397. - Phoenix

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. How long gone is here? What's up? I'm Jason. This is Chris as well. I'm over here in Glendale. Chris is still in Atlanta. 24 hours i will be on a delta comfort plus seat 19c if you're on the same flight come say hi to me And then I'll be touching down over in Atlanta, and I'm dying to know when the itinerary call sheet is going to hit my inbox just to see what we have cooking. Sorry, I've been a little busy over here working and making money for not only myself, but for the both of us. Thanks, man. Friday night, you're aware of what we're doing. Saturday night, you're aware of what we're doing. Unfortunately, on Sunday, a friend of the show, Larry Look, had blessed me with tickets for the Falcons versus Browns game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium to take my dad, but I only have two tickets, so I'll have to catch up with you a little bit later in the afternoon. That's on Sunday, you said? That's right, yeah. Okay, that's fine. I only watch college anyway, NFL. Okay. Rife with issues, if you ask me. Well, I'm a big CTE fan, so I kind of just tune in for that. CTE, isn't that a country music video channel? No, I think you're thinking of CMT, country music television. Right, right, right. Okay. Very similar demographic, though, between head injuries. Yeah, exactly. Head injuries. That's right.

Unfortunately, and I know the listeners have been glued to this, but the Country Chris era has unfortunately come to a close as I traded in the 2020 Dodge Ram 1500 for the 2022 Toyota Camry. So I'm back. Camry Chris. Camry Chris rides again. I mean, I didn't want to be the person to tell you that the 1500 was obviously going to be a little too much car for you. And it takes a big man to kind of throw in that towel. Thank you. And I think the Camry is a great car. I want to know how it's feeling. Acceleration. Did we get any extra trim packages? We got a V6. What's going on? It could be a V6. Luckily for me, no one has kind of knocked on the window and tried to get in the back seat thinking that I was their driver. Camry owners respect their vehicle too much to ever let a foreign fanny plop down in the backseat, Chris. They would never use that for service. Man, it's just hard. It's just honestly going back down to that low. center of gravity after being high on the hog for weeks is been it's a tough adjustment it's much like coming from la or new york and you know trying to slow the pace down for for atlanta it's it's it's a similar feeling where i'm just it's going to take a few days to acclimate okay now i now i know what my next sub stack is going to be about i went to uh my see my trainer this morning grant grant he's like hey that guy over there thinks you're cute basically okay is grant grant is as straight as it comes trainer but he you know obviously a gym in atlanta is going to be is going to be gay leaning so uh this guy came up to me and he's like are you straight and i'm like yes and he said oh okay i saw you wearing a cure shirt the other day so i wasn't sure Beaten by your own snake. I was like, bro, I'm just depressed. I'm not gay. I was just a depressed teenager. It was really funny, though. It was one of the best lines I've heard. Was he old? Was he older? Yeah, he was probably in his 50s. Looked good, to be honest, but he's probably in his 50s. Yeah, because I feel like that's a trait to think that a Cure listener surely would have to be.

a uh cum guzzler sure sure i think young people are just like yeah everyone's gay and whatever i don't i don't associate gayness to a musical act unless we're talking about you know somebody who's going to perform on the you know a kim petrus yeah don't talk i was about to say no no kim petrus erasure so i i my point is i started my day with a chuckle and i hope to continue chuckling throughout the day but i'm very excited for you to touch down unfortunately i did want to tell you to pack your uh arterics We are looking at some residual rain and other inclement weather from the hurricane that did kind of touch Florida. So bring your bucket hat. It's not going to be too crazy. Are you serious, bro? I'm not even exaggerating. It's been basically perfect fall weather every single day this week until tomorrow. I mean, Thunderstorm TJ rolling in, and this is what happens. You know what I mean? The city has to cleanse itself. Nothing like leaving a sunny California to go to a city with rain, and there's not really a cold, hard reason to do it. There's not a funeral I got to go to. There's not a DJ set. I don't have $17.50 on the end of it. I mean, obviously, it is rooted in commerce, ultimately. Yeah, this is a funeral for our haters as we ideate. Once we ideate, it's over for you, podcast host, I guess. Yeah, exactly. That's all I'm trying to say. But it'll be, look, I can guarantee at least a good time, but I do apologize for the weather. Obviously, that's out of my control, as you know. What's the name of this hurricane? Irma? Ike. Irma. It starts with an I. Ike. It starts with an I. Do you think the Tampa Bay, or I mean the Tampa Beach? Edition Hotel has sustained any damages to the penthouse floors or anything? I couldn't imagine. Ian Schrager builds those things to last, doesn't he? Well, I mean, I'm sure there's some sort of high-priced retaining walls made out of sustainable materials that kind of keep the waves from crashing. Yeah, jet fuel doesn't melt steel beams, and neither do hurricanes. Also, we should say RIP to Coolio, who...

