The Moe Train Show: Music. Food. Interviews.

Classic interview with Portugal. The Man while backstage in the semi-luxurious confines at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

Portugal. The Man is an American rock band from Wasilla, Alaska, currently residing in Portland, Oregon. The group consists of lead singer John Baldwin Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O'Quin, Jason Sechrist, Eric Howk and background singer Zoe Manville. Gourley and Carothers met and began playing music together in 2001 at Wasilla High School in Wasilla.

Interview with The Knux on Moe Train’s Tracks

R:  No strangers, love these festivals.

B:  But probably new to the Bonnaroonians..

R:  Yeah, no doubt.

K:  I like that!  Bonnaroonians, I like that.

R:  That’s dope.B:  So what can they expect to see for your show today?

R:  The show today, man, all you can expect is some explosive, ego-flying action.  Getting crazy.

K:  Releasing the eagle, like he says.

R:  Releasing the eagle tonight!

B:  Now I like that.

K:  Getting crazy.  We’re flying like an eagle today.

B:  It’s cathartic for you guys to get out there and let it out?

R:  Yeah, just let it out.  It’s a musical orgasm on stage.

K:  I explode.  So don’t stand directly in front of me.

B:  The first album, Remind Me In 3 Days, was super-nova hot.

R:  Thanks man.

B:  What are you gonna do on this next album, you’ve got one coming out soon, right?

R:  We’re in the process of recording the next album.  We got crazy songs done and  right now we’re just kinda going through what we’re gonna use on the album.  We got some features on there this time.  I know everybody was like, “Yo, why the Knux don’t feature?!”  We had to put ourselves out there first.

K:  We wanted everybody to get to know us.

R:  So we got some little features, some unexpected features.  And, you know, can’t really say the names…  Lupe is on the remix of Fire!, so look out for that.

K:  In about ten days it’ll be out.  See, it had been delayed, man, had to be delayed.  You know, some industry blah-blah-blah, but now we’re ready to release it.  So the Fire! remix gonna be out this week for ya’ll, a summertime jam, so you got to have that.  Lupe, the Knux, Currency, you know what I mean!?  Bow!

R:  Getting crazy.  On this record you can expect a lot more of the same thing; sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.

K:  But way more sex.

R:  No, I think it was more drugs on this.

K:  Yo, this is about us destroying our lives.  People will say, like if you didn’t know me and you looked at those Say No to Drugs commercials and all the safe-sex shit, I mean, honestly, we’re destroying our lives on this album!  Destroying it!  You guys are witnessing the destruction and reconstruction of The Knux.

B:  So, basically, the first album was that you had to dip your toe in the water and the second album is just a straight cannonball!

R:  Yeah, it’s just straight cannonball.  It’s like if Iggy Pop rapped or something, you know what I mean, it’s just raw.

K:  I liken it to ZZ Top in that most sexual, late 70’s, coke rush.  I liken it to that.

B:  Yeah, you guys need to start spinning the guitars.

R:  Yeah!  But, it gets a little deeper as far as bending the genres, we didn’t fall off of that.  We didn’t go backwards, it’s only forward.

K:  The hip-hop’s harder, the rock’s harder, the electronic is harder…

R:  It’s all harder.

K:  It’s like everything now but boosted up.  We had our fans who were really into our rock stuff, and we kinda gave them something.  And we had our fans who were really into our hip-hop stuff, we kinda gave them something.  And our electronic fans who like up-tempo, they were like, “Yeah, The Knux do all these remixes, yeah…”  And we gave them something too on the last album.  But this album is like hard-ass rock, hard rock, like Stones in the 70’s.  You got straight up just fuckin hard-ass boom-bap, this is like hard spitting.  You gonna hear some blistering breaks, some treacherous…

R:  Rhymes!

K:  Your about to hear some Euro-techno-ridiculousness.

R:  Exactly.

K:  And we’re gonna rip your fuckin heads off.

R:  Exactly!

B:  So, I’m the oldest of five brothers and I don’t know how you guys can do it on a day-to-day basis.  What’s the dynamic?  Isn’t your youngest brother your tour manager as well?  How do you guys do it without ripping each other’s heads off?

