Bonnaroo First Timers 2019

Well, welcome to Bonnarooo, Bonnarooo first timers.

I'm Brad Steiner, that's Barry Courter.

I'm from WDOD Radio in Chattanooga.

Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Still rocking that written word, huh?

Still hanging on man.

Alright, so this is a podcast by Bonnarooians, those being us.

For you Bonnarooians, Bonnarooians being you.

Podcast today dedicated entirely to Bonnarooo first timers.

We did this last year with Bozzie, and then we got to roll with Bozzie as we got to Bonnarooo on site.

We decided not to give you that interview because he was a total jerk.

Not my favorite.

Not our favorite.

If there are two episodes in the can that you probably won't ever hear, I just told you what one of them was.

This year though, our Bonnarooo first timers, I think we got a good group.

I'm really excited about this.

This is probably the most action packed one we've had, or packed one right, with the most elements.

Put it that way.

Couple of interviews, got an artist interview, a listener interview, and then our own picks.

I'm really happy with my picks.

And a special guest at the end of the show.

A surprise special guest, which is not really a surprise because it's listed in the liner notes.

So, either way, we're going to go through some Bonnaroo first timers.

We're going to get some of your first time advice, first time stories.

We'll tell some of our own.

And we're going to talk to a Bonnaroo first timer in AJR.

Adam from AJR gave us a few minutes to talk a few weeks ago.

Now, I feel a little, I feel like a homer when I prop up AJR.

It looks like I prop up repeat, repeat.

But AJR, I can't tell you how great these kids are.

For three brothers who just started making music in their house with their parents.

And, you know, they get a break and they go out on the road and they just do it.

Not just do it, but they do it exactly the way that you're supposed to.

By paying dues, by going to every radio station, and then going back to all the radio stations again.

Over and over and over, they pound the pavement.

They came to our radio station years and years ago.

And I promise you, we get a lot of these.

We get a lot of these artists that come by and I'm like, oh, who cares?

I mean, Barry, look at the walls in here.

I mean, look at, they're littered with artists you've never heard of.

And it's because they stop by and we, you know, we give them respect and we let them do their thing

and play stuff for us and we see where it goes.

AJR just kept coming back, kept coming back and kept coming back.

And those are the guys I really like to support.

First off, they get, they stumble upon a guy named Rivers Cuomo and Rivers becomes a huge, huge fan of theirs.

They come up with a song, Sober Up, and then they go to Music Midtown

and 20,000 people exploding and losing their minds when they hear that song Week.

You know, it's just, it's a really, really fun live show.

And I was excited to see them on the Bonnarooo lineup because they're not necessarily a Bonnarooo band.

They're not in Bonnarooo's lane, but they were the first call that I made to try and get on the show this year.

Right, right. You knew right away.

And it seems like there's a theme.

They sound a lot like another act that we like a lot.

It might even be a guest or two on there.

Oh, you want to expose the secret guest later?

No, I just, well, they were our guests last week, but what was, what did we talk about?

Be nice. Say yes. Work hard. You never know.

I mean, they probably didn't know that Rivers Cuomo was in their future.

No, not a chance. I promise you, when these kids came by like five years ago, I mean.

That wasn't what, one of their bullet lists?

Right. You could have confused them with like the math team at a high school.

I just didn't know who, I was like, what are these kids doing?

They just blew up and their live show is so, so good.

Yeah, I love that. You and I both said that's one of the favorite things about this job is those discoveries

and finding people and then watching good things happen.

Yeah. So let's talk to Adam here in a second.

But first, let's get some, let's get some Bonnarooo first timer picks from Barry Courter.

Who are you looking at when you go down the lineup?

Somebody that's never been to Bonnarooo before that you want to see.

I'm not sure if they are also the very first Spanish act on a Bonnarooo lineup, but I'm going with Monchier-Pareen.

I'm sorry? You're going to have to spell that for me.

Mon-S-I-E-U-R P-E-R-I-N-E and the song is Bayer Contigo.

Okay. Barry Courter going deep right off the bat. Tell me about these people. What are they?

They are, like I said, a Spanish band, the lead singer Catalina Garcia.

When I was doing the research, I just, I hit on several female vocalists and liked all of them.

I don't think I sat down and said my picks today are going to be female driven,

but I was very happy with what I discovered. To me, that's the beautiful thing about us doing this. I love discovering.

You have stumped me.

Again.

I don't pretend to be some sort of Bonnarooo historian, but when you said the first Spanish band, they do some world music.

They do some world music.

They do a lot of world music.

Angelique Quijo was there last year who was awesome.

Get out.

I love her. I absolutely love her. That was a Don't Miss show. There were probably only a couple hundred people there, but it was great.

I'm pretty sure they had Michael Kiwanuka there, but that's not really world music.

There's all kinds of stuff they do in the solar stage that is in that vein.

I don't know if, I mean, they haven't had Pitbull, so I don't know who would classify as a Spanish artist.

I think one of my picks last year was a French vocalist. Forgive me for not thinking of her name.

Well, look, I mean, there is not a show that I will remember more in my festival life than Sigur Rosse at Hangout three years ago.

I mean, you don't understand a word they're saying.

There is something so unbelievably romantic and powerful to that, and I was mesmerized.

I think you're going to like this.

I need to expand a little bit and hear more of stuff like that, I think, when it comes to Bonnarooo.

That's kind of how I approach this. I mean, it's discovery and not just a new act, but a new music maybe.

Yes, and a completely different sound out of my lane.

That's what I like.

I'm going to go ahead and make a wager now.

I'm going to put some money down, and I want you to bet me straight up, all right?

All right, $100, go to that show. There's a guy dancing like this.

Doing the noodle arms.

The thing out in front of the insurance business in the wind.

He's like one of those noodle guys in front of the cash loan place. Yeah, that's the noodle arm guy.

I thought the bet was going to be $100 that we couldn't get Bryan Stone anywhere near this.

Not a chance. No, no, no, not going to happen.

He's got way too many neighbors to visit and to play with in Spanish music.

All right, I'm going to go with one of my first timers.

I'm going to follow suit with Barry Courter and go with a female first timer.

Actually, you know what? I have an idea. I'm not going to tell you anything about this artist.

I'll give you the name Cherry Glazer. I'm obsessed with this artist.

I've loved every single thing I've heard. Sirius XMU, et cetera.

By the way, Chris Muckley does a great job.

If you're not a fan of XMU, please listen to that because Chris Muckley does a brilliant, brilliant job as a tastemaker in this industry.

So this artist, Cherry Glazer, Barry Courter, I want you to listen to this.

And then I've got a question for you as soon as it's over, all right?

OK, should I go? What should I say? Where should I go? Is it OK? Is it you? Is it you? Is it you?

Where should I go, daddy? What should I say? Where should I go? Is it OK with you? Who should I fuck, daddy? What should I say? Who should I go? Is it OK to play?

Daddy, daddy, daddy, don't hold my hand. Don't hold my hand. Don't be my man. Don't be my man.

Don't hold my hand.

Cherry Glazer, my first Bonnarooo first-timer pick. And here's my question to you, Barry Courter.

Cherry Glazer is affronted by a girl named Clementine. How old do you think Clementine is?

Oh, wow. I don't know, but I like that a lot. I'm going to guess what, early 20s?

OK, early 20s is exactly right. She's 21. But here's what's crazy. She's been the front of this band, really the only person in this band, since she was 15.

She's already put out an album under Cherry Glazer, Stuffed and Ready is the latest one. And for a 21-year-old, her lyrics stop me dead my tracks.

When I first heard that song, Daddy, when I heard her challenge the paternal nature of, I don't know, relationships in general and how the mansplaining culture is sort of being called out everywhere you go.

When you hear these lyrics, where should I go, daddy? Who should I daddy? It's like, oh, do I need your permission here? Oh, this is what I need your permission for.

For a 21-year-old to sort of own that space is so cool for me. Yeah, that's great. I can't wait to see that and listen to more.

And every one of her songs is sort of pushing those kind of boundaries and pushing those kinds of ideas. And I just couldn't be a bigger fan.

My only fear, and I said this last year, I get neurotic about this stuff, especially when I get really, really excited for a band.

I say to myself, oh my God, pull back, don't get too excited because it may be Japanese breakfast. Yeah.

I was so disappointed in that show. I couldn't have been more excited about Japanese breakfast.

And then I went to Bonnaroo and I saw them on the witch stage and they spent 35 minutes soundchecking. Oh, it was longer than that. It was so frustrating.

Yeah, it was a, the whole set was soundchecking. Yeah, the whole soundcheck. It was really frustrating.

All right, so there you go. Cherry Glazer, my first pick, and then Barry Courter. You guys just say that name again. What was the other one you picked?

