"Arcade Fire"

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Speaker 1 Hey, Sean, Sean, Sean. Yeah, go ahead.
You know that what's been really, I think, catching people off guard is some of our intro.

Speaker 1 No, well, no, some of our intros because they've been welcome to Smartlist. Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart,

Speaker 1 less.

Speaker 2 Hi, everybody.

Speaker 2 Hi, Jens. I'm feeling particularly lucky this morning and fortunate.

Speaker 2 Just, you know, walking to this room with my laptop, knowing that

Speaker 2 it's embarrassingly

Speaker 2 lightlifting what we do here. We get to just open up our laptops and talk to people we want to talk to that you'd otherwise have to wait in a long line, uh, on long autograph line to speak to.

Speaker 1 I also feel very fortunate today. I was having, I'm going to be real with you guys.
Uh-oh. I was having a tough morning.
Music cue. Music.
Oh, tell me about the tough morning.

Speaker 1 I was just having just everything that's going on, and I was just having a very tough morning. And I know that we always start jokey, and

Speaker 1 people don't want to listen to it, but I was. About the world, you mean? I'm going to be completely honest.
I was having a very tough morning today.

Speaker 2 Did you stumble across a newspaper?

Speaker 1 I made that mistake a few times recently.

Speaker 2 yeah

Speaker 2 cartoon he loves cartoon network shows and every once in a while uh someone will leave the tv on cnn and i feel yeah i can't i don't know it was that and just life and and um

Speaker 1 everything well did well what what's the main what's the headline i got a lot to choose from jason i had a long conversation yesterday about it and i was just like i i woke up today and i i'm again i think i mentioned it the other day i'm a naturally optimistic person and i've been it's been tough and amy said to me uh my ex-wife Amy, said,

Speaker 1 She said, you've been,

Speaker 1 how are you feeling? You seem, and I said, I was, I'm really, I was over there yesterday. I said, I feel really irritable.

Speaker 1 And she said, you know, for guys your age, depression often manifests itself as irritability.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I was like, it really stuck with me. And I'm like, maybe I'm depressed.
You're not depressed. Am I?

Speaker 2 Well, no, you would, I've been depressed and you would know it.

Speaker 2 It's an all-encompassing weight that you just,

Speaker 2 you just, you're constantly taking inventory and you're like, boy, there's just,

Speaker 2 it's sort of like, it's usually unsubstantiated.

Speaker 2 It's usually just kind of brought on by some sort of, I don't know, I'm not a scientist, but I think that there's chemical shit and all that stuff.

Speaker 1 So this fucking show is over.

Speaker 2 I will say that, Will, and then we can get light. But I will say, Will, you do an incredible job of navigating all the

Speaker 2 things that could trip you into self-loathing. You do a very good job without burying your head in the sand of, you know, you look at those things honestly.
You don't hide from them.

Speaker 2 You take them at face value. You assess them.

Speaker 2 You try to

Speaker 2 fix them. And

Speaker 2 you stay very positive.

Speaker 1 Also, Will, you know, you've gone through these before. I know.
Like I've seen you go through these before, and it doesn't last very long. And everybody has these.

Speaker 1 So you can't be like up, happy, positive all the way all the time this is I think it's normal to have these little moments and then you you come out of them you know but when you're in them you have to remember that you come out of them that you can

Speaker 2 well thank you thank you both I love both you guys very much and also just because things aren't perfect doesn't mean things are wrong doesn't mean things are bad it just means that's just life and we're all normal in that there's um you know plenty of things that are pear-shaped and then there's other things that are perfectly round and the the ratio is what you what you need to just describe both my body parts

Speaker 1 body types

Speaker 1 i keep doing i well i'll leave i'll leave you with this because our guests are probably like jesus christ what have i stepped into um but i was thinking like i've been really trying to do that thing of there are certain people as you guys both know in my life who have made it there's some difficulties and i'm like i've got to try to make them my guru I have to.

Speaker 1 I have to make them my, it's the only way out.

Speaker 2 What does that mean?

Speaker 1 That I have to, that, that I have to make them, that I learn a lot, that they are teaching me something. You know, Dawah, who's in our life.

Speaker 1 Dawah said years ago, I said, I know it's really tough for you to work with this other person. She said, yeah, I was going to quit a long time ago.
And I called my dad

Speaker 1 and I said, Dad, I don't know if I can work with this person. They're too tough to work with.
And her dad said to her, Dawah, how will you ever learn patience if you don't have someone to teach you?

Speaker 1 Yeah. And I thought, fuck.
And she told me that. And I love that.
I couldn't stop. I was like, thank you, Dawah.
And I went to the other room and just immediately started crying. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Also, you have to meet some you have to meet people where they are right so like like if someone's a type a and you're not but you just have to kind of right meet them halfway right I I so so about the last you guys know and you guys have been on this thing with me again that we don't it's not like now for a very edgy smart list very special smartless this Thursday smartless on a very takes a day but I I've been going through a lot of stuff and I was in Atlanta and I was thinking a lot of this stuff really kind of came to the surface and I was thinking about all this stuff

Speaker 1 and I listened to a record

Speaker 1 that really touched me, kind of talking about meet you where you are, really hit me where I am. Was it the soundtrack to Willy Wonka? It was, yeah, have you heard it? Yeah.

Speaker 2 It was that you were spinning vinyl down in the

Speaker 1 I wish it was vinyl, but

Speaker 1 I was sent this record

Speaker 1 and I started listening to it from the first track all the way through,

Speaker 1 like you listen, we used to listen to albums in that way. And that's what I did with this record.

Speaker 1 And I had a, and I listened to this, and every step of the way, every song was hitting me in this place. And I don't know if it's because where I was at,

Speaker 1 but it really spoke to me in this way that I've never experienced before. And a first time listened to a record or a song.
Oh, wow. Song by song.
I was like, holy shit.

Speaker 1 At one point, I thought I was going to have to pull over

Speaker 1 because I was so emotional. It's making me emotional thinking about it.
Wow.

Speaker 1 And I ended up reaching out to the people in this band because I was like, I have to talk to them and let them know what an impact it's had. And this is a band that I've really

Speaker 1 admired and listened to since the day I,

Speaker 1 from the moment I first heard

Speaker 1 one note of their music, I was completely engrossed with what they were doing. This is a band that has a lot of members in it

Speaker 1 and has had various people from time to time. But at the core are two people who

Speaker 1 I think who met at a time in their life where they just, it seems to me, and we'll find out that they just creatively came together and they, it's like this combustion, like this thing happened and they just started creating incredible stuff.

Speaker 1 They're Canadian,

Speaker 1 partially Canadian,

Speaker 1 mostly Canadian, but

Speaker 1 they are

Speaker 1 incredible writers,

Speaker 1 incredible songwriters.

Speaker 1 They're poets. I guess they're philosophers.
Yes.

Speaker 1 And they're rockers, and they hit me in a way that also

Speaker 1 strikes every indie rock bone in my body. And I hate even putting that classification, just music bone in my body.

Speaker 1 They're the incredible, they represent one of the greatest bands.

Speaker 1 Today, keep it together, William. It's Wynne Butler and Regina Chassain of the Space.
Okay.

Speaker 3 Simon and Garfunkel.

Speaker 1 There they are.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Hello, there.
Oh my gosh. Hello guys.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wow. Yeah.
Hi there. Garfunkel.
Art, you look amazing.

Speaker 1 Art looks amazing. I didn't like, seriously, art.

Speaker 1 Wait, wait a minute. That new wig

Speaker 1 is just stunning. I have to tell you, Will, I have to tell you, of course I know who you are.
Will's like, you've got to buy this album. I bought the album

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 iTunes?

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. It's not a buy because I did the same thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I bought it. It's cute, but you

Speaker 1 bought

Speaker 3 them, right? I didn't know people did that still. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 Well, how would I get it?

Speaker 3 I don't know.

Speaker 2 Because if you just have like Apple Music subscription, I don't.

Speaker 1 I have to, okay, hang on. Okay, hang on.
Go into settings. No, right.
But isn't that the way it is now?