died the treasure of frog town yeah he died i'm not sure what from i think it said he was like 60 um cardiac arrest got him so it could just be okay eating good or sniffing good yeah i think i mean maybe a little bit of both i mean i wonder how much money he had or didn't have i feel like a guy like that truly if he did it right, could have made money his entire life off that one song in a pretty real way. From performances to all the other little things, I think it's possible. I think it really just boils down to, I mean, he seems like he was a pretty smart guy and down to hustle and make a buck for sure. It just matters, you know, it just depends on whether or not he blew it all in 1997 or if he held on to some of those bucks and, you know, bought a couple houses in Diamond Bar and whatever and, you know, made it work. But I know, like, later on in his career, he was, like, a cookbook author and chef. Oh, really? Oh. Yeah, he would have, like, I think he would appear on the Food Network or he had, like, a TV show on the Cooking Channel for a little bit. And I remember... the dreads that he had like his crazy hair that would kind of poke out in every which direction and he would have these custom-made hats that had a hole opening like a ponytail hole opening that like a cheerleader might wear yeah yeah but he would have his his sort of bouquet of troll doll style dreads poking through that letting him breathe It makes you wonder, is that part of your identity for life? Do you just have to do that? Or at some point when you're like, okay, I'm 60 years old, maybe I can hang that up and stand on my own without having to be a guy who has that hair. No. If you only have one song and your hair is as iconic as the song, you've got to hang on. Even if God's trying to take it away, go get a weave. I don't know what you're going to have to do, but you've got to make it work. Carrot Top's never going to be able to not have carrot hair. No, Carrot Top can't go blonde one summer and just get away with that. That's not going to fly. I'm not talking about an Olsen twin, Chris. They'd have to reshoot all the ads in Vegas. Just think about the budgetary concerns alone. That would just blow us. That would ruin us. Bro, he's going to do it off-season.

I have that verbal from him. Okay. You have a verbal? I got a verbal on. I got a verbal from CT that he's not going to do it. Yeah. I've watched a few episodes of the reboot show, by the way. Yeah, starring friend of the show, Paul Reiser. Pretty funny. I got to say. It has some funny parts. I think it's a good premise. Yeah. It's sort of like in the style of HBO's Hacks, where it's a little like, okay. The comedy is a little Gen Z leaning, but there's a little stuff in there for the older guys. It's not fully cucked. There's a couple of jokes in there that are good. I like the writer's room dichotomy between the young woke crew and the old Jewish crew. I think that is nice to see them. No spoilers, but see them come together is nice. And that kind of is what Hollywood is all about. It's about bringing people together. with unhealthy snacks and locking them in a room to break the story. That's kind of what it's all about. And as long as the old people are not super white, then they can say whatever they want. Yeah, as long as they're Jewish and over 50, they can say whatever they want. They can say, I thought gay people were supposed to be fun. Yeah, that is funny. Yeah, at what age? Because for the dawn of time, we've experienced... Oh, that person is set in their ways. You know, I'm from a different era. And I always felt like at some point we're not going to be able to use, you know, that excuse won't be valid at some point. Yeah. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there is a certain magical age where as long as you've done enough. service to the world and your community. You haven't done any huge glaring. You didn't go Morgan Wallen mode or anything. As long as you tip enough at Nate and Owls for over a decade. You know what I mean? You're kind of closer to God. You can get away with whatever you need to get away with. I think you're right. I think a lot of it boils down to is the person that said the thing that said the bad thing

how likely are they to respond well to criticism? And if the answer is, you know, that person's probably going to, like, ether me, Nas style, if I say, like, hey, you can't say... stuff like that anymore then you just gotta be like just let it go it's just not worth it you know it's like fighting a homeless guy it's like fighting an unhoused person like gotta let it go sure i could probably win just on a nutrition level and like in conditioning he probably doesn't have an infrared sauna etc etc uh all right we have we have a guest today uh tomas uh mars uh that he is from versailles Uh, he's also the singer of the French indie pop band Phoenix, which you're probably familiar with. Shout out to our friends of the show. Uh, also classics, the list of mania remix. What a great song. That holds a place in Jason's iTunes forever whenever he's pulling up with his sticks. He's got that ready to go at any wedding. I mean, it's just interesting that the members of Classics, the electronic music duo, are both fans of the show and listen all the time. I understand. So I would be remiss to not bring up a remix that may have changed their lives. It's crazy to think that you could just remix a song. And eat off of that for years. No, you're right. And I want to talk to Tomas about how he tucks his shirt on all the time. I really like his commitment to that. But, yeah, the Phoenix, they are playing October 6th in L.A. And it looks like they're supported by former guest Porches. Oh, good for Porch. Truly a family affair here over at How Long Gone. All right, let's give Tomas a jingle. Maybe some editing to do on the intro. We'll see. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down. The news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world. And I know you particularly have quite a lot of questions. A lot of questions. But how often? Because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot. How many times do they do? Three times a week. And I have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do. That's just a guess. The Guardian is not some billionaire owned.

They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcast. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? You know, especially when it's not, you know, from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable, and they're just easy but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated. but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada. That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need a fucking...

