SmartLess - "The Killers"
Episode Date: February 5, 2024This week, we happily disturb the pre-show routines of Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. of The Killers. Let’s kill some time and learn about the “steady incline of ‘how did we ge...t here?’” ...on another killer episode of SmartLess.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
J.B., you gonna get on the golf course today?
Today is not a golf course day.
Today is a work day, actually.
Today is a work day, so no golf for you, Sean.
Yeah, no, I'm going out.
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.
The beautiful tidalist irons.
The tidalist, I should mention. Now, you should get yourself into some G for apparel and really
You know make yourself complete. Okay. I mean I would I but I wear I got I wear the footjoy
I love the foot joy. You like the G for yes, and the title is clubs the title ever to fly to a tournament
How would you like to get by the way? I don't even know if we can use the cold open, but I just got a five wood.
Anyway, welcome to SmartLess.
SmartLess.
SmartLess.
SmartLess.
SmartLess.
Look, you got a whole setup in your green room. I'm gonna go with the smart glass
Look, they got a whole, you got a whole set up in your green room.
It's nice. I know. I've got, believe me, they've, it's pretty great.
It's nice.
Wait a second. I'm seeing two surprise guest windows.
Yeah.
Oh, listener.
Oh, we got a double.
Listener always knows before the us two other idiots.
Everybody knows except me and Sean right now.
We gotta have a guest.
It's always everybody knows except
for the two dummies that week.
I feel pretty dumb today.
I don't dumb.
Why do you feel dumb?
Yeah, why do you feel dumb?
I just don't feel like I'm gonna be great
at listening or talking to them.
Well, Jade, do you want a couple of jokes to lighten you up?
If you have new, new, okay, my favorite is still,
what did the chicken say?
What did the chicken, what, on the chicken?
No, what is that?
Do you see guys?
It's not gonna be good today.
What did the chicken say, what?
No, what does, see, I forget to,
what does poultry say to a bowl of lettuce?
Or no, what does poultry call a bowl of lettuce?
Right, chicken sees a salad.
That's good one.
I have two more, I have two more.
So a skeleton walks into a bar and orders a bar.
A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.
Yep.
Okay.
And the other one is, hey, Jason,
have you heard about the new movie?
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, You get it. What happened? A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.
Okay.
Cause when he drinks the beer, it goes, right?
He doesn't have that.
Yeah, that's not even funny though.
Okay.
Well, that's different.
All right, so here's the other one.
Okay.
Hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie Constipation?
No.
It never came out.
I don't like either one of them.
I liked your, what did, wait I'm point of figure.
This is, it's like people are joining us at rehearsal.
This is, we clearly don't rehearse.
I apologize already to our guests.
You know what I was saying?
You know what Jason, 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,
I went to this fancy place
and you think about some billionaire
and they have this fancy thing.
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.
They just took a shit there.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's pretty much all they do.
They're beautiful mansion.
And it was just them in the smallest room in that house,
the door closed, looking for the fan,
and they're taking his shit.
Yeah, what's the name of that?
There's a book called that, right?
Everybody Poops?
Everybody Poops.
Yeah.
Tell me that book.
All right, this is going on too long.
It's too insane.
I feel like Regis and Kathy Lee, let's go.
I know, it's true.
Now listen, I do want to get to our guests
because you know how I get when I get really excited about a guest.
And you know how I get when we get to talk about music
with guests.
I get very excited.
Well, these fine gentlemen are no exception.
I have been a massive fan of these guys
since their debut record.
And in fact, 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.
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.
They're incredibly gifted, gifted, gifted,
songwriters, performers, singers, drummers,
everything extraordinary.
Guys, it's none other than Brandon Flowers
and Ronnie Venucci of The Killers.
The Killers, the Killers.
Oh, I was just talking about them the other day.
Oh my God, look at that.
Look at that.
How cool is this?
Dude, look at that.
How crazy is this?
How great is this?
Hi guys.
You guys look very much alive, not killers at all.
Hi.
How are you?
You guys are very much on tour right now.
Yeah, they're both in hotel rooms.
Yeah, that's right.
You just literally rolled out of bed.
I mean, we've just disrupted your,
you probably have like a really good system in place
and we've ruined it.
We have a, I definitely have a routine
that is being disturbed right now.
What, where are you on the planet?
We're in Austin.
Okay.
Austin, 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,
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.
And I think it was 2006.
Brandon, am I right about that?
We played earlier than that.
So I said the second time?
Yeah, probably if it was Sam's Town was our second record
we would have done, yeah.
Wow, okay.
So is the sound, I guess that's probably.
But I remember meeting you.
Yeah.
And I think that was maybe after our third time.
Wow.
Was it really?
Can I tell the story of what?
No.
At the after party.
Yeah, please do.
So they always have an after party on the sketch show
and we, and Will's there.
And he's got a hockey player with him
and another fellow citizen of Canada.
Shani probably, Brendan Shani.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I, what I guess quintessentially
what all Americans do, I say,
my tour manager is from Toronto.
I know you're from Toronto.
Yeah, good figure.
They all know each other.
Yeah, so 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, these Americans think we all know each other. I go and I grab my tour manager and he's like,
oh, what area Toronto are you from?
Oh, what street are you?
What street are you on?
Farnham Avenue.
Yes.
They both lived on the same street.
