Ep 584 - The Buzz Man (feat. Marcus King)

Support the D. A. W. G. Z. @ patreon.com/MSsecretpod Go See Marcus & the Band Live @ https://www.marcuskingofficial.com/tour/ & listen to the new album 'Darling Blue' Go See Matt Live @ mattmccusker.com/dates Go See Shane Live @ shanemgillis.com Go See Optimum Noctis if you want @ https://www.creekandcave.com/events/optimumnoctis Hello0o0o0o0. We got the D. A. W. G. Marcus King with Matt this week for you. Marcus is the man you gotta go see him when he comes to your town. Also listen to his new album 'Darling Blue'. He's a beast. Please enjoy. God Bless. Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://www.ziprecruiter.com/mssp This video is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/MSSP Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/DRENCHED and use code DRENCHED and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  The Wild Wild West.

• 0:01Matt McCusker?

  Hey, welcome everybody. Marcus King, what's going on?

• 0:04Speaker 00

  What's up?

• 0:04Matt McCusker?

  You're just telling me about that big mighty band.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, we got the whole crew coming down.

• 0:08Matt McCusker?

  For tomorrow?

• 0:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 0:10Matt McCusker?

  That's awesome. It should be out tomorrow, actually.

• 0:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's the, uh, the non-cost-effective group.

• 0:16Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 0:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 0:17Matt McCusker?

  The wall of sound.

• 0:18Speaker 00

  Got the horns, BGVs, strings.

• 0:21Matt McCusker?

  Dang, so you gotta move every, so you just fly every single person down for a show? I never really thought about that.

• 0:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think the strings and the BGVs are local.

• 0:28Matt McCusker?

  Cool.

• 0:28Speaker 00

  But, uh, my fiddle player's coming down from Nashville and my horns are flying in.

• 0:34Matt McCusker?

  That's awesome.

• 0:35Speaker 00

  It's gonna be fun.

• 0:35Matt McCusker?

  It's gotta feel powerful to know you have a bunch of like, what do they call it? Trump, not Trump, what is a horn player called? Like a hornist or like? A horniest?

• 0:44Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 0:45Matt McCusker?

  What do they call it? I guess a trumpeteer?

• 0:47Speaker 00

  We just call them horn players.

• 0:48Matt McCusker?

  Horn players, there you go, my bad. Showing my fucking ass already.

• 0:51Speaker 00

  A saxophonist.

• 0:52Matt McCusker?

  My thing is knowing if I knew I was like moving brass players through the sky, I would feel pretty powerful about that. You know what I mean?

• 1:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's a nice feeling.

• 1:02Matt McCusker?

  It's awesome. Alright, well, I thought it was cool.

• 1:06Speaker 00

  It is a nice feeling.

• 1:07Matt McCusker?

  Now, that's awesome, dude. I'm fucking stoked for you. So, yeah, you just released the, uh, the album, Darling Blue.

• 1:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, the album's out. It's on, man, I'm excited.

• 1:14Matt McCusker?

  I was blasting in my house.

• 1:16Speaker 00

  Good, thanks.

• 1:16Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it's awesome, dude. Fucking rips.

• 1:18Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:19Matt McCusker?

  You might be one of the biggest Axemen currently right now.

• 1:23Speaker 00

  Man.

• 1:23Matt McCusker?

  Who, I mean, who else can shred like you?

• 1:26Speaker 00

  I'm sure there's plenty.

• 1:27Matt McCusker?

  True. That's true, there's a lot of, but, you know, I mean, I guess, yeah, there's a lot of quiet guys just kinda noodling in their room, just like myself, but...

• 1:34Speaker 00

  Dude, Billy, you, you, you and Billy are fucking, uh, Billy's really playing some, some wild stuff.

• 1:40Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, Billy's been studying like, almost like classical.

• 1:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:44Matt McCusker?

  Style.

• 1:44Speaker 00

  With his Scientologist, uh, teacher.

• 1:48Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, Billy takes guitar lessons and, yeah, there, it's, he studies from a Scientologist who kind of like, just peppers in a little Scientology every now and again on him.

• 1:56Speaker 00

  I mean, that's the way to do it, like, uh, Chickoria was a Scientologist.

• 2:00Matt McCusker?

  Really?

• 2:01Speaker 00

  And my keyboard player was like a big Chickoria fan. When he went to go see him, you know, he said he hit him with a little...

• 2:09Matt McCusker?

  Just a little dab?

• 2:09Speaker 00

  Just a little dab of Scientology at the end there, you know? I'm so scared of Scientology.

• 2:14Matt McCusker?

  I'm so scared of Scientology.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, it freaks me out.

• 2:17Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 2:17Speaker 00

  And I feel like the better you do in this industry, like... It's it's kind of looming.

• 2:23Matt McCusker?

  Scientology?

• 2:23Speaker 00

  It's around the corner.

• 2:25Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, dude, it'd be, I don't know, the only thing I would like about it is just kind of making my wife do it with me.

• 2:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:32Matt McCusker?

  Be kind of fun, just like, no, we're scienti- she's like real into going to church now, and I could just completely dash her Christian dreams with new world Satanism, so that would be, that would be pretty nice.

• 2:43Speaker 00

  Dude.

• 2:44Matt McCusker?

  Like, what if instead of all this being nice stuff, we just became as successful as possible and forgot all this shit?

• 2:49Speaker 00

  I mean.

• 2:50Matt McCusker?

  I should do that, actually. Make her read fucking science fiction from the 1950s.

• 2:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, this is what we're into now.

• 2:57Matt McCusker?

  True. Get both my daughters clear.

• 3:00Speaker 00

  Dude, yeah. Dude, we're going clear.

• 3:04Matt McCusker?

  Have you, do you know any people have, have you ever been approached with the S or no?

• 3:08Speaker 00

  No, I've been asked about some other weird shit.

• 3:11Matt McCusker?

  Like what?

• 3:13Speaker 00

  Just been invited to like, uh, like get togethers, like out in the redwoods.

• 3:19Matt McCusker?

  Whoa.

• 3:20Speaker 00

  I'm cool.

• 3:21Matt McCusker?

  What's a get, what do you mean? Like, get like a, like a naked, you know Kenny Loggins allegedly played live from the redwoods to a, like a naked crowd?

• 3:30Speaker 00

  To a naked crowd?

• 3:31Matt McCusker?

  It could just be folklore, but that's what I've heard.

• 3:33Speaker 00

  We call it Kenny Loggins on the road, like me and my keyboard player, like, you know, when you're on the road, like food is, it's always kind of sporadic what you're putting into your body, and like, if you're drinking a lot too, so like, if we're having like solid dumps, we'll call, we call those Kenny Loggins.

• 3:52Speaker 00

  But if you, if you're not, then it's called the Messina.

• 3:57Speaker 00

  So you're either Loggins or Messina on any given day, but.

• 4:00Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, my, I, I can fly for one day and eat one meal. If, if, as soon as I hit the road, instant diarrhea, it's every time. Instant diarrhea, my ass is a mess. I have baby wipes in my school bag that I always forget about.

• 4:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 4:15Matt McCusker?

  And I get home and I like go to, I always, I get the check from the comedy club, I give it to my wife, and every time I open up for the check, I go, fuck, I had baby wipes this whole time.

• 4:22Speaker 00

  Right.

• 4:23Matt McCusker?

  Could have used those, but the tour bus must be crazy, just a bunch of bros.

• 4:26Speaker 00

  Bunch of bros, it starts smelling about two days in.

• 4:31Speaker 00

  It's a weird combo of smells and you can never really track it down to one person. So it's hard to go to somebody and be like, hey, man, you know, your hygiene's a problem.

• 4:40Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 4:40Speaker 00

  Cause there's 12 monks, so it's like 12 combinations of odor.

• 4:45Matt McCusker?

  She's gotta walk by each one and kinda.

• 4:47Speaker 00

  Well, it's just kind of the whole collective.

• 4:49Matt McCusker?

  Have you ever confronted somebody for their hygiene on the bus?

• 4:52Speaker 00

  I have.

• 4:53Matt McCusker?

  How does that go?

• 4:54Speaker 00

  I usually do it in a more of a passive way. I had a keyboard player one time. I just bought deodorant for, I was just like, hey, man, I got you this.

• 5:03Speaker 00

  You just kind of, you know, lightly approach it.

• 5:06Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, that's a, that's how, yeah, you handled, you handled the keyboard player like a teenage daughter, kind of. It's like, I got you some deodorant.

• 5:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 5:15Matt McCusker?

  It's still beautiful, but you might wanna, you might wanna try this.

• 5:18Speaker 00

  Starting to funk.

• 5:21Matt McCusker?

  That's kinda tight.

• 5:22Speaker 02

  This episode is brought to you by Quince.

• 5:24Matt McCusker?

  Nice.

• 5:25Speaker 02

  What do you know about Quince?

• 5:26Matt McCusker?

  I love Quince. I'll be, I'll be honest. They sent me the stuff and I, their boxers, they use like cotton, like regular materials, not a lot of polyesters, natural fibers. I'm a, I'm a big fan.

• 5:37Speaker 02

  Well, not everyone wants to spend forever on the perfect look. Quince gets that. It's why they make staple pieces for your wardrobe that go with pretty much anything, Matt. They're, uh, they're really easy to style and they feel great to wear because they're also made with premium materials, including, like you said, organic cotton, merino wool. There's even 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters, starting at just $60. That's, I mean, talk about a deal.

