EP.266 - DEVENDRA BANHART

Adam talks with American-Venezuelan singer-songwriter and visual artist, Devendra Banhart, about podcast jingles, the wisdom of cats, dead Dads, therapy, the place that religion has in Adam and Devendra's lives, songs that make you cry and The Greatest Night In Pop. Plus, two specially recorded versions of Devendra's songs, Fireflies and The Body Breaks, and Adam reports on his trip to see Radiohead play in London. Conversation recorded remotely on 19 July 2024 Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support Podcast illustration by Helen Green https://helengreenillustration.com/ Listen to Adam's album 'Buckle Up' https://adambuxton.lnk.to/BuckleUp Order Adam's book 'I Love You Byeee' https://lnk.to/iloveyoubyeee_ Sign up for the newsletter on Adam's website https://www.adam-buxton.co.uk/ (scroll down on homepage) RELATED LINKS DEVENDRA BANHART - CHARGER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ClUKf0UL0&t=58s (LA BESTIA LIVE SESSION) - 2023 (YOUTUBE) DEVENDRA BANHART - THE SEVENTIES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMrvNW-ZYPM&t=84s (OFFICIAL VISUALISER) - 2005 (YOUTUBE) WHAT'S IN MY BAG - DEVENDRA BANHART https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLlXe2Ni8wE - 2023 (YOUTUBE) THE GREATEST NIGHT IN POP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD3oU1gowu4 (TRAILER) - 2024 (YOUTUBE) RANDY CRAWFORD - ONE DAY I'LL FY AWAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8vAz3uqKig&list=RDL8vAz3uqKig&start_radio=1 - 1980 (YOUTUBE) THE MAVERICKS - DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UajuBAUkBs&list=RD-UajuBAUkBs&start_radio=1 - 1998 (YOUTUBE) LIONEL RITCHIE - ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqAvFx3NxUM - 1983 (YOUTUBE) ALDOUS HARDING TINY DESK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6ToeaeuOQo - 2017 (YOUTUBE) POLLY HARVEY TINY DESK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSUgrhmtXIw&list=RDpSUgrhmtXIw&start_radio=1 - 2023 (YOUTUBE) CA7RIEL & PACO AMOROSO TINY DESK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kqnsoY94L8 - 2024 (YOUTUBE) ALDOUS HARDING KEXP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-_yCMPNNEo - 2020 (YOUTUBE) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Adam Buxton?

  I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin. Now you have plucked that podcast out and started listening. I took my microphone and found some human folk. Then I recorded all the noises while we spoke. My name is Adam Buckston, I'm a man. I want you to enjoy this, that's the plan.

• 0:31Adam Buxton?

  Hey, how are you doing, podcasters? It's Adam Buckston here.

• 0:39Adam Buxton?

  What the F? That's the sound of a motor car. And indeed, all the other sounds you can hear are the sounds of the city. London town, to be precise. I'm staying here for a couple of days, doing a bit of work. I had an audition yesterday. Definitely gonna get that. Going to see a pop concert tonight. Radiohead, have you heard of Radiohead? They're playing at the O2. And I'm gonna go along with my family. Looking forward to that.

• 1:14Adam Buxton?

  Rosie is back in Norfolk. She's doing well and sends lots of love.

• 1:21Adam Buxton?

  I thought I would step outside to record this intro, rather than just sitting in the room where I'm staying in East London. But you may be able to hear that it's raining. It's pretty cold here towards the end of November 2025. I found a small park to make me feel as if I'm in the countryside. This is Allen Gardens, right next to Brick Lane in East London. And it's a small patch of green.

• 1:54Adam Buxton?

  With an elevated train line that you can probably hear ahead of me. Walls covered in graffiti everywhere you look around this part of town, but it's good graffiti. Anyway, it's not Clement, so I'll get on with my intro and tell you about podcast number two hundred and sixty-six, which features a rambling conversation with American Venezuelan singer-songwriter and visual artist Devendra Banhart. Here's some Devendra facts for you. Devendra was born in nineteen eighty-one, in Houston, Texas, America, to a Venezuelan mother and an American father. Ah, it's a nice bird up there.

• 2:38Adam Buxton?

  Bird and train.

• 2:42Adam Buxton?

  His parents split up when Devendra was just two, whereupon he and his mother relocated to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, located at the very top of the South American continent. This is where Devendra spent his childhood, absorbing Latin American folk traditions, visual art and bohemian culture, all of which informed the distinctive aesthetic that he would later develop. After returning to the US as a teen, Devendra earned a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute, where he fell in with countercultural and experimental types, while nurturing his passions for visual art and music, often skipping classes to busk in and around the

• 3:25Adam Buxton?

  streets of San Francisco's Castro District, where he was living. Devendra dropped out of college in the early two thousands and spent some time hanging out and playing music in Paris, where he landed gigs opening for visiting bands that included on one occasion Sonic Youth. A few months later, he returned to the States and self-released a CD of demos that he'd been recording over the years, which found its way to Michael Jira, frontman of American experimental rock legends Swans. Michael was sufficiently impressed to help Devendra pull together more home recordings for release on the two thousand and two album, Oh Me Oh My.

• 4:07Adam Buxton?

  The songs on that record, and those that followed, like Nino Rojo from two thousand and four, and Cripple Crow from two thousand and five, sounded pleasingly out of step with the musical landscape of the early two thousands, where some of the biggest American acts included at that point Eminem, Green Day, Destiny's Child, The White Stripes, and Britney Spears. Meanwhile, Devendra's music often sounded as if it might have come out of the psychedelic folk scene of the late sixties, with critics noting the similarity of his voice to that of young Mark Boland. And sometimes, the softly quavering vocal delivery makes me think of early Donovan, too.

• 4:49Adam Buxton?

  Like those artists, there's something very ethereal, not to say away with the fairies, about Devendra, both on record and now and then in conversation, too.

• 5:01Adam Buxton?

  Not saying that disparagingly, I'm pro fairies. I actually applied to be away with the fairies, but I was rejected. I had to join the hareys instead.

• 5:13Adam Buxton?

  But there's a wide range of styles across the ten or so albums that Devendra has released so far. One of my favourites of his was his two thousand and nine album, What Will We Be?, which is full of beautifully catchy, tuneful songs that are very him, but also steeped in his love of the eighties pop he grew up listening to, as well as Latin American influences, reggae, and much else besides. His last record, twenty twenty three's Flying Wig, sounds different again, filled as it is with what some might call off-kilter pop, not a million miles from the sound of someone like Aldous Harding, or indeed Kate Le Bon, who produced the record.

