Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
JB, you going to get on the golf course today? Today is not a golf course day. Today is a work day, actually. Today's 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 Titleist irons. The Titleist, I should mention. Now, you should get yourself into some G4 apparel and really, you know, make yourself complete.
Okay. I mean, I would, but I wear the foot joy. I love the foot joy. You like the G4. Yes. And the title is clubs. The title is clubs. If you were ever to fly to a tournament, how would you like to get there? By the way, I don't even know if we could use the cold open, but I just got a five wood. Okay.
Anyway, welcome to Smartless. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smart. Less.
Look, you got a whole setup in your green room. It's nice. I know. Believe me, it's pretty great. It's nice. Wait a second. I'm seeing two surprise guest windows. Yeah. Oh, Listener. Listener always knows before us two other idiots. Everybody knows except me and Sean right now. Everybody knows except for the two dummies that week. Yeah.
I feel pretty dumb today. I don't... Dumber than usual. Why do you feel dumb? No, no. I just don't feel like I'm going to be great at listening or talking today. Well, Jay, do you want a couple of jokes to lighten you up? If you have new... Here we go, Sean. Here we go. 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 going to be good today. What did the chicken say? What? No, what does... See? I forget too. 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 a 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. And the other one is, hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie? Wait, wait, wait. Can we do a punchline on the first one about the skeleton? There is already. He doesn't get it. What happened? A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.
Okay. Because 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 trying to figure out. This is, it's like people are joining us at rehearsal. Okay.
This is, we clearly don't rehearse. I apologize already to our guests. You know what I was saying? You know, 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, oh, 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, that's pretty much all they do. Their beautiful mansion, and it was just them in the smallest room in that house with the door closed, looking for the fan, and they're taking a 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 guest 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 single, which, by the way, is a single that has remained in the UK, holds the record for the longest time on the UK charts, over 300, like seven years on the UK charts. Wow.
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...
Then Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci of The Killers. The Killers. The Killers. I was just talking about them the other day. Oh my God, look at that. Good morning. How cool is this? Dude. Look at that. This is crazy. How?
How great is this? Hi, guys. You guys look very much alive. Not killers at all. 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 a really good system in place, and we've ruined it. I definitely have a routine that is being disturbed right now. Where are you on the planet? We're in Austin. Austin.
Austin Tech. Okay. Austin. Tennessee. That's a great state. JB, no, no, no. JB, JB. Boys, we're so excited to have you on the 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. Yeah. And I think it was 2006. Brandon, have I read about that? We played earlier than that. Oh, you played earlier? So I saw it the second time? Yeah, probably. If it was Sam's Town was our second record, we would have done, yeah. Wow, okay. So it was the Sam's, I guess that's right. But I remember meeting you. Yeah. And I think that was maybe after our third time.
Was it really? Can I tell the story of the after party? Yeah, please do. So they always have an after party on the sketch show. And Will's there. And he's got a hockey player with him and another fellow citizen of Canada. Shani probably, Brendan Shanahan. Yeah. And so I, I guess...
quintessentially what all Americans do. I say, hey, 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, Americans think we all know each other. I go and I grab my tour manager and
And he's like, oh, what area of Toronto are you from? Oh, what street were you on? Farnham Avenue? Yes. They both lived on the same street. Wait, Brendan, I can't believe you remember Farnham Avenue. Well, our tour manager is still with us. 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. He still lives on Farnham. Wait, wait, his parents still live on Farnham? Still there. Yeah. No way. My buddy Paul lives on Farnham as well. And my sister does. The listener has probably pulled over their car because they're so fascinated right now. They don't want to miss a minute of it. The gist is you all know each other. Really?
- We all know each other. And Brendan, I remember that moment too, that was so crazy. And what I'm gonna 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 it for the people of Farnham. Just think about it, don't give me an answer now. - Stop at the back of a truck.
Yeah. Ronnie, can you keep it down? So listen, I have a question 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? Yeah. And we've just been sort of enjoying the ride.
Ever since, I mean, the very first one, it just keeps, you know, something keeps happening. You know, we keep busy. We know what an 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 going to say good fortune because you're really talented and you guys make good music, but you've luckily kind of struck a chord with people every step of the way. And that's got to feel good because you've got to feel like we're kind of in touch with...
with what's going on in a way. Is that something that's real? Yeah, I mean, it's... I think our goal has always... There's this constant evolution and you watch... 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 where 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 there's a script that comes before the actor does their thing or the director does their thing. With musicians, with groups, you can do whatever you want, make the album about whatever you want, make it sound, and you've got to 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? Um, I'm sure some bands a little bit and, um, 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, comes out, you know, we've,
we have tons of cutting room floor stuff that for whatever reason, just, you know, they're lost dogs or orphans, orphan songs or ideas. Yes.
