All Episodes
April 21, 2016 - The Joe Rogan Experience
01:52:21
Joe Rogan Experience #789 - Dan Auerbach
Participants
Main voices
d
dan auerbach
49:59
j
joe rogan
59:20
Appearances
Clips
j
jamie vernon
00:07
| Copy link to current segment

Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
And we're live.
And you have come bringing the future.
This is what we've all hoped for.
We had all heard about this when we were kids.
Dude, they're going to sell weed like cigarettes in a carton, and they're going to be pre-rolled, and you're going to be buying it just like you buy a Marlboro.
And you've come bringing this.
This is real, sir.
dan auerbach
Yeah, it's a real thing now.
joe rogan
Where'd you get those?
dan auerbach
I got them in Seattle when we just played there.
This company brought us a whole gift bag.
joe rogan
And how does it work with transport, with things like that?
dan auerbach
Well, I guess if I told you, it would screw up our transport.
joe rogan
Yeah, definitely.
I'm not a traveler with, I'm a choir when you get there kind of a guy.
dan auerbach
Sure.
joe rogan
I think it's usually the best move.
dan auerbach
It is the best move, but...
joe rogan
Do they even bother checking people in the Seattle airport anymore?
dan auerbach
You know, we're on a bus.
It's totally different.
joe rogan
Yeah, of course.
Except if you go to Texas.
dan auerbach
I would never take it on a plane.
joe rogan
No, not a good move.
dan auerbach
Not a good move.
joe rogan
But when they arrested Willie Nelson in Texas, I'm like, wow, that's how much they don't make exceptions.
dan auerbach
Yeah, that was weird.
joe rogan
Fucking Willie Nelson?
dan auerbach
That was stupid.
joe rogan
It's ridiculous.
dan auerbach
I mean...
joe rogan
It hurts my feelings.
It's like, really?
This is what you're doing?
You're trying to solve crime?
Arresting...
What is he, 80 now?
dan auerbach
Willie's got to be close to 80. I mean, he's got to be in the top 10 of, like, people who have done more for the state of Texas than anyone, right?
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
dan auerbach
I mean...
Come on.
joe rogan
Not only that, he's undeniably awesome.
dan auerbach
I mean...
Enough already.
joe rogan
He's a great guy.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, why would you want to arrest that guy?
unidentified
That's not...
dan auerbach
You know, can you imagine Willie?
He was probably like, really?
unidentified
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Are you serious?
joe rogan
It's sad.
It's sad.
dan auerbach
The cops must have felt kind of embarrassed, I bet.
joe rogan
Yeah, and we were talking today because today, this is a historic day for music because of Prince.
I mean, this is...
It's very strange when a guy that's that powerful, especially when I was a kid, during my teen years, I mean, that was when He was, you know, really emerging.
And that's when people were really finding out about him.
I remember thinking, like, wow, this guy is so interesting.
He's such a combination of different things.
Like, there was no one that was like him before.
I mean, David Bowie was sort of androgynous before, but he took it into a different, new place, and it was mysterious, and he had some great...
dan auerbach
With David Bowie, for me, it always felt more like theater.
With Prince, it felt more like, that's Prince.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
That's really him, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah, Purple Rain and then did the movie.
dan auerbach
Because he just started that way.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Bowie kind of transformed into that androgyny.
Prince was like that to begin with, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I remember the first time Pat and I played the First Avenue in Minneapolis.
That's where they shot, I think, some parts from Purple Rain.
Maybe the live...
Is that right?
The live segments from that movie and...
That was the big thing, you know.
joe rogan
Yeah, just to be there.
Right.
Well, he kind of owned Minneapolis, right?
He put Minneapolis on the map.
dan auerbach
And he stayed there.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And you thought of Minneapolis, like you thought of Prince, you thought of Minneapolis.
That was like part of the thing, is that he was this wizard that lived in this frozen land and, you know, produced all this crazy music.
dan auerbach
They never would have arrested Prince for weed.
joe rogan
No.
dan auerbach
In Minneapolis.
joe rogan
No.
No, he gets a hall pass.
dan auerbach
No, yeah, he was the man in Minneapolis.
I mean, he's a god there.
joe rogan
I wonder what it was that got him.
You know, at 57 years old, I mean, he's a thin guy.
He looked like he's healthy.
dan auerbach
He looked very healthy.
He looked like he could have been mistaken for Pharrell.
I mean, he was like, those two guys are like ageless, you know?
joe rogan
And he did a show just a couple nights ago.
dan auerbach
Yeah, he was on tour.
I don't know.
It's so wild.
joe rogan
Well, it's so hard when something like that happens.
You can only speculate.
No one really knows until you hear it.
It just reinforces this idea that we're so fragile.
It all can go away.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
Like I said, it doesn't matter how much money you have.
You can have the best doctors in the world.
You have to be thankful for what you have.
You gotta be a good human because it can just all go away so quickly.
joe rogan
And eventually it's all gonna go away for all of us.
dan auerbach
Yeah, very soon.
joe rogan
100%.
dan auerbach
Life is very short.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's 100% not gonna last.
dan auerbach
100% it's not gonna last.
joe rogan
Nobody gets out alive, right?
No one.
And still, people run through life accumulating shit and missing opportunities to just take it all in and enjoy it.
And when a guy like Prince, one of the undeniable things that he left...
You'll always have his catalogue of work to make people happy.
He left an undeniable impact on people.
To this day, I will pull out I Want to Be Your Lover, because that was the first big hit.
And that's still, to this day, a fucking badass song.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
You know what really kills me though is when you get an artist who people just weren't ready for and they're only shown love after they die.
Do you know what I mean?
That kind of kills me.
joe rogan
That's going to be the case here.
You know, for sure.
He was always shown love, but he'll be shown a lot more love.
People appreciate him now that they know it's ended.
Whatcha gonna do?
I mean, that's what happened to Michael Jackson, you know?
Michael Jackson, before he died, people weren't nearly as interested in him as he was, like, once he died.
Like, once he died, then his catalog went through the roof and everybody wanted to buy the old stuff up.
And all the print stuff is, like, charting now, you know?
dan auerbach
Man, I was thinking about Bill Hicks the other day and how he died.
unidentified
Yeah.
dan auerbach
At his mom's in Arkansas.
joe rogan
Well, he knew it was going down for a while.
He had pancreatic cancer, and it's a particularly brutal kind of cancer, apparently, especially in the 90s when Bill died of it.
And he knew and just went to his mom's place to die.
dan auerbach
But just thinking about that, like, he just sort of never made it, made it.
You know what I mean?
And then he dies, and then all of a sudden everybody says, oh, he was the best.
He was one of the best comics of all time, you know?
joe rogan
He was certainly one of the most influential, no doubt about it.
He changed so many people's perception of, like, what comedy could be.
He, like, opened up a whole new way.
He's like, well, comedy could do that, too.
And everybody was like, ooh...
Nobody did that before.
He had a consciousness to his comedy or an elevation sort of thing to his comedy where he was trying to change your thought process along with make you laugh.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Very different thing.
dan auerbach
It's hard to get to that place.
That's the place you always want to get to.
Some people are just born there.
You know what I mean?
Like we're talking about Prince.
He was Prince when he started.
He had the third eye when he started.
You know what I mean?
I think it takes some people some time on stage to figure themselves out.
It takes a few years of like making mistakes, listening to too many people.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, you could definitely get off on bad paths and you got to recorrect, come back.
dan auerbach
You have to...
I mean...
There's a learning process to everything.
That's what's so difficult with cell phones nowadays.
It's like you can't learn in private.
You know, you used to be able to go on stage and, like, practice kind of in front of people, which is the best practice, you know?
But now, everything's filmed.
Even your shit that you're trying to work out, you can't, like, just...
Be so free.
Do you know what I mean?
joe rogan
Big deal with stand-up.
That's a big deal with stand-up.
unidentified
Absolutely.
joe rogan
Because the bits, if you hear them, and then you hear the finished product, if you hear the starting, you should ideally hear it for the first time.
In a full form, in completed form.
But a lot of people along the way...
Well, people enjoy that process, though, like coming to the Comedy Store and watching people stumble through an idea that they're not exactly sure.
And then they'll see that bit maybe six months later on a television special or something.
Oh, I figured it out.
But he could also choose as a fan to not seek that stuff out, I think.
dan auerbach
But people do.
You know, it stops me from wanting to play songs I don't really know.
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
joe rogan
Because you worry that like a video of it getting out there of being kind of in the halfway...
dan auerbach
Hacking my way through a new song.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I wouldn't do it.
joe rogan
Fuck.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
joe rogan
Well, have you seen some of those things?
dan auerbach
I think it's really stifled some modern performing.
joe rogan
Have you seen some of the things that Chappelle has done and Hannibal Buress has done?
They take these bags and you put your cell phone in it when you go in and it's sealed and when you're in the room you literally can't open the bag and then if you leave the room somehow there's some sensor and it allows you to open the bag.
dan auerbach
It seems like a ridiculous idea, but the more I think about it, it seems like it's the kind of thing that people may fight, but then thank you for afterwards.
joe rogan
Yes.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah, for the experience themselves.
dan auerbach
They're like, holy shit, I haven't really paid attention to anything for an hour and a half, two hours for years.
unidentified
Right.
dan auerbach
Do you know what I mean?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Well, if you go to a concert now, all you see is phones up and people watching the concert through phones.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, you see this.
You see people doing this all the time.
You'll see a sea of cell phones at these arenas, and it's weird.
dan auerbach
They used to reach out and try to touch me.
Now they reach out with their cell phones to try to take a picture.
joe rogan
Did you notice a shift slowly, almost like people were infected by phones, like ticks?
dan auerbach
Fuck yeah, man.
I mean, when we started...
I was a flip phone generation, baby.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I know.
Those are too problematic.
It's too hard to take a picture with.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Some people were into it, but most people left them in their pockets.
dan auerbach
Yeah, no, because the pictures sucked.
I mean, it's not something you want to brag about.
Now, everybody's like the best photographer ever.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
With the iPhone.
joe rogan
Yeah, they're so good now.
And they're getting better all the time.
And they're also putting those little lenses on them that make it even better.
They slide a little lens over the top of it.
You see a lot of that.
But people aren't experiencing it in a pure way.
You know, you're not going to it and just sitting there and taking in the show.
Instead, you're going into it and you're aware that you're recording it and you want to make sure you get it in frame and you make sure you've got a good part that's going to look good on your Facebook or wherever the fuck you're going to put it.
You're missing...
You're not giving in to the experience of the music or the show or whatever you're going to see.
dan auerbach
100%.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Life is not as good with cell phones.
I think.
But I have it in my hand all day long.
joe rogan
I wouldn't say that life is not as good.
It's more challenging.
Because it doesn't prevent you from putting it away.
But it makes it very addictive.
It's very hard to put it away.
But you could.
dan auerbach
I think it's the kind of thing where, like, Your life would be better if you didn't have it.
You would be able to experience life more.
You'd pay more attention to your kids.
You'd have more real, true love.
You wouldn't be taking fucking selfies to post.
You'd actually be hugging them genuinely.
Do you know what I mean?
Can you do both?
I don't think so.
I've not met that person.
joe rogan
I don't know, man.
I love the data, though.
I love all the information.
dan auerbach
So do I. I'm addicted to it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, it's interesting.
I mean, there's always something new.
There's always some new story that's out.
There's some new revelation, scientific invention, experiment that was done.
There's some new shit always, constantly.
It's like the amount of data that we're getting now.
dan auerbach
But has it made us better?
joe rogan
I don't know.
unidentified
Good question.
dan auerbach
Do you think you're happier since you have, like, Google in your pocket 24-7?
joe rogan
I'm happy if someone starts talking shit and I know they're wrong.
I whip out my phone.
Wrong, son.
You just Google.
That's nice.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
To know the Google data.
unidentified
See?
dan auerbach
Because before you would have left that party like, fuck, I've got to learn more about something.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Oh, maybe.
I would have left that party going, that guy's full of shit.
I know he's full of shit.
I just wish I had my phone.
Yeah.
unidentified
Oh.
dan auerbach
Well, wait.
You leave parties thinking people are full of shit?
That's weird.
joe rogan
No.
In L.A.? If I didn't have a phone.
Yeah, if you leave a party in L.A. and you don't think someone was full of shit, you're in the wrong party.
There's definitely a lot of that out here.
dan auerbach
Or maybe you're just where you need to be.
joe rogan
I can't say I really go to parties.
I might have been to a dozen parties out here in my entire life.
dan auerbach
Yeah?
joe rogan
Yeah, probably.
dan auerbach
Busy working.
Is nobody inviting you?
You just don't go.
joe rogan
Busy working.
I mean, at nights, first of all, I don't have a lot of friends that put on parties.
That's not normal.
I mean maybe like a pool party or something like that you go over a buddy's house and you'll barbecue But that you know like a party party I've been a few of those like Hollywood parties where you're walking around ago.
Oh, there's Drew Barrymore How fucking weird.
And you go into another room, this is Ben Stiller.
How fucking weird.
And you feel totally out of place and you've got to get out of there as quick as you can.
I've been to a couple of those.
Never sought them out.
They always seemed odd.
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I don't love them so much.
We stay at the Chateau.
joe rogan
Of course you do.
unidentified
You know what I mean?
dan auerbach
That's your spot.
joe rogan
It has to be.
dan auerbach
I mean...
joe rogan
That's the spot in Hollywood.
That's the authentic spot.
dan auerbach
It's so cliche, but I mean, I've just been there.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Sleeping in the bed where, you know, Belushi died.
Just like...
Raging.
joe rogan
You know what I mean?
dan auerbach
Learning nothing from his mistakes.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Jesus Christ.
I've woken up in that place like blood on the walls.
Just like, what happened?
Have we learned nothing from this guy's death?
joe rogan
Do you think that places like that contain memory?
