"The Killers"

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Speaker 1 JB,

Speaker 1 you're going to get on the golf course today?

Speaker 1 Today is not a golf course day. Today is a workday, actually.

Speaker 1 Today's workday, so no golf for you, Sean? Yeah, no, I'm going out. Yeah, I'm going.
By the way, I got new clubs. Oh, nice.
I just got them today. I just got the new, I got the same ones that you got.

Speaker 1 The beautiful title tires. The titleist.
I should mention that.

Speaker 1 Now, you should get yourself into some G4 apparel and really, you know, make yourself complete.

Speaker 1 Okay. I mean, I would, but

Speaker 1 I wear the Foot Joy. I love the Foot Joy.
You like the G4.

Speaker 1 Yes. And the title is Clubs.

Speaker 1 If you were ever to fly to a tournament, how would you like to get it? By the way, I don't even know if we can use it in the cold open, but I just got a five-wood.

Speaker 1 Anyway, welcome to Smartless. Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Less.

Speaker 1 Look,

Speaker 1 you got a whole setup in your green room. It's nice.
I know.

Speaker 1 Believe me,

Speaker 1 it's pretty great. It's nice.
Wait a second. I'm seeing two surprise guest windows.
Yeah. Oh, listener.
Oh, we got to know.

Speaker 1 Listener always knows before

Speaker 1 us two other idiots.

Speaker 1 Everybody knows except me and Sean right now.

Speaker 1 It's always, everybody knows except for the two dummies that week.

Speaker 1 I feel pretty dumb today. I don't, um, dumb.
Why do you feel dumb?

Speaker 1 I don't know. I just don't feel like I'm going to be great at listening or talking today.

Speaker 1 Well, Jay, do you want a couple jokes to lighten you up? If you have new

Speaker 1 shows. Okay, my favorite is still,

Speaker 1 what did the chicken say? What did the chicken...

Speaker 1 What

Speaker 1 the chicken... No, what is the...
No.

Speaker 1 Do you see, guys?

Speaker 1 It's not going to be good today.

Speaker 1 What did the chicken say? What? No, what does. uh, see,

Speaker 1 I forget to, what does poultry say to a bowl of lettuce? Or no, what does poultry call a bowl of lettuce? Right. What? Chicken sees a salad.

Speaker 1 That's so good. That's a good one.
Here about, I have two more. I have two more.
So a skeleton walks into a bar and orders a bar.

Speaker 1 A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop. Yep.

Speaker 1 And then the other one is,

Speaker 1 hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie? Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can we do a punchline on the first one? But the skeleton? That is.
There is already. No, he doesn't get it.
What happened?

Speaker 1 Skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.

Speaker 1 Okay. Because when he drinks the beer, it goes through.
He doesn't have a beer. Yeah.
That's not even funny, though. Okay.
Well, that's different.

Speaker 1 All right. So here's the other one.
Okay. Hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie Constipation? No.
It never came out.

Speaker 1 I don't like either one of them. I liked your

Speaker 1 what did

Speaker 1 I figure out? This is

Speaker 1 like people are joining us at rehearsal.

Speaker 1 This is, we clearly don't rehearse. I apologize already to our you know what I was saying, you know, Jason.

Speaker 1 I was thinking about you the other day, and it occurred to me, like, you know, you see people have like fancy houses where they talk about like, oh, I went to this fancy place and you think about some billionaire and they have this fancy thing.

Speaker 1 And I said, yeah, you know, that's impressive. And if you feel like less than because you see them, just imagine that no matter where they went, they had to take a shit.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 They just took a shit there. Yeah.
Yeah. That's a beautiful mansion.
And it was just them in the smallest room in that house with the door closed, looking for the fan and taking a shit.

Speaker 1 Yeah, what's the name of that? There's a book called that, right? Everybody poops? Everybody poops. Yeah.
I mean, that book. All right.
This is going on too long. It's too insane.

Speaker 1 I feel like Regis and Kathy Lee. Let's go.
I know. It's true.
Now, listen, I do want to get to our guest because

Speaker 1 you know how I get when I get really excited about a guest.

Speaker 1 And you know how I get when we get to talk about music with guests.

Speaker 1 I get very excited. Well, these fine gentlemen are no exception.

Speaker 1 I have been a massive fan of these guys since their debut record and in fact their debut single, which, by the way, is a single that has remained in the UK, it holds the record for the longest time on the UK charts, over 300, like seven years on the UK charts.

Speaker 1 It's a song we all know and love. And then since then, they've just released banger after banger, incredible album after incredible album.
I've seen them in concert multiple times.

Speaker 1 They're incredibly gifted, gifted, gifted songwriters, performers, singers, drummers, everything extraordinaire. Guys, it's none other.
than Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Venucci of the Killers.

Speaker 1 The Killers. Oh, I really

Speaker 1 were just talking about them the other day.

Speaker 1 Oh, this is a little bit boring. How cool is this? Dude, dude, this is crazy.

Speaker 1 How great is this? Hi, guys. You guys look very much alive.
Not killers at all.

Speaker 1 How are you?

Speaker 1 You guys are very much on tour right now. Yo, they're both in hotel rooms.
Yeah. That's right.

Speaker 1 You just literally rolled out of bed. I mean, this is, we've just disrupted your, you probably have like a really good system in place, and we've ruined it.

Speaker 1 I definitely have a routine that is being disturbed right now.

Speaker 1 Where are you on the planet? We're in Austin. Austin.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Austin.

Speaker 1 Tennessee. That's a great state.
JB. No, no, no.
JB. Boys, we're so excited to have you on this show.
I mean, I've had the good fortune of meeting you guys and talking to you a few times,

Speaker 1 which was a thrill then and it's a thrill now. And I'm such a fan.
And I think the first time I saw you guys was on a sketch show. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I think it was 2006. Brendan, am I read about that? We played earlier than that.

Speaker 1 So I saw it the second time? Yeah, probably. If it was Sam's Town was our second record, we would have done.
Yeah. Wow.
Okay. So it was the, I guess that's.

Speaker 1 But I remember meeting you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I think that was maybe after our third time. Wow.
Was it really? Can I tell the story of what at the after party? At the after party? Yeah, please do.

Speaker 1 So they always have an after party on the sketch show.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 Will's there, and he's got a hockey player with him,

Speaker 1 another fellow citizen of Canada. Shaney, probably, Brendan Shanahan.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And so I, what America, what I guess

Speaker 1 quintessentially, what all Americans do, I say, hey,

Speaker 1 my tour manager is from Toronto. I know you're from Toronto.
Yeah. Good for you.
And they all know each other. Yeah, so

Speaker 1 his buddy rolls his eyes and he's like, these Americans think we all know each other. I go and I grab my tour manager and he's like, oh, you know, what area of Toronto are you from?

Speaker 1 Oh, oh, what street are you? What street were you on? Farnham Avenue? Yes. They both lived on the same street.
Wait, Brendan, I can't believe you remember Farnham Avenue. Well,

Speaker 1 our tour manager is still with us.

