Pod Insights The Adam Friedland Show MJ Lenderman CALLS OUT Cameron Winter (not clickbait) About this episode Check out https://www.squarespace.com/TAFS to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TAFS
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The Adam Friedland Show - Season Two Episode 34 | MJ Lenderman
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 I'm pro football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, and I lived for a long time with something I did not know the name of: major depressive disorder. I carried sadness and anger because I thought I could handle it alone, but I couldn't. Now I want to make sure others know that that support is out there. If you're experiencing similar symptoms, talk to a healthcare professional. Visit MDDAllies.com to watch my story.
0:25 Speaker 01 Paid partnership with Johnson & Johnson. Brian Dawkins has not prescribed Caplyta lumateperone.
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0:57 Speaker 01 Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Caplyta is not approved for dementia-related psychosis. Call your doctor about new or sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. Antidepressants may increase these risks. Report fever, confusion, stiff muscles, which may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High cholesterol and weight gain may occur, as can high blood sugar, which may be fatal. Monitoring is recommended. Common side effects are sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, feeling tired, and diarrhea. These aren't all the side effects.
1:24 Speaker 02 Ask your doctor about Caplyta. Learn more at caplyta.com or call 888-252-4824.
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1:59 Speaker 04 All right, quiet, let's go for it.
2:10 Speaker 05 How you gonna make your way in the world when you weren't cut out for working? And your fingers are slender and frail? How you gonna get around in this sleazy bedroom town? If you don't play yourself up for sale? Where you gonna go with your scarves and your miracles? Who's gonna know who you are? Drugs and wine and flattering light?
2:52 Speaker 05 You must try again till you get it right. And maybe you'll end up with someone different every night.
3:08 Speaker 05 All these people with no home to go home to. They'd all love to spend the night with you. Maybe I would too. Tell me how you gonna make your way in the world when you weren't cut out for working? And you just can't concentrate? And you always show up late?
3:52 Speaker 05 You said you were an actor? Well, I believe you are. But I thought you would be a star. So I drank up all our money? With these phonies in this Hollywood bar? With these friends of mine in this Hollywood bar?
4:27 Speaker 05 Loneliness and frustration. You and I have both calmed down with an acute case. But when the lights came up at 2:00 and I caught a glimpse of you, and your face looked like something death brought with him in a suitcase. Oh, your pretty face looked so wasted. Another pretty face.
5:17 Speaker 05 French inhaler stamped and mailed her. So long, Norman. So long, Norman.
6:10 Adam Friedland? Welcome to a very special episode of The Adam Friedland Show. Guys, it's me, Adam. Real quick, before we jump in, low-ticket warning. February 19th through the 21st, Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I will be there. In addition, I'll be in Portland next month, March 27th through the 29th, and Los Angeles, May 9th. They added a second show at the Regent Theater. There's a link in the description for tickets. And as you have seen already, my guest this week is singer-songwriter M.J. Lenderman. Give it up for him, guys. Woo!
6:43 Adam Friedland? MJ actually performed two songs for us in the studio, and the full performance will be released on Friday, February thir- Friday the 13th? What are we doing?
6:54 Speaker 04 That's what I wrote in here.
6:56 Adam Friedland? Oh, you already wrote this in there?
6:57 Speaker 04 Yeah, I keep reading it.
6:58 Adam Friedland? Way to tick. Friday the 13th?
7:02 Adam Friedland? Scream at top of the lungs? So, no, I'm just kidding. It's not scary.
7:09 Adam Friedland? We're gonna be releasing more live performances with great musicians. We've recorded a couple of them already. How many, Thomas? Two, three, three others. Some of them will be longer episodes of the Adam Friedland Show. Some of them will be shorter, just performances and then five-minute interviews. Guys, it's gonna be great. It's Taps Unplugged. Look at the fucking logo. It's Taps Unplugged. For the full MJ Lenderman performance, stick around Friday the 13th. It's not scary. It's coming out. And there are more exciting guests to come.
7:44 Speaker 04 Including rap.
7:45 Adam Friedland? We had a rap? We had, we had a rap on Friday?
7:49 Speaker 04 Yeah.
7:51 Adam Friedland? Yeah. So guys, please enjoy my interview with MJ Lenderman.
7:58 Adam Friedland? It's really good. He looks like a young David Letterman. Alright. Guys.
8:06 Adam Friedland? I don't like, I make all the guests do walkouts and it's actually very, I don't like it. Oh, Zach, thank you. Can you guys get this stuff out here? Both. Hi. What up, twin? That was a great performance. Give it up for Jake, guys.
8:21 Adam Friedland? When we've had rappers on the show, I get Don Hooly for them. And I've, I wanted to pay tribute. Thank you. So it's not, this is the most expensive one, just so you know. I don't know how to open this. What do you mean you don't know how? I don't know. I feel like there's probably some sort of- You're not a rapper, obviously. Have you chilled with rappers since you? Uh, just my, uh, middle school basketball coach, Roland Green. Roland Green? I made beats for him. They let, you made beats for your, wait, did you have to call him Coach Rolling Green? No, he had, he had a normal name as a coach. What was it?
8:56 Speaker 04 Coach Scott.
8:57 Adam Friedland? That's pretty cool. Here you go.
8:59 Speaker 04 Thanks.
