535. - The Chainsmokers

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. Check, check, check. How long gone? It is a beautiful, warm Tuesday here in Los Angeles, California. The U.S. Open. is on the flat screen. Them jeans is in my ears. So I'm ready to go. I don't know about you. I see that. Well, yeah, first of all, you have a flat screen. That's sick. And second of all, you're... I didn't want to brag, but I mean, you know, it felt like the right time. I get it. I get it. I mean, how do you not get a flat screen TV? and not want to tell the friends and family about it? No, totally. Brag a little bit. Pointing out initially, usually your Zoom background is just a white wall. People will make comments about it on the show through the years and months. Are you in a detention center? Are you in a loss prevention room at Walmart, sleep or cell? whatever it may be and now you've pivoted 90 degrees and we get to see your bookshelf what's what's the the functional unit of this is what it has a name right well first of all let me let me explain it's a whole system well let me explain to you why i've had to shift it's because we had there was some sort of there was some sort of like left over from the the previous owner of the home like a weird tent on the window

and it was like peeling off. So when we had some renovations done recently, we had it removed. So the sun is much brighter coming through, and it's hitting directly where I used to sit in my jail cell. Okay, so does that mean, so you removed the tint because it was starting to peel and discolored? Well, it was a little unsightly, and I also, I don't mind more sun, obviously. Natural light is what we live for here in Los Angeles, so that's no problem. but it does impact my seating, which is why I'm being... But yes, behind me is my VITSO shelving system. I think you answered my next question, sorry to interrupt, was you're not going to re-tint with a new tint. You're going to go bare bones. You know as well as all the listeners, I'm anti-tint. I want you to see me rolling. Yeah, I know. But this window is very large and high up. It likes to be washed. It's not really that big of a deal. But, yeah, behind me now is my VITSO shelving unit, which looks great. Full of books. VITSO. That's what it's called. VITSO. Already overflowing. I'm going to need to add more shelves. I don't know where they're going to go. But, yeah, anyway. Try and get a table at VITSO on a Friday. It's a tough one. Okay, so we have our Sonos. We have our books. We have our knickknacks and collectibles. Of course, yes, of course. Is that a pack of Parliament Lights I see by your right ear? Oh, no. A middle shelf? No, actually, that's a tiny, funny little pocket-sized version of the gentlewoman that they put out a few years ago with Margaret Atwood on the cover. It's very funny. From far away, it kind of was giving Parliament Lights. Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. Now, I wouldn't display a pack of... Gentlewoman, I know you're listening. It's time to get into the cigarette world. Let's do a Hestia collab. I wouldn't be... Oh, by the way, Hestia, I have four packs left, so I will need a carton here soon. Check it out. Hestia cigarettes. The finest cigarettes on the land. I thought they would have dropped off the Brinks truck after your...

glowing quotes in the new york times it wasn't i don't think i had glowing quotes we we i mean i'm just shooting straight brother we didn't even talk about that i forgot about it you had a quote in there too i didn't even realize it but well i didn't have it they took that from this broadcast they didn't call me to get it oh okay okay okay um the one the one quote that i was proud of was talking about or which is a much more interesting overarching subject that maybe we can talk with our guests who are definitely into you know, data mining and growth hacking dynamics and things like that. Of course. About how it takes a product like a cigarette, which, you know, for the last 30 years has more or less been illegal to advertise at all. TV, film, print, it used to be everywhere. And now there's no cigarette advertising whatsoever. Any other part of the world, the cigarette box, you can't even have your logo on it. It's just a picture of... Dying fetus and then it says Marlboro lights and a tiny font on the bottom or a woman with emphysema. So the quote was, it took a product that you can't legally advertise to create the perfect influencer marketing campaign around. Wow. Which is not illegal. It is cool. It's cool when you prove that you did work in an agency for a year. And I appreciate that because you're right. I didn't learn anything working at an agency. Oh, I know you didn't learn anything. I mean, I taught a lot. I bet you did. Yeah, why don't you come in here to Professor Gene's office? I've got to talk to you about something. They're like, Jason, we need to figure out how to mix two songs together on Ableton that are not in the same BPM. I'm like, all right, cracks knuckles. Hey, we're actually having a little mixer after work. Hold my kratom, bitch. Do you mind setting up the turntables for us? We don't really know where the chords go. No, I do. I was director of cable management. You're absolutely right. the cable guy, but you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. Uh, and, and it is a good point. And, um, I think that, uh, I think that, you know, cigarettes have made a comeback whether we like it or not. And also, and you, and you and I know, sorry, and then we'll go on to what you, the, the last point is you and I know that the best way to get somebody to do something is to not ask them to do that explicit thing. The best way to get on how long gone Taylor Lorenz is to not ask.

