The Sloppy Boys - [UNLOCKED] Sonic Ranch

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

Enjoy this [UNLOCKED] episode of The Sloppy Boys Blowout, our weekly bonus episode available to Patreon subscribers.This special episode was recorded on April 20, 2022 during the making of the guys' fourth album, Sonic Ranch, featuring a guest appearance from producer Money Mark. A *video version* of this episode is available to all at youtube.com/thesloppyboysVisit patreon.com/thesloppyboys for more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This special episode was recorded April 20th, 2022 at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, during the recording of our fourth album, Sonic Ranch. We're good to go, okay. Hey folks, welcome to the Sloppy Boys Below, and I'm the Booger Hand Bopper. I'm sitting here, and I'm sitting here live, we're live, we're coming from you, we're live today. We are in, right outside of El Paso, Texas. And, folks, this is a big deal for me. I am here in the studio with one of my favorite bands, Mike. Two guests today.

Don't mess with Texas, and don't mess with the Big Purple P. And we're talking to J.D. Jefferdutton. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. Jeffer D. has got the yo-yos today. All right. And passing it over to the man on his left. My right, his left. I'm the couch.

Ooh, that's a nice couch you got there. We got Tim, the K-Man Cal Packers. Tim, how do you keep that guitar so funky? Well, you know, I play a lot of seventh chords and minor seventh chords. Jeff or Dee. I didn't know that was the nickname. Oh, it is now? Jeff or Dee.

Yeah, it was Jeff or Dee. It's kind of like Jeopardy Hey Jeopardy puts you in Jeopardy Yeah If you don't know Jeopardy Your life's in Jeopardy Hey Purple Pete

Do you have a twin by any chance That would be a That would be a double Jeopardy Yes and he's Fun to hang out with Great improv skills Yes and Thank you

Don't sell yourself short You are a fun time I've heard I've heard I have heard. And he's fun to hang out with. That added a lot to it. He's fun to hang out with.

So I am with you guys here in Tornillo, Texas. We're outside of El Paso. Wait, what happened to Big Hand Bobber? He's now in interview mode. He's interviewing a band. One of his Paso. Wait, what happened to Big Hand Bobber? He's now in interview mode. He's interviewing a band. He's good.

One of his favorite bands. We're on the Sonic Ranch. Sonic Ranch. We're creating an album this week, aren't we? Yeah, and it's a secret. At time of recording, nobody knows. This is a time capsule for the slob heads of the future. Right.

But when you hear this, the album will have been out. Grammy votes will have been placed by us. We'll also be alive. Knock on wood. Knock on, yeah. We should have put this album out, I mean this episode out earlier so the Grammy voters could have heard it and cast their ballots the way we need them to. When is Grammy

voting? Huh? Well, it's all out of whack these years. Also, we don't even know when this album's coming out. That's true. Yeah, in this moment, we don't know jack shit. TBD. All we can do is assume it's platinum.

Yeah. We hope triple platinum, but we don't want to be greedy. We can only make references that we know of today as 420, Cheech and Chong's birthday. And that's what's happening out here. But now, Purple P, you didn't get any weed in your lungs, did you?

In your lungs? No. Did you chew any into your stomach? Edibles? No. No weed for us out here. I think we are all too tired to be doing weed. We just filled up on Mexican-Japanese fusion. Yeah.

Yeah, this is kind of one of these sluggish post-meal blowouts. Let's shout out the restaurant, El Charlatan. Delicious. Fantastic. God damn. We had some of the best. I had this one taco that was fried chicken covered in that dark black mole, you know? Yep.

It was like eating lava. You and I both got the taco flight when we found out you could get one of each of the four tacos. I wasted a lot of time really bellyaching over what I was going to order, and then when the waiter said you could do a flight, I was like, well, there you go. When he said flight, Tim was sitting next to me. I did hear you say,

oh, this changes everything. Well, it was one of those game-change moments. You see your life before and after. There's a lot of those. There was a swinging door or a sliding door situation. It was sort of a loss of innocence for me. Also, they gave us sort of like the white glove tour through that cuisine.

We had some abs. We had some desserts. We all shared some food. We had some cold ice pops to go. Prickly pear watermelon. Basically had two dinners. That's been sort of the theme out here. I did two lunches yesterday.

Yeah. And like right back to back, not hours apart. We all kind of doubled up. Yeah. So we're on the Sonic Ranch. It's somewhat world famous, but people know about this place. Yep. Anybody who's anyone.

I'm going to Google the list while you guys vamp. Okay. Sure. Oh, boy. This is what my strong suit, too, so I can really just keep going. people know about this place. I'm going to Google the list while you guys vamp. This is what my strong suit do, too, so I can really just keep going. All I got to do is chit-chat and talk with Jeff. I know Jeff for years. I should come up with something to say to Jeff. I should kill a safe subduer. So I tell Jeff,

why do they call you the big purple bee? Oh, no. This place... It's because of his hair color. It's always changing. Yeah, always changing. Well, that's interesting. This place is very cool.

It's a ranch. It's a pecan farm. It's a pecan farm. Outside of, what are we at? About an hour out of El Paso. And it's got five studios and different. We're in a big studio. There's smaller ones.

There's a big, huge orchestra room about a mile away. But people You stay on the ranch We've been living here For the week Yeah And they cook for you They make us food

In the kitchen We go up It's amazing We meet the other bands And talk about What they're up to Family stuff A long banquet table

Like we're living In some chateau It's amazing Communal atmosphere And then when that Dining room's full There's another dining room Behind the kitchen

Yeah And when your stomach's full There's another lunch Still you're gonna eat It's a communal atmosphere. And then when that dining room's full, there's another dining room behind the kitchen. Yeah. And when your stomach's full, there's another lunch still you're going to eat. It's true. Okay, I have a list of artists who have recorded at the Sonic Ranch where we are currently sitting. Hit me.

I'm going to guess Sheryl Crow. I'm going to say an artist. You say real or fake after I say them, okay? Or should you read off the list? I'm going to read off the list, but I'm also going to throw in some. Oh, I like that. You're saying if they really recorded here or if they didn't really record here.