There's a real thought, and we've brought it up before, comics at the Comedy Store.
Because the Comedy Store used to be Ciro's Nightclub.
It was owned by Bugsy Siegel, you know, the mobster.
And so there's murders that were there.
There's definitely murders.
There was a murder that was there just a year ago.
Somebody got murdered on the front patio at the Comedy Store.
Where, like, the rich history of weirdness and of comedy, it seems to be in the walls.
Do you feel like that about the Chateau Marmont?
Because if you go to that place, I mean, is there one place more synonymous with Hollywood debauchery than that place?
I mean, that might be the hotel in Hollywood where you think of, like, Johnny Depp's doing blow and Jack Nicholson is banging these hookers and...
unidentified
It's just, that's the place, right?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
Uh...
I think that that place just caters.
I mean, as soon as you walk in, it's like this.
It's dark, thick curtains, no cops.
Do whatever you want.
You know what I mean?
We'll guard the door.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
But I think there are places that have magic in them.
I think that there are places that you can't, you just can't explain.
Like Muscle Shoals.
You know, we cut a record of Muscle Shoals.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
It's magic.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
They say that, you know, they say that Native Americans live there and that there's like, you know, it was spiritual land.
But I mean, it's special.
There's something there that...
You're able to get in touch with yourself easier.
I don't know what it is.
joe rogan
Is there something in the recording studio itself, or is there something in the town?
dan auerbach
I don't think so, because there are multiple studios there, and they all produce great stuff.
There are still great musicians coming out of Muscle Shoals, and, you know, it's just, there are certain places that are just...
I don't know what it is.
joe rogan
Is it possible that those buildings, those recording studios, have memory?
That there's something, an intangible, something you can't put on a scale, you can't measure it.
Because the Comedy Store feels like a place with memory.
That's why I always ask.
I took seven years off that place, and I went back about a year and a half ago, and to this day, I remember going back again and going, oh, there's that feeling again.
dan auerbach
But did you know the history?
You knew the history before you went into the place, though.
So before you even got there, it was magic to you.
It was like that for me in Muscle Shoals.
I went into the studio and I was like, oh man.
That's where Eddie Hinton took a shit in that bathroom right there.
It's like I think that I don't know.
If somebody didn't know ahead of time and they went in there, they would think it was just as magic as you did.
joe rogan
Yeah, maybe.
You're right.
It's one of those things you don't know because you have these preconceived ideas about it.
That was mecca for comedians.
So Muscle Shoals, did Skinner record there as well?
dan auerbach
Um, I think Skinner, yeah, Skinner, I think so.
I'm pretty sure they recorded there.
Rolling Stones recorded there.
joe rogan
So many!
Fantastic!
dan auerbach
Aretha recorded there, and, uh, I mean, they cut so many tracks there.
joe rogan
Yeah, like, as, this one spot, responsible for- There's like a Waffle House there.
dan auerbach
There's nothing there.
There's no reason anybody would go to Muscle Shoals, and it was the recording Mecca.
Why?
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
You know what I mean?
It's not close to any major metropolis.
It's like, uh, How else do you explain that?
joe rogan
There's this guy named Rupert Sheldrake.
I think his official title, he's an evolutionary biologist, and he thinks that there's memory in everything.
He thinks you can't extract it, but he thinks that there's memory in wood, there's memory in stone, there's memory in trees.
That's why people don't like the idea of a haunted house.
We kind of inherently know that if someone died in a house, some horrific tragedy took place in a house, that house actually has that sadness and that Feeling in it.
It's a part of the house now.
dan auerbach
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know if I believe it.
unidentified
I don't either, man.
dan auerbach
I think we create the history in our mind before we even get there.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
That's totally possible.
Yeah.
I mean, my dad...
dan auerbach
I just got a new guitar, and it was a guitar that was owned by one of my favorite musicians of all time.
This guy named Mississippi Fred McDowell.
joe rogan
What a name.
dan auerbach
And I swear that it's magic, but you know, it's just a guitar.
You know, I can feel it.
joe rogan
It might be magic, though.
I mean, it might have something in it.
But also, it might have something in it just because you know it was his.
dan auerbach
That's what I'm saying.
I'm just saying.
joe rogan
But it's still real, right?
Like, that amount of magic is still real.
dan auerbach
You would have to prove to me that someone felt it who didn't know ahead of time.
joe rogan
Right.
But not really, because it works on you.
Like, magic doesn't have to work on everybody.
Right.
dan auerbach
Well then I would explain it that I already thought it was magic.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
Do you know what I mean?
joe rogan
You already thought it was magic, but because you did, it is.
dan auerbach
I don't know.
joe rogan
Maybe.
dan auerbach
I don't know if I would describe that as magic.
joe rogan
I don't know, man.
I feel like if I had a notebook that Richard Pryor wrote in, well, he would never write in it.
He would save it.
That's not a good example.
But, like, if somebody gave me, like, if Richard Pryor had a laptop, and he wrote some great shit on his laptop, and then someone sold it, and I had that laptop, I'd be like, holy shit.
dan auerbach
Magic laptop.
joe rogan
All of a sudden it would be magic.
dan auerbach
Your jokes are just all fire.
Everything you write out is made.
joe rogan
You would think, like, I have to do this laptop justice.
This is the laptop of the great one.
You know, I have to...
There's no bullshitting around with this thing.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
You would think about it that way.
That's the idea behind, like, things being sacred.
If you decide things are sacred, then they are sacred.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It's up to you to believe.
joe rogan
Yeah, and if you treat them as sacred, then they're as real as you want them to be.
dan auerbach
And life is short.
And if you want to believe in magic, then it's real.
unidentified
Dude, I'm gonna go run a mountain right now.
joe rogan
Goddammit, Dan!
dan auerbach
I mean, all I do every day is go into the studio and, like, Make something out of nothing.
It feels like magic to me still.
I wake up and I'm so excited.
Do you know what I mean?
It feels like Christmas every morning.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
dan auerbach
And that's magic to me.
That's what I live for.
But I don't know anything else.
I've never really had a real job.
I worked at my uncle's restaurant.
But that's it.
That's all I've ever done.
joe rogan
Perfect!
You don't need to do...
I mean, everybody's got a different path.
You don't have to do other shit.
Why do anything else if you still enjoy it, you still appreciate it, and the music is amazing?
Why fuck around?
dan auerbach
Sometimes it makes it hard to relate to other people.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Just hang around musicians only.
Just stay close.
dan auerbach
Not all musicians are like that, though.
joe rogan
Well, ones that are.
Find the ones that are.
I don't know, man.
dan auerbach
It's just me and Sturgill staring at each other in Nashville.
That's it.
Just the two of us.
joe rogan
I've been a huge fan of the Black Keys for a long time, man, so for me to have you on is a real honor, a real treat.
dan auerbach
Thanks a lot.
joe rogan
You guys are so interesting because the music is so hard to define.
There's different styles in different albums, and it seems like you guys go off in these really eclectic ways and paths, and there's so much content.
You guys have put out so many songs.
You're so prolific.
dan auerbach
Yeah, I, again, like, I don't know how else to do it.
You know, I don't know what, I don't understand how people go into the studio and take some fucking week to do one song.
They don't smoke weed.
I don't always smoke weed, you know, but I've done records with no weed, plenty of them, you know, but I still do two songs a day.
joe rogan
Well, I think you just love it.
And I think if you love something and you just give it that energy, and it's obviously giving you a lot of positive results.
dan auerbach
Well, the thing is, I think that people get so caught up with worrying about what other people think, they just overanalyze.
And it's so hard to get really in touch with something special when you're worrying so much about everybody else.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
That's a real aspect of social media that I think some people struggle with.
dan auerbach
Totally.
But it's a real thing, too.
There are a lot of very opinionated...
You know places that review music that are very like into the trends, you know what I mean?
I can see how it could be crippling to a kid who's just trying to like make music, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well any form of criticism where people didn't like a performance, even if it's correct, still is...
Painful for people to hear and if you're hearing if you like put together something and then it gets reviewed by a magazine or something it gets poorly reviewed Yeah, but not being able to take criticism is a sign of weakness You know you have to know that you have to grow into that and And also, music is so ridiculously subjective.
And there's stuff that people love that I can't listen to.
dan auerbach
Sure.
joe rogan
And there's stuff that I love that people are like, what the fuck is wrong with you?
I mean, it's just always going to be that way.
dan auerbach
Sure.
joe rogan
And you have one person's take on it, and it's the best thing ever, and another person's take on it, they fell asleep halfway through it.
It's weird.
dan auerbach
There are records like that where...
But then, again, on the same hand, it's like, there are records that people played me.
I'm like, what the fuck is this?
I hate this.
And then five years later, it's my favorite thing.
I wasn't ready for it.
I didn't quite understand it.
I didn't hear it in the right setting.
Do you know what I mean?
But that's also what's beautiful about music and art is that it grows with you.
The best of it can really grow with you.
joe rogan
Yeah, hearing the right song at the right time can leave like a psychic imprint on you of that song, and you always will associate that song with that moment.
dan auerbach
Sure.
Powerful moments.
Things that change you forever.
unidentified
How old were you when you started doing music?
dan auerbach
I was always around music.
My dad had a great record collection, always playing music.
My mom played piano, and her whole family played bluegrass.
unidentified
Oh, wow.
dan auerbach
So that's what made me want to play Music was I wanted to play music with my uncles.
They sat around in circles and my aunt and they would play Stanley Brothers songs and You know my grandma died.
We all sang around her her Grave, you know, I mean, it's just like music is a real part of my my family Wow, so it's just always been there That must have been crazy you all sat around her grave and sang.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
dan auerbach
Yeah, we sang her favorite songs Whoa, it was really nice That is really nice.
Angel Band by the Stanley Brothers.
It's one of my favorite songs ever.
joe rogan
How many people were singing?
dan auerbach
Six.
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
Six people.
We brought our instruments.
joe rogan
A lot of crying?
I'm crying just thinking about it.
dan auerbach
No.
No, it was her favorite thing.
She loved to sit in the living room and listen to her kids play music.
And it's the reason I'm here now.
unidentified
Wow.
dan auerbach
It really is.
Because music has just really been such a part of my life.
joe rogan
Well, that's awesome when someone finds something that they really just tune into like that.
And then you see them just pursuing it with such wild abandon.
I mean, that's what everybody, as a fan, that's what someone hopes for the most.
That the person who puts out the sound that you love is really into it and does it all the time.
dan auerbach
Yeah, no, it's been the only thing I can really focus on since I was about 15. Wow.
Yeah.
I mean, girls and music is pretty much it.
I stopped messing around with sports, really.
Yeah, that was it.
joe rogan
Well, you guys figured it out, man.
dan auerbach
I guess.
joe rogan
I don't know.
That sound nailed.
dan auerbach
I mean, we put up like five records before we even had a song on the radio.
joe rogan
Yeah, but people were already talking about it before you guys had songs on the radio.
You had such an authentic sound that you already had a lot of momentum, but it was the cool thing to like that no one knew about yet.
dan auerbach
We had a great fan base before we had radio success.
Yeah, we've been really blessed.
Every year was better than the one before.
joe rogan
What is your take on what's going on now with radio?
It must be strange to watch this business go from being something where you buy an actual physical thing to digital downloads.
What has it been like to watch us all move into the internet?
dan auerbach
It's pretty depressing.
It's really depressing.
I don't think people can make connections with music like they used to.
When you owned something and you sat with it and listened.
It's just too disposable.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
You know?
joe rogan
Like sitting down with an album, opening the album, putting the headphones on.
dan auerbach
Yeah, not to even talk about how, you know, how the artists are treated with streaming.
I mean, it's just, it's totally criminal.
joe rogan
Well, the streaming thing's weird, right?
dan auerbach
It's criminal.
joe rogan
Well, explain it.
dan auerbach
I mean, I don't know, like, I couldn't tell you numbers, but, you know, I mean, just like YouTube, you know, they just paid artists fractions of what they should be paying, and It's just it's not treated like a real Valued thing anymore.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Well, we were discussing this the other day about streaming services that one of the weirdest things about it is all they're selling is Artists work right and that's all you have you can't stream anything unless someone creates it.
That's all you have so that is what you're selling so Who's making all the money and why?
How has that worked out?
And right now, there's a lot of opportunism going on and a lot of people are jockeying for a better slice of the pie and a better position.
But we were talking about Spotify and all those different things and how little money the artists actually get out of it.
It's weird.
dan auerbach
It is weird.
It is weird, isn't it?
I mean, can you imagine like going playing gigs at the Moore Theater and then saying, oh, we're just going to pay you streaming money, not the real gig money.
joe rogan
You know what I mean?
dan auerbach
It would be like, that would make no sense, right?
I mean, it's kind of the same thing.
I mean, you have a product that you invested your time and money into.
It should be no different, really, right?
joe rogan
Well, I think there should be some sort of established number.
Like, you should be able to figure out how much money are they making from it.
Like, how much money are they making if they play your, uh, one of your albums?
dan auerbach
Drew, do you know?
unidentified
No.
Streaming, sir?
On streaming?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Usually.005 cents for a click.
.005 cents for a click for those Drews off mic.
dan auerbach
And if you buy the album, how much is it per song?
How much are they paying per song?
For a physical copy.
joe rogan
If you buy the album like on iTunes or on like a CD? CD or iTunes.
dan auerbach
What is the difference?
What's the comparison to those?
unidentified
If the song is 99 cents, you're looking at 30, 40 cents.
joe rogan
No one can hear you, but he said if the song is 99 cents, you're looking at 30 or 40 cents.
dan auerbach
As compared to streaming, which is, what'd you say?
joe rogan
0.0005.
Is that what you said?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, for time songs click.
So every time someone clicks on it.
It has to play for like 10 seconds.
Oh god.
It's just mass consumption.
