420. - M.J. Lenderman

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. A beautiful Tuesday afternoon here in Los Angeles. Big shout out to all the Americans that are pretending to like soccer right now. Praying for you guys that you know the right terminology and you drink enough beer to seem like you're kind of in on the joke with the Europeans that you're crossing arms with while you pound a pint. So I feel like this happens every year. I mean, I guess it depends on what country it's going on in. I think the location this year is making it a lot more. Not fun to talk about. A lot cooler. But there's a lot more going on. Yeah, it adds a layer to, you know, besides just like fan-on-fan violence, now it's politicized like everything else in our society. So people can take a hard stance against it and they're going to boycott it because it's in a country that has bad laws. I'm boycotting it because it's boring and I don't care. So I feel like I'm being more honest than a lot of the football fans in America right now. But if you're using it as an excuse to get drunk in the morning, then that's fine. Yeah, that is one of the only good parts about...

Football in different time zones is drinking during the day. Beb, come on, it's the World Cup. You know how much I love Uruguay. Babe, you know I'm not from England, but I really like that country, so I need to go watch the game at 9 this morning with my mates. Yeah, I mean, I guess, Chris, you are an Anglo pill, and you should be wanting to support England, but this is where the line is drawn. Pretending to be interested in soccer or pretending that the royal family is interesting, those are the two places I draw the line. Okay, there's a third line here, I see it. And I'm not going to call French. tries chips that's just obnoxious and i'm not going to sign my emails cheers because we all know how that ends have you ever signed an email cheers hell no i've never said that word i don't even like to say it when i'm raising my glass to celebrate something really yeah i don't i just don't like it i don't have a good reason or anything i just find it uncool are there any alternative sayings that you say when you are raising a glass with your comrades is it a chin chin is it a compai is it a no no no it's a it's merely a raised glass of mountain valley and a Half smile, I would say, depending on what we're celebrating. And then just keeping it moving. I'm trying not to say cheers. I'm trying. I would say that isn't it bad luck to clink glasses with water? 1,000%, which is bad for you because that seems to be the only kind of liquid that you put inside the... temple right yeah i mean yeah yeah especially in that in that kind of setting you know when you guys are tossing back your you know casamigos and soda your your tito's martinis i'm definitely going to be having some of los angeles's finest tap water maybe some bubbles if if i'm feeling crazy yeah and because you're the last thing you need is more bad luck right if i if i have one more day of bad luck i'm just gonna die i think at this point so yeah i can't okay morrissey well actually that does make me wonder if they say that cheersing water is bad luck, then what happens when you are drinking like a ranch water or a tequila and soda where it's what 80% water, 20% vodka or tequila or something like that? Oh, this is a good point. Does that mean that it's not 100% good luck?

You're kind of playing with fire. There's going to be a little bit of bad luck going on. I think what you're proposing is something smart where the only way you should be cheersing is if you're a real man and you're only doing shots, preferably of brown liquor. Johnny Black neat. Yeah, if you're drinking neat, dark liquors, then you're allowed to cheers anything else. So we're saying that even clear. Clear liquors or maybe some creamy white Bailey's Irish creams, things like that. Clear liquors obviously look like water. That's how Lindsay Lohan got away with drinking her big Fiji's in the club all the time. That's a good point. I think that even if the eye is tricked, that means the kind of powers that be could be tricked as well and could give you bad luck because they don't realize. Because it's a trick to the eye. So it's something to think about. This holiday season, why don't we not cheers and see what happens? I think we'll all be better off. I wanted to talk about something that I sent you earlier in the group chat today, right before we started potting. The group chat was alive this morning, so it could be any number of PNGs. What's going on? Well, I just wanted to... talk about some violence at a concert that I saw online. And I just wanted to big up my hometown heroes, uh, in the black crows, um, because a man crashed the stage in cursed Australia in Melbourne, rich, rich Robinson. hit him in the face with his guitar. So we're supposed to know who Rich Robertson is? Rich Robinson is the... Robinson? Yeah, he's Chris Robinson's brother, founding member of the Black Crows. And that motherfucker is tougher than any of these rappers. They all got security guards. He just hit him with the strap, like a man. Well, he attempted to hit him in the face, but it was a little... I would not call that a face shot. Not to use a Chris Brown term. Chill, bro. Technically, I agree with you, but more what we're patting him on the back for is standing up for himself and defending himself and his band and his brother with his weapon of choice and axe that he can also play.

While you hear all these guys that tote guns, they've got shooters, blah, blah, blah. And the best they can do is have a guy who played high school football and hurt his knee tackle a guy trying to get a selfie. And I just want to point out that we're built a little different where I'm from, Jason. That's all I'm saying. Well, do you think that the crime deserved the punishment? Do you think that a fan coming on stage who clearly... The goal was to maybe profess his love of this washed band, not to assassinate the Black Crows, but to, you know, like a Morrissey-style praise, I want to give you a hug, I want to smell one of your bandanas dangling, whatever it might be. Do you think he deserves... To potentially lose his two front teeth for that. Let me get a whiff of your bandana. I think that no, I don't think the punishment fits the crime, but I also understand that in today's society, when you're performing on stage and someone's running at you, you have a hard time kind of deducing what the goal is from a set attack. Every potential threat is a potential threat. We have to... shoot first, ask questions second. Exactly. And that's why, yeah, exactly. That's how the Black Crows do it. And I just think it's funny, you know, how this 55-year-old white man who's known for his solos and his bandanas is really about that shit more than some of your favorites. You know, I just think it's funny. I just think it's funny. I just think it's so funny. I just think it's funny. Okay, okay, I get that. I get that. And have you ever... felt compelled to run on stage like you like morrissey i keep bringing him up i will i'll stop doing that but have you ever been to a morrissey show where you're like dadgummit i can't take it no mo i gotta go up and hug my man that's never happened to you no no i mean it's funny when people do that but it's also like guys that are wearing jean jackets with patches on it you know it's kind of the vibe of who does that and i would hate some disneyland pass holder exactly unfortunately there is a there is a strong disney uh

