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Yimio! You're all impressions. You're all impressions. Talk, talk, talk to me.
Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk to me. Please. Welcome to our impressions, the Freeform Podcast, featuring Adele, Marlo, and New Barlow. Mm-hmm.
I love that we landed on Freeform Podcast. That just feels so right. That was just about to cloud it up with a lot of details about me. Oh, don't cloud it up.
Talk about you. My name is Lee Barlow. I am a veteran musician. Mm-hmm.
Is that true? Veteran? Sure. I've been playing indie rock for the last.
I've been playing music. Why? Why? Why cloud it further with these titles, these genres?
Genres. I just play music. I'm currently in the bosom of Philadelphia, downtown Philadelphia. Played some of my first shows with Sabadeau down here.
It's a place called the Kiber Pass. I don't know where this is a close by. It could be. A lot of one-way streets down here.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Hi. Hi, my mom's childhood home.
Philadelphia. Mom's childhood home. Mm-hmm. Where she grew up?
Yeah. My grandparents lived here in the latter part of their lives here in Philadelphia. I came, I visited it here quite a bit when I was young. I was here in 1976.
Mm-hmm. What a year for Philadelphia. Oh, God, yesterday I got up from the bus. I had a, we were parked in a parking lot outside of an enormous dome.
Mm-hmm. Actually, there's a collection of three enormous domes just outside the city here. Really? You got your baseball stadium, you got your football stadium, and then you got your hockey stadium.
So they just put them all in a row, huh? Yeah, so I had to make it from the parking lot to the hotel yesterday via an Uber. How'd that go? But I was getting up and I'm like, gee, should I wear my sweater outside so I looked at my phone to check what the degrees was there in Philadelphia?
76 degrees. Hot. I mean, nice. That's great.
I mean, it's pretty cool. I don't know if you're 76ers. I don't know what they play. Are they on the key team?
I don't know. Do they? Oh, yes. Oh, wait.
Oh, wait. Is that where Jason Kelsey lives and plays the Eagles? Yeah, the Eagles. Ah, okay.
Yeah, the stadium where the Eagles play is. Anyway, they're all in this little cluster. Things I never knew before. Taylor Swift started dating a football player.
Now I know where her future brother-in-law lives and works. Okay. That's not weird at all. But I engaged.
Yeah. That's my. Okay. It's her boyfriend.
Not Jason. But that kind of pressure on her. I'm not putting pressure. Hey, I'm not putting pressure on her.
She's a free woman. She can do what she wants. Her boyfriend, Travis, Kelsey's brother, Jason. He's in free money.
He does say it's cute. It's cute. Yeah. So yeah.
Can I tell you what I was thinking about last night? Yeah. No. So last night, I've had a very indulgent week.
I feel like it's very indulgent for me. I don't usually get to go out very much. And I've had two really fun nights this week of shows. Tuesday night, we got to have a really nice day night in Boston.
And I got to see the whole Weezer, Flaming Lips, Dinosaur, Junior, TD Garden thing. It was very nice. It was really cool. Yeah.
We felt like teenagers on a date. It was so funny. I was like kissing in this audience. I'm like, I'm on a date.
My husband. Anyway, it was funny. And then last night, our friend Ben Ridwell and friend of the pod. Ben Ridwell, you might know from past episode.
And first, and only next. I think he's like, he's the OG. We love him. And we'll just keep him as our only one.
We've only interviewed like, what, three or four people? Three or four people. We're very selective, guys. Anyway, he and his lovely band of horses graced Deerfield, Massachusetts treehouse brewery last night, which is a really fun venue.
And you know, I got to say, living here in Western Mass, I'm really grateful to have something so close to our house. And it's just also nice. It's a nice spot, nice big bathrooms, walking around. It's a cool old building.
And anyway, this is not what I was thinking about. So I was at the band of horses show last night with Liz, our friend, and got to visit with our friends, the band, last night, a little bit before the show. We could play indoors or outdoors. They played outdoors.
Yeah. They played outdoors on the stage. And they moved the stage, by the way. It's interesting.
It's a different. Yeah, it's a different angle. Yeah, it's a different angle. Not sure if I love any angle, but anyway, that's not here nor there right now.