Wait, Brendan, I can't believe you remember Farnham Avenue.
Well, our tour manager is still with us.
But he doesn't still live on Farnham. He doesn't still live on Farnham. I But he doesn't still live on Farnham.
He doesn't still live on Farnham.
I think his parents might still live on Farnham.
My sister still lives on Farnham.
I should probably.
But he still lives on Farnham.
Wait, wait, his parents still live on Farnham?
He's still there.
Yeah.
No, wait, my buddy Paul lives on Farnham as well.
Listener has probably pulled over their car
because they're so fascinated right now.
They don't want to miss a minute of it.
Look, that just is, you all know each other.
We all know each other.
And Brandon, I remember that moment too,
that was so crazy.
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,
me introducing you guys, and we just do concert on the street in Farnham, me introducing you guys
and we just do it for the people of Farnham.
Just think about it, don't give me an answer now.
Okay, stop the back of a truck.
Yeah, Ronnie, can you keep it down?
So listen, I have a running for you guys.
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?
I think it's been a steady incline of just like,
sort of like, how did we get here?
And we've just been sort of enjoying the ride ever since.
I mean, the very first one, it just keeps,
it just keeps, you know, something keeps happening.
And we, you know, we keep busy.
We know what a, what a opportunity this is.
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,
I'm not gonna 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 gotta feel good
because you gotta feel like we're kind of in touch
with what's going on in a way.
Is that something that's real?
Yeah, I mean, I think our goal has always,
there's this constant evolution and you watch,
we haven't, not every step that we've taken has been right,
but you can see us really trying to find what the core is and what we're going
to represent. And you see this evolution 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 through that same experience.
I always wonder about that with musicians, because you have probably, 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 with musicians, with groups, you can do whatever
you want, make the album about whatever you want,
make it sound, and you gotta hope that the audience
that has been with you thus far,
it will be appealing to them as well.
So how much do you factor in what you think they want?
How much do you let that affect your creative process?
I'm sure some bans a little bit,
and then some not at all.
Where do you guys sit on that?
I think we have to like it first.
And anything that comes out,
we have tons of cutting room floor stuff
for whatever reason, just, you know,
they're lost dogs or orphans, orphan songs or ideas.
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,
and you guys have to stay in sync with one another, but then also try to stay in sync
with that other band member, which is the audience, yeah?
Yeah.
It's a balancing act. I think 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.
And now I think we're getting more into the body of work
sort of idea where it has a focus.
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 you
Don't worry about it. We got you and we've we've proved I don't think you guys ever run the risk of having a song
You can't tap your toe to I will say that much and that's what you guys but I was gonna say like in JB
I'll say that much. And, but you guys, but I was gonna say like,
and JB, you're right that, like when you talk about there,
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 maybe you can talk about this,
that when you guys were maybe writing hot fuss,
like or something that 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?
Is that a true story?
That's our most recent endeavor.
Oh, it was your most recent record.
Your most recent record you tossed in the trash.
We, well, when you finished it and then just threw it out.
We began down a road that was a more synth heavy road.
And we realized, I just personally
didn't want to make this music anymore.
And Ronnie was, Ronnie didn't want to do it either.
And so as opposed to the instrumental stuff.
No, just as a, no, just didn't want to make,
didn't want to fully commit to a whole like synth pop record.
I would have bought that in a second.
But what would be the opposite of that?
You're talking to an idiot here.
What would synth is?
Okay, okay, so the opposite would be like maybe more
a rock and roll record.
Gotcha.
So, but what is that process?
So like you're what, you're working on like your fourth song
and you're in the studio and you're rehearsing,
you're looking at each other and just go,
the fuck are we doing, man?
Yeah, and everybody else just like breathes like,
thank God you said it, because I didn't want to say it.
Well, that's gotta be horrible.
It's complex because there's this place
in our hearts for this music.
We were influenced by it, but we're getting older
and we've also know what it feels like to write
a great rock and roll song.
And so we thought maybe that you could make a faster album
maybe while you're on the road
because you're dealing with computers more
with synth music and keyboards.
And then it just wasn't,
we weren't getting the gratification out of it
that we would get when you're writing.
Yeah, because like you're right,
I was in a synth pop band in college and I played the keyboard.
I have to see a picture.
And I have to say,
Sean, by the way, play for these guys.
If you can find it, play that song that you played us before.
Just so they can.
Oh yeah. Well, there's three songs.
Before we end today.
Yeah. Well, I'll have the, I'll Bennett and Rob dig it up.
There's actually three hit songs.
You guys might want to put it on.
We'll rip those off too.
Yeah, you might take that back.
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, though.
I'd love to see it.
Sean, I've seen you play, and you play beautifully.
Oh, that's very nice.
It was so, because I saw the Netflix special
and I was so, I did not know you had that in your pocket.
Oh, thanks.
Yeah, it's incredible.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Classically trained.
He is, he's a talent.
Yeah, Jason, I sat down and played for Jason Bateman.
Sean, do you wanna join our band?
I knew where this is going.
That's what I'm telling you.
Yeah, yeah.
I'll join your band.
Whoa.
Okay.
This is, I can't believe you're getting in the killers before me. We made news. No, I can't do that's what I'm telling you. I'll join your band. Whoa, okay. This is, I can't believe you're getting
in the killers before me.
You made news.
