59.180 deal. I think for others, it's like, you know, 01:24:59.199 --> 01:25:00.960 we're just, we're giving money to the label and 01:25:00.960 --> 01:25:03.060 we're just not, you know, we're not getting anything 01:25:03.060 --> 01:25:05.579 for it. Uh, they're just taking it because they 01:25:05.579 --> 01:25:07.880 signed us. So that's something Al doesn't have 01:25:07.880 --> 01:25:10.560 to worry about. And, and they, they were never, 01:25:10.600 --> 01:25:12.479 we never had the label involved in any of that 01:25:12.479 --> 01:25:14.539 stuff. They were never involved in our, our tour 01:25:14.539 --> 01:25:17.140 revenue or any of that stuff. So that's always 01:25:17.140 --> 01:25:19.680 been Al's business. And the records have always 01:25:19.680 --> 01:25:21.859 been the labels business. And as they began to 01:25:21.859 --> 01:25:24.819 not sell records anymore, Al realized he didn't 01:25:24.819 --> 01:25:28.760 need a label. So I have to follow up then it's 01:25:28.760 --> 01:25:32.470 been 12 years since mandatory fun. Even though 01:25:32.470 --> 01:25:34.770 there's no labels involved, there have been some 01:25:34.770 --> 01:25:37.630 singles, and you can argue that the weird soundtrack 01:25:37.630 --> 01:25:42.329 with the re -records is conceivably an album, 01:25:42.489 --> 01:25:45.369 even though it's a compilation of sorts with 01:25:45.369 --> 01:25:48.050 the new song and other soundtrack elements, similar 01:25:48.050 --> 01:25:52.069 to what UHF was with the and other stuff. Considering 01:25:52.069 --> 01:25:55.789 the wealth of music that's out in 2026, that's 01:25:55.789 --> 01:26:00.909 ripe for parody. Do you foresee any new Weird 01:26:00.909 --> 01:26:04.010 Al full -length albums in the future, or was 01:26:04.010 --> 01:26:07.489 Mandatory Fun truly the curtain call for that 01:26:07.489 --> 01:26:11.510 era? I think that's the last album of 12 new 01:26:11.510 --> 01:26:15.750 songs. Al is free to record a parody or two or 01:26:15.750 --> 01:26:18.890 four if he wants, or originals or whatever. We 01:26:18.890 --> 01:26:21.670 can certainly do that, but we're not under contract 01:26:21.670 --> 01:26:25.109 to come up with 12 songs before it can be sold, 01:26:25.310 --> 01:26:28.520 before it can be marketed to the fans. That's 01:26:28.520 --> 01:26:30.779 the real constricting thing. You know, that, 01:26:30.819 --> 01:26:32.760 that was always tough. It's like, I got to cook 01:26:32.760 --> 01:26:35.000 up songs, you know, and sometimes it was easy 01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:38.159 and sometimes it was hard. And, uh, now it's 01:26:38.159 --> 01:26:40.579 neither. Now Al can do what he wants when he 01:26:40.579 --> 01:26:43.659 wants it. And it just happens that there have 01:26:43.659 --> 01:26:45.680 not been any parodies in the last, you know, 01:26:45.680 --> 01:26:48.680 10, 11, 12 years now. And I'm not aware that 01:26:48.680 --> 01:26:51.260 he's necessarily looking for one. If something, 01:26:51.399 --> 01:26:53.659 he, if he hears a song and it pops into his head, 01:26:53.760 --> 01:26:55.659 you know, something, an idea, and it's not about 01:26:55.659 --> 01:26:59.140 food, uh, you know, he might, uh, He could certainly 01:26:59.140 --> 01:27:00.840 do it. And he might say, you know what, we're, 01:27:00.840 --> 01:27:02.479 we're going to do a parody. I'm