Speaker 2 Because I was surprised. I was like, boom, there's the album.
And does this add to your library? Yes. Boom.
It was done. I didn't get charged anything.

Speaker 3 I know. It's all the music of all recorded history for like $10 a month.
It's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 Oh, really?

Speaker 1 Is that why? Is that real? It's awesome. And that's why

Speaker 2 touring is so huge now, right? Because it's the only way that bands can monetize their music anymore, correct? Aside from the peace you get from the subscription services?

Speaker 3 Yeah, you don't really get paid for streaming unless you're Drake.

Speaker 3 I think he gets, they pay him.

Speaker 1 Oh, really? They worked out. You change your band.

Speaker 3 All the money just... Yeah, we tried.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 3 the lawsuit was.

Speaker 2 It's merchandise and touring, right?

Speaker 3 Mostly touring.

Speaker 1 So Wynne and Regine, I'm not allowed to tell these guys. We never tell each other who our guests are.

Speaker 1 But I needed them a few weeks ago. I needed them to listen to your music.
Luckily, you guys got COVID

Speaker 1 because you were supposed to be on the show. Sorry, I say luckily for us.
Just not for you. Just me.

Speaker 1 Or just you, Wynn.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 you guys, and so these guys had a chance to listen. And I said, somewhere down the road, this is going to come in handy.

Speaker 1 Please listen to this record because I hope it touches you the way that it touched me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, only Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris were the other two that we were giving a heads up that were coming on.

Speaker 3 Her record's amazing, by the way.

Speaker 1 I'm like,

Speaker 3 her voice, it's melodic.

Speaker 2 It'll sneak up on you.

Speaker 1 And then Stacey Abrams, this is a true story, actually writes romance novels. That one bangs.

Speaker 2 No, but did you know that?

Speaker 2 Stacey Abrams writes romance novels.

Speaker 1 That's cool. She does.

Speaker 1 And it's actually very prolific. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Now, sorry, just so I can be clear, Regine, I'm saying your name correct. Regine Chassain.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Chassain.
Chassine. We be sisa.
Oh, look at you guys. Well,

Speaker 1 she's already corrected my French. It's terrible.

Speaker 2 It was pretty good.

Speaker 2 How do you pronounce your first name?

Speaker 1 Reginne.

Speaker 1 Regine.

Speaker 1 Regine.

Speaker 1 Regine. Regine.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 All right. Regine.

Speaker 1 Now, listen. You trust me.
This isn't weird at all. This is super normal.

Speaker 3 Everyone together.

Speaker 1 By the way,

Speaker 1 so, guys, first of all, after 10 10 minutes of pronouncing Rajin's name and

Speaker 1 figuring out Stacey Abrams

Speaker 1 and the money

Speaker 1 we don't make from streaming, welcome to Smartless. I'm so excited you guys are here.

Speaker 1 Talk to me a little bit about, was I right? You guys came together at a time in your lives,

Speaker 1 Rajeen, you were already in Montreal and when you were going to McGill, is that right?

Speaker 3 I went to Sarah Lawrence College for a year.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Oh, you did?

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 as one does, dropped out after a year because that's sort of the move.

Speaker 1 Dude, of course. I dropped out of Concordia in Montreal.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 We both went to Concordia.

Speaker 1 Did you guys drop out too?

Speaker 3 I transferred.

Speaker 4 I dropped out of McGill.

Speaker 3 Regime dropped out of McGill.

Speaker 2 I did one better, dropped out of high school.

Speaker 1 That's cool.

Speaker 3 What grade?

Speaker 1 Ninth, right?

Speaker 2 Two weeks short of finishing 12th. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Do you ever go back, GED?

Speaker 2 I went back. I talked to the headmaster, tried to get a diploma diploma out of him, and he asked me for a donation for the school instead.

Speaker 2 It was a shakedown.

Speaker 3 Do they do

Speaker 3 honorary degrees for high school?

Speaker 1 Oh, that's

Speaker 1 what I was lobbying for. A doctorate for high school.

Speaker 1 That would be great.

Speaker 2 Wouldn't that be great? I want it.

Speaker 2 Now, where are you guys in your musical life right now? Are you in the studio recording or are are you touring?

Speaker 3 Nothing, neither.

Speaker 2 Excellent.

Speaker 1 You're golfing?

Speaker 3 No, no golfing.

Speaker 3 The record just came out and

Speaker 3 we're going on tour in the fall, but we're actually kind of not working, which is for the summer.

Speaker 1 It's

Speaker 3 really strange.

Speaker 1 Are you guys a couple or just a parts of the band together?

Speaker 3 We're a couple, yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay, nice. A couple of goofy kids who are just making music.
A couple of crazy kids who love music.

Speaker 1 They are, yeah.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 you guys have a son.

Speaker 1 How old is your son?

Speaker 3 He's nine.

Speaker 1 He's nine.

Speaker 3 He had a his favorite part of Lego Batman is the nine-pack joke. No.

Speaker 3 And he was like, tell him about the, I was like, do you have

Speaker 3 any messages? He's like, the nine-pack, that's really funny.

Speaker 2 Walk us through that, Willie.

Speaker 3 I remember, because, you know, these kids watch so many Marvel movies. And he was like, Dad, why doesn't your stomach look like the people in the movies? And I was like, well, son.

Speaker 3 You have to be a car show.

Speaker 1 Sean's been getting in shape for a Marvel movie. Show him, Sean.
Let's see. Let's see.

Speaker 1 Who likes cookies?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 How do you do that?

Speaker 1 What's the secret?

Speaker 1 Well, you start with some ice cream. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Jason calls it my cookie pouch.

Speaker 1 Although, you know, we always say there's nothing less funny than a six-pack. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 It used to be a mark of wealth back in the old days, right? The King Arthur days. Like, that was you didn't, you didn't look like you were in charge or powerful or wealthy.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God, god, you didn't go to high school.

Speaker 1 I was working out a lot during Will and Grace, and Jimmy Burroughs, the director, said, You got to stop because big isn't funny.

Speaker 1 It's true.

Speaker 3 I've always lived by that creed.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 2 unless it's big around the waist. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wait, so so you guys, various

Speaker 1 colleges and transferring and quitting and whatever, but when you find your way to Montreal,

Speaker 1 I think it's Montreal. Yeah.
Montreal.

Speaker 3 Montreal. Montreal.

Speaker 1 And wait,

Speaker 1 and so you find your way to Montreal and then and then what? How does it come together that you start making music with all these Canadians?

Speaker 3 Well, I

Speaker 1 don't you start going a one and a two and a two. Yeah, a two.

Speaker 3 Yeah, usually someone counts it in.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and then you just start making it There's a lot of writing.

Speaker 3 I dropped out of art school and started a band as one does. And my bandmate had gone to Concordia in Montreal because it was so cheap.
It was like ridiculous.

Speaker 3 You know, it was like half price for American. You know, I think their exchange rate was like half then.
And it was also like $3,000 a year to go to college, which is pretty amazing.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 he was going back to school there. And I sort of followed him.
I didn't know anything about about Montreal or Quebec or anything.

Speaker 3 But I got there and it was sort of like what I thought New York was going to be like. It was like kind of the same, it's kind of the same soup as Brooklyn or something.

Speaker 3 It's like tons of African, North African, French Caribbean.

Speaker 3 But it was also cheap and there was crazy art,

Speaker 3 you know, like. contemporary dance and cool electronic music and everything was at an illegal loft and it was like just like shit was just happening in a really cool way.

Speaker 1 So, for Jason and Sean, I don't know if you guys have ever been in. Montreal is such an incredibly vibrant city.

Speaker 1 In a way, it's like this jewel of North America that doesn't, it's kind of good that it doesn't get talked about because it doesn't get overrun.

Speaker 2 I've got a half-brother there. Hello, Derek.
Oh, you do? Um, and

Speaker 2 sorry, where, where did you, where did you come from before you, you got to Montreal?

Speaker 3 I, I was born in Northern California. Um,

Speaker 3 but my, I have, my dad's from Maine and my mom's from LA. So I have, I have a, like a New New England.
I've I've got a bunch of Maine people.

