#141: Kaskade and Sekou Andrews: The Musician and the Poet

This episode is a special double header. It features one interview and one performance. First up is Kaskade http://www.kaskademusic.com/#!/home (@Kaskade https://twitter.com/Kaskade), widely considered one of the Founding Fathers of Progressive House Music. He's been voted "America's Best DJ" twice by DJ Times, headlined Coachella 4x, and been nominated for Grammys 5x. Next, you'll hear Sekou Andrews http://sekouandrews.com/ (@SekouAndrews https://twitter.com/sekouandrews), the most impressive poetic voice I've ever heard. I first saw him perform at TED, where he blew my mind. Sekou is a schoolteacher turned 2x National Poetry Slam champion. He has presented privately for Barack Obama, Bono, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, as well as for many Fortune 500 companies. Each one of these takes a few minutes to get warmed up, so be patient. There are gems in both. Among other things... Kaskade covers his first breaks, making his own luck, formative musical influences, and we dig into his notetaking process, and the origins of one of his biggest hits. Sekou will inspire you to be inspired by your story. Do you want to change your narrative, your internal dialogue, to be more successful? Do you need to get back on the horse, or have an effective pep talk in your back pocket? This might be the recording you listen to over and over again. There is a lot of practical philosophy embedded in and between the lines, so listen to it all. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Audible http://audible.com/tim. I have used Audible http://audible.com/tim for years and I love audio books. I have two to recommend: The Graveyard Book http://www.audible.com/pd/Teens/The-Graveyard-Book-Full-Cast-Production-Audiobook/B00LXHQO22/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20 by Neil Gaiman Vagabonding http://www.audible.com/pd/Travel-Adventure/Vagabonding-Audiobook/B00GCHWZHG/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20 by Rolf Potts All you need to do to get your free 30-day Audible trial is go to Audible.com/Tim http://audible.com/tim. Choose one of the above books, or choose between more than 180,000 audio programs. That could be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or even a class. It's that easy. Go to Audible.com/Tim http://audible.com/tim and get started today. Enjoy! This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs http://99designs.com/tim, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover http://99designs.com/tim for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service http://99designs.com/tim. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link http://www.99designs.com/tim and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run.

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

• 0:01Speaker 00

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Can I ask you a personal question?

• 0:08Speaker 01

  No, I would assume appropriate time.

• 0:12Speaker 02

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 0:22Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Audible, which I've used for years. I love audiobooks, and I have two to recommend right off the bat. Number one is perhaps my favorite audiobook of all time, and that is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, the only audiobook I've wanted to immediately listen to a second time as soon as I finished. It's amazing. You will thank me. The Graveyard Book. The second is Vagabonding by Rolf Potts, which had a huge impact on my life and formed the basis for a lot of what became The Four Hour Work Week. So, all you need to do to get your free 30-day trial is go to audible.com/tim, and you can choose one of those two books, The Graveyard Book, Vagabonding, or more than 180,000 audio

• 1:05Tim Ferriss?

  programs. So that could be a book, that could be a magazine, that could be a newspaper, it could be a class. It's that easy. Go to audible.com/tim. That's audible.com/tim, and grab a book. Enjoy. This episode is brought to you by 99designs. When your business needs a logo, website, business card, thumbnail, or any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I use them myself. I've used them for many years. I use them to create book cover prototypes for The Four Hour Body, which went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. I've also used them for banner ads, illustrations, and much more. With 99designs, you get a variety of original designs from designers around the world. Give your feedback, and then pick your favorite. Your happiness is guaranteed. So check out some of my competitions

• 1:49Tim Ferriss?

  and designs, and some of your competitions and designs, from fellow Tim Ferriss Show listeners, at 99designs.com/tim. And right now, you can get a free $99 upgrade on your first design. So check it out, 99designs.com/tim.

• 2:08Tim Ferriss?

  Fast is los. Guten Tag. This is Tim Ferriss and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers, whether they are from the world of entertainment, chess, sports, or otherwise. This episode is a special doubleheader. It features one interview and one performance, which is a new thing. First up is Cascade, K-A-S-K-A-D-E. You can say hello to him @Cascade on most of social. He is widely considered one of the founding fathers of progressive house music. He's been voted America's Best DJ twice by DJ Times, Headline Coachella four times, and has been nominated for Grammys five times. Next up, you'll hear Sekou Andrews. That's S-E-K-O-U Andrews.

• 2:51Tim Ferriss?

  So @SekouAndrews across social. And he is the most impressive poetic voice I've ever heard. I first saw him perform at TED, where he blew my mind, and so I approached him afterwards. He is a schoolteacher-turned-two-time National Poetry Slam champion. He's presented privately for Barack Obama, Bono, Oprah Winfrey, the list goes on and on. Each one of these takes a few minutes to get warmed up, so be patient. I know it's not a specialty for those in the digital world, but there are gems in both of them, among other things. Cascade covers his first breaks, making his own luck, formative music influences. If his music were, or I should say it rather, electronic or dance music were a wine tasting, what would he recommend the varietals be? Who should we listen to?

• 3:36Tim Ferriss?