Something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And, I mean, it... How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive, and that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com How long taskers book up faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code howlong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. Thank you for joining us today on How Long Gone. Are you coming to us live from New York City? Yes. Okay. At home, and then we start the tour again next week. And, yeah, we're both from Los Angeles, so you're playing, I think, on the 6th. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. YouTube Theater? I don't know what that is. Do you know what that is? Well, it doesn't sound appealing, but... It's not the sexiest venue name in the world. I appreciate your honesty on that. We can all agree on that point. But I have to say that, you know, before we said yes to the YouTube theater, not only it had a different name, it was called Hollywood Park. Oh, okay. Which is better, but...

um we visited virtually we visited the venue because they were so excited about this new venue yeah and the venue is crazy it seems like it's really great okay like the sound is incredible it looks like a radio city in new york a little bit but a modern like a japanese crazy high-tech version of Radio Street. Oh, okay. It's also in the SoFi Stadium, so I'm not sure about... Oh, that's... Okay, I went... I recently took my inaugural trip to the SoFi Stadium to see The Weeknd. Yeah. It is also very futuristically designed, so I can imagine kind of the language they used for the YouTube theater is in a similar vein. Yeah, yeah. But the sound is apparently... They put money. The sound is... Magnifique. Foo. Which is better than many. What does that mean? Insanely good. Okay. Okay, cool. So they texted you a photo of the sound system. You're like, this looks foo as fuck. No, they gave us the specs. They gave us the specs and the thing. And we've been on enough festivals now that we know our favorite, you know. Yeah, you're like, I like that snake setup on the XLR 349. Is that the 349? Yeah, that sounds good. Has that been a thing over in Europe or France or London where all the venues are now named after? dog food companies and car insurance brands. That happens over there too. Insurance definitely. Insurance is ruling the world. It started with the banks and the insurance companies and now there's a lot of stadiums here in America that are just named after a dog food company or something. Anyone can have a stadium. The thing that struck me the most the first time we toured America at some point on this level is we played the Sorry. We played the Pizza Hut Stadium in Dallas, I think. Yeah, it's in Dallas. It's where the soccer team plays, and it was a show at the Pizza Hut. I love you guys pulling up, just blasting cigs in the parking lot, being like, we're at the fucking Pizza Hut Stadium in Dallas. We're a long way from home, man. This sucks. America sucks.

But France is, I mean, France is insurance companies, definitely. There are still some stadiums that have names that are too strong to be... Yeah, you can never let it go. Yeah, replaced. But they're mostly in sports and, yeah, music. Well, the venue that I grew up going to, the arena that was in Paris, had a bad name. Originally, it was just the name of the neighborhood, so they changed it. It was bought by a hotel chain and now it's a hotel chain. Now, do you consider yourself to be like an audiophile or is that just a kind of part of the job? Well, it's all related because you always find you think you're good at something until you meet, you know, until you go on YouTube and see these Italian. A lot of northern Italian dudes that live in the Alps somehow are like, you know, they're on the next level of audiophiles. No, I'm like an amateur, but on many different scope. I have a large field that I'm passionate about, many different things, but I'm not an expert on really anything. Sadly. That's smart. That's my approach as well. Unfortunately, I'm not quite as globally recognized for mine as you are, but I'm working towards that. Not yet, Chris. Yeah, I mean, do you still listen to music on vinyl in your room, having a glass of brandy and soaking it all in, or do you just listen on AirPods like everyone else? I don't have glasses of brandy, but I do. I do have a vinyl. Yeah, no, I do listen to music on every... Format? Yeah, every format. My favorite is still the car, I have to say. But I live in New York City, so I don't own a car here. But when I go back to France or in the US or anywhere, even when it's through the radio, the compression, I'm still nostalgic of that radio sound or the idea that you're...

listening to music on a train or moving somewhere. To me, it's always better than... I'd rather be in a music studio. That's the place where sometimes when we would work on records, we'd go to mixing or we'd go early in the morning and then we'd listen to records early in the morning. These are the best. When you have access to an incredible room, then after that, it's hard to compete at home and you're not really... So I'm looking for alternates. alternative routes. Yeah, I mean, the car test is a classic musician's trope where they listen to the mix in the car because that's the true judge, even though I think people nowadays, obviously most people, especially in New York, are listening to music on headphones. I still think the car is, I agree with you, I think it's a necessary place to check it out. Well, you mentioned you do like to drive and listen to music. When you're back home in France. So what kind of car do we have garaged over there in private storage in Versailles? No, I wish. I don't own a car. So I drive my... No car. No, either I drive my... When I visit my parents, I drive my parents' car. They live in the countryside. So they have like Land Rover type. It has a... charming sound system with set tapes and stuff. When, when cars make deals with these high end companies, you know, it's never really good. It's not my experience is it's always when two brands come together to make something to benefit both of them. It's really a good, a good design. You know, I've, I've seen it even on audiophile level on live stage because there's now these like, in-year companies that match with two great brands that don't add up. They don't make something. Usually, it's the opposite. It reminds me of your new collaboration with Ezra Koning, doesn't it? Yeah, exactly. Sometimes, it doesn't always stick together. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The only way this collaboration would work is because we are friends enough.