Speaker 3 So I ended up going to boarding school for the end of high school in New Hampshire. So did Will.

Speaker 1 Yeah, not in New Hampshire. Where did you

Speaker 1 north of Toronto? Okay. I don't want to give them any credit because you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 Yeah, fuck them, honestly.

Speaker 1 They claimed kick out. I said they asked me not to come back.

Speaker 1 Honorary degree. Anyway.
Never too late. So you go, so you're from Maine and Northern California, but you find your way to Montreal.
And then, Regine, you're from Montreal. You're of Haitian descent.

Speaker 1 Your parents are Haitian immigrants. Yes.
Moved to Montreal. Wow.

Speaker 1 And from Haiti, you moved to Montreal? Were you born in Montreal or Haiti?

Speaker 4 I was born in Montreal.

Speaker 1 And you started making music in your head when you were really young. Is that right? That's what I read once.

Speaker 3 Regine is by far the most accomplished musical member. I mean, she's just like one of those savant types who taught herself classical music in the basement when she was five.
And

Speaker 3 she like on our first record, the first song, Tunnels, like she started playing drums like a week before we cut that.

Speaker 1 It's like, no way.

Speaker 3 Because we didn't have a drummer at the time. She's like, I can play drums, like, you can.
It's like, well, I'd never done it, but let me just figure it out really quick.

Speaker 1 Which is like,

Speaker 3 just insane. And, like, yeah.
So she's like that type of thing.

Speaker 1 I love that. That is so.

Speaker 1 And Hajime, were you making music?

Speaker 1 I also read once that you were like making music in like shopping centers and that's how you guys met. Is that a true story or am I mixing it up?

Speaker 4 That's kind of a mix-up, but I did do a million gigs,

Speaker 4 million different jobs, too many to remember.

Speaker 4 I was with a person driving around in Montreal one time and for like a month and she says, you know, Regine, every time we cross, we go somewhere, you say, oh, I used to work here.

Speaker 4 Oh, I used to work there. Oh, I worked here.
Oh, yeah, I worked there, too. I was like, wait, you worked everywhere.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 2 were you quitting a lot or getting fired a lot?

Speaker 4 The stuff that I would quit was like telemarketing and things that where I could be replaced very easily.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Were you ever fired for anything?

Speaker 4 No.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I don't quit on people. I just quit on things where I knew that it wouldn't matter.

Speaker 1 I love that. I don't quit on people.
I just quit on that. I love that.
I love that.

Speaker 1 Regine, I like when I, like, it just rolls off my tongue. Regine,

Speaker 1 it was my dream my whole life to play the piano at malls.

Speaker 1 I thought you made it if you could play, if you played at Nordstrom or like some kind of department store. And so, my whole life, I'd be like, if I can just get a job, how great would that be?

Speaker 1 I just go to the mall, I play, I get a check, I go home. I thought you had it made.
Anyways, I asked. But you get to work at the paper.
I did that.

Speaker 4 I did that stuff. I did.
I was dressed like an elf and I played in a Hallmarks.

Speaker 4 And I also was dressed with a wedding dress that I got at the thrift store. And I was

Speaker 3 dreaming. You worked in the fish, the fish department.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I sang Jazz Bossa Nova in the fish department at the

Speaker 4 grocery store opening.

Speaker 1 We got that sea bass. We got that fresh.
You know, the ice ice scraping sort of when they move the ice around.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's hysterical.

Speaker 1 Fresh sea bass. Go ahead, Sean.
Tell me about Regina. I played an alpha on the Kenny Rogers Christmas tour.
Ooh.

Speaker 1 How good is that? That's the end of the story.

Speaker 2 And he was not playing a piano. It was a keytar, right, Sean?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I was playing a keytar.

Speaker 3 Sean, you always have that elf bod then. Yeah,

Speaker 1 he's coming after that, Sean.

Speaker 1 Go get him. It brought all the boys to the yard.
Sean played, Sean is a classically trained pianist.

Speaker 1 And he went to, he was a, he was a music, he was a piano major in college. Yes.
And

Speaker 1 he's very musical. We keep telling him he needs to have a keyboard while we do the show to just kind of, you know, take us.
And he won't do it. I don't know.
I know.

Speaker 1 I guess I got to move all this equipment over to the thing. But next time,

Speaker 1 you've got a bookshelf behind you.

Speaker 1 Give me the fucking Paul Schaefer of podcasts. Yes.
What are you doing? You know what? I'm going to start doing that. Will.

Speaker 1 I'm going to move all this stuff in the living room next to you. By the way, you're not moving anything.
Your husband Scotty does anything. So you don't even do it.

Speaker 4 Because we could have had some back and forth. Because, you know, there's a piano right there.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 2 That would have been great and we will be right back

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Speaker 1 And now, back to the show.

Speaker 2 Now, what about your son? Is your nine-year-old

Speaker 2 musically inclined at all?

Speaker 1 Yes. Yeah, it's kind of scary.
Scary. Oh, really?

Speaker 4 Yeah. Yeah, he's got a lot of stuff.

Speaker 2 He came out gifted.

Speaker 3 I don't know.

Speaker 3 He's just around it so much. He lives in the studio with us basically.

Speaker 2 And what would his specialty be at this point? If you had to make a guess where he's going to really excel, is it going to be on a particular instrument or singing or writing?

Speaker 3 Well, he lives in New Orleans, so he's around like the people are playing drums in the street all the time. Like he's just, you know.

Speaker 1 I'd love it if you were like, we live in Montreal, but he lives in New Orleans. He's

Speaker 1 got his own apartment.

Speaker 3 He likes to drink.

Speaker 3 Living in Montreal was really like messing up his drinking schedule.

Speaker 2 Are we not in Montreal right now?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 3 No, we're in New Orleans.

Speaker 1 Oh, God. Oh, okay.
So

Speaker 2 you guys met, started in Montreal. The band started there.

Speaker 2 You have now journeyed down to New Orleans. That's where base is.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but we're kind of back and forth. We sort of do the opposite Canadian thing where we go north in the summertime.

Speaker 2 Do you take the kid with you when you go north?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Of course.

Speaker 2 Well, listen, if the guy likes to drink, he's got pretty much a bar. He likes to drink bar.

Speaker 1 He doesn't want to be away from it. They're not on Ozark and like leaving their kids for five years.
like some of them say.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 Listen, the price is right.

Speaker 1 I love hearing Americans say Montreal, too. It's always so amazing.

Speaker 2 Well, it's spelt with an O, not a U.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 3 it must be hard if you're directing an episode of something to have your kid there like, dad, hey, dad, dad, dad.

Speaker 1 No, exactly. Dad, what are you doing, Dad?

Speaker 2 Why are you killing that person?

Speaker 1 What did that person do to you?

Speaker 1 Although, Jason, you did, you've had the girls there before. When you were directing episodes, did you have? Yeah.

Speaker 1 You had Maple there when you were directing, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, but they could not care less. It's all about what's at the craft service table.
It's all about snacks. Snacks can hold their attention.

Speaker 2 They're happy.

Speaker 3 Otherwise, you don't have to pay for the snacks even in Hollywood. Snacks are free.

Speaker 1 Oh, snacks are free. Well, you're paying for it.
Don't worry.

Speaker 1 But I always say the joke I always say to my kids when I come to work is like, when they come in and are getting ready, I'm like, do you guys love watching your dad get his makeup put on? Yeah.

Speaker 1 In that voice. You know, we talk about this a lot, though, when it's like, you know, I'm always fascinated.

Speaker 1 If I was a, because I knew as a kid, I loved the arts and theater and acting and movies and all those kinds of things. I knew from a very young age.
And I was always like, I'm always blown away.

Speaker 1 Like Jason, you just said, Maple's just like, she couldn't care less.

Speaker 1 Like when she gets older, is she going to be, is Maple or your son when?

Speaker 1 Is he going to be like.

Speaker 1 Shit, I wish I would have tuned in a little bit sooner because that's really cool. They'll appreciate it later.