9:00 Adam Friedland? To be to you. Thank you. Welcome to the show. We had the other young buck in the studio. He watched you.
9:06 Speaker 04 Who'd that be?
9:07 Adam Friedland? Cameron, dude. Dude, you said he was taller than you? He's literally one inch taller than you.
9:13 Speaker 04 No, he's not. He's like two feet taller than me.
9:15 Adam Friedland? What are you talking about? Oh, this is like-
9:17 Speaker 04 I was standing up here.
9:18 Adam Friedland? Dude, we saw the young bucks and then we saw Unc, my friend Riley, and it was like, I was at a dog park. And you guys were all smelling each other's butts.
9:29 Adam Friedland? You're all peeing in different corners. Yeah, it was definitely like, it was like the Don't Look Back Donovan, Bob Dylan battle. You've seen that, right, of course?
9:38 Speaker 04 Yeah, I'm forgetting though.
9:39 Adam Friedland? Bob is like, Donovan's like playing a really beautiful song. You could just see him like not like, he just wants to like defeat. He wants to destroy and he's like, he's like antsy and then he takes the guitar.
9:50 Speaker 04 That's why Cameron just left.
9:51 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah. You just, you just, you just don't look back to him. Yeah. And then he peed in the corner.
10:01 Adam Friedland? Have you met any of your goats yet, since you've become a rocker?
10:04 Speaker 04 Yeah. I mean, the truckers.
10:07 Adam Friedland? Those, that was your favorite band growing up?
10:08 Speaker 04 Yeah, Dinosaur Jr.
10:10 Adam Friedland? Oh, sick. Riley, Riley's boys with them too. Give it up for Riley.
10:17 Adam Friedland? You went on tour with them, no?
10:20 Speaker 04 Yeah, a long time ago.
10:21 Adam Friedland? Alright.
10:24 Adam Friedland? Alright, it's cool that kids are in bands again. We had a millennial conversation with all the millennials and we're like, I think that there's never gonna be another band. And now you guys are all like, I mean, it's really nice that like kids like Neil again and so.
10:38 Speaker 04 Kids like Neil?
10:39 Adam Friedland? Like you.
10:40 Speaker 04 Oh.
10:40 Adam Friedland? Yeah, baby bros like Neil.
10:42 Speaker 04 I was like, he's pretty old, but.
10:44 Adam Friedland? You don't like Neil Young?
10:45 Speaker 04 I love Neil.
10:46 Adam Friedland? As a guy?
10:46 Speaker 04 No, no. I have the Neil Young Archives app on my phone.
10:50 Adam Friedland? Oh, sick. What, cause he's off of Spotify, cause Joe Rogan podcast?
10:54 Speaker 04 He's back on Spotify.
10:55 Adam Friedland? Oh, he made-
10:55 Speaker 04 I bought it while he was off of Spotify and then, and then he went back on.
11:00 Adam Friedland? He made peace with-
11:01 Speaker 04 So I'm a little mad at him for that, but.
11:02 Adam Friedland? How much was the Archives app?
11:06 Speaker 04 I don't remember. It's ten dollars a year, maybe?
11:08 Adam Friedland? I mean, ten dollars a year?
11:10 Speaker 04 Maybe a month.
11:10 Adam Friedland? A month?
11:12 Speaker 04 That's like Netflix money. No, I think it's a year.
11:15 Adam Friedland? It was really nice of him that he became an American citizen so he could vote for Bernie. I thought that was a really sweet thing of him. I don't remember if you, I don't know if you know that. I don't know if you're old enough to know Bernie. He ran for president in 2020 and 2016. He's this Jewish guy.
11:30 Speaker 04 Bernie?
11:31 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah. Oh, you know. I hear you're an old soul.
11:33 Speaker 04 Bernie Sanders.
11:34 Adam Friedland? Yeah, Bernie Sanders.
11:36 Adam Friedland? You grew up Catholic in North, in Asheville, North, Cashville, North Carolina? Yeah?
11:41 Speaker 04 Yeah.
11:42 Adam Friedland? You were altar boy? What did you have to do for that? You had to like swing the incense?
11:46 Speaker 04 Um, well, you start as the...
11:49 Adam Friedland? You step up in the game?
11:50 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:51 Adam Friedland? An acolyte?
11:51 Speaker 04 I think acolyte, maybe no, book bearer is the first one. You bring the books up to the priest.
11:55 Adam Friedland? And that's like a little boy?
11:57 Speaker 04 That's the young buck?
11:58 Adam Friedland? Young bull.
11:59 Speaker 04 And then, and then you got the acolyte, that's big bro.
12:05 Speaker 04 And then the cross bearer, that's when, that's when you're altar.
12:07 Adam Friedland? You worked your way up to cross?
12:08 Speaker 04 Yeah. I was one of the best altar servers of all time.
12:11 Adam Friedland? You didn't drop that shit once?
12:12 Speaker 04 No, but I did put it on sideways.
12:14 Adam Friedland? You put the cross upside down?
12:16 Speaker 04 Sideways.
12:16 Adam Friedland? Oh, okay.
12:17 Speaker 04 This is like a square base and I put it down and then I went sat down and the cross was facing me.
12:22 Adam Friedland? Oh, my God.
12:24 Speaker 04 You watch Club Shannon?