Speaker 1 But he doesn't still live on Farnham. He doesn't still live on Farnham.
I think

Speaker 1 his parents might still live on Farnham. My sister still lives on Farnum.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 2 he still lives on Farnham.

Speaker 1 Wait, wait, his parents still live on Farnum? He's still there. Yeah.
No, he's still there. Wait, my buddy Paul lives on Farnham as well.

Speaker 1 My listener has probably pulled over their car because they're so fascinated right now. They don't want to miss a minute of it.

Speaker 1 Look, the gist is,

Speaker 1 you all know each other. We all know each other.
And Brendan, Brendan, I remember that moment, too. That was so crazy.

Speaker 1 And what I'm going to propose now for you and Ronnie right now is maybe we do a special live, like just a small event concert on the street in Farnham.

Speaker 1 Me introducing you guys, and we just do it for the people of Farnham. Just think about it.
Don't give me an answer. They stopped the back of a truck.

Speaker 1 Ronnie, can you keep it down? So listen, I have an audience for you guys.

Speaker 1 When you first performed on there, where were you in your careers? And was that a pinnacle of like, oh my God, I think I made it. And what did that feel like?

Speaker 2 I think it's been a steady incline of just like

Speaker 2 sort of like, how did we get here? Yeah. And we've just been sort of enjoying the ride

Speaker 2 ever since. I mean, the very first one.
It just keeps, it just keeps you know something keeps happening and we you know we we keep busy we we know what a

Speaker 1 what a opportunity this is yeah but

Speaker 1 but you guys came but your first record though i mean you guys came out with a bang and it's kind of been you've had the good for i'm not going to say good fortune because you're really talented and you guys make good music but you've luckily kind of struck a chord with people every step of the way and that's got to feel good because you got to feel like we're kind of in touch with with what's going on in a way

Speaker 1 is that a something that's real yeah i mean it's i think we our goal has always there's this constant evolution and you watch we we've we've we haven't not every step that we've taken has been right but you can see us really trying to find um what the core is and what what we're going to represent and and you see this this evolution over within each album and i think people have just we've been lucky enough that we've been able to take people along with us or they've been going going through that same experience.

Speaker 1 I always wonder about that with musicians is

Speaker 1 because you have probably,

Speaker 1 well, you certainly have more autonomy than anyone in TV or movies in that, you know, there's a script that comes before the actor does their thing or the director does their thing. Or

Speaker 1 with musicians, with groups, you can do whatever you want, make the album about whatever you want, make it sound, and you got to hope that the audience that has been with you thus far

Speaker 1 will be appealing to them as well. So, how much do you factor in

Speaker 1 what you think they want? How much do you let that affect your creative process? Um, I'm sure some bands a little bit, and um, and then some not at all. Where do you guys sit on that?

Speaker 2 I think we have to like it first, and anything that comes

Speaker 2 out, you know, we've

Speaker 2 we have tons of cutting room floor, yeah, uh, stuff

Speaker 2 that for whatever reason, just you know, they're they're lost dogs dogs or orphans, orphan songs, or ideas.

Speaker 1 But if it sounds good to you, no matter whether it's got a country vibe or an acid rock vibe or a jazz vibe, like because you guys, I'm sure your musical taste will evolve over years

Speaker 1 and you guys have to stay in sync with one another, but then also try to stay in sync with that, with that other band member, which is the audience, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's it's a balancing act. I think we used to,

Speaker 2 we used to just throw all sorts of songs on a single album, and we've just sort of been lucky that they've had some sort of congruent line between all of them.

Speaker 2 And now I think we're getting more into like the body of work

Speaker 2 sort of idea where

Speaker 2 it has a focus.

Speaker 1 And you've created a bank with your audience that, you know, even though it might sound a little bit different or a little bit more challenging to tap your toe to,

Speaker 1 don't worry about it. We got you and we've proved.

Speaker 1 I don't think you guys ever run the risk of having a song that you can't tap your toe to i will say that much and that's nice but you guys but i was gonna say like and jb jb you're right that that like when you're talking about they're like the other audience members i mean the other member of the band is the audience like there's some story that i heard about you guys a long time ago and and and maybe you can talk about this that when you guys were maybe writing hot fuss like or something that you you wrote a record and you threw it out is that true do you talk about it as much as you're comfortable talking about that?

Speaker 1 Is that a true story? That's our most recent endeavor. Oh, it was your most recent record?

Speaker 1 Your most recent record you tossed in the trash.

Speaker 1 Wait, you finished it and then just threw it out? We began down a road that was a more synth-heavy road. Okay.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 we realized,

Speaker 1 I just personally didn't want to make this music anymore. And Ronnie was, Ronnie didn't want to do it either.
And so,

Speaker 1 as opposed to, as opposed to the instrumental stuff? No, just as opposed, no, just didn't want to make, didn't want to fully commit to a whole like synth-pop record.

Speaker 1 I would have bought that in a second. So, what would be the opposite of that? You're talking to an idiot here.

Speaker 1 Okay, okay, so the opposite would be like maybe more a rock and roll record. Gotcha.
So, but what is that process?

Speaker 1 So, like, you're what, you're working on like your fourth song, and you're looking, you're in this dude and you're rehearsing, you look at each other and just go, the fuck are we doing, man?

Speaker 1 yeah and everybody else just like breathes like thank god you said it because I didn't want to say it's got to be horrible it's a it's complex because we I there's this place in our hearts for this music we were we were influenced by it but we're get you know but we are getting older and we've also know what it feels like to write a great rock and roll song right and so we thought we thought maybe that you could make a faster album maybe while you're on the road because you're you're dealing with computers more with synth music and keyboards.

Speaker 1 And then it just wasn't, we weren't getting the gratification out of it that we would get when you're writing a picture of it. Yeah, because like you're

Speaker 1 right. I was in a synth pop band in college and

Speaker 1 I played the keyboard. I love to see a picture.
And

Speaker 1 Sean, by the way, play for these guys. If you can find it, play that song that you played us before.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Well, there's three songs.

Speaker 1 Before we end today. Yeah, well, I'll have the, I'll Bennett and Rob dig it up.

Speaker 1 There's actually three hit songs. You guys might want to put it up here.

Speaker 2 We'll rip those off, too. Yeah, you'll rip them off.

Speaker 1 You might take that back.

Speaker 1 I used to play the keyboards in this band called Sounds from the Stairs. Thanks.
The keyboards. Hey, did you ever play keytar, Sean? No, almost.
I'd love to see it.

Speaker 2 Sean,

Speaker 2 I've seen you play, and you play beautifully.

Speaker 2 It was so impressive because I saw the Netflix special, and I was so surprised. I did not know you had that in your pocket.

Speaker 1 Oh, thanks. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's incredible. He's classically trained.
He is. Yeah, Jason.
I sat down and played for Jason Bateman.

Speaker 2 Sean, do you want to join our band?

Speaker 1 I knew where this is going. That's what I'm telling you.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I'll join your band. Whoa.
Okay.