Monjour Parine. Monjour Parine. Did I roll my R's correctly by the way? I don't know. Okay. We live in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

So here in a second, I want to talk to a Bonnaroo listener who went to the Bonnaroo for the first time last year. His name is Dustin.

This is all about Bonnaroo first timers. If you had a piece of advice, Barry Courter, for Bonnaroo first timers, what would it be?

What are you going to tell somebody if they have never been to Bonnaroo? You can, you are going to enjoy it. It's not what you think.

Camping is a lot of, I mean, that's more than one. Just enjoy it. It's going to be a great time. Come with a, come with the right attitude.

Yeah. That seems to be the... Do you have a moment in your first year that you can't forget? Is there a moment that is just seared into your memory?

Well, the first year, yeah, I mean, to answer your question directly, I actually came, went there the first year because we got reports that the traffic was so bad.

I didn't actually go and stay the whole weekend. I just went the first day. Yeah. And I remember...

And as a local journalist, that's a big local story for us.

Big, big local story. I, to be honest, didn't want to go. Thought I was going to be stuck in traffic. My nightmare, me and Tim Barber, our photographer, walked in and immediately there was a bunch of kids sitting in a circle under a tree smoking or passing an inflatable bong around.

And we looked at each other and thought... Barry, don't judge me. This is different. This is a little different. This is cool.

I don't like, I don't like perpetuating the conversation about that type of culture. But I'm not going to lie, it is sort of the way that my first time went.

I tell this story every year. I've never told it on the show, but I tell this story at camp every year. My first year was a total disaster.

I swore I was never coming back. I hated everything about it. I was miserable. It was the year of the, essentially the Great Flood, where the rain just was so heavy. It just destroyed everything around it. Cars were getting stuck everywhere. We couldn't get out.

I had a straight up panic attack my second day. The heat got to me. The people got to me. The dirt got to me. I was just losing my mind and I had to get out. I just couldn't be comfortable anymore.

And it all started because the first night of Bonnaroo, in year two, it might have been year two or three, they had nothing marked. There was no... whatever you see in camp now, it's not even close to being what it was 15 years ago.

So you get out into GA camping and you take one wrong turn, one wrong turn, and you're going to be walking forever.

People don't realize how big that space is.

And we weren't really doing totems then. I mean, there were some, but people now very smartly mark their camp with flags or, like us, a lit marquee. At the time, nobody was doing that.

You remember the year we had so many people stop by our camp to thank us because they were using our lighted marquee as their totem, their marker.

We didn't have those necessarily that year. So you make one wrong turn and you're gone. And all I remember is camp was forever away. I felt like I was walking for 45 minutes at least just to get to Senru.

So we make the wrong turn and we just were walking, walking, we're walking, and we're obviously going in the wrong direction. But we have no earthly idea where we are.

And out of nowhere. And I hate telling the story because it makes it sound like it was the Wild West back then. But on one side, there was something on fire.

My brain says it was a car, but I think I made that up. But there was something on fire on the right.

On the left, there was a guy on top of a bus peeing off of it. And then a girl butt naked ran straight at me, grabbed me around the throat, slinky down my body to my feet, screaming, PCP!

And it was the end. So she grabs my ankle and I literally have to like kick her off as I'm walking back to camp.

That panicked me. And the whole Saturday was ruined. I didn't know what the hell was going on. All I wanted was out.

And so we go to rush out after I think dead and comforted. I don't remember who was on Saturday night, but we go to rush out.

It had just poured down rain for hours. We go to rush out in the car. We're like packing everything. We got to get the hell out of here. Just get me out.

So we pack everything into the car and as we were 20 yards, 20 yards from the exit, 20 magical yards from the exit of the worst 24 to 36 hours of my life.

And the car gets stuck in the mud and we can't get out because it's right in the middle of dead and co or dead and company.

I don't know. It was Grateful Dead something and nobody was around. Nobody was around to help us and we were stuck.

So we slept in the car and we came to with a kid on a four wheeler dragging cars out of the mud.

We gave that kid 50 bucks to take us 20 yards. Yeah. I mean, I have I don't have any real bad bad memories.

When I mentioned the guys sitting under the tree passing the bong. I'm like you. I don't mean to perpetuate that.

It was it was more that it was just OK. You know, whatever you wanted to do, I'll give you.

And I do know the first year that I was there camping that I was officially there and I've been every year since the fountain.

I went to the fountain probably on Thursday afternoon and suddenly two girls and a guy are completely naked dancing in the water.

And that was sort of eye opening. Of course, how it was handled was more the eye opening experience.

A girl suddenly showed up in a security t shirt, kind of looked at him and said, you can't do that.

You put your clothes on. That was it. I love that. You can't do that.

Yeah, she wasn't screaming, you know, she didn't come running like hair on fire.

I've never seen that once there. Never once. Never once.

Screaming here. No panic security. Anything. Nope. Nope.

I got a letter from a letter. How old am I? We got an email from Drew.

This is what Drew said about his Bonnarooo first timers that I'm loving season two of the podcast so far as tips for first timers.

I have a couple I wish that I would have known about my in first through in 2011.

Bring shade, bring an easy up, tapestries, tarp, etc. For yourself and everyday use.

Bring baby powder, sunscreen, baby wipes, hand sanitizer and a cold towel.

Apply the first two like it's your job. That is exactly right.

Man, it took me years to come around on the baby powder. It is essential. It is so essential.

You know, it brings me to the things that I thought were important at camp that aren't important.

And the first one we've said it over and over and over. Bonnarooo first timers. Don't worry about food.

Now, I understand that there's a long, long trek to certain places and a lot of people don't have money to spend at Bonnarooo.

It's hard enough for them to buy the ticket. I get that. Don't overdo it. Make it very simple for yourself.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If you're a meat eater, do ham and cheese sandwiches.

Make it very simple on not only you, but your stomach.

Peanut butter and animal crackers of all things. That was my staple for the first couple of years.

It's energy. It's quick. It's easy. You don't waste. You don't make a whole sandwich if you only really wanted a half of a thing.

So that and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. But there's water stations everywhere now.

And there's food everywhere. Food's everywhere. Good food. Yeah, great food.

It's not overly priced. The one thing that I didn't... So I overdid it with the food my first year.

I overdid it with the barbecue grill for some odd reason. Why in the world I would do that now? This is so stupid.

But I'll tell you what I never, ever thought of was, especially in 2003 or whatever year was, an easy up tent.

Those are imperative. You cannot survive without an easy up tent. Now, I understand sometimes they're really crappy and they collapse

or they get rained on and destroys your day like the guy at our camp last year. But you've got to find some way to protect yourself from the sun

that is going to... It's going to beat down on you for a good eight hours.

That was the biggest change. We're pampered. We know that. We're in guest camping, which is now in the trees in the woods by the freeway.

For the first several years, we were out in the sun. There was one tree in the entire parking lot and that was first pick for everybody.

So yeah, that was completely unprepared for that because it's all day in the sun. Yeah, all day in the sun. There's nowhere to hide.

Here's the other thing that I thought I would need and I probably did my first year and I'll tell you why you don't need to worry about it now.

I was panic stricken about bugs. I have a major, major fear of one insect. It's such a fear I can't even say it out loud.

It freaks me out. Somebody found one on them years and years ago and I about threw up. I was so scared.

But I overdid it with bug spray and mosquito spray and it just coated myself in it the first year.

And I think he probably needed to then. But we talk about this every year. Every year, Barry, we sit at Camp Nut Butter and say, you know what? I've never seen a bug.

It's kind of freaky. It is really strange. There are no bugs. And we're in the woods. I think I've seen five in the entire 15 years.

In the woods and there's no bugs. Not a mosquito in Tennessee. It's the only place in this in the entire state where there's no mosquitoes. How is that possible?

I don't know. I don't know. And I don't know if I want to know.

I wonder if it's like that in GA. Does GA, do you get bugs out there? I never see bugs anywhere. I don't see bugs anywhere.

Even not at, you know, normally around here, especially the moths and everything are going to come to the light in the evening.

Oh, my God. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. Have you think about it, Bonnarooo. Think about it. If you've been, have you ever looked at the lights?

You seen any bugs? There's no bugs ever. I didn't even think about the lights. I mean, they're so eco-friendly.

I have a hard time thinking that they just crop dust that thing for. Then how do you explain it? But I don't know, man. That's what I'm saying.

Now, the only the only exception to this was last year we got in super early. It was like Wednesday afternoon and the back area was pretty desolate.

I mean, it was us and maybe 25 other people. And what comes scurrying past us at about 50 miles an hour, 20 yards away? A skunk. A skunk.