12:26 Adam Friedland? Club Shea Shea?
12:27 Speaker 04 Yeah.
12:27 Adam Friedland? Yeah, this is Club Shea Shea.
12:28 Speaker 04 That's what this feels like.
12:31 Adam Friedland? We're drinking yak right now? Are you, you're, this is gonna be like the, um, the Cat Williams episode.
12:36 Speaker 04 Yeah.
12:37 Adam Friedland? You're gonna tell us about all the freak-offs you've been to?
12:39 Speaker 04 Yeah.
12:39 Adam Friedland? You're gonna tell us about, did they make you put on the dress?
12:44 Speaker 04 Adam?
12:45 Adam Friedland? I'm sorry, dude. There have been allegations that Jay Masekis from Dinosaur Jr. has been putting boys like you in dresses.
12:53 Speaker 04 I don't think we should be talking about that publicly.
12:55 Adam Friedland? Are you hyped that there's American Pope?
12:57 Speaker 04 An American Pope?
12:58 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
13:00 Adam Friedland? What are you talking, I'm not even Catholic, I'm hyped on it. It's good for America, dude.
13:04 Speaker 04 Yeah, I, I think it's more exciting that he's from Chicago for some reason.
13:08 Adam Friedland? Yeah. Sufjan.
13:10 Speaker 04 Yeah.
13:13 Adam Friedland? Do you think he's ever listened to Chief Keef?
13:16 Speaker 04 The Pope?
13:16 Adam Friedland? Yeah, the Pope.
13:17 Speaker 04 Certainly.
13:17 Adam Friedland? Most certainly.
13:18 Speaker 04 Not, I mean, maybe not intentionally, but...
13:20 Adam Friedland? Definitely out of a car. He's been like, yeah. What is this crap? No, the Pope is cool. We like him. What's his?
13:27 Speaker 04 Leo?
13:28 Adam Friedland? Yeah, what is his old name, though?
13:32 Speaker 04 Chris?
13:32 Adam Friedland? Chris?
13:33 Speaker 04 I don't know.
13:34 Adam Friedland? You changed your name to MJ?
13:35 Speaker 04 No.
13:39 Adam Friedland? Your name's Jake.
13:41 Speaker 04 My middle name's Jacob.
13:43 Adam Friedland? Oh, what, you were afraid of your first name? Mohammed? Sorry. It's the most common name in the world.
13:49 Speaker 04 Mark.
13:50 Adam Friedland? Mark?
13:51 Speaker 04 Mark Jacob.
13:52 Adam Friedland? Oh, that's kind of fire, then.
13:53 Speaker 04 But, yeah, when I started releasing music on the internet when I was in high school, I thought Jake just didn't sound good.
14:01 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
14:02 Speaker 04 Sounded like a jock.
14:03 Adam Friedland? Jake Lenderman? Yeah, no, it sounds like a kid that definitely has like one thing on the wall and his Pulp Fiction poster. Yeah, it's like, yeah, and he works at Goldman, yeah. Yeah, and he's doing like, he's doing five ads and watching NFL Red Zone.
14:19 Speaker 04 Yeah.
14:20 Adam Friedland? That's a Jake Lenderman look, yeah. I don't know. You think Sinead O'Connor would have been a good Pope, though? She was mad at the Pope.
14:28 Speaker 04 Yeah, I think she was, she was probably mad at the right things.
14:31 Adam Friedland? It was child abuse or abortion?
14:35 Speaker 04 Either or.
14:35 Adam Friedland? Something like that. Have you played in Ireland yet?
14:39 Speaker 04 Yeah. It's the best.
14:41 Adam Friedland? Best country.
14:42 Speaker 04 I was telling a story on stage when we played in Ireland, and I was talking about the plane ride over there, and I said I was sitting around a bunch of slags. I didn't know what that meant.
14:52 Adam Friedland? It's sluts, yeah.
14:52 Speaker 04 Yeah.
14:53 Adam Friedland? It means hoes.
14:54 Speaker 04 Yeah, I thought it meant something else.
14:55 Adam Friedland? What did you think about it?
14:56 Speaker 04 Just like a bunch of...
14:57 Adam Friedland? You thought it was a racial slur?
14:58 Speaker 04 No.
15:00 Adam Friedland? What did you think slag was?
15:01 Speaker 04 I thought it was like, just like...
15:03 Adam Friedland? Like a lazy person?
15:04 Speaker 04 Hooligans, you know, like...
15:05 Adam Friedland? Oh, no, no, no, no.
15:06 Speaker 04 Because these guys were like...
15:07 Adam Friedland? That's geezers.
15:08 Speaker 04 They were drinking at like 10 a.m. It's a bunch of kids. They were going from Manchester to Ireland, and my bass player was asleep on the plane, and one of them was just like... Smacked him in the head on the plane.
15:20 Adam Friedland? As a, as a bit?
15:22 Speaker 04 Yeah, he said, "You good, man?"
15:23 Adam Friedland? He smacked him because he was sleeping?
15:25 Speaker 04 Yeah, because he was asleep on a plane.
15:27 Adam Friedland? He doesn't know what asleep is.
15:28 Speaker 04 And this dude was drunk as hell.
15:30 Adam Friedland? Your great grandfather was a jazz guy?
15:33 Speaker 04 Yeah.