that the music wouldn't suffer from it because i feel like when you're two brands that come together and do something you're you sign this contract and it's and the product needs to come out it's gonna it's gonna come out whether or not it's good or perfect you have to do it yeah and so ezra i know him now i mean i've been on holidays with them so we know each other The wives are friendly. The wives are friendly. The wives are workaholics. You guys are just trying to chill. They're looking at the dailies in the hotel. So we know each other well enough that if the song is not good, he's not forced to do it. Or if he sends us something that the song doesn't need or it's not what we thought. We don't have to put it on, which is not the case with pretty much anyone. That's the reason why we didn't do collaborations before. It's because we're just scared of the end result and not being able to say no. It's very similar to dating within the friend group where it sounds like a great idea on paper. And then you're stuck. It's a perfect... You either get married and live happily ever after or it's going to be... A disaster. It's going to be bad. It'll be a disaster. Yeah, and then the one who breaks the... relationship then it becomes a whole it destroys the whole group just like when just when like they put the bose speakers in the porsche you know what i mean we don't need that you know we just don't need it we don't need when you were um collaborating with I guess the last time was it on with air on, on the Virgin suicide soundtrack. That's, that's another version of a collaboration that seemed to go well because you guys were already friends, right? Yeah. But also that one was, um, was not meant to be a collaboration. That one was, they needed a temp vocal for David Bowie to sing. Oh shit. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. So we were in the studio and there was one version that it's,

I was so good. I was so... They didn't call David Bowie. Or just David Bowie said no, and I'm like, okay, we have to stick with... Yeah, so they're like, hey, Tomas, we need you to do a little placeholder track for Bowie to come in, and he'll finish it. And you're like, yeah, Bowie's going to do this song, sure. Whatever you guys say. Full delusion. And they gave me the first... and I wrote the lyrics to everything else. So then maybe it would have been an issue for them. I don't know. Yeah, I don't totally know what happened, but this was not a... Planned collaboration. Yeah, exactly. I like that you never asked. I like that you never asked any questions. You're like, this shit came out. I left it at that. I didn't ask any questions. People seemed to like it. We're going to keep moving. Yeah, that's what happened. I mean, I can't imagine that song being sung by anyone else. I've heard it so many times, and you're obviously perfect on it. But then when I hear David Bowie was going to do it, I'm like, if anyone could have maybe done it as well, it's David Bowie. You know what I mean? Well, he loved Air. Really? Yeah, he really liked Air. I think he came to see their show when they played in the UK. There was definitely something they wanted to do together. Yeah, I feel like that soundtrack and that era where there was a lot of music that was coming out like that, seems like that was maybe the last time there was that special brand of like sexy French music. You know what I mean? That was sort of in my lifetime and in our lifetime, I feel like that was the pinnacle of just like sexy music, you know? You know, air would take that as the best. Sexy is in air is in those two guys vocabulary at all the time. That's all they talk about when they make it, when they make a song, when they add the Selena keyboard, the thing. I mean, there's a song called Sexy Boy. But to them, it has to be sensual and it has to be... Does this pass the blowjob test? I'm sure as well. Some people have the car test. They're like, could I receive... I don't understand the question. What does that mean? That means, you know, like when you finish a song, you mix it down, you know, pre-master, you go into your parents' Land Rover and you're like, oh, this sounds good.

Maybe turn the hi-hat down a little bit on the 400 frequency. And then when Aaron makes a song, they're like, could I get my dick sucked to this music? Yes or no? Well, you're very visual. He's a very visual guy. I apologize. Yes, you're a visual guy. Yes, you're a very visual guy. You're not the only person who paints a picture with their words, Tomas. Okay. We have two lyricists on this podcast today. Yeah, no, I thought for some reason I thought I'm not going to describe, but I thought it was a different test. I don't know. Yeah, no problem. I would love to hear that. But yeah, I think that that era, that was a special era, though. I do think that was like, I think Americans had really never been exposed to something like that in that way. And that's why it really resonated here, especially with young people. Also, it's all those bands that came out while doing music that was very different. It was a scene because we were all French, but there was very little in common. sound-wise, really, to these bands, and they were trying to... I think also we all worked with these limits. You know, there was a frame. You couldn't... We were, like, the first ones to be able to make music in our bedroom, where before you had to go to a studio and you had to... So all the frustrations of all these years not being able to make music that you could put out, and suddenly there was all these... these bands that come out and there was interest from like the uk at first and and french people didn't really care in the beginning they were not really that interesting that came later they're like we've been we've been sexy for centuries now this is this is normal for us yeah we don't care about this i mean that's but that's how i mean that's how it is with i mean that's how it is with all of that kind of you know the early strokes era all that stuff had to be basically had to be big in the uk before americans cared yeah yeah yeah yeah issue we have we don't we don't like it until until enemy likes it which is something i still try to subscribe to even though that's a little bit of a lost art here's a little bragging uh this week we're on the cover of the enemy which is the first time in our entire life it took 25 years

