Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. >> The Joe Rogan Experience. >> TRAIN BY DAY. JOE ROGAN PODCAST BY NIGHT. All day. You believe? >> Mhm. >> I think something's going on. I don't know what that something is. >> Yeah, I know. That's the whole argument of um you know a species living long enough to surviving long enough to actually have faster than light or at fast light travel is it's a tough one. >> It is a tough one. Are we rolling? I think um they probably have some unique propulsion system that has nothing to do with moving in one direction to another. I think they fold space and time. Yeah. >> This is what Yeah. the the what is it the the um the wormhole that brings the two things together so you skip all lists. >> Yeah, I think that's the theory, but I mean obviously >> it's them living that's it's that species existing long enough cuz we're like we're getting close to >> Yeah. >> you know and we're nowhere near that. So the species living long enough to achieve that and then come here is the you know that's that's the the stumbling block I have. >> Yeah. Well a lot of people have that a lot of people have that stumbling block. I think there's also the possibility that they didn't evolve in the same violent world that we did. >> But then there's a question well then what gave them the motivation to innovate and move forward? Because for us a lot of it is survival and competition and that's the reason why people innovate in the first place. >> Wars create great innovation. >> I mean the real the the more interesting theory is that they're monitoring us to make sure that we can successfully pass this sort of adolescent phase of evolution that we're currently in. >> Yeah. >> That's why they hover over nuclear bases and >> We hope we hope we get there. It's uh very debatable. >> Yeah. Well, listen, man. Um, thank you for being here. It's kind of cool to meet you. It's fascinating. I mean, I've listened to your music when I was in high school, which is crazy. >> And to see you look as good as you look now. I mean, we played a video. I don't know if you ever saw we played. >> We were freaking out. Like, this guy's like, "How old are you?" >> 77. >> 77. That's incredible, dude. because a lot of your contemporaries when they've, you know, even guys younger than you, they're falling apart and you were out there singing Jesse's Girl like you wrote it a week ago. It was crazy. >> That was actually a great comment. I really appreciate that cuz it's uh I'm I'm still very passionate about playing music and you know and they say, "How do why do you how can you deliver a song that you've played a million times?" It's cuz the the energy of the audience, you know, I mean, I wrote the song and to see an audience react like that to it. It's pretty difficult to just sit back and go, you know, so it it charges me up, too. Well, it's nice that you still enjoy it and appreciate it because I think even though it's the dream for everyone to become a rock star, for some >> I mean for some people something happens along the way and they just get so accustomed to it and they get, you know, worn out by it and then they don't love it anymore, >> which is crazy. >> I know. Well, um I obviously it depends on the person, you know, and it depends on what whatever experiences they have. >> Um I've had pretty good experiences. Um and I just I don't I've always wanted to do it, you know? I mean, I since I was 11 years old when I first saw and held my first guitar, I that was what I wanted to do. And really it's kind of centered around playing guitar, although that's not what I'm necessarily known for, but that's what I enjoy the most, you know, and um and when I started to write that that that kind of changed everything for me, too, you know. It gave me a a great f forward focus rather than just playing, but going somewhere with the writing. >> How old were you when you first started performing in front of people? >> Uh about 15. 15 I started play. I you know I had a school band together and um and then I I got kicked out of school and actually I got kicked out of 11th grade and >> for what what happened? >> I didn't show up anymore. I just you know I show I discovered the guitar and um and and I was having I was I had serious depression when I was a kid. I still deal with it. But but um it I was failing in the only arena that was available to me at the time which was school you know with friends and school and work and all that school work and I just wasn't doing well and it was really dragging me down and I started discovered the guitar started staying away from school because I couldn't face going to school. Um but you know instead of playing video games and getting sewn which wasn't available to me at that point um I was reading um Robert Block and August Derlith and great writers because I loved horror and playing the guitar and that was my education really after once I learned to read and write you know that was what I took out of school. >> Where were you living? Uh, I lived in Australia till I was 10. Then we moved to England till I was about 13. And that was a big that was a game changer for me was >> Yeah, because your accent is weird. >> It's like it's all over the place. It's like trying to I'm trying to lock it in and figure out what the hell's going on. >> I know there's some words I can't say with American accent. I can't say Australia without with an American accent. It's just not possible. Um, yeah, we moved to England. That's when I discovered Girls and Guitars. And that was like this the beginning for me. It was a band called Clifer in the Shadows. Cliff Richard in the Shadows. They were before the Beatles. And um yeah, it was uh and then I moved back to Australia and then I went to Vietnam for a couple of months. And then I was uh you Vietnam >> uh 68 69. I was um there was uh promoters in Saigon and Daang and they were looking for the closest accidental country was Australia. So the GIS wanted to see, you know, girls that reminded them of home. So as long we had a couple of girls in the band, they would hire you and you could tour Vietnam during the war zone. It was it was pretty insane. We were there for about 4 months. >> What was that like? Uh it was insane. Uh I I thought, "Oh, great. We'll make money, you know, and of course we didn't make any money. We spent it all at the PX and uh we weren't making much money anyway." But we based out of Saigon and Daang and we toured from Cameron Bay up to uh the DMZ. We were at the DMZ, the Tet after the Tet where they'd crossed over the vehicle and crossed into the cities and everything and like done the big um assault, you know, the Tet assault. We were there. I We're two miles from the DMZ on that next T and I remember New Year's Eve and the flare the, you know, the parachute flare start going off like this and we're and there's like a line of guys heading towards us and it was freaking freaky. They, you know, they kept them at bay, but we got shot at and rocketed and we'd be playing and there'd be mortars landing. stayed over and we we befriended some uh uh Navy guys at uh Marble Mountain, which is outside Da Nang, and we went back there for for uh to give them a free show, you know, cuz they were so appreciative, you know. I mean, they they loved seeing the girls, but they they wanted connection with home, you know, so they to take you into the tents and we'd play Hrix and >> and get stoned and and you know, I mean, even though we're Australian, there still was there was a connection there. And uh so we met these guys and we really got along well and we stayed overnight at the uh with them at the on and we went all got in the bunkers in the perimeter bunkers and I stayed in the radio shack and we got attacked and I'm throwing mortars down the freaking tube of the radio shack and it was >> you were throwing mortars. >> It was freaky. Yeah. This is before you couldn't do any of this now. This is 196869 and it was uh the you know you see traces going off the guys the rest of the bambber and perimeter bunkers and it was uh it was pretty insane. Holy >> We actually went up on a mission in Apache helicopter too um cuz they said you guys want to come and we're all like yeah but it was you know we it was uh pretty hairy. Holy man. That's got to be insane. Were you when when you were over there, were you like, "What the have I done?" >> It was fe was fear. Sorry, I went down the wrong way. It was pretty much fear factor the whole time. >> Holy man. >> We be, you know, we slept with um Hang on. As you get older, you get a dry throat. We slept with a lot of the times where the GI slept in their, you know, their hooches and wake up with with dust. >> Is that you over there? >> Oh, yeah. There we are. >> Holy man. >> That's what we slept in, the hooches a lot of the time. >> How old were you then? >> Um, was I uh 67, 68, 69? I was 18. >> Wow. Wow. >> Yeah. And those jeans hadn't been washed in about 3 months. Do you had to be like rethinking that decision to go over there? >> Um I was there and it was okay, we make the best of it. I mean there was you kind of fall into a mindset although I wasn't you know I wasn't going out you know shooting with the GIS and you fall into a mindset there that everything's legal you know you anything anything goes we um we did some pretty nutty things there at one point we were standing in line with 40 other guys in a in a a hut and uh being serviced by this one one Vietnamese hooker and it was just >> 40 guys waiting for one hooker. >> Yeah. >> Holy >> Um and there was nothing much to do but smoke, you know. I smoked dope started smoking dope there. >> That was the first time. >> Yeah. But I haven't I didn't I haven't not really been a doper, you know, but I did there and it was kind of considered just a thing to do. Everybody was stoned. All the soldiers were stoned >> all the time. >> Yep. Yeah. >> Wow. >> You know, >> the last thing I would want to do is be high in a war zone. >> Uh, dude, I we were in a we're in the train, right, which is this beautiful uh beach town and and they go there for RNR cuz they could surf, right? But it was still dangerous. And we were in a uh we stay in these sometimes if we weren't with staying on an army base, we'd stay in these old villas that were old French villas that were once beautiful and now we're ratinfested, you know? I mean, we'd be sleeping on CS and rats would be gone underneath. We we got stoned. I remember one night we got stoned and the next thing you hear machine gun right outside the house and you hear the guy goes, "HIT THE LIGHTS. HIT THE FLOOR." OF COURSE, the lights go out and we all hit the floor and you didn't know what was going on, but when you're stoned, it's like, oh my god, it could have been anything. >> Holy man. >> But it was it was freaky. But the but being stoned helped you deal with it, you know, not have the constant fear. Although when the fear hit, if you're stoned, it's like you go over the over the top, you know, but it was just the way we deal with I I remember um we'd be playing for the troops, you know, we playing on the back of a truck and we played in in um uh uh fire bases. We didn't, you know, I we all thought it was going to be like a Bob Hope tour. You know, you come in a fleet of helicopters. You play they you know, they were sitting in bleaches. I applaud you get in a helicopter, fly away. It was nothing like that. Was just a a guy out of Saigon that that hired uh hired us. And um uh what was I what was I talking about? I get lost very easily. I have ADHD and there's so much awesome around here to look at that I'm kind of >> um we were talking about getting stoned and uh >> Oh yeah. And we were sitting on playing on a on a back of a truck and there's a guy sitting there on their helmets with their M16s, right? Just watching the show and and we finish and this guy comes up to me and he's stoned out of his head. He's go I'm going to go out and see what I can kill now, man. and he puts his helmet on and walks out into the jungle with a with a company. But it was just bizarre experiences like that that now I look back and go, "What the was I thinking?" You know, it was uh it was unreal. And and it's so weird because I've I remember Arthur C. Clark telling the story about how he's sitting with a guy on a plane said, "What do you do?" He said, "Oh, during the war." And he went on for two hours about what happened during the war. He says, "What do you do now?" I says, "I'm a insurance salesman." And that was it. You know, like what he does now was a >> Yeah. >> But the whole the war experience, you know, it's it's it's you could go on forever because it's so much happens and it's such a in a space so much is lived, you know, and it the fear is uh kind of when having that much that much fear constantly is is is pretty taxing. And now it wasn't we weren't even going out and shooting although we did uh we'd shoot everything from 45s to tanks and we and um you know we'd be driving along and get shot at and and like I said we'd be playing and the rockets or the mortars would start landing and they'd hustle us into a into a bunker. But it was uh you know we weren't actually going out like those guys were and walking point you know. Well, that was also one of the strangest wars ever cuz it didn't make any sense that why we were over there and then when the soldiers came home instead of being greeted like heroes like they were in World War II >> spat on. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean it was uh >> it was really terrible for them cuz no meeting them over there they go no they you think oh when they get over there probably yeah we we're here we'll do a job. You know all the ones I met were dude I don't know why we're here. I don't know what I'm doing here. All of them while they were, you know, fighting. So, it's uh it was it was a it was a bad war for sure. >> No, one of the worst wars ever. And these guys coming back from that. It was it just that that experience must have been so different because you're over there, you're killing people, you don't know why you killed people, and then then you're in the grocery store like that scene from uh what's that movie? >> You know the movie I'm talking about? No. >> Apocalypse. >> No, no, no, no. Um, Hurt Locker. >> Remember when the guy comes back, he was uh, you know, uh, diffusing IEDs. He comes back and he's walking to the grocery store and he's just like, "What the am I doing?" Like the the contrast between the two places just too much. It's too crazy. >> Yeah. That's my mom said when I came back and they picked me up at the airport she said a car backfired and I like jumped and I don't remember it but she said you know my eyes look kind of haunted. >> I could only imagine. >> Took me a while to kind of get through it. >> Did you see people die over there? >> What's that? >> Did you see people die over there? >> Um we saw trophy albums which were kind of scary. They said a lot of the GI kept trophy albums where they'd photograph like body parts or a guy that had a 50 mm shell go through his head, you know, and >> it was um pretty freaky. Um the the leader of the band actually died when we got home from a disease he picked over picked up over there, a lung disease. Died at 25. >> What was it? >> Um his name is Pete Watson. He was the leader of the band. I was a guitar player in the band. I wasn't a lead singer or anything and he um we he must have gone somewhere where we didn't go on the days off and you know picked up something >> just some jungle disease. >> Yeah. The guy the doctor said you've been anywhere exotic lately. He said I just got back from Vietnam. Why? He said well you got this thing in your lungs that is pretty rare. So, you know, I don't know if it was Agent Orange or if it was something you picked up from the from, you know, whatever was in Vietnam, but yeah, he lasted about a year. >> Oh, wow. Unfortunately, none of you guys got it. >> Yeah, we all we all raced to the doctors and got, you know, chest X-rays and but it was okay. But, yeah, he it's weird. the um I said I was looking him up the other day and it's uh didn't realize he was so young when he died. You know, he was older than me then. So seemed like an older guy, but he was only 25. >> Wow. How much time in total were you over there for? >> Uh about 4 months. >> Holy man. >> And there was a point where they wanted us to go play in North Vietnam. They said, "We'll keep the choppers going. Uh