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, 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...
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 like the body of work
Sort of idea where it has a focus and... And you've created a bank with your audience that even though it might sound a little bit different or a little bit more challenging to tap your toe to, don't worry about it. We got you and we've proved... I don't think you guys ever run the risk of having a song that you can't tap your toe to. I will say that much. That's nice. But you guys... But I was going to say, like, and JB...
JB, you're right that when you talk about they're like the other audience members, I mean, the other member of the band is the audience. 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 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 thing.
Oh, it was your most recent record. Your most recent record you tossed in the trash. Wait, you finished it and then just threw it out? We began down a road that was a more synth-heavy road. Okay. And we realized, you know, 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 didn't want to fully commit to a whole 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. Okay, so the opposite would be maybe more a rock and roll record. But what is that process? So you're working on your fourth song and you're in the studio and you're rehearsing and you look at each other and just go, what the fuck are we doing?
Yeah. And everybody else just like breathes like, thank God you said it because I didn't want to say it. Oh, that's got to be horrible. It's complex because there's this place in our hearts for this music. We were influenced by it, but we are getting older and we 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. Yeah. 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, you're right. I was in a synth pop band in college and, um,
I played the keyboard. You'll have to see a picture. Sean, by the way, play for these guys, if you can find it, play that song that you played us before. Oh, yeah, well, there's three songs. Before we end today. Yeah, well, I'll have Bennett and Rob dig it up. There's actually three hit songs. You guys might want to put it on our sense. We'll rip those off, too. Yeah, you can rip mine out. 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. I'd love to see it. Sean, I've seen you play, and you play beautifully. Oh, that's very nice. Because I saw the Netflix special, and I was so surprised. I did not know you had that in your pocket. Oh, thanks. It's incredible. Classically trained. Yeah, Jason, I sat down and played for Jason Bateman.
Sean, do you want to join our band? I knew where this was going. That's what I'm telling you. I'll join your band. Whoa. I can't believe you're getting in the killers before me. We made news. No, I can't do anything, but I'm still mad about it. I'm going to turn you guys into synth pop.
You were the missing link. The record could have come out. I know what you mean, though, about playing. Because I would play the keyboards and try to really be into it. A drummer can really be into it naturally, right, Ronnie? Because 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 move your body to rock out during the music. You just have to kind of 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 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 that. Fuck, you can't like bang, dip, dip,
Like you just got fired from the killer show. Right, like at the end of all these things that I've done where you're like... You can't do that on synth. So this move from synth back to rock and roll, now you're talking to the old grandpa and me too. Like I...
Listen, I'm a big, like, Radiohead fan, and they kind of went to synth a while ago, and I kind of went with it, and I guess I'm still with it because they know better than me what good music is, and so I get with it. You like them despite what they're doing? Yeah. Despite what your ears tell you. Yeah, exactly. Just listen.
I love those too. But I listen to all this music that my kids listen to and no one is playing guitar anymore. There's no drums anymore. 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, you know, the White Stripes or, you know, the Black Keys or like these like rock and roll bands. I'm not even going back to ACDC or Led Zeppelin, but...
Like, where are the instruments? We're talking to them. Yeah, I'm excited that you guys are going back to that. We've only been around 20 years, and from when we started, rock radio was a completely different animal. And there are fewer and fewer stations, and this homogenization started to happen where all of a sudden you started hearing beats everywhere.
and things that were influenced by maybe more hip hop and now it's just, it's almost unrecognizable as rock anymore. - Well, yeah, and that's a 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 always say, here's the drummer in our band and he's standing by a MacBook. - 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 instrument, drums, that they actually sound like they've been manipulated in a computer. Yeah. Yeah.
It's interesting, you know, 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? When you were saying you were an Indu, was it literally that? You're like, we're not feeling connected to the music? Partly. There's an amazing thing that I'm now reflecting on, the magic moments that we've shared,
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, did you just say sorry? Yeah. If we're in a room, I got to sing a certain way. I can't be timid. You're not going to hear me. And so there's something about those dynamics that have helped us become what we are. Can I tell you something, Brandon? The beat's bigger than you, and I get it. It's just...
And now, a word from our sponsor. 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 mix, the way you guys do it, and it's a testament to your voice because I know that...