K:  I do rip heads off.

R:  Yeah, that’s what I was about to say.  There’s a lot of fist fights, a lot of brother issues.  Eventually, at the end of the day, we’re all trying to make money.  So we’re like, “Whatever, I can stick it out with this asshole.”  That’s how we see it.  We’re kinda like the Bee-Gees, you know.

K:  Yo, my girl said the same thing!  She just trying to make some money so she’s gonna stick it out with this asshole.  Damn, that’s a universal thing with me!

R:  He sucks.  Just talentless, terrible.  But we get through it somehow.

K:  I’m just a leech.

B:  I read somewhere that Nas’ second album was one of the most influential albums for you guys…

R:  Yeah, It Was Written.

B:  That was one of my favorite hip-hop albums of all-time.  I mean The Message, Affirmative Action, all those tracks…

K:  Yes, thank you!

R:  Exactly, you know what I mean, Take It In Blood!  A lot people skip over Take It In Blood.

K:  This is what I tell about people, Illmatic was like for pure New York dudes, but outside of New York, It Was Written was written for everybody else.  I mean we liked Illmatic, but It Was Written was for everybody else.

R:  And I actually went back to Illmatic as a classic, but It Was Written really did it for me.  I think he sort of came into himself as song writer and everything.

B:  You guys actually had a chance to tour with Nas, what was that all about?

R:  Actually, we only did one show with Nas.  I didn’t do a tour with him, we did a show, and it was dope, crazy, fresh.

K:  We’re gonna do Rock The Bells with him.

B:  What are some of your other top five albums?  Well, they don’t have to be top five,  but maybe some of your sleepers out there, or…

K:  The Fugees’ The Score!  It’s one of the best hip-hop albums of all-time.  They took the genre to another level.

B:  Ready or not…

R:  Here I come!

K:  It just made our genre more credible, honestly.  It took it from these muthafuckas in the closet rapping to, honestly, I grew up in the jazz world and people outside of hip-hop look down on hip-hop.  ‘Cleaf, Lauren, and Praz made it credible.  And ‘Pac, Fugees and ‘Pac, credible to the genre.  And then you have The Roots coming out later.

B:  So where do The Knux fit into the equation?

R:  I don’t know…

K:  Krispy has to take the sunglasses off for this one!  Let me tell you something. We’re the greatest fuckin genreless group ever.  There has never been anyone that can play guitar and rap like my bro does.  We are multi-instrumentalists.  You’re gonna see this on stage, it’s crazy.  I’m sorry you guys can’t witness this firsthand, but if you want to witness this, check us out on the countless, endless tours that we do year ‘round.  Nobody tours like us.  Nobody performs like us live.  Nobody can rap like us.  Nobody can produce like us, nobody can sing like us, nobody can do none of this stuff like us.  We are totally the jacks of everything.

R:  Exactly, so basically what keeps us there is the four elements…

K:  And the DJ-ing!!

R:  Timeless, ageless, colorless, and genreless.

K:  Everybody, your grandmother, can listen to The Knux.  The clean version though, not the dirty version.  And take Hush out.  Boom.

R:  Boom, done.

B:  Well, my grandmother could not be here tonight, but we will definitely be in the audience…

R:  Yo, come check us out, it’ll be crazy.  We’re gonna bring some girls on stage, ya’ll come, we’ll get you on stage, you know, whatever.

B:  Thank you so much for taking the time, I know you guys are in a hurry.  We appreciate it.

R:  Yeah, no doubt!  Appreciate you for listening to the album.

K:  Yeah, you got great energy, dog.

B:  Thank you, thank you.

Have a listen as we discuss the vibe of their band, brushes with the great Toots of Toots and the Maytals, and their green stance.  We wish both Matthew and Giant Panda the best in the future, so be sure to check them both out when they hit your area!  So from the vaults, the Tracks bring to you… Matthew O’Brian, former vocals and guitars for Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad (giantpandadub.com).

Matt:  Very well.  Nice to see ya, Monty!

MTT:  Awesome, great set today.

M:  Thanks.