over and over again through different people in the world. The best way to get me or Chris or anyone to post your product is to not be like, hey, so work out a thing, and we love to just send the box a nice thingy. Don't send the box. Make sure it's something that I like in my size. Make sure it's something I like in my size, and then we can talk. Well, this brings me to my next point. You never ask. This brings me to my next point. One of the greatest brands of all time, A brand that I've been campaigning to be a part of for years. Our friends over at Chanel. You've probably heard of it. Unfortunately, they kind of announced something today that people are pointing out to me. They're doing a pop-up during New York Fashion Week at a diner. Kellogg Diner? Yeah, [redacted address] to celebrate a fragrance called the Lucky Chance Diner. Good name. Name of the fragrance as well. But I'm a little upset because I'm sure Chanel, obviously Chanel will do an amazing job and they'll fully re-outfit the place to make it look like it's serviceable. But it doesn't help my case as I try to destroy diner culture on the East Coast. Well, first off, just to be clear, 225 Wife is in Brooklyn. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Chanel opened a store in Brooklyn in Williamsburg pretty recently as well. Okay, yeah. I just looked it up. The Wife. The Wythe Diner, it used to be Cafe de la Esquina. But I don't know what the... I understand that they're going for a cute sock hop throwback vibe, and I get that. But I just think that diners are, unfortunately, a part of the fabric of America that I can't relate to, and I don't know if Chanel customers can relate to. Chanel's aspirational. Chanel used to be aspirational, yeah, that's true. But you particularly have an odd... aversion to diners specifically you typically most people are either they like a diner they find them comforting they know the food's not great but that's kind of the whole thing or they're indifferent on the matter where you as you are like specifically well it's because just spies because spies because these these huts

for slop have been romanticized. You can't even call it a diner. You have to call it a slop hut. It's a slop hut. They've been romanticized by the punk and emo community for so long as a gathering place where you could spend very little money and sit around the table and listen to Brand New or whatever you did. And I never did that because I was cool. Do not make diners about emo. It's true. I'm just telling you. As a straight-edge person growing up, when you were a teen, you would go to the diner at night because it was the only place open. I'd stand in a parking lot. And I want to go and be with my friends. I want to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes with the goth kids, with the emo kids, with the whatever kids. And it was a great... place to get out of the house it was a no a third place if you will no it's not it was my teen third place no no no it feels it all feels like a set from 90210 it doesn't feel like real life it has no care real character to it um the coffee is bad diners existed before 90210 co-opted diner cultures. I don't want to give you the timeline. I've been to Denny's before. They'll probably think the world's only been around for 6,000 years, do you? Well, I know it's flat. I don't know how long it's been around, though, but I would go to the Peach Pit if invited. If they redid the Peach Pit. So you do know diners. It's all just influencer photo ops. That's all it is, right? Of course. That's all that matters. It's absolutely influencer photo ops, but yeah, I'm getting excited. for hashtag New York Fashion Week as it creeps up on us. The invites are pouring in. I'm having to get my schedule sorted. Oh, that's got to be tough. It's going to be tough. Well, I have also been receiving invites, but I will not be going to any of those because I've been to New York three times in the last three weeks. Every time it was it was to get money and this is the one time where I want to go where I will