Speaker 2 I doubt it.

Speaker 1 I it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it'll be,

Speaker 2 no, they don't care.

Speaker 1 They don't care. No, they do care.
These are, it's hard.

Speaker 1 How can they possibly put it in context at this age? They can't.

Speaker 2 Did you care what your parents were doing when you were growing up?

Speaker 3 Imagine hanging out with my dad. I'm trying to imagine hanging out with my dad at his office, his office, like all the time.
Just like, dad, dad,

Speaker 2 is your son impressed with what you guys do?

Speaker 2 Does he get what you guys are doing?

Speaker 4 He totally gets it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And is he impressed? Does he give it up? Does he, does

Speaker 4 It's kind of his too.

Speaker 1 You know, it's like, yeah. He helps out.

Speaker 3 Luckily, we're good. It'd be really awkward if we sucked.

Speaker 1 And he has to be like, yeah,

Speaker 1 dad, only a lot of people. I want to be just like them.
No.

Speaker 1 If he was like, I have to like my parents and it's terrible, it would be a really messed up.

Speaker 1 But he, what kind of music, other than Arcade Fire, what kind of music do you think he would listen to if you were like, hey, put something on the record player? What would he?

Speaker 3 Beastie Boys.

Speaker 4 he he really knows no no he really understands uh music that's like really um

Speaker 4 genuine and original versus stuff that's just like crap you know crapped out to go on the radio

Speaker 3 and he'll listen to something and he'll know that this comes from here and this comes from this band and this this sounds yeah he knows jamaican music he knows haitian music he knows classic music he knows yeah wow but i i think about that sometimes too because it's like

Speaker 3 there's this stuff that you're exposed to when you're a kid that's like not at all of your generation.

Speaker 3 Like I was obsessed with like 50s music when I was because I heard Stand By Me when I was a little kid. I remember the first time I heard Stand By Me and I was just like, what?

Speaker 3 Like it just, because it conjures it so emotionally deep and the soundscape of it, like the first second I heard it, like the lyrics are about the mountains crumbling to the sea.

Speaker 3 And I would imagine, like, you know, like your imagination is so so fresh when you're there and I would imagine the mountains crumbling and it just was this epic you know like like like almost like visual landscape and then

Speaker 3 so I just was really imprinted with this stuff that was not you know I was in suburban Houston and like the 80s and like listening to this music from the 50s and they really liked stirring my soul that 50s music is like one four five chords every single song every song yeah Louie Louie is the opening of Louis Louie is the easiest way to bump bump, bump, bump, bump.

Speaker 1 Every song is those three chords over and over. I could have read it, I could have read it.

Speaker 4 But it ate what you do is the way that you do it.

Speaker 1 Regine, what kind of music? So, with your background, what kind of music were you listening to when you were like you guys were teenagers growing up in separate plays a year in Montreal?

Speaker 1 What were you listening to? What was informing or feeding your musical appetite? Uh,

Speaker 4 what did I listen to? It's very

Speaker 4 voisin. Abbey,

Speaker 4 escape it.

Speaker 4 I listened to

Speaker 4 classical music, Billie Hall. The first tape, the first cassette I bought, I had to like, I didn't have a lot of money to buy.
I didn't have like a collection of records.

Speaker 4 I only had my grandma's records.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 4 then when I had money, and I was like, okay, I'm going to go buy something and I have to buy something quality because it has to last forever.

Speaker 4 And I just, so I bought a double tape, double cassette of Billie Holiday. I was like, can't go wrong with this.

Speaker 1 Can't go.

Speaker 4 It's like this is a double cassette of Billie Holiday. I will always love this.
And then the second cassette I got was Bob Marley and then Legend. And then,

Speaker 4 but besides that, I listened to my grandmother's records. And

Speaker 2 what was the classical music that you loved the most?

Speaker 4 Well, when I was really young, the first piece I ever heard was Mozart Symphony number 40.

Speaker 1 I think the Jupiter.

Speaker 4 The Jupiter?

Speaker 1 It's called the Jupiter Symphony. Yeah.
How does it go, Sean?

Speaker 1 That's

Speaker 1 the

Speaker 1 overture to Marriage of Figaro.

Speaker 4 No, that is not.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, that's sorry. That's the Rondo Alaturka.
That's an A minor.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 Oh, wait.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight.

Speaker 1 I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 The Stephanie number 40 is that

Speaker 1 this is the one.

Speaker 4 So that's the one.

Speaker 4 That's what the one I heard in

Speaker 4 when I was four years old and I got obsessed with it.

Speaker 1 I can't apologize. Sorry, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 4 I started playing it that.

Speaker 4 After that, I discovered Chopin and I was obsessed with Chopin.

Speaker 4 And after that,

Speaker 4 well, I listened to my grandmother's record, so they had like.

Speaker 1 And after that, the Smiths. Beethoven.

Speaker 1 No, Beethoven,

Speaker 3 it was the pixies actually

Speaker 1 and the pixies i love hey will you guys um

Speaker 2 when you when you're on tour and you you've got your your set list and you're out there and you're you're playing the the music and you've rehearsed it a certain way um talk to us about what it's what it's what the process is when you guys kind of um absorb the energy of the audience the kind of mood and tone and pace of each other and and the combination of that to inform how differently you play

Speaker 2 a particular song on one night versus the next night. And the reason I ask is because there's a

Speaker 2 similarity between like actors when they do theater. You do the same material every night, but it changes every night per the audience's energy, per the other actor's energy.

Speaker 2 And so it'd be a completely different performance. Is that a signal that you guys send each other, or is it something that you just kind of mutually feel? Can you explain that process a little bit?

Speaker 1 I like this.

Speaker 1 Yeah, sign language.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I mean, mean, it's no, it's

Speaker 2 obviously probably not something said. It's just something

Speaker 3 felt, yeah. No, 100%.
I mean, I always like to, because

Speaker 3 a room always starts with a vibe, and a lot of it's like depends on, you know, what's happening in the news and what people ate that day, and what country you're in, and what kind of, like, so the audience comes in like with their vibe.

Speaker 3 And you can tell a lot of people.

Speaker 1 Sean's vibe is he ate everything. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
So sorry, go ahead. Right.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 So he's uncomfortable.

Speaker 1 So I'm shifty. I'm a little shifty, but I'm open.
Stuff's unbuttoned. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Elf, just elfing out, you know, on a Friday night.

Speaker 1 What an elf eat.

Speaker 1 By the way, you got that elf, bud.

Speaker 1 We're never going to stop.

Speaker 4 Also, like, poetry is like a little bit like holographic. So like it, it does have all different colors.
So like a word or a sentence can come out so many different ways.

Speaker 4 And so it's just, it's the same thing. It's just like today it shines like this and tomorrow will shine perfectly.

Speaker 2 And I'd imagine that's the exciting part of it, right? Is waiting to sort of mutually feel those cues. And

Speaker 1 I thought you were gonna say waiting for the lightning. That's the exciting part.

Speaker 3 No, I mean, every we're all we're all there for the song, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 So it's like the song, I sort of visualize it as the songs in between us and the audience, and you sort of meet, you sort of meet in the middle.

Speaker 1 And do you ever get an audience that just blows and you like get pissed? And you're like, Yes, of course. You know what?

Speaker 1 We're gonna, we're gonna end early tonight because you guys are terrible.

Speaker 3 We played Montreaux

Speaker 3 Jazz Fest. And it's like,

Speaker 3 you know, Switzerland is just a bunch of extremely rich white people for the most part. It's like,

Speaker 3 and they're very used to being entertained. And you're at Montreux and the vibe is like.

Speaker 3 entertain me.

Speaker 3 And we're a rock band, so we're playing and I'm just like trying to get a reaction out of the audience. I'm just like being kind of combative.
And

Speaker 3 at one point, I'm like, and this is the last fucking time we're ever going to play this song in Switzerland, then start the next song, and be like, and now this is the last time we're ever going to play this song in Switzerland.

Speaker 1 You said that, or you're thinking that? I said it. Oh my God.