going to release 01:27:02.479 --> 01:27:04.880 a parody. We haven't had a parody since 2014, 01:27:05.319 --> 01:27:07.439 you know, let's do this. I think it's going to 01:27:07.439 --> 01:27:10.619 be good. We'll do a video for it. And, but that's, 01:27:10.619 --> 01:27:13.359 again, that's completely up to him. And honestly, 01:27:14.140 --> 01:27:16.939 the, the touring schedule is, is enough for me. 01:27:16.979 --> 01:27:20.060 I don't miss the recording demo process at all. 01:27:20.560 --> 01:27:22.680 You know, I mean, it's not like I'm dying to 01:27:22.680 --> 01:27:24.840 get back in the studio. You know, going out and 01:27:24.840 --> 01:27:27.579 performing this stuff live is really, I think, 01:27:27.600 --> 01:27:29.880 what we all enjoy, you know, most. I mean, yeah, 01:27:29.979 --> 01:27:32.439 it's fun to go in and record, but that's, it's 01:27:32.439 --> 01:27:35.239 work. It's a job and there's a lot more focus 01:27:35.239 --> 01:27:37.579 in the studio than there is, you know, there's 01:27:37.579 --> 01:27:39.479 a lot of focus on stage, but it's not quite, 01:27:39.659 --> 01:27:42.979 you know, parts don't have to be absolutely 100 01:27:42.979 --> 01:27:46.520 % exact. They could be 99 .4 % and that's good 01:27:46.520 --> 01:27:49.300 enough. But in the studio, it's got to be 100%. 01:27:49.300 --> 01:27:51.300 Right. Because it's going to stand the test of 01:27:51.300 --> 01:27:53.680 time. People can listen to it over and over. 01:27:54.039 --> 01:27:55.880 You know, that music's going to outlive all of 01:27:55.880 --> 01:27:58.279 us. But the performance, you know, being in the 01:27:58.279 --> 01:28:00.479 moment in the audience, seeing us play live, 01:28:00.659 --> 01:28:04.560 you know, if it's not 100%, it's okay. Now, we 01:28:04.560 --> 01:28:07.319 can't be 95%. You know, the fans will know. We'll 01:28:07.319 --> 01:28:10.300 know. Al will know. You know, we all know. If 01:28:10.300 --> 01:28:12.659 I'm not playing 100%, I know it, even if Al can't 01:28:12.659 --> 01:28:16.159 really tell. And I think he can. But, you know, 01:28:16.180 --> 01:28:17.640 not that he's listening to me, but if there's 01:28:17.640 --> 01:28:20.000 something I've done that's so egregious out there 01:28:20.000 --> 01:28:22.380 that people can hear it, you know, I might hear 01:28:22.380 --> 01:28:25.260 about it. You know, and he'll say, what happened 01:28:25.260 --> 01:28:28.340 to you? Did you fall asleep? Did you drop a stick? 01:28:28.539 --> 01:28:30.579 Did you, you know, whatever. But that's really 01:28:30.579 --> 01:28:33.060 rare. That's really rare. But I'm happy with 01:28:33.060 --> 01:28:35.199 the performance schedule, you know, and I like 01:28:35.199 --> 01:28:37.659 playing drums. That's the idea is to play drums. 01:28:37.960 --> 01:28:40.699 Not to, you know, it's not surgery about going 01:28:40.699 --> 01:28:43.460 into a studio and punching in little parts and 01:28:43.460 --> 01:28:45.520 stuff like that and editing stuff together. And, 01:28:45.520 --> 01:28:48.520 you know, it's playing live with people for people. 01:28:48.920 --> 01:28:52.229 And that's what I enjoy. So I don't miss the 01:28:52.229 --> 01:28:54.890 concept of not putting out an album. If that 01:28:54.890 --> 01:28:58.130 never happens, that's okay. And I would sort 01:28:58.130 --> 01:29:00.529 of like to, I'd like to see a parody or something 01:29:00.529 --> 01:29:04.189 come up again. It's possible. Anything's possible. 