511. - Youth Lagoon

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. We're recording. It's Chris Black coming to you live from New York City on America's favorite day, July 4th. I am recording from the all-new Zoom H6. Jason, thank you for your technical expertise. and suggesting this fine piece of machinery for me yeah so what's going on bro i saw on instagram that it's it's raining cats and dogs over there in the city is that true yeah it's it's honestly this this last three or four days in new york has reminded me about how disgusting the cesspool is i mean the smells the trash the tourists oh the rats are getting bigger and stronger and harder and better and faster it's crazy they eat their own pizza now but the um But, yeah, it did rain. I think now the sun's creeping out. Luckily, I'm indoors tuning in to the championships, Wimbledon, over there in the UK, where they're also suffering from some rain. But, luckily, they have a couple. Closed courts where Andy Murray is able to, and his new hip, are able to hit some balls. So we're in good shape. Is Wimbledon happening right now as we speak? Yes, it is. Yeah, this is day two. And I believe that the, I think, 28 matches have been canceled or delayed because of weather. So it's going to last longer than it usually does just based solely on scheduling. Fellas, promo code howlonggoneandcheckoutforbluechew.com. You want to last longer?

Well, I mean, I was saying earlier, you know, whenever a holiday happens or anything like that, all I want to do is like watch Wimbledon and eat a hot dog, maybe take a nap, you know, old guys rule lifestyle. But there's just, we got to do this and we got to prep this and the dog sitter and this barbecue and that friend's thingy and we're doing this and that. It's so much work. Yep. So much work when you're supposed to not work. Well, Jason, unfortunately for you, this is... I don't even have kids for Christ's sake. This is the life you've chosen. Imagine if there was a fucking baby TJ. I can't imagine. I'd be the most insufferable little bitch complaining about everything. My therapist would go need a therapist once I shut out one of these little kids. I think that the other problem that you have that I don't have is people know I can bring nothing to a party. I can't bring any ribs. I can't make any Alice in Roman desserts. I can't do anything. Well, that's false, Chris. You have to bring the hardest thing of all, something that money can't buy, even though you always bring a thoughtful bottle of wine. You have to bring, quote-unquote, it. Sure, okay. You know what I mean? Okay, so I have to bring it, but sometimes I don't know if people recognize the value of it when comparing it to something a little more. Robust, like some ribs. It is priceless, Chris. That's why. That's why we have trouble. I agree. Look, you don't have to twist my arm, bro. I understand. So you're juggling all of these duties, and you also mentioned some landscaping. Were you in the yard this weekend? Because that's traditional July 4th stuff. Well, I mean, also, not only do I have to bring it, but I also have to bring dip. Okay, okay, okay. So I don't want to hear it, Chris. Look, I'm saying you built this life for yourself, and now you're in a prison of your own making. I know. Yeah, I was landscaping. Carolyn thought it would be a good idea to trim some trees this weekend, and we got after it. I mean, it looks great. I'm glad we did it.

I whine and complain and I kick and scream, but when it's done, I do feel a good feeling. It's just like, is it worth it? I feel that at the gym, too. I feel like that's the only thing that betters me as a person, but maybe I should try cutting down some trees. These are small trees. You were just up there with a ladder. You weren't scaling. You weren't repelling. I was up there with a ladder. It was more of a prune than anything. You know, the emotional tax that I had as an artist. I can't just prune. I have to create. Can I ask you why you didn't just hire someone to do this? It seems like a pretty simple task for a professional gardener, one which I'm sure you have coming by every week or at least bi-weekly. Every week, yeah. Every week. But, I don't know. The gardener is always going to do something. He's always going to fuck something up. No, I mean, I hope, Frank, if you're listening, I don't mean that. But, you know. We're very particular people. There's always like, yeah, can you just do this? And there's always one thing where it's like, you did it technically, but it's also not exactly how I would have done it. You didn't fuck it up, but I would have done it differently. But also, I get pleasure out of doing it myself. Well, that's the beauty of not knowing what's good or bad or caring or knowing if you could do a better job. I never can do a better job, so the task is always complete. by a a member of our staff so you've been you've been the most ignorance is bliss ass person under my nose this entire time i never even realized it exactly jason welcome to hell um but um beyond your tasks i wanted to talk about something that we've been paying close attention to and that's um hunter biden smoking crack and driving 172 miles an hour and i think there was some I think there's some confusion in the World Wide Web that maybe he was doing both at the same time. And I think that it's two separate incidents. Is that a sensationalized headline? I think it's a sensationalized headline, yeah. But I think he was doing both things. And 172 miles an hour.

seems really high. Yeah, I was saying earlier that you don't really see people hitting those speeds on civilian roads, maybe on a Top Gear closed track where the guy's got a helmet on and a harness and everything. You know Hunter didn't even have his seatbelt on. You know Hunter had one of his balls was hanging out the bottom of his shorts while he's trying to get the cap open on his fucking... Mountain Dew Code Red. And he's like, oh shit, I'm doing... 172 is hard to hit. That's all I'm saying. 172 feels like... I didn't read fully into what kind of car he had, but that feels like Maserati level. The Honda Accord ain't going 172. I think it was a Porsche. Okay, because I know he's been taking money from all those foreign adversaries, so at least he was spending it on some German engineering. Because otherwise... He's really a cockroach, so he won't die, and I'm continually impressed by his feats, physical and otherwise. He's the white flavor flavor. Do you think there was any sort of sexual activity with a woman of the night going on while he was driving 172 or just while he was smoking crack? I guess it makes sense because in the little 9-11 Carrera, you either have room for a sex worker or a suitcase, and he doesn't seem like the type of cat who travels. With much, you know, he's not a big packer. He didn't have, he was able to leave the Goyard duffel at home for the weekend and instead replace it with a fine young lady who's kind of putting herself through school. Yeah, he did not have time. It was probably, let's go to Vegas. It was a little more impulsive, and it was a little less, like, he's not checking the Points Guy website for some, like, packing tips. He didn't even check JSX for open aisle seats. He just kind of got in the Porsche and did his thing. He usually likes to take the time to get his suitcase wrapped in plastic in the airport terminal, but even then, he was like, just not now. We're cutting it so close. But yeah, I think that the Hunter Biden saga is one of the greatest things that we've ever gotten from a president. And I think you guys need to stop focusing on laws and bills and all this kind of social studies-ass gobbledygook and focus on the fact that this is the best.

thing we've gotten since john f kennedy jr shirtless you know like this is the best thing like what are we talking about you know chelsea clinton yeah he come on she didn't do shit is the most republican democrat in the history of the world he's just he's just getting after it like if hunter biden was republican everyone would be so happy there wouldn't be a problem in the world the ukraine war would be over no he would be he would be he would be the president If he was Republican, he would be the president. He would have conquered his own father to take the position of power because he would be so beloved. And he does feel, you know, he does feel, I feel a close kinship to Hunter, not only because he's a drug addict, but also because he's a little bit, you know, he feels Southern. His spirit is Southern, let's say. Wouldn't you agree? Well, at the very least, his neck is red. But that's from some type of tapeworm situation. It's a bacterial issue. No, he fell asleep at the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel after a few too many. And he kind of got a little. But I think that he would be president if he was Republican. And I'm waiting for him to kind of. Just just it's time, man. Just switch sides. Let's have a career. They don't care about corruption. They don't care who you're taking money from. They don't care who you're selling stuff to. And I think that that is a place where you could profit and thrive. So it's something to consider kind of switching parties. And just like a vasectomy in a couple of years, you can switch back to Democrat, whatever you need to. You know, it's just like, you know, watching wrestling like Undertaker is good now. Whatever. Yeah. Stuff like that. That's actually a great comparison. No one actually cares. No one actually cares. Yeah. As long as the plot keeps moving. But also, friend of the show, Sofia Rossi, invited us over to watch the season and series finale of... Hey, let's not go there yet. Unless you know something I don't know, Jason. We're not sure that season two isn't coming. We don't know. After watching the finale, you watched it, right? Yeah. yeah what is that what is that answer yeah it's a yes or no question chris what's going on yeah no no i was because i was thinking about being cock shy well because i saw the i saw the we saw the finale like we saw they shot that scene at the show we were at in la