there's a troop over there that wants you to come and play and we'll keep the choppers going. And so if we if we get into trouble, you can get, you know, and luckily he said, "No, we're not doing that." The wait is over. Football is here and so is DraftKings. The DraftKings sports app is now live in all 50 states. That means from Texas to California to Florida. Every fan is in on the excitement. And this September, DraftKings is giving customers the opportunity to get boosted every football game day. That's right, every game day. All month long, DraftKings customers can get a football profit boost. One app, every sport, all 50 states. New DraftKings customers sign up with Code Rogan. Spend just five bucks and get 200 in total rewards within 21 days. Includes all markets. That's code Rogan in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler 1800 my reset. Connecticut, call 888789777 or visit ccpg.org. on behalf of Bootill Casino in Kansas. Bet tax pass through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Void in Canada. Bet with DraftKings Sportsbook to get bonus bets that expire in 7 days or trade with DraftKings predictions to get predictions dollars that expire in one year. Event contract trading involves risk of loss. Predictions offer void in New York. Non-withdrawable rewards issued as $50. Click to claims every 7 days for 21 days. Terms at dk&ng.co/offer. Limited time offer. Nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability varies by state. >> We had enough uh you know of that experience. What was the decompression like when you got back home? >> I don't really remember because um it's just one of those I mean I the hardest thing for me was that um I had thrown a mortar down and it had hit somebody and uh they came in the next day and said, "Hey, you got one. You got one." And um that was it still has a place hard place to land in me, you know. >> Yeah. >> And that's really the kind of the one thing I brought back with me that I couldn't really find a place for that to land. And still it still seems like you know years ago another another guy another place. >> So explain to me how this is happening. like where are you where you're throwing these mortars down? >> Place called Marble Mountain Marble Mountain. was outside Da Nang and it was a Navy encampment on the beach and uh and I was in the radio shack and um and the guy the band members were in the perimeter the perimeter boxes you know and they radio you know it was like the movies radio came in uh act we're seeing movement over here check for friendlies uh and they said no no friendlies there so uh they said hey you want throw some mortars down the tube and it was John Wayne time, you know. I mean, I as a young kid, I didn't really understand what I was doing. I said, "Oh, yeah, let's fire a gun, you know." So, I threw the mortars down, about five or six mortars, which I could have easily lost a hand, you know? I mean, you you kind that kind of thing. And and um and they came in the next morning and said one of them had hit a VC. Wow. How long did that sit with you for? >> What's that? >> How long did that sit with you for? Like how long? >> I think it's still there, you know? I mean it doesn't I it's it's hard for me to you know kind of face that I was responsible for the end of a you know a a life even though it's distant and it's war and I didn't really have anything to do with it and didn't really know what I was doing but you know as a kid and playing like I said John Wayne but it was um it's it's pretty heavy when you know, when I think about the reality of it. >> Did you write any songs about that experience? >> Um, no. I wrote about it in my autobiography, but uh it's not really Well, not yet. Hasn't been sold material. >> Yeah, cuz it seems like there's probably something there. >> Oh, yeah. There's definitely some something there for sure. Um, I have a I mean, not to to commercialize it, but I have a a record, a new record coming out that deals with, which probably could be elements from that. It deals with getting older and, you know, like my first album, Working Class Dog, was I was 29, 30. It was all about getting laid, you know, cuz that's all a guy thinks of and that's what you're right about. But as you get older, there's other things to think about. Um, so there's, you know, getting older, you know, the thinking of, uh, death isn't somewhere out there. And so, you write I write about stuff that I think about, and that's what I've been thinking about. Um, you know, sex is still in there, but not as much as it was when I was 29 and 30. >> Of course. Yeah. Well, it's uh kind of amazing because when you were young and when you first started on this musical journey, there were no 76-y old rock stars. >> It didn't exist. And it was thought to be a young man's game, period. And when people got to be a certain age, they just stopped playing. >> Mhm. >> And you know, the Rolling Stones were like sort of the first to defy that. >> Yeah. I remember in uh 88 they put out an album and it was a big deal that God the Rolling Stones put out a new album. This is crazy. These guys are going to go on tour. This is crazy. >> I know. And they just recently said, "Well, I don't know if I can do it anymore." Keith did right. >> I know. Recently now I saw them >> Yeah. >> at Circuit of the Americas, the racetrack out here. It was like a 100,000 people four years ago, three years ago, whatever it was when they they played in Austin. It was incredible, man. >> Mick has two trailers that are just gym equipment. >> He has two huge tractor trailers and the inside of it is just a gym. >> That's awesome. >> And that guy works out every day just so he can keep doing it. >> Yeah. you I mean he's an the inspiration as far as how far you can push it cuz >> he's the canary in the coal mine. >> The last I mean their last album he sounds incredible kind of like he's 18 you know >> I mean Paulie is now starting to you know I love Paul McCartney's been he was the guy I looked up to as a kid you know and he's starting to get a little you know a little weaker but um but he's still amazing I mean to me he's one of the great rock voices. Oh, for sure. >> Um, but Jagger is it's crazy. I mean, still sounds the same. >> Not just sounds the same, but when he's on stage, he's moving. >> He's nonstop. >> Nonstop. and dancing and moving and singing with emotion and >> and it seems just like I when I saw you perform Jesse's Girl like he's singing it like he still loves it like he still appreciates the experience >> and never got jaded by it all. >> Yeah. I think um I mean I saw an interview recently with him and he said and the guy said, you know, do you feel different? because it because you know you've been this all your life. He goes, "Yeah, I feel different than other people because of it. You know, I feel separate from them." And I and I understand that there is a degree of that that just happens cuz it's it's not normal to get up and in front of, you know, a thousand a couple of thousand people and have them want to be there and to be with you and to sing. You know, it's it's I guess that's kind of the element of everyone want to be a rock star is as an actor. You're not an actor's done on film or whatever and then played, you know, but the the rock star has it on record plus he's got it live. That live connection is uh I think what everybody kind of looks at in the end as far as that's what I'd love to do >> is have all those people go, "Yeah." Well, it's also that experience is such a positive experience for everyone. For you, for them, it's a when you when I go to a live concert, I I'm always amazed at how good it feels. Like there's a it's like you're on a drug. Like you're feeling it. Like it's like everyone is loving the music, the sound, the performers there, and the fact that they're actually right there. There's so much going on that it's like you walk out, you're like, "That was awesome." >> I know. I I feel like it's uh kind of taken the place of of church, you know, where we go to commune with uh with our fellow, you know, humans and we're all it's different than a sports event because sports event is generally two sides, right? >> But when you're at a concert, everyone's pointing the same way. >> Also, it's all positive. Like if your team loses, you don't leave there dejected. Yeah. >> If you're there to see, you know, fill in the blank, whatever band, and you leave there, you're like, "Fuck, that was awesome." Yeah. Yeah. I I I say actually that our job is to give >> the audience 90 minutes, 2 hours of freedom from the crap that bothers them during the day. Yes. >> And it frees us too, you know, frees me when I don't think of all the that that, >> you know, that the monkeys talk in my head. So, it's uh mutual, you know, mutual good feeling. >> Yeah. 100%. And it's also it's like such a uniquely positive thing that you can give to people. >> And what if you if you can perform to your fans every night, the amount of positivity you're spreading and the amount they're receiving and you're receiving is just what a unique life because the average person will never experience what you experience on a normal night. >> Yeah, that's probably true. Um I I think there are different uh var you know version of that. I mean like you're you know you you understand that you get a lot of attention for what you do you know it's uh basically someone you and somewhere inside you going someone's noticing me what I do uh I'm not just it's not just you know because we create art art we create art um because we just have to And art doesn't exist to be liked. Our ego wants it to be liked. >> And it's our ego. I think that that whole thing uh charges, you know, the whole audiencing charges. But I think if you don't have any any ego, you're not going to get into the business anyway, >> right? >> And I think it feeds that. And I think it's uh it's the smart person who can try and put it into perspective and not you know like certainly MC Jagger has put it into perspective. He certainly had time to put it into perspective and his is you know a huge experience but I think Paul McCartney is same way is very seems >> you know considering what he's done he's amazingly grounded I think. Yeah, for sure. I mean, just to be not completely insane. Yeah. When you're that famous for that many years to >> the most famous. >> I think everyone has to have an ego and the ego kind of gets you to the dance. But if I think if you're objective about it and if you're smart about it, you realize that like serving the ego is uh it's a fruitless effort. It's there's that's not the way to do it. No, I I I agree. I >> think the way to do it is to eventually transfer from I want all these people to like me to I want to put all my energy into the whatever it is, the craft, whatever it is, and making it amazing. >> And don't think about anything else like, oh, they're going to love me for this. That I think that poisons the well. >> I think so. I I agree. And I and I think that's what I meant by, you know, art just is you just create art >> out of, you know, because you have to, because you need to, but but it's the ego that makes it want to be liked, you know, which is not I don't mean that's a good thing. I just mean that's >> it gets you to the dance. >> Yeah. >> There's no without ego, without wanting that. And most most people who start out in it, >> they start out from a place of being an outcast and feeling like they don't get enough attention. So, well, me too. And then you decide, oh, uh, this will get me way more attention than I've ever had in my life, and it'll fill that hole. >> Fill that hole. But it never does. >> Never does. But I think once you become centered or grounded in this experience, then your focus should not be on you and attention. All of your energy should be into what you're doing, whether it's making songs or writing jokes and performing them, whatever it is. It's like then it becomes, okay, now the the new task with all this energy is just let me do the best I can with whatever this thing is that I'm doing. >> Yeah, I agree. I I think like the first I always say the first couple of years when I when it first hit for me, I thought it was all about me and then I realized it was all about the audience, all about the fans. >> Was Jesse's Girl first big hit? Um, I had had one when I first came over here in 72 from Australia. I had a song called Speak to the Sky that was it got me the deal over here. It was a first hit solo hit I'd had in Australia and it was um like number 10 got to number 10 over here and was a hit in Canada, but it was it was kind of a weird country, you know, holy roller kind of song. I wrote it for my mom and um >> Oh, that's cool. very different than, you know, what I became known for. But it was uh that was kind of the first hit. And then they kind of they managers I started getting picked up by teen magazines which I'd never seen before. In Australia, they didn't have them. They had one music paper and that was it. and they're asking me, you know, doing all I'm doing all these interviews, music interviews, and I I look at the the finished article and it's like, you know, cuddle up with Rick, you know, is Rick too tall Rick too tall to love? I'm what the is this? This is not what we talked about. I talked about, you know, yeah, I come over here um I'm a songwriter and I want to, you know, all this kind of stuff and I'm going, what is this? So, I started um you know, I I my my ego got the better of me and I started going, well, I'm you know, I'm getting noticed in America. It's a big apple, you know. Um so, I I should I kind of lean into this, I guess, you know, because I'm getting a lot of press. So, I did for a little while and it was going nowhere. was I wasn't writing the music that that you know I was writing songs about a guy that committed suicide, writing songs about a woman that was trying to decide if she should leave her husband cuz he's cheating on her and and they're going where's you know where is Cherish where's doesn't somebody want to be wanted giving him all this press you know and there's no he's there's no hits here after speak to this guy so I eventually left my managers who were kind of pushing me in that direction which was a drag because I loved one One of the guys was Steve Binder, who actually I still talk to, who was the director of the Elvis special, you know, the comeback special. >> Oh, >> and I met Elvis on a plane once and uh and and I said, you know, my manager, Steve Binder, and he go, I love Steve. And >> you met Elvis on a plane? >> Yeah. Yeah. Going back to Australia because I was having uh trouble with with uh getting a visa here. I had to prove I wasn't putting an American out of work. Right. That was that was their phrase. >> Who was president back then in America? >> Uh >> what year was this? >> 7172 73. >> So that was post Nixon. Was that Lyndon Johnson or was that Nixon? When did Nixon get kicked out? >> I think was it still Nixon? >> When was Watergate? >> Uh Watergate was when I was over here. So >> 74. So it was Nixon >> 70s. Yeah. Yeah. So, I had to prove, you know, and we're taking all these like, it was really weird. We're taking these scrapbooks full of this these crappy stories from the teen magazines into >> cuddle up with Rick. >> Yeah. Look here, >> Mr. President. >> Look how much press I'm getting. You know, an American. This is not going to put an American out of work. >> Anyway, so I the plane stopped at Hawaii before to refuel because I couldn't go all the way to Australia back then. And I get on the plane and u I walk in and there's Elvis sitting like right there. I was in the back of the bus back then. Elvis sitting in the in the first class. He looked great. He was skinny, jet black hair. His skin looked great. Uh powder blue suit on. Looked really just I wasn't a fan really back then cuz I was more into the British invasion everything. But he said, "Oh, that's Elvis. That's cool." So, I go back there and um and and I I had a girlfriend in Australia at the time who was a giant Elvis fan. So, he did a thing I've never seen anybody do. Now, when you get in a plane and you see a celeb, they got like a hood on and the glasses and they're like they're looking down. He got up before the plane landed in Hawaii and walked back signing autographs and taking photos with all the all the people in the plane. >> Wow. Wow. And he got to me and I went, "Uh, hey, um, uh, Steve