Speaker 1 I can't believe you're getting in the killers before me.

Speaker 1 No, I can't do anything, but I'm still.

Speaker 1 I'm going to turn you guys into Synth Pop.

Speaker 1 The last thing you're going to do.

Speaker 2 You were the missing link. The record could have come out.

Speaker 1 I know what you mean, though, about like playing like, because I would play. the keyboards and like try to really be into it.
Like a drummer can really be into it naturally because, right, Ronnie?

Speaker 1 Because you're just like, your body's body's moving anyway to the music but when you play keyboards you kind of have to watch exactly the keys you're playing so you can't really like move your body to rock out during the music you just have to kind of like stay stiff do a lot of play while the craziness is happening you know what i mean a lot of what a lot of neck pops yeah not neck pops

Speaker 1 right so i would be i would be playing like crazy i'd be like jumping around dancing and then when it got to my solo i'd stop and really focus on the keyboard the keys i was playing and then as i was done i'd go back into playing back into jumping

Speaker 1 You can't do the fucking, you can't like, bang, di, da, bang, like,

Speaker 1 but like at the end of like all these things that I've done, where you're like, bang,

Speaker 1 bang, bang,

Speaker 1 you can't do that on no synth. So this move from synth back to rock and roll, now you're talking to the old, the grandpa and me too.

Speaker 1 Like, I, I, listen, I'm a big like radio head fan, and they, they kind of went to synth a while ago, and I kind of went with it, and I guess I'm still with it because they know better than me what good music is, and so i get with it um but i i you like them despite what they're doing yeah

Speaker 1 i'm in

Speaker 1 despite what your ears tell me you gotta just listen

Speaker 1 but i love those too but but i i but you know i listen to all this music that my kids listen to and it like no one is playing guitar anymore. There's no drums anymore.

Speaker 1 There's no, and I know I sound like the old man on the lawn, but

Speaker 1 can it, do you see it starting to go back to, I mean, I get nostalgic about a band as young as, you know, the white stripes or, you know, the black keys or like these like rock and roll bands.

Speaker 1 I'm not even going back to AC DC or Led Zeppelin, but like, where's all, where are the instruments?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm excited that you guys are going back to that. Well, there was a shit.
We've only been around 20 years. And in those,

Speaker 1 from when we started, rock radio was a different, a completely different animal.

Speaker 1 And it's, it's, there are fewer and fewer stations.

Speaker 1 And they started to, just this homogenization started to happen where they started to incorporate all of a sudden you started hearing beats and and things that were influenced by maybe more hip-hop and and and and now it's just it's almost unrecognizable as as rocket anymore.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and that's a good and Ronnie speak to a little bit as as a drummer What's it like living in a world where so many beats are created on a computer, you know?

Speaker 1 Like I always say like that here's the drummer in our band and he's standing by a MacBook. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I think there's

Speaker 2 a careful, maybe a classy balancing act.

Speaker 2 At least for me, I've seen people who are so good at their instrument, drums, that they actually sound like they've been

Speaker 2 manipulated in a computer.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's interesting, you know, all the different things you can manipulate in inside a computer and things, but I don't think it'll ever replace the blood, you know, coursing through somebody's brain and body

Speaker 2 to produce a sound or an expression.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 is that where you guys got to? Was that part of the decision where you just like, when you're saying you were an Indo, was it literally that? You're like, we're not feeling connected to the music?

Speaker 1 Partly. You can't, there's an amazing thing that happened that I

Speaker 1 now reflecting on our, you know, the magic moments that we've shared, is me, I'm responding to the way that Ronnie plays. And part of it is how

Speaker 1 loud it is and how it's powerful and it's physical. So it forces me.
Ronnie, did you just say sorry? Yeah.

Speaker 1 If we're in a room, I got to sing a certain way. I can't be timid.
You're not going to hear me. And so

Speaker 1 there's something about those dynamics that have helped us become more. Can I tell you something, Brandon? The beat's bigger than you.
And I get it.

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Speaker 1 It's interesting you bring that up, Brandon, because

Speaker 1 the way you guys,

Speaker 1 first of all, your arrangements on all your studio albums are amazing. And I've seen you live as well.
It's just amazing.

Speaker 1 But the mix, the way you guys do it, and it's a testament to your voice, because I know that no matter what you do and playing with

Speaker 1 how you're hearing yourself, it's really tough because, yeah, Ronnie, you should be sorry. You're very loud

Speaker 1 and all the instruments in your band, the rhythm section is, is, it has, has, you know, you really feel it. I mean, you guys come out and really and guitar and everything.
And that's tough to.

Speaker 1 get to break through that, I bet. I mean, that, that's a, that's a skill to be able to, because you do sound very front and center, even though the band is also very full at the same time.
The mix is,

Speaker 1 I want to compliment whoever mixes your records,

Speaker 1 but you do, it is tough to do. And I've seen, again, so I saw you guys play at this, at this concert that this guy had, and you played, and there were about 200 people there.

Speaker 1 And Paul McCartney was in the crowd, maybe 200 people. And Brandon Hugo,

Speaker 1 You said something like,

Speaker 1 hey, we want to sing Helter Skelter, but Sir Paul McCartney, I see you out there, and would you do us the honor of coming and singing with us?

Speaker 1 And Paul McCartney got up and sang Helter Skelter with these fucking guys. And it was unbelievable.
And so I came backstage.

Speaker 1 You remember after I came back, you were in that little room and I said, how are you feeling? You were just buzzing. And I go, how are you feeling?

Speaker 1 You're like, I just sang Helter Skelter with Paul McCartney.

Speaker 1 It's pretty cool. Do you remember? I mean, you obviously remember that.
Yeah, it was so wild. Man.

Speaker 1 It was even more surreal moments was before he came up.

Speaker 1 You're singing and you look over and he has his cell phone out and he's filming you and it's like singing along to smile like you mean it. And I was just like, what is happening?

Speaker 1 It was one of the wildest things.

Speaker 1 The other thing that with the with with with bands needing to tour a lot more now as a way in which to monetize what you guys do since album sales changed a long time ago and now touring is a huge, huge part of what you guys do.

Speaker 1 I would imagine that switching back to a more

Speaker 1 instrumental thing as opposed to a synthesized thing makes playing stuff live easier, more exciting for the audience, since you're not just hitting a button for the drum sounds.

Speaker 1 You actually need a drummer and drum kit out there.

Speaker 1 Yes, it just makes for a better experience if the music is not synthesized, right?

Speaker 2 Oh, oh, yeah. I mean, we've even songs that don't have a lot of

Speaker 2 synthy bits, we've we've sort of tailored for the, you know, for live. We sort of have like right this dichotomy between being a live band and uh

Speaker 2 a you know studio doing things in the studio yeah

Speaker 2 and oftentimes we just sort of have tunnel vision where we're just we we forget about the live aspect sometimes and and we just go with like this ex this experience of you know recording and then we're like okay well how do we dial this in for a live experience and and that could be you know it's not just sounds but it's like it's tempo too you know we'll oftentimes we'll speed stuff up or sometimes we'll slow stuff down.