Oh, like the one where they're on stage. That was during like we had to sit through that at the beautiful SoFi Stadium. You got to sit through that. I don't know if it was when history was made. I mean, I couldn't see when the weekend's manager figured out a tax loophole. I mean, it's pretty tough to recreate a stadium scene without kind of just doing it or piggybacking, you know? I don't know how else you do. Oh, it's very hard, but it's also a nice little write-off, you know? Yes, yeah, I'm sure. And I'm sure after Sam Levinson was so deeply over budget, HBO would take whatever they could get. This was the work of the Finkelsteins, if you ask me. Did you have to bring something to that event, or were you able to take the night off and just watch Tedros do his thing? I brought a Weiser Farms cantaloupe and some prosciutto, but she's vegetarian. And so I took my meat home and then just gave her a melon to enjoy at a later day. You kept your meat in your pants and just left a melon on the table? Yeah. And it seems like a good – it felt odd being in BJ Novak's house while he wasn't home. But it was nice to sort of communicate through. Like he was texting with us kind of in spirit. And I was saying like it would be nice if, you know, those iPads that are on the little – wheels, like the little Segway wheels, and there's an iPad and it can move around your house when your grandma can't walk no more. I wanted BJ to have that and him to be like, oh, I see you found my medicine cabinet, Jason. Oh, you found my cookie drawer. It would only be... It would only be cool if it was BJ's voice coming from the robot iPad, like scolding you for having too many of his Tate's crispy cookies and then sending you a small invoice for the cookies that you did enjoy. It's like in Vegas. If the liquor bottle moves, they charge you for it. It's a tripwire system at BJ's. But I'm kind of sad to watch The Idol. I watched episode one in the sauna. like an hour before i went to go watch the finale because you know episodes two through four don't really matter well uh i got to hear the song and i know i love i'm a freak it's in my body now i'm i know that i'm a month late to the party sorry guys i think the song is i'm actually working on a story about this right now and i think the song is going to be

the lasting like i think that could be like a gay anthem for for years to come like a you know if it if it if the djs keep spinning if you and your community support this song i think that we could i think we could have it well that's that's the thing is i don't think that it the i don't think it's padoming i don't think the song is necessarily a it's it's sort of i don't i won't say it's been rejected by our community but It's not making a splash the way that everyone expected it to. Because the song is a little too... I love the music of Sky Ferreira. Gonna go see her this weekend. But you don't play it at 3am at Rage on Santa Monica Boulevard. No, I agree with you. It's a little sleepier. A little moodier. I know, but it has a nice cultural tie-in. And I think if people were pathetic enough to play the White Lotus theme song at their million-dollar wedding, then I feel like this could. I mean, it doesn't seem that crazy. But you're right. You're right. It's not an upbeat. Trust me, I want it to. I want it to be a thing. But I just don't know. I feel like if it hasn't happened yet, the door... It's kind of starting to close. Well, who knows what could happen. There could be more behind-the-scenes revelations from the set that could keep this thing moving. But all that to be said, I am a little sad to miss this show because it really... It's like when you would watch movies from the 80s when everyone was just on cocaine and everyone was greenlighting everything and nothing mattered. Every budget wasn't limited and we're just printing money. It was sort of a return to that form for just a brief moment where it's just like, yeah, we're going to make... You know, like that movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise. Just like, yeah, let's just make him like a bartender in a club. And that's the movie. And everyone was like, good enough. This is rocking. I mean, it worked. It worked. So it's the same kind of thing. But even like the plot doesn't matter. They'll be like, oh, do I need to pay attention to this like weird thing that just happened to the Blackpink chick? And they're like, no, we're never going to see any of this again.

Just giving up halfway through storylines in like a beautiful way. And it almost was like a choose your own adventure to me. It was like, what happened there? And it was like. whatever you want it doesn't matter and that was kind of freeing the way that people i mean the the how upset it made people was what was freeing to me like i haven't seen some like i it made me feel like i was crazy to watch people i'm just like guys why don't you just like laugh at it and have fun like why is this like the most shocking part was people going like catholic mode pearl clutching like it's just too vulgar it's just too much for me and i'm like you literally don't shave your armpits and vote for bernie and this is too much for you like come on like what's the big deal like i don't i just don't understand like it's not like i need to see all of this stuff like do i want to see the weekend tie lily rose depp up with a fucking with a with a robe and and cut a hole for her to breathe no i don't want to see that but it doesn't offend me it's just like unless i'm alone in the sauna i don't want to see well yeah of course of course that goes without saying but i just think i think that was one of the funniest parts about the reactions to me where people were like offended by it and i'm like why can't you just have fun and laugh at this like it's it's pure entertainment sorry it doesn't have the you know uh the panache and family drama of succession you know i just don't know what we want panache well i think this all this was is a litmus test or a battleground in the culture wars where it's like how conservative are you how much of a freak are you how hot are you how much do you not care how sexual are you and you learn instantly just how sexual or how prudish or how fun or how yeah you know weird and not so fun All of your closest friends and families and everyone you follow. A litmus test. A few other things. A litmus test, but instead of an eyedropper full of some type of chemical compound solution, it's just weekends come. It's just come. Jason, don't talk about able like that. That's gross. I'm unable to climax. They're fresh seawater. We also want the Yannick Sinner, the tennis player.

at Wimbledon, he brought out the Gucci bag. And this is a big deal because this has never been done before. So he had the Gucci bag on the court with the custom initials on the tag. um and i i think this is i love to see this i love to see this is how it should be these guys are hot they're athletes like let's see them and they also make it look better than nba players because it's just a bag and not parachute pants you know this is not a violation though is it like is it one like where you know michael jordan had to pay the fine every time he brought a gucci bag out it's not like that no apparently there were like There were levels of approvals that had to happen, but I think that they know it's good for them. I think they know, and I think that Louis Vuitton is in the mix as well, but people were losing their minds over it. It's pretty cool. I mean, it looks good, and it feels appropriate, so I wonder if it'll have any repercussions or if people are going to start really throwing their hat in the ring. Didn't that happen a while ago where there's a tennis player who had some article of clothing or garment? It was the really tall guy that we were going to get on the pod that one time. He, like, had a bag or something that was, like, a violation of, like, the dress code of the tournament he was playing in. And he had to, like, pay, like, a $10,000 fine or something like that. Do you remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He brought a gallery tote bag onto the court. No, not gallery department. Like, an art gallery. And it was, like, pink. Riley Opelka. And it was, like, pink. and and he got yeah he got fined but that was just him trying to like i think he was trying to like that's his homies or something like if i'm gonna break or if i'm gonna break a rule and get fined i'm gonna do it for a luxury house that's paying me a million dollars um that seems like a better idea than my homies gallery there we go but yeah that that is american express fined him ten thousand dollars and he continued but i think i think what happened is he probably didn't get a kickback on this but i bet that

whatever that business was, uh, sold a lot of those fucking bags after that happened. Cause he continued to carry it for like, for like months. Um, but yeah. And then the only other thing that happened this weekend during July 4th, Jason was the, the rate limit being exceeded on the twitter.com website. Um, and, uh, it only happened to me for a day, but there was a, an issue with a Google bill that Elon didn't want to pay. Therefore it was in, he decided to, instead of pay the bill, kind of put a governor on the amount of tweets you could see per day if you're not paying for the service. Limiting someone like me to 600 tweets is like taking my oxygen away. So I was a little concerned. But then it just kind of, like most things that you guys complain about with the Twitter website, it just kind of went away and I haven't heard anything else about it after 24 hours, which is truly amazing. That's what everything... Everything that people are like, that's it. I can't deal with this anymore. It just goes away. If you just wait it out. And I wanted to say, and I mentioned this to you, but stop with this blue sky shit, guys. No one's going to blue sky. I'm leaving this garbage app for blue sky. Find me over at the other app. Like, stop. No one's using blue sky. It's not going to work. The only thing that could work is the... Zuck version that is coming to Instagram. Threads. Threads. I wish I had a Z. Meta threads. But Blue Sky is not it, so stop. Like I said to you, it sounds like a fucking vegan yogurt. That does not sound like a place where I'm going to post all my cool thoughts and opinions. We just have to stop. It's not happening. I see all these journalists being like, yeah, follow me. I can't take anymore. Follow me over on Blue Sky. What can you not... Finally leaving this dumpster fire where I'm going to post screenshots on my Twitter. Yeah, what do you think... It's the same thing. What do you think is going to happen? No one's going to follow you there. We've seen this happen so many times. It's crazy to me how people are so offended by what Twitter does when it's a free service that gives you hours and hours of entertainment. Just enjoy it and let it rock.