• 6:02Matt McCusker?

  It's pretty crazy.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  That's a bargain.

• 6:04Matt McCusker?

  Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was Matt and Shane's secret podcast. It's the best way to support the show. So how's this, uh, how's this run been versus other runs in terms of the tour? Do you ever really get back to a city and just realize like, maybe how much you've grown as a person since the last time you've been to a place?

• 6:38Speaker 00

  Man, yeah. This tour has been. Especially like that, we can really feel it and like this half of the year has been mostly like, like we were talking about like our B markets, like tertiary markets, to use an industry term.

• 6:53Matt McCusker?

  Tertiary is nice.

• 6:54Speaker 00

  Tertiary markets.

• 6:55Matt McCusker?

  Tertiary is B minus?

• 6:57Speaker 00

  I guess.

• 6:58Matt McCusker?

  Tertiary is so nice.

• 7:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, Marcus, we're gonna put you on, we're gonna be doing mostly tertiary markets, so you know, it's not gonna be cost effective for us to do it this way, but we can do, and I just kinda give you the whole rigmarole.

• 7:09Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 7:10Speaker 00

  But it's interesting, because we haven't really done it like this before. We kinda already had a tour planned and then we moved the record release up. So the first leg of the album release tour ended up being only tertiary markets, which is kinda nice, because it gives us like six to nine months to build the, to build the rollout for like our A plus markets, within the same, you know, window of release.

• 7:36Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 7:37Speaker 00

  Which is kinda cool.

• 7:38Matt McCusker?

  That makes sense. And you say build, what do you mean by build it up?

• 7:41Speaker 00

  Just more time to promote the shows.

• 7:44Matt McCusker?

  Got you. That, that makes sense. I thought you said like work on the, I guess you already have the album done, because that's, yeah, it's kind of unfortunately in the tertiary markets, a lot, a lot of figuring it out.

• 7:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:53Matt McCusker?

  It's a lot of like, hey, guys, I'm gonna figure this out in front of you, sorry. I'm gonna do a really good show in Chicago, but. That is Moise is getting the crap.

• 8:01Speaker 00

  Chicago's gonna be great, man, but Madison, Indiana, you're gonna get fucked.

• 8:07Matt McCusker?

  No horn players for you guys.

• 8:08Speaker 00

  We're filling some things out.

• 8:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's like the no horn players and a lot of times what I recognize now is like, you know, a lot of dudes bring their wives and their wives are like, where's Brylee, which is my wife? Cause she sings with us sometimes and she doesn't come out all the time.

• 8:25Matt McCusker?

  Got you.

• 8:25Speaker 00

  But when she's not there, I've seen some, some real disappointed lady folks.

• 8:31Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 8:31Speaker 00

  In the crowd.

• 8:32Matt McCusker?

  No, that's true.

• 8:33Speaker 00

  With trucker hats, just.

• 8:34Matt McCusker?

  Just waiting for.

• 8:35Speaker 00

  Unhappy, yeah.

• 8:36Matt McCusker?

  Ever thought of just kind of like faking them out?

• 8:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, just. How so?

• 8:41Matt McCusker?

  Put on the dress, dude.

• 8:44Matt McCusker?

  Like, oh, she'll be right back, guys. Hold on a second.

• 8:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:49Matt McCusker?

  No, Brittany gets, my wife gets, she'll go to shows every now, now she'll get like recognized and it's kinda funny to like see that and see like people like, Brittany, what's going on?

• 8:57Speaker 00

  That's awesome.

• 8:58Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it's pretty cool. I don't, I don't know how she feels about it. I think she loves it deep down, but she gets kinda like, she's freaked out.

• 9:04Speaker 00

  Four time WNBA superstar.

• 9:08Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, the first three weeks of that were really like, she was shell shocked because she would just, she didn't realize, neither of us really did how big, how like wide that went, how far that went. She would just like go out to get coffee and it'd be like four people like WNBA.

• 9:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, dude.

• 9:22Matt McCusker?

  She'd be like, huh huh huh.

• 9:23Speaker 00

  That sports crowd is like a whole other thing, man.

• 9:25Matt McCusker?

  I know.

• 9:26Speaker 00

  When you tap into that market, like, those fans are buck wild.

• 9:30Matt McCusker?

  It's, dude, it's the, I would argue it's like the biggest thing, honestly.

• 9:34Speaker 00

  It's like a religion, like people feel really like, um, you know, okay to like fight about that.

• 9:40Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, or just kind of like, I was just at a birthday party recently and it was, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. The guy was just like, oh, she must be like an Eagles fan. And it's just so disappointing when you're in a group of dudes somewhere and you go, yeah, I don't really care. I like, I, yeah, I like support them in spirit, but I don't really care to watch it. I don't know anything about it. And you just watch them go, oh, fuck, man. I don't know what we're going to talk about now. I'm like, sorry, brother.

• 10:03Speaker 00

  That's my whole life.

• 10:05Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, no sports?

• 10:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, like, uh, especially like Brylee's friends or like any of our small town friends. Like when, like, I'm sure you've been in a situation where you got to meet other husbands. And they're like, yeah, man, well, you know, like, uh, hurricanes are looking good this year.

• 10:21Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 10:21Speaker 00

  Or like, uh, whatever the fuck else they're talking about. And I'm like, I, I don't really, yeah, I don't really watch sports, man.

• 10:28Matt McCusker?

  It's a bummer, dude. It's a bummer.

• 10:30Speaker 00

  But I try, but that's almost worse when you try to engage and then they start hitting you with facts that really go over your head.

• 10:36Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 10:37Speaker 00

  And then you gotta say, I'm just bullshitting, man.

• 10:39Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. I'll, I'll try to get, although too, I feel like in those sports convos, you can be like, I, I'll fake the funk too. I'll be like, yeah, man, I like, we won the Super Bowl last year. So you know how that is? And then they'll be like, they'll be like, what do you, what do you think? What do you think about the big man? And I'm like, damn, I don't know who the fucking big man is. And then I'll just show my ass. I'll be like, which, who, who the big man? Because they're talking about the team I'm supposed to be a fan of. They're not even from the city. I'm like, the big man you speak of, um, Donovan McNabb, perhaps? I don't know. Yeah, it's, it's a bummer. I've, I've gotten more, I've, I've like just gotten more upfront with it. My lack of sports knowledge and interest, but it, it is like, you know, just disappointing because they're like, damn dude, we could have like bonded over this, but.

• 11:22Speaker 00

  I've tried, you know, my wife walked in one day and I was watching football and I was like, actively trying to engage and watch it and she just laughed at me.

• 11:33Speaker 00

  She laughed and she's like, what the hell are you doing? Are you watching football? I'm like, I'm trying to. And I just really didn't enjoy it.

• 11:42Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I, I, if it's on, like, it's cool, but I have to be somewhere with someone else and it happens to be on. If that makes sense, then I can watch it, but like to, I would feel insane. I think I've tried it too myself, like, I'm gonna sit down and watch the game. I'm gonna be a real guy. And then I sat down and it's just like, oh dude, this is so fucking long, dude. I wish I could do something else right now. It's so fucking boring.

• 12:03Speaker 00

  We watched the World Series the other night and that was fun. Our tour manager is from Toronto, so he had a lot, you know, on the line and he was very excited. And, uh,

• 12:14Matt McCusker?

  And crushed.

• 12:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, we all really wanted to see him.

• 12:19Speaker 00

  We wanted to see the Blue Jays lose just because we knew he was gonna be insufferable if they won. But man, when they lost, like, it was actually really sad for him.

• 12:27Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 12:28Speaker 00

  And we all immediately felt bad.

• 12:29Matt McCusker?

  That was a tough one for everybody because people were torn between patriotism and how much everyone hates LA.

• 12:36Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 12:37Matt McCusker?

  So a lot of people I've talked to, like, fuck the Dodgers. I don't want the fucking Dodgers to win. They were just root, pretty much against their country.

• 12:43Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was, it was an interesting one.

• 12:45Matt McCusker?

  That's pretty, that's pretty true. Everyone I know is kinda like, fuck the Dodgers. I'd rather see Canada win.

• 12:50Speaker 00

  Not on our bus.

• 12:52Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 12:52Speaker 00

  We're rooting Team USA, baby.

• 12:54Matt McCusker?

  Team USA, I can support that. I was, again, just spineless like usual. I was like, oh yeah, I could see Canada winning. And then like the Dodgers started winning. I'm like, oh, that's good too, but.

• 13:03Speaker 00

  That's good too.

• 13:04Matt McCusker?

  I, I, I'd never want to empower Canada, that is true. I do feel that way as well.

• 13:08Speaker 00

  No, me neither, man.

• 13:09Matt McCusker?

  And I feel like being against the Dodgers is a lot of these guys, these guys are, I think it's kind of anti Semitic. To be against the Dodgers, so I, I think you guys should really think about that.

• 13:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:19Matt McCusker?

  I think you're, I think your hatred of the Dodgers is really charged by your anti Semitism.

• 13:23Speaker 00

  Stop Asian hate, man. You gotta support the Dodgers.

• 13:28Matt McCusker?

  Did you do that on purpose?

• 13:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:29Matt McCusker?

  That's hilarious. Saying anti Semite, stop Asian hate is very funny.

• 13:35Matt McCusker?

  Master.

• 13:37Speaker 00

  I've been, I've been to basketball games, I've been to like, I've been to football games and like hockey games. Um, I like hockey a little bit, but like when I'm at the game, like at a basketball game, I'm like, I'm really, I'm gonna get into this. I'm a basketball guy now. And then it just never sticks.

