272. - Lina Abascal

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. We're only calling you Them Jeans today because of the contents of this episode. Them Jeans is here. Jason Stewart has left the building. We're only here to talk about one thing and one thing only. The electronic dance music. community and the blog house era of the mid to late 2000s it's one of your favorite subjects chris it's arguably one of the worst dressed ugliest time periods of our entire lives and the music also sucks but it was a very popular thing that i was of course adjacent to and participate in to some degree obviously not to the degree that someone of your stature a pillar in that community, a voice that needed to be heard, someone that pushed the culture forward in a way that can only be described as monumental. There's justice, there's LCD sound system, there's them genes. That's kind of how I look at it. I don't know how you look at it. So you're saying that's your Mount Blogmore? My Mount Vlogmore, which is, of course, being sold right now as an NFT. Yeah, it's actually, it's you, James Murphy, Busy P.

And then, unfortunately, I know that the convention is usually four heads, but for this purpose, Justice is two members. I have to put them both. I can't just put the leather jacket guy. I can't just put the handlebar mustache guy. I have to put both. So what's going on with you, Chris? I just finished playing some wet tennis. Yeah, that sounds, I was going to say, like, that's kind of bad. It was bad. Did you? I mean, you have to be careful with that, too, with your knee. Yeah, we were being careful. We used a little sponge, squeegee foam roller on a stick type of thing to clean up the water. You know, you're kind of moving it around. It's not that big of a deal. But we kept it light. We didn't play any. any uh any tournament to play we just kind of just did some rallying so there was no who is this with so this is my friend garrett oh okay okay i have a few friends i forget you have other friends i forget you have other friends besides me and people that i know I know many different white guys in Glendale who are also CEO mindset, time frame. We'll do 8 a.m., no sweat. It's no problem to get up early and kind of just let it rock. Yeah, I understand that. We were at the same tennis court yesterday with our friend of the show, Kobe Arner. We were shooting a little campaign for an upcoming collab that we have with a clothing brand called Palms. They make high-end tennis gear. so that should be coming out next year i think we got some shorts we have a shirt i think one of the looks that i went for was like prison yard tennis which i don't think is is something that i invented but i do think it's something i might have perfected prison yard okay this is when you were wearing your your sweat your man you're mad happy Kind of. It was a little Mad Happy. It was a little sporty and rich. It was just kind of a monotone Hunter Green sports outfit. It was just a matching sweatsuit. I prefer to think of it as Champion or Gildan, maybe a classic. I don't think we need to bring Mad Happy. We've given them enough shine this week. Yeah, I think I recall yesterday saying that you had your...

You had your fit on, which was girl who's about to get her period outfit. It's not here yet, but we're battening down the hatches because trouble's coming, storms are brewing. I had to leave the bike shorts at home because I was feeling a little bloated, so I had to throw on them. Yeah, exactly. Luckily, I wasn't wearing any sort of baby mama footwear. you know i was wearing my my tennis shoes or my burks instead of you know some easy slides easy yeah easy slides are like air max 95s and like a funny color um is also that's more of a new york version or of course the classic tim's tim is a lot of shoe for that time of the month if you ask me and i know yeah but you've never lived in our listeners love when we sort of get on our Male chauvinist wave. Yeah, we got a cool. Sometimes, because of a service called Chartbeat, we are forced to read the Apple reviews, and someone didn't get our sense of humor on the Camille episode when we were joking about bringing a man to your hen weekend to pay. And they thought that was chauvinist, but I thought that just sounded nice to me. I like when people pay. I don't know about you, Jason. Kind of similar to when we had the episode with Jeff Wright where I was talking about um receiving oral sex or a hand job on the rides at disneyland he was like bro just stop talking just please stop everything you say is worse and i'm sort of getting that Flashback right now of that as we continue to not beat the chauvinist charges with our continued line of conversation. Jason's going to do a dime on chauvinism. He's going straight. He's going upstate for a little while. I don't know where you guys go here. San Quentin? I don't know what the equivalent of upstate is. The amount of work I put in, they put me in Alcatraz with the... With the straitjacket on. They're putting Jason below Alcatraz. They're putting him below the prison. That's where he belongs. Damn, my ride or die. So I know that Grinch Black, is it true that you got your Christmas tree up? Yeah. I'm sorry, your holiday tree. Yeah, it's a holiday tree. Yeah, it's up. It actually looks pretty nice. Unfortunately, I don't know why or I thought all Christmas trees gave off the smell because that's the only benefit of having a Christmas tree. You got it done? This tree has no scent.

And the young, also the place we got the tree. mr jingles um which is the coolest name but these guys are making these guys are making so much motherfucking money it was it's just crazy over there but the the guy you know it's kind of like a hot college movers vibe oh okay okay it's kind of like hot young guys and then the checkout girl was fucking from new zealand it sounded like kirstie godso without abs talking to me about my my checkout you know i'm like god i've only been here for so long i didn't realize how big christmas was and i was just like Yeah, take my card. Don't. Please do not talk unless you're telling me to do burpees. I can't hear this accent on anybody else. We got heaps of Douglas Fez. Heaps of Douglas Fez lined up. Well, the problem is there were like six or seven different kinds, varietals of trees. Of course, I don't know any of this means, nor do I care. But the size is what we were, you know, and the shapeliness and, of course, the thickness. Because you don't want, you know, even though in most facets of my life I'm looking for thin. Yeah. When it comes to a tree, you want that shit to be full. You know what I'm saying? You don't want those little gimpy branches. They couldn't support the lights or the baby's breath we're going to add because it's an ornament-free look this year. Ornament-free? Yeah, I prefer that. It's chiquer. Who the fuck does ornament-free? A lot of people. Check out my Pinterest. Okay, so is this safe to say that this is the first time you spent a lot of money on some tree and it wasn't loud? Is that what's going on? Literally the only time. Except, of course, every year on your birthday when I buy a few trees. you know, to plant in your honor. In my name? Yeah, yeah. I bought you a few stars and then a few trees as well because I know that that's kind of, you know, sometimes gifts that are, you know, they're small monetarily, but they're big in heart. It's not the gift that I might want, but it's the gift that Mother Earth needs. Exactly. It's the gift Mother Earth needs.