Speaker 3 Every song, nothing. I got, like, I didn't even get a boo.
Like, I wanted them to boo me. Right.

Speaker 1 If you just want to see any reaction, just give me something.

Speaker 3 And literally anything, spit at me and just give me something.

Speaker 1 I would have been like, it's so good to be here at the Mont No

Speaker 1 Snooze Festival. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I'm going to say that for next. And so, wait, how did it end?

Speaker 3 So we finished, and I'm like, and this was the last song that we ever played in Switzerland and leave the stage. And I see this guy sitting on the roadcase and I'm like, oh, he looks really familiar.

Speaker 3 And it was like Quincy Jones. Like when I've been watching, I've been watching the entire set just sitting there on side stage.
And I went up to him. I was like, hey, nice to meet you.

Speaker 3 Like, that's so cool. I'm really sorry that that's the set that you saw.
That was like maybe my worst time on stage in my entire life. And he's like, he's like, man, I work with Miles Davis.

Speaker 3 That was, that was was fine.

Speaker 1 Like, he was just like,

Speaker 3 he was like, that was like, whatever. He was like, Miles would play with his back to the audience.
He hated those fuckers.

Speaker 1 I love that. Boy, I fucking relate to that.
These guys know, I can be so grouchy. But if you buy a ticket to Arcade Fire, why wouldn't you be like, this is fucking awesome? Like, I don't understand.

Speaker 3 It's just cultural shit. I mean, they were probably like, it's like you meet people and they're like, The second song was too slow, but that was the best show of my life.

Speaker 3 It's like people just, it's like, I would.

Speaker 1 can't help it.

Speaker 3 They can't help it.

Speaker 1 It's just, it's just how they are.

Speaker 2 I'm going to be the dork and ask you a question you probably answered a million times, but I've never heard it. So please indulge me.
Tell me where the name of the band came from.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Don't tell them. Don't tell them.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I can't. I can't.
Bob Dylan. I signed a blood pact with Bob Dylan that you're never supposed to answer a question like that.

Speaker 1 None of your business.

Speaker 2 It has to do with Bob Dylan. I'm not a Bob Dylan.

Speaker 3 No, no, I'm just kidding. Oh,

Speaker 1 I.

Speaker 2 For a second there, I thought it was like a famous Bob Dylan song and I just imagine.

Speaker 3 Yeah, you know, Arcade Fire.

Speaker 3 She's in the basement stirring up the arcade fire.

Speaker 1 So Woody Guthrie, yeah.

Speaker 3 No, I don't know. When I was like a kid

Speaker 3 in,

Speaker 3 I just remember going to an arcade when I was like four years old with like an older friend of my parents. And just, it was like, I'm leaving my parents.

Speaker 3 You know, I don't know, just like being alone as a kid in a weird place like that. And it was like super futuristic

Speaker 3 at the time. It It was like, what is this weird place with all these weird sounds? And it was like almost like an emotional,

Speaker 3 you know, it just sort of was like a weird touch tone and like almost like aesthetic reference or something like that.

Speaker 1 You guys, you know, I was thinking about your, first of all, kind of to what Jason was saying before about.

Speaker 1 you guys, I've never seen you guys live. It's one of my big regrets, but it's going to happen this fall.
I'm going to come and see you guys.

Speaker 3 You call yourself Canadian.

Speaker 1 I know, I know, but I haven't lived there in a long time. I know I am that pathetic Canadian.

Speaker 1 But I was thinking about, especially with this new record with Wii, how I can almost visualize the crowds singing along with you guys to virtually every song.

Speaker 1 It felt so, you guys are just by nature a collaborative band. There are different people and people coming in and out, and sometimes the band expands and you have lots of people.
And

Speaker 1 that collaboration kind of almost extends, kind of what these guys were saying, extends to when you're in concert feeding off the audience and in so many years.

Speaker 1 And that's kind of been a hallmark since day one. I mean, right,

Speaker 1 all those songs. I remember I watched that video of you guys playing with Bowie when you guys did Wake Up.
I don't know what theater that was in, where you did that.

Speaker 3 I think it was Radio City.

Speaker 1 Radio City. Radio City.

Speaker 3 Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 And I just like, there's something about it that's so engaging. And I wonder, was it always that intention, like to be this kind of like

Speaker 1 just like this big, messy, collaborative kind of engagement? And by messy, I don't mean that that's slop. I don't mean sloppy.
I mean that there's a lot of parts to it.

Speaker 3 I mean, we, we, we came up playing like DIY venues. So we were always, we were never on a stage.
Like the first 40 times we played, we were always on the floor with the audience.

Speaker 3 And I remember just sort of like,

Speaker 3 I didn't really even need a mic for a lot of these rooms. It was like you're playing the 50 people.

Speaker 3 And so like, I I remember at one show, I just started walking, singing the song through the crowd and like walking to the back.

Speaker 3 Cause it always at the back of a party, people are drinking beer and talking. And if you're playing a quiet song, you can't fucking hear anything.

Speaker 3 So I went over to where they were and was just playing the song in the back of the party.

Speaker 1 Just brought it to them.

Speaker 3 Just brought it to them. Cause I, you know, it's a quiet song.
It's, it's fine. You know, people like to talk at shows.

Speaker 1 But do you guys, you guys, you last thing I want to say, ask you, it reminds me of, I was thinking about your first record.

Speaker 1 I think you guys did Conan. That record came out, what, in 2000, funeral came out in 2004.

Speaker 3 Yeah, we did Conan and Letterman.

Speaker 1 And you did Conan and Letterman, and Jeffrey Tambor.

Speaker 1 Jason and I were on arrested development at the time, and Jeffrey Tambor was on the show. That's right, that's right.
And so he

Speaker 1 won't remember this, this part, which is Jeffrey said, I'm going to New York to do Conan to promote this show. And I said, there's this band, they've just released a record called Arcade Fire.

Speaker 1 And I gave him a C D and I said, will you have them sign it? And he he said,

Speaker 1 okay.

Speaker 1 And so he came back and you guys, and I've got it somewhere in a box and you guys had signed it. It was like,

Speaker 1 we were told that we needed to sign this for you. You guys wrote it out and I have it.
Oh, that's cool. That's the tool me that Jeffrey gave back to me after that.
That's really cool. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So that was.

Speaker 3 I remember, yeah, our guitar player, Richie, was obsessed with, what's the show that, what's the amazing show that he was on before?

Speaker 3 Larry Sanders.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 Larry, like he was obsessed. Brilliant.
It's brilliant. He was obsessed with Larry Sanders.

Speaker 3 Jeffrey was getting his makeup done. And Richie was sitting next to him.
He's like, it's kind of like Larry Sanders, huh? And he was just

Speaker 3 so non-plussed.

Speaker 1 He just gave him the like, just like, just like dead eye.

Speaker 1 He just gave him the dead, just the dead eyes.

Speaker 3 And Richie was just like, his heart was like, oh my God, like, I think Jeffrey Turnbur, just like, I don't know what I was thinking. Why did I say that to him?

Speaker 3 He's like, he was just so mad at himself.

Speaker 1 That's how it was. Jeffrey was probably,

Speaker 2 that's Jeffrey's humor. It's so good.
The first first thing I ever said to him was the first day I met him on set at Arrested Development and met him.

Speaker 2 And then as we were separated, I said, all right, well, have a great day. He says, don't you fucking tell me what to do.

Speaker 1 That's so good. I love that.

Speaker 1 I was entering a door at the same time as Jeffrey, exactly at the same time. And he goes, oh, no, please.
Buy billing. In order of billing.
And then he let me go first.

Speaker 1 The first time he met Amy, we were doing arrested, and she came to a table read, my ex-wife, and she came in the room, and I said, she said, I said, Jeffrey, this is Amy.

Speaker 1 And And he goes, I didn't ask.

Speaker 1 And he was so, and we both of us died. We fell to our knees.

Speaker 3 I mean, how much on arrested development, how much is that like a, I always related to that like a band when it's like a collective of, because it's like you have,

Speaker 3 I don't know, like when I would watch like a Monty Python, I always thought of Monty Python as a punk band. You know what I mean? Like,

Speaker 3 cause it's like you have this.