all park Disney pass holders. That's your man right there. That's your man. I don't like that one damn bit, but no, I would never feel compelled to do that, and I think that it's... But if you did, if you were watching your crows rattle off another one of their countless hits, Why do you think they scat? They're not scatting. They're just a classic roots rock band. They're not giving Aerosmith energy, Chris. You have to admit that. But if that did happen to you, the music of rock and roll compelled you to climb through the security guards, hop on stage, and then this AARP geezer, the SG, come a-swinging at you, and you're like, yep. deserve that 100% needed needed that today i mean or would you would you i know that you're famously litigious would this be something where you're like hey guys no no no i'm not trying to take you to the cleaners but you know there is a little bit of reconstructive surgery that has to go down yeah if if Yeah, if they were able to kind of bless me with a signed guitar from the walls of like a hard rock that closed and then also kind of fix my face, then we could call it even. I'm not going to go for the jugular. I don't need to buy a new house from this. I would be fair. is what I'm trying to say. You can't spell fair weather without fair is what it sounds like, Chris. Exactly. Because that's what kind of fan you seem to be. I mean, no, no, no, no, no. I just don't think that there, I think there needs to be respect between the audience and the... Look, if I'm watching Radiohead at Madison Square, Johnny Greenwood swings that telly at me, I say... Thank you, sir. May I have another? After, of course, I clean up my trousers that have been soiled by my semen. What is the other band that your Sleepy Kings are in that just performed? I don't know what they're called. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. No, I swear. I swear. I swear. I don't. I saw that.

that tom tom york did you see his dancing did you see the dancing tom tom york's dancing yeah during this this set of his side project no i know i have not you should you should i mean he's a known dancer you should give that a little look-see and then tell me how cool he is oh he's not cool no he's not musical genius sure he is a genius he is he hasn't aged that well um but he's gone through some shit so i'm gonna give him a pass you know uh but it might be it might be time for him to Wouldn't it be great if Tom York went to dog pound and got shredded and kind of changed up his swag? Okay, so you want to bypass Brazilian jiu-jitsu and go straight to hit class kind of physique? Yeah, he's too rich to do jiu-jitsu. He's like, I'm not rolling on the floor, mate. He just wants to... He just wants to be around hotties and have like a trainer that's just shredded. Wouldn't it be cool? Wouldn't it be cool if Tom York could bust out 50 pull-ups like it's Nathan? I mean, he would at the very least earn your respect and adoration. That's true. We do have a guest today. And I think that he really desperately does want to do Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but I think he has no way of knowing how to pronounce the word ruka, and I think that's been one of the biggest hurdles of his... of his body transformation. We need to kind of send, we need to do like a, uh, intervention style house raid with two tone and Zach Naminsky, where they kind of kidnap Tom York in a van, take him down to Orange County and kind of throw him out. You know, the daylights piercing his eye, you know, they take the eye cover off and he's there, he's there. And, and Maddie Matheson is there cooking a hamburger and it's at the Ruka facility. And Dana White's there as well, just to kind of introduce him to everything. He's checking out some of the new talent for a celebrity death match kind of vibe. And so far, Tom, I don't know if he has what it takes just quite yet. But we could, I mean, it would be, if he lived in Orange County for six months and kind of trained under the Masters, I think he could be able to take these fools to the mat. Bro, savage. Savage. He would be a killer. We have a guest today.

You guys probably know his music. I've been a fan for a long time. MJ Linderman, Jake Linderman is his government name. He lives in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. And his new album, Boat Songs, came out in April. And I've been listening to it quite a lot. And there's some great lyrics in there because they're funny, not serious. And I can't wait for Jason to kind of quiz him on that important stuff. Yeah. I don't know how many songs on the album are technically about boats, but we're going to get to the bottom of it. All right, bro. All right, we're trying to ask the hard questions, Chief. Are you telling me that these songs are or are not about boats? Yeah, yeah, because Chris has seen a lot of Below Deck, and he understands most of the references. That's true. As Chief Stew of this podcast, I think it's important that we kind of cover... Chief Stew? Yeah, that's a popular term on the show. You obviously haven't watched it. All right, let's give Jake a buzz. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web. So do our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues. Obviously. Maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world, writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly. A website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could, you know, have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools so those future graduates can find me. And, you know, I'm able to accept, quote, unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. Show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early. And we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional as your competition, if not more.

So head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone is brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need a fucking something put together, a cabinet. Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And, I mean, how it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture. repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a Tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because Taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs, handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive, and that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world, is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code HOWLONG. Taskers book up. faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code HowLong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down. The news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world. And I know you particularly have quite a lot of questions. A lot of questions. But how often? Because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot. How many times do they do? Three times a week. And I have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do. That's just a guess. The Guardian is not some billionaire owned.