15:34 Adam Friedland? Was it, you never met Unc?
15:36 Speaker 04 No, that's, that's OG.
15:37 Adam Friedland? OG, yeah.
15:38 Speaker 04 We, we never met this. He passed away before I was born.
15:41 Adam Friedland? Was he like, uh, like, living hard kind of jazz guy? He was like Heron kind of style? No.
15:47 Speaker 04 Yeah.
15:48 Adam Friedland? He played for that, with the drums guy, what's his name?
15:50 Speaker 04 Gene Krupa.
15:51 Adam Friedland? Yeah. It's cool that you could be a bandleader and do drums.
15:55 Speaker 04 Yeah.
15:56 Adam Friedland? Like, dude, what?
15:59 Adam Friedland? Come on, dude. Is this bad attitude rock? Before, before we, uh, we hit play, he was like, "Oh my God, I'm so excited to do this shit." You were like, talking a mile a minute, and then we hit play, and you're like, "I'm fucking, fuck the B2s."
16:12 Speaker 04 I got the red light fever.
16:13 Adam Friedland? No, I know. That's why you want this, this, right?
16:16 Speaker 04 Yeah.
16:16 Adam Friedland? Let's do a shot.
16:17 Speaker 04 Loosen me up.
16:18 Adam Friedland? We'll loosen you up. I don't know, like, it sounds to me like you grew up in a family where, like, they were very supportive, and like, did they go to gigs?
16:24 Speaker 04 Our sets wouldn't start till like 11:00 PM because we're playing it.
16:27 Adam Friedland? You're playing like after your mom's bedtime?
16:29 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah. But they were always very cool, like, uh,
16:34 Speaker 04 They never, they never, they never told me not to play a show or something.
16:37 Adam Friedland? Did your mom criticize like what you were wearing? She's like, "You can wear something a little nicer." That's what my mom said to me about standup.
16:42 Speaker 04 Yeah, I remember going to school, uh, one morning, she was like, "You look like you just got your hair wet."
16:47 Adam Friedland? They don't know that that's cool.
16:49 Speaker 04 I was like, "Yeah, I just took a shower."
16:51 Adam Friedland? Oh, she's an idiot, your mom?
16:52 Speaker 04 Nooo.
16:54 Adam Friedland? Your mom's an idiot?
16:58 Speaker 04 She, she, she wants the best for me.
17:00 Adam Friedland? Are you gonna be a one that keeps it real? You're gonna be a North Carolina boy for, for life, or?
17:06 Speaker 04 I think so.
17:07 Adam Friedland? No, you saw my, I was wearing that coat last night, and you were like...
17:10 Speaker 04 I did see the coat, that was tempting.
17:13 Adam Friedland? We went, we got dinner last night, and I had one, a really nice coat, like, uh,
17:17 Speaker 04 You kept telling me, I was thinking about it on the drive over here, I was like, the way you were telling me, like, "You gotta get, you gotta get another coat." I was like, I was ma, I was getting self-conscious.
17:27 Adam Friedland? I was criticizing your coat.
17:28 Speaker 04 You think my coat's not?
17:29 Adam Friedland? No, I was saying you gotta move to New York and get a coat, like a Don Draper style coat. But that's during like your troubled period, after the divorce.
17:37 Speaker 04 Yeah, I gotta get married first.
17:39 Adam Friedland? You gotta get a, you're gonna have a motorcycle phase. You're gonna have all-
17:42 Speaker 04 Motorcycle?
17:43 Adam Friedland? You're gonna have a Christian phase again, yeah.
17:45 Speaker 04 That's gonna come back.
17:47 Adam Friedland? Yeah, then you're gonna have a reggae phase, infidel style. Yeah, yeah, you'll make a song called Heil Hitler, and then you'll, uh, no, I'm just kidding, just kidding. I really, um-
17:59 Speaker 04 Somebody, somebody just did that, though.
18:01 Adam Friedland? Yeah, but like, that's a phase. I've read, when I, when that song came out, I was like, it's this phase, alright. That, this'll wear off.
18:09 Speaker 04 Everybody was like, uh, the song's actually good.
18:12 Adam Friedland? Did you see Kanye, the song, no, uh, the Suck My Cousin's Dick was really good. But he should've done it the, he should, wait, can I be real, he should've done it the other way, right?
18:24 Speaker 04 Reverse?
18:24 Adam Friedland? I think he should've done HH, and then everyone's like, fuck, this guy's an asshole, and then followed it up with Suck My Cousin's Dick. And then that would've really sent it over the, over the top.
18:34 Speaker 04 Yeah, and then, because that kind of wraps everything up and explains maybe some trauma that he's dealing with.
18:40 Adam Friedland? I mean, it's clear that he's having like a psychotic break, right? Like, I don't think that Kanye was convincing anyone to either HH or suck their cousin's dicks.
18:48 Speaker 04 No.
18:49 Adam Friedland? I don't think that that was a winning message. I think it just seemed like a guy was having a tough time. For me, I used to get a CD, right, like at the mall, and I'd listen for like a month, right? And then, for you guys, you had Spotify probably, you could like listen to any song. And I wonder if that like, cause to me, it's like that either makes music way better, cause you could listen to anything, or it makes it like, like the kids don't have as much of a focus or something.