No matter what you do and playing with how you're hearing yourself, it's really tough because, yeah, Ronnie, you should be sorry. You're very loud. And all the instruments in your band, the rhythm section has, you know, you really feel it. I mean, you guys come out and really, and guitar and everything, and that's tough to play.
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 want to 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 want to sing Helter Skelter, but Sir Paul McCartney, I see you out there. 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.
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. I go, how are you feeling? You go like, I just sang Helter Skelter with Paul McCartney, man. 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 wildest things. The other thing that with bands needing to tour a lot more now as a way in which to –
monetize what you guys do since album sales changed a long time ago. And now touring is a huge, huge part of what you guys do. I would imagine that switching back to a more instrument 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 live. We sort of have this dichotomy between being a live band and doing things in the studio. And oftentimes we just sort of have tunnel vision where we forget about the live aspect.
And we just go with 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 tempo too. Oftentimes we'll speed stuff up or sometimes we'll slow stuff down. Did you ever speed stuff up just to get out of there sooner? Yeah.
Because I just did this show on Broadway where I played the Rhapsody and I was like, I'm fucking tired. And I would just, I would play it twice as fast.
I like that. Because you had a dinner date. You guys missed Sean. He was on Broadway this year. He won a Tony, by the way. Hold for applause. No, we'll add the applause. His was spelled T-O-N-I-E, though. Yeah, it was different. Oh, yeah, no, no. It wasn't what you think of, the Tony Awards. The lineup. But he played, and he played every night to end the show on piano, and he's, like we talked about, an accomplished pianist. And he had to do it every goddamn night,
And, yeah, Sean, you said that some nights you would just jam through it. And the cast would be like, was that like...
Because it's usually like eight, nine minutes. They're like, was that four minutes? I was like, yeah, I'm tired. I want to go home. Yeah, what do you do when you get out there in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people and you're just not feeling it? Yeah, what do you do? 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 don't know about Ronnie, but it's rare that I'm not...
that the juices don't just start flowing. I 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. 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. Right. Don't you? Because every audience...
It 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 want to take it out on them? And you can't. I'm going to say they don't. I'm going to answer... I bet they don't. No, yeah, we don't. We...
We can't take it out on them. We've got to be professional. 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 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 going to be doing that in an hour. In an hour? No, I mean, you know, watching somebody before you play or something. Who are you guys touring with right now? Like who in the last year? I don't want to put you on the spot. It's okay. You know, we did a ton of shows with Johnny Marr.
from the Smiths. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. I love Johnny Marv. Love Johnny Marv, the Smith, JB. Get your hand off your pearls, Will. 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 one or two Smiths songs we would do every night with them. Yes. No way. What songs? I just saw a video of you guys. Sean, shut up. Shut the fuck up, Sean.
What songs did you guys do? We did This Charming Man with him is how we first... I love it. And then we did Please...
Please, please let me get what I want. It's the greatest song ever. Listen to 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 Smiths, what she said. We did Stop Me, if you think you've heard this one before. Oh, stop me. Stop me. You know what'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 Ways. Oh, Strange Ways, here we come, yeah. So we're up there and we're about to play it and he tells me, I've never played this with a singer.
No way. So I was like, this is so amazing. 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. 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. Uh-oh, here they come. Don't get me started. Yeah. So Brandon and I sort of, we melt. We like that band. Yeah, they're incredible. They're incredible. What other bands? I want to hear what other bands. I'm sorry.
I just want to hear what other bands they liked. Okay. It was New Order and the Smiths and the Cars. Guys, I mean, it's like we're family. Sean, do you need to change? Sean, go change. You're saying everything I love. 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 Bunnymen, Suzy and the Banshees. Well, that's earlier, but yes, for sure. Oh, yeah. It's the 90s, isn't it? But Ronnie, were you like, I'm like a pavement built to spill guy. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
All those guys, Dinosaur Jr., Sebado. Oh, my God. You know, all those guys. Oasis came around for me. Oasis. Yeah. Yeah. 90s. Did it take a minute? Did Oasis take a minute for you, Brendan, or were you right into it? It took me a minute, and then I sort of became obsessed. I considered an Oasis tattoo.
I'm so thankful I didn't do that. You went with soft sell, I heard, right? Just on the small of your back. I had the same thing with Oasis where I was like, at first at Oasis, I was like, I don't know. And then became obsessed with them too. They were so, so rad. Sorry, Jason, I cut you off 50 times because I'm geeking out. No, it's Sean. Go ahead, Sean.