Speaker 2 We slow it in all the way.

Speaker 1 Do you ever speed stuff up just to get out of there sooner?

Speaker 1 No. I just did the show on Broadway where I played the Rhapsody, and I was like, I'm fucking tired.
And I would just, I would play it twice as fast. I like that.
You guys dinner date.

Speaker 1 You guys miss Sean. He was on Broadway this year.
He won a Tony. By the way, hold for applause.
Gotcha. And we'll add the applause.

Speaker 1 His was spelt T-O-N-I-E, though. Yeah, it was different.
Oh, yeah, no, no, it wasn't the what you think of the Tony Wards.

Speaker 1 The lineup. But he played, and he played every night to end the show on piano.
And he's, like we talked about,

Speaker 1 an accomplished pianist. And he had to do it every goddamn night.
And yeah, Sean, you said that some nights you would just jam through it. And that cast and the cast would be like, was that like...

Speaker 1 Because it's usually like eight, eight, nine minutes. They're like, was that four minutes?

Speaker 1 I was like, yeah, I'm tired. I want to go home.

Speaker 1 Yeah, what do you do when you, when you, yeah, what do you do when you get out there in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people and you're just not feeling it? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I mean, do you just kind of wait until you do? Because you got other bandmates that can maybe carry the water for a song or two? It's rare.

Speaker 1 I don't know about Ronnie, but it's rare that I'm not.

Speaker 1 excited that the juices don't just start flowing and the butterfly I get to still get the butterflies before and so it's almost up to the audience there there will be moments where you come out and you think it's you're just so ready and they aren't they aren't they aren't meeting your expectations

Speaker 1 and that's when it can be those are the times it's it's a struggle but i never feel like oh another gig

Speaker 1 you know i never feel like that right don't you because each each every audience for some uh takes on a collective kind of energy and sometimes like you're saying it's it's a less than energy and don't you just get really pissed off at them and want to take it out on them and you can't i'm gonna say they don't i'm gonna answer i bet they don't no yeah we don't we

Speaker 1 Yeah, we can't take it out on them. We've got to be professional.
All right.

Speaker 1 When's the last time you guys,

Speaker 1 do you guys see a lot of live music yourself? Do you guys go to concerts and

Speaker 1 kind of experience what it's like as an audience to and kind of let that inform your

Speaker 1 performances? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And, you know, especially on tour, if we, if we're, we're touring with somebody, it's, it's always helpful to get out there and just, you know, it helps get the blood moving a little bit.

Speaker 2 Oh, we're, we're going to be doing that in an hour.

Speaker 1 you're right in an hour

Speaker 1 yeah well yeah no i mean you know watching somebody before right right before you play or something who do you guys like who are you guys touring with uh right now like who in the last year i don't want to put you on the spot we can always it's okay yeah no we had you know we we did a a ton of shows with johnny marr from

Speaker 1 oh yeah love oh my god i love johnny love johnny marr of the smith jb so well you know you're not the one of the grand one of the pearls will one of the great

Speaker 1 one of the top three guitarists one of the top three guitarists of all time one of the top three guitarists of all time. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Do you like the Smiths? I love The Smiths.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, you know what we did? We did

Speaker 1 one or two Smith songs we would do every night with him. Yes.
No way.

Speaker 1 I just saw you. I just saw

Speaker 1 you guys. Shut the fuck up, Sean.

Speaker 1 What songs did you guys do with this?

Speaker 1 We did this Charming Man with him is how we first.

Speaker 1 I love it. And then

Speaker 1 we did please. Please, please let me get what I want.

Speaker 1 It's great. It's the greatest song I ever wanted to do.
Listen to this one. How deep do you go with the Smiths?

Speaker 1 I go very

Speaker 1 We did what she said. Oh, my God.
Yes, I know what she said. You almost put two hands on your pearls just then.
Like fully punk rock Smith, what she said.

Speaker 1 We did Stop Me if you think you've heard this one before. Stop me.

Speaker 1 Stop me.

Speaker 1 You know what's wild?

Speaker 1 They broke up before they toured that. That's on the last album.
Is that hang on? Is that not louder than bombs? Is that? No, Stop Me is on Strangeways. Here we come.
On Strangeways, here we come.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So

Speaker 1 we're up there and we're about to play it.

Speaker 1 And he tells me you know i've never i've never played this with a singer no way so i was i was like this is so amazing weird yeah you're up there singing stop me with him and it's the first time he's done it because it was meant to be with morrissey that's crazy were they were they a big who who are your big influences uh i've always wanted to know because you guys have definitely the smiths yeah you know that's so cool i can hear it now that you say that i guess i can hear some of it we were we were just last night we were singing some early Depeche Mode.

Speaker 1 Oh, here they come. Get me started.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 Brandon and I sort of,

Speaker 2 we melt. We like that band.

Speaker 1 Yeah. They're incredible.
They're incredible. Now, there's a lot of stuff.

Speaker 1 What other bands? I want to hear what other bands.

Speaker 1 I just want to hear what other bands they liked. Okay.

Speaker 1 It was New Order and the Smiths and the Cars. Guys, I mean,

Speaker 1 it's like we're family.

Speaker 1 Sean, Dave. Did you change? Sean, go change.

Speaker 1 You're saying,

Speaker 1 did you guys get in? Were you guys influenced at all by any sort of like 90s indie bands too?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Ronnie's, I'm a little bit younger. And so when that stuff was happening,

Speaker 1 I was just...

Speaker 1 A lot of it was a little bit heavy for me. So my brother was older than me, and he had passed on this other stuff to me.
But I think Ronnie was definitely

Speaker 1 Echo and the Bunnyman, Susie and the Bunnyman.

Speaker 1 Earlier, but yes, for sure.

Speaker 1 It's the 90s. But Ronnie, were you like,

Speaker 1 I'm like a pavement-built to spill guy.

Speaker 1 Sure. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 All this guy's Dyce Root Jr., Sebadeau. Oh, my God.
You know, all those guys.

Speaker 1 Oasis came around for me. Oasis.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. 90s.
Did it take a minute? Did Oasis take a minute for you, Brendan? Or were you right into it?

Speaker 1 It took me a minute, and then I sort of became obsessed. I considered an Oasis tattoo when I was 16.

Speaker 1 Really? Really? Really? I'm so thankful I didn't do that.

Speaker 1 Instead,

Speaker 1 you went with soft cell, I heard, right? Just on the small of your back.

Speaker 1 I had the same thing with Oasis, where I was like, at first at Oasis, I was like, I don't know, and then became obsessed with them too. They were so

Speaker 1 red. Sorry, Jason, I cut you off 50 times because I'm geeking out with you.
No, it's Sean. Go ahead, Sean.
Oh, I have a thousand questions,

Speaker 1 if I may. Yeah, go ahead.
First of all, we talk about live shows. I always ask whenever musicians come on, what's your best, worst live show experience story?