They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? Especially when it's not from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. Okay, well, do we call you Jake? Can we call you by government, or do you want to be called MJ? Well, that was the first thing I wanted to say. My real name is Mark. But I go by Jake. You should call me Jake. I can't tell. So your real name is Mark. Jake feels kind of like a parallel move there. Is there a reason? Is that a middle name, or is Jake just made up? Yeah. almost my middle name it's jacob mark jacob okay so you're just you're ripped straight out of the bible so mj okay so mj is real because you're you're mark jacob lenderman yeah both it's also ripped straight out of fashion week with a name like that you've been killing it with the heaven line lately a lot of stuff for the younger crowd bro i choose what i call you just so you know i was just being nice by asking you what you prefer you're right you know i'm on yours This is your show. Exactly. Yeah, you're kind of in our territory. Now, it's said on the Internet that you live in Asheville. Is that true? Yes. Okay. Jason and I have both been there. How many times a week do you eat at the Mellow Mushroom downtown there? None. None? I'll tell you, I've been there a lot of times in my life. It's been a little while. I mostly eat at home. You're the second guest in a row who is from North Carolina. I don't know what's going on over there. We need to hit up the Board of Tourism in North Carolina and start getting a buck out of them. Oh, yeah. But you said that you mostly make your meals at home. Walk me through your kind of...

chef de cuisine line cook setup oh this is embarrassing i don't know i we do an induction range gas no you strike me as more of an air air fryer guy oh you don't want to know no we no we do um do you have a collection from the from the george george foreman collection is that what we're cooking off i'm not much of a chef i i've been eating sardines out of the can oh i uh i make eggs in the morning but to be honest okay I've been on tour for the last year. I've been eating in all different types of places. But when I'm at home, I don't do too much cooking. Okay, so you're saying you're surviving like a sailor? On just some hot girl tinned fish, are you pairing that with... Or a model. A sailor or a Russian model. It could be either way. Wow, both are hot, though. Do you combine... Now, are you raw-dogging, or are you adding a cracker for sustenance? Recently got into the saltine. Okay. On a sardine. Okay, good. Okay, good. That's good. So some people say, like, oh, I'm into kind of, like, high-low cooking, and you're into kind of the low-low cooking. I wouldn't even call it cooking. Okay, it's a low, low munching. You're like, all right, what's the cheapest food to eat? Canned sardines, got it. What's the cheapest cracker to eat it on? Saltines. Let's go. I know Ticketmaster has been really charging a lot of those fees, so hopefully we got a little scratch saved up on this tour. Maybe Santa Claus can bring some of those rainforest crisps, some high-dollar crackers. Maybe just a baguette or something like that. Yeah. There's a nice Whole Foods down there in Asheville. I've been there. I mean, all the employees stink, but the food, they have some nice offerings as far as crackers go. I visited that Whole Foods a few times. There's two now. Oh, shit. That doesn't surprise me based on the residents and the vibe there, but is there a location that you prefer, the newer one or the OG? The older one used to be called Green Life. I think it was more of an indie.

grocery store. So that one's a little more precious, but it's just Whole Foods now, I guess. I can't believe that. You're saying that Jeff Bezos Whole Foods came into beautiful scenic Asheville and bulldozed an OG Whole Foods store, a nutritional yeast dealer? Yeah. It's giving You've Got Mail, if you ask me. Yeah. And now there's just a Whole Foods there with all those little stinky white dreads working behind the counter? That's right. That's crazy, man. That's crazy. I've always admired people who are able to just eat some tinned sardines or anchovies or things like that because everyone says like it's like such an amazingly healthy nutritious food for you that pure protein that's really nice and clean and those omega-3 oils and all this stuff but oh yeah i've never been able to really wrap my head around or wrap my wet little mouth around the concept of doing that do you have any pointers or tips Was it natural for you, or did you have to work up to it? Was there a hypnotist involved? Let me know. I'm realizing I like salty foods, but I'm lazy about eating. When I know there's something that I can just open and eat like that, that's enough for me. So the instant gratification of just like, boom, I crack it open, I eat it, I'm not hungry anymore, I feel good. Yeah, and I've heard it's healthy. But it's the easiness. It's mainly just convenient, easy, affordable. It's all there. One day, hopefully, I get to be there. How thin are you, bro? I'm going to look you up now and see what's the six-pack story. You look like a normal guy. You don't look fucked up. Yeah, thanks. No, I just mean you sound like you're the kind of guy who's not eating because it's just too much of a – all you can do is sit in your hotel room and write songs. You can't even be bothered with sustenance. No, I mean like the last week of tour – I got home yesterday. I think I ate pizza every day. Okay. All right. So you're just doing whatever is kind of convenient for you. You're not overthinking it like maybe we are. Right. I just – I hate going to the grocery store. I hate that too, bro. That's some white chick shit. You know what I mean? I'm not trying – like I go every day because I live – The movie White Chicks? No, no, no. Just the kind – Did they go shopping in the –

No, just not the movie White Chicks, unfortunately. I just mean like the L.A. lifestyle means going to the grocery store every day because there's nothing else to do. So I kind of find myself falling victim to that. That's the European lifestyle, Chris. I demand fresh ingredients that have been sitting on the shelf for hours, not for days. Oh, I see. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm only buying kind of liquids, so it's a different trip for me. Are you hydrating enough or are you kind of just drinking brewskis? Oh, I drink water, yeah. I try to. I think I drink a pretty good amount of water. Okay. I'm not worried about you. Well, you said you don't like to go grocery shopping. Do you like to do any other type of shopping? Not really, no. So you're telling me you don't like to hit the mall over there in Asheville and kind of ball out at Sephora or maybe get a bath bomb over at Lush or anything? Not even the AutoZone. It is kind of fun to go to the mall. In Asheville. It's a weird zone. I bet. I bet. How's the American Eagle there? Big or is it kind of more of a local size? I don't know. It's the only one I've gone to. I used to get my clothes there in middle school. Oh, so you're from... Okay, so you didn't choose Asheville because of your artist lifestyle. No, I was born here. Okay, so you're a southern gentleman. I guess... I mean, yeah. You grew there. We flew there. Yeah. Asheville's a little bubble. I am southern, but it feels wrong because there are... There are, like, real southern people in close proximity. Right, right, right. You're more of a, for listeners who don't know, Asheville is more of a liberal, artistic stronghold. You know, you could live there crafting dream catchers and different candle works and things like that. But, of course, you vote Republican fiscally. Yeah, I mean. But not, you know, you don't agree with a lot of their other practices. Yeah. Which I respect. I mean, it happens to everyone as you get older, Jake. Don't worry. So growing up there, what was the vibe? Because it seems like a pretty freaky place to grow up, I've got to say. It's a lot of like, I don't know. It's definitely not like where I grew up outside of Atlanta or where Jason grew up in Orange County. I feel like you were maybe exposed to some.