Oh, I have a thousand questions if I may. Yeah, go ahead. First of all, we talk about live shows. I always ask whenever musicians come on, what's your best, worst live show experience story? 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. A girl made a sign 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. That's great.
And it was one of the best gigs maybe of the year. It was like this huge, you know, soccer stadium. Wow. How long ago? This was last year, last spring. Yeah. But the other thing that happened was Brandon stopped the show. He sees this guy.
um, crowd surfing from, from the front of house, which is where the, the soundboard and mixing board, our, our sound guy lives. He's like 80 years old. He's, as he gets closer, you see that there's, uh, there's this old fella just riding the wave. And, and he, he,
What the fuck? They drop him. They dropped him. He drops. Brandon stops the show. This is real. On his head. Brandon stops the show because it looks like you just saw feet 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 him, hey, are you all right? I go, what are you doing? You know? Oh, yeah, yeah. And he said, I'm enjoying meself. The next day in the papers, all the headlines read, crowd surfing pensioner. Huh?
That's hysterical. I love if that would become like a thing at Killers concert that like old dudes would just crowd surf. Like that becomes a thing 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 originally scared? Did he see you? LAUGHTER
It's a huge wham. Listen, they get me fired up. They get me fired up. Sorry, Sean, you were going to say? Were you wearing 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. Yeah, they left it unlocked. It wasn't smart. Sean, you were saying? Yeah, yeah. Oh, fuck.
Killed Sean. All right, so, well, I have a question. Go ahead, Sean. To that point, I used to work in the entertainment committee in college, and we would get, I was in, there was 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 it.
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 band. Stop fucking saying that.
I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band. I'm a fan of the band.
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 the worst. I'm entertainment committee, not security committee. Yeah, and I had my little badge on. Hold it. Oh, shit. Did you have a badge? Okay, so anyway, my question is, how did you guys meet? Yeah.
He's the best. He's the best, guys. Is he not? Award-winning interviewer, Sean Hayes. You know, 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 in a...
And we got to go fast because it looks like running is 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 something at the back of the paper. Was it? Yeah, Craigslist. It was a Craigslist. Wait, so you met in the classifieds and then... We had a different drummer and a different bass player for a while who they were not...
Into it. They weren't... Not the right fit. Yeah, they weren't the right fit. Sure. And one night we were playing an opening. Were we opening for... What was her name? Oh, Anne's band. Anne Murray? Anne Murray's band. And Ronnie was filling in. Anne Murray. Ronnie was filling in for this girl, and he happened to see us.
And he just, Ronnie, he has a way of just cutting right to the chase and he just said, you know, you guys would be good if you had a real drummer or something like that. I love that. The rhythm section needed help. A rhythm section. And so we, I mean, instantly just, before we knew it, we were in his garage and
And then we added him. But 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 than myself. But did you recommend them knowing that they were not going to be the right fit so that they would have to go to you, Ronnie Beyonce? No, I was like, I was on this trajectory. I was like, I must finish school so I don't end up homeless. Right. Mm-hmm.
And I was just doing that. But the songs they had, even at the time, the songs we don't even play anymore, were just like...
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, were you like kind of doing the like looking around going like, oh, right.
Well, we were like, you know, let's, let's, let's try it out. Like you,
Let's see what happens. And we just ended up playing hours and making up songs. Right, on the first day. I love that it's a classic. By the way, you should know, Jason's laughing because he knows I've done this bit for years. It's so stupid. Which is my impression of every bassist, right? Which is when the singer makes eye contact with him. The bass gets so happy. So he's just like this. So he's just like this playing bass. And the singer looks at him and he goes, yeah.
That's when the knees stay together and he goes into a deep squat. Super happy. He's so stoked. And we will be right back. And now, back to the show.
Now, wait, now, Ronnie, how crazy do you get with your set? You put, like, because I see some guys, they'll put, like, a big fucking gong back there sometimes, and they'll put some kettle drums, and they'll put, like, some of the, like, xylophone that's hanging from, like, Christmas ornaments. Yeah, those things. And, like, you get, like, real robust with your setup back there, or do you keep it simple? We were doing, like, a...
I have a gong, but we were doing this video where we were basically trying to do the Pink Floyd ripoff, you know, when they're in the Pompeii, the Pompeii video. And Nick Mason's got this awesome drum set with the gong. It just looks great in the desert. We were making this video for Human in the desert. Love that video. But you guys make awesome videos, by the way, just as an aside. Thanks. 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 use it. Do you have like one of those big funny mallets? Yeah, big-ass mallet the size of a baby's head. But apart from that, I don't go too crazy. No? No chime wipes? No.