That's it. Like there's no reason to think about it more than that. To me, there's a lot of similarities of when everyone was like, you know what? I'm going to get like a Samsung phone instead of an iPhone. And then everyone was like, hey, the camera is better. It's faster. I can save my files. And they list all the stuff that's better. And then the only defense every time is like, yeah, just look at it. It looks weird. I don't want it. And that's it. And like when you look at Blue Sky, it's like, oh, here's. them jeans at blue dot sky dot social just follow me there and just simply looking at the url of your account you're like no yeah i don't care i'm out dude yeah i'm out yeah it does remind me yeah it just takes it's like those little human like reptile brain things about it where you just look at something and you're like i don't even care if this is good i don't want to do it It's like, yeah, it's like, well, the Google Pixel. It's just dumb. The Google Pixel photos are, I'm like, all right, so you're going to use a Google Pixel? Like, all right, man, God bless. It's like people who try to use non-Apple headphones. Like, what are you trying to prove? There's a lot of, I mean, there's another one that I just thought of when people have the performatively cheapest electric car. Like, I drive a Chevy Volt or I drive in there like, Teslas and Mercedes and every single car makes like a sick one, but you had to buy the one that's like. the most like librarian ass one of all time as a thing and they're like yeah but it's just the mileage and like i don't care i don't care let's save it just looks stupid save it's stupid that's it save it um all right how long gone we do have a guest today uh we had a great chat with uh Trevor Powers, you probably know him as Youth Lagoon. His new album, Heavens in a Junkyard, is out now on Fat Possum, receiving rave reviews, best new music from Pitchfork. Trevor surprised us, coming to us live from Idaho, and we had a pleasure. Yeah, because of our holiday weekend and the way things are moving around, full disclosure, we did already record the interview, so it's not a straight into one, but that's good news because I can tell you that I had not...

expected anything from youth lagoon i was obviously familiar with with him and his music but have never spoken to him or heard an interview with him so who who knows with these musicians but it ended up being one of the better podcast guests that we've had in a long time he was very open and therapeutic he kind of he kind of played us like a fiddle he did in some ways where he opened us up Got me wide open. No, he did. No, he really did. So, yeah, the tables are a little turned on this episode. He's asking us a lot of questions. The tables are turned. Yeah, shout out to Trevor. All right, thank you guys for listening. How Long Gone? We're back this week with more podcasts. Don't you fucking worry. And I hope everyone had a great July 4th. And, yeah, Jason, good luck with your ribs. I hope you don't get sunburned. Like, have a hot dog for me, et cetera. Have fun doing what I want to do. Watching Wimbledon on a stupid Samsung TV that looks like a picture frame. Actually, since you brought that up, Jason, I do want to say our long national nightmare is over. We gave in and we bought the Samsung frame stand from Amazon.com. And the TV is up now on the stand. And I love the way the stand looks. It's not quite a flush mount, but this is going to do. So two years later, we are able to watch the TV when it's not sitting on the ground. So I just want to kind of speak my truth to power. Being okay with the fact that you can't have kids and you're okay with adopting. You're like, you know what? We're totally fine with not being able to mount it on the wall because of the structural issues. I think the stand is going to be great. It is great. Oh, and the other – Jason, oh, my God, I almost forgot. And this is for our Bravo heads out there. So, Jason, you can cover your ears. Pour on another pot of coffee. The key begins. But Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky are separated. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, 27-year marriage. And it seems like Kyle Richards – 27? Seems like Kyle Richards is going Chrishell mode, and she's –

She's dyking out with Morgan Wade, a female country singer, who now some of my internet researchers have discovered that Kyle and Morgan have matching tattoos. Morgan has also been wearing Kyle's Rollie, and so they think there's a little more going on than friendship, if you know what I mean. So the continuation of Bravo female celebrities going... lesbianist during their career. There's countless now. Kyle's pretty high profile. Obviously, she's been part of the franchise since day one. This was big news yesterday, and as Nomi Fry texted me, this is the fall of man. Men, we're being replaced, at least in the Bravo universe. You just said a lot of words, and I don't know what any of them mean, but it does seem big. It's not for you. It doesn't matter. I like that there is a female country artist named Morgan Wade as well as Morgan Wallen. Does she also look a little fast and loose with the N-word? I don't know, but she looks like it, yes. Wouldn't put it past the hoe? Well, the best thing is that she has this. She's tatted up. You know this tatted up Morgan is going to take the role. Not the presidency. I'm wearing it. What are you going to do about it? That's what I thought. Nothing. It's really funny, though, because people are like, look at her watch before she met Kyle, and it's an Apple watch. It's the same picture. Look at her watch after Kyle, and it's the rollie. um but i guess kyle had famously kyle like wait what does kyle do what is what does he do it's a woman oh okay real housewives of beverly hills but actress you know so she's a housewife entrepreneur-esque etc uh yeah yeah that's that's that's fair to say but she's also um she's just part like he's hot that's the whole thing like he her husband is like the known hottie real estate agent And he's about to run through every hostess in West Hollywood. It's about to be a movie for this motherfucker. And this guy's name is what? Mauricio? Mauricio, yeah. Mauricio, right, right, right. He's hot, kind of a gray daddy vibe. And I think he's about to kind of remind Kyle what she's missing when she hits. I did see Mauricio on gay Twitter pop-ups saying, like, finally.

Daddy's open. Daddy's ready for my hole and stuff like that. I'm sure Andy's already put dibs on it, but we'll see. Yeah. Good luck. I'd like to see you try. How Long Gone. Pray for Maurizio. Pray for Kyle. And we'll be back next week with more podcasts. And thank you for Trevor for being such a great guest. Goodbye. Thank you to everyone. Bye. I just want to say. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web, so do our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues, maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world, writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly, a website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could, you know, have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools so those future graduates can find me. And, you know, I'm able to accept, quote, unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. Show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early. And we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional as your competition, if not more. So head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable. And they're just easy, but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics, but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated.

but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada. That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. The real question is, Trevor, yeah, why aren't you in the studio right now? Where's the Focusrite? Where's the Elvis-style microphone? Are you just at home? I saw a microphone behind him. Yeah, I have a mic behind me, but I've been having some trouble with it, so I had to order another one. I don't know what's going on. I had no idea what's going on with it. And we got a four-day weekend. Fourth of July is fucking up your delivery, probably, isn't it? I'll get it figured out. Guitar Center shipping. That's a nice diplomatic answer. Guitar Center shipping stuff is always so annoying. I get it, bro. It's a real pain in the ass. Those guys over there aren't in any rush to get us. Yeah, actually, we've got a lot of gearheads who listen. Are you more of a Sweetwater guy? Are you a Guitar Center guy? Amazon, where are you buying your gear at? Sweetwater. Always Sweetwater. Oh, really? Why do you say that? Well, I'll do Guitar Center. I mean, it is down the street, so it's really convenient. I'll do it if there's something that's an emergency situation. But Guitar Center has fucking gone down the tubes. I mean, every single time. You sounded Canadian there. I liked it. Every single time I'm in there. I think last time I had to get something that was behind a glass pane. I think it was a pedal. Okay. Yeah, I want to say it was a guitar pedal. So it was behind one of those glass panes that you're supposed to just slide out. But there was a key that you needed to unlock it.

