For the first time in What Podcast history, we have a return guest...and ironically the first repeat guest we have are the kids from *repeat repeat.
Jared and Kristyn talked how Bonnaroo changed their band and career, their new album, and what it was like working with Patrick Carney.
Then, we chat with podcast listener Brandon for our listener spotlight this week! Thanks for listening!
Topic: *repeat repeat
Guests: Jared Corder, Kristyn Corder, Brandon Best
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You know, Barry Courter, love can be found in so many strange places in life.
Rest stop bathrooms, workplaces, the grocery store and a chance encounter.
Or backstage at Camp Nut Butter.
That's exactly right.
In the middle of Tennessee summer in 2018.
I was thinking driving over here, Brad.
Yeah.
The power that the What podcast has.
Yeah. What's that? How's that?
These guys, nobody knew who they were.
Is that right? Yeah.
They come to our camp at Nut Butter.
They come out of Bonnaroo and suddenly everybody wants them.
The thing about love is that it creeps up so quickly and then it hits you like a ton of bricks and it doesn't let go.
And it's there with you for the rest of your lives.
And that's how we feel about the guest that we have set up for today.
The very first ever repeat guest on the What podcast.
Ironically enough. Repeating.
Is repeat repeat. Repeat repeat.
Yes.
Alright. Let's start off by telling you who we are.
I'm Brad Steiner from WDOD Radio in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
That's Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times Street Press.
This is the What Podcast.
A podcast that focuses on the bands that matter this year.
Primarily the play of Bonnaroo.
A podcast by Bonnarooians for Bonnarooians.
Even if you're not a Bonnarooian, we appreciate you checking us out.
Listen to some of the others that you may or may not care about.
We've got some good shows back there.
If you want to stumble through a few of them and check out some history along the way.
Of other artists that we've talked about or other Bonnaroo tips that we've given.
Festival tips, etc.
One of the episodes you can go back and listen to is a show that we did live on the live on site of Bonnaroo last year.
It was the very first ever, I think, I mean I've been there for a long time.
First ever backstage podcast interview of a Bonnaroo podcast in the history of Bonnaroo last year.
I think you're probably right. I don't know who could prove this otherwise.
You know what? It's sort of like Donald Trump. It really doesn't matter. I can say whatever I want.
We stumbled across them right with Bonnaroolette.
Yes.
Right?
Yeah, last year.
It was one of our Bonnaroo fines and then reached out and asked them to join us back in camp.
And we found out, I'm sure we'll talk to Jared about it when we speak, but their motto is yes.
They are the most agreeable, what's the word, accessible people that I've ever dealt with.
Ever.
And we just like them.
Yeah, that's the other thing too. It's amazing what the power and look, there's a common theme when it comes to repeat repeat.
It's not just yes, but it's also love, right?
It starts from a place of absolute 100% love between Kristin and Jared, who are a husband and wife who lead the band,
and what they're willing to do for you.
It's all from them loving each other, them loving their product, and them loving you as the person who's investing in their product.
I think we made fun of them, didn't we, during that podcast, because they're so lovey-dovey.
They are all over each other. It's disgusting.
All over each other. And look.
We thought they were newlyweds.
I've spent plenty of time with them since then. They're always like this. They're always like this.
They're just happy people. And it was, we had a ball. I mean, they came back and visited with us.
And then pretty soon we were swapping craft beers and then they were back and visiting some more.
Yeah, let's set the table a little bit and start over so that you understand what we're going for here.
Now, we know that Repeat Repeat not playing Bonnaroo this year.
But when I talked to Jared the other day and he told me what his plan was for Insert New Album and their new single,
we immediately said, well, you need to come back and talk to us about the new project because, A, not only is it damn good,
but it's also he's got a lot of perspective when it comes to Bonnaroo.
I love their Bonnaroo story because we talked to them. We talked about them in the Bonnaroo Let Show from last year.
We stumbled upon Girlfriend as a song that we really liked. We went to the show. We really, really liked the show.
We talked to them before their show backstage at our camp and they were unbelievably gracious.
They couldn't have been nicer. They sat there for 45 minutes in our dirty, rotten camp.
And then we were swapping phone numbers.
Yeah. And then and then it became like a like a friendship.
And talking to him subsequently in the months after Bonnaroo, I will never forget. I sat down at dinner with him.
It was the wife's birthday and we all had a birthday dinner.
He looked me in the eye and said that Bonnaroo show changed our lives.
That's that's where I thought we were going. Yeah.
That and I joke a little bit about the power of this podcast, but that Bonnaroo for them and for other bands,
but they're they're the ones that we know of specifically playing a show like that can change your career.
And it did for them. We're going to talk about not only the new record, but who produced it.
All of that comes out of the excitement that was generated.
Walk the Moon, similar instance, that first Bonnaroo experience, that type of thing can.
It puts a band in front of a lot of people. It puts a band in front of media.
Yeah. Legitimize it, whatever you want to call it. It can be that springboard.
Right. And it certainly seems to have been for these guys.
And we're going to jump into some of the stuff that they did on site with Jared when he gives us a call here in a second.
But I want to before we do that, I want to give a little bit of backstory to when they were backstage at Bonnaroo last year.
I've never ever seen an artist more. They were everywhere.
They turned a corner every single day. They were there hustling, talking to every piece of press.
They literally, there was not somebody that they would say, and you said it earlier, yes, they would not say no to anybody.
I kept asking Jared, Kristen, you guys going to, what show are you going to go to?
Well, we'd love to go see it, but we're going to go talk to Dumbledore magazine.
Hang on one second. They'll be back there in an hour.
Well, it'd be Dumbledore once. And then the day after they talked to us, was it Rolling Stone?
Rolling Stone calls him. Yeah. And then Bill Borg.
And then Rolling Stone found out we had talked to him. That's the way I'm telling it.
It's amazing because, I mean, if you, not only do we have Bonnaroo listeners or Bonnaroo fans that listen to this, but we also have musicians.
If you need a crash course on the way to get your name out there, follow Repeat Repeat's model.
Because as people who do this for a living, there's nothing we love more than an easy get.
Absolutely. We need easy gets.
And Repeat Repeat, not going to lie, was an easy get because they said yes. We didn't know why they said yes.
We didn't even know who they were. But because they said yes.
Right. We've never done a podcast from camp, but that would be a novel idea.
And they just were the first ones. Yeah.
And because we hit it off, I will be a fan. I will prop them up and I'll do anything that I can for the rest of my career.
If you are a musician, take that to note. Take that piece of advice that Repeat Repeat is giving you and do it.
Just do that playbook because you never know when you're going to make a contact that could do something for you.
Absolutely. The only thing that I like as much as the easy get is following an act.
From birth. From birth. Right.
To superstardom and all the way through. I love that. To me, that's the fun part of the job. Yeah.
And I remember when we spoke at Camp Nut Butter with them about this. Yes being their motto.
They play just as hard for one person. That's right. In a small club as forever.
I mean, they are serious about yes. That's their motto.
You never know that that one person might be that guy or one of four people. That's right.
Now, we're not that guy. We're not that guy. We're not that guy. But you just don't. You never know. You never know.
So hopefully we'll talk to Jared and Kristen from Repeat Repeat here in a second. Definitely got Jared.
I don't know if Kristen's going to join us. I know they're very busy this weekend with their big single being released.
And the subsequent steps that their career takes after this album drops in a couple of weeks.
But we also have a very special guest. We're trying to incorporate you, the podcast listener, each and every week.
And this week we've uncovered a guy that's got a pretty fun story. Yeah.
Brandon Best reached out. He's from Flint, Michigan. Paramedic professionally.
So we thought it'd be kind of fun to get his perspective and tips on how to do a festival like this.
