The What Podcast. Which bands? This year, that matter.

I'm Brad, that's Barry, that's Lord Taco on Bonnaroo-let Day

where we spin the wheel and we see where it lands and we learn bands that we never knew before.

Lord Taco, Barry Courter, how are you this week? Nice to see you again.

Doing well, doing well. Nice to see you.

I will start the show with a little bit of a surprise that you guys are not prepared for.

Barry, your face is very guilty. Are you worried about the surprise?

Worried? No, I'm certain it's going to be terrific.

Really? Why? Why? Because you trust me.

Wow, because you're so excited about it.

Which told me my first guess was you got Brittany there behind your French doors.

Brittany Howard. Is she about to walk through the French doors?

She's been locked in my trunk for the better part of quarantine.

I've told you there's an FBI file on you with your Brittany obsession.

I'm not obsessed, I just enjoy her a lot. What is wrong with that? What is wrong?

Okay, here we go. So for Bonnaroo Let, we have a...I am sharing with you guys for the first time.

You've never heard this before. You've never heard this. No one has heard this.

We have a brand new What Podcast theme song.

Oh, this is huge. I'm playing it for you today. Hit it.

There is one source that we trust more than anything when it comes to picking the proper Bonnaroo band.

What is that source? The Bonnaroo Let wheel, of course.

Brad Steiner, Barry Courter, Lord Taco's fitting the Bonnaroo Let wheel today on The What.

Which fans this year that matter? The What with Brad Steiner and Barry Courter.

Your artists pass inside the industry into the shows we will remember. The What Podcast starts now.

The Bonnaroo Let wheel has spun and it has landed.

And our old friends, repeat, repeat, who have written us our own What Podcast theme song called Aquarius.

So, not only is it so cool, not only do they write us our own theme song, but that's going to be the song that starts us off each and every week from now on.

And the best part of all this is they wrote an entire song, not just like an opening theme song.

They wrote one that you can listen to, an entire song called Aquarius you can listen to on the WhatPodcast.com.

I just love this. I just love the fact that I said to Jared what I was thinking and within hours, boom, he's done with it. He's got it. He's got it nailed.

What do you think, Ross? It's amazing. It definitely gets you pumped.

What I love about it is it's ours, but it sounds like them.

That's exactly what I asked him for. And he said, he goes, they sent me an email. He said, I even added horns just for you.

And it works. And that's why I'm so proud about that. She doesn't like horns though. They don't like horns. They do not like horns.

Well, he has admitted admitted a little bit that he likes horns. But I think that improper horn usage is very bothersome to him.

Well, yeah, you got to be careful with your horns. This was very proper.

Yes. So you get the whole song. I think that because of like whatever deals and rights and whatever, I don't know if they can necessarily distribute it.

But if you want to have that song forever, maybe if you want to play it at your campsite at insert festival here very loudly,

maybe on a Wednesday night for lots of people to hear while you're dancing around a giant bus, maybe that would be the song you would want to choose.

You can get a copy of it at the what podcast dot com. So there you go. It's called Aquarius. It's called Aquarius.

Yeah, it's awesome. There you go. That's our brand new open our brand new theme song. I'm very, very happy about it.

With all that being said, we got a lot of stuff to sort of like sort today. Yeah, I'm sorry. I feel like I lied to you.

This is not going to be a Bonnet Roulette episode. I did that all as a guys so that I could present to you guys the brand new theme song.

I'm very sorry. Yeah, we should tell people if they don't know if they're just joining. They've never heard the show before. Repeat Repeat was the first band to come to Camp Nut Butter.

It was the first band to ever record a podcast backstage at Bonnet Roulette. That too. There was a that's a big lot of firsts. Yeah.

But with us. Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah, we found them through a random little segment we did on it called Bonnet Roulette where we spun a wheel and we landed on their name.

We knew nothing about them and then we become very close great friends with with the guys.

So let's go through some of the other things that we had to announce. There's a ton to get to. I'll start with.