  What were his biggest albums in the early days? And we dig into his note-taking process. As you may know, I'm a nerd with that kind of thing. I want to know the origins of his biggest hits. How did they come to be? What was the time span between the first note-taking and them going live, etc.? We talk about all of that. Sekou will inspire you to be inspired by your story. So if you want to change your narrative, your internal dialogue, to be more successful, this is a good talk to listen to. If you want to get back on the horse or have an effective pep talk in your back pocket, this might be the recording you listen to over and over again. Now, you should be patient. I'm going to mention this again.

• 4:17Tim Ferriss?

  Because there's a lot of practical philosophy embedded in and between the lines. So you have to listen to it all and you have to listen carefully. And these are very contrasting, I should say, different, rather, personalities and very different performances. And so I hope that you enjoy both of them. You can certainly skip around, and I'll mention just a couple of notes. These were both recorded at a live event in Los Angeles, and that sold out in 30 minutes based on an email that I sent out to my newsletter subscribers. If you're not on the newsletter, it's free, and you get lots of exclusives and cool stuff like Five Bullet Friday, which has more than a 60% open rate across the board. For people who know what that is, that's unheard of.

• 5:01Tim Ferriss?

  And you can sign up, try it out for a week or two, at fourhourworkweek.com/friday. So all spelled out, fourhourworkweek.com/friday. Now, since it was a live event, there were a couple of audio glitches early on. And in the case of Cascade, we had a mic failure and I ended up pulling out my lavalier mic, you know, the clip-on mic that was threaded down my shirt, pulling it out and handing that back and forth for a bit. So you might hear a couple of missteps here and there, but what you missed was a little bit of background. He was raised Mormon. He was born in Chicago. He went to Utah for college. And where he grew up was where they filmed Ferris Bueller's Day Off, among other things.

• 5:45Tim Ferriss?

  So, without further ado, please enjoy this episode with Cascade and Seku Anders. When did you have your first, what you would consider your first break or mentor in music?

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Uh, let's see. When I moved to San Francisco, I reached out to Ohm Records. They were a small boutique label based right in the city there, South Market area. And really, they were the only people I knew in San Francisco. Because I had some demos and I was mailing music to people, and that wasn't going so well, but they showed a little interest. And I moved there. Luckily, they hired me. For like, the funny thing is, is like, my wife and I, we couldn't even make rent for what we were... I mean, she supported me for many years. She was working for Levi Strauss at the headquarters there. And it was great. And I was like, "Yeah, you get a good job. I'm gonna do music. Hey."

• 6:40Speaker 01

  We'll see how that turns out. I'm awesome. Look who you're married.

• 6:47Tim Ferriss?

  Well, you know, if that were a stock that she had bought, she's pretty happy, I'm imagining. I mean, it's worked out. The, the, when did you realize that this is something you could do to support yourself full-time? Or even think that was possible?

• 7:02Speaker 01

  It was like the mid 2000s, so 10 years ago, you know, 10, 11 years ago. But people are like, when did you really decide you were gonna do music? And I was one of those people that never wanted to admit that that was, that's what I was doing. I kept telling my, she's like, well, what are you doing? What are you, what's your plan? And she was pretty organized and very driven and I think I didn't wanna like say that because I didn't wanna be a failure. I didn't wanna have like, no, I'm gonna be a musician. I'm gonna write music. I wanna, my whole thing was her was like, no, this is a cool hobby. I'm doing it. These guys hired me. I'll go there, I'll work for a little, we'll see what happens. Let's just, we'll see what happens. That was always my thing.

• 7:43Tim Ferriss?

  So what did you, at the time, when people would ask you, cause I know people do this in San Francisco as well as many other cities, but like, so, so what do you do? How would you answer that at the time?

• 7:51Speaker 01

  Music. Which in San Francisco, people think that's cool. There's enough art community there and people are like, oh, that's cool. What are you, you know, how are you living?

• 8:01Speaker 01

  Like, oh, my wife, she, she's got a good job.

• 8:08Tim Ferriss?

  So is it, I had, in the, in the course of doing research for this, read that when you, when you went from Chicago to Utah, just to, I know we're jumping around chronologically, that that is when you started sort of producing or creating your own music, cause there wasn't much of a scene. If, is that accurate?

• 8:26Speaker 01

  This is a great, this is a great point. So what happened is, is I'm like, okay, I got into University of Utah.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  For Mormons out there, non Mormons out there, it's like, for me, I grew up as a kid in Chicago. There wasn't very many Mormon kids. So I thought, I'll go to school in Utah, meet other Mormon people, see what they're about, you know? I was friends with all these Jewish kids growing up in Chicago. It was like, all my friends are Jewish, you know? Anyway, so I went to Utah and. That was great, but I, growing up, going to nightclubs all through high school. Teen clubs were a big deal in Chicago, and that's how I got introduced into house music. It was very much a part of my life. I was collecting records, you know, as a hobby. I was a DJ. So when I got there, I'm like, what is, what is this music you guys are listening? This is terrible, you know, like, I've got crates of records. Why don't you come over to

• 9:15Speaker 01

  my house? I got some speakers. So, you know, I started throwing my own parties and I really had to get involved. That was definitely a point where I was like, wow, if I'm gonna be a part of this scene or make music, I'm gonna have to be active instead of just like some passive guy. Cause in Chicago, I'd just be the guy that went out and collected records and occasionally played at a friend's house party. But when I got to Utah, I was like, if I wanna do this, I'm gonna have to make my own thing, which is good, cause it inspired me to get involved and really get motivated.

