Perry Menopause. Perry Menopause. Perry Menopause. Give me all your raw impressions.
If that's your word, your time. Tell me things I'm not prepared for. Gimme all your all impressions. Gimme all your all impressions.
Hello. I like that new line. Yeah. That's just a good one.
We were talking earlier today because we do speak to each other in private quite a bit. We have a private like two guys. But I was thinking about how, you know, like I've been writing that song, the wrong impressions song, it's kind of about how you communicate, how you have to have like a very, you have to have good communication with people to get things done. And I realized it's like, and for you and I, it's like, yeah, we have to do it because we have kids and we have a lot of very serious things we deal with and honesty is very important to managing things better as you go forward.
And I'm realizing that that's probably something that I need to adopt in like almost every part of my life. And I'm thinking about the most difficult things to, to people, other people that I love. Sometimes you want to shield people from the really difficult stuff. Like you didn't want to tell me about the bad review of full completion, God in bitch fork.
I was not, I was not planning on speaking about this, but I'm just saying you did shield me from that to a degree. To a degree. You didn't have to. You didn't have to.
I never told you about it till yesterday. Yeah. I didn't find out about it until yesterday when I was having a meeting, the full conclusion we're having a meeting, you know, thinking about things going forward like our, our English tours, our UK tour, I should say. Yeah, we'll put links to that.
It's coming up in November. But yeah, I'm like, you know, you got to say, you have to say difficult things. Should I have told you about it? No, I'm not.
I don't care. I'm glad you didn't. I'm glad you didn't because like, yeah, bad reviews, you know, even if they're, I mean, I think a lot of bad reviews always have no good to truth in them. There's very few bad reviews that are just purely like someone out to trash somebody.
Yeah, that's true. It used to be kind of like that back in the day, but it's not really like that now. You know, journalists have lost a lot of the power that they had, but everything's kind of shifted. So, but no, that was fine.
You didn't mention that to me because that was good. Because now I, now I will think about it, but. Have you read the review? No.
No. Yeah, I only read it when it came out, which was right when the album came out and I guess we were all thinking the same thing. Don't, don't, don't need to tell Lou about this one. I, um, yeah.
So there was a pitchfork review for the new folk implosion album Walk Through Me. It's not, I, I actually should go back and reread it. I, I don't, I don't know what to say other than just, um, at the time I thought you're not mentioning it. So I'm not going to mention it.
And let's just exist as if this, this review didn't happen. And if you did know about it, you're choosing not to tell me about it. And I know about it and I'm choosing not to tell you about it. So, um, it doesn't change, you know, what you have to do, right?
I mean, you still have to like do your thing and you have to get on the road and bring the show to people and perform for them. If it's well written and it seems thoughtful, you could read it. And if you have the emotional maturity, take some constructive criticism from it and move forward, but it's also so subjective, right? I mean, it's just one person's opinion.
It's just you against one person who does wield a lot of power, right? Or maybe there isn't power anymore. Maybe people don't care. But, um, I do think that, you know, there's, there's a lot of music that people really enjoy that I don't really have a taste for.
And I'm sure it gets very high ratings. And so it's all, it's deeply personal and I didn't feel like, I just didn't feel like necessary to bring it up to you. So I didn't really want to bring it up now. Well, it's done now.
I think John and I got back together and started playing songs. I got really practicing. I kind of got more interested in us playing new stuff. Yeah.
Like, I really like playing with him. And I thought the way that all the songs from the album kind of were taking shape live were cool. Exactly. I started thinking about the future, which is what I used to do back in the day too.
It's like we didn't, I didn't release something. And I mean, you did. There was kind of the way, certainly with like seven records you release it and then you wait for the, it was quite, it was a real process back then. And it's real different now.
You know, it's like, you don't, the cycle was much longer back then. You'd spend a year making a record than a year, kind of waiting, almost a year for it to come out and then another year of touring for it. And then just, so one piece of one, you know, one statement, one album would basically become your talking point for the next two to three years. Yeah.
It's true. So, so, so, innovating. And so, it just, it just slowly eats away and sort of destroys your ability to just be spontaneous. And I think one great thing about the folk emplosion was that I did that during, I did that during the 90s.