No, I can't do anything, but I'm still mad about it.
I'm gonna turn you guys into synth pop, guys.
The last thing I do.
You were the missing link, the record could have come out.
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, because you're just like,
your 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
and play while the craziness is happening.
You know what I mean?
A lot of what?
A lot of neck pops.
Yeah, not neck pops.
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 around.
But you can't do the fuck, you can't like,
bang, like bang, like at the end of like all these things
that I've done, we're like, bang, bang, bang, bang,
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, 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.
You like them despite what they're doing?
Yeah, I'm in the play.
Despite what your ears tell you, you're gonna just listen.
I love those too, but by the way.
But you know, I listened to all this music
that my kids listen to and it like,
no one is playing guitar anymore.
There's no drums anymore.
There's no, and I know I sound like the old man on the lawn
but do you see it starting to go back to,
I mean, I get nostalgic about a band as young
as the white stripes or the black keys
or these rock and roll bands.
I'm not even going back to ACDC or Led Zeppelin,
but like where's all, where are the instruments?
We're talking to them.
Yeah, I'm excited that you guys are going back to that.
Well, there was a, we've only been around 20 years
and in those, from when we started,
rock radio was a different, a completely different animal.
And it's, there are fewer and fewer stations
and they started to, just this homogenization
started to happen where they started to incorporate,
all of a sudden you started hearing beats
and things that were influenced by maybe more hip hop
and now it's just, it's almost unrecognizable
as Rocket anymore.
Yeah, and that's good.
And Ronnie, speak to a little bit as a drummer,
what's it like living in a world
where so many beats are created on a computer?
You know, like I would say like,
here's the drummer in our band
and he's standing by a MacBook.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
I think there's a careful, maybe a classy balancing act,
at least for me, I've seen people who are so good at their instruments,
at drums, that they actually sound like they've been manipulated in a computer.
Yeah.
It's interesting, all the different things you can manipulate inside a computer and things,
but I don't think it'll ever replace the blood,
coursing through somebody's brain and body
to produce a sound or an expression.
And is that where you guys got to?
Was that part of the decision where you just like,
when you're saying you were an Hindu, was it literally that?
You're like, we're not feeling connected to the music?
Partly, you can't, there's an amazing thing that happened
that I, that I 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 loud it is
and how it's powerful and it's physical.
So it forces me.
Ronnie, just say sorry.
Yeah.
If we're in a room, I gotta sing a certain way.
I can't be timid.
You're not gonna hear me.
And so there's something about those dynamics
that have helped us become what we are.
Can I say something, Brandon?
The beat's bigger than you.
Can I get it?
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And now back to the show.
It's interesting you bring that up, Brandon,
because the way you guys, first of all, your arrangements
on all your studio albums are amazing.
And I've seen you live as well.
It's just amazing. But the've seen you live as well.
It's just amazing.
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 in playing with how you're hearing yourself,
it's really tough because, yeah, Rani, you should be sorry.
You're very loud.
And all the instruments in your band, the rhythm section is,
you know, you really feel it.
I mean, you guys come out and really
in guitar and everything, and that's tough
to get, to break through that, I bet.
I mean, 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 mixes, I wanna compliment whoever mixes your records, but
you do, it is tough to do. And again, so I saw you guys play at this concert that this
guy had and you played and there were about 200 people there. And Paul McCartney was in
the crowd, maybe 200 people. And Brandon, you go, you said something like,
hey, we wanna 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?
And Paul McCartney got up and sang Helter Skelter
with these fucking guys, and it was unbelievable.
And so I came backstage, 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 came backstage, 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?
You go like, I just sang Helt Your Skeleton
with Paul McCartney.
Yeah.
That's pretty cool.
Do you remember?
I mean, you obviously remember that.
Yeah, it was so wild, man.
It was even more surreal moments was before he came up,
you know, 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?
It was one of the most wildest things.
The other thing that with fans 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 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.
I would imagine that switching back
to a more 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,
you actually need a drummer and drum kit out there.
Yes, it just makes for a better experience if the music is not synthesized, right?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we've, even songs that don't have a lot of synthy bits, we've sort of tailored
for the, you know, for live.
We sort of have like this dichotomy between being a live band and a, you know, doing things in the studio.
And oftentimes we just sort of had tunnel vision
where we're just, we forget about the live aspect sometimes.
And we just go with like this experience of recording.
And then we're like, okay, well,
how do we dial this in for a live experience?
And that could be, it's not just sounds,
but it's like, it's tempo too.
Oftentimes we'll speed stuff up
or sometimes we'll slow stuff down.
We slow it and also-
Do you ever speed stuff up just to get out there sooner?
No, I love my job.
Because I just did this show on Broadway
where I had 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.
Cause you guys miss Sean, he was on Broadway this year.
He won a Tony, by the way, hold for applause.
God.
And we'll add, no, we'll add the applause.
His was felt to NIE though.
Yeah, it was different.
Oh yeah, no, no, no, it wasn't the,
what you think of the Tony Awards.
The line.
But he played, and he played every night
to end the show on piano.
And he's like, we talked about it, an accomplished pianist.
And he had to do it every goddamn night.
And yeah, Sean, you said that some nights
you just jammed through it.
And the cast, and the cast would be like,
was that like, cause it's usually like eight eight nine minutes
They're like was that four minutes? Yeah
I was like, yeah, I'm tired. I want to go home
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 just not feeling it?