• 9:43Tim Ferriss?

  How did, loud enough now? How did you get your first gear or equipment? Of course, that's evolved a lot since, but...

• 9:53Speaker 01

  So I hit a local club owner up in Utah, and I was like, I got crates of records. And what's your worst night that you have? What's the slowest night? When he's like, Monday, I'm not even open. I'm like, dude, let me come down on Monday night. And this is a bar that had opened in the 40s and it had all its original decor. It was called Club Manhattan. It was amazing place, in the basement. Anyway, the owner's like, you know, I'll give you a cut of the door. You have your friends come in, whatever, invite some people and we'll see what happens. Anyway, it turned out, the night was a smash. I mean, I did it for five years and I ended up doing two nights a week. It was Monday and then what I took on a Thursday. And things worked almost instantly. And I quit my, you know,

• 10:35Speaker 01

  I was working at a clothing store, you know, trying to support myself, going to school. And I quit, like, after the first week, I was like, I'm done with that. I'm just gonna do this DJ thing. This is great, you know, I can make some cash and I can pay for school. So it started clicking and then when I was making enough money, I started buying my first studio equipment. And I slowly started producing songs and getting into that and learning my way around the studio and like, wow, how does a sampler work? How does a digital audio workstation? How does this all work? And just understanding that, which was great, cause it's like, I was going to school. I thought I was really busy at the time, but I realize now that like, I had a lot of free time. I'm so busy, I'm gonna sit here for 10 hours and work on this song, you know, like...

• 11:23Speaker 01

  Anyway, so I had a lot of time to kinda just learn my craft. So it was a good time for me. And then when I moved to San Francisco, that definitely took it up a notch. I worked for Own Records for a couple of years. And it was good because I was, I knew how to make the music, but I didn't understand anything about the business. I wasn't really interested in the business. I was like, I just want to make music. I don't want to know all this other stuff. But it forced me to learn some things about the business, which was cool because I could see like, oh, you can't just like hang out in your room and make tracks. You gotta get out and promote them and be a part of the scene and get out there and people want to know who you are as an artist, who's writing these songs.

• 12:03Speaker 01

  And yeah, so I kinda slowly started building up from there in San Francisco.

• 12:09Tim Ferriss?

  And I'm sure you get approached a lot with people who are hoping to create their own electronic music, or maybe they already are. If one of those people were to ask you how to create sort of a self-directed MBA, they're like, look, I have the time, I have a little bit of resources. What skills should I learn? Like, what's the, what does the curriculum look like in terms of setting the stage for being a successful musician in that category?

• 12:36Speaker 01

  In this genre, I always tell people that are getting started out, I mean, now there are schools for this and you can go, you know, 18-month things to 12-month programs. So it's a lot easier to learn the craft now than it was back then. Back then I was buying like these $25 magazines from the UK, electronic musician. I'm like, what in the hell, $25? Like, I'm broke, man. But anyway, they had a lot of good tutorials. So it was very different back then. Now it's a little more accessible. But I always tell people, I mean, like, what's your passion? What do you truly love about this music? Is, do you want to write? Do you want to produce? Are you a songwriter? Find out what you do best and... Put all your time and energy into that. Like, are you really good at just DJing? Is that what you do?

• 13:21Speaker 01

  You're a selector? Is that what you do? You can pull good tracks? You have a good ear? Because there's some people that do that and do that really well. Then go out and figure out how to maximize that. Figure out what it is that you do best and really run with it. Like, maybe you... And you've got to be honest with yourself. It's like one of those things that it might take a year or two to discover. You're out in the mix. You're going to clubs. You're trying to get gigs or whatever it is. But I think it's just kind of good to sit back and like, check the climate. And like, what am I doing well? And what are people drawn to me? Like, what's working here? And then just do that as much as you can.

• 13:54Tim Ferriss?

  How did you... And feel free to verify this also, again, just in the course of doing research. But when did you realize that you were very good at more melodic music? As opposed to beats or rhythmic based? And I would love you for even to just differentiate those for people.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  Much of dance music is very rhythmic. My dad realized, like, why is the kick drum so damn loud? And I'm like, that's dance music. So it's very... Many people see it as repetitive, whatever. That's kind of the old dance music. Because it was pretty simplistic. We didn't have the technology. It wasn't as sophisticated as now. And when I moved to San Francisco in 2000, that was kind of like the beginnings of more melodic electronic music. Songwriting was getting involved. And there were a couple acts. There was one band locally called Solstice. They were great, extremely talented. They were banned, but it was more electronic sounding. And I remember sitting at the label. They were signed to Ohm. I'm like...

• 14:57Speaker 01

  Because I'd been knowing all this stuff that was very sample-heavy and rhythmic, kind of the trend at the time. But I wasn't making any headroom. I was... There was no headway. I was just kind of like... Because I was like every dude out there. You know, my demo sounded just like everybody else's. Anyway, as I kind of sat in the office and sat back and was like, thinking what would work? And how could I make myself different? I thought, you know, there's not that much melodic stuff out there. What if I focused more on the song? And I'd been in the scene quite a long time, even at that point in my career, that I'd seen, like, this goes in cycles and people get into different styles. And one production style, progressive house is cool today, techno's cool tomorrow, drum

• 15:42Speaker 01

  and bass is cool next week. It moves really quick in the underground. So I was like, man, if I focused more on songs and songwriting, that could be my thing. That could be my space. And there's not very many people doing it, so I could make my own name that way.

