Episode 1236 - David Hidalgo

Episode 1236 • Released June 17, 2021 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what the fuck tuplets if there are any out there how are you what's happening everybody okay are we good i talked to david hidalgo from los lobos yes

00:00:28Marc:Now, the weird thing about me and Los Lobos is that, you know, like, look, with any band, I know the albums I know.

00:00:35Marc:And then I listen to a few new albums.

00:00:37Marc:But going back into the Los Lobos catalog, I start to realize, holy fuck, this is probably one of the best bands that ever lived.

00:00:45Marc:This band makes most other bands look like fucking novelty acts.

00:00:50Marc:These guys are hardcore pros.

00:00:53Marc:paying their dues on the wedding circuit and dance club, sort of a Latino dance club circuit, Mexican music, Mexican folk music, Mexican dance music, doing the weddings.

00:01:06Marc:That was like their Hamburg for the Beatles.

00:01:08Marc:was playing these events.

00:01:11Marc:And man, there is no band that's tighter and looser simultaneously than Los Lobos.

00:01:16Marc:No band understands each other in such a fluid and connected way, can create so much space, such a beautiful goddamn sound.

00:01:28Marc:of true American music.

00:01:30Marc:I guess people compare them to the band because the band was one of the first kind of consciously in a way, or I guess it was kind of hung on them, this idea of American music, Americana music, of an indigenous music to America that kind of was rooted in Appalachian music country, some jazz and some funk.

00:01:51Marc:But, you know, those guys were Canadian, not to judge.

00:01:54Marc:And the one thing they were lacking was the Latino Foundation, the Mexican roots.

00:02:01Marc:And that's where the true American music of Los Lobos comes.

00:02:06Marc:And you can hear them.

00:02:07Marc:You know them immediately.

00:02:09Marc:It's astounding to me that people don't really dig in to the entire Los Lobos community.

00:02:14Marc:But this new album called Native Sons comes out next month, but I got to listen to it.

00:02:20Marc:It's all kind of L.A.

00:02:22Marc:related or based covers of music that influenced them when they were coming up.

00:02:27Marc:And I talked to David about it because I was pretty fucking excited about it.

00:02:31Marc:And you'll hear that momentarily.

00:02:34Marc:We also we also have a new segment on the show that we're starting today.

00:02:37Marc:It's called Get to Know Tom with Tom Sharpling.

00:02:41Marc:You'll hear that shortly as well.

00:02:43Marc:I would also like to throw a little love to the Sparks Brothers documentary.

00:02:48Marc:It opens in theaters tomorrow, Friday, June 18th.

00:02:52Marc:Edgar Wright.

00:02:53Marc:Put this together.

00:02:54Marc:It's his film.

00:02:55Marc:The Sparks Brothers.

00:02:56Marc:I don't know if you know Sparks, the band.

00:02:58Marc:I've tried to lock into Sparks, the band.

00:03:00Marc:I can't say that I have yet.

00:03:02Marc:I did enjoy the documentary.

00:03:03Marc:I learned a lot.

00:03:04Marc:It was impressive, but I still have not quite locked into that band.

00:03:08Marc:And they've done like a thousand records and there's many different sounds, but it's seemingly that...

00:03:13Marc:And I respect them, but I don't listen to them.

00:03:16Marc:I don't know that this is necessary for the plug because the movie stands on its own.

00:03:20Marc:And it's not a paid plug.

00:03:22Marc:It's, you know, Edgar asked me to watch it.

00:03:24Marc:I watched it.

00:03:25Marc:I was like, holy shit.

00:03:26Marc:I didn't know any of this.

00:03:27Marc:I have a few other records.

00:03:28Marc:I'll listen to them again.

00:03:29Marc:I now have a new respect for them.

00:03:31Marc:But that was the last time I listened to them.

00:03:32Marc:Not that you're going to listen to Sparks every day.

00:03:34Marc:Enough.

00:03:35Marc:Enough.

00:03:36Marc:Okay?

00:03:37Marc:Enough.

00:03:54Marc:You know, sometimes we haven't done this in a long time, but, you know, we used to do short interview segments with people who, you know, friends of the show or whatnot.

00:04:04Marc:But this is something different.

00:04:05Marc:This is a new segment on the show for a limited time only.

00:04:10Marc:It's a, what do they call them?

00:04:11Marc:A limited series of segments called Get to Know Tom.

00:04:16Marc:Some of you know Tom.

00:04:17Marc:Tom Sharpling's a dear friend of mine.

00:04:19Marc:He's been on the show many times.

00:04:21Marc:He appeared at the beginning of one of my HBO specials, Thinky Payne.

00:04:25Marc:We've done several Mark and Tom shows together that you can also listen to.

00:04:30Marc:So to some of you, he's not a stranger.

00:04:31Marc:But the point of this is he's got this book coming out.

00:04:34Marc:What's it called?

00:04:35Marc:It never ends.

00:04:36Marc:Yeah, the book, it's a book about Tom.

00:04:39Marc:It's a memoir called It Never Ends.

00:04:42Marc:And I read it, and it's a difficult position to be put in, I have to be honest with you, Tom.

00:04:48Marc:Well, you never know, man.

00:04:49Marc:Your friend of yours is like, will you do me a favor?

00:04:52Marc:Will you read my book?

00:04:54Guest:And then I'm like, what?

00:04:57Guest:I've been in both sides of that now.

00:04:59Guest:For the first time in my life, I'm on the other side of that.

00:05:01Marc:Where I'm like, what does he want?

00:05:03Marc:Do I have to... I can just blurb it without reading it.

00:05:07Marc:Is it a blurb?

00:05:08Marc:Or does he want notes?

00:05:10Marc:What am I supposed to do?

00:05:12Marc:But I read it, and I've done that twice.

00:05:14Marc:It's only happened to me a couple times, actually.

00:05:16Marc:And I think maybe people have sent me books before and I haven't read them, but...

00:05:20Marc:I read the whole book, and I don't know you that long, or it turns out not that well even.

00:05:27Marc:I didn't know any of that stuff, but why would I?

00:05:29Marc:It's not like when we talk, we're professional broadcasters.

00:05:32Marc:Yeah.

00:05:32Marc:Generally, we're friends.

00:05:33Marc:We eat dinner and stuff, but I'm not going to be like, you know, Jesus, what happened?

00:05:36Marc:Yeah, you don't just go like, so tell us 10 years old.

00:05:40Marc:What was that all about?

00:05:41Marc:What happened to you?

00:05:44Marc:Why are you like you are?

00:05:45Marc:You know what?

00:05:46Marc:But...

00:05:47Marc:The point is, I guess there's many points, but it's a great book.

00:05:50Marc:And I think we should just sort of... Just so people know, what do you do?

00:05:57Marc:I mean, I know you host the best show.

00:05:59Marc:Yeah.

00:06:00Guest:I host a show, The Best Show, which I've been doing that for, man, 20 years.

00:06:06Guest:20 years.

00:06:07Guest:20 years doing this.

00:06:08Guest:And it started on terrestrial radio.

00:06:10Guest:It started on station WFMU.

00:06:12Guest:Right.

00:06:13Guest:And that was...

00:06:15Guest:Standard old fashioned radio.

00:06:17Guest:Right.

00:06:17Guest:And then.

00:06:18Marc:But like in the book, you talk about how you were very excited to get the job.

00:06:26Guest:Oh, my God.

00:06:27Guest:I couldn't believe it.

00:06:27Guest:It was like you just grow up.

00:06:29Guest:Radio was my thing.

00:06:31Guest:It was like idolizing.

00:06:33Guest:And fetishizing just disc jockeys.

00:06:36Guest:Yeah.

00:06:36Guest:Especially when you get into like personalities.

00:06:37Guest:Because you're like New Jersey guy.

00:06:39Guest:Yeah.

00:06:39Guest:So I would hear all the New York, all the New York stations.

00:06:42Marc:The early talk guys.

00:06:43Guest:Early talk guys.

00:06:45Guest:Yeah.

00:06:45Guest:Bob Grant.

00:06:47Guest:No, I don't know that guy.

00:06:47Guest:He was...

00:06:49Guest:that's a right-wing piece of garbage on wabc but he was he's one of those guys where just like you're really funny yeah and great at this but you're evil yeah like you're using it for evil purposes like so many uh of them so many turns out yeah some of them some of the there used to be a guy

00:07:09Marc:I had to do an evening show here that was preempted frequently by Clippers games.

00:07:14Marc:It was a live show, 10 at night, because it was some sort of placeholder after Air America fired me.

00:07:19Marc:They put me on the air.

00:07:21Marc:I can't remember the name of the fucking channel.

00:07:24Marc:But it was a night show.

00:07:25Marc:Brendan came out here to produce it for a while.

00:07:29Marc:But literally, if it was women's basketball season, they had a pre-existing contract with that to go live.

00:07:35Marc:So we'd have to wait until the game was over to start our live show.

00:07:39Marc:And we're in overtime.

00:07:40Marc:Ziegler was the guy's name.

00:07:41Marc:Exactly.

00:07:42Marc:There was a right-wing guy named Ziegler.

00:07:44Marc:Okay.

00:07:45Marc:And he was sort of on the same floor, different channel, but like two studios down.

00:07:50Marc:And the worst, most malignant fucking right-wing douchebag.

00:07:55Marc:But he was good at being a broadcaster.

00:07:58Marc:Absolutely.

00:07:58Marc:They are exclusive.

00:08:00Marc:Yeah.

00:08:01Marc:Right.

00:08:01Marc:So I remember this one time we're at the urinals, and I'm like, you're good on the mic, man.

00:08:06Marc:He's like...

00:08:06Marc:Really?

00:08:08Marc:I mean, I didn't think you would think.

00:08:09Marc:I'm like, dude, I mean, you're like, yeah, all right, just take it.

00:08:13Guest:You're a horrible human that happens to be good at broadcasting.

00:08:18Marc:But you just knew it was going to be your thing, right?

00:08:20Marc:Because I know you cover this in the book, and it's a great story.

00:08:25Guest:Early on, you never can dream it could even be your thing.

00:08:27Guest:You just love it.

00:08:28Guest:Yeah.

00:08:29Guest:And it seems like it's a million miles away.

00:08:30Guest:Right.

00:08:31Guest:Pre-podcasting?

00:08:33Guest:Yeah.

00:08:34Marc:Did you ever imagine this?

00:08:35Marc:Did you ever think?

00:08:36Marc:Well, I mean, it's different, because you're a unique radio guy.

00:08:40Marc:But let's be honest, just as you were saying, and this is off topic, but Kevin Christie framed it in a way that I never really thought about it.