Spend all the money instead of make any money. Well, I mean, that's an unfortunate part of DJ career. Unless there's a Paris Review party that I can DJ, whatever you guys want to do. I like the idea that Paris Review would have money. They're the least likely to have money of maybe anything you've ever mentioned. That's the joke, Chris. I mean, airmail. They're giving those hats away for free. They're not charging for those when you see someone like you or Emily Ratajkowski wearing it. That's free of charge. You said me, Emily Ratajkowski. etc. What category would you put that into? There's several others. Celebs? What's the word for it? No, I would put it celeb for her and then guy for you. Guy is my title. My pronouns are guy. Jason Stewart. Alright, we have a guest today. This one's been a long time coming. A fellow duo dominating their industry. Jason, I feel a kinship. To the Chainsmokers. Alex and Drew. It's like looking in the mirror. I don't think I've ever met them. I feel like you probably have crossed paths behind the decks at some point. Is that possible? I'm sure we've met once or twice through the years, but I'm looking forward to building out our friendship portfolio. They probably thought you were just a weird-looking Calvin Harris. They didn't realize you were your own person. straighten that out today. You know, we were both knocking around on the hype machine back in the days. You know, who's to say who was number one and number two fighting for the top. A kind of a Joker, Nadal thing. Will they, won't they? And it's been a while since I've kept up with the Chainsmokers, so I don't know if their career has taken off at all further than where I went. Yeah, sure. We're going to find out. I went on their Spotify, and they have a few songs that exceed two billion plays. So I think things are turning up for them. It seems like things are going pretty well. I mean, I'm not totally sure. I think we need to get it from the horse's mouths. Yeah. All right. Let's give them a jingle, and we will break some.

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

They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? Especially when it's not from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. Drew, it looks like you're coming from your parents' basement kind of vibe, which I like. My parents don't live here, but I am in a basement. Okay, so you are in a basement. Your parents don't live there because you've been able to get your own house and move out and stuff. Yeah, no failure to launch over here. I've been out of my parents' house for 15 years, so that's good. They love it. They're super happy that I'm out of the house. Me too. Okay, is the basement like a man cave situation, or what's the vibe there? This is a theater, so it's kind of good. Okay, yeah, so for the people listening, Benny Blanco has one of those too, but he doesn't watch movies there, you know what I mean? I sleep here most of the time, believe it or not. My friend made me all these movie mashup posters. So this one's Finding Blow. Like Finding Nemo, but Nemo's cocaine? Yeah. Sure. Yeah, the Finding Nemo one is Finding Blow, and the caption is... What they were all looking for was right under their noses. Does this guy professionally make movie posters, or is he just a graphic designer? No, he should. He just made it as a housewarming gift. He's just a fun guy. It's a nice gift, actually. It's a really nice gift. Very thoughtful. All right, so these things are connected. How do I get them to... It's actually laughable. How bad I am at technology? A lot of us, because you guys are probably similar in age to us, I feel like you get good at what you need to get good at, and then you maybe stop developing. So you have just enough to get by. Yeah, just check out. Full check out. I don't know how to do anything. But that's Alex's job. Are you a tech whiz, Alex? Yeah, I'm the Alex. I'm the Alex of the How Long Gone Smokers. No, I feel like Matt, our drummer, is like our tech whiz kind of. Hold on, hold on. Hold on. You guys got a drummer?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone needs a drummer. You guys don't have a drummer? That's a great idea. I mean, of course we have a drummer, but... We don't talk about him, but he's there. Of course. When I go back and edit this episode, I'll bleep his name out, don't worry. Just to make sure he gets zero credit. He's such a good drummer that he makes us look like... actual idiots as musicians and so like he really doesn't need any more shine he just like performs and like everyone after the show is never no one's like oh man that was great show they're just like your drummer is something where did you find him was he like with someone else and you stole him away no on youtube he did a cover of don't let me down and we were like damn this cover rips and he was in australia and we just like reached out on i guess instagram or something and we're just like dude this video is so sick Like you're unbelievable. We're thinking of, you know, doing our next tour live, like with, you know, instruments and everything. And do you have any interest in potentially, you know, joining? And we got really lucky because like he doesn't drink. He's like so committed to working. It's like actually scary. And he's become like such an integral part of. you know the whole business damn that's a great that's a great story because usually youtube feels like a crash and burn to me but this guy he figured it he actually took it offline oh yeah it's unheard of well sorry when you said he doesn't drink as as a good thing what do you mean by that exactly like you've had sloppy musicians or people that weren't able to get with the program That Drew and I drink enough for the whole band, the rest of the band. Got it. Okay, got it. Good to have a sober balance. I was worried that you guys went straight edge. I just wanted to make sure you guys didn't go Aoki mode or something. No, but it is getting harder. I mean, it's just getting way harder. Sure. I mean, yeah, that's how aging works, unfortunately. Turns out. But are you able to – you know, I love asking musicians this because it always blows my mind, but can you – fully perform 100% capacity when you're twisted and it's not a problem? Well, I don't watch any videos back of us performing, so it's hard to say. In my mind, I was 100% in all of the shows. You're not watching any game tape? I avoid it like the plague. You know when you guys have a podcast, so you guys listen back to your episodes?