Speaker 2 like the the thing that went wrong wrong the most well there is the there is the the the the opposite situation where um

Speaker 2 it was there were two things that really happened at the at this we did a a stadium run at uh last year in the uk and we were in uh manchester and two things happened another uh a girl made a sign to

Speaker 2 wanting to play drums on on one of our songs and and we brought her up and when I was back there

Speaker 2 I was like, you know, do you know the song? I just kind of watch me because I jump on guitar for a second and

Speaker 2 She told us that She wanted to do something brave because her best friend this she's like 16 years old Maybe her best friend's going through cancer and and that's a brave thing for her to go through and she said she wanted to do something brave so I learned this song.

Speaker 2 I said get on up there and she was excellent.

Speaker 1 She, I mean, she's great.

Speaker 2 She totally knocked it out of of the park. And it was one of the best gigs maybe of

Speaker 2 the year. It was like this huge, you know, soccer stadium.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 We actually,

Speaker 2 this was last year, last spring.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Is that one of us?

Speaker 2 But the other thing that happened was,

Speaker 2 and Brandon stopped the show. He sees this guy

Speaker 1 crowdsurfing from...

Speaker 2 from the front of the house, which is where the sound board, the mixing board, our sound guy lives.

Speaker 1 He's like 80 years old he's as he gets closer you see that there's uh there's this old fella just

Speaker 1 riding the wave and and he held what the fuck they drop him they dropped him he dropped brandon stops

Speaker 2 on his hip on his hip brandon stops the show because it looks like you just saw feet and then just and then you didn't see the guy anymore so we stopped brandon checked on him to to to see if uh

Speaker 2 he was okay and he popped up in in a fit of joy and he hugged me i went down and hugged him

Speaker 1 what did he say to you you asked hey are you okay i go what are you doing you know oh yeah yeah and he said i'm enjoying myself

Speaker 2 the next day the next day in the uh in the papers uh all the paper headlines read crowd surfing pensioner

Speaker 1 That's hysterical. I love that that would become like a thing at Killer's Concert that like

Speaker 1 old old dudes would just crowdsurf. Like that becomes something that happens.

Speaker 1 I once did some stage diving in Vancouver. You did?

Speaker 1 I did some, yeah.

Speaker 1 In Vancouver. Yeah, the stage is only a couple of feet tall, but I did, I actually had to jump up to get onto the people's hands.

Speaker 1 And was Andrew originally scared? Did he see you?

Speaker 1 Huge wham. Oh, listen.

Speaker 1 They get me fired up. They get me fired up.

Speaker 1 Sorry, Sean, you were going to say. Were you wearing your shorts, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what was left of them? Please, go ahead, Sean.
You fell out of the cage you were dancing in? Yeah, they left it unlocked. It wasn't smart.
Sean, you were saying. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Killed Sean. Look at Sean.

Speaker 1 All right. So,

Speaker 1 well,

Speaker 1 guys,

Speaker 1 I have a question.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, Sean. To show your point,

Speaker 1 I used to work in the entertainment committee in college, and we would get,

Speaker 1 there was like seven people.

Speaker 1 Coming out of the chakra department.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 What nerdy shit did you not do? Let's just get to that.

Speaker 1 God damn it. President of Entertainment Committee, Sean Hayes, calling.

Speaker 1 No, I was in the Entertainment Committee in college, and there was like seven seven of us and we were in charge of which bands.

Speaker 1 Yeah. We're past it.
Which bands were coming to the college, Illinois State University, one of the best universities in the world.

Speaker 1 And we got like the B-52s and I remember NXS came and people were like, what's inks? Like they didn't know the name of the day.

Speaker 1 And then it was like,

Speaker 1 and who else? Red hot chili peppers, like all these people.

Speaker 1 And it was Pearl Jam and Pearl Jam was playing and people were stage diving and like body surfing. And

Speaker 1 I'm maybe 70 pounds.

Speaker 1 and I'm supposed to block the crowd from getting to the stage and

Speaker 1 I saw I saw them coming and I just would run I'd be like I was the worst I'm entertainment committee not security committee and I had my little badge on hold it

Speaker 1 okay so anyway my question is how do you guys how'd you guys meet

Speaker 1 He's the best. He's the best, guys.
Is he not? Award-winning interviewer, Sean. You know, by the way, Ronnie and Brandon, you guys probably don't know this.
Sean was once nominated for

Speaker 1 best host

Speaker 1 host of a podcast.

Speaker 1 On a podcast that's co-hosted by three people. They singled him out and wanted to give him a singular award because his questions are so good.
Because of questions like that. How'd you meet?

Speaker 1 How'd you meet? And then what's a funny story that happened live?

Speaker 1 Hey, but we all enjoy those are the best stories. You're right.

Speaker 1 How did you meet?

Speaker 1 We actually met like in a

Speaker 1 we got to go fast because it looks like running as a business meeting.

Speaker 1 Me and our guitar player met through the classified ads in Las Vegas. No way.
Wow. Is that true? Yeah, so probably the last band to form that way.
Wow. Not how you and you and Scotty met

Speaker 1 in the back of the paper. Was it? Yeah, Craig List.
Yeah, Craig List.

Speaker 1 Wait, so you met in the Classifieds and then...

Speaker 1 We didn't have, we had it. We had a different drummer and a different bass player for a while who they were not

Speaker 1 into it. They weren't

Speaker 1 not yeah they weren't the right fit and that's

Speaker 1 and and uh

Speaker 1 one night we were playing an opening were we opening for for and what was her name oh and

Speaker 1 marie and and ronnie was ronnie was filling in

Speaker 1 ronnie was filling in for for this for the for this girl and he happened to see us

Speaker 1 And he just, Ronnie, he has a way of just cutting right to the chase. And he just said, you know, you guys would be good if you had a real drummer or something like that.
I love that.

Speaker 2 A rhythm section needed help.

Speaker 1 A rhythm section.

Speaker 1 And so we, I mean, instantly just before we knew it, we were in his garage. And then we had to do that.
But

Speaker 2 it wasn't for, I wasn't trying to, like, shoehorn my way in. I actually, I, I recommended a couple drummers that just, again, weren't the right fit, like much better drummers.

Speaker 1 Did you recommend them knowing that they were not going to be the right fit so that they would have to go to you, Ronnie Bell?

Speaker 2 No, I was like, I was on this trajectory as like I must finish school so I don't end up homeless.

Speaker 2 And I was just doing that but the songs they they had even at the time even songs we don't even play anymore were just like

Speaker 2 calling me. It was just it I was familiar with it already.
I was just you know, I knew where they were coming from.

Speaker 2 And I think that was part of the problem with the other rhythm section is like the other two guys had no idea where Dave and Brandon were going or headed.

Speaker 1 and they were just kind of just going through the motions so then the first time that you guys played as a band

Speaker 1 would you were like kind of doing the like looking around going like all right yeah

Speaker 1 well we were like you know let's let's let's try it out like

Speaker 1 you let's see what happens and and we just ended up like playing hours and making those songs right on the first day just playing and then we got really excited we should know jason jason's laughing because he knows i've done this bit for years it's so stupid which is my impression of every bassist, right?