MTT:  How is the Rothbury experience compared to your other festival experiences?

M:  We’ve gotten to experience it since Thursday night, we had a whole day and a half of anticipation for our own set.  Everything has been super-exceptional, super-clean, and the vibe is real strong.  The experience with the set was great.  We played first so we got an excellent soundcheck full.  We were ready to go, all dialed in before we hit the stage.  That’s better than most festivals where you’re rushed to get on.

MTT:  Your music draws from the roots, dub, but you guys also mix in improvisation.  How important is it for the band to take the listeners on a musical journey?

M:  It fulfills our own musical desires and our own creative desires to be able to take those risks in the live setting and really feel like we are pushing our selves and challenging ourselves.  For very many people, it’s apparently one of their favorite things they get to experience at the Giant Panda shows as well, the improvisation.  It’s been openly confirmed recently that we really want to bring that to every show.  We really want to have that experience of not knowing what’s going to happen next, no plan.

MTT:  So, you feel that your live show is really the bread and butter of your music?  Or do you feel it’s your recordings?

M:  We tour and do 180 shows a year.  Our live shows are our bread and butter.  The history of reggae is a studio history.  A lot of the sweet reggae we have heard over the years is all produced in the studio and rarer live.  We’ve sought to bring true roots-sound and that real vibration to the live scene as much as we can, that’s our contribution.

MTT:  Speaking of which, you’ve shared the stage with some legends.  How have they really influenced your sound?  Do you have any stories with the classics?

M:  Their sound influenced us for our whole upbringing.  Lee Scratch Perry was influencing our sound before we knew what recordings he had influenced so much.  You listen to the old Bob Marley and that was all black art, that was the finest Lee Perry productions.  Toots sets a wonderful example because Toots’ music is some of the most uplifting and positive of that roots era.  His voice is so rich, but he also is so positive and so giving of his own energy to his audiences.  He’s very, very musically disciplined and his band is one of the sharpest.  He really lives up to his reputation.

MTT:  Do you have any stories with him?

M:  We lived down on State Street in Rochester, NY and he was staying at the Crowne Plaza, directly across the street from our apartment.  We played with Toots at one of the biggest shows we’d ever done at the time, in Rochester, at a big outdoors jazz-fest thing.  Toots headlined and at the end of the festival blew it out in the street, and we got to open for him and then we were heading to Bonnaroo that night, the minute we were done with the set.  We were running late, running around, and we found ourselves back at our house getting our last things together as Toots was pulling into his hotel.  Dylan, our guitar player who’s met Toots before, ran over and said “Hey man, nice to play with you.  It was a great honor.”  And he turned to us with both of his hands in the air and just like (pumping both hand in the air), all the way as we were driving away he was pounding two hands in the air!  He gave us the best energy we could get to hit the road with.  We were just proud to be there with him, let alone the fact that he acknowledged us like that.

MTT:  Speaking about legends, we’re doing a show on Michael Jackson.  How has Michael Jackson influenced you personally or musically?

M:  Michael, to me, means quality, top quality from the time the public was aware of him.  He was five years old and making untouchable high quality music and it never wasn’t untouchable, high quality.  I have nothing but the utmost respect for Michael’s music.  I think that with somebody like Michael Jackson, the influence is so thick, so ingrained in everything, it gets taken for granted as a part of reality.  It’s a culture of his own.

MTT:  It was definitely a shock.  It felt like a part of our childhood was taken away, well not just childhood but our whole life.

M:  It is, its part of everybody.  He’d been there 45 years of his 50 years!

MTT:  The band (GPGDS) takes a very green stance.  Are you guys are participating in the (Rothbury) think-tank?

M:  We are participating in the think-tank.  They asked us to do that, I guess they picked up on the green stance.  We’re not too preachy about it or anything but we, in our own lives and travels, have made choices and changes.  The Sprinter runs on diesel and we’ve converted it to run on waste veggie oil.  It’s been a process getting to know the whole scene but we put a lot of thought and a lot of money into getting it real right.  This is the first summer, so we’re just getting it under way.

B:  How do you get the oil for it?  Do you go to restaurants and try to get what they let go of?