Yeah, this is not. Dude, I believe in that. Yeah, this tree, unfortunately, is not from cookies, and it doesn't even smell. So it really is. Far from stanky. So are you saying then my, because I have a sustainable. Plastic tree? Sustainable. I think in your world we would call that a fake plastic tree. I do have a fake plastic tree, but much like AstroTurf, the technological advancements in their ability to duplicate a real tree. It's very close. It's very close. And then I'm also able to purchase some more non-biodegradable sticks that are, it's like a hunter green stick. And you kind of hide those. the branches of your Doug fair, and it puts off that beautiful smell. So every day I walk into my home, I'm greeted with a wall of dank. Luckily, thanks to a longtime friend of the show, Jake Davis, who put me on years ago to the Ralph Lauren Holiday Candle. Unfortunately, I do believe it's sold out. I haven't checked yet. But that, to me, is the most... cost-effective way without having to break out the Dyson for four and a half hours to clean up needles. I think that's the best way to actually get the Christmas spirit going. So do you think now that you've already kind of experienced this for your first time in your life, are you going to switch to synthetics? Are you going to switch to indoor instead of outdoor? I mean, I would like to, but then that requires storage and stuff. And I did like the experience of going to buy it, and it's pretty funny. I don't know. Everything's just a joke for this podcast at this point, so throw it on the pile. Yeah, that's a good way to do it. So, yeah, we'll get into this more with our guests today. Yeah, we need to know. Yeah, Lena. Abascal is a friend of ours. She wrote a book called Never Be Alone Again, How Blog House United the Internet and the Dance Floor. So I think she'll be able to tell us what kind of Christmas tree A-Track has in his house, which is kind of what I'm going to base my new Christmas look on next year. But yeah, I think our friend A-Track, as a member of the tribe,

I don't know if he's going to have a tree in his house. No, I think he likes Gentile chicks, though. You know what I mean? So he's probably got a nice, expensive menorah. He's got the gold-plated techniques menorah passed down through generations of this turntablist household. So shout out to A-Track, shout out to Chromio, shout out to the god Dave. I bet Dave One's menorah is like, you know, mid-century. Maybe it's like a Mies Vandero. The menorah is draped in Eames black leather. There's a little rust on the bass, but it's still in pretty good condition. I did see that on Craigslist. Okay, let's give Lena a jingle and find out if Blog House is indeed the worst genre of music ever created. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable, and they're just easy but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated. but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada.

That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. 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, 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 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, you know, 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. You know, 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 how long for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code how long 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. 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. I was trying to get into the holiday blog house spirit, so I pulled up Spotify. Great app. It's not only the app that gives us lots of money, but it also killed blog house, so it was a little bittersweet. It ruined my Z-Share lifestyle, but you were talking about in the intro of the book about how the name blog house came. And some people spell it H-A-U-S as a little tongue-in-cheek thing. And then it sort of is beyond a genre. It's not just a style of music. It's all encompassing the hair, the clothes, the fashion, the attitude, the kind of punk rock spirit or whatever. But I just typed in Bloghouse into Spotify, and there's an official Spotify playlist called Bloghouse that just has all the hits right there. A picture of Mastercraft looking extra white. on the on the cover art it was all there so it's just so funny to see where it came from of like you know the dark corners of the internet and mega share and z share and myspace profiles playing your songs and now you just type a word into your

subscription music provider service, and it's all there for you at the touch of your fingers. I'm looking at it right now. Blog house, bedroom bootlegs, and electro clash gems. I'm a little mad. I wasn't paid to copyright that caption. I'm just going to say it. I think they went in-house, unfortunately. Yeah, I think they did go in-house. I, of course, wasn't as deeply embedded in this world as the two of you on this podcast. I recognize most of these songs, but the fact that this playlist starts off with a song called Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above is incredibly dark. They could have let it off. They just put something a little more popular. Is that a little too on the nose for you, maybe? It feels a little too on the nose, but some of this stuff, it does get pretty deep as I go into it, though. Yeah, because during that time, I listened to Death from Above. I made love, but never together. Never together. I don't like listening to music while I have sex. We can talk about my hot take on that another time. But I always thought that song name was really meta because it wasn't like, oh, let's make love and listen to some artists from forever ago. It's like these artists are coexisting at a similar level of fame at the same time. So I just thought that was kind of silly. And if someone was to do that now, it would be a... a tactic yes 100 it would be yeah it would be and then also you know at that time it's like let's make love and listen to d'angelo let's make love and listen to yeah uh some of ursher's catalog whatever it is you know let's not let's not forget maxwell unplugged because the clapping kind of makes it feel good the clapping the clapping no excuse you yeah but but but when you think of death from above it's like this like you know, loud, rocking, intense, aggressive music, and it doesn't speak to me in terms of, you know, sexual, sensual energy. It'd be like, let's make love and listen to Machine Gun Kelly as sort of like a contemporary version of that. There we go. Now Jason's showing his cards. Even though he does have some ballads that you can kind of rock to, you know what I'm saying? You could tear the Casper up to some of his...

To some of his slower tunes, but... Jason put a dent in the Casper listening to Lil Huddy. He's different. He's different. Jason's different. Yeah, Them Jeans built different. Yeah, Lena, I also said before we started that it's important that we only refer to my co-host as Them Jeans during this episode. Oh, okay. Please respect that. Because he's reliving his kind of heyday here today, and I want to keep him in that fantasy. Oh, yeah. I mean, Jason is the... Sorry. Them jeans is honestly a very unique case study in the Spotify killed blog house, but Spotify helped not birth, but let. The pod thrives, so you're full circle, baby. I got fucked, and then I did some fucking. To death from above. Yeah, exactly. From a bottom to a top. Thank you, Spotify. From a bottom to a top, a VimGene story. Did you, did you, did you, Lena, did you, so, you know, you're familiar with Jason's work. Now, in the blog house heyday. How many times did you have to, I'm not going to say suffer through, but endure a Them Jeans set before maybe a more famous DJ would take the ones and twos? This is not even me sucking up to the pod. Like, I was down. I mean, like, I was a frequenter of Cinespace turned Dim Mac Tuesdays turned Dim Mac Studios. So I've seen many of Them Jeans set. I would say over 20. 25 more than that. Wow. And also later brand SpawnCon party iterations. I was at the Roosevelt, John and Vinny's party. I'm following Jason. You're not new to this. You're true to this. I feel like Jerry Garcia right now. Okay. And it wasn't an endurance test. It wasn't suffering through. You may have actually enjoyed a little bit of it is what you're saying. I enjoyed it. And I mean, I was a youth, so I was getting there pretty early. So my story would line up with what I told my parents because you can't leave the house at midnight if you're saying that you're like sleeping out of friends on the weekday. You got to leave at like six.