Binder, my my manager." Yeah. Because I know him and Steve got along really well on the on the the Elvis special cuz the Colonel wanted it to be Elvis in a Christmas sweater singing Christmas songs. And Steve walked into the dressing room one time and as Elvis playing with his buddy his buddies, you know, and he goes, "I want to put that on film." Which became the, you know, him jamming in the boxing ring. and uh and and the colonel's going, "Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We're keeping it, you know, a family thing." And we and so they buted heads like crazy, but Elvis was on Steve's side. And for once, Elvis took, yeah, I want to do this, you know, he didn't go with what the colonel said. So, uh I know he got along really well with Steve. So, anyway, I'd heard that before I met him and uh and I and said, "Yeah, I love Steve. He's a great guy." And I said, "Would you sign this to Allison, who was my girlfriend at the time?" And he signed it. And I put I had my little tape recorder that recorded all my songs in. And I put the autograph in there, and we went through Australian customs, and they saw my tape record and said, "Oh, we're going to see what's in this. Might might be porn in here. Who knows?" You know? So, they took it and came back and the Elvis autograph was gone. >> They stole your Elvis autograph. These >> I know. Don't trust them. They're bastards. Oh, back in the day, too. They don't they didn't have any cameras on them either. >> No. Exactly. Right. >> I know. >> Dirty people. Oh, that must have been so wild. His relationship with the Colonel was so creepy. That movie was fantastic. >> What did Tom Hanks kill it as the Colonel? >> Mhm. >> It was just like what a >> I know >> creepy relationship. And it's so common, for whatever reason, for these really talented people to have some person managing them, this like creepy character, >> clueless. Yeah. And weird. I think the Beatles were were rare in the respect that they had Epstein, Epstein, what however you pronounce his name, >> Brian Epstein, that was um a smart guy and on the cusp of like pop really happening and and did good things with them, you know, cleaned them up, uh told them, you know, bow and he the music was the music, but he was one of the really few that really I I don't think he knew what he was doing, but he had a good intent and so he found ways to make, you know, do the right thing. But but I've never met anyone or read anything that the colonel wasn't a freaking jerk, you know. >> Yeah. I just don't understand how Elvis had no one who was capable of separating him from the colonel. >> Yeah. Well, I if anyone could have, Steve Binder could have, but but he I think, you know, he felt secure around the colonel, I guess. >> Yeah. Well, there's certain people that especially because Elvis had a pill problem, right? So, it was probably he was his enabler. >> Yeah. >> He was, you know, shielded everybody from him, kept him safe and kept isolated, you know. >> Yeah. >> Ah, it was great. Elvis, how was the performance, you know, when he was overweight and >> Yeah. >> Ah, it was great, man. You were great. One of my favorite performances of his was when he was really fat when he was singing in Vegas and he sounds like he's mumbling and it's and then what is the song that do you remember the song Jamie? We've played it before. >> But he once he starts once he starts belting out the song you're like my god he's good. >> Oh >> on the piano. He's on the piano. >> What is it? >> Unchain melody. >> Yes. Unchain. >> Unchained melody. My god it's good. Yeah. >> And you just realize like you see him and the way he's talking, he's clearly high as a kite. There's something wrong. He's so fat. It's like so sweaty and he looks terrible. You're like, "Oh my god, poor Elvis. What's wrong with him?" And then you s you hear him sing. You see him sing and it all goes away. You're like, "Who cares? Who cares?" My god, that's magic. >> That's magic. That is live performance like personified. There's something about the magic of an insanely talented person performing live and that one Elvis song was that >> and it came through all the drug use and everything and all the Yeah, it's pretty amazing. I mean I I know exactly the the thing you're talking about. >> Yeah. Here it is. >> I can't play it. >> We're getting It's getting harder and harder and harder. >> Yeah, we keep getting kicked off. >> You can't play the music. We get copyright strikes and you know, which is unfortunate because like look how fat he is. >> Yeah. >> Poor guy. And that's when he was performing. Was that he's living in Vegas? >> Oh. Uh >> getting where it was. >> I think it was probably I think it might have been after that. But he was doing the Vegas things, right? To pay for the Colonel's gambling debt. >> Yeah. Isn't that nuts? >> Wow. >> Well, I bet it also was probably easier for him, too, to not have to go anywhere. >> Yeah. He didn't like planes. I heard that. So >> 1977. My god. So that's right before he died, right? Didn't he die in like 78? When did he die? >> Yeah, I think that's uh Yeah, I know where I was when he died. >> Wait, what day did I say I was? That was two months before he died. >> Wow. >> Two months before he died. >> He died on August 16th, 1977. >> Wow. >> And he And how old was he? like 40 >> 42. Ain't that insane? >> That's crazy. >> And look at you. >> Keep on trucking, dog. >> What do you do to stay healthy? >> Um, I work out every day or six days a week. I eat well. My dad died early. My dad died when he was uh well, he died twice actually. He died when he was 51 and they brought him back and um he he he had an ulcer on his uh major artery in his stomach and uh he was worried about it. He didn't he thought it was cancer and so he wouldn't didn't want to go to the doctor. He didn't want to hear the bad news, you know. He thought uh what you don't know, you know, >> right? So, and and he eventually I was at home actually when he passed out and they took him into the hospital and he's in bed and he's the also burst and he start bleeding coming blood coming out everywhere. Luckily, there was a doctor just down a couple of beds down. They rushed him into emergency but he did die. His uh and his heart stopped and they took 15 minutes to get it going again. >> Oh my god. and he came back uh you know he's a real in charge guy just really loving really amazing person he came back as basically a 5-year-old >> oh wow >> and uh I remember sitting in the backyard trying to help him remember who was who in his life and he I go um so Michelle is married to no George Michelle is George's daughter he's married to Nan, you go, "Okay, so Nan is a daughter." No. And it was just it was heartbreaking trying to get him to remember his old friends. And um so I that stuck with me because he hadn't paid attention to it. And so I'm kind of the opposite now. I do pre-nuvo. I do blood draws. >> What's prenuvo? >> Prennuvo is a body scan. >> Uh MRI body scan. I mean you were asking about you know just how I stay in shape but this is all part of it is knowing >> what is going on inside you you know and not ignoring anything >> which is not to say you know I won't sip off a curb and get hit by a bus one day >> but you you know you do what you can as you know you know >> um I have a blood draw as soon as I get home actually just to keep an eye on things and anyway so he so he didn't pay attention and uh and that's that kind stayed with me. And so I started focusing on what I ate. I started um being aware that earlier maybe than normal that you know there there is a used by a date, you know. >> Yeah. >> Um so I guess I started uh I started running. Running just happened to be a new thing uh in the early '7s. So I started that and and I'd always loved running. The only thing I was good at at school was actually was running in English and um so I started running and that kind of got me into the whole well if you're running then you maybe as well eat well and and you want to get some upper body strength and work out. So, I just started doing I've run all my life um until about 15 years ago when my knees suddenly said, "Nah, we're not going to do that anymore." >> That's pretty good. >> Find something else >> to to get that long running is pretty incredible. >> Yeah, it was it was great. I did love running. I'd get like on the tour bus, I'd we I'd get up at the tour bus and wherever we were, I'd just put on clo running clothes and start running. I run 20 minutes one way, 20 minutes back. Sometimes it go into some pretty weird areas, you know, of of a city and uh you start worrying about who was around, but it was uh was, you know, a great way to stay in shape. We actually went on came off the road in more better shape than we went on. We go to gyms and and work out and I wasn't a big druggie or or alcohol guy back then. And uh so it was that was what I did with my time off was uh was stay in shape and and watch what I eat. And my wife's an amazing chef and we always eat real clean organic and uh and I have you know she turned me on to to to skin routine back when uh I was kind of too embarrassed to tell my band members that I took care of my skin call me a a freak, you know. But u I thought skin was, you know, I thought, well, guys skin's different from women's skin, you know, we got whiskers, we don't need all that stuff, but skin is skin. And um and she got me, my wife, she got me, my girlfriend then she got me into, you know, taking care of my skin. And I still do that. I still take care of my skin. And um uh I'm actually in a trial uh with a company called BMI that uh is really unique. And I've been in the trial for four years with this stuff um where they take a a sample of your cells from behind your ear and they grow your cells and the growth serum. They pull the growth serum from that and put it into something that you put back on your face >> and it's Have you heard of Skin Medica has one only they use uh baby foreskins? >> Baby foreskins for real? >> Yeah. Newborn foreskins. >> Really? >> Yeah. That's what they get the the the the growth factors from. But this is your own growth factor. So you're putting that back on your own body back in your, you know, on your on your face. It's been pretty amazing. >> I would prefer your method. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I'm not into baby fores on my face. I know they're doing it with different stem cells. They're doing it with um >> what they do is they do micro needling. >> Yeah. And so they kind of like micro needle your whole face and then they use exosomes and they also use something called muse cells which is the latest and greatest version of it, >> right? But that's that's outside stuff. This the be stuff is your own cells which is pretty great, >> you know? I think that's a difference. >> I think the thing that's different is that with your own cells as you get older they're just not as good, you know. >> Oh, you think the the younger ones work? Well, it they certainly seem to like muse cells in particular, which is the newest iteration of uh stem cell technology, seems to work much better than cells that cells that they used to get from either u fat. They used to get it from your fat, right? Or they used to get it from bone marrow. >> Yeah, I've had the bone marrow stem cells done. I had that injected into my hips. It was >> was it works? >> Yeah, it Well, it definitely works. It just doesn't work as well. these mucels. I mean, there's people that are going over to Saudi Arabia and doing it in Dubai. And >> that's right. It's always It's never here, man. I I got into Regenicine, Orthocine. >> Mhm. I've done Reenicine. >> Yeah. And uh cuz Kobe used to have to go to Germany for it, right? >> And now they've got bypassed the law somehow. And and so I I get that pretty regular. not regularly because of the last couple of years, but I'm due for it now in my my shoulders cuz you know that's uh lifting weights, you know, no matter what how heavy you go, you still, you know, as you get older, you wear it just happens. >> Um, how long are you in town for? >> I'm leaving actually after this. >> Oh, okay. I was going to send you down. There's a great clinic that my friend owns uh in Austin called Ways to Well, and they do all the latest and greatest. It's like state-of-the-art. All the latest and greatest stem cell technology. They have hyperbaric chambers, red light therapy, all this. I mean, everything that's state-of-the-art, they have. >> Wow. >> Yeah. I wish id known that you had a bunch of injuries. I would have had you come in there. >> I'd make a trip back to check that out. >> Uh Russell Crow comes down all the time. He comes down specifically just for that. >> So they do uh red light and >> Oh, everything. I've done hyperbaric. >> You should get one. You should get one in your house. It's a game changer. Yes. There was a study out of a a university in Israel. They did these um right >> the they did the protocol is 60 sessions of 90 minutes over 90 days. And they show that it lengthens your telomeres. It's equivalent to a 20 year difference in biological age. >> Right. I saw I read that to >> It feels different like when you do it, you feel better. >> Have one at home. >> Yes, I do. And if you have like a Whoop strap or a ring or anything like that, it'll show that you've had an incredible recovery. >> It'll like specifically show from one session, you have an amazing recovery today. And it's specifically because of this hyper oxygen saturated environment of the hyperbaric chamber. >> I wonder if that'll help me sleep. I have I have a trouble sleeping. Trouble sleeping. Yeah. >> Why Why do you have trouble sleeping? What's going >> I don't know. I wake up uh every you know every couple of hours and uh haven't been able to sleep all the way through for quite a while actually. >> Huh. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Imagine waking up tomorrow with perfect discipline. Whatever you decide you're going to do, you just do it. No procrastinating, no negotiating with yourself, no making excuses. Yes, it's a little unrealistic, but everyone wants to be better at something, right? Better is a feeling defined by you. And for better help, it's a better help therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. So, while it can't magically help you keep plants alive, it can help in other ways, like teaching you how to set and stick to goals as you chase your horicultural dreams. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/jre. That's betterh elp.com/jre. Do you ever do sauna before you go to bed? >> Mm- >> Do you do a sauna at all? Do you do that? >> Uh, not a lot. No. Okay, that's another one. There was a study out of Finland that followed. No, no, no. Red light, the thing about red light is like um infrared. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think it's good for you for sure, but there's not robust studies on it like there is with a dry sauna. So, the Finnish have been using dry saunas forever. And they did a study over 20 years with uh quite a large sample group, and they found that the people that use the sauna four times per week for 20 minutes had a 40% decrease in all cause mortality. 