• 13:53Matt McCusker?

  No, as soon as, well dude, I like, I think Nate, you probably did, you check stats and shit? Yeah. See, that's where like I'm going. I like, I can watch. I know I have friends that are like, I thought the same thing. I'm gonna start watching. I'm gonna follow. He's like, I just see him like Googling stats from all the players. I'm like, bro, what?

• 14:09Speaker 00

  I always feel like I'm so behind, you know? It's weird.

• 14:14Matt McCusker?

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• 14:56Matt McCusker?

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• 15:40Matt McCusker?

  And right now, you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash MSSP. Again, that's ziprecruiter.com slash MSSP. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to live. Yeah, you just gotta, I really think you can watch SportsCenter. I think if you were to like, Just tune in. 30 minutes a day to watch SportsCenter, you can get through, I think it's the point of the show. Yeah. You could get through, you could chat enough where you'd be like, yo, you see that catch? Yeah. Steelers. See that one catch? And like, you let them fill in the blanks and be like, no, I only saw the clip of the catch. I didn't see the game. Yeah. Or just get really into sports gambling. Oh, yeah, right. That could, that'll help you pay attention. And just get really deep into gambling? That was the one time I've ever been able to pay attention when I tried to become a bookie in college.

• 16:23Matt McCusker?

  And I actually, you know, even then, I didn't watch the games. I did one game and I'm like, I see the allure. This is great. And then I was like, alright, I'm gonna check my voicemail later and see. And people, yeah, they took advantage of the fact I wasn't watching, cause they kept just being like, double down, double down, double down. And eventually I was like, fuck. They would hit. I never got into gambling, man. I was, I've been pretty much addicted to everything else, but. But gambling. But gambling. Yeah, that's a good one, though. Gambling's the one that really kinda can get you. And it's also like, I would say it's the lamest addiction. Drugs, it's like, there is kind of like a fucking, it's kinda sick on some level. Right. It can kill you. It's very dangerous. Yeah. Sex, kinda sick as well. Hell, yeah.

• 17:06Matt McCusker?

  Gambling's just pathetic when you're like, I just thought these guys would win. Now everything's ruined.

• 17:12Matt McCusker?

  My life's ruined. It's interesting to be addicted to something that takes like a little bit of skill and like knowledge and like a little bit of planning. True. Which I guess drug use takes a little planning as well. Yeah. But I was always addicted to things that allowed me to let go of everything and not feel anything. Well, apparently, and the more I've read about it, gambling does do that for some people. For me, it's just, I just have anxiety the whole time until I either win and become euphoric or lose and feel like a loser. Yeah. But there's people with gambling who like, it's more so just that time in between like hands or like during the game where they get into a flow state where it's just like. It's not even, from what I've heard about it, it's like, it's not even about winning or losing. It's about, you're just kind of like, you're fully on while you don't know what's gonna happen.

• 17:57Matt McCusker?

  They get addicted to that feeling.

• 17:58Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 17:59Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it's kinda fucked up, but still lame. Still a lame way to go out.

• 18:04Speaker 00

  It's pretty lame, but I think, I think the lamest would be, uh, I was, uh, I had a problem with laxatives.

• 18:10Matt McCusker?

  What?

• 18:11Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then I realized, like, a doctor was, a doctor told me that, like, it's a form of, like, bulimia.

• 18:17Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 18:18Speaker 00

  Cause I, I, I did, like, when I was, like, nineteen, twenty, like, I used to throw up all my meals and stuff.

• 18:25Matt McCusker?

  Okay.

• 18:25Speaker 00

  It was a, it was a shitty time, but then, like, I started taking laxatives, which is like a different form of it, I guess.

• 18:31Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I would say the better.

• 18:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, I would say it's, it's a better, it's an improvement.

• 18:35Matt McCusker?

  How'd you get busted with the lax?

• 18:37Speaker 00

  Dude, I shit my pants in Japan.

• 18:43Matt McCusker?

  Damn.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  I just got, like, completely hammered drunk, and like, one sneeze sent me over the edge. At my drummer's birthday dinner.

• 18:52Matt McCusker?

  So you're drinking on the lax?

• 18:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was drinking on the lax. We'd gone to Japan and, like,

• 18:58Speaker 00

  you know, we had this great big dinner and I was like, just got completely hammered and like, you know, I was speaking the little bit of Japanese I know and just being really loud.

• 19:09Matt McCusker?

  Fuck.

• 19:10Speaker 00

  And, uh, yeah.

• 19:12Matt McCusker?

  Well, it's just really funny, the thing of a restaurant full of, like, old Japanese people being like, you know, they're probably shit-talking Americans, like, they're so unruly and they're like, oh, they're fine, and then you stand up to give a speech and shit your pants.

• 19:25Matt McCusker?

  Just hammered.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was me.

• 19:28Matt McCusker?

  How bad, would you, uh, would you do, how'd you like, how'd you, cause it's tough, it's one thing if you shit your pants when you're sober, you're kind of tactical about it. When you're drunk, it's like, it's a tough, you're on your back foot for sure.

• 19:38Speaker 00

  I'll say, like, I thought I could save it, you know, I went,

• 19:43Speaker 00

  I went to the bathroom and like, I was like, you know, the boxer briefs are done for, so they, they went in the garbage. And then I went back, and I, I mean, we were having dinner at the hotel we were staying in.

• 19:56Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 19:56Speaker 00

  I could've called it and I,

• 20:00Speaker 00

  I went back to the dinner, I sat down again, and like, started drinking more and raging more. And then I shit my pants again.

• 20:13Speaker 00

  And then I was like, alright, there's

• 20:15Matt McCusker?

  The first time you shit your underwear the first time.

• 20:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:19Matt McCusker?

  Then you finally shat your pants. Oh my god, dude.

• 20:22Speaker 00

  And once that happens, you just gotta, you gotta call it a night. And uh, my boy, my boy Kyle walked me back up to the room and I was just like, you know, when you're drunk, you know, everything's a lot bigger. And I was like, I've always been one to kinda like get ahead of the story. So I was walking through the lobby like, "Hey, how's everybody doing? I shit my pants." I was just, but nobody spoke English and they were, and I was just yelling in people's faces. But it's probably good that I quit drinking.

• 20:52Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I would say. How long did you, how long did you drink for?

• 20:55Speaker 00

  Dude, like my whole life, man. I started drinking and smoking when I was like 11.

• 20:59Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 21:00Speaker 00

  And uh, you know, it was just like part of the biz for me, but I feel a lot better without it. I still encourage people to get drunk around me.

• 21:10Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, true.

• 21:11Speaker 00

  Cause drinking was always this thing to like, lower that, like um,

• 21:16Matt McCusker?

  In ambitions.

• 21:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:18Matt McCusker?

  Plus you lower theirs. That's actually kinda nice.

• 21:19Speaker 00

  Everybody else does it and then you're just kinda, you know.

• 21:23Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, you look at these drunk idiots.

• 21:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:25Matt McCusker?

  It's kinda nice actually. Yeah, that's uh, that's kinda nice. You tell everyone like, yeah, cause that's, I guess if you don't drink, I, yeah, I would worry people are like not drinking on my account. It's like, yeah, you want people to live their lives.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  That's the worst.

• 21:36Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, that's, I would do that. I would, if I know someone sober, I like won't drink on purpose and I, yeah, it's a good uncomfortable thing. But I've, I knew someone before who did that where I was all prepared to have like a super sober weekend with them and they just fucking got after it. I was like, ooh, shit, alright, this isn't good.

• 21:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, but

• 21:53Matt McCusker?

  Turned out not to be.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  It's always a, it's a good feeling when that tide really turns though.

• 21:58Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 21:59Speaker 00

  And you do lock in and you start, and you start drinking. That's a fun feeling when you just say fuck it.

• 22:05Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 22:06Speaker 00

  I did that with Burt Kreischer one time.

• 22:07Matt McCusker?

  Just got hammered?

• 22:08Speaker 00

  I just got hammered like, I fell off the wagon, uh, after like a nine month stint. I fell off the wagon in San Diego and then I went up, um, and I had the Burt cast the next day. And I was, I was hungover when I got to Burt's house. And it was the first time he and I had met. So this is a couple of years ago. And when I walked in, we just immediately just locked in, you know?

• 22:33Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 22:33Speaker 00

  He, he was like starting a sober journey. I was hungover. I was like, I'm hurting. And then we just, we really got after it. And if you, if you watch that.

• 22:42Matt McCusker?

  That's so sick. You knocked him off his wagon.

• 22:44Speaker 00

  We knocked each other off.

• 22:47Speaker 00

  And we're both waiting around in the deep end.

• 22:50Speaker 00

  And then the next day I had to speak at a Sober Nation event.

• 22:53Matt McCusker?

  Oh, how'd that feel?

• 22:55Speaker 00

  It felt really bad.

• 22:58Matt McCusker?

  Sober Nation, so fun. So you're at least sober for the Sober Nation though.

• 23:01Speaker 00

  I was hungover.

• 23:02Matt McCusker?

  Oh.

• 23:03Speaker 00

  And I had to speak at this like panel, this discussion about sobriety and music.

• 23:08Matt McCusker?

  How did you handle that one?

• 23:09Speaker 00

  I just had to be honest, you know?

• 23:11Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, fucked up.