You know, you might have been smoking weed out of a Coke can at 10. You were exposed to the Black Crows at an earlier age than most Americans. Oh, there was a lot of that. A lot of Black Crows in my childhood, yeah. Hell yeah, so your parents are cool then. Because we were just talking about the Black Crows, and Jason was disrespecting their good name. I was disrespecting their gangsta only. And I was, because there's a story that came out today that Chris Robinson hit a fan who charged the stage with his guitar. And I just thought that was very cool. Has a fan ever charged the stage to get a selfie with you, like mid-set? The fan charged the stage with the guitar? No, no, no. That would be cool. The fan charged the stage. You know like when you're watching Morrissey play and a fan breaks through the security and they run up to try to go hug him and then they kind of pull him away? You've seen that before, right, Jake? Not the Morrissey one, no. I've seen Josh Homie kick somebody in the head. Okay, all right. Well, it was that kind of situation, except this geezer tried to hit him with kind of the business end of his Telecaster. Is that something that you've ever had to deal with, with rabid MJ fans? No. Thank God. How would you describe your fans? Because I have an idea, but I would love to hear, because we do shows and we've kind of figured out. who our How Long Gone fan is, I would love to hear you describe the average MJ Linderman fan, just so we can get kind of a gauge on it. And we will need your honesty on this, okay? Yeah, you've got to be honest. I see a lot of dudes. The end. All sorts of people, though. I'm pleased to see that the age group is pretty wide. There's a wide range of ages. Okay, runs the gamut. Yeah, there's some younger fans that maybe know me because of Wednesday, and then a lot of people's parents like me. Wow. Okay, so you're saying that in the M.J. Linderman show, I could kind of bring my dad, and we could both enjoy your musical stylings, and it kind of runs across the gamut age-wise. Yeah, well, it depends on what your dad likes.

Probably. That's a good point. Okay, yeah, that's a good point. My dad is more of like a Dua Lipa fella, so I guess it wouldn't work out that great. Like television's modern family, there's a little something for everyone at an MJ show is what you're saying. I would hope so. Yeah, that's good. I think that, do you think your fans make money or do you think they're broke? Well, so I was opening for another band on this last tour and I think those tickets were... 30 to 40 bucks. That's not even counting fees. What band did you open for? Well, Elton John let you do a couple of shows on the run. Called Planes. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Planes, friends of the show. Waxahachie and Jess. I was listening to the Planes album yesterday. I really, really love it. Yeah, they were great. Super nice to us. So those shows were selling well, but you're saying the ticket price is a little high for maybe the Linderman Hive. Well, if I were to headline, I wouldn't be able to sell tickets for that price because I don't have that kind of... You don't have to explain. ...that many fans. I don't know. I can't tell what kind of money people make. by how they look. Let me teach you something. That's the first thing you need to learn. The only cities you should be playing in are cities where you're going to sell hella merch. We know that lines the artist's pockets. I need to take you through a Chris Black boot camp where I could come out on stage with you and whisper in your ear some giveaways of people who are going to be hitting the merch table for a cool hundo. It's a way of seeing that I've kind of developed a signature style. We'll give you a mic. You're a merch whisperer, Chris. Yeah, giving me a mic would be – so in between songs, I'm just kind of asking people kind of what their 401k looks like. Do they have an American Express card? That kind of stuff. Sure, yeah. Let's do it. Yeah, because we do some live podcast shows for this, so we've kind of – have a little bit of first-hand experience doing ourselves. And Chris has actually canceled a couple shows just by taking a look at the audience. And if it's not really worth it from a merch standpoint, we will just kind of cut our losses and cancel that show. And it's tough to do it at first, but it's worth it at the end of the year. Yeah, because it's just kind of like, it's easy to just say, like, Jason's sick again, you know, and people aren't really... Especially right now, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I wonder how many bands have canceled their shows because they had...