So we're in the audience and Liz and I just went kind of almost like right up front, middle front to watch. And the crowd was really nice. It was a really interesting crowd. And as they were playing, Liz turned and said to me, wow, look at how many people they're making so happy right now.
I know. Oh, gosh. You're going to cry? You're going to cry?
No, not at all. The fuck. And the moon was showing, the stars were twinkling. And I looked around.
And I saw these people looking at the stage with almost this healing smile on their faces, where they were just like, this is so good for me. They were all having their own individual moments yet collectively of like, this is really, it was meaningful to them. And they did look happy. The audience looked really happy.
And I thought, wow, she's right. They are making so many people so happy right now. And then I thought, oh gosh, okay, I'm fine. I'm going to go to the stage.
I'm going to go to the stage. I'm going to go to the stage. And then I thought, oh gosh, okay, I'm fine. I'm fine.
But I was thinking about music and how being on the other end of it when your partner's gone, because they play music and they're on tour for a long time. You really miss them. Sometimes you can just focus on like, oh, that's really hard. Touring is so hard.
And I really miss my partner. All that stuff. And then it was really nice to be in the audience last night and go like, you know, there's a reason why we do this, right? Yeah.
I mean, look at all these people having this moment, this time out of their life to feel so happy and art and music is just such a gift. Yeah, feel that pretty intensely with the weezer thing, because you're in the midst of 20,000 people who are all having a moment. They're having a moment. And who have like where this music has been around long enough that their lives have been kind of, you know, so influenced and buoyed up by this band.
And yeah, you really experience it. And the flaming lips have a way of really driving that home. Totally. When tells a story, or doesn't really tell a story that reads a letter every night about a fan of theirs, whose mother died in a car crash and how music is sort of how important it is.
He says something really like music is a motherfucker. He heals something like that. But yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot too because yeah, you know, sometimes it's like I guess for me because, you know, I don't, I don't play to like 20,000 people when I play when I do my own thing. Like generally it's like, you know, between like 30, maybe 100 people at the shows like the last two at John Davis and I did.
And yeah, you know, it's like sometimes you can get kind of hung up on numbers and you can get hung up on, you know, is it enough? Will it be enough? What is this? You know, but when you see like how transformative just basically music is, it kind of puts things in perspective in a really cool way.
So, you know, I like, I'm really fortunate that I can experience these extremes, you know, just even as a spectator. Like I feel like on this tour with Weezer, I feel kind of like a spectator. Like we do play, we do play, we certainly have our place in the show and we play our 25 minutes and we play our six songs. And it's super cool.
But you know, ultimately those shows are really about Weezer and the Flaming Lips and they both are very, both bands really treasure their audience really are very attuned to their audience. And then it's cool to see that actually like their crews, the people that work for them kind of have that vibe too. And it's very nice. Yeah.
It's nice. Yeah. It was a moment for me last night to be on that end. And I thought, what I like my husband home full time, of course.
But you know, in that moment, I was like, I guess this is kind of like the sacrifice, you know, we make is that when you're putting your art into the world and giving that to people in that direct way, because it is different, you know, really standing there and getting that feeling of the music live, it is so unique. And I just think, yeah, go people go see live music, get out of your house. Just say like, oh, I can't go out and I need more. You know what?
Fucking just go out once in a while and support these bands and go and see the live music because they are sacrificing times with their family and their loved ones to bring that directly to you, you know, and you can experience it in person. And when you do get to experience it in person, it's meaningful. Great question. When was the last time a display ad changed your mind?
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You know, yeah, so that was my thought last night. So. That's very similar to what I've been thinking about while I watch Weezer. I've been thinking about how I feel after I play a show, you know, where we do our thing.
I don't know, I'm like having the opportunity to place to so many people at once. You know, it's like, I think about the one kid, you know, I think about the one 13, 14 year old kid who sees dinosaur Junior and goes, whoa, what is that? Exactly. Yes.
Like, whoa, what is this? Because we're really, you know, we're playing like, we're playing like we're in our twenties when we open these shows. Like we, it's such a funny flashback to like feeling like, you know, underdogs, you know, and feeling a feels real similar to like back in the day when we used to open, we had, we did a, we did a tour once where we opened up for this band called the Gun Club. We're quite famous in Europe and we were opening for them.