01:29:04.310 --> 01:29:06.250 But I'd love to see that happen because I'd like 01:29:06.250 --> 01:29:09.510 to get back and make sounds. It's probably going 01:29:09.510 --> 01:29:12.010 to be not something I play drums on, but that 01:29:12.010 --> 01:29:16.539 I create drum tracks for. I was very proud of 01:29:16.539 --> 01:29:18.960 what I did in terms of the sound design, in terms 01:29:18.960 --> 01:29:21.460 of concocting sounds, in terms of listening to 01:29:21.460 --> 01:29:23.939 something and not even knowing what that producer 01:29:23.939 --> 01:29:26.920 did to get those sounds, but listening to it 01:29:26.920 --> 01:29:30.159 and in my head and with my library of samples 01:29:30.159 --> 01:29:33.060 and with my ear being able to say, you know, 01:29:33.060 --> 01:29:35.000 I hear a little bit of, there's a little bit 01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:37.340 of a rim click on that snare and there's a little 01:29:37.340 --> 01:29:40.079 bit of a sort of a. Sounds like a single dark 01:29:40.079 --> 01:29:42.140 hand clap, maybe. I don't know. I'm going to 01:29:42.140 --> 01:29:43.380 put some of these things together and see if 01:29:43.380 --> 01:29:45.600 I can. And son of a gun, then I've got that drum. 01:29:45.720 --> 01:29:47.399 I've got that snare all of a sudden, because 01:29:47.399 --> 01:29:49.659 that's what the other people did. I didn't know 01:29:49.659 --> 01:29:52.260 that, but I listened and figured, well, what 01:29:52.260 --> 01:29:55.300 can I do to do that? Undoubtedly, it's the same 01:29:55.300 --> 01:29:57.579 in some cases. I mean, those are the elements 01:29:57.579 --> 01:29:59.579 of the sound. And in other cases, it's like, 01:29:59.680 --> 01:30:04.079 you know, I'm 97 % there. And once it's in the 01:30:04.079 --> 01:30:06.720 track, I think it's going to be great. and even 01:30:06.720 --> 01:30:08.739 their original producer on the original song 01:30:08.739 --> 01:30:10.140 wouldn't know the difference. And it's like, 01:30:10.220 --> 01:30:12.899 that's okay. I can get away with that. But I 01:30:12.899 --> 01:30:14.560 try not to get away with stuff. I try and do 01:30:14.560 --> 01:30:17.479 everything 100%. And I miss doing that stuff. 01:30:17.560 --> 01:30:20.020 I miss the challenge of creating sounds like 01:30:20.020 --> 01:30:22.060 that. There's nobody else, and I'm in some other 01:30:22.060 --> 01:30:24.560 bands in town here, but there's nobody else that's 01:30:24.560 --> 01:30:26.500 really doing stuff the way we do it with Al. 01:30:27.500 --> 01:30:31.140 Well, on top of recording and doing the live 01:30:31.140 --> 01:30:33.739 shows, you're also the official band historian. 01:30:34.569 --> 01:30:37.430 You've run WeirdAl .com since its beginnings 01:30:37.430 --> 01:30:40.409 in the mid -90s, and you've released two books, 01:30:40.609 --> 01:30:44.029 Black and White and Weird All Over in 2020, and 01:30:44.029 --> 01:30:48.470 Lights, Camera, Accordion in 2022. With all the 01:30:48.470 --> 01:30:51.449 memorabilia and all the history that you've amassed 01:30:51.449 --> 01:30:55.050 over the years, is there one item that you would 01:30:55.050 --> 01:30:59.630 consider the Weird Al Holy Grail of the collection? 