And it didn't go away for a while. It didn't go away. That's probably the only panic moment I've had there.

Well, yeah, because, you know, think about your Bonnarooo. You're just sitting there and a skunk is just hanging out.

What do you do? What do you do? It's not like you can run it off. Yeah, I wasn't going to.

No, you just got to sit there and pray to God. It doesn't come your way. And it every move it made, we just kept saying to us, oh, God, here it comes.

Get in the car, get in the truck. Yeah. For two hours we watched that skunk. Yeah, I forgot about that. That was going to make for a band.

I will always remember a bug. If that thing had done its thing, that's a long weekend.

Well, it wouldn't have been any different than how some of our campmates smell. That's a good point. Not going to change.

All right. Let's talk to AJR. AJR is going to be at Bonnarooo. Bonnarooo first timer. AJR making their debut appearance at Bonnarooo.

Let's talk to Adam from AJR. How are you, buddy? I'm doing well. How are you guys? Doing super.

I'm excited to talk to you again because I feel like my boys made it big.

You were the star of the running of the Chihuahuas three, four years ago. And I feel as though that's that started the whole thing.

That started the whole machine. Definitely. It was definitely the turning moment in our career.

This is Barry, Adam. Thanks for doing this, first of all. But that's my first question. On your resume, which is now higher?

First time at Bonnarooo or running of the Chihuahuas in Chattanooga, Tennessee?

I'm going to go with the Chihuahuas. I mean, we are dog people.

That a baby. So let me give you a little backstory here.

So years ago, the record label came to us and said something about a band that they wanted to bring by the radio station.

And a lot of times we don't know who they are. We don't really expect much.

And then they said, no, you're going to love these kids. They're going to they're going to do really well.

They've got a really great social media following. Adam, Jack and Ryan, the brothers of AJR, stopped by.

And I don't over sell. I don't try to to to bloviate too much in my life, but I've never had a better artist showcase show up at the radio station than AJR.

They were amazing. I'm not saying that just because Adam's on the phone,

but you guys were so phenomenal when you never really needed to be.

You were just nice. You were happy to be here and you treated everybody like they were your best friends. Right.

So that's a very important step. So then we called them again like, hey, would you come back to town and do a free show at this thing called the running of the Chihuahuas,

which is this dopey event that I created years ago for my radio station where I get one hundred and fifty dogs to race, one hundred fifty Chihuahuas to race.

And I also do music beforehand and AJR was our was our big headliner.

And you guys could not have been better. You couldn't have been more phenomenal.

And and yet the charm's still there. The the happiness to be around is still there.

And we thought it was like, man, these kids are going to go somewhere.

Now, then fast forward a couple of months later and they're popping up all over the charts.

Then out of nowhere, they've got a song with Rivers Cuomo and now they're number one on alternative radio.

And they're in front of twenty thousand people at Music Midtown.

I keep going back to this moment at the running of the Chihuahuas like, oh, you know,

they they settled on my tiny little stage in the middle of downtown Chattanooga for, you know, a thousand people.

And now look at them. By the way, Adam, he doesn't bloviate.

So now it's your turn. I mean, that first part of the story first.

Thank you so much. I mean, that's really awesome to hear.

And I mean, we when we go and we visit these different places around the country and play shows,

the number one thing that's most important to us is that we remain exactly who we are.

There's no facade we're putting on.

There's no different us on social media or in person than we actually are.

We're literally just ourselves.

And we wouldn't want to be doing this if we needed to pretend to be somebody else.

So thank you for for recognizing that.

And we're so appreciative to have had the opportunity to come in and play at the radio station and play at the running of the Chihuahuas.

Because, you know, every show that we do, whether it's in front of five people or five thousand people,

is kind of preparing us and making us better and better because, you know,

the ten thousand hours dictum of just working and working and working and you don't become an expert at something until you've worked on it for ten thousand hours.

We are pretty close to that ten thousand hours mark of performing.

And so we're really excited to be able to play huge festivals like this.

I mean, even Music Midtown a couple of years ago, but now playing these festivals like Bonnarooo.

And we started to find out what like time slots we're getting.

And it's right as the sun is setting.

It's like the ideal time slot.

And we're putting together a different kind of show.

We want the show to be audience interactive.

We want the show to kind of show how we make our music in addition to just playing the songs that people want to hear.

I'll tell you what was pretty startling is watching you guys do stuff for the five people.

And then when you stood on stage in front of twenty thousand people at Music Midtown, how effortless it seemed to be,

how comfortable you were in front of five people and twenty thousand people.

And oh, by the way, I hate to tell you, standing right next to me on the stage was Rivers Cuomo.

So, you know, you've got a little bit of pressure building when you've got Rivers Cuomo on one side

and then twenty thousand people in front of you and you guys still acted as if you were in front of five people.

That's got to just be repetition or is it is it just inside you guys and it's just what you were born to do?

It's funny because we started out street performing.

And when you do that, you have to convince a crowd to be there that doesn't want to be there.

That's the absolute hardest thing to do.

So if you're playing for people that actually want to be there, even just a little bit, it's so much easier.

You know, and we grew up doing that street performing thing, trying to convince businessmen

that we're just running down the street, trying to talk on the phone and just not listen to us.

We did that for so many years.

And it's like that's that's something that kind of helped us to work on our performing job.

So when you're playing for twenty thousand people that actually want to be there, it's so rewarding for us.

And that day where you were standing next to Rivers, that was the first day we ever met Rivers.

We did the whole collaboration over the Internet. That was an amazing day for us.

So this is the story of AJR and you can probably tell it better than I.

And so feel free to jump in at any moment.

But they have some middle of the road top 40 success.

And then you guys somehow get Rivers Cuomo's ear.

Rivers Cuomo is a huge pop music fan, by the way.

There's some really funny stories about him just meandering around Governor's ball with G8 passes

because he just loves pop music for some reason.

So he finds AJR and I guess he he reaches out to you guys and he gives you a track for Sober Up

that you you guys include in the in the thing in the in the chorus.

And then all of a sudden this thing blows up at alternative radio within like 10 weeks.

You're at number one. You've got a number one single on your hands.

And you're telling me that you hadn't even met Rivers Cuomo by then.

Yeah, it was really insane. I mean, we've been fans of Weezer for so long.

And he followed us on Twitter just completely out of the blue

because he was a fan of our our single before that, which was called Weak.

He was a big fan of that song.

And so we just DMed him on Twitter saying, thanks for following us.

We're huge fans. Would you ever want to do something together?

And he said, absolutely.

So we had the song Sober Up except the bridge.

The bridge was empty and he sent us a bunch of different options for the bridge.

And he writes songs in a very different way from anyone else that we've ever approached.

He has an Excel document of all these different lines that he's excited about.

And he kind of drags and drops things and puts them together.

So he sent us four options. One of them was in Spanish.

One of them was I don't even think it was like actual words, but that's so Rivers.

He's so out of the box and creative and different.

And the fact that he sent us that line, My Favorite Color Is You,

is just fits so perfectly with the song that we knew even just over the Internet

that this was going to be a perfect collaboration.

And we've seen him a ton of times since.

He actually opened for us as a solo artist on our LA show playing an acoustic set, which was unbelievable.

That was like one of the best nights of our lives, seeing him play acoustic before we went on stage.

And he asked to do it. And we said, of course. How are we not going to say of course?

You were talking about remaining humble and watching all this grow.

How much of the fact that you guys are brothers plays into that?

I mean, brothers have a good way of keeping the others humble.

Definitely. I think we wouldn't be where we are if we weren't brothers.

And we each have our own very distinct roles within the band, both on stage and behind the scenes.

Ryan produces everything. Start to finish. We don't have any co-writers.

We don't have any co-producers, anything on the album that we have coming up.

And he produces everything.

Jack is really great at melodies and chorus lyrics.

And I do a lot of the kind of like behind the scenes business stuff,

like helping put together the tours and the deals and things like that.

And because we each have our own space that we live in, we don't step on each other's toes.

And it allows everything to kind of move forward in a really strong way.

We really trust each other. And I think that would only happen with brothers.

We grew up in a tiny apartment in New York City, and we all shared a room for the first 18 years of our lives.

So that kind of forced us to be close. We couldn't argue and then sleep in the same room for that long.

That's when one of you tries to get a little big for the britches, as they say.

The other two are pretty quick there, right, to yank you back.

Exactly. Exactly.

It's interesting. Did you guys know your strengths before you jumped into it,

or did you just have to find your own way along the path?

Did you know that you were better at business? Did you know that Ryan was better at producing?

Or is that just something that you guys just stumbled upon to make it work?