• 5:54Adam Buxton?

  My conversation with Devendra was recorded on an appropriately mellow and golden Norfolk evening back in July twenty twenty four. Devendra was talking to me remotely via the Zoom from his home in Los Angeles, where of course it's mellow and golden every single day by law. Basically, the idea originally with Devendra was to record short introductions for two lovely songs that he had recorded specially for the podcast. And then play those at the end of an episode with another guest. But we ended up having a slightly longer conversation than I'd expected. With Devendra asking me a few questions about some of my podcast jingles.

• 6:36Adam Buxton?

  He knows how to flatter me. Anyway, he seemed genuinely to enjoy them. So we chatted about those. We also spoke about dead dads and therapy in a fun way, of course.

• 6:50Adam Buxton?

  We also talked about the place that religion has or doesn't have in our lives. And we talked about our shared love of the Netflix documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop. About the time in January 1985, when a group of legendary American musicians came together to record the song We Are the World in aid of famine relief in Africa. I've talked about that documentary before on this podcast. I do love it. It came out towards the beginning of last year, 2024, and it was fun to share my enthusiasm for one particular scene with Devendra. I'll be back at the end to say goodbye, but right now with Devendra Banhart. Here we go.

• 8:13Adam Buxton?

  Tell me about your Friday night and where you are and what you're up to and what the rest of your night looks like.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  Oh, Friday night. I was gonna ask you the same thing. It looks like there's some synths in the court in the back of your house there. What are those things? It looks like it's perched against the

• 8:30Adam Buxton?

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:31Speaker 01

  floor against the wall.

• 8:32Adam Buxton?

  That's a looper pedal. Um, and then over there, there's just sort of MIDI keyboards and things like that. I'm, I'm very much an amateur musician. I'm someone who's been able to have a musical life thanks to technology. Because I don't have any formal playing skills. So I'm able to go on GarageBand and have fun with loops and pick out tunes on a MIDI keyboard and things like that. And I play a few chords on the guitar.

• 9:01Speaker 01

  Did you compose and record the two songs that play on your show the most? Well, I mean, there's that intro song and then there's the song about how we're gonna have a conversation. Are those both yours?

• 9:10Adam Buxton?

  Oh, yeah, ramble chat. Oh, that's nice of you to have listened to it. Thank you. I appreciate that. But um, I didn't compose them. No, those are, I mean, I composed some of the jingles from scratch. But those two are examples of things that I sang over bits of library music that I found.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  Have you talked about this at length on the podcast? Those two songs?

• 9:31Adam Buxton?

  Not at length. Actually, having said that, the first one, the, the intro theme. I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin. That's a piece of library music. The second one, ramble chat, let's have a ramble chat. That's Logic Pro. And those are loops that I found in there. So I just pulled a load of those loops together and, and then added some random beats. And then it was very much layering up a symphony of blah, blah, blah.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 10:02Adam Buxton?

  Thanks, man.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  Well, you know, we're good. No, I want to talk about some of the, because already this podcast is so established and has its own lore. It's its own world. I've been trying to figure out what, what did, like, the second I started listening and it was your voice, you're walking around, hanging out with your dog. I was hooked, but it was like one or two seconds. I thought, okay, okay, I'm in. And what is it about your voice, the way you say the things you say? Obviously, what you say, you're funny and charming and affable and have this. You know, you have the talent for this thing clearly, because in two seconds I thought, oh, I get it. I'm gonna just listen to this podcast now. So that's something I've been trying to figure out. What is it that, because it's not, it's not that way for me at all.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Like, this is, this is torture. I don't want to do this.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  You know, but I want, and it must be that you do want to do this and you're, and you're, you know, you're so good at it, but also you, you must be excited to do this, I think. Or is this like, shit, I have to go to work today?

• 11:03Adam Buxton?

  No, I love it. It's great. You know, I, I like your music very much. It's really exciting to get to chat with you. I, I don't know what you're like as a person. I've seen a few interviews with you, but it's very nice to find you so up for the process. I never know how it's going to be. Sometimes I meet people and they don't know anything about the podcast. And maybe their PR person has said that it's something worth doing. And then, you know, they do it and maybe it's a Werner Herzog situation where really they're quite irritated by the technical process and they don't, they're not familiar with the podcast. So they're a bit confused by why isn't it a more formal interview? But I really like it when it's like this, when it's getting to know someone who I'm already interested in

• 11:49Adam Buxton?

  and who I'm already well disposed to. And so it's like, it's as if I've come to Los Angeles and I've met you at a party and I'm like, oh shit, man. I love your stuff. And then we get to talk for a little bit. So that's the nicest scenario as far as I'm concerned.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  Beautiful.

• 12:06Adam Buxton?

  Do you listen to a lot of podcasts?

• 12:07Speaker 01

  Uh, I do not, not a lot, but I do listen to them. And when, earlier when I said, I don't want to be doing this, what I mean is that, like you're saying, maybe Werner was irritated by the situation. I'm irritated by myself. The fact that I'm a part of this podcast, I find torturous. I wish I wasn't. I'd love to be a guest. That, that, that's the thing. The podcast is so incredibly like perfect for me in a way, because I really love, and I think we all do, that's why it's so, they're so popular is the feeling of alone together. And the feeling of having, like the party's happening in the room next door. And you're invited, sure, but you just kind of want to do your own thing. But before I talk to you and pour the hell out of everybody, I want to say that those two songs.

• 12:53Speaker 01

  I was also hooked by those two, I was in because of those two songs. The first one sounds like Robert Wyatt and Akin Sanera.

• 13:00Adam Buxton?

  Oh wow.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  And the second one sounds like Madness, like the band Madness at like Studio 54 or something. I thought these are great songs.

• 13:09Adam Buxton?

  Thanks.

• 13:09Speaker 01

  So good.

• 13:10Adam Buxton?

  Wow, that's amazing. And what amazing references as well. I'm very flattered by both those comparisons. Thanks so much. This is going great. Now, why though are you, why are you so down on yourself as a guest though? Do you not like the interview process? Have you watched interviews back or read interviews back that have made you cringe and wish you didn't have to do them?