Yeah, 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. I I don't know about Ronnie,
but it's rare that I'm not excited,
that the juices don't just start flowing in the butterfly.
I get it, still get the butterflies before.
And so it's almost up to the audience.
There will be moments where you come out
and you think you're just so ready
and they aren't meeting your expectations.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's when it can be,
those are the times it's a struggle,
but I never feel like, oh, another gig.
I never feel like that.
Don't you, because each every audience
for some takes on a collective kind of energy.
And sometimes like you're saying,
it's a less than energy.
And don't you just get really pissed off at them
and you wanna take it out on them and you can't. I'm gonna say they don't. I'm gonna answer, I bet And don't you just get really pissed off at them and wanna 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 can't take it out on them.
We gotta be professional.
All right.
When's the last time you guys,
do you guys see a lot of live music yourself?
Do you guys go to concerts and kind of experience
what it's like as an audience too
and kind of let that inform your performances.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And you know, especially on tour,
if we're touring with somebody,
it's always helpful to get out there and just, you know,
it helps get the blood moving a little bit.
Oh, we're gonna be doing that in an hour.
In an hour?
Yeah, well, yeah.
No, I mean, you know,
watching somebody before you play or something.
Who do you guys touring with right now?
Like who in the last year?
I don't wanna put you on the spot, we can always.
It's okay.
Yeah, no, we did a ton of shows with Johnny Marr
from the school.
Oh yeah.
Love.
Oh my God, I love Johnny Marr.
Love Johnny Marr of the Smith, JB.
So you don't get to play.
Get your hand off the pearls. Well, yeah. One. Love Johnny Marr of the Smiths, JB. So, you know what? Get your hand off the pearls, Will.
One of the great, 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.
Do you like the Smiths?
I love the Smiths.
Yeah, no, you know what we did?
We did a Smiths, one or two Smith songs
we would do every night with them.
Yes. No way.
What songs?
I just saw you, I just saw a video of you guys.
Shut up.
Shut up, Sean.
What songs did you guys do?
We did this charming man with him is how we first...
I love it.
Sean?
And then we did, we did, please, please, please let me get what I want.
I want to get the greatest.
It's the greatest.
Listen, this one, how deep do you go with the Smiths?
I go very.
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's what she said.
We did Stop Me if you think you've heard this one before.
Oh, Stop Me.
Oh, Stop Me.
You know, it's wild.
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 Strange W me's on is on strange ways here
I'm strange ways here we come yeah, so so we're up there and we're about to play it 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 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 a big, who are your big influences?
I've always wanted to know
because you guys have definitely the Smiths.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's so cool.
I can hear it now that you say that.
I guess I can hear some of it.
We were just last night,
we were singing some early Depeche Mode.
Oh, here they come. Get me started. We were just, last night we were seeing some early Depeche Mode.
Oh, here they come. Get me started.
Yeah, so that Brandon and I sort of, we melt.
We like that band.
Yeah, they're incredible.
They're incredible.
No, there's not a lot of stuff.
What other bands?
I wanna hear what other bands.
I just wanna hear what other bands they liked.
Okay.
Going up.
It was New Order and the Smiths and the cars.
Guys, I mean, it's like we're family.
You guys can stay here.
Sean, go change.
You're saying everything I love.
Did you guys get it?
Were you guys influenced at all by any sort of like 90s indie bands too?
Yeah.
Yeah, Ronnie's, I'm a little bit younger.
And so when that stuff was happening,
I was just, 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.
Ronnie, what were you?
Echo and the Bunny men, Susie and the Bunchies.
Well, that's earlier, but yes for sure.
Oh yeah, that's the 90s.
But Ronnie, were you like,
I'm like a pavement built to spill guy. Like.
Sure.
Yeah.
All these guys, Dyson for Jr. Sebadio.
Oh my God.
You know, all these guys.
Oasis came around for me.
Oasis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
90s.
Did it take a minute?
Did Oasis take a minute for you, Brendan?
Or you right into it?
It took me a minute and then I sort of became obsessed.
I would consider an Oasis tattoo when I was a little...
Did you really?
Did you really?
I'm so thankful I didn't do that.
I mean, instead you went with soft sell, I heard, right?
Just on the smaller back.
Soft sell.
I had the same thing with Oasis,
where I was like, at first I was like,
I don't know and then became obsessed with them too.
They were so, so rad.
Sorry, Jason, I cut you off 50 times
because I'm geeking out with this.
No, it's Sean. Go ahead, Sean.
Oh, I have a thousand questions if I may.
Yeah, sure, 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?
Like the thing that went wrong the most.
Well, there is the opposite situation where
there were two things that really happened at this.
We did a stadium run last year in the UK
and we were in Manchester and two things happened.
Another, a girl made a sign to wanting to play drums
on one of our songs and we brought her up.
And when I was back there, I was like,
you know the song, just kind of watch me
because I jump on guitar for a second.
And she told us that she wanted to do something brave
because her best friend, she's like 16 years old maybe,
her best friend's going through cancer
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, I said, get on up there.
And she was excellent.
I mean, she totally knocked it out of the park.
And it was one of the best gigs maybe of the year.
It was like this huge soccer stadium.
Wow.
How long ago?