And when you're doing the fake ones, still put your eyes on the list. Sell it. Sell it. Yeah, because if I look up and I kind of rub my chin. Yeah, yeah. Hmm, the ceiling boys. Okay. Fiona Apple.

Yes. Stinky Big Butt. Hold on, don't answer too fast, Mike. He also didn't say Fiona Apple, yes or no. Well, when he says the name, we assume that he means yes or no. I'm going to say no on Stinky Butt and the Big Boys, was it? It was Stinky Big Butt, Chad. Hey, listen to the acoustics in this room.

Stinky Big Butt, Jeff. Oh, yeah. Listen to the acoustics in this room. Stinky Big Butt! That's where the Beatles made all their albums. That's what you get here at the ranch. Okay. Animal Collective. Yes. Band of Horses. No. Yes. Beach House. No. Yes. Yes. Yes?

Big Thief. I think if he's reading, yeah, I think these are all yes if he's just reading just name the hits bonnie ver hey yes teeny weeny peeny boy well three of them just recorded here we keep going hey watch this um okay we got the fucking yeah yeah yeahs baby the same group who i went to one of their concerts was going to get beaten up by somebody in the front row. Now, I had the time of my life. This is 2005,

2004. Fresh to LA. Interning in LA, living at the Oakwood Apartments on Barham Boulevard. We go to the Fonda. It's rare you get to see a band in their moment, right? This was my current favorite band. Not for cool people.

Keep going. People cooler than me. I thought you were saying that the A.I.A.s weren't cool, and I was going to choke you out. A lot of people see bands in their moment. After this recording, we should call up the Fonda and say, hey, of the moment, that's us. That's us.

Let us know when we show up. Well, you guys were scared of that one guy at the A.S. No, we were. I was. And I had every right to be. This guy in a weird hat kept looking at me. Weird hat? Okay, I thought he had weird hair.

No, the hat. He was wearing like a big, furry, like Russian-style hat with the ear flaps down. That's funny, because so you described that to me, and my mental image knew there was a bunch of fur on his head, but I created a guy. Like I can picture this. You told me about him 17 years ago or whatever that is. I'm picturing like the same thing I pictured. No, that's not that many years ago.

Jesus Christ. Less than that. Anyway, I had the time of my life at that show, but we split up for a little bit. So at the end, I was like oh my god wasn't it great with this and you're just like we gotta get out of here

go no I wasn't we didn't have to get out of there it was just in the moment when I was right cause I got close to the stage yeah

did you step on his toes I stepped on something I stepped on a nerve on this guy I bet he was on drugs I bet he but you had it out for the hand man

he kept turning around to look at me and sneer. And you kept singing, don't turn around. Why was he sneering? I don't know. He sneered right at me. Oh, I'm still going through the list. Oh, shit. And you're probably thinking, Tim, is this list alphabetical?

No. Is it accurate? Well, you probably thought Fiona Apple, her last name starts with A. Yeah. But that's not how they do it on Wikipedia. Okay, sublime with Rome. Okay. We're talking fucking, hold on to your butts for this one.

Jenny Lewis, ever hear of her? Yeah, cool. Come on now. What was the TV show she was on as a kid? A Nickelodeon one? Pete and Pete, no. What's Pete and Pete? No, Hey Dude. What was the TV show she was on as a kid? A Nickelodeon one? Pete and Pete? No.

What's Pete and Pete? No. Hey, dude. I'm looking it up. Jenny Lewis. Well, I know one of the bullies from Boy Meets World was in Rilo Kylie. Okay. I'm on Jenny.

This is a big Wikipedia episode. Maybe she was in a movie. Troop Beverly Hills. That's not what I'm thinking. The Wizard. Yeah. That's one. Brooklyn Bridge.

Rabbit Fur Coat. No, that's her album. You've seen The Wizard, yes? Oh, sure. You know at the end when they're like, oh, now you get to play Super Mario 3. Yeah, and he gets the whistle. And actually, I think this is Jenny Lewis's line.

While the kid's playing. California, that kid. While he's playing gets the whistle. And actually, I think this is Jenny Lewis's line while the kid's playing. California, that kid. While he's playing the game, she's like, get the warp whistle! And I remember watching it with my brother, and we were like, how the hell would she know there's a warp whistle? This game just came out, and it's a hidden prize in the game.

God damn it. That was promotion, by the way. I know. Those are the types of story holes in screenplays. I never put that in my scripts. Yeah. Holes like that. I've seen you write before, and if he's writing even a sketch, a five-page sketch, he'll be writing.

If he writes a plot hole, he'll tear it up. He'll print it out and tear it up. Yeah, like a plot hole in my sketch. It's like, Fat Chef. this uh there's a plot hole no you know fat chef takes a small bite of a cracker nope it doesn't it doesn't work print it trash it the audience wouldn't stand for that well you know who else is uh here with us today i think we probably talked about this we're sitting there eating dinner the other night and this guy's talking to us he's telling some great

stories and I'm putting it together. Who is this guy? He sounds familiar and he's got some confidence and bravado as if he's a known guy. It's Chris Robinson from The Counting Crows. Unbelievable. He's producing one of the bands here. Black Crows though. Yeah, Black Crows. Even better.

It's even more appropriate for chris robinson i mean you get two crows bands in the same couple years yeah two 90s crows bands cheryl crow she's in the mix chris robinson did you guys were you able to place them right away at dinner because i i was recognizing him and i thought you know what that's the one of the brothers but i thought it was the other brother rob robbie. He said something like, when we were out with the crows or something like that, I was like, of course that's who this is. You said that to him.

Of course that's who you are. He's a super nice guy. He's great. He's full of stories. Friendly. You've got to love him. Maybe we should go on the road with them. Hey, let me think. Did you guys know that that was an Otis Redding cover? Ooh, hey, lemme thing, lemme thing. Hey, lemme thing, uh, yeah. Did you guys know that that was an Otis Redding cover?