• 13:32Speaker 01

  I think so. I think that must be it. But I also think that I'm not thinking about what I'm gonna say while you're talking.

• 13:43Speaker 01

  I'm really listening to you. And I'd rather listen to you than tell you about my shit, me, me, me, me. At the same time, of course I want to share about myself because I think I'm so special. I do. I think I'm, I think I'm so special. But at the same time, the older I get, the less my story matters to me. And the, the fact that, I feel like you transcend the inherently performative kind of aspect of doing a podcast. Because the little red button says record. So you better perform. And I feel like, I feel like, why would I do any of this? I do, I write songs and I do these paintings. So that's my version of, of communicating. So it's this, that's this kind of thing. It isn't like such a thrill.

• 14:28Speaker 01

  And you know, my friends, the European friends, they go, I went out last night. What did I do? Oh, we just had a couple of drinks and talked till 2am. And that's like a normal hang. I had a birthday party and this is really, I swear this is true. I invited a few friends and it said, will you join me for drinks at this bar near my house from 6 to 6:15? This is my birthday party. And this is my birthday wish. This is my wish. It didn't work out. I tried to leave and everyone had a couple margaritas and my friend Anna was just kind of grabbing me by the shirt. You're not leaving. Okay, fine. I stayed till like seven, I guess. But that was, that's like my dream. Six to six fifteen. Anyways, I do listen to podcasts. I have a fantasy that while I'm painting and drawing, I'm listening, I have this huge playlist.

• 15:14Speaker 01

  All this music that I'm going to be listening to. It's, it's like I'm watching this movie. I'm painting to this music. But what I really do is listen to podcasts because

• 15:25Speaker 01

  it's such a cozy feeling. So yeah, now I listen to yours. And I listen to, I like Conan O'Brien's podcast and I like, I like Smartless and I like Office Hours and, oh, my friend really just got me into the Blind Boy Boat Club. I like that. I like Louis Theroux's. But what podcasts do you listen to? Or is it like, no, I don't listen to that stuff? I only listen to myself. You listen to yourself every night. You start with the first episode. You listen to every episode.

• 15:58Adam Buxton?

  I used to do that a bit. I used to stay up, especially through the pandemic, and I would enjoy a podcast. And during the lockdown, I listened to a lot more podcasts, especially one called Athletico Mints, which is a British one about football. But it's not really about football. It's mainly about this guy Bob Mortimer, who is in a British comedy duo called Vic and Bob.

• 16:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:31Adam Buxton?

  They're brilliant. And, but he's also brilliant as a solo performer and a guy called Andy Dawson. And he just does a lot of silly voices and I don't know anything about football. In fact, I actively dislike football, but I love Athletico Mints. So he just goes off on these sort of flights of fancy and impersonates these football personalities who are real, but I don't know anything about them. So to me, it's just like listening to a totally invented universe and not really getting any of the references, but not really minding because they're just funny in themselves.

• 17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, when you watch a TV show or a movie, or I mean, that's the one of the thing where we're talking about how you need podcasts. And it you don't have, when I watch a show I love, I don't go, so nice hanging out with those people. I was hanging out with Julia Roberts in that movie. You don't have that feeling at all. So it is that I had the same thing, but it was, I would have a beer in the bath and listen to live Jerry Garcia. And that's almost like the musical version of a podcast, because I'm also hanging there. I'm hanging out with them with all what's gonna happen. And there's some little little feedback, a little thing. I can hear the murmur of the audience. So that's the closest. It's the musical version of the podcast. So, you know, but I don't have that feeling when I'm listening to a recorded song of like,

• 17:51Speaker 01

  I'm hanging out with that band. I'm hanging out with Tears for Fears during Everybody Wants to Rule the World. No, but the live version, I have that feeling. And it's the same thing with a podcast versus any other form of kind of media, whatever, that you're just hanging with the person. And that's why I feel like I'm ruining the podcast by being a part of it, because I'm not interested in myself. Get me out of here. Let's talk about you and.

• 18:18Adam Buxton?

  Well, luckily though, Devendra, you have a skill that I want to share with the listeners, some of whom will already be familiar with your work. Others will be discovering it for the first time, and I'm excited to share it with them. And you've been very kind and recorded a couple of versions of your songs, especially for the podcast. Thank you so much for doing that.

• 18:39Speaker 01

  You're welcome. Thank you for having me on and inviting me to do that. And I, I think it's a two way street. Are you gonna send me some two of your songs?

• 18:47Adam Buxton?

  Sure, I'll send you whatever you want. I tell you what I could do is I can share a song with you about losing a phone charger, because you had a song on your last album.

• 18:59Speaker 02

  I should have done that.

• 19:00Adam Buxton?

  Called Charger, but I'll play, I'll play that to you after we hear one of your songs. This one is called Fireflies. Would you like to say anything about Fireflies? Or shall we just jump in?

• 19:11Speaker 02

  Well, I always wished I'd studied entomology. I mean, I literally am into insects, you know, really into them. And that's all I want to say about this song.

• 19:23Adam Buxton?

  All right, here we go. This is Devendra with Fireflies.

• 19:42Speaker 02

  A trail of light from a firefly.

• 19:48Speaker 02

  There's a song that's playing.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Just a song that's playing now.

• 20:00Speaker 02

  We had a lot of dreams that went by.

• 20:07Speaker 02

  Was a song that we were singing. Just a song that we were singing.

• 20:18Speaker 02

  When I said I wasn't leaving.

• 20:25Speaker 02

  That's when I knew that I was leaving.

• 20:47Speaker 02

  We had a lot of time to make it worse.

• 20:54Speaker 02

  I know you tried to get near. Was a song I just couldn't hear.

• 21:06Speaker 02

  Now I see you in a stranger's eyes. There's so much I wish I could say. Just a song I'll sing anyway.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  When I said I wouldn't need it.

• 21:31Speaker 01

  That's when I knew that I would need it.

• 21:38Speaker 01

  Night after night.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  Night after night.

• 21:56Adam Buxton?

  Beautiful. That was Fireflies. Where did you record that, Devendra?

• 22:01Speaker 01

  In my house, just downstairs. There's this little room where I record demos and have a view of a fig tree. It's quite nice and fortunate. And you live in the country, yeah?