Speaker 1 Which is

Speaker 1 when the singer makes eye contact with him.

Speaker 1 So he's just on his like this, right? So like this. So he's just like this, playing bass.
Looks around. Singer looks at him and goes, and he goes, yeah.

Speaker 1 That's where the knees stay together and he goes into a deep squat. Super happy.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, boy.
He's so stoked.

Speaker 1 And we will be right back.

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Speaker 1 And then he thought that maybe we were professional. We're not just a bunch of clowns.
To be honest, there was a point where I got so comfortable, I forgot that I was in front of an audience.

Speaker 1 I was sitting back on that nice Ashley couch and I was just just hanging out with my buds in my living room.

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Speaker 1 And now, back to the show.

Speaker 1 Now, wait, now, Ronnie,

Speaker 1 how crazy do you get with your set?

Speaker 1 You put like, because I see some guys, they'll put like a big fucking gong back there sometimes, and they'll put some kettle drums, and they'll put like some of the

Speaker 1 xylophone that's hanging from like

Speaker 1 Christmas ornaments. Yeah, those things.

Speaker 1 You get like real

Speaker 1 robust with your setup back there. Do you keep it simple?

Speaker 2 We were doing like

Speaker 2 a video. I have a gong, but we were doing this video.
We were basically trying to do the

Speaker 2 Pink Floyd rip-off

Speaker 2 when they were in the...

Speaker 1 Pompeii.

Speaker 2 Pompeii, the Pompeii video. And Nick Mason's got this awesome drum set with the gong.
It just looks great in the desert. We were making this video for human in the desert.
I love that video.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 you guys made awesome videos, by the way, just as an aside. Thanks.
Yeah,

Speaker 1 yeah, yeah, yeah. It's true.

Speaker 2 And so it sort of started out with that, and then I brought it on,

Speaker 2 I brought it on stage

Speaker 2 as

Speaker 2 almost a joke or like a backdrop and everything. And now I actually use it.

Speaker 1 You have like one of those big, funny mallets?

Speaker 2 Yeah, big ass

Speaker 2 mallet the size of a baby's head. And

Speaker 2 But apart from that,

Speaker 2 I don't go too crazy.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Yeah. No chime wipes.
Brendan, what were you going to say? Oh, I was going to bring some tenderness. Yeah.
Some tenderness to this interview. You know that.

Speaker 1 Do you remember you emailed me about Dustland, Will? You might not remember this, but I think this is how we first talked, is that

Speaker 1 you reached out about a song of ours called The Dustland Fairy Tale. Yes.
And that was where we first, I think, connected. I think you're right.
And

Speaker 1 those moments are few and far between where somebody will actually

Speaker 1 take the time to do that. And I appreciate it still.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I do remember that, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, listen, I love music, and I've always been a fan of you guys. And I find you guys,

Speaker 1 it's funny, you were talking about.

Speaker 1 kind of circling back to talking about getting into sort of sort of electronic music, et cetera. What I've always loved about you guys, I find a lot of of your music is very anthemic,

Speaker 1 you know, like there's always like a big feel to it. You guys are kind of big feel guys, and I love your lyrics, and I love the way everything kind of builds in the same way.

Speaker 1 I love the lyrics build in a way, and sometimes I don't even know a lot of the time. I mean, I don't know what you're writing about.
It's very personal, probably, and you don't,

Speaker 1 you know, you don't explain it, but there's just something about it. And there's, and

Speaker 1 your music is the kind of music for me that evokes a lot of emotion. And well, are you crying right now? I'm always crying.

Speaker 1 I'm always crying. Just know that.
It's okay.

Speaker 1 And I do remember reaching out to you. And of course, when we emailed, we emailed a couple times.
And

Speaker 1 I just, I don't know, man. I just really appreciate it.
I just love what you guys do. And I find it very inspiring.
I get really inspired by music because I can't play music.

Speaker 1 Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
Oh, this is one of my tunes. This is one of my tunes.
Here's the neck pops. Here we go.
This is your band? Here we go. One of my songs.

Speaker 1 Look at the way he pops the neck. Someone's angry, someone's sad.

Speaker 1 That sure stopped my tears.

Speaker 1 It's so bad.

Speaker 1 Okay, that's good. Oh, you're totally.
Is that you singing or no? Yeah, that's me singing. You're doing Andy Bell.
You're doing Andy Bell.

Speaker 1 Total Andy Bell. 1,000%.

Speaker 1 Andy Bell sings his ass off. It's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 He's sort of underrated.

Speaker 1 For Tracy, Andy Bell is the lead singer of Erasure. Man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I was like 19, 20. I don't know how that was.
Hey, Brendan. That sounded good.
I just found the email.

Speaker 1 What's the time stamp on? Is it about 3.40 in the morning? August 5th, 2009. Does it start with you up? Hey, man.
Yeah, hey, man, you up.

Speaker 1 No, it says, hey, man, just want to drop you a line and say, I love Dustland Fairy Tale. I can't stop listening to it.
Hypnotic.

Speaker 1 And then a dick pic. Anyway, going to sleep now.

Speaker 1 Call me. I'm putting my phone on D-Wide.
Disturb.

Speaker 1 God's taking me back.

Speaker 1 Taking me back, right?

Speaker 1 So hang on. So just a couple more things.
So when you do get together, you guys feel it. You've got the right energy.
You've got the right kind of

Speaker 1 balance or like you feel like you guys are kind of playing off each other and you're all working towards the same place or the same vibe.

Speaker 1 And then you start to record your first record.

Speaker 1 And, you know, look, doing that anytime we do anything and guys, we do it as well. All of us, when you're working on something new, you're doing it in a vacuum.

Speaker 1 And other than the people who you kind of work with, you have no sense as to whether or not people are going to like it. You're like, people might hate this.
They might say, this is great.

Speaker 1 And so what was that feeling on the first record before people knew who the killers were?

Speaker 2 It's just, it all sort of just started to roll. We had garage recordings that were just us playing in my garage with two microphones and a CD recorder.
Wow. And we got to the point where we were...

Speaker 2 everybody's amps and the drums and everything sounded like it was being mixed, but it was just, it was just a room recording.

Speaker 2 And so we had, we would, we'd do that to sort of like do demos and things like that. And we didn't have any proper recordings.

Speaker 2 And there was this guy who put us in touch with a fella who had a studio in Northern California. So we need to get you guys like a proper recording.
And

Speaker 2 we just went in there, you know, we did one or two takes of each song.

Speaker 1 You guys paid for the, you paid for the studio time yourself?

Speaker 2 We did a spec deal with this guy.