We stumbled upon it. And for years and years, we didn't have any support from the music industry.

We didn't have a label or management or anything like that.

And so we kind of took on these different roles.

And Ryan learned how to edit videos for our music videos.

And it was just a skill that he said, OK, we need somebody to do this. And so we picked it up.

We needed a bass player. And I had played piano before that.

And I said, OK, we need a bass player. Let me pick up the bass and I'll learn how to play bass.

It was very much, let's figure out what we need and how to divide up the responsibilities.

And I think we approach our different kind of roles in a very lucky way.

Because if I had done the production, I probably wouldn't be nearly as good as Ryan is.

And if he tried to do the finances for something, he would not be nearly as good as I am.

So we kind of found our our niches and it just worked out really well.

That is unbelievable, because I sort of think that that's where the music industry is going.

If it's not already there. It's guys like you and maybe right before you, Sean Mendes, guys like Sean Mendes, especially.

Not doing it on their own and then everybody else coming along after they figured it out.

You know, you go to some of these indie alternative bands like Boy Genius.

They figured it out on their own and then it's going to be good enough.

Somebody will come pick them up at the end of the at the end of the day.

Definitely. We're approaching this new world of music where everybody has access to everything.

So somebody who's never done this before can put a song out on SoundCloud or Spotify and then it blows up the next day.

And they don't have a team behind them. They don't have anything.

So the fact that people can use the Internet and different platforms to build up their own skills and figure out how to do this on their own.

I mean, Chance, Chance the Rapper is a perfect example.

He now has a team, but he didn't even put his music on sale for the longest time.

I don't even know if it's on sale now, but he doesn't charge for his music because he wants people to just participate in this music that he's making.

And then they come to live shows and the music industry is definitely changing to that direction where people are taking on more and more of the role.

You mentioned Chance the Rapper, Chance the Rapper, the mayor of Bonnarooo.

He is sort of like the the grand marshal of all things Bonnarooo.

Have you guys ever been to Bonnarooo? Have you experienced what what Manchester holds?

We've never been.

So you had mentioned earlier that you were looking to do the show a little bit differently.

What do you know about Bonnarooo and what makes you want to do it that way?

I mean, and I have a follow up question about that because that's kind of one of the things we hear people say.

It's a little bit different festival. So what are you guys hearing about it?

We've just heard that it's from a bunch of our artist friends that it's one of the best festivals to do in the world.

Like everything from the way the artist compound is set up to like the audience there,

that because of where it's located, that people from all over the country end up coming to it

and that it's a very different kind of festival experience.

So I don't know. I'd love to hear more about it if you guys have any recommendations of how we should approach.

But Bonnarooo is exactly what they gave you an idea of is that it is different than any other musical experience

because and we've said this on the show for a year now, it's because you are locked in.

You don't have anywhere to go. It's a camping festival in the middle of Tennessee in the dead of summer.

There's no place else for you to go but to immerse yourself in all things art and music.

And the people that show up, they are dedicated because they've been there all day.

And the artists that are there, they give so much more to the audience

because the audience is giving them so much more from their experience.

So it's the best avenue to experience not only new music, but art in general.

It's the best showcase for you wanting to expand your territory and also probably simultaneously making your

quote unquote P1s, your diehards happy as well.

Thanks so much. We're so excited to go and we're excited to see you guys there too.

You're playing on Friday. That means you start the festival out.

Thursday is a discovery day. Friday is the day where people start to get going pretty hard.

Do you know any time that you're playing on Friday? Do you know the stage you're playing on Friday?

Oh, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to announce that. I don't know if it's been posted.

It has not been. But you said it was in the evening though.

Yes. It's sometime between four and seven. That's all I'll tell you.

Most of the people will be in and their camp's set up and they will have, I mean they'll start on Thursday

because it starts earlier and earlier and earlier. But Friday is when it really blows up.

Great night. You've got Fish of course that night, Childish Gambino.

Ava Brothers is that night. Courtney Barnett. I mean already. That's a great way to start the day.

Are you guys planning on staying the whole weekend?

I think we're planning on staying through Saturday.

But I'm pretty sure we have another show on Sunday that we need to get to.

Then that's my suggestion to you. Maximize as much as you can on the farm.

And I'm excited to see what the new show holds. All luck in the world to you.

And I can't wait to see you at Manchester. Alright buddy?

Thank you so much. We will see you guys in June. Appreciate it.

How's it going again?

AJR, Boderu First Timer, along with some of our picks for Boderu First Timers.

I chose Cherry Glazer earlier in the show. Who do you got?

For the next one? Who was your first one by the way?

The first one was Monshir Harin.

I love testing you to say that. I know.

Now I can't wait for you to try this. I got another one too.

Okay let's hear it. Let's hear another Boderu First Timer.

When you think of the sitar, what name comes to mind?

The restaurant we go to for Indian food?

The musical instrument. What name comes to mind?

It's Sting. Yeah. Sting.

I would have come up with Ravi Shankar.

No. There's two things here.

When you think sitar, you think of Sting.

And when you think the bongos, you think of a naked Matthew McConaughey.

This is easy.

We're of a different time era then.

Ravi Shankar is the one who helped teach George Harrison how to play the sitar.

But Anushka, I hope I'm saying her name right, Shankar, is Ravi's daughter.

I have two picks that are daughters of famous musicians.

This is the first one. Anushka Shankar.

You're really testing my spelling abilities today.

She plays sitar but it's a little more poppy what I heard.

She mixes it up. She is British born and I like the music.

She's also very very pretty. More world music for you.

More world music. All females. All three of my picks today are females.

I guess you're pointing out last week that there have not been a female headliner.

There hasn't. Interesting.

But here's the thing. Actually, I'm going to save my point until after we hear this.

Because I have something I'm going to challenge you on.

Well hello, Nora Jones. Nice to see you again.

It's nice to hear from Nora Jones with your second pick. What's her name again?

Anushka Shankar.

So here's the only criticism I have about the first two that you've given me.

So the first one was what?

Monjour, Bari.

And then the second was what?

Anushka Shankar.

You think that they're going to be hitting the wet stage in a few years?

No.

That's all.

Never considered.

That's not a knock.

Not a consideration.

When I think about boundary first timers, I do in the back of my mind wonder if we're going to see them again and how we're going to see them again.

I like this idea of when we saw, as much as we dogged on Bozzi a little bit earlier, we saw him on that tent.

And maybe, just maybe, in the back of my head, maybe he's on the wet stage one year.

Sure.

Dua Lipa last year. Two years ago, rather.

Moon Taxi we've talked about. They're the classic example.

Black Keys.

Imagine if you saw the first Black Keys show at Bonnarooo.

Yeah, I get that, but I really didn't even consider that in this case.

That's okay. And it's very pretty. It's very pretty. I feel like I'll be doing some sort of yoga.

That is a component of her music. She has an album that says yoga in the title of it, if I remember right.

It's very Deepak Chopra for me. It's very Deepak Chopra.

You know, I've come away from Bonnarooo with a couple of, I call them Sunday morning acts that are good.

Bahamas would be probably the top of my list.

I like that.

I left there after seeing him and now, I mean for the next year, every Sunday morning that's what I was listening to.

Mine is usually 60 Soul, but I very much pick up your point. That's really a good idea.

Back to the comments for Bonnarooo first timers. This one from Kevin.

Explore the campgrounds. These are his Bonnarooo tips.

Explore the campgrounds on Wednesday night or any night. Walk around GA and meet people.

You'll stumble upon people playing instruments, drum circles, and all kinds of fun.

As a leader in group camping, we love to meet people, stop by and see us and play games with us, hang out, and come to our beer exchange.

Oh yeah, they're doing the beer exchange, which by the way we've got to come to this year.

We've heard a lot of beer exchange invites.

There are a lot of things that we need to experience for the first time this year that we have missed.

Yeah, so we know that the Bonnarooo people are listening. We've got a lot on our list.

We need some sort of, I don't know, transportation if you could do that for us.

Who do you think we're talking to right now? Anybody? Anybody at AC? Hello?

We'll reach out.

Can we get some transportation please?

Alright, I've got another Bonnarooo first timer. I think I've brought them up before, but honestly it was one of my favorite albums of the entire year last year.

And when the lineup came out, this was the first name that I gravitated towards. It was the first name and I said yes.

There are so many artists that I wanted to be on the lineup that we just missed.

I loved the Eamonn Doones album last year. It breaks my heart a little bit that he's not going to be at Bonnarooo.

I loved Cautious Clay. I wish they would have found a slot for him. And then I love Rolling Blackout's Coastal Fever.

Rolling Blackout's just caught me completely off guard and surprised. I love this album so much.

So I know it's a little genre bending. It's not necessarily garage punk.