M:  More and more you can buy filtered waste veggie oil.  You can get waste veggie oil from places that preferably don’t use any fat.  Some places just fry tortilla chips or just fry potato chips.  You want as much of the clean stuff as you can get in the first place because then you have to filter it, let it settle out through all these filters, and then you put it in your van.  It goes through a little bit of a filter putting it in, but you put it in and then you burn it like diesel fuel.

MTT:  HOW MANY MILES TO THE GALLON DO YOU GET?

M:  I can’t say a specific number but to give you an example, Rochester, NY to Burlington, VT, one forty gallon tank of waste veggie oil.  That’s like a 8 hour drive sometimes.

MTT:  Where do you see the evolution of your band, where do you see your future?

M:  We see ourselves asserting our right to, you say we take a “green stance”, we take an “everything stance”.  We feel a responsibility to bring the highest that we can bring.  We feel the responsibility to give the audience, and give people that take the time to enjoy and experience music, the best of what we can give them.  We treat our lives that way and we try to keep ourselves in good shape, we make good choices with our bodies and with our lives, in our actions and with the way that we speak to people.  I hope that our band can keep reflecting that and keep getting more gigs like at Rothbury to reflect that and stay true to our roots.  We always want to be able to be who we are and maintain creative integrity and to talk to more people like you.

MTT:  Thanks very much for being with us.  We appreciate it.

M:  Yeah, thanks Monty!

 Chris Culos (O.A.R.) Interview on Moe Train’s Tracks

Moe: We’re back stage here with Chris of O.A.R. How’s it going man?

Chris: It’s going good man. We just got here, I’m really excited. We’ve got some gorgeous weather out here.

Moe: Oh, it’s beautiful out.

Chris: Yeah.

Moe: It’s the first day of your new tour, is today the first day?

Chris: We just started our new tour today. So excited about it… A big summer.

M: Supporting the new album that comes out next month.

C: It comes out July 15th, yes, and actually our single is called Shattered. And we’re actually getting some radio play already, which is exciting. It officially goes to radio tomorrow and fans can get it online. They can get it starting June 16th on iTunes and stuff like that, exciting.

M: How’s this album compare to your others?

C: It’s a little bit of everything. I think by calling it all-sides, it really is capturing the all encompassing thing of O.A.R. It’s got the rock, the lighter stuff, it’s got the reggae, it’s got a little bit of everything. I think the song writing is really strong. I’m really proud of all the guys in the band, our song writers… You can really see their growth. But also the musicianship side of stuff, we feel really comfortable in the studio. That was always the thing. I think our audience really gravitated to our live stuff, and they liked the studio stuff, but they didn’t think it compared to that energy. It’s was only natural. We’ve played a couple of hundred shows a year but only made a handful of CDs. It’s still a lot of time in the studio, but for us we’re still learning.

M: Is that why you guys have encouraged the taping of your live shows?

C: Absolutely. But not just that reason alone. We’re proud all our stuff that we do in studio but as far as our live shows, that’s our bread and butter. That really is what we do best, and where we feel the most comfortable. I think by encouraging taping of the shows it creates more of a community interaction, you know for people who wanna come out and see us multiple times. It keeps us on our toes to create new set lists, and change the arrangements, and jam-out, and have fun. It’s also fun for the audience because it gives them something to talk about. It’s not the same show every night, not the same version of the same song every night. It’s a lot of great things.

M: Talking about live shows, how’d it feel standing on the stage at Madison Square Garden, at a sold-out arena, at one of the most important influential venues in the whole world?

C: Yeah, it was pretty much the highlight of our career. I can’t lie. It’s just weird because when we started this band, god, we started it 12 years ago in my basement, you could never imagine, you could never think of playing Madison Square Garden. I mean, all the things you could dream about, that’s just ridiculous to think that. So, to be standing on stage, it was so surreal. To be honest, it’s the only time I’ve ever been nervous playing.

M: Really?

C: Yeah, we’re really comfortable with what we do. Every night we go on stage, we get really excited about before we go on, and walk on, and that’s just what we do best, we’re comfortable. Going on in Madison Square Garden man, it was a whole other thing. It was a whole other ballgame man, I can’t lie.