So then we're getting at the party at like 9.30, 10. Two hours in the parking lot with your sparks or whatever it is. Exactly, exactly. Damn, you really had to watch Jason stretch his legs then. That's rough. I wouldn't want to see him for the first 20. Before he smokes a cigarette, no one wants to see him DJ. That's true. Well, Lena, before we move on, you were saying that you have a rule where you don't listen to music while you're making love and you have a take on that? It's not a rule. I just... I don't know. I always hear people talk about like their sex playlist. And then I was talking with my group chat. I'm like, do people really do that? Like you stop and put on a playlist like once you're getting heated or is it like the music happens to already be on? Yeah. I just don't do that. Like I didn't do it when I was having rando sex or any of my relationships or the relationship I'm in now. Like we live together. So it's, it's different, I guess. But I know, I know. Yeah. You just keep insecure on in the background. You know what I mean? I'm more like that. But some of the shows are like, I don't know if we're watching like Thousand Pound Sisters, it has to be turned off. But if it's insecure, I can maybe vibe with that. Hey, babe, babe, you got to turn that off. I can't. I don't know which show out of Thousand Pound Sisters are insecure. I'd be able to last longer at. It's sort of a toss up at the moment. But yeah, you're right. There is. It's sort of like you either have to stop. As things are heating up and be like, hold on a second, babe. That's corny. And then you pull out your musical device or whatever it is. I mean, imagine putting a record on the turntable. I keep an Adele clear 12-inch available exclusively at Walmart right next to the bed for this exact purpose. So you're crazy, but I get it. But even what's worse or potentially what is creepier is like. being premeditated with that playlist to where you're like, all right, in about 45 minutes, if I time this right, I'm going to be inserting my penis or so right around now. So then this playlist can hopefully start off and then we're just going to listen to some rye as we have our wine and then it's going to turn into this and that. You mean like a playlist is crafted, like it starts out with like...

Some hip-hop classics. Just like a Them Jeans mixtape. There's an arc to it. There's a beginning. There's a middle and an end. And you want to try to get that sweet spot. You know, first gear, second gear. You know, you've got to figure out the RPMs, the torque. Just to kind of give our listeners the full experience, I think tonight maybe... Put on Shooting Stars by Bag Raiders and just see what happens. You know what I mean? Let's just see how it goes. The fact that you know that song, Chris, is a little... Yeah, you know more than you think you know. Guys, I don't know that fucking song. I'm looking at the playlist in red. Damn it. Come on, Chris. Lie to me. I don't want it. I don't want to know about this. I honestly think that was more in the Chris Black universe, though. There's guitars. In another world, they could have played Warped. They're from Australia. I think you might like it. That's a good point. And they're good people. Close old pals of mine. Just had dim sum with one of them. Yeah, great guys. Yeah, so now, have you been diving back into this world? Because you've been working on this for a little while, right? Yeah, it's been touch and go for a minute with COVID. But yeah, I mean, the last... year was a lot of logistical stuff and kind of edits and whatnot. Spoke with Jason around the summertime, but it's been a long time. How do you feel like since you're so close to it? I mean, Jason is as well, but do you think... this music has aged well, or does it immediately just transport you back to that time? Yeah, it definitely transports me back to that time because I have so many vivid memories associated with a song or with an artist. And I think a lot of it, much of which didn't get uploaded to Spotify because it had uncleared samples or mashups or some remix of a remix of a remix. The sound quality is absolute trash. Damn. I didn't think about that because Jason's Z-Trip white labels sound pretty good. So I don't know if he collects this stuff. I got lucky with that stuff. Yeah, that's good. So you're saying the sound quality of a remix of a remix of a remix from Hype Machine isn't great. No, but that's not speaking to like, you know, culturally, does it withstand the test of time? I'm saying even on a simpler level, a lot of it sounds bad. But a lot of these songs, I think, are still bops. If I heard Day and Night while like...

I don't know, shopping at the Americana, I would be like, ooh, I'm vibing. I mean, Day and Night is a fucking classic. Exactly. Some of it is great. I hate to give it up to them. But, yeah, I mean, I do think that's interesting, though, that you're right. Like, Remix of a Remix of a Remix was really what this was kind of about, which is very strange. I don't feel like that continued or existed before. Well, I disagree. I disagree. I think in the hip-hop community, because, you know, the blog house era. happened at the same time where, I mean, the main reason why it was able to exist was people were able to create music on their $1,000 laptop that they got on Craigslist with some bootleg software. True. And it obviously doesn't sound like it was recorded at Abbey Road, but it sounds good enough compared to what other professional musicians with tons of gear are making. So that part was kind of cool, and then you were able to just, hey, I made this song. Now Lil Uzi's going to hop on it or Lil Wayne's going to or whatever. And so that was starting to happen at that same time. But most of those songs really like I was trying to think of earlier, like what you guys are talking about, like things aging well or not aging well. Like we heard Kid Cudi, Day and Night, Crookers remix. So like way too many times for any song. But that's that's one of a handful of songs, in my opinion, that has sort of still. stood the test of time where it's like, it doesn't just make you cringe to death. Totally. I mean, I think what you said about hip hop makes a lot of sense. Like the idea, obviously sample culture, mixtape culture, like hip hop songs, getting special features from an artist in a certain city. So that radio station will play that song out. You got, if you're trying to get on hot 97, like you need to get. someone from New York on your song, even if it's 20 seconds. That's right. That's right. We've tried to get Bobby Schmurter on this podcast, and he's not returned our phone calls. Exactly, exactly. And I've been working on Young M.A. But, yeah, that's a good point, Lena, with, like, the whole hip-hop thing of the regional. You know, we got to get, like, that happened so much. And it was also in the same time and the same, you acquired these songs in the same way, which was, like, you know, underground DJ pools and message boards and blogs because,

if an amazing you know crazy bop comes out and atlanta's like i'm not playing this and then as soon as the andre 3000 version of it comes out everyone's like oh fuck this is it this is it and it was never officially released it was just for the djs only so you'd have to go on some website and then suddenly you know a kid in albuquerque could have this song that you know only you know a select few people have access to totally like i mean it definitely has a lot of parallels there like i don't um i stream music now as most of us do i'm not a dj so i don't have and i'm not a vinyl collector so i don't buy music in that way but my itunes library is like old blog house cuts and then like drake lucy's like that you just can't stream anywhere that gets taken down i don't really own music i have like you know a couple hundred songs but you know it's stuff that it's like uh i can only have the hard mp3 there's no link The hard file. Yeah. And you can never let go of this. I'm saying I brought it from, I just got a new computer. My boyfriend was helping me move all the stuff. He said, you want this? And I was like, don't ask me that. Don't ask questions. Just fucking transfer. It's not like with your old vinyl collection where you're like, all right, well, I'm never going to see this again. So I'm going to go dump it on discogs or go to Amoeba and sell it all. Like these are. Not only are they priceless, they're also worthless. It feels criminal to delete them because it's not hurting anyone to own it. It's not really going to kill you. It's fucking 340 megabytes worth of MP3s. It's nothing. You just can't let it go. It's really funny because I think every person is in the same position. Unless they're a real audiophile, it's like your music ownership. stopped when you got Apple Music or Spotify, and it's like a full-time capsule if you look at it. Yeah, 100%. I definitely have some Drake Lucys that I'm proud of. Exactly. I don't even know where you buy music at. If I wanted to buy an MP3, I don't even know how to do that. Don't worry. You can do that on Apple Music. It's great. It's a great service. I don't support Bandcamp, but the Apple Music file is like...