• 15:59Tim Ferriss?

  And it would be more evergreen, I guess, in that respect. I do have more durability.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, and then, I mean, that was just, I didn't think of that at the time, but that's kind of what happened, naturally. And it all kind of coincided with me meeting some people that were really good songwriters that were like, man, you're talented in the studio, but dude, that's just one part of it. Making the music a song that's an instrumental, that's half a song, that's half an idea. And I was like, what, man? Oh, my gosh, this is great. I thought that was a song, dude, that's a song, you know? And they're like, no, this is a song. So I met and hung out with some people that had some different ideas.

• 16:38Tim Ferriss?

  Are there any particular songwriters who had a large influence on you or that you look up to?

• 16:44Speaker 01

  I mean, I'd go with like classics like Sting or the Morrissey, you know? I grew up in the eighties, so like New Wave was a big deal for me. Robert Smith, The Cure, I love this guy, he's a brilliant songwriter. So that's stuff I was always drawn to. But, you know, as I worked with more songwriters, like, okay, I can develop this as a craft. I fancy myself a bit of a writer. Writing songs is different, but it's still kind of just getting your idea on a little short three-minute piece. So kind of marrying the two things that I was doing. But then that, that's when everything kind of changed in my career. Things really, as I started producing that kind of music, people noticed me. And I started touring quickly after that. I mean, 2003 is really when things started to move.

• 17:29Speaker 01

  I think that year I did like 70 or 80 shows. And I was like, this is insane. And that's when my wife's like, what did I sign up for? You're never here, you know?

• 17:37Tim Ferriss?

  What is your record for consecutive shows or consecutive days with shows?

• 17:44Speaker 01

  I don't know, I've never counted that. That's a really good question. I know I've done like 12 or 14. I mean, it's not uncommon for me to do 23, 24, 25 shows in a month. In the summer, the summer is extremely busy. I mean, it's always summer somewhere, so it's busy all the time. But I always take our winter, I always kind of slow down a little bit.

• 18:10Tim Ferriss?

  How do you, what type of rituals or self-care do you have to keep from getting extremely sick during that type of onslaught in a month where you're constantly performing? Is there any particular diet?

• 18:26Speaker 01

  The performance part of it's not hard for me because I feel very natural. I mean, I've been doing this for over 20 years. So for me, I feel very at home on stage and doing in my space. And I feel like that just naturally keeps things out. It's very aerobic, you know? It's like a workout. Really, I walk offstage, I've lost five pounds, I'm drenched in sweat. So I think that part of it is actually quite healthy. And then just like eating and living clean, really. While I'm on the road, you know, we're traveling from place to place. It's like we travel during the day and we sleep. We sleep on the planes and we perform at night.

• 19:06Speaker 01

  And when I say we, I travel with a small clique of guys that help me execute the shows. Although I'm the artist, I have a tour manager, photographer, videographer, a lighting guy, a visual guy, sometimes a sound guy. It depends on the size of the show. But it can be anywhere from five people up to 25 people. But I think that kind of philosophy has just kind of worked its way down to everybody I work with. That and when I can, I travel with my family. I'm married and I have three children. So I'm always trying to figure out, okay, how can I make this work? You know, putting the stones in the bucket, like, okay, what's really important here?

• 19:46Speaker 01

  And how can I fill the bucket with the things that are really important to me?

• 19:52Tim Ferriss?

  How would you describe your parenting style?

• 19:55Speaker 01

  I'm sorry.

• 19:56Tim Ferriss?

  Your parenting style? How would you describe your parenting, or how do you think of parenting?

• 20:01Speaker 01

  My style of parenting? Wow, I've definitely never been asked that.

• 20:07Speaker 01

  Oh, man, I wish Naomi was here, my wife. She's amazing, because, listen, she gambled on me and took a... She had no idea where this was heading or where it was going. And she's really been there to take care of the family and been like my biggest fan and champion in my corner from day one. And without her, honestly, none of it would be possible. Because it is fully a team effort on every front in my business. She was my business manager for 10 years. And she's been the primary parent and the disciplinarian in our home because she's there and she has to be. Because I'm not there as often as she is.

• 20:50Speaker 01

  So, that's extremely important to note that, because that's how it's worked in my home. Me, I'm kind of... She always gets mad when I'm angry at the kids. She's like, "No, no, no, I have to be the angry one. You have to be like the soft guy that gives them everything." I'm like, "I'm totally cool, I could do that, I could do that." Like, "Ice cream, it's Monday, no." Because usually Monday and Tuesday are typically my weekend, because I come home on, you know, Sunday or Monday from traveling all weekend. And then I've got Monday and Tuesday a window to kind of hang out with the family. And they're back at school, so I'm always wanting to do like, "Let's go to a movie on Monday night." And you're like, "No."

• 21:30Tim Ferriss?

  I am a constant note taker. And I watched an interview of yours where you talked about writing down ideas for songs in a notebook. Do you still take a lot of notes?