We've talked about this a lot because there was that whole thing when Santigold came out and said, I can't tour because I can't make any money. And my response to that is, if you're hot, you can tour and make money. But if no one's checking for your records, then you can't tour and make money. Chris means hot from a success standpoint, not a look standpoint. Yeah, not a look standpoint. I just think touring is obviously a grind, but you came home with a little money from this run, right? Yeah. A little bit. Okay. So it wasn't in vain is what I'm saying. No, we didn't lose money. There you go. That's all I'm talking about, bro. How many people are in the band? Five, but there were six in the touring party. In the past, I've had up to like eight people in the band. All right, bro. Five people? We can put some of that on a track. Let's get real here. What do you need five people for? Five people in the band? Yeah. What's everybody doing? I'm trying to feel like... Where can we trim some of this fat, MJ? We're trying to trim some of the fat. I play the guitar and sing. Okay. Okay. So that makes you an essential worker in the MJs, I'm assuming, right? Well, yeah. Yeah. I am. You could say I'm a central, yeah. Okay. So me, there's another guitarist. Okay. There's a pedal steel. Oh. I do love a pedal steel. You can't put that on a track. No, no. I do love pedal steel, and it's hard to find. Is it a young guy playing pedal steel? Because it's tough to find a young hottie to kind of pluck that thing. Yeah, he's a young hottie. He's 27, I think. Oh, wow. Oh, that's good. Yeah, that's good. I guess, I mean. Back in my day, there was like three guys that played it, and they played with Tom Petty and had lung cancer. So it's nice that there's some young guys that can kind of pick up the... And they're like, well, he's 27, but actually, oddly enough, he does have lung cancer. And it's weird that you said that. Yeah, he's been smoking since he was 10 years old. All right, so you have... I hate to do this. I hate to do this. I really hate to do this. But it sounds like, in classic form, the bass player, we can put that on a track. I hate to say it. I hate to say it. But...

This is taking money out of your family's mouth. You want the bass on a track? Dude, I don't want to do that, but it's just from what you've said to me. It sounds like live drums are essential. You can't not have live drums. It brings an energy that just cannot be replicated via track. This would not work. You can make the same argument about the bass, Chris. We also do some improvs. We do some jamming. Okay. We started jamming a little bit. Okay, now do the fans leave, or do they like that? 50-50. I think they like it. I don't know, though. Because I'm so in it in the jams, you know, I'm not really looking up. I'm not doing this for the crowd. I'm doing this for me. I've always admired when bands are able to pull off the jam and it works. Sure. Because it is a thing where it's like, it is a little kind of self-masturbatory, but also if the band has those chops to do it. you kind of want to see him show it off, right? If you guys are able to jam and it's not really annoying and hard to hear like so many other jammers, let it shine, man, because that's where you get into that zone. Have you ever been in that zone when you guys are jamming and you're just kind of like... You have an out-of-body jam experience, and you lock that groove, and you guys know when to change up the chord signatures and the time signatures, and you know when to... We keep the jam on one chord. Okay. Yeah, you've got to have parameters. Okay. Now, are these jams just kind of extended after a song, or are these interstitials between... Okay, so we're not going too long. We do one that just kind of ties two songs together. So we call that, where I come from, we call that a soundscape. A soundscape? Yeah, yeah. I've never heard yours, so I don't want to give you too much credit, but knowing your music pretty well and being a fan, I feel like you could create a soundscape. I think so. I don't know what that means. I think you know exactly what it means. I think, yeah. First of all, I can tell you use drugs, so don't act like you don't. I'm thinking of Halo right now when you say it.

Soundscape. Are you talking about Halo the video game? Yeah, like the music in Halo. You know I've never played Halo. I'm an adult man. Don't do that. I'm not in the Sprinter killing time like you. So you're not talking about Beyonce's Halo, just checking, because that is a soundscape. That's a soundscape. I would say yes. No, that's kind of what we play that song in between our two songs we're trying to tie together. Okay, so you're doing a Beyonce cover in between two Linderman originals. It's not a cover, no. We just play the song in between. Oh, I see. You just put it on. That's the track that you have. So that is the backing track. Yeah, that's what our jam is. Okay. That's what I meant by jam. Okay. Now, that could win some fans over, much like a well-crafted cover song. But I think it's a soundscape to me because it's like when I think jam, I'm thinking. You know, Phish, Grateful Dead, you know, all that shit that's not cool. When I think soundscape, I think something more dramatic and interesting and maybe musical, even if you don't mind me overstepping. There's definitely some Grateful Dead going on. Oh, God damn it. Bro, I know you're from Asheville, but you didn't grow up listening to punk and hardcore. Don't tell me you grew up listening to jam bands. I mean, you can't avoid it here. So you had no choice. So you're saying, did your parents play this around the house? Do you need me to call Defax? Or is this, like, did you have a choice? Or was it kind of forced down your throat? Well, my dad's a deadhead, but I never liked him growing up. But I'm starting to like him now. Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, I cannot like it. And I have attempted myself because, of course. At my age, there's a handful of guys that make $350,000 to $500,000 a year and wear gold Rolexes that really love The Grateful Dead. But I can't find a way in. Is there a song maybe that you would prescribe to me as a dead hater that would kind of turn the corner for me, knowing that I like your music and music like yours? I think the one that got me into it, people say that Cornell 77 is like their best show. This is their version of...

Brown-eyed women on that's pretty good and funky, but... I mean, there's a lot of bad stuff to sift through. Of course, of course. I mean, so you're saying to me that I have to go on a message board and find Cornell 77, or is that available on Apple Music? No, that's available as an album. No, yeah, that's on Apple Music, Chris. Okay, I'm sorry. I really don't know that much about them because after I tried as a kid, it just wasn't for me, so I kept it pressing. Yeah, and he's a huge John Mayer fan, and he still can't really fuck with it. But you said that one of their songs was Brown-Eyed Woman, not to be confused. with brown eyed girl is that yeah brown eyed women okay no not not the van morrison song so that's kind of making brown uh van morrison come off a little i don't know Pedophilia-ish, you know what I mean? Look, Van Morrison's had a tough couple years, but I'm not giving up on him. I'm not giving up on him. What's your feeling? I'm giving up on him. Jake, you love Van Morrison like me, or you're not into it? Only the new album, yeah. So you like the Facebook album. You're not into kind of Astral Week. You're not into the classics. That stuff's kind of boring. No, I just like the one where he's... I like Veed and Fleece a lot. That one's good. Okay. Yeah. So you're listening to a lot of, I bet you love the Johnny Depp, Jeff Beck band as well. And maybe, I know you're jamming that in the van. But I think that Van Morrison, unfortunately, has taken some wrong turns. But he's produced at least three classics that I'm going to let him have, personally. And we'll continue to listen to. So is Elon Musk, you know? Exactly. Model 3. The Model Y. Model 3. The list goes on. Jake, you have... On your newest album, you have lyrically sports as a theme that comes up more than once. Is that safe to say? Yeah, more than once, yeah. Okay. I don't really think I listen to a lot of bands or artists that really have songs where the lyrical content is explicitly about sports and athletes and professional athletes and things like that. Chris, can you think of any bands that really make...