00:08:50Marc:In light of the podcasting thing,

00:08:54Marc:It's like, who knew so many people wanted to be mediocre radio personnel?

00:08:59Guest:Oh, my God.

00:09:00Guest:It's the craziest thing.

00:09:01Guest:When suddenly, who knew everybody just wanted to shoot the shit?

00:09:07Guest:But it's so terrible.

00:09:09Marc:There's some people that are better at other things, basically doing mediocre midday radio style.

00:09:16Guest:Yeah.

00:09:17Guest:Yeah.

00:09:17Guest:And they're not good at it.

00:09:18Guest:No.

00:09:19Guest:They have lowered themselves.

00:09:21Guest:Right.

00:09:22Guest:I didn't even think they know what that was.

00:09:25Guest:They've gotten it through.

00:09:26Guest:It's like three steps down.

00:09:30Guest:They didn't listen to that and say, I want to be that.

00:09:33Guest:They want to be the person who was influenced by the person who was influenced by that.

00:09:36Marc:And as a comic, going into these places, you always know you're up against these guys, these regional guys.

00:09:42Marc:And you go in, and there's always a sidekick guy.

00:09:44Marc:He's like, I used to do stand-up.

00:09:45Marc:Yeah.

00:09:45Marc:And you never wanted to be that guy.

00:09:49Marc:That was if all things failed, you hope you could be the chuckle guy, the guy chiming in on some local radio show.

00:09:59Guest:Yeah, it's like in music.

00:10:01Guest:It's like the last refuge of the scoundrel in music is you go become a country artist because they'll apparently accept anyone that pretends.

00:10:11Guest:Yeah.

00:10:12Guest:That's just like, I like country is my favorite thing.

00:10:14Guest:And there's like, we like you then.

00:10:17Guest:But in comedy, it's that.

00:10:20Marc:Yeah.

00:10:20Marc:It was just like, and now I just like, now I cannot.

00:10:23Marc:Get that framing out of my head.

00:10:25Marc:That like, you know, everyone now is just like, for some reason, they've just forgotten that radio was the end of the line.

00:10:33Marc:Yeah.

00:10:34Guest:Not some practical way to try to get traction.

00:10:38Guest:No.

00:10:38Guest:You...

00:10:39Guest:Like Howard Stern used to say it was the lowest rung on the showbiz ladder.

00:10:43Guest:For sure it is.

00:10:44Guest:And he was 100% right about that.

00:10:46Guest:With the largest egos.

00:10:48Marc:Yeah.

00:10:49Marc:We used to go in, you'd do these morning shows, and you're having a cockfight with Joe Nobody, who's got the drive time in the entire Columbus area.

00:10:59Marc:It's like, this fucking guy?

00:11:01Marc:And they're causing you trouble?

00:11:02Marc:They're like, we're going to fuck with the comic.

00:11:04Marc:I'm like, I'm just going to sell a ticket, dude.

00:11:06Marc:Yeah.

00:11:06Guest:But these guys are just meanwhile terrified that somebody's going to just walk in and go like, yeah, we're just changing the whole thing.

00:11:13Guest:Now we now we're playing.

00:11:15Guest:It's a Latin station now.

00:11:17Guest:Everybody out like that's hanging over their head every day.

00:11:21Marc:When Clear Channel was that, that's not I guess that's not happening.

00:11:24Marc:It's like that Cleveland story.

00:11:26Marc:We must have talked about that when I go to.

00:11:28Marc:Do morning radio.

00:11:29Marc:I get off the elevator and there's just some sort of commotion.

00:11:32Marc:Some guy runs by.

00:11:33Marc:He's not wearing a shirt and he looks exasperated.

00:11:36Marc:I'm like, what's happening?

00:11:37Marc:And they're like, hey, man, just be cool.

00:11:38Marc:Something went wrong with the puke cannon and we're going to have to move you into another studio.

00:11:43Marc:I'm like, what the fuck is happening?

00:11:46Guest:I'm not sure if you should be happy or sad something was wrong.

00:11:50Marc:But that was just like the end of it.

00:11:51Marc:Yeah.

00:11:52Marc:I forget the guy's name.

00:11:53Marc:It was terrible.

00:11:54Marc:And it's like, yeah, man, we had some guy drink milk and then we altered a leaf blower.

00:12:00Marc:And I'm like, what are you doing?

00:12:02Marc:Yeah.

00:12:02Marc:It was like, this was like, to me, this was like the end of shock radio.

00:12:06Marc:Like the device that they had gone out of their way to create, to manufacture, to reinvent some, it was ridiculous.

00:12:14Marc:The puke cannon, it just blew up, just puked milk all over their studio for no reason.

00:12:20Marc:Nobody can see it.

00:12:21Guest:Yeah, and no one cares.

00:12:23Marc:Well, there's probably a video element, but it was just so stupid because there's always nine dudes involved, you know, like at those morning shows.

00:12:30Marc:Yeah, yeah, there's like that.

00:12:31Marc:Billy will get it.

00:12:32Marc:You want something to eat?

00:12:33Marc:Billy, get him something to eat.

00:12:34Marc:You know, that guy.

00:12:36Guest:John Worcester, who I do stuff on The Best Show with.

00:12:39Guest:We do comedy stuff, and you know John.

00:12:40Guest:Yeah.

00:12:41Guest:John, growing up in Philly, would listen to classic rock radio, and then-

00:12:45Guest:One week there was a format change where the classic rock station tried to go like punk or like they were going alternative.

00:12:53Guest:Yeah.

00:12:53Guest:And there was this old guy who he would listen to on the station and then he's listening and now there's this guy on same voice, but now he's calling himself Mohawk.

00:13:03Yeah.

00:13:03Guest:And then John called in.

00:13:05Guest:He's like, wait, hey, are you, aren't you the guy who, like, you know, that's not your name.

00:13:10Guest:He's like, yeah, it's not me.

00:13:12Guest:You're making me call myself Mohawk.

00:13:15Guest:He's like, I'm out of here.

00:13:16Guest:This is my last week.

00:13:18Guest:Radio.

00:13:18Guest:Mohawk.

00:13:19Guest:That an adult has to, at some point, say, like,

00:13:22Guest:I guess I'm calling myself Mohawk today.

00:13:25Marc:Yeah, but it is a specific talent and not everyone can do it.

00:13:28Marc:And you're great at it.

00:13:30Marc:And it was something that evolved.

00:13:35Marc:The guys that are good do it like nobody else somehow.

00:13:39Marc:And you've kind of figured out your own niche with the best show, which is hilarious.

00:13:45Marc:Yeah.

00:13:45Marc:But how did that evolve?

00:13:46Marc:It just sort of, you just started, I can't remember, I know it's in the book.

00:13:49Marc:Yeah.

00:13:50Guest:It started off doing a music show.

00:13:53Guest:Yeah, right, right.

00:13:53Guest:Because I was on WFMU, primarily a music station.

00:13:56Guest:New Jersey.

00:13:57Guest:New Jersey.

00:13:58Guest:Yeah.

00:13:58Guest:Jersey City.

00:13:59Guest:Was in East Orange at that point.

00:14:01Guest:Yeah.

00:14:01Guest:But doing a music show, and then slowly the balance was like 99% music, 1% talk, and then it just kept...

00:14:09Guest:going to where i was slowly talking more and more and that was then that just made sense and i was like oh my god this is what i want to be doing not just playing records yeah and you're really good at the music beds and the pausing all that but the appeal was to use the music as a compliment to the talking yeah yeah and that just then it just was like all bets were off i knew what i wanted to do with it but it's interesting because you come out of this you know this other part of your life where you know like um

00:14:36Marc:There's like stuff in the book where I'm like, you know, like, don't you want to like, you know, what's that stuff about like your name?

00:14:42Marc:Like, you know.

00:14:42Guest:Oh, well, you know, I mean, we've got to save something for the.

00:14:46Marc:But no, I mean, all right.

00:14:47Guest:No, I mean, there's stuff about my name and it's in the book.

00:14:52Guest:All right.

00:14:52Guest:Okay.

00:14:53Guest:All right.

00:14:53Guest:You're right.

00:14:54Marc:We should even want more.

00:14:55Guest:Yes.

00:14:56Marc:No, people should.

00:14:57Marc:If you want it.

00:14:58Marc:It's crazy, man.

00:14:59Marc:That whole thing in the book is crazy.

00:15:01Guest:You want it?

00:15:01Marc:No, please.

00:15:02Marc:I mean.

00:15:03Marc:All right.

00:15:04Marc:No, no, no.

00:15:04Guest:Talk about some things, other things.

00:15:05Marc:Do you want to get something to eat?

00:15:08Marc:Yeah.

00:15:08Marc:All right.

00:15:09Marc:All right.

00:15:10Marc:We'll do it.

00:15:11Marc:Let's do it again.

00:15:11Marc:I'll try not to.

00:15:13Marc:We'll do this again.

00:15:14Marc:Sure, sure.

00:15:15Marc:You know, a couple more times.

00:15:16Marc:I want people to.

00:15:17Marc:Ah, the name thing's good, though.

00:15:19Marc:It's all right.

00:15:20Marc:We'll do it again.

00:15:21Marc:We'll do another one.

00:15:22Marc:Okay.

00:15:22Marc:We'll save some of it.

00:15:24Marc:So, look, folks, you can go order Tom's book.

00:15:27Marc:What is it called again?

00:15:28Marc:It Never Ends.

00:15:29Guest:I read it.

00:15:29Guest:A Memoir with Nice Memories is the subtype.

00:15:33Marc:Because now I know what it's referring to.

00:15:36Guest:Yes, you do, and that's also in the book.

00:15:38Marc:All right.

00:15:39Marc:So I'll talk to you.

00:15:40Marc:We'll do it again.

00:15:41Marc:We'll do it again.

00:15:41Marc:It's at tomwroteabook.com, and you can order it to other places too, right?

00:15:45Marc:At book places?

00:15:46Marc:Oh, any bookstore will take your order for this book.

00:15:50Marc:We're going to do this again, and Tom will tell us.

00:15:53Marc:I guess you're just going to be selective about... Yeah, no, we'll talk about it.

00:15:58Marc:All right.

00:16:01Marc:Okay, we will have another talk with Tom, Tom Sharpling, the amazing Tom Sharpling next week so you can get to know him a little better and then get his book.

00:16:11Marc:It never ends so you can get to know him a lot better, like a lot better.

00:16:16Marc:Pre-order it at tomwroteabook.com.

