The Deep Dive on Every Artist's Entire Discography with Discograffiti's Dave Gebroe - Music Production Podcast #332

Dave Gebroe is the host and creator of the show Discograffiti, a music podcast that delivers the objective truth about the entire discography of every single artist and band that ever existed. He has written, produced, and filmed two feature films, The Homeboy and Zombie Honeymoon. 

Dave and I spoke about his show Discograffiti and the depths he goes to ensure that he and his guests leave no stone unturned in their exploration of the artist in question's life and career. We spoke about some of our favorite albums and producers, as well as the cost and benefits of devoting our lives to our passions.

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Show Notes:

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Transcript:

Brian Funk:

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Music Production Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Funk. And on today's show, I have David Gebroe. And Dave hosts Discography. It's the podcast about the deepest dive you can get on any artist's discography. I think the catchphrase is it gives Gen Xer music nerds a chance to smell like teen spirit again. which I think is cool. I've always wanted to have like a cool catchphrase for this show, but I haven't come up with anything that fun. Dave has been hosting the show for a few years now. He quit his job as a licensed hearing instrumental instrument specialist, which I'm interested to talk about actually. He's been music critic and he's written two feature films, The Homeboy and Zombie Honeymoon, which is another fun. thing you get to learn about people as you set up for these podcasts, which I think we're going to have a lot about that sort of thing to discuss with each other, podcast, one podcast host to another. So, Dave, it's really great to have you here. Thanks for coming on the show.

Dave:

Brian, thank you so much for having me. Thank you for getting back to me pretty quickly, which I know how busy you must be, so that wasn't lost on me to hear back from you so quickly.

Brian Funk:

Oh yeah, well, I was excited to talk to you. Once I started diving into your show, I was like, yeah, this is a fun guy to talk to. Especially, I really appreciate about your show, which is a little bit different than mine, is the amount of research that must go into it and planning to put these things together because you really are taking an artist's life's work. and trying to distill it down, rating the albums, coming up with interesting background stories. I can't imagine that information is all just sitting in your head ready to go before you start these shows. So I really respect the amount of work you put into it.

Dave:

Thanks, man. I mean, it's, even if I am incredibly familiar with the work, as I promised in the intro, I'm always re-listening, because when you sit down and listen to an artist's, the entirety of their output versus casual listening to an album, you really are able to glean an understanding about that person's work and their perspective on this earth in a way that... generally supersedes the ability of the artist to understand it because you're cramming it all in at once and you there's for me like a eureka moment where I feel like if I'm doing it right like if I'm really letting it all storm down at once where I'm like oh I get it I get it even if I had listened to all of it before you take it all in at once and you get that lightning bolt thing.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, you know, I was talking to somebody on this podcast about this at one point where there's something kind of interesting when you go through the time period with the artist and you experience it in real time, you know, you get their debut album and then you go through the whole catalog. But there's also something kind of cool when you look back, you know, and for me that's happened with like a lot of bands, the Beatles, you did one on the Velvet Underground, which was like that for me, you know, all

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

before my time. but I got a sense of this big perspective, big picture. And it's, I think you're right. I think that's probably something the artists themselves don't even get a chance. There's so many things the artist never gets to do, right? They don't get to see their big picture in one shot like that. They don't get to hear their songs for the first time. It's all comes together in stages. But that's a really interesting take on it to get, and that's something that you seem to draw out. I think you said in the... description of the show, you're going for like a higher truth when you do

Dave:

Absolutely,

Brian Funk:

these deep dives.

Dave:

and I know how pompous that sounds. Believe me, I'm from New Jersey, you're in Long Island, so pomposity doesn't sit well in our region. It's typically stamped out quick, but for me, music became a huge motivating force when I was younger, and now that I'm 51, it somehow... against all odds has become even more meaningful and more of a motor or a rudder in my life. The show at first probably, I'm guessing for you too, was a lark, you know, hey, it'd be cool to do this. And then it became like, no matter how impossibly difficult this is, I'm gonna keep going no matter what. It's... I think what it comes down to, you know, cause every day there's a million reasons for you and I both to give up what we're doing. But at the end of the day, I'm going to keep listening to music exactly how I listened to it for this show, even if I wasn't doing the show. But if I don't have a show and I'm listening to music like I currently am, that makes me either a loser or a homeless person because it takes. so much energy to do it the way I'm doing it. I need the show to justify my behavior.

Brian Funk:

I know that feeling.

Dave:

Ehh

Brian Funk:

That's been a great way to justify all the tinkering with sound and noise that I like to do, is that in some way making it a type of job that it justifies it a little. I'm working now instead of I'm fooling around, I'm playing.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know,

Brian Funk:

That's

Dave:

I'm

Brian Funk:

funny.

Dave:

a...

Brian Funk:

And...

Dave:

Do you have kids?

Brian Funk:

No kids

Dave:

No kids. Okay, so I have a four-year-old.

Brian Funk:

No kids

Dave:

So

Brian Funk:

married

Dave:

it's,

Brian Funk:

no kids

Dave:

with a four-year-old, it's, you know, it definitely could get dicey. Like, you know, if I don't have a show, how could I say, you know, honey, please, I just have, you know, four more, you know, David Paho solo records to go before I can feed our child. It doesn't fly if you don't have a show.

Brian Funk:

Especially in that situation, right?

Dave:

Yeah. But one thing I just want to add, only because it was so much work to actually do all this stuff, is that I wrote, produced, and directed my features. I didn't just write them. And that's also, I think, psychologically... like a really crucial element in for me understanding why I'm doing this. Because I wrote, produced and directed two films. The first one I just produced and directed. But Zombie Honeymoon I wrote, produced and directed. And then my third one, which you know, not coincidentally is a music-related horror film about a psychedelic rock band. It took forever to try to find money for it. I had... John Landis on board as an executive producer. I had Elijah Wood on board looking for money with his company Spectravision. And years were going by and I was caught in that quagmire of just looking to set up projects. And I was just another loser in LA. I was a statistic. So when I started doing the show, as difficult as it is, the fact that I'm able to... churn out as much as I do, which is I do three episodes a week. I have no help, zero, except for a guy who, a good friend of mine, who does promo art for one out of the three shows per week. Otherwise, I do it all. So, and I'm not boasting, I'm just saying like, because I don't have to sit around and wait for money to come in, I'm making up for years of lost aesthetic time.

Brian Funk:

Right. That's a lot of work. Three a week. I'm doing about one a week. And I recently started getting help with the editing. Animus NVIDIUS performmodule.com. Shout out to him. Carl, he does great work editing the show. The stuff that slows me down in the process, it's... And my show is not very heavily edited, but still to sit down and get an episode ready is like my day of work. You know, like we'll have a conversation and that's often a pretty good portion of the amount of work time I have for music. And then the editing becomes like another day of my work. Um, I don't know if I were to do three a week, then that would mean three days to record three days to edit. I'd have no time to do anything else. Really.

Dave:

Yeah, it's hard. It's just, you know, this started as a lark, like, hey, this would be fun. And it started with a buddy of mine, you know, one of my best friends on the planet who's a working musician. And when we both realized, holy shit, like what's involved

Brian Funk:

I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

Dave:

here, we promptly... went in different directions where he was like, I'm out of here, I can't, no, I can't do it like you're doing it. Because with the Velvet Underground one, that was because Anthony Fantana was the guest on that one, all of a sudden we had an audience about six months into doing it. And for me, I was like, all right, how do we take this to the next level? And he's like, next level? This is...

Brian Funk:

Thanks for watching!

Dave:

we're just having a good time, bye. So I had to learn how to record, how to edit. As a filmmaker, I knew that stuff conceptually, but I'd never used logic. I've never just purely edited waveforms. But as far as the meaning or the import behind doing something like this. Or actually, you know, I don't consider what I do content because content just strikes me as a, you know, I'm just filling up space. To me, this is the higher truth aspect. What I do is, you know, generally the setup of the show is I take... a guest, usually a musician, but it could be an author. I take their favorite band and we go through everything they've ever done. It's a completest dream come true. And we rate everything from zero to five. The crazier the fraction, the better. I love using sixteenths. And a lot of work goes into it. It's not just for ironic distance. And so then we go through everything they've ever done and try to reach a higher understanding. But one thing that's been super helpful for me in my interview style is when we're talking about another band and when we're giving stars, it immediately takes whoever it is that I'm talking to and melts them down into the fanboy they were when they were a kid. So

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

when I detect that the walls are fully down, that's when I swing into the personal interview.

Brian Funk:

Mm-hmm.

Dave:

And so I'm generally And it's not like, all right, we're gonna start our interview now, I'll just start asking him questions, and I will then hack that part off, and that becomes a separate show.

Brian Funk:

Right, oh cool.

Dave:

And I love that, because down deep, we're all like the nervous fanboy who, at least I am, who's still nervous to approach the lip of the stage and talk to their musical idol, although they're probably more nervous than I am to speak to me.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

But yeah, it's been an incredible thing connecting with all these people who've been so important to me through the years. Your music taste is pretty far ranging, right?

Brian Funk:

Yeah, definitely pretty wide and it's gotten wider the more I get into producing music. Cause what one nice thing that happened once I started recording and trying to learn new techniques was that I started to appreciate genres that I didn't before just for the techniques of the production is like, Oh, you know, that's pretty cool. Like, you know, it wasn't like following like the top 10 pop charts, but from a production standpoint, there's a lot of really cool stuff going on. Maybe I'm not so into the subject matter, the music necessarily, but as far as production-wise goes, it's cutting edge when you start listening to what's going on in pop, just as far as making things slick and smooth, and what's trending, what's happening. But my background is rock music. I started playing guitar as a kid in the 90s, learning Nirvana and grunge and, you know, Weezer, Green Day, all that kind of stuff.

Dave:

who's the greatest producer that ever lived.

Brian Funk:

Oh man. Ah.

Dave:

You have this answer at the ready. You're pretending

Brian Funk:

No,

Dave:

to search

Brian Funk:

I don't.