We now know that we need to look up and try to order some banana sacks. Yeah, right.
Hey, that's not Barry talking dirty. Right. Right. It's not underwear.
You'll understand more here in a bit. Plus, we've got a little bit of homework for you.
The what podcast listener for next week's show that we will talk about here in a second.
But first, let's talk to Jared and or Kristen from Repeat Repeat.
Hi, we're great. What are you guys up to? Are you in the van right now? Yeah.
Yeah. Awesome. We're driving through the woods. So before before we start, just to paint a picture of where you guys are,
you're leaving the house, which is this palatial estate in northern Nashville with the whole Repeat family in the most amazing van I've ever sat in in my life.
Please explain how great this van is. Well, it has several benches.
It has we call it the Chateau Lobby based off of Father John Misty song.
It's got a couch in the back and an ottoman and tapestry curtains and about 200 buttons.
Every time we get a button from a show, we put it in the roof.
We put it in the roof of the van. So kind of make a little button museum. Nice. Excellent.
A whole button, a whole button museum from the places and the people that you have seen before, one of which being Bonnaroo 2018.
Now, before we get into how amazing your life is today and how amazing it's going to be in the future,
let's talk about before Bonnaroo and the conversations that we've had maybe before, but not necessarily in this format.
The show that you guys had before Bonnaroo, the band that you had before Bonnaroo and then the show at Bonnaroo
and what happened in the media aftermath. Explain what that whole process was like.
And guys, I need I need you to confirm because I I claim that it's being on this podcast,
which coincidentally happened during Bonnaroo that actually launched you guys.
So I need you to confirm that for everybody. Consider that confirmed.
Yeah, I think when we started the band prior to Bonnaroo, you know, we were like lost in the desert.
And then we came and we did this. We did your podcast. And now our eyes have been opened.
I feel like we've we've become better songwriters because of it.
I feel like our comedic timing is better. Oh, sure.
And, you know, grass grass is a little greener, sky's a little bluer.
Yeah, the food tastes sweeter. The shirt the shirt has gotten more stripes on it and somehow.
Yeah, is that possible? Yeah, there's yeah. It's like so many stripes.
Family of baby stripes now.
It's really exciting. But also that could have also just been heatstroke.
Sure. Exactly. But honestly, before Bonnaroo, we you know, we were working our way up the ladder.
That is the music industry. And we always are. We still are. We're never we're never not improving.
But I think there was a moment when we got on stage at our show on Sunday.
Well, we knew what to expect a little bit because we played Thursday night for the Roobus, which if you're if you are if Wednesday night.
I'm sorry if you're a Bonnaroo veteran, if you want to see what like the Roobets do, go on Wednesday night and go to the Roobus and go party with them.
And we got to play on the farm that night. And honestly, we were the first band to play all of Bonnaroo last year because no other bands played Wednesday night.
So we got to play out in the campground. And that kind of gave us a taste of what to expect the whole weekend.
And then we were just surrounded by the energy and the magical power of Bonnaroo all all the rest of the weekend.
And then we got to play our official show on Sunday. And I feel like we walked off the stage, a different band.
And I think I think people took notice. I know Rolling Stone took notice.
Yeah. And, you know, it's not it's not been the same since, frankly.
That's awesome. That's awesome. It's the it's the power of a festival that you guys had wanted to be a part of for so long, too. Right.
Oh, absolutely. It was sort of one of those things that we we knew we were for.
And, you know, we thought that we could get there. But also, it seems like it's far off land that, you know, was maybe even pretend.
It was part of the reason I moved to Nashville. No way.
When I. Yeah, because I knew three things. I didn't know a single person when I moved to Nashville at all.
I didn't know where how to make it in the industry. I don't have parents in the industry.
I literally had no textbook, no rule book. But I knew three things. Paramore was from Nashville.
Kings of Leon was from Nashville and Bonnaroo was in Nashville.
So I was like, all right, that that sounds like a good trifecta.
So they're doing something right. So I that's part one of the three reasons I moved here.
So to get to play it was a game changer. You know, it's surreal.
We talked about leading into talking with you guys, how your motto is yes.
And how important that has been for the band.
Yeah, I think if you think that, you know, every single, you know, answer for every single part of it, then you're really doing your music and yourself a just justice.
So I think it's important to like, you know, surround yourself with the right people, whether that's in music or at a music festival.
And then from that point forward, trust the process and just say yes to as many things because you just never know how good something can be or can become.
If you if you go into it with more of a yes than a no.
You know, but see, that's but see, that's sort of the testament to you guys because, you know, there was not and we talked about this a second ago.
There's not been an artist that I've ever seen at least at Bonnaroo.
But frankly, anywhere that hustles as much as you guys do or did at Bonnaroo, you said yes to everybody.
You wanted to talk to everybody. You were willing to get your message out to frankly anyone.
And I always thought that was a hustle. But now that I know you guys, I think it's just who you guys are and willing to give whatever you have to the moment in which you're living in and not letting a moment go by without maximizing the potential and what it could give you in your life.
I think a lot of that is an attachment to the fact that we're not shared with the word you always use self.
Like I said, we're not self sabotaging. And so we sort of at the end of the day want to know that if this ever, you know, doesn't get to the places that we're trying to accomplish with it, it's not because of us.
It's not because we didn't say yes or, you know, we'll do whatever we have to do.
Yeah. And also, I think to the music and like the overall just energy of the whole thing is an extension of our lives. Right.
So to get to go and do all these interviews, it feels just like Kristen and I get to go have conversations with friends and we're just so lucky to get to talk about something we got to make.
So, I don't know. I don't know if part of it's because neither of us come from like, you know, famous backgrounds or anything or if it has something to just do with where we're always like really high energy and as a kid say sometimes a little extra.
But we, we, we're just always we always feel like really privileged that anyone wants to talk to us about our music.
So we want to be as like open to that as possible. And honestly, Bonnaroo wasn't the first time we did that.
We played Four Castle the year before and we did 24 interviews in 12 hours.
And then I think we went to Floss Fest in Birmingham right after Bonnaroo and we did something like 15 interviews in like four hours.
So we, we, it's a great way to get our name out there. But also we just, anyone that wants to take five, 10 minutes out of their day to come talk to us and write about it.
We feel like super spoiled to get to do that. And we don't want to ever take advantage of that or take that for granted.
You know, I'm sitting here listening, realizing that we've talked about how hard you guys work off stage.
I don't know that we've really said it's a great show. It's a really good show too. Yeah.
You got to bring, you got to, you know, you can't just talk the game. You guys, it's a fun show. It's great music.
It's a lot of fun. So, you know, for people out there listening. Yeah. Yeah. I just, we, I don't think we've said that.
Well, thank you. Well, Rolling Stone kind of like we said, we've never been the same band since Bonnaroo.
Rolling Stone in all the best ways kind of fucked us because they called us Bonnaroo's most enthusiastic band.
And do you realize now every single show, like if I'm sick or there's 10 people in the audience, anyone there, those 10 people are expecting Bonnaroo's most enthusiastic band. Yeah.
They set a bar to say the least, but I think we feel, we feel ready to meet it. Yeah.
I mean, we, I don't know, we want to, we want to reflect the energy we want to see in the audience.
And so I don't know if you, if you go to a show and the band doesn't seem like they're having fun, however that looks. Yeah.
Well, you had to cut out all the emo songs, huh? All the mopey stuff.
Well, that, you got to outdo yourself every single show. So like, hey, Kristen, so last night I smashed my guitar into your keyboards.
What should I do tonight? Let's set it on fire. Every night has got to be something. Yeah.