We have Bonnet Roulette tickets to give away. We'll be doing a Bonnet Roulette giveaway here in the coming weeks. I'm very excited about that.

Haven't really figured out how to do that just yet. But I do. We do have tickets. That is very I can say we do have tickets to give away on the show this year.

Details details. We'll figure it out. We'll get there. Some other things have been happening though in our podcast world.

It's not going to it's not going to change the overall show. And we're not looking to make a whole bunch of changes to something that's working. But we are adding a piece to the show that is going to hopefully expand it and make it even bigger than we could have ever imagined.

When Barry and I started this little thing, it all began as a conversation over Indian food. We would go to the same Indian restaurant every week for lunch. It was an Indian buffet because we could get in and get out.

And they opened at like 10 45 in the morning and Barry and I eat lunch very early. And every time that we would sit down, we would end up talking about Bonnet Roulette. And one day we were talking about fans and Barry said.

Yeah, I said, I don't know 70% of the bands on this lineup. We should do a Facebook live thing and Brad's face. One of those.

And that was like a Friday, maybe a Thursday and by Saturday night, you had already talked to taco. You had a URL. You had a design and name. Yeah.

Yeah. And it was originally I'm not gonna lie. We originally made this podcast, or at least I did, so that no one would listen.

I specifically wanted no one to listen. I just didn't have a good thing. You didn't say that back then.

Yeah, I just I don't know, man. It wasn't you and it wasn't the show. It was just my own, you know, not I didn't think that I had certain tools in my tool belt to pull this off on a regular basis.

So I said, screw it. I'll throw, you know, caution to the wind and see, you know, if I can do this. And, you know, the show started out as a deep dive into certain artists careers slash catalog, etc.

And over the course of the next couple of years, it sort of expanded beyond that, Barry.

I don't think there's any question. I mean, for me, it was some it was because, like you said, we found ourselves talking about Bonnaroo all the time festivals.

And so there was that element for me. It was a way to another tool. Maybe I always I was already doing band interviews and show interviews and all those sorts of things.

So this was just another vehicle to put it out there. I don't think either one of us anticipated like I didn't realize.

Am I going to say this? You were very good early at making it sound like a radio show and not just two guys talking.

And that made a huge difference. I think I was, you know, pretty good at doing the interviews. And I think you've become terrific at that. And we both enjoy all that.

So it became a we stumbled across this whole inside thing that I think we're going to expand on. Right.

And it was it was a weird conversation at camp one day we were at Bonnaroo. We were walking through the backstage areas and we were looking at the I was looking at the electrical lines.

And I said, yeah, there's there's got to be hundreds, if not thousands, a million yards of electrical lines through this. And I've never noticed them.

And they're in PVC pipe. Oh, my God. Someone has to lay all this down. Oh, my God.

Somebody has to cover that with dirt. Oh, my God. They had to create a road here. Oh, my.

And then once I started realizing the work that was taking to put all of this on, that's when we started asking questions about the festival organizational part of it into how a lineup is built, how other festivals use certain data to get you from one point to the next.

And then it became an inside baseball almost, you know, absolutely. We call it an all access pass, an artist pass behind the ropes so that you can, you know, see all the things that we think are really interesting about this lifestyle.

You know, it is one thing to spend a weekend with your friends, which is really fun. See all bunch of bands that you want to want to see.

And if that's what you want to use this show for, we're going to be there for you. But if you really like the internal inside baseball stuff of of the radio industry, the record industry, the music industry and the festival industry, we can do that, too.

So we decided to put it all together into one show. And over the course of, I would say, three years, I'm not going to count the first little part of season four. But over the first three years, we got really lucky and we hit on some things that that were probably a little bit outside of our strike zone.

And it got us more recognition than we thought that we were actually getting. And well, that's what I was just going to add. Sorry to interrupt. And I think we were both surprised at how I think that I mean, everything is about timing.

So our timing was right. I think I know I was you may disagree, but I was surprised at how much the inside the industry people want to talk about it.

And that's been the case from the very start. I think our third or fourth guest was Ashley Caps of AC Entertainment, the co-founder. That was the one that just sort of like, wow, this is legit.