00:16:20Marc:Okay, I'm very excited to have had this conversation.

00:16:23Marc:I have a tremendous amount of respect for the band Los Lobos.

00:16:26Marc:They are still out there working.

00:16:28Marc:I'm looking forward to going to see them.

00:16:30Marc:I believe me and Gimme Gimme Dan are going to go see them at the Pacific Amphitheater with X.

00:16:35Marc:And The Blasters, I think it's like the first day of August, maybe.

00:16:39Marc:The new Los Lobos album is called Native Sons.

00:16:42Marc:It's a collection of songs by Los Angeles-based artists that were influential to the band.

00:16:46Marc:The Beach Boys, War, The Blasters, Jackson Brown, Buffalo Springfield, and more.

00:16:52Marc:It comes out on July 30th.

00:16:53Marc:I think I'm going to see them on the next day.

00:16:56Marc:Yeah.

00:16:57Marc:Yeah.

00:16:58Marc:This is me and David Hildalgo.

00:17:03Music

00:17:09Marc:Well, yeah, I get weird about sound, so I'd like this room to be more than it is, but I got to put these panels up so the shit don't bounce around.

00:17:17Marc:Right.

00:17:18Marc:You know?

00:17:19Marc:I like it dead.

00:17:20Marc:I like that sound to just be dead.

00:17:22Marc:Yeah.

00:17:23Marc:What kind of guitar are you playing these days?

00:17:25Marc:What's your main one?

00:17:26Guest:I used to go back to a Telecaster, you know.

00:17:28Marc:Really?

00:17:28Guest:Telecaster, Strat, and I was playing an SG for a while.

00:17:33Guest:Really?

00:17:33Guest:Yeah, I still... I go back and forth.

00:17:36Marc:Well, the SG, that's a different sound than those Fenders, man.

00:17:40Marc:Right?

00:17:41Marc:It's a little thicker.

00:17:42Guest:Yeah, it is thicker, but it's... I don't know, the neck pickup on an SG is just... It cuts through, you know?

00:17:48Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:17:49Guest:I play Les Pauls, and I try to get...

00:17:51Guest:Yeah.

00:17:51Guest:I love Les Paul's, too.

00:17:52Guest:Yeah.

00:17:53Guest:Right.

00:17:54Guest:But the SG just had to... It was there.

00:17:57Marc:It cut through, huh?

00:17:58Marc:Yeah.

00:17:58Marc:I guess it's because it's just that humbucker sitting on... The body's so thin.

00:18:04Marc:Yeah.

00:18:04Marc:Right?

00:18:05Guest:I think there's the whole makeup of the guitar with the neck way out here.

00:18:09Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:10Marc:And I have that one.

00:18:12Marc:I got that black one, that Captain Kirk one.

00:18:15Marc:He sent that to me.

00:18:15Marc:I'm not even that great a guitar player, but I try to get as many guitars as possible for free.

00:18:20Marc:Yeah.

00:18:20Marc:You're one of us.

00:18:25Marc:That's how it works, man.

00:18:26Marc:Yeah, man.

00:18:27Marc:I talked to Steve Miller, right, about a month ago, because he released this movie of a concert he did in the 70s.

00:18:35Marc:And they're all playing these ridiculous guitars, Ibanez guitars.

00:18:39Marc:Right.

00:18:40Marc:And one of the guitar players had a music man.

00:18:42Marc:And I asked him, I said, what the fuck was with the Ibanez and the music man?

00:18:46Marc:He's like, Gibson and Fender wouldn't give us anything.

00:18:49Right.

00:18:49Marc:So we took what we could.

00:18:51Marc:Ivan said they'll make us anything.

00:18:53Guest:Yeah.

00:18:54Guest:Yeah.

00:18:55Guest:The Iceman.

00:18:56Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:57Marc:Right.

00:18:57Marc:That's what the one with the big hook on it?

00:18:59Marc:Yeah.

00:19:00Marc:It was their version of an Explorer kind of?

00:19:02Marc:Right.

00:19:02Marc:Yeah.

00:19:03Marc:That's what they were playing.

00:19:04Marc:Yeah, I remember that.

00:19:04Marc:Two of those.

00:19:06Guest:So do you guys, are you all still living in LA?

00:19:09Guest:I'm in Orange County now.

00:19:10Guest:I've been out there for 16 years.

00:19:11Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:19:12Guest:Is it nice out there?

00:19:15Yeah.

00:19:15Guest:It's nice.

00:19:16Guest:It's pretty sterile.

00:19:19Guest:It's okay.

00:19:20Guest:It's all right.

00:19:21Marc:You sound like you didn't have a choice in the matter.

00:19:24Guest:Well, I had a little more room out there.

00:19:26Guest:Yeah.

00:19:27Guest:A bigger yard.

00:19:27Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:19:28Marc:I have grandkids now, so they need to run around.

00:19:32Marc:But you guys, you started here.

00:19:35Marc:You grew up here.

00:19:35Marc:Yeah, I grew up in LA.

00:19:36Marc:What part?

00:19:37Guest:Well, East L.A., down by Long Beach Freeway, about that way.

00:19:42Marc:Yeah?

00:19:42Marc:And did you come from a musical family?

00:19:46Guest:Sort of, yeah.

00:19:47Guest:Music appreciation was high in the family.

00:19:51Guest:How many people?

00:19:52Guest:How many people in the family?

00:19:53Guest:We had three brothers.

00:19:55Marc:Yeah?

00:19:55Guest:Three brothers, and my dad, he'd have a few drinks and liked to sing.

00:20:01Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:20:01Guest:Yeah, he liked Ink Spots and Louis Prima.

00:20:04Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:05Guest:Louis Jordan and stuff like that.

00:20:06Guest:That was his...

00:20:07Marc:So that's what you grew up listening to and hearing?

00:20:09Marc:Yeah, I heard a lot of that.

00:20:10Guest:What'd he do, your old man?

00:20:12Guest:He was a truck driver.

00:20:13Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:20:13Guest:He delivered caskets for- Caskets?

00:20:16Guest:For West Coast Casket Company.

00:20:17Guest:That's heavy.

00:20:20Marc:They're empty, you know.

00:20:21Guest:Yeah, no.

00:20:23Marc:Yeah.

00:20:24Marc:But that's one of those things when you're a kid, that's kind of a heavy thing.

00:20:26Marc:It's like, what'd your dad do?

00:20:28Marc:He drops off coffins.

00:20:30Marc:Yeah.

00:20:30Marc:To wear his caskets.

00:20:32Guest:And we lived in the, he got a deal with the company.

00:20:34Guest:Yeah.

00:20:35Guest:So we lived in the office and the warehouse was, that was our backyard.

00:20:39Guest:It was full of caskets.

00:20:41Guest:So you guys could go play in the caskets?

00:20:43Guest:Yeah, we'd play hide and seek in the caskets.

00:20:46Marc:Make some vampire jokes?

00:20:48Marc:Oh yeah, all that.

00:20:49Guest:Yeah.

00:20:49Guest:Yeah, my dad loved vampires.

00:20:51Marc:Yeah.

00:20:51Marc:Well, that's good.

00:20:52Marc:He was in the right business.

00:20:53Marc:Yeah.

00:20:55Marc:And when did you start playing?

00:20:58Guest:I was about 11, I guess.

00:21:00Guest:And you started on guitar?

00:21:01Guest:Yeah.

00:21:02Guest:Well, drums first.

00:21:02Guest:My brother was a drummer.

00:21:03Guest:Oh, really?

00:21:04Guest:Yeah.

00:21:04Guest:So he taught me just basic where to put it.

00:21:07Guest:One, two, three, four.

00:21:09Guest:Can you do it now?

00:21:10Guest:Yeah, I mean, I haven't played in a while, but I enjoy playing drums.

00:21:14Guest:Yeah?

00:21:15Guest:But you started with the guitar.

00:21:16Guest:When did you pick up the accordion?

00:21:18Guest:That was until later, the 80s.

00:21:20Guest:You know, the Lobos got into Mexican folk music back in the 70s.

00:21:25Marc:How long have you guys been a band, man?

00:21:26Guest:Since 73.

00:21:27Guest:It's crazy, dude.

00:21:29Guest:I know.

00:21:30Guest:How old were you when you started?

00:21:31Guest:I was 19.

00:21:33Guest:And it's the same dudes?

00:21:34Guest:Yeah, same four guys, yeah.

00:21:36Guest:I don't know how we did it.

00:21:39Marc:And you all get along still?

00:21:41Marc:For the most part.

00:21:42Guest:Yeah.

00:21:44Marc:I mean, I listen to the new record.

00:21:46Marc:I'm a big fan, and there were some records I hadn't listened to in a while, but what's amazing about...

00:21:52Marc:you guys is that like even with this new record with the native sons with all these covers except for the one out the one new song i mean even though their covers and even though we know some of them somehow or another they all sound like you you know what i mean that's good it's good you know like that and and it's all through all the music it doesn't matter what style of music you're playing which is sort of an amazing thing you know it's a it's a testament to how connected you all are and that that just comes from

00:22:20Marc:fucking being together it's 1973 it's like what is that 50 years almost just about i think yeah probably this year or next well it's coming up it's crazy man yeah so well how when how does it start you so you're in high school or what uh just out of high school and you're all just you're playing you've got at that point you're just playing guitar yeah and you meet the where do you know the other guys from

00:22:45Guest:We all met in school.

00:22:46Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:22:47Guest:In high school?

00:22:48Guest:High school.

00:22:48Guest:Yeah.

00:22:49Guest:One of the friends, he's not in the band anymore, but he went off.

00:22:53Guest:He's like a year older than I am.

00:22:54Guest:Yeah.

00:22:55Guest:And he came back from college break.

00:22:58Guest:Yeah.

00:22:58Guest:And he'd got into Mexican folk music.

00:23:02Guest:Uh-huh.

00:23:02Guest:And it was, you know, come down and play, you know, we're doing this stuff.

00:23:06Guest:And I'd never, I mean, the music was around, I thought, you know, it was... Not conjunto music, but Mexican folk music?

00:23:11Guest:Yeah, more like the regional stuff from, like, you know, central Mexico.

00:23:17Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:17Guest:A lot of strings and violins.

00:23:19Guest:No accordions.

00:23:20Guest:No accordions.

00:23:22Guest:Right.

00:23:22Guest:So, you know, I always wanted to play mandolin, you know, that was a good excuse to learn because we couldn't play violin.

00:23:29Guest:Right.

00:23:30Guest:So we were trying to play the violin parts with the mandolins.

00:23:32Guest:And you figured out mandolin on your own?

00:23:35Guest:Yeah.