explicit references like that? No, no. I don't think so. I mean, I feel like probably if we go back to like Billy Joel or some shit, he's probably talking about the Mets, you know? Yeah, Joe DiMaggio. Not in modern music. Now, are you an athlete yourself or do you just kind of see yourself in some of your heroes? Or are you a sports better? Yeah. Grew up playing basketball mostly. Oh, okay. How tall are you, Chief? 6'1", maybe. Okay, so what were we doing? Were you a shooting guard? What were we doing? Yeah, I was a two guard. Okay. All right. And did you, did you make it to college or is this more just a high school thing? I quit after my freshman year. Because you discovered drugs and women? No, music mostly. Okay. Well, Villanova was sniffing around, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, I was pretty, I wasn't very like. aggressive so you don't say what that doesn't so what kind of what do you still do you still go play pickup at your at the asheville 24-hour fitness or do you are you or do you stay away i mostly uh i just shoot by myself i really i'm not like competitive i just like uh i like shooting a lot you're like the sweet science yeah it feels nice nothing nothing feels as good as when that That swish? Oh, baby. Where are you nasty with it from? That was a good three-point shooter. Oh, okay. All right, Larry Bird. Let's go. I had ten threes in one game. That was my biggest career highlight. I mean, that's no fucking joke, even if it was the eighth grade. It was eighth grade, yeah. I've hit 10 threes throughout my entire career, and I'm not talking about basketball. Jason's 6'9", and he can't ball, so this is kind of tough for him to hear. Yeah, I did peak in eighth grade as well. Can you dunk? The ball goes in the hole, but it ain't pretty, I'll tell you that. So no dunking? It's, you know, the word dunk means a lot of things, MJ. I'm no Vince Carter with it, but... You did like a... At least a 10-inch... Yeah, he's more of a... When he's dunking, it's usually verbally. On a guest, it's not necessarily physical on the court. You know what I mean? He's not really...

Now, what does a guy like you – this is a personal question, but what does a guy like you wear when he goes to ball? Are you wearing the new LeBrons? Like, did you burn your Kyries? Like, where do we land on the footwear journey? I've got some – I think they're hyperfused. Okay. Hyperfused from, like, 20 – 15. Okay, so you're using some cooked Nike Hyperfuses. He's got the how to dress well ones on, it sounds like. Yeah, that is what it sounds like. And what's the short story? Are you long? Are you short? Are you wearing a jersey to kind of give you MJ vibes, or are you just wearing a t-shirt? Mid-thigh shorts. Nice normal mid-thigh. Okay, do we have any thigh sticking pokes that kind of pop through when you're getting really athletic with it? Oh, yeah. You know it. All right, so Jake, you are yatted up. Is what you're telling us? Not completely. I have maybe about eight tattoos. But are they of a stick-and-poke variety, or do you have some real ink? No, I think I only have one stick-and-poke, but it's hidden. Are you willing to let us know what that stick-and-poke tattoo consists of, artistically speaking, or is that just for you? Yeah, it's a star. And it's filled in. Okay. It's my Smashing Pumpkins tattoo. MJ, what's the caffeine intake going on over there for you? You big coffee guy? I know that your Twitter photo, you're holding a mug. Yeah, I like coffee. I drink at least one cup a day. But I got home from tour and my girlfriend had thrown out the coffee machine. It was too gross. Really? So when you go on tour, your chick's like, this shit's too nasty. And you're going to have to take some of your hard earnings from the road and buy a new Breville. Is that the vibe? We're mostly on tour together. But this is the first tour that my band's really done this year. So she stayed home. And yes, a lot of stuff has been rearranged in the house. Okay. So you get back from a long, hard... time on the road, and you can't even find your Calvin Klein boxer briefs because she's kind of reorganized the whole house? No, I mostly wear Hanes. Mostly wear Hanes, but yeah, same kind of vibe. Yeah, actually, I used to have a roommate who every time I would leave town, even if it was for a weekend, everything would be kind of rearranged, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but...