And the dude couldn't find the key. So then he went to go find the manager. The manager also couldn't find the key. I was there for over an hour with them looking for the key. And that wasn't the first time because that happened at home. And then I was in Atlanta maybe two months ago. And almost the same exact thing happened in Atlanta. So at that point, I was like, it's ultimate emergency situation. Guitar Center, it's like when you go to Walgreens and you want to buy some Advil. You know, TikToker can't find the key to open it up and you're like, God damn it. This is bullshit. Yep. Yep. That's totally it. That's 100% it. But Sweetwater is so reliable. I mean, they're super reliable. So, yeah, that's always my go-to. Make some noise for Sweetwater. Hold on. I don't know anything about Sweetwater. I thought it was a beer. So, if you guys could kind of enlighten me on what this is. It's a low-gravity cider, actually. It is. Yeah. 10%. Good luck. Hold on to your hat. Yeah. I hope you got a babysitter. So is Sweetwater just like a cool new Guitar Center competitor? That's what I'm taking away from this. It's not new. It's been around forever. Yeah, it's been around for a long time. I don't think they have any physical locations, but to my knowledge, it's all online. Their reps, too, care a lot to the point where they'll always check in. They'll actually like... It feels weird sometimes, but they'll text you to see how the piece of gear is. That's happened to me multiple times. And it doesn't really matter what, you know, like whatever you want to call the status of the music that you're doing. Like you could be a local band in, you know. Kansas City, and they'll do the same thing. Interesting. They just care a lot. You could be Ozzy Osbourne or your ass in Idaho, and you're still getting the same white glove service. Yeah, exactly. That's it. Take my money, Sweetwater. I love getting a text message from a guy you bought some strings from, like, are you up? How's the recording going? It does seem a little...

Seems a little intrusive. Dinesh wants to know if your sister-in-law had that kid yet. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I guess that's good customer service at the end of the day because customer service, as you've stated, it's a dying art. So the fact that they're doing this is the reason they're seeing such a rise and maybe they're going to one day dominate over Guitar Center. For sure. Well, and I even bought a keyboard a little while back and I took it out of the box. I used it for like... i don't know two or three weeks and it wasn't working out and i mean this thing was fucking huge and i contacted sweetwater and asked if i could send it back and they gave me a full refund even without the box so i just took it no box full refund no yeah yeah bro pretty impressive sweetwater touch brother sweetwater is different damn that's crazy all right you can tell the truth on how long gone you use the keyboard you got the part you needed recorded and then you sent it back that's what you did right no No, really, the main thing was I had this old... Don't play me like that, bro. I had this old Nord that wasn't working at the time because some of the keys were fucked up, and then it started working. And that's been my baby for years. You said a Nord. It's funny that you said Nord. We had a hot debate on one of our last episodes about the Nord. What was the debate? Are you familiar with the Nord versus Rhodes battle? Obviously, you're a... a nordic soldier it sounds like right i am definitely okay i mean it's been my it's been my baby this whole state your claim that's my claim or i'll kill you that's my claim so what was the argument what was the argument no well people he was talking about we had this uh a musician john carroll kirby who's like a synth kind of studio keyboard guy he's got a solo record out it's groovy oh yeah he's great okay so you're familiar yeah Okay, sick. So he was talking about how there's sort of a little battle between the two camps of the Rhodes world, and they say, like, the Nord doesn't have the mechanical real feel, you know, like a vinyl DJ versus playing with a laptop, like, oh, it's some false bullshit, the Nord is cheating kind of thing, and you're kind of like, yeah, Nord is sick. What are you talking about? I mean, I've never used the Nord in the studio, but it's been fine for live.

It's consistent, that's the thing, because I was playing a Rhodes for a while, live, and it wasn't, maybe it was just the state of my Rhodes, but it wasn't consistent. Show me a Rhodes that's not in bad condition, you know what I mean, brother? You probably can't trust one that is in good condition. Yeah, I haven't played hard enough. What's the catch? That shit isn't broken in, you know what I mean? It's like a nice pair of shoes. It's like one of those self-driving cars, sooner or later, that crosswalk's going to get violated, you know what I mean? Yes. You like that a little too much, Youth Lagoon. Come on, what's going on over there? Trevor, where are you, Ryan? Are you coming to us? Where do you live? Do you live in LA or do you live in the motherland? No, yeah, I live in Idaho. I live in Idaho. So I'm just calling in from my house. First time listener, big time caller. Okay, well, you mentioned that you live close to a guitar center, so you're not too far out into the wilderness because your Zoom background screen... You know, it kind of has a Unabomber-esque acreage going on in that image. No offense. It looks beautiful and serene. I mean, you're not giving militia, but it's not off the table. You know what I mean? But all that is to say, when you walk into your local... I'll take it. You're like, actually, thank you very much. This is the nicest thing ever said. That's very kind. Very kind to you. Very kind to you as well, sire. So when you go into your local guitar center in... wherever the fuck idaho that you're at are you are you like a god they're like oh look who it is not i mean no i don't think so i i basically just i don't spend much time in guitar centers i just go in and go out so i have no idea what anyone's thinking okay and i don't really care okay so i was hoping that you were gonna say no they actually bully me at guitar center like buy a stratocaster pussy what are you doing with another keyboard that's what i quit making that grimes music yeah that's what i was hoping for So, Idaho, that's where you're from, though, correct? Yeah. It's been home since I was a little kid. I was born in San Diego, but I lived in...

Boise since I was about two or three years. I don't think I've ever met anyone from Idaho. So if you could kind of make the case for it, that'd be great for us. I mean, that's a testament to how stupid San Diego is. You're like, you know what? I'm going to give Idaho a shot. I mean, you were three at the time, so you didn't really know that much about how the world works. That's great. The waves are tasty, but everything else sucks, man. It's kind of a military state down there. They're a big Frisbee guy. I get it. Okay, yeah, so walk us through Idaho Scene Report. There's so many dimensions to it, so it really comes down to where in Idaho you are, but that's one thing I love about Boise, and that's so inspiring, is you could be in one part of Boise that is in, you know, essentially it's right on the cusp of the mountains. So the mountains are, they're pretty much in your backyard, about 20, [redacted address], depending on where you're at, and then you can be in these areas that, it feels like, I guess the spirit of it can feel very Midwest. Yeah. But there's, yeah, there's a lot to it. And I, for years, there was that mentality of wanting to run from home because it felt so comfortable and it felt like it's what you know, so it feels boring and feels mundane. But as soon as I started traveling so much with music, the definition of home changed dramatically. And then you start appreciating. you started appreciating some of that sanity and some of the known because there's so much in life that is unknown. Yeah. No, that makes sense. No, but also when you were a youngster, were you just like, I got to get out of here because Idaho is void of the culture that I'm into? Like, were you reading books and magazines and looking at stuff on the internet and you're like, oh my God, I need to go to a big city. That was totally it. And then when I started spending, because I spent so much time in New York and LA and And so many places, because I do travel, I get out constantly. It was the act of not getting out that was starting to drive me insane. So when I started leaving and then coming back home, like I said, it gave me a different appreciation for it. And beyond that, it also, it showed me how much life really is happening.

on my street and and it gets a little annoying when you're in places like especially brooklyn has this mentality that i've encountered a lot where people assume that everyone wants to live live in those places when that's it's so not the case because to me i like dipping my toe in that water but yeah i don't want to live there either but my whole my whole process really revolves around um i have a great community of people here and and it's very tight-knit but also artistically i kind of like being on an island and i and i don't like being saturated by what other people are doing i like tuning into my i have my own little means of inspirations like like movies and and my own just my own wormhole shit that i go down but i i like they're not being inactive uh there's there's a music scene but it seems like it's it's way more disjointed than a place like this just because it's so much smaller no totally yeah no i've heard people in your position say similar things like i don't want to be overly influenced by what's going on yeah it's tough because we have so much access to it you know now it's very easy yeah but living in fucking williamsburg will ruin you in many ways so you avoiding You avoiding that has done wonders for your career and your mental state, I'm sure. Oh, big time, yeah. It's so much easier, I would say, to be inspired, at least for my personality type, where I have the option to have, like I said, these close-knit communities, but also you can be as reclusive as you want. In a place like Brooklyn, you definitely can, but it's not... even even down to noise pollution la la is the same way and i fucking love these places so i'm not i'm not dogging it but i like dog away brother i like having the the nothingness when i want it yeah no i i i talk to i say this to jason all the time sometimes because i'm from atlanta not that it's so sounds like oxycontin to me it's so small but like i just feel like i need to sometimes i'm i'm you know desperate to touch some grass as well

And then after a couple of days, I got to get back to the big city, but I'm also not making anything. I just need to do it for like to feel like nostalgia a little bit, I think is what it is. Yeah. He has to go eat that shitty burrito from the place where he grew up going to, even though it's just a thing that you got to do. You have to. Yeah. It's a part of it's a part of your parents still live there. Like, do you see your family all the time? Yeah. My family lives about 10 minutes away, [redacted address], maybe 15 minutes. So everyone's really close. And if I didn't have as many, you know, there's certain coffee shops and places that I'm used to going on almost a daily basis that when it comes down to my process with working on music, there's so much of it that happens demo-wise where I'm by myself. But things like lyrics, when I can actually get out of the house and I can go hang out with people and be in these areas that they're... there's a comfort to it it's yeah it's just see a barista you can write a song about yeah it's that blend between it almost feels it almost feels like cheers or something because there's there's people that you've known for sometimes 20 years Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's a terrible thing, but I do think it's interesting. Depending on how many teeth they still have? Yeah. Some of them, not many. Some of them, not many, dude. Hey, Hollywood! You see some shit out there in Idaho. No, I mean, I think that makes total sense. I also think, obviously, your dollar goes a little further there, too. You know, that land's a little cheaper. So there's a lot of benefits. Are you blowing a bag at REI? What's going on? Wait, say that again? Where do you spend money in Idaho, though, or do you not? Well, it depends on what your priorities are. So, I mean, we do have the internet. That's what we do. We said we do have the internet. I'm talking about, you know, thinking globally but spending locally. You know what I mean? Yeah, for me, there's things that are priorities.