And I always I always paint back to the day where Letterman went on Conan O'Brien when Conan was struggling as a as the guy that's now over late night.

He was having a very tough time. The network is about to cancel him. And then Letterman came on and gave him all the the juice that he needed. Like, oh, I'm actually part of the big boys club.

Now, when Ashley came on the show, I think that gave us legitimacy and made us feel like, oh, OK, we can we can actually make something of this.

I know it did for me. And shortly after that was the Paul Janoway from St. Paul, which we did two episodes because he was so funny.

So we knew we could get, you know, artists, but getting the insiders like Ashley and then Jeff Quay are we've talked about.

He's been on there what three times. Jeff is vice president. He's got some long title festival development or art.

Got along what title? It's all I know.

But then he was terrific. I mean, he they that was the first real inside baseball one. Right.

I mean, we went pretty deep. Go ahead. Yeah, that really, that really changed.

That really changed the course of the of the show. Absolutely.

And and so that's yeah, that's what we've been trying to do is we're we've said it many, many times.

You and I and Russ, we come at come at it as fans, but also as people you and through the radio industry and me through the print.

You know, we have a little bit of access that a lot of people don't. But the other thing I was going to say is the inside stuff for one.

But we've also we have listeners all over the country who love it as much as we do and who talk about it every day like we do pretty much.

And that's that's been the other huge component of why it's worked and why we're still doing this.

Four years later, when we thought we were going to do three months if we were lucky.

And so along the way, Russ joined and took us to a whole new level when it came to video production and getting us on to platforms that we necessarily weren't on and where my technical limitations just said, I'm not.

I just don't. I'm not doing that. I don't care. Yeah. Yeah.

Because my default position is always what Barry? I don't care. I don't want anyone to listen.

Yeah. More opportunities to listen sounds terrible to me. So we finally got to a place where it looks like, you know, we're upwards of 200000 downloads, you know, three years in.

And we got a strange phone call out of literally thin air out of nowhere. We got a message on our website.

It didn't get to us because there's a little bit of a hiccup there. And then I didn't want people to listen.

Is Brad and Barry or Luddites. So I got a very weird Twitter message one day that I thought was total bullshit.

I followed up on it and turns out the guy was legit, really legit and had a long conversation with him.

I then brought the guys into the conversation and it is now turned into being a real thing.

So we are now really excited to announce that we are part of the consequence podcasting network.

You know, consequences, former consequence of sound now rebranded into a major, major publication, major digital operation.

They welcomed us into their podcasting network. And look, there's there's two levels to this.

It's a massive deal for the show in that it can expand into areas that we never thought it could expand.

And, you know, look, I'm just going to be pretty frank.

It comes with a little bit more juice than just some, you know, dopey radio and newspaper guy.

So there's definitely that. Secondly, the second layer to this is you as the listener, you as the viewer.

How does it change your overall experience? Well, it's not. It's not going to change it one bit.

I don't think that I don't think anybody worries about hearing ads anymore on a podcast.

Honestly, I don't think anybody cares. I listen to three, four podcasts a day.

I listen to the ads. They come and they go. And I understand why it's part of it.

It doesn't change the overall show. It doesn't change anything about the product.

What it does change, though, is that we don't necessarily need to be a Patreon funded entity anymore,

where you guys were so unbelievable to us to keep us afloat and to keep us going.

And it allowed us to survive, frankly, for the last 12 to 16 months and allowed us to, you know,

get better equipment and get the show into it into different places and to grow it and become a better product.

You guys did that. And now we, you know, we thank you and we just don't want to take your money anymore.

Frankly, you've done your part here. And we can't thank you enough for that,

for the many, many Patreons that stuck through us for so, so long.

So now, you know, we get to play with the big boys and we're going to see how that goes.

We don't know. We don't know how it goes. But we do know it comes with a show every week.

And it comes with bigger guests, one of which I can't wait to announce here in a little while.

But, you know, it just comes with more abilities to do what we're already doing.