So I kept things moving through my brain and I was always thinking forward to another project. And one cool thing about one of the many cool things about getting back together was John's yeah, we made a record, which was cool. But that kind of gave us the reason to kind of, it was just another part of our story. And really the story to me is like the minute we started practicing for the new record, I started to think about the next thing that we were going to do.
And I think we have a lot of, still there's so much to, that we could do and explore. So in a way, like, yeah, I don't, our view right now, it's like, that's already, that's a speed bump. We already did that, you know, you know, so anyway, but I didn't mean to talk about that. I think, um, well, you know, it's been a lot about, um, you know, I've been on this, I'm on this big arena tour now and, um, I don't know, we've been talking about that a lot.
And I'm kind of curious. I know that you're doing stuff at home. Um, I want you, why don't you, why don't you tell me about it a little bit? Because somehow we do get sidetracked a lot with just all of our, our life management talk and meanwhile you've been just, you are doing things during the day.
You're sitting on the couch and what are you crocheting? Sitting on the couch. I'm just saying that's your work spot. You have this really sweet work spot on our couch and our, our living room.
You have this spot where all of your stuff is within reach and you've got your, your little ceramic thing full of yarn that you work from and get knitting needles around and, uh, yeah, it's sort of like your workstation. So I'm, I do not use the term couch. Like you're shooting on a couch all day. I know that made it sound like I was, I'm out on the, I'm working my ass off.
For at least an hour and a half a day out here on the road. What are you doing? Yeah. Well, I mean, I could crochet and stand.
You know, that's possible. It's true, but I do find it more comfortable to sit on the couch and do it. I don't stand up and write songs. Yeah.
I don't, I don't stand up and write songs. You write the song and then you stand up. I think I was feeling more self-conscious about it because I was just realizing that like my work bleeds out into so many areas of the house, but I suppose that's true of both of us. So, you know, you've also taken over the craft, half of the craft room dining table with your stuff.
I take over half the living. I don't know. It's just the home is one big studio. It's one big art studio and what have I been up to?
Is he grabs a bunch of paper, throws it on the floor and all the markers and? Oh, God. Yeah. He's in the middle.
She's always in the middle of some sort of project. She is. She's constantly projecting too. And I've been, besides, yeah, the podcast, that's right.
I have a whole nother work life and it's creating. I do knitwear and I do crochet and I sell my work at a place called Waterway in Turner's Falls, Massachusetts and it's really cool. It's right on Avenue A. If you're ever in Turner's Falls, you should go check it out.
But it's a gallery space with different artists. So there's lots of different people represented there. And so I've been working on a lot of pieces with fall and winter in mind, a lot of cozy hats and things like that and some patchwork pieces because I'm trying to reuse a lot of things that I've already made that were like samples and things like that that I just sort of like keep over time and I can't part with them because there's really no reason to part with them. But and so I'm trying to do creative reuse and things like that.
And I'm also having to. Are you doing that now? Are you actually? Yeah, I am and linking pieces, making some pieces together and I'm also coming up with like some patchwork, cardigans and things like that and doing a variety of different ways of attaching them.
So it's like some handwork, some on the sewing machine. It's kind of a collage type thing. And a lot of that is a forest result of the fact that I have broken knitting machines. And so it's kind of pushing me to do and use my other tools and my toolbox, you know, so that's fine.
That's really fine. It is a goal of mine within the next year to figure out my knitting machine situation and how many broken knitting machines do we have right now? Four. Yeah, four broken.
These are really hard to get fixed. This is like, this is kind of like the audio world. It's all of mine. It's like the audio world.
You have to find like, I would analog. Yeah. Yeah. People, they want these analog take machines and then it turns out that there's only like three, three people in the United States that can actually calibrate them correctly.
And it's really exaggerating. No, it's, yeah. Because the knitting machines that you do use are like vintage, they're like vintage audio gear. It's very similar.
Yeah. Sort of a similar, sort of these really complicated. Yes. Complicated things that only a few people know how to fix.