And we actually, this was last year, last spring.
Yeah.
Is that one of us?
But the other thing that happened was,
and Brandon stopped the show, he sees this guy
crowd surfing
from the front of house, which is where the sound board,
the mixing board, our sound guy lives.
He's like 80 years old.
He's, as he gets closer, you see that there's,
there's his old fella just riding the wave.
And he, he, Well, what the fuck?
They dropped him.
They dropped him. He drops.
Brandon stops the show.
This is real on his hit. On his hit.
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 see if he was okay.
And he popped up in a fit of joy.
And he hugged me.
I went down and hugged him.
What did he say to you?
You asked, Hey, are you all right?
I go, what are you doing?
You know?
And he said, I'm enjoying myself.
The next day, the next day in the papers,
all the headlines read crowd surfing pensioner.
That's hysterical. I love if that would become like a thing
at killer's concert that like old old dudes
would just crowd surf like that becomes
something that happens.
I once did some stage diving in Vancouver.
You did some?
I did some, yeah.
In Vancouver?
Yeah, the stage is only a couple of feet tall,
but I actually had to jump up
to get onto the people's hands.
And was Andrew Ridgely scared?
Did he see you?
It was a huge wham.
Oh, listen, they get me fired up.
They get me fired up.
Sorry, Sean, you were gonna say?
Pretty weird in your short shorts.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what was left of them?
Please go ahead, Sean.
You fell out of the cage you were dancing in all this.
Yeah, they left it unlocked. It wasn't smart. Sean, you were saying?
Yeah, yeah.
Killed Sean. Look at him.
All right, so, well, guys, I have a question.
Who did that, Sean?
To that point, I was, and I used to work in the entertainment committee in college and
we would get, I was in tours like seven people.
Coming out of the shocker department.
What?
What nerdy shit did you not do?
Let's just get to that.
God damn.
President of the entertainment committee,
Sean Hayes calling.
No, I was in the entertainment committee in college
and there was like seven of us
and we were in charge of which bands?
Stop fucking saying that.
Yeah, we're past it.
Which bands were coming to the college, Illinois State University,
one of the best universities in the world.
And we got like the B52s.
And I remember NXS came and people were like, what's inks?
Like they didn't know the name.
And then it was like, and who else?
Red Hot Chili Peppers, like all these people.
And it was Pearl Jam and Pearl Jam was playing
and people were stage diving and like body surfing.
And I'm work, I'm maybe 70 pounds.
And I'm supposed to block the crowd
from getting to the stage.
And I saw them coming and I just would run.
I was like, I was the worst.
I'm entertainment committee, not security committee.
Yeah, I had my little badge on.
Hold it.
Oh, did you know about that?
Okay, so anyway, my question is, how do you guys meet?
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's the best.
He's the best guys, is he not?
Award winning interviewer, Sean.
By the way, Ronnie and Brandon,
you guys probably don't know this.
Sean was once nominated for-
Best host.
For best host of a podcast.
On a podcast that's co-hosted by, it's three people.
They singled him out and wanted to give him a singular award
because his questions are so damn good.
Because of questions like that.
How'd you meet?
How'd you meet?
And then what's a funny story that happened live?
Hey, but we all enjoy the best stories.
You're right.
How did you meet?
We actually met like in a, we got to go fast because it looked like a business meeting.
Me and our guitar player met through the classified ads in Las Vegas.
No way.
Is that true?
Yeah.
So probably the last band to form that way.
Wow.
You and Scotty met some at the back of the paper.
Was it?
Yeah, Craig's List.
Yeah.
You met in the class of Fides and then we didn't have,
we had a different drummer and a different bass player
for a while who they were not into it.
They weren't at the right fit.
Yeah, they were at the right fit.
Sure.
And one night we were playing and opening,
were we opening for, what was her name?
Oh, Anne's band.
Oh, Anne Murray.
And Ronnie was filling in for this girl.
And he happened to see us
and he just, Ronnie 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.
The rhythm section needed help.
A rhythm section.
And so we, I mean, instantly just before we knew
what we were in his garage and then we had to.
It wasn't for, I wasn't trying to like shoehorn my way in.
I actually, I recommended a couple drummers
that just again weren't the right fit.
Like much better drummers in my cells.
But did you recommend them knowing that they were not
gonna be the right fit so that they would have to go
to you Ronnie Bios?
No, I was like, I was on this trajectory as like,
I must finish school so I don't end up homeless.
Right.
And I was just doing that, but the songs they had,
even at the time, even songs we don't even play anymore
were just like calling me.
It was just, I was familiar with it already.
I was just, you know, I knew where they were coming from.
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 and they were just kind
of just going through the motions.
So then the first time that you guys played as a band, when you were like kind of doing
the like looking around going like, all right.
Yeah.
Well, we were like, you know, let's try it out.
Like, let's see what happens.
And we just ended up like playing hours
and making songs. Really?
And the first day, just playing.
And then we got really, really.
By the way, we should know, Jason's laughing
because he knows I've done this bit for you.
It's so stupid.
Which is my impression of every bassist, right?
Which is when he makes,
when the singer makes eye contact with him. The bass gets so happy. So he every bassist, right? Which is when he makes, when the singer makes eye contact with him.
So he's just on his own like this, right?
So he's like this, so he's just like this, plain face.
And the singer looks at him and goes,
and he goes, yeah.