So I couldn't be more excited. I couldn't be more proud.

I couldn't be more thankful to Alex at Consequence and all of the guys that that believed in us

and take a chance on a podcast that we didn't even want. I didn't want anyone to listen to.

I find it to be it's truly humbling. If I wasn't humbled before about the way that you guys listen to this show,

I'm even more humbled now that, you know, not just, you know, people listen, but they like it so much.

They want to be a part of a overall podcasting network. You know, I just feel like we're going to screw it up.

I would one thing I would add as far as like if it will change, we are going to broaden.

We're going to be talking more industry news, festival news, not just a Bonnaroo specific.

We're going to broaden it.

I mean, you sort of have to. You can't talk Bonnaroo 52 weeks a year.

And where I think that Barry and Taco have been, I think, irritated at me is I'm the reason we don't do more shows.

I'm specifically the reason because I just get so worried that there's not nothing to talk about.

And I don't. And look, I know this comes as a shock to people, but I just don't want to sit around, listen to myself talk.

I am stunned. I am surprised. I also don't believe you.

I don't think anyone listening believes you. But no, we're going to broaden it.

And because I think the experience, the festival experiences, you know, while they may be different from festival to festival at their core,

there's a lot of similarities and there's a lot of similarities with the bands in the industry along those lines.

If you're new to this and you're wondering what this is all about, there are several shows I would recommend going back to listen to.

We mentioned the Ashley Caps one, the Jeff Quay are shows have been terrific.

The one with Ali and John, who book these festivals, they, you know, they're booking agents.

That was a terrific show. The show with Brian and Stephen, who actually booked the 2019 Bonnaroo lineup just to talk about how the lineup show.

The lineup show is really a master class. If you want to know how one of these things put together, I mean, an absolute masterclass as to what how a festival lineup is curated.

It was really, really remarkable. And I think I mean, not to, you know, to pat ourselves on the back,

but that's the kind of thing that we try to do with this show is because we're curious, we're fans.

And that's the kind of thing you're going to get here and nowhere else.

That sort of thing. And that I would recommend going back. I don't.

We've done what we 60 something shows, 70 shows to me.

They're not dated. Some of them possibly are. They're lineup related to that particular year, but they're not dated.

You could listen today just as easily as you could have then.

Number one. The other thing is I'm so excited about this consequence thing because it gets us in front of other people who are like us.

They love this, these festivals. And that's what it's about.

That's for me. It's not so much about we're going to be in front of more people just for my point of view.

It's because I know there are thousands and thousands of people out there who feel just like we do.

I want to meet more Chloe's and Liesl's and David's. I want to meet more of them.

Look, I mean, this is always going to be a Bonnaroo heavy product.

But, you know, Bonnaroo is not the only place in the world that harnesses, you know, this amazing feeling.

They do it the best. I'm not going to lie. They absolutely do it the best. But there is a culture in all of these places.

I mean, I'm really interested in what that culture is.

People you mentioned all go to different ones. They don't just go to one. They go to several.

I mean, we talked to a guy that you knew back home.

Oh, David. He's already got his hotel rooms for like five of them.

Oh, yeah. I mean, so I mean, I think that you nailed it. I mean, it's just going to broaden the focus. And, you know, there's a bunch of old shows there that I think that we can repurpose for in the future.

I think that, you know, we can pluck out that Paul Jane away conversation and turn it into a new show today with new perspective and new fresh eyes on it and turn it into a whole new show for insert week here.

Look, again, we're doing 52 shows a year, 50 shows a year.

And, you know, you can pretty much be sure that 25 to 30 percent 30 of them are going to be Bonnaroo related.

It's just the way that the calendar works. And Bonnaroo is done.

You've got Jazz Fest and Voodoo Fest before Bonnaroo. You've got an ACL afterwards.

The calendar works where this is a 24 hour a day, 52 week a year entity, even though sometimes I don't think it is an entity like Consequence is a lot smarter than I am.

So if they think it's a 52 week a year venture, you know what? I guess maybe I'm wrong about that.