to be on the cover of the NFE. What do you think happened this time around that really resonated with those guys? Can you put your finger on it? We switched PR agencies. Yeah. They switched someone. I don't know. There was a kid there who saw us live when he was like eight during alphabetical, so 2005 or something. And that always won it. And he loved the new album. He was like, okay, now that's... I need to make this happen. It's strange that in the UK, there's very much a middleman. It used to be that there was always... The gatekeeper. The gatekeeper of the BBC. And it's still like this, I guess. You have to go hang out with them and do some coke and hang out in a club until 4 in the morning? Yeah, I was thinking about, you know, that's what I was thinking about the blowjob test. Yeah, they're in the same world, in the same universe. Same planet. Now, I know you guys tour pretty seriously, and I know you're... touring now but you're also kind of a family man you know your dad life over there you know in the west village you know taking your kids to school you know what i'm saying doing all that shit because i mean because i go to bar pity too bro i see you you know what i mean oh yeah come on like it ain't this it ain't a secret out here but the um but the Do you find tour to be a little bit of a break from that, or do you miss it, or is it just all part of the same pot and you've got to do it all to make it work? Yeah. Well, I think more in terms of studio and tour. I think these are two. I still do the same thing where I go to the studio the same way I live for tour. It's just that when you go in the studio, it's more. It's like Groundhog Day. You live the same day for two weeks. Well, when you come back from tour, it feels like a year has gone by and you have so many memories. You've seen so many things. Your kids don't recognize you anymore. Yeah, you look different. Are you my new daddy? The time stretches in a different way. That's more what... And you can bring... I mean, we brought our kids on...

In the studio, they'd be miserable. But on tour, we brought them. Like in Europe, we did summer festivals. So we were like... My oldest daughter sold the merch. I once met the daughter of Donna Summer. And she told me she went on tour with her mom. And she was so bored all the time until her mom gave her a job. And she said, you're going to steam my clothes and do this and do that. And then she loved it. And so I applied this to my 14-year-old daughter. Well, she came and she sold the merch at a few venues where it was an issue, especially in the U.S. because it's not legal and stuff like that. But they let us. Okay, so she's not ready to drum tech just yet. We'll start off on the merch. No, she's not drum tech yet. No, she's not drum tech. Okay, I mean, that's amazing. I think it's sort of like the rock star version of your kid having a paper route or mowing the lawn for some... Some spending cash, right? Yeah, it's the same thing. Did you check her pockets and stuff afterwards? Because I don't know. I mean, if there was cash involved, she could have been skimming. Well, there's a whole thing now. There's a whole thing about tipping jars. Tipping jar is a new... I discovered this maybe like five years ago that the cuter the tipping jar is, the more... So people have this elaborate... whether it's the person that travels with you or someone at the venue that sells merch, they'll have tipping jars that are so elaborate. They're like motorized little dolphins that open there so that everyone wants to activate the thing. And they'll end up with like a thousand bucks in the tipping. Wow. Yeah. And so that's the issue more than the skimming. People are already paying.

T-shirts are expensive and stuff are expensive. You don't want to, I feel the same. I can relate when you go to a place and you're like tipping and now it's not like 18, 20, 22, it's like 20, 25, 30%. And now 30 and it keeps climbing. I don't want to do that at the venue to like. We know Europeans hate tipping. You don't have to tell us that. We've all experienced it. Yes, exactly. That's where I was going with this. If I go to a restaurant and I have amazing service, I'm happy to give them a good tip. If you're selling me an overpriced t-shirt in a dirt field, I don't really see a reason to give you 18%. In New York City, if I go in a cab, they hear my French accent. I know now that they're worried about, and when I tip them at the end, they're so relieved. They're like, ah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, French people have a bad rap. I never thought about that. French people do have a bad rap. Yeah, they do, but you guys are the coolest people, so it's fine. I feel like, you know, in the movies where a bad guy is trying to get somebody to do something, they give them a $100 bill and they rip it in half and we'll give you the other half of it when you finish the job. I feel like you should start doing that in the taxi cabs. Give them a $5 bill, rip it in half. You'll see the other side of this once we hit a... If I make it to Tribeca in one piece, look at the other half of this Fiverr, Chief. Let's just get there on time. Speaking of that sexy era, I think you guys did a good job of... riding that wave of kind of slower, you know, sexy French music into the dance party, like indie sleaze era, but still making it sexy, where a lot of the music from that time, you know, around 2010 or so, it was very party, dance, rage, crazy, but it was not always sexy. It was just kind of like bros jumping up and down and doing stuff.

And you guys managed to always kind of keep that level of sexiness with the sleaze. So congratulations. I want to say thank you. But I also am not sure exactly what you mean. I feel like you have a very specific. I can elaborate. You know, the bros came. I'm going to end the line here. The bros. came to our shows with success yeah that's like the that's like the thing you get you can't and they went they went away you know they they they were there for two years so you're saying it that you're saying you're saying when what era are we saying like 2010 2011 okay when we play arenas you know in multiple not just in New York and LA but when you you're playing an arena in Houston there's a lot of music fans but there's not that many quality music fans in uh that's right in uh or people that know you know it makes me think of the nirvana song the the uh he doesn't know the lyrics the um in bloom he's the one who uh but he doesn't know what it means you know sometimes you have like yeah yeah uh you have these so yeah we did we did have these people in the crowd that came to party and dance and and but just in a bro we had bros I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I think whenever there's a song that kind of goes crazy and you're like, you know, it's like full-on alternative radio shit, the bros are unavoidable. Yeah, I think with success comes a larger group of... Yeah, it's the same with customs. You know, like Serge Gainsbourg, we used to say, like, you're in trouble when the... the people that's shaking your passport knows who you are. Then it's over. And we saw that happen at some point. When you say that means it's over, that means you've become too famous and now your life may have new difficulties that come along with that fame? You know, it's more like, for instance, the album we made right after Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