Bro, it's lossless spatial audio. What do you mean? No, that shit stepped on. It's stepped on by Tim Cook. Bandcamp or Beatport? Yeah, that's true. We had one after party on our tour and Jason DJed in Chicago. I could just tell there was a lot of issues. He had a lot of issues transferring the music. I could just tell he was out of practice in this way. But then as soon as them jeans got behind the decks, it was like... Driving a bicycle? Exactly. Exactly. It was like we were in Cinespace and Kanye was wearing shutter shades and Dano was drunk and Steve Aoki was like, you know, letting him borrow headphones. It was just, it was a beautiful, it was a beautiful, sponsored by Adidas and Svetka. It was a beautiful, it was a beautiful thing to see. You know what I mean? But a lot of these people you talk to for the book, they still do this professionally, right? Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of them. Almost all of them are still musicians. Some of their music has obviously changed style or they're in a new group or, you know, they're now the sole member of a duo they used to be in. But a lot of the musicians are still doing stuff. Some of them, you know, at a much bigger scale than they were at the time. Think A-Track, Steve Aoki. And then some were bigger then than they are now. Hate to see that. I would say most. Yeah. Yeah. And then some people like, you know, the promoters or like. the non-producer, just DJ club, DJ people there. A lot of them are sort of like in media or, you know, a brand podcast. Exactly. Like DJs became rock stars. And now we're in this podcast as rock stars thing. We are not in that. You may be in that. I don't know who you're friends with. You were the one on tour. Yeah, we're on tour, but it sounds like, it sounds like you're texting with Joe Rogan or some shit. We ain't, you know, we ain't really on our rock star swag, but I think that the, I'm trying to think of who. like really crossed over you know what i mean as far as like they have a full career now besides like aoki and a track i'm sure are there are there people i'm not thinking of that like fully crossed over i would say calvin harris did a full crossover true true because he used to make these little kind of disco-y like kind of quirked up

cutie songs about dancing around and now he's fucking superstar i knew that he used to be not as good looking but that's what money does but i wasn't backs new teeth who this i wasn't sure i wasn't sure yeah you should have asked these djs so how many of you guys yeah he used to he used to sing yeah i saw him sing live he would play live instruments like he would play all like guitar and bass on all of his songs and make these kind of like twee like disco-y like scottish disco songs And he, you know, he had like 85 pound hairless chest and now he's like a fucking Calvin Klein underwear model. Jason doesn't like that they, you know, kind of came up together. Is he a tall guy? He's a tall man. Not as tall as Jason. He's tall, but he's a little more cut. You know what I'm saying? And that is what drives Jason. That's why Jason was on the tennis court this morning at 8 a.m. He's constantly trying to catch Calvin. Well, this pod is my fitspo, so I get it. Yeah, you understand. You know how it is. I think, Jason, I think that maybe it's a fool's errand for you to chase Calvin. I think he has more resources than you. Well, for me, for Calvin and I, it's a quantity versus quantity. Calvin definitely got more attention from the men and the women of the world, but I don't know if he's having sex with cool people. I wonder. He's having sex with some Victoria's Secret. models or something like that i'm waiting for the reveal here i'm like i'm whereas i is having sex with some very cool sixes and sevens okay ah well i think ah yes i think that i think that calvin harris though it's funny because like i i feel like i don't know anything about him like he has zero personality like i know nothing about him i just know he's got giant songs I couldn't tell you what his voice sounds like. I couldn't tell you if he has any other interests. Hey, what do you need to know? He made We Found Love featuring Rihanna. He got caught. The ultimate, Bob. He got caught at a massage parlor in Silver Lake many years ago. You remember that one, Lena? Yeah, he dated Taylor Swift. She dated Taylor Swift? Did he really? He did a lot of shit. Damn, are you saying that...

DJ Calvin Harris smashed Taylor Swift? Or do you think maybe it was too short and she didn't let him hit? No, they were in a legitimate relationship. It was in the tabloids all the time. How do I, a tabloid queen, forget this? That's embarrassing. I apologize to both of you for that. I really do. That's really bad. God, We Found Love is so good. It's Jason's favorite song. It's so good. Whenever I DJ a wedding, that's always the most... massive always by far song of the night does that beat um the robin song dancing on my own yeah i feel like dancing i feel like dancing on my own is such a big that always goes off single girl it's a single yeah it's a single girl song you know it's an ugly girl song hey i'm not you're not ugly why are you i'm just i never thought of it as the ugly song i'm just Well, why are these people dancing on their own, Lena? There might be a bit more nuance. No, no. Jason's a philosophical cat, but he sees things at a surface level. Just because Robin's voice is female identifying doesn't mean that it's just for ugly women. It's ugly guys. That's true. Ugly non-binaries. Ugly pets and animals in the club. I have an ugly pet. Yo, off top, I got an ugly pet. Play that song for him. Maybe it'll be like, finally, scene AF. Yeah, when she's like, I'm in the corner, you're like, yeah, I'm in the corner too, but I'm watching you kiss a small white plastic bag instead of a guy. That's what your ass is doing, Chris. Yeah, that is true. I'm in the corner licking a Ziploc. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Bro, that's where I keep my belly button ring. You know that's a jewelry bag. Oh, those are my headache powders. Moon juice powders. Yeah, I mean, we would be remiss not to speak about drugs and alcohol because the only way this music was tolerable was cocaine, molly, and Svedka.

I mean, is that something that you're acknowledging or these DJs acknowledge? Or do we try to act like that wasn't part of the equation? Nobody denied that. I didn't even bother asking everyone straight up. But no, in the book, I definitely make some jokes about, you know, Sparks and other beverages of the time. $2.99 canned beverages. Um, there was a lot of sponsored vodka parties there. Um, there was definitely drugs like this. This is like some banger party music. I was talking to someone about how the idea that like being healthy is cool when you contrast it to like at this era, every it girl was like, you know, heroin chic, but then like pokehead in the club. Such a different look. Such a different look. I miss it every day of my life. It's something that I think about all the time. The drugs or the look? All of it. Now all we got is yoga enthusiasts. Drink more water. The phrase fentanyl chic hasn't hit for Chris yet. Yeah, I'm not seeing that yet. Heroin chic, yes. Fentanyl chic, not so much. I think that this was a very heady time drug-wise. I mean, that's just going out in general in this era. It didn't really matter what the music was, I think, to an extent. Or maybe that's just our age. Maybe it's a combination of both. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people associate going out with getting fucked up, and I think that's fine and normal. But with this era, I was talking with Jason. There's this quote in the book I love when he compares people commuting domestically, internationally to L.A. to party the way people now fly to Ibiza. Like it was the Mecca of party. That's crazy. There were parties on Monday through Sunday, like a popping party every Monday. That's not really a thing now. No, no, it's definitely not. No, I mean, that is true. And I've talked to Jason about this, too, specifically about that. Thanks, Biden. About that. Yeah, this is Biden's America. We can't party on Monday. But I've talked to Jason about this specifically about L.A. because like the Daft Punk thing was just not that big in New York.