It's weird.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, it all started with being able to put it on a server somewhere, right?
It all started from being digital.
That's where things got odd.
Where you could take someone's stuff and you don't need any special recording equipment to make copies.
You make a copy on your computer instantaneously.
You upload that copy and then that copy is shared by X amount of people who just continually download it and share it.
Things get weird.
They get real weird when it becomes a digital entity.
Something that's out there in space and then figuring out how you make money off of it.
But I would feel like a streaming platform, all they have Is someone's work.
If no one lets them put their stuff up, then they don't have anything, right?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, the only benefit for you guys would be more exposure, which would help, like, ticket sales?
dan auerbach
You know the major record labels own portions of these streaming services, too.
joe rogan
Oh.
dan auerbach
It gets pretty deep.
I mean, it's just intertwined nastiness, and the artist pretty much falls at the bottom of the barrel.
joe rogan
So the record labels have done the same thing that they used to do with physical records, and now they've done it with the streaming thing.
They've just hamstringed everybody.
Wow, that's great.
So should people not use those streaming services?
Is that the way to go?
dan auerbach
I mean, ultimately, probably.
I mean, artists probably shouldn't allow it, but it's like, um, you can't.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
You know?
You have to put it on there.
I don't know.
I should have come with a spreadsheet and some pie charts.
joe rogan
Do you have the options?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
So like when they come to you and they say, hey Dan, we would want to put all your...
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
joe rogan
And you could say, no thank you.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Is that what you say or do you let them put it up there?
dan auerbach
We don't have anything on Tidal, you know, but we have it on iTunes.
They still pay it.
They pay the highest royalty rate, right, iTunes?
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
How's Google Play?
Because they're doing...
They have that now, right?
dan auerbach
I have no idea.
joe rogan
That's the newest one?
dan auerbach
I have no idea.
You know, Google kind of...
They co-own YouTube.
So they get all that YouTube money.
joe rogan
Right.
But don't they have to pay for, like, bandwidth and shit, too?
Isn't that all that expensive?
I don't know.
dan auerbach
I don't know.
joe rogan
Yeah, but it's weird how the world just changed.
dan auerbach
It's like, I'm a musician, now I have to worry about fucking this business side of shit now?
unidentified
Yeah.
dan auerbach
We all have to, like, know about who owns all these little portions of this shit?
I mean, it's like, that's why we get taken advantage of.
unidentified
Right.
dan auerbach
Because we're just trying to be artists and trying to make music.
We have to become college professors to even figure out our record deals.
unidentified
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Do you know what I mean?
It's really unfair, and when you sign a kid to a record deal, it's like...
They pretty much are signing their life on the line, you know?
joe rogan
I'm sure you've read that piece that Courtney Love wrote years back.
dan auerbach
I don't think I've ever read anything Courtney Love has written.
joe rogan
It was pretty famous because a lot of people accused her of using a ghostwriter because it was so well done.
But it was a piece breaking down, like if you didn't know that she was the one who wrote it, you would go, whoa, this is a scathing review of how the money is distributed in the record business.
And it was pretty shocking when you look at it from terms of actual revenue to what actually trickles down to the artist.
The only thing that they're selling, the artist's work, and how these contracts are set up to fuck people over.
But they've been around forever and there's these giant machines, right?
They have so many employees.
They kind of have to justify keeping all these buildings and having all these employees.
And there's a lot of money that needs to be earned just to keep this thing floating, right?
dan auerbach
Well, it got so engorged.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a tick.
dan auerbach
At the height of physical sales, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
It's hard to, like, get used to a certain lifestyle.
Right?
I mean, you're going to move back into an apartment next week.
joe rogan
It would suck.
dan auerbach
Yeah, it would suck.
You'd try to figure out how to...
You might cut his pay a little bit, maybe, to offset, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah, that's what they did.
Yeah, they just wanted to...
Well, they had to downsize quite a bit.
I used to love record stores.
dan auerbach
The last real job I had was in a record store.
Really?
The last time I was ever really taxed before being a musician.
I worked at Kwanzaa Hut Records in Akron, Ohio.
And it was awesome.
I learned so much there.
I learned so much cool shit.
People hit me with so much great music that I never would have heard of.
joe rogan
Well, back then that was the way you could find out about it.
You'd go to the record stores and aficionados would let you know about cool stuff.
dan auerbach
Guys who've dedicated their lives to learning about this stuff, you know what I mean?
They're like essentially college professors of music.
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
Right?
dan auerbach
The guys that I worked with were pretty much geniuses.
They were all like...
45, 55-year-old guys with, like, their living room is just all records.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
And they would teach me things.
Every time I would go in, they're like, oh, so you've never heard this?
Well, then you've got to hear this, and you've got to hear this.
And it changed me, you know?
joe rogan
Isn't it funny that that is not, like, a respected quality in the mainstream world, but being a sommelier is?
unidentified
No, it's not funny.
joe rogan
You know what I mean?
Being a guy who can swish wine around and tell you what part of France it was grown.
That's something we look at and we go, oh, he's a sophisticated sommelier.
But like, oh, that dude, he knows a lot about 60s jazz.
Nobody gives a shit.
dan auerbach
Nobody gives a shit.
joe rogan
You loser.
dan auerbach
I don't give a shit about sommeliers, though.
So, I mean, I don't know.
You gotta come up with a different...
joe rogan
Yeah, but you know what I mean?
Like, for a lot of people, it's a big, fancy, schmancy type thing.
dan auerbach
Well, you know, I mean, it's all a bunch of horseshit.
I mean, it's like, just because you don't have a college degree in it, it's not taken seriously.
But what really is a college degree at the end of the day?
joe rogan
Well, when it comes to music, I mean, imagine if the only good musicians were musicians who had PhDs in...
In music theory?
No.
dan auerbach
It would be like North Korea.
joe rogan
I mean, could you even put together the kind of music that you guys made?
If you really thought about it in that way, your stuff is so uniquely creative.
You guys had a sound.
For a lot of your songs, you would hear it, and even though it was interesting and unique and different from the previous song, you could tell it was a Black Keys song.
It was coming from two guys.
It was clearly coming from two guys.
I think as soon as you add a lot of theory and overproduction and different people overseeing things and looking for the right amount of beats per minute and all that jazz...
dan auerbach
Listen, man, it's like...
The greatest people are just the greatest people.
When you...
If you could be around Richard Pryor and watch him, you would feel the magic.
You would see the way he walks, the way he touches his lips, the way he...
You know, like when I'm hanging out with Dr. John, I see it.
I'm like, holy shit.
This guy is like from another planet.
You know what I mean?
He just...
You can't teach that.
It's just...
It's total magic, you know?
I can't even imagine like in LA, Dr. John used to be here doing session work.
That's like when Phil Spector was making records and stuff like that, you know?
It would be a studio full of Dr. Johns.
People that just had their own thing about him.
You know what I mean?
Total self-confidence, their own style, no theory, no bullshit.
It was just like, this is what he does and we're going to incorporate this with 12 other guys who have their own thing.
It's like magic.
You know what I mean?
And that's the cool thing about studios.
We kind of lose now because people can't afford to have studios.
Things change so much over time.
It gets depressing.
The more I work with these older guys who are just insane.
It's just so hard to describe.
It really feels like magic.
joe rogan
Was it because everything they were doing was completely analog?
dan auerbach
No, because it was a performance and you had to like, not only did you have to come up with the part on the spot, you had to kind of improvise.
You had to play perfectly behind the beat.
You had to like, you had to just like, I don't, it's just hard to explain.
You had to just kind of be able to understand the nuance of everything going on around you.
joe rogan
And there's less of that now?
dan auerbach
I think that it's harder when people don't get to record together and make music together, which is the case.
You know what I mean?
Because you don't really make money playing music unless you reach a certain level, and it's so much harder to now than it ever was before.
joe rogan
It's harder to reach a certain level.
Yeah, absolutely.
But doesn't YouTube and things along those lines, doesn't it help some people reach a higher level quicker without the need for mainstream media?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
joe rogan
You don't know?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
Beats me.
I don't know anybody who, like, got their start on YouTube.
joe rogan
Didn't Honey Honey band, didn't they become famous from YouTube?
I think that's what started it all.
Well, it's a combination of things.
It's hard to nail down on one.
dan auerbach
Yeah, I mean, we didn't do that.
I mean, we were like hit the road and we like playing shows and we just kept, you know, hitting up city.
So I just I wouldn't know.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I don't have experience with that.
joe rogan
So tell me about the arcs.
dan auerbach
Well, the ARCs is just a group of friends of mine who I've made records with for years, guys who make some of my favorite records, Leon Michaels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, and Nick Moveshahn.
They're just great musicians, you know?
And we've made different records together in various forms for different people.
And then when we had free time, we would record for ourselves, just for fun, just making stuff up.
Leon and I about a year and a half ago got together just to categorize them, put them in a folder to see what we had.
And we had like 70 songs that were just sitting there.
So we're like, what are we doing?
You know, let's figure out a way to share this music.
And so we just kind of came up with the ARCs and that was our platform.
joe rogan
That's insane.
You had 70 songs.
dan auerbach
70 songs, yeah.
I mean, every time we get in the studio together, it's like two or three songs.
We can just make them up, you know?
joe rogan
Wow.
When you go into the studio, do you have any idea, if you're in a session where you might improvise and come up with new stuff, do you have any idea...
What direction you're gonna go in or do you have a concept or do you just go freeball?
dan auerbach
You kind of I just always Freeball, I guess.
joe rogan
Have you always done it that way?
dan auerbach
Yeah, so the most part I mean I I don't I have had some songs written ahead of time, but that's more recently.
When I started it, we were just making shit up.
I mean, Black Keys albums were just totally improvised.
joe rogan
And so when you improvised, would you have someone recording it as you were doing it, or would you write down the lyrics?
dan auerbach
We did it all ourselves.
We did it all ourselves.
In the basement, it was just the two of us, and we had a four-track cassette recorder, and then we had a digital recorder.
Yeah, no, I mean, we didn't have anybody helping us.
joe rogan
Wow.
Well, that's why it was so cool.
I mean, that's why it was such a, you know, there's...
dan auerbach
I'll do big sessions now, and there'll be, like, an assistant running around, like, taking notes, like, what guitar I'm using and shit, and I'm like, what is this guy doing?
joe rogan
Distraction.
dan auerbach
It's so interesting.
No, I mean, but it's just, I just never had that, you know, growing up.
It just feels so weird.
joe rogan
So would you guys record it initially as you were improvising it?
Or would you improvise it and get it down and then record it?
dan auerbach
We would improvise it.
Usually the first or second take is the one that's best.
Even with the mistakes, it has the best feeling.
For me, the more that you focus on stuff, I guess the more boring it gets.
You lose that initial spark.
joe rogan
Dude, what a fucking cool life you have.
You make cool sounds, and then you release them.
dan auerbach
I'm not complaining.
joe rogan
Fuck, man.
It's so cool the way you describe it, too.
You just kind of go in there and fall into the trance and make the sounds.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
dan auerbach
And for me, it's only gotten better.
The feeling.
I mean, I work harder than anybody I know.
I get up in the morning, I start working, and I don't work until I'm asleep.
I don't stop until I'm asleep.
You know, every day.
joe rogan
Do you think of it as work, or do you think of it as like...
dan auerbach
When I get paid, I think of it as work.
But when I'm doing it, I never think of it as work.
joe rogan
So when the checks come, it's work.
It must have done some work.
But while you're doing it, it's just passion?
Absolutely.
dan auerbach
I feel so lucky being able to go in the studio.
joe rogan
I love hearing shit like this, man.
dan auerbach
And living in Nashville, too, which is a place that is Music City, USA. I mean, you could argue that rock and roll started there with Pretty Woman.
That riff was done.
Wayne Moss did that riff right down the street.
You know, it's just like...
I just love that stuff.
I love learning from those guys.
I love being around that.
It's just so much fun for me.
joe rogan
You know, I had Wheeler Walker Jr. in here the other day, and we were talking about Nashville, and he was talking about the money machine being behind Nashville now and how strange it is that you have some real music in that town, but then you also have this stuff that is just concocted because it looks like it would do numbers in Walmart.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
But, you know, where doesn't that happen?
At some level.
It's a music business.
joe rogan
Yeah, you're always going to have that, right?
dan auerbach
Yeah, it's a business.
I mean, you're always going to have douche holes making a lot of money.
A lot more money than you.
You know what I mean?
But the thing that's so great about that, I don't fucking ever see that.
I'm never around that.
I don't fuck with that at all.
You know what I mean?
And I've been in Nashville six years, seven years, something like that.
But the thing that's so cool about that is they really do...
Hold up that infrastructure and like if I run out of tape, I make a phone call and somebody delivers me reel-to-reel tape in like 10 minutes.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
Where else can that happen?
You know what I mean?
If that big business wasn't going on, it wouldn't make it so easy for me to be around so many great musicians.
A lot of these country guys that I work with, You know, they're embarrassed with some of the shit that they play on.
They won't tell me because they're so embarrassed how bad it is.
But it's the reason they're there and healthy and able to come in and work with me.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
So you can't complain about it.
And then reap all the benefits.
You know what I mean?
So I understand there's positive and negatives.
joe rogan
That's very honest of you.
That's a good way of looking at it, too.
That's a very good perspective.
Because it's not like it hurts you.
If you drive down the street and you see a Burger King, it doesn't hurt you if you don't go in there and eat.
dan auerbach
I make a living playing music in Nashville, and I never see it.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
Well, you just surround yourself with a tight-knit group.
dan auerbach
I guess I never leave home, so...
joe rogan
Well, yeah.
That's how you never see it.
Yeah, Nashville is, for a lot of musicians, that's the remaining mecca, right?
dan auerbach
Well, for certain musicians.
People who love country and bluegrass, it's definitely the place to be.