Speaker 2 He says, i'm i'm gonna you know i'll record this for free i'm gonna have uh mark needham who's a you know famous mix engineer he's done chris isaac and you know fleetwood mac and countless others and and he'll mix it but we

Speaker 2 we we want a year to to to shop it um if we do this we're like shit it's a

Speaker 2 free record this okay let's do it and they like put us up in like uh budget suites in berkeley california and

Speaker 2 we made the and that was that was the first record of those demos. They were just like, okay, well, this will work for the first.

Speaker 2 It started out as being an EP and then we

Speaker 2 with this little deal, a little small indie label

Speaker 2 in England called Lizard King.

Speaker 1 It was the first time I had Thai food.

Speaker 1 In Berkeley.

Speaker 1 Really? Yeah. Sean wants to know if you've ever tried Chin Chin.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we do the Chin Chin. Close relative.
Sean, this agreement, Sean, do you enjoy Thai food? I love Thai food, yeah.

Speaker 1 I love the different sauces. Yeah.
You know, in Vegas, we have a place, Lotus of Siam. Yeah.
If you guys ever go to Vegas. Lotus of Siam.

Speaker 1 And it's the, I mean, you got Night Market Song is amazing in L.A., but Vegas has this one.

Speaker 1 It's called Lotus of Siam, and

Speaker 1 it's not on the strip. It's off the strip, but it is the greatest.
I'll tell you what you need to try next time you're in Vegas is the sphere.

Speaker 1 why don't you guys go play the sphere that place is in it's great incredible oh did you already go yeah i went to that you two show yeah unbelievable that venue man just it looks insane just the pictures you're mad what do you guys think of vegas like living there you don't live there ronnie but brandon you do right i i moved i moved away too and so you did yeah so yeah three of us were born were born there you ever run into kimmel You ever see Kimmel over there when you were in Vegas?

Speaker 1 Ronnie went to the same high school as Jimmy. Really?

Speaker 2 Jimmy's a lot, a lot older than Jimmy.

Speaker 1 He's a lot. Full stop.
He's a full stop. He's a lot.
No, I think that's the end of his sentence. Jimmy's a lot.
And he is a lot.

Speaker 1 He is a lot.

Speaker 1 We can say this officially. Kimmel is a lot.

Speaker 1 So you went to the same, but it's a good question. Like being from Vegas, like what Sean was asking,

Speaker 1 I always think that I've actually asked this to Kimmel too. Like, it's a, is it a, is it a weird place to be from?

Speaker 1 It wasn't until we left. Yeah.
And

Speaker 1 that's a great answer. And you realize.
And how weird. Yeah.
And so

Speaker 1 you're just accustomed to seeing ads first, you know, billboards for strip clubs. And there are slot machines when you go to 7-Eleven.

Speaker 1 Like, that's just, there's my grandma's going to be playing slots while I'm getting my Slurpee. Like,

Speaker 1 that's what life is like. Wow.
And that's, and you don't realize that that's foreign to other people. How did you end up in Northern California

Speaker 1 for the record?

Speaker 1 did you guys all kind of relocate there or oh i no that's just where saltsman studio no oh so that was oh gotcha yeah that's just where the studio this guy just was was high he high on building his brand new studio and was very eager to record somewhere gotcha so you guys have relocated out of vegas into where are you now we're all over the place i'm okay i'm in texas right now i live in i live in utah Oh, all right.

Speaker 1 Okay. I have a question.

Speaker 1 After a show is done and you played a show, do you guys have like a, and you're feeling that adrenaline still, do you have like a routine or some kind of something you do to calm down?

Speaker 1 Like, do you go out? Do you, are you like, you know what? I'm done. I'm spent.
I'm going to go right to bed. Or do you, are you still high on the energy? I devour food.

Speaker 1 You do? Do you not eat before the show?

Speaker 1 About four. I give four hours before the gig.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You don't want anything in your stomach for four hours before the gig because it might get a little growly? Yeah, you just feel heavy.

Speaker 1 You feel, you know, I don't want to feel full and the acid reflux, all that kind of stuff. If it hits your cords, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Jason? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 when you say cords, you're talking about the pants. The vocal cord.

Speaker 1 Oh, yes.

Speaker 1 Jesus.

Speaker 1 Did you say you lived in Utah? I did.

Speaker 1 From when I was four till I was seven, we lived in Salt Lake.

Speaker 1 I forget why my parents were there, but learned how to ski.

Speaker 1 Snowbird and Alta. Wonderful.
So wasn't it? I loved it. Yeah.
No, no, no, not at all. Beautiful state.
When I was a kid, I swear

Speaker 1 one of my first celebrity sightings was you. Come on.
Oh, but maybe I was there skiing when I was a little bit older. No, no, no.
It wasn't in Utah. It was like in Reno or Wendover.

Speaker 1 I can't remember, but it was. It would have been Reno.

Speaker 1 And we were checking into some place because there was like a storm or something, and we had to.

Speaker 1 And I remember being like,

Speaker 1 I was only eight or nine, but I. So Jason was Jason was 25.
You were famous. Well, barely.
That's a kind. By the way, Brendan's got a very good memory, so let's keep going.

Speaker 1 And I was, anyway, I was excited because I was like,

Speaker 1 that's him.

Speaker 1 And my mom wasn't sure.

Speaker 1 Was it 8 a.m.? Was it 8 a.m. and it looked like he'd been up? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Was I looking dejected from a blackjack table at the pepper mill?

Speaker 1 That was me. Was he exchanging cash with the dude behind the 7-lines?

Speaker 1 You had some friends with you, but

Speaker 1 you were running the show. I remember.
Yeah, I thought i was pretty pretty hot did he have a did he have a motorhome with some dirt bikes on it was was he with lafe garrett yeah

Speaker 1 by the way you know what's funny so you guys are from vegas and then you've moved all over the states and you've kind of lived everywhere but but you got i i my my impression is that you guys really

Speaker 1 you're so huge in the uk i talk i talked about it before you guys kind of in a way am i right that you guys kind of broke through first in the uk Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, so that first record we recorded in Berkeley was then put out by this small indie label. And that's what became our first record hot fuss.
And

Speaker 1 well, all the major American labels said no.

Speaker 1 So we went with this small label in England.

Speaker 2 Who believed in us? Wow. We're like, these guys believe in us.
So we went over there and

Speaker 2 did a, I think we did like four or five shows and, the anime was covering it. And it was just like things were starting to sort of bloom a little bit.
And then we got home

Speaker 2 two or three weeks later, and

Speaker 2 all the American labels were

Speaker 2 taking us out to dinner. We ate really well for a few months.

Speaker 2 We were just broke. We all still had jobs.

Speaker 2 Brandon was at the Gold Coast. slinging bags and I was taking pictures at a wedding chapel on the strip and dating one.

Speaker 1 No way. no way.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that was my last job. And so

Speaker 2 everything was starting to

Speaker 2 sort of come down a little bit. Every show we'd play, there'd be somebody from some record label.

Speaker 1 Ronnie, how is your, as a photographer there,

Speaker 1 how is your chat to your subjects when you were shooting and you were really getting good shots and stuff? Would you ever say stuff like dynamite, dynamite?