Yes, yeah. Oh, no, I didn't know that. I wouldn't know such things, Tim. No, I'm surprised we got the big hand bopper out on the road. I'll tell you that. Yeah, it's tough to get him out here. Well, he's afraid of hotel rooms, though, not ranches. Yeah, ranches that have... Not pecan farms.

Pecans are great, by the way. And the secret we learned... Cold. Frozen. Freeze your pecans. Freeze them. Wait, did we say that the Sonic Ranch is located on a pecan farm? God, I hope so.

It is. So, there's that. There's that for you. If you're wondering what's powering the very microphones we're speaking into, it's pecan money, folks. It's a very homey place. There's a cat that hangs out in front of my door to my room. Sure, several.

And on the walk over here? Yeah. Saw a toad. You did? Mm-hmm. Almost stepped on it and thought it was a rock. Yeah, a hopping rock. What the?

Hey, that's a... This cat sits right on my little doormat getting into my room, so I've been almost stepping on it at night, and it'll scoot out of the way. I like the cats walking in and out. I noticed the vibe of this place, especially the room we go to eat and stuff, it reminded me of that movie, Call Me By Your Name,

where that big Italian house, the doors and windows are open, and the sound design is so great. It's kind of breezy and flowy. I get that kind of vibe when I'm walking. It's like, the doors are open, the cats are walking through, there's a peanut wind blowing right through. I'm adding a little wind too.

Some of that extra wind. Blowing people's hair back. The guy who runs the place, Tony, he sort of has this philosophy, like you create better art if you don't have to worry about this aspect of your life, that aspect of your life. So how long has this been active, Robert, off camera? Three decades. Three decades.

30 years of Sonic Rancher. And he determined, like, he wanted this camp atmosphere so you don't have to worry about where you're sleeping, how you're getting there, what you're eating, your laundry. And you can just focus on the ones and zeros. The staff came back to my room today. They had made my bed. They'd make the bed every day. Did my laundry.

Yeah. They came back to my room. They had heard that I was kind of being bad. They came to my room and spanked me. And I needed the discipline at the time. Yeah, they take care of everything. They heard that I was kind of being bad and they came to my room and spanked me. And I needed the discipline at the time. Yeah, they take care of everything. They came up to me after lunch and they said,

you know, we heard you were having a tough time with that guitar solo. Very short solo. I said, yeah, it took me a few times. They said, don't worry about it. You got it. You got this, dude. Now that solo... We've never met anyone like you. We can't wait till you blow our minds you're one in a million

we love you you're beta stardust man and you're going far if you ever leave we'll fucking kill ourselves there was a guy today I'm not exactly sure who he was and none of us really talked and we kind of were coming in from outside

and there was a guy I think who either works here or works with the place, quietly doing something. As he left, the engineer said, Okay, bye, Marco. He goes, Okay, see you. Oh, and guys, you sound terrible. Just close the door behind me.

He's farting words, farting shot. Truly, I haven't seen a joke land that hard in quite a while. We all laughed our eyes off for five minutes. He must get a lot of mileage out of that joke here because that's really funny. I'm going to start using that. It's also like, you know, so many bands come through here. He's like, yeah, this is no different than that band or this band. Who cares?

It matters to us. Now, I want to talk about where we are in this process right now. So we're sitting in the very room where we're recording. We're midweek. So, you know, people listening at home are like, oh, you mean that platinum album hadn't even really fully been created yet, you know? Right. It's crazy.

No, but there's some platinum songs on it. That's for sure. That's for damn sure. Singles are probably all over, dancing all over the charts. And we got here on Sunday, and the plan was to stay a week, Sunday to Sunday. Yeah. Today is Tuesday night, correct? Wednesday night.

Wednesday night. But I have to remind myself, you feel like you're in your own planet. Also helps is it's interesting time zone. We're on mountain time. Phone's kind of switching back and forth because we're kind of right on the border. Right on the border of the... There's only two counties in Texas that are mountain time. But we've got Mark producing the album.

We've got our friend Robert rolling doc footage as we speak. And we are... How do you feel about your performance as a rock star so far? Do you think you're coming through? Mike, you played a beautiful solo today. How do you feel about it? Thank you. I felt good about it.

You know, this has been a learning process for me, just how the music works. Like when we had done... The three of us had done the albums, we know each other's shorthand and stuff. But when you're with like professional people, you got to have answers for things and not just like, you guys know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah, well, we know what you're talking about. We can help you out.

But today I was sitting next to the engineer, you know, we're trying to get, he's putting my, the piano part I did into the the grid the grid so it's like on the beat and moving stuff around and i was just it was just him and i and everyone kind of was awake because not everyone had to be there and at one point i was like man gabe i got to tell you i don't know what i'm talking about here i don't i'm trying to tell you this one thing i just can't i'm like pointing at the screen with you g game i just don't know what to say here you gotta help me simply have to do that if you're faking it it's like what you bring to the table is not going to be your knowledge of the grid uh and you have to i remember hearing in the a cruel mistress the grid by the way the the dumb and dumber commentary or something um uh

yeah farrelly brothers are saying who's the director one peter yeah peter farrelly was directing his first movie so he told the he had a meeting with the the uh ad and the dp and he was like guys i'm gonna lean on you with all my might because i have a vision for this movie and i don't know how to make i don't know the process you guys are great at your jobs i'm gonna trust you to do your jobs and i'm going to lean on you and and he said that was really good because then he could focus on what he was good at which in that case was getting maybe one of the funniest movies ever made made right and getting those performances and stuff so i i feel like like day one on a writer's job i gotta make a buffoon out of myself and i felt like day one in a writer's job, I got to make a buffoon out of myself. And I felt like day one here. I think we made it very clear to Gabe and Ram, our engineers, that look, we're not gear guys. We'll

never be gear guys. We are stupid and we're fine with that. And we're comfortable with our stupidity. This whole fake it till you make it thing is not, don't fake it. You walk in, you don't know anything. Don't fake it, just make it. Yes, yes it yes yes yes if you faked it you did not make it because you faked it and you suck now um our producer money mark of beastie boys fame and all the hits of countless others countless others secret weapon i dare you to count them just played with hot chip the day before coachella the of Beastie Boys fame and all the hits of the world. Countless others. Countless others. Secret weapon that man does. I dare you to count them. Just played with Hot Chip, Coachella, the day before he came out here. Yeah.