M: I saw that. You could see the vibe in the place, it was just awesome.

C: Yeah. But, as soon as we started, yeah, we felt comfortable again. But it was the only time I’ve been nervous.

M: So what was the most memorable part of that performance? Anything stand out in your mind?

C: You know… It flew by. Most of the shows, some nights take a little longer than others, but that night flew by. I remember it being a little more lit up inside, just because we were filming it for DVD. You could see people. We can always usually see the front row, a couple rows back, but now look at and actually get a gauge of just how many people were there, and it was freaky. No, it was cool, ‘cause you could look out, we had a lot of our family there. I could look out and see my parents, my grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and cousins, and friends, and all these people who traveled from all over the country to watch us in New York. That was the coolest part.

M: Yeah, it had to be amazing for sure. So, with the new album, I know that you’re with a major label now; you were with an independent label before. Are we go to be seeing the independent O.A.R.? Or are we going to see a new incarnation?

C: We’re always independent O.A.R., man! No, see, here’s our deal. We started as a basement band, you know, when we were in high school. We went to college to really try to make it. We went to the biggest school in the country at the time, Ohio State University, and we went for four years. Not everybody graduated, but a couple of us did.

M: You did right?

C: Yeah, I did. Woo-hoo!

M: Ha, there ya go.

C: Then we started the band and we’ve been touring full time for eight years. So we’ve been a band for 12 years and everything been a real slow growth, but it’s been growing upwards steadily since the beginning. It’s given us time to learn and make the best decisions and really pay attention to what’s going on around us. And I think we really us that to our advantage, because if something happened over night, I don’t know if we’d know exactly how to deal with it correctly, and not to say that most people don’t, but who knows. For us, we’re really happy that we got to surround ourselves with great people. Our manager Dave Roberge, our singer Mark’s older brother, he started an indy label for us when we were in college. It was really just something on paper so that we could get a distribution deal, so we could get our CDs in stores like Best Buy and stuff. It wasn’t even a real label. But he grew it into an actual full functioning label with a full staff, moved to New York City, opened up office space, pretty amazing. And from what this label, Everfine Records, was able to do, it raised us up enough profile to actually get major label attention. And we had sold enough CDs on our own that when we went in to talk to a major label; we did have a little bit of leverage. Not to say that it was all in our favor, but to be honest it was a business decision to go with a major label. We just wanted to get our music out to more people. And so when we signed with, it was Lava Records, which was under Atlantic Records, which has since folded, now we’re moved over to Atlantic Records, but it’s all the same thing. We did sort of a joint-deal Everfine Records and Atlantic, so that Everfine would always be a part of us. It’s synonymous with us, it was created by our manager for us, by us. Everything about it, the mentality, will stay there. And they’ll continue to oversee most of our live releases while the major label will put out our studio releases. Sorry for the long answer.

M: No, it’s cool. Because I know that the fans are always concerned when a band makes that leap. They’re not sure if they’re getting the same band that they grew up and loved, or something that’s manufactured.

C: Of course. I mean, we’ve seen it with our favorite bands too. If anything, it’s a stepping stone for us to be able to continue what we always done in the past. If we have to put out something that’s more geared towards pop-radio, somewhere where you see us on film or television soundtracks or stuff, it’s not to say we’re playing the game and selling out, it’s to say that we wanna do that stuff to be able to continue to do the rest of the O.A.R. stuff that we love.

M: Do you consider yourself frat-rock?

C: You know, the term kinda bothers me. I don’t exactly what it is. It gives you, it’s not that it bothers me…

M: Is frat-rock a stigma?

C: It’s just used in a negative connotation. It’s not like anyone says, ‘God, these are my favorite frat-rockers!’