I know it doesn't sound like what you would expect, like a parquet court or something like that, but they just do guitars so well.

They write such great poppy riffs with guitars that I absolutely just love, love, love.

And that's not even the best song on the album. Talking Straight's even better. It just goes from one banger after another over and over and over.

That's going to be really, really fun. I believe they're on Thursday. Dude, they're every bit of a Thursday headliner for me.

I think they're in Courtney Barnett's slot somewhere at 9 o'clock if I had to guess. I'm not a schedule guy.

There's better people that do the schedule. You mentioned that Sunday at 3 o'clock afternoon kind of feel when we hear some of it.

To me they sound like a late night kind of evening.

We have a special guest coming up a little bit later on the show for Bonnarooo First Timers.

But we want to talk to you each and every week. We want to talk to a different listener of the What Podcast.

Not only to say thank you, but also just to connect with Bonnarooians. So this week, who reached out to us by the way?

Dustin. Dustin. All right. Now tell me Dustin's story.

Dustin lives in Louisiana. He wrote us a nice note saying basically that last year was his first time.

And he has pestered his coworkers and friends and family ever since. All he can talk about is Bonnarooo.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It does. Sounds like us every day of the week. Hey, Dustin, how are you?

I'm good. How are you?

Doing amazing. That's Barry. I'm Brad.

Do you have the fever yet, Dustin? Do you have the Bonnarooo fever?

I have the fever.

88 days. Is that what it is?

Oh man. Calm down.

No, no kidding. All right. So inside 100 days means things start to get serious and we start to reflect on years past and we start to plan for this year.

What about you? How does your schedule usually go when it comes? By the way, how many Bonnars you've been to, Dustin?

Just the one last year.

Okay. All right. So let's start with your initial ideas to what Bonnarooo was before you went.

Well, I thought it was a place to go camp and just watch music. I didn't realize how big it was, how many people were going to be there and then what all that entailed.

And that it was 24 hours and not just when the music wasn't when it wasn't.

Let me jump on that question because I was thinking about that. I remember preparing for my first one and being intimidated and scared and frightened because I don't camp.

Yeah. You know, so it's like, how am I going to survive four days or whatever? And I probably overpacked and overthought, you know, at every contingency that I thought so anyway.

And we've kind of settled into it. What was that like for you? First of all, where are you from?

I'm from Louisiana down by Baton Rouge.

You're used to the heat.

Yeah, I wasn't that worried about the heat, but I still definitely overpacked and over planned. I try to have every single thing because I didn't want to leave the site once I got there.

And because it was my first time, I wasn't actually sure how easy it was to leave and get back.

Yeah, it's really not. In general, admission or general camping, you can't really leave and come back, can you?

I don't think so. I didn't because I had everything years. I didn't attempt to.

All right. So I like this idea. What was the dumbest thing that you brought the first year?

Well, I'd have to say probably the grill. I ended up, I thought I needed a propane tank grill. I brought it and then I was just on the move and on the go so much that I didn't use it.

And then the one time I forced myself to use it, but I didn't, I didn't even want to. I was like, well, I bought this thing and should probably use it. And it was more of a hassle than I wanted it to be.

Yeah. You almost feel like you have to use it because you brought it. That's exactly right. And it goes down into into Bonnaroo lore that if you had to tell a first timer, the one thing that you need to not worry about is food.

Yeah. I mean, the dumbest idea is to bring a grill. We did the same thing. First time I went, brought the grill, had the food ready to go. And all I wanted was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The only time Brad, I can remember us being glad someone brought a grill was the guy who made eggs Benedict's for us.

He made scrambled eggs for us one morning.

No, he made eggs Benedict's.

I don't mind other people bringing the, your neighbors bringing the grill. That's fine.

That's fine by me. Yeah. I'm not doing any work. Do you have any in mind?

Yeah. This year I'm not bringing that. I'm bringing just bread and bread, chips, lunch meat, and then anything that's easy to on the go. Cause that's all I was doing anyway. I was just grabbing go.

That's right. That's right.

All right. So you, you, you learn a few things in the first year. Now preparing for this year, how are you switching it up? How are you changing other than just decreasing the amount of food?

Well, I'm also, so last year I had a tent and a canopy over the tent. And then I actually had another canopy with like a mosquito net around it. I'm going to probably downgrade some of that this year.

Uh, with all the rain and stuff, both those canopies collapsed on me anyway. Really? They don't really drain the water that well. They kind of, they kind of pull together and then collapsed over my tent.

Uh, I'm bringing more, more shoes this year. Uh, I only brought one pair last year and that was a mistake. I need multiple shoes.

Very smart tip right there. And, and I'll give you, and not just multiple shoes, shower shoes. Don't sleep on the shower shoes. Those really terrible, cheap $5 things from Walmart. They're perfect.

Yeah. Just leave them there.

Just leave them. I get a new pair every year.

And I'm thinking of shower shoes. Uh, I would definitely suggest using the showers that they have on site during like the happy hour kind of times. There's nobody in there.

No, don't tell them that Dustin. You're giving away your secret.

Oh, all right. Some things we hold close.

Yeah, there are bees. There are bees in the shower during happy hour. Don't you remember that?

I remember the first year, uh, Chaco's were all the big thing because it was, they posted, don't bring, don't wear like flip flops because if it rains, you're going to step in mud and you're going to leave your shoes behind.

Dude, I don't, I don't like the idea and all the girls at our campsite where the Chaco's, I don't understand how they do it, dude. There's nothing I want less than dirt on my feet.

You know, the best decision I made was after about four years of fighting that just bringing a comfortable pair of tennis shoes.

Yeah.

For some reason I didn't think that was going to work, you know, and that they'd get dirty or filthy. And now I'm like, man, I don't care. Good shoes. Yeah. I can always get new shoes.

Yeah. And socks, man. Socks. Lots and lots of socks. Because frankly, I want to walk around camp with socks on and maybe those easy to slip on shoes.

Easy to slip on flip flops, really the shower shoes. Just something to get me from point A to point B.

If you lay down tarp over your whole campsite, it's fine walking on it with socks. It feels great.

Or indoor outdoor carpeting.

Yeah, we have 600 square feet of carpeting.

We bring a lot of grass carpet. That's Camp Nut Butter style. Now I will say back to the shower thing is, and this doesn't necessarily, I can give away this trade secret, where we camp.

Dude, the best shower of the day is three, four o'clock in the morning. It's absolutely, you really don't want to because you get back to camp and you want so badly to go to bed. But no, just do it.

Just do the three, four o'clock shower. It is the best possible time. The water has gotten a chance to replenish and get hot again. Oh, man, it's perfect. There's nobody ever there.

You sleep better because you're clean.

Yes, always sleep better. I do not. I'll tell you, biggest argument me and the lady got into ever was because back in the day, I got so irritated with her because she didn't wash her feet before she goes to bed.

Drives me crazy. Drives you crazy, especially with a cat in the house. I'm constantly concerned that there's litter on my feet. So washing your feet before you go to bed in my house is a problem.

Imagine what it's like at Bonnarooo.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

That's a good one.

You better wet nap those wet wipes.

Definitely bring baby wipes.

Baby wipes and a gallon. I bring a gallon or the three gallon jug of water for washing.

Dumbest thing I brought because I didn't know how I'm very particular about brushing my teeth. I brush my teeth four, five, six times a day. I'm obsessed with it.

So I didn't know how I was going to brush my teeth. So what I did is I got one of those miniature paint cans, those plastic paint that mixers from Ace Hardware and I would fill it with water and I would swish around my toothbrush as if that was any different than any other container that I could have used.

Right. You thought it through. That's what I mean. We overthink these things.

So dumb.

Yeah.

So dumb.

You got to buy something. I have to buy something.

Look what I got, guys. I got this really great idea to brush my teeth. Didn't work.

It's so stupid.

It can't be just a plastic cup.

And guess what? I have lost so much camping equipment through the years. Guess what I keep finding every year?

That bucket.

That bucket. I can find that bucket before I can find a tent, before I can find a tarp. Nonstop. I can find that stupid bucket.

That's good.

Yeah. All right. So how about go back to, let's say we leave camp, we leave the ideas of what you thought Bonnarooo was the first year.

When did you finally feel comfortable on the farm? At what point did you, I guess I'm getting, I guess you got there on Thursday.

What point throughout the week did you say, okay, I finally, I can let go here?

I started late Wednesday night. Got in as early as I could.

Good move.

Finally, I got everything, got the camp all situated before the sun came up and then started exploring a little bit.

And then that next day, music started and instantly I let go.

Wow.

As soon as the music starts.