40% less strokes, cancer, heart attacks, everything. And it's because of heat shock proteins that your body develops when you're exposed to that. It's uh it also it has an an effect of increasing your endurance because it's essentially like static cardio because as you're sitting there in that heat your heart beats faster and it actually literally increases your cardiovascular output. >> Wow. >> It's incredible. And I'll >> check into that for sure. >> And one of the way the ways that they use it um is contrast therapy. So, what they do is they'll go in the sauna for 20 minutes and then they they usually have their sauna by a lake and they'll like go in the cold water of the lake and then back into the sauna. >> And so what I do is I have a cold plunge. So I have a cold plunge just right next to my sauna and I go back 34 degrees. Wow. >> And so I go back and forth. It's It seems cold, but I'm so used to it. It's not cold anymore. I mean, it is cold. No, no doubt about it. But >> I'm so used to it. I just climb right in and it's nothing. In the beginning, I was like, I can't do this. This is crazy. I think the first time I did it, I did it for like a minute. I was like, this is this sucks so hard. I got to get out of this thing. And then eventually >> do that. >> I got to the point where I do three minutes like it's nothing. It's easy. Yeah. >> Wow. >> But that's also incredible. Not just for your body. You don't want to do it after workout. So, one of the things about after workout is it's bad. It's not good. It's not terrible for you, but it's not good in that it decreases hypertrophy, which is like increasing muscle size because a lot of that is dependent upon the inflammation that happens during exercise. So when you exercise and you you break down your tissue, the the strength comes because your body heals after the exercise. So you blunt a little of that recovery by getting in the cold right after exercise. >> So the way I do it is I get in the cold before I exercise. So, first thing in the morning, I hop in that thing. I do Yeah, I do three minutes and then after I do three minutes, then I start my workout. And the first thing I do is a series of mobility exercises. I usually do those right after I get out. Right outside, right after I get out, I start I do these like swings and twists and all these different things, these like golf swings. And it's all just loosening the body up and getting my heart rate up and cool warming my body up since it's been cooled down. And then I start my strength workout. So I do my workout after that and then after I'm done with my workout, then I get in the sauna. >> Wow. >> Yeah, it's awesome. You feel so much better. First of all, the just the cold when you get out of that cold, your endorphins are flying. Your norepinephrine spikes, your dopamine spikes. You feel amazing. >> It's worth it just for that. It's worth it just for if you could sell a pill that makes you feel as good as I feel when I get out of that cold punch. That would be on every shelf. Yeah. Without the cold punch. But it's available. You just do it. And also it >> it gives you a certain amount of mental toughness. That's about >> Yeah, I know. I get that. >> Yeah. The discipline of it. >> Perseverance. You have There's like there's a thing where you don't want to do it, but you do it. And when you can just train your mind to just do things you don't want to do routinely all the time. >> That's what I do with working out. I I hate I hate walking into a gym and I love walking out. >> Yes. Exactly. Everybody feels the same way. And that's so many people. It's the daunting task is the first few steps. It's just so hard to get going. But once you get going, then it's not hard at all. >> Yeah, I agree. I agree. It becomes the good habit, you know, rather than the >> Yes. and and I and you make it, you know, I I have a gym. I don't like work I've had a gym at home for a while, but I prefer work going to a gym. So, I work out, but I have it close by so I don't have an excuse, you know, to ah it's late, you know. >> Right. Right. Right. >> So, um yeah, I get I get all that. I do. And and being on stage when you said the endorphin hit is kind of I get that on there too. It's >> for sure. Oh, for sure. >> Like, wow. >> Yeah. The thing is like you can't live on that. Like you can't perform every day just to feel better, >> you know? >> Well, you can have I guess if you're on tour, but but it's nice to have that in your actual life as well as your performance. >> I get it. >> Are you a supplement guy? Do you take supplements? >> Yeah, I do actually. Um, I've been through a lot of different uh ones, but uh right now I'm um I'm doing uh I IM8. Is it IM8? It's the one and the one allin-one. >> Oh, okay. >> Um and I do, you know, creatin before workout and the protein after. >> Creatine is actually good just for um mental benefits. Creatine increases cognitive performance and it's really good if you're tired. One of the studies they've shown is that uh people that have sleep deficit like if you're sleep deprived. Um the one of the very best things for performance, mental performance is creatine. >> Oh >> yeah, it does. >> So you take it before you workout too anyway, right? That's what I did. >> It's good for just overall metabolic health. But uh taking it just as a regular part of your day, pre- or post-workout, doesn't matter. Just taking it as a regular part of your day will increase your mental performance. But like if I'm flying and if I have to go somewhere and I'm on the road and I might be tired, I bring I take it every day anyway, but I bring it with me everywhere and I like routinely if I'm tired and I know I'm going to be tired, I take creatine. I can soar through. Really? Yes. >> Has instant uh you feel it right away? >> It completely mitigates any of the sleep deficit brain fog. >> How much you take? take 10 milligrams twice a day or 10 grams rather twice a day. So I take 10 grams in the morning and I take 10 grams at night. >> That's how I usually do it. Me >> I eat mostly protein. My my diet is mo like 90% meat. >> That's mostly what I eat. >> Wow. >> Yeah. I eat meat and fermented vegetables. >> I'll around and have a sandwich or a slice of pizza or some pasta. Like last night I had chicken parmesan. It was great. But most of my diet like 80 to 90% is meat. Yeah, >> I can't eat chicken that's off off the off the menu for >> Why? >> I had chickens when I was a kid that I named >> and then we ate them. >> I have chickens now and I still eat them. >> I don't eat my chickens. My chickens are pets. You know, they're wandering around the yard. I talk to them like, "Hey ladies, >> that's what we used to do. I only my dad every Sunday we and I, you know, I was like a kid. Oh, why not chop his head off, Dad?" So, and he'd throw it and it would like flap around and then and then he'd take them and he and he drop we had this laundry room and he'd throw it in the laundry room in the like boil hot water in the laundry room to get the feathers would come out easier and that smell I walked into a a a group dinner somewhere and they were having chicken and that smell came back to me about when I was about 30 and I have not been able to touch chicken ever since. >> Really? Yeah. >> Wow. I have no problem eating chicken. I know it'd be much easier for me. I eat turkey, which is weird because it's not much different, right? It's just a little stupider. >> But but I just the thought of chicken, I just can't, man. I just can't. >> You think turkeys are stupider than chickens? >> Uh they're the one they're the ones that will drown if they hold their look up at the rain and rain will drown them down. Oh, they're stupid, man. >> Well, they're very cautious and they have they have very good eyesight. I've turkey hunted before. It's like >> Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, wild turkeys may be different from, you know, aren't they? I mean, if they're on the wild, if they're wild, they're probably >> Yeah. stay alive. There's a lot of them in my neighborhood, actually. >> But they're uh they they see really well. Like, you can't move at all if you know you're turkey hunting. You have to be very cautious. >> Wow. >> Yeah. They they have some of the best eyesight of any wild animal. >> Really? >> Yeah. Yeah. That's why you see guys when they turkey hunt, they have these crazy ghillie suits where they're completely covered and they sit with like their back to a tree where they're like completely motionless and then and they usually have like a fake turkey, like a turkey decoy sitting out there and they make noises like rather not go turkey hunting if that's what I got to do. >> You'd probably like to go turkey. >> I'd probably not go turkey if I had to sit there and go. >> Yeah. You have like a little box and I have this little box and it has like it's almost like a fiddle >> and it makes this turkey noiseup. >> Yeah. >> And you've done that? >> Yeah. I've only done it once. The thing about it is my thought was we hunted for a few days for one meal and I'm like I would rather go deer hunting or elk hunting or >> months and months of food and you know and it's better food. Like I'd rather way rather eat elk than I would turkey. There's nothing wrong with wild turkey and I certainly would do it again. It's just not what I prefer. I prefer mammals. I eat mammals. I think they're better for you. They're more nutrientdense. There's a lot more iron and a lot more amino acids and all the >> Have you had kangaroo? >> I have had kangaroo. I think I think I had it when I was in Australia. >> Let me make sure I did. No, I hadve I've had ostrich a bunch of times. Emu. >> I haven't had emu. >> I don't think they've >> God. I don't know if I've had kangaroo. >> It was so long ago. The last time I was in Australia. Maybe I did. >> It's gy. >> But uh I have some friends that live over there and they've had it a bunch of times. >> Oh yeah. >> There's an infestation. Australia is crazy how much >> came more camels in Australia now than there are in in like you know any of the Arab states. Kangaroos for sure. And they had rabbit that infestations. Yeah, they bring except for the the the kangaroos, everything's imported, you know, but the kangaroos are like, you know, you've seen the videos on the golf course. >> Yeah. >> They come up and stare stare at you while you're about to whack a ball. It's freaking hilarious. >> Well, I've seen these videos of these fields where you have like thousands of kangaroos bouncing down these fields. >> It's a wild look. It's a wild there have so many wild animals in Australia. I didn't appreciate it when I lived there, but >> it's it's pretty freaky. They brought when Captain Cook uh who you know supposedly discovered Australia brought back a platypus to England. They thought it was they thought they stitched it together from three different animals cuz had a duck bill, a body like a beaver. No, a body like a like a um you know Yeah, I guess like a beaver and web feet >> and it laid eggs and they they thought this is not a real animal. >> Well, it doesn't seem like a real animal. It's such a strange >> everything kills you in Australia. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I have a good buddy, my friend Adam Greenree. He lives there. And it's uh there's so many weird things they've done in Australia by bringing in invasive animals to deal >> toads. >> Yeah. They brought in a bunch of cats to deal with a bunch of different animals. Then the cats wind up bring something in for that. >> Yeah. It's crazy. >> Yeah. the cane toads where they brought in to get rid of the rats in the in the cane fields and now they're the problem. They're like everywhere. >> Uh they they did that with rabbits. Rabbits the English brought the rabbits in because they wanted, you know, for food and they're freaking everywhere now. >> Yeah. Australia is very strange in that a giant percentage of the animals that are there are completely invasive. >> Yeah. >> The the Asian water buffaloos they have. >> Do they? >> Yeah. The North Territory. Yeah. It's >> Well, the ones that kill you are all the local ones. Well, those water buffaloos will kill you, too. They're huge. >> But they're massive and they're everywhere. And uh you know, they the only way they die is by people hunting them cuz these are just >> they got to call the kangaroos too. They just you know >> I mean there's I would you'd often see uh kangaroos lying on the side of the road out in the bush because you get hit by a car, it would demolish your car. >> Oh yeah. Some of them are huge. And you seen the guy defending his dog with the punch the kangaroo. >> He's lucky that kangaroo didn't him up. >> I know they if they get up the red kangaroos can stand on their tails and with their back legs they can disembowel a guy. >> Those are the big ones, right? Some of those get like six feet tall. >> Yeah. What do they say? They're like uh deer that went to prison. >> That's a good way to describe it. >> Do you live in America now? >> What's that? >> You live in America now? >> Yeah. I'm a citizen. I became a citizen uh bunch of years ago because um I love this country and because I wanted to be available for jury duty. >> Have you done that yet? >> Yeah, I have actually. I was um >> that must have been weird for people. You know, you're getting trial. Is that Rick Springfield? Holy dude. I'm a fan. Please make me not guilty. >> Yeah, don't convict me. I'm a fan. I didn't get selected because I was actually uh in a lawsuit at the time with this woman who claimed that I'd hit her with we called it buttgate. I'd hit her with my ass while I because I go in the audience sometimes and she said I' I'd hit her with my butt and she'd fallen and like hurt her brain or something. So it was obviously But so I they called me back twice to New Jersey to testify because I wasn't going to go down, you know, pay this woman money to go away. I was going to fight it. And um >> how much did she want? >> Uh she didn't have a figure because it didn't get that far. We It was still to find out if of who would win the case first of all. And uh and so um yeah, it was like cra What was I talking about? No. to totally lost. See, it's all this space Oh, buttgate. >> This room is distracting. the best thing for >> I love the whole UFO thing, man. Um >> uh anyway, I forget what I was talking about what I was talking about. And um >> you had to go back to >> Yeah, I had to go back and it was it was uh Oh, >> so that's how you got out of jury duty. >> What's that? >> You were talking about jury duty. >> Yeah. Right. And Oh, that's right. I was called up for jury. See? >> Called up preaching. >> Well, you're used to this room. I'm not. >> I'm used to this room, too. Yeah. and um and and I was called up for jury duty. I said and they said, "Is there any reason you wouldn't you would be, you know, not eligible for this?" And I said, "Oh, I just got called up. I mean, I just got in a lawsuit myself and I think it's all bullshit." And they said, "You're out of here." So, it was great. It was good timing. >> Yeah. Um >> but no, that's not the reason I became a citizen. I'm making that's a joke. I just I mean I uh it's actually because um if I go first or if my wife goes first, I'd get screwed by taxes. >> You mean die first? Is that what you mean? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Oh, like you say go. >> And we're always saying, you know, I'm going to go first. I don't want to be the one left. >> Oh, that's funny. Well, the last thing I'm worried about if I she goes first or I go first is taxes. >> Yeah. >> But >> No, I know. But I mean, no, that's not why we talk about But that's why I became a citizen was for the tax thing. But yeah, no, it's >> What year was that? When did you become a citizen? >> Um 10 years ago, 15 years ago. >> And were you living over here the entire time? >> Yeah. Yeah, I've been here since 72. I mean, except for the trips back, you know, to meet Elvis on the plane. It was it was um Yeah, I've been here, you know, since ' 72, basically living here. >> Just for your career? >> Yeah. Well, I mean, this is my life. My family's here. My li My friends are here. My life is here >> now. >> Um, >> yeah. >> I used to go back to Australia until my mom died. My mom lived till she was 96. So, I'm hoping some of those genetics are in there. You know, >> I am curious to see how long Mick can keep cracking cuz how long? >> Curious to see how long Keith can keep. >> Right. That's the funny one, right? Because Keith is not doing any of the things that Mick is doing. He's still shredding. >> He was shredding. beer and >> drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, doing acid. >> I I did a movie with uh which we shall not name, but was with um his girlfriend who was Patty Hansen at the time. His girlfriend at the time is his wife now. And uh and we got along really well, right? And so Keith came down to the set to find out what was going on with this Springfield guy and his girlfriend. And he was ah he looked like Dracula, man. It was this is like 83 or something. And this I got we took photos and he looks so bizarre. >> And yet here he is. >> Yep. Here he's still cooking. You know, everyone's going, "Yeah, it's got to be this year it'll be gone." But >> no, >> and all these, you know, Bowie's gone. My god, that one hurt. Bowie gone. >> Yeah, that was a tough one. >> But he, you know, he was a lifelong smoker and uh was okay. You know, >> it's amazing. But I mean, it's gota something's got to be said for the love of what you do and that energy keeping you alive and the fact that there's still, like I said, the Circuit of the America show is over 100,000 people. >> I mean, they're still drawing giant crowds. The Stones >> Stones. Yeah. >> The Circuit of the Americas is the local racetrack. >> Okay. Okay. So, Circuit of the Americas is where they do Formula 1's, this huge racetrack, and they also have a giant theater out there, amphitheater, and then they do concerts out there where they have this a massive concert venue like for huge acts like Post Malone was there. It was like 100,000. Eminem was there. It's it's just a giant performance theater. But seeing the Stones there and seeing Keith there, if he gets to do that all the time, like just the energy from that is probably what's sustaining that guy. >> Absolutely. Yeah. I think it's really really important for your longevity that you love what you do. >> Yeah. >> Uh I think that has been a big driver for me and I've seen it in other people and certainly in someone like you know Mick Jagger he admits you know he still loves that the roar of the crowd. Mhm. >> Um, and it's and a lot of pe so many people do I like I have friends that who did a job because the retirement was was good. >> Mhm. >> And I get that, but I that they don't love the job, you know. It's just uh something that they do. >> Yeah. >> You know, um I'm we're fortunate, you know, that we do something that we love. >> Insanely fortunate. Yeah. And it's very A lot of luck. It really is a lot of luck. And I don't I don't deny that. That's luck with everybody when they they they're lucky enough to Did I see a shooting star up there? >> Yes, you did. >> Oh, that's freaky. Just them in a flashback. >> I should have told you. I should have told you that it does that. I've had a lot of people just go, >> "What's going?" >> Yeah. We have shooting stars on our ceiling. >> Yeah, >> that's freaky. Yeah. >> Um Yeah. I think um it's a lot of luck, but it's also working really hard to make that luck so that when if luck does happen, you're ready for it. Exactly. >> And being able to capitalize on that luck. Some so many people get so terrified of the unknown and the possibility of success that the anxiety of whatever it is, they can't handle it and they'd rather just live a simple life and not have the pressure. >> Fear of success is a real thing. It's a real thing. It's a real thing. Fear of success and and maybe even more fear of failing to succeed when you're attempting to succeed. >> Yeah. >> You know, that cripples people. >> Yeah. No, I get that totally. >> Yeah. >> Um and it does hurt when when things don't go your way, but um it's it still drives me, you know. It's still I mean there's still things I want to do and I think that's you know I mean I love playing but I do that that's kind of my day job you know but the outside extracurricular stuff is >> what do you do extracurricularly? >> Um I write I've had a couple of novels out. I wrote my own autobiography. I'm writing a book on on just you know what I've done with my life to you know be where I am you know health-wise and everything. Um yeah I do and um just you know there's all kinds of things uh on the side that you can do that and I just I just love to write. I mean I consider myself a writer really before anything. I only started performing because >> no one would do my songs. I'll do them >> for real. That's crazy. >> I used to be in a band. Have you ever if you go on YouTube and you look up Zoot Z O T and look up Ellen Riby. I was the guitar player in this band. It was like a three four piece band. And I arranged this version of Ellen Riby that was it's to me now it sounds like Black Sabbath. Although I'd never heard Black Sabbath back then, but it's um uh a lot of like I did Billy Corgan's thing and he was like focused on this on this band because we were kind of like psychedelic before as that was just starting, you know. Oh, there it is. Yeah. >> Wow. >> And that be he became uh part of formed Little River Band actually the bass player. >> What year is this? >> And that was our singer. He passed away few years ago, but uh it was a great band. It was um that's me. >> Look at you, dude. What year is this? >> 6970. >> Wow. >> Yeah, it was uh was kind of ve very heavy. It was much heavier stuff than I'm doing now. Well, maybe not now, but it was for they they'd been a pop band and they dressed in pink and and I'd been in a band and and my band split up cuz I got to sing the single and the bass player was so pissed off they didn't pick him that he broke the band up. So, I was a free agent and they said, "You want to join us cuz our guitar player is leaving." So, I said, "Okay." So, I wore the pink thing for a while and I said, "This has got to go." >> You couldn't deal with pink? >> Yeah. There's photos. It's horrible. But um so I I said, "I got this great idea. We'll we'll get rid of the pink and we'll do a photo of us like looking over our shoulder totally naked like in our original pink suits and we dump the pink thing." So, but we'll have it um uh high contrast so they won't really see anything. But they printed the photo like fullon. Oh, there we are. >> So, what was up with the pink thing? Why? >> Uh they had a theme called Think Pink, Think Zoot. And it was good for the little girls. It was like, you know. Yeah. Oh, I was so pissed at that album. That was the first album, the only album we did. And they cut out our heads to stick. It was before Photoshop. And they miscut my hair on it. >> You got like a granny haircut. >> It looks horrible. What a horrible album cover. One of the worst ever made, I think. >> Well, at least you weren't wearing pink. >> So, but that was such a weird choice that that was a part of the theme. >> It was. Yeah, it was. It was uh this guy in Australia that thought it would be a great and it it caught on for a while but it lasted about >> very strange. >> Yeah. Six months. It was about six month life of six months and then everyone got sick of it. So I told said we got to lose that. So we had this photo taken and they printed it in full color of our bare asses and my mom lost her when she saw it. She go oh Richard how could you do that? I said no mom it was supposed to be like high contrast. You weren't supposed to see all the creases and stuff and you can still see it on. It's still online. The photo is still online. >> Sign that every now and then. I get to sign one. It's be careful what you put on. Hardcore fans bring you that. That's funny. They must know it. It probably bugs you too. They want you to sign it. >> It's It's pretty bad. And so I pushed them more because Led Zeppelin was on the horizon. I pushed him more into the guitar. You know, I play guitar and I wanted the guitar to be the kind of the center of the thing. So I pushed him into a much heavier thing. And this Elner Rigby was was our first really big hit that we had over there that I'd arranged, you know, was like kind of thing. And we actually got a deal. We had a EMI were interested in us over here, but I managed to kind of screwed us by saying, "Oh, you're still under contract here," which we weren't in Australia anyway. So we split up and I came over here and be went on to form Little River Band and the singer became a TV star in Australia. >> Oh wow. >> So it was a we all went on to other things, you know, but it was uh >> God, you've had such a great run, man. You've done so many different things. >> Yeah, I look back and I guess I have. I've I've uh I I always thought I'd be a band guy, you know, and I had this when they split up. I uh I I said, "I'll just join another band." But I had this writer, woman writer, who was a big fan, and she said, "No, you got to go solo." I said, "I don't want to go solo." And she said, "No, you got to you got to go solo." >> Why did she say that? >> I don't know. She just thought it was the next step for me, you know. She thought getting back in another band and being the guitar player was she said I she thought I had more to offer, you know, more going for me and a better career if I if I went solo. So I released this Speak to the Sky song that I wrote for my mommy and became a hit and though that got me the deal over here and you know when they were signing everybody in the 70s. So >> it was the weird time the the when you're the zoot time 1969. So such a strange time musically. >> It was changing pretty drastically. >> Well, I mean I always point to the difference between 59 and 69 as being like one of the most radical changes in culture and music in in in all of human history. It's such a strange if you go like from Buddy Holly to Jimmyi Hendris. I mean is there a more radical transformation of rock and roll music than that time? >> Like there was something amazing. A lot of it was the drugs for sure. It was the the whole psychedelic movement. It was the anti-war movement. >> It was Yeah, it was definitely sociological and I think music is always driven by what what happens >> and it drives what happens too. I mean a lot >> I think I I think I know people think that it I think it's becomes a soundtrack of what's happening. I think more that >> the society drives what's happening in music and then they adopt what the music is, you know, we got a tune, you know, it says what we what we're but it uh >> um you're talking about 59 and you're talking about 69 where the changes happen, right? >> Yeah. >> Well, that 10-year period is just massive. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It is just an incredible transformation between the 50s and the 60s. >> Yeah. It was and it was considered kind of disposable, you know, well that's the kids do that and by 6970 it was suddenly it had this more more weight. >> Yeah. >> You know, and uh and people got older and they were now almost adults and they still liked it. >> Yes. Well, it's also that music has had a shelf life that is above and beyond anything that came after it. like stuff from like there's a lot of rock and roll music from the 80s that just >> you know it doesn't have the same feeling as like cashmere you know what I mean like if you go and listen to whole lot of love like to this day when whole lot of love comes on I'm like oh turn that up >> they they were the originators of that I mean they would really push that that whole his idea to get the the kind of the bluesy singer and use the blues riffs and was that was all his idea and and it was so faking unique and and uh like he wanted Terry Reid. Do you know Terry? Familiar with Terry Reed? >> No. >> He's great English singer. I think he's passed now. Um I hope I'm not wrong in saying that because I hate it when they say, "Oh, Rick Springfield's dead." >> Um you know, you look up someone, the first thing line that comes up on Google is, "Is so and so dead?" >> Right. Right. >> Anybody. >> Especially when you get older. >> Yep. Yep. Y and um uh yeah, so it was amazing. Terry Reed had this great voice, but he was going to actually tour with the Stones. And Jimmy Paige asked him if he'd be the singer and Led Zeppelin, and he said, "I can't. I got this gig coming up with the Stones, but I know this guy, there's this guy down in this club." And it was freaking Robert Plant and John Bonum in the same band. Wow. >> In a pub band. >> And Jimmy Paige walk uh Paige walks in and he goes, "They might be the right ones. But how amazing. I mean, Bonum, one of the, you know, just a unique feel. He wasn't just a drummer. He was a just an incredible sonically he was different. And the sound of his drums, what he did with them was was unique. His feel was just so laidback but so right on. And his it was just in the same band as Plant. And it was like that's crazy. >> It is crazy. >> Like a little club band. And and I um and you were saying, you know, music has more weight, had more certain music has more weight. And I think England is always amazed me because this little tiny frigin island, >> the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Whole Kings. Yeah. I mean, well, Klepton actually was Canadian. >> Was he really? >> Yeah. He's born in Canada. >> Oh, I thought he was from England. >> Or he had Canadian parents or something. But he can England. >> I bet he is. Right. I like it. Wendy. >> He's born there. Yes. >> Where? >> He's born in the UK. He was born in the UK in Canadian parents. Right. >> Let's see. >> Am I right on that? >> I'm not sure I'll come up. >> I'm right on that, aren't I? A >> a >> uh born to Canadian soldier from Montreal, Quebec. >> There you go. >> Anyway, but the little island that had all these amazing bands, >> incredible. And I think it's because everyone wanted to conquer Britain. The Romans, the the they all uh uh the the Vikings, they all came in the, you know, the Germans, they all came in and spread their seed. First thing they did was, you know, have sex when they came. And I think all that all that came together. And I think that's a lot of reason there are so many great bands is it's a a collection of all this genetic material from, you know, from Europe and all around. And the Romans, I mean, look what they did. >> Yeah. >> But it is interesting how Europe, if you look at it, the UK uniquely contributed to music >> as opposed to all those other countries. Obviously, they're English speakaking, which helps how it spreads the word, but it's kind of amazing how much of an impact they had on America. I mean, >> and how much how long it didn't have an impact, you know? I mean, it was it was and it was because it was bottled up for so long, I think, that it exploded so much with the Beatles. It was never it never crossed the Atlantic. It was always America. Same with Australia. It was always America to to England. There was America to Australia. There there was one Australian guy that had a hit when I was a kid in England in school named Ralph Harris called uh Tiny Kangaroo Down Sport. Tiny Kangaroo Down Sport. Tiny Kangaroo Down. It was horrible song, but it was a huge hit in England and it was the only one that ever came over from Australia. And the same with England. There was really nothing that crossed over and then suddenly Kennedy Kennedy was killed and America was looking away from America. They didn't want to look I think was a big part of the with the Beatles. They didn't want to look at America right then at that point. Suddenly here were these four mop tops and they came and smiled and sang great music and took our attention away from you know darkness. Well, they were the probably the first real super band, right? >> The Beatles. >> Yeah. That was just so huge that people would faint when they saw them and just scream when they saw them. >> Well, they used to faint for Frank Sinatra. >> That's true. >> They used to faint for for Mozart. I mean, they were, you know, they were they had groupies that would pass out. They were they thought they were so hot. >> Really? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um they were pop stars, you know. They were pop stars back then. And um >> but it wasn't on television. It wasn't >> I mean the internet's done now. You have a freaking opinion and now you can put it out there and >> welcome to the show. >> Yeah, >> that's what it is. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. It's just um it must have been very strange to be the first global super group like that. >> I think Yeah. I don't think there was I think Elvis was probably the first super famous individual >> where I mean he got to a point first of all I think that level of fame is almost unsustainable for a human being. I think it's just too crazy. I don't I don't think it's manageable and especially when there was no road map >> and he was the first. Yeah. >> Yeah. first and then Michael Jackson for our sins >> was like, "Hold my beer. I'll I'll show you the next level of this shit." And Michael Jackson took it to a place that was just >> totally totally agree. Totally agree. Unbelievable. I >> mean, I'm just young, but the Jackson 5 and Beatles both starting off in ' 64 is crazy. >> 64. >> Wow. McCartney was 22 and Harrison was 21. >> Yeah. Wow. Isn't that wild? That's crazy when you think about what you were doing at 21. >> Wow. >> And Jackson 5 is same time. Wow. 64 the Jackson 5. Wow. >> I guess they were I mean it took a year or two I guess before they got famous but still same time. >> Amazing. >> Yeah. I just saw uh this was it is it this is it. >> Oh the Michael Jackson documentary >> where he's preparing for the show. >> Yeah. >> It's pretty wild. It's just amazing. I mean you see him just kind of going through it like you know like it's nothing. I mean, he's cutting back, but he's still doing, you know, he knows what he's doing and just he did seem kind of weak to me and didn't know if he could sustain all of that by that that point, but God, he was amazing. >> Well, I think the pressure and the stress was probably just so overwhelming for him. >> Unbelievable. >> That guy couldn't go anywhere. He would get swarmed like like no one ever >> is. People loved him in a way. He was so big that um I don't know if you're familiar with Boston Radio, but um they had uh WC I think it was WCOZ, Rock of Boston. It was like the big Boston rock and roll station. And when uh Thriller came out, it was such a big album. They go, "Look, I know the the DJ goes, I know this isn't rock and roll, but this is so awesome. I'm going to play it anyway." And uh I I think it was Billy Jean they played and uh I remember like thinking this is crazy. They're playing this on The Rock of Boston. Like this is nuts. But it was that big. It was that big. It transcended everything. >> Well, they wouldn't let him on MTV, right? They uh they wouldn't play it. They said, "We don't play. We can't." You know, they were saying, "Come on, this is huge. You got to play." Said, "We don't play." >> Why weren't they playing? >> We don't play black artists. And really yeah initially and uh I forget who it was one of the the Atlantic someone Atlantic Ahmed Erdigan or somebody called up and said if you don't play this song in MT Billy Gene on the next in the next 10 minutes we're pulling all our artists and they played it and that was that was it. It was just >> that's crazy >> because Thriller was obviously the biggest music video of all time. It was a film. I mean, he got Rick Baker, the guy who did the American Werewolf in London, the You know, I know you're a horror fan. >> Um, that wolf outside. By the way, we have two of those. >> Posted a photo of me with my arm in that in that guy. >> The reason why we have two of those is because uh Rick Baker saw the original one that Pat McGee did that we had back here and he said the proportions were wrong. So Pat McGee, the guy who made that for me, said, "I'm going to make another one that has the right proportions." So Rick Baker saw that one. >> Yes. >> So Rick Baker came to my studio, did my podcast, and said, "That's great, but the legs are too long. The body's too long. This is the wrong proportions." And Pat McGee went crazy. HE'S LIKE, "FUCK." >> And so he made another one. And then the the new one that he made though is even better because it's all animal hair. >> Yeah. I'll show you the other one. The other one's in the other room. The one not the not so good one, >> right? It's in the other room. I both I still have both of them. Um but he saw you >> don't get rid of werewolves. I bet I would give it to someone cool. But the uh he did the special effects for Thriller when he turns into that cat monster thing like he turns and the girl screams ah I mean then he's a zombie like that video was crazy. I remember everybody waiting for the premiere. All my friends in high school like waiting around the TV for the premiere. It was incredible. There was like nothing like it. Yeah. >> And you know, I mean, he was a superstar in a way that like I don't think anybody's ever even come close. Maybe Taylor Swift. >> Like maybe she's in that sort of realm now. >> Yeah. I I I mean, I think it's Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson were the three that absolutely transcend. >> Yeah. >> I mean, every you know, there've been people as famous, but uh they did something so different. And you know, first of all, Elvis was Elvis. Yeah. >> And the Beatles, they wrote the best songs. They, you know, there's not many songs left to write now because the Beatles wrote them all, >> right? >> And uh and like such a a different range of music, you know, you go from Love, Love Me, Do >> how fast they grew. >> Oh yeah. >> How that's just I mean, I don't even know if that's possible anymore because uh the audience is so fragmented now. Back then it was, you know, your parents or you and your friends. There was nothing, you know, in between. There was no no uh um now it's like, well, if you're 13 years old, you like, you know, uh uh K-pop. If you're, you know, 15, 16, you like this. If you like heavy stuff, then there's this. And everyone's it's so fragmented. There's not like us against them anymore, >> right? And and so it it uh I don't know if it allows for I think Taylor Swift is actually the first one to really get that amount of gigantic following and I I it seems to be a lot of like young girls still. >> Yes. >> Um but I mean I like I like a lot of the songs. I think she's a great writer lyrically. Um I think the girls are killing it in pop right now. You know I miss rock and roll on the radio for sure. It's weird that rock and roll has kind of faded. >> What's that? >> It's weird that rock and roll has kind of faded. >> I never thought the guitar would kind of become uncool. I thought once we got through disco where it would just in the background and suddenly there was AC/DC and you go, "Oh, thank God the guitar is back, you know, now it'll never leave. It's left again, unfortunately." But hopefully it'll, you know, I don't know if it'll come back. I think >> the window's open. What's that? >> The window is open because people still love the old music. >> Yeah. Yeah. But there's I mean I hear great stuff uh from rock bands still, you know, but you don't hear it unless someone sends it to you really or there's a specific old you know rock you you know like I don't know where you hear you know new Foo Fighters other than uh you certainly don't hear it on you know any of the AM stations anymore do you? >> Are there even AM stations? >> Yeah, I know. I mean I don't know what even plays. FM is what played real played big music in this country, but I mean there's no real radio presence anymore as far like I don't know of any my mechanic still listens to a FM music. I know that because uh when he fixes my car when I get it back, the radio's on the local FM rock station, but it's all like there's no DJs anymore. And if there is a DJ, they don't have control of the music anymore. >> Exactly. Right. And and Jesse's Girl was a was a product of the DJs. It wasn't released as a single >> really. >> Yeah. It was uh back when the DJs if they liked a song they'd they'd play it. They said, "Oh, I like this song. Let's put this on." And they started doing that with Justice Girl. And they started getting a lot of phones. And they called up the record the record company and said, "You probably should put this out as a single. Was getting a lot of phones." And the record company goes, "Okay." So they put it out, but it wasn't their choice. I mean, it was it was actually on then back then it was RCA was me and Elvis. So, it was pretty much it. >> Wow. >> It was old old Elvis and you know >> What year was Jesse's girl? >> Uh 81 80 81 >> 81 >> 81. I throw it over to our uh >> Yeah. >> Um Maestro at the controls over there. >> Yeah. I was a freshman in high school. >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> I was 14 years old when that song came. >> Oh my god. Really? That's wild. >> Yeah. What was that like for you? That that had to be insane. That song was so giant. Every girl in my high school was in love with you. It must have been nuts. >> Um Yeah, it was it was um I mean I I was 29, 30 by the time that happened. 31. And I and I was I'd imagined it for so long cuz I'm very I one of the things I really believe in is you know as I'm sure you do too manifestation believing you know visualization seeing seeing what you want and and committing to it and um and I'd seen it so much so many times in my head that when it happened I went yeah that's how it that's how it is. Okay. >> Really? So you expected it? >> Yeah. I always expected something. I knew something would happen. I had faith. You know, I there was there was times when I was uh because of the teen magazines, I get letters sometimes, I can't wait to come over and meet you and and visit you in your mansion. And at the time, I was living in a a $180 a month apartment in a seedy area of Hollywood, eating TV man dinners and fishing, you know, quarters out of my goofy piggy bank so I could go down and, you know, buy milk. Um, so, uh, yeah, it was, um, was quite a dichotomy, you might say. >> So, when it first started happening, it started happening because of DJs and like, how long was that before it became like a massive hit? >> It was it was quite a quite a hall. It was actually a long time on the charts crawling up. And it was uh I thought, she's never going to make it. You know, it's going so slow. Usually, they go boom boom boom, right? And it it crawled and crawled and crawled and crawled. And I remember Joe um uh Gutreed, who owns Sound City, which is why one of the reasons I happened to be in the in the Dave Groh Sound City documentary, was because I used to hang out there all the time. And um and he came in with this cheap bottle of champagne said, "We just made number one." >> Wow. And it was uh yeah, it was a long time that it climbed and they weren't going to release it. I had actually uh I took General Hospital because I didn't think they were going to release the album. >> That's right. I forgot you were on General Hospital. You were on a soap opera. >> soap opera. And And it was, >> by the way, the biggest soap opera. >> Well, it happened to be >> the whole Luke and Laura thing was crazy. >> Yeah, it was the biggest soap opera's ever got. And I just happened to be on it. that summer and it was um but I I got I this guy called me up. I just I hadn't worked as an actor in like nine months and this guy called me up and he'd seen me for a they were trying to do a male Charlie's Angels thankfully thankfully I didn't get that and that didn't work out but I'd gone up and auditioned for it right and and it didn't work out but this guy obviously remembered me and he he called up my agent who hadn't done a thing for me in 12 months and said uh I remember this guy Springfield we'd like to see him for this part on General Hospital and I said, "General soap opera. I don't want to do that." And he said, "Go in. Just go in." And I and I'm thinking, "Well, it's mostly old ladies ironing in the afternoon. That's not going to have any effect on my music career, I guess, cuz they totally, you know, it's apples and oranges." So, I went up and I wasn't that interested in. I did the reading and then he calls up and says, "You got the part." and Keith Olsen, who was a big producer at the time and who'd produced Jesse's Girl, he'd done me a favor because he was because the Sound City Connection, he'd done uh Flein Mack and and Pat Benitar and um um Foreigner and a lot of big hits. And so I said, I'll do a favor for for Joe and I'll and he'd actually cut together my very first album. He'd been a guy that cut all the clicks out of my first album where they punched me in to the vocals in. And uh and so he did that and he said, "You don't need to do this. This is a great record. You don't need to do this soap opera." I said, "I don't know, man. I've had four albums and they've done nothing. So I'm I don't know what this one's going to do. So I'm going to I had no money." I said, "I'm going to take it for the money because it was 500 bucks an episode, which was like mind-blowing money to me back then." >> Wow. I've never seen regular money and I'd never seen that much reg that was a hell of a lot of money to me back in 19 1980. So I said I'm going to take this show. So I took it and uh and the record company was not releasing the album. I going oh god it's going to happen again. You know it's going to hit 100 in the top 100 and go away because there was disco and there were ballads on the on the radio. They didn't know what to do with a guitar based pop record. So they finally released it and uh and that the whole DJ thing happened and then uh you know >> what was the single that they released? >> What's that? >> What were the singles that they released from that album? >> They released I've done everything for you actually because uh Sammy was a known quantity and I wasn't you know and they and um it uh it didn't do >> Is that Sammy Hagar? >> Yeah, Sammy. Yeah, >> he that's right. >> Yeah, he wrote it. Uh, and Keith would had worked with Keith also had worked with Sammy on bunch of his solo albums and he really liked the song and he brought and he said, "I'll do two songs with Springfield." So, he picked one of mine, Jesse's Girl. I had my my demos that I done on my little four track, you know. And I I was pissed that he didn't pick a second one. He said, "I want to bring an outside song in." I went, "Oh, fuck." Cuz, you know, I'm a writer. I wanted to do my songs. And he brought this song in. I went, "Okay, I you know, he must know what he's talking about. >> He's a got a lot of hits and everything." So I did it and it was happened to be the right second song. It was absolutely the right second song. But but that was the first one and and then I thought a you know and then they picked Jesse's Girl. So fortunately it was the DJ's call and I'm forever thankful for for that. And I don't know what would have happened if you know if they hadn't picked it or if they were still like now they're on you know you play these 10 songs and that's it. You don't deviate. Well, it seems like now it's all sort of pre-programmed by executives. They just decide what is going to be pushed and what's going to be famous. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't really understand it. And I don't know if anybody does why some are are pushed and others aren't, but >> Well, there's no taste makers anymore. That's the thing. Without DJs, without Wolf Man Jack, and these big DJ guys, he was awesome. >> He was so I I did an interview with him with my first album going, "I don't know, Rick. I don't I said this is a song about uh a woman the guy that commits suicide. Oh, I don't I don't think so. Not in my radio station. He puts it on and he and he listens to it and he ended up playing it. It was really great. We actually got along really well and he would introduce me occasionally at shows and things. He was a lovely guy. Funny as hell, man. >> Well, there were taste makers back then. There were people that you believed in that were DJs that were cool >> and could call it. >> Yeah. And they were kind of cool guys who liked cool things like >> and they had personalities and people, you know, Yeah. >> They had personalities and they were interesting to listen to and they would tell you why like you're going to dig this and they would play it and you're like, "Oo, what is this >> and they know about the songs." >> They were real music afficionados and they were, you know, sort of like the Cisco and Eird of of music. Like they would tell you what was cool. That was cool. >> And slowly but surely that all just completely went away. I can't name a DJ currently. >> And I think that's nuts. When I was a kid that you knew everyone, Mark Prento and all these different people and Charles Lockadera, those are the guys in Boston. >> Yeah. >> Everybody knew who they were. And and it was it was a national thing in every st every city. They had your morning DJ guy, you know, and these morning. >> Yes. And all these guys would play Kevin and Bean in LA and all these guys would play cool music and they knew cool stuff and it was like, you know, you learned about culture from these people pre- internet. They were the taste makers. >> Yeah. >> You know, it's it's trippy. I I I mean, I don't know how you fall in love with an artist anymore, you know, cuz uh I you know, it's the old story. You get the record, you open it up and and you could as it's playing, you read who's who's playing what, who wrote what, and you read about them and >> Yeah. And I remember years ago I had a copy of a record like a No Doubt CD or something anyway and a and this young girl friend of mine I said, "Oh, I got the No Doubt CD, the new CD if you want to." He said, "Oh, no, it's okay. I I download it." Well, she got the album cover and everything. He said, "No, it's okay. I just download it." >> And now it's weird. It's weird. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I used to buy albums based on the cover. >> Yeah. I'd go to the record store and I'm like, "Wow, big." >> I know it's impossible. But you would go and see an album, you're like, "Wow, this looks cool. Cool artwork." You open it up. Hypnosis, hypnosis, whatever. However they've spelled it. Oh, they were brilliant. And look at the, you know, I mean, the the Pink Floyd one is still an epic. >> Yeah. >> Image. >> Yeah. >> Still, you see it everywhere, you know. Well, when I was a kid, my uncle Vinnie was uh he was an artist and he worked for Howard Marks Advertising, which was a a company that did all of the album covers for Kiss. >> Oh. >> And so when I was a kid, uh I was really young. I was like seven or something like that. I got to see I got to go to his office with him and he would take me around and you know, >> see them before anybody did. I met Ace Freely with no makeup on >> back when it was the craziest thing I'd ever seen in my life before. He has no makeup on. This is nuts. This is back before Kiss had taken the se. >> It was It was so insane. Like he came into the office and everybody's like, "What's up, Ace?" I was like, "What? >> That's him?" Cuz I was God, I don't remember how old I was. I couldn't have been more than 10. >> It was It was so strange to me. I was like, "This is crazy. I can't believe he's right there. This is nuts. >> Isn't it wild?" Yeah. >> Actually, I might have been a little older. or might have been 11 or 12. But either way, I was like blown away by it. I couldn't I couldn't believe it was actually meeting Ace Freely with no makeup on. But their advertisement uh company would do all the album covers. And the album covers were a work of art. There was so much going on inside of them. You would open up the album, there's artwork inside. It was like even like when they had their solo albums, the albums themselves had an image of each individual band member printed on the album. Oh, really? Yes. Like the album itself, like when you look at the record, you saw the image of their faces on the record. It was great. >> I remember when they came out, I think this has got to be huge. >> I have a photo I Ace Freely actually came back to see us at a gig we were doing and I had a photo taken with him and my drummer was a stone, you know, a Kiss were his Beatles. So I had I was selling guitars at the time like these uh just these red Fernandez that we had a bunch of. So he had ace sign it and he did you know the ace card and everything to to to Roger rock on whatever ace freely. I copied it exactly onto another one >> exactly like guitar and in the middle of the show a guy the guitar tech brought it out to me and I smashed the out of it like this. >> Oh wow. >> And Roger lost his He go oh my. He thought it was the real one. Oh, it was a He played so many terrible pranks on us that it was worth it. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. So, you kind of knew that eventually it was going to hit, but when it did hit, what was the feeling like to go from being someone, you know, you'd been in pop magazines, but then all of a sudden, you are the guy like for a a year or two, whatever it was, in in the early 80s, you were so huge, man. I mean, it was it was crazy. What was that feeling like? Um, it was I was it was exciting. It drove me to write more and more, you know. I mean, I directed it into performing and writing. I really don't know what else, you know. I didn't uh party a lot, you know. I mean, we did a little bit on the road, but it wasn't I I directed it into what I was doing. And um it was exciting. You know, I remember uh getting on the phone with DJs and saying, "Oh, yeah, the record's going to be it's going up and up." And you know, it was all real exciting stuff, but it was kind of, like I said, I expected it, you know, and uh wasn't like, "Oh my god, this is so weird." I was like, "Yeah, about time." You know, I've been here for 10 years. That's crazy that you like totally were comfortable with it and expected it. Yeah, it was it was uh you know there were you know like 4,000 fans around a police car trying to tip it over and I was like okay this is what it feels like. >> God, that's so wild. >> That's so wild that you were like, "Okay, this is what happening." >> It was exciting, you know. I mean, I didn't lessen the excitement, but but it was uh I prepared myself for it, you know. Do you remember what it was like the first time you started playing the first few chords of Jesse's Girl and the whole crowd knew what it was? >> Yeah, I do actually cuz I' I'd seen uh we saw all these English bands in Australia because they all came to Australia. I saw the Stones twice in ' 65 and ' 66. I saw the Beatles in ' 64 and I saw the Kinks in like 65. I saw the Who in ' 65. And um they started out with you really got King started out and the audience went apes I said, "Oh man, that is so cool. I want to feel what that's like." >> Do you remember the first time you felt it? >> And what's that? >> Do you remember the first time you felt that? >> Yeah. And I was we were do we uh we we did the Beach Boys uh Fourth of July show for the Queen Mary and I was like the new artist >> in Long Beach >> on the bill. Yeah. On Long Beach. It was uh the Beach Boys, Street Dog Night. Um and had Brian Wilson was still with the Beach was had come back with the Beach Boys. Right. And uh and I we started we were on there and started playing D and the audience went nuts. I went, "THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE FEELING." And it was so weird because we came on after after the show we after Beach the Beach Boys finished, we walked on stage, right? And Brian Wilson's like a god, right? And I'm I'm walking on stage. He's at the piano and he goes, he follows me like this. I'm going open. What's he following me for? He was a giant soap opera fan. Him and his wife used to sit all and watch General Hospital. >> That's crazy. >> Brian Wilson with his mouth open following me across the stage when I'm doing the same thing going that's Brian Wilson. Holy >> Wow. >> That was pretty. And and same thing with Sammy Davis Jr. where we did the I was done the first night of 100 stars and and I'm walking we're walking along the the the red carpet and I feel someone tugging on my jacket. I go, "What the fuck?" I look around at Sammy Davis Jr., "Hey man, love you on this show and I'm going, what the fuck?" This that was the stuff that was weird for me was was that kind of thing. And and and like I met Paul McCartney later, like I don't know, maybe 20 15 years ago at a thing and and I went to see him because I'm a Giant fan and he said, "Oh, what are you here for?" meaning, you know, he obviously knew who I was and what was I coming to the event for because everyone was announcing new projects. I just said, "I'm here to see you." He go, "Oh." And I know no one was taking photos and I didn't realize at the time he said, "I want to get a photo." So I said, "That'll be 10 quid." Ah. >> So I go like, they said, "No, I'm only joking. I'm only joking." So we had a photo. It's one of my I keep that photo. It's pretty cool photo. >> Wow. That's awesome. And and speaking of album album covers, this the Sergeant Pepper's cover was was, you know, >> Oh, yeah. >> I have the uh cuz um uh um um um War of the Worlds, Time Machine, HG Wells, one of my favorite writers, right? I love loves sci-fi. Always love HG Wells. They're very political, too. And he wrote some great great great um novels and and articles about uh the war and the possibility of atomic war. I mean, he was really deep guy and he was one of the cutouts, right? Was HG Wells on the Sergeant Pepper figure thing, you know, all the cutouts, the heads on the front, >> you know what I mean? >> Mhm. Sure. Yeah. And he and so I got that actual HG Wells. I got that actual cutout and Paul had signed it. So, I got one of my favorite writers and my favorite artists and it's a really cool thing. I have that in my studio. >> Wow. the the the people don't understand today the General Hospital thing. General Hospital was a soap opera, but it was a soap opera that transcended regular television show somehow. >> Popular show in the summer. >> Very strange. It was very strange and it was a completely It was a organic viral moment >> for whatever reason. >> Yeah. I No idea. Still >> never happened again. >> No, never happened. only happened once. >> The most popular soap now has about a third of the viewership that General Hospital had at the time. And it was, you know, like I I was on it. I'm this one. And you're talking about, you know, new fame and all that kind of stuff. And I was um I was had a little house that I bought on BMI Advances because I had a record deal and which they don't do anymore. But um in Montros in in Lennet and I'm walking down the street one day and you know nobody's looking at me. I'm going walking out and then two weeks later after being on the show for two weeks I'm walking down the same street. people are going, isn't that, you know, and it was like so sudden that that was like, you know, it was before MTV, so you had to have at least three albums out before a musician was recognized. So to get it that fast was was that that was kind of odd and I wasn't ready for that for that amount of recognition. >> Well, it was just so strange. My whole family was watching General Hospital. I was watching it. My sister was watching it. It was like it was a television show, but it was a soap opera and soap operas were like housewives would watch. >> Yeah. It was it was you know your your cousin in the when he invented the toothpaste. >> It was like low production value, shitty writing, bad acting, >> horrible writing, terrible acting. Something about that Luke and Laura storyline >> for whatever reason caught the nation >> and held it captive >> and I believe he raped her and then they became boyfriend and girlfriend. >> Is that really what the story line was? That's >> and Elizabeth Taylor was on the show too and I got to do a scene a couple of scenes with her and that was weird. I'm walking uh down the stairs as she's walking up. She go, "Noah." And like I'm going, "Wait, stop, Elizabeth Taylor." And and we walk we would do a scene and we're walking away together, you know, off to a blank alleyway till they say cut. And she goes, "Isn't acting stupid?" And Tony Giri actually did the best thing. He's doing a scene with her in rehearsal and it and and he goes, "Oh my god, it's Elizabeth Taylor." >> And everyone like, "Yeah, it's what we all wanted to say, right?" >> But it's amazing the people who were fans of the show. It's It's, you know, crazy. >> It was literally the biggest show in the country. Yeah. >> And it was a soap opera and it was on during the day. It may happen sucked and the writing sucked and the writing sucked and the it was if you got through the scene, they printed it. >> Yeah. >> You know, I mean, uh, I I got really good cuz they they handed us a a three-page scene once, me and a character I was working with said, "We're shooting this in 20 minutes." >> So, I I got really good. They'd have the camera here and they'd have the words right, you know, coming down the uh the teleprompter. >> Yeah. with a teleprompter down the screen and a red light. And I got good at at looking at them while I was talking. And soon as they went as soon as I saw the light go off, I'd look at this screen and memorize the words for the next line and look back at them and go, "Yeah." You know, so I be it wasn't it wasn't about acting for me then. It was about line memorization. But there were good people on it. Like my best friend actually, Doug Davidson was was on Young and the Restless is uh Paul God, what's his last name? Sorry, Douggee. But anyway, uh um Paul Drake. No, wait. Oh, there's me and Liz. >> Wow. >> Yeah, babe. Yeah. Let me invite you to You want to come? Oh, that was it. >> Isn't acting stupid. That's the scene. >> Wow. That's nuts. isn't acting stupid. That's so crazy. How weird. >> Yeah. So, he was really good. Doug Duck Davidson played Paul Drake. >> I think that was his name. Sorry, I forgot it. But, um, he was great on it. You know, he would cry and get angry and he was really very very good. And there are some great people that can do it. Not everybody can. And they picked, you know, they picked young pretty people who aren't necessarily the best actors, but they have a presence, you know. And I remember walking by the phones when Dei Moore was on the show and the and they would take calls from everybody and listen to everything. And I walk by as a woman's going, "Oh, doesn't like Deme Moore's voice." And she down. >> They would take calls from the audience to find out what they thought. >> People would call in and say, "Oh, we really like this guy or we don't like this guy or hate this storyline." They'd listen. And Gloria Monty was she was the Oh, Tristan just passed away. and Brian Cranston together. >> That's he just passed away. He's a good a good a cool guy. Another >> Cranston. That's crazy. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Lovely. Lovely guy. Funny guy. >> Is that strange? >> Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. It's >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> 1982. Wow. Wow. >> Trippy. Trippy. Yeah. >> That's amazing. I can't believe Elizabeth Taylor was doing a soap opera. That's so strange. >> Yeah, but there were fans and it was a big show and it was like it was like um kind of like Baywatch, how Baywatch became this big cultural thing and I remember reading Paul McCartney saying, "Yeah, my daughters love Baywatch." I'm going, "Fuck that, man." >> It's just so strange that it never happened again. That General Hospital moment is like a a strange anomaly in culture. >> It totally was. Yeah. And it was a combination probably of the characters, you know, I mean it was kind of the the best of the worst story lines, you know, and um and uh there was, you know, a lot of characters, good characters on it. Plus, you know, they were aware by at that point that I had uh a recording career, you know, and they wanted me to sing on the show and I >> There it is. >> Wow. Tony took us around and we were in Amsterdam. 30 million viewers. >> That's insane. >> For Luke and Laura's wedding on General Hospital. I mean, what has even come close to that? >> Yeah. >> What has even come close to that in terms of soap operas? >> Is there anything even close? >> No. No. No. That was a golden age. >> bananas. >> Yeah. >> It's kind of insane. >> Wasn't it during the middle of the day, too? >> Yeah. Still have no real explanation, you know. >> I don't know what time it was on, but I remember it was like right after high school. >> Yeah. They used to um cancel uh um rearrange uh uh classes in in universities because they knew people wouldn't show up. >> That's nuts. >> And I had no idea that these people, you know, they were the same people that come into concerts. >> Wow. >> And I had no idea that would there would be any kind of crossover, you know. >> How crazy is it that the guy from General Hospital all of a sudden has the number one song in the country? >> Yeah. They and they had no idea. I was on the show for like six weeks and Gloria the producer who was really responsible for the for the success of it. She was so smart. Her and Tony used to get together and go over the scripts at night and you know they that had something to do with it. And she came up and said, "I hear you're also a singer." I went, "Yeah, but it's not happening on the show. I've already got enough that I'm on the show." So >> Oh, they wanted you to sing on the show. Oh god. which I did I did I did as kind of a a call back later on way later on you know after I'd left the show and then I came back for like the 50th anniversary or something and did but uh yeah that when it was you know she wanted me to like go up there and sing Jesse's Girl is a doctor suddenly you know that we'll make it work you know how weird must it have been for those Luke and Laura actors because like no one had ever done that before no no so soap opera had ever gotten that huge for and then after it was over nothing. >> Yeah. The girl who played Laura was 21 and still lived at home. >> Wow. >> What's that? >> Oh, that's She was 21 and still lived at home at the time. >> Wasn't allowed to drink. >> Wow. Wasn't allowed to drink the bubbly because she was underage. How was she underage? >> Oh, not even 21. It says not. >> Oh, not even not yet 21. Wow. >> Wow. >> Yeah. That didn't stop him from getting drink. We got so drunk on the set one. We had a party. There was supposed to be this party and and the professor from Gilligans Island