Let me let me throw. I mean, just add in again to jump on what you said.

Thanking our patrons, we asked those guys what a year and a half ago to throw a little bit of money at us for three months.

Most of them haven't left. Yeah. And that's that I think says several things.

It says about this community like the Liesl's and the Davids and that you mentioned, which is an amazing thing.

But it also proves your point about Consequence is the interest is there.

These guys have become friends of ours. They become a community.

We talk online, do every week. That's not going to change.

Yeah, that won't change. Yeah. I mean, it just it it proved to us that we're not alone in our conversations over Indian food.

We're not the only ones that and all of them.

I mean, Taka, we've got Patreon, we got listeners in pretty much every state.

Right. I mean, that's the other thing that just blows me away.

They're all over the place. We've done interviews going back with some of our Patreon people driving 13, 16 hours to come to a festival.

I mean, that's that to me is the interesting sort of things that are worth sharing in all of this.

And obviously the interviews with the insiders and the bands.

But the the the festival goers are just as interesting to me as those interviews.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like David Bruce. You know, he doesn't get Bruce.

What a great one. It's the people, you know, we got a great one.

Yeah. What's his I am Bonnaroo. I am on Arou.

This guy heard, you know, heard about this as what his wife when his wife or his daughter mentioned there's this festival down in Tennessee.

Never heard of and thought, well, I'd like to go down there and do a photo essay and bought a camera.

And now he goes every year. It's incredible.

Yeah. Those are the kinds of things that are fun to tell.

Yeah. And I hope that through telling the stories, we don't screw it up.

That's what I'm here for. I think I'm really worried about it.

I'm very worried. So, yeah, I mean, it's really exciting news.

It's really big news. And look, I don't know what it I don't know what it looks like 12 months from now.

But, you know, it sure as helps, you know, when you were calling insert person here and saying this is what we have to offer.

So I hope it works out. But it's thrilling that you might be a part of something that you just you don't even know where it ends.

You don't even know how the octopus arms stretch and how far those things go and where it could take, you know, insert thing here.

So for those that have been along with us for the beginning since the beginning of the ride, I mean, you're part of it, too.

You're part of this ride and see where it goes.

But it's pretty fun to be on a roller coaster. But to jump on that, I mean, the guy like the folks who drive 13, 16 hours, a lot of them come by themselves.

And they either they connect through us or they connect through Reddit or they connect through they do group camping.

And those are all things that we've talked about. It's the community thing is such a huge part of it.

And that's I think that's why we're moving forward like we are. And that's exciting.

Yeah, I'm very excited about it. Anything else? Did I miss anything?

And that repeat repeat song is so good.

It's so exciting. Thanks to Jared and Chris. Yeah, it is.

I mean, I implore you to put this as a part of your and by the way, it is unmastered. I mean, I pretty much asked for it to be unmastered.

I mean, this is as rough of a cut as it gets. And that's what's even more exciting to me.

You know, I love the idea that we got like this zygote of a baby and they just like whipped it out that quickly.

You know, they just put it together. That's how good they are. So I'm really excited about that.

And all those lines again, if you're new to this, the What Podcast dot com, we've got merch.

I've got stuff I'd love to get rid of if you need something. Yeah, I think we're going to run some sales.

Barry Barry literally is trying to run a yard sale. I've got a base.

He has got stuff in his house that he's trying to get rid of. He's got an old golf club set.

You see behind me, make an offer. Excited guys. Yeah, I'm excited.

By the way, just letting you know, we lost DMX a couple of weeks ago. New Orleans is so amazing.

There was a DMX second line. I mean, that to me is just the epitome of cool.

DMX second line is just the greatest. And they were telling stories about how and this has nothing to do with anything.

I don't know. It just hit me. But they were telling stories about a David Bowie second line where everybody was dressed as David Bowie.

Are you guys on your way? Which era? David Bowie. All of them. Which one did you go as?

It happened years ago. Are you on your way? You coming down, Barry?

OK, we need the light on.

We're talking over here. Brad Stine, the podcast is here next week.