But that kind of makes it super fun for Kristen and I and for our band. I think it makes it a little nerve wracking for our management, but every show is a little bit different every time.
I mean, we don't have like some shtick where I have like some scripted thing that I'm going to say or whatever. I don't know. It's just, we go off the top.
I, to that I will say because of that, Jared is an inherently funny person and a lot of times people don't realize how much I'm trying to not lose my shit laughing at him.
Yeah. He will do, he will do things sometimes that none of us are expecting and we can hardly hold our reactions.
I feel just very lucky that I get paid to get laughed at by my wife. I feel that way at my job. Who doesn't want that?
Jared, I can't even get mine to listen to my own radio show. So you're doing okay.
I always, I feel. Well, I'll say we all get laughed at by our wives, right? It's just I get paid for it.
I feel lucky when she laughs because that means she's not going for the skillet or something because of something I've said.
By the way, skillet is code word for something on Barry's body, by the way.
It's funny to hear you say that, Kristen, because that's exactly what you said after the show here at Songbirds.
You just had no idea what Jared was going to do every night. So it was always a surprise.
I started somewhat acknowledging it every now and then because I'm very, I'm very transparent.
You can tell exactly how I'm feeling at any point. And sometimes I just can't resist cracking up at him.
That's good. Yeah. Hey, so we've so now that we've settled the Bonnaroo thing,
I got to imagine you guys are living in a little bit of a haze right now.
The past week you released your new single. You had Billboard write a very nice article about you and the new album, the new project.
And then you got your music video put on Billboard.com.
And now you are looking at the next 12 months of your life, probably set in stone for you.
And you're just sort of like a cog in a machine. So first off, let's talk about how excited you are about the new single.
Tell me about the new album. How did it come to be? Let's just let's just start from the beginning.
Well, we're also in a haze because we just woke up this morning and our friend Michelle Branch shared the video and how much she loved it.
And that was just it took our breath away because, you know, I don't know.
It's just like, oh, yeah, here's Michelle Branch. Just yeah, that happened.
Yeah, exactly. He didn't he didn't feel that way when he didn't feel that way when I shared it yesterday.
What happened? What happened? Oh, I did. I cried.
But not warm and fuzzy. No, I understand.
I felt feelings. I felt those feelings in my skillet. You know what I mean? Oh, nice.
It's like the matrix. It all started in a weird spot. It's you're right in the skillet.
Skillet. So we yeah. So we're really, really fucking excited for the single.
It's called I Am Waiting. And yeah, it's about you know, it's a theme I feel like a lot of people can relate to.
At least people like me. It's a it's like feeling really longing for someone that may or may not know you exist yet.
So, you know, it's just like I think it reflected similar feelings to like when Kristen and I met and just, you know,
wanting her to fall madly in love with me because I was madly in love with her and just waiting for her to catch up.
When I think of you two in your relationship, unrequited love doesn't come into the picture.
There were about two months in the beginning that I thought he might be too good to be true.
So I was cautiously optimistic. Well, we joked before, you know, talking to you guys today.
And even back at Camp Nut Butter, how you two act like you're on your honeymoon all the time to the point where we had to make you stop.
It's a lot of giggling. It's a lot of giggling. It's like being with high school kids. It's giggling and soft like, oh, stop it.
A lot of that. Yeah, it feels like that. I don't I don't know.
Man, like honestly, like I I tried to tell people not to base, not to use us as like the what's the word?
The example because we're weirdos. But like we haven't spent a night apart in eight years.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So our own version of like weirdos.
Yeah. I mean, like, I think it's normal for people to be like, I need some time alone, but we've just never felt that.
And we work together and and and I said this earlier when you guys earlier before you guys called.
But everything starts with you guys with love.
The the the middle of the circle is love and everything sort of surrounds that and circles that over and over.
And I'm hoping that's going to be the same thread that I can't imagine.
It's not. But I got to imagine that's the same thread that's going to tie this new project, this new album together.
Yeah, actually, quick story. So we just moved in.
We just got so we last time we talked to you guys on the podcast, we were about to buy our first home together.
Then we came back from Bonnaroo, went on tour for six weeks, closed on the house.
And then we came home and made a record in the middle of moving.
So we'd move in the middle of the night, an hour away, and then wake up at six a.m., feed the pets and then head out to the studio for a 12 hour day and then move again that night.
So we did that. And then my sister in law came and stayed with us for about six weeks.
She's getting ready to go to France for the summer.
We hit this really weird time just externally, you know, cars breaking down and house problems, you know, was first your first home and like this.
Like, I remember at one point I kind of changed the oil in my car and my car broke and I was covered in oil and I was getting rained on.
And right before I feel like really good, amazing things happen, seemingly really like difficult things happen.
And it was just a really hard time externally, you know, just like, you know, like mercury and retrograde kind of shit.
And my sister in law, right before she left, she she was like, he was like, she was watching it, you know, basically from afar.
And she said, like, at one point I heard you in the other room, like practically sobbing.
But then you said to Kristen, I love you. And she yelled from the other room, I love you, too.
And she was like, that was really sweet. That's true.
I don't know. It's just like even in our like hardest time with like whatever's going on and this industry is not for the faint of heart.
I don't know. We never lose sight of that part.
So I think that plays a role in our music and it played a role in this song because originally the song before we sent it to Patrick was going to be about a stalker.
So it didn't really reflect us at first.
Every time we try to get away from that subject, people will let us.
It's like people that have their kids on a leash, they'll let you go a little bit of a distance.
But if you go too far, they pull you back.
So every time we try to go a little bit too far away from that topic, whether that's if we try to, you know, get politically charged or talk about, you know, you know, I mean, there are plenty of songs that we have that are not about us.
Yeah.
So anytime we try to do that, people are like, OK, cool for this next one. Let's go back to like what makes you guys like the essence of you guys.
At one point, Patrick Carney said to us, he said, you know what your story is?
It's you guys. He's like, people want to hear that story.
And I was like, are you sure?
I mean, like, I mean, like people are like, pick up like the big part of it.
And he's like, no, that's the story. Like, stop trying to make it something that it's not. So, I don't know, we just embrace it.
And so I changed it from being a song about a stalker to being a song about, you know, that unrequited love in the early beginnings of like a relationship.
In my mind, I'm never having picture of you.
Wait.
When you started writing the album and you started putting together your thoughts and
what you wanted this to be, when did Patrick Arnie from the Black Keys find himself in
this role that he eventually became?
That was like six months before Bonnaroo.
So we had actually had two of the singles recorded that are going to be coming out soon.
Two singles recorded, the two songs we played at Bonnaroo actually that were new, we had
those recorded and so yeah about six months before Bonnaroo he had heard some stuff of
ours, he had heard about some of the shows we were playing and all of that and he wanted
to meet us so we met and then we did these two songs and that turned into like a 3 a.m.
text of him asking if he could do the whole record and we got that news I think like the
week before Bonnaroo so we came into Bonnaroo knowing we were going to do a whole record
with him and it was 20 12-hour days and it was the most life-changing 20 12-hour days
that we've ever spent together and he has since become like a family member to us.
That's unbelievable.
Was there a moment where you questioned any of it?
Was there a moment where you said I don't know if this is going to be right but we're
just going to trust the process and go with it?
I think the only part of it that we questioned because I mean there's not a lot to question
when you know someone like Patrick asked to work with you there was no question in working
with him but more so a question about we have never this had always been sort of a self-contained
songwriting operation.
Derek would you know write the structure and a chorus and then I would kind of you know
edit words that felt funny or you know I always like to add you know I've helped make choruses
big and things like that so it would it always stayed between the two of us and our producer
Gregory who had done the first two records with us so like the first thing that we put
out as a baby band and then our first official record with Dangerbirds that we put out in
2017 so I think the process we knew was going to be totally different than anything we had
ever done.