Speaker 1 What was your go-to chat on that stuff?

Speaker 1 Write to me. Write to me.
Now, over here, I'm not even here. I'm not even here.
More leg. You're looking.
More leg. More leg.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Dynamite leg. Wait, you're a freaking.

Speaker 1 You're not going to regret this. You're not going to regret this.
Right. That's a good one.

Speaker 1 Right. And who's that? Who's that over there? Who's that over there? It was a good job.

Speaker 1 It was a, it was crazy. Brendan, what were you doing? You were slinging bail.
I was a bailman. Yeah, I was a bailman at the Gold Coast.
Yeah. At the Gold Coast.

Speaker 1 I do want to talk about this as its own little section because I know that we might, you know, we may or may not be able to use this or whatever, but you guys are potentially, maybe I've heard, going to,

Speaker 1 speaking of Vegas, do a residency.

Speaker 1 Is that true?

Speaker 1 It's true. Oh, I'm going.
This is,

Speaker 1 we'll give you tickets. Wait, no, of course you won't.
Of course. Don't say, of course.

Speaker 2 Sean's in the band. He's going to.
Sean's in the goddamn band.

Speaker 1 I'm going to hold up a sign

Speaker 1 instead of the drummer, instead of Ronnie Hugh. I'm going to just click my keyboard.

Speaker 1 No, Bono, Bono kind of gently mentioned his residency there at the sphere before it all happened. Are we making some news here?

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 yeah,

Speaker 1 it's going to be. It's at the Gold Coast.
It's going to be at the

Speaker 1 Coliseum. Nice.

Speaker 1 Oh, for real? And then Caesar's Palace. I saw Celine Diana, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And so

Speaker 1 it's, you know, we're really excited.

Speaker 1 It's going to be 20 years since our first record, so we're going to play the album front to back.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God, no way.

Speaker 1 And then we'll leave and come back and play eight or nine more singles or whatever.

Speaker 1 That's really cool. When does that start? August is the potential.
It's the last couple weeks of August. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, man. That is so exciting.
2024. Yeah.
No, no, no. August of 23, you ding-dong.

Speaker 1 They built a time machine just so they could go do this residency. What do you hop aboard?

Speaker 1 I'll totally go to that.

Speaker 1 This guy was nominated for best host of the year.

Speaker 1 You guys, that's so awesome.

Speaker 1 Again, I just want to follow up with this. How it is, you know, it's been 20 years, and now you're going to do this residency in your hometown.
It's got to feel kind of

Speaker 1 great.

Speaker 1 It's really cool. Ronnie's mom worked at Caesars Palace for 40 years.
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 Wow. And I used to go, I worked at Spago

Speaker 1 as a bus boy inside Caesars Palace. And it was where I bought, they used to have Virgin Records there.
And I took every bit of money that I had and spent it at Virgin Records and Caesars.

Speaker 1 It's so cool to come back. When we were kids, there was a thing called the OmniMax, those dome theaters.
Yeah, yeah, OmniMax. And that's the original sphere.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they tore it down, and that's where the Coliseum is built. It just, it really feels like a special thing to go back there.
Oh, man, that's so awesome.

Speaker 1 Well, that's going to be pretty cool for you guys. Yeah, I'm so happy for you guys.
I'm so happy for the audiences, for us, that that we get to come and see you guys.

Speaker 1 See the way Will just got free tickets from you guys with that little comment, right? Well, I know. Brendan, you've still got the same email address, I'm hoping, right? Yeah.
Okay, Brendan.

Speaker 1 I'm going to hit you up. I'll email you later today.

Speaker 1 You guys just be cool, okay?

Speaker 1 Sean, high school, your nickname, Busboy, was that true? Okay.

Speaker 1 Guys, honestly, we have, once again, we've taken up you guys just too much of your time.

Speaker 1 I could ask you guys about your music all day. I've just been such a fan, fan, as you know, for a long time.
You guys are just unbelievable talents.

Speaker 1 And thanks for taking the time during your tour. I know you guys are tired and you're in your hotel.

Speaker 1 We really, really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 It is a joy.

Speaker 1 And please, please, please send me your electronic album that you threw out just so I can.

Speaker 1 You will not upload it. I will not upload it to the internet.

Speaker 1 But what a pleasure. What an honor having you guys on this show.
It's great to see you guys again.

Speaker 1 Thank you, guys. Nice to meet you.
Very nice to meet you. Bye, guys.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 See you later. Bye-bye.
Thanks for this. Cheers.

Speaker 1 What a nice couple of gentlemen. Will, it's about time you found some nice friends.
They're good dudes, aren't they? They're good dudes. And

Speaker 1 yeah, I did look at them. Canadian level of nice.
They are Canadian level. Well, they have a lot of Canadian influence.

Speaker 1 I will say, I was just looking back at the email.

Speaker 1 My email exchanges with Brandon over the years are very random.

Speaker 1 But I've always been

Speaker 1 such a huge fan. And it's true, like, you know, when you get just, I don't know, certain things that can inspire you or whatever, and you feel like, I got to let him know

Speaker 1 how great it is what they do. And, you know, they obviously they sell millions of records and millions of fans turn up at their shows, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 I think it's nice to reach out to people and say, hey, you're really great. And what you did was really inspiring.
And how lucky that he wasn't a jerk, right?

Speaker 1 It's like they've been saying, be careful, you don't meet your heroes. Like, how terrible would that have been if he was just like, Yeah, great.
So what? Goodbye. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But the opposite happened. I like, I like them.
I feel like I've known them. Right.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 It should be called The Lovers, really. I mean, did you guys like my other song? You haven't heard that song yet.
Um, boy, I think I'm losing you. Are you going over a canyon? Hello? Hello.

Speaker 1 Can you hear me? Sean. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Will, when you got a second, we're just doing the wrap-ups. Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 Sorry.

Speaker 1 Anyway,

Speaker 1 they're such nice dudes, too. They're such nice

Speaker 1 normal for normal, for huge.

Speaker 1 No, I was going to say, for huge megastars.

Speaker 1 I was reading one of my annoying emails to Brandon, which was about whether my sister could go say hi to them after the show. Oh, that's talking about Champagne wanted to go?

Speaker 1 Chardonnay. Sorry.
Chardonnay wanted to go. Shanley.
Shanley. Shanley.

Speaker 1 I wanted to ask them, like, about the AI thing. Like, your question about the drum, can AI take over? Like, can I tell you something?

Speaker 1 Nobody's better at asking questions after the guest is gone than you, Sean.

Speaker 1 You are.

Speaker 1 We're going to have another podcast called Follow-Up.

Speaker 1 It's just going to be you, Sean. Will and I are going to, we're going to skip that one.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Hey, and I'm talking to nobody.

Speaker 1 Hey, by the way,

Speaker 1 how do robots say goodbye?

Speaker 1 Bye. No, they use binary.

Speaker 1 Binary.

Speaker 1 Don't tweak your nips when you say it. She's leaning back so satisfied.
Bye. Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

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