Dave:

for an, no? Ha ha

Brian Funk:

No,

Dave:

ha.

Brian Funk:

I don't. I don't always think like that either.

Dave:

Well, let me ask you this. What appeals to you more, the utilitarian aspect of an engineer's style, like a Steve Albini, or the florid approach of a Norman Smith or like the Sgt. Pepper era, where it was about rotating Leslie cabinets and all kinds of shit like that?

Brian Funk:

But both, it depends.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk:

You know, like I'm playing in a three piece rock band right now and it's very garage punkish. So, you know, put up the mics and let's get something raw and dirty, Steve Albini style, you know. It doesn't make sense to, for us to go and overproduce. And that's exactly what we ran into with our album when we recorded is like... I've got all this experience now, especially compared to in the past, and I've got all these synthesizers and I know all these production tricks. Like, are we going to make this like a real, you know, ornate thing? And it was like, no, we want to sound like a band. So that, you know, guided our approach. So we would have been much happier with somebody that was more like putting a mic up in the room and just trying to get a good sound. But I love the other stuff too, you know, like Like what Phil Spector or George Martin would do back in those days is incredible I Think it really depends on the project and the song and even that you can take a band like the Beatles and some of their Stuff like the sergeant pepper stuff is amazing But I also love just hearing their live shows and just to hear

Dave:

Oh

Brian Funk:

how

Dave:

yeah.

Brian Funk:

much energy they had you know, they were like when you

Dave:

So

Brian Funk:

when

Dave:

today,

Brian Funk:

you

Dave:

we're taping, today's Monday, June 26th, 60 years ago today, they wrote, She Loves You. Yeah.

Brian Funk:

Wow. 60, wow. How about that? Still holds up.

Dave:

It really does. There's certain of their songs that feel like it embodies the Beatlemania aspect, you can hear it.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

The one I think that really punches me in the throat with regard to hearing it, you can almost hear A Thousand Girls Running Down the Street, is it won't be long.

Brian Funk:

Hmm. Yeah.

Dave:

It just, it kicks off like it just bolts right out of the gate and everything's so fast and it feels like they're, this is not, even their love songs are not directed at one person, they're directed to gigantic crowds of screaming people.

Brian Funk:

Uh-huh. Yeah. And when you hear them play, it's lost a little bit in the fidelity of those recordings. They don't really capture the heaviness of the drums and the bass. But if you pay attention, they're really playing hard. They're smashing, Ringo's bashing away. He's got all his cymbals going all the times. They're screaming half the time too. It's almost like some of the harder music that came out later when you hear it in those contexts. You just have to kind of remember that the recording isn't quite capturing all that information.

Dave:

If you hear some of the shows that they did toward the end, I have a bootleg, a pretty shitty quality bootleg of the Candlestick Park Show, which is the last one they ever did in August 66. And they had no monitors, they couldn't hear themselves play, and yet they were perfectly in time, as if...

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

You know, they just, they couldn't be at a time. That wasn't even a possibility. And the songs sound great under all the screaming. I'm thinking specifically of Nowhere Man. I mean, it's crazy they were able to pull off any kind of a performance.

Brian Funk:

harmonies in that song?

Dave:

They didn't

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

hear themselves at all.

Brian Funk:

Right. Well, they really went through the ringer. They were playing in Germany, you know, on uppers for like 12 hours straight. Really unhealthy way to do it, but they really got their... In war torn, you know, post-World War II Germany in the rubble. They are out there all night long, 20 years old or so.

Dave:

They weren't

Brian Funk:

Just...

Dave:

just on speed, they were drunk too.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, they were just

Dave:

They were all blitzed, yeah.

Brian Funk:

all kinds of help to

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

keep them going for that. But I mean, that's how you learn. That's how you get to play, especially with other people. After a while, you start to understand how they move and how they flow. And you just feel it and you move together with the people you play with. And they just have that. And I think... That's sometimes, I don't think they get enough credit for that, just how good of a band they were.

Dave:

Yeah, oh yeah. I mean, the first memory I truly have, it's like blackness, and then all of a sudden, a light switch is on and I'm looking at the back cover of Sergeant Pepper. That's the first thing I remember. And I remember looking at all their record covers and looking at them like they were gods, like it was Matt Rushmore, like every... especially with the Beatles or Meet the Beatles,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

that incredible shot, which is heavily influenced by the photography that Astrid was doing and all their super artsy friends in Germany. Some beautiful shots that, my mind would go in a loop. I remember being like two, three years old and being like, these people are gods. it really had a profound effect on me. They're not, my all time favorite group is the Beach Boys, but the most profoundly meaningful push into music and understanding the depth, the impossible boundless depths that music had to offer for me was The Beatles.

Brian Funk:

Right. Yeah. I had that feeling a lot about just rock stars in general. I think maybe my brother is nine years older than me. So he's like a teenager when I'm first like becoming self-aware, you know, and he's got all this music coming out of his room, blasting, getting yelled at to turn it down. And to me, like the people I saw on MTV, the posters I saw in his room. It wasn't something like anybody could do. You couldn't, it never occurred to me that if I got a guitar, I can learn how to play these songs. Or if I got drums, I can learn how to play. It really wasn't until I was a teenager that I realized that. And realizing that was so revelatory, you know, just an epiphany that it really, I think, carried me through all the difficulties of actually learning the guitar. and how much it like it hurt your fingers, you suck, it sounds terrible. But the excitement, they're like, holy crap, I could play these songs. I thought you had to be struck by lightning on a mountain top, you know, you know, to

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

get these like powers ordained to you. So I had the same thing. It was like they were just like not even human.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah, because especially I took guitar lessons. I had a hippie guitar teacher who basically said, anything you want to know how to play, just let me know any particular songs. So man, I just, I mean, I was so psyched. I was decent for a little kid, but when it got to bar chords, my little fingers couldn't handle it, man. I was suffering.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

So

Brian Funk:

Bar

Dave:

I

Brian Funk:

chords

Dave:

wish

Brian Funk:

is

Dave:

I...

Brian Funk:

one of those hurdles that some people just don't get over.

Dave:

Yeah, I didn't

Brian Funk:

Especially

Dave:

get over

Brian Funk:

when you're

Dave:

that.

Brian Funk:

young, you know, in smaller hands can be really tough. And a lot of times you're learning on a cheaper guitar that's a little harder to play to begin with. ["Bad Boy"]

Dave:

Yeah, I learned on a Spanish nylon string guitar, and still to this day, I prefer the warmth of the nylon string. But yeah, I'm not, I can't really, I was decent at reading music at that time now, I can't.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

But I listen to so much music that it becomes difficult to create it, so.

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

But the inception of this thing has been strange. If I can, you know, in eloquently switch topics here.

Brian Funk:

Please.

Dave:

So again, like for you, I'm guessing, a lark entrance way into this thing. And then this was, you know, my show started after yours. The idea came during the pandemic and the idea was really just how I listen to music. That there's no change. I mean, for many, many years, I would not just sit down and listen to an album. I would have several different, what I would call, trawls. So my friend Joe, who initially was the co-host, would ask me, you know, what trawls are you doing right now? And we would talk about, you know, whatever incredible introductions I had, whatever work. You know, big John Coltrane, you know, going through all of John Coltrane's work. Van Morrison, whatever it was, but it wasn't for an audience. It's just my own, you know, a gaggle of psychiatric conditions that conspired

Brian Funk:

Thanks for watching.

Dave:

so that I couldn't just sit down and listen to one fucking album like a normal person. And then he said, well, why don't we do a show that's, you know, that's about that. It's apparently a no-brainer to get a huge podcast going. So I took

Brian Funk:

You just

Dave:

that all the way to the bank,

Brian Funk:

hit

Dave:

you know?

Brian Funk:

record.

Dave:

Yeah, so from that moment forward, what happened was I got cancer, kidney cancer. Then I was immediately diagnosed with severe spinal stenosis. They did an operation through here, and 10 days later, I couldn't move my left arm, and my symptoms were much worse. It turns out that there was... that there were problems with the surgery. They had to go back in, in the back, and I was off work for a year, and I had to learn how to walk again. I had to wear a neck brace for six months. Then my wife was let go from her job. And, you know, we're in the midst of the pandemic. We have no idea what's going on at this point. And then... I'm also type one diabetic and all of the uncertainty led to crazy insomnia where every single day I'd be waking up between midnight and two in the morning. And I would just wake up, work on the podcast all night, then go to work where I worked as a licensed hearing instrument specialist. At first I would just try to make it through the day. But then it just became like, you know what, this is, my thinking got completely shifted and I started working not just all night on the podcast, but all day too. So if I was approached with a work-related matter, I would get palpably and visibly irate. It doesn't help that I'm getting no sleep, but now I'm really focused. Now it's like, it really kind of started with, when I was on my own, when I was no longer with my co-host, and I did an eight-hour interview with Bob Nastanovich from Pavement, and became obsessed with taking out every ah and um. That screwed me. So I basically just, you know, I kind of talked myself mentally out of a job, out of a career, and decided that, you know, the proof of concept, you know, the audience kept growing, and I was like, I'm just gonna do it, I'm gonna go for it. So I went from really, really struggling to make ends meet, even with a good job, to now making less than $1,000 a month during that initial phase where I have a Patreon and I have people who are in it, and a decent sized amount for a new show. The show's only been going for a year and a half. Patreon's only been in existence for nine months. But it's a kamikaze mission now. And my wife and myself and our four-year-old, we left the West Coast in January before we even sold the house. We were just like, this is not working because I can't, even when things are going great, it's just a question of how fast are we gonna sink in the quicksand? Or are we

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

gonna slow it down this month? So we drove across country. Thank God we were able to sell the house. and we're living on the East Coast right now with my parents and we have a house in Vermont that was an Airbnb thing. We're gonna be there this summer. And I'm gunning it for this thing to be, you know, what it deserves to be, which is the fucking

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

standard bearer on all things that are cool and worthwhile about music, just like your show.

Brian Funk:

Damn, so that a lot of shit happened at once, huh? Wow.