I mean, vacations would rank really high up there so I can actually get out and, I don't know, see other shit. Because if I stay here for too long, sometimes even stay here for two months at a time, then it's too much. Where are you going on holiday? Are you going to the Bahamas or are you going to, like, you know, Antwerp? Oh, man, all over. Japan is one of my favorite places to travel. Spent a lot of time in Japan. Spent a lot of time in Greece. All throughout. The U.S., of course, like Atlanta. Atlanta is one of those places that I have one of my best friends lives in Atlanta. So I've I've spent months at a time in Atlanta with Boise being so is much more expensive than it used to be. But in comparison to some of these other places, it is nice to be able to. hoard some money to where vacationing isn't as, it's just a lot more doable. Okay, when you, well, first of all, it sounds like you live a more bi-coastal life than most people that we talk to on this podcast. Yeah, yeah, big time. While living in Idaho, which is making me angry and excited at the same time. But secondly, somebody like you who, you know, has a job, but it is not really a job and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, sort of, When you go on vacation, are you actually not working? Or is a vacation to you like a little bit of this? We're going to go surfing today and then just get in the studio kind of thing? Or are you really full vacation mode? Usually it depends on the trip. It'll either be very rarely do I blend the two. So it'll either be 100% business or 100% leisure. It's healthy. I don't like the confusion of going somewhere and doing one day in a studio. having to turn off that part of my brain and turn on the other part. I like the compartmentalization of I'm doing this thing for X amount of time or I can completely fucking check out and not worry about anything. Damn, I'm impressed. I didn't know people could do that anymore. It's taking practice. Yeah. Can you show us how to do that? What happened to you that you were able to figure this out or is this always innately inside of you? Maybe you did a sound bath one day and you figured it out.

I would say most of it comes down to meditation. Oh, okay. Once I got into meditation, it completely changed. It rewired everything. Chris said I'm out. No, okay. Let's hear about your practice. How long are we doing? How many times a day? At least one hour a day. At least once a day. So sometimes I'll do it in the morning and at night. And if I'm only doing it once a day, I'll do it at night. But it really comes down to emptying myself. All of these. You have so much, so many pent up emotions and things that have happened, just bullshit that goes on throughout the day and finding a way to get, get out quiet your mind enough to where you can empty yourself so that you can be filled up with peace. And the more that, that, that bucket keeps getting filled, the more it changes your, it just rewires your priorities and it rewires the, my eyes, I have such a overactive mind and I, I never knew it was possible to control the dials of self-talk and beyond that, how positive or negative self-talk is until I got into meditation. Damn. Wow. I mean, I usually just empty myself in the shower lately, but are we doing transcendental meditation or is this your own personal style that you've created? It's my own thing. I have no idea what it would be. Sometimes I listen to music and sometimes I don't. Yeah, it's just this act of... What position is your body in, if you don't mind me asking? Sure, Jason, Jason. Sometimes sitting up and sometimes laying down. Okay. Sometimes standing up? Not standing up. Sitting up, sitting up, you said. Yeah, sitting up or laying down. Yeah, I used to do what I... I don't really do it in the traditional sense anymore, but I do a lot of meditative things every day. But I used to, every time I would get out of the shower, I would lay on the floor, but with my... my legs like at a 90 degree angle up on the bed full nude and then i would just like fall asleep for like 20 minutes and then i felt fully recharged and meditated so what made you stop it did somebody walk in on you and have to see that sight and that kind of scarred you or yeah honestly i would say

Probably moving in with my partner. It was the kind of thing where if you live alone, it's a pretty cool thing to do. But now I don't have the time. Did it start making you feel silly? Is that what it was? It made you feel stupid? Just the simple act of me saying, hey, I'm going to meditate for the next 20 minutes, babe. I was like, I'm done. I'm out. You know what I mean? Just having to say those words for some reason. That's so weird. I wonder why. What? Why do you think that is? Well, it's a good question. I feel like, I don't know, I like a shorthand. I don't like having to explain the things that I'm doing to other people sometimes. Well, because I think if you're like, hey, I'm going to meditate, then it's like, why are you doing that? And you have to answer some questions maybe that you don't feel like answering. I'm not worried about that part. I live in a safe space. But it's a me thing only. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Chris, do you meditate? Chris does not meditate. I'm a freak, bro. No, I don't do anything like that. I can't really, which means I need it more than anyone, which I do recognize. I'm not able to kind of... For mostly better, but sometimes worse. I can't really shut down or turn off. That's not my kind of mode. See, but that's exactly how I felt, too. I felt that forever. But I will say that my whole thing... Go on, Brother Trevor. Go on. Please tell Chris what you did. My whole process really did involve... If things in my life would have stayed... fine health wise because i ended up going through a lot of health shit yeah then i don't think i ever would have jumped off that cliff i had to be pushed but once i was pushed then it would okay so so you're saying because you had to slow down because i read about this your voice got all fucked up from some like meds so you were like i can't really do what i normally do so you had to re-evaluate your entire routine no matter what i had to change everything yeah because no one could help no one knew what was going on and so that

That's what I mean by being pushed off a cliff. It was that for the first time in my life, actually getting to know who I am as a spirit or a soul, not what was projected onto me. You know, because you have all these basically recorded versions of yourself and your subconscious throughout your entire life. And to try to sit with that. It's impossible to really progress as a person I found unless you do something that's a firm line in the sand to slow down. And I had the same personality where I would have never chosen that ever. Sure. Because I was always like, my mind won't fucking turn off. You're a bag chaser at the end of the day. You're a bag chaser just like me. I get it. So basically you kind of had to look the devil in the eyes when you didn't have a choice and just let go. Yep. singing is obviously your livelihood. So being told you can't do it or you're not even told, like physically not being able to do it. And then these guys telling you like, bro, I just don't know, man, let's run some more tests. I mean, that would make me insane. So you have to figure out a way to kind of deal with it. Yeah. And then beyond even the voice stuff, it was this domino effect of it started, it started affecting my eyesight. It started affecting all of these. Cause you think about your digestive system, there's a domino effect with everything. shit and every single even neurological shit all of this stuff that started connecting and so yeah you start losing all this stuff especially being someone like myself where I've been a control freak my whole life you start realizing how much of that is in a sense out of your control but in another way it's totally in your control when you can find a way to reach down deep and Yeah, just find some solitude. That's really scary. So what do you guys do to turn off your brain, or do you just let it keep running? This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian, stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down.