Like whenever any of my belongings that were in like the living room area or like a common area, they would all be gathered up into a pile and placed in my bedroom in a little bit of a, it was an odd energy and I didn't like it. I don't think that your life partner is doing that as well, but my life partner is kind of the same way where if I'm out of town for a while, I come back. I can't put my finger on it, but shit has changed. And usually the things that are missing are yours. It's probably a good, it's a good thing that they're missing because I don't even remember him. If the bitch take my coffee machine, I'm going to be like, bro, come on. Yeah. I mean, everything looks better, I'd have to say. But the coffee, I wanted some coffee this morning, and she drinks instant coffee. What? She made me some instant coffee this morning. Who drinks instant coffee? Do you guys live in jail? It could be like a Nespresso or like a Keurig or something like that. It's a... Cometeer? Forget the brand. Taster's Choice? No, bro. Okay, so it really is that shit. Okay, damn. She just likes it. I don't know. Bless her heart. You put a little bit of honey and oat milk in it, and it's pretty good. You could choke it down. You ever know anybody that just mixes it into lukewarm water? Once again, no, I don't. Yeah, I had a couple friends that did some jail time. Yeah, I'm starting to think you've done jail. Have you been to jail? You can be honest with us. I don't think so. Nah. You've never done even a night for some mischief? MJ keeps his nose clean. Come on, Chris. Nah. Okay. No jail time for me. I'm impressed. I feel like I'm sensing a rebellious streak in your childhood, but maybe not. Chick's a good boy. Shows up with his guitar, wants to play you some songs. You know, you won't even cut into your band members to make more money. That's how I know you're a real sweetheart. Yeah. Conflict avoidant. Oh, you're conflict avoidant. Oh. Did your girlfriend teach you that when you got back from tour? No. But I would, like, in the band, we got up to, like, eight people in the band at one point because i couldn't kick anybody out so what are we doing what are we doing what are the other three additional guys do we have just like an auxiliary percussionist like you're the killers at wembley like yeah so we'll we do uh it'd be three guitars okay come on that's we know that's unnecessary you'd be surprised and then uh a keyboardist and then sometimes

When we're in Iowa, we get an accordion player. Okay, so you got a guy in the writer's workshop over there that also plays accordion, and he kind of comes out and does the shows with you? He is in the writer's workshop, yeah, and he comes out and plays accordion for the shows. Dan Riggins. Dan Riggins. From the band Friendship. Do you know that band? No, but Dan Riggins, that sounds like a fucking linebacker. You're telling me this guy plays accordion? He plays a quarterback, yeah. plays a quarterback uh so that's so how do you so for one night only you're able to seamlessly integrate accordion into the live show yeah i mean we mic it up but it's really hard to hear anyways okay so it's more of a performance piece like it's more him i mean it's it's i can hear it next to me but apparently the crowd can never hear it okay um and he's he's playing all the right chords he knows them all And the performance is crazy. He looks like a crazy man when he plays the accordion. No, you don't say. I mean, I feel like I've never. MJ, you do a lot of podcast appearances ever? Never, no. This is my first. Okay, okay. Do you listen to podcasts yourself? Every once in a while, yeah. Walk me through one of your favorites, maybe. Yeah. What would you tune into? This last tour, I was listening to this podcast called Bandsplaining. Bandsplaining? Bandsplaining? Yeah. Smashing Pumpkins history. Yeah, bro, you don't recognize me from my three appearances on Bandsplain? Oh, really? Doesn't sound like it. It sounds like you're more of a fan of Smashing Pumpkins than Chris Black. Like I said, it took up eight hours to listen to the one episode. Well, I did Lemonheads, Third Eye Blind, and the Goo Goo Dolls. I'm sure you're a fan of all of those bands. Lemonheads. Are you telling me that you don't rock with Third Eye Blind? Oh, they rock, yeah. I can rock with them. That's the new one, though. I saw that come up. Yeah, that is relatively new. That is the last one I did. Oh, shit. Congrats, man. Thank you. Give it up, give it up. Okay, what about any non... It sounds like music is life to you, MJ. It sounds like they're...

Other than shooting hoops and hitting the spleef, what are some other interests of yours? Are you listening to podcasts about science or news or comedy or anything like that? I do like comedy. I don't listen to any podcasts. Smart. What's the workout routine? Workout routine. I'll go on a walk. Every once in a while. Okay, so do you think you might, though, because of your history as an athlete, do you think you might return to the gym as you get older to kind of keep your body in check and maybe feel good and get that mental state in a nice place? I could see that happening in 10 years maybe. I feel like your mental state is usually in a pretty good place is what it sounds like. Am I wrong? Sometimes. How much are you chiefing? We're all human, right? Chiefing? Yeah, how much are you chiefing? Not as much lately. Not as much as we would assume? Probably not as much as you'd assume. Makes me nervous, you know? You give off a chiefer vibe, though. You do realize that. People have told me that my whole life. Really? Really? Yeah. Even before I ever touched the stuff. Damn, so your parents' friends would be like, MJ's stoned again. They're like, no, he's just like this. I guess so. People used to tell me the same thing all the time because I kind of have a monotone voice. But whenever I smoke weed, I just go full internal, and every time I say something, it was not a good idea. So whenever I come up with an idea on pot, I just write it down for another time to look at it later, and it's usually not a great idea. Every once in a while it is. How do you take the stage? Sober? A couple beers? How do you like to do it? Yeah, I like a couple beers. Okay, so you're feeling something, but you're not too lit. Right, yeah. Are you able to play guitar correctly while fucked up? I think so. I would consider myself to be able to do so, but I'm not hearing it. Right.

Sounds good to me, brother. I'm not listening back. Yeah, I always feel like I know how to play guitar. No, you're good. You're good. Honestly, that's the number one rock star skill to have is being able to have the skill and the talent and the confidence to play just blacked out. I'm not saying that that's what you do, but I've only been able to do that in the DJ booth. If someone's like, all right, hey, you're this drunk. play an a minor into a c i'll be like i don't know about that buddy jason can play calvin harris into into elton john no problem when he's on 10 tequila sodas perfect i wouldn't i wouldn't i wouldn't hand him the telecaster and trust him to make anything good happen me neither so when uh when you're when your parents and friends and family and local politicians were telling you that you sound like you're on drugs Were you ever prescribed anything as a youngster? Any pharmaceuticals, perhaps? Nothing crazy. I mean, like SSRIs for a long time. So nothing crazy, just the heaviest stuff. Just the true real shit. No Zannies, no Adderall, just SSRIs. Yeah, yeah. Well, I was asking because we have a recurring segment on the show where we ask people who have maybe gone down that journey. what their favorite top three prescription pills are of all time. They can be recreational for fun or not. Got in trouble with the Zannies before. Welcome to the club, brother. We all have, brother. That's something we can't do. If I can give you a nummy hug right now, I would. Getting in trouble with the Zannies is a rite of passage. I feel like you're not cool if you've never gotten in trouble with the Zannies, personally. Oh, yeah. You don't have to talk about it, obviously. It's a personal subject. I knew that my Zanny problem was a problem because I like to drink as well, and I just couldn't do it. I had to kind of choose one or the other because as soon as you have one cocktail on top of your Xanax, you're like, okay, I guess I need a wheelchair to kind of get out of this place because I can't walk anymore. That's kind of the thing.