You felt that quick of a connection to let go of all your inhibitions, fears, concerns. It was that quick.

Well, as soon as they get there, you start to look around at all the people around you and then they're just acting all crazy.

And it's like, it just, well, I might as well be like that too, you know, and I just kind of let go.

Obviously no one's going to judge you for anything that you do or anything like that. So I just let go.

It took you five hours.

Me too though.

It took you five hours. It took me five years.

Really?

Five years before I really felt.

Well, you're uptight.

Well, I'm uptight about about very specific things. Heat, bugs, dirt.

This is not the world for me.

That's why I might like when I tell people that I do this every year, especially people that that don't know how big of a Bonnarooo guy I am.

When I tell them what I do, they just their mouth is a gape.

You do what?

I get the same.

As we've said here many times, it's the only time of the year I camp.

I just don't.

Yeah.

So, you know, all that whole.

But again, if you make it comfortable, I think to the part of that Dustin for me is as soon as we get out of the car in the parking lot and everyone just starts saying hello and shaking hands and introducing them.

So, you know, you're in a different place.

There's there's a moment in our drive.

I don't know what your drive is like, but there's a moment in our drive and because we take a specific way every year and Barry, we try to caravan together with some other guys.

We caravan together with some other people.

There's a moment in our drive when it hits me.

Yeah.

Now, it took me five years to get there.

But ever since then, that moment at the top of the hill, as we come down Montaigle, there is a moment that hits me every year and it sends chills down my spine.

Just thinking about it.

That's what I know.

A Bonnarooo.

Yeah.

Part of the reason for that, too, is you can pick up the Bonnarooo station on Sirius XM.

So you get to start listening.

I didn't even know that.

I thought you meant the local one.

I do too. Whatever I pick up, I start listening to music and interviews and stuff.

So yeah, and it's a beautiful drive.

It's a beautiful drive.

No, I mean, we go through like our Bonnarooo playlist.

We listen to like stuff that we might have put on a playlist.

But, dude, frankly, I could listen to nothing.

I roll the windows down on that on that drive.

It's nothing but farmland on both sides because we take a back road to get there.

It is absolutely perfect.

It soothes your soul, you know exactly the feeling when you get there.

Get out and you get in the parking lot, you pop a beer.

Everyone's having a good time already.

Yeah, already.

We're just sitting in the parking lot, just waiting to get in.

It's a great feeling.

All right, so let me ask, because in your note that you sent,

and we're going to talk some more about all the emails we've been getting

and thank you to everybody that sends them.

But you said you basically keep pestering all your friends and family, right?

Talking about Bonnarooo.

Oh, yeah.

I work in a kind of small office and all they do is hear about Bonnarooo and Bonnarooo this

and, oh, you know who's going to be playing at Bonnarooo this year?

This guy.

And I just keep talking about it there.

I'm sure they've been very nice about it, but I'm sure they're definitely tired of hearing about it.

So then every now and then I just put my headphones on and listen to y'all's podcast.

And that kind of helps get my Bonnarooo fakes.

I'm the same way.

I feel like I'm constantly, hey, have I mentioned that I go to Bonnarooo?

Dude, there is not.

You just made me realize how many times I say when somebody brings up an artist, I say, yes, I'm at Bonnarooo.

Exactly.

That is so annoying.

Yeah.

That is so obnoxious.

I've become that guy.

Yes, I'm.

Yeah.

Oh, I love blankety blank.

Oh, I love blankety blank.

Yes, I'm at Bonnarooo.

Shut up.

Exactly.

Yeah.

All right.

So let's talk about last year.

Who did you see that you loved?

Who did you see that you were shocked by?

Who did you discover?

Who did you who are you disappointed by?

Well, I discovered the person I discovered and fell in love with was Jade Bird from last year.

I had never heard of Jade Bird.

I saw in the lineup, looked at some of her songs and enjoyed it.

So then I went to see her live and she just put on such a great show.

Surprised by, I would say Eminem.

I've never I had never been to a rap show before.

I was like, it can't be that entertaining.

No, just a guy rapping on like walking back and forth on the stage.

Right. But that that show there was amazing.

Somebody else I had discovered and thanks to you guys, I think partially the war and treaty.

Absolutely. Thank you.

I fell in love with them.

Absolutely fell in love.

Yeah, they're amazing.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones.

I had never heard of them.

Well, OK.

That was awesome.

That's a good group.

Yeah.

Paul almost falling off the carpet.

Right. That was a lot of fun.

That was good for him.

I'll tell you, look, let me let me say let me say something that that we might have talked about before.

And the reason we don't necessarily focus too much on hip hop with this show, mainly a that's not necessarily Arlene.

But B, I can't tell.

I can probably count on one hand how many quality hip hop shows have actually been to Bonnarooo.

For some reason, they just don't work.

They don't translate.

They don't sound good from all accounts.

The Eminem show sounded phenomenal.

I think Snoop sounded really great in 2011.

But, boy, you go to you go to like what was it?

T-Pain last year.

That was an absolute train wreck.

I mean, I remember Big Boy being a disaster.

Ludacris sounded terrible.

I mean, time and time again.

And I'll even say this.

I know we shouldn't be talking about him, but the R. Kelly sounded really good.

There are so many hip hop shows that just don't work at Bonnarooo.

And I don't know what it is.

I don't know what it is about it.

Well, you know, you said that.

I think I told you I looked up and found a Little Dickie performance live and I was really looking forward to seeing him after hearing his recorded talk about a Bonnarooo first time.

And there you go.

And now I'm like, I'm going to go and see it.

Yeah, but I'm I don't think it's going to be a great look.

I want to say I was pretty excited for.

I'm I'll say I could be wrong.

I'm excited about Little Dickie.

I'm very excited Little Dickie.

But I mean, look, that act that act is going to wear thin at some point.

I don't know when it's going to hit.

Maybe it'll take take over and it'll be a terrific show.

Maybe I'll be I hope so.

I'll change my mind.

I'm there.

I'm there for pillow talk.

I'm there for pillow talk.

That's all I care about.

I want a pillow talking with a bitch.

That's what I want.

I want that my life.

That's one time.

OK, it's hilarious.

There are no Ubers around here.

I love that song so much.

All right.

So that was last year.

What about this year?

What's on your your docket so far?

What are you planning?

Oh, so one of the the lineup from top to bottom is I'm thoroughly enjoying getting a lot of

new artists such as AJR.

I had never heard of them at all.

And I've really been playing them the most so far.

Wow.

There you go.

I'm excited about good call.

Good call on AJR.

They're our guest today.

Yeah, that's who we just talked to.

We just talked to Adam from AJR.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited.

I'm really, really excited about some very strange artists this year.

Very strange that I'm into.

And Brandi Carlile is one of them.

We're going to talk.

I'll bring up another one here in a second.

But Brandi Carlile is not an artist.

Casey Musgraves in that sort of angle.

Absolutely.

Like I would not normally be into this.

But for some reason, that just makes sense for my weekend.

Brandi Carlile makes so much sense for my weekend, especially how great that album is, man.

That album is so good.

I'm really excited about both of those.

And I'm excited about seeing John Prine, who I would not pick as a Bonnarooo act.

I've been trying to see John Prine for a long time and haven't been able to.

And so I'm really glad he's at Bonnarooo this year.

Yes, and I don't want to be morbid here, but go see him.

Yep, absolutely.

Now.

Yeah.

Don't sleep on this one.

Don't sleep on this one.

That's what makes Bonnarooo great, too, is that like I'm looking at the lineup, like right next to each other, there's Gucci Mane and John Prine.

Where else are you going to see those two names together on one lineup?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's the 2019 Rat Pack.

Those two hanging out.

Yeah, they'll be hanging out.

They'll be hanging out.

All right.

So this has been an episode of Bonnarooo First Timers, and we appreciate you talking about your first time story.

What would your tip be to a first timer?

What would you try to say to them if you had one thing to say?

Well, I saw on Reddit the other day, there was a meme and it was saying, it was in the picture of a tent that said, sorry for the things that I said when we were setting up the tent.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that just got me thinking.

I'm like, you've made you've paid money to go to Bonnarooo.

You made it to Bonnarooo.

You're finally there.

It's happening.

Why are you getting mad while setting up stuff?

I guess some things are going to happen.

You just got to learn to let go.

I ended up losing my phone at some point during Bonnarooo.

That was very unfortunate.

But at some point, I just had to say, let it go.

It's not going to make things any better by festering on that one bad thing that happened.

You got to keep moving.

So just don't let little things bother you and ruin your weekend.

Yeah. Two things about that.

One is for me, things like that just become part of a good story for later.

So you just kind of file them away.