Dave:

Yeah, and also a few weeks ago, I had another operation that I needed to do a while ago, but the recovery was looking grim and difficult. So I put it off to when I got here to New Jersey, and then when I did that, there was a complication with that surgery, and I came very close to bleeding to death.

Brian Funk:

Really?

Dave:

That was several weeks ago. So...

Brian Funk:

I think you did a podcast on that.

Dave:

Yeah, the only so.

Brian Funk:

I didn't listen to that one yet, but I saw the intriguing

Dave:

I've never,

Brian Funk:

title.

Dave:

yeah, I've never missed a single week with three shows a week. The week I almost bled to death, it was four shows.

Brian Funk:

Wow.

Dave:

There's something very wrong with me. I'm sure you can empathize to some extent.

Brian Funk:

Well, I mean, I guess this is, it puts importance on doing what you love to do, right? I mean, that's what it sounds like to me, that you just, you know, saddled with all this stuff happening at once that, you know, I got to spend my time how I want to spend it in a way that means something to me.

Dave:

Yeah, that's why I don't consider it content. I mean, what I'm really

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

gunning for is some kind of higher understanding, because ultimately, with all the mortality that I've been confronted with, and I'm not even, there's a lot more. I'm just kind of giving you bullet points, but, you know, we... You know, for me, I'm thinking about what I'm leaving behind. For my son, I think about, you know, my son wanting to learn more about his dad. And so sitting down and listening to these shows and the star ratings, as much as the whole thing, you know, it really, that is the crux of the thing. It's a diversion away from the main point, which is, you know, why are we really doing this? Or, you know, how old are you?

Brian Funk:

42.

Dave:

Okay, so the music that was meaningful to you as a kid, that was, you know, before we even had the mechanism to ask why, you know, why is this thing driving me? Why do I love the things I love? Now I'm very, very demonstrably looking back and trying to ask those questions, but not just of myself, the people who were making that music back then that was doing those things to me. People like Lou Barlow from Dinosaur Jr. and Sabato, David Paho talking about slint. Really positioning the question to them, were you feeling the same things that I was getting from what you were producing at that time? And I think it's a, I don't think that question's really asked very much. And I think, you know, a lot of, you know, I think it's customary that an interview would be approximately an hour long. But what happens if you tell somebody, hey, it'll be an hour, knowing full well that you plan to keep them on the phone for eight hours? Have you ever been in that position?

Brian Funk:

That long? Not that long. Though there have been, every once in a while, the way I always tell the guests, you know, we'll say hello. I forgot to tell you this actually. We'll say hello in the beginning. You know, we kind of talk, we explain what's going on, get on the same page. And then we'll say goodbye to the audience, kind of like a Hollywood goodbye, and then we'll wrap up afterwards in case there's anything we need to talk about, anything that needs editing or whatever. And occasionally that wrap up winds up going on and on and on too, because I guess, I guess you noticed this too when you mentioned it, alluded to it a little before that there is like a warm up period that happens and it's the guest comfort, it's my comfort with the guest. It's this kind of time it takes to forget that you're recording a podcast. And then things start becoming a little more open and fluid. And then sometimes once you actually end the podcast, now the connection has been made and no one's listening. It sometimes continues on. Sometimes there've been certain times where I kind of wished we didn't hit the end button, you know.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

Where... some of the good stuff happens there, but it's something that happens when you just sit down with somebody for this extended period of time that's so unusual in routine life nowadays to

Dave:

Mm-hmm.

Brian Funk:

just sit down and talk. Your show reminded me of being a teenager and a couple summers in high school, a buddy of mine, his family would rent out a campsite on Montauk, Hither Hills. So it's a very popular place to go camping right on the beach in Montauk on Long Island. And we'd go camp out and there'd always be like a couple nights where we'd sneak off and build a bonfire. And then we'd have these like conversations about like the bands we like, the movies we like, the comic books. And they were really, you know, at the edge of our intellectual capabilities and very just kind of opinionated, sometimes just arguing, but they were

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

really fun. conversations to have in a time when you didn't have forums, you didn't have chat rooms or anything that we have nowadays.

Dave:

You're

Brian Funk:

Almost

Dave:

kind of

Brian Funk:

if.

Dave:

on the cusp though. I mean you were born what year with

Brian Funk:

80.

Dave:

80? Okay so yeah

Brian Funk:

I

Dave:

you

Brian Funk:

got to

Dave:

as

Brian Funk:

see

Dave:

a teen

Brian Funk:

the internet.

Dave:

you're going yeah.

Brian Funk:

The first time I ever saw the internet was I was like a ninth grader and it was so new. It was America Online and you were unplugging the phone and you couldn't really do anything on it, you know.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

But I'm really glad I got to see that change just to understand what the world was like before it. But yeah, it was, those were... fun times where you got to learn about each other, you know, and what was important to each other. And I think your show is sort of like the modern version of those types of times, you know, staying up late with your friends talking about all these little details and rumors you may have heard. Much more factual based now than it

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

was back then.

Dave:

Right.

Brian Funk:

But

Dave:

Yeah, I, it,

Brian Funk:

it's got that vibe.

Dave:

yeah, it definitely is consciously patterned after that. And, you know, I still have those same discussions, you know, even with the show, even more so because I try to have a very, you know, I try to have a hands on relationship with my Patreon audience because at the end of the day the thing that is actually the most important to me Along with making this thing work is creating a community because the kind of person Who is my? You know my number one type fan does not care what the band is that we're covering week after week It's just as much about learning about new music as it is you know just revisiting the stuff that we already know to be great. So, you know, to me, the most value I can possibly have in any conversation or with any, you know, type of music-related piece of entertainment is how many usable suggestions do I have to discover new records or bands?

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

No matter how great the article, the book, the movie, No matter what it is I'm indulging and if I don't leave with great ideas for downloading, then it could have been better. So actually, I'm doing one on an artist I had never heard of, so I kind of become an avatar for the audience. The band Deertick.

Brian Funk:

Okay, yeah.

Dave:

The drummer's going to be on in the next couple weeks. and he wanted to do, he gave me a list. They were all juggernauts like Steely Dan and Dr. John. And then there was one guy I'd never heard of named Bambino. He's a Nigerian guitarist and I was blown away and it's like, all right, this is awesome because then I can, you know, I don't have to be a resident expert. I can be the guy who's discovering

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

it. right along with you and I'll give you my thoughts in real time and it's become a marvelous opportunity because something like Velvet Underground, you know, it's been, I've been knowledgeable about it for a long time and so I'm just trying to explain what's, you know, what is so, has been such a draw, has been so appealing to me why the Velvet Underground is, you know. not just a great band, but a necessary band. You know, I remember the very first time that I ever took acid that night, going to sleep, putting on Sister Rae to go to sleep too. And I feel like that did something to me like in a hardwired way.

Brian Funk:

I rearranged some wires.

Dave:

Yeah, it did, it did in all the best possible ways.

Brian Funk:

I like that you take that approach of not having to be the expert. It's got to be so liberating, first of all. As a teacher, I teach high school English by day. That's my grown-up job. I also teach music production, but I don't know everything about anything. I think when I was younger, the temptation was to try to establish, I deserve to be here. So learning to just say, I don't know, I never heard of that. I'm not sure. So liberating and it made me such a better teacher too, because then I would go on and learn these things instead of pretending and then running away from it as fast as we could. You know, you would go in and you would experience it, like you said, like the audience or the class say, and go through it together. And it's such a better experience than, than trying to pretend to be, you know. something that you're not, or trying to work up to it, like overnight.

Dave:

I love the idea of, I don't know if this is an appealing aspect of your show to you, but the idea of trying to crack the code on every episode. It sounds like you approach each show fresh and just kind of roll with it, but, and I'm not sure if that's the case, but for me, I feel like I'm trying to solve a riddle before I actually get on the line with somebody. There's a... It feels like there's a twist for every episode that'll make it unique instead of just being just a format plugging slab of content.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, I definitely do research on my guests and their work and get familiar with what they're doing. And I often come up with questions and curiosities through that, but it's not I'm rattling off a list of questions here. It's I got some bullet points and things that might come up.

Dave:

Were you an interviewer before the show?

Brian Funk:

Oh no.

Dave:

No.

Brian Funk:

No. Um, so I think for me, uh, my approach to the show might've been a little different than yours because it wasn't exactly, in a way it was on the lark, but it wasn't because I thought about this show for like years before I started it and it was going to have these segments. I had all these ideas, video portion tutorial here, and then a sound design thing, and that'll be like the theme music, like so many things I wanted to do with it that it got too difficult to start. Eww. I think we lost connection, huh? 40

Dave:

Are you good?

Brian Funk:

I'm here.

Dave:

All right. So, does that do anything to the sink or anything like that? Or are we good just to

Brian Funk:

I think

Dave:

jump

Brian Funk:

we

Dave:

back

Brian Funk:

just

Dave:

in?

Brian Funk:

leave it running.

Dave:

Okay.

Brian Funk:

Everything kept recording on my end. So

Dave:

Okay, cool.

Brian Funk:

let me just put you back where I can see you better. All right, so I'm just making notes of where we stopped and started. The show just got too big for me that I didn't know how to start it. It became too big of a project, you know? And then

Dave:

Are you

Brian Funk:

I

Dave:

talking

Brian Funk:

shied

Dave:

about

Brian Funk:

away from

Dave:

conceptually?

Brian Funk:

it. Yeah. I had all these, I had like notes and all this, what the show is going to be. But the way it got started was sort of on a lark because one day I just said, well, let's just see if I can actually even talk for long enough to do this. You know what I mean? That was, I didn't know if I could do it. But it's funny because it turns out as I started recording the ones that I do by myself, they almost all wound up roughly around 40 minutes long, which is how long like a class period is at school. So I'm just like a 40 minute at a time person, I guess.

Dave:

That's pretty good for doing a solo show. I tend to run short on a solo thing.

Brian Funk:

Well, I guess I'm good at dragging things out to fill

Dave:

If

Brian Funk:

a

Dave:

you

Brian Funk:

class

Dave:

can expound

Brian Funk:

period.