00:23:35Guest:We just kind of, you know, little by little.

00:23:37Marc:Yeah.

00:23:37Guest:You know, song by song.

00:23:39Marc:So you worked out a Mexican folk set list?

00:23:43Guest:Yeah, we had about five songs, and we'd play.

00:23:46Guest:Just you and that one guy?

00:23:47Guest:No, it was Caesar was there, and then I invited Louie down.

00:23:50Guest:Yeah.

00:23:51Guest:And then through Louie, Conrad came down.

00:23:53Guest:So before you know it, we had five guys.

00:23:56Guest:Five guys and five songs.

00:23:58Guest:Playing Mexican folk music.

00:23:59Guest:Yeah.

00:23:59Guest:What'd you do with that?

00:24:00Guest:But we looked more like canned heat.

00:24:02Guest:We all had long hair and beards.

00:24:04Yeah.

00:24:04Marc:You like Canty?

00:24:05Marc:I like Canty.

00:24:06Marc:They were great, right?

00:24:07Marc:Yeah, they were great.

00:24:08Marc:That Wilson guy could sing and play that harp.

00:24:10Marc:Yeah.

00:24:11Marc:Didn't you do something?

00:24:13Marc:You did that record, man, with the guy from Canty.

00:24:16Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:24:17Marc:Pound Dog?

00:24:17Marc:Pound Dog, yeah.

00:24:18Marc:Holy shit, that's a great record.

00:24:20Marc:Thank you.

00:24:22Marc:You can't get it on iTunes, though.

00:24:24Guest:Yeah, I don't know.

00:24:26Guest:I had to find the CD.

00:24:27Guest:He owns the rights to it, and he passed away, and I don't know what his family's doing with it.

00:24:32Guest:What's his name again?

00:24:33Guest:His name was Mike Helby.

00:24:35Marc:Was he with the canteen from the beginning?

00:24:36Marc:No, he was later.

00:24:37Marc:Later, right?

00:24:38Marc:Yeah.

00:24:39Marc:Because those guys at the beginning, I didn't realize it, but they were all like, there was a couple of those bands back then, I think Butterfield too, that were just so, they were like blues nerds.

00:24:48Marc:yeah yeah they're record collectors yeah deep in yeah yeah so so how'd you what when did you make that record that was in the mid 90s or something yeah i think and what how'd that come about because that thing was like there's no record that sounds like that man it's kind of very deep deep groove well we uh i met him through a friend that had a music store out in the whittier area and uh

00:25:14Guest:We just started talking, and Mike had a studio at his house.

00:25:17Guest:Yeah.

00:25:18Guest:I guess the inspiration or the influence was Jimmy Reed and Donna Dewey.

00:25:25Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:25:28Guest:I don't know Donna Dewey.

00:25:29Guest:Look into Donna Dewey.

00:25:31Guest:Sugarcane Harris.

00:25:33Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:25:33Guest:He plays the electric violin.

00:25:35Guest:Oh, wow, yeah.

00:25:35Guest:He's the first guy to come up with electric violin.

00:25:37Marc:Okay.

00:25:37Guest:He took the stylus off of a record player and put it on the bridge of a violin and plugged it in.

00:25:42Marc:Oh, no shit.

00:25:43Marc:So that was the inspiration?

00:25:45Guest:Yeah.

00:25:46Guest:We wanted to do blues, but we didn't want a harp player.

00:25:48Marc:Right.

00:25:49Marc:And you wanted to do it simple but dirty.

00:25:51Guest:Yeah.

00:25:52Marc:Yeah.

00:25:52Guest:And Jimmy Reed is as deep as it gets.

00:25:56Guest:He's great, man.

00:25:58Guest:Yeah.

00:25:58Guest:Great poet, too, man.

00:25:59Guest:Just the way the things he said were beautiful.

00:26:03Marc:Did you ever get to see him?

00:26:04Guest:No, I never did.

00:26:05Guest:Oh.

00:26:05Marc:So you guys are playing Mexican folk music.

00:26:09Marc:Yeah.

00:26:09Marc:And did you realize there's not a big future in this, or what happened?

00:26:15Marc:Well, we didn't know.

00:26:15Marc:What was the scene?

00:26:18Marc:What were you doing?

00:26:19Guest:You were playing parties?

00:26:20Guest:Well, it started off playing tamaladas, where they had little tamale parties at the VFW and stuff like that.

00:26:28Guest:In the neighborhood?

00:26:29Guest:Yeah, around the neighborhood.

00:26:30Guest:And we met, who became our manager for a little while, his name was Fernie Mosqueda.

00:26:36Guest:Yeah.

00:26:37Guest:He worked with LA City Schools.

00:26:39Guest:Yeah.

00:26:40Guest:And he's the one that thought, man, you guys could do, you know, you could play, you know, assemblies, you could play colleges, you could do, you know, this is like educational type of stuff.

00:26:50Guest:Yeah, because no one's doing this music.

00:26:51Marc:People should learn about it.

00:26:52Guest:Yeah.

00:26:53Guest:So that was our way in.

00:26:54Guest:So he got us our first gig for the LA City Schools.

00:26:58Guest:And then we started playing at East LA College.

00:27:02Guest:And we made a friend who was down there from UC Davis recruiting students.

00:27:09Guest:And he heard us play.

00:27:10Guest:And he took us up to Sacramento area.

00:27:13Guest:And that led to the Bay Area.

00:27:15Guest:And before you know it, we were playing all over California.

00:27:17Marc:But this was this very specific type of music.

00:27:19Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:27:20Marc:And so you got known for, you were almost like historians or playing some sort of folk music that people weren't familiar with.

00:27:29Marc:So you were probably, the teachers were probably bringing students to watch.

00:27:33Guest:Yeah, and we did that a lot.

00:27:37Guest:Every Cinco de Mayo, we'd have like 30 gigs within four days, and we took all the dash for cash.

00:27:45Yeah.

00:27:45Marc:So by that point, I'm assuming you had more than five songs.

00:27:49Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:27:50Marc:It branched out?

00:27:51Marc:It branched out a little bit, yeah.

00:27:53Marc:So how long did you guys do that for?

00:27:55Marc:Did you think like, well, this is it.

00:27:57Marc:This is what we're doing.

00:27:59Marc:Well, all that work...

00:28:01Guest:It started to dry up.

00:28:04Marc:Really?

00:28:04Guest:When Reagan came in, a lot of the programs were cut.

00:28:09Guest:Oh, no kidding.

00:28:10Guest:A lot of the extra music programs, arts programs were cut.

00:28:14Marc:So you guys were brought in by teachers to inspire young people, in a way.

00:28:19Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:28:20Guest:And while we were doing that, we were playing weddings and baptisms and stuff like that, too.

00:28:24Marc:But almost all exclusively Latino gatherings.

00:28:27Marc:Yeah, pretty much.

00:28:28Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:28:29Marc:So Reagan comes in, shuts the school, you know, kills the spirit of the kids.

00:28:34Marc:Yeah.

00:28:35Marc:You guys get pushed out.

00:28:37Marc:So that's 80, what is that?

00:28:38Guest:80, 81.

00:28:39Marc:Yeah.

00:28:40Guest:And then what'd you guys... Well, we ended up, because we had already had, we had started families by that time, you know?

00:28:46Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:28:47Marc:Had to make money.

00:28:48Guest:Yeah, so we ended up playing in restaurants.

00:28:51Guest:Like mariachi style?

00:28:53Guest:Yeah, like, you know, but we wouldn't stroll.

00:28:54Guest:We used to stroll, you know?

00:28:56Marc:That's where you drew the line?

00:29:00Marc:Yeah.

00:29:00Guest:Every once in a while we did, but we would split up.

00:29:05Marc:Play across the room with each other?

00:29:06Guest:Yeah, one goes upstairs, the other guy goes the other way.

00:29:09Marc:Well, how did it work with, like, there was no drums, so what was Louie doing?

00:29:15Guest:He was playing guitar.

00:29:15Marc:He's a guitar player.

00:29:16Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:29:17Marc:So I'm trying to think who the... It's you and Caesar who do the guitar playing?

00:29:23Marc:Mostly?

00:29:24Guest:Mostly, yeah.

00:29:24Guest:All three of us play guitars now.

00:29:26Guest:Louie got off the drums.

00:29:27Guest:He'll play a couple of songs here and there.

00:29:29Marc:On drums, and then it's all three of you doing the guitars?

00:29:31Guest:Yeah.

00:29:31Wow, man.

00:29:33Guest:So we were in there playing restaurants, and that got boring, and we played this one place, and there was a drum set and electric guitar for the band that was coming on after us, so we started goofing off with it.

00:29:43Guest:And it led to rediscovering Richie Valens and the music of the Midnighters, the Eastside Soul bands.

00:29:50Marc:Some of the foundation of this new record, right?

00:29:53Marc:I'm trying to figure out, I'm trying to remember the set list.

00:29:56Marc:I listened to it a couple of times, but I think I got it here.

00:29:59Marc:But you guys did, well, you do like an interesting bunch of songs, but you did some real old ones, huh?

00:30:04Marc:Yeah, there's a Midnighter song on there.

00:30:07Marc:Yeah, I don't even know those guys.

00:30:08Marc:I should know, that's one of these things where I have a bunch of records and I grew up listening to my dad's music, but there's some people on here.

00:30:14Marc:I'm like, I don't know them.

00:30:15Marc:I don't know them.

00:30:17Marc:Like Farmer John, you did a lot.

00:30:19Marc:Right?

00:30:19Guest:Yeah, that's Don and Dewey.

00:30:21Marc:Oh, that's it.

00:30:22Marc:That's Don and Dewey.

00:30:23Marc:Okay.

00:30:24Marc:Yeah.

00:30:24Marc:And Sail on Sail.

00:30:26Marc:So you guys started playing the rock music.

00:30:32Guest:Yeah, little by little, we worked our way, and that's when the accordion came in.

00:30:36Marc:And how'd you figure out how to play that?

00:30:39Marc:Is it hard?

00:30:40Guest:Yeah, it's hard.

00:30:41Guest:I'm no good at it.

00:30:43Guest:I can play the songs I know.

00:30:45Marc:Enough?

00:30:46Guest:Yeah, enough to get by.

00:30:50Guest:Well, we were listening to all this music, and Ry Cooter had done this record with Flaco Jimenez.

00:30:57Guest:You heard that record?

00:30:58Guest:Heard that record.

00:30:58Guest:Heard the way Flaco played.

00:30:59Guest:Then I started looking for his records, and just an amazing accordion player.

00:31:03Marc:Right.