Bluegrass still lives in Nashville more than anywhere else, I'd say.
joe rogan
It seems like this is a really good time for country.
It seems like country is experiencing a resurgence right now.
Like real country.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I think that...
I have no idea, really.
I don't know what to say about that.
unidentified
No?
dan auerbach
I don't know, man.
joe rogan
You're in the mix, though.
dan auerbach
I was going to say something stupid about people buying records at Walmart, but I don't know, man.
Whatever.
joe rogan
That's very nice of you to pull back.
What a good guy.
You felt it.
dan auerbach
Look at me getting smart with age.
joe rogan
It's also weed.
Weed has me double-triple-thinking stuff, too.
Pull it back, son.
No need for conflict.
dan auerbach
No, I mean, it's, you know, country fans buy more physical copies than anyone.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
dan auerbach
By far, yeah.
joe rogan
No kidding?
dan auerbach
Yeah, absolutely.
joe rogan
Really?
Huh.
They probably still use those CD things.
Probably have those Walkmans, those big hip ones.
dan auerbach
Why are they always yellow?
Why are those things always yellow?
joe rogan
Yeah, that's a good question.
Yeah, they can never be black.
They're always yellow.
That's true.
It's like a hazard.
There was always a hazard to them or something.
dan auerbach
All I wanted was that big yellow disc and a Tony Hawk skateboard.
It's like all I ever wanted.
joe rogan
Well, I remember when they figured out a way to have some sort of buffering so that when you were playing the CD, you could actually jump around a little bit and move and it wouldn't skip.
It was crazy.
dan auerbach
What did they call that?
unidentified
ESP. ESP? 10 second ESP. That's right.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was a buffering that they had and it was a magical thing.
unidentified
Skip protection, something.
joe rogan
Yeah, something.
Electronic skip protection, is that what it is?
dan auerbach
There it is.
joe rogan
And then once they figured out how to go digital, all that shit died.
dan auerbach
Can you imagine?
They used to have record players in cars.
joe rogan
Did they?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
For real?
dan auerbach
Some early cars used to have that option.
joe rogan
Wow.
My friend Javier, his mom had an 8-track.
I never forgot.
We listened to Pablo Cruz.
When my baby smiles at me, I go to Rio.
And it was in those 8-track things.
What is this crazy space-age contraption this lady has in her car?
Just push this box in there and it plays music.
It was amazing, you know?
Oh, look at this!
This is crazy!
dan auerbach
There you go.
joe rogan
We're looking at a woman playing 45s in her car.
What kind of car is it?
That's a record player!
This is nuts!
That is nuts.
It's a record player like where the ashtray sort of would be in a conventional car.
Wow.
That's crazy.
dan auerbach
Every two and a half minutes you have to look down and flip a record.
Can you imagine?
joe rogan
Those old cars, man.
There was something about those old cars too.
They were a rolling piece of artwork as well.
There was some design and art to them that just...
Once you start going with aerodynamics and miles per gallon and airbags and...
unidentified
Boop, boop, boop, boop.
dan auerbach
All this shit happening on the dash.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's something with those cars that's just so extraordinary.
dan auerbach
I got to see a car the other day with this digital touchscreen thing.
joe rogan
Tesla?
Was it a Tesla?
dan auerbach
No.
I've never been in a Tesla.
I don't remember what it was, but...
God, it was just so weird.
joe rogan
Yeah, a lot of the electric cars have real crazy setups now.
Very strange.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, the Tesla's a giant screen, like an enormous laptop screen.
Like a big computer screen.
Like, that's what a Tesla screen looks like.
It's like a crazy laptop.
That's not a distraction, is it?
By the way, you can get email on that and websites.
dan auerbach
Show me my flight path.
joe rogan
You can.
You can do all that kind of stuff.
You can do Spotify on that, too.
You can press a little button and ask it to play Michael Jackson.
It'll play Michael Jackson songs.
That's so stupid.
It's so big.
It totally seems like it's in the way.
dan auerbach
It is a huge flat screen on your dash, man.
joe rogan
Is that a YouTube video that guy has on the right-hand side?
You can play YouTube videos while you drive.
dan auerbach
That's so dangerous.
joe rogan
Did you see that guy that got killed in Detroit?
He was jacking off in his car.
He crashed his car with his pants down, died in the accident.
He was watching porn, jacking off as he was driving.
And the state troopers, when they got to the wreck, dude had his pants down, porn playing on his phone.
dan auerbach
Oh man, his kids must be so bummed out.
joe rogan
Pantlet driver in Detroit dies in wreck watching porn.
Did they use his name?
Yep, Clifford Ray Jones.
dan auerbach
Oh shit.
joe rogan
Partially ejected through the sunroof when his 1996 Toyota rolled and he was thrown from the vehicle and died.
He wasn't wearing pants, police told the Detroit News.
dan auerbach
Oh.
joe rogan
Oh, well.
Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near crashes.
Okay.
dan auerbach
Wait a second.
What was he doing?
Was he watching a movie?
joe rogan
He was jacking off.
He was watching porn with his pants off.
dan auerbach
They said it was a 96 Corolla.
Where the fuck did he get the screen in there?
joe rogan
Well, he had it in his phone.
He was watching porn on his phone and jerking off.
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Oh, God.
joe rogan
Kid's an animal.
He was 58!
Oh my God, you retard!
Well, he should have known better.
dan auerbach
Old people in electronics, man.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I finally figured out how to get porn!
dan auerbach
That wasn't because he was jerking off.
It was just because he was old.
joe rogan
Maybe.
You never know.
You never know.
Are you a car guy?
Are you into cars?
dan auerbach
No, not really.
unidentified
No?
dan auerbach
I mean, I've got a couple old cars, but no.
joe rogan
A couple old cars?
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
That's what I figured you for.
I figured you for like an MG or something like that.
dan auerbach
I've got an old Ford panel van that I drive around town, you know?
joe rogan
A panel van?
dan auerbach
Yeah, 1960 Ford.
joe rogan
You talking about wood panels on the side?
dan auerbach
No, just a green work truck, you know, with barn doors that open in the back.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I used to deliver newspapers in one of those.
I had a Dodge, just like that.
dan auerbach
I love it, man.
joe rogan
What do you drive a van for?
dan auerbach
It's not like a van.
It looks pretty cool.
joe rogan
Yeah?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I mean, it's kind of beat up.
I don't have to worry about it.
joe rogan
Is that why you like it?
dan auerbach
Yeah, I like it.
I can carry all my equipment in it.
It's really easy.
It holds five people.
And if people want to sit in the back, it holds ten.
I don't know.
joe rogan
So, dude, you're just all about getting your music done.
You don't even give a fuck.
You're driving around in a panel van.
Getting it all beat up and just...
dan auerbach
I bought a new BMW like four years ago.
I still have it.
It's like starting to fall apart already.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
Yeah, all these like things keep flashing and like...
joe rogan
Do you take it to get it?
dan auerbach
I get notices in the mail, you know?
unidentified
You get notices?
dan auerbach
Recall notices, like...
unidentified
Really?
dan auerbach
From a BMW? Yeah, airbag may shoot shrapnel at you.
You know, it's like...
joe rogan
What model BMW did you get?
dan auerbach
It's a...
What's it called?
The X... X5? X5. It's a diesel.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
That's your problem.
dan auerbach
Which is a total pain in the ass, trying to find diesel gas.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's gross, too.
dan auerbach
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Well, the only thing about diesel that's cool is you could grow your own.
dan auerbach
Oh, I grow my own.
joe rogan
Do you make your own diesel?
dan auerbach
No, I don't.
No.
joe rogan
Neil Young does.
dan auerbach
Nobody grows their own diesel.
joe rogan
No, Neil Young does.
dan auerbach
No, he doesn't.
joe rogan
He makes his own biodiesel.
dan auerbach
He pays somebody to grow his own diesel, and he makes money off it, okay?
joe rogan
You might be right.
I think he was trying to be self-sustaining, though, so he might not be selling it.
dan auerbach
Well, maybe he is.
That's cool.
He's got some amazing cars.
joe rogan
Yeah, he has a gigantic ranch in Northern California, and he does grow his own biodiesel, and he has his cars converted to use it.
dan auerbach
Yeah, right.
I've heard about that ranch.
He bought it early from the farmer.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And he has some crazy sound system set up on his lake where he can get in a boat, allegedly.
Someone told us this, I believe, on the podcast.
And he gets out on this boat and he has the sound system set up where the acoustics are perfect when he's in the middle of this pond that he has.
And so he has these speakers set up on the side and around the pond, and it just blasts the perfect sound that echoes off the water.
dan auerbach
Epic.
joe rogan
Yeah.
He's a bad motherfucker.
He's the reason why I had to quit working security at Great Woods in Mansfield, Massachusetts, when I was 19, because a riot broke out during a Neil Young concert, because people were lighting fires.
Have you ever been to Great Woods?
No.
Great Woods Performance Center is...
dan auerbach
Maybe I have.
It's an outdoor amphitheater?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's an amphitheater.
It's covered up into the back area, which is called the lawn.
And the back area was literally like a sweeping lawn, and those are cheaper seats.
dan auerbach
Sure.
joe rogan
And when Neil Young was there, people started fires there.
They just started lighting garbage on fire, and then fights broke out, and then it was just chaos.
And I had a jacket.
I put a hoodie on over my security guard jacket.
I fucking put my hoodie on.
I was like, I quit!
I walked out of there like fuck this place and I'll never forget the last time I worked was during a Neil Young concert and as I was leaving people were punching people and there was fire and I was like I gotta get the fuck out of here yeah I've worked at one of those amphitheaters Blossom Music Center oh yeah where's that outside of Cleveland Richfield another Ohio boy right there you know Blossom Music Center yeah Columbus I used to me and my buddies used to be the guys in the parking lot with the flags Why are so many bad motherfuckers from Ohio?
What's going on?
Why is that state so badass?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I think that it had a lot of money with all the industry.
So it had a lot of art.
But now that the industry's gone, it's a struggle a bit, but the art's still there.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
And the culture.
joe rogan
The culture, right.
dan auerbach
The understanding that there's respect for art, I think...
I don't know.
I just totally made that up, but...
joe rogan
You might be right.
That might make sense.
dan auerbach
Did that sound...
unidentified
There's something.
jamie vernon
There's a bunch of astronauts are from Ohio, tons of famous...
A lot of people I've met just here since I've lived here are from Ohio, just hanging around comedians and whatnot.
joe rogan
It's a badass place to do stand-up, too.
It's one of my favorite places.
dan auerbach
One of the female astronauts who died in the Challenger explosion went to my high school.
joe rogan
Where was the female astronaut from that wore the diaper that went to the guy's house to kill him?
Remember that one?
She wore the diaper to drive all the way across the country so she didn't have to stop to pee.
dan auerbach
What was she going to do?
joe rogan
She was going to kidnap some girl or something?
unidentified
I remember that.
dan auerbach
I remember that.
joe rogan
Any girl is willing to fucking wear an astronaut charged with attempted murder.
Anytime a chick is willing to wear a diaper.
You fucked her up so bad.
She wants to wear a diaper to come and get you.
dan auerbach
I mean, would you think that a female astronaut would like...
joe rogan
She doesn't play games.
She wants to win.
dan auerbach
She does not play games.
joe rogan
She's got the right stuff, dude.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
joe rogan
A rival for another astronaut's affection.
Yeah, she attacked a rival for another astronaut's affection at the Orlando International Airport on Monday after driving more than 900 miles from Houston to meet her flight.
unidentified
Whoa!
joe rogan
Okay, so this girl was flying and this crazy bitch said, I'm gonna fucking meet you there!
Wearing a diaper, shitting herself.
dan auerbach
She only had a four-inch blade and a BB gun, though.
joe rogan
She's an astronaut.
That's all she needs.
She'd kill that bitch with a Pop-Tart.
dan auerbach
I didn't know that astronauts knew how to kill people.
unidentified
Did they teach you that?
joe rogan
They're Americans, goddammit!
They learn!
unidentified
Um...
joe rogan
I wonder, man.
I wonder what she knew.
Maybe she just wanted to claw her eyes out or something.
Just bite her in the face or something.
dan auerbach
Yikes.
joe rogan
Maybe she didn't really want to kill her.
She had a BB gun, though.
And a map to the house.
Well, listen, anybody who's wearing a diaper ain't thinking that straight.
Maybe she didn't know it was a BB gun when she picked it up.
dan auerbach
That's awesome.
She had a map to the house.
joe rogan
Little X. Well, do you know the story about the guy who broke into the White House?
Only one guy ever broke into the White House during the Obama administration.
And I've been researching it.
dan auerbach
Is he the only one who's ever broken into the White House?
unidentified
Ever.
joe rogan
He's the only guy who's ever breached.
dan auerbach
And it happened during the Obama administration.
joe rogan
Yeah.
He had in his car...
Two rifles, four handguns, 800 rounds of ammunition, two hatchets, and a machete.
And he broke into the White House with a knife on him.
And he only got 18 months.
That's what's really crazy.
He said, well, he had PTSD. Oh, okay.
dan auerbach
Did he just drop out of the roof like, ha!
joe rogan
Well, he had a plea deal.
He barged through the door.
And there was a woman security guard, and she couldn't stop him.
He was too big, and he ran past her.
And he got deep in.
He got deep in the White House.
Like, deeper than they had originally admitted.
dan auerbach
Did he have a map?
Like, with X at the end?
joe rogan
He did.
That's what I was going to say.
He had a map.
Like, White House, X. This dumb fuck.
This guy was completely out of his mind.
But the crazy thing is he only got 18 months.
I know a guy was in jail for 10 years for growing weed.
He's in federal penitentiary for 10 years for growing weed.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
And this guy got 18 months for having an arsenal in his car and breaking into the White House with a knife.
dan auerbach
Idiocracy, man.
joe rogan
Maybe.
dan auerbach
You see that cop in New York just got convicted of manslaughter but didn't get any jail time?
joe rogan
Which cop?