01:30:59.930 --> 01:31:04.260 And if there is, why? Oh, boy. Well, there's 01:31:04.260 --> 01:31:07.600 a lot of very individual items. Probably the 01:31:07.600 --> 01:31:10.399 Holy Grail for a lot of reasons would be his 01:31:10.399 --> 01:31:13.699 original accordion case. And Holy Grail because, 01:31:14.020 --> 01:31:16.479 well, it housed his accordion, of course. The 01:31:16.479 --> 01:31:19.800 connection for me is that's what I beat on on 01:31:19.800 --> 01:31:23.399 Another One Rides the Bus. And I've had it in 01:31:23.399 --> 01:31:25.819 my, it's been mine ever since. We took it out 01:31:25.819 --> 01:31:27.359 on a couple of tours. He got a different case 01:31:27.359 --> 01:31:29.939 for his accordion for touring. So that became 01:31:29.939 --> 01:31:32.539 my case. I just, I've had it all these years. 01:31:32.899 --> 01:31:37.819 I just gave it back to him last year. And I can't 01:31:37.819 --> 01:31:41.479 say why. But I gave it back to him. It didn't 01:31:41.479 --> 01:31:43.859 happen. What was supposed to happen didn't happen. 01:31:44.000 --> 01:31:46.880 And he asked me if I wanted it back. And I said, 01:31:46.880 --> 01:31:49.380 no, just keep it. Because all of this stuff I've 01:31:49.380 --> 01:31:52.640 got is going to him anyway, in the end, in someone's 01:31:52.640 --> 01:31:55.880 end. If he passes away before I do, I don't know 01:31:55.880 --> 01:31:58.260 what to do. I guess his wife and daughter might 01:31:58.260 --> 01:32:00.939 want it. I hope so, because my wife doesn't want 01:32:00.939 --> 01:32:04.600 it. You know what? I know some fans that would 01:32:04.600 --> 01:32:06.699 be very happy to take this stuff off my hands. 01:32:06.760 --> 01:32:08.420 But the idea is that it's all going to go to 01:32:08.420 --> 01:32:10.119 Al. So with the accordion case, I thought, you 01:32:10.119 --> 01:32:12.699 know, it's going back to you anyway. Just hang 01:32:12.699 --> 01:32:15.600 on to it. That'd be the first of many things 01:32:15.600 --> 01:32:18.779 coming your way someday, I'm sure. Now, before 01:32:18.779 --> 01:32:20.520 we wrap things up, Bermuda, you had mentioned 01:32:20.520 --> 01:32:23.500 earlier that the Bigger and Weirder Tour was 01:32:23.500 --> 01:32:26.479 already swirling in Al's head long before it 01:32:26.479 --> 01:32:29.779 came to fruition. So I have to ask, what's coming 01:32:29.779 --> 01:32:32.699 down the road beyond the Bigger and Weirder Tour? 01:32:33.039 --> 01:32:35.960 Is there another ill -advised vanity tour coming 01:32:35.960 --> 01:32:39.119 or something else that maybe you can't say yet? 01:32:39.479 --> 01:32:41.659 You know, it hasn't been discussed. You know, 01:32:41.739 --> 01:32:44.600 I really don't know. Our touring schedule typically 01:32:44.600 --> 01:32:47.819 is we tour two years in a row. We take, you know, 01:32:47.819 --> 01:32:49.920 two sections out of two years and the third year 01:32:49.920 --> 01:32:53.210 is a year off. So 2027 is scheduled to be a year 01:32:53.210 --> 01:32:57.069 off. I assume that we're going back out and I 01:32:57.069 --> 01:33:01.750 assume that will be in 2028 and 2029, but I don't 01:33:01.750 --> 01:33:03.409 know. I mean, there's not, you know, this tour 01:33:03.409 --> 01:33:05.949 is far from over. I mean, we're not technically 01:33:05.949 --> 01:33:07.989 even in the middle of things right now. So it's 01:33:07.989 --> 01:33:11.689 a little too early