00:31:03Marc:Oh, that's so sad that you picked it up.

00:31:05Guest:Yeah, he was my inspiration, you know.

00:31:08Guest:And then a friend of mine, he had an accordion that he bought, and it was just sitting in his closet, so he loaned it to me, and I just started... Figuring it out?

00:31:16Guest:Yeah, song by song again, you know.

00:31:18Marc:Well, it's a vibe, right?

00:31:19Marc:It's a feeling.

00:31:20Guest:Yeah, it's a good thing.

00:31:21Marc:It's beautiful.

00:31:22Marc:So then you make the shift into sort of like old style rock music and conjunto music.

00:31:27Guest:Yeah.

00:31:28Marc:Yeah.

00:31:29Marc:And all you guys could sing in Spanish, so it worked out.

00:31:32Marc:Yeah.

00:31:35Guest:That was important.

00:31:36Marc:Yeah.

00:31:36Marc:So what was the shift?

00:31:38Marc:So then you shift from restaurants to bigger weddings.

00:31:43Marc:Now you've got drums.

00:31:45Marc:People can dance.

00:31:46Guest:We could play the recession and the dance.

00:31:48Yeah.

00:31:48Marc:But you must have done that for a long time.

00:31:54Guest:Yeah, we did it for a few years.

00:31:56Guest:And at that time was when the Roots Rock thing started happening, came out of the punk rock movement.

00:32:02Marc:Sure.

00:32:03Guest:Like the Blasters and people like that.

00:32:04Marc:Yeah.

00:32:05Marc:But, like, I have to assume that that time you guys spent together, because you're still together now, but that time was almost like the Beatles in Hamburg, where you're just knocking out these gigs.

00:32:13Marc:You're probably doing, like, four or five a weekend, right?

00:32:16Marc:Yes.

00:32:16Marc:For a few years, and you're practicing.

00:32:18Marc:It's like that's where all the dues were paid, so you guys become, like, one mind, you know, in terms of how you play with each other, right?

00:32:25Guest:Yeah.

00:32:26Marc:Yeah, that's pretty much how I was.

00:32:27Marc:So when the Roots Rock hit, that was a weird time, right?

00:32:31Marc:Because there was all these different types of bands playing simultaneously.

00:32:37Marc:Because I've talked to Dave Alvin.

00:32:39Marc:I've talked to John Doe.

00:32:41Marc:I've talked to Rollins.

00:32:42Marc:I've talked to a lot of cats who were around then.

00:32:44Marc:But there was definitely a Roots Rock thing, but then there was Insanity.

00:32:50Marc:And you were kind of on the same gig.

00:32:52Marc:And sometimes there would be crossover, right?

00:32:56Guest:Yeah, it would be, you know, the Circle Jerks and, you know, Blasters, and we'd play.

00:33:02Guest:It was just all over the place.

00:33:04Guest:Or Joe Liggins, you know, from the Honey Drippers, the old, kind of like the Louis Jordan-era musicians that lived here in L.A., so they would play gigs.

00:33:15Guest:Really?

00:33:15Guest:Yeah.

00:33:16Guest:On the same night?

00:33:17Guest:Same night, you know.

00:33:18Marc:So what was the vibe then?

00:33:20Marc:So you're coming out of playing these weddings.

00:33:23Marc:So how do you transition?

00:33:25Marc:Who pulls you into that?

00:33:26Marc:How does that happen?

00:33:27Marc:How do you start doing those gigs?

00:33:30Guest:Well, I think just the idea of playing restaurants for the rest of our lives scared us.

00:33:39Guest:And at that time, when the Blasters were doing their thing, and everybody, Sir Douglas Quintet had reformed.

00:33:46Marc:Did you do a Sir Douglas Quintet song?

00:33:48Guest:No, we didn't.

00:33:49Guest:We're doing all L-8 type stuff.

00:33:52Marc:You like that song Mendocino?

00:33:53Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:33:54Marc:Oh, man.

00:33:54Guest:We got to be friends later on.

00:33:56Guest:We got to know Doug, yeah.

00:33:57Marc:Really?

00:33:58Marc:Did you play with him?

00:33:59Guest:yeah he jammed with him you know he had uh uh he had uh was it the last uh texas blues band uh for a while there and he had just you know just a great great band you know yeah yeah we were on the road and we'd run into him somewhere and we'd sit in and stuff like that we got to know him and he we did an album called the super seven yeah and he was part of that too oh yeah yeah wasn't was who was the original singer that of the sir douglas quintet do you remember

00:34:26Marc:That guy?

00:34:27Marc:That was Doug.

00:34:28Marc:It was Doug?

00:34:28Guest:Yeah.

00:34:29Guest:Huh.

00:34:30Guest:Yeah, he was the writer and the singer.

00:34:32Guest:And then Augie Myers was the triplets organ player.

00:34:36Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:34:37Marc:That's great, man.

00:34:37Guest:Man, it was a great band.

00:34:39Marc:I don't know if for some reason I thought Doug was just a guitar player, but he sang, he did all the singing, too.

00:34:43Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:34:44Marc:Yeah.

00:34:45Marc:So, okay, so you didn't want to, you knew you're staring down the barrel at a lifelong restaurant gig, and you're like, fuck this.

00:34:52Guest:Yeah, so then that's how we went to Conrad's Garage, and we made a, because we were playing Richie Valen stuff by that time, and a few, maybe like Farmer John, and a few, like Conjunto music, you know, with the accordion.

00:35:07Guest:So we made a cassette and took it to the country club in Reseda.

00:35:12Guest:The Blasters were playing and met Phil in the parking lot and passed the tape over to him.

00:35:18Guest:A few weeks later, a few months later, Dave calls me and says, you know, we're doing... They were kicking ass at that time and they were like...

00:35:28Marc:they were doing five nights at the whiskey oh wow and so they asked us to open one of the nights yeah and that was that was our big boost right there so that was it you know we owe those guys and that yeah well that was uh so like i would assume if they were playing five nights they had pretty solid following of those type of uh those kind of retro-minded people must have been kind of a kind of a roots half rockabilly looking scene

00:35:51Marc:Yeah.

00:35:51Marc:Was it?

00:35:52Guest:Book rockers and rockabilly people.

00:35:54Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:35:55Marc:Dressed up, greasing the hair up, doing the thing.

00:35:58Marc:Homeboys, everybody was there.

00:36:00Marc:Wow.

00:36:01Marc:That must have been exciting.

00:36:02Marc:It was cool.

00:36:03Marc:What did you guys lay out?

00:36:04Marc:Do you remember the songs?

00:36:06Marc:Were you do Rich and Valance?

00:36:08Guest:I think we did Come On, Let's Go and Little Susie.

00:36:13Marc:Yeah.

00:36:14Guest:And then we did Farmer John and we did...

00:36:17Marc:polkas that we play oh yeah we still play yeah we used to do them faster because you know try to punk it up a little yeah the punk rock polka yeah so because i have that they reissued that record the uh just another band from east la the the all spanish record right

00:36:35Marc:And I got it.

00:36:36Marc:I don't understand it, but I like it.

00:36:38Marc:But that was a set list before you started integrating.

00:36:41Marc:That was your restaurant and wedding set list?

00:36:44Guest:Yep, that was it.

00:36:48Marc:And you still play that stuff, right?

00:36:49Guest:Yeah, we do.

00:36:51Guest:We'll do tours.

00:36:52Guest:We'll dedicate a tour to that type of music.

00:36:56Marc:And so you're going out with X?

00:36:59Guest:Yeah, I know we have a show with him coming up.

00:37:02Marc:Are you guys friends?

00:37:05Guest:Yeah.

00:37:07Guest:They were good to us, too.

00:37:09Guest:They would include us in some shows.

00:37:11Marc:Back in the day?

00:37:12Marc:Yeah.

00:37:13Marc:Well, they're sort of interesting, because you and the Blasters are sort of dug into a Rootsing, and X is kind of tilting towards some other... They're leaning into some other area.

00:37:25Marc:You know that guy...

00:37:26Marc:I don't know why I thought to ask you.

00:37:28Marc:That guy, what's his name?

00:37:30Marc:Carlos Guitarros?

00:37:31Marc:Yes, I do.

00:37:32Marc:You do?

00:37:33Marc:Yeah.

00:37:34Marc:He's out of his mind.

00:37:35Marc:He's a Bay Area guy, right?

00:37:39Marc:No, he's from here.

00:37:40Marc:He's from Echo Park.

00:37:42Marc:Because I was thinking about him, and I knew that Dave had helped him out, because I bought that record that when he kind of came off the streets briefly, and they made that record.

00:37:49Marc:Were you on that record?

00:37:51Marc:Yeah, I think so.

00:37:51Marc:You helped out with that?

00:37:53Marc:Yeah.

00:37:53Marc:But he couldn't keep it together, I guess.

00:37:55Guest:he goes in and out you know yeah uh but he's a great player a great songwriter you know was he like what like back in the day was he like something to see kind of deal yeah there was a they had a band uh top jimmy and the rhythm pigs uh-huh and uh and we used to play with it they had uh that was one of the the first uh gigs we got too they had uh

00:38:16Guest:It's called Blue Mondays at Cathay de Grande.

00:38:19Guest:Yeah.

00:38:20Guest:And it was almost like an open mic kind of deal.

00:38:25Guest:Yeah.

00:38:25Guest:The bands could go up and play a few songs.

00:38:27Guest:Yeah.

00:38:29Guest:That helped us too.

00:38:30Guest:So we started getting in front of all these people and got to know Carlos and Gil T and Top Jimmy.

00:38:34Guest:It was just a drunken mess.

00:38:37Guest:Right.

00:38:37Guest:But it was fun.

00:38:38Marc:Yeah.

00:38:38Marc:It's like a battle of the bands.

00:38:40Guest:Yeah.

00:38:40Guest:Almost.

00:38:40Guest:Yeah.

00:38:41Guest:It was cool.

00:38:42Guest:We got to know those guys.

00:38:43Guest:Yeah.

00:38:43Marc:it must have been so wild in like because the the it was such a community it seems like exactly everyone knew each other and everyone's just like going crazy yeah everybody showed up at each other's gigs yeah and and jam and now you guys become sort of these elder statesmen man i mean you guys are like the guys like you've played with everybody you must have played with all your heroes by now a lot of them yeah and you're a peter green fan

00:39:08Guest:Yes, yeah.

00:39:09Marc:Because I got into him, like, hard in the last 10 years.

00:39:13Marc:Like, I can't believe that guy.