• 23:11Speaker 00

  First thing I said was like, you know, the thing about the wagon is you fall off the wagon, you get back on.

• 23:19Speaker 00

  Which was true. And I, I really, I really had to finesse that because I, I felt a little judgment.

• 23:28Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I bet.

• 23:29Speaker 00

  My management was, uh, they were pretty terrified, horrified. They didn't really want me to do it. And, uh, I was like, look, no, I got this. Cause really that is the thing about sobriety, that, that I think scares a lot of people about it. Like, I think one day of sobriety is just as good as 10 years, cause you're just as close to fucking it up.

• 23:49Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, true.

• 23:50Speaker 00

  It doesn't really matter.

• 23:51Matt McCusker?

  Dude, I've been, I mean, it's, you know, obviously not the same. I've been trying to get off of coffee and that was like. It's fucking impossible because I can like take or leave drinking, whatever. Coffee was one, like it's so fucking hard, caffeine in general, it's so hard to get off of that.

• 24:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:04Matt McCusker?

  So like you're saying, the longer I go, the more likely I am to be like, I'm gonna have a fucking cup of coffee, dude, that shit's not a big deal.

• 24:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:10Matt McCusker?

  Better. And, uh, and again, it's not like drinking, but it's just tough, man. I don't understand like how people quit heroin. I'm like, how? It's impossible.

• 24:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:19Matt McCusker?

  I can hardly quit caffeine. I'm like, how you, how do you quit heroin?

• 24:22Speaker 00

  That's one that I never got after.

• 24:23Matt McCusker?

  That's good.

• 24:24Speaker 00

  I think I'd really like it.

• 24:26Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, probably. You're fucking sick.

• 24:28Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:28Matt McCusker?

  You're fucking awesome, dude.

• 24:30Speaker 00

  I got family members that got into the opiates and they said it's pretty great.

• 24:34Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 24:35Speaker 00

  But they also said, makes you a little constipated.

• 24:37Matt McCusker?

  Yes.

• 24:38Speaker 00

  And I said.

• 24:39Matt McCusker?

  You got the cure for that.

• 24:40Speaker 00

  I can't do that.

• 24:41Matt McCusker?

  You got the cure.

• 24:42Speaker 00

  I do have the cure. I guess I could supplement that. Yeah.

• 24:45Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, a lot of people too, a lot of that opiate people got in, meth made a big, like, it rose in the east coast pretty hard with following the heroin.

• 24:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:53Matt McCusker?

  So a lot of people I knew who got into the opiates, the meth came around like late stage opiate addiction. That was kind of interesting.

• 25:00Speaker 00

  What's funny about meth is like, like my dad, he was, he's a, he's a boomer generation guy, so like in the eighties, meth was, uh, more like casually used.

• 25:13Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 25:14Speaker 00

  You know, and he would just like casually do meth.

• 25:19Matt McCusker?

  Now, like, would they snort it? Snort it, okay.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  When you start smoking it, that's the problem. And like, I actually have a friend in Georgia and her aunt, Aunt Patty, she's the shit. And, uh, she's like a massive Kid Rock fan. She's so awesome. And, uh, she has like fifteen Instagram accounts and she just like,

• 25:38Matt McCusker?

  Sick.

• 25:39Speaker 00

  Cause she forgets her password and she just makes a new one. And she signs everything Aunt Patty, uh, or Patty poo. But she's like, man, I wake up in the morning, do a line, clean the house. It's like recreational and it's sick.

• 25:51Matt McCusker?

  As long as you snort it though.

• 25:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:53Matt McCusker?

  Oh, I thought it, I thought it burned really badly when you snorted it.

• 25:57Speaker 00

  I mean, ketamine burns pretty bad when you snort it.

• 25:59Matt McCusker?

  What is?

• 26:00Speaker 00

  Ketamine.

• 26:01Matt McCusker?

  Okay.

• 26:02Speaker 00

  That burnt pretty bad.

• 26:03Matt McCusker?

  Maybe I'm just a giant pussy. I'm over here talking about quitting caffeine. It's like, yeah, I hear you about sobriety. I've quit caffeine for four days.

• 26:10Speaker 00

  Dude, I couldn't quit caffeine.

• 26:13Speaker 03

  It's hard.

• 26:14Matt McCusker?

  A quick break from the show for a special segment called More or Less and it's brought to you by PrizePicks. No matter the season, the action never stops on PrizePicks, whether it's baseball, basketball, football, or anything in between. You can mix and match your favorite players, pick more or less on their stats, and play for your shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash. PrizePicks keeps the game going all year long.

• 26:41Speaker 03

  So let's get into it. What players, from what sports are we looking at? I've been looking at basketball. I've been real big on VJ Edgecombe, that's my guy right now. Also, Giannis Antetokounmpo from, you know. Can I say teams?

• 26:58Matt McCusker?

  You can say teams.

• 26:59Speaker 03

  From the Milwaukee Bucks.

• 27:00Matt McCusker?

  Shane, you can say teams.

• 27:01Speaker 03

  It's been a while.

• 27:02Matt McCusker?

  Shane, you sound so different right now.

• 27:03Speaker 03

  Sorry.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  Giannis Antetokounmpo, more, always, constantly on Giannis. And Tyrese Maxey is another guy I'm pretty excited on, more for points, maybe less assists, but definitely more for points.

• 27:17Matt McCusker?

  Dude, you took the words right out of my mouth. Okay. So that's our take. Now it's time to lock in yours with PrizePicks. Don't just stand your faves, stand on business. Win real money with your best takes. On PrizePicks, you can mix and match player projections from different sports. Combine your favorite football players with players from women's basketball, hockey, esports, and much more. Pick more or less on their stat projection for your shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash today. PrizePicks is available in more than 30 states, including California, Texas, and Georgia. And here's the good news, you don't have to make it your whole life, just submit your picks in 60 seconds or less.

• 28:01Matt McCusker?

  Download the PrizePicks app today and use code DRENCH to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code DRENCH to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. PrizePicks.

• 28:13Speaker 00

  Run you game.

• 28:15Matt McCusker?

  So when did you like? Cause I I started drinking pretty early and then but like when did it like it never kind of got away from me. When did it start to like where you're like this is fully getting away from me? Was it like an everyday, all day thing or just kind of like when you did drink, it was a disaster?

• 28:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think I think too, like it was in combination with like antidepressants and benzodiazepine.

• 28:40Matt McCusker?

  Oh, boy.

• 28:41Speaker 00

  So like in in combination with those other drugs and then I just enjoyed drinking. So that's where I really started enjoying like cocaine because it just resets, just brings you back, but it's fake.

• 28:58Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 28:58Speaker 00

  And then you keep drinking and then you can do that like two or three times in an evening until you just can't anymore and then you're like pissing yourself drunk.

• 29:06Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 29:07Speaker 00

  And then like six or seven in the morning comes around and somebody has to take care of you. And you know, I did that for a while. And I think that the thing that really, well, I mean, my wife was really the thing that motivated me to change it up. But even then, like, I thought that I could drink like a gentleman, you know?

• 29:28Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 29:28Speaker 00

  So I tried to do that for like a year.

• 29:30Matt McCusker?

  Tried like a different glass.

• 29:31Speaker 00

  Yeah. I was like, I can have a nice glass of whiskey and then that would always turn into like, you know, 18 beers. And I just, you know, I thought I'm happy now I can drink, but it just, there's something deep in me, something deeply rooted that just wants it to go completely off the rails, get tore out the frame.

• 29:53Matt McCusker?

  That makes sense. So after, yeah, I see what you're saying. So you pretty much have a couple of drinks and the this, the train starts fucking rolling. It's like, all right.

• 30:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, once I break the seal, man, I'm ready to go for like two or three days.

• 30:04Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 30:06Matt McCusker?

  It's kind of sick, though.

• 30:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, it was fun. That's the other thing too is like, I had a good time.

• 30:12Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it was fun.

• 30:13Speaker 00

  I had a lot of good times. I had a lot of bad times. But like, those few bad times were bad enough to, uh, you know, outweigh the good times, I guess.

• 30:22Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. Well, also too, I feel like there's a thing with aging where it's like, it is fun. And then the older you get, you're like, dude, like I have to either fully pursue this and become like an old drinker or just like, stop, basically. Or like really lighten it down. Like I really, I, I don't even like, like drinking that much anymore. Like I, it's, it's like, I obviously I do like, if you give me three drinks, I'll, I'm like, I love this.

• 30:46Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:46Matt McCusker?

  Put me out in the sunlight on the beach. I'm like, this is amazing. But like, just like as a daily or even like a semi-frequent thing, it's just like, dude, after you stop for a while and you start again, you really feel shitty, even after only like three or four drinks. The next day I'm just like, ugh.

• 31:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:00Matt McCusker?

  Feel terrible.

• 31:01Speaker 00

  And like three or four drinks and knowing I'm gonna feel bad, like that's just.

• 31:05Matt McCusker?

  Exactly. It's kind of the worst. You might as well not do it.

• 31:08Speaker 00

  Or I might as well just really do it.

• 31:09Matt McCusker?

  Dial in, yeah. Getting on and off. It would be nice to hire like a team of people who could really manage getting off and on the wagon. Stay with you at every moment, like pull you down.

• 31:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 31:19Matt McCusker?

  As soon as you grab coke, they're like, smack it out of your hand.

• 31:22Speaker 00

  Yeah. Or they test it.

• 31:23Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, yeah. Test it for you. Calling hookers. They like, ma'am, he's drunk right now. He can't just hang up. Thank you, team.