I showed up to a dinner with my whole family. We're talking. And I thought I was, like, totally acting awesome. But I got a call from my mom, like, hey, you are obviously on something. Really? That was pretty embarrassing, yeah. So she wasn't like, you need to handle your bars, bitch. Yeah. Okay, that's good. Yeah, I had a little bit of a moment with that as well. And I think Xanax is so good at blocking everything out that you block out the part where your friends and family are being like, you good, bro? And you're like, I feel amazing. I am more than good. If you've never nodded out at Christmas. The key is just make sure you don't nod off behind the wheel. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Do you drive there in Asheville? Yeah. You can drive anywhere here in like 15 minutes. It's awesome. Okay, so not only is it hike-friendly, but it's drive-friendly. Do you have a Subaru, or do you just drive the van around? I drive a minivan. We also got the tour van. Wow, so you have a minivan. That's your daily driver. Yeah, it was the family minivan. I got it hand-me-down. Honda Odyssey? Well, close. It was the Toyota Sienna. Okay. Okay. Beautiful unit. 2008. Okay. All my dad's CDs in it too. When you were first courting your now life partner, were you driving this minivan? Yes. Yeah. She was driving a Subaru and we got T-boned in it like a few years ago. So now she's driving the minivan too. Wow. So you're saying you picked her up to take her to Mellow Mushroom in those early days and she wasn't put off by the van because she knew you were a rocker destined for... destined for greatness, and that's part of touring life. Some ladies are into a minivan kind of fella. Yeah, I mean, I love it. It's a smooth machine. It feels really good to drive. Okay, so if you ever... Sounds great. It sounds good. So it's the ultimate driving machine, the 2008 Toyota Previa. Great speakers in there. Okay, so you didn't add a Rockford Fosgate box in the back or anything for when you're listening to Moneybag, yo, you just went, it stopped. Yeah, well, I mean, it even has my dad's old...

bumper stickers on it but i can i can live with those because that's what i was gonna ask so how many how many bernie stickers are on it or is it just one oh no no bernie stickers it's it's other more cryptic stuff that i don't understand does it say keep honking i'm listening to cornell 77 by the seminal rock band the grateful dead it would i mean we got this one it's a it's a grateful dead steal your face but it's got the jack of the wood which is a local bar It's got that logo inside of the head. So this is a hyper regionally specific sticker. Doesn't work outside of Asheville. If you don't mind me asking, what does Pops do for a living? He's a family doctor. Holy shit. So you're telling me this guy, you want me to trust this guy to give my kids a look and see if they are feeling good? Yeah, I'd trust him to do that. Not just the kids, Chris. The whole family. And your parents, too. okay good he'll run up in them parents guts too bro real quick but also chris that sort of makes your point or your theory about the grateful dead fans being you know guys with gold rolex is like yeah he's a doctor and he listens to the to the grateful dead doesn't that kind of check out yeah that's a good point i mean i just don't think of grateful dead fans as lifesavers but obviously It's really cool that your dad's a doctor and has bumper stickers on his car. I have to say, that's not something that I think that doctors... Brother, if that ain't Asheville, you can kiss my ass. Now, do you think that changing Asheville is going to drive you out, or are you a lifer? I'll probably end up leaving at some point. I'm in a really good situation right now. But our landlord just died, so we don't know. What's going to happen to this property? You better try to buy it from his bitch ass kids. If the estate of your now deceased landlord listens to this podcast, please. Yeah. Squatter's rights are a real thing. Have you guys played late night TV yet? No. Okay. Once you play late night TV, give me a call. I think that's going to really get the ball rolling because you're a good looking guy. I think that the band, it's cool. The music is good. I think once you do kind of a...

You know, a late show. Maybe you do a little game with Fallon. Once you pop your Seth Meyers cherry, give us a DM. Do you go to Seth? Is Seth the first one? I think Seth is the first one because I think Seth, like the band leader, is from like Les Savvy Fav. Anyone can do Seth, honey. Yeah, I mean, I think you guys will get some TV stuff. Don't worry. You got the fucking, you got the chops for it. Our hand to God. Yeah, you want to do that, right? I want to do Corden. You want to be Corden's last performance? Yeah, we talked to him. He said, Corden or the deal's off. I want to do the Corden finale. The last show. Yeah, he's like, we're doing something a little indie for the last show. We decided Mariah Carey was in the works, but we decided to kind of pass it up. Everybody welcome MJ Linderman to the stage, please. MJ and Eminem are going to do a smattering of both of their songs, just some of the bigger hits. Whoa. Eminem. Let's go. All right, bro. Well, look, we appreciate you joining us here on How Long Gone. It was a blast. Boat Songs is in stores everywhere on Dear Life Records. Thanks for having me. All right. Well, look, we'll look for those dates. And yeah, you guys go listen to the record. It's great. And thank you for joining us, bro. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, brother. Thanks for having me.