The news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world. And I know you particularly have quite a lot of questions. A lot of questions. But how often? Because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot. How many times do they do? Three times a week. And I have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do. That's just a guess. The Guardian is not some billionaire owned. They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? You know, especially when it's not, you know, from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone. It was brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive, and that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code

how long taskers book up faster, especially for same day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code how long with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. I don't, I mean, I'm, I'm, I mean, I guess exercise is probably the closest thing I have. Um, because I'm so, I don't get, I don't, I'm sober. So I don't use drugs to escape like Jason. Um, but I am, um, jealous of all those who still can. Uh, so I, I probably need to deal with that too. Jason, how often do you, are you getting, do you, when you, when you're using, like, are you getting fucked up or is it more of just a self medication thing? Um, more of a self, like. for example, today I, I, I took a 10 milligram THC gummy and I did Pilates. And when, when I do that, you have a, it increases your mind and body connection. And the, you know, I'm thinking about anything but my life or whatever is going on, or I forgot to email that guy back, you know, the whirlwind of stress that you, and you're just like, I, you, you, there's no clocks. There's no phone. There's no, you know, there's no time to get a sip of water. And that you really kind of submit, turn the whole brain off. So it's really the same goal. It's just quieting, quieting everything. Yeah. Yeah. Just time like, you know, it's a Virgo thing as well. Half joking. But, you know, sometimes I just need to unplug and just sit quietly in a room with just nothing going on. Yeah. Where you can just feel like. you know what i mean yeah for sure the closest thing i do is sit outside and stare i kind of take a break in the afternoon where i go outside and kind of just sit on a bench and and watch life pass me by and i i'm able i mean i'm looking at my phone occasionally but i'm pretty close that's as zenned out as i'm gonna get probably um because even when i'm exercising or running or whatever i'm usually

I mean, there's points where I'm able to kind of zone out, but I would say a lot of it I'm not able to. Yeah, but it sounds like that's kind of also the same thing. That's one thing I've found is that everyone is, you're seeking, or at least most people, you're seeking a similar headspace to just avoid the noise and people go about it a different way. Yeah, no, totally. That's all we're all chasing to an extent. How long have you been sober, Chris? Like seven years. Oh, okay. Was that hard? Uh, I mean, yeah, of course it was hard, but it wasn't like, I mean, from what I've heard from other people, you know, I mean, I, I, it was Oxycontin and I kind of weaned myself off and did it the way that I thought was best. But, um, I didn't like, I mean, I OD'd, I was in the hospital and stuff, but it wasn't like, um, I've just heard you hear so much worse that you're always like, well, my shit ain't that serious. You know what I mean? It's like, it's one of those things. But I think that like, that is not, um, I don't, i don't know if i was i don't know during that phase though if i was escaping in a positive way i think that was more of a more of a negative escape yeah yeah you know because it gets to a point where it's like oh this is like like you can't escape all the time chief you have to live some life it's not um you know you can't run all the time uh but i think that that i mean i don't i don't really miss it i was joking a little bit but i do think that like The idea of being able to relax is a little bit foreign. And I know that at least weed, that's like the best use of it, really. Well, in Oxy, it's fucking so intense. That's one. In Idaho, drug culture, first and foremost, is especially if someone doesn't have a direction for their life, Idaho can be such a comfortable place that you end up, I mean, you see so much shit. I mean, even I have some next door neighbors. She is probably maybe 55 or so, maybe late 50s. But she inherited the house. Her and her husband got divorced. Her husband had the house. He gave it to her son. Her son felt bad for his mom because she's a meth addict. So he gave his mom the house. Don't do that. Now she has, she'll have all these drugs. She's got drug buddies that stay in the backyard.

and they set up these tents they'll burn trash because they won't pay for recycling my windows have really bad my windows have really bad insulation and so what happens is that the trash smoke gets inside the house and it's and it's such a good show so a lot of the lyrics like like on jesus christ on the album it smells like burning plastic in the house wait sorry go start over again trevor sorry it's constantly dealing with that that realm of it's a different world to say the least, but then it's also when they're, when they're burning trash and they're doing all, you know, she'll also mow the lawn at, at 3 AM because in her mind, it makes sense. Like that's when you would mow the lawn. So I've had to go out there and talk to her, ask her to stop. And then we'll get into these weird conversations about, she works at subway. So then she talks to me about subway sandwiches and it's this whole, it's such a, there's. Constant well of inspiration really is what I'm trying to say. I'm being broken hearted for this person. That's, that's, I mean, so you have to deal, like it's your neighbor. So you have to deal with this. There's no like avoiding it. Like this could almost be daily. You have to deal with some bullshit. Yeah. And it depends on who is living with her because she had, there was one boyfriend of hers who he had tried to stab her. It sounds. like something directly out of a great American novel or something, because he tried to stab her. The police came, the police have come to the house. I've lived in this house for about three and a half years. And the police have been to that house at least 12 or 13 times since I moved in three years ago. For sure. And the, so the boy, the boyfriend, she had locked him out because she. at one point on account of the stabbing he tried he broke in and tried to stab her so she called the police the police found him hiding in my bushes so it's just it's like that so you see all that being said you just see where there's so many different types of characters that i'm surrounded by and drugs are such a huge it's such a huge part of of life in general for so many people but especially there's like a small town

a unique aura around small town drugs that it's its own beast. Oh, I would agree with you completely. Well, what drugs are you doing? Or are you not doing any? I wouldn't say I'm sober. I drink. I smoke weed sometimes. Very rarely. Maybe I might smoke weed once a year, if that. So it's very rare. But for the most part, I just drink sometimes. But even that... Even like, I think the last time I drank was maybe three months ago. I had aging. So for the most part, I don't, I wouldn't use the word sober on myself because I, I do partake once in a while, but it's more of a special event thing. Yeah. You sound like you have a pretty good handle on it. Yeah. I just don't, I, I know where I'm going in life and I know what I want to do and, and, and what I want to say. And so I know, I also know that there's certain things that might get in the way of that. And I'm, I'm just not interested. I got to say. Good for you. You make it look so easy. I was going to say, I wish I would have known that shit about 10 years ago because I let a lot of shit get in the way. I let a lot of stuff get in the way. Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard. But did you party when you were, I mean, because you've been, you were successful pretty young. So I imagine you kind of had to learn this the hard way or no? Yes, for sure. So 20, I got signed to Fat Possum. and started Youth Lagoon when I was 21 or 22. And so from early 20s to probably 28 or so, lots of drinking to the point where it was never a problem. It was never a faucet I couldn't turn off. But it also became this thing that I just didn't like myself as much when I was drunk. compared to when I was sober. And that was more of that realization of why am I doing this thing when there's a better version of myself that I could have. It's fully achievable. But a lot of that stuff just comes down to, I mean, growing up, you think about how you are when you're early 20s and you think you have shit figured out and you have nothing figured out. And every three or four years, you realize that you're becoming,

this other version of yourself, and that the decisions that you make today dramatically affect who you are as a person tomorrow, and it just keeps stacking up. I need a drink. I wasn't ready to have my third eye busted open today. I don't know about you, Jason, but I wasn't ready. No, I guess I kind of was ready. Out of curiosity, I'm really interested in this. What did you guys, when you set this up, what did you expect? it to be like oh i didn't expect we try not to expect much that's kind of our whole approach you know is like let's just see what happens i mean i assumed i mean i listened to the record i've seen the press about the record i've been familiar obviously like with the music for since the inception i would say yeah we don't really uh the only thing that we usually expect or at least attempt to do is talk about anything but whatever it is that you're promoting you know what i mean and just have a have a regular that's why i was so that's why i was so excited about this whole thing is because it gets so it just gets so boring yeah i'm sure i'm sure that's really fucking boring well you sound like the type of person who also doesn't want to just kind of have those media trained answers and you're like oh that's a really good question and and then you kind of turn your brain off and like actually this happened and whoa that was so crazy about when you lost your voice tell me about that and then it just becomes work and you're like okay yeah the voice i'm selling some some commercials for you this is awesome voice thing is what really got out of control because then everyone started trying to paint it as the record is about that thing which it's so not it woke me up and it and it taught me a lot of stuff about myself but the album has nothing to do with that but that's what gets it gets exhausting about that whole the narrative cycle of things i understand why it's interesting to people yeah yeah there's it's also when you talk about it at length you could google it and read every bit of information out there and it already exists so why the fuck you know what i talk about it that's what we say i mean that's what we say all the time it's like i i know this i already know

this story because i've seen it six times before you come talk to us so i don't need to i have no further questions your honor i'm all good yeah that's totally it i think i think the only question i had was what what pills what pill was it or what medication was it it was omeprazole which is what what is that which is prilosec really i was like aperol which is it's also interesting because no one dude no one has asked me that question which is crazy isn't that fucking insane no one that is weird to my knowledge not a single journalist has asked what pillar was okay so so this this is for um for like heartburn indigestion things like that yeah but but the doctor gave it to me not for that so so what had happened and then i end up talking about it anyway I'll give a version of it that I haven't talked about. Okay, so you snorted the Prilosec, and the doctor was like, that was... I snorted it. Yeah, so I had this light stomach pain. So a doctor was like, what you probably have is an ulcer, even though I had only had this pain for a couple days, and it would have gone away on its own. So he gave me the Prilosec, which obviously, it's fucking Prilosec, so no one would ever think anything of it. And that's what ended up... doing it so i it wasn't like i had taken prilosec because i had heartburn or i had there was no need for me to take this doctor's orders yeah and it completely it it's weird though because it as devastating as it was on my body it was revolutionary and so necessary for my spirit so if i would if i could go back and hit a button and have it not happen I would never hit that button because everything does it. One thing leads to another leads to another. Yeah. But yeah, it's fucking, I just can't. That doesn't mean you can't sue the motherfucker that prescribed it to you. There was no, there was no responsibility. He acted like it was all this other stuff.