Which story?
dan auerbach
Just happened the other day.
I forget.
joe rogan
Do you know what the case was?
dan auerbach
I think it was one of those cases where he had the duty where he was patrolling the stairwells and projects, which sounds horrifying.
joe rogan
No jail time for ex-NYPD officer after manslaughter conviction reduced to criminally negligent homicide.
Huh.
What is it saying he did, Jamie?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I'm just saying it seems like every day there's just something that doesn't make any sense.
joe rogan
Well, there's definitely a lot of stuff that doesn't make any sense and also a lot of stuff you have to deal with if you're a fucking cop.
I think this is a subject that requires balance.
I think there's a lot of terrible things that cops have done and it's obvious.
We've seen videos of it.
We saw that cop shoot that guy in the back running away and then throw the taser on him.
We've all seen horrible shit.
dan auerbach
We've seen it.
joe rogan
I think these guys are shell-shocked.
I think there's a vast majority of the people out there that are operating as police officers that are barely keeping it together.
I think it's a hard job, and I think those guys are under stress all the time.
Every day might be the end of their life.
Every car they pull over might be someone who shoots them.
dan auerbach
You walk into places and you're hated instantly.
joe rogan
Instantly.
Everybody's lying to you.
dan auerbach
And it should be the opposite.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Everybody's lying to you.
And on top of that, they've set them up as the enemy by making them glorified revenue collectors.
Pulling people over for having a fucking, you know, traffic ticker, you know, your blinker's not working, or your license plate's expired.
All shit that has nothing to do with crime.
You know?
I think there's a lot of that going on where they give them quotas on speeding tickets and they turn them into the enemy.
You're taking money from people.
You're stealing from people.
dan auerbach
They're being used.
joe rogan
They're being used.
dan auerbach
And, yeah.
And it's not right.
joe rogan
Well, I just always hope that when people talk about stuff like this and all these videos that are getting out and people, the awareness of it, that it'll bounce back the other way.
And then people will realize it.
And the people, somehow or another, it'll be a self-correcting thing.
dan auerbach
You think that's gonna happen?
joe rogan
I don't know.
dan auerbach
I don't think so.
joe rogan
You don't think it's in time that things are self-correcting?
dan auerbach
I think that some famous white person has to die and then maybe it'll get corrected.
joe rogan
Oh, white people.
I see.
Hmm.
Might be.
Might be right.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
It seems to be when people take notice.
I saw that interview that you did with that ex-Baltimore cop.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's coming back in.
dan auerbach
Boy, that was like, that should be required viewing.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's running for chief of police of Chicago.
He wants to take over Chicago.
He thinks he can make some leeway.
He's gonna come in and talk about that.
dan auerbach
That's what an uphill battle that would be.
joe rogan
Well, if anybody's gonna do it, it's gonna be a guy like him, a radical thinker.
dan auerbach
I don't mean fighting the crime, I mean changing the politics.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
That would be the uphill battle.
joe rogan
But both would be a problem.
You know, Chicago became a bloodbath after they started arresting key gang members that were in control of drug distribution.
So they created a power vacuum.
And, you know, much like has happened...
dan auerbach
Isn't that why they call it Chirac?
joe rogan
What's that?
dan auerbach
Isn't that why they call it Chirac?
joe rogan
Is that what they call it?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Whoa.
dan auerbach
They call it Chirac.
joe rogan
You knew that?
Jamie's on black Twitter on a regular basis.
unidentified
The Spike Lee movie just came out.
He called it that, too.
joe rogan
That was in the Spike Lee movie?
dan auerbach
That's what they call it.
That's what locals call it.
joe rogan
I'm so white.
dan auerbach
Because it's a war zone.
joe rogan
Yeah, it is a war zone.
dan auerbach
But it's essentially, I didn't know that, but it seems like kind of the same thing where you take out people in power and then it's just chaos.
joe rogan
Well, we were there about a year and a half ago and there was a guy who I was talking with down there that used to be a cop and now he was a limo driver.
And he was telling me what it was like.
And it's always been a problem.
He's like, but then when they decided to go and make some key arrests, they had created a bit of a power vacuum.
And then it all ramped up where people were trying to...
And then there's also like once the violence is ramped up, then people want to respond to that violence and it ramps it up even more.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
How do you stop that?
But if anybody knows, it's going to be a guy like Michael Wood.
It's going to be a guy who was a former cop, worked in Baltimore, who understands what it's like.
dan auerbach
What does he think about drugs?
Does he think they're going to need to be legalized?
joe rogan
Yeah, I think so.
I don't think he's locking people up for anything that they want to do.
I think everybody agrees to that.
Non-violent crimes, like to have these prisons filled up with non-violent crimes is very bizarre, especially when it's non-violent.
dan auerbach
It's embarrassing.
joe rogan
It is embarrassing.
dan auerbach
We should be embarrassed.
joe rogan
We should be.
dan auerbach
We've fucking ruined so many people's lives.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And it doesn't look like they're going to do anything about it.
dan auerbach
People make too much money.
People with, you know, political influence.
joe rogan
Well, private prisons.
And then when that judge got caught in Pennsylvania for taking young kids and locking them up in jail for money, and that he was getting some sort of a kickback from these detention institutes where they would send young juvenile detention.
Man, just to know that there's people out there that are working in justice that would be willing to take money and sacrifice some young kid's future.
I mean, that's really, really scary that these are the people that we've led justice to.
dan auerbach
That's heinous.
I mean, I get so scared thinking about my kids, you know.
I mean, every single day you see crazy shit.
You know, you see some, like...
You know, black kid killed by a cop.
You know, it's like, Jesus Christ.
It's like never-ending.
It does make me kind of want to not leave my house sometimes.
joe rogan
It's awful, but it's also awful.
Black kids killed by black kids.
White kids killed by white kids.
I mean, just violence in and of itself.
It's such a...
At this point in our life...
dan auerbach
I guess it's because I'm only ever going Worldstar.
joe rogan
Well, you should get off Worldstar.
My favorite video of World Star was this week.
See the one with the little cub wrestling a dog?
Holy Jesus Christ.
dan auerbach
I didn't see that.
joe rogan
This little baby bear fucked this dog up.
It was a grown dog, man.
This little tiny bear.
And it looked like the dog was fucking with the bear.
And then the bear was like, bitch!
Just grabbed it by his head and just ragdolling him.
It's on my Instagram.
It is crazy.
Like, you can't believe how strong this little tiny bear is in comparison to a full-grown dog that's twice his size.
He just throws him around like, look at this.
Look at this dog is fucking when he's like, bitch!
dan auerbach
Yikes.
joe rogan
He ragdolls this dog.
Watch his hip toss.
Boom!
Dude, that's technique.
Look how he takes side control.
That dog knows what the fuck's going on.
Or that bear, rather.
dan auerbach
Wait a second.
Play that again and do the commentary.
That was cool.
joe rogan
I'll show you exactly what's going on here.
See, the dog's fucking with me.
He's like, no, bitch.
He got the Muay Thai clinch, first of all.
He gets the plumb around the neck, ragdolls him to the ground.
The dog's trying to reach around behind him.
He adjusts, flips the dog on his back, and then look at that hip toss.
The hip toss at the end is huge.
He's got the scarf hold.
He's holding on the neck.
dan auerbach
That's your thing.
It's huge.
joe rogan
That hip toss is huge because he established his position.
dan auerbach
He did, but he gave it up very quickly.
joe rogan
Well, because he's smart.
He knew he was going to get reversed.
dan auerbach
Well, apparently the dog has jiu-jitsu, and the bear wanted to stay standing up.
joe rogan
The dog's just big.
He's a goon.
dan auerbach
The bear wanted to keep it up.
joe rogan
The dog's a goon.
The bear's going to win eventually.
He's going to have to cook them.
It's going to take some time.
Trust me.
I've got money on the bear.
dan auerbach
Did you say the dog is a goon?
joe rogan
Yeah, he's a goon.
dan auerbach
How dare you?
joe rogan
A goon is when you roll with someone and they're not good.
They're just strong.
And they throw you off of them.
You just gotta ride the boat.
You gotta figure out a way to ride the boat.
dan auerbach
Isn't that like most people with big muscles, though?
joe rogan
A lot of people with big muscles.
dan auerbach
I mean, I'm a boxing fan, and when somebody walks into the ring and they've got a lot of muscles, I pretty much automatically know they're going to lose.
joe rogan
I got two words for you.
Mike Tyson.
That's what you get when you get big muscles and intelligence and a deep knowledge of boxing.
dan auerbach
Yeah, totally.
joe rogan
You get both things, but most of the time you don't.
dan auerbach
Most of the time you don't.
joe rogan
But when you did, like when Mike Tyson was in his prime, it was so terrifying because...
There wasn't a guy like that before him.
This super fast, ridiculously powerful guy just came in with perfect technique, bobbing and weaving, throwing bombs at you.
dan auerbach
Yeah, his side-to-side movement was just so terrifying.
joe rogan
That little bear would fuck him up.
Grab ahold of his dick, throw him to the ground, flip him over on his back.
dan auerbach
I don't know, man.
You seen him with his tigers?
joe rogan
Yeah, he's crazy.
Charlie Murphy had one of the funniest stories ever told on this podcast.
We told about how he pulled up to Mike Tyson's house with a bunch of his friends and they were all limos and nobody wanted to get out of the car because Mike Tyson was on the front lawn with a fucking lion.
He's got like a lion and he's got an actual real lion and nobody wanted to get it out of the cars.
Or was it a tiger or was it a lion?
One of those things.
But it's an animated thing.
Oh, he's got a tiger there.
He had a gang of cats.
dan auerbach
How rich do you have to get before you start collecting zoo animals?
joe rogan
Boy, he was insane, wealthy, living in Vegas.
I mean, at the time...
dan auerbach
That seems to be the thing.
Like, you get a monkey, you get a...
joe rogan
Well, a lot of fighters wind up getting very dangerous animals.
That was a big thing with a lot of fighters.
I was wondering, what did he do with these things once he couldn't handle them anymore?
dan auerbach
Like, what kind of animals?
joe rogan
A lot of boxers get pit bulls.
That's real common.
A lot of kickboxers and MMA fighters get pit bulls.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Real common.
They just want to be around something that's as badass as them.
Sure.
Or makes them feel badass.
dan auerbach
And insist they're safe.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, you'll be safe.
It's other people that you've got to worry about.
If you have a pit bull, most of the time you're safe.
If it's your dog, it's very rare that a pit bull attacks its owner.
Very rare.
They want to please people.
And it's not even normal for them to go after people.
Usually the only times that those dogs go after people is when they're abused or trained poorly.
dan auerbach
I totally believe you, but I wouldn't let my kids around one.
joe rogan
No, children is different.
Because children are small.
dan auerbach
And they think children are part of my life, so I can't have them around.
unidentified
No, no, no.
joe rogan
I totally understand.
I totally understand.
dan auerbach
But children are part of everybody's life.
So it's like, when you get a pit bull, you're basically saying, you know, Half the population can't be around me.
joe rogan
You could say that, but there are some...
You know, the problem is it's not worth the risk to make the exception, but there are some people's dogs that are amazing.
Like, I used to have this pit bull named Lucy.
She was the sweetest dog ever to everybody.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
She was kids, anybody, babies.
dan auerbach
No, I have a friend with a really sweet pit bull.
joe rogan
It didn't matter.
She loved everybody.
But, you know, when people would see her, they'd be like, is that a pit bull?
And they'd freak out.
She was the nicest dog ever.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
But then you'll have other dogs that are just not like that at all.
You know, they're dangerous.
They're tricky.
And you never know, because they all look the same.
Like, you'd have to get to know the dog.
And you have to know the history of the dog, and the dog's parents' history.
I have this dog that's a Mastiff, and he's a smaller Mastiff.
It's called a Regency Mastiff.
He is the sweetest dog I have ever had in my life.
And the reason why is because the guy who raised him, when he described it to me, he's like, it's all about the parents.
And it's all about not letting parents that exhibit any weird behavior breed.
He's like, if you're going to breed like a really nice dog, you just make sure that the dogs are always friendly and only friendly dogs breed.
And if they're not friendly, don't allow them to breed.
I was like, that is crazy.
He's got it completely organized that way, like genetically.
You know, he makes sure that these dogs are never, any dog that growls at somebody, any dog that barks for no reason.
They don't breed.
dan auerbach
Those are the ones they put in the other barn where they secretly breed them for fighters.
joe rogan
Well, they just fix them.
No, they're different dogs.
It's a large dog.
dan auerbach
One of my friends, his mom bred bull mastiffs.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah?
dan auerbach
So I was always freaked out every time I went over.
They would be in the yard playing with bowling balls.
And I'd be like, I'm not getting out of the car.
joe rogan
Yeah, they're some enormous dogs.
They were originally made, like, they'd make them, I think, for some sort of guard dog, right?
That was the idea behind them, to make them as big as possible.
Like those English Mastiffs, they're like 200 pound dogs.
They're enormous.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I don't get those.
joe rogan
I like labs.
I think labs are my favorite.
They're like the most predictable, you know?
dan auerbach
They're predictable.
I just like a good mutt.
Yeah.
You know, like a good friendly mutt.
joe rogan
Good mutts are good, man.
Is there any downside to living in Nashville?
Is it all good living down there?
dan auerbach
You know, there's been such an influx of people that it's a bit congested now.
joe rogan
It's sort of like Austin in that regard, right?
dan auerbach
I guess so.
unidentified
It's the hot spot.
dan auerbach
I've heard that.
joe rogan
If you're young and you have aspirations and you want to live in a cool place...
dan auerbach
It seems to take longer and longer each year to get across town.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
You know?
joe rogan
You guys keep talking about it.