And we just boy, we just brought every, you know, we have like a gun like, you know, half hour to plane just brought the brunt of what we did full energy and, you know, it changed our whole, it changed our lives because people did react to us when they saw us play. You know, and they were like, whoa, what was that? Yes. What's that storm that just blew through, you know, and then.
Right. We were in the Gun Club with Play and they're much more, I would say the performances were more nuanced, I would say, you know, at least it had a very charismatic lead singer and, but we, I don't know, it's cool to just feel like a punk band. I, you guys are playing literally like your in your early twenties and a TD Garden. You were like, you like knocked over your mic stand.
It was so funny. I mean, Thomas was standing next to me when it happened. And we both just went, oh, then we started laughing. It was so great.
And Thomas and I just kind of like almost like, hugs were like, this is great. Like what a moment. It was so funny. It was just like, we don't have a whole lot.
We have, we have about, I have about three feet, you know, to the lip of the stage because, you know, there's three bands. So, yeah, of course, have this huge setup and then flaming lips also. So we're sort of pushed forward, which I really like. I like this.
It's really cute. It's pretty funny. I guess just being at the very lip of this, of this enormous stage, you know, our amplifiers directly behind us, which is a, and because we kind of young again, isn't it? And we play the way we play, like we don't like bands these days, like generally use in your monitors, which means that the music is being, you know, applied directly to their drums and amplifiers have been kind of, they're being, they're in the process of being outmoded, I would say, like amplifiers as far as something that you need in a live performance, you know, these things, because they are just, they create, they create uncontrollable frequencies for sound ments, like engineers and everything really is about controlling things, you know, like technology controlling all of these, all of these things, the frequencies that fly everywhere.
But we're still doing exactly what we did when we were kids, which is like the amplifiers are blowing forward and everything must be adjusted around them. And you know, Jay is like particularly unapologetic about what he needs, when he plays, like I need, you know, he needs this incredible fire power behind him. And then also he puts his, his vocal microphone directly in front of those speakers, which is just like creates, you know, because when he moves his head away from his microphone, it just all the guitar goes through that. So it's all of this, all of these uncontrollable things.
And we really are kind of the last and a breed of bands that perform that way, you know, and we have, and truly thing is we have our sound engineer, Noel is a bit older than us and he grew up going to, you know, arena shows by like huge classic rock bands. And so he knows that that's his, like, that's his experiences. These is what we think of when we think of Jimmy Hendrix and Cream and these bands, you know, that we're playing just like we're playing where they were not relying on PAs and technology to sort of fine tune their music. It was just this we're all like, and we do that.
And it does like, it feels really good to play that way because I feel what I feel is just like the hit off of Merv's drums. I feel like the physical push of my amplifiers. You know, I hear like Jay's solo soaring and just, I mean, I, what I experience as a bass player and I search in here is like, pretty awesome. It feels really, you know, it scratches that little spot in my brain that when I was young, you know, when I was super young and when you would see like footage of Woodstock, you know, this exciting, you know, like, what is, you know, this sort of, and that imprinted on me so heavily, you know, yes.
And it still scratches. And what we do scratches that little spot in my brain. Yes. That's cool.
So when I play, I just look for the kids, you know, I look for somebody who's like connecting because there are definitely people that did a show like that with, you know, they do like the Weezer fans and the Fleming lips fans will definitely like put themselves right up front and they will, they will endure whatever comes before the band that they're waiting for. I mean, this is a big thing. I've seen it many times. You know, we've opened for the Foo Fighters and the Ratchettellers and you just see people just sort of enduring, you know, not being, you know, taste.
I mean, you know, not intolerant for sure, you know, but they definitely, you know, it's not like it would be in the 70s where they would literally throw shit at you. And there's just great stories of, you know, what it would be like for the Ramones to open up for Blue Oyster Cult and the late 70s. But nothing like that. People are very tolerant of us, but you see them enduring and you see them going like they're waiting for that magic moment when they get to be close to the band that's, you know, changed their lives that has been the soundtrack for their lives that is part of their identity.
Like people, you really see also with something on that scale on the Weezer scale, you see how it is like, it is a part of people's identity. Yes. You know, the bands they like. And it's nice to see that that that's still, you know, it always will actually, it'll always exist in some form or another things change quite a bit.
But I'm good thing is dinosaur. Junior has never changed. Could open ever, unreliable. Unsweetly you had that kind of, yeah.