And apparently the closest people that know how to fix them and are in like New Jersey, New York, which is pretty far from Pennsylvania and Maine. I have someone, I did have someone, I am part of like a knitting machine repair group on Facebook and I did put a, like a desperate call out this year. And the response is sort of petered in, but it was like, if I, if we lived in the UK, I would be all set because there's tons of people still using their knitting machines or their vintage and any machines repairing. Oh, really?
Yeah. That's the place, that's the place to be. I don't want to talk about broken knitting machines, but I'm, yes, I'm very busy. And then we're going to talk about bad reviews and broken knitting machines.
Well, and also that I am getting ready in addition to a big fall turnover of work at Waterway, I'm getting ready to build quite a stash for a home sale. I do on small business weekend with a couple of artists and it's sort of like a big, big weekend for me. So we will be in the UK with the folk implosion. So he will miss this year.
Sadly. Happy UK, but go grab your knitting machine while you're over there. Yeah, sure. No problem.
Just fly one back. I'm back. So easy. Ting, if only it was that easy.
If only that's, yeah, that's what I'm up to. It was just a lot of long hand work that's a lot of quiet time. I'm listening to the audio book of the great Gatsby, while I crochet. I mean, it was, it was free.
It was free. I was looking on my phone for, because I like to listen to audio books while I work and sit on the couch while I'm working. And anyway, I was, I was looking through a list that was like, these are the classics that you have to have read in your lifetime. You know, like, don't, don't die without having read these books.
And the great Gatsby was on like a best of list. And I thought, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna read the great Gatsby. So then I was looking at it and there's multiple different options of audio book versions of the great Gatsby. It's not just like there's one, there's different people reading it and there's reviews then of how the person reads it.
And this person paused too much or this person, I didn't like the way they did this, this character's made up their voice or whatever. And I was introduced then to the world of audio book reviews where you can then pick and choose which audio book you want to hear. And so as a result, I stumbled on the fact that I don't know if it's because I have an Apple music subscription, which I recommend by the way, if anyone has an Apple phone or Apple product, I like having the music subscription, but I'm subscribed to all kinds of things on Apple that I'm not even aware of. Like, they're one another $10.
What was that one for? I know, I know, I also subscribed to Apple News, which I like to do because I like the freedom of being able to click on any article because they, they, they have all sorts of articles like from the Atlantic, from Vogue, you know, that normally would have a paywall and I don't want to buy all those magazines. So I just buy one subscription, they put the best articles anyway. So long story short, back to the great Gatsby.
I, it said, well, you know, I don't have to watch, you can, you can edit it. I don't have to, but it's there. If it's there, it's like scratching a fucking itch. I know.
The world is falling apart. And here's why. Click. Oh, God, the world is so, I'm so susceptible.
I'm a very gullible person. Well, no, that's not why. Do you want me to, I mean, I'm not going to name it. I don't have to name it in our podcast, but you, you know, you have paranoid, you have paranoid disorder.
So, you know, I think it might actually be a disorder. I'm looking. No, it is. I mean, these tours where I have a lot of time on my hand, I'm sitting, I'm sitting on the car and I'm playing rest and I'm just sort of looking back at the patterns of my life.
No. Cause someone asked me, Stephen Drod's asked me, we've been texting, you know, on the tour and we're cooking up. It's adorable. So he was like, he just texted me out of the blue.
I think it was like really early in the morning yesterday. He's like, Lou, when did you write spoiled? What's that about spoiled is being, you know, this sebod of off of off of off of sebod of three. And it also was then featured in the kids soundtrack.
It was the end credit song on the kids soundtrack. Okay. And it's a very urgent, very anxious song that I wrote in the middle of a paranoid attack, a paranoia attack during the first golf war in like 1990. Yes.
I don't know. We could trace it back, but I'm like, so it's just funny looking back and I'm like, oh, my God, I was really paranoid then. Yes. And then I'm like, wow, I was really paranoid when I was a kid.
And yeah, it's like, it's actually, it could be, it could very well be a disorder. And it could be the thing that I'm often, uh, I'm often trying to obscure or I'm trying to run away from yours. This is not a fleeting like, Oh, I just hate the news. It bums me out.