Yeah, that's when the knees stay together
and he goes into a deep squat.
Super happy.
I see it.
Oh boy.
He's so stoked.
And we will be right back.
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And now, back to the show.
Now, wait, now, Ronnie, how crazy do you get with your set? You put like, cause 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 xylophone
that's hanging from like Christmas ornaments.
Yeah, those things.
And like, you get like real, real robust
with your setup back there.
Do you keep it simple?
We were doing like a video, I have a gong,
but we were doing this video
where we were basically trying to do the Pink Floyd ripoff
when they're in the Pompey 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.
Love that.
But you guys made awesome videos, by the way,
just as an aside.
Thanks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's true.
And so it sort of started out with that.
And then I brought it on stage
as almost a joke or like a backdrop and everything. And now I actually, I use it.
You have like one of those big funny mallets.
Yeah, big ass, you know, mallet size of a baby's head.
And apart from that, I don't go too crazy.
No, you guys wanna, yeah.
No chime wipes.
Brandon, what were you gonna say?
Oh, I was gonna bring some tenderness.
Yeah.
Some tenderness to this interview.
You know that, 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 I got an, 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 those moments are few and far between
where somebody will actually take the time to do that.
And I appreciate it still.
Yeah, I do remember that, man.
Yeah, listen, I love music
and I've always been a fan of you guys
and I find you guys, it's funny you're talking about,
it's kind of circling back to talking about getting into
sort of electronic music, et cetera,
what I've always loved about you guys
that I've thought a lot of your music is very anthemic.
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.
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
is very personal probably and you don't explain it
but there's just something about it.
And your music is the kind of music for me
that evokes a lot of emotion.
And-
Will, are you crying right now?
I'm always crying.
I'm always crying, just know that.
Yeah, it's okay.
And I do remember reaching out to you
and of course when we emailed,
we emailed a couple of times and 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.
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. I have one of my songs.
Somebody take me.
And someone says that. Look at the way he pops the net.
Someone's angry, someone's sad.
That sure stopped my tears.
It's so bad.
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.
Total Andy Bell.
A thousand percent.
Andy Bell sings his ass off.
That's unbelievable.
It's, he's sort of underrated in the,
For tracing Andy Bell as the lead singer of Erasure.
Man.
Yeah, that was, I was like 1920, I don't know how that went.
Here, hey, Brandon.
That sounded good.
I just found the email.
You ready for this? What's the time stamp on? Is it like about 3, 3.40 in the morning? August. Hey, Brandon. That sounded good. I just found the email. You ready for this?
What's the time stamp on?
Is it like about 3.40 in the morning?
August 5th, 2009.
Does it start with you up?
Hey man, you up.
You up.
No, it says, hey man, just want to drop you on set.
I love Dazzline fairy tale.
I can't stop listening to it, hypnotic.
And then a dick pic.
Anyway, going to sleep now. Fuck off. fairy tale. I can't stop listening to it hypnotic. And then a dick pic.
Anyway, go on to sleep now.
Call me, I'm putting my phone on DIY disturb.
God is taking me back.
Taking me back, right?
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 energy,
you've got the right kind of a 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.
And then you start to record your first record.
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.
And other than the people who you kind of work with,
you have no sense as to whether or not
people are gonna like it.
You're like, people might hate this.
They might say, this is, and so what was that feeling
on the first record before people knew who the killers were?
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.
And we got to the point where we were everybody's amps
and the drums and everything sounded
like it was being mixed, but it was just a room recording.
We do demos and things like that.
We didn't have any proper recordings and there was this guy who put us in touch with a fella
who had a studio in Northern California.
We need to get you guys a proper recording.
And we just went in there for,
we did one or two takes of each song.
You guys paid for the studio time yourself?
Or he gave it?
We did a spec deal with this guy.
He says, I'm gonna, I'll record this for free.
I'm gonna have Mark Needham,
who's a famous mix engineer.
He's done Chris Isaac and, you know,
Fleetwood Mac and countless others.
And he'll mix it,
but we want a year to shop it if we do this.
We're like, shit, it's a free record.
Okay, let's do it.
And they like put us up in like budget suites in Berkeley, California.
And we made the, and that was the first record
is all those demos.
They were just like, okay, well, this'll work for the first.
It started out as being an EP.
And then we, with this little deal,
a little small indie label
in England called Lizard King.
It was the first time I had Thai food in Berkeley.
Really?
Yeah.
Sean wants to know if you've ever tried Chin Chin.
Yeah, we do the Chin Chin.
Plus relative.
Sean, wait, this is great.
Sean, do you enjoy Thai food?
I love Thai food, yeah.
Yeah.
I love the different sauces.
You know, in Vegas, we have a place, Lotus of Siam,
if you guys ever go to Vegas.
Lotus of Siam.
And it's the, I mean, you got Night Market Song
is amazing in LA, but it's Vegas has this one.
It's called Lotus of Siam, and 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.
Once you guys go play the sphere,
that place is incredible.
Oh, did you already go?
Yeah, I went to that U2 show.
It's unbelievable that venue.
Man, it looks just the pictures, your mouth is...
What do you guys think of Vegas?
Like, live in there?
You don't live there, Ronnie, Brandon, you do, right?
I moved away too.
Oh, you did?
Yeah, so three of us were born there.