Speaker 3 People are bouncing off each other. You're making each other better.
It's like you're trying to impress the other. I don't know.

Speaker 1 I always wondered if that was somebody asked me the other we we were maybe when we were doing the show we were talking and saying who do you try to who do you do the performance for it was with jeff bridges and i was saying and i never answered it and i was going to say my answer which i'll tell you is in those moments yeah when when jason and david cross and tony hail and i are doing a scene and i would always be trying to

Speaker 1 we're riffing off each other, feeding off each other's energy. And I'm trying to make those guys laugh in the moment at how silly it is what we're doing.

Speaker 1 That's who I'm doing it for.

Speaker 1 Maybe the crew, definitely not the camera. I could give a shit.
It's really these guys. I want Jason and Cross and Tony Hale to laugh.

Speaker 3 It's the same in a band too. I mean, it's like, because you're playing...

Speaker 3 You're trying to get a rise out of the other people on the stage

Speaker 3 and then that energy gets transmitted.

Speaker 1 Right. And it fuels, right?

Speaker 1 That's why I asked the thing about the audience, like when an audience, like in Switzerland, you just then start turning to each other and start playing for each other, you know?

Speaker 1 Because it's like, it's we all always have.

Speaker 1 Yeah. No, I think I wanted to ask.

Speaker 1 Sorry.

Speaker 1 So just to follow up, the last thing, Sean, about that that I was getting to was I've always wanted to know on that first record on funeral, that song, Inannais son limière, right near the, right at the end where it goes into the guitar.

Speaker 1 It's always reminded me of the guitar at the end of Love Vigilante's on New Order on Low Life. Have you ever heard, do you know that song? Oh, of course.
Yeah. i do yeah it's a brilliant

Speaker 1 and it's always reminded me and i've always been like and i've oh i loved new order and then i loved you guys i'm like no wonder i love these guys because you guys remind me of a lot of bands and no bands because you're unique but you also have pieces that yeah we all have influences of stuff right so saying that what of those kinds of bands did you guys like apart you know well we i actually found a flyer that we made when we first met like in 2002 we were looking for musicians and so it's like you just and it was like I wrote the text like an apple like it was shaped like

Speaker 3 whatever we made we made a poster that was like this very it's like so pretentious and almost it's like art school kind of but you're just we didn't want to just make a poster because we wanted to make something that was like we thought was cool so that the person who read it and it was like our influences it was like looking for musicians and it was like New Order was one of them pixies

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 3 Dylan, and then it was like Motown

Speaker 3 and

Speaker 3 WC and Arvo Park.

Speaker 1 That was like our

Speaker 1 influence list. You know what I mean? Wow.

Speaker 4 And then

Speaker 4 nobody took the person.

Speaker 1 No, not one person.

Speaker 1 They're like, these guys are too, this is too broad. This is crazy.

Speaker 1 This doesn't make sense.

Speaker 3 These things don't go together.

Speaker 1 They're into everything. Yeah.

Speaker 3 It's not everything, though. It makes sense.
There's a thread. Yeah.

Speaker 1 we'll be right back.

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Speaker 1 And back to the show.

Speaker 2 There's such a great fullness to your music, too. There is, there is, it is truly like it has that ensemble sound.

Speaker 2 You're not surprised if a horn section comes through or, you know, or strings or

Speaker 2 I always love that about Pink Floyd.

Speaker 2 Always was, there was always just, as you said earlier, like a soundscape as opposed to, well, it's just four instruments and it's four, four time and it has somewhat of a predictable rhythm to it.

Speaker 3 We're filmmakers, but ultimately it's like we think of it that way.

Speaker 1 But you have to like, I always think like, I listened to a lot of Dylan too when I was a teenager.

Speaker 1 I listened to the Cure a lot. I mentioned the Smiths were like one of my all-time favorite bands.
And at the same time, I went to Cure is huge for me. Cure is huge.

Speaker 1 That EP,

Speaker 1 what was it, Japanese Whisperers. And then they had, and then, but I also went to 15 dead shows, but I'm not a deadhead, but I appreciated Jerry Garcia.

Speaker 1 But at the same time, I, you know, I was like, I'm really into, you know, just all kinds of like indie. And I think that that's important, right?

Speaker 1 Like it, to have like, you don't have to be like just into this genre or just into this genre. Makes you a better musician, I'm sure.
Yeah. Like Sean, you don't have to just listen to Erasure.

Speaker 1 And Depechmode. Sorry, in Depeche Mode.
mode um so wait but wait

Speaker 3 i love depeche too i thought that was one of my first big shows depeche was i love

Speaker 1 i love them every word every song who's the the keyboard player just died right yeah andy fletcher yeah yeah andy fletcher died yeah but um i have a question about your voice because um

Speaker 1 you know when i was younger and i didn't understand

Speaker 1 the technique of of of singing or anything or musicianship or really anything. I would go, you know, I'd watch watch bands on TV or on music videos or on tour or whatever.

Speaker 1 And I didn't quite, I was like, wow, that's amazing that they can scream or sing or do whatever with their voice.

Speaker 1 And then you get older and you learn how the instrument works and the training that needs and the warm-ups and all the stuff that you don't ever see musicians do or singers do off to the side.

Speaker 1 And then today I'll watch like, you know, something on TV. I'm like, how can they do that? How can they sing like that night after night after night? Aren't they ruining their vocal cords or whatever?

Speaker 1 So do you have any kind of things that you do? Is there ever a moment where you're like, wow, I really got to take care of my instrument here in my throat because both you guys belted out too a lot.

Speaker 3 Yeah. I mean, Regine had nodules when I met her from jazz school.
Oh, yeah. That was.

Speaker 3 I met Regine, and she immediately had.

Speaker 3 And the next day, she got braces. Like, one week later,

Speaker 3 she got braces and then had vocal cord surgery and couldn't talk for like two months.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I know.

Speaker 1 You're like, I'm in. I am in.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 was there a moment that where you're like, oh shit, I got to really kind of maybe go see a teacher now now that I'm like getting, I'm doing more work as a singer and stuff because you never learned or do you not even think about that.

Speaker 1 You never did it?

Speaker 3 There was a point, I mean, I say, particularly on the first record, like I sang like the world was every single fucking time we played, I was saying like every second of it, the world was gonna end the next second, you know?

Speaker 4 The first two tours, you were like a ghost. You were like, I was a ghost.

Speaker 3 You were like so pale and just I had, I had sign, I had really horrible sinus infections. I think I was sick for four years, like pretty much non-stop.
sick the entire time. Wow.

Speaker 3 And just singing, like we would always start with wake up.

Speaker 3 And I mean, like back in the day, we'd, there'd be seven of us and we'd be playing to six people and we would still fucking sing it like it was the fucking end of the world and it was always the first song So we would come out set up our instruments and like I remember seeing a video of us in Austin back in the day We're playing some little club and we're loading in the equipment ourselves We're just like look white and just like sweat pouring down our face We just arrived from like a 400 mile drive.

Speaker 1 Oh, I remember that.

Speaker 3 We like load in our crap in front of the audience. The audience is already there.
And then we're, I'm just like, we're, we've just turned on the instruments.

Speaker 3 I'm like, more more fucking voice, more fucking voice, more fucking voice. That's too much.
It's feeding back. Okay, good.
And then we're like, one, two, three, four. It was like,

Speaker 1 just like, just like that. Just starting there.
Like, that's where we start. So like,

Speaker 1 I guess it'll just have to adjust.

Speaker 1 And it's like insane. Like, both of you guys are just like

Speaker 1 going for it. So I burned out.

Speaker 3 I mean, I was sick and singing every night. And at one point on Neon Bible, Bible's second record, we were playing in Norway and we came out and I was just like, there's nothing,

Speaker 3 not a fucking sound. And I basically went and had sinus surgery in Norway?

Speaker 3 No, I wish. No, in Montreal.
Okay.

Speaker 3 Because it was like one one thousandth of the cost of doing it in New York.