Telling people how awesome it is.
dan auerbach
You hear me talking about it?
unidentified
Me.
joe rogan
I just did.
I worked there all the time.
I used to do Zany's.
You know where that comedy club is down there?
unidentified
Yeah, sure.
dan auerbach
I've been there.
joe rogan
I'm there next month.
I'm doing the Ryman.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I love Nashville.
The ARCs just played the Ryman.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah?
dan auerbach
Awesome.
We had John Prine come out and sing with us.
joe rogan
Now, are you doing the ARCs in conjunction with the Black Keys?
dan auerbach
No, just sort of.
Pat and I sort of just finished the Turnbull tour, which ended like four years straight of touring.
So we're just kind of taking a little break, and I'm doing the ARCs thing now.
joe rogan
When you guys do things like this, do you do things legally, or do you just shake hands and say, we're in a band?
dan auerbach
I do things legally, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I do with these guys.
I love them.
They're my friends, but they're, you know, they're pros.
joe rogan
Yeah, you kind of have to, huh?
dan auerbach
They all have their own lawyers, you know?
joe rogan
That's going to be so weird.
dan auerbach
You know, because they have been ripped off, you know?
They've been ripped off in the past.
That happens to really good musicians.
joe rogan
What an amazing relationship you could have, though, if you had a bunch of heavy-duty musicians that went in on a handshake.
dan auerbach
Well, I mean, we don't talk about money really ahead of time.
You know, they'll buy plane tickets and fly into Nashville and spend a week recording.
We'll never once talk about contrast or anything like that.
joe rogan
So it's all done in advance?
dan auerbach
It's done afterwards.
It's, you know, hey, we finished a record.
We'll work it out now.
joe rogan
Right.
That's how it should be done, right?
dan auerbach
Until you get screwed.
And then you're like, shit, I should have done this ahead of time.
I don't know.
I think that's how it should be done, but...
joe rogan
At least there's a level of trust that you guys do the recording in advance.
I mean, that's a high level of trust, and then figure it out afterwards.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
joe rogan
That's a very high level of trust, because what if you guys catch lightning in a bottle and one of you bitches gets greedy?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Someone gets those Scrooge McDuck, ching-ching, those dollar bills in his eyes, and next thing you know...
Have you guys ever had your songs ripped off before?
dan auerbach
Oh yeah, absolutely.
joe rogan
What does that feel like?
dan auerbach
Strange, you know?
I mean, for Pat and I, it was like, we spent so many years just trying to get noticed to have people copying us.
It was just so bizarre.
We had this one case where, I mean, it's happened multiple times to us, but we had this one case where some casino did an advertisement, and the owner of the casino posted something on Twitter or something like that, Hey, check it out.
We just ripped off this Black Keys song for our new ad.
You guys like it?
And we just used that in the case and won.
It was insane.
joe rogan
Did they just not know?
dan auerbach
I don't think he knew how the internet worked.
I don't know.
Maybe he just thought he was posting to his buddies.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
Was it like Native American Casino where they thought they had different laws?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I don't know, man.
joe rogan
Do they have different laws when it comes to that kind of stuff?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
joe rogan
I don't either.
I mean, that was like the whole thing.
It's like that Native American casinos, they were allowed to have casinos in places that you can never have casinos.
dan auerbach
Right.
joe rogan
Because they had their own rules.
That's where a lot of the early MMA fights were done, because it was illegal.
It was illegal to have MMA competitions.
dan auerbach
So it was illegal to have MMA competitions, but it was legal to have them at the Native American places, so they must have different laws.
joe rogan
Yeah.
In some ways, yeah.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's how they have casinos.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So, what are you guys doing now?
You're just touring across the country with this new music?
dan auerbach
Yeah, we're just on tour playing some shows.
joe rogan
And you're here for Coachella?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
What is that experience like?
dan auerbach
You know, it's like most kind of festivals.
It can be fun if you're into that type of thing, I guess.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Well, it seems like it's got to be good for the young up-and-coming guys and gals to be included in these lineups and people to be able to experience maybe some bands.
I know for Honey Honey it was a big deal to be able to experience some bands that maybe you weren't aware of before and say, oh, let me follow them now.
dan auerbach
For me, it's kind of weird.
Watching music in the sun.
It just feels weird to me.
And you don't get soundcheck.
So you kind of go up there blind.
And then you have a very short set.
Normally most bands play.
You know a band that's playing like the Moore Theater or something that's playing like an hour and a half at least.
When you play at a festival you have 45 minutes.
That's it.
So it's a lot of effort.
To not be at your best.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
It's sort of...
That can be a little difficult.
But when you play a great festival and you get a great crowd, it can change your mind, I guess.
We just played last week and it was awesome.
We had a really nice crowd.
It was great.
joe rogan
What is it like being there?
I mean, how many people go to that goddamn thing?
It's got to be enormous now.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I mean, it's huge.
I mean, yeah.
I'm...
It's become this whole big thing out there, too.
They do two weekends now, not one.
And then the weekend after that, they do essentially the same thing, but with country music.
What's it called?
Stagecoach Festival.
So it's like three weeks.
The whole town is, for three weeks at least, is just completely inundated with people.
joe rogan
How strange.
And how do they choose that spot?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
They do it on the polo grounds there.
Do they use those polo grounds when it's not in season?
I'm not sure.
Yeah, I don't even know.
I don't know.
joe rogan
They just decided to put it on down there, but it's become this gigantic thing that everybody has to go to.
dan auerbach
A lot of guys who do those festivals will be the same ones who do festivals all over the place.
Like those Lollapalooza guys do different festivals.
They've started different ones.
joe rogan
And the benefit of doing those things is really essentially just for exposure, right?
I mean, there's money in it, but it's not like you guys do it on your own.
dan auerbach
It's good money.
joe rogan
It is good money?
dan auerbach
It's better money than playing shows.
You get more money.
Really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
It's good money, so it's nice to route a tour around festivals.
joe rogan
No shit.
dan auerbach
Yeah, absolutely.
joe rogan
Wow, that's interesting.
Huh.
Because comedians always think of it as like South by Southwest.
Because when you think about festivals...
dan auerbach
That's not a festival.
joe rogan
What is that?
dan auerbach
That's more an industry thing.
And everybody's kind of playing for free.
joe rogan
Yeah, what the fuck is that?
That seems really weird.
dan auerbach
That's really, when you're starting, it's a place to be seen.
Yeah, it's more for up-and-comers, I think.
Or when you have a brand new record coming out, you can go down there and you know that all the media is going to be there.
joe rogan
Is Coachella the big festival?
dan auerbach
I think so.
Yeah, Coachella is one of the biggest.
Lollapalooza is the other.
Yeah, there are a few that are mainstays now.
Coachella is definitely one of them.
joe rogan
Do you find that in the age of the internet that you are getting better crowds in different places?
That you're getting people that understand what you're doing and are big fans and they're all over the place now instead of like in urban pockets?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
We don't go outside of urban pockets, really, to be honest.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
I mean, we stay in major cities.
We don't often hit the small towns.
No.
Because we can hit major markets in Australia, Western Europe, North America, we can do it in South America, and then, like, by the time we finish that, You can kind of do those again.
You know what I mean?
unidentified
Right, right, right.
dan auerbach
It's like you really have to want to go there and make a lot less money.
Right.
unidentified
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
I get it.
Makes sense.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, I would just think that maybe that would, especially for fucking around and creating new stuff, sometimes getting a new look, you know, and being in a new place and performing for a new kind of, it gives you a new feel for what you're doing.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I mean, I think if you're that kind of band that does a lot of improvising, you know, fly by the seat of your pants.
But for me, I'd rather be creating in the studio.
joe rogan
Do you enjoy travel?
Do you enjoy international gigs?
dan auerbach
Less and less.
Yeah, less and less.
The more productive I am at home, the less I want to leave.
And I love being around my kids.
It's been a lot of fun.
So it's definitely become less and less a thing I want to do.
joe rogan
I gotta tell you, dude, your dedication and the way you describe wanting to do music, it's very infectious.
I love hearing shit like this, because it really does make me want to go do something, you know?
I think that effect is one of the reasons why people really enjoy conversations with people like you, because when we're reminded...
dan auerbach
I've never really done this.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
I've never really done an interview like this.
joe rogan
No shit?
dan auerbach
Never.
joe rogan
You're so comfortable, though.
How are you so comfortable?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I just feel comfortable around you, Joe.
Thanks, man.
unidentified
I feel safe.
joe rogan
You're definitely safe.
dan auerbach
I feel like you're gonna keep me safe if my stalker with the map barges through that door.
joe rogan
Everything's fine.
You're gonna be fine.
But it's like when a person hears someone like you that is just in love with what they do and produces amazing stuff and just has a passion about it.
It makes you...
There's like a bubbly thing.
It starts boiling inside you.
You want to get going.
You want to get moving, man.
That is the fuel of inspiration.
That's so important for people.
I mean, I think for all of us...
I think everybody who was into certain artists growing up knows that...
Music, especially I think, is probably one of the most inspirational things.
As far as the way it hits you, the way emotionally, the way it hits you.
As far as art forms, you can listen to a three minute song and it can hit you in a way that three minutes in a movie has no hope of.
Like, from start to go.
The three first minutes of a movie never hit you like some songs do.
They just tell a story in this intense, moving way with music and sound and the soul behind the way a person sings the words.
And to hear from a guy like you that that process is so intoxicating and that you love it so much and that you still, after all these years, do it and love it and can't wait to get back in there and you want to be productive and that you work all the time and that you work at it and you don't even consider it, that's like it.
That's what everybody wants to hear, man.
Because when you hear a guy like you talk about that, I guarantee you, this podcast will be heard by over a million people.
And out of those million people, thousands of them are going to start new projects and get inspired to do things just by hearing you do this.
Fuck yeah, man.
They're going to want some of that, man.
So people, they hear that and they go, that sounds like bliss.
That sounds like career bliss.
Someone who loves what they do.
dan auerbach
The business side is hard.
There's a lot of bullshit.
You know what I mean?
And most people don't make it.
We started over ten years ago and we used to tour with a bunch of bands that just don't even exist anymore.
Do you know what I mean?
We know that we're lucky.
You know what I mean?
But at the same time, I've always felt Something more from music.
It's always meant more to me than it did to all my friends.
Just because I don't know why.
It's part of my family.
But even still, my dad had a great record collection, but I pretty quickly surpassed his knowledge and just delved deeper.
You know what I mean?
But I always felt really in tune with music.
I can remember being 14 and hearing Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers and it making me cry.
You know what I mean?
It was able to reach someplace inside me that nothing else ever was able to.
You know?
I don't know that everybody gets that thing.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
But I definitely have that and it's like, it's really controlled the way that I've made all the decisions in my life.
joe rogan
Well, I've got to think as a young man in such a music-rich environment that you describe your childhood and growing up like that, I mean, that had to have sparked and fueled some areas of your creativity that just led you to embrace it the way you have.
I mean, it seems like a really fortunate situation that you grew up in.
dan auerbach
Yeah, absolutely.
joe rogan
I mean, that story of you guys around your grandmother's grave singing that song, that's an amazing story, man.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I kind of wish I had that in my family, you know?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I mean, and I know it.
I know it, you know?
And not only were my uncles great musicians, but they had great taste.
Like, my Uncle Jim taught me how to sing.
He's still got one of the best voices I've ever heard in my life, you know what I mean?
And...
You know, I was into blues music, but I was a real snob about it.
I liked certain things, and I really didn't like other things, you know what I mean?
And I had my Uncle Tim, he just had amazing blues albums, and he hit me to the cool shit, you know what I mean, early on.
And I knew the difference between, like, that kind of corny bar blue shit and, like, that deep stuff, you know?
And so I really had a head start.
I can't say that it was just all, like, I just got it, you know?
I, like, I had great teachers, and I was around some cool stuff growing up.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's what it seems like.
And I think that being around a bunch of people that not just have great taste, but also express themselves freely and openly like that.
They can sing at a funeral.
That's not a lot of families where they're so musical that they'll sit around and sing your grandmother's favorite song when she died.
dan auerbach
Well, yeah.
I mean, it ceased to be music for me.
It was just who I was.
It was my life as a human is music.
It's like eating, music, showering.
I mean, it's like a part of the thing I do.
You know what I mean?
And without thinking about it.
joe rogan
And no matter what you did, even if you didn't pursue it as a career, you would still be involved in music.
But you can't even think about that, can you?
dan auerbach
Yeah, I wouldn't know, man.
I mean, really.
I knew that I felt totally out of place working in a kitchen and working anywhere else.
joe rogan
Is that a boxing glove around your neck?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
What's that from?
dan auerbach
They used to give these out to Golden Glove winners.
Local, regional Golden Glove winners.
joe rogan
Did you win a Golden Gloves?
dan auerbach
No, no, no.
I found it in a junk shop.
joe rogan
It does look cool.
I like how you're rocking it.
Underneath the collar, old school style.
Catholic school, like an Italian horn.
dan auerbach
That's how they would wear it.
joe rogan
Do you remember Italian horns?
dan auerbach
No.
joe rogan
People used to wear those stupid little gold horns.
Like a horn, like a bull's horn that was hanging.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
dan auerbach
Not at all.
joe rogan
It's this thing they would call them Italian horns.
They were a big East Coast Guido thing.
unidentified
Where'd you grow up?
joe rogan
That's what they look like.
I was born in New Jersey and I grew up in Boston.
dan auerbach
That looks like sperm.
joe rogan
Stupid charm.
It does look like sperm.
That's probably what it really is.
dan auerbach
14 karat gold sperm.
joe rogan
Hey, you fuck with the bull, you get the horns.
I don't know why it was a horn.
I have no idea what it meant.
But when I was a kid...
dan auerbach
It looks like you have sperm on your chest.
joe rogan
Like a golden sperm.