19:15 Speaker 04 Yeah, I think focus is totally gone, but I'm thankful that I had the resources to listen to whatever I wanted to at any time.
19:22 Adam Friedland? Yeah, we used to have to like, uh, burn each other CDs.
19:26 Speaker 04 I burned some CDs.
19:27 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
19:28 Speaker 04 I burned me and my dad. A mix from when we were going to basketball tournaments.
19:35 Adam Friedland? Geez, you're obsessed with your dad, dude.
19:37 Speaker 04 I put this Eminem song on there.
19:39 Adam Friedland? Which track?
19:40 Speaker 04 The one from Relapse with like the Aerosmith sample.
19:43 Adam Friedland? Can you go bar for bar?
19:45 Speaker 04 No.
19:45 Adam Friedland? On that, you're a big Eminem fan?
19:48 Speaker 04 I was, I was the Eminem kid in school.
19:50 Adam Friedland? Really? I was an awesome power skater.
19:51 Speaker 04 He was my iPod background.
19:54 Adam Friedland? Dude, what was your, what was your first Eminem album?
19:57 Speaker 04 I think when, when Not Afraid came out, that was, that was like, that was my.
20:02 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
20:02 Speaker 04 I knew who he was, but, and then I got like, and then I dug deep and then I heard like a song like Kim on Marshall Mathers LP. And I was like, this is terrifying.
20:11 Adam Friedland? I was listening to that in sixth grade.
20:12 Speaker 04 Same.
20:13 Adam Friedland? Yeah, about, I was listening to a song about a man killing his wife and putting her in his trunk.
20:18 Speaker 04 I was just so scared of it, but it was like, got obsessed.
20:22 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah. Do you think that comedy music is good or bad?
20:27 Speaker 04 Um.
20:27 Adam Friedland? Do you think funny songs are good?
20:30 Speaker 04 I think so.
20:32 Adam Friedland? Cause in the comedy community, it's looked down upon, but I happen to love funny songs.
20:37 Speaker 04 Yeah, it's weird. I don't think anybody really knows what to do with it.
20:40 Adam Friedland? Really?
20:41 Speaker 04 It's like, it's like not.
20:42 Adam Friedland? For me, it's listen to it.
20:43 Speaker 04 People like music that uses humor, but they don't, they don't like it the other way around.
20:49 Adam Friedland? Your lyrics are, your lyrics have humor in them, would you say?
20:52 Speaker 04 Hopefully, yeah, to me.
20:54 Adam Friedland? Yeah. Did you, do you feel like you've gotten better at writing the lyrics since you've, I mean, you've done four full albums already?
21:01 Speaker 04 The first song I ever wrote was called Nightmare.
21:04 Adam Friedland? Sick. What was it about?
21:07 Speaker 04 I guess it was about a nightmare I had.
21:08 Adam Friedland? Sick.
21:09 Speaker 04 But, uh, my guitar teacher hated it. I showed it to him. He ripped it to shreds.
21:15 Adam Friedland? Really?
21:15 Speaker 04 He's like, this doesn't make any sense.
21:17 Adam Friedland? Isn't it embarrassing that you wrote that? How old were you when you wrote Nightmare?
21:20 Speaker 04 14.
21:21 Adam Friedland? And Metallica's still writing those kind of songs, right? About like.
21:26 Speaker 04 It'll rip so heavy though.
21:28 Adam Friedland? What, yeah.
21:29 Speaker 04 They have a lot of money.
21:31 Adam Friedland? When, when do you feel like you kind of like popped for the first time? Was that in the last like three years?
21:38 Speaker 04 Yeah.
21:38 Adam Friedland? Yeah. Like, was there a moment where you're like, oh shit, it's going good?
21:42 Speaker 04 Oh, yeah. I mean, that keeps happening in a way that's like.
21:46 Adam Friedland? What was the moment where you realized people knew who you were? And like, how did you deal with that? Cause it's obviously like stressful situation.
21:53 Speaker 04 During like COVID, people were talking about it online a lot.
21:56 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
21:58 Speaker 04 And, once we started playing shows again, the crowds were bigger.
22:03 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
22:03 Speaker 04 I guess. And then, but especially like, my record Boat Songs came out in April twenty-two.
22:13 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
22:14 Speaker 04 And then by the end of the, it got put on a bunch of lists. And then, and I started noticing like a lot of, a lot of talk about it, like.
22:23 Adam Friedland? Now you have to put up, go to GQ Man of the Year.
22:25 Speaker 04 Yeah.
22:28 Speaker 04 But I, I, uh, yeah, that was, it was weird. I'd, I'd stopped using socials. But I do, I do.
22:34 Adam Friedland? You can't, don't look.
22:36 Speaker 04 I lurk on Twitter, just, just.
22:38 Adam Friedland? Just for Fuentes clips?
22:40 Speaker 04 Yeah.
22:42 Adam Friedland? Fuentes highlights?
22:43 Speaker 04 Youtube Shorts.
22:44 Adam Friedland? Youtube Shorts is fun, yeah. My, my Instagram, um, uh, Reels algorithm is the only safe place for me on the internet. It's the only place where it's not, uh, scary. Twitter, my Twitter algo has gone haywire.
23:00 Speaker 04 Dude, yeah, it's not good.