• 22:14Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, I'm out in Norfolk, outside Norwich. It's a beautiful Friday evening here. Where are you, Los Angeles?

• 22:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm in Echo Park in Los Angeles. And it's quite beautiful as well, although the kind of the air is laced with the fragrance of garbage water.

• 22:34Adam Buxton?

  Oh, bin juice.

• 22:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, bin juice. Bin juice.

• 22:41Speaker 01

  Garbage water and bin juice. Welcome to garbage water and bin juice. So you're in Norfolk, near Norwich?

• 22:49Adam Buxton?

  Yes, that's right. Norfolk County. It's just pronounced nor-fuck.

• 22:54Speaker 01

  Well, you know, but that's nice. I want to move to the country. Who doesn't? I get it.

• 22:58Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, I'm surprised that you seem like a country person.

• 23:01Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 23:02Adam Buxton?

  Your family is from Venezuela, is that right?

• 23:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, which is the jungle. We're from the jungle, you know. I grew up in Caracas, but even Caracas, like this major metropolis, is a jungle city. Like you live with the definition of entropy.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  You'd live with this hungry, living, green beast that is really eating, wants to eat you and is going to eat you. At night, it sounds like Psycho. It sounds like the violins of Psycho, but it's the crickets and it's just, but it's I mean, it's like murderous, hungry, I'm gonna get you. And they, they sound sharp. I, I think that must add to some of this collective subconsciousness of everyone there. And, and then, yeah, yeah, the rust, everything's trying to just swallow all these things that humans try to make. It's pretty beautiful, but it's, it's, and, and from the view from where I grew up, you know, you look out, it's just, I'd see sometimes a sloth slowly climbing up a tree and stuff.

• 24:00Speaker 01

  This is a good jungle, but I feel like country where you're living, you know, country living, that, that, I feel like that would suit me. And I, I think that's maybe the next move, if I, if I'm fortunate to have another move.

• 24:12Adam Buxton?

  And where would you go?

• 24:13Speaker 01

  I don't know. I don't, I don't know. I was talking to my therapist about this yesterday, just yesterday. And that's a pretty good question. So what is the, what is the, what is the, can you tell me a reoccurring subject of your therapy sessions? That's a pretty good first date question.

• 24:30Adam Buxton?

  Well, I mean, I'm not currently in therapy. I've only ever done therapy once for a period of about eight months after my mother died in 2020. And I, I was at that point without parents. That was the last parent. And the combination of that and the lockdown and various feelings of mortality and middle age and all sorts of things conspired to make me feel sufficiently crazy that I thought it was time to check in with a professional. And that was sort of useful. And I think we talked a lot about my relationship with my wife. And we talked a lot about my relationship with my dad.

• 25:13Adam Buxton?

  That's the big one that sort of splurges over everything is the father relationship.

• 25:19Adam Buxton?

  Um, I keep coming back to that one with quite tedious regularity.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:23Adam Buxton?

  How about you?

• 25:24Speaker 01

  Well, I, I, I have a therapist that I love very much. I'd had different therapists through my life. The first time was an eight month period and it was amazing and I went for a specific reason. And it felt like a lot was uncovered. And then suddenly I got this like little pea sized like bump on my arm. And then about a week later was a golf ball.

• 25:44Adam Buxton?

  Hmm.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  And then I went to the doctor and they said, well, it looks like some mass and we're not sure if it's benign or not, but let's just remove it. And they removed it. It was a very clear kind of physical manifestation of metaphysical kind of trauma or, or emotion that had been locked in there kind of released. And that was years and years ago. And then through the years, I just give it a try. And, and then finally I've got someone that I really love working with. And it feels like a particular relationship that I'm just not gonna get. It's a very, it is, it's a different relationship from the one I'll have with any friend, with a lover, with a family member. You know, it's, it's so specific. And I think you're gonna express things that you don't express with anyone else. And there's a lot of use, there's something very useful to that.

• 26:33Speaker 01

  And also, so like I, I, if someone tries to give me a foot massage or a back massage, I go, thank you so much, but two seconds is good. I, I'd rather pay someone, you know, I'll pay someone. And then I'll, I feel comfortable getting that massage. You know, so I don't really want a free, really short massage or I'd rather just pay for it. Okay. And that's how I feel about therapy. But about my father, I don't know, my, my biological father, he killed himself on Halloween five, six years ago.

• 27:02Adam Buxton?

  Fuck, I'm sorry.

• 27:04Speaker 01

  No, no, it's okay. I, I wasn't raised by him and I never called him dad. I, I, I, the person I call dad is alive. And I remember I was nine years old when I said.

• 27:17Speaker 01

  Can I call you dad? I was so nervous. Maybe I was 11 even. I had never called anyone dad yet. I have a very, very, just, we were in a Volkswagen Quantum, parked on the side of the PCH, just moved to America. I remember, like, so nervous. Like, later on, was the first show I ever played, was how nervous I was when I asked my stepfather, can I call you dad? So, I hadn't called my biological father dad at all. And, uh, but it was sad because we were just getting to know each other. And he killed himself on Halloween.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  Still my favorite holiday, though, Halloween day.

• 27:57Adam Buxton?

  That must have been at least a session with the therapist, chatting about the Halloween suicide, wasn't it?

• 28:05Speaker 01

  I think, yeah, yeah, we talk about it. We talk about it, but, um, I think a lot of the sessions lately are about enjoying, thinking about moving, and how fortunate I am that I have that opportunity. And, uh, and about these two cats. I have two cats. You know, actually, I really like Eckhart Tolle, you know? Eckhart Tolle's so popular, and you can buy their books at the airport. I'm sure that Heathrow, they've got Power of Now. But anyways, he has a great line, which is, "I have met many Zen masters. Most of them were cats."

• 28:42Adam Buxton?

  Yes. My sister's gonna be nodding at that. What are your cats called?

• 28:46Speaker 01

  Oh, they're a Yeshay Potato and Pema Prada.

• 28:50Adam Buxton?

  Blimey.

• 28:52Speaker 01

  And, but, why I find them, I mean, they're so fun to have around, and I love them, but what they communicate about how to be loved is so, I need that daily reminder, which is, you know, respect and patience seem to be these two main ingredients of loving someone. You know, respect my space, respect what I'm asking of you, and be patient with me. You know, it just doesn't work when I go like, wow, let's play or yeah, you're mine. You know, any of these things, any of my neuroses starts to kind of creep in. They can will communicate. No, no, no, that's really not how it works. So I've been finding that really cool.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  But what happened? Can you talk about your father? What was, what was that relationship like?