Yeah, it was the only thing in my life that changed was the fucking Prilosec. Damn. Well, I mean, you have a great attitude. And I've experienced bodily injuries where you're like, wow, this was terrible. It really fucked my life up. But I needed, you know, the big man upstairs needed to pump the brakes for me because I wasn't going to do it myself kind of thing. Yeah. What would you say is the biggest way that that's taken shape for you? It probably really helped me out, like, delegating stuff to other people and not feeling like I have to do everything myself. And then when you're put into a situation where you're forced to not be able to do anything yourself and you just, you know, you have to, like, you know, like you cannot sing anymore, so you have to stop singing. You know, things like that where it finally just stops and you're like, okay, can you help me with, can you give me a ride to, Get groceries or something like that, you know, little things like that. Yeah, ask your friends for help or your family for help. Yeah. Yeah. Made it a lot easier. I mean, I feel like Jason, I mean, I feel like I mean, I remember when you broke your ankle and you were like in mobile. I feel like everybody was like happy that you'd built up a lot of goodwill. Yeah. You know, like you're the kind of person that people are happy to help, you know. I think I could be on my deathbed and people would be like, get your own water. That's personally, that's kind of where I'm at. But I mean, maybe, maybe I'm wrong. Let's hope. But I do think that the, I think that like you're, Jason's a very dependable guy. So I think that there's like a kind of repayment that would go on for people without even thinking twice. If there was a, you know. Chris, would you say that, would you say that you're not dependable? Oh, I'm very dependable. I'm more dependable than Jason. He's a bum compared to me. It's true. But he's dependable. But then why do you think that people wouldn't bring you a glass of water if you needed one? Well, my mom would probably. No, because, well, I just don't have a, I don't think people are very sympathetic to my plight. I'm not a guy who is, that's not what people think, you know. And that's fine. I don't, I don't, I'm partly joking. The doctors, the doctors say he's a...

He's an asshole. That's what it is. I'm a real dickhead. Yeah, exactly. Like this dickhead over in room 10, like fuck this guy. He's not eating tonight. No, but I think that the, yeah, I think that the, uh, asking others to do things for you is a challenge for me too, for sure. I would rather just do it myself partly because I want it done right. Yeah. Because I think I could do it better. But then other times, like even with this, even with our show, like I have no kind of, I have no, um, technical capabilities so like jason because of his background in music is very well versed in editing and that whole thing so like i that is there's no way for me to participate in that you know and so there's there's a level of like well i trust jason because he's my partner in in this business and the show so he can do whatever he wants i'm not going to kind of I'm not going to sniff his ass every 20 minutes to see if it's getting done or if it's being done up to my standard. I trust that Jason is always going to do a good job because Jason cares about the results. Yeah, but that's as good as it gets, though, when you start working with people that you trust. That's true. I agree. You can not only fill in the gaps with all the stuff that you know that you're bad at because, you know, it's like you start realizing these are my gifts and these are my weaknesses. And then when you start filling in the weaknesses. As long as it is people that you trust, then you give yourself responsibility to relax. And I think that that can totally like you see it in art all the time where people obsess over doing everything themselves. When if they just were a little more strategic delegating duties to people that might do X, Y, Z better than they do. Not only would the end result be better and more finely tuned, but I think that. There's something to be said of handing off the baton so it's not just one person touching it that makes something more interesting or more multi-dimensional. Yeah, but a narcissistic opinion would be, but there's something to be said about saying, I did this all by myself. Suck my dick from the back, motherfucker. I didn't have anyone. That's another way to say it. Yeah, that's true. Good point, good point. No, but I think that I agree with you. Yeah.

Jason, you're right, buddy. I'm wrong. No, no, no. Which I'm saying that's something that somebody would incorrectly say. You know, that's an unhealthy way to look at things. It's very unhealthy. And it's also just straight up. I think people have that fear, too, of if they involve more people, then they're going to get less credit. When if the end result ends up being something that is stunning or undeniable, everyone involved gets credit and it doesn't affect. it should not affect your ego no totally i i i mean i think that the the struggle and kind of fight for credit is one of the biggest ills in our society to some extent like i i just think it's i think it's like if also my attitude is always like If it's that good, people are going to know who did it. You don't have to scream it from the mountain. Totally. You know what I mean? People are going to ask, who directed that film? Wowie. If you really put your foot in it, you know, and you really have a point of view, I think people will know that. Especially the people who matter will know that. And that should be enough, of course. But I think that we're in a kind of... uh liked based society now so it's a little it's different well since we don't get paid in money for things anymore credit is kind of all we're calling for at this point right can i get a reservation at this table without calling ahead yeah no i mean but it is it's like you see it all the time and that's it's i mean there's many reasons that we've arrived here but i think that it's uh I just don't think that's as important as people think it is. You're right. The end result is more important than who's getting credit for it. Easier said than done, y'all. But also, with end results, too, sometimes even if you make something that it could stand on its own two feet and multidimensional and undeniable, all this stuff, sometimes it doesn't even hit right away. That's what's really fascinating is people can do something that might be ignored. Sometimes even up until the point that they die and then suddenly people give a shit. It's oftentimes just a few moments right after they die. Yeah, exactly. I say all the time the best thing you can do for your career is die. That's the number one thing you can do. That's so true. If you die, especially a little bit young, I'm not saying 27 Club, but if you kick the bucket a little early.

All the records are genius. You were a genius. Great for your career. Those Spotify checks get big. Somebody's getting them. The Youth Lagoon estate will be... It is so sad that someone could be... I've seen it happen so many times where no one even gives a shit about someone, and then they die, and then suddenly everyone acts like they were listening to whatever they were making or watching whatever they were making. Oh, yeah. They're posting DMs where they said, hey, man, I like your music, and they fucking gave it a heart. Yeah. They're posting that shit. Yeah. Well, I mean, people need... Unfortunately, we're in a society where most of the activities that you do every day, instead of... foraging for food or hunting and gathering. You're trying to figure out what you're going to create content about today. And if somebody dies that you knew, then it just made your life's work a little bit easier that day. I love that. I look so much. That's so great. How is it in the podcasting world in terms of competition? Because it's so, it's like all media now, it's so oversaturated, and obviously you guys are fucking killing it, but how often does the competitive mindset enter into play, or does it at all? I mean, I'm probably more competitive than Jason. Would that be fair, Jason? Yeah, I would say so. I'm competitive, but Chris is debilitatingly competitive. I love to see other people succeed. It's not even like that. I just want to succeed more than that. As long as they're not in the same category as us on Apple and iTunes. I also think I don't look at numbers of any kind. I don't look at podcasts. I don't read the comments. I'm vibes guy only. That's always worked for me. I also think podcasting is a funny... it's so big now that it's like, we joke about it. I mean, celebrities are coming for it, you know? I find myself being very competitive in the podcasting world just because it is a system that, you know, it kind of reminds you of back in the old days when you'd look in Rolling Stone and every week you would list, here's all the top albums and you would see it. And now, like, you kind of have to dig around if you really want that info. Like, if you work in the biz, you're going to see it and, like, the people that do your PR and your management, they're reading it. But, like,