It was, it was, it was kind of a powerful moment because just being there under the stars and the moon and feeling this just individual joy and seeing all the other people's faces. It just, I will say the faces on the audience last night, it was, it was kind of profound. There was a, wow. Yeah.
And it was neat that Liz like noticed that and named it and shared it and she's a very aware person and good friend of ours. And so it was just, it was fun to experience it with her and for her to like see that. And, yeah. And, you know, I think that I still have my favorite moments from seeing bands, right?
And those are all things that I cherish. And they go in my little memory box and, you know, seeing a certain painting for the first time or, you know, seeing, you know, a song played for, you know, live for the first time. Those are like all in my little, my little memory box and I cherish them those moments. So.
Well, I didn't expect that we would get profound. I didn't either. I didn't either. I didn't either.
And my mind is a little, it's not blank, but I think what you're saying, in order for me to articulate it, I would have to, I would just have to start talking for like the next 25 minutes until I tried something that, like a cohesive statement about it. Because I, I'd, when I try to describe what music means to me and what it continues to mean to me, I just immediately start stumbling over my words and saying like a lot. So, I mean, I had made one, one note for this, this episode that I wanted to talk about. Okay.
Was that I'm increasingly aware where in the last week there's been two instances when I've woken up and you know, I do my breathing when I wake up. I've noticed that my face smells. My face. Well, just like something that I wouldn't want someone to smell on.
You know, not, not shit per se, but it is hard to smell your own shit. So there is that. But more of like a musty sort of spitty, like dried spit. So I realized maybe when I wake up in the morning that there's like accumulated like old saliva on my face.
So I was smelling my old saliva. And then I was also just like noticing my, I'm like, maybe this is why. So now that I have my, my gold chain is a maybe I should consider like maybe now's the time for cologne. Yeah.
You're just talking about it. Like where you create, maybe that's the point is like you create this sort of cloud around yourself with your cologne to mask the smell of your face. I think there's other solutions. I mean, you can, I could, I was like, yeah, you know what?
I think I'm going to give my face a good scrub. Because I did take a shower last night and I've been showering regularly, but I don't always soap my head because I don't want to deal with like trying to drag a, like a comb through my head. My hair is kind of a thing because then I have to, then I pull out a lot of hair and then I feel a little bad for the people. I feel really bad for the people who have to come in, after these rooms.
Yeah. Because maybe good to. Yeah, because I usually when I have these kind of days, like a day in a hotel room, I bring fish from the bus. I bring canned fish.
I bring salmon. I eat a lot of fish. So there's a lot of like, so there's a lot of like, like I have right now there's an open, one empty can of salmon. There's also a packet of salmon, like a plastic where the, so there's salmon and then there's me as an aging, you know, I mean, because you're not around right, it's hard to really keep my hygiene game.
So it's stalling a little bit. So I do, I think I'm going to leave a good tip. Yeah, great. I mean, I always try to.
That's a big thing. So that's all I had. Can I give you a little bit of the episode? Besides the power of music and the, yeah, I didn't think of that.
I'm sorry to surprise you. I just really wanted to share that sentiment with you that I had that nice moment and wanted to share it. But wash your face, hun. Get a nice little light gentle face wash.
You're something like a neutra, Gina or something at CVS. I know. I was like, I was in a beta close by the way. Let's let's let's call on shop for you together though.
I want to be there because I have to sit on your flesh. Yeah. That's all folks. Well, that's all.
Someone in our traveling party. I was actually using clones. We could talk more about that. I don't know.
I'll just sniff around. I was like, well, I just think it seems like a young. I had guesses. I have guesses.
But I was like, wow. Okay. Because I've never, you know, this this this gold chain, they'll give me a gold chain for my birthday. But I've been wearing it.
She owns me. You know, like to put Taylor, I wear this I wear your necklace not because he owns me, but because he knows me. I know you, baby. I kind of like being owned.
Okay, I own you then. Give me your. You're all impressed. Get me out.
You're all impressed. Get me out. You're all impressed. Talk to me.
Talk to me. Talk to me. Talk to me. Talk to me.
Talk to me. Talk to me. Talk to me. Talk to me.
Talk to me. Talk to me. Talk to me. Talk to me.
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