• 21:44Speaker 01

  I have a notebook just like that. At home, filled with gibberish and highlights and little things. Yes, I think that interview was about... Early on in my career, I got pulled over or stopped in London after I had been on like a four-show binge. So I showed up at the border and I looked probably completely cracked out. I hadn't slept in days. And they pulled me over because I didn't have the right permits or the right work credentials to get in there. And I sat in this room for 12 hours and I hadn't eaten. I don't know. It was a very down moment for me. But they had taken apart this notebook and photocopied everything. I mean, you know, this thing was almost full when I got there.

• 22:27Speaker 01

  But I keep one of these with me and I thought they thought it was some like drug log of where I was traveling. Of my drops, so they'd photocopied everything and like, what does this mean? I'm like, that says to do my laundry when I get home. What are you talking about?

• 22:40Tim Ferriss?

  It's not code. I need to do my laundry.

• 22:42Speaker 01

  There's no code there, man. Eventually, they let me off and everything turned out okay. Except I was escorted back on the plane the next day with a cop all the way. That was funny. Another time. But yeah, I mean, this is how I organize my life. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts all the time and I just continue to write things down and look over that and, you know, perfect that process.

• 23:09Tim Ferriss?

  Do you have a particular routine for reviewing the notes? Or is it more of a journaling exercise where you just put it down and you don't go back and review it?

• 23:18Speaker 01

  For me, it's in the morning, kind of when I first sit down, I look at what I was trying to accomplish the day before and what's kind of overlapping and what didn't happen and kind of carries over into that next day. And then I look throughout the week. And then I look at any potential song ideas or any notes that I have or ideas that could lead to a song.

• 23:38Tim Ferriss?

  What do those look like? I mean, and I'm assuming do your laundry isn't, isn't one of them, but like, what, what is the, what form does it take? Is it just, could it be a single word? Could it be?

• 23:50Speaker 01

  I always like to use the example, I wrote a song called 4am and it's one of my more popular ones in my catalog. Thank you. And I'll tell this story because it's, I was playing at Kinkin', not too far down the street. I was in from San Francisco and when I played Kinkin', there was like a 6:40 AM flight, so I'd play all night and then I could get French toast across the street. And I'd take my luggage, eat the French toast and then get in the cab and catch the flight, get home. Get home on Sunday morning to see my family. Anyway, I was sitting there at 4am and I was just one of those massive nights in my career where I kind of hit a moment where I was like, this is really going to work.

• 24:31Speaker 01

  I have a few of these moments along my career, but that was one of them where I was like, What an incredible night. And I mean, looking back, it was a very small club. It holds like four or 500 people, maybe. But it was like lying around the block and I just knew things were clicking. So I was on this, I was on a high. I was just floating. And it was four in the morning when I walked into the French toast place and I got my luggage there. And I opened up my bag and I'm like, I have to write a song about 4am. And sleepless gliding and these words started coming to me. And it was just like a couple of phrases and talking about 4am, eating French toast and gliding on the streets without any sleep. And that became the first verse.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  And then it just blossomed into an idea. I think it's kind of like looking back at my notes when I'm in the studio and thinking like, is this, is this something that anyone else could relate to? You know, and then making a song out of it, really.

• 25:26Tim Ferriss?

  How long did it take from that initial note taking to being out in the world as a song? What'd you say?

• 25:32Speaker 01

  I think I wrote that album was about six months later. So I was sitting around, circled in that book, you know, I'd go back to it and like, oh, that's a cool idea. And then when I was in there, I was like, I should develop this more and sit down and write a song about that moment.

• 25:44Tim Ferriss?

  Do you collect anything?

• 25:47Speaker 01

  Records.

• 25:48Tim Ferriss?

  Records, vinyl?

• 25:49Speaker 01

  Lots and lots of vinyl.

• 25:52Speaker 01

  Thousands and thousands of records.

• 25:54Tim Ferriss?

  Okay. Any particular genre?

• 25:57Speaker 01

  It's all, I mean, it's mostly particular, it's like dance music, house music, early house music, stuff that I started when I, collecting when I was a kid. Then when I had a little bit more money, I started buying like old new wave records, old punk records, some hip hop, you know, just stuff that interested me, bands that were seminal to me personally.

• 26:16Tim Ferriss?

  So for, for dance music, if, if people hear, like myself, I'm, I'm naive of the entire genre. And I really, I can enjoy dance music, but I don't know the first thing about it. If I wanted to do the equivalent of a wine tasting with dance music, it's like try like, oh, oh yeah. Like I think that's Merlot, I'm not sure. And try a few different options to educate myself. Are there any particular artists or albums that you would suggest people start with? Among many, of course, not asking you to pick favorites. I guess I am.

• 26:47Speaker 01

  That's kind of an old school way of thinking. I think if you're into electronic music now, I'd flip open Spotify and go listen to, there's like a million playlists that I run Cascade Radio and I add four or five tracks on there every week that I'm like, oh, this is stuff that I'm feeling. And it's predominantly electronic music. I wouldn't say dance music because there's a lot of left field stuff in there. But yes, seminal records, I mean, Daft Punk Homework to me is still kind of like one of the top records that defined our genre. So, or Discovery, not as big a fan as Discovery. That's a very controversial thing to say, but I'm a homework guy because I don't know, that hit me at the right time, time in my life. That's a big one.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  Any Kraftwerk record. I don't know, there's a lot of stuff out there. But I think, I think going to Spotify and hitting it because what's interesting about electronic music, I think at one point it was a genre and it was a very specific, it kind of surrounded a culture. But now, really and truly, this is pretty much how most of the music's made. I mean, everybody works on a computer, on a laptop, even if they're recording rock and roll and it's all augmented and processed and it's all electronic driven, for better or for worse. I mean, that's another conversation. I could argue both sides. I see the downsides in that. But really, the way we were thinking 25, 30 years ago, working with drum machines and

• 28:15Speaker 01

  sampling and, oh, recording on a multitrack that's in a computer, this is just how everyone operates today. I mean, that's what pop music is. I mean, let's turn on the radio. To me, it's all dance music. I'm like, ah, we were doing that 10 years ago. This is cool, this is a modern take on what was happening a long time ago.