for Al to say, or to, I think, 01:33:11.689 --> 01:33:13.949 have a concept that he wants to pass on about 01:33:13.949 --> 01:33:16.449 what's next. I don't know if we'd go back to 01:33:16.449 --> 01:33:18.890 the Vanity Tour or not. I think he liked that. 01:33:19.029 --> 01:33:21.489 He liked the simplicity of that. But I think 01:33:21.489 --> 01:33:24.670 he likes the show as well. And I'm pretty sure 01:33:24.670 --> 01:33:27.770 he likes the larger audiences and the bigger 01:33:27.770 --> 01:33:30.170 revenue that comes with them. You know, it's 01:33:30.170 --> 01:33:33.130 just, it's, you do get a real rush playing for 01:33:33.130 --> 01:33:36.189 a big, not that 3 ,000 people isn't big, but 01:33:36.189 --> 01:33:39.649 18 ,000 people is a rush. That's really cool. 01:33:39.869 --> 01:33:42.090 I don't know. I don't know what's next. I would, 01:33:42.189 --> 01:33:45.289 I'm up for another tour after this one. You know, 01:33:45.310 --> 01:33:47.720 I'm certainly, you know, I'm in. decent enough 01:33:47.720 --> 01:33:50.500 shape and mentally certainly ready to go back 01:33:50.500 --> 01:33:53.279 out again. I don't know. I know Al does this 01:33:53.279 --> 01:33:56.140 not because he has to. He likes it. He likes 01:33:56.140 --> 01:33:57.899 doing it. And that's the best reason to do it. 01:33:58.260 --> 01:34:00.720 You know, he doesn't do it for the money. He 01:34:00.720 --> 01:34:03.119 does it because he likes doing it. And that's 01:34:03.119 --> 01:34:04.979 good. And as long as he still is having fun, 01:34:05.220 --> 01:34:08.020 he'll still do this. And you know what? Same 01:34:08.020 --> 01:34:10.520 for us. As long as the band is still having fun, 01:34:10.600 --> 01:34:13.239 you know, we will all stay in our respective 01:34:13.239 --> 01:34:16.470 positions. Now, there's an age range. between 01:34:16.470 --> 01:34:19.229 al and and the oldest member of the band not 01:34:19.229 --> 01:34:21.390 a secret the oldest member is steve j on bass 01:34:21.390 --> 01:34:27.250 he just turned 75 in january and al just turned 01:34:27.250 --> 01:34:31.109 66 last fall so there's quite an eight you know 01:34:31.109 --> 01:34:33.270 and being the youngest guy he's you know you 01:34:33.270 --> 01:34:35.810 assume he's in the best shape and and you know 01:34:35.810 --> 01:34:38.090 the most amenable to being out on this schedule 01:34:38.090 --> 01:34:39.829 and performing every night and stuff like that 01:34:39.829 --> 01:34:41.770 i mean he works harder certainly than all of 01:34:41.770 --> 01:34:43.930 us up front there and he's still having a good 01:34:43.930 --> 01:34:46.720 time So I would, I would like to see that continue. 01:34:47.100 --> 01:34:50.579 I'm still having fun is Steve or even Jim, uh, 01:34:50.699 --> 01:34:52.479 or even Ruben, you know, and they're older than 01:34:52.479 --> 01:34:55.739 me as well. Are they gonna, you know, still want 01:34:55.739 --> 01:34:57.380 to go out and do this, this kind of schedule, 01:34:57.460 --> 01:35:00.060 you know, five nights a week in five cities for, 01:35:00.159 --> 01:35:03.600 you know, 18 weeks. I don't know. That's hard 01:35:03.600 --> 01:35:05.340 to say. I mean, there was probably a point where, 01:35:05.399 --> 01:35:08.119 where I just don't want to do that anymore. Not 01:35:08.119 --> 01:35:10.779 yet. I'm not there yet. So if Al wants to go 01:35:10.779 --> 01:35:12.800 out again after this, I'm pretty sure I'll be 01:35:12.800 --> 01:35:14.810 there. And I would like to see the rest of the 01:35:14.810 --> 01:35:17.930 guys there too. That's the band. That's what 01:35:17.930 --> 01:35:20.170 people want to see. You know, it's not like going 01:35:20.170 --> 01:35:21.430 to see Journey and you think you're going to 01:35:21.430 --> 01:35:23.649 see Steve Perry up there. And it's like, no, 01:35:23.689 --> 01:35:25.409 it's this other guy who has, I think, now been 01:35:25.409 --> 01:35:27.689 replaced by another guy. And it's like, well, 01:35:27.710 --> 01:35:29.289 yeah, but we're still Journey. See, the contract 01:35:29.289 --> 01:35:31.069 says we're Journey because the keyboard player 01:35:31.069 --> 01:35:34.270 owns the name. So we're Journey, right? No, no, 01:35:34.289 --> 01:35:37.189 Steve Perry up front was Journey. That's Journey. 01:35:37.449 --> 01:35:39.649 A lot of bands like that, I guess. You know, 01:35:39.670 --> 01:35:42.260 now you can't replace Weird Al. You can't have 01:35:42.260 --> 01:35:44.359 someone come in and sing his songs and say it's 01:35:44.359 --> 01:35:46.640 the Weird Al Show when it's not even Al. But 01:35:46.640 --> 01:35:50.279 all of us, honestly, we're all replaceable. And 01:35:50.279 --> 01:35:53.380 I think the fans would still enjoy it. But I'm 01:35:53.380 --> 01:35:55.420 going to hang in there as long as I can, as long 01:35:55.420 --> 01:35:56.920 as I want to, and as long as I'm having fun. 01:35:57.039 --> 01:35:59.039 And it's still fun. And I'm looking forward to 01:35:59.039 --> 01:36:03.399 this tour, this May through October tour that 01:36:03.399 --> 01:36:06.220 we're doing this summer. And it's going to be 01:36:06.220 --> 01:36:08.760 a lot of fun. Got a couple of little changes 01:36:08.760 --> 01:36:12.659 in it, but it's going to be fun. Oh, little tease 01:36:12.659 --> 01:36:15.739 there for everybody. Well, Bermuda, this has 01:36:15.739 --> 01:36:18.539 been such an incredible discussion. I want to 01:36:18.539 --> 01:36:21.880 thank you for your time, the decades of music 01:36:21.880 --> 01:36:25.239 and laughter, and most importantly, for joining 01:36:25.239 --> 01:36:27.520 me tonight on My Weekly Mixtape. This has truly 01:36:27.520 --> 01:36:30.079 been an honor for me. Well, my pleasure, and 01:36:30.079 --> 01:36:32.300 you're very welcome. And I hope I didn't say 01:36:32.300 --> 01:36:33.800 anything too stupid or that's going to get me 01:36:33.800 --> 01:36:37.739 fired. I sure as hell hope not. And if it is, 01:36:37.779 --> 01:36:40.060 tell me and I'll edit it out before it airs. 01:36:40.060 --> 01:36:45.340 How's that sound? Okay. The one and only Bermuda 01:36:45.340 --> 01:36:47.779 Schwartz, everybody. And remember, you can hear 01:36:47.779 --> 01:36:50.079 all the songs we discussed tonight over on the 01:36:50.079 --> 01:36:54.140 episode page at myweeklymixtape .com. If you 01:36:54.140 --> 01:36:56.640 have suggestions for future episodes of My Weekly 01:36:56.640 --> 01:36:59.760 Mixtape, feel free to hit me up, myweeklymixtape 01:36:59.760 --> 01:37:02.560 at gmail .com. You can connect with me on social 01:37:02.560 --> 01:37:05.779 media at... 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This has been My Weekly Mixtape. 01:37:42.319 --> 01:37:44.880 And until next time, enjoy the tunes.