• 31:32Speaker 00

  Thank you. Like tag your phone from you.

• 31:36Matt McCusker?

  But then at that point, it wouldn't even be fun.

• 31:38Speaker 00

  I know. Cause it is like, like you said about the gambling, it's like the danger element of it.

• 31:42Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 31:43Speaker 00

  It's like, this guy's got a bag of heat. It might kill me.

• 31:49Speaker 00

  Or it might be a good night. Might have baby laxative in it, which.

• 31:53Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, that's a big thing in coke. A lot of laxative in coke.

• 31:55Speaker 00

  Laxative in coke.

• 31:56Matt McCusker?

  Is that how you got into the lax, maybe?

• 31:57Speaker 00

  Maybe.

• 32:00Matt McCusker?

  You were chasing the dragon lax with the coke. The lax dragon.

• 32:04Speaker 00

  The lax dragon.

• 32:06Matt McCusker?

  It always made me laugh. The Coke, the baby laxative and Coke was always so funny. Cause I knew guys who shit themselves at work from Coke. They'd be like, ah, I shit a fucking baby laxative. They would just go buy more Coke that day. And I'm like, bro, slow down.

• 32:18Speaker 00

  Yeah. I mean, that's, that's when it really got off the rails for me. I had a guy in Nashville that sold vintage clothing and sold cocaine.

• 32:26Matt McCusker?

  It's hilarious.

• 32:27Speaker 00

  It was like two of my favorite things.

• 32:28Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, true.

• 32:29Speaker 00

  And, um, you know, he was hooking me up with like really pure stuff.

• 32:33Matt McCusker?

  Hmm.

• 32:34Speaker 00

  And that's when it got to where I was like, I would keep a little corner of a bag to get me going the next day.

• 32:40Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 32:41Speaker 00

  If I had meetings or writing sessions and stuff. And that was no good. Um.

• 32:45Matt McCusker?

  Couldn't even use that like a gentleman?

• 32:47Speaker 00

  No, I couldn't.

• 32:48Matt McCusker?

  I've talked to people who try to claim Coke gentlemen, and I've, I've yet to see it.

• 32:51Speaker 00

  I've seen it.

• 32:52Matt McCusker?

  You've seen Coke?

• 32:53Speaker 00

  I've seen it go down and I always thought that I could do it. Like they have like the nice like, like silver platters with like lines and they're drinking wine. And listening to like records and shit. And, uh, I was always really into that idea.

• 33:06Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 33:07Speaker 00

  It looks very charming.

• 33:08Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it does.

• 33:09Speaker 00

  It would always turn into like three, four guys in a bathroom.

• 33:14Speaker 00

  Huddle, huddle around a toilet.

• 33:15Matt McCusker?

  Did you see the fucking Chargers game?

• 33:17Speaker 00

  Yeah. Talk about sports, snorting coke.

• 33:21Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I've heard people try to say that. Like, well, actually in like Columbia, they like, don't even use coffee. They just do like a little bit of Coke every morning.

• 33:27Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 33:28Matt McCusker?

  It's just like, how's that going?

• 33:29Speaker 00

  Or they chew on it?

• 33:30Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, the leaves, yeah.

• 33:32Speaker 00

  But it's, it's kinda like, and like in this business, especially like in the arts community, like you recognize like wealthy people. There's like, like super lowbrow folks, like do drugs and smoke cigarettes. And then middle class like kind of boycotts that whole lifestyle. And then the upper esch, they do it too.

• 33:52Matt McCusker?

  Oh, yeah.

• 33:53Speaker 00

  You know, people are, that was what I was really surprised by was like the amount of people doing casual Coke and people smoking cigs. I still rip cigs, but yeah.

• 34:04Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I mean, the caffeine cig combo is the.

• 34:06Speaker 00

  It's the best.

• 34:07Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, kind of. You can really get by on that, honestly.

• 34:10Speaker 00

  That's what I, that's, that's me right now.

• 34:12Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I was a big nicotine caffeine guy before I gave both up four days ago. But I fell, I fell to a little, those little things, not the pouches, the like little, they're like a tablet that dissolve.

• 34:23Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:23Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I would do them, but I'm, I have such a sensitive system. I would have like a coffee and then I, sometimes those nicotine tablets would turn on me and it's just like the head rush from too much nicotine too fast is like.

• 34:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:33Matt McCusker?

  And again, I'm just being a giant pussy right now, but.

• 34:35Speaker 00

  Those, those zen pouches give me hiccups.

• 34:38Matt McCusker?

  Do they? Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I almost threw up in front of my family. I was walking, I was at the airport, I was with Sean. And I was just trying to be a bad, I just started doing the little nicotine tabs and I'll be honest, I felt so fucking cool. Like when I was doing, like, you know, like when you're a kid, you're like, cigs are fucking cool. I had the nicotine pouch and I just, something about keeping something in your bottom lip just strikes me as so macho.

• 34:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:00Matt McCusker?

  And I was so happy to be like, dude, this is sick. I'm with my kids, I'm with Sean, so I'm going through the airport with my thing sticking out of my lip and then, uh, we got to baggage claim and I was like, and I almost fucking vomited. I had to take it out, threw it on the ground. I was like, Sean, I'm about to throw the fuck out, dude.

• 35:16Speaker 00

  That's tight.

• 35:17Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I'm a giant bitch. But this episode is brought to you by AG1. Dude, real quick, gotta tell you guys about this. I like this. I like that too. AG1, the healthy stuff I've been drinking recently, still just one scoop, once a day, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, all this stuff my actual diet doesn't provide. Mix is great, doesn't taste like a fistfight, package travel easily if you're on the road doing shows or just too lazy to measure anything out, which dude, come on. They also recently came out with AG1 Pro, the same foundation, but with creatine in one simple delicious drink. So if you're someone who trains a lot or wants to get more impact out of your stack, this one might be worth checking out.

• 36:01Matt McCusker?

  So hurry up and go to drinkag1.com slash secret pod and for a limited time only, get a free immune support bundle, including omega three fish oil and vitamin D three plus K two. With your first subscription to AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro. That's drinkag1.com slash secret pod. But yeah, there is something to it though, man of like, cause I do have that just desire to constantly like miniscule alter my consciousness. I always want to do something like, and I've noticed it when I, without like caffeine, now I'm kinda like, I should have one drink before bed. Like, there's always some kinda shit that I wanna do, like, just even a little bit, the mushroom microdoses. So I've been trying to just like, oh yeah, which, I'm not against them at all, but there is something in my head where I'm like, I should get a little bit fucked up today.

• 36:46Speaker 00

  Now, me and my dad talk about it all the time, cause my dad's like that.

• 36:50Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 36:50Speaker 00

  And like, he just, he really, especially like going before playing a show, he's like, I don't know what to do, cause I need something.

• 37:01Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 37:01Speaker 00

  To alter my state of mind before I go and do this. I just wanna feel good.

• 37:05Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 37:05Speaker 00

  Cause especially, he's got like arthritis and like, he's like, just, he's seventy-two, so he's tired, he's like, he's aging, and he, he doesn't like it, and he wants to feel something.

• 37:15Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 37:15Speaker 00

  So he's like, yeah, you know, I'll have like, maybe I could do like one drink. I'm like, it's probably not a good idea.

• 37:22Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 37:23Speaker 00

  He's like, this guy wanted to give me a Jägerbomb. You think that would be good? And I was like, no. I try, I try to get him to do it.

• 37:31Matt McCusker?

  Who's this guy, by the way?

• 37:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:32Matt McCusker?

  Who's this guy being like, hey, seventy-year-old, here's a Jägerbomb?

• 37:35Speaker 00

  I know, man. That's what I'm saying, like, people have like no inhibitions.

• 37:39Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 37:39Speaker 00

  When they're like, getting fucked up, they wanna drag somebody else down. Seventy-two-year-old man, it's low-hanging fruit.

• 37:48Matt McCusker?

  Hit him with the bomb.

• 37:49Speaker 00

  I'm gonna bring this guy down with me.

• 37:50Matt McCusker?

  Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, my, my dad quit drinking when I was probably like fourth or fifth grade, and I remember, but he, dude, he would drink like sixty ounces of coffee a day, not exaggerating. He would drink two twenty-fours and then a sixteen. And I remember asking him like, dude, like, what's up with, cause I would like go to work with him and try to even drink one twenty-four ounce cup, and I, you know, I'd be fucking spinning out. And I'm like, why do you drink so much coffee? And he was like, dude, I quit drinking, you gotta abuse something, man. He's like, you gotta, he just held it down like that. Now, he's, he's like slow, he had some atrial fibrillation, so he chilled, he doesn't do as much coffee, but now it's just like four cigars a day. He's gotta, he's gotta get, he's addicted to the buzz. I might be, I'm a bit of a buzz man myself.

• 38:31Matt McCusker?

  I just need, I just want the buzz. I don't wanna get super fucked up, but I do need the buzz.

• 38:36Speaker 00

  Bit of a buzz man myself.

• 38:38Matt McCusker?

  Bit of a buzz Aldrin.

• 38:40Speaker 00

  Was it, I can't remember if it was you or your brother that said, uh, one of my favorite quotes of all time, I think was from your dad was like, I need you from the neck down today.

• 38:48Matt McCusker?

  That's my dad hit me with that.

• 38:50Speaker 00

  That's so tight.

• 38:50Matt McCusker?

  Such a dickhead.

• 38:52Speaker 00

  That's a great line though.