Crazy. He met Mick Jagger one time, and Mick Jagger said, you got to have this, this, and this. Now, Tim, when you say this, this, and this for the podcast audience. Leave it. No, leave it. They know. They get it. The way that I inflected the three, they're like, it probably means brain, heart, and dick. Yep.

That's what he said. You got to have the head. You got to have the heart. You got to have the crotch. Mick Jagger? Yeah, I think crotch was the balls, you think, right? Or is it like sex appeal? I think he actually pointed the space between the two balls, just kind of like scrotum,

hammock area. Scrotal. Sometimes it's kind of like a line right there turkey neck sort of scrotal epidermis yeah you gotta have that i mean i mean mick would know he's platinum but that was like that was mixed like parting shot they said they they mark said they played piano together for five minutes mick got pulled away and then he said something like you gotta have this this and this that's a good uh one for the road you know yeah one more for the road do we have this this and this that's a good uh one for the road you know yeah do we have this this and this oh we got this that the other thing yeah we had to around

the back I got butt cheeks but we both have two butt cheeks as I held we both all three of us do all chime in so what do we got in the bank we have one two three four songs that exist in some state let's say their names say their names uh uh uh give it time uh-huh king bitch gardens of gomorrah, The Movies. Yeah, I think we're calling that The Movies. We'll see. Yeah, it takes me a second. What did you call it?

I've been just calling it Marvel Movie just because that's what the lyrics are. But as I was thinking of these... Oh, wait, no, it shouldn't be movies, plural. You're going to make one movie. The movie. Making a movie or something like that? Yeah, I'm making a movie. I think it was The Five.

We don't have to decide now. No, we don't't but it's that's still be cool for the people of future being like look dude oh marvel movie was almost called making a movie that song god oh i hate that song this one fucking sucks that's the skip track i could have actually probably liked it if it was named differently interesting they named all the skippable tracks oh shit cool does not bode well uh this is what the first album every track is skippable all skipper no a flipper it's consistent uh this is the second album that we've had to deal with uh the click the click track right albums one and two the dreaded click albums one and two no click basically it's impossible to play to a click track i don't know anyone can do it here's what i've tried on every instrument hasn't

fanned out for us i the the i i've definitely struggled playing to a click but my secret is to crank the click so loud in your cam it's just like kicking it and then crank the master like as loud as you can take so it's like smashing your head but i'm playing guitar and that's kind of easy drums to a click but i can't the guitar bass there's some some wiggle room on there why is it so much harder to play to a click than other people like i feel like i could play to if you put on the radio i could play to that radio song easier than i could play to well that's what we've done actually when we really had to get something uh metronomed out we've instead of a click we Well, that's what we've done, actually. When we really had to get something metronomed out, instead of a click, we dragged a beat in there, a drum beat,

and then played to a drum. Maybe we should try that here. You know what it is? I think if you only have quarter notes and all you got is a click, the time between each quarter note can actually fuck you up. Whereas if you have a bunch of 16th information in there, it kind of keeps you more on track, more wedded to the click. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Yeah, I wonder. But it's been a good process. Anything, if I could jump back into the host seat just for a second. Is there anything that, what, I'll start with a purple pea. Jeff, you know know in this process you never really worked in a professional setting uh recording setting what is something that you found surprising what blew your hair back and made you say i got it wow what has been surprising wow tim is really yeah what if tim's uh work today this this week what are your highlights

and lowlights of tim's performance i'll tell performance? I'll tell you what the most surprising thing was, and I was going to come up with a joke answer, but this is an actual one. Good. Oh, man, I was in the mood to laugh. I'm in the mood to laugh. We had a song. Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait.

I'm in the mood to laugh. Wait a minute, hold on. Before we get to your thought, Jeff, because I do want to hear it. I know you have something great to say. He's fucking phony. Don't you think? He's kind of came in I'm so looking forward to it and I really want to give you the space and opportunity to speak

because I really value what you have to say but what was the thing I was saying this the other day I'm in the mood for lunch simply because I'm hungry that is good I forget where I was doing that it doesn't matter where you did it.

It was with you guys is what I'm saying. I don't give a fuck, okay? Put it on the track. Simply because I'm hungry. Track it. What did they say? They said something where they were like, do you want to cut it? We were jamming on something and they were like, do you want to cut it? And we were like, no, we want to keep it.

And they were like, no, that means fucking record it. Mike asked me what does cut mean. I said it in Gamora. Cut an album on a farm. You got to listen to the lyrics. Now, I'm with this one. I'm in the mood to fuck simply because I'm horny. That's how you get the kids in the door.

That's more of a raunchy. Yours is more cuisine oriented. Well, lunch starts with an L too, which is love and lunch starts with an L. Yeah, but the vowel sounds. And hungry and... I'm in the mood for love simply because you're near me. I'm in the mood for lust simply because I'm horning. Jeff, I...

That's it. That's it. And that's the song. Jeff, write this shit down. But before you do that, give us what you're going to say, Jeff. You've been stalling on this thing for the last 20 minutes. I got one more

funny aside. Okay. I just slapped this leather couch cushion and it reminded me of our, we had that little pool in the backyard of our old house. It was just basically a big bag of water. Jeff used to be like, yeah, we love this pool and slap it old house it was just basically a big bag of water jeff used to be like yeah we love this pool and slap it and it was just like a slap slap and it would jiggle it was like it was uncomfortable watch because it jiggled in a human way like he was like hey sugar it would be it would be like slapping a pachyderm yeah you know it would

ripple just so yeah this old pool has done its well this summer. Smack, smack. Okay, tell us your fucking thing. All right, here's the funny thing. I thought it was going to be funny. Well, it's charming. So, we're cutting Gardens of Gomorrah. Banger. Banger. Big time banger.