You ever run into Kimmel?
You ever see Kimmel over there when you're in Vegas?
Ronnie went to the same high school as Jimmy.
Really?
Jimmy's a lot older.
A lot.
He's a lot.
Full stop.
He's a lot older.
No, I think that was the end of his sentence.
Jimmy's a lot. And he is a lot. He's a lot older. No, I think that was the end of his sentence. Jimmy's a lot.
And he is a lot.
He is a lot.
We can say this officially, Kimmel is a lot.
So you went to the same, but it's a good question.
Like being from Vegas, like what Sean was asking,
like I always think that,
I've actually asked this to Kimmel too.
Like is it a weird place to be from?
It wasn't until we left.
Yeah.
And you know.
That's a great answer.
You realize how weird it is.
Yeah, and so 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.
Like that's just, there's my grandma's gonna be playing slots while I'm getting my slurpee.
Like 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 for the record?
Did you, were you guys, did you guys all kind of relocate there?
Oh, that's just where Saltzman studio was.
No, oh, so that was,
Oh, gotcha. Yeah, that's just where thezman studio is. No, oh, so that was,
Oh, gotcha.
Yeah, that's just where the studio,
this guy just was high on building his brand new studio
and it was very eager to record someone.
Gotcha.
So you guys are relocated out of Vegas into where are you now?
We're all over the place.
I'm in Texas right now.
I live in Utah.
Oh, all right.
Okay, I live in Utah for a while.
I live in Utah for a while. I have a question.
When you guys, after a show is done
and you play the show, do you guys have like,
and you're feeling that adrenaline still,
do you have like a routine
or some kind of something you do to come down?
Like do you go out?
You're like, you know what, I'm done, I'm spent,
I'm gonna go right to bed.
Or are you still high on the energy?
I devour food.
You do?
Do you not eat before the show?
About four, I get four hours before the gig.
Yeah.
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.
You feel, you know, I don't want to feel full
and I don't, and the acid reflux, all that kind of stuff.
If it hits your cords, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, Jason.
Yeah. Well, when you say cords, you're your chords. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Jason? Yeah.
Well, when you say chords, you're talking about the pants.
The vocal chords.
Oh, yes.
Jesus.
Did you say you lived in Utah?
I did.
From when I was four till I was seven,
we lived in Salt Lake.
I forget why my parents were there,
but learned how to ski.
Yeah. Snowbird and Alta.
Wonderful, so it wasn't late.
Yeah, no, no, no, not at all, beautiful state.
When I was a kid, I swear I,
one of my first celebrity sightings was you.
Come on, maybe I was there skiing
when I was a little bit older.
No, no, no, it wasn't in YouTube,
it was like in Reno or Wendover.
I can't remember, but it was in between.
It had been Reno.
And we were checking into some place because there was like a Reno or Wendover. I can't remember, but it was in between. It had been Reno. And we were checking into some place
because there was like a storm or something,
and we had to, and I remember being like,
I was only eight or nine, but I-
So Jason was 25.
You were famous.
Well, I barely, that's a kind word.
By the way, Brendan's got a very good memory,
so let's keep going with this.
And I was, anyway, I was excited because I was like,
that's him and trying to, and my mom wasn't sure.
Was it 8 AM?
Was it 8 AM?
And it looked like he'd been up.
Yeah.
Was I coming?
Was I looking dejected from a blackjack table
at the pepper mill?
You?
That was me.
Was the exchanging cash for the dude behind the 7-Eleven?
You were like, you were with,
you had some friends with you,
but you were like running the,
you were running the show, I remember.
Yeah, I thought I was pretty, pretty hot shit.
Did he have a, did he have a motor home
with some dirt bikes on it?
Was he with Leif Garrett?
Yeah, Leif Garrett, all the way north.
He might have been with Leif Garrett.
By the way, you know what's funny?
So you guys are from Vegas and then you moved all over
the States and you've kind of lived everywhere.
But, but you got, I, my, my impression is that you guys are from Vegas and then you moved all over the States and you've kind of lived everywhere but but you got I my my impression is that you guys really
You're so huge in the UK. I talked about it before you guys kind of in a way
Am I right didn't you guys kind of broke through first in the UK? Yeah
Yeah, so that first record we recorded in in Berkeley
Was then put out by this small indie label.
And that's what became our first record, Hot Fuss.
And...
Yeah.
Well, all the major American labels said no.
Every...
So we went with this small label in England.
Who believed in us.
Wow.
Well, like these guys believe in us.
So we went over there and...
Go to the love.
I think we did like four or five shows
and the enemy was covering it.
And it was just like things were starting
to sort of bloom a little bit.
And we got home two or three weeks later
and all the American labels were taking us out to dinner.
We ate really well for a few months.
We were just broke.
We all still had jobs.
I was, you know, Brandon was at the Gold Coast
slinging bags and I was taking pictures
at a wedding chapel on the strip and Dave was like.
No way, no way.
Yeah, that was my last job.
And so everything was started to, everything was starting to sort of come down
a little bit.
Every show we'd play, there'd be somebody
from some record label.
Ronnie, how was your, as a photographer there,
how was your chat to your subjects
when you were shooting and they were really
getting good shots and stuff?
Would you ever say stuff like dynamite, dynamite, like, what was your go-to chat?
And that stuff.