We knew we were going to be writing in the studio because we had something like 22 demos
but no finished songs whereas with the last record we had been performing the whole record
out live and then went to record it.
This album was about you know several months before we saw ourselves trying to get into
the studio so we had plenty of material but we knew it was going to be a lot of picking
through that material and working closely with someone we were trying to just sort of
psych ourselves up to be ready for that process.
Yeah and also personally it was challenging for me because in the last record we did Floral
Canyon so like I played guitar for 15 years and I studied guitar in college and stuff
like that so guitar has always been the thing I felt like set in stone about like really
confident in my abilities and usually vocally is where I feel like shaky and so with Floral
Canyon I nailed the guitars but it was where it was the vocals and christen and the harmonies
that took a lot of like tweaking and you know behind the scenes like you know figuring out
what you know is Kristen going to sing a third here or a fifth or whatever and with this
record it was totally opposite the vocals came super fast I felt like Kristen and I
were super in sync with the like singing and our harmonies a lot of the vocals on the whole
record we sang at the same time and I felt like you could feel that vibe and the energy
but Patrick broke down my guitars in the best way but it made me question my ability at
times because he would tell me you know he would say you're thinking of the song as a
guitar player you need to think of the song as a listener or as a songwriter and so I
would start to noodle or I would overthink it or I would try to make it like a guitar
song and he would be like no this needs to be a pop song this needs to be a song for
the masses not just for the guys who you know read guitar player magazine or something so
I would take you know and sometimes I would take four notes and I would be like how about
this and I would practice all night like show up the next day the studio and I'd be like
how about these four notes it's only four notes and he would be like that's too many
notes it needs to be two notes and that was a big challenge on me because I feel like
almost every day in the studio we'd go home feeling fulfilled but feeling I would feel
exhausted and feel like am I even a good guitarist like maybe I'm overthinking it maybe my maybe
I skill set is like not not where I thought it was but then Patrick just would keep reaffirming
it and when we would get something right or when we would get a take that we all felt
was good he would really drive it home that that was you know really strong and really
good and frankly I walked out of that I finished that record and now I feel like I'm a better
guitarist in the right way you know what I mean?
Interesting yeah.
Like I know all the I knew all the scales going into I knew scales and how to play solos
going into making this record but now I feel like I can make any record going forward thinking
of it as what how does the guitar best complement the rest of this record and I mean and I wrote
guitar parts that's how ego less you know he was in the process so.
It's interesting to hear because as part of you know this is what I do is my job at the
paper is interview bands all the time and the whole songwriting recording process fascinates
me because it can change from year to year album to album song to song and it's interesting
to hear how important a producer or letting somebody else into the process you know I
mean we've read about bands who changed where they recorded you know there was sometimes
they'd go to an island sometimes they'd go to a house sometimes they'd go to somebody's
basement just for a different vibe and just changing I mean it it it takes a lot of trust
right to bring in like Patrick or anybody to mess with your baby basically.
It can and it can mess with your head it's like he's so Patrick is so passionately upset
with music and frankly we thought we had the record done in was it 15 days and then a week
went by and he called us back in and we went back in and rewrote and re-recorded two songs
on the record that we thought were done and there are better songs now because of it because
he obsessed over it and until it's right you know it like doesn't fit well with him and
and because we say yes like we were like sure let's go back in and I don't know I don't
know how other artists do it but we didn't want to be too precious with it you know we
didn't want to be like well this is our record or these are my lyrics or this is my guitar
part like yeah I mean Patrick played guitar on it and I mean like I would sing a part
and then we would end up being like no Kristen should sing that part and I would write a
lyric and we'd like nope scratch that lyric like Kristen writes a lyric like I think taking
all the ego out of it made it something that we are most proud of and it will make it make
us better musicians going forward forever you know and that's awesome I was glad to
hear you yeah yeah interesting to hear you use that word precious I'm name-dropping but
I interviewed Glenn Tillbook of Squeeze years ago and I asked him what you know what happened
what was it like after the world started calling him the next Lennon and McCartney and he said
every word became too precious right I thought wow that put it right you know nailed it right
there but that's what can happen yeah and you know we wanted to make we didn't just
want to make a repeat repeat record with Patrick's name on it we wanted to make the absolute
best record at this chapter in our lives that we can make you know and I think some people
they may misconstrue especially now that Patrick's back in the limelight with that new Black
Keys single which we feel is the same way you described our song Brad it's like I told
Patrick it's a grower not a shower I was like I said I liked it when I heard it at first
and now I love it it's one of those things I think some people think of Patrick as maybe
difficult to work with or kind of an asshole but we had because we approached it ready
to soak any knowledge we could like a sponge we never experienced anything like that he
was absolutely like wise and hard-working and passionate and generous and kind and you
know but he also cared about the product and he cared about making this thing really good
and I guess some people could have misconstrue that but we took it as he was passionate and
because of that I think it's like I think we bonded over that and I think you know we
were ready to learn and we took it as you know he really feels something about this
music and this record and we were ready to like you know push ourselves to the breaking
point if we had to.
Well that's the part that I wanted to pick up on when you said he really believes in
this record how did he find you in the first place now before you answered that I find
it to be really odd listening but knowing that Patrick did this album and knowing that
information I went back and listened to Floral Canyon and some of your other stuff man there
were some like traces of black keys already in you guys like you guys already did like
some of the driving drum lines and the hook stacked on top of hooks stuff already outside
a girlfriend outside a girlfriend that was sort of you guys as you guys had that already
in you so I got imagine he saw he saw a little bit of that when he heard you and said yeah
I want to be a part of this album yeah I mean we both been fans of the black keys since
the beginning I mean how could you not but I mean Jared had seen them at the Ryman and
you know 2011 and on the Brothers tour and things like that so yeah we've always been
fans and yeah that's definitely always been there.
I don't know how exactly he took notice to us what the specific thing was there's a rumor
that he saw our audio tree performance and that was one of the things that he kind of
took notice of he also like he also you know had seen kind of the year we had we had we
had by the time we started working with him we had at least announced Bonnaroo and Floss
Fest and you know we had a successful run at South by Southwest and all of that but
also you know it wasn't like he wasn't both feet in right off the bat like like my like
we talked about with Kristen he was cautious cautiously hopeful or cautiously optimistic
so you know we walked in the first day and just played him demos and I probably had 50
demos in my phone and you know I would play my demo he'd go that's not good that doesn't
sound like a hook you know like that else and I claim another one and I don't know man
I don't know if like because I grew up or I went to school for music you know and I
had professors that would you know they cared about your ability and your skill and because
of that they would be very they would critique things and they would be very critical at
times so I learned how to take criticism constructively and so we we did one song and we thought that
was gonna be it and then he texted and was like let's do another and then he texted and
asked our permission if we could do a whole record with him and the whole time we were
just like are you kidding me like I saw you at a sold out show at the Ryman like you're
one of my idols like yes of course you can but I think because he approached it that
way I don't know it just felt like a mutual respect and he said your music's cool but
I can make it cooler and we said that's awesome let's do it.
It's a great story that I love that it doesn't fit my whole the what podcast narrative but
I like that story a lot.
That's fair he did say at one point he said we played him you know he said I listen to
Floral Canyon and he was like it's good he's like but I want to make a record that people
take mushrooms to.
It's not a psychedelic record but it's a record that I feel like you can take and see and
then you know you can you'll see rainbows coming out of the speakers you know.
Well you guys are walking rainbows so that makes a lot of sense yeah Kristen's a unicorn
Jared's a rainbow it just works it just works.