Hotly anticipated. Yeah. And we're like, these drums got to sound big, like rockish, but dancey, maybe even a little hip hop, let's say. And we got the space

and the drums to set up a whole nother drum situation in the middle of the room. And what's a huge room? Where do you put a 10 feet, couple yards of a football field in here. You can fit three fire engines in here.

Yeah. But it's all carpeted and nice. You can barely... Three what? Fire trucks? Fire engines. I bet you could. Ladders. Anyway, so we pull up another kick drum to the center of the room.

And Mark fucking pulls up the bass amp, the bass cabinet. Mike's the bass. Sends it right to the cabinet next to it so that it creates like an 808-ish feedback. Every time I hit it, it goes... And then we mic the room. So we're getting the size of this whole thing. So we're taking a big old kick drum.

That's what was happening. The amp was shooting the sound right back into the microphone, which picking a yeah we're just giving just giving it more of a tail yeah a little bit of feedback and then and then but it took time that not only did we not know how to do this never thought of it like even these guys i was before you thought money mark said it i was thinking it and i wanted to just let him have his moment yeah but it took these guys 20 minutes 10 minutes to like massage where the mic's gotta go oh there's a little hum can we knock that out oh can we bring in another eq pedal to further massage it and then once it's finally ready to go we sing our dipshit songs yeah yeah like yeah the amount of engineering that that you create this beautiful pyramid of all this work

and then up at the tippy top we sing about a lot of people using a lot of very high-tech machinery to produce some bozo music but a funny part about that once we had the drum thing set up uh uh mark was like okay jeff start playing your beat and then we were they were kind of like some bozo music. But a funny part about that, once we had the drum thing set up, Mark was like, okay, Jeff, start playing your beat. And then they were kind of like dialing it in on the Neve, you know? Yeah, so they fine-tuned it here with the drum and the mics and then they go in the control room and they're still fine-tuning. Yeah, they were fine-tuning and they

needed Jeff to keep playing. And they were recording too, so Jeff was, no exaggeration, 40 minutes playing a beat. You think that was 40 minutes? I said no exaggeration 40 minutes playing a beat you think that was 40 minutes i said no exaggeration you know that means it could be more what do you think yet off pod i'll take it was probably 23 minutes i'd say 23 that's a nice that's a jordan long um and really just no one ever told jeff to stop he just kept going. Played the same... What was it? Boom, boom, pa.

Boom, pa. Boom, pa, pa, pa, pa. Yeah. Da, da, da, da, da, da, po. Tim, I would like... Jeff, that was a great answer. Tim, I'd like to throw it to you. What surprised you so far in this process? I have one, too.

I just thought of... Here's... can I answer instead of saying what surprised me can I just say something I thought was cool that's what I did I'm just actually I'm going to go the exact opposite which was instead of surprise me well maybe it was surprising how expected to be

but in the same way that that that drum weirdo drum setup is a very money mark thing to do yeah you know so it was like surprising while he's doing it then you hear it you're like well that's what that guy does there you go you got the we instead of wizardry instead of being a wannabe money mark or hiring a wannabe wannabe money mark we got the real article right there it's the guy he's he's quoting himself he's referencing his own himself so i thought the same thing we were working on king bitch and it's a dance song and we're like you know what'd be cool on a dance song is some like arpeggiated uh synth stuff mark gets out what is it it? An ARP? No, that's a Voyager.

Yeah, yeah, Voyager. And then holds a big fat chord and goes, and it's. That was on the Roland, I believe. Huh? I think that was on the Roland. Roland. It goes, you know, he plays a big wide two-handed chord so that it's going to run arpeggios, octaves up and down the uh the keyboard so when you hear

that song in here that's two big fat uh hands but it's like that thing where it's like you play with that toy and it sounds cool but then when you actually you dial in the bpm so it's going to match the song you're actually doing it and you hear how much especially that song it's weird to play we played that song and you're it's just like it's boring as fuck so to add some something as dynamic as that yeah it was both like oh shit this is cool and then i was like again no shit it's called it's money margins but he wakes up and he does that for breakfast right also that keyboard doesn't have a native click to it or a native arp to it they took our project click and somehow fed it into the machine to make it do that da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You guys were talking about that

yesterday and I still didn't get it. Like when somebody told me that that synthesizer was analog, I couldn't get my head around how an electronic thing could be analog. After this pot, I'll pull apart the circuits and kind of show you. I'll solder

a few things. It's okay. We're just showing Mike. He's learning. He's learning. The other cool thing was then Mark showed us the thing to do that Jeff and I did where I was holding a chord.

You were playing the song, a couple chords. I was playing the song and then Jeff is twisting a knob up and down, up and down to create that other sound that's like... Yeah, there was an octave. There was like an octave knob where you could go like, what is it, like three octaves down, three octaves up, and we were just kind of winding it back and forth in time.

Something that you could do if you had enough hands, but in this case, it takes two dudes. Yeah, and that's, it's fun. Oh, yeah, and then we were going to the beat and we were kind of wiggling our hips because I didn't have to naturally do it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Doing a little dance to it.

There may be some video of that that'll pop its way out. I simply hope so. Another funny teamwork moment was on that cool arpeggiator. Mark asked me to call out the chords. He didn't know how the song went. Oh, the best. This is the best.

He said, just tell me the chords. I was like is the best. He said, just tell me the chords. I was like, I'll play it. You just tell me the chords as they come. So I had to, you know, like, I feel like I'm used to, like, teaching you guys a song. I'll say the chord on the one. Like, I'm playing it F, I say F, and then I move to G and G. But I had to say the chords, like, you know, like two beats before the chord. It's kind of like in Guitar Hero.

Like, you see the next note coming at you. Yeah. And it was scary. I was scared. I mean Hero. You see the next note coming at you. And it was scary. I was scared. If you see the video. That arpeggio, the sound was like... It kind of gives you some stress. It's an anxiety driving thing.

I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie. Also, there was already other stuff on that track. I felt like I was riding on a train. It was like... That was great. The thing that surprised me in a good way was, you know, every time, like, you know when you're working at home on your garage band or something on your computer and you're plugging things in, it's like, why doesn't this fucking microphone all of a sudden not work? It worked two seconds ago, but now I plugged it in. Yep.