Like, it just wasn't the same. Where it was, like, here, that's all anybody talked about. They could do 30,000 people at a stadium. Yeah. Like, that was the most glaring example to me. But, like, I didn't even think about L.A. being, like, because it was a lot of Europeans coming here, right? Yeah, a lot of people from Paris. But, yeah, I think New York was kind of still in that LCD post-strokes era a little bit more so. I think Coachella played a big part in the reason why L.A. was such a big mecca for everything. Totally. Because it would be a twofer. You come in for Coachella and then play a bunch of parties. Yeah, that's right. When Coachella switched to two weeks instead of one week. So every single DJ in the entire world, every band, you know, the coolest people in the world all had a week off in L.A. and nothing to do. And they're like, we're still on coke. So, like, where can I DJ? Yeah, what are we doing? I think also, like, proximity to Hollywood. Like, you know, there were The Hills is airing and, like, Lauren Conrad. and friends are at this club called ledu now we're talking yeah exactly and but then across the street from ledu you have moscow the blog house club but sometimes these sometimes parties like and the this the what is it banana split sundays DJ AM is bringing these, not A-list, but you know what I mean, like Us Weekly type celebs. Those people didn't live in New York. DJ AM, may he rest in peace, legendary stick man. Legendary stick man. That's true. One of the greatest of all time. I've never seen somebody do so much with so little. It's unbelievable. He made me look at Nicole Richie with a new set of eyes. It really is. I was like, huh, I get it now. I mean, I think that the Hollywood thing is cool, and it makes things feel much more glamorous than they are. Oh, much more than they were. And now Hollywood is just, you know, nasty. I don't know. Influencers? Well, West Hollywood, yeah, that's influencer TikTok zone. Thank you. Proper Hollywood Hollywood. No one goes there. Yeah, nobody goes there at all, but back in the day, it would be a Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, hanging out at all these spots, and now none of those people would be, they don't even want to drive on the street, let alone park and get out of their car.

It's like disgusting. Yeah, there's not even a valet for the Bentley truck anymore. Times have really changed. You're on your own. But also, I just got the book in the mail yesterday. Thank you for sending it through. Yeah, of course. So I haven't had time to finish it yet. But one interesting point that you meant that could be helpful to Chris gaining some more understanding. understanding of this was you mentioned the tv show the oc where i think it was like 2005 there was an episode where they would start playing you know lcd sound system and these other bands and then also they had the live music element where there would be like modest mouse and the killers are playing and they're kind of playing like this dance and that's when modest mouse was doing float on and it kind of was like that was a song that we could play in the club So, like, all of that groundswell was happening on, like, a national television show. Like, imagine watching, like, a teen drama nowadays, and The Killers is playing live. Like, that would never happen. Yeah, no. I mean, it was built into the OC because they would go to this venue, and some of them worked there, so they had all these special guests. Even Bright Eyes was on it, which obviously is its own universe. Really? Yeah, happening concurrently with this. And then it's not a surprise the OC was made by the same people that made Gossip Girl, which also had a much very blog housey soundtrack. But yeah, I mean, I think it's like. We're all listening to rock. And I'm speaking for the U.S. Obviously, Europeans be raving and have stayed raving. But, you know, in the U.S., like bands are the coolest thing in the world. Guitar, music, four or five piece bands. God, thank God. I'm just getting messy. I'm just thinking about it. God damn it. And then to sort of bridge the gap into what ends up being Blog House and how you end up with something like Bloody Beat Roots or whatever. these bands get a little dance here. They start getting remixed by DJs. And that's like, Oh, I like bands. I'll listen to a soul wax remix of a band. I like, or I'll listen to the eight tracks remix of the yeah. Yeah. It's like a rock band that I like. And then I started checking out the DJ on their own. I mean, it feels like this crazy A and R technique, which it is now, but a lot of it was just a way to get new listeners. And like, I was, I was coming out of like really loving emo screamo and also like indie rock.

But then I started listening to stuff like The Faint, The Rapture, stuff like that. I'm like, okay, this is bands, but it's dancey. And that was my bridge. Rapture, House of Jealous Lovers, I would say holds up completely. Yeah. Great. Unbelievable song. It's such a good song. But yeah. But The Faint, I mean, The Faint's interesting because that was like basically a band that played with hardcore bands when I was growing up. Like I saw them play with like big hardcore bands and it was always like. cool to like that because it was kind of weird but those songs were actually pretty good yeah i really like it was like a pretty it was pretty successful you know what i mean for what it was but that that being kind of the precursor but yeah it's interesting so so basically djs once again ruined rock music for me so it's just nice to now now i have to share i have to share the spotlight with one we we split money and stuff and i but i deeply you know i i I hate him. It's unfortunate. Sorry, we were talking about the faint, and also in the book you sort of mentioned the word debaucherous a couple times, and I think that word is sort of like the linchpin for how all of this worked with rock music and bands and DJ culture, which used to be completely segregated, and then it started coming together through debaucherous activities. Like you would go to a hardcore show. And it would be only dudes wearing cargo shorts and just like punching each other. And then when the faint would start playing, then you'd have a bunch of girls there because they liked it. So then it was not just about stage diving. It was also about kind of partying because it was like party music. And everyone was like, well, you know, these guys are making like cocaine music. So I'm going to start doing cocaine. And then. then it was sort of much more debaucherous where you could still like mosh around and have a crazy time i think like murder city devils sort of had a little bit of that as well not so electronic but electronic music was very druggy but it wasn't so debaucherous it was just like a little serious and it was like we have our thing and we're just here to dance and and vibe and be on our own and then this style of music came around and it's like oh i'm gonna like

stage dive and kick people and you know just like a full debaucherous rage going on totally i mean i think at the same time of like people are listening to bands and maybe you know they want something new the people in the u.s that were listening to dance to dance music it was like not as accessible like maybe you're like a techno head and you're finding these underground raves or like you're into happy hardcore or whatever sub-genre you're into but by no means was it cool in any way. And I'm not saying like every single person, you know, I'm generalizing wasn't considered sexy. It wasn't fashion adjacent in any way. I make jokes in the book. Like think about Eminem saying like nobody listens to techno and he doesn't mean the genre of electronic music techno. He means nobody listens to DJ's dance music. And it's like now every bro in college in America is going to cross festival. Like things have changed, but I feel like blog house did that blog house made. They play heads will roll. They play Karen O at, like, football games, you know? Yeah. Yeah, or was that Blur Song song, too? Like, that's just, like... Yeah, they play Blur Song at a lot of sporting events. Yeah, it's anthemic. But, yeah, but it all is sort of rooted in being debaucherous. Just, like, I need to... Like, this normal level of turning up is not enough for me. I need to turn up even more. And then, you know, luckily Sparks was there to make it all happen. Thank God. I mean, it's also I said this earlier to Jason and we've talked about this era a lot on this podcast, but I will say that it's probably the ugliest people have ever been as far as like haircuts, clothing. a lot of choices like like it's even now you see some of these people you're like oh you're actually pretty good looking but you just were you had such bad style at this time yeah and they were younger then and they look better now exactly it's not even your fault though but it's like chris just wanted to give the crystal castles girl a bath just like Yeah, seriously. Yeah, yeah. Spray her down. It wasn't the hottest time. No, it's funny because it is so debaucherous. Like you guys are saying, it totally is. But everybody looks like shit. But of course, you don't realize that at the time. But that's sort of the fun part. You would see these pictures of parties and there's people sweating, their makeup getting fucked up, someone's glasses are broken. And now it's all so posed and perfect and edited. And again, there's a lot of stuff about this time that I don't think is cool and wouldn't want to repeat.