Like Liberace came in your chest.
I don't know why I brought that up.
I don't even know where they came from.
I was just curious about...
I just wanted to know if you boxed.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
Yeah, I box.
joe rogan
Do you?
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
What do you do?
Do you do it for like...
dan auerbach
Just for fun.
joe rogan
For fun?
dan auerbach
For working out, yeah.
joe rogan
Do you spar or do you hit pads?
A little bit, yeah.
dan auerbach
When my cousin's in town, he taught me how to box.
He's been boxing since he was like 14. He got me into it three or four years ago.
joe rogan
I have some friends that still spar, and I'm like, dude, be careful.
dan auerbach
Yeah, even though you have those things, big helmets on it, shit hurts.
joe rogan
Those helmets don't really help you.
dan auerbach
No.
joe rogan
The problem is the brain smushing around inside the head, and those helmets...
dan auerbach
Yeah, but nobody's hitting me like that in sparring men.
joe rogan
But just a little jolt.
Even jolts like that, real bad for the brain, swashing around inside the head.
dan auerbach
Yeah, absolutely.
joe rogan
I was talking to a doctor.
He said that jet skiing can give you brain damage.
dan auerbach
Jet skiing?
joe rogan
Jet skiing.
Just being on a jet ski.
He said the bounce of a jet ski, no bullshit, gives people concussions.
dan auerbach
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah, because what a concussion is, is you're concussed, like the impact.
It doesn't have to hit you in the head.
A lot of concussions happen when people get hit in the chest, and then all of a sudden they'll be depressed, and their mood swings, their cortisol levels are all fucked up, and they'll find out that they're concussed.
dan auerbach
Sort of like whiplash from the movement of the brain.
joe rogan
From the impact, yeah.
dan auerbach
I always heard that.
I know it's true in boxing with the big gloves.
I know they cause more brain damage than the small gloves.
I know MMA is technically safer than boxing is in the long term.
joe rogan
Yeah, believe it or not, it'd actually be safer if they wore no gloves.
dan auerbach
Yeah, absolutely.
joe rogan
No gloves, no wrist tape.
Your wrist would bend easier.
It'd be harder to hit people hard.
Also, your hands would break, so you'd have to pick your shots better.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
Safety.
Safety first.
unidentified
Safety first.
joe rogan
Even in extreme sports.
Well, that's the thing, right?
Like, how safe can you make them while still have it be so exciting?
I don't know.
dan auerbach
Right.
joe rogan
Do you watch boxing now, though?
You follow it?
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
You're a big boxing fan?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, Chocolatito's in Santa Monica right now training.
joe rogan
Oh, have you watched him?
dan auerbach
I mean, I'm a big fan of his.
I've never seen him live, but I want to go there and watch him train.
joe rogan
Yeah, man.
I watched Manny Pacquiao train once.
It was a real pleasure.
dan auerbach
I went and trained at Wildcard and they let me go down and train in the room, the mani room.
joe rogan
Oh yeah?
dan auerbach
And you know the double end bag was like so fucking tight.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I could barely hit the thing.
I felt so stupid because I was like, all right, I'm at a place where I feel comfortable.
I can go to Wildcard and maybe work out and not feel like a tall shithead.
And I was like...
joe rogan
I gotta get out of here.
dan auerbach
I was like, uh, give me a couple of white car t-shirts and then you'll never see me again.
joe rogan
Watching Manny hit the pads.
Manny was hitting the pads.
It wasn't with, um, was it with Freddie Roach?
It might have been with Freddie.
Yeah, it was with Freddie.
It was with Freddie and another guy.
And he goes through all this warm-up routines and goes through all this stuff.
And then he starts hitting the pads kind of slow and loosens up.
And then eventually he starts firing off these combinations.
And he's just firing off these ungodly, quick combinations, and you just realize, like, yeah, there's a difference in certain people.
dan auerbach
Yeah, there's a big difference.
joe rogan
You see his calves, too.
Yeah, yeah.
dan auerbach
What the hell?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
What's going on over there?
joe rogan
Well, that's where his power comes from.
His power is all from his legs.
The pushing off of the legs and delivering these lightning-fast combinations.
dan auerbach
Yeah, did you see his last fight was an absolute bust?
They lost money?
joe rogan
Yeah, nobody wants to see him fight if it's not Floyd Mayweather.
And people are really disappointed, too.
dan auerbach
Well, that's not totally true.
I mean, he just fought Tim Bradley.
It was like a third fight.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I don't think anybody really cared.
joe rogan
Tim Bradley's a fun guy.
dan auerbach
Tim Bradley's awesome, but it's his third fight.
There are a bunch of great welterweights out there.
joe rogan
I agree.
Terrence Crawford.
Yeah, he's awesome.
I want to see that fight.
dan auerbach
He's just inked a deal to fight Victor Postal.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
dan auerbach
That's going to be a great fight.
joe rogan
Oh, that's a great fight, too.
dan auerbach
I think Terrence is going to win it, but that's a really good fight, and I'd love to see that Terrence Crawford isn't scared to fight anybody, even the best.
joe rogan
Terrence is something special, and also that he fights from the orthodox stance, but just as good, if not better, from the southpaw, and he'll switch up on guys.
dan auerbach
I know.
joe rogan
He'll be outboxing you.
dan auerbach
Usually I hate when I see guys do that.
I'm like, oh, this fucking guy.
But he's awesome.
joe rogan
It's almost like he's feeling you out as an orthodox, and then when he knows he can fuck you up, he switches over and starts lighting you up.
He's something special.
dan auerbach
He's awesome, and I love to watch his brain work too, because he won't just go out for the knockout or whatever.
He plays with you for a few rounds.
joe rogan
Well, he's smart about it.
dan auerbach
Consistently.
joe rogan
Yes.
dan auerbach
He always plays with the person for a few rounds and then starts destroying them.
joe rogan
Well, I think he values and appreciates the skill and art of boxing, the actual art of it.
I mean, there's no way he could be as good as he is without it.
dan auerbach
If you get to that level, you have to reach that point where you understand that there's a total art to it.
joe rogan
Yeah, so what he's doing is like he's setting traps and slowly dragging guys into his game and then fucking them up.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
And for a guy who really appreciates that, the skill and the subtleties of what he's doing, it's amazing.
dan auerbach
Absolutely.
I love watching that guy set traps.
Chocolatito's awesome, too, because he's just like watching his side-to-side movement.
Oh, yeah.
Watching...
It's just like second nature for him.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
dan auerbach
More so than anybody.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
dan auerbach
He's just a boxer.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
You know?
joe rogan
The fluidity of those combinations where you step off to the left and crank off these crutches and step off to the right.
dan auerbach
It reminds me of Fenito Lopez in that way, where it's just like perfect form and the movement is insane.
joe rogan
This is a good time for boxing right now.
Granada Golovkin, another one.
I want to see what happens with Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan, which is...
Coming up.
dan auerbach
I worry about Khan, you know, we're talking about muscles and Khan keeps saying, I feel stronger and he looks huge.
He looks ripped.
I worry that he just will have no stamina in the fight.
joe rogan
Yeah, I wonder.
Is this the first time?
What are they fighting at 160?
Or is it 154?
dan auerbach
I don't remember.
joe rogan
So when Mayweather and him fought, they fought at 150. Was it a catchweight fight?
dan auerbach
Yeah, I think so.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Mayweather wanted him a little small, right?
dan auerbach
Mayweather gets whatever he wants.
joe rogan
Shrink him down a little bit.
Get that big bruiser down.
But Gernady Golovkin is...
He's an interesting guy because a lot of people don't want to...
His pay-per-view got like 150,000 buys, which is a huge bust.
It's a disaster for them.
But for boxing fans like you or me...
dan auerbach
He's the best.
joe rogan
He's the guy to watch.
dan auerbach
I can't wait to watch.
We still haven't seen him tested, though, I don't think.
joe rogan
I don't think so either.
dan auerbach
But he's going to fight...
Everybody wants to see him fight Wade.
I mean...
joe rogan
Canelo, for sure.
But he's fighting...
Who is he?
Yeah, it's Wade.
Wade is the guy's name.
The mandatory challenger.
dan auerbach
Oh, no, he's fighting Wade right now, but Andre Ward.
joe rogan
Oh.
Andre Ward's going to go up and fight Kovalev, though.
You know that?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Andre Ward's now fighting 75. He had his first light heavyweight fight at 75. Looked great.
And now he's going to fight Kovalev.
dan auerbach
Kovalev's a beast.
joe rogan
Oh, he's another terrifying guy.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
This is a great time for boxing.
dan auerbach
Although Bernard Hopkins, you know, as old as he is and kind of as slow as he is, with respect, he popped Kovalev a few times.
joe rogan
He did.
I mean, if it was the Bernard Hopkins of ten years ago, it could have been a completely different fight.
dan auerbach
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
I think if, again, that's the other thing about boxing.
The thing that's so great about MMA is they pit the best against the best.
And in boxing, there's so much bullshit.
You know, you've got to see these dumb fucking fights with guys fighting people that you know they can just beat so easily.
joe rogan
There's definitely too many different world titles.
Like, you have three different guys who call themselves the world champion and they're in the same weight class.
That's crazy.
There's a lot of that that doesn't make any sense.
Deciding what a world champion is and who owns the right to say world champion, that their guy is or this guy is, and not have them fight against each other.
Rival promotions, they don't want to get together in ink deals, they don't want to lose their superstar.
dan auerbach
But what if UFC had a company that was just as big as UFC? Because that's kind of essentially what happens in boxing.
You know what I mean?
You don't talk about it in UFC because there's no one else who really can compete.
If you want to do MMA, you do MMA. UFC, right?
You know, Bellator's just not quite as big, but like, with boxing, there are just all these promoters, Top Rank and Arum, and that, they never cross-promote, you know what I mean?
It's just, it really does a disservice to the sport, I think.
joe rogan
Well, it certainly can, because they know that they have a guy who can make a lot of money, and if that guy loses to somebody, then they're fucked, and they lose their big guy, and...
dan auerbach
That's the other thing I kind of hate about boxing, is that if you lose one fight, somehow you're tainted beyond belief.
Do you know what I mean?
I don't quite understand that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, it's an old school way of thinking because they used to build a fighter up and get them 49-0 and then they would fight, you know?
dan auerbach
Right.
joe rogan
And it would be a big thing.
He's undefeated.
He's going for the title.
You know, if a guy had 10 losses and he was going for the title, everybody would be like, why am I even watching this?
dan auerbach
That's why it's so cool to see Khan fight Canelo.
And to see, you know, to see, who did we just say?
joe rogan
Miguel Cotto.
He's another one.
dan auerbach
Fighting Postal.
The guy's fighting Postal.
joe rogan
Oh, Gennady Golovkin?
No, Postal.
dan auerbach
Terrence Crawford.
unidentified
Terrence Crawford.
dan auerbach
You know what I mean?
It's so great when you actually see a real fight.
It's like, oh shit, this is awesome.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, there's just too much talent right now in a few divisions.
There's some unavoidable, chaotic matchups.
And I think Canelo and Amir Khan, for as long as it lasts, should be very interesting.
Canelo's just such a bruiser, man.
He's a scary puncher.
dan auerbach
But he's slow.
joe rogan
He's a little slow.
Amir's pretty fast.
dan auerbach
When you see him against Mayweather, when he fought Mayweather, he couldn't even catch him.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's true.
But Mayweather's a motherfucker.
He's such a good boxer.
dan auerbach
But Khan is, you could argue, is as fast.
joe rogan
Maybe.
Well, he won't be losing as much weight, so maybe he'll be better.
And maybe he'll be better because he fought that fight.
You know what I mean?
A fighter doesn't stay at the same level of skill year after year.
Ideally, if they keep training and keep learning, and he's completely dedicated, he's going to be getting better and better all the time.
Confident as a champion.
I mean that one loss to Mayweather, I think he probably learned more about what can happen to him in a fight than all those fights where he beat guys down.
dan auerbach
Yeah, I can't imagine the pressure that Canelo's under.
joe rogan
I want to see Canelo and Gennady Golovkin.
That's the fight that I want to see.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I want to see what happens.
That's this two guys that don't like to take backward steps and both have ruthless power and great chins.
dan auerbach
Yeah, I think Gennady's a better boxer.
joe rogan
He's so technical.
dan auerbach
He's so technical.
I love watching him train too, video him training, just like, just working the head movement in the clinch for like an hour.
You know what I mean?
Just like, and then he's like teaching some kid.
Also, stop to teach somebody.
It's like, he loves the sport, you can tell.
joe rogan
Yeah, he certainly does.
But I think Canelo does too.
I think Canelo is, like you said, he's a little slower and he's just such a bruiser that he's got that sort of style to him that he just loads up and bangs at guys.
But I think he's getting better too.
I think he's slicker now that he's ever been before.
I think also a fight like Mayweather is just such a wake-up call.
You could fight a guy like Mayweather or hate him.
He's arguably one of the greatest boxers ever.
unidentified
The guy retires whether or not he actually retired.
dan auerbach
I don't think there's an argument.
It's not an argument.
joe rogan
There's no argument.
dan auerbach
Yeah, he's one of the greatest.
joe rogan
If not the greatest.
dan auerbach
I mean, he just doesn't get hurt.
He has the uncanny ability to make every fight he fights the most boring fight you've ever seen in your life.
joe rogan
Incredible.
dan auerbach
And, you know, it kind of sucks because it's hard to get your friends into boxing when it's like, check it out, this is supposed to be the best fight of this millennium.
Pacquiao versus Mayweather.
Everybody's like...
What the fuck?
Can we watch something else, you know?
joe rogan
Well, he just fights so safe and so smart, and he's better.
He's better at fighting that style than you are dealing with that style.