23:02 Adam Friedland? Yeah, there was like, there was like killings for a while, and then, uh, so, but Shorts is still just funny. Or Reels, Reels is funny. It's still people saying things the wrong way, it's still people falling over. The internet used to be funny.
23:18 Speaker 04 Yeah.
23:18 Adam Friedland? Yeah. Now it's scary. Now it's just like slur, MJ Lenderman song, uh, Nick Foot.
23:28 Adam Friedland? Geese.
23:28 Speaker 04 Exactly.
23:29 Adam Friedland? Yeah. I'm not saying those are all the same kinda thing, I'm just saying it's just.
23:33 Speaker 04 That's just, this is what people are talking about.
23:34 Adam Friedland? This is what people are talking about, yeah.
23:36 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's made a huge difference, so to not be looking at that as, as much.
23:41 Adam Friedland? I mean, it just doesn't matter, dude. I mean, at the end of the day, you just wanna make tracks, right?
23:45 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, it's like, and that, that just gets in the way, it's a distraction.
23:50 Adam Friedland? It doesn't matter even when people like. The people think, really. You're just like, as long as, like, have you ever felt good after, like, like finishing a song?
24:00 Speaker 04 Every time it feels awesome to finish a song, and then sometimes, within the next couple of days, like, oh, it wasn't that good, but...
24:07 Adam Friedland? Right, like, you look, I feel like everything I've ever done, I look back on it, I'm like, I would change that, I would change that, I would change that, right?
24:14 Speaker 04 Yeah, but it's, I think it's cooler to just move forward and...
24:17 Adam Friedland? You have to just forget about it.
24:18 Speaker 04 Forget it.
24:19 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah.
24:20 Speaker 04 Yeah.
24:20 Adam Friedland? The worst part is like, you get really excited at the beginning, and you're like, this is gonna be awesome, and then you try it, and you're like, I am a fucking loser. I have no talent, and you fight against it, and you just drop, you, you just end a project, and you put it out, and you forget about it. It's the best way to work, honestly. You figuring that out now is, is huge.
24:41 Speaker 04 Yeah, I mean, there's, there's plenty of things that I've released that I don't love, but it's, it's cooler to just move forward. Get better every time.
24:50 Adam Friedland? You get better every time, right, yeah.
24:52 Speaker 04 Yeah, if you're just trapped up, super concerned with only putting out things that are genius, then you'll never put anything out.
25:02 Adam Friedland? Or, also, you suck, dude.
25:03 Speaker 04 And you suck.
25:04 Adam Friedland? You suck at music. If anyone finishes something and they're like, this is amazing, then they suck.
25:11 Adam Friedland? No one, like, the only way you get, what I've found is like, in the middle stage, right, with the stage from like, this is so exciting, to, uh, whatever the fuck, just, just put it out. The middle stage is like the gym. That's like, uh...
25:26 Speaker 04 The reps.
25:27 Adam Friedland? They hate, it's the reps, right? It's like, I hate myself, I hate the song, I suck, but like, fighting through it is like, kind of, the part where you get better.
25:36 Speaker 04 Yeah.
25:36 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
25:37 Speaker 04 I agree.
25:37 Adam Friedland? Yeah. That's putting up shots.
25:39 Speaker 04 Yeah, putting up some shots, a little bit of discipline, reading some books, maybe.
25:43 Adam Friedland? What's your three-point, uh, percentage? Empty gym?
25:47 Speaker 04 Fifty.
25:48 Adam Friedland? Fifty. Dude, isn't it crazy that League is like, if their empty gym, it's kind of like eighty?
25:57 Adam Friedland? They're so good at basketball.
25:59 Speaker 04 Yeah, my biggest basketball game I ever played.
26:01 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
26:02 Speaker 04 I had ten threes.
26:04 Adam Friedland? Ten threes? You were a sniper?
26:06 Speaker 04 I was a sniper dude.
26:07 Adam Friedland? Really? What grade was that?
26:09 Speaker 04 Seventh.
26:10 Adam Friedland? Seventh grade, ten threes? So you were strong enough not to like, from your chest? You had form?
26:16 Speaker 04 I had form.
26:17 Adam Friedland? Dude, have you ever linked with Steph? He's North Carolina.
26:20 Speaker 04 Oh yeah, he went to Davidson.
26:22 Adam Friedland? Davidson, there you go.
26:23 Speaker 04 He loves Paramore, I just learned.
26:25 Adam Friedland? Dude, have you seen that clip of him at the fucking Benson Boone concert, wearing the fucking, wearing the hat?
26:31 Speaker 04 No.
26:32 Adam Friedland? I have a theory on the NBA, which is the fact that LeBron is so bad at any type of like, trying to be cool thing, has completely like, shielded Steph from any type of like, scrutiny. Like Steph has been a like, a genius player in an era where there was another genius player and he's been protected.
26:52 Speaker 04 Yeah, all their energy is put into being good at basketball. They don't have any skills at anything else.
26:58 Adam Friedland? I just know that LeBron's like, team is like, we will be doing creative on this. And it's always just a fucking brick. It's like, the Hennessy thing you saw, right?
27:08 Speaker 04 Was that when he said he was gonna make an announcement?
27:10 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
27:10 Speaker 04 Everybody thought he was gonna retire?