But when I see that, I'm like, oh, this felt so raw in a way that I thought was so cool. And as a teenager, I'm like, I need to be part of this. No, totally. I think that's real, and I think that's just a classic kind of pre-social media situation. You know what I mean? Totally, totally. It's just punk. It was very punk. You look at an old photo of Black Flag playing in, you know, 83 or whatever. Nobody is hot there, but everyone looks so cool. Yeah, yeah, they do look cool. But people thought they were hot. I'm not going to say they were above that. People were definitely trying, doing some insane all-over print. Yeah, an American Apparel bodysuit did a lot of heavy lifting. Yeah, literal. It was the original Skims. Yeah, I don't know how successful that was, but I think the rise and fall of American Apparel is completely... you know, parallel to, to the rise and fall of blog house. 1000%. I actually had a section about that in the book that I ended up taking out because I just feel like there's so much to say. Yeah. That's a whole, that's a whole like documentary. You can't get into it without like really getting into all of the legality that happens towards the demise. And then like the resurgence of like California or LA apparel, whatever it is. So I ended up taking it out, but it was still interesting to just shed light on that. And that was some of those conversations were like the club girl, it girl, like party photographer that I ended up having in a different section, but you're totally right. I mean, the biggest things that I can take away from this that aren't like music related are Corey Kennedy, the Cobra snake and American apparel. Those are like the three, those are the three main things that have nothing to do with music that like stuck around. But like, I would argue like, does everyone really know who that is? Or are we in a bubble smaller than we realize? Corey was someone I really wanted to get in the book and I reached out to her and it ended up falling through, but she's in it. in reference from a piece like that I didn't write. So she's like quoted from something she got interviewed for at the time. But we went to high school at the same time, both in L.A. So we were like in the Palisades Village at Coffee Bean.

living these parallel lives. Damn. I don't think that many people know who that is. Sugar-free frat? It's not a frat there. It's ice blended, but yeah. Sugar-free ice blended. I'm sorry. That's my best. You're from California, bro. Look, I fucked up, man. I'm sorry. No, I think that you're right. I think that Corey Kennedy is the thing that is pretty small in the scheme of things, but I think anybody that obviously... But I think it's coming back because the next generation or the current sort of... Gen Z generation is sort of like using Tumblr, you know, this thing that we would do all the time as like a way to look back. You know, that's like looking at old magazines or whatever, like Tumblr culture and Tumblr aesthetic is like or like a type of person, you know, like if you were there, then you speak this language that nobody else sort of spoke. Yeah, it's like a subculture. I mean, I think with Corey, it's an interesting thing because like, sure. cool slash hot girls and dudes and and they's and everyone have been like famous for being famous forever like you could you know have studio 54 whatever but i feel like it's interesting that you know she and her peers were popping at this time and they were very much online like she had her blog myspace whatever but never made the transition to our current influencer yeah because now it's like if you're not willing to be a business I don't really think it will work. Like you can be as cool and hot as possible, but there's no one following you around with a camera. Yeah. That's true. So this was the last, this was the last era where you were able to do that and, you know, just be an actual real authentic, cool it girl person and not have to, you know, be like, this is, you know, sponsored by coach bags post or something like that. Yeah. That's the fucked up part is that it girl, you know, historically means like, I'm hot, I don't care, and I might come from money. Those are the three defining factors. And now to make money as an influencer, you have to really care to the point where it's embarrassing. Yes, exactly. So when you add that factor in, it's kind of impossible to have the same kind of laissez-faire attitude. But those girls, those it girls, it people in general do exist, but they're not national.

figures the way the way that some of these other people were can you imagine cory kennedy like talking to camera about her latest cleanse exactly you know what i mean it's like the least cool thing in the world you have to do embarrassing like talking to the camera on to sell something is probably the most embarrassing thing you can do but it's like you have to do it that's part of the deal now you know and it's like i think there was also the the mystery of her you specifically her you saw all these pictures of her all the time and there wasn't much else which is pretty powerful yeah you're you're drawing your own conclusions it's really mysterious yeah it's hard to justify being mysterious now when you have every brand up your ass being like make us this content do this q a yeah i think it's also worth saying like Like there are cool people like take someone like a Paloma El Cesar, like Palomita, that actress or sorry, that model. Like she's cool as hell downtown New York person. But obviously, like she's so much more famous than someone like a Corey, because I feel like during this era, brands really figured out how to take advantage of influencers instead of traditional capital T talent. And they didn't know how to do that at this time. like there was no blueprint yeah and now it's like okay we're gonna have you do this campaign on your stories with a cross post to this and you're gonna go to this event it's like yeah there is literally a blueprint i mean i do ad work like brand stuff like these pitch decks have these people in it that's just a plan it's a yeah that's a plan yeah you're right yeah cory candy ending up on the cover of, you know, Nylon Magazine was based like an accident. You know what I mean? Yeah, and she doesn't make money from that. No, definitely not. There was very little money in this, which I think is also funny. We know. Jason, that's why Jason's so cheap today. You know what I mean? He was so dedicated to the blog house lifestyle that it's unfortunately directly affected his spending habits, I think. I'm forever triggered whenever. Whenever I pull out the Delta Amex. When he has to pay for a drink, he's just. Oh, yeah. Paying for a drink at a club. That ain't right. Yeah, I went to see Diplo in Vegas a couple months ago when my girlfriend and I went out there. And I just remember, like, I'm, like, standing at the bar.