• 28:32Tim Ferriss?

  So I know you've, we have a hard out and I'm really happy that you're able to make it. We have a couple of minutes, so I'm going to ask a couple of the normal questions that I tend to when wrapping up. What book or books have you gifted most to other people?

• 28:48Tim Ferriss?

  If any.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  I knew you were gonna ask this.

• 28:53Speaker 01

  And I thought about it and I'm like, man, I don't give any books away. But I just recently gave Lights Out to a friend. So I'm gonna say that because it's the most recent thing I read.

• 29:03Tim Ferriss?

  Lights Out?

• 29:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it's about cyberterrorism and how they're gonna cut the power off and we're gonna be screwed.

• 29:14Speaker 01

  It was a really interesting read and it scared the crap out of me.

• 29:22Tim Ferriss?

  If you had to pick an underappreciated festival, what would you pick?

• 29:31Speaker 01

  Oh, that's a great question and I'm stalling to...

• 29:37Speaker 01

  Oh, man, there's so many cool things. If I wasn't here in California, I'd say Coachella because to me, that still is the best festival in the entire world.

• 29:46Speaker 01

  And I've played literally hundreds, if not thousands, of festivals. But I don't know, they got a lot of cool stuff going on in New York. Electric Zoo in New York's actually really cool. It's on Randall's Island and you're looking at the skyline while you're playing. It's pretty cool.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  But there's a handful of those. Man, that's one I'd have to think and like go through my diary and be like, where have I been recently?

• 30:09Tim Ferriss?

  You could do around to sometime. When you think of the word successful, who's the first person who comes to mind and why?

• 30:17Speaker 01

  My wife. And she's the rock and she's who I look to all the time. It seems like she kind of effortlessly glides between family life and supporting me and making everything work. So, yeah, she's the model of success to me.

• 30:41Tim Ferriss?

  If you had one billboard, anywhere you could put anything on it, what would you put on it?

• 30:50Speaker 01

  Let's see, probably Times Square, just because that's where most people would see it.

• 30:58Speaker 01

  I don't know, I'd probably throw one of my brands up there, redo, or something, or Cascade, I don't know, on a big picture of me, like, "I'm coming to get you."

• 31:07Tim Ferriss?

  Do you have any mottos, or quotes, or anything that you say to yourself when you're getting ready to perform, that you could put on the billboard?

• 31:18Speaker 01

  No, but one of the quotes that always comes back to me in my career, and something I always think back to, every time I left the house, my dad would always say, "Remember who you are," and I'm always like, "Man, that's..." Now that I'm a father, this is a very profound thing to me. At the time, I was like, "Dad, what the hell, you're so weird, like, I'm gonna forget who I am."

• 31:36Speaker 01

  Now, I'm like, "Gosh, that guy's kinda... He's smart."

• 31:39Tim Ferriss?

  You know, that basically answers the next question, so I think we'll wrap up with just asking you where people can find more about you, your work, your music, whether it's anywhere online, really.

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't know, I'm on Twitter, Instagram, all the social networks, cascademusic.com, come and check me out. I appreciate the time, you guys.

• 31:57Tim Ferriss?

  @cascade, with two K's.

• 31:58Speaker 01

  @cascade, K-S-K-A-D-E, yeah. If you follow me on Instagram, you get some pretty crazy photos on there, so...

• 32:05Tim Ferriss?

  Sure we would. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the time.

• 32:22Speaker 04

  Anybody ever taken a soul selfie, anybody? I know y'all take selfies, but have you taken a soul selfie? Y'all don't know nothing about this. I'm a hippie, I'm gonna put y'all on, I'm gonna put y'all on. The soul selfie is the way that you can remind yourself instantly that you are mighty enough, that you are beautiful enough, that you are powerful enough, and strong enough to get through anything, and I want y'all to do it with me right now. Everybody stand up, real quick. Stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up. All you gotta do, all you gotta do, put one hand in the air. Turn it around. Make a little claw like you're holding a hand mirror. Bend it off at your arm. Lean into it. And when you see how powerful and beauty and mighty you are, you gotta say the words, "I am awesome."

• 33:07Speaker 04

  Let's say it with me, ready? One, two, three. "I am awesome." Hold on, hold on, hold on. I don't believe you. Hit it again. "I am awesome." You're damn right you are. Sit down on your power. Sit down on your power. Damn right you are. That's how you get through those days, right? One of those days like I'm having right now. You know, when my drive crashes, right? When my self-worth stalls by the side of the road. My ambitions check. Engine light comes on. Mid hustle. And I find myself at my bathroom mirror, finger to glass, scratching the word "can't" into the hardened steam. But as I stare at my murky reflection

• 33:51Speaker 04

  with these broken-down eyes, my reflection sees its reflection in me from the other side and thinks to itself, "Oh, I don't know what he thinks he sees, but he must not be looking at me because I am awesome." So don't be wasting my tears. I am more than enough to get through this. And I got a scrapbook full of "I can't do it" to prove it. For I maintain a level of awson-ity in everything I do. So my awsonation is not speculation, but irrefutable truth. In fact, the Census Bureau just released a report

• 34:35Speaker 04

  that two out of every three people are awesome.