• 29:39Adam Buxton?

  Oh, man, I've talked, I've, I've talked about him so much. It's ludicrous. But potted history is that nothing terrible happened at all. He was a lovely man. He lived to a ripe old age. Ninety one and but he was older. He was from another generation. And he was quite stern, quite conservative in every sense of the word. And I think that he had ambitions for me and my life that I didn't fulfill.

• 30:13Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 30:14Adam Buxton?

  And I think when I ended up being a silly comedian and doing a lot of toilet jokes and recreating movies with toys, which is what I did on TV. Quite a lot in the nineties with my comedy partner. I think he found it a little bit mystifying and I always got the sense that he just thought. He'd failed because I wasn't like a, a more sensible person.

• 30:45Speaker 01

  Wow. That's very, that's just painful for everyone.

• 30:52Adam Buxton?

  It is, but that's what happens with parents though, don't you think? It's like, they probably, I, I would think that most children or at least a lot of children have a sense that their parents are disappointed in them somehow. And you just hand that shit on to the children that you have. It's inevitable because you have such high hopes for them and it starts out, you sort of think, right. I'm gonna have kids and I'm gonna do everything right and I'm not gonna make any of the mistakes that my parents made. I'm gonna give them a brilliant life and turn them into the kind of people that I wished I could have been, but never quite nailed.

• 31:28Speaker 01

  Sounds so easy, simple, done. I mean, I get all, I don't have kids, so I should definitely be giving advice about this. And in fact, I think about Ram Dass. Who didn't have kids either, but his, I think if I ever did have kids, what his, his beautiful line about that is as far as children are concerned, just tend to the soil, let the flower do its thing. I think, oh, that's a good one. I think I'd give that a try. But I'd probably end up being like, no, grow like this and go this way and be a different flower.

• 32:01Adam Buxton?

  Don't tend to the soil like that. You're doing it all wrong for crying out loud. Tend to the soil a bit harder. Put your back into it. Come on. That's what I'd be like. Were your parents also kind of seeking enlightenment in that way? Or was that something that you came to independently?

• 32:19Speaker 01

  Oh, I want to ask you that question too. I wonder what was the kind of, what was the religious slash spiritual signifiers in your home? You know, what, what could you identify as being other than this normal world stuff? I wonder. So you think about that and then I'll answer your question really quick. I was born into a family of these two people that were meditating around me a lot. There were Buddhist sculptures, like fat little cherubic Buddhist sculptures everywhere. And then some more Thai looking Buddha sculptures, some copies of, of Be Here Now and things like that. So I grew up in that environment that was kind of eastern,

• 33:04Speaker 01

  fetishizing eastern esoteric world, plus with my Indian name. So I felt quite comfortable and attracted to that stuff. I would see my mom meditating and I would think, oh, she's up there in the clouds, like flying around, seeing all these deities, I bet. And they would read to me the stories from just early, those Hindu cartoons, you know, the story of Ganesh and Saraswati and Lakshmi. So I was familiar with all that stuff and loved it and. But also, you know, I read Tintin as well, but Tintin in Tibet, no less. Anyways, I thought, wow, so this is interesting. This mysticism, this mystical stuff is really fascinating.

• 33:45Speaker 01

  It wasn't until much later that I, in my thirties, where I really actually like joined a religion and started to actually practice and build my life around these practices and these rituals that I do every day. And I still laugh at that concept of imagining someone meditating, being just out there, awe and bliss, you know, because it could not be further from the truth in terms of my experience. I'm just sitting, I'm more there than I am the rest of the day. Everything else is this like, I'm out there, out there. And then I'm sitting down, I'm just dealing with myself, my shit. And at moments, it's beautiful, but most of the time it is a nightmare, it's an apocalypse. But tell me about, were you surrounded with, were the crucifixes around? Were you going to church? Were, you know, were you going to temple?

• 34:30Speaker 01

  I don't know, were you going to synagogue? I don't know. What was happening?

• 34:35Adam Buxton?

  No, none of that. It's a hard no for spirituality.

• 34:39Speaker 01

  Hard no?

• 34:41Adam Buxton?

  It was a spiritual wasteland. I think both my parents grew up religious and actually my mum stayed religious and she went back to being a regular churchgoer in the last 20 years of her life, when she was no longer living with my dad and when her children had left home and, and her life was hers again. And so then she reconnected with the church and I think it was important to her, her faith, but we didn't really get a sense of that when we were living at home. We didn't go to church regularly. We were sent away to boarding school and I think part of the deal with the schools that we were sent to was that there were regular church services.

• 35:27Adam Buxton?

  So I know my parents felt that that was an important thing that they wanted their children to experience, but I'm sorry to say that it never, you know, as far as we were concerned as students at those schools. It never really meant anything to us. It was something that we had to do. And we went there and we thought about other things and we zoned out. And, you know, there were happy moments and quasi spiritual moments, singing hymns. When I think back, some of those hymns are absolute bangers. So when you're singing for those in peril on the sea and things like that.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  Well, I bet that that all of that helped you discover art, you know, because you didn't get, wow, it's so turned on by the imagery that spoke to you karmically. Cause there's, I think you're kind of born with this, what it's, cause to me it's fascinating what I'm attracted to naturally. Versus what I just have no relationship with, even though I grew up around. When I'm Venezuela, it's, it's church and it's all, it's Christian thing. But I just thought, well, this is interesting, but I have no, it didn't speak to me. But then I'm a Buddhist and certain Buddhist deities, particularly in Vajrayana. I'm just weeping, I'm just weeping. I cannot believe their beauty and I'm in love. So it feels like a karmic thing. And so you didn't necessarily feel that when you'd go to the forced church service.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  And that longing is still there, even if we know it or not. And you maybe discovered through music and through art, through comedy, right? Maybe you saw some early paintings and some, heard some songs that you go, whoa, this is metaphysical. This is mystical.

• 37:04Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, hundred percent. It was all about music. I got all of that from listening to David Bowie, from listening to Five Years for the first time and getting lost in that song. And being totally transported and weird music, you know? I love the music on the radio. I love madness. I love all that music in the early eighties in the UK. That was really an explosion for so much odd.