00:39:15Guest:Yeah, I grew up... He was like... I jammed with a friend of mine that, you know, played... He was a blues player.

00:39:21Guest:Yeah.

00:39:21Guest:And I found out that I didn't know anything about the blues.

00:39:25Guest:You know, I was just... I knew Johnny Winter, which was cool, but it wasn't... The real deal.

00:39:29Guest:So then, you know, Peter Green was the one that...

00:39:33Guest:Kind of put it together for me.

00:39:35Marc:Oh, really?

00:39:35Guest:Yeah, I mean that's interesting.

00:39:37Marc:So when was that when you were like a kid?

00:39:39Guest:Yeah, I was in high school and yeah, Peter Green and the Interviews was like Clapton and you know, they would talk about Otis Rush and right and Albert King Freddie King Yeah, so I started looking for the records, right?

00:39:51Guest:Yeah, yeah, and you got you got hold of it got the hang and

00:39:55Guest:Yeah, pretty much.

00:39:56Guest:I mean, you know, there's still more to learn.

00:39:58Marc:No, well, I guess so.

00:40:00Marc:Yeah, I think there's more.

00:40:01Marc:It seems like there's more to learn if you do less.

00:40:05Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:40:06Guest:That's the thing.

00:40:07Guest:That was the big, that was the lesson, you know, space.

00:40:10Guest:Yeah.

00:40:10Marc:Yeah, man.

00:40:12Marc:Well, you guys certainly know how to take that space.

00:40:14Marc:It's kind of mind-blowing.

00:40:15Marc:Because you go back and forth, but even in the stuff you guys play fast, there's such a unity of rhythm that I don't know what it is, but it's kind of amazing.

00:40:25Marc:And I know people have compared you guys to the band before, but it seems like...

00:40:30Marc:Like, when I listen to you guys, like, it's one of those things.

00:40:34Marc:Like, I imagine Clapton's a huge fan.

00:40:35Marc:Have you met Clapton?

00:40:36Guest:Yeah.

00:40:37Guest:We've played the Crossroads.

00:40:39Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:40:40Marc:He must love you.

00:40:41Marc:Does he?

00:40:41Marc:I hope he does.

00:40:42Marc:Yeah.

00:40:43Marc:He did.

00:40:43Marc:Did you play with him?

00:40:45Guest:Were you able to, like... Yeah, he sat in with us a couple times.

00:40:47Marc:How was that?

00:40:48Guest:Was that, like, mind-blowing or what?

00:40:51Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:40:51Guest:When I was 14 and playing the Cream Records in my bedroom, and there's Eric Clapton right here.

00:40:58Marc:Yeah.

00:40:59Marc:That must be great.

00:41:00Marc:He can still lay out the blues pretty good, huh?

00:41:04Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:41:05Marc:Yeah.

00:41:05Marc:But I know he was a big freak for the band.

00:41:07Marc:There was this idea that when the band came on the scene, it was like, oh, it's over.

00:41:12Marc:These guys did it.

00:41:13Marc:They reinvented music.

00:41:15Marc:They figured it out.

00:41:16Marc:But, like, what's interesting about you guys, even from the beginning, in the way you kind of came up and together, not unlike those guys, but they were sort of Appalachia, and they're all Canadian, most of them, and they're coming up through Country Western, but you guys are doing a similar kind of roots thing in terms of uniquely American music, but you got all the Latino stuff in there.

00:41:35Marc:They don't have any of that.

00:41:37Marc:Like, you know, the band doesn't.

00:41:38Marc:So you've got this whole other element, this whole other texture.

00:41:40Marc:I'm just blowing smoke up your ass now, but you know what I mean.

00:41:44Marc:Yeah.

00:41:44Marc:I mean, you can feel that, because you can feel that element of where you guys come from in almost all the music, too.

00:41:51Guest:Yeah.

00:41:51Guest:You know, it was that homemade kind of approach, like the band, you know.

00:41:59Guest:Yeah.

00:42:00Guest:Did you listen to them?

00:42:01Guest:Yeah.

00:42:02Guest:You know, if they wanted to fiddle, they'd pick up a fiddle.

00:42:05Guest:Right.

00:42:06Guest:Yeah.

00:42:07Guest:or mandolin so we did that instead of trying to uh you know we did it in-house i guess you know we wanted to hear and through all the folk music there's so many different each region in mexico has a different uh set of instruments so all these different so we had all that stuff you know you figured it out yeah i mean we're still working on it but yeah i would uh we had all that stuff to uh pull from you know or steal right yeah and it still shows up in the music like like almost on every record there's some of that in there yeah

00:42:36Guest:Yeah?

00:42:38Guest:Yeah.

00:42:38Guest:It took a while to get to where we felt comfortable, where we could try to write a song in that style.

00:42:42Guest:Most of the time, it was just, you know, we would play the old stuff and stay true to it.

00:42:47Marc:Where did you first start?

00:42:49Marc:Where did you first feel the confidence?

00:42:51Marc:What's the first song you think that you did that was, you know, kind of drawing from that directly?

00:42:54Marc:Was it on Kiko?

00:42:56Marc:It was on the Neighborhood record.

00:42:58Guest:Oh.

00:42:58Guest:It took a while, huh?

00:42:58Guest:There was a song called Be Still.

00:43:01Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:43:02Guest:And it was written in English, but it had that 6-8 rhythm that's used in Mexico.

00:43:10Guest:A lot of music from Mexico, Wapango, it's called.

00:43:15Guest:And so we wrote a, you know, took a stab at it, and it worked.

00:43:20Guest:So it opened the door to more stuff like that.

00:43:23Marc:To the confidence necessary.

00:43:25Marc:Yeah, I just listened to that record, too.

00:43:27Marc:That's a great one.

00:43:28Marc:I didn't know Colossal head that well, and I had to kind of get caught up on that.

00:43:31Marc:but how did the um so when like obviously the first record that that i bought was how will the wolf survive but how did that so that happened in that time in the 80s right it came out of uh the la scene what what how'd you get that deal how'd that work

00:43:49Guest:Well, again, it was the Blasters.

00:43:52Guest:They were on Slash Records.

00:43:55Guest:Yeah.

00:43:56Guest:They told Bob Biggs, who's the main guy.

00:43:59Guest:Yeah.

00:43:59Guest:He's passed away recently.

00:44:02Guest:He said, you better listen to these guys, man.

00:44:04Guest:Pick them up.

00:44:05Guest:Do something.

00:44:06Guest:So our first record was an EP because he didn't want to invest much into it.

00:44:09Guest:He didn't want to make sure.

00:44:10Guest:He didn't know where it was going to go.

00:44:12Guest:Right.

00:44:12Guest:He didn't know how to sell it or anything.

00:44:14Guest:Right.

00:44:15Marc:Really?

00:44:15Marc:Even with the blasters?

00:44:16Marc:Were the blasters more defined to him?

00:44:18Marc:I guess so.

00:44:20Guest:He thought, what do we go, to the Latin market?

00:44:22Guest:No, no, this is mainstream stuff, man.

00:44:24Guest:Just put it out there and see what happens.

00:44:27Guest:And it worked.

00:44:29Marc:Yeah.

00:44:30Marc:So he just put it out there and the kids came?

00:44:34Guest:Yeah.

00:44:35Guest:And then that led to Will the Wolf Survive.

00:44:39Marc:Well, I mean, it's interesting because it seems like on every record you do like at least a little one or two of each of what you do.

00:44:49Marc:Do you know what I mean?

00:44:49Marc:You mix it up.

00:44:51Marc:Yeah.

00:44:51Marc:You know, like there's definitely there's a there's a rocker, old swing rock, you know, bop blues, jump blues.

00:44:56Marc:And then you got a Mexican song and then you got like, you know, maybe a little countryish stuff.

00:45:02Marc:But you kind of mix it all up.

00:45:03Marc:Right.

00:45:04Marc:Yeah.

00:45:04Marc:But and then like by the time you get to Kiko, then all of a sudden you did some other thing.

00:45:09Marc:yeah like all of a sudden everything became wove together and there was this natural sort of movement through everything did you feel that happening well you know we did the neighborhood record yeah and uh we wanted to produce it ourselves and the record company didn't believe in us so they they kind of just let it die almost what the neighborhood record yeah

00:45:33Marc:It's a very thoughtful record.

00:45:36Marc:So it didn't get the push that you might have wanted.

00:45:38Guest:Yeah.

00:45:40Guest:So we were frustrated.

00:45:41Guest:And then Lenny Warnker, who was the head of Warner Bros.

00:45:46Guest:at the time, he always liked the band.

00:45:48Guest:So he put us together with Mitchell Froome.

00:45:52Guest:He says, I think you guys have worked well together.

00:45:54Guest:And Mitchell was kind of in the same place with his career.

00:46:00Guest:He was like, man, he wanted to do something.

00:46:01Guest:you know yeah something different producer yeah yeah who else did he work with uh crowded house okay but he did a lot of stuff you know interesting yeah yeah and uh and him and uh and chad blake who's the engineer who was another i think he's an alien a wizard yeah he's just really amazing

00:46:20Guest:So we all got together and had the same mindset.

00:46:23Guest:Let's do something that, you know.

00:46:26Marc:No one's ever heard before.

00:46:27Guest:And we knew, Louie and I, we knew it's a good opportunity to, you know, write some stuff that we haven't done before.

00:46:34Guest:Try to write better songs or different songs at least.

00:46:38Guest:Yeah.

00:46:39Guest:And it seemed to work out.

00:46:41Marc:Well, so that's interesting.

00:46:42Marc:So the guy who's...

00:46:44Marc:As a producer, he brought a whole other point of view to it.

00:46:49Marc:Because he had his own way of thinking.

00:46:51Marc:If he did Crowded House and stuff, he's not just doing rock music.

00:46:56Marc:He's got a vision of some kind.

00:46:58Marc:Got his own point of view, and the engineer's a wizard.

00:47:01Marc:So that kind of encouraged you guys to take it to some other level.

00:47:06Marc:And what was the process of writing that?

00:47:09Marc:Because, I mean, it's pretty much universally seen as a masterpiece of a record.

00:47:14Marc:Did you feel like, how did you approach it differently on that record?

00:47:17Guest:Well, like the first one was stuff that we played live.

00:47:21Guest:And then, well, The Wolf Survived, that's when we started, okay, we have to write some stuff.

00:47:25Guest:Yeah.

00:47:25Guest:We can't just play covers.

00:47:26Guest:Right.

00:47:27Guest:So that got the ball rolling.

00:47:30Guest:Yeah.

00:47:31Guest:The difference is we didn't rehearse, we didn't go into, you know, pre-production or whatever, you know.