played my father. I'm going, "Wow, that's cool." And we're sitting around this and we're supposed to be drinking and we all drank and it got was so bad they had to reshoot it the next day cuz you're all drunk. >> But, you know, everyone kind of let's cut loose at the end of the day, you know. >> Wow. Well, that's nuts, man. Tell me about your writing like like the novels like what have you written novels about? >> Um they're very bizarre. Uh one they're the one's uh they're both about um a plague that comes to the world and takes out uh like twothirds of the people. Um >> both of them are about that. >> Yeah. There one the other's a continuation of it. One's called Magnificent Vibration. The other one's called World on Fire and it uh um it's uh it's dark humor. Very dark humor. >> Had you written before that? >> I wrote my autobiography by myself. >> But you had you written any fiction? >> Um yeah. I as a kid that was the only thing I was any good at at school was was I got great marks to my essays. Nothing else was any I was terrible at everything else. math, geography, history, all that And um so you know, I was already doing what I was planning on doing anyway. So um yeah, I was started writing poems and then you know and I songwriting to me the lyrics are are are something I really take time. Yeah, music just comes through. It either is there or it isn't there. But the lyrics you have time to sit back and go, does that work or does that not work? where with music it's kind of instantaneous or it doesn't happen. Um, so yeah, I've always kind of written. >> And when did you write these novels? >> Um, I don't know. Can you tell me that, my friend? >> You don't remember? I don't know. It could have been the '9s. Could have been the 2000s. It was um probably 2000. >> 2014 and 2021. >> What is it? >> 2014 was the first one. follow-up 2021. >> Oh, so 2021's recent. >> Yeah, it was Yeah, fairly recent. >> Yeah. >> Um the first one was on the New York Times bestseller. >> Wow. >> I sign them all the time. You know, fans bring them and that, but uh um yeah, I like writing. I like I'm writing something now, but it's uh just something that I do when I'm not writing songs, you know? I kind of gravitate towards that. I've got to be doing something. And I and it was like I take a guitar to the beach. We go to to Bora Bora and I take a little guitar when I sit on the beach because I can't just sit on the beach. Feels like uh kind of wasted time. >> That's wild. So >> I do relax, but I got to have a guitar. I got to be doing something either writing or, you know, whatever. >> And when you write, do you write longhand? Do you write with a >> No, I write a computer. Write a computer. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and that's the thing like I have uh I have a bunch of beetle lyrics, handwritten beetle lyrics, right? And um they don't exist anymore because everyone writes on the computer. >> Mhm. >> I I write I like I have Jesse's Girl. I have the original paper that I wrote Jesse's Girl on. And and and >> what are you doing with that? Is it framed? >> No, I got it I know in a closet somewhere or something. >> Really? >> Yeah. >> Oh god. You should frame that. >> Uh yeah, I probably should. I Yeah, I have all the all my songs really. the ones that some of the the ones that made it and the ones that didn't. I have them all. >> Um, so I got interested in that and I started collecting beetle lyrics because I love that moment of creation. >> How did you get those? >> Uh, through friend I have a friend uh who um trades uh he's the guy that um validates them all for Christies and for um you know SE and all the big auction houses. Um, and he, you know, he knows where all the bodies are buried. So, I collect stuff like you obviously do. You know, I >> Yeah. >> have uh uh the Titanic number two lifeboat plaque. This plaque that says SS Titanic on it and it's in a in a show now on uh Branson or somewhere. We rented it out and >> Wow. >> I loved collecting stuff. I have robots and all 50s robots and >> well there's something about collecting something like Beatles lyrics that you know were written by the Beatles like their hand touched that paper and wrote that down. >> No, it's a as a huge fan. It's it's very powerful stuff. The coolest one I have is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. >> Wow. which they both have written on it which it didn't happen much you know towards they mostly they wrote their own songs you know but they both got their hand on this and there's even Wednesday morning at 9:00 written at the bottom too for the first line from she's leaving home but Paul did a drawing of the um the Sergeant Pepper cover when he still pictured it as them in Victorian you know with with curtains he that was his original idea and there's a drawing of that and there's a drawing of rocking horse people which is really good because they were they really good artists him and John and um and that's really cool. It's uh got a lot of mojo you know that looks like there's time been spent on it. >> What was the origin of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? Wasn't that supposedly about LSD? >> No thought but it was a painting that actually um Dave Gilmore owns. David Gilmore owns the painting that Julian Lennon did of a painting that a girl of Lucy his friend at school who recently passed away but he brought it home and his dad said what's that and he said and Julian said does Lucy in the sky with diamonds and John took that and it just happened to be almost you know an anagram for LSD which is crazy but it's one of the millions of things that happened in the Beatles lives that you went that didn't really happen. They had to manufacture that. But no, it really faking happened. And that's part of what made them, you know, almost like angels that it was just so supposed to be. And that was one of the things. And it was uh but everyone thought it was LSD cuz Lucy in the sky with diamonds, you know. >> Right. Right. Right. >> But it was really about uh the painting that Julian did. And um John just took it and you know he was doing drugs at the time and but he really he loved Louiswis Carol and it's really what it is is Louisis Carol was is uh the lyrics are Louisis Carol. >> Wow. Wow. That's crazy. But Louisis Carol who wrote Alice in Wonderland and Alice in Wonderland was also about LSD. >> Um I don't know. I mean >> I think there was a lot of influence. >> Yeah. the caterpillar was probably high, you know, and I don't know how much how aware that they all were then, but I know that the Beatle John loved >> him and loved his writing and and he would I mean, I'm sure he had a wink in there somewhere about it being dope, you know, but >> or or >> Well, there was all these substances. >> What's that? >> There was all these substances. >> Yeah. Yeah. In it. Yeah. >> Oh, he was Yeah. They were definitely, you know, high at the time and and high a lot of the time. >> Yeah. But they had that talent and you know a lot of I a lot of people think that you know with the drugs but it wasn't it was they had the talent but the drugs just maybe took that talent somewhere that they maybe wouldn't have gone if they hadn't have done the drugs but it wasn't drugs that make people creative. It's what they have inside them that the drug you know free freeze whatever resistance there is there. >> It was the talent and it was also the volume. Have you ever read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers? >> No. >> Well, one of the things it talks about is it just talks about it's a great book and um one of the things in the book it talks about why something became extraordinary and they talk he talks about the Beatles and what the Beatles did. Um they were in Hamburg and um they got a gig I think it was at a strip club and so they were like playing every night like five, six hours a night, six days a week and they were constantly playing and so they did this for a couple years and they went back to Liverpool and everyone was like what the happened to you guys? They were just tight. They were just so locked in and so good that that's when they really became the Beatles. And it's just volume. It's where he came up with the concept of 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in something, right? You know, I've heard that. Yeah. And I mean, they're a great example of that. It's just an incredible amount of volume of work. >> It's like Robert Johnson, too. He was an okay guitar player and uh he went away like for a year or something and came back and suddenly he was this amazing slide player, you know, crossroads. >> Yes. And that's why everybody thought he sold his soul to the devil. >> Yeah. Yeah. And uh just happened, you know, but but they I don't real I don't know if they realized they were woodshedding for the great moment, but that's absolutely what they were doing. >> I think they were just doing it to stay alive. It was just it wasn't paying much. It was just I mean they're working at a strip club. >> Paul, one of the greatest bass players of all time. He said, "I got lumbered with the bass." Because he was a guitar player and Stuart Sutcliffe was the bass player, right? and he fell in love with Astrid, what's her name, who gave them the haircuts and he said, "I'm leaving the band." And they said, and and John said, "I'm not playing bass." And George said, "I'm not playing bass." And so Paul said, "I guess I'll play it." So he got the beetle, found the beetle bass in Germany, and there's a photo where you can see it and it's still on his case up against the wall in the where they're playing in the and he's playing the piano in the in the strip club. and and what he became, you know, with that is just freaking unbelievable. >> Incredible. Yeah. It's just a what it's just so strange how after the fact you go back and look back on all the different events that had to take place in order for them to become the Beatles and and many bands would become what they became. >> It's so it's just so fascinating to me to see that >> it happens. I think everyone's life has that, you know, you can look back like I look at my marriage. I've been married for 40 42 years now and you know I was in Australia and my wife was over here in Bo Wisconsin and I went to England and she moved to California and I went back to Australia and she moved back to Bo and I came over here and I happened to hook up with a manager at Sound City and the same time she happened to meet this woman who she liked her accent. She was English woman and she became friends and she was worked at Sound City. So Barbara came in to work at Sound City and I met her there and you know there's all these I mean it happened in everybody's life and it's just amazing that we have successful lives. >> It it all seems like it's meant to be but I always wonder if that's like just you're looking back and you're looking for a pattern why it makes sense. >> You're just tracing what what happened by happen stance, you know. >> Yeah. that that it ended up in a good way, you know. >> Well, when it seems like whenever anyone has had an extraordinary life, there's always this fortuitous series of events that take place that enable this >> to just become what it became. >> Yeah. And I think, you know, you said a lot of it's luck, but but the luck happens when you stay in the game. And I think that is the core of it is staying in the game so that uh you know when the moments happen. >> Yeah. >> That you are ready. >> Yeah. It's certainly not just luck. There's certainly a lot of other elements. >> You got to be ready. I mean you got to woodshed. You got to have your craft down. >> Yeah. >> You got to be competent. >> Yeah. >> You got to have something to offer. >> And you got to be able to believe in yourself enough to perform when the moment is there. Mhm. >> And that's that's this daunting for a lot of people. The anxiety of audience >> very >> I played with my back to the audience for the first three months of being in the first band I was ever in. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Why? >> I was nervous, you know. I was I was a blues band. And I mean I I kind of was raised my guitar playing was based on you know cuz of Clapton and all those guys was based on a lot of the blues players BB King and you know all the all the uh the early players and and I was in a blues band and I was like 15 and they were they were like 25 and one of them had been in there it was a really rough group. one of them had been in prison and there was one guy that been in prison a couple of times and they all you were the kind of guys that would go to pubs in the weekend and go out and fight and um which is an Australian tradition. It's the only place I've ever been where you you go into the men's restroom and there's a sign says this is what you do if your buddy gets into a fight like in every bathroom. So I play and I was you know I was shy. They were all like seemed like adults to me and they went to my mom and they said, "Why why is Richard play with his back to the audience?" My mom goes, "Oh, he's probably shy." And they accepted that and eventually I turned around. Do you remember the first day you turned around? >> No, I wish I did, but but it must have been a girl or something. Was I? I'm sure it was. >> Wow. I was the last virgin in the band, too, being the youngest. And believe me, did they give me because of that? >> I'm sure. >> Yeah. >> Listen, man, you've had a hell of a life. And it's just awesome to see you out there kicking ass. It really is like uh that video of you that went viral with your shirt off singing Jesse's Girl. Like that pumped me up, >> right? >> I was I watched that. I was like, "Fuck yeah. Good for him." Look how good he looks. Like this kind of crazy. I just love I love first of all that the passion that you had for singing that song was really like it was a new song and the fact that you've been I mean you've been singing that song for how many years man 40 what 46 years. >> Yeah that's closer to the when that was released it was or written it was closer to the end of World War II than it is now. >> That's crazy. That's crazy. And she is probably in her early late 60s now. >> Wow. >> The girl I wrote it about. >> Who is the girl that you wrote it about? >> Well, I never learned her name. She was at a a stained glass class. It was one of those moments where I was between record deals and uh I would always wanted to do things with my hand. I would make things out of clay. I was making mirrors out of clay, like sci-fi things, and and selling them at the local, you know, swap meet and and I started thinking about stained glass, and I thought I could support my family doing stained glass, which was But so I went to this I went to this class, and there was this girl, and she was hot. You know, it's just another girl that I found hot and she had a boyfriend there and I would try and chat with her. I never really had chat with girls. That's one one of the reasons that the guitar really helped there. I was never could go up and go, "Hey, babe." You know, I was not that I was never that guy. So, um, and I tried to talk to her and she had nothing didn't want anything to do with me because she had a boyfriend. And so, I went home and wrote about her in this song. His name was Gary. But, uh, and I tried Gary and didn't sing. So, I tried Randy and that didn't sing right either. So I ended up with Jesse and then that seemed to work. So >> Wow. >> But yeah, she um Oprah went looking for her actually. They she was looking for the the women behind the songs and they found this the stained glass guy and he died two years before and they'd thrown all the paperwork out a year after that. So >> wow. >> But but they could have found her. They missed her. But but I'd be it'd be wild to meet I'd pro I don't know if I'd recognize her now. I remember her her what she looked like, but um >> I wonder if she loved that song. >> Yeah. I mean, she had no idea has no idea it was about us. No one's ever come up and said that was me, right? >> That's crazy. >> Wow. >> Well, listen, man. It has been awesome meeting you. I really enjoyed this very much. Great time. >> Thank you very much. And thanks for everything and congratulations. >> Thank you. >> And you're you're a bad >> All right. Uh, go see Rick Springfield in concert, ladies and gentlemen. He's still out there kicking ass. I love it. All right. Thank you very much. Bye, everybody.