• 37:32Adam Buxton?

  Stylistically varied music. I don't, I mean, I, I guess that's the music I grew up with. So I have a fondness for it, but I feel like it was a particularly peculiarly adventurous time in music with that kind of post punk, new wave.

• 37:50Speaker 01

  And so catchy.

• 37:51Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 37:52Speaker 01

  Undeniably catchy. I think the specials changed my life without a doubt and I was obsessed. I didn't like one single bad manner song, yet I thought they were the coolest band in the world. And of course, the Body Snatchers, all those bands is the best.

• 38:06Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 38:07Speaker 01

  So you also probably found a sense of community too.

• 38:10Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, there were so many other people. I mean, I bonded with many people throughout my life over David Bowie and Talking Heads and people like that, you know, the feelings you described that you got from spirituality and, and being moved to tears. And that's what I get from music and still do.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  Do you have an answer for, is there a song that you, you go, you know what, I, let's change the song because that I'm going to get too emotional. Can you think of that song? And I'm sure there's a few, but which one comes up? And it's a song that you go, maybe I'm not right now. I can't really do that because it's going to hit some spots.

• 38:47Adam Buxton?

  Well, actually I, I think about this a lot and I've asked a few people that question. I was going to ask you about that because music is definitely something that I got from my mom. She was a big music fan. And so that's much more connected with her. And after she died, in fact, I think the night after she died, I set myself the challenge of listening to One Day I'll Fly Away by Randy Crawford, because that was a song that she introduced me to and that I always will associate with her. And that was hardcore trying to get through that. And just, just because it was so baldly descriptive of everything

• 39:30Adam Buxton?

  that had just happened, the fact that she'd just died and, and everything about it, the yearning and the otherness in that song and, and, oh man.

• 40:08Adam Buxton?

  That's a beautiful song anyway, but listening to that after my ma died, that was hardcore. But also, uh, actually a song that people don't really believe that it can possibly make me emotional, but it does for some reason, is Dance the Night Away by The Mavericks.

• 40:25Speaker 01

  I don't think I know how that goes.

• 40:27Adam Buxton?

  I just wanna dance the night away. You know that one?

• 40:32Speaker 01

  It sounds familiar.

• 40:34Adam Buxton?

  With señoritas who can sway.

• 40:38Speaker 01

  Mavericks, jeez, I'm, I'm, I feel like I've heard it, but I can't picture it. But I love hearing you sing it.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  Why does that make you, why does that get you weepy?

• 41:14Adam Buxton?

  Because it's so kind of madly joyful.

• 41:18Speaker 01

  So you're up, you're ra, your tears, you're raised to tears. You have that feeling?

• 41:22Adam Buxton?

  Yeah, there's just something about like, when you see, when you see something done really well. I always remember my dad saying about, um, these ice dancers called Torville and Dean. Do you remember them?

• 41:36Speaker 01

  Hmm, no, I don't recall.

• 41:39Adam Buxton?

  They were amazing. They were sort of Olympic champions.

• 41:41Speaker 01

  Are they like vine juice and garbage?

• 41:45Adam Buxton?

  They did a famous, they did a famous routine to Ravel's Bolero. And they captured the imagination of the world with their ice dancing routine. And I always remember my dad saying, it's just so extraordinary to see anything done that well. There's something very special about it. And it's true. When you see brilliant sports people at the peak of their powers and you just think, wow, look at them go. That is magic. It's quite moving, you know, and for some reason that is encapsulated in Dance the Night Away by The Mavericks for me. It's just so kind of

• 42:27Adam Buxton?

  madly optimistic and joyful despite how cruel and cold the world is. It's like they're like, fuck it. Let's just dance the night away with senoritas who can sway. And yeah, it's wonderful.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  I had a moment of this, I can't, I can kind of, I can relate to having that feeling that way about a song really recently, which is listening to All Night Long, which is, um, what's his name?

• 42:55Adam Buxton?

  Perfect example, perfect example.

• 42:58Speaker 01

  Rich, was his name? I guess his name.

• 43:00Adam Buxton?

  Lionel Ritchie.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  Lionel Ritchie, yeah. I was listening to that song. I was in Japan and I'm listening to that song, which, which I had never noticed. I never, I'd never heard it as an adult. It's a song you grew up with, right? So I just, this is just recently. It's like three weeks ago. And I'm listening to that song because I just watched that We Are the World documentary and it was so moving. I love that documentary so much. I was surprised. I was kind of voiding it. Who cares? I'm not interested. But then I watched it. It's incredible. So I got re-interested in Lionel Ritchie and check out his catalog. I'm listening to All Night Long. He does, first off, there's like eight accents that he does in that song. It's hilarious. He's Jamaican, he's British. It's the whole thing. It's super funny and weird.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  And you cannot help but feel this bliss, joy feeling. And I started to dance. I'm just walking around in headphones and I'm walking around Tokyo and I started to dance. And I realized I never dance. I do not dance. And I don't see people just dancing. Maybe even a quick little dance, walking around. Something about that made me really emotional, made me really sad. And it was something really beautiful about, you know, this, oh, wow, I can just kind of dance anytime, anywhere. It's a strange feeling.

• 44:11Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 44:39Adam Buxton?

  That's a brilliant example. I get that from that song too. And that was fun, that documentary, wasn't it? About we are the world. Did you like, did you like that bit with Bob Dylan looking absolutely lost?

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Of course, of course. It's the best, the best. It is the best. It also was so humanizing.

• 44:58Adam Buxton?

  Yeah.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  It's so sweet because I don't think of him as somebody that I've ever, you know, he's just not a person to me. Bob is just some other being, some spectral phantom being that is not at all here. So to see him go, I'm not sure how to do this. Just to even have this human moment. Let me talk to Stevie Wonder, Stevie, and then Stevie does his imitation of Bob and how to sing it. It's the coolest thing.

• 45:26Adam Buxton?

  I loved it. I loved it. And Stevie Wonder, I mean, because it's a two-pronged attack from, what's his face? The producer, Quincy Jones.

• 45:36Adam Buxton?

  So Bob, for listeners, for those of you who haven't seen this documentary, there's a bit, they're recording, we are the world, they're sort of doing all the arrangements, they're figuring out which of these super celebrities is gonna sing which line. They get to Bob Dylan's line. There's a chance we're taking, we're saving our own lives. And that's, that's, that's how it ends up. But he doesn't know how to sing it at all. So he is literally mumbling.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  He's like, uh, chance to take, taking, the saving, oh, I don't, I don't, I don't really know what I'm doing.