Speaker 1 And so then it was like $200, please.

Speaker 3 And so then I had the surgery. And then after that, I kind of realized I'd never lost my voice.
Like I was just, I was losing my voice because I was sick.

Speaker 3 And now I don't, because I did all the singing coach crap and I was always losing my voice. And every singing coach is like, I'm the only one who knows the secrets of singing.

Speaker 1 And like,

Speaker 3 my method, which was passed down to me by the Teutonic Knights,

Speaker 1 buy my book and my song. Get my oils.

Speaker 3 Did you use my oils? Like, it's always like this, like, tell no one of the oils I gave you.

Speaker 1 I was at that show in Berlin with you two guys when Bono lost his voice after three songs. It was so scary.

Speaker 1 And it was like... Yeah, it's terrifying.

Speaker 1 It's scary when you lose it.

Speaker 2 How do you stay healthy now when you guys are on the road? And I imagine it would be hard to have any sort of rhythm of proper stuff to eat or sleep.

Speaker 1 How diligent are you with? I'm talking about the food. Here we go.
Yeah, the travel's crazy.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I mean, Jason wants to know if you have access to salads because he's trying to think about himself on tour. Would there be an artist? We have snatch.

Speaker 3 There's always hummus and carrots, carrots, you know, every backstage.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 Jason's in. All right.
I'm in.

Speaker 1 Do you have access to a handful of nuts?

Speaker 1 Would that be possible?

Speaker 3 You could get some nuts, even out the blood sugar.

Speaker 2 And then, so your son, what happens during the school year when you guys are on tour? Do you just schedule your tours so it's only during the summer?

Speaker 3 I mean, it's kind of a brave new world now. It's like we, it's our, this will be our first time touring since COVID.

Speaker 3 It's, and it's all, it's, you know, it's kind of happening, but it's also like a little bit terrifying. It's like on like

Speaker 3 the health perspective, I mean, not getting COVID because I just had it and it was like, no big deal. It was like totally fine.
Right. You know, it was boosted and everything.

Speaker 1 You were psyched, be honest. We were texting and you were kind of.

Speaker 3 Yeah. I was like, I'm about to watch Blade Runner and then Alien and then Alien 2 with no guilt.

Speaker 2 Oh, I love it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I love that.
Jean, were you psyched? Were you psyched also?

Speaker 1 You know, not taking a little bit, but

Speaker 3 she's one of the last ones. She still never had it.
I didn't get it.

Speaker 1 Oh, really?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I didn't get it. I don't know.

Speaker 1 Sean and I didn't get it either. I don't know.
I haven't gotten it. I don't know what this is.

Speaker 3 I'll give it to you next time.

Speaker 1 Okay, see you. Thanks, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but it is a break. But you are, yeah, I guess because of COVID and stuff, you're probably your son was too young, and now you're going to have to figure out what that is like going on tour.

Speaker 1 We talk about it a lot because we do.

Speaker 1 Jason, I have three boys, and Jason has two girls, and it's always like a, that's always the thing of like, what do you, you know, with kids and managing that and their school and work and that balance and what do you do?

Speaker 1 And it's, it's just, it's the number one question.

Speaker 4 I think what's cool now is that because of the pandemic and the schools, at least the school where he goes, got really organized in terms of

Speaker 4 the remote and the curriculum so that it's not, it's not like a brand new thing. If we tell him he has to come out for a few days, you know,

Speaker 3 I feel like our job as parents is mostly to prepare him for a world which will be insane and constantly changing and you better be able to take a hit because

Speaker 3 it's gonna be gnarly so you mean you mean this planet that we lit on fire and left for them the whole thing is just i mean like the whole war raging in europe and climate change and like the technology um

Speaker 3 like all of the companies are all just trying to remove humans. So it's like no one, no one's gonna, it's just gonna be, I think in the future, it's like you're just gonna have to be really

Speaker 3 nimble and like and like able to like mix it up and adapt.

Speaker 2 For sure. So being on tour is a good training ground.

Speaker 3 Tour is awesome.

Speaker 1 It's a great training ground for people. You guys wrote that great tune Lookout Kid on your new record on we

Speaker 3 sort of about that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, not not by the way, not henri,

Speaker 1 enui.

Speaker 1 Not e-n-n-u-i.

Speaker 1 Oh, you really do speak French. I know.
I still speak French fluently. But I am also suffering from a great deal of henri these days.

Speaker 1 You probably heard earlier when before you guys got on, it's been uh weird times. Um,

Speaker 1 but you, yeah, you wrote about it when, uh, in Rogine, in with Lookout, could it's kind of exactly about that you were saying?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I mean, just like talking to my son and being like, shit's gonna

Speaker 3 be pretty gnarly, and but I love you a lot. And, and it's like kind of about unconditional love basically but like in the face of like just the inevitability of

Speaker 3 like I don't know how high school was for you guys but that shit was gnarly for me the best I mean the worst it was so rough I'm like I'm trying to imagine being in high school now I'm just like no way I know I I hated I loved it but

Speaker 2 what what got you guys down to New Orleans what was the aside from it was United I think it was or Delta probably yeah Delta American was it the music music influence down there?

Speaker 2 Or was it something less obvious than that?

Speaker 3 Well, Regine's family's from Haiti and

Speaker 3 the whole French-Canadian thing. And when we first, I grew up in Houston.

Speaker 4 I was just, wait, I was just thinking about you guys, everybody saying, like, oh, yeah, high school is so bad. And who did you like it? I didn't like it.
I didn't really. I hated it.

Speaker 4 It's like, whoever liked it? Like, no, does anyone?

Speaker 1 Sean. Sean.
You liked it? Sean liked it. High school.
I lived for it. Loved it, absolutely.
Every second. High school.
Yeah. He peaked.
He peaked. That was his.

Speaker 1 I guess. That was the highlight.

Speaker 1 But he was. You have to understand his father left.
That's a whole other story.

Speaker 1 The bar was.

Speaker 1 Once you talk to him long enough, you'll get it.

Speaker 3 No, there was, there was awesome shit in high school. I really, like, I, you know, I, there are aspects of high school that were amazing.
Like, I love, I loved.

Speaker 3 Just, I mean, I first read, you know, when I first read, like,

Speaker 3 oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Just the beaten next and the first, you know, just literature and art but that should you same here like I read on the road when I was 17 and I was like I gotta leave where I'm at but but that wasn't stuff I did in high school that was stuff I did on my own yeah

Speaker 1 wait wait wait first of all just on the last thing on we

Speaker 1 end of the empire man I don't know when you wrote that song it feels like you wrote it today

Speaker 1 And I don't know, or at least like it feels, every time I listen to it, it feels, it just puts me right in the present in this really remarkable way.

Speaker 1 Talk to me a little bit about that, that song, because it's just, I just connect with it so much.

Speaker 3 I mean, it's kind of,

Speaker 3 it's a four, four parts. So it's like kind of, it's kind of the most ambitious thing we've done in a lot of ways.
I mean, it's nine and a half minutes.

Speaker 3 But it's not, it's not prog.

Speaker 3 You know, I never really liked prog music, but it's like, I mean, I loved Radiohead in high school. Like, you know, Paranoid Android probably has like a little bit of a

Speaker 3 influence in there as well. But it was just sort of looking,

Speaker 3 we started it before the pandemic.

Speaker 3 So the first couple parts lyrically were kind of the world, America was just feeling pretty heavy there for a while, like before the election, before the pandemic, just really felt like just energetically, like

Speaker 3 in America, it was like, man, this is a really dark, heavy cloud.

Speaker 3 Just like you're constantly being like barraged by all this stuff. And so it was just sort of like that, like just sort of like a

Speaker 3 reckoning with ourselves about, you know, it's been a good ride, but this shit is, you know, not

Speaker 1 going in the best direction.

Speaker 3 So a bit of that. And then the world kind of ended.

Speaker 3 And the fourth part is like kind of

Speaker 3 there's a black hole in the middle of

Speaker 3 our galaxy called Sagittarius A. Yeah.

Speaker 3 And I read an article about it.