27:11 Adam Friedland? And it was on October 7th. It said, "I'm making an announcement, October 7th, 2025." And it was an ad for Hennessy. Did the girls leave?
27:22 Speaker 04 Wonder Man.
27:23 Adam Friedland? Thank God, okay, okay. Dude, we've never had so many girls in here before.
27:27 Speaker 04 I know.
27:28 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
27:28 Speaker 04 Zach brought them all.
27:29 Adam Friedland? The last girl here was Mia Khalifa. Alright, I was telling you last night, you should get in an indie rock pickup game. I thought you were dapping me.
27:39 Speaker 04 Oh.
27:39 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
27:40 Speaker 04 We can dap later.
27:41 Adam Friedland? I wonder who would be in the indie rock pickup game? Thurston Moore?
27:45 Speaker 04 He's tall as fuck.
27:46 Adam Friedland? He's tall as fuck.
27:48 Speaker 04 He's probably not very good though.
27:49 Adam Friedland? No, he's trash. He's definitely trash at all.
27:52 Speaker 04 There's a lot of tall guys out there.
27:53 Adam Friedland? You're obsessed with other guys' heights that are... No, you said that Cameron was way taller than you, he was one inch taller.
28:00 Speaker 04 You don't think he's taller?
28:01 Adam Friedland? You're already 6'3", dude.
28:03 Speaker 04 I'm not 6'3"?
28:04 Adam Friedland? What are you, 6'2"?
28:07 Speaker 04 I don't know. My license says I'm 5'11".
28:09 Adam Friedland? My license says I'm 6'3". Yeah, because I'm trying to, I'm trying to impress bouncers. I'm like, just don't look, just look at this, yeah. Tracking expenses can make one feel bad about past spending. It happens to me all the time. But Monarch keeps you focused on planning ahead and hitting real financial milestones. Monarch gives you a complete picture, budgets, debt payoff timelines, savings goals, net worth, so you can make decisions that actually move the needle. Unlike most other personal finance apps, Monarch is made to make you proactive, not reactive. And that's what I've been talking to you guys at the office about. Proactive.
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32:33 Adam Friedland? Do girls try to get with you because you're a rock star now?
32:36 Speaker 04 I don't know, I stay at home a lot.
32:39 Adam Friedland? You stay at home. Are you scared of girls? Is it kind of like a hard day is night situation?
32:43 Speaker 04 I have three sisters. My life is ruled by women.
32:46 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah, they stress you out?
32:47 Speaker 04 Sometimes, but...
32:49 Adam Friedland? And they tell you you can't get any girlfriends?
32:51 Speaker 04 They'd say, "I can't have girlfriends."
32:53 Adam Friedland? I wonder what it's like, I mean like...
32:55 Speaker 04 It's hard adding a fourth to the fold.
32:57 Adam Friedland? Zach, Zach our friend over here? He told me that girls learn the words to his songs at his gig.
33:03 Speaker 04 Oh, Zach! That's kind of hard.
33:06 Adam Friedland? Was there a moment where you realized that the kids knew the words?
33:09 Speaker 04 Yeah, because they're so fucking loud. Like, sometimes it'll be like, they want, they want to be heard. And it's like, I'm trying to sing a song and I start forgetting the words because I'm like...
33:19 Adam Friedland? Because it's lame to know.
33:20 Speaker 04 They're distracting me.
33:21 Adam Friedland? They're being lame for knowing the words.
33:23 Speaker 04 It's cool that people are that committed.
33:25 Adam Friedland? Are they annoying?
33:26 Speaker 04 Sometimes.
33:26 Adam Friedland? Yeah, they're fucking, yeah. What's the most annoying?
33:29 Speaker 04 This guy was in, uh, in, uh... He was at like three shows in a row and he kept telling me to take my shoes off. He said, "Let me see those feet."
33:38 Adam Friedland? No, maybe he was from the website WikiFeet though.
33:40 Speaker 04 Maybe he's trying to snap some photos for WikiFeet.
33:43 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah, he's like, "I'm a thorough guy. I need the Lenderman's feet."
33:46 Speaker 04 Yeah, after night three of doing that, I was like, "Who is saying this?" And I look at the guy, he's wearing every piece of merch that I have.
33:53 Adam Friedland? To the show?
33:54 Speaker 04 Yeah.
33:55 Adam Friedland? That's a, that is the worst look.
33:56 Speaker 04 And then, and then he, and then I, once I called him out, he got embarrassed.
33:59 Adam Friedland? What did you say to make him feel embarrassed?
34:01 Speaker 04 I said, "Stop it."
34:02 Adam Friedland? Off, from the stage?
34:04 Speaker 04 Off mic. I was being nice.
34:05 Adam Friedland? Did you kick him in the head with your shoe?
34:07 Speaker 04 Josh Homie style?
34:08 Adam Friedland? Yeah, you're like, "I love these shoes."
34:10 Speaker 04 Uh, no.
34:12 Adam Friedland? So, what relationship did COVID have to your career? Like, you were touring and then it cut it out?
34:17 Speaker 04 Yeah, but then, I was like working at an ice cream store. So, through working there, I got unemployment. And I started making more money than I ever made in my life.
34:26 Adam Friedland? Yeah, no, it happened to a lot of friends of mine.