• 46:11Adam Buxton?

  And so Quincy Jones takes him over to Stevie Wonder and says, Stevie, just give him some ideas. Stevie Wonder does a Bob Dylan impression and sort of gives him a read on the line, basically, doesn't he? And it's perfect. And so he just, so basically Bob Dylan ends up doing an impression of Stevie Wonder's Bob Dylan impression.

• 46:37Speaker 01

  Ah, that's so cool. I mean, that's how I wrote all my first songs, was trying to cover songs and it sounded so off. It was so far from the song I was trying to cover. I was like, well, I guess I have my own song now.

• 46:48Adam Buxton?

  Hmm. You know what? The other song that you have done a beautiful version of for us is called The Body Breaks. And that's an older one. That's from your album Rejoicing Hands, I think, 2005.

• 47:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, that's an old one.

• 47:02Adam Buxton?

  Oh, hello. Look at that. There's a beautiful cat there.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 47:05Adam Buxton?

  Can I take a screenshot of you and your beautiful cat?

• 47:07Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 47:08Adam Buxton?

  Here we go.

• 47:10Speaker 01

  Smile, darling. You're a Hollywood cat now.

• 47:12Adam Buxton?

  Um, but listen.

• 47:14Speaker 01

  Look at that.

• 47:15Adam Buxton?

  It's been so nice meeting you and talking with you, Devendra. Thank you so much for giving up your time.

• 47:20Speaker 01

  Thanks, Adam. Total pleasure. I, I love your work. It's an honor to be a part of this. I'm gonna listen to, I'm listening to every episode except for this one. You owe me two songs.

• 47:33Adam Buxton?

  Oh, yes. Hey, look, I'll play you my charger one quickly. Now, let's see if I can do this. This is a jingle that features two elements. One element is a conservative philosopher that my dad was fond of, a guy called Roger Scruton. And it's elements of an essay, an audio essay, that I heard of Roger Scruton's, where he's talking about the deadening effect of hearing pop music everywhere you go in public. And that was a sentiment that my dad strongly agreed with. So I put that in this jingle. And then there's another section in the jingle,

• 48:15Adam Buxton?

  which is a sort of, I'm sort of channeling my dad. And he is complaining about not being able to find his phone charger, which is why I thought of your song Charger from your last album.

• 48:34Speaker 03

  Is that real melody?

• 48:41Adam Buxton?

  Have you seen my phone charger? I left it right there. Did you see it? Have you got it?

• 48:53Adam Buxton?

  Where's my charger gone?

• 48:56Adam Buxton?

  Where's my phone charger? The battery's about to die. It was on the table.

• 49:05Speaker 03

  Round and round in their heads go the chord progressions, the empty lyrics, and the impoverished fragments of tune. And boom goes the brain box at the start of every bar. At the start of every bar.

• 49:23Speaker 03

  Boom goes the brain box.

• 49:42Adam Buxton?

  There you go. So that was musically, it was inspired by Playboy Carti.

• 49:48Speaker 01

  I mean, all I heard was the follow-up to We Are The World and all I saw was the world finally singing in harmony. To Boom Goes The Brain Box. I mean, and your father's voice is incredible. It's incredible. I love this song. It's brilliant. Good job.

• 50:06Adam Buxton?

  Thank you so much. Well, it's an honour to play it to you and it's quite surreal experience having you enjoy it. So, thank you. But now, we are going to conclude with your beautiful version of The Body Breaks. Is there something you would like to say about this song?

• 50:22Speaker 01

  It's not as good as Where's My Charger?

• 50:25Adam Buxton?

  Oh, my song. Well, the actual name of the jingle.

• 50:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, what's the name of the jingle?

• 50:30Adam Buxton?

  I call it Playboy Buckles is the actual how it's labelled.

• 50:33Speaker 01

  Amazing. Okay, so this song that you're about to play that I recorded just for you called The Body Breaks is my attempt at covering Playboy Buckles. And like I said, I don't do covers well, so it ended up sounding a little bit different.

• 50:48Adam Buxton?

  All right, great. Here is Devendra singing a specially-recorded version of The Body Breaks.

• 51:39Speaker 01

  Your body breaks and your body is fine. I'm open to yours and I'm open to mine. Your body aches and it takes.

• 51:51Speaker 02

  But you'll get over yours and I hope to get over mine. And the sun will shine. And the moon will rise.

• 52:25Speaker 02

  Your body calls, yeah, your body calls out. It whispers, it flirts, burning into the shout. Your body burns, yeah, your body burns strong. Until mine is with yours. Mine will burn hot. My flesh sings out. Mama, come put me out.

• 53:11Speaker 02

  Your body sways like the wind on a swing. A brush through a hole, a lick through a ring. Your body stays, then your body moves on. I'd really rather not dwell on when yours will be gone. Still within the dark.

• 53:34Speaker 02

  There'll always be a little shine. One tiny spark. Forever yours and mine.

• 53:59Adam Buxton?

  Continue.

• 54:10Adam Buxton?

  Hey, welcome back, podcats. That was Devendra Banhart, and that second performance there was of a track called The Body Breaks. Now, you may be able to hear that I am no longer in London town. It's a day later and I'm back in Norfolk on a beautiful sunny day now, although it is very cold. But the skies are blue.

• 54:37Adam Buxton?

  Over there, you can hear the sounds of guys cutting down Christmas trees. Santa's murderous Christmas tree elves. Rosie is back with me. She is loping along beside me. We just had a bit of a, a toilet emergency. I won't go into detail. Suffice to say that I think her change of diet following her teeth operation has complicated things in the nether regions as far as her movements go. Trying to use all the euphemisms I possibly can to protect you from the reality of what just happened,

• 55:20Adam Buxton?

  which was unprecedented with dog legs. It was basically a, imagine the biggest dingleberry you've ever seen in your entire life in the most hairiest zone. I've said too much, haven't I? But that was quite an operation to sort that out, wasn't it, Rosie? I do not consent to being spoken about this way. I apologize, but it's only to illustrate that we love you and we'd do anything for you. And I hope you would do the same for me.

• 55:55Adam Buxton?