Dave:

interestingly, hey, that's pure gold, man.

Brian Funk:

Yeah. Um, but it was a little nerve wracking to have guests though. I didn't know if I could hold a conversation that long. Um, but it's curiosity, I guess. Um, and like you, there is a little bit of like cracking the code. I have these ideas of what we're going to talk about and things I'm curious about. But part of the reason I like to keep it a little bit loose is because a lot of times the thing that becomes sort of the theme, almost like the title of the episode, is not in my notes.

Dave:

Right.

Brian Funk:

It just comes up along the way. and

Dave:

Right.

Brian Funk:

just kind of you're exploring your feeling for that as you go.

Dave:

You know, it's funny, if I really, I can usually tell when I have my head up my ass, when I'm listening back to an episode, because I'm trying to make it into the thing that it is or was in my head before I got to the mic.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

And I can hear myself sometimes not listening and thinking about that. I can hear myself thinking about the next thing I'm going to say. That's more early on. I'm trying to keep that kind of stuff at bay, because like you said, or if I can paraphrase, like the miracle happens if you get the hell out of the way with your ideas about it.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

Same with making music, I mean it's the same thing.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, there's

Dave:

And anything

Brian Funk:

parallels.

Dave:

creative, yeah.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, I've, I've gone the same way where I notice I'm just planning what I'm going to say next. It's made me hyper aware of that when I'm having real life conversations, like, like in person, you know, casual conversations when I realize, all right, this, they're just getting ready to say what they're going to say next. And I guess, uh, I've lost a little patience for those interactions along the way.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

But you're right about the music connection, which I kind of never thought of, because if you're trying to make the interview, the conversation into something, you're grabbing the wheel a little too much, you can lose it and it doesn't become anything sometimes. And same thing with writing a song. Sometimes you have to sort of like, let the terrain turn the wheel for you a little bit, instead of just forcing it, because you might... often be onto something pretty interesting, but you're sort of blind to it because you're trying to steer the other way.

Dave:

I think ultimately that is the main value of Brineo's Oblique Strategies deck, is not necessarily specifically what they impart, but dismantling your own old, tired, mold-ridden process.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, to just get you thinking in a different way.

Dave:

Yeah, just differently. As long as it's not the way that you normally think, that's the only thing that matters.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, and they're, I guess if anyone's not familiar with those cards, they're just very abstract phrases that they, so Brian Eno and somebody else designed them.

Dave:

Yeah, I can't remember who the other person was. But if you're listening to this show

Brian Funk:

You

Dave:

and

Brian Funk:

might

Dave:

you don't

Brian Funk:

know

Dave:

know

Brian Funk:

about

Dave:

what that

Brian Funk:

it.

Dave:

is, the fuck is wrong with you?

Brian Funk:

No, it's okay.

Dave:

Sorry, I'm obviously the abrasive one here on the show. Ha ha ha.

Brian Funk:

It's okay. Everybody. I didn't know about them until long after they were released. I don't even know when they were released, but

Dave:

You do have a certain lulling gentleness of spirit to you.

Brian Funk:

Okay.

Dave:

It comes through in your voice and so listening to your show, it's a very calming feeling.

Brian Funk:

Thanks. I think a lot of that comes from being very aware of my own shortcomings and where I've come from and how I had to get to where I am.

Dave:

Where

Brian Funk:

I've

Dave:

do

Brian Funk:

always,

Dave:

you fall short?

Brian Funk:

well, I've just always felt like I was behind. Like people were ahead of me, they knew more, they started playing their instrument earlier than me. They started, they've been doing it longer. They took more classes, they have more degrees, they have... you know, you name it, like you can just, it's not hard to find ways to feel inadequate about yourself.

Dave:

You have fraud syndrome like everyone else on the planet,

Brian Funk:

Yeah,

Dave:

right?

Brian Funk:

everyone.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk:

And this podcast has helped me realize that I'm not the only one.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

And all the struggles I have, people that you would never expect would have, like, really, you're so successful. You've got all these awards and it's still hard for you? You

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

mean you haven't figured it out yet? Seems like you have.

Dave:

I feel like the only people that don't suffer from the fraud syndrome are sociopaths.

Brian Funk:

It might be, I think, because you just have

Dave:

If

Brian Funk:

no...

Dave:

you have no doubts about yourself whatsoever, it just feels like an intrinsic aspect of human nature is to have that component. But maybe it's just because I'm so used to my own. I don't know.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, I guess you're not thinking about how other people see you as much. It's an important thing to be able to reflect on yourself in that way. But it's also important

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

not to go too far with it either.

Dave:

Yeah. Yeah, like, I mean, just as a reflection of that, any of the reviews that I get for the show, I never post the good ones or adulatory ones. Any one-star reviews, which are rare, admittedly, but those I always post

Brian Funk:

I'm going to go to bed.

Dave:

in the Facebook group that I have, just to make sure that I continue to prod my balloon with needles. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Brian Funk:

Yeah, that could be a good way to get your people to rally around you too, I bet.

Dave:

I don't know, maybe not specifically that was, you know, was that the reasoning why, but I think it does have that effect, I suppose.

Brian Funk:

Yeah. Well, it's good not to take them to heart too much either because I know I can get 10 nice things said to me and I only remember the one slightly critical thing. It doesn't have to be like really. There's a point, I guess, if it's totally nasty and evil comment, I can let those go because it's just ridiculous. But it's the ones that I can see. I'm like, yeah, I get what he's saying. Yeah.

Dave:

Yeah,

Brian Funk:

You

Dave:

yeah,

Brian Funk:

know, like.

Dave:

he's right, I do suck. Yeah.

Brian Funk:

That one sticks with you longer.

Dave:

You're not brutal on yourself though, are you?

Brian Funk:

No,

Dave:

You don't seem like you are. You

Brian Funk:

no,

Dave:

seem like a pretty

Brian Funk:

I try

Dave:

well

Brian Funk:

not

Dave:

adjusted

Brian Funk:

to be.

Dave:

person.

Brian Funk:

Thanks.

Dave:

You do, are you?

Brian Funk:

I guess at times, but I think I put pressure on myself to do the work and to keep going and

Dave:

That's normal though.

Brian Funk:

in a healthy way, though

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

I try to notice when it's unhealthy. And I've been able to... Really honestly, it was like meditation helped a lot. As funny as that can sound sometimes when people say that, but,

Dave:

No, I learned TM in 96 and I don't

Brian Funk:

hmm.

Dave:

do it twice a day like I should, but it's never a bad idea to meditate.

Brian Funk:

It's just this idea of being aware of that voice in your head and what they're saying to you. I started thinking about it like a person whispering in your ear. And if sometimes the things that get whispered in your ear to yourself, you would never say to other people. And if it was a real person, you'd throw them out of the room or something. Um, but if you're not paying attention to it, you can really just inhabit that way of thinking about yourself. And it happened to me a lot with teaching. I would get these feelings of, especially if I didn't have a lesson all squared away for the next day, I'd start thinking like, who am I to be saddled with this responsibility? How did, who did I fool to get here? And people are leaving their children with me. And this is like the biggest, fraud ever. And it just gets into the spiral and you're just like, you're

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

riding that train top speed. But when you pay attention to what you're actually saying, you can say, well, hold on a second. These are just thoughts. I like to think of it as like a movie. I'm watching the movie called I'm a Terrible Person and everyone's about to find out.

Dave:

All right.

Brian Funk:

And I just take the movie out and put in the other movie that says, hey, you've been doing this a while. Like you... You've proven to yourself you know how to solve problems. And even if you cause more problems along the way, you're trying to do what you think is right. That helps a lot.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah, I never, I never catch myself, you know, screaming, calming, and bolstering platitudes to myself. It's always, you stupid piece of shit, why the fuck did you have to go and mess that up again? Again, yet again.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

I don't know, I just know that my drive has remained unabated after all this time, so... Whatever, I'd like to be more at peace with that kind of stuff, but if it means being as consistent as I have been with not letting the important things slide away from me, I guess whatever gets me there. But it's looking like some therapy might probably be of assistance too.

Brian Funk:

Well, there's like key moments, I think, because I have that too, where like I'm, I start stressing out if I don't have like this ready for that week or this thing that I spent on my list for too long. And that can be the very thing that gets me to do my work and get stuff done. But I try to also remember like if I'm not working, if I'm not doing it, then I'm not doing it. So if I'm gonna sit around and watch some movies on TV tonight. That's what I'm doing. And I have to like let go. I can't be sitting around watching movies, feeling guilty that I'm not working. Cause now I'm not even really sitting there watching movies. I'm just feeling guilty. I'm not relaxing. I'm not getting the rest that I need. And I'm not doing the work. So it's like a double negative. You know what I mean? So at least if I can in those moments, like give myself the permission so that the rest and relaxation actually counts. Then when I get back into like, all right, time to do stuff mode, it's, it's at least like a shift.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah, I mean that kind of stuff and dealing with issues like that and the inability to slow down, relax, it's, here's today's to-do list. So

Brian Funk:

Well, that

Dave:

I,

Brian Funk:

looks mostly crossed off.

Dave:

yeah, I mean I like to write extra stuff so I

Brian Funk:

And

Dave:

can just

Brian Funk:

PS,

Dave:

be

Brian Funk:

it's 1130

Dave:

like, well look,

Brian Funk:

AM.

Dave:

right, yeah, and I literally have been up since 2.15. listening to Bambino and actually listening to more of your show and a whole bunch of stuff. But...

Brian Funk:

Is that a cat?

Dave:

Yeah, she

Brian Funk:

Yeah, cool.

Dave:

literally only meows when I'm recording.

Brian Funk:

That's cats.

Dave:

Yeah,

Brian Funk:

Ha ha ha.

Dave:

that is good. Do you have a favorite album of all time?