You, you have a legitimate. I can go like, I can go like Black helicopter. Just put it that way. It can get there.
I can go to Black helicopters. Takes a while. I mean, I have to be really, I have to be really hurting myself pretty regularly for that to happen. I've been able to really, I've been able to keep it from the Black helicopter level.
For a while. That's a Black helicopter. That's what you think you see. You've even heard that like people like when people start seeing Black helicopters, that's like the epitome of like paranoia or drug psychosis.
Is that like the Black Hawk down? Like the Black Hawk. No, no, no, just like Black helicopters. No, like you see Black helicopters.
What are Black helicopters? I don't understand. You don't know. They're like, they're part of the secret society.
They're part of like, they're part of the greater, the more, the sort of malevolent forces that are acting just below the surface of society, the Black helicopter. Like I during the height of my paranoia during the pandemic, I used to see rows of Black cars and imagine at these where all people going to their houses in order to, um, whatever in order to, you know, I, it goes far. But I want to say actually, I want to hear you finish that thought because I feel like that's part of the problem is, is let's just let it out. Like what's the, what, what were people doing in your mind?
Like the worst thing. Yeah. I thought they were going to their houses and working on ways to bomb the library and to suppress knowledge because knowledge is people are so freaked out by knowledge that they want to kill it. Like there's too much knowledge and there are people that are actively ready to take that knowledge away, ready to scare that knowledge, ready to violently try to stamp it out as a last, a last effort to preserve.
Well, that's controlled then, right? You know, the last effort to preserve the power. Right. And so I think, you know, I think people know, just power, right?
People are always, people are always sort of, I mean, power is a big thing and power is something that I, you know, it's just this raw force and people can kind of use it as, as they wish and it can take all kinds of forms, you know, but people want to maintain power because they feel if they do not have power, then, then they're desperate, then they're starving. I mean, we have, we have these very elemental evolutionary, you know, these, these things as little as we are just animals. We are these little desperate little beasts running around. So yeah, I, I think when I'm feeling vulnerable and I'm feeling a lack of control, I can, I can default to some very, very, very dark thoughts.
So anyway, the song spoiled was, came right from that source. So as I was, you know, telling Stephen, you know, via text, what the sort of evolution of that song, how I wrote it and when I wrote it and where I was at, when I wrote it, I'm like, God, I've been doing this for a long time. And I think now I'm doing it less. So I'm actually starting, you know, I'm starting to, I think there's a, things are starting to dawn on me, patterns are starting to be revealed within my personality.
And I'm like, maybe that's what's really something that is really wrong with me or something that I can, I can wear something that I can, I don't think, you know, I think the less I think about fixing things and the more that I think about, the less I think about fixing the more and the more I think about just coming to terms and being with the moment, you know, and taking what you have and, you know, and just taking the moment really, it's very simple. Well, I think it's hard for someone like you because you, again, some people can really balance all of that information, the idea of fixing and the idea of being in the moment. And I think that is another long, standing part of who you are is a fixer. And, you know, you kind of having that overwhelming desire and urge to fix things, you know?
And so that it all kind of relates to ties in. Why the fuck do I want to fix everything? I don't know. Oh, yeah, I know.
I don't know. I mean, because you care so much because you I came when I came into consciousness, when I came into consciousness in the early 1970s, I definitely felt like things needed to be fixed. It seemed like things were really out of control. Well, life is scary and there's a lot of things that need to be fixed constantly.
And that's the thing that's hard, right? Is that just when you think you've kind of got maybe a hang of something or something has settled down a little bit. The shit goes haywire again in the world. It does it.
And there are really hard things happening. And so I think it can feel overwhelming that desire and that urge to fix, right? Things that are scary and unhinged because I think all of this ties into things and you're not alone. You know, you're not alone.
And I think that is actually how we do move forward and how change does happen is that there are people like you who care so much about fixing. But maybe we need some people who care so much about the fixing who are able to balance also their mental health because it, you know, use it in a productive way because for you, it can do the opposite of being, and I say that with love, but it can be the opposite of productive, you know, it can just be simply worrying without action. And worrying and then, and on the flip side of that, escape, not on the flip side, but I think worrying and then also just the urge to just completely vacate. Totally.