Right to me, right to me.
Now over here, I'm not even here.
I'm not even here.
You're looking more leg.
More leg.
Yeah, dynamite leg.
Wait, you're a photographer.
You're not gonna regret this.
You're not gonna regret this.
Right, that's a good one.
Right, who's that? Who's that over there? Who regret this. Right, that's a good one.
Right, who's that?
Who's that over there?
Who's that over there?
It was a good job.
It was a good job.
Brandon, what were you doing?
You were slinging back?
I was a bellman.
Yeah, I was a bellman at the Gold Coast.
Oh, at the Gold Coast.
I do wanna talk about this as its own little session
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,
gonna speaking of Vegas, do a residency.
Is that true? It's true. Oh, I'm going.
This is, we'll give you tickets. Wait. No, of course you will. Of course.
Don't say, of course. Sean's in the band. He's going to be there.
I'm going to hold up a sign instead of the instead of the drummer
Instead of Ronnie you I'm gonna just play my keyboard right now
Bono Bono kind of gently mentioned his residency there at the at the sphere before it all happened
Yeah, it's it's it's gonna be a cold coast it's gonna be at the yeah the Coliseum
Oh for real and Caesar's Palace. I saw Celine Dion there. Yeah. Yeah, and so
It's you know, we're really excited. It's 20. It's gonna be 20 years since our first record
So we're gonna play the album front to back and
And then we'll then we'll leave and come back and play you know eight or nine more singles or whatever like, you know, whatever
That's really cool. When does that start August is the potential? It's the last couple weeks of August. Yeah, something like that
Is so exciting 2024. Yeah, no no no August of 23 you ding dong
They built a time machine just
What do you- Hop aboard.
I'll totally go to that.
This guy was nominated for best host of the year.
You guys, that's so awesome.
How- I just- 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 great.
It's really cool.
Ronnie's mom worked at Caesars Palace for 40 years.
Oh wow.
What?
Wow.
And I used to go, I worked at Spago as a bus boy
inside Caesars Palace.
And it was where I bought,
they used to have a virgin records there.
And I took every bit of money that I had
and spent it at Virgin Records.
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.
Yeah, they tore it down,
and that's where the Colosseum is built.
It just, it really feels like a special thing
to go back there.
Oh man, that's so awesome.
Well, I'm so happy for you guys.
I'm so happy for the audiences, for us,
that we get to come and see you guys do that.
See the way Will just got free tickets from you guys
with that little comment right now.
Well, I know.
Brandon, you've still got the same email address,
I'm hoping, right?
Yeah.
Okay, Brandon, I'm gonna hit you up.
I'll email you later today.
You guys just be cool, okay?
Sean, high school, your nickname, Busboy, was that true?
Okay.
Guys, honestly, we have, once again, we've taken up,
you guys just too much of your time.
We could just, I could ask you guys about your music all day.
I've just been such a fan, as you know, for a long time.
You guys were just unbelievable talents.
And thanks for taking the time during your tour.
I know you guys are tired and you're in your hotel room.
I know.
Oh, it's so good.
Yeah, I'm sure.
We really, really appreciate it.
This is a joy.
And please, please, please send me your electronic album
that you threw out just so I can enjoy it.
I would actually love to hear it.
You will not upload it.
I will not upload it to the internet.
But what a pleasure.
What an honor having you guys on this show.
It's great to see you guys again.
Like thank you guys.
Nice to meet you guys.
Very nice to meet you.
Bye guys.
Thank you guys so much.
See you.
See you later.
Bye bye bye.
Cheers.
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 yeah, I did look back.
Canadian level of nice.
They are Canadian level.
Well, they have a lot of Canadian influence.
And I will say, I was just looking back at the email.
My email exchanges with Brandon over the years
are very random, but I've always been 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 gotta let him know.
Yeah, yeah.
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, 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 awesome.
And how lucky that he wasn't a jerk, right?
It's like they'd 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. Yeah.
But the opposite happened.
I like them. I feel like I've known them.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
They should be called The Lovers early.
I mean, did you guys like my other song?
You haven't heard that song yet.
Boy, I think I'm losing you.
Are you going over a canyon?
Hello?
Hello.
Can you hear me?
Sean?
Yeah.
Will, when you got a second,
we're just doing the wrap up.
Yes, sorry.
Sorry.
So.
Anyway, there's such nice dudes too.
There's such nice normal for huge, no, I was going to say for huge mega stars.
I was reading one of my annoying emails to Brandon, which is about whether my sister
could go say hi to them after the show.
You talking about champagne wanted to go? It's Chardonnay. Sorry. Chardonnay wanted to them after the show. Oh, that's nice. You talking about Champagne wanted to go?
It's Chardonnay, sorry.
Chardonnay wanted to go.
Shanley, Shanley.
Shanley.
I wanted to ask them like about the AI thing.
Like your question about like the drum,
like can AI take over like right songs?
Can I tell you something?
Nobody's better at asking questions
after the guest has gone than you, Sean.
You are.
We're gonna have another podcast called Follow Up.
It's just gonna be you, Sean.
Will and I are gonna skip that one.
Hey, I'm talking to nobody.
Hey, by the way, how do robots say goodbye?
Bye.
No, they use binary.
Binary, baby.
Don't tweak your nips when you say it.
She's leaning back so satisfied. Bye.
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