we knew we'd had this bigger audience that would listen to these things. So part of us was teasing and trolling ourselves a little bit and enjoying the fact that we would now be able to, when you have an audience that's already there, you can, you can, you know, you're getting their attention and you can, part of us was interested in like, Oh, so we're going to show them something. We, we aren't in strange. So I think we were not just in the studio making the best music we could, but we were also curious to think, oh, how... Let's see what these bros can handle. Sort of, yeah. I think that's a very rare position to be in in a band where you guys... That was when 1901 was a huge song, and people will just buy a ticket to a Phoenix Stadium show because... It's going to be a party, and there's going to be cute girls there. Just like you said in the Nirvana song, we don't know any of your songs. We're singing along to them. I have no idea what it means. I don't care. I'm just here to have fun and party. When you're on stage and you see that, how does that make you feel? Are you just thinking about the zeros on the wire transfer to get through it? No. What do you do to make the best of it? The good thing, I never think about money. That's the luxury of, that's the most. Can you teach me how to do that? Do I just need to make more? Is that the issue? I haven't made enough. Yeah, no, that's the ultimate luxury of, you know, when you play bigger. arenas and stuff there's more people involved and we didn't have at some point a roadie that came to work with us saying like i know apparently there's cute girls at the show that's why i'm here and um and then we he didn't he didn't last a long time with a lot of bands there is this moment that feels like a peak and the shows are so big and like you maybe don't recognize the fans etc and now it's like maybe the venues are a tad bit smaller, but everybody in there is there because they really love the music, which I feel like is a better place to live and actually have a career. Yeah, but then there's always, it'd be too weird to play only shows where the crowd is devoted, and you need to have at least some sort of, for creative purposes, it's also good to have a bit of entropy or resistance.

When you're playing some of those music festivals where you don't really get to decide who the audience is exactly, who is a tough act to follow? I have Beyonce. We played before Beyonce at Made in America Festival in Philly. Damn, that's a tough slot. That's tough. So that was a long... 54 minutes of your career. Well, there was a girl in the first row that fell asleep, and I sort of serenaded her. I went to her, and I woke her up from her nap, and she was on the big screen, and she freaked out. She freaked out. Fell asleep front row at a music festival. Yeah. She's like, your music is fine, but I need to save my energy for Beyonce. No offense. Yeah, yeah. That's crazy. But there was also a festival that was... That happened in Australia a long time, like maybe seven or eight years ago. It was when EDM was at its peak, I think, and that was the only thing that existed there. And we were the only band, and we were also the only ones with instruments at that festival. So it was extremely lonely, and I remember being side stage with other guys, and there was a DJ with... is Rhodey in the back playing Candy Crush on his phone? And thinking, like, if this is not, we can't play music festivals, like, if they all turn out to be this way anymore. That was the loneliest tour we've done, and it was, like, five shows, because it was five shows all over, like, four in Australia, one in New Zealand. It was called Future Fest. So we felt like if this is the future... Might be a problem. I don't want to be a part of it. So you're at a festival. You're on tour playing stadiums. Everyone's losing their mind. You go to Australia and they're like, can you play the List of Mania remix, please? I've never heard the original before. This sucks. There's like guitars in it or something. Our sound guy would choose the playlist to keep people...

People, you know, from not doing changeover, from keeping them in front of the stage. Oh, yeah. And the song that worked the best was Technotronic. Technotronic. Pump up the jam. That was the... That kept people around. Yeah, that's a tip. If anyone's listening and who's having issues with... Yeah, if there's any festival headlining bands listening who have a hard time keeping your fans at the front row, pump up the jam. About the gym. Okay. So you've had a good relationship with the EDM community, though. I feel like you guys sort of like keep your friends close and your enemies closer kind of thing, or do you have to have some connection to the DJ world, especially over in France? you know, Justice and Ed Banger and Daft Punk and all those guys just kind of run everything over there, right? Yeah. Or at least they did. To me, EDM was a different thing because it was before, I don't even associate them with EDM. It was, because to me, they are still, you know, they're still playing live. They were still bringing instruments and stuff. It's really when it became a thing where it's just a USB key and playing music and, you know, it became a, You can say his name, Diplo. It's fine. I've never seen a Diplo show. But when the main attraction is confettis and fireworks, it's the ones in Holland, like the white parties and Tomorrowland and all these. Just 100,000 people on Ketamine, everyone's wearing white, and the music is just like a kick drum. And people are... cross-eyed, losing their mind. When I first started getting into DJing and music, everyone in LA just obsessed over anything French because they were the only DJs that looked cool, dressed cool. Everyone is smoking cigarettes in the club when you're not allowed to. They're drinking...