Jason edits them. I try not to listen to it ever, but every once in a while I'm forced to. It's important to do it every once in a while. I actually went on a walk yesterday and listened to an episode of ours just to make sure, and I was like, you know what? I can make some changes here. So it's not easy, but it is important. So just that, it's like almost, you know, it's good to watch game tape, listen to the podcast, watch a show for improvement's sake, but also... it's like it's some kind of energy that just happens when you're up there and you don't want to have these like oh crap i shouldn't have said that yeah i remember i know oh i oh i know i think i know how that's going to come off and then you get in your head for the rest of the show so there's like a there's no that makes sense actually that makes sense actually so do you guys have you guys ever listened to this podcast before yeah yeah we have i love the okay you guys are funny uh and it's just conversational i mean i think that's what's so appealing about i mean not just the show in general but it's like You just want to like talk to guys that are, you know, anyone for that matter. That's just like, no guys only. Yeah. I'm so like pre-programmed to just use the word guys to describe everything. And now, you know, these days, we can't do that. No, I've gotten, you know, actually we use this program. Jason and I both use a program called Grammarly that kind of like, like helps you edit your emails and writing and kind of like prompts you. And now if you say guys as a salutation, it prompts you to change it. Oh, I love that. It tells you to change it, which has helped me a few times. My problem is I was actually thinking about this this morning when I was walking around and I was thinking how much I've relied on saying guys to everyone. And now I can't figure out what my new guys is going to be because I can't say it's wavering between these two. It's either y'all or everyone. Everyone? Hello, everyone? Everyone sounds like you're about to say some shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone? Yeah, it feels a little aggressive off-rip. Okay, so like south of the Mason-Dixie line, it's hey, y'all. North is hey, all. Hey, all is fake, and I've heard that before. But as a southern person, I have deprogrammed myself from saying y'all, and I can't really do it anymore. But I will say ain't.

fairly often. That sucks. Well, Ain't's not helping us in the gender wars, Chris. We need to figure it out. No, it's not. I know, I know. But I think that I also like fellas, unfortunately, which that is really... Fellas ain't part of the equation. Fellas is a little more specifically male-centric than guys, unfortunately. And it shouldn't be, but that's just the way it is. But also, I experiment where I look at a person or a group of people walking down the street towards me, and I... kind of guess or I could tell if guys is going to offend them or if they're not going to be bothered by it. Yeah, if it's going to work. Or at least I like to think I'm a guy whisperer is what I'm saying. Oh, wow. All that for that. Thanks, Jason. That was great. I do want to talk about this dog painting, though, for real, because it looks... Oh, yeah. It looks... So it's like sitting over Alex's shoulder is this hyper-realistic painting of a – is that a golden retriever? I don't like dogs, so I don't know. Yeah, yeah, it's a golden – my dog, Mushu. It was a gift to me from – I don't know who gave it to me. I think it was my friend who lives with me, my guy roommate. Okay, so your guy roommate got you a portrait of Mushu. For the Zoom office. This isn't tracking very well for you, Alex. You better talk yourself about this one. No, but it's great. Let me tell you why this picture is so great. First of all, it's not like a memorial or anything. I'm looking at her. She's eating something on the balcony right now. Mushu is still with us. Mushu's with us. Yeah, Mushu's with us. But what people who have Goldens will understand is that we're a secret society of dog lovers, particularly Goldens. And if you have a Golden and someone else has a Golden, it doesn't matter what the favors you're asking for. You're doing it. you know we have a lot of different you know businesses we're involved in and i can't tell you how many times i've gone on a call to pitch something or whatever and someone will be like oh you got a golden too and i'm just like i'm gonna close this motherfucker I'm in for a million pre-seed based on the golden. Let's just get it done. How old is she? Where'd you get her? Does Mushu get a cut of any of this action? You're whoring Mushu out on the table. She's an actress. She's done a few commercials. She did a Julia Roberts commercial for Bulgari. Everyone works in my house. Everyone earns here. Everyone earns a slice.