00:47:40Marc:Right, because you weren't taking it on the road.

00:47:42Marc:So it was all studio work.

00:47:44Guest:Yeah, so we'd come up with, Lou and I, or Cesar, you know, we'd come up with songs and an idea, and we'd take it to the studio, and we'd...

00:47:51Guest:Throw it together there, you know?

00:47:54Guest:Right, just build it.

00:47:55Marc:Build it from the bottom.

00:47:55Marc:And like the guy used the studio like an instrument.

00:47:58Marc:Yeah.

00:47:59Marc:So that was probably the difference.

00:48:00Marc:You guys weren't just working like grinding out songs as a band.

00:48:05Marc:You were kind of using the space differently.

00:48:08Guest:Yeah.

00:48:09Guest:That's what we did.

00:48:10Marc:Yeah.

00:48:10Guest:And it worked.

00:48:11Guest:And then having Mitchell's point of view, he helped us refine a lot of the stuff.

00:48:18Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:48:20Guest:And then Chad just, we're recording through exhaust manifolds and stuff.

00:48:25Marc:Really?

00:48:25Guest:Yeah.

00:48:26Guest:He had all these crazy ideas.

00:48:29Guest:To make weird sounds.

00:48:30Guest:Yeah.

00:48:30Guest:Or tell him, I'd say, man, this could use some backwards guitar on this song.

00:48:35Guest:So he flips the tape over it.

00:48:37Guest:He goes, OK, go.

00:48:38Marc:I didn't know it was that easy.

00:48:41Marc:It's easy if you got a guy who knows what he's doing.

00:48:43Guest:Yeah.

00:48:43Marc:Did you guys know weights back in the day?

00:48:47Guest:Around that time was when we met.

00:48:49Guest:Around Kiko time?

00:48:50Guest:Yeah.

00:48:51Marc:Yeah?

00:48:52Marc:Is he a fan?

00:48:53Marc:He must be a fan.

00:48:53Guest:Yeah.

00:48:54Guest:He's a good friend of ours.

00:48:55Marc:Yeah?

00:48:56Marc:Yeah.

00:48:56Marc:Well, he does kind of weird shit with exhaust manifolds and interesting sounds.

00:49:01Guest:Chad worked with him, too.

00:49:02Guest:Oh, really?

00:49:03Guest:Yeah.

00:49:04Marc:So that was the connecting tissue?

00:49:07Yeah.

00:49:07Marc:They got weights doing the exhaust manifold, so now it lasts well, but everyone's doing the exhaust manifold.

00:49:12Marc:Yeah.

00:49:14Marc:And after that, were you guys able to tour a lot of those songs?

00:49:18Marc:They seem tricky to play.

00:49:19Marc:What do you play?

00:49:20Marc:There's a couple ones on there.

00:49:22Marc:What's on your set now from Kiko?

00:49:24Guest:We still do Kiko.

00:49:25Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:49:27Marc:Train?

00:49:28Marc:This Train?

00:49:29Guest:Train, we do that.

00:49:30Guest:Wicked Rain.

00:49:31Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:49:33Guest:Just a Man.

00:49:34Guest:We can do most of them.

00:49:35Guest:Not all of them, but we can do most of them, yeah.

00:49:37Marc:How often do you tour?

00:49:38Marc:I mean, like before COVID, were you guys going out?

00:49:40Guest:Yeah, it was crazy.

00:49:41Guest:It seems like you never stopped playing.

00:49:44Guest:We didn't.

00:49:44Guest:It was getting real tired, you know, to the point where it was good to have the work, but it was a...

00:49:55Guest:Around the time, I remember our last gig was March 9th.

00:49:59Guest:Three days before the lockdown?

00:50:00Guest:Yeah.

00:50:01Guest:Yeah.

00:50:02Guest:Because we were supposed to play... I think we were supposed to go to San Antonio or something.

00:50:08Guest:Yeah.

00:50:08Guest:And then...

00:50:10Guest:our drummer at the time, his wife worked for the city of Pasadena, and she says, no, man, they're not telling you everything in the news.

00:50:19Guest:This thing is serious, man.

00:50:20Guest:You guys shouldn't go anywhere.

00:50:22Guest:So we backed out of the gig, and then that's when the shutdown happened right after that.

00:50:25Marc:And that hit.

00:50:26Marc:Yeah.

00:50:26Marc:Did anyone get sick from the band?

00:50:28Marc:No.

00:50:29Marc:Oh, good.

00:50:29Marc:That's good.

00:50:29Marc:Thank God.

00:50:30Marc:We've been all right.

00:50:30Marc:That's great, man.

00:50:32Marc:Yeah.

00:50:32Marc:So how did you feel about the break?

00:50:34Marc:I mean, even though it was forced, I mean, did you need it?

00:50:38Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:50:39Marc:Not necessarily that way, but we needed the break.

00:50:43Marc:But you might not have taken it, hadn't I?

00:50:45Guest:Yeah, you're right.

00:50:46Guest:So, you know, it was great being home.

00:50:49Guest:It's great being home now, you know.

00:50:51Guest:Because you got the kids, grandkids, everybody?

00:50:53Guest:Yeah.

00:50:54Guest:I haven't been home this long since the 80s, you know.

00:50:56Guest:Wow, man.

00:50:58Guest:So...

00:50:58Guest:It's a trip.

00:50:59Marc:Well, you're lucky, man.

00:51:00Marc:I mean, like the road's hard and it sounds like you guys went at it pretty hard early on.

00:51:03Marc:I imagine you've all grown up out of that shit, right?

00:51:06Marc:You don't go too crazy.

00:51:08Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:51:08Guest:No, it's not like it used to be.

00:51:12Guest:We're too old.

00:51:13Marc:Too old, man.

00:51:14Guest:We can't move anymore.

00:51:15Marc:So did you guys do most of this record during the lockdown or no?

00:51:20Marc:Yeah, we did.

00:51:21Marc:So were you able to play with each other, or were you sending stuff back and forth, or did you guys just hang out?

00:51:27Guest:Well, most of it, when we did it, we would, you know, we did the whole distancing thing, but we were in the same studio.

00:51:33Guest:We had masks.

00:51:33Marc:Sure, well, yeah, yeah.

00:51:34Guest:We'd do the tests before we go in and make sure everybody's...

00:51:39Marc:But do you guys, like, I mean, you hang out, you seem like, I'm always wrong about this, but I always assume that everybody hangs out, even though you've been playing together for 50 years.

00:51:48Marc:Do you guys, your families all hang out together and stuff?

00:51:51Guest:Not so much anymore, but special events, you know.

00:51:54Guest:Yeah.

00:51:55Guest:But most, everybody goes to their corner.

00:51:57Marc:Oh, really?

00:51:58Marc:It's probably better, I guess.

00:51:59Guest:Yeah, you know, we need a break from each other, too.

00:52:02Yeah.

00:52:02Guest:But we're still friends.

00:52:04Guest:We still get along good.

00:52:05Marc:So what was the conception?

00:52:07Marc:Before I talk about this, though, let's talk about the Disney stuff.

00:52:12Marc:Which one did you do?

00:52:13Marc:Because I know you did Los Lobos Goes Disney, right?

00:52:17Marc:But you were on a record first, right?

00:52:23Marc:Did you do Walk Like Me, Talk Like Me?

00:52:26Marc:I knew it.

00:52:27Marc:i don't know why because i have a memory of that record and that was just such a great song and that led to the disney record i i guess so you know yeah yeah it was that that seems like a fun thing to do

00:52:38Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:52:38Guest:Well, that was Louis Prima and Phil Harris did the original track.

00:52:42Guest:So we're a Louis Prima fan.

00:52:44Guest:So we're like, if we're going to do one, let's do that one.

00:52:47Marc:Yeah, it's great.

00:52:49Marc:So in terms of conceiving this record, was it because you didn't have new material?

00:52:57Marc:You didn't want to write new material?

00:52:58Marc:Or did you just think, why don't we do our influences?

00:53:02Marc:Whose idea was that?

00:53:03Guest:You know, I don't know whose idea it was.

00:53:06Guest:It was pitched to us to do a covers record.

00:53:08Guest:And then we were, okay, that sounds cool.

00:53:13Guest:Then I don't know who came up with the idea to do it, just a L.A.-based music, you know, artist.

00:53:20Guest:Yeah, right.

00:53:21Guest:And which narrowed it down, which I think made it easier to do.

00:53:25Guest:Well, after we found the songs, it took a long time to find.

00:53:27Guest:You know, we went through a lot of stuff.

00:53:28Marc:Well, how many, and then you did one original one.

00:53:32Marc:Yeah.

00:53:33Marc:The Native Son record, the song, which is great.

00:53:35Marc:But these were, like, there are some interesting choices.

00:53:40Marc:You know, like Sail on Sailor, that was an interesting choice.

00:53:44Marc:Right?

00:53:45Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:53:45Marc:That's a Beach Boys song.

00:53:46Guest:Well, you know, you think L.A.

00:53:47Guest:bands, you think Beach Boys.

00:53:51Marc:But did you listen to them?

00:53:52Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:53:53Guest:I listened to them a lot.

00:53:54Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:53:55Guest:Yeah, they were...

00:53:57Marc:That era of Beach Boys is good, huh?

00:53:59Guest:Yeah.

00:54:00Marc:But I guess you listen to Surf and Safari.

00:54:03Guest:Good Vibrations in my room.

00:54:06Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:54:07Marc:Well, that's later.

00:54:08Marc:But even the early ones are great.

00:54:10Marc:They did a cover of Barbara Ann that I used to listen to on that Party album.

00:54:14Marc:What was it?

00:54:14Marc:Beach Boys Summer?

00:54:15Marc:Yeah, that's a cool record.

00:54:17Marc:Yeah, man.

00:54:18Marc:And then you did the Jackson Browns.

00:54:20Marc:I just talked to Jackson Brown.

00:54:21Guest:Yeah, that's another one.

00:54:22Guest:I mean, we just went through all the...

00:54:25Guest:Jamaica Say You Will.

00:54:26Marc:Is that the name of that?

00:54:27Guest:Yeah, that's the first song I ever heard from Jackson.

00:54:30Guest:We just tried to touch on all of War, another band.

00:54:34Marc:That was the other thing that amazed me, that War thing.

00:54:38Marc:Because I can hear War in your shit.

00:54:40Guest:Well, we learned from them.

00:54:41Guest:They were from central LA, but they were big on the east side.

00:54:46Guest:They were honorary Chicanos.

00:54:49Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:54:49Guest:Right.