34:28 Speaker 04 It was the most prolific period of time for me because we had a really, really fortunate... Living situation too.
34:37 Adam Friedland? Where, you have a nice place?
34:38 Speaker 04 Over by the Creekside Tap House that your boy works at.
34:41 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah. My boy's brother, I didn't know he had a brother for a while. Yeah, so you guys wrote a ton of music?
34:47 Speaker 04 Yeah, it was like the only, it was a weird like view of adulthood. Cause I turned 21 right before that happened and then, and then I have all this free time and more money than I've ever had.
34:58 Adam Friedland? Yeah.
34:59 Speaker 04 And just time to, to actually focus on making stuff. And it was, it was a pretty prolific time, but then, then-
35:07 Adam Friedland? Do you feel like you got better?
35:08 Speaker 04 Definitely within that time. That's, that's the best I'd felt about like making things. But, once touring came back, I started being like, when am I gonna have, you know-
35:19 Adam Friedland? Another break?
35:20 Speaker 04 Two years off again.
35:21 Adam Friedland? Dude, wouldn't it be nice dude?
35:23 Speaker 04 Yeah.
35:23 Adam Friedland? Wuhan dude. I mean, I feel like I would do it better this time. It sounds like you did it great.
35:29 Speaker 04 Oh yeah, I mean for the parts of it.
35:30 Adam Friedland? I started painting.
35:32 Speaker 04 Yeah, I painted a lot too.
35:33 Adam Friedland? I painted, yeah. How was your painting?
35:35 Speaker 04 It was fine. It was, it was, it was nice for the brain though. I think I was getting, getting ideas while I was painting.
35:41 Adam Friedland? I would listen to, I had an archive of Howard Stern and-
35:45 Speaker 04 I got obsessed with Howard Stern.
35:46 Adam Friedland? Yeah, yeah.
35:47 Speaker 04 But, Lynn Biscuit guitar auditions. And Beetlejuice comes in with completely naked. He's like, this is my guitar right here.
35:54 Adam Friedland? We were talking yesterday about Beetlejuice, the Obama phone call.
36:00 Adam Friedland? Where Beetlejuice says he doesn't like Obama. They get, some guy calls in, asks, "Oh, Papa."
36:07 Adam Friedland? Do you have goals in being like a musician? Is there like a thing that like, you're like, "Next time I'm gonna do this?"
36:14 Speaker 04 Um, yeah, I mean like-
36:16 Adam Friedland? What keeps you like motivated?
36:19 Speaker 04 Uh, just writing stuff, I guess.
36:21 Adam Friedland? You wanna get better?
36:22 Speaker 04 Yeah, I wanna get better. It's the happiest I am is when I make music, but I've achieved all of my goals.
36:30 Adam Friedland? Really?
36:30 Speaker 04 I just have to make new ones, I guess, but maybe they're unrelated to music.
36:34 Adam Friedland? I think you just need to just keep making tracks. The best guys are the guys that keep making tracks.
36:38 Speaker 04 I just wanna keep, keep making music that I'm happy about. I don't wanna lose. I think it's easy to get- Successful and then start making bad music.
36:48 Adam Friedland? What is like the currency that matters the most? Is it like approval of your peers? Is it like?
36:53 Speaker 04 That does mean a lot to me.
36:55 Adam Friedland? If a comedian says, "Good set that I like," I'm like, "That feels good."
36:58 Speaker 04 Yeah, that means a lot to me. My own validation from myself.
37:03 Adam Friedland? Yeah, but you hate all your stuff, right?
37:05 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah.
37:06 Adam Friedland? That's why you're good.
37:08 Speaker 04 It definitely means more with peers that I respect.
37:11 Adam Friedland? Yeah. If someone is ahead and they know. Because the guys that are telling you to take your shoes off. It's like, "Why don't you make a fucking track, dude?"
37:21 Speaker 04 Yeah, I'm like, "What does it say about me that this guy worships my music?"
37:26 Adam Friedland? And that guy was Brian Eno.
37:29 Adam Friedland? And that guy was... I really, I'm a big fan. I really appreciate you coming on. Did you have fun?
37:36 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, you too.
37:37 Adam Friedland? You have to do stuff like this and it's really...
37:39 Speaker 04 I'm not very practiced, I'm sorry.
37:41 Adam Friedland? No, it sucks for you. You shouldn't have to.
37:44 Speaker 04 To do these things?
37:45 Adam Friedland? Yeah, who's your evil...
37:46 Speaker 04 Well, this is one that I was excited for because I watched the show.
37:49 Adam Friedland? I know, but you like the show, so you're like, "Adam's gonna be hating on my ass."
37:54 Speaker 04 No. I talked to you on the phone before this.
37:57 Adam Friedland? We talked for an hour on the phone.
38:00 Speaker 04 And then more.
38:02 Adam Friedland? About, what are we talking about? I forgot what we were talking about. Oh, yeah, we talked about Redbar.
38:08 Adam Friedland? He's a big fan.
38:09 Speaker 04 Big fan, yeah.
38:10 Adam Friedland? Shout out to Mike David. Thank you, MJ Lenderman, everyone.
38:15 Speaker 04 Thanks for coming on.
38:18 Adam Friedland? Bye! Okay, you have to go to the airport.
38:21 Speaker 04 I guess so.
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