Even here with the pros and all this beautiful equipment. Happens all the time. You pull something out and plug it back in and it doesn't work. I plugged it in. Even here with the pros and all this beautiful equipment, you pull something out and plug it back in and it doesn't work. If you're an engineer, your job is troubleshooting. It's like this knob, no, this knob, no. You pull this wire cable in, put that one in. And these guys run through it.

I've seen Ram do that a hundred times. It just goes like, oh, it was this. But I feel like us... Oh, there must be an assistant. If something's not working, you check, check, check, check. They go down the chain

or something well instead of wonder I mean he'll look at the lines but he just checks them I've done that I've seen

like I saw you something was wrong with your amp you tried one thing you just stood there like I don't know what to do

can someone come down here and help me a few times a few times it's been I gotta plug in the cord a little harder. Oh, yeah, there was that one time you weren't quick.

That one time, but then that happened yesterday, and then it happened again yesterday. But I didn't tell anyone it was out. I just popped it back in. And they were like, hey, it's working. I said, oh, it's working. He's like, what happened? I was like, oh, I just kind of twisted something.

I was like, no, it's something you did, probably. It is reassuring, though, how that's just a problem. That's what I'm saying. That's just you did probably It is reassuring though How that's just a problem That's what I'm saying That's just the reality of it So when things are going wrong in my bedroom I'm like I've been wrestling for half an hour Jeff let's stick to the album please We don't want to talk about after hours

Okay That's for Slavya Boy's After Dark Folks he keeps his Music stuff in his bedroom That is what he's referring to That's for Slavio Boy's After Dark. Folks, he keeps his music stuff in his bedroom. That is what he's referring to. You should do an episode of this show called Jeff's Boudoir. It's kind of sexy. Yeah, get some of the delightfuls in here.

Delights, delights. The delightfuls are the turkey burgers. You can't be confusing those, Jeff. Do you ever cook up some delightfuls for the delights? Yeah, of course. They love them. They subsist on that stuff. Well?

You're going to say something, are you not? No. Well, how about we... Oh, Big Man Bopper, you threw it to... I was going to... Do you want to take a little break when we come back? I'd love to take a break. Do you guys feel good about taking a break?

I feel great. I think we should come back and talk to Money Mark for a little bit. That sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, folks, we're going to come back in a little bit. How does he do? It's amazing to see.

I'm very tired. Hey, folks. Okay, we're going to come back. We're going to sit in. We got Money Mark coming in. We're going to talk to him about what it's like working with these two crazy guys. Because I know he's got stories about you,'m sure uh dealing with you too i see every once in a while on the podcast and you tore a handful i can't imagine spending a whole week with you at the sonic ranch folks

we'll be right back great hey folks welcome back to the sloppy boys blowing on the big hand bobber sitting here of course with Big Purple P and the T-Man. And as promised, we got Money Mark sitting on the couch with us right in front of me. I can't believe it. Mark, how are you doing? Woo-hoo! Welcome to the pod, Mark. The producer extraordinaire.

Yippee-yoh, yippee-yay. Out here in West Texas. He turned into a pecan farmer. It'll happen. Didn't take long. He stepped out of the car and said i this is the life for me um mark we were just talking about your bass drum trick with the with the bass amp where is this a thing you've done before well no but no i mean yes i have done it before but it was in lieu of like having your whole drum kit coming through a pa because you know you play a gig and they put

a microphone in your in your kick drum and it comes through the PA. Big sound, big room. Yeah, we just did a little mini version of that. Put the mic on the kick drum and go to a bass cabinet. So, I mean, in a big room it kind of adds a little oomph to it. But also like it dirties it up a little bit. And when we were fine-tuning it, there was a moment where you were kind of winding the volume every time i would kick yeah you could create a rhythm with the

feedback yeah yeah that's cool that was that's fun it is yeah it sounded very uh what was it 808s very cool and heartbreak and heartbreak what about like uh the we were just kind of lamenting how much trouble we have playing to a click do Do you think we should be ashamed of that? Or is that a problem for many great musicians? I don't know. When you're in school, you've got to follow along, right? The teacher's like. Yeah.

And so you guys are probably not the kind of guys who are following. No. Can you play to a click? Can you sit down? Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, after all this time, I realized it's going to affect my bank account if I can't play the click. Yeah, I'll go to the bank and deposit money.

And they're like, if you can play this click for 10 minutes. Yeah, your interest rate is different. I can't believe this is probably the root of all of our financial woes is our ability to play to a click. I just don't understand how it gets me every time, because for those who don't know, the click track, you're listening to your earphones, it's like a metronome sound, so it's a louder, higher click on the one.

It goes... And so I feel like I can play on beat, and then I'm getting lost in the song, and then suddenly... And then you stop, and then you hear that the click is off. And I notice that that one is elsewhere. I feel like i'm on the correct rhythm but at some point i skipped a little beat and the purpose of the click is so that in editing there's a consistent uh what is it well the tempo is consistent throughout the whole song

so that you know maybe the opportunity of a remix is, it's easier for a person to chop up a song when it's on a grid-like thing. But the trick of the click, playing to the click, is to play and also have a human feel at the same time. Yeah, yeah. And that's really good players will play. Well, let's say a drummer. It's really good.

I think playing slow songs is the hardest because that time between a click, between a one is spaced out. And you're playing a slow song, so the movements have to, I mean, it's really tricky to play a slow song on drums. And if you take a drummer who's really, and you put it on the computer, and you can see where the peaks are, they're right on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The increments are perfect between each peak,

as if there was a click happening. Must be nice. Yeah, that's an art right there. Mark, you hadn't been here before, right, Sonic Ranch? No, I hadn't. Have you ever recorded anything in this type of setting where you're away from people

and you live there and you can see other bands in different studios? Yeah, definitely. For sure. In Rio, there was a beautiful studio back in the day, AR. Georgie Ben was downstairs. Wow.