M: (Laughs)

C: It’s always somebody writing an article about us who pawn it off as frat-rock, as if that’s a bad thing. I’m really proud of the fact that we are able to attract fans from diverse things, whether it’s a frat, whether it’s a sorority, whether it’s just regular college kids, whether it’s high school kids, you know, older adult, any walk of life I think it sort of reaches out. I guess it is a bit of a stigma. I don’t know, I mean at first it was jam-band, and that’s really cool because some of our favorite bands are jam-bands, but we don’t consider ourselves a jam-band at all. We just don’t do that. So, to get labeled a jam-band is just I think a little misleading. So, the frat-rock thing, I don’t know, it’s just used in a negative connotation. I don’t have a problem with it if someone was using it in a praising way. Whatever.

M: Does it bother you that your band’s music makes the beds rock in collegiate America all across the US?

C: Hell no, dude, that’s the point, c’mon.

M: We’ve got a lot of comments about that, ‘Dude, you’re interviewing those guys! We’ve had sex to that music all the time!’

C: Sweet!

M: Oh, congrats on being one of the top 100 most influential indie bands.

C: Oh, thanks, performing/song writer, what an honor, we are really excited.

M: There are a lot of big names on that list.

C: Honestly, I can’t put it into words, I was a little bit speechless. We’ve never really won any honors; we’ve never really won any awards. I think, in the past, people who know about O.A.R. know about O.A.R., and everyone else outside this world has sort of ignored us. It’s given us, I don’t want to say a chip on the shoulder, but it’s made us feel like we’re a little bit of the underdog, wanting to always prove ourselves. It doesn’t bother us but it makes us want to work that much harder. So to get some recognition like this, it’s really satisfying.

M: Another congratulations in order, you just got married.

C: Thank you, I’m actually about to get married.

M: Oh, I’m sorry, you’re about to get married.

C: In three weeks, it’s the countdown.

M: So what’s your thoughts?

C: Man, I’m really excited. I’m most excited to be sitting on the beach on the honeymoon.

M: Where ya going?

C: We’re going to Hawaii. And neither of us have ever been. Have you been?

M: Not yet, but this year. I think we’re going to a wedding. Apparently it’s supposed to be amazing.

C: Yeah, I can’t wait.

M: You still gonna be the same guy or what?

C: I’m gonna be the same guy, yeah.

M: What’s your most revolutionary moment of O.A.R.?

C: You know, again, I would have to say Madison Square Garden. It was pretty amazing. When we were in college, we played at a place called the Newport Music Hall. It was when we got to college and we said, ‘God, one day we’re really gonna tour, we’re really gonna do this for a career.’ And the biggest venue on campus was called the Newport Music Hall and we said, ‘One day we’re gonna play there.’ And we ended up playing there many times throughout college, and we sold it out almost every time. It was really satisfying the first time we saw our name on the marquee.

M: You guys always seem to show up with Dave Matthews. And I guess your ending the tour with them…

C: They’ve treated us well throughout the years. Honestly, we haven’t had a chance to work with that many large bands. We feel like we’ve always sort of gone out and toured on our own. They’ve been good to us, a lot of opportunities.

M: Pick up any pointers from Dave?

C: Yeah. That’s the best part of it. When I was a kid, they were probably my favorite band. I would watch them in concert all the time. So to be able to be backstage and watch a show is amazing, but really the coolest thing is to be able to be backstage and watch how they operate as a business. Most people don’t think of those things, but to see how they operate with the personnel that they hire, their road crew, the way that they handle the trucking and setting up of the equipment, and what kind of gear they use, and all that stuff. For us, that’s really the best part, I mean, we can sit there and learn from the best, you know. That’s the business model we would strive to be, if there was one.

M: Absolutely.

C: It’s an empire they’ve created.

M: Yeah, absolutely. So tomorrow, I guess you guys have your first live interactive on-line show, or concert, what’s going on with that?

C: Yeah, so it’s called Deep Rock Drive and we’re actually filming it at a studio in Vegas. There actually will be somewhat of a studio audience in there. It’s a really cool thing that we have never done before where we post a bunch of songs and people can vote on what songs, and the set list and what order they want it to be in, and people can type real-time questions into us. It’s a completely interactive show. Totally new, I’m really excited. I know they’ve done a couple shows but other artists, but it totally new for us and it’s relatively new technology that they can do all this stuff. I’m just really looking forward to it.

M: Cool. So at the end of your career, what do you hope to have accomplished?