Thank you we were individually those types so when we found each other it felt a little
bit like you know like an 80s movie.
Good all right so.
Like pure magic and awesome soundtracks.
So first off well to wrap things up we really appreciate you guys not only your work not
only your time but also as friends we love you guys a lot and we appreciate you guys
being so important to the history of this little show but also in our lives in general
what is the album going to be like what can we expect what's the release date what's your
plan for the next few months.
Okay so the release date for the album is May 31st and you go and preorder that now
you can go to repeat repeat music dot com and preorder that there's also merch bundles
and stuff if you want to get all that and also in the next month or two before May 31st
if you if everyone listening out there if you all dug Hi I'm Waiting just you fucking
wait for the next three songs we have coming out before the album because we feel like
to put it this way Hi I'm Waiting is the first track off the record and I think one of the
best reviews we got from a close friend was Hi I'm Waiting is great but the album only
gets better so if you all like Hi I'm Waiting we the band I think Patrick feel like that
the songs coming out next are only gonna are only gonna be stronger rainbows and stronger
unicorns of what we've done so we're really excited about all of that and we have some
incredibly huge news that we can't share yet but we will be sharing very soon but very
very big news that I think all of the listeners and all of you guys will be very excited to
hear so stay tuned for all of that.
Boy I have a feeling I know what this is if I know this industry I think I know what you're
about to say when is this little piece of information dropping I can't say okay you
can't even say when you can say okay all right I've already said too much okay but it will
be but the world will know probably sooner than later all right here's what I'm doing
here's what I'm doing Jared I'm writing down what I think the announcement is and I'm showing
it to Barry now he's gonna have to put on his reading glasses but that what do you think
about that you think that's what it is Barry? Okay all right I'm writing it down I'm putting
it in the annuals of the what podcast annual book history thing and if I'm right I'm gonna
somebody's own me a drink.
Yeah that's fair.
Okay.
Yeah I think it's Barry owes you.
Okay.
I also just want to say we made a brief five or six point list for new Bonnaroo people
new group goers and some tips from us because we just prepared not knowing what you guys
would want to talk about.
Aha.
Bonnaroo justice.
Sweet.
So I can either send you the list or we can tell you the list.
How about the is it let's do this is it a list that you guys have made as tips for Bonnarooians
first timers or just in general?
Yes.
Bonnarooians first timers.
Well I have I have an idea if you if you don't mind.
I let's let's do this.
Let's wrap up this conversation and let's let's pick it up next week and you can be
our guest for Bonnaroo first timers and give us your list that specific list next week
on the what podcast.
What do you think about that?
That's our theme for next week.
What do you think?
That sounds perfect.
That sounds great and we'll be probably in the in the midst of South by Southwest so
we'll be able to give you a fun update on that.
But before we wrap to we just want to say to you guys both of you thank you guys so
much for being fans and being friends and for being with us and doing that first podcast
with us at a very integral point in our career.
We're very excited that you wanted to do it with us and we continue to be excited when
we get to hang out with you guys.
Yes and thank you guys for being such lovers of music and for putting out such a great
podcast.
I know the listeners are thankful to you guys as well and the fans of Bonnaroo are as well
so keep it up and we'll do episodes with you whenever you want.
There are not two more charming people in all of the music industry that I've met at
least than the kids from Repeat Repeat, Mr. Repeat, Mrs. Repeat, the entire Repeat family
of which I feel very honored to be a small part of.
I feel like I'm part of the Repeat family like one of the dogs at the house.
I agree.
I agree.
They're a lot of fun and they're very very sweet people.
So that was a lot of fun.
We're going to talk to Brandon, a paramedic who's been to a few Bonnaroo's in his past
coming up here in a second.
But first we've got a little bit of homework for you, the What Podcast listener.
And of course as always you can drop us a line at thewhatpodcast.com or the what underscore
podcast.
Drop us a line and we'll immediately get you in for Bonnaroo tickets with camping passes.
We've got GA passes to give away like we did last year.
So all it takes is just dropping us a line.
Say hello, give us a story, give us some feedback or you can fulfill our homework assignment
for you this week.
Next week we want to focus on Bonnaroo first timers.
Last year we did a Bonnaroo first timer show.
We focused on Bozzi.
Next week we're going to talk to my buddies at AJR and maybe a surprise guest and maybe
a Bonnaroo first timer from last year.
What I was hoping is to supplement our Bonnaroo first timer show.
Give us your advice for a Bonnaroo first timer at thewhatpodcast.com or the what underscore
podcast.
You know, I was thinking about that.
It's changed because of the changes that the festival has done to the site with the additions
of things like the store, the laundry mat out there and stuff like that.
Blushable toilets.
Blushable toilets.
You don't have to bring nearly as much as you maybe did before.
It's a good point.
I've found myself bringing much more garbage, goofy stuff than stuff that's actually necessary.
Like I don't, I can't tell you the last time I really brought food.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
I bring snacks and now I plan to eat at least one meal, maybe two meals a day in Centeroo
because the food is so good.
It's so good.
Go in there and buy something.
Yeah.
Get a spicy pie or a.
Yeah.
And honestly, when I'm waking up in the morning, I really just don't feel like eating.
No, I don't eat a lot because obviously you don't want to spend your days in the, fleshable
or not.
You're trying to position your body for the maximum that you can for the day.
It's better to eat mini meals or small meals throughout the day.
I do that.
I do that in my regular life.
I eat a lot.
But things like that, you don't need to bring a lot of that.
Water, golly, the first couple of years was such a, that was what everybody was concerned
about.
Bring water, bring water, bring water.
Because you had to walk a half a mile or two miles or whatever to get ice.
You know, and it melted by the time you got it back.
Boy, that's a good question.
How is the ice situation out there these days?
I don't think it's as bad.
I think that's what I mean.
With all the water stations that they have, I think there are more ice.
Is it still $10 a bag though?
I have no idea.
We haven't, I mean, I've never bought it.
My biggest tip that I read before I ever came was buy a case of ice or bottled water and
freeze it.
Yeah.
And then that becomes your ice in your cooler and it doesn't get everything wet when it
melts and you drink it as you go through.
That's been huge for me.
That works great.
Yeah.
So that's what we're looking for.
I want your Bonnaroo tips and you're right, Barry, but I didn't even think about that.
My advice to a first timer, it was advice that I'd be giving to me as the first timer
14, 15 years ago.
A first timer that went for the first time last year and is doing this all for the second
time is giving somebody advice this year for a first time.
Totally different world.
Totally different world.
I didn't even think about that.
We'll hear Brandon talk about tarps.
That's still legit.
Tarp, tarps, tarps, tarps, shade.
You know, I've told you my first year only because it was in the truck already.
The only shade I had was an umbrella, which we strapped to a table and then walked around
or moved our chairs around it like a sundial.
Yes.
I just, if you've ever seen Barry Courter, Barry Courter holding a little umbrella and
just traveling in a circle, like going around with the globe is the strangest sight I've
ever thought of.
I'm thankful for that little patch of shade.
That's insane.
All right.
So that's what we're asking you to drop us some Bonnaroo first timer tips that you would
give and we'll read them next week during our Bonnaroo first timers episode starting
AJR and some of the Bonnaroo first timers that we're focusing on to see at the farm
in 2019.
But until then, let's talk to Brandon.
Brandon, a paramedic, been to Bonnaroo a few times before.
Our spotlight on you, the What Podcast listener.
Hello, Brandon.
Hey guys, how's it going?
I'm glad you're out there listening.
Brandon is a listener who emailed us and we've gotten so many emails and so many people happy
and willing to be on the show, which is cool.
Yeah, it's a lot less work for us.
It's really exciting.
But this one, this one is not one that I would have thought of on our own, I don't think.