Who stands at a bar and orders a drink like Pete? And it was like 50 bucks. And yeah, like, let me get two fucking Patron and sodas or whatever. And it's $49. He's padding his pockets and he's like, wait, I thought I had drink tickets, but it's Phantom. It's like Phantom Limb. I thought this was an open bar sponsored by Scion. Where's my hornitos? Yeah, wait a second. This is fucked up. This doesn't happen to me. Oh, that's so funny. But yeah, I mean, I think you're right. I think that this is, it was, it was. the element of MySpace being the only thing, really, the predominant thing that really drove the whole ship, but that not being on our phones and phones not being part of it, really, does change the whole equation. And that does, I mean, I think that like... that's why mystery was still available to someone like cory or even even djs it's like i mean you know there wasn't so much press there wasn't so much this or that so it's like you see this guy he looks cool you listen to his music you like his music he does a couple interviews here and there but it's not like you're fucking seeing him you know with his dog at the park you know you don't know what he had for breakfast today and that's and that's sort of why and that's that's why like cobra snake was so important is every time Every time a party would happen where it's like, oh shit, Daft Punk DJed at Cinespace last night or whatever it is, whenever that happens now, everyone in the world knows about it and they're seeing it all happen in real time. In real time. And then back then you would know it happened until the next day when... Photos were only available on one single website, and you had to go to that website and look. You natively typed it in, in your browser. It wasn't being linked to you through a promoted thing. The link was not in bio. It was an elective discovery that you made on your own. But, I mean, I would look at those photos as an auxiliary participant. I would come to LA. I would go to Jason's party and whatever. As a culture of ultra gatekeeper, you have to do those things, right? You have to. But, yeah, you would look at that to be like, what's good? What's going on? Oh, yeah. I would tab through.

a thousand photos to find the one of me and hope it was good enough to put on my MySpace. I mean, and the fact that now to do that, you would have to see like an ad for every photo you would view. You couldn't be tagged. It was a manual granular as fuck process. Like, okay, I went out last night. I know Cobra snake was there or maybe it wasn't Cobra snake. It was someone that you don't know. You're like, it was a guy with a vest and a nose ring. Okay. What the fuck? The sticker was on his camera. Let me find him. I found his MySpace. I found his website. I swear to God, I was hunting for this shit. That makes sense. I think that's really normal. That would never happen now. No, it's too easy. The funny thing is someone like Jason is really funny because the amount of photos that exist of Jason in every phase of his... EDM career is, it's unbelievable for me. It's truly a treasure trove of content that I honestly think will never dry up. Every weight I've ever been is clearly documented on thousands of websites. God, me too. I mean, it was a very documented era in terms of photos, but then I felt like it was a very under-documented and under sort of contextualized, which is why I wanted to do the book. All the blogs from the time are basically disappeared. And then we have some, you know, like fact magazine, vice, what have you doing, like thousand word recaps. But I was like, maybe I'm just partial to it because I had I was there at the time. But I was like, I think there's more to say. You're right. No, you're absolutely right. I mean, I think it's important for someone to put kind of a bookend on things like this or otherwise it could just get lost in the ether. Yeah. And like. I didn't want it to just be like, some people think the book is an oral history, meaning like you open it and it's like person name colon quote. It's not that it's like fully narrative integrated. Like it reads like a book in a different way, which I think allowed me to have a little bit more of an opinion. And like, it's not just about what happened. I think it really is a lot about how what happened then led us to where we are now, like for better and worse. So like, I don't know, people have been asking me like, you know,

Could this happen again? And I'm kind of like, well, legally, no. Online sharing, whatever. It wouldn't be the same. So, yeah, I don't know. It's weird how many photos exist. Yeah, I was actually talking to Cobra Snake about that because he's got a book coming out as well. Yeah. And a lot of his photos of that era, even though it's in our lifetime, not that long ago, but it was also time and woke culture. you know, everything has really hyper advanced very quickly in the last few years. So, you know, he, he might be wondering like, Hey, like, you know, what is up with these photos now where it was like, like, where's the line of what to include? Yeah. Just like, you know, here's. you know, Steve Aoki pouring vodka down some fan's throat where, you know, it's all kind of good fun and it's a consensual party act between all parties or LMFAO, you know, doing the same. That's interesting, yeah. You have a photo of you and like, I was 19 when this happened and I was underage and now it's kind of like, ooh, like is this... No, I was talking about that with Nylon because people are asking me like, you know, what wasn't good about this. And by no means am I like, everything was perfect. And it was so fun. Like I had a great time. I was, you know, 16 to 21 years old. So if anything shady was happening, it was happening to me. So I didn't, I wasn't as aware of it at the time. But no, I look at these, like, you know, in all seriousness, like I do look at some evidence of this and I'm like, oh, wow. Like this was not only happening, but being photographed and being, adored and distributed at a crazy scale instead of now would be like delete that let alone don't have done it but also delete that and here's a photo of you here's a photo of you where you're doing something that you probably are looking at now in your hungover stupor like what did i do these are all photos that are being posted sort of without consent you know and yeah and nowadays everyone is so conscious of where these photos of themselves are going to end up on

And they're very meticulous with how everything is manicured and how it looks. Controlling their image. No one was controlling shit. That was not happening back then. No, no, no. The control was in Mark's hands, which is insane. It was like when you walk into a place and they have those signs like, we're filming this for a show, so anything you have to do might be filmed. It was basically that. Yeah, Vice was the king of doing that, which I guess in hindsight. Yeah. We call that a blanket release in the biz. You know what I mean? We put a three-by-five cardboard on the handicap stall in the restroom, so this is legally binding. Oh, my God. I mean, but I do think it is. The whole thing, you mentioned the Hollywood portion earlier, and I think the nightclub, like the bottle service nightclubs and the grimier, it all was the same. Kind of. You know what I mean? Like you could hear the same music at every place. Yeah, there's like a Venn diagram that was very fucking weird. Like this music was being played out at like a beautiful club with celebrities. But like it was something that that person made that afternoon. And then I chatted to someone else. And Lindsay Lohan is now like being photographed in association with it. Like that's. Crazy. Not Lindsay Lohan leaving the club with one of the bag writers. That would send me over the edge. She was leaving the club with just the bag, but the bag was very empty. The bag was very empty. You mean Chanel? You mean Chanel? Oh, you mean plastic. It had been rated. I understand. Like the same bag I was using earlier. Precisely. Unfortunately for me, Lohan and I have never shared a bag of cocaine in any nightclubs, which is something I would love to change. Not yet. Well, now she's engaged to a guy from Dubai who has 2,000 followers on Instagram and probably can't do coke. I love that the reason is only on her, not that you're a sober king. Well, I mean, look. We all have our triggers, and if I heard LCD sound system in a nightclub with Lindsay Lohan, and Jason happened to pull out a bag of Coke, I would have to be tackled. I would have to be tackled. Does anybody have eyes on Chris is what would be echoed through the hallway. Yeah, Jason would talk into his earpiece. Do anybody have eyes on Chris? We need Chris out of here right now. Take Chris out of here right now. Yeah, I mean, I also think nightclubs are just kind of...