But another one of our listeners sent in, I thought a great tip, change your phone,

your security screen to include your name and a friend's phone number.

See, that's a fine idea.

I don't like that because I've created an idea.

Maybe I got this from someone.

I can't claim that I got this.

But it struck me in the middle of the night one night.

And if this is somebody else's idea and I just happened to stumble upon it,

I don't remember, then so be it.

But take the schedule, screenshot the schedule for the day, and make that your lock screen.

Make that your lock screen.

That way you don't drain your battery every time opening your phone, looking at the schedule.

If you forget your paper, you're in the paper schedule and you don't have it

or they don't give it to you anymore, use your lock screen and change the photo every morning.

That's not bad. But this was in case you lose your phone.

Because like you found a phone.

Remember we returned it to a guy on the phone.

It took us a while.

Right. I that day was a hero.

Yeah, I was really shocked.

I was a hero that day.

I was a Mariah Carey.

You went through some extra effort.

I went through effort.

That's the part that really...

Mariah Carey was singing in the background.

I was a hero, Barry.

But yeah, I think we had to call the kids' dad at home and they had to call.

I'm so glad that you camped with me because I do not even remember that.

Yeah, it was a thing.

I don't even remember that one bit.

Because I think his parents were divorced and so they called the mom.

Yeah, it was a big deal. It took a while.

So this girl's point is if it had a phone, a number of somebody who was camping with her,

we would have called them. Anyway.

Yeah, all right.

So that was a big thing. And you did good, Brad.

I was proud for you.

Man, I can't even remember the one good thing I've done in my life.

The one has gone right past me.

That's a really great piece of advice, Dustin.

Let go.

I mean, that is essentially the tip that I would give to.

If I had to tell you one thing, I would say whatever your biggest holdup in life is,

use Bonnarooo as a way to attack it.

Mine is mine is usually nurses and control.

I got too much of a control freak.

Once I realize how to let go five years in and the way that I could let go by, you know,

making camp as goofy as possible, making it as comfortable as possible,

figuring out the shortcuts from here to there, how to survive with food,

how to survive with water and some other things.

Once I realized all that, it took me a while.

Once I realized that, I was comfortable enough to let go and everything changed.

Everything changed.

So it's a great piece of advice.

That was a mistake I made last year too, speaking of schedule.

Like I get the schedule printed out.

I got everything circled.

I want to go see.

I'm like, OK, I need to be at the what stage at 4.15.

OK, it's four o'clock.

We got to go.

Like, well, I want to hear the song.

Yeah, but the schedule, you got to we have to be over there now.

And then by the end of day one, I'm like, let's just go.

Let's just kind of be free and stop worrying about the schedule so much

and just kind of go where the music takes you.

And to that point, man, if nobody at camp is more exhausted than the schedule guy.

Yeah. If you if you live and die by a schedule, you're going to wear yourself out.

Absolutely. And my thing is part of the reason that I like it,

we say this over and over and over.

There's nowhere else to go.

So you don't have to you don't have to worry about traffic.

You don't have to worry about hitting red lights, you know, that make you you're in a hurry.

You're tense and now you're hitting every red light. Right.

Your your go to statement here is something that I make fun of you behind your back.

But your go to line on this show is the thing I love about Bonnarooo is you're there.

You say that so often. And that's exactly what you mean by it, though.

You like you don't have anywhere else to go.

I know what you mean by it, but it always cracks me up when you say, well, you're there.

Well, no shit, Barry. I thought it was I'm tickled to death.

That's a good one, too.

And make fun of me to my face. You've got some good catchphrases.

I'll tell you that. All right, Dustin.

Well, man, I can't can't wait to meet you at the farm.

I can't wait to see you, Bonnarooo. And good luck planning.

And hopefully we'll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks, buddy. Thank you.

And he was talking about Dustin very nice on the what podcast the what podcast dot com.

Now, he talked about an artist that he's really excited about being Brandi Carlile.

Brandi Carlile, if I'm not mistaken, Bonnarooo first timer.

I don't remember her ever being there. And if she was, she was in like a cafe act or something.

Right. I don't remember. But I don't think so.

But one of my Bonnarooo first timer picks is a young woman who not wouldn't necessarily be in my lane.

She's not somebody I necessarily would would care about.

But I'm sort of into these country pop crossover girls that aren't named Taylor Swift.

You know, I really like the Casey Musgraves. That High Horse is a great song.

I really like the Brandi. I mean, love the Brandi Carlile album.

And the one that I keep coming back to, the one that is not necessarily being talked about as much as Brandi Carlile and Casey Musgraves.

One of my Bonnarooo first timer picks, Maren Morris.

You know, you may not know who she is, but she's selling out everywhere.

Everywhere she goes, she sells out. And she's going to be one of these girls that crosses over into the pop world and is going to be a megastar.

She is going to be a megastar. She would have been one of my picks, too, but you had already picked her.

So did I beat you? Love it. Yeah. She's great. Terrific. Yeah.

I think she was one of those names we pulled during the very first one we did this year, I think. Really?

I don't remember. Remember. It seems like that when she the one you said, who is this? I can't wait to find out.

No, no, no. That was Donna Massall. Right. You're right. You're right. Donna Massall, I've actually gone back and listened to.

It's good. Yeah, it's really, really good. Watch the hell out, man.

She has got a sound that is, I mean, exactly where I am. Yeah, it's great. It's really terrific.

But Maren Morris, she's teeny tiny. If you like think of like a country, Hayley Williams.

There's a thread this year I'm starting to find with these Nashville women that I think that they're they're being very,

very particular about about placing and booking Maren Morris, Casey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile.

You got Paramore's Hayley Williams out in the campgrounds. I got to imagine, boy, just think about this.

Brandi Carlile has already done a duet with Hayley Williams. Girls just want to have fun at a tourist stop in Nashville.

You got Maren Morris, Casey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile. What if you put them all on the same stage?

What if what if that just happens to be something that happens in the campground? That'd be great.

I just something feels like it's just all tied together too much for it not to happen.

Yeah, I hope so. We say that every year.

You know, we do know for a fact that Bonnarooo's relationship with Nashville is something they're actively trying to influence.

Yes, they're being very cognizant about it.

Very intentional between, you know, the limo rides and shuttles and shuttles, not limo rides, but booking all of that.

Yeah, so you've got us. Yeah, it's really good.

And now they move CMA Fest the week before. She's married to Maren Morris is married to Ryan Hurd, who's a country singer songwriter.

There's just something that I keep coming back to. There's a reason why they put the Grand Ole Opry on Thursday.

I think I think that there's a reason. And if I had to guess, it's because CMA Fest is right there in the weekend before.

And you can get them on the back end, the back end of their trip.

If you've got country artists that are traveling in and out of Nashville, if you stay a couple more days and get Thursday at Bonnarooo.

Maybe I'm being wide eyed and naive here, but I just got this feeling that Grand Ole Opry show Thursday is going to be a blowout.

I have to believe there's a reason that they moved the dates. I mean, they did it intentionally that the two working together made the decision.

And again, and I'm going to add three three little words. Grand Ole Opry with special guests.

My bet is they don't know who they got, but they're going to get somebody and they're going to get plenty.

Maren Morris, Casey Musgraves, they all make total sense.

Haley Williams even makes sense with that Grand Ole Opry, to be honest with you. I can see her doing country.

I could see Miley Cyrus popping down for a minute. I know I'm being crazy.

Yeah, I love when you do this. This is this is my wide eyed naivete taking over right now.

We all thought Nashville folks were going to come down and join Lionel Richie a couple of years ago because it made sense.

Well, didn't we get Kenny? He did his own show. I thought that I thought Kenny jumped in with Lionel Richie that year.

I don't remember. I boycotted the show because I was an idiot. Yeah, you're a fool.

All right. Now, your first time. Give me another first timer that you want to focus on very quick.

I have a theme here. I found several picks and I'm not exactly sure how to say her first name here.

It's either Diva or Deva Mahal. She is Taj Mahal's daughter.

My.

Why this morning.

My heart is heavy.

There's a seed inside me.

So.

Because I'm battling with my way.

Though I may grow tired and weary.

I will fight for what I believe in.

Even if I fight alone.

I know that I'm going to keep on moving.

Because nobody can stop me.

Because I gathered my armor.

And I'm ready for battle.

I got my weapons strong.

Taking the road.

And I'm ready to do this.

And nobody can stop me.

Because I'm thoroughly convinced.

This is my love and it runs deep.

And my heart lies.

Yeah, that's really, really good.

It gets better too. There were several songs that I could have chosen.

Really good. Yeah. I mean, that is Sharon Jones and Amy Winehouse.

I mean, it's like they birthed a beautiful Hawaiian baby. That's really good.