But once you reached out, I was like, man, that's perfect.
Brandon is a paramedic who volunteers, right?
Is it volunteer work or are you paid?
Well, I get paid.
I work in the city of Flint in Michigan here, so I get paid there, but not at the festival.
Yeah, that's what I mean.
Obviously, yeah, I hope you get paid in Flint.
Hey, sometimes it's volunteer.
My daughter worked with the volunteer program at Bonnaroo and I was surprised to learn of
all the people in the medical profession who volunteer to work there.
I was surprised until she explained it, but you guys get to hang out, you get to go, but
it's kind of also your reason for doing the job, right?
You guys like helping people, so what better place?
Yeah, I didn't, unfortunately, and I went, I volunteered at Electric Forest in 2017 and
I didn't get to volunteer as a paramedic there because it was through a different company.
But I still volunteered and we did a bunch of other stuff.
We helped clean up the grounds and we sat in the VIP areas and did, then they ran the
stores for them.
It was still a pretty cool experience.
Have you ever volunteered at Bonnaroo before?
No, I had a couple of friends who volunteered at Bonnaroo.
They were all trying to convince me to go to Electric Forest, which is about two and
a half hours from here in Michigan.
I didn't really want to because I'm not into EDM as much as I am now at that point in my
life.
They just convinced me to volunteer because it was basically a free ticket and I went
and I ended up loving all the music there and the grounds, so it was awesome.
Barry's daughter being a volunteer coordinator and then me having friends that actually volunteered
and then the third level of it when we talked to Paul Janeway last year about his festival
experience as a volunteer, it sounds like just a really difficult life.
I don't know how Electric Forest does it, but Bonnaroo does you 12 hours on, 12 hours
off and then you got to do that for a series of, I guess, three or four days and then you're
there the whole week before.
Is that pretty much how Electric Forest works?
Well, it's the same company.
Workforce exchange are wet is what they call themselves.
Yeah, Bonnaroo is different.
I know when my friends did Bonnaroo, they had to go three or four days before and it
helped set up and they got to leave.
And then, but at Electric Forest, it wasn't like that.
We got three eight hour shifts.
You could specify who you wanted to see and they try to work on your schedule.
And so we got three shifts that were eight hours and luckily for us, they were all between
like noon and eight and at Michigan, it's like 80 degrees at that point in the year.
So it really wasn't too terrible.
It doesn't sound terrible.
That's the problem.
It doesn't sound terrible.
It sounds perfectly logical, especially when you're telling a kid who doesn't have much
money that they can go for free when they're 19, 20 years old.
And then we're actually doing it in the Tennessee heat.
It's pretty terrible.
And then you have a guy pee down your back.
They tried to convince me to volunteer at Bonnaroo in 2015 and I said, absolutely not.
I'd rather just pay.
I'm not going to sweat for four days extra.
So what did your what was your overall impressions, not from just the volunteer aspect, your overall
impressions of Electric Forest versus Bonnaroo?
Electric Forest is amazing.
The grounds are awesome, which is like Bonnaroo is doing the where in the woods this year.
So I'm really excited to see that to see how it compares Electric Forest because Electric
Forest is just it's huge.
Like there's like I think they fit like a 12 acre forest that there's like a couple
stages in there and you can literally get lost in it.
It's pretty cool.
If they had that Bonnaroo has, I think I'd go every year, but I liked Bonnaroo.
The Bonnaroo means way more and it's just a lot more fun at Bonnaroo.
Just quickly, the volunteer sort of thing.
What what's the were there pluses?
What was the advantage to doing it?
Because that's for the free ticket.
I mean, that was probably about it.
It was our report that kind of put us out in the middle of nowhere to camp.
We couldn't actually camp at PA, which kind of stink.
But other than being able to go to the festival for free and then being able to, I guess,
to help her out and see the behind the scenes stuff.
That was my feeling too good aspect.
So I'd rather pay every year.
When you come to Bonnaroo, you come with a group?
Yeah, me and a couple of buddies here from Michigan have gone the years past 2014, 15,
and then in 18.
And we're coming back, obviously, at 19.
And then this year, we have a toss of eye.
We have a group that we met last year that are all doing group camping.
And I would like to do group camping, but my other friends want to stay in PA.
We got lucky.
We were in a pod two or plaza two last year.
At some point, you transition from going to just Bonnaroo as a patron and then into a
like a volunteer paramedic.
Maybe I misunderstood that, Brandon.
Have you done the volunteer paramedic at either of the festivals?
No, I haven't.
But what I was telling you guys was that it's just, when I go there, I usually bring my
bed bag just in case if anything happened.
But I also try to do a good job of looking out for people who might be having too much
fun and who are running around and they might need a water or, you know, back at camp, I
usually bring like an IV star kit just in case if somebody's dehydrated around us that
needs some help.
And luckily for me with my medical license, I get to carry a specific drug called Narcan
that will, you know, that will bring somebody back if they decided to.
Hang on a second.
Let me write that down.
Narcan.
Pick one of those up on the way.
I was thinking, I don't know if Brad was in our camp when this happened, but it was one
of those other moments that reminded me what's different about this festival.
Though the kid that got so high, was it two years ago and ran across the freeway and didn't
make it back.
He got hit by a semi truck.
And one of the guys in our camp looked at the rest of us and said, that's his buddy's
fault and that's everybody else's fault around him that they didn't take care of him.
The guy was over partying or whatever, you know, and made a mistake.
But it's sort of it's that Bonnaroo mentality of take care of your neighbors and friends.
Well, yeah, that is that is exactly what you seem to walk and talk, Brandon.
That specific case, though, I can't imagine that being if something like that happened
to us, I can't imagine that being your fault or my fault.
I can't when we say look out for each other, yeah, we look out for each other, those who
were struggling.
But we can't also make their decisions for them.
No, no, no.
And I can't.
It was more the kid had made a bad decision.
So, you know, we we as a community should step up and take care of him.
So it's the way I interpret it.
Sure.
And we see that we see that anytime somebody like falls apart in the middle of the pit
at the what?
Right.
You know, somebody is going to be pointing and I can't remember the show that this happened,
but I'll never forget the way that the crowd reacted when a girl next to me fainted and
literally all of us screamed like, oh, my God, this is the middle of the day.
And even the guy on the stage was like, hey, hey, she needs help.
She needs help.
And then that's when the medic just ran straight towards straight towards her.
And we all just like picked her up and handed her to him.
I don't know if I don't know what happened to her.
I'm guessing she just got dehydrated.
But that's the looking out for each other thing that we absolutely, absolutely love
and adore about this festival.
Yeah, it happened all the time in GA too.
I mean, like last year we were at Kellett and I was with one of my friends and they
obviously know that I have a paramedic.
Probably two or three rows ahead of us, two, three heads ahead of us.
Some girls fell and they started yelling for it.
My buddies are telling me like, watch out, my friend's a paramedic.
He'll come and help her, which I always do.
You know, if I always do something like that or some guy lay in the field in the middle
of, you know, today when it's 98 degrees, then, you know, I always go up to them and
make sure that they're OK.
At least if I get there before the other people, they have that first line of care, you know,
a little bit sooner.
And you know what's crazy about that?
Think about if you're somebody like you, who's always on the lookout, making sure that that
others are OK, that's really got to change your experience going to the festival as well.
You can't necessarily let yourself go, lose yourself in a moment because your eyes are
always looking and your head's always on a swivel.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, I always look for it.
I mean, I still don't worry.
I still have my fun.
But, you know, just, I don't know, I've always, I've always been like that, watching out for
people who just, you know, just need help.