champagne and cognac and brandy instead of Red Bull and vodka or some bullshit. All the girls were just losing their minds over it. I don't know. There's just something about the way the French party that is just superior to any other world. I don't know what it is. What do you think it is? The je ne sais quoi? Maybe that's a question I should ask Chris instead of you. You're too close to it, Tomas. I'm too close to it. It was true. For a guy like Philippe Zdar. Zdar. You know, Zdar from Cassius, he was like the most sophisticated, sexy, charismatic. He would do that. Yeah, that's totally true. Other than that, I don't really know that scene because I've never... You're not really a big going out to the club person is what it sounds like. No, no. Yeah, that's... Not a lot of ecstasy use. When Daft Punk started and... And that scene started, I was always sitting on the staircase watching the crowd, but I was never part of it. You know, that was, and also because the style was, I thought the style was really bad. You know, the people, I liked the music, but I wasn't into the scene. I wasn't into going in the woods as well because that's where everything happened. It was like on a, on a in a field like right 100 miles away from paris and then you stay there overnight and then you you'd uh so it was no we stayed in our studio we produced music in our studio and then we're like someday we're gonna play live to an audience we're not sure well but we we are not we're using the same equipment as these guys we have samplers we have the same drum machines we have the same record collection That's unique about us too, but while not, we still have instruments as well. You're not going to stop using them anytime soon. You like to shower and sleep in a bed and stuff. I can respect that personally. That's something that I can kind of stand behind as well. I wanted to ask you quickly, you to me are a guy that has iconically always tucked his shirt in.

Yes, that was a rising that was a rising trend. And, you know, for a while, guys were tucking in their T-shirts. And I would always think to myself, you know, Tomas really has the tucked in swag. And is that something you've done since you were a child? Was that taught to you by your father? Or is that something you like adopted as an adult, like as part of your your persona as a musician? It's hard to answer seriously. You don't have to answer seriously. Don't worry about it. I don't think it's a unique thing because my friends do the same. Are your friends French, Tomas? Yes. Yeah, my question is, though, is it comfortable? Keep it 100. It's not that comfortable. But it's not meant to be comfortable. That's the thing, is that people that wear athletic wear and everything outside now, it's not meant to be comfortable. You're doing it so you look. And feel superior to them. Exactly. I look like a Prussian soldier that's about to conquer Russia on the little hill. And the silhouette needs to be. Because where would it go next? Crocs is a good example of comfort that people embrace. Because there's also a thing that you see in New York. that comes from even a more snobbish attitude, which is, you know, when models were off, were not working, they were wearing things that they were the only ones to pull off, you know, some, some, you know what I mean? They were, they were wearing clothes. Yeah. They were wearing clothes that. wouldn't look good on anyone. Yes. And, um, and in the beginning it was because they were skinny and they were like, they wouldn't, but then it became things that were so ridiculous, like that, that became the trend. So if you're, if you can pull this off, it means that you're part of that club. And so I don't think it's necessarily like a thing of, of, of just giving up. I think it's, they're still like these clubs, these, these like,

I don't feel like I'm the only snob out there that's, like, trying to be. No, I respect it. I respect it. And, unfortunately, I do wear some athletic wear out in public, and it's kind of part of my look. Do you take your shirt off? You know, Tomas, not yet, but I'm kind of trying to get there. But it's a little bit of a body issue. Yeah, so you're trying to get there, but people. People used to take their shirt off when they had a body that they worked on forever. But now with the heat waves and the thing, it's over if people take their shirt off no matter what's happening. That's right. So in your mind, the worst result of global warming is fat people taking their shirt off in public. I did not say that. I did not say that. My words, not yours. My words, not yours. It's a consequence. It's merely a consequence. It's merely a consequence. No, I agree with you. Yeah. The thing about living in New York is that you see just the wildest shit. Like I miss it sometimes because I come back pretty often. But like L.A., you see a different kind of crazy shit in New York. Like what you're saying, like seeing people just walk around with a shirt off in the middle of the day with like Crocs on. It makes no sense, but you see that more in New York than you do in L.A. And it doesn't really compute, but I think it is kind of a New York thing that everybody just kind of, when it gets to be a certain temperature, people just kind of lose their minds. But if Bella Hadid does it, it's fine. But if Steve from the transmission shop does it, it's not quite as good. That's exactly right. When Bella Hadid does it, I'm interested in what she's selling. Tomas, I wanted to talk to you about a personal issue going on in my life. I'm going to be married next year in Italy. And I know that you have been also married in Italy. So I'm just looking to see if you have any tips, tricks. Or maybe if your wife could get me a deal on a few cases of wine or something like that. What's the vibe? The vibe is you'll have to go to your city hall because your marriage won't be legal in the United States. So you'll still have to get married in the United States. Good tip. And that's still a fun.