The average person doesn't really know about movie charts, TV charts, ratings. They're just like, did it do good or bad? That's it. But with podcasting, you're constantly ranked. You're always in a position of like, oh, we're number 37 today out of this category. So you do see it a lot more, but you also compare yourself to other shows. that are much bigger than yours and you think are so much worse than yours. That's like the frustrating part about the competitiveness. I'm sure this happens to you in music all the time where you're like, this motherfucker is selling out arenas and I'm not. I actually don't think like that at all. Well, of course you don't because you're perfect, but many others do. Harry Styles, Harry Styles is fine, I guess. I mean, I could fit into those fucking clothes too, but nobody's calling me. I think that the, I think podcasting, yeah, I do think it's like your record comes out, you know, and the first week is what really matters for the most part, you know, like back in the day, especially that's what really mattered. Every week is first week when you're a podcaster. Yeah, every week is first week when you're a podcaster, but I also think. How stressful is that? That's gotta be so stressful, right? Oh, no, I don't care. I think that we do so much of this that that part kind of falls off. I don't think about it like that. That's kind of the truth of it when Jason says it, obviously, but that's not how you think about it. Yeah, we don't check the charts or anything like that. We just kind of keep our head down and keep cranking out the episodes. Well, and some industries are like that, too, where it's more of a patchwork quilt. It's not necessarily what you're doing today or this week, but over time when it all starts clicking together and there's an identity that forms. Like television's Frasier. Exactly. Great show. You get it. You want to build the world around you too. You want to have like great guests. It feels, it feels, it's feeling good is more important to me than like looking at iTunes. Yeah. Like it's feeling good and like feeling good about what we're doing is more important, which I'm sure is similar. I mean, obviously you don't want to play to an empty room.

But if you think you're doing what's good, then you know it's going to catch up. 100%. 100%. Yeah. And also, like this episode, for example, Chris and I are going to get dozens of DMs from people saying, wow, this episode was really cool and different, and I liked how the guest was sort of getting a little, you know, therapy mode with you guys, and I heard a new side from you, and I thought that was really awesome and cool. I'm going to go check out. their album. I heard of them, but now I'm really going to listen to them. And those are the things where you're like, okay, that was really cool. And that was awesome. Versus just like, yeah, we got another McDonald's ad y'all. I mean, don't give me, it's a for profit business. Don't, don't get me wrong. But I also think that like, the reality is we'd probably be doing this for free. If, if, if that was available to us, cause we truly like doing it. As long as you feel like that. Well, and you can tell too, it just, just the way it comes across. And that's also, it's also interesting to you when the, the for-profit thing it ends up paying off when people are their most authentic self like um the dude uh what's his name oh bj novak yeah from from the office and he's done all you know he's so much shit but he i was listening to a podcast that he was on and he brought up a good point because he said that ironically as much as he's hustled his entire acting career writing career all of this stuff for you know not only work that he cares about but But the money attached to it, he said the thing that has paid the most money ever times 10 was the thing that he did completely out of purity, which was that children's book. He wrote a children's book, which he did just for fun, just because he felt like fucking writing a children's book. And then that's the thing that paid so much more money. That's funny. It's weird you said that. I literally was at his house last night looking at. His children, well, it's funny because there's memorabilia from TV shows and awards and stuff like that. But then there's that book, but there was a thick stack of them in all the different foreign languages that it had been printed in because it was such a cool and successful book. I really hope you're being serious. No, he is, yeah. Yes, that's so great.

Wow, the timing of that then is incredible. I know, right? Because I do see that he – I didn't know that. I didn't know that, but I do see him kind of every once in a while. He'll post something about it, and I'll be like, damn, this book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for a year. Dude, it's fucking huge. Something really staggering. It's so big. Once you heard that, did you start whipping up a couple kind of – maybe the children's album? That's next on the docket, yeah. Yeah, leaving money on the table, bro. in the studio you know i'm working on something you know what i mean yeah that's it that's it no i mean i i think that it just people always you have these these goals or these um it's like people can tell if you're doing something for whatever reason it is people can sense it i think so too and when you lose sight of that that's when things that's when things get really terrible because you could have something uh From an artistic vantage point, you could have something critically or commercially bomb, and you could have done it for the wrong reasons. The only thing that you're guaranteed of in this life when you're doing something that is some kind of expression is, do you like it? That's literally the only thing you have guaranteed. And so if you're not even checking that box, what a fucking tragedy, because that's the only box that you're guaranteed. You know, it's the only thing. Yeah, you can. Oh, I see. So you could you could basically do it all for the wrong reasons and then nobody likes it. And then you're really fucked. You know, you don't make any. Then you're super fucked. Yeah. So at least you could check the box of you like it. And I didn't like it. And neither did anyone else. Yeah. So weird how that works. That sucks. That reminds me of. There's all these articles being written about podcasting, about how the big celebrity boom went away, and now people want podcasts from just regular normal people because you can tell when you're listening to a fucking millionaire famous person on a podcast, they're not doing it for fun. They're doing it because their manager was like, hey, man, I can probably get you like $10 million in a month if you just do this for a while. And then you have this famous person being like,

doing an ad read for a mattress or something like that, and nobody wants to buy a mattress from a famous actor. You want to buy it from your cool, regular... person friend on your podcast yeah because you believe them yeah the believability is everything because you can yeah people can sniff it out i was just drinking my ag1 moments ago i have a green ring among my mouth it's so good but it's worth it it's delicious isn't it jason don't you love that stuff yeah oh i was gonna say as we're kind of winding down we usually uh two well i guess we can ask both of our recurring questions number one top three favorite prescription pills of all time Prolosec all three, yeah. Prolosec. Prolosec. Okay, Prolosec all the way. Yeah, I'll just go Prolosec all three. I realize halfway through that this is a funny but very maybe triggering joke. Sync talk. Basically, whenever you have a recording artist, a songwriter, things like that, a song or a sync opportunity that was a crazy story involving a sync that went really well. or maybe the sync that got away, you were going to get a fat check for some Preloset commercial, and then it got pulled at last minute for a Bare Naked Ladies song. I got multiple good ones, actually. Okay, good. There was a Facebook one years ago. I'm trying to think. It was probably 2017, and they were unrolling or rolling out some kind of new... I don't know what it was, Facebook shit. And they had locked in MyTrack Cannons as part of that whole thing. And it was some ungodly amount of money. It was like maybe $70,000 a side or something. And at that time, I was right on the cusp of, okay, I think I need to get a... a day job because I was barely, you know, barely making ends meet and all this. Asking your neighbor if they're hiring a subway. Yeah, exactly. And so this thing came through and then I got the confirmation and the team, my team never confirms things until it's actually, you know, set in stone. And so I, I got a confirmation from, from my manager and yeah, all that being said, they ended up last minute. It was the day before everything.

rolled out they ended up having a team of people recreate my song they had hired a musicologist to change just enough of the notes to where they could legally get away with it yeah and then they rolled out the ads so people still thought that it some people still thought it was canon it was so close but legally when we looked into it they had changed a certain percentage of the song yeah to where they could get away with it and Completely, yeah. So there's that. Zuck does it again. That's got to be so frustrating. I mean, there's like nothing you can do at all. Nothing. I guess you could do a tweet about it. Yeah, I don't know. Not worth it. If you even care, you know, it's just not worth it. Do you have a positive one? Do you have a positive one where you made out like a bandit? So there was an NFL one that was a commercial for the actual just NFL as an entity. And that, I think that was the first time. So my dad. Nothing says NFL as an entity like youth lagoon. That's exactly what I thought. That's the proudest my dad I know without a doubt has ever been. Up until that point, it's kind of like, I don't know. I just don't know if anyone's paying attention. And then I got that. And yeah, it just completely... Proudest day of your dad's life. Big time. You did good, boy. Yeah, he still talks about it. And it helped me. I mean, that's the nice thing about licensing is for me, not only is it the survival of just making ends meet and continuing to make new music, but dump it back into... So I remember after that, I was able to use that towards the following record. God bless. That's good. You get better karma that way versus buying a bunch of shoes. Yeah, which is what I would do. But it's so up and down. The whole industry is so up and down that if you go that route, then you just run out of money. Because it's like you could have something hit big, and if you spend the money and you're not setting it aside or spending it on.

reinvesting it then it ends up yeah you just run out we never want to run out of money we never want to run out of money that's that's no that's very important to me yes trevor thank you so much for joining us today on how long gone it was a pleasure um your album heaven great work heaven is a junkyard is everywhere now it's pitchfork best new music uh thank you to our friends at fat possum for putting this out um and uh yeah man it was a pleasure honestly yeah chris jason thank you guys so much i really appreciate it and we'll see you soon man we'll stay in touch all right talk soon later Goodbye. Goodbye.