And some other heavyweight Brazilian, Marissa Montez. Montez was in another room. And there's a few studios that are like that. Even in Los Angeles, there's a Sunset Sound. If you're in room three, there like where Van Halen made their record. They took over three. But then in two, there's like another whole, like, you know, some other iconic band playing there.

I've noticed here there's some other good bands playing, bigger bands. And I'll notice when you leave the studio, you'll kind of put your collar up, put a fake mustache, and pull your hat down low and scoot off away in the shadows. And they'll be like, hey, stranger, can you come lay down some keyboards? Yeah. I don't know these people.

I've never met these sloppy boys before in my life. I don't like this. I don't know what this is. I'm in the wrong place. Did you guys see Chris Robinson in the foyer? Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, so you went and laid down some weirdo keyboard freakout stuff for Texas Gentleman. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so you went and laid down some weirdo keyboard freakout stuff for Texas Gentleman. Oh, yeah, Texas Gentleman, yeah. They're like fans. Like that night we rolled in, we didn't know who they were, right? Right. The one kid was like, oh, you're Money Mark, right? Oh, I love your first record, that Mark's keyboard.

It just blew me. But I didn't know he was one of the artists recording there. I thought he was just maybe an engineer. Some kid off the street. An engineer. A pecan fan. A lot of, I mean, engineers know. Sure.

They're really good. They know a lot of music because they're engineers and they have to blend in with a band that they're working with. So I didn't know. So I ended up working, doing an overdub over there at their studio. How much, when you're just popping in to do a little sit-in like that, how many times do they play you the track?

Oh, well, I always just tell them to have it ready, and then I don't want to hear it, and then just press record. You just want to feel it. Just go, yeah. That's cool. The first time you're hearing it is when your hands are on the keyboard?

First time I'm hearing it is when it's being recorded. Yeah. Wow. Every time. I bet you Jay-Z does that too. I kind of like the idea of like for me, things, if it's too like pristine and too out of like premeditated, it's going to kill my, it's just going to kill the uh i don't want to say that the spontaneity is the thing but for me maybe it is yeah yeah yeah yeah because my hands will already just do

something so i don't have to worry about that whereas another person maybe that's what they're uh you know that's what they need yeah what they need to do right is to get the notes right so they want to kind of pre they're too much brain not enough heart maybe who knows well you're also you're not just playing the the the keys you're messing with knobs and stuff so there's surprises happening to you and then you're adapting to them as the like the timing of that shit so you're like it's an all improv yeah with all the beastie boy stuff i think 90 of it was let's just jam out and play and then um mine for it later i i got a good record all that so like record the jam so when i did i did four passes and it was probably uh it was like a maybe a minute and a half section that they needed so it lasted five minutes you

know i'm in and out of there then you can can edit later. I don't even know what I played. Right, right. I got a hard-hitting question for you, Mark. Yeah. Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of Check Your Head. Damn, dude. Technically right now, yes. Technically right now?

This is the album where the BC boys started playing their own instruments, is it not? Yeah. Yeah, that's a trick question, but they played their instruments before they made License to Ill, Ann Paul's Boutique. Right. But they weren't like...

Egg rate on Mojo. Yeah, they weren't big sellers. But they also didn't play their instruments in this other way, with other music that they loved, R&B and soul and blues, and they didn't play any of that stuff. They were more like a punk band? My question for you... Or just punk, hardcore speed, you know, metal, whatever you want to say.

My question for you, Mark, is which trio of boys was better at their instruments? Oh, wow. And Beasties 30 years ago. Well, my bank account says... You keep coming back to the bank account. Let's forget about the bank account.

I see why it's money, Mark. There you go. That's it. The guy loves those but no I mean you feel free to lie and flatter us whatever you want to do well I can't answer like I said I'll say that you know they're really

that story I told you about Mick Jagger the head the heart if you just have that it doesn't really matter what notes you play all the bands at the very top will tell you that. I've seen Herbie Hancock doing that master class that they do. He'll say the same thing. He'll just say, look, where my hands are going,

yeah, that's one thing. But what your intention is is really the main thing. That is a very generous answer to my question. Here's the thing. My answer to your generous answer to my question. Yeah, yeah. Here's the thing. My answer to you, I say this. I'm a pro, man. I lifted that out of an old Rolling Stone, some Jim Keltner talking about it or something.

I think that there's only 12 notes, right? We're all playing with the same 12 notes in the Western scale. Thank you. And it's just what we do with them maybe you know the sloppy boys might be like geniuses in our own way we talked about the solo i played today probably six notes i you know i soul all it was was soul i feel like we're having a lot of fun we're not no one's doing any uh flashy um instrumentation but in the like swapping the

guitars and certainly not but there's still so many choices to be made between how you're micing a thing and which guitar you're using and stuff like that textural choices that are still even you can make a power cord sound like a good power cord or a bad power chord, and that's where we're having fun. And it does feel like on this one, the production is more of an instrument. Yeah, the studio is an instrument in this sense, yes. Yeah, like exponentially more than in the past for us. Well, you take a person like, let's say Stevie Wonder, great songwriter, great performer, Stevie Wonder, great songwriter, great performer, played all the instruments, then using the studio as another kind of, you know...

Method of expression or... Exactly. So all told, you know, put it together and you come up with something masterful. Who are you listening to, Mark, these days that's like pop music that you think is interesting? Oh, well, all music is interesting for certain things you know excuse me um in in new york city there was a a building called the brill building and there was a lot of songwriters that came out of there right is that tin pan alley yeah near near tin pan alley and there was a um you know there was a um uh there was a style of songwriting, and it created this classic structure.

So if you think of songs with architecture, this is how I think of those kinds of songs. When you think of hip-hop songs, it's a completely different thing, taking a sample from a pre-existing sound off a record. So what was the exact question? I want to answer it exactly. Who are you listening to? Yeah, so when I'm listening to, like, I'm listening for things. So sometimes I don't, I think some song is kind of shitty.

But there's something good about it. Like, people like it for some reason. Yeah. So that's what I'm trying to get to. Like, there's also, like, a movie, movie right i don't really care for that movie but the freaking set of photography was amazing yeah or that one actor was amazing so there's always something good so it's one of those things where if a lot of those pieces are you know in my mind just my taste are fitting together then it's like going to be like really So the things I'm listening to, I'm open to listening to everything.