Okay. How many times can you get married twice? It's a fun, it's like extra bonus. So that's, that's, that's a good perspective for you. Yeah. Guys, guys love having multiple weddings. Well, I hope so. Otherwise you should rethink your wedding. That's very good advice. Okay, so make sure it's legally binding before you get on the plane, is what you're saying. That's kind of the bottom line here. Well, you're getting married in Italy. In Tuscany. In a villa. Yes. Maybe a different villa than you got married in, but a villa nonetheless. Italy, you know, Italy, you can't fail. Even the areas that were destroyed in the 70s architecture where it's all concrete and stuff, they're still charming. I don't think that's a bad... place in it yeah other than the uh the fascism it's it's a yes exactly yeah i was about to say that you picked the right time i can't wait to see i can't wait to see i'm gonna do once jason's nuptials are over um i'm going to uh i'm gonna kind of look up yours, Tomas, and then just compare and contrast, you know, kind of like who did it better kind of thing, like a who wore it better type of thing. I hope there's no pictures of mine. I don't think there is. Oh, okay. I think it was private. Did you have, you had a media blackout for your wedding? No paparazzi? No, there were plenty outside of the, I mean, it's the local sport there. I mean, paparazzo was an Italian. Paparazzo was the Dolce Vida. Yeah, true. They perfected it and invented it. Okay, who did you get to DJ your wedding? Local guy? It was local guy. Yeah, it was three local guys that played on the Italian music. Oh, okay. That is cool. And what did you wear? Did you wear a tuxedo? No, I wore a suit. Je crue? J'adore je crue? Just a regular suit? You didn't go black tie? You had a costume. Oh, okay. No, no, no.

No, a costume in French is a suit. Oh, got it, got it, got it. Okay, just a regular suit, not a tuxedo. What's the Vatican army? Do you know what they look like? The army of the Vatican, the Swiss guards that protect the Vatican, they have the most crazy costumes. Yeah, you look like a traveling minstrel from the 14th century. Big poofy arms and rainbow colors and the crazy helmets. Yeah, like the people that stand guard. at the Royal House in London, make them look very normal compared to what this is. So that's what you wore. Got it. That's cool. That's a very good look for you. Before we wrap this up, we have an ongoing segment here on the program where we like to ask our musical guests about some of their biggest and most lucrative licensing opportunities. Yes. Sync Talk. Either one they have done and they're happy about, or maybe one they turn down and regret. So I feel like you guys have been in this game a long time. I'm sure you have something to say here. Turn down so many, but we don't regret it, but the zeros are really... You don't regret it, but sometimes you think about it at 3 in the morning when you can't sleep? Could use that Pizza Hut check. I remember turning down McDonald's, and then they came up with a fake... version of our song that was perfectly you know just perfectly fake just fake enough that you can't sue them but it sounds just like no way but no my my favorite licensing story is one where we started the band we did the song heat wave uh early on like i think it was the it was the first song that came out on our label and someone we we were broke we didn't have money to do the album and anything. And someone from the UK, there was a song called Point of View that sampled music. And they were super eager because they knew that Point of View was already going to be a number one song. They kind of decided before. We were with our friend as our manager since we're kids. So we were all together in a place where there was no reception. And so people kept calling, leaving her messages.

thinking we were not interested. And they will keep offering more and more and more, but we just didn't have reception. And by the end of the day, we made four times what we thought. And that paid for the entire first album. And that was the best thing that happened. Without them sampling our song, we were not being able to... make that album that easily. So that's DB Boulevard, Point of View. Yes, exactly. And is this a song that you have grown to love because of that financial gain? Nope. Nope. I have no love for this song. I didn't know what they were going to... We didn't even hear the song. We were like, okay, we gave it to them because we needed the money. We were like, we need to make an album. And at the end of that day, we were celebrating. Yeah, amazing. I was talking about it in the intro, but I'm old friends with the guys from Classics, and I was talking about how when that remix of Listomania came out. There's a singer named Steve Lacey who has a very big song right now called Bad Habit. And he just released a sped up version of the song as well. Like you can go on Spotify or Apple and you can buy this version where it's the same exact song, but it's just sped up. And the purpose of that is for TikTok, I guess. But how do you feel about that? Well, I love that song. I didn't hear the sped up, but I love the slow. versions that are reverb you know that trend of slow and reverb i like the speeding up somehow is strange because usually they don't sound better when you slow down it's the same if you look at a magnifier if you look at if you write something on paper you look through a magnifier everything looks good but if you take a distance it looks bad it's the same with sound that if you slow down something it will look

more flattering, more... It would enhance the thing. Yeah, just like with video. Slow motion video versus sped up video. Yeah. One's beautiful and one's... If sped up, it sounds good. It's even more of a... It shows even more that the song is good. You know, like... It's a good point. It passed its test. Look, thank you for joining us so much today on How Long Gone. It was a pleasure. Thank you. Alpha Zulu, November 4th. the new song like we were talking about before with Ezra from Vampire Weekend is a great, great tune. I was very happy to hear that classic Phoenix synth line that kind of does the portamento bend up. I'm glad that you guys are still doing that. It's a beautiful classic, classic Phoenix. Love it. Yeah, I know what you mean. That's a nice transition instead of white noise sweep or reverse cymbal or something like that. Yes, yes, yes. We should talk more about music, less about trends next time. I think you're qualified there too. Okay, well thank you very much. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to him and I don't want his ego to kind of get bigger than that. it already is but i appreciate it i appreciate you uh thank you and we'll um we will uh we'll see you soon appreciate you thank you bye bye