• 34:41Speaker 04

  And if that is true, then, out of you, and you, and I, the question we must now ask ourselves is, which one of you two is the one that sucks? Because I am awesome! Like finding money in dirty laundry, awesome. Woo, like parking at that one meter that's broken? Awesome. Like, like, that perfect person, at that perfect time, saying that perfect thing, awesome. Like making a living, doing what you live for. Like somewhere rocking out in New York City is a dude whose resume actually reads,

• 35:24Speaker 04

  "National Air Guitar Champion." What? Somewhere in Ukraine is a woman who boasts a trophy for National Sand Art Champion. Here before you, in Los Angeles, is a dude who has earned the title, "National Poetry Slam Champion." And, and, thank you, thank you, I appreciate that, because to most of the working world, all three of those titles are equally freaking ridiculous. But, but, the most awesome five people on the planet are we who embrace our ridiculousness. We live what we love, and we love incorrigibly,

• 36:09Speaker 04

  which is why I sleep quite well, but I go to bed horribly. Anybody else? Always hopped up on a triple shot of purpose, juggling my dreams like 13 flaming swords, and chasing my aspirations through the graveyard shift so that the world can awake to my awesomenaciousness? Look it up. And I'll admit, I'll admit, I used to think that awesome was a word for, you know, surfers and skateboarders, you know, smokers and valley girls. But I was like, totally mistaken.

• 36:44Speaker 04

  Awesome is gangster. Awesome is stupid fresh. Awesome is the new crunk and the new cool beans, the new bomb diggity and the new bees knees, my new mantra that helps me breathe into all that I believe and see that within me is all the might I'll ever need. Because there are those days when I'm pushed to the edge where still waters meet earth. And I fall to my knees to look upon the water's surface. But as I stare at my murky reflection with these broken down eyes, God sees his reflection in me from the other side and thinks to herself, "Oh, I don't know what he thinks he sees,

• 37:27Speaker 04

  but he must not be looking at me because I am awesome." Like the science of miracles and the mathematics of purpose. Awesome. Like how the mind, the mind can always calculate the what of who and the when of where, but the soul must solve for why. Awesome. Like the thought of God and logic having faith that we will figure ourselves out. Awesome. Like how the moment I truly discovered the great I am is the same moment I discovered how truly great I am.

• 38:12Speaker 04

  And I am not perfect, but I'm perfect like I am. I'm not beautiful like I used to be. I'm beautiful like I am. Like the scar where a breast once was. Like survival where a death once was. Like the better where a best once was. Every gray hair, a trophy. Every wrinkle fold, a story. Every pound of fat, a challenge. Reminding me that there is always something to pursue.

• 38:47Speaker 04

  And always something to celebrate. That is why I never smile for no reason. That is a concept I don't believe in. Dude, you ain't never without a reason to show off your teeth a bit. Let me see him. Let me see. There, baby, there you go. Spread out your cheeks a bit. Let your gums breathe a bit. If you can learn to reach deep for it, you can take yourself a piece of bliss and make yourself a feast of it. Like when you go buy a smoothie. And they fill it too full, right? Making more than your cup can hold, but instead of letting it just spill all over, what they do? What they do? They give you a little extra cup.

• 39:30Speaker 04

  And you feel like you just won the smoothie lottery up in here. Woo! Awesome. Like that perfect day. What was yours? That perfect day, right? One of mine was like the first time the stressed limo driver pulled up to the first, the five-star hotel to transport me to my first-class flight after my sold-out show. And curiously peering at me through the rearview mirror, he asked, "What do you do for a living?" And with a pocketful of sand and an air guitar in my hand, I replied, "I am a full-time poet.

• 40:09Speaker 04

  Now roll up the damn divider." Okay, I didn't actually say roll up the damn divider, but it would have been awesomer if I had, right? It would have been, but you know what? Hey, hey, next time. Uh-huh? And you better believe there will be no shortage of next times. But that's the thing. Before you can believe it, I gotta believe it. I gotta believe there will be no shortage of next time. That's why this thing that I'm doing tonight is not just pretty words, it's not poetry for poetry's sake. This is survival for me. This is survival for us. I mean, this, you know, this is how we get through.

• 40:51Speaker 04

  We have to have instant ways to access our power and our, and our purpose and our passion, our truth to, to, to get through those days and to do this thing we do, this, this entrepreneurial... Innovation, you know, me against the world, instigation, against all odds, death to all the haters, thing we do. Okay, maybe not death to all the haters. That's, that's negative, we'll stay positive. Like, like, you know, stubbed feet and paper cuts and warts to all the haters, thing that we do, right? And it ain't easy, I know that, I know that. Nobody knows that more than me. It's why I'm gonna give you a powerful takeaway tonight. Okay, I don't care what is said on this stage. This will be the most powerful thing

• 41:35Speaker 04

  that you leave here with to help you get through your challenging days of crafting your successful life. And all you have to do is repeat after me right now. At least I'm not trying.