Brandon, what were you going to say? Oh, I was going to bring some tenderness. Yeah. Some tenderness to this interview. 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 you reached out about a song of ours called The Dustland Fairytale. 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...
you know, 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 were talking about, kind of circling back to talking about getting into sort of
sort of electronic music, et cetera. What I've always loved about you guys, I 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. It's very personal probably and you don't...
You know, 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.
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, we emailed a couple 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 next Pops.
Here we go. This is your band? Here we go. One of my songs. Look at the way he pops the neck. Someone's angry, someone's sad. That sure stopped my tears. It's so bad. I'm going with somebody.
Okay, that's good. Oh, you're totally... Is that you singing or no? Yeah, that's me singing. You're doing Andy Bell. A thousand percent. Andy Bell sings his ass off. That's unbelievable. He's sort of underrated. For Tracy, Andy Bell is the lead singer of Erasure. Man. Yeah, I was like 19, 20. I don't know how old I was. Hey, Brendan. That sounded good. I just found the email.
What's the time stamp on it? Is it about 3.40 in the morning? August 5th, 2009. Does it start with you up? Hey, man, you up. No, it says, hey, man, just want to drop you a line and say I love Dusland Fairytale. Can't stop listening to it. Hypnotic. And then a dick pic. Anyway, going to sleep now. Call me. I'm putting my phone on do not disturb. Okay.
God, it's taking me back. It's 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 kind of balance. 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 together.
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 going to like it. You're like, people might hate this. They might say this is great. And so what was that feeling on the first record before people knew who the killers were?
It all sort of just started to roll. We had garage recordings that were just us playing in my garage with two microphones and a CD recorder. Wow. And we got to the point where everybody's amps and the drums and everything sounded like it was being mixed, but it was just a room recording.
So we do demos and things like that, and we didn't have any proper recordings. And there was this guy who put us in touch with a fellow who had a studio in Northern California. So we need to get you guys a proper recording.
And we just went in there. We did one or two takes of each song. You paid for the studio time yourself? We did a spec deal with this guy. He says, I'll record this for free. I'm going to have Mark Needham, who's a famous mix engineer. He's done Chris Isaac and Fleetwood Mac and countless others. And he'll mix it, but we want a year to shop it.
um, if we do this, we're like, shit, it's a free record. This, okay, let's do it. And they like put us up in like a budget suites in Berkeley, California. And we made the, and that was, that was the first record is those, those demos. They were just like, okay, well this will work for the first. It started out as being an EP. And then we, um,
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. Close relative. Sean, do you enjoy Thai food?
I love Thai food, yeah. Yeah. I love the different sauces. Yeah. You know, in Vegas, we have a place, Lotus of Siam. Yeah. If you guys ever go to Vegas. Lotus of Siam. And it's the best. I mean, you got Night Market Song is amazing in LA, but 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. Why don't 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. It looks insane. Just the pictures. What do you guys think of Vegas, like living there?
You don't live there, Ronnie, but Brandon, you do, right? I moved away, too. Oh, you did? Yeah. So, yeah, 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, a lot older. A lot older. 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. That's a great answer. You realize how weird it is. Yeah, and so...
You're just accustomed to seeing ads for, you know, billboards for strip clubs and there are slot machines when you go to 7-Eleven. Like that's just, my grandma's going to be playing slots while I'm getting my Slurpee. Like that's what life is like. 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 guys all kind of relocate there? Oh, I... No, that's just where Saltzman Studios... 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 was very eager to record somewhere. Gotcha. So you guys have relocated out of Vegas into where are you now? We're all over the place. I'm in Texas right now. I live in Utah. Utah.
all right okay after a show after a show is done and you played a show do you guys have like a and you're feeling that adrenaline still do you have like a routine or some kind of something you do to come down like you go out you are like you know what i'm done i'm spent i'm gonna go right to bed or do you are you still high on the energy i devour food you do do you not eat before the show
About four, I give 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 talking about the pants? Yeah.
The vocal cord. Oh, yes. Jesus. Did you say you lived in Utah? I did. From when I was four until I was seven, we lived in Salt Lake. I forget why my parents were there, but I learned how to ski. Snowboard and Alta. Wonderful. So it wasn't a waste. 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 Utah. It was like in Reno or Wendover. I can't remember, but it was in- It would have 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. So Jason was 25. You were famous. Well, barely. That's a kind word. By the way, Brendan's got a very good memory. So let's keep going with this. Anyway, I was excited because I was like, that's him. And my mom wasn't sure. Was it 8 a.m.? Was it 8 a.m. and it looked like he'd been up?