It's over. You know what I mean? It feels over. It's either Vegas or like one corny bottle service place in every city or it's a bar. I think in London and Europe, it's still a thing because they have sort of been doing club life correctly for decades before we ever figured it out and put one in Tacoma or whatever. But it's still like when I was in Vegas seeing Diplo, I was walking around and I was like, This is embarrassing to be in this club with 2000 people who are just the worst humans, you know, like it's like the highlight of their year. This was like we were going on a Monday like it was nothing. I was just talking to my boyfriend about that. I was like, I feel like and this is something in the book as well. Like, sure, there's club nights now, but they're all ticketed. It's like it will sell out. It has a headliner or the event has like, for example, something like Rhonda. is like maybe a middle ground like it has the brand a club called ronda and then it has the headliners which range from you know their usual residents to some big people and the party you trust ronda if you're a fan to have curated good shit but usually i feel like most stuff is either a bar that has a dj that's like whoever it could be fun frankly that's my preference at this point just like listen to some rando play rap at a silver lake bar where the drinks are cheap or you're going to like a ticketed event whether it's underground warehouse or in hollywood to see someone from europe like there is no in between it's still fucking ticketed either way and you have to commit in advance and it's promoted in this different way like all these promoters were talking to me and they were like yeah my club was my party night was killing it they weren't even calling it a club even if it was in a club my party night was killing it and then insomniac golden voice what have you come in and they start over bidding on the same acts for a ticketed night announced 60 days in advance And now I can't even compete with that. And my night died. And that's a big part of this, too. Damn. Yeah, that really takes the fun out of like true club life of just like everyone's hanging out someone's house. I'm like, oh, I kind of feel like going out and you can have a sporadic moment like, oh, let's go over here. I know the door guy. I'll be able to get in.

And that doesn't happen anymore. Now the door guy is just some piece of shit security guard checking your QR code from Ticketmaster for your $37 ticket that you bought four months ago. And now all that sauce, all that magic is gone. It's sort of the same thing. That's why movie theaters are dead. It used to be like, oh, I want to go see a movie. You open up. the newspaper and you're like oh let's just go jurassic park's playing eight o'clock let's go check it out and now it's like well you know we have to the all the good seats are taken and the parking validation and yeah this this this and it's it's all so premeditated that it's it's hard to really enjoy it totally and like i hate feeling like oh i sound so old and nostalgic for everything but the specifically the club nights i've really been thinking about that like tonight i'm having the launch party for the book at the friend bar in silver like djs from the book are going to play it's free It's what it's going to be chill. There's no list, but like that, even the friend does do some cool things like Mike B owns it. But this to me even feels like something that wouldn't usually happen on a Tuesday. Definitely not. I do really miss that because I don't like planning that far in advance. And frankly, the audience that comes with that, it's like people who plan it around their birthday, their bachelorette, their boys night out. And that just creates this vibe that I don't really want. That's the Vegas vibe. Even if it's a boys night, even if me and Jason are going to the local sports bar, you know, for a fellas night. Does that happen? No, definitely not. I think maybe another big reason for that sort of magic to go away is sort of the lack of the door guy. I see there's another podcast called Ion Pack, and they DJ and throw parties as well. And they'll have a similar vibe where it's like a bunch of friends playing, and it's just like a sweaty, debaucherous kind of DJ party. And it'll just say on the on the invite, just like, you know, doors are at nine. Come right at nine o'clock. The guest list can't save you. When we hit capacity, we hit capacity and that's it. And that was that's sort of the antithesis of the way it was before. Like nobody cool with like the party would start at 10. It would go until two. This is just an L.A. time in New York. It was four and other places later. But like.

If you showed up to a party at 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock, you're a fucking loser. You were watching them jeans. I'm just kidding. Like, you have to, like, everyone cool, all the celebs, all the hot it girls, everyone, you know, you show up at 1230 and, you know, and that's it. You party for an hour. You walk right in because the door guy lets you in. Yeah. There's no ticket. There's no presale. There's no any of that shit. There's no door person there. To be like, oh, this person is cool. It has nothing to do with are you hot or whatever. It's just like, oh, do you have good vibes? Not to say a terrible sentence. No, I know what you're saying. If you have them like, hey, you guys look cool. You guys look like you're just here to dance and have a good time. Come on into this party. And that doesn't happen anymore. People think, oh, I mean, and I'm sure this does and still happens a lot. Sometimes the like at doorman discretion can be something where people are like. discriminating and being shady and like you know exactly that absolutely does happen but i do think there i would like to think that this was not that style of door and i really loved that about it yeah that was the whole that was my whole philosophy is it went from the door guy discrepancy was you're getting in if you're hot and you're standing out in line all day if you're fat and ugly and i was like you know that doesn't make a good party because hot people are usually boring Not on this podcast. You're not going to come for me. It was vibes only. It would be like, come on in. If I think you are a nice person and you're going to have a respectful, fun night here and you love the music and you really want to be here and you're going to do a good job at being a guest in this party, come on in. And that doesn't really happen at all anymore. When you go to a club, it's just some guy, you know, with his earpiece on listening to music. He's just like, I do. I do. Okay. Okay. I think, honestly, I think, honestly, it might happen. It happens more in New York, but it's still, you know, a door person is hard to find. The door person's name used to be on the flyer sometimes. Like, let me take you down that memory. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I remember it was such.

a goal of mine to become a regular at these places the way you would be a regular at a bar where like the door i was not some popping it girl by any means but i was like oh i come here every week you remember me and we have this rapport because you know i'm a dedicated attendee of this thing or like the photographer again i was not cory kennedy to the cobra snake but like I would see the same photographers every week. I would say hi to them, get my pics. I had a relationship with like all of these employees of these nights and we were all just having a fun time together because it really did feel like the same 200 people sifting between all of these parties. Even if it was much bigger, I would love seeing the familiar faces. Even if I never spoke to them, I'd be like, that's that guy with the fedora. That's that girl with the bangs. I love that your cheers is... It really was. It really was. It was fun. No, I get that. I get that. Lena, well, thank you for taking the time to go down memory lane with us. Yeah, thank you so much. Obviously, a subject that we had a lot to chew on. Yeah, thanks for having me. This was fun. And guys, the book is called Never Be Alone Again, How Blog House United the Internet and the Dance Floor. You can get that wherever books are sold, I imagine. Is that true? Yeah, the supply chain is kind of killing me. But yeah, you can get it at stores. Um, you can get it on the shramazon. You can come to the New York panel I'm doing with the founder of hype machine. Um, but yeah, you can find it, find it where you, where you find books. And if you don't read, this can be your book of 2022. There you go. And, and people, and, uh, where can they follow you on, on Instagram and Twitter and stuff? Yeah. So I'm retired from Twitter, but I'm on Instagram at Lena loves it L I N A. Yeah. If you, if you at me, I will send you. something from my iTunes library, the Waka Flocka Avicii mashup I talk about in the book. There's a mashup in the book where I'm like, this is hiding in my iTunes library. I'll never get rid of it. It's like the way people keep a photo of their grandma or something. That's fire. That's so good. Avicii Waka Flocka. All right, Alina, thank you. That's a great one.

Send that to Jason so he can put that on the end of the episode. We need that. We need that. Thank you. Thank you so much. And you guys go cop the book and we'll talk to you soon. All right. See you. Thank you.

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