And so when guys fight him, they just can't get to him, and they fall into this sort of defensive shell, like eight or nine rounds in, where they just...
dan auerbach
He ends up making you look foolish.
unidentified
Yeah.
dan auerbach
And you start with swinging wildly, and it's like, you play right into his trap.
joe rogan
Yeah, it almost sucks that...
dan auerbach
I want to know who he's going to fight next.
joe rogan
Do you think he's gonna fight again?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Don't think at one point in time- You don't think he's gonna?
Maybe.
I haven't heard any real rumbling, so have you.
dan auerbach
He just started flamboyantly saying he was retiring too much for me to believe it's a real retirement.
It just feels like more of his promotion.
You know what I mean?
And it's not like he's stopped training.
joe rogan
He hasn't?
dan auerbach
I don't think so.
No.
joe rogan
No?
dan auerbach
He's in the gym still.
joe rogan
Well, you're probably right then.
Maybe he was waiting for the Manny Pacquiao fight, like maybe waiting to see if it generated a lot of income and if Manny was back and people loved him.
Because you've got to kind of give Manny a chance to rebound, like after the Juan Manuel Marquez fight would get knocked out.
You've got to give him a chance to take some time off, fight against Chris Algieri, look good, and then you can market the fight.
unidentified
Yeah.
dan auerbach
I don't know.
That was just such a bust for me, that fight.
It was just so goddamn boring.
I was such a Manny Pacquiao fan, and to see him come up with nothing, and then have the shoulder thing afterwards, after the fact...
God, it sucked.
joe rogan
Well, the word was before the fight that his shoulder was fucked up.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
People had heard about that.
Bookies were talking about it.
So some people didn't know that his shoulder was fucked up.
dan auerbach
Yeah, they should have postponed the fight.
joe rogan
Yeah, but the problem is...
dan auerbach
Didn't some association sue him or something like that?
joe rogan
Well, I mean, he threw punches with it.
I mean, there was a class action lawsuit.
So the question is, was the injury bad enough where he had to step back?
I don't know what he did.
dan auerbach
He asked for a shot.
joe rogan
Cortisone shot?
dan auerbach
Before the fight.
joe rogan
And they said no?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh.
unidentified
Hmm.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Should've just done it.
Can't ask shit like that.
Just do it.
Get a bunch of your buddies to do it.
dan auerbach
I just love Manny Pacquiao.
He's like mini Elvis.
Flying around his own jumbo jet with like a jumbo jet full of his entourage.
joe rogan
Yeah.
He's got a whole giant posse.
And none of them like gay people.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
That was such a bummer.
joe rogan
All that shit was weird.
Yeah, but that's all that religious stuff though, man.
It's just heavy Catholic.
dan auerbach
Yeah, but Catholic or not, you hate to see somebody who's so fucking blessed tear people down.
joe rogan
And over nothing?
dan auerbach
I mean, I'd never pay for a Manny Pacquiao fight again.
joe rogan
Because of that?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
Fuck that.
joe rogan
Wow, that's interesting.
dan auerbach
100%.
When you get to that level and you have that much money, you should know fucking better.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
You know what I mean?
That's disgusting, what he said.
And then he said it twice.
joe rogan
Yeah, we tried to justify it with the Bible, God's Word.
Well, I mean, he probably didn't know the reaction that he was going to get, you know?
I bet in his culture...
dan auerbach
He said gays are less than dogs, less than animals.
joe rogan
Was that the exact word?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think he might have been misquoted.
I think he tried to explain what he said based on what it says in the Bible that...
dan auerbach
After the fact.
joe rogan
Yeah, I don't remember, but yeah, whatever it was was not good.
dan auerbach
I don't know, man.
unidentified
It's just, he's too rich and too blessed.
dan auerbach
To be bringing people down, persecuting people down, it's just no good.
joe rogan
That cost him a lot of fucking money, man.
He lost his Nike sponsorship because of that.
dan auerbach
No, he'll never get my $99.95.
That's for sure.
joe rogan
Yeah.
You're not the only one, I'm sure.
It is a bummer.
dan auerbach
I don't know that that many boxing fans actually care.
joe rogan
You don't think so?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
joe rogan
There's got to be some boxing fans like you that are boxing fans but aren't apes.
dan auerbach
Maybe.
joe rogan
For sure.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
It can't be all those people watching.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
No, I mean, my friend bought the last fight.
And I kind of gave him a little shit.
joe rogan
Just because of the gay stuff?
dan auerbach
Yeah.
I was like, how could you do that?
You know it's going to be a shitty fight anyway.
It's like, why would you?
joe rogan
Well, poor guy.
He's all ate up with Jesus.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I just, I don't know.
I don't know.
I'm not that familiar with his culture and exactly how, but I know for a fact, a lot of Catholics, you know, the Philippines is just overwhelmed with Christianity and Catholicism.
So he probably thought he was actually trying to save people in some strange way, you know, in his brainwashed mind.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I wonder how much of the negative feedback actually gets to him though, you know?
dan auerbach
None.
joe rogan
You don't think so?
dan auerbach
No.
That's what I'm saying.
He's like Minnie Elvis.
He doesn't hear anything.
He's got like his shades on, 50 people on his own jumbo jet.
Who's gonna tell him that he's an asshole?
joe rogan
I wonder how long that money can last if he keeps rolling so deep.
unidentified
In the Philippines?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Well, honestly, he probably saves money with his own jet because then he'd have to buy 50 plane tickets.
joe rogan
Maybe, right?
dan auerbach
Maybe it's cost-effective for him to have his own jet.
joe rogan
That's an interesting way to look at it.
dan auerbach
But he's so beloved in his country, they'd probably just give him a jet.
joe rogan
You know, he's a hell of a pool player.
dan auerbach
To go represent the country.
joe rogan
That guy's a hell of a pool player.
dan auerbach
Is he?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
And he's a lefty, too.
joe rogan
Yeah, he plays really good.
He plays at a professional level.
dan auerbach
Does he?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, the Philippines, it's a giant place for pool.
The GIs brought it over there in the 50s, and some of the best pool players in the world come out of the Philippines.
As a matter of fact, the consensus, greatest player of all time, Efren Reyes, came out of the Philippines.
unidentified
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, they have some of the best players.
And really interesting to watch them because they play like they're playing a musical instrument.
Like a very gentle game for them.
It's very different.
It's not like stiff or hard.
It's a very gentle flowing...
Yeah, their stroke.
They have a very particular type of stroke that other players worldwide have emulated the Filipino style of playing pool.
dan auerbach
Wow, interesting.
I didn't know that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
What other countries are like embracing, like, American rock and blues music and doing a good job with it today?
dan auerbach
I mean, UK has always been a huge supporter.
France, Australia, they've always, you know, Australia, I mean, shit, they live and die for rock and roll.
joe rogan
Do they get good artists that are coming out of there today?
Where do you see...
dan auerbach
Yeah, Australia.
There's great music coming out of there.
Do you ever listen to Tame Impala?
joe rogan
No.
dan auerbach
They're from Australia.
joe rogan
How do you spell it?
dan auerbach
T-A-M-E and then Impala.
joe rogan
Tame Impala.
dan auerbach
Yeah, they make really cool records.
They're pretty famous now.
I would say they might even be like a festival headliner at this point.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
Yeah, they're a big band and they're from Australia and there's a whole scene there kind of around that.
joe rogan
In the absence of radio, like what is the traditional method that bands get noticed now?
Like, is it just hustling and touring and work and spread?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I have no idea.
joe rogan
You just do your shit?
dan auerbach
I have no fucking idea.
I just had an 85-year-old gospel singer from Mississippi in my studio last week, and that's all I was thinking about.
You know what I mean?
It's like, I have no idea what goes on in the music business.
I really don't.
joe rogan
What was the gospel singer's name?
dan auerbach
His name is Leo Bud Welch.
joe rogan
Wow.
dan auerbach
Oh, yeah.
So cool.
joe rogan
What did you have him do?
dan auerbach
Play music, man.
We did a record with him.
I had some of my friends in, and we just sort of, like, would let him start a song and try to, you know, get him where we fit in.
unidentified
Wow.
dan auerbach
Yeah, and we did a whole record in three days with him.
And then, you know, it's just like...
joe rogan
That's incredible.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
Yeah, he's incredible.
He plays guitar and sings, and he's very frail and kind of hunched over, but he keeps perfect time.
Like, we could record him by himself, and then you could just watch him with a BPM, and he'll just ride on it, man.
It's wild.
joe rogan
A lifetime of doing it, you know?
There's something about old gospel and old blues.
There's a sound to a lot of the Old South that is this inescapable, soulful sound.
There's some...
There's some old blues, like, to this day, like, some John Lee Hooker, like, boom, boom, boom.
Like, you listen to it like, wow, like, this is just such a special kind of sound.
dan auerbach
And it's instantaneous, and you don't have to know anything about it to love it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Which is so cool.
And it took the world by storm.
I mean, John Lee Hooker was really influential in Africa.
Like, his records went over there, and people like Ali Farkature, who's like one of the greatest African guitar players, heard his records and, like, inspired him, you know?
I mean, yeah, it's just that there's something about it that's, like, some of those guys, it's just undeniably awesome.
And you don't really know how to describe it.
There's, like, the ingredients are so minimal.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dan auerbach
Everybody else had a guitar.
Why didn't they make it sound like that, too?
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Well, it seems like there was a bunch of different things going on.
It was the audience that had been exposed to a lot of other great music and they appreciated it.
There was like the experience of the people that were performing it, the life experience that they had behind the words.
They had lived like sorrowful times and expressed it legitimately and truly in the music.
dan auerbach
Right, but it was also just where they're from, who they are.
It's not even like Maybe their lives were so bad, it's just like...
Again, it's just such a part of who they were.
They would never be able to explain it.
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
Right.
dan auerbach
They could never teach a course on blues at Harvard, you know?
joe rogan
You have to live it, right?
And you'd have to experience that vibe from another musician to know that it's possible for someone to do it, right?
dan auerbach
I don't know.
I mean, there's only so much you can learn.
From people.
You know, at a certain point you have to understand that what makes them special is because it's them.
It comes out of them.
You can't learn that.
You can't really take it.
But what you can take is the feeling of they have their own identity.
And you've got to find that in yourself.
That's the thing that you want to ultimately get.
You know what I mean?
You want to be influenced by all these people.
But the main influence that I think you should learn from the greats are that you have to find it in yourself.
You know, you can't rely on it in anybody else.
joe rogan
And I think to see it in someone else gives you that inspiration to try to find it in yourself.
dan auerbach
I used to search for it just constantly.
I mean, I'd be at the library getting out VHS videos and just watching, rewinding, watching.
And then I would drive 19 hours from Akron to Mississippi just to like maybe find a musician who I heard lived in some town.
You know what I mean?
Just because I wanted to see it, you know?
And when I found it, shit is life-changing, man.
I mean, I was like 17, and I went to Greenville, Mississippi, and I just started asking around for this musician.
His name was T-Model Ford, and he made some really cool records.
joe rogan
T-Model Ford?
dan auerbach
Yeah, he was a total badass.
He played a death metal guitar.
joe rogan
Really?
dan auerbach
A Peavey.
Yeah, and it said, with the letters you put on a mailbox, it said, T-Model Ford, the tail dragger.
And he had it spray painted on his trailer that he pulled around with his Lincoln.
And I, you know, just going there, I would never want to just, like, become that person.
unidentified
Right.
dan auerbach
Whether they're from Mississippi or they're like a classical composer from Germany, there's a thing that all these guys have in common and it's like a sense of self.
You know what I mean?
Anybody I've ever met has a real, just a confidence that, you know, even though they may not be the best at certain things, they can like bring out the best in themselves, you know, and that's like enough.
Do you know what I mean?
joe rogan
I definitely know what you mean.
I know what you mean.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
joe rogan
I know exactly what you mean.
You described it very well.
That's a great way of putting it.
Is it like seeing it in other people, recognizing it in other people, and trying to find it in yourself.
And that seeing it in other people means you know that it's real.
dan auerbach
It's the thing that inspires you.
joe rogan
Yes.
dan auerbach
Yeah.
Absolutely.
joe rogan
Yes.
dan auerbach
And you see somebody like T-Model or any of those guys, you know, they didn't have any extra thing.
They didn't have anything like any like advantage, really.
You know what I mean?
It was a struggle just like it is for anybody, you know, but they found it in themselves, I guess.
joe rogan
Well, that's all any artist you'd ever hope for.
That's the number one aspiration.
Find out whatever is the best part of you.
How do you get your best stuff out there?
dan auerbach
I mean, I'm still trying.
For me, I just don't want to ever be too critical, too self-critical.
I want it to be...
I want to try to like have it on the record like in the first couple takes.
So it feels, for me, it'll feel a bit more real, a bit more genuine.
Do you know what I mean?
I think that's really helpful to a record.
Some of my favorite records, whether they're hip-hop or whether they're rock and roll or whatever, they're generally made pretty quickly.
Big grand masterpieces that were labored over, I don't tend to listen to that much.
I'll listen to it and it'll be maybe I'll hear something sonically that oh that's cool that they did that but then like at the end of the day I always go and put on that one record that that one guy did in a day you know that's the one I always want to live with that's my desert island you know My desert island shit.
joe rogan
Well, listen, man, thank you very much for doing this.
I really appreciate you coming in here, and I appreciate what you do, too.
I really do.
For me, I'm geeked out as a fan.
I'm super psyched.
And to get you to talk about your creative process like that is just giant for me.
So if people want to get your music, the ARCs, you guys, what do you have out that's out right now?
dan auerbach
We have a record called Yours Dreamily, and that's available at all the local record shops.
joe rogan
That don't exist anymore.
iTunes, all that stuff.
Everywhere.
Beautiful.
Alright, thanks brother.
Appreciate you being here, man.
dan auerbach
Thank you.
joe rogan
That's it for the week, fuckers.
See you next week.
Thanks everybody.
Export Selection