00:54:50Guest:Because they always had that Latin element in their music.

00:54:53Guest:That percussion.

00:54:54Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:54:56Guest:And through the years, we became friends with the guys.

00:54:59Guest:How many of them are still around?

00:55:02Guest:Well, the bass player just passed away, but everybody else is still around.

00:55:05Guest:Over the years, they lost the percussionist years ago, and the sax player died a long time ago, too.

00:55:11Marc:But it's so funny that that thing comes true, because Lowrider was huge, right?

00:55:16Marc:But once you guys played that tune, I'm like, all of it makes sense to me.

00:55:22Marc:I think that's what kind of got me so excited to sort of talk to you and also just to hear the record.

00:55:27Marc:Because I've listened to your records half my life,

00:55:30Marc:you know, here and there.

00:55:31Marc:But then when someone said, well, listen to this, here's the new record.

00:55:34Marc:And then the idea of all this being your influence, it all made sense.

00:55:38Marc:Like, you know, I can hear all of this because you're playing them.

00:55:40Marc:I can hear you guys playing them, but I can also hear that stuff in your shit.

00:55:44Marc:You know, I could all wove together.

00:55:45Marc:Like these were really, these are very thoughtful choices.

00:55:49Marc:We tried.

00:55:50Marc:And for what it's worth, I mean, geez, man, that sort of seems relevant now, that song.

00:55:58Marc:And that's a hard song because everybody knows that song, but you guys took it on.

00:56:02Guest:It was hard.

00:56:03Guest:We were afraid.

00:56:04Guest:We were hoping that they would like it.

00:56:06Marc:Buffalo Springfield?

00:56:07Marc:What's left of them?

00:56:09Guest:Steve?

00:56:09Guest:Buffalo Springfield and the war and even Sail on Sailor, too, you know.

00:56:16Guest:You were concerned that... That they would approve, you know?

00:56:20Marc:Well, how many of them are there to approve of it?

00:56:22Guest:I heard that Brian sent something on social media that he liked it.

00:56:29Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:56:29Guest:He liked it.

00:56:31Guest:And we played with Al Jardine this last weekend in Big Sur.

00:56:36Guest:He came up and played it with us.

00:56:37Guest:He did?

00:56:37Guest:Yeah.

00:56:38Guest:Oh, that's kind of beautiful, huh?

00:56:40Guest:A stamp of approval.

00:56:42Marc:That's for sure.

00:56:42Marc:If Brian says okay.

00:56:44Marc:Well, have you heard from Stephen Stills?

00:56:46Marc:Who wrote that one?

00:56:46Marc:Yeah, Stephen Stills.

00:56:47Guest:No, I haven't heard from him.

00:56:50Guest:We'll find out one day.

00:56:52Marc:You ever played with that guy?

00:56:53Guest:Yeah, we have.

00:56:54Guest:He can play too, huh?

00:56:55Guest:Yeah, he's a great player.

00:56:56Guest:I always liked his music, Manassas.

00:56:59Guest:Do you ever hear that stuff?

00:57:02Guest:What, his original band?

00:57:04Guest:Yeah, he had a band after Buffalo Springfield and after his solo stuff.

00:57:07Guest:Manassas.

00:57:08Guest:Manassas.

00:57:09Marc:Who else was in it with him?

00:57:11Guest:Chris Hillman.

00:57:12Marc:Oh, really?

00:57:13Marc:I don't know if I know that stuff.

00:57:15Marc:Yeah, you should check it out.

00:57:16Marc:It's great?

00:57:16Marc:It's big guitars.

00:57:18Marc:It's great.

00:57:18Marc:Really?

00:57:19Marc:Yeah.

00:57:19Marc:While you listen to that, what's that one?

00:57:22Marc:With Bloomfield, Al Cooper, Supergroup.

00:57:26Marc:Oh, yeah, Super Session.

00:57:28Marc:Super Session.

00:57:28Marc:Yeah.

00:57:29Marc:There's some good stuff on there, but a lot of those are separate songs by the guys.

00:57:32Marc:Were you a Bloomfield guy?

00:57:34Guest:Yeah.

00:57:34Marc:I can't like I can't like Peter Green I listened to and I'm like I get it, you know Bloomfield I get it, but it's it's too much for me It's a little mind-blowing.

00:57:44Marc:Yeah, like he just like it It's it's beyond my understanding, but it's great.

00:57:50Marc:No, he's amazing.

00:57:51Marc:Yeah.

00:57:52Marc:Just have you tried to work out those licks?

00:57:54Marc:I've tried you know

00:57:56Marc:still trying yeah so like who are your main guys is it like is it like you went to the king the three kings yeah and uh but is it who do you prefer out of those guys oh you can't judge you can't say they're old yeah did you ever play with uh with bb or any of those cats

00:58:19Guest:We've done shows with him, but never actually played with him.

00:58:22Marc:Never sat in with him?

00:58:23Marc:No.

00:58:23Marc:Who were some of the guys from your heroes outside of Clapton that you were able to play with that blew your mind?

00:58:30Marc:Did you play with Stevie Ray?

00:58:32Guest:Yeah, we did.

00:58:33Marc:That must have been something to watch him play right up close.

00:58:36Guest:The first time we met him, we were in Lund, I think, in Sweden.

00:58:42Guest:yeah and uh he was doing the the big show at the college yeah and we were playing a bar you know later in the evening yeah so he we went to his show and then he came to ours and sat in with us and that's how we met you know oh you guys must have had a blast yeah it was fun and then over the years we'd run into each other here and there we did uh uh some shows in italy with uh the pogues uh-huh stevie ray and ourselves

00:59:05Marc:it's interesting like lineups and because you guys toured so much you really like that that was your whole life is hanging out with these guys they all these different types of people the pogues that's an interesting billing it's you stevie ray and the pogues yeah i think it was the accordion uh uh well stevie ray was the you know he was the headliner the headliner right and then the the accordion connection with the pogues and locals and that's that kind of made sense

00:59:29Marc:It does make sense.

00:59:31Marc:A totally different approach, I guess, huh?

00:59:33Marc:Yeah.

00:59:34Marc:So what's the plan now?

00:59:36Marc:How many dates are you going to do?

00:59:38Guest:Well, as few as possible.

00:59:40Guest:You know, I've gotten used to staying home, and I like it.

00:59:45Marc:That's a lot, dude.

00:59:46Guest:I mean, you know.

00:59:47Guest:Yeah, well, we did this weekend.

00:59:48Guest:We did four shows.

00:59:49Guest:In Big Sur?

00:59:50Guest:I did two in Big Sur, and then we played in Santa Cruz and up in Napa.

00:59:57Guest:What were the venues?

01:00:00Guest:Big Sur was just a small outdoor amphitheater.

01:00:03Guest:And Santa Cruz, it was at the Dream Inn.

01:00:09Guest:It's a hotel where we played poolside, and people, they rent.

01:00:13Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:00:13Marc:Oh, I think I saw some footage of that.

01:00:15Marc:They were up on the balconies and stuff.

01:00:17Marc:It worked out all right?

01:00:18Guest:Yeah.

01:00:19Guest:Yeah, we did it earlier when the COVID was still, the lockdown was tighter, so that was the only way we could do a gig.

01:00:26Guest:We did some drive-in gigs, but little by little, it's opening up.

01:00:29Marc:Yeah.

01:00:31Marc:Oh, he did the drive-in gigs.

01:00:33Marc:Yeah.

01:00:34Marc:I'm a comic, and I just was like, I can't do it.

01:00:36Marc:That's got to be hard.

01:00:37Marc:I can't do it.

01:00:37Marc:Are you going to stand there and wait for them to flash their lights?

01:00:41Marc:You can't connect with anybody.

01:00:42Marc:No, no, I couldn't do it, man.

01:00:43Marc:But I tell you, that's why I envy musicians.

01:00:48Marc:Because of all these years you've got, playing those parties and playing those weddings and stuff, you can play anywhere and deal with it, right?

01:00:57Marc:Yeah, and deal with it, yeah.

01:00:59Marc:Some are better than others, huh?

01:01:02Marc:Yeah.

01:01:03Marc:How do you want to work in the future?

01:01:04Marc:If you don't want to tour, are you going to do more collaborations with people or kind of lay low or what?

01:01:11Marc:Well, it's kind of up in the air still.

01:01:16Guest:We will be doing more shows, but I hope we'll try to spread them out and not kill ourselves like we were.

01:01:23Marc:It's sort of astounding how many things you were involved with.

01:01:28Marc:Do you look back on it and just go, holy shit.

01:01:31Guest:Yeah, you know, I feel grateful.

01:01:33Guest:I've been able to play with a lot of people that we've admired over the years.

01:01:38Guest:Yeah.

01:01:39Marc:It's been good.

01:01:40Marc:Yeah.

01:01:41Marc:Well, I mean, I wish you continued success, and I love the record, and it was great talking to you, man.

01:01:45Marc:Well, thank you.

01:01:46Guest:Thank you, man.

01:01:46Marc:Thanks for having me.

01:01:47Guest:Thanks for having me.

01:01:52Marc:There you go.

01:01:53Marc:The new album, Native Sons, will be available July 30th.

01:01:57Marc:You know, when we were walking out, I asked him if he had any strats, because I have a strat, and we were talking guitars on the way to the car.

01:02:03Marc:I said, you got a strat?

01:02:03Marc:You got an old strat?

01:02:04Marc:He's like, I got one.

01:02:05Marc:I got a 58.

01:02:05Marc:I'm like, oh, really?

01:02:06Marc:He's like, yeah, Jerry Garcia gave it to me.

01:02:09Marc:I'm like, no shit.

01:02:10Marc:He says, yeah, we were playing with the dead, and he said, you got a strat?

01:02:15Marc:Do you want a 58 Stratocaster?

01:02:17Marc:And Hidalgo says, yeah, it's a little out of my range, man.

01:02:20Marc:He's like, no, I'm going to give it to you.

01:02:22Marc:And he gave it to him.

01:02:23Marc:He said he keeps it in the locker.

01:02:25Marc:So he's got Jerry Strat.

01:02:27Marc:There's a little trivia.

01:02:29Marc:Now I will play my Stratocaster.

01:02:31Marc:Not a 58.

01:02:31Marc:It's like an 87.

01:02:33Marc:Not impressive.

01:02:37¶¶

01:02:52So.

01:03:20Thank you.

01:03:45so so

01:04:14so so

01:04:54Guest:Thank you.

01:05:22Guest:Boomer lives.

01:05:24Guest:Monkey and La Fonda.

01:05:30Guest:Cat angels everywhere.