I have a lot of, I have a lot of that. Like I have a lot of like, yes, shut it down. Escapism tendencies. Totally.
Those are all really extremes. You know, it's like, yeah, they are. And none of them, none of them really like add up to being productive. Or actually fixing or helping anything.
I mean, that's the thing about it, I guess. I think that's now I realized that. Yeah, if I'm, I don't know, you know, like I'm in a, like right now I'm trying to write songs. So I have a lot of, but I have a lot of ideas to refer to and a lot of.
And it's just funny, like, yeah, songwriting is such a, such a kind of healing process for me. Like for real, you know, it's just like having things to repeat and think about over and over again. And then I think now, especially when this goes back to what we were talking about, like the cycle back in the day and making records and you like, you have to really think and make one thing. And here's your statement, like I don't have that anymore.
I can basically just sit back and write songs in my, on my, at my leisure. Like if I want to really get something done, you know, if I want to start that process of sifting through ideas and helping them, you know, come together and linking things and, and lyrical concepts, it's like, I can kind of just take my time. And it's actually a very therapeutic process back in the day. It was also very therapeutic, but it was in the moment.
So, you know, when you're the way your mind moves when you're, you're 23, as opposed to the way it moves when you're 58, you know, just different. So I think like, like, yeah, I don't know, I think. I think that too is, you know, the song is something tangible, right? That you've been created at the end.
It's like at the end of that process, you have this tangible thing. It's a song, you've created something and, and that's kind of like your internal quote, unquote, fixing process, you know, and I think I do, it's funny to think, I don't know if I've ever said this actually, but I think I do do it for myself. I know I do it for myself, but it did, but I did have the, you know, the, I did have the fortune and the early on in my life, my songwriting became actually how I live. You know, it became my life and it became songwriting and playing music became.
The thing that actually sustained me economically. And so that, you know, which is confusing for a young, you know, any punk rocker, you know, but yeah, I don't know man. I think it's just funny. It's like the fixing thing too also goes as far as like, if I'm in the middle, you know, when I do hold back, like, you and I, like we were saying in the beginning, we preface this was saying like our, our communication has to be very raw and we have to say difficult things to each other.
And often the most difficult things that you have to say, the thing that you really don't want to say, the thing that you don't want to bring up can become the most productive thing. And for you and I, I feel safe with you to agree, but to a large degree, to a large degree, as much as I can, you know, for the black helicopters come. You know, you know, you keep, you know, you keep the helicopters away. So, but I think when it comes to other people in my life that I, you know, I do still try to protect them and I do still sometimes round off the edges.
And it's just not worth it. Yeah. And in the end, I'm just like, I don't know if the rounding off the edges process, if I look back at my life, I'm like, I don't know. I think sometimes it's good, you know, to get on with business and get things done, go on tour, you know, follow through on things, finish things, you know, a lot of times you have to make a lot of compromises just simply to get things finished and to put one foot in front of the other because people can get stuck.
I know people who just get stuck and they never, they never put the other foot in front of the other because there is so much, there's so much weight to making decisions and there's so much. But, you know, you do have to have, you do have to have an ease and you do have to have a be able to compromise in order to continue to move forward because that's really the only point is like moving forward, you know, none of these things are going to, you know. Yes, I do. I mean, I think when you don't have some sort of like oversight or a goal in mind to keep it where you have to keep moving forward to, I think that's where it can become extremely tricky.
And when you're the internal dialogue takes over in a negative way, does that make sense? Like, yeah, but you know, what I was going to say too, lastly, is that doing some tangible help besides the songwriting, which is helpful, but you were talking about this, how you want to be more helpful and helping people as you get older, I think that will actually help keep the dark clouds, the dark thoughts from overtaking and making you actually not useful. You know, is when you go and you do tangible, like that's why people volunteer, that's why people get out there and they call people to get them to vote. That's why they, you know, it's like it's a tangible thing that makes them feel like, hey, I'm, I can't change everything.
I'm overwhelmed by all the things that need fixing. I can just do this one thing today.