And now we have streaming, so it's kind of easier to discover. The basic, yeah, the access to it. And I don't fuck with the algorithms. I think that's part of the answer to your questions. I don't fuck with it. I still get word of mouth, people telling me something that they like. Yeah, yeah. And I have a long list of what those are.

And then recently I found, I'm not trying to prop up anybody, but I saw, well, there's a lot of reissues too. Like if you consider that those are new to you. That's a good point. There's all these African, you you know psych bands that are really amazing damn we gotta listen to more african psych bands but then there's also like the b sides of those bro building people you know like uh carly simon i mean i don't know all her songs damn music wouldn't you say there's really too much to listen to it's funny that you don't you

don't like i listen to some new music but it to. It's funny that you don't, you don't like, I listen to some new music, but it's funny. It's like, if you don't want to, you simply don't need to. It just goes on forever. Like you're saying, it's like you,

if you're a big fan of like Carole King or something like that, it's like you just go forever. That's the stuff she wrote. There's the stuff where she recorded this live stuff and it's all, we got it all. Cause I want to hear it all. And I just get so frustrated. I would never will.

Yeah. And you know, it's weird. It's her number one pop hit right now is one of got at all. Jesus Christ. Because I want to hear it all and I just get so frustrated I never will. Yeah. And you know what's weird is the number one pop hit right now is one of her old songs. Really? No, I'm lying. No, no, no. But let me say that

the record of Joni Mitchell, Blue, that was the number one. Yeah. That was the number one last year. Really? It's a 50-year-old record.

I wasn't talking about it. We were just talking about things going platinum or something. Because it's a piano record, or it's like these simple songs. Oh, is it? And it's just so freaking beautiful. But can you believe after all these decades, people didn't recognize that? When it came out at the time, it was kind of like,

ah, that's one of her throwaway records. Yeah, yeah. Just fulfillment. She did a contractual fulfillment record or something yeah

but then it turns out that that's like she wasn't really just like throwing songs together to you know just to turn something in that was her art you know

it was like didn't get recognized in a mass way in its time yeah yeah have you heard Van Morrison's old

from the 60s Contractual Obligation album? Yeah. It's got like, blow your nose, nose your blow. Yeah. Oh, it's funny.

And then Zappa made a couple. Zappa made one, yeah. Yeah. Contractual Obligation. Didn't, uh, Neil Young. Wait, is this your Contractual Obligation?

Yeah. You're looking at it, baby. You're in it. Didn't Neil Young had to do that, too? He put out some, like, 50s. He put out that kind of futuristic album, and then his label was like,

you have to make a rock album, so he did a throwback 50s one. Oh, yeah, the synth one. What's it called? Like Trans Am or something? Yeah. What's... This is a...

People have been talking all week here. I keep hearing people saying record. Is there a difference between a record and an album? A record is a recording. Recording. Yeah, so let's go make some records yeah because they make an album you're making a collection of records right and like at the grammys the record is what's the difference the best song goes to the songwriter and well there's one for the producer i guess that's the best uh

album or something right right produce the collection and then the best record goes to songwriter of one song yeah i guess the best album goes to engineers and producer and then what uh what category do you expect us to be in with this album uh this record is there a raspberry for uh hey come on well well some of our humor has run off well we're running out of time here fruits are good for you that's true that's true especially golden ones yeah

well you know there's super famous bands who sell millions of records that get the raspberry right right

and there are some small bands that don't have a lot of fans and they get some of the highest awards and they're not making shit for money. Yeah, so the world's upside down.

Yeah, it's crazy. And you guys are in between. I think they're all crazy out there. We're doing good in here. Whatever we're doing is right. We're never leaving the ranch, Mark. You're staying. You're staying, too.

You don't have a nut allergy, do you? I'll develop one. We're slashing the tires in Robert's car. We ain't going back to El Paso. We're out of the farm. We're good. Oh, that wasn't we're slashing the tires in robert's car we ain't going back to el paso okay we're out of the fall we're good oh that was that wasn't you that's flashed yeah and there's no other way back it's the only uh that's the only car out here so yeah well that's why we're in torneo you're screwed yeah well i like here i live off pecans i'm happy for you yeah if i keep hearing it's gonna be a-filled summer, and I'm not looking forward to that, but that's for maybe another podcast.

Yeah, okay. You guys are having fun. I'm having a great time. I mean, if you weren't having fun, you wouldn't do it, and I wouldn't do it either. I'm having the best time. This is so fun. Truly, best time of my life.

Most fun ever. And the fun kind of what you're doing, when you create this kind of art, which is electronic art, if you ask me. It's like two with a lot of electronics. Digital. Somehow, it fucking comes through. Like, you're sold, you're vibed, you're having fun, and it comes through into the recording. The head, the heart, and the crotch.

Yeah. The crotch comes right out of that recording, and then the little heart and head behind, yeah. Oh, really? Right. You keep looking for it. I'm sitting next to you man that's like it's too much crotch talk i don't know if that's sexy or or anyway it's not sexy i'll tell you that um that's i i take it as a compliment guys we're having the fun is coming through yeah the pro tools that that's makes me happy to hear we're having a blast out here, Mark.

Thank you for being on the pod. Yeah, buddy. Thanks for having me. And let's get back into it. We've got to record a song tonight. Yeah, we're halfway through. This is the halfway point, right? Off we go.

Yeah. Well, congratulations on the album. Hey, thanks. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Triple platinum. Our future selves. That's crazy.

Yeah, now we're living in two different planes here. We're making the album, but it's out. Whoa. Whoa. That should be a song. Ne-Yo! Bye, folks. Bye, folks.

Bye, folks. Thanks for listening. We love you all, and see you next time on the Sloppy Boys Blowout. That's it. Perfect. Great. Thanks, Mark. That's great.

You're our first guest on this show. Oh, yeah? Okay. You guys should have more guests Give it up for your boys Thank you.