• 38:53Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. I was working, I was working demolition with him and I was like trying to give, cause like eventually I went to college, I became a man and I was still doing demolition with him.

• 38:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:00Matt McCusker?

  I was like, what if we did this? And yeah, he hit me with, I just need you from the neck down today, bud. I don't need any thoughts from you. I need you to move those rocks from A to B.

• 39:07Speaker 00

  That's so good.

• 39:10Speaker 00

  That's too good.

• 39:12Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, he fucking killed me.

• 39:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:16Matt McCusker?

  That was, I really loved working with him though, cause I was so bad at that kind of, like I was, demolition was okay, cause it doesn't take as much like, it's not carpentry where I gotta like note, line stuff up. But there is just something really fun, cause I would always be like, I talked about it in my first special, I'd be just like so stoned at work with my dad and we'd be like in like a trench down and like the ground, it's like in like the dirt and I would just like be high like, damn, this is so sick. Me and my dad are five feet underground right now. It's fucking so tight.

• 39:43Speaker 00

  That's awesome.

• 39:44Matt McCusker?

  It was tight. He, every chance he got, he'd be like, bro, you gotta figure something, this is not, this kind of work is not for you. And I'd be like, right on, right on.

• 39:50Speaker 00

  Right on.

• 39:52Matt McCusker?

  You could tell I was kind of a space cadet.

• 39:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm trying to get my dad on like, like my, my pre-show buzz is like, I'll smoke a joint. I call it a Carolina speedball.

• 40:02Matt McCusker?

  That's not bad.

• 40:03Speaker 00

  Smoke a joint and drink like two Red Bulls.

• 40:05Matt McCusker?

  Woo.

• 40:06Speaker 00

  Sugar-free Red Bulls. And then because like my anxiety, my stage fright, all that is like, you're tired, you should go to bed.

• 40:14Matt McCusker?

  Really?

• 40:15Speaker 00

  That's what my anxiety does to me. Like right before I have to do something important, it's like, no, you're actually really tired. Cause it's like a defense mechanism. It's a fight or flight kind of thing. So I supplement that with like Red Bull and. It's not the best, but again, to your point, you know, I gotta abuse something.

• 40:32Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, well, dude, here's my thing. I've tried. I had big dreams of being like a cup of coffee, hit the stage kinda guy. Panic attack.

• 40:40Speaker 00

  You had a panic attack?

• 40:41Matt McCusker?

  Oh, big time. I've had a fifty onstage, but this was a, this was a big one where I was like, oh my, I was telling, me and Nate were, this is kinda cracking me up, but slightly unrelated, but last week, we were in Tulsa, and one of our friends out there gave us some really nice weed that he grew. It was fucking phenomenal. So we did the shows, because I know enough, because if I get high before I do stand up, it's just like so many words involved. It's like a nightmare for me to get stoned. But we did, we did the shows and we're gonna do the meet and greet after the show. So after the second show, we smoked, this guy left his baseball bat of a joint. We smoked half of it. And we started doing the meet and greet, and I almost, I was so high that I almost pulled the plug on the meet and greet, which would have been a total disaster.

• 41:26Matt McCusker?

  To get like seven people in, to have like thirty people left, to be like, guys, I'm sorry, I'm too fucking high, I gotta get out of here, or just like make up some bullshit. Dude, there's pictures, I have a picture on my phone, it's, my eyes are crazy. Just like, but yeah, that was, I was talking to my friend Del Calo, he's like, you should have stopped every single person, shook their hand, and be like, sorry, I'm canceling the meet and greet, I'm too high.

• 41:48Speaker 00

  Oh, John Del Calo?

• 41:49Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 41:49Speaker 00

  He's fucking hilarious.

• 41:50Matt McCusker?

  He's so funny. He's actually here, he's here right now. But, yeah, that was, yeah, for me, I used to, when I asked you earlier about the, go to different cities and you're like, wow, years have passed and I just feel like a different person. I had that in Buffalo, the first, one of the first headlining things I did was in Buffalo. Just an absolute nervous wreck of being like, I shouldn't be here, this is fucked up, I'm gonna fuck this up, I'm gonna ruin, it was just nonstop. And then I got there, this year, and I just felt great. And I was like, damn, I was fucked up. I didn't realize how fucked I was like three years ago. It was pretty cool.

• 42:22Speaker 00

  It's fun when you go to a new city and, you know, you can feel that growth.

• 42:26Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 42:28Speaker 00

  Yeah, but I was too high onstage the other night, actually.

• 42:31Matt McCusker?

  You got too stoned?

• 42:31Speaker 00

  In Little Rock.

• 42:33Matt McCusker?

  No.

• 42:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, and it was Halloween, so I was dressed like an asshole. And I was too high and I saw a video of myself and I was just looking at my eyes and like, but onstage what was happening was like, I get so high that I have like this like outer body, you know, like, you know, I can kind of see what's happening like, and then I'll come back to it. And I'm like, I'm singing right now.

• 42:58Matt McCusker?

  That's wild.

• 42:59Speaker 00

  I'm singing. I'm yelling at these people.

• 43:02Matt McCusker?

  Dang.

• 43:03Speaker 00

  Through a microphone. It's crazy.

• 43:05Matt McCusker?

  Do you, so is that a good, do you feel good when you go out of body like that?

• 43:08Speaker 00

  No.

• 43:09Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, okay. I was gonna say.

• 43:10Speaker 00

  It's not.

• 43:11Matt McCusker?

  I, I've done that during standup and I'm like, I am glad you enjoy that because I don't like that at all. I completely leave my body and I'm speaking in my brain. I can hear other words in my brain.

• 43:20Speaker 00

  It's not good.

• 43:21Matt McCusker?

  No, that's, that's why I can't, I can't smoke weed to do standup. I can maybe a little bit, but if it's like a, like a show where I've sold tickets or anything, it's like, I, because I would like, when people would happen to me is like, I would, I used to be, I wanted to be one of those guys too, like get blazed and go do standup and like, people would laugh and while people were laughing, I would just like, almost forget what I was doing. I'd be like, all right, I have to keep talking now. This is weird. I'm eliciting this like primal response from them. It's just not, it's not good.

• 43:50Speaker 00

  I was thinking about it last night, like actually playing a show, like, because, you know, when I'm playing, I, I've worked really hard to try to be as present as possible and try to be in the moment as I can, but sometimes you just can't help but like have outside thoughts that come in.

• 44:07Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 44:07Speaker 00

  It's like transcendental meditation. You gotta just try to find your, your happy place again. But one of my thoughts last night was like, how willing I am to believe that somebody would buy a ticket just to come and stand in the front row and laugh at me.

• 44:23Speaker 00

  You know?

• 44:24Matt McCusker?

  So that was, that was, that just crawled in you. That was a brain worm. You had a brain worm.

• 44:27Speaker 00

  Had a brain worm.

• 44:27Matt McCusker?

  Oh, that's brutal.

• 44:29Speaker 00

  RFK, man.

• 44:31Speaker 00

  It slipped in there and it was like, these guys are laughing at you right now.

• 44:36Matt McCusker?

  What?

• 44:36Speaker 00

  I don't know why I came into my brain, but it got in there and I was like, I just battled that. I was like, nah, there's no way they're laughing at me.

• 44:45Matt McCusker?

  That would be, I would never even think it for a second.

• 44:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's really weird.

• 44:49Matt McCusker?

  No, I get it though, dude. Well, I mean, with mu, at least with music, it's like, people can talk while you're playing. You're not like expecting them staring ahead silently. With standup, if I see someone even whisper to their friend, I'm like, they hate me.

• 45:03Speaker 00

  It's all over.

• 45:03Matt McCusker?

  And it's like I'm watching it go down or I'll see people's faces and I'm like, because if someone, if you're playing music and someone's just staring normal, are you like, what the fuck? Why is that person not smiling or anything? Or you just play?

• 45:15Speaker 00

  I mean, we played a festival the other day. It was like the worst crowd of the, of the whole tour.

• 45:20Matt McCusker?

  Really?

• 45:21Speaker 00

  We were on like right before Riley Green and Riley Green has a pretty specific fan base. And everybody in like the, you know, the VIP pit. It's the worst when they have like the VIP pit and then the GAs in the back. Cause like all my people are about there.

• 45:37Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 45:38Speaker 00

  Cause they're like, we're spending thirty dollars for a ticket. You know, like we're not headlining, so I get it. All my people are back there. So I'm trying to keep that in mind, but everybody up here just doesn't give a shit so hard that it's, it's, you know, offensive.

• 45:52Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, that sucks.

• 45:53Speaker 00

  People are like leaning on the rail, like texting or like scrolling on Instagram. And like, I'm just watching these people just like yawning and just like sitting down and like talking to each other like full volume to talk over what I'm doing. But, um.

• 46:12Matt McCusker?

  That pissed me off.

• 46:12Speaker 00

  But the ASL lady was like super into it at that festival and that kept me going.

• 46:16Matt McCusker?

  Oh, you had a sign language lady there?

• 46:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, she was rocking.

• 46:19Matt McCusker?

  What? She was doing your lyrics?

• 46:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 46:22Matt McCusker?

  That's kind of nice. I never thought about that.

• 46:23Speaker 00

  It's always fun to watch. But we did like a last minute setlist change and I wanted to go ask her like what she did for that. Cause we added a song to the set that we didn't like brief her about.

• 46:33Matt McCusker?

  She was able to just kind of let it fly?