Okay, this is good stuff. All right, hold on, hold on. So obviously, you guys are successful musicians. You're dialed in in Hollywood. How does dog acting come into your life? Does someone approach you in the mall like a model scout in the same way? Okay, so you're going to love this story. So before I got Mushu, we were doing some radio press. We went to Hiss 102.7 or something, and it was like a rhyme. seacrest interview 102.7 kiss ff yeah yeah yeah all the hits all the time uh and uh and and ryan seacrest you know was interviewing us and i was like oh i just got this new dog and he was like oh do you need a trainer and i was like actually i would love a trainer and like a dog walker and he was like i got the person for you you recommended this this amazing woman kirsten and uh and now like a lot of us use it but what's crazy is like i've never paid for a walk ever and i have like tried to pay For months, because I was like, yo, what's the deal? I don't want to get hit with a $200,000 bill at the end of the year. That's going to feel way worse than a couple of grand a month. And she just ignores it. She just kept ignoring me. And I had no idea what the deal was. But what she does do is she puts your dogs in commercials. And so I don't know what Mushu's getting paid to work. But I'm not asking for that money. You can just keep that. And it's great. She loves it. She's a doggy madam. This is prostitution. She's Heidi Fleissing, your dog, and that's just fine, I guess, because it works out for you. Mushu has become her bottom bitch. Yeah, she loves it. and it's like and it's hysterical because it's like you can't you know you don't you're just like sure that sounds fun to me like Mushu was like the they did like an animated recreation of the up poster you know with like the golden from up the Disney movie and like Mushu was the dog and wow like she was in a Julia Roberts commercial and then our agent has the same you know two Dobermans they were in like they're in like hundreds of rap videos like

So it's just kind of like the trade-off. So Seacrest, see, this is why, Jason, we've got to get into the upper echelons here because Jason's got a couple ugly little mutts over there in Glendale, and they're not getting any work. So I think that if you don't mind, I don't want to step on Seacrest's toes here, but it seems like we're leaving some money on the table. Yeah, well, I don't want to. And also what's funny is there are people that have used her that I recommended, and they're like, I'm paying every day. for this walk. And I was like, I don't know what to tell you. They're like, I'm out 2,500 a month on these fucking walks, bro. My dog's ugly. Yeah, and I was like, don't bring it up to me. Don't bring my name up. Don't ruin this for me. My only thought is that either they have an ugly dog that can't work, or my dog is kind of this good example. She's very well-trained and calm. So she's like a good presence to have for the other, like, you know what I mean? It's like, she's like, yeah. Not only is she hot, but she's also a pleasure to be around on set. It's a, you know, of what can't, what can't she be? I mean, that's just, that's the perfect, that's perfect. Little do you know that dog walkers clearing about a quarter million a year on, on these Bulgariads and you're like, yeah, no, the walks are free. It's so sick. I'm saying I saved 18,000 this year. Well, what was funny is I heard, so I like, I was. super pumped she was doing the julia roberts commercial and i was like yo this is gonna be sick like seeing mushu in a bulgariad and i get another call from from the you know kirsten and i was like so how'd it go and she's like not great and i was like what do you mean and she's like so like mushu likes everyone like literally she's been a tour with us like there's not a person that's like apparently she did not fuck with julia roberts and you know and so they like she had to like you know have this affectionate moment and mushu's just like not not having it and And so she kind of blew her role there. Playing hard to get. But, I mean, I don't think it's on Mushu. I think Julia's got to have some weird dog energy. Yeah, I was going to say, I'm blaming Julia for this one. I can't