Yeah. Was I looking dejected from a blackjack table at the pepper mill? That was me. Was he exchanging cash with the dude behind the 7-Eleven? You had some friends with you, but you were running the show, I remember. Yeah, I thought I was pretty hot shit back then. Did he have a motorhome with some dirt bikes on it? Was he with Leif Garrett? Yeah, I could have been with Leif Garrett on my 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've moved all over the States and you've kind of lived everywhere. But you guys... 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 that you guys kind of broke through first in the UK? Yeah. Yeah, so that first record we recorded in Berkeley was then put out by this small indie label. And that's what became our first record, Hot Fuss. And... Yeah. Yeah.
Well, all the major American labels said no. So we went with this small label in England. Who believed in us. Wow. 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, you know, the enemy was covering it and it was just like things were starting to sort of bloom a little bit. Then we got home and...
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. Brandon was at the Gold Coast slinging bags, and I was taking pictures at a wedding chapel on the Strip. No way. No way. Yeah, that was my last job.
And so 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, 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? What was your go-to chat on that stuff?
Right to me. Right to me. Now over here. I'm not even here. I'm not even here. More leg. More leg. More leg. Dynamite leg. Wait, you're a photographer? You're not going to regret this. You're not going to 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 cookie cutter. Brendan, what were you doing? You were slinging bags? I was a bellman.
Yeah, I was a bailman at the Gold Coast. Oh, at the Gold Coast. I do want to 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, speaking of Vegas, do a residency. Is that true? It's true. Oh, I'm going.
This is exciting. We'll give you tickets. No, of course you will. Of course. Don't say of course you will. Sean's in the band. He's going to be there. Sean's in the goddamn band. I'm going to hold up a sign instead of the drummer, instead of Ronnie Hugh. I'm going to just bring my keyboard. Bono kind of gently mentioned his residency there at the Sphere before it all happened. Are we making some news here? On SmartList, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's going to be at the Coliseum.
Nice. Oh, for real? In 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 going to be 20 years since our first record. So we're going to play the album front to back. Oh my God, no way. And 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 of weeks of August. Yeah. Oh my, that is so exciting. 2024. Yeah. No, no, no. August of 23, you ding dong. Yeah.
Sean, they built a time machine just so they could go do this residency. What are 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. Again, I just want to follow up with 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. Yeah.
It's really cool. Ronnie's mom worked at Caesar's Palace for 40 years. Oh, wow. What? Wow. And I used to go, I worked at Spago as a bus boy inside Caesar's Palace. Come on. And it was where I bought, they used to have Virgin Records there. And I took every bit of money that I had and spent it at Virgin Records. It's so cool to come back. When we were kids, there was a thing called the Omnimax.
those dome theaters. Yeah. Yeah. Omni max. And that's the original sphere. Yeah. They tore it down and that's where the Coliseum is built. It just, it really feels like a special thing to go back there.
Oh, man, that's so awesome. That's going to be pretty cool for you guys. Yeah, I'm so happy for you guys. I'm so happy for the audiences, for us, that 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 there? Well, I know. Brandon, you've still got the same email address, I'm hoping, right? Yeah. Okay, great. I'm going to 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. I could ask you guys about your music all day. I've just been such a fan, as you know, for a long time. Likewise. You guys are 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. We really, really appreciate it. This is a joy. And please, 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. Likewise. Thank you, guys. Nice to meet you guys. Very nice to meet you. Bye, guys. Thank you so much. See you. See you later. Bye-bye. Thanks for this. 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're 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 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 say, be careful, 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. It should be called The Lovers, really. 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. Yeah, sorry. Sorry. Anyway, they're such nice dudes, too. They're such nice. We did that. For huge...
No, I was going to say, for huge megastars. I was reading one of my annoying emails to Brandon, which was about whether my sister could go say hi to them after the show. Oh, that's nice. You're talking about Champagne wanted to go? 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 songs nobody's better at asking questions after the guest is gone than you we're gonna have another podcast called follow-up it's just gonna be you Sean will and I get we're gonna skip that one yeah hey guys and I'm talking to nobody
Hey, by the way, how do robots say goodbye? Bye. No, they use binary. Bye. Don't tweak your nips when you say it, Sean. He's leaning back so satisfied. Bye.
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