Going to be my war and treaty this year, I think. I hope.

When you said, I will be honest with you, I rolled my eyes when you said Taj Mahal.

I just know your love affair with Taj Mahal.

And it is just so weird. But so be it. That's fine.

But that's good. She's really, really good. Yeah, I like her a lot.

You give me that on a three o'clock afternoon? Yeah.

Yeah. I'll play with that for a minute.

Alright, so we've talked to Adam from AJR.

We've talked to our friend Dustin, a listener to the podcast.

If you want to drop us a line, thewhatpodcast.com, we'd love to hear from you.

We want to try and talk to a different listener each and every week.

I don't know what we're going to talk to you about next week, but we'll figure it out.

So drop us a line, thewhatpodcast.com or the what underscore podcast on Twitter.

And please, if you could, rate and review the podcast.

I know that sounds like I'm shilling a product and I hate asking for things like this.

But it really does help. It helps you find the podcast.

It helps new people find the podcast. It helps us spread the Bonnaroo love.

Yeah, it would be very nice of you.

And, you know, I've got nothing to give you except for maybe Bonnaroo tickets if you can help us out.

You know, Bonnaroo tickets to give away. Thewhatpodcast.com.

Last week, we talked to our friends, Repeat Repeat, Jared and Kristen from Repeat Repeat.

Now, nobody has quickly found their way into our lives like Repeat Repeat.

And I was having a conversation with him the other day and it hit me.

He is going to be Bonnaroo royalty for several hundred people, maybe for the rest of his life,

because of what they did last year.

On Wednesday night, they go out to Roobus and they play what everybody describes as just an absolute banger.

Right there at Roobus, right? I hate that we missed it.

It really bums me out, but they still talk about it. Roobus still posts about it.

And I think for the several hundred people, maybe a thousand people on the Reddits and the InfoRoo's,

they're going to always appreciate what Repeat Repeat did.

And just like you guys appreciate them for that, we appreciate them for just being so open and so willing

and so able to talk anytime and every time.

So what we decided to do is give them a call back and talk about Bonnaroo first timers,

because they made big, big news this week. They made major news.

Did you see the big announcement? I didn't. They did.

Remember last week? Remember last week? He said, were you right?

Well, let me just go back. So they said they had something very, very big to up their sleeves.

And they were going to announce. And I wrote down on a piece of paper what?

That they would be touring with the Black Keys. That was my guess. That was your guess.

I had no insider information. That is correct.

They announced this week a tour with the Black Keys. Yeah, there you go.

A tour with the Black. That's why you're a pro.

They're going to select dates, including, and when I talked to Jared about this, he was over the moon excited.

They're doing Nashville. They're playing the Bridgestone Arena with Modest Mouse and Black Keys in their home city.

Good for them. That's so cool, man. That is so cool. Good for them.

Yeah, they're they're the nicest people and talented. They're so nice.

We almost leave that out. We forget that part every time.

But the show is so, so fun. Yeah, that's cool.

Jared, Kristen, oh, hi, I'm waiting is blowing up.

You guys have had a great week here at South by Southwest.

And now you want to give us your Bonnaroo first timers list.

Thanks for joining us for now. A third time on the Bonnaroo podcast.

You're almost becoming like Abe Vagoda on the Conan O'Brien and Conan O'Brien show back in the day.

It's repeat, repeat, repeat. Yeah, it's like it's like Saturday Night Live.

Do I get some sort of like six timers jacket? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Perfect. Yeah, well, we're here. It's hot.

And and, you know, we're surrounded by asphalt here in Austin at South by.

So we are dreaming of the farm and we wanted to share some of our tips for first timers at Bonnaroo.

So one of our first ones is if it starts to rain, consider your tires.

We have so many stories with us and our band getting covered in mud, trying to get vehicles out of the mud, you know, by a by a full body poncho.

They're highly recommended because otherwise you'll be getting mud in the van.

OK, that's a good that's a good first start.

Number two, we said, expect to share if you're not good at sharing.

You better leave that shit at the door and expect to share while you're at Bonnaroo, whatever it may be.

That's a great and that is a really good one.

Anything during socks, sharing food, sharing water, sharing weed, share it all.

Next one. Go see Camp Nut Butter because they are the nicest people and you can't miss their sign and go take a selfie at the Nut Butter.

All right, good. They're going to have to be escorted in with Jared and Kristen.

I don't know if everybody can get to it.

I'm glad you mentioned the sign. I'm glad you mentioned, Jared, because every time I see the Bonnaroo poster, I just get a little tingly in the skillet because they that dripping butter.

Have you noticed it's on the top of their poster this year?

It's so sensual. I love it.

Yeah, they took it right off a Camp Nut Butter sign. So that's another good one.

All right. What's number four?

OK, number four is thank the staff at Bonnaroo.

They work really hard and they are amazing.

And they sometimes will give you a little perks if you thank them, too.

You never know. Maybe they'll let you into the Camp Nut Butter area if you thank them.

Especially if you're sharing the right things, you might just be able to get back.

They are really good at accommodating and they basically operate at a nonstop hustle for, you know, the week that you're there, plus all of the week leading up to.

So they realize that when you're around the staff that they've got, you know, an uphill battle the whole time.

They have the same sort of motto and attitude as you guys. It's always more yes than no.

Yeah, we found that.

All right, we got two more.

OK.

Go to things like the Rederoo Craft Beer Exchange and the Roo Bus Party.

Both are in the campsites and both are just really community like fun things to do.

And yeah, and that's a Rederoo Craft Beer Exchange. You'll get free beer. You can bring beer. You can share beer.

It's really wonderful and wild.

Which, by the way, you guys brought your own beer last year.

How did that Shandy turn out? Did you guys is the Shandy still going?

Yeah, well, the Shandy. Yeah, the Shandy is usually going in the summer months.

Actually, there's a couple of venues in the state of Georgia that are serving it on tap.

And if you're ever near Atlanta, go to Pontoon Brewing Company. They usually keep it on tap as well.

And we may or may not. This is the first mention of it in public ears.

But we may or may not have a glazed beer coming out around the time of our record. So it'll be very fun.

Nice. We love breaking news.

That's a big breaking news item right there.

Yeah, I mean, this is airing live on air, right?

Yeah, so live. Yeah.

So the last thing I would say is stay the whole time. Go to the Sunday night.

You never know what you're going to see.

The Sunday night shows are really fun because I feel like the smaller bands have a lot to prove.

I know because I've been one. You know, I think it's where all the like die hard Bonnarooians are.

And you'll like the last night of camp. Yeah, you don't really want to cut it short. You should do it.

That's a good tip. And I can speak to that because I stayed for the entire time last year for the first time.

I always would go home early on Sunday and it was a lot of fun.

The Thursday, as we've said many times here, Thursday is Discovery Day.

That's when the bands that you maybe never heard of can become your favorites.

And then Sunday night is like you said, Kristen, it's sort of the last day camp. So it's a different vibe altogether.

Yeah, it's like it's a perfect cap for a really fun weekend.

They're good tips. They're very, very good tips. Maybe just maybe if somebody finds their way back to Camp Nut Butter this year

and shares properly and gets to the proper campsite, maybe just maybe they'll stumble into a camping repeat repeat

with the people of Camp Nut Butter. Maybe just maybe they're joining our campsite this year.

It would not be a surprise to see us at Bonnaroo, that's for sure.

That's good. We're hard to miss too because I really only have about 12 pairs of striped shirts.

And Kristen dyes her hair with melted cotton candy, so it's kind of hard to miss us in the crowd.

Brad, I thought you were going to say maybe if they came back to Camp Nut Butter, we would launch their career.

Again? Again. Okay, yeah, sure.

Not Repair B, but not you guys, no, whoever gets back there maybe. We can't promise a career launching, but we'll do our best.

I feel like we should pass the baton to someone.

Yeah, I'm thinking next year pass the baton to some new artist that's headlining Bonnaroo, I don't know, Dolly Parton.

Maybe, just maybe. We'll send you a list.

Thanks guys. Thank you so much.

Love you guys, talk to you soon.

The What Podcast, Barry Courter, Brad Steiner, we appreciate you stopping by and joining us on our little chat through Farm of Bonnaroo,

thewhatpodcast.com for Bonnaroo tickets, camping passes, anything else?

Very good picks today. Yeah. Very good picks.

Doing well. I told you, I was excited about this show, I like it.

I like it a lot. Good guests, good topics.

Yes, this is a lot of fun. And of course you can always drop us a line and feel free to reach out to us anytime,

thewhatpodcast.com or at Brad Stinks on Twitter, what do you have?

Barry J.C.

Next week.