  If that happened with me. Uh, let's wait and see, shall we? Yeah, okay.

• 56:03Adam Buxton?

  In the description of today's podcast, you'll find a handful of links to a couple of Devendra related videos. One of them is, oh, Rosie, little sneeze there. One of them is Devendra's appearance on What's in My Bag, in which interesting people get to wander around Amoeba Records in Los Angeles and pick out music they're interested in and talk about it. That's one of those YouTube shows where I can watch about twenty on the trot. One day, I'd like to spend an entire evening with some other people who are similarly minded

• 56:45Adam Buxton?

  and watch just loads of What's in My Bag interspersed with Tiny Desk concerts on NPR.

• 56:56Adam Buxton?

  And maybe a few of those KEXP, is that what they're called, concerts? They do some really good ones. Actually, we did a bit of that the other night, me and my son. First watching Eddie Murphy clips after I watched the Netflix documentary about Eddie Murphy.

• 57:13Adam Buxton?

  Which I half enjoyed, first half loved, second half, hmm. But it did make me go back and watch some of the less offensive highlights of Eddie's live material. Still pretty funny, a lot of that.

• 57:32Adam Buxton?

  And we also had a munch on some Tiny Desk's, recent one with Pulp, Aldous Harding. She's a very unnerving, compelling performer. Also, if you haven't seen that, Catrion and Paco Amoroso Tiny Desk Concert. That's good fun.

• 57:53Adam Buxton?

  Since I did my intro, we went to see Radiohead, and I say "we", me and the family, and some of our pals, Garth Jennings, with whom I made some music videos for Radiohead back in 2007, just after they'd released "In Rainbows", and we did the video, myself and Garth, for "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", among others, with the helmet cams.

• 58:22Adam Buxton?

  And when they played that song at the O2 on Saturday night,

• 58:27Adam Buxton?

  that was quite a moment. And Garth and I exchanged looks. I think we both felt on some level that it's slightly our song too. Okay, so we didn't write it or perform it or anything like that, but we made the music video. So we are at least a footnote in the life of that song. And they did an amazing version of it. I had heard them play it before. But they nailed everything that is so thrilling about that song when they performed it the other night.

• 59:00Adam Buxton?

  And that was just one of many songs that sounded as good as I've ever heard them

• 59:07Adam Buxton?

  live. Exit Music for a Film, which is one of the songs from OK Computer that I have to confess I never really loved as much as some of the other ones on there.

• 59:26Adam Buxton?

  You know, it's that one. It's obviously good, but maybe it was, I don't know, I think I used to find it a bit much. Because it builds into a real like everything's happening and all the synthesizers are rumbling and

• 59:43Adam Buxton?

  and I used to prefer some of the mellower tracks like "Subterranean", "Homesick Alien", and then, you know, "Paranoid Android", yes, great, you've got all the drama in there, but I don't know, anyway. So I never connected with Exit Music before, but on Saturday...

• 59:59Adam Buxton?

  It was incredible, it was incredible. His voice is great. And also the lighting and the visuals, they're playing in the round and they've got this cylinder of semi-transparent screens on which live visuals play, but all the visuals are heavily processed and have various different effects applied to them depending on what song is playing, and that plus this beautiful light show. And then all the people holding up the the lights on their phones in some of the tracks, like No Surprises and that one, Exit Music.

• 1:00:42Adam Buxton?

  In the O2 Arena, which is 25,000 people, I think it was full to capacity. Perhaps more people in there than they've ever had because they are playing in the round, so they're able to use every space really to get audience in. And it was really one of those moments where you just think, come on, this is great. Us all here, singing and experiencing this at the same time. And there were, there were so many moments like that. Weird Fishes is another one where the crowd go nuts. And, but Jigsaw falling into place, all those woo, woo. And the audience are all chanting along and

• 1:01:25Adam Buxton?

  wow, nothing beats that feeling of being in a big crowd and all just being a part of that music and seeing it performed so well. So the actual show itself was amazing. Getting into the O2 and then getting out again, going on the tube, that wasn't that much fun, but it wasn't too bad. Like immediately afterwards, we got out and the thousands of people all heading towards the entrance for North Greenwich Tube made my heart sink and I said to

• 1:02:00Adam Buxton?

  I don't think I can handle that. It's gonna give me the fear. Let's just walk. She said, we can't walk. So, uh, we got in the scrum, but it moved fairly quickly. It was mad, though. It was like there had been some disastrous event. And just this mob of people moving as one into the station and then down the escalator, kind of filtering themselves in, just this blob of humanity, people right up against each other, barely standing up, like you, sometimes you feel you're being

• 1:02:41Adam Buxton?

  kept upright by just the pressure of all the people around you, pinning you in place. It's not good if you've got agoraphobia. And then on the escalator as well, I was thinking, I hope nobody trips over, otherwise it's gonna be gnarly. Anyway, it was fine. And it was a nice atmosphere. It was a mix of people who had just been hanging out at the O2 and a lot of Radiohead concert goers. And everyone was in a good mood. There was no shouting and bad vibes. You know, sometimes you go to a far-right rally and afterwards, the crowd is a little more agitated, I find, on the, on the tube. It wasn't like that on Saturday, I'm happy to say.

• 1:03:25Adam Buxton?

  Hey, I forgot to say before, I'm gonna be on TV on Friday with the Adam Buxton Band. We're gonna play a song from Buckle Up. Not sure exactly which song we're gonna play yet. We were thinking maybe Shorts or maybe Tea Towel. Anyway, we're playing it on the last leg with Adam Hills and Josh and Alex. And, uh, that's live, live television, performing music on live television. Pretty sure I haven't done that before, so tune in, see what happens. Wish me luck. Well, look, that's it for this week.

• 1:04:09Adam Buxton?

  Thank you to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for his always invaluable production support. Thanks to Helen Green, she does the artwork for the podcast. Thank you to everyone at Acast who liaises with my sponsors. But as ever, my most hearty heartfelt thanks go to you. I appreciate you coming back and exploring another episode. Hope you had a good time. How did you feel about a creepy hug? Sure you do come here, hey.

• 1:04:40Adam Buxton?

  Good to see you. Hope you're doing alright.

• 1:04:44Adam Buxton?

  And until next time, we hang out in the same sonic space. Please go carefully because it's very unpredictable out there. And for what it's worth, I love you. Bye.