• 46:35Speaker 00

  Like on the fly, so like, what is she saying? Like, is she, is she saying it like? Like after I say it, she says it because obviously she can't do it at the same time.

• 46:44Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, true.

• 46:45Speaker 00

  Because I didn't tell her the song. So like, is she kind of like bullshitting the folks in the crowd?

• 46:50Matt McCusker?

  She probably was.

• 46:51Speaker 00

  He's saying this right now, but I actually said it on the last verse.

• 46:55Matt McCusker?

  I can't get over the thought of just a guy going to one of your shows and in the middle is being like,

• 47:01Matt McCusker?

  and laughing. That'd be crazy.

• 47:02Speaker 00

  Yeah, laughing.

• 47:03Matt McCusker?

  That'd be crazy.

• 47:05Speaker 00

  It is crazy.

• 47:07Matt McCusker?

  That's all I want. I would love, that's, it's one of your worst nightmare. I'm going like, dude, that's my best case scenario. You're like, this guy's a fucking dumbass and just laughing at me. So I'm like, perfect.

• 47:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 47:18Matt McCusker?

  That's funny. Well, I would say I've like, I've, I've talked to people who do music and they're like, I don't know, standup's harder. And I don't know, I, I've played music before live and it's like, getting the instant feedback with standup helps big time. But like, that was my big thing. You had done a song and you're like, I don't know if they, I'm like, I don't know if people like this or not. That like kind of fucked me up.

• 47:38Speaker 00

  We try to, we try to do our set, like where there's not any dead space.

• 47:43Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 47:43Speaker 00

  There's no, no moment for a lull.

• 47:46Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 47:47Speaker 00

  Because that's the part where you start to feel any kind of hesitation.

• 47:51Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. Like, how do you battle through that? Again, with standup, it's like you get laughs or you don't. So you, it's very clear. You're like, I'm doing great. I'm doing bad, whatever. But yeah, with music, it was just kind of people just like staring at you, talking and listening. And then afterwards, you get like your smattering of applause, but.

• 48:06Speaker 00

  It's interesting because you, you come around to like, when you have a, when you have a house full of people who all came to see you, that's when you get like the real like reciprocation and you can tell you're doing something right. But you do have to go through like a number of like stinkers, you know?

• 48:24Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 48:25Speaker 00

  And when you have like two or three of those in a row, which is, which was kind of the case this last week was like, two or three in a row where the crowd was just like. Not great.

• 48:36Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 48:36Speaker 00

  And like, it's nothing to do with them. Like, sometimes it could just be like, it's a Thursday night, everybody worked all day.

• 48:45Speaker 00

  The show goes till like 11 o'clock. People are tired, you know, whatever it is.

• 48:50Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 48:50Speaker 00

  You can get in your head about it. But then you finally get to a show where everybody's locked in, it's a weekend, everybody's happy to be there. And they really give you that reciprocation. That's what, that's what we're hunting.

• 49:01Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, true. That makes sense. That was, I remember I had a, with, with acting, I was always like, well, with acting, like, you just can't tell if you do good or not, like. Stand up, people laugh. Acting, you just do it and that's just it. And I had that in my head where it was kind of like, just me coping, like, you just never know. Then I was on a set and everyone, someone finished their scene, the whole set bursts out in applause and I was like, fuck, god damn it.

• 49:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:22Matt McCusker?

  There is a metric for acting I've just never gotten before.

• 49:26Speaker 00

  Oh, man. That's a tough realization.

• 49:29Matt McCusker?

  Acting is weird, cause it's like, you're just like, you do your best and they go, alright, that's good, move on. And you're like, what the fuck, is it good or not? They're like, yeah, well, we'll figure it out. You're like, fuck.

• 49:40Speaker 00

  It's kind of like that in the studio when you're recording.

• 49:42Matt McCusker?

  Really?

• 49:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:43Matt McCusker?

  Oh, yeah, I guess you do have someone there just like, alright, alright, we'll, we'll mash it together.

• 49:46Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 49:47Matt McCusker?

  Oh, yeah, that would make me nervous.

• 49:49Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 49:51Matt McCusker?

  This is an ad by BetterHelp. Things always seem to get frantic and overwhelming as the end of the year approaches. And the shorter, colder, darker days don't help. It can make you feel gloomy and melancholic at times, to be honest. That's why now, especially now, it's important to take a second to reach out and connect with the people around you. Meaning like if you're on a crowded subway, grab their arm. I've been thinking about checking in with, mm.

• 50:27Matt McCusker?

  I've been thinking about checking in with my daddy. And I actually did talk to my daddy. He caught a fish and he sent me a picture. I said, "That's a hell of a fish daddy. I love you daddy." He said, "Don't talk to me like that, boy. But I will kiss him before the new year's over." Taking that fir- I mean, you know, like a peck. Taking that first step to check in is an easy and simple thing to do. More often than not, you'll probably be kicking yourself why you didn't do it sooner. And guess what? That's also true for therapy. Um, alright, there's another rift, there's another riff here. Here we go. Therapy is an excellent addition to any support system because, well, I've already said this before, most of your friends and family are probably giant dumbasses, so it's helpful to have

• 51:12Matt McCusker?

  somebody with a little bit of goddamn education talk to you about your life problems, although sometimes they can just be dumber than your family in other ways, so you gotta be careful. But, it is an opportunity to get outside perspective. It can teach you positive coping skills. Talking with a qualified therapist can make a world of difference, and thanks to BetterHelp, it's never been easier to find the right therapist for you. They have over 12 years of experience matching people with credentialed therapists. So, this month, don't wait to reach out, whether you're checking in with a friend or reaching out to a therapist yourself. BetterHelp makes it easier to take the first step. Our listeners get 10% off the first month at betterhelp.com/mssp. That is betterhelp, H-E-L-P, dot com slash mssp.

• 51:55Matt McCusker?

  Guys, in terms of shows, I will actually be in Naples, Florida this weekend. Please come out. 11/7, 11/8, that's this weekend, Naples, Florida. It's gonna be huge. Comedy on State, Madison, Wisconsin. I believe it's sold out, but I think I added a early Saturday show, so Madison, Wisconsin, get on that if you wish. And then 12/19, 12/20, Funny Bone Comedy Club, Syracuse, New York. Get out there, guys. You can go to mattmccusker.com for tickets.

• 52:25Speaker 03

  And tonight, the day this comes out, November 4th, come see me, Lemare and Sean at Optimum Akas at Creek in the Cave. And there's another one, November 18th. That's another Tuesday, 2nd, 1st, and 3rd Tuesdays every month. Come see me, Lemare and Sean. Thank you so much.

• 52:43Matt McCusker?

  We do the Chappelle Show.

• 52:48Matt McCusker?

  Back to the show.

• 52:49Speaker 00

  Have you, uh, I guess you've sent in like audition tapes?

• 52:54Matt McCusker?

  I did one before.

• 52:55Speaker 00

  That's a pretty terrible feeling.

• 52:57Matt McCusker?

  Oh, it was pretty horrible. I sent one in.

• 52:59Speaker 00

  I sent one in for, uh, this Netflix thing.

• 53:02Matt McCusker?

  Did you?

• 53:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 53:03Matt McCusker?

  I sent one in, guess what? I sent one in, I just, my one connection in their life, I happened to know the producer of this show. No callback.

• 53:15Matt McCusker?

  I thought I was gonna finally get the nepo baby out. I was like, dude, I know the producer, slight little family, you know, little family action. I was like, here we go. I was, I was, I would have taken it in a fucking heartbeat. I don't care. But yeah, no callback.

• 53:29Speaker 00

  Damn.

• 53:29Matt McCusker?

  NCB. And then I met, I was on a plane with somebody who was working. I saw they had like a bag with, they were on that show. I should have just pressed her and been like, yeah, what the fuck? What the fuck?

• 53:40Speaker 00

  What's going on?

• 53:41Matt McCusker?

  What the fucks? Do you know who my cousin's uncle is?

• 53:46Speaker 00

  We're about to get kicked off this flight.

• 53:48Matt McCusker?

  You have any idea who my cousin's uncle is? Who I've met once?

• 53:52Speaker 00

  I did. I actually got a callback when I was out of the country.

• 53:55Matt McCusker?

  Oh, really?

• 53:55Speaker 00

  When they were filming. Yeah.

• 53:57Matt McCusker?

  Good for you.

• 53:59Speaker 00

  But.

• 53:59Matt McCusker?

  What, you're doing some acting?

• 54:01Speaker 00

  I thought about it, man. They called, they called me because they wanted me to do this part. And like.

• 54:06Matt McCusker?

  Oh dude, they, yeah, you had a, you were, you were.

• 54:08Speaker 00

  I kinda had a, but it was, it was a small part, but.

• 54:11Matt McCusker?

  Still.

• 54:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:12Matt McCusker?

  Mine was miniscule.

• 54:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:14Matt McCusker?

  No callback. NCB.

• 54:15Speaker 00

  NCB.

• 54:16Matt McCusker?

  Sending the tape, bro. It feels, although I've gotten better with that, like the, I've gotten out of my head about a lot of that shit where it's like, just do it, man. Who cares?

• 54:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:25Matt McCusker?

  Show your fucking ass.

• 54:27Speaker 00

  I just, like, have you ever seen, like, people's, like, audition tapes when they, like, get out there?

• 54:33Matt McCusker?

  Oh, yeah.