And it's, I don't know, it's a, this is a perspective that I like to bring to the bottom
room is that I hope that other people who are first responders do is that they look
out for that kind of stuff and they can help people when they need it.
I've seen it in big, big examples and small ones where people, you can't ever tell on
that Friday, Saturday or Sunday morning when people are asleep in the, in center room, you
know, are they, are they passed out or they, are they having a trouble or did they just
fall asleep?
But it always seems like somebody's sort of checking on them.
Right.
And there's those moments of, I'm not too sure about him.
Yeah.
Like, like the story I told a couple of weeks ago on the show that, you know, but guy that
camped with us went to the gore show, came back in the morning, covered in the gore blood
and the medics thought that it was his blood.
They rushed right over to him, tackled him and took him to the medical tent.
He wasn't, there's nothing wrong with him.
He just was covered in gore blood.
Yeah.
And I'm sure there are poor people who fall asleep and keep getting awake, awakened or
okay.
Yeah.
I just wanted a nap guys.
Let me take a nap.
And there are those people who sleep in center root cause they lost their, their wristband
or whatever and can't go back in and out.
So they just sleep there.
But I just think that's a big, big part of the festival is that take care of each other
sort of mentality.
And it's like that nowhere else.
I really don't think it's like that anywhere else.
Now you, we've talked a lot about, you know, how identity plays a big part in each festival,
but the thing about Bonnaroo is that exact thing.
I love hangout and I love shaky knees.
I'm not going to be taken care of by, by the fellow festival attendees.
Like I will be a Bonnaroo.
So culture of electric forest was, it was, it was similar to Bonnaroo, but not as, you
know, they don't go around saying happy forest.
I don't have electric forest.
Not that I've seen it when I was there, but at Bonnaroo we all say, you know, happy, happy
Roo or whatever.
And I went to Mopop in Detroit, which is a city festival.
And that was more something than I thought it was, but it's still not the same as Bonnaroo.
I don't even know what that is.
I don't know what that is.
It's super small.
It's indie rock like this year.
Last year was Bonaroo there and Portugal demand this year.
They got a Taiman Pala and Banpo every weekend.
And there's, I mean, there's lots of other ones too.
Your first Bonnaroo 2014, you went back in 15, you missed 16, 17, and then you found
yourself back on the farm last year.
I love this conversation.
And I know Barry will ask you the same question from 14 to 18.
What were the big differences that you saw?
Just the accessibility of the festival.
Like you guys remember 14 and 15 we went.
I mean, there was nothing but porta potties and limited showers and limited bathrooms.
And now I feel like, I don't know if we got lucky at pod two, but you know, I feel like
that there's a lot more actual bathrooms and not porta potties there.
I feel like it's a little bit easier to take a shower.
I feel like it's just, it's just a better experience overall.
I mean, it's, I don't know, we had to rough it out those first two years that we weren't.
Oh yeah.
You think, you think that's rough?
How about 2004 pal?
Let's go back.
Yeah, if you think that's rough and boy, do I have a story about dead and company for
you.
Yeah.
It was more pleasant on the moon.
You guys got to remember for us in Michigan, it doesn't get anything above maybe 95 or
95 times a year.
So when we go down there like that, in 2015, I think the coldest day, the coldest quote
unquote was like 95 degrees and we were struggling at the time.
Yeah.
So when you went 14 and you felt what it actually was and how this whole machine works, how
did you then prepare for 15?
So you were a first timer in 14.
How did you change your mind and make things better for you in 15?
We brought a couple more tarps to kind of put up around our canopy and then in 14 we
didn't think about it.
We didn't fill up our gas tank before we went in.
So we only have limited, yeah, we only have limited AC.
So I know in 15 we filled up both of our cars that we do up down, make sure we had a full
tank of gas and you know, we would sleep in the sun, collect this out of our tent and
then go into the car and try and sleep a little bit longer.
I never even thought about that.
That is a really good point.
Fill your gas tank before you get in.
Now, I don't, they won't let you bring a spare tank of gas, will they?
No, they take that and that's a great point, not just for the AC, but you might be sitting
in line for six, seven, eight hours depending on when you get there.
So you better get that tank of gas before you.
Most people coming from our direction, they hit it on top of Montegel, they hit that gas
station right on the top.
Stop it.
Stop it, Barry.
Stop telling our secrets.
It's the last one.
Stop what you're doing right now.
There are certain things that we keep a secret.
Do not say that.
Well, we're going early.
It won't matter.
Those little tricks that you find along the way.
So more tarps, fill up the gas tank, what else?
Which by the way, let me say something about the tarps as somebody who is not a handyman.
You can tell me that we need to get more tarps, more tarps, more tarps, but tarps don't matter
unless you know how to tie the damn things.
Unless you know how to pull slack and actually get water to run things.
These tarps don't work.
Here's what I suggest you do.
Find a guy like Brandon who's a medic, find a guy with some handy skills and find somebody
who can hang a damn tarp because it ain't me.
Well, we've told the story, Brandon, and I'm going to let you finish answering because
I want to ask what you would recommend bringing from your professional point of view too.
But we've told the story before, but every time I think of tarps, last year on that Sunday
morning when it rained, we sat around dealing with tarps.
Chasing rain.
Chasing rain.
Chasing puddles.
And one of our campmates had a tarp over his tent at the exact instant that a lightning
bolt hit a transformer, that tarp collapsed on his tent.
Right on top of him as he was asleep.
He was trying to sleep through the storm.
Lightning bolt hits, his tarp collapses, water drenches his entire campsite.
It was the best.
We laugh and say he basically was birthed out of that little tent because he came out
of there, I'm convinced he was going to see nothing but angels.
It was pretty funny.
The sight of a guy who's soaking wet coming out.
Convinced he's dead.
He looked like Ace Ventura 2 coming out of that back of the rhinoceros, man.
It was just the strangest thing in the world.
Eyes wide open, thought he had been struck by lightning.
It was just the best.
Professionally, what do you see, just observationally, that people don't bring or don't do to take
care of themselves?
Drinking enough water, I would think would be right at the top.
Yeah, professionally, you just got to take it easy.
You got four days or five days, depending on, like we show up on Wednesday morning, so
you got five days to have fun.
Just relax, just try to get through the heat and just drink as much water as you can eat.
I notice a lot of people don't eat, especially myself, and just try and stay cool, especially
like you said, if you're from up north like we are, it doesn't get that hot.
You just got to stay cool and make sure that we got electrolytes and just do your thing.
Don't try and get too messed up at three o'clock in the afternoon when it's 98 degrees.
Pace yourself.
Yeah, it's good pacing.
Don't blow yourself out.
Okay, well that brings me to a rookie question.
And I will say this, by the way, we'll do a Bonnaroo First Timer episode, and in Bonnaroo
First Timer, I'd love to go through some of the rookie mistakes that we make and talk
about some of the things.
So if you have a rookie mistake that you've made or a rookie mistake that you've seen,
send it to us at the whatpodcast.com or the what underscore podcast, and we'll feature
some next week.
But I will say this first and foremost, I've got two-parter one, never, never, never, never
get drunk at Bonnaroo.
Ever.
You can get a little bit.
Never get obliterated because there's nothing that will feel worse to you than a hangover
in when you wake up and it's 95 degrees.
There is no relief from that.
It does not get better from there.
There's nowhere to go from hangover at 95 degrees.
Never get drunk at Bonnaroo.
And if you think you want to just consider this, port-a-potty.
Yes.
Okay.
That's my first part.
Second part, if you decide that, maybe you don't decide, maybe you stumble into a drunk
night at Bonnaroo and you are hungover, what is your hangover remedy as a trained professional
Brandon?
Good question.
Well, luckily for me, I have banana bags that if I'm really that hungover, I can just
start my via myself and let it run.