• 41:49Speaker 04

  To build a successful life.

• 41:54Speaker 04

  From poetry. I got no sympathy for y'all, please. Whatever, is it hard for you? What are you, in the tech industry? You're a billion dollar industry? I built my business off the dead art form you hated in high school. Please, DJs and state borders got it easier than poets. You know, people look, when I used to introduce myself as a full-time poet, people used to look at me like I said hi. My name's Sekou, I'm a full-time mermaid. Nice to meet you. All right, they don't, they don't get it, but that's all right. That's all right, because with every moment of confusion within someone else, it was an opportunity for clarity of purpose within myself, right? I had to believe, and I did, I believed

• 42:39Speaker 04

  that I could create a new user experience for the art form of spoken word that could affect the masses. I believed that I could dissolve the line between business speaker and performance artist, right? And, and, and create a new experience that enhanced both. And so, against all the advice of everyone saying, forget poetry, instead I embraced my ridiculousness. And I created a new style of speaking called poetic voice that just blends inspirational speaking with spoken word poetry, to create an experience that allows me to go out and inspire people and, and, and help them tell their story and show them the best version of themselves, right? And to do that, to awesome-fy my life, I had to be okay, I had to be fine

• 43:22Speaker 04

  with people not getting it the first time, so that I... Could believe in myself long enough to create no shortage of next times. Next times. And now you don't have to guess, just check my specs. I'm no longer afraid to double down because I tricked the deck. I've already seen my future, so I'm unfit to bet. That's why whenever failure challenges me to Russian roulette, I rock a waterproof poker face impervious to sweat because I don't gamble with my life, I count the cards. So my success is mathematics. So long as my dealer is God, I can always even my odds. Even on the odd days I can't get over it, I go through it till it's behind me.

• 44:07Speaker 04

  On the days I can't levy the waves, I just learn to surf tsunamis. On the days I can't slay the beast of despair with my mighty sword of confidence. Hell, I can, I can still tuck a razor blade beneath my tongue and paper cut despair, one positive affirmation at a time. And when I return home from the wild rumpus of my awesome fest, I always vacuum with a smile as I clean up my awesome mess. For there, there are bits of mountain top buried in the grooves of the soles of my shoes. Every footprint tracked on my floor testifies to the heights I've climbed

• 44:51Speaker 04

  and proves I made it back home each time. So please, remember, embrace your ridiculousness. Please go out there and vacuum with a smile. Please remember your awesomenationness and be the little extra cup for somebody else. Because I find that on those days when my weary soul can't seem to do another single thing, when the 24 hour threatens to pop my days sings, when the cup of my ambitions begins to runneth over into springs.

• 45:24Speaker 04

  That perfect person, at that perfect time, says that perfect thing, and I am handed an awesome little extra cup by my, my homie, who shows up at my door with a bottle of Don Julio, four dirty jokes, and a scrapbook full of, "We gonna laugh about this later", a little extra cup by my lover, sipping espresso at midnight in a fireproof suit, who takes over the juggling of my flaming swords and says, "You need to get some sleep tonight, baby", a little extra cup by my friends, my family, my, my fans, my colleagues, my community. This kind of community that shows up,

• 46:08Speaker 04

  that comes here to hear me inspire and amazed, and wants to hear that poem that ends with that fiery blaze, but shows up to find me having one of those days, when I stand on this stage, trying to guide someone home, yet can't seem to believe the words of my own poem. But you do. You see in my story, your truth, that you are perfection in process, that you are rapture en route. And I stare at my reflection in this audience's eyes, and you stare back at your reflection that my pupils provide, and we shout aloud to ourselves with fire and pride.

• 46:51Speaker 04

  I don't know what you think you see from your side, but you, you must not be looking at me, because I am us.

• 47:18Speaker 04

  Thank you all. Thank y'all. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.

• 47:27Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by 99designs. When your business needs a logo, website, business card, thumbnail, or any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I use them myself. I've used them for many years. I use them to create book cover prototypes for The 4-Hour Body, which went on to become a number-one New York Times bestseller. I've also used them for banner ads, illustrations, and much more. With 99designs, you get a variety of original designs from designers around the world, give your feedback, and then pick your favorite. Your happiness is guaranteed. So, check out some of my competitions in designs and some of your competitions in designs from fellow Tim Ferriss Show listeners at 99designs.com/tim. And right now, you can get a free $99 upgrade on your first design. So, check it out.

• 48:12Tim Ferriss?

  99designs.com/tim. This episode is brought to you by Audible, which I've used for years. I love audiobooks, and I have two to recommend right off the bat. Number one is perhaps my favorite audiobook of all time, and that is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, the only audiobook I've wanted to immediately listen to a second time as soon as I finished. It's amazing. You will thank me. The Graveyard Book. The second is Vagabonding by Rolf Potts, which had a huge impact on my life and formed the basis for a lot of what became The 4-Hour Work Week. So, all you need to do to get your free 30-day trial is go to audible.com/tim, and you can

• 48:52Tim Ferriss?

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• 49:17Speaker 05

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• 49:22Speaker 06

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• 49:26Speaker 05

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• 49:39Speaker 06

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• 49:41Speaker 05

  Or on Facebook at facebook.com/TimFerriss. Until next time, thanks for listening.