• 54:34Speaker 00

  They're like, here's an audition tape. It's like, they're always so embarrassing.

• 54:37Matt McCusker?

  It's totally embarrassing.

• 54:38Speaker 00

  So I'm really worried about that.

• 54:39Matt McCusker?

  There's one of me now floating around. It fucking stinks. And I just, yeah. But I, again, I've just learned to just be like, whatever. I don't, I'm just gonna let it kinda rip and.

• 54:48Speaker 00

  Right.

• 54:48Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, you know, I don't, I really, I don't worry too much about humiliation that much as much as I used to.

• 54:54Speaker 00

  I know, man. And I, and I don't either. I try not to. I think honestly, like, like microdosing helped a lot with that.

• 55:01Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 55:01Speaker 00

  It helped with my panic attacks. Like even now, when I get too high, I'm like, just enjoy it. Cause it's gonna be over. Just let this be an experience.

• 55:12Matt McCusker?

  True.

• 55:12Speaker 00

  I just look at my drummer like.

• 55:15Matt McCusker?

  That is the key. If you're too high, you do have to tell a person.

• 55:18Speaker 00

  You gotta tell somebody.

• 55:19Matt McCusker?

  If you don't tell anyone, it gets worse and worse and worse. I, I fucked myself recently on an edible and I like, I held it in for the longest time, then I eventually just told one person instantly. I feel so much better.

• 55:29Speaker 00

  Oh dude, I quoted you on Halloween. Actually, I got on the mic. I was like, we're through the worst of it now.

• 55:39Matt McCusker?

  I really did thought I had acid figured out. I'm like, guys, we're done giving this. It's three hours in. It's 12 hours.

• 55:44Speaker 00

  We're through the worst of it now. And I said that to the audience and they're like, what?

• 55:50Matt McCusker?

  What are you talking about?

• 55:52Speaker 00

  And I almost broke that fourth wall and told them like, I'm gonna be honest with you guys. I'm way too high to do this. But you can't say that.

• 55:59Matt McCusker?

  I feel like they would like it.

• 56:00Speaker 00

  They would enjoy it?

• 56:01Matt McCusker?

  I think so.

• 56:02Speaker 00

  I'll tell them next time.

• 56:02Matt McCusker?

  As long as you're not at the sober nation, dude. But guys, gotta be honest, I'm way too fucking high for this right now.

• 56:08Speaker 00

  Sober nation, they wouldn't appreciate it, but.

• 56:12Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, that, uh, yeah, weed for me is, uh, it's an interesting one. I, that was when I started early. I, at 19 years old, I was like, this is the answer to literally all my problems. And then I, it started just bugging me out at like my mid twenties, late twenties, every, it was like a guaranteed panic attack. And now, now it's the same thing. Like if I start, I've bugged out so many times that I just look at my, like, watch and I'm like, all right, well, I'm gonna bug out now for an hour and then, you know, it'll be over and then, that's it.

• 56:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:41Matt McCusker?

  So sometimes I do wonder, I go, why do I even do this? But, but I feel like I need a little bit of THC in my brain. Like when it fully leaves my system, I can feel it and I feel like weird.

• 56:53Speaker 00

  That's interesting.

• 56:53Matt McCusker?

  Feel like serious.

• 56:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:55Matt McCusker?

  And I swear to God, when the THC, when it all goes, I get real fucking, like I'm like, I'm gonna go to fucking confession and fucking.

• 57:02Speaker 00

  Go to confession?

• 57:03Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I get like really serious. I'm gonna start practicing the sacraments.

• 57:07Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 57:09Matt McCusker?

  Or just whatever, other stuff too.

• 57:10Speaker 00

  That's sick.

• 57:11Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I become like a 1950s father.

• 57:13Speaker 00

  Oh wow, dude.

• 57:14Matt McCusker?

  You know what I mean? I just feel like, I don't know. It's a weird feeling.

• 57:17Speaker 00

  Start tucking your shirt in?

• 57:19Matt McCusker?

  I, I wanna tuck my shirt in so bad, dude. I'm too fucking coward, too chicken shit.

• 57:25Matt McCusker?

  I like the feeling of having my shirt tucked in.

• 57:28Speaker 00

  Man.

• 57:28Matt McCusker?

  Like, I genuinely really enjoy it, and I'm just too much of a coward to pull the trigger on it all the time.

• 57:33Speaker 00

  When I started wearing my pants high and tight, you know, at my true waistline, tucking my shirt in, I felt like a real.

• 57:39Matt McCusker?

  You feel amazing. Yeah, you feel amazing.

• 57:41Speaker 00

  Ready to talk about sports.

• 57:42Matt McCusker?

  Fuck. I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk. I, I, I'll get a good day where I'll be tucked in, and then I'll just, I'll just doubt myself.

• 57:50Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:50Matt McCusker?

  I want to talk, but that's kind of where I'm at right now. It's a nice talk.

• 57:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:55Matt McCusker?

  What do you guys think?

• 58:02Matt McCusker?

  Man, dude, well, dude, this is your second time here, dude. You're a fucking.

• 58:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:06Matt McCusker?

  You're one of the best guests I think we've ever gotten.

• 58:08Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 58:09Matt McCusker?

  I'm telling you, next time, it's in the cards, third time around, we'll get the big Shane, you'll be in the beautiful guest chair.

• 58:14Speaker 00

  Big dog here, and next time it'll happen.

• 58:16Matt McCusker?

  Big dog, it'd be nice. That's what, hey, my theory of podcasts is more the merrier. Whenever Shane's like, we have a guest, I'm like, yes, easier. Now we have three brains.

• 58:24Speaker 00

  You guys, you guys make it easy. It's just a, it's a fun, it's a fun way to do it.

• 58:28Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it is. I did notice that. When I did my, uh, little like press thing, a lot of podcasts do have a lot of formulas.

• 58:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:36Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, we don't have any, so. Oh, we have a formula here. If we run out of material or stuff to talk about, we turn on Sean LaMaire and Nate. We start to attack them very personally. And, uh, and if that, and if that fails, then we just make basically Nate LaMaire do stuff from their podcast on here.

• 58:58Matt McCusker?

  Like, do that thing you do on your podcast, so we like, let me do that. So that's our formula. Talk as much as we can, turn on them.

• 59:10Matt McCusker?

  So what's next, man? What's, what's, what do you got going forward? You got the album out?

• 59:14Speaker 00

  Man.

• 59:14Matt McCusker?

  The album fucking rules. I'm dead serious. I was blasting that thing. It's awesome.

• 59:17Speaker 00

  Thanks, man. So we got the B-sides coming out, which, uh, there's a song on the record called No Room For Blue. So we, we're calling like the, uh, the B-sides release, like the deluxe edition, we're calling it No Room For Blue. There's all the songs we didn't have room for.

• 59:34Matt McCusker?

  Oh, that's cool.

• 59:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, and there's a bunch of tunes on there that we were excited about, but that's kind of the deal with like making a record is like. You work really, really hard and then the label's like, not yet, you know? Go back in, do some more. We don't really hear anything yet. And then all the stuff that you really like, you get an opportunity to release it on like the B-sides. So that's what's happening on Black Friday. It'll be out.

• 1:00:02Matt McCusker?

  Oh, nice.

• 1:00:02Speaker 00

  For Record Store Day. You can get that in a physical copy.

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  But we'll be releasing it digitally in April, on Record Store Day in April.

• 1:00:12Speaker 00

  I don't know if I was supposed to say that, but.

• 1:00:15Matt McCusker?

  You can always bleep it if you can.

• 1:00:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's all good though. I don't care.

• 1:00:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, but tonight, we're rehearsing for Austin City Limits. So we're doing Austin City Limits tomorrow, taping that at the Moody Theater.

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  That'd be a good, good opportunity for us to play all these songs. Live with the strings and the horns and the background vocals and. Finish up this run, man. I'm going out to LA. Doing a residency out there with Chris Dave and Corey Henry at the Blue Note. Then off for the holidays.

• 1:00:51Matt McCusker?

  Oh, that's nice.

• 1:00:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:00:52Matt McCusker?

  How's the residency work? You just get to chill there for like, how long?

• 1:00:56Speaker 00

  I think we're doing four nights, two shows a night.

• 1:01:00Matt McCusker?

  Sick.

• 1:01:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:01Matt McCusker?

  That's awesome.

• 1:01:01Speaker 00

  It'll be fun. It's kind of post up in LA.

• 1:01:06Speaker 00

  It's a good opportunity to get together with folks you don't get to see that often.

• 1:01:10Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:11Speaker 00

  You know?

• 1:01:11Matt McCusker?

  That's cool.

• 1:01:12Speaker 00

  And it's also, it's a different thing. It's like a different, uh, we play like jazz fusion. So we just kind of let everything go.

• 1:01:20Matt McCusker?

  That's cool.

• 1:01:20Speaker 00

  Everything hang out.

• 1:01:21Matt McCusker?

  Just kind of fuck around.

• 1:01:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:23Matt McCusker?

  Nice, man. Well, hell yeah.

• 1:01:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:25Matt McCusker?

  Well, dude, Marcus, thank you for coming, man.

• 1:01:27Speaker 00

  Thanks for having me, bro.

• 1:01:28Matt McCusker?

  You bought me another week. Now I can survive for one more week. And figure it out.

• 1:01:33Speaker 00

  Anytime, brother.

• 1:01:34Matt McCusker?

  Dude, thank you, man.

• 1:01:35Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:01:35Matt McCusker?

  Later.