C: Oh man, I don’t think that way. That’s a good question. Honestly, we feel like we’re just starting. If that’s another answer, I don’t even know. We just wanna be the biggest band we can be.

M: So what’s that mean?

C: I wouldn’t say awards or anything like that. I think that when I was a kid I would have loved to be on Saturday Night Live. I would love to be nominated for a Grammy, I don’t wanna win a Grammy, just maybe just one time be nominated for a Grammy. What about cover of Rolling Stone, that’s a classic you gotta go with as a band.

M: So you have your checklist.

C: Checklist, yeah. You know, seeing that platinum record up on the wall, which we feel very fortunate that we’ve gotten a couple of gold records. If you’re asking, I guess that kinda stuff, but I don’t really know. We just want to fucking play.

M: I got it, man. Thanks a lot for being with us, we appreciate it.

C: No problem, man.

Before attending the Rothbury Music Festival, General Motors sent the Moe Train's Tracks crew a pair of complimentary tickets to give out on the show.  We took the show out to the bar, and one of our lucky listeners (named Renee Legal) came away with the grand prize!

Have a listen to the ridiculousness on this classic episode of Moe Train's Tracks!

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Kyle Gass Interview

K:  I am saving General Motors from their ultimate collapse.

M:  How close are they?

K:  Obviously, General Motors, they’ve had a bad couple of decades.  Why?  The cars haven’t been up to snuff.  They’re ugly and they don’t get good gas mileage.  So I called them and I said, ‘Dudes, what the hell are you guys up to?  Has anyone been to Japan?  Let’s see what they’re doing over there.  They are making a superior product.’  They said, “What?!  Tell us more!”  So I said, ‘Alright, listen to me.  If you send me around the world to various rock festivals and I interview bands, I’m pretty sure I can save the company.’  They said, “Whatever.  Whatever you need, whatever you want.”  I said, ‘I need an eight-ball and some Thai hookers.’

M:  (laughs) How many eight-balls have you gone through today?

K:  Well, I usually only go through one per festival.  I try to keep it real, because I’m working.

M:  Tough lifestyle, huh, living the festival life.

K:  It is.  Working the festivals, saving a multi-national corporation, that’s how I be.  That’s how I roll.

M:  Are they gonna make a car in your honor or what?

K:  They are.  They’re coming out with the Cage Mobile.  Interesting enough, it only has three wheels.  It’s not safe.  It’s just meant to drive around your neighborhood.  It’s like a golf cart.  But it’s pimped out, yo!  It’s f’in pimped out.

M:  It’s got 22’s?

K:  Oh yeah, the rims, it’s all about the spinners.  I gots to have Spreewells on all my golf carts.

M:  That’s right.  Iced out.

K:  (laughs)  Totally.

M:  So I guess you’re seeing a little different side of the music biz, doing the journalism thing.

K:  I have.  I’ve always hated interviews.  Not this one!  You guys are cool.  But being on the other end of it, I don’t really care about anyone else but you know when you do an interview you have to pretend.  It’s like, ‘Uh, so, when’s your next album?  What are you…”  No, actually it’s been cool.  Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of jamming with the bands.

M:  With who?

K:  Yesterday we did Perpetual Groove and the Disco Biscuits.

M:  How was that?

K:  Do you like the Biscuits?

M:  Oh yeah.  Did you see their set?

K:  No I didn’t see it.

M:  I was solid.

K:  They actually invited me out.  I should’ve gone.  But they were going on at like 11:30.

M:  What, that’s past your bedtime now?

K:  Ha, yeah, it was past my bedtime.  But that would have been fun.  What was their set like, was it good?

M:  Aw yeah, it was great.  The light show, the whole scene, was awesome.  They were actually having a glow stick war.  Everyone was throwing tons of glow sticks, hitting everybody in the head.  It was raining down.

K:  Nice!

M:  It was definitely a very trippy experience, which was cool, half the people were tripping anyway.

K:  Yeah, it seems like that kind of festival.

M:  So you’re going around to the different festivals.  You’re hitting Lollapalooza in a couple weeks?