So that gets it pretty quick.
Oh wait, so your banana bag, you mean like an IV?
Yeah, it's like an IV.
It's yellow.
That's how we call it.
How can I pick up some more of my own IVs?
That's a pro tip right there.
Is that available to dicks?
Can I get that?
Hey, I got a stack of them.
If you run into some trouble there, just get ahold of me.
I'll come and help you guys out.
Wow.
That is a pro tip right there.
Find somebody who can give you an IV.
A banana bag.
Jesus.
As long as it doesn't come in glass, I think they're going to let you bring it in.
That's hardcore.
No, it's plastic.
That's it.
All right.
So if I'm not privy to said banana bag, how am I curing my hangover, Brandon?
Air conditioning, water, Gatorade, sleep, food.
I don't know.
It's 95 degrees.
That sounds absolutely miserable.
I'm taking your advice exactly where I'm going to go at night.
Maybe I'll have, you know, I get to a decent point, but stay away from the liquor.
Try and just drink beer and just don't get too crazy.
That sounds miserable being down over.
They took away, Brad, the best thing.
Our favorite.
I mean, it was there that one year for me.
Poutine has to be a great hangover remedy.
Now look, the poutine was amazing, but if you think that was doing me better after a hangover,
you are out of your mind.
If you think I should.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Let me put on a weak stomach some gravy from Canada.
Absolutely.
Some good greasy.
All right.
There you go.
All right.
Well, Brandon, we really appreciate you calling.
We appreciate you listening and asking who's looking forward to see.
Oh, yeah.
It's a good point.
Yeah.
We always go through this.
I forgot whenever we try to talk to podcast listeners and Bonnarooians, we like to get
your picks for the year.
So who are you looking forward to this year?
Well, this is a weird year for me because I've actually seen a lot of the people on the
lineup, but I'm really excited to see the Aver brothers again.
I have not seen the Lumineers and they don't tour very often, so I'm really excited to
see them.
I'm really excited that any of you guys have talked about it.
Hippo campus, I just discovered them 33 weeks ago and I am so pumped to see them.
You know, Chris is who, he's from Michigan and I'm really glad to see him there.
And next, Marco is another good one.
Catfish in the bottom end.
There's all those kids.
You have other people from Michigan coming with you?
Yeah.
I think there's going to be three or four of us from Michigan and then the group that
is getting together.
I know they're from everywhere.
There's a couple of guys from California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas.
They're from everywhere.
You're not driving though, are you?
Are you flying?
Oh, we're driving.
Nice.
Very nice.
What's your transport?
What's your mode of transport?
What do you got?
Well, I actually just bought a new car a few weeks ago and I kept Monterey in mind and
I switched from a Buick LaCrosse and then I bought a Chevy Equinox.
So yeah, the hashback.
And my buddy, my buddy Wes, he said he's seen the new car and he was like, oh, this is the
perfect car to take to Bonnaroo.
I kept that in mind.
I will tell you that when we bought the car that I have now, a GTI, I was in love with
it and I was going to buy this car.
But the first thing that I stopped myself, when I really came to after I fell in love
and took it on a few dates and I tried to reset myself, I looked over and said, is this
car going to be okay for Bonnaroo?
It was the first time I had even had a doubt about the vehicle I was purchasing and it
had something to do with Bonnaroo.
You're considering vehicles based on Bonnaroo.
That tells us how far we've come.
And I'll never forget, Brandon, I went over to Caravan up with them one year and they
literally could not fit a hula hoop into the car.
I was so packed.
I needed Barry to come by and get this hula hoop off my hands because I just couldn't
squeeze it one more thing in.
So we did that in 2015.
We drove my 2011 Chevy Malibu and there was three guys and it was so packed.
And then obviously after five days of being there and one shower, maybe the car right
back did not smell so good.
That's the other tip I'm going to maybe mention and make a note of for next week.
But whatever you think that you've packed into the car when you're leaving the house,
reduce it by 20% because that shit ain't getting back in the same way.
That is not getting back in the same way.
That's why we have, is it Gearheads?
Is that the company here?
Yeah, here in Chattanooga.
Yeah.
Gearheads.
We're an hour away, Brandon, and people like you that Sunday or Monday morning, it's like,
no, it can just stay here.
Yeah.
They're not going back in the car until they go and collect it and then resell it.
It goes to a lot of social programs.
There you go.
Yeah, we pack everything up and it's about nine and a half hours down there without any
stops.
So that's the longest think you ride home.
I didn't even think about that part.
That's a big drive.
That's a big drive because I'll tell you, there's no shorter drive in the world than
getting to Bonnaroo and we live 45 minutes away.
There's no longer drive in the world than getting home from Bonnaroo.
Well, by and large, that's how it was bad.
We came next to these people in 2015 that were from Maine and you think, oh, East Coast
would kind of be, you know, 10, 12, maybe 15 hours at the most.
They were 26 hours away.
I could never do that.
I love it.
I love it so much.
We do it all the time.
But yeah, you know, we were talking about the heat and a lot of people who don't have
the kind of humidity that we have, they need to count on that.
It is unbelievable.
It's hot for us.
The only place that I can tell you it's like, the only people who would be comfortable in
this would be somebody that maybe came from the bayou.
Amazon for something around the Delta.
This seems comfortable to them.
Other than that, this is going to be rough for you.
Well, Brandon, thank you so much for talking to us and hopefully we'll see on the farm.
All right.
Bring a banana bag for me.
Put my name on it.
Yes, absolutely.
I'll see you there today.
Thanks, buddy.
See you soon.
You've got something that I wanted, an addiction just so hard to quit.
And you're tapping on my window, but you don't know I've got someone else.
I'm going to go ahead and do this.
As sad as it is, everything that starts must also end.
Repeat Repeat, Brandon, Barry Courter, Brad, an exceptional day here on the What Podcast.
We hope you enjoyed it.
Of course, follow along the What underscore podcast on Twitter or the whatpodcast.com.
We're down to double digits.
Isn't it nuts?
Like we've got less than a hundred days left until Bonnaroo.
And before we go, I wanted to mention something that Rue Bus dropped a line on from Twitter.
And I didn't I didn't want to bring this up, but he did.
And I thought it was a very valid point.
This past week, we celebrated International Women's Day and Rue Bus made a very good point.
Dear AC Entertainment, in all of the years Bonnaroo has existed, you have not had a female
headliner.
Wow.
That hit me like a ton of bricks.
So with that being said of the AC Entertainment people that listen, let's try to do something
about that next year.
Wow.
I hadn't thought about that.
I know we got the Brandi Carlisle.
I know we got the Kacey Musgraves.
I know we got the Cardi B's.
And I don't think there's anybody doing it on purpose.
They're not that kind of group.
They're not that kind of people.
But it is something that is going to start being very apparent if we if we keep going
some more years about this.
There's all kinds of programs within Centauroo and stuff like that that they do.
They do a ton.
They do a ton.
But it does.
But it does look strange.
Yeah, no, I hadn't thought of it.
I didn't either.
That's why I wanted to mention it here at the end.
I don't really have any commentary on it, but it would be nice.
It would be nice.
And you know, the names are aplenty.
The Lady Gaga's, the Beyonce's, the Dolly Parton's.
We gave them Dolly.
We gave you gold.
I know you hadn't thought of that before.
I'm sorry.
So thank you to Jared.
Thank you to Kristen.
Thank you to their whole Repeat Repeat family.
The new album in stores on your computer in your phone in a matter of weeks.
The new single, Hi I'm Waiting.
Go check it out.
Thank you to Brandon.
Thank you to you, the podcast listener.
We'll talk to you next week.