Speaker 3 Yeah. And I was just sort of like, I was, there was something about the image of this black hole in the middle of everything that just,

Speaker 3 I was just trying to write that, lyrically write that part for a long time.

Speaker 3 And Regine, like we recorded that, just the two of us, it was Mardi Gras Day during the pandemic when Mardi Gras didn't happen,

Speaker 3 which is a really eerie,

Speaker 3 really like it's such a spiritual day and it's just like this, the streets are empty in New Orleans.

Speaker 3 It's like this really like deep spiritual kind of energy and like nothing, the sound of nothing, no horns playing, no one in the streets.

Speaker 3 And yeah, we just recorded that in our living room, the fourth part.

Speaker 4 And the part two is from 20 years ago.

Speaker 4 The second part, and we noted a sound to go. That is from like when I live on an apartment.

Speaker 4 We didn't even live together. Like he lived a few blocks away.

Speaker 1 And I did you have braces at the time? Yes, I did have braces at the time.

Speaker 4 And I played it on this little organ

Speaker 4 that I bought for like a hundred bucks or something, or a few hundred bucks, maybe.

Speaker 1 And I love that routine. What is that? And I know it's time to go.
Yes.

Speaker 1 Through the pale atmospheric glow

Speaker 3 and the oxygen

Speaker 1 getting low.

Speaker 1 Sing a song that we used

Speaker 1 to know.

Speaker 3 Are we wrong, Keith?

Speaker 1 Last round before

Speaker 1 we go.

Speaker 1 One last round before

Speaker 1 we go.

Speaker 3 All the alcoholics just go,

Speaker 1 and we know that it's time to go

Speaker 1 heard the news on the radio

Speaker 1 one last round before

Speaker 1 we go

Speaker 3 bye everyone

Speaker 1 regenerate

Speaker 1 you guys

Speaker 1 you gotta go I love that song

Speaker 1 that's a first for us

Speaker 1 that's really cool you You guys, thank you. We've taken up so much of your time.

Speaker 1 Thank you for indulging.

Speaker 1 And we know that it's time

Speaker 1 to go.

Speaker 1 Heard the news is on the radio.

Speaker 1 Sing, baby.

Speaker 1 All the elves.

Speaker 1 Thank you. Thank you for giving us elf bods.
Thank you for giving us all your music. Thank you for giving us your time.

Speaker 3 Hashtag elf bod.

Speaker 1 Hashtag uh covid hashtag hashtag relatable uh

Speaker 1 hashtag tell your son hi from uh from batman and uh we nine pack and bateman yeah and baitman you know

Speaker 3 that's good honestly just thank you guys so much you guys should do this where you like talk to a whole bunch of different people

Speaker 3 you guys have a great chemistry it's really funny like you should just like hang out do this thing where you like shoot the shit and then surprise people with I don't think anyone would ever listen out.

Speaker 1 No, you shouldn't you should do it. I it's great in the world.
I don't think

Speaker 1 oh my god. Thanks you guys.
I huge

Speaker 3 amazing amazing when I am when I need to go to sleep. I use a sleep pill.
Do you have you guys have to do that crap where you do the like you know in podcasting where you have to just

Speaker 1 do that shit? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 Do you do one now? Can I hear you guys do one?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. Why don't you do an do an ad for their album right now, Will?

Speaker 3 Yeah, do an ad for our album. Yeah, you have such a great voice.
Has anyone ever told you that?

Speaker 1 No. This summer.

Speaker 1 Arcade Fire.

Speaker 1 And who do you want to play with? Sean Hayes and the Arcade Fire this summer at the Molson Burbell Center. I don't know what they call it now.

Speaker 3 Just do like a promo. Give us a wee one.
Give us like a good, like, just a huge.

Speaker 1 Arcade Fire would be a great name for like a sitcom if you do like then on an all-new arcade fire when and regime come home and their house is not exactly as they remember it

Speaker 1 they've been super depressed about the state of the world.

Speaker 1 Previously, an arcade bus. Just gonna say, previously.

Speaker 1 Previously.

Speaker 1 Oh, you guys, we could do this forever. I can't wait to join you on stage and sing that song, End of the Empire with You on Stage.
It's gonna be epic and transforming. It is gonna be amazing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, honestly, you guys, thank you so much. It's been amazing.
And thanks for giving us your time.

Speaker 2 Yeah, thank you guys very, very much.

Speaker 1 And we will

Speaker 3 see.

Speaker 3 Salu.

Speaker 1 Guys.

Speaker 2 Now, Willie, that seemed to be a beautiful elixir for your day.

Speaker 1 Right there.

Speaker 2 Are you feeling back on top?

Speaker 1 Right there. Didn't that change

Speaker 1 my whole chemistry? Absolutely. Of course.
It just takes a little something like that.

Speaker 2 And that's what music can do.

Speaker 1 It was

Speaker 1 so impactful. I can't believe we just sang that.
All of us. I know.
That's cool. Can you fucking believe we just sang in the Empire with those guys with winning Regina? Yeah, Regin.

Speaker 1 You know, I did want to mention, not in front of them but i will to you guys uh whenever somebody they're not listening huh i wasn't listening they won't they're they're not listening go ahead no i wanted to tell you whenever somebody brings up new orleans i think about the four-way i have there i associate that city with the four-way

Speaker 2 god damn i wish they were still on

Speaker 2 uh how many dudes how many girls yeah

Speaker 1 no i'll do just four dudes yeah four dudes yeah it was years and years and years ago i'm not sure that's a four-way i think that's just a train

Speaker 1 You know what the great thing about a four-way? It's a train, but you know, the great thing is you have two lucky peers. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Right?

Speaker 1 So that's the good news. Train.
Everybody hop on. You just don't want to be the caboose.
Or you do want to be the caboose. Or you don't, no.
Well, it depends.

Speaker 1 Or you don't want to be the caboose in a...

Speaker 1 in one of the human centipede. That you don't want that.
No, that you do not want that. Because you're getting the waste of all the other people.

Speaker 1 Have you ever thought about where you want to be on a human centipede?

Speaker 2 Can I be one of the shoes?

Speaker 1 You want to be in the front, by the way.

Speaker 1 You want to be the first guy. You got to sign up.
You got to sign up early. Well, somebody is sewed to your ass, but it doesn't.
I mean, believe me, it's the best case scenario.

Speaker 2 Now, Willie, when they say careful about meeting your heroes,

Speaker 2 I would imagine that that didn't.

Speaker 1 They over-delivered. Yeah, they seem so lovely and funny and great to hang out with.
They over-delivered. And like I said,

Speaker 1 because I knew we were going to have them on and they graciously and generously sent me their record a few months ago before it came out. And

Speaker 1 like I said, it was so impactful. And I ended up listening to it so much, and I had to reach out.

Speaker 1 And so Michael and Bennett and Robert, somebody got me their number, and I ended up texting with both, on a chain with both Wynne and Regina for a while. And we had a really great exchange.
And then

Speaker 1 they had to cancel. And then, so Wynne and I started texting when he got sick.
And he wasn't really sick, but he was just at home.

Speaker 1 And then he started talking about, when I said that he was happy, meaning that like, he was like, I'm not really doing anything for the first time in a while. It's kind of great.

Speaker 1 I've just watched Alien and Aliens and

Speaker 1 Blade Runner. And we started talking about reading and books and stuff.
And it was just, I don't know, I just really connected.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's incredible.

Speaker 2 Yeah, they've got some really great energy. Very, very sweet.

Speaker 1 Incredible musicians. I mean, just...

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 they're really great.

Speaker 1 I love that song so much, Under the Empire. Yeah, it's like a it sounds like an instant classic, and it's off their new album, which is amazing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's off their new album, We, and it also, yeah, there are moments of it that sound like uh Sergeant Pepper's

Speaker 1 and you know, there's just a great, that's a great song, you know, when you want to end something, you know, when you want to like well, you know, it's a really good for like if you're going to bed, it's a really good lullaby.

Speaker 1 Smart.

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Speaker 1 Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarve, and Bennett Barbico.

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