K:  We’re doing Lollapalooza.  We did Rock On The Range earlier.  We did Pinkpop in the Netherlands and I just got back from Germany last week.

M:  And you’re opening for Metallica?!

K:  Yes.

M;  Who’s the better shredder, you or Hetfield?

K:  Oh, I’ll take Hetfield down any day.

M:  Oh yeah?!

K:  Oh yeah.

M:  We gonna see proof of this or what?

K:  I could burn up both my arms and be better than Hetfield.  No, those guys are good.  They’re gonna have a tough time following us.  We’re gonna blaze up the stage.  And it’s gonna be an inferno.

B:  If they come with the pyrotechnics, you’re gonna have to bust something out that’s…

K:  They’re gonna need ‘um.  We might steal them.  We’re actually planning on maybe doing their whole set before…(all laugh) We going to definitely do Sandman, just to steal their thunder.

M:  Ha, they’re going to walk on stage all pissed off..

K:  (singing) Say your prayers, little one.  Don’t forget, my son, to include everyone!!  Brah Brah Bruh, Arruh! The all you gotta do to be Hetfield, just end everything in a Arruh!

M:  They just played Bonnaroo, we saw them there.

K:  Oh, did you see them there?

M:  It was great.  They’re tight as ever.

K:  Well, Lars is dropping the beat sometimes.  Let’s be honest.  He’s not always on it, he’s dragging.  Sometimes he speeds it up, it’s like, ‘Lars, come on.  What, you got some triggers on there?  What do ya got?’

M:  You’ve got the Grohl hook-up.  How’d that happen?

K:  Dave, we were playing the Viper room, a friend of his was working there and he kept saying, “you gotta check these guys out, you gotta check these guys out.”  And then he finally came.  Our minds were blown, ‘cause we were huge Nirvana fans…

M:  Nirvana, yeah, absolutely.

K:  Who wasn’t, right?  And I went (in a woman’s voice) “Dave Grohl’s here!! This is insane!”  And the worst part is that he came on stage before we went on.  He said, “Hey guys, how ya doing?”  And we were like, (stupefied)‘Uhhhhhh…’  But he was a very cool guy, very nice.  And then they asked us to be in their video.  I was like, ‘Oh, it’s on.  Okay.  Alright, we’ll do that.’  And then, somehow, we just asked him to play drums on our album.  And he did.

M:  How did he compliment your sound?

K:  He dominated.

M:  Domination is what it’s all about.

K:  It was kind of funny because we only had him for like a day.  We were like, ‘Alright!  You wanna play this one?  You wanna play this one!?”  He thought he was going to come in and play like three songs and he ended up the whole album.  (laughs)  But it happen so fast.  And the tempo of the songs were all completely different, but we didn’t care.  We were like, ‘Who cares?!  Dave Grohl’s  playing drums on our songs!’  And I remember just that feeling when we did the basic tracks, it was just me and Jack because we always work with just two guitars, and then Grohl in our headphones and it was just the most amazing feeling.  Just having like your shitty little songs and then all of a sudden Grohl’s bringin the thunder!  Making it sound like monsters of rock.

M:  It was one of those dream accompaniments?

K:  Oh yeah.  It was pretty dreamy.  I still can’t quite believe he’s on there.

M:  If you think about it, who else?  Now you have all these connections, you’re out there talking to everybody.

K:  It’s been a magic carpet thrill ride, the whole thing.  I can’t believe where I end up sometimes.  One time we did Neil Young’s bridge school benefit, you know those things he does, and he’ll have a party at his place, which is just sick.  He’s got this crazy like log-cabin-mansion out in the middle of Santa Cruz.  It’s crazy, he’s got his own lake, and it’s just off-the-chain.  I mean the guy’s just got it going.  And we’re partying and there’s like Tom Yorke of Radiohead and I’m a fire-pit with like James Taylor on my left and talking about old cars with Neil Young and I’m like, ‘Who am I right now?!  This is crazy, these are my heroes.’  So yeah, it’s been fun, it’s been a fun ride.

M:  Awesome.  Thanks for being with us.

K:  Yeah, thanks a lot, man.