Brian Funk:

No, no

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

I don't. I think because so much of it depends on when and where. Man, but if you put me on the spot, what would I say? Favorite album of all time. You know what? I might go in your direction. I'll say this for the sake of this conversation anyway. Cause I noticed you put, you said Beach Boys Smile is your favorite, which I thought was really cool. Oh, you got the, you really do have the tattoo. I thought

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

that was figuratively speaking.

Dave:

No, no, definitely not.

Brian Funk:

I might say Pet Sounds, you know,

Dave:

That's number two, I love that one.

Brian Funk:

it's just, look, I love a lot of music that's raw and dirty and rough around the edges, but as far as like just a masterpiece, it's just so good.

Dave:

It's perfect.

Brian Funk:

It's perfect. But Smile. I love a lot too. And it's kind of like, it's almost the opposite in a lot of ways.

Dave:

And yeah, it really

Brian Funk:

It's

Dave:

is.

Brian Funk:

raw, it's kind of unfinished, and it's really

Dave:

but

Brian Funk:

weird.

Dave:

it's also external. So,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

Pet Sounds is, the topography is all internal. But Smile, it's literally external. I mean, it's a story of America. But beyond that, I mean, side one would have been the story of America. And then side two is the element suite. I mean, when people say we're doing a concept album, it literally, it usually takes like, if you, for example, like if King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard, they're going to explain their concept album to you, you better have like, you know, five, 10 minutes, and it's still not going to make any sense. But this is a real concept that can be explained like a novel and it's constructed that. And it's there is you know back at a very impressionable age when There were things that set me on the course of my life. I was spending an enormous amount of time with Smile. And this is before there were any real clean edits for all the pieces, because Brian at that time was creating what he called feels. So it wasn't songs per se, it was chunks. And he would just paste them together. Obviously, you know, it would have been for his style of creativity at that time. It would have been very helpful if modern day recording and editing techniques were extant, but this is, we're talking about just a razor blade. And more than that, it's the cataloging. Because there's so many moving parts. And the story goes, the popular tale, is that this drug-addled maniac, you know, got completely nuts and made this crazy record that made no sense, but he was totally on top of it. You can't invite dozens of musicians into Gold Star Recorder and not know what you're doing. He knew every last, if he was in the middle of a take and one person was very slow, off, he would stop it and not, he wouldn't ask who that was, he knew. He was totally on top of things and hearing him, I would say produce, but it's more like he's directing. He's directing that, the wrecking crew. I've had Don Randi on the show, ostensibly Manley to talk about, David Axelrod, but we spent an enormous amount of time talking about Brian and also just had a show about Jim Gordon, who was playing on Pet Sounds. So, you know, that was, another thing about the Beach Boys that really was a draw for me. was the dichotomy between how they were perceived and the reality of the Beach Boys was a total mind blower. And this is, I'm getting into them in the late 80s. So they're still, they were kind of at the apex of being seen as totally uncool pieces of shit. And it's hard to argue against it because they are totally untalented pieces of shit, but they're also the greatest. thing that ever happened to this planet. Both are true and you could argue both ways and both arguments would be right. And so that conceptually was a mind blower to me. Because you look at any band and they're either cool or they're not. They're either good or they're not. The story's a lot more difficult to parse with the Beach Boys.

Brian Funk:

They're a really cool example of the kind of a big picture thing we were talking about earlier. You know, where you can look at them first coming out and kind of, you know, real clean cut, singing about surfing. Which is, I still think it's totally awesome. But I guess when I was growing up, I remember our class. We all learned Kokomo. We were like third or fourth grade. And for whatever reason, we did some assembly where we all sang Kokomo to the school. And that was like as a teenager, kind of my impression of the Beach Boys, you know, it was like old fashioned, you know, it wasn't,

Dave:

the worst

Brian Funk:

didn't.

Dave:

of the worst.

Brian Funk:

It didn't have the cool like Woodstock 60s thing going. It just had like the more kind of square thing happening. But then I heard pet sounds and I couldn't believe it. And that just changed everything. And then it was like, oh my God, these guys are not. about that at all. That's just a portion of it. It made me really appreciate the older stuff more too. I love the old original tracks they were coming out with, but it's so cool to just hear where it goes.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

Even into the 70s, it's just...

Dave:

I love it. I mean, I think it's all top notch, up through and including the Beach Boys' Love You, and then it kinda slides into the toilet bowl. But for a good 15 years, the output is... really staggering. Even during the troubled times, you know, late 60s, early 70s, there's some, that was a weird, awkward time for them, but the music they were making then is just as crucial to me as in a different way than Pet Sounds. Like

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

Friends, that's Brian's favorite Beach Boys record.

Brian Funk:

Mm-hmm.

Dave:

That's a great album. That was their big one for me. My favorite of all time is Smile. My second favorite is Pet Sounds.

Brian Funk:

Those are good choices. I think

Dave:

Like yours too.

Brian Funk:

that just harmony and songwriting, I mean, that was really opened my eyes to like what was possible. Like, holy cow, like you can write some crazy, amazing, beautiful melodies. You can do so much with it. And, you know, clearly like one of Brian Wilson's strengths.

Dave:

Yeah,

Brian Funk:

And just

Dave:

I mean.

Brian Funk:

the timbre of them all singing together too. It's just

Dave:

Also,

Brian Funk:

unreal.

Dave:

specifically, pet sounds, if you listen to those backing tracks, which on the box set is, you know,

Brian Funk:

Yeah, I've got the

Dave:

you

Brian Funk:

box

Dave:

could

Brian Funk:

set. Yeah,

Dave:

just bask

Brian Funk:

get all

Dave:

in

Brian Funk:

the,

Dave:

those,

Brian Funk:

oh yes,

Dave:

or

Brian Funk:

you

Dave:

one

Brian Funk:

just

Dave:

or

Brian Funk:

put

Dave:

the

Brian Funk:

on

Dave:

other.

Brian Funk:

the vocals. Yeah.

Dave:

But the coolest thing about it is, if you just listen to those backing tracks and try to, in attempt to erase your knowledge of the top line, there's no clear top line. So he's like a... I just wasn't made for these times. That's my favorite song on that record. If you listen to that backing track, the top line is not clear at all.

Brian Funk:

Yeah. Yeah, there's not an element guiding you through it.

Dave:

No. That

Brian Funk:

Yeah,

Dave:

guy

Brian Funk:

man.

Dave:

is a stone cold genius. I mean

Brian Funk:

Mm-hmm.

Dave:

I've had, you know, unexplainably moving experiences listening to the music but even sometimes just sitting there thinking about him.

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

You know it was especially palpable for me. around the time when I first discovered it because I would never come across anything like that again. The power of realizing kind of like this trap door in the side of music history, the what ifs were endless with Smile. if it had come out and beat Sgt. Pepper to the finish line of the big work of the Summer of Love, my personal opinion, although you could endlessly pontificate and imagine the possible circumstances, is that it would have changed the face of music, plus the way that them would have never gone into that whole annually playing at the National Monument and all the squareness that came along. That would never be a thing. But instead it didn't happen like that.

Brian Funk:

I don't know if that album would have gone there. I just don't know that anyone else could have even tried to copy it. You know, because with

Dave:

No.

Brian Funk:

music, whenever a new thing comes out, everyone starts to sound like that in some way. But who was going to make even good vibrations, which is from those sessions, if not on, I forget if it's on the record that I have anyway, but I don't

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

know what the original version is. I mean, that's a weird song for that to get. as much airplay and become such a big hit. Honestly, to me, like when I hear it now, I don't get it. I don't understand how that got on the charts. It's such a weird

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

song. But I don't recall anything trying to like go in those footsteps as well. You know, like a band like,

Dave:

No.

Brian Funk:

yeah, let's make songs like that. Like the Beach Boys, just like, I just don't think anyone could do that.

Dave:

No. I think that Kurt Betcher was barking up that tree and I think he's one of the better producers that ever was, but also extremely solipsistic, narcissistic, the kind of producer who had no choice personality-wise but to take over a band. and make them his minions to do his puppeteering stuff.

Brian Funk:

What band was that? I

Dave:

So Kurt was,

Brian Funk:

don't know the name.

Dave:

Kurt Becher was a producer who really got his feet wet. Well, initially it was in a group called the Goldbriars, but then he produced Along Comes Mary for the association. That

Brian Funk:

Okay.

Dave:

kind of put him on the map. He was kind of like one step behind Brian Wilson, but what he had was this band called the Millennium. The Millennium... created one of the greatest, you know, definitely a contender for the greatest obscure record of all time. The Millenniums begin, think 1968, they were kind of walk it like we talk it kind of a band. So, you know, a lot of sort of LSD proselytizing kind of stuff, but they were living like, almost cult-like existence where the band lived together and he would... just have outside of the studio sort of task them with thought games that would keep everyone on the same page. And the music is one of those things where it's like too fucking weird for AM, but too sugary for FM. So nobody heard it. And it was the second album ever recorded to 16-track. And it sounds like just... like bouquets of flowers just being poured into your ear. Every last studio trick in the universe, but done in service to the song. So very Sargent Papery, et cetera. An amazing record. Kurt,

Brian Funk:

What's that record called?

Dave:

that's called Begin.

Brian Funk:

again.

Dave:

Yeah,

Brian Funk:

Okay, let's check it

Dave:

but

Brian Funk:

out.

Dave:

it helps if you like mama's and papa's style West Coast harmony. If you do, it's like... It's like stumbling into, it's a dream come true, it really is.

Brian Funk:

Nice, I never heard

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

of that.

Dave:

See, I mean, my natural inclinate, we, the show was gaining a lot of steam. About nine months ago, I had like the first huge series. We had Anthony Fantano on with Velvet Underground, so that helped. But then when Pavement was on, that really, that broke the show for me for a lot of new listeners. Instead of being super smart about that and doubling down on the Gen X thing to keep pumping up that crowd, I was like, all right, so everyone wants to just find out about cool music. So I was going in all kinds of directions that before I really understood retention, I was just kind of like pasta on the walls kind of deal. And you know, given half a chance, this is the direction that I would. wind up going in is, you know, Kurt's got endless amounts of recordings that he worked on. And so as a completist show, I would have to talk about everything, even if only for a moment, but everything would have to be covered, which makes it harrowing to talk about certain artists.

Brian Funk:

Right.

Dave:

But necessary, because I'm promising,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

you know. This is not a gimmick. I really hope to cover every artist and band that ever existed.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, that's a tall

Dave:

Except

Brian Funk:

order.

Dave:

maybe Menudo.

Brian Funk:

Do you feel stressed about that promise when you embark on these journeys,

Dave:

Not about

Brian Funk:

like,

Dave:

the

Brian Funk:

okay,

Dave:

promise.

Brian Funk:

we're

Dave:

Not

Brian Funk:

going

Dave:

about the promise.

Brian Funk:

in.

Dave:

Not about the promise. Every aspect of actually making the show I love. The creation of the show. That part's awesome. It says that there's a lot more than just that.

Brian Funk:

Are you talking about releasing, editing?

Dave:

social media,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

you know, the day that I post every show, there's so much involved with it. I mean, I gotta figure out show notes based on, you know, specific, you know, enticing aspects of the content of the show. I have to pull the greatest 20 seconds in the world to put at the head of it. I have

Brian Funk:

Mm-hmm.

Dave:

to, you know, just whatever, it's. kind of endless to

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

get it out there correctly. And even then, I always feel like I could be doing something more, that I should be doing something more, that if I just did one more thing, or put it in one more Facebook group, or this or that, that it would make some kind of difference.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

And in the meantime, you know, as a filmmaker, you could be in a theater, that is filled with people and they're laughing or screaming or there's a palpable response. Here I'm just a douche and sitting in my chair at home, if it goes poorly or incredibly well, externally it looks the same.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, I know that feeling.

Dave:

That notion kind of drives me nuts.

Brian Funk:

Yeah. Well, that's like, you know, you playing live music. You can tell. You understand

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

if it's working or not. You're doing it at home, you don't know. And things like this, the podcast, you put them out. And especially because it's so much talking and so many thoughts you're putting out. It's kind of natural to feel a response should be coming. But you really get very little. you know it's surprising I would have I don't know maybe I'm not doing anything remarkable enough but it you

Dave:

Do you

Brian Funk:

would

Dave:

have a Facebook

Brian Funk:

think

Dave:

group where there's interaction?

Brian Funk:

I don't have a Facebook group for the show no um

Dave:

That's kind of been the hub for me. So

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

if I'm desperate, not for affirmation, I'm not looking for that.

Brian Funk:

No,

Dave:

But

Brian Funk:

but just

Dave:

I wanna

Brian Funk:

keep

Dave:

know,

Brian Funk:

the conversation going.

Dave:

but not just that, but if I'm working this hard on something and the connection's not fully made, I wanna know, what am I doing wrong? How am I missing the mark? What's working for you guys? Because I think that stuff's. important. I don't get enough time to listen to as many podcasts as I'd like.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

So I don't know if I'm spinning my wheels in my own solipsistic world or if I'm optimizing.

Brian Funk:

I know, I know that feeling and I, I know it would probably be smart to cultivate a Facebook group. It's like, I just don't want to be on Facebook. I don't want to be, I want to be like you said, I want to be doing the thing. Um, I think most of my energy goes into just making the stuff and hoping that my little weird world, that there's enough other people that are strange enough to be interested as well, but yeah, it is. It's.

Dave:

Well, you're kicking ass, man. I mean, you're in the top 1% of all podcasts globally.

Brian Funk:

Is that for real?

Dave:

You're aware of that, right?

Brian Funk:

No, I have no idea.

Dave:

All right, well,

Brian Funk:

I don't even know how you'd find that out.

Dave:

go on Listen Notes. Do it right now. Seriously.

Brian Funk:

Alright. Lesson notes, huh?

Dave:

Yeah, go and listen notes and look up your own podcast.

Brian Funk:

See, this is a new side to me.

Dave:

This rates everybody's podcast. So if somebody comes to you and says, hey, I wanna be on your show, I've got shitloads of people listening to me, you can confirm that immediately.

Brian Funk:

Hmm, ta- what?

Dave:

So listen, from here on in, when you're dealing with sponsors, when you're dealing with guests or whomever, it's a quick shorthand to get what you want.

Brian Funk:

Okay, okay.

Dave:

That's real. That's not,

Brian Funk:

This isn't

Dave:

you know.

Brian Funk:

just to like make me want to sign up for something.

Dave:

No, no, it's

Brian Funk:

Tell

Dave:

a real,

Brian Funk:

me more good news.

Dave:

and I listen to your show through that site, so if you scroll down,

Brian Funk:

Okay. I'll

Dave:

all your

Brian Funk:

have

Dave:

episodes are down there.

Brian Funk:

to check that out. Thanks.

Dave:

So

Brian Funk:

Well, I

Dave:

you're.

Brian Funk:

would say like, if you're even doing it, I mean, just making stuff, you're in like the top 1%, you know? I mean, how many people have thought to

Dave:

No,

Brian Funk:

start a podcast

Dave:

oh Jesus.

Brian Funk:

and not, or started one and done three episodes or, I mean.

Dave:

That's almost everybody. I don't think hats off to you if you did it. I think you're cluttering the content sphere with more dog shit. If you, you know, I don't know about you, but it was a long time till I did my first episode because I wanted to make sure, A, that it was not a totally awkward beginning, but that at least I had some kind of format in place that I already felt. Crucial, like that was just as much a part of the, what made it so crucial is the flow from the different sections. But podcasts are mostly just graveyards for shows that never truly get off the ground. Almost all of them last no longer than six months.

Brian Funk:

Hmm. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's what I'm saying though. Like the fact that anyone can do it longer than that is, there's an accomplishment to that, but I can understand the idea of polluting the internet a little too.

Dave:

I don't want to be part of the problem and I don't want to

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

make content.

Brian Funk:

That's something that impressed me about your show was the structure and the way it is put together. That's stuff I really noticed because that's stuff I really don't do. I don't have much of that going on. Um, so like you, you do a great job introducing things. You've got that nice tidbit in the beginning with like catchy, like portion, like you said, the 22nd gold in the beginning that gets people to listen. Um, the

Dave:

Does

Brian Funk:

structure.

Dave:

the full intro feel too long to you?

Brian Funk:

No, no, no. I actually enjoy it quite a lot.

Dave:

I'm

Brian Funk:

It

Dave:

always

Brian Funk:

sets

Dave:

concerned. I'm long-winded.

Brian Funk:

up the show. I found myself wanting to listen for the things that I know are to come.

Dave:

Please take out just that thing I said where I said I'm long-winded.

Brian Funk:

take out the long winded.

Dave:

Yeah, just because if somebody is like, I should check this guy out and then they hear that, I could see

Brian Funk:

Okay.

Dave:

deciding not to.

Brian Funk:

I'll make a mark.

Dave:

I appreciate that, man. That's

Brian Funk:

Of

Dave:

the only

Brian Funk:

course.

Dave:

thing.

Brian Funk:

I think they're nice though. It kind of like for my show, I know that sometimes the things that get really interesting, you would have no idea that they were coming unless you were listening to the whole thing and got to it.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

Whereas I think you do a nice job setting it up like, oh, that's going to be a fun thing to hear about. And then... I think it, for me, I think it keeps me sticking around a little longer.

Dave:

The

Brian Funk:

Because

Dave:

thing

Brian Funk:

I know that.

Dave:

that I'm most focused on, and I think the biggest hurdle that I have, is that in order for my show to exist on the scale at which I imagine it, people would have to listen to it every week regardless of whether or not they liked the band. So I have to find some way of selling the artist, not to the dedicated faithful, but to people who could give a rat's ass, or maybe just people who just listen to whatever's on the radio. Because

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

I gotta sell the story of the artist or band.

Brian Funk:

Right. A show that does that really well is Song Exploder.

Dave:

Mm-hmm.

Brian Funk:

Are you familiar with Song Exploder?

Dave:

Yeah, yeah, I mean that's the top of the top or most of the pop or most

Brian Funk:

Yeah. And I mean, they have a lot of huge advantages with the guests they get, of course, and access to the home recordings and the stems of each track. So it's kind of interesting to begin with. But that's a show where when it comes out, I'm just like, yeah, I'm going to listen to this. I don't even care who it is. I might even see like, I don't even like this artist.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

And they have a way of making me care about them by the time it's done and appreciating their work. And that's been a valuable experience on its own just to... I don't know, you know when you're a kid especially and you're like, Oh, that band sucks. They suck. You know,

Dave:

Yes.

Brian Funk:

like, they don't suck. They didn't get here sucking.

Dave:

Yes, they do suck.

Brian Funk:

You might not like it, but it's... There was something that got them there. Enough people heard something. It just doesn't work that way.

Dave:

My tastes have flip-flopped enough to know to temper that kind of thing, but I like using confrontational terms when talking

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

about music.

Brian Funk:

Well, it's what's fun about it is it's so subjective and you're allowed to just take those subjective stances.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

Song Exploder though has helped me maybe objectively see what's working for these artists and what's interesting about them. So as far as that's a show that always comes to mind to me where I'll just listen to it. even though I know I either don't like the song or I'm not interested in the artist, because I know I'll get something out of it of value.

Dave:

An original, one of the original titles for the show was gonna be Objectively Speaking. Just because of the passion that goes behind subjective perception of music, it does feel like fact. I

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

always try to posit my feelings as if they're truth. But just to, like I think initially to see exactly how strongly does this person. Like, number one, can they defend if they like or hate something? Or, you know, or is it just... Because I'll go to the mat explaining why Billy Joel is an innocent man as a fucking steaming pile of dung. I won't just say it sucks because that's really, really easy. So instead, I'll just do a whole episode to try to wade through... Hopefully a higher truth about low art. So that's another spin-off show that I do called Queasy Listening. And that is, there's different, I have different Patreon tiers. That one is the Lieutenant tier. And it could be an extension of that week's interview, or it could be Queasy Listening. Another show I have is Roc Cousteau. Roc Cousteau

Brian Funk:

These

Dave:

is

Brian Funk:

are

Dave:

like.

Brian Funk:

separate podcasts.

Dave:

These are subshows for Patreon.

Brian Funk:

Oh, okay. Wow.

Dave:

So there's a

Brian Funk:

Okay.

Dave:

couple of rock gustos and a couple of queasy listenings that are in the main track list. But

Brian Funk:

Right.

Dave:

if you're doing Patreon, it's not just some bonus bullshit. The whole thing is structured as a weekly deep dive. So every Thursday, I'll announce the deep dive. For example, coming up, we have the week of lists. So what that is, and I'll post about it on Thursday, first show comes out on Friday, is we have the director Alan Arkish, who directed Rock and Roll High School. He's doing his 10 favorite albums of all time. So then the week then becomes lists. So the Monday show is a sub show that, you know, it's breaking off. more pieces from the Alan Arkish interview, but it's just about Alan's time working for Bill Graham at the Fillmore East. He worked in every capacity. Usher, the light show, you name it. He was there doing it. So then there'll be another segment called Fillmore Feast. And then on Wednesday, which is... accessed only by the major tier or above, there's a third show. And then that one, I have Paul Major from the band Endless Boogie, also extremely avid private press record collector, doing his 10 favorite private press records of all time. So depending on the level of obsession and obviously the level of monthly discretionary income, you can have the microscope punch in closer and closer, or you can

Brian Funk:

Right.

Dave:

just have the free show on Friday.

Brian Funk:

Nice. That's cool. I think that's people deeper into your world

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

and offers a little more, depending on how obsessive you wanna get.

Dave:

It's obsession.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

That's how my mind works is, so I have a, anyone I book an interview with, the first thing I think is, how can I make a whole week long theme out of this? So it's really, you know, it's fun. I love that part of it, it's great.

Brian Funk:

Hmm. I would think you'd have to, right? Just to...

Dave:

to keep the fucking plate spinning.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

After nine months of this, man, three shows a week, literally not one week off, it's definitely a little much. And I'm obsessed with trying to stay 10 days ahead of things, having all the art and the shows and the... text for the promos, everything ready, just to feel like the walls. I feel like in Star Wars, the trash compactor, you know?

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

Oh, no!

Brian Funk:

That's funny. Yeah. I know. I know what you mean. And that's, it's a hefty lift you got going to do three a week. I mean, to do one, right. Just

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

with this, there's just hours of listening time alone. Just right there. Um, nevermind research in their background and their life and their

Dave:

A good

Brian Funk:

history.

Dave:

example is the Black Sabbath show. So I had Jim Florentine from that metal show and Crank Yankers, he was the guest for Sabbath. And when, before I edited the notes down, my notes for Black Sabbath were 91 pages. So that's not. I'm doing a school right now that is helping me with the back end and trying to maximize listeners and retention. They're pushing things like use chat GPT to get your notes. I'm coming at it from the other end completely, which is a journey. You make a journey out of it,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

which is I don't know how dumb or smart that is, but... Depending on the day, it vacillates wildly between those two poles.

Brian Funk:

Well, I could see it both ways, I guess. But it prevents you from making content, I guess,

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

because you're along for this journey and you're going through it. You're not just trying to get this thing out because you're doing three a week. You're going on the trip. You're there. And that comes through in it. There's no denying it that when you listen to your show, it's like... You're in the middle. You know, you might, maybe it's a little bit towards the end actually, based on all the research you do, but you're, you've collected a lot of information, a lot of data, a lot of listening data as well, and just now it's all coming out. And

Dave:

Which

Brian Funk:

it's,

Dave:

one to do here?

Brian Funk:

I got the Velvet Underground. I did some with the guitarist from no age. I think it was the guitarist.

Dave:

Sweet yeah,

Brian Funk:

Um.

Dave:

yeah

Brian Funk:

Which I was surprised to see because I hadn't heard much about that band in a while, but I saw them play over 10 years ago somewhere in Brooklyn. And they stuck with me a lot because it's guitar and drums.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

And

Dave:

You like this strip down thing.

Brian Funk:

I liked that a lot.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

And I think between them, between like a band like the White Stripes, I learned so much about production because... my initial instinct, if I want my guitars to sound big, let me record like seven overdubs of guitars.

Dave:

Right.

Brian Funk:

And maybe in the real world, that gets much bigger. But when you're in the speakers, in your DAW, you only get so loud. You know, you only have so much space. So the more you add, the smaller everything becomes. So hearing a band like that, You would think, oh, it's going to be like thin and weak and not at all. White stripes

Dave:

No.

Brian Funk:

too, like not at all. It's ginormous.

Dave:

It really

Brian Funk:

And

Dave:

is.

Brian Funk:

it's because they have all of that space where you can really just dive into. I just released a podcast about this. Um, how I think one of the reasons we get stuck so much in our work is we polish one part of it far too long. And then when we go to the next part, we have nothing and it feels really weak. You're like, you know, filming a movie and you edited that CGI on the first opening scene, and then you show up with your camera for the next scene. And it's just so bare, you know? Um, when you polish up like your drums so huge, and then you've got to add bass, guitar, keys, vocals, you got no room for it, but with a band like No Age, you can. You can just make them huge because all you need is room for a guitar and a voice. And

Dave:

Are

Brian Funk:

there

Dave:

you

Brian Funk:

you

Dave:

a

Brian Funk:

go.

Dave:

Yolotango fan?

Brian Funk:

Yeah. Like on the periphery, you know, there I've always enjoyed them a bit. Um, but I've never done the deep dive.

Dave:

That's very, very rewarding. And they're a really good three piece, not always trying to go for large S, but sometimes going for a very intimate sound, but they always sound bigger than three.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, yeah, that's, I can see that and thinking about their work.

Dave:

Also, less moving parts because anyone who's creative has some sort of temperamental aspect to their personality. So the more moving

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

parts, the sooner you're gonna break up.

Brian Funk:

I'd love that about being in a three-piece band right now. And there's only

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

two other people I have to work a schedule out with. And

Dave:

Right.

Brian Funk:

there's only, and everyone has room. So if, you know, one person is maybe overplaying a little, you can kind of deal with it. You can work with it.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

You can allow them that space.

Dave:

Imagine having to navigate a band like fucking Parliament Funkadelic or something like that where it's... Can you believe that they lasted for 10 years? I mean they basically were fully functioning to whatever degree for all that time and there were just endless amounts of people on that stage.

Brian Funk:

It's, that's gotta be discipline and just really everyone tuned into the big picture

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

because, because so much of that music is reliant on space. Like

Dave:

Right.

Brian Funk:

funk music, like you need the space.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

That's where like the groove is. And the more people you put in there, the less of it you tend to have.

Dave:

Yeah, always. I mean, I don't know exactly how many people, but it was more than 10. I think like 14, maybe something like that. That's just fucking wild. Plus tons of, you know, Emerson Lake and Palmery, sort of, you know, proggy space affectations

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

on that stage. You gotta love it, man.

Brian Funk:

I don't know.

Dave:

I wish that was still a thing.

Brian Funk:

I think a lot about how in a three-piece band there's never more than one conversation going on. You can't have two separate conversations with three people.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

So you're always kind of dialed in. But as soon as you get an extra member... Now there can be two separate conversations and in that band, it could be seven.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

So to maintain focus is hard. And especially when you're developing a song that needs to have some sort of unified vision, if you're not all able to communicate about it together, it just must be really tough. A

Dave:

So

Brian Funk:

lot

Dave:

do you

Brian Funk:

of

Dave:

think being in a three-piece band, do you just happen to be in a three-piece band or do you think based on your experience that three is now the magic number?

Brian Funk:

I like three for a lot of these reasons. Um, I mean, as you get older, when you're in high school, you can have five people in your band and then no one's got anything to do

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

and you can just get together. No one's busy. No one's working really. And everything, no families or nothing.

Dave:

You had a high school job.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, but

Dave:

What'd you do?

Brian Funk:

it was, in high school I worked at McDonald's.

Dave:

Nice.

Brian Funk:

I got that job in 11th grade. I worked at a toy store also. McDonald's is the most efficient place I ever worked.

Dave:

Was it KB Toys? It was

Brian Funk:

It was

Dave:

KB Toys.

Brian Funk:

KV Toys.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk:

It was, yeah, during the holiday season. I thought that was gonna be a really cool job, but it was terrible.

Dave:

Why?

Brian Funk:

Well. Think about when you're at a store and you're looking for something on the shelves. You kind of like, maybe you're looking for like a record. You kind of like move them and you keep them in order and you're neatly, you're aware they're gentle and valuable things. And a kid looking for the toy they want just throws them all off

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

the shelf until they find them. So the store is always a mess. And they always played this music. It was like a 45 minute tape. It was just a loop.

Dave:

Ha ha

Brian Funk:

And it in between every song, there'd be kids like, hey, we're KB Kids and we're here to celebrate the holidays with you. And you just heard that like nine or 10 times, every shift. Some of those songs I still can't listen to because of that tape.

Dave:

I have to ask you what percentage of the reason that you don't currently have kids is because of that job.

Brian Funk:

Maybe, I never thought about that, but yeah, it was...

Dave:

I had the worst fucking job when I was in high

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

school. I had a bunch, I had a few jobs, but this one in particular sounds like it's not even possible that there'd be a company formed about this. So I was at my buddy Rick's place and I read in the newspaper, you know, it was one ad, summer after freshman year of college, hey, do you like to party? Are you crazy? Do you love music? I was like, what the fuck? They're advertising my job in the one ads. And I go down there and it's just a bunch of fold-out chairs set up and a guy going, do you like making this kind of money? And then putting a 20 down, then a 50, then a 100. And they're not telling you what you're doing. They're just saying, do you like making this kind of money? It's the whole presentation. So

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

a couple days of this, and finally they say that the place is called Music Industries, and the whole deal is, by the way, CDs have already been invented, it's 1990, 91. And the whole idea is you're going to these pre-established actual appointments to people's homes. to try to sell them a plan where they buy a thousand cassette tapes in ten years.

Brian Funk:

Huh.

Dave:

Meanwhile, CDs, it's 1991,

Brian Funk:

Alright.

Dave:

nobody's listening to tapes. The whole presentation, you hold up stuff like a mangled... a mangled reel to reel, which at that point no one even knew what that was, and said, this will not do, you know, that kind of stuff, broken record, to try to sell the idea of a tape. I went to one appointment, locked my keys in my car accidentally. The woman had to call the cops to get me in my car. That was the end of that job.

Brian Funk:

Do you like to party?

Dave:

So yeah, I am in the music industry, the music industries actually.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, right. The dark side.

Dave:

That was the dark side.

Brian Funk:

It all shapes you though, right? It gives you some

Dave:

That's

Brian Funk:

idea.

Dave:

the worst job I've ever had. I've had so many jobs. My ideology going into my life was, I'm going to be a filmmaker, which I did. I made two films, so in that way it worked, but make sure you don't give yourself a way out. So everything, and that was the best I could do at the time. That was a solid perspective for me. So it had to be a burn bridge if it was a job.

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

Every job had to just leave. Like no possible, can we call this guy and get a reference? No. You

Brian Funk:

That

Dave:

cannot

Brian Funk:

must've

Dave:

call

Brian Funk:

made

Dave:

that

Brian Funk:

for

Dave:

guy.

Brian Funk:

some interesting exits.

Dave:

Yep.

Brian Funk:

That philosophy.

Dave:

Yeah. Yeah, there was one in particular. I worked at a soft, like a quiet storm station. You know that format?

Brian Funk:

No.

Dave:

It's like, it's all birthed from an album by Smokey Robinson called The Quiet Storm, but it's like smooth jazz, that kind of stuff, like Kenny

Brian Funk:

Uh huh.

Dave:

G. And so, you know, I'm there stoned to the fucking gills. wearing a pinstripe suit. I don't know why I had all these pinstripe suits that my dad had retired from when he was working. So, and I was the switchboard operator. So I was the front desk guy. Total square peg round hole. And so I knew I was going to leave and the woman who came in to water the plants, there was like kind of an attraction I could see. So the day that I knew I was going to never show up ever again, I took her down downstairs and she gave me a hand job and I didn't clean up. And then on the marquee where I could put like letters on, I just wrote, bye.

Brian Funk:

Oh no...

Dave:

Yeah,

Brian Funk:

Yeah... Whoa!

Dave:

that was the most graceful of all my exits. This is probably that story probably the least to do with music of any story ever on your show Except for the fact that it was a radio station

Brian Funk:

Well, and I guess if you want references for your work now,

Dave:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Brian Funk:

it's a cautionary tale. Yeah, so much of it is about leaving behind good memories of yourself.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk:

Some people want to work with you again, but

Dave:

Yeah, right.

Brian Funk:

I guess if you're trying to ensure that you have to focus on achieving your dreams, burning the bridges might be one way to go.

Dave:

It was an excuse for some pretty dildo-y behavior, but also,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

you know, I mean, at the time it just seemed like a solid world view to me.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

I realized at hindsight that I was, you know, totally clueless, but what are you going to do? It still made,

Brian Funk:

path.

Dave:

I have so many good stories as a result. Stories

Brian Funk:

We're all clueless

Dave:

none

Brian Funk:

and

Dave:

of

Brian Funk:

uh... Yeah,

Dave:

which my son will ever hear.

Brian Funk:

right. And I'm sure he'll come up with his own that his father will never hear either.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah. He already has him, sure, at four years old.

Brian Funk:

Right. So this is a, it's a great show. And I think it's perfect for anyone listening to this podcast. Um, Disco graffiti. I thought it was going to be disco graffiti when I first saw it.

Dave:

I'm so

Brian Funk:

Um,

Dave:

glad

Brian Funk:

Glett,

Dave:

you know how to pronounce it. Nobody does.

Brian Funk:

Disco graffiti. That's cool. It's, uh, and I like the way that was like a thing. You have all these like great slogans and catchphrase. You're going to do the spray can on this album. We're going

Dave:

Yeah,

Brian Funk:

to,

Dave:

yeah.

Brian Funk:

you know, um, You build it in really fun. It sounds

Dave:

sounds

Brian Funk:

as

Dave:

as

Brian Funk:

if

Dave:

if...

Brian Funk:

you have background in radio and broadcasting the way you do it. I mean, the voice is there, the whole packaging, the promotion, the introductions and the style of editing is all just really great.

Dave:

I really appreciate that. I think it's more than anything, it's the background and film. I approach each thing like it's a film in that way. Yeah.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, okay, that's cool. That's funny how those things connect and they translate to one another.

Dave:

Yeah, I mean this is, I've always been really creative. I mean, when I was in sixth grade, I read a book. And then I wrote another book when I was 16. So I was always doing stuff. And then to get into college, all I had to do was walk in. I wanted to do early decision Boston University. I walked in with a book I wrote. It was like a done deal.

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

But I've always had a project going. I've always, you know. I think now more than ever the world is just fucking insane. I've always tried to blot it out and listen and watch and read instead of, you know, I have a get in there and fuck shit up thing too, but I've always been a devout devourer of super cool cultural stuff, especially before internet. As you know, you know, the organic discovery of stuff,

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

of people talking to each other and, hey, have you heard this? The novelty of that has never worn off on me. So, you know, there's people out there in my Patreon sphere who in some respects know more than me. They're always introducing me to stuff and ultimately that's what I wanted to do. You know, I mean, I, like everyone else, I have friends that stop talking about all the cool shit life has to offer and only wanna talk about mortgages, taxes, same old shit. I want to still remain in my Arrested Development so I got to recreate my friend circle. And so here we are.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, I agree. It's easy to get caught up in all that stuff and, but all that bill paying, you know, nonsense that we have to, the adult stuff. That's, I try to get that out of my way as quickly as possible too, so I don't have to think about it as much.

Dave:

Yeah.

Brian Funk:

I don't need to rehash it in conversation all day long.

Dave:

Yeah, I mean, I can't help that this is the particular lazy Susan around which my brain spins. It's just always the same stuff. It's music and music and film for me are really the two poles. That's it.

Brian Funk:

Well, that's why it's great to have someone like you putting this project together. And I think if anyone can do it, I think we found the guy right here and you.

Dave:

Thanks, Brent. I appreciate that. And you too. I mean, what you do is extremely valuable. And you know, to be able to have...you know, I think it says a lot about your style as a showrunner. that you really don't try to impose. You know, for anyone listening to the show, I don't know if you make it public what you have on your page, but it's very liberating as a guest to see,

Brian Funk:

Good.

Dave:

you know, this could be about anything. And a lot of people try to run their thing. I'm guilty as charged sometimes as well, you know, to try to get a stranglehold on it out of fear that it could derail. But that

Brian Funk:

Hmm.

Dave:

fear that, you know, not knowing what comes next, And that's what you allow with your setup.

Brian Funk:

Thanks. It's definitely loose and I'm trying to be open to things. Sometimes it is a little scary. But it works in a couple ways. It's not just like an altruistic thing where, you know, just the guests can talk about whatever they want, which is kind of the way I like to approach it. But

Dave:

Uh huh.

Brian Funk:

it is... probably the only way I could get it done as well. I don't think I could do the, I know I couldn't do the research you're doing. I couldn't do all that pregame work. So like, that's why something like your show is so impressive to me as well. Just knowing what goes into this, even just to kind of do it in a relatively loose format, it's still a lot of work. So

Dave:

Yeah, that guy

Brian Funk:

you're clearly

Dave:

from,

Brian Funk:

doing your homework.

Dave:

the gentleman from Deertik, I don't think their management or their PR person had any idea what the show was, because they wanted a tape on Wednesday and they were throwing out. Hey, how about we do Dr. John? Or how about we do Steely Dan? And I was supposed to, in 36 to 48 hours, do my kind of research on a band

Brian Funk:

Right.

Dave:

like that, which is, even if I was to do it nonstop, I would only get to like 1973 by that point.

Brian Funk:

Yeah.

Dave:

So yeah, I set myself up for some, like, you know. you know, stomach and knots type moments, timing-wise, but it's,

Brian Funk:

Thanks for watching!

Dave:

ultimately that's the fun of it, is, you know, to open yourself up to that kind of discovery with an artist, you get that understanding is an amazing feeling.

Brian Funk:

Hmm. I'm glad we get to be the beneficiaries of your work. So

Dave:

Thank you.

Brian Funk:

we can send people to discography.com.

Dave:

Nah, forget the website, it's a pile of

Brian Funk:

Okay.

Dave:

shit. Just

Brian Funk:

All

Dave:

go,

Brian Funk:

right. Forget

Dave:

yeah, just

Brian Funk:

that.

Dave:

go, no, you can go there, you can go there, but anywhere where podcasts are streamed.

Brian Funk:

Yeah, it's very easy to find. I found it instantly.

Dave:

Thank

Brian Funk:

Came

Dave:

you.

Brian Funk:

up as soon as I got past the, uh, the GR and then there it was.

Dave:

Yeah, sweet, sweet.

Brian Funk:

So cool. Dave, thanks so much for doing this. This has been a lot of fun.

Dave:

Brian, I appreciate it man. Please don't ever stop what you're doing.

Brian Funk:

You too, you too. Although I would understand if you took a break for a week.

Dave:

It's okay. Look, if you stockpile enough content, you can still release stuff and live a happy and balanced life. Fish.

Brian Funk:

Yeah. Well, I think you have the love and passion for it too, working in your favor. So that's a good thing.

Dave:

and a very understanding wife.

Brian Funk:

Yes, a very important ingredient that I don't spend enough time talking about as well. Oh, cool.

Dave:

Thank you so much, Brian. I really, really appreciate the time and the opportunity to talk with you, man.

Brian Funk:

same here. Thank you so much. Thank you to everybody that's listening. Enjoy your day. Alrighty.

Dave:

Awesome.

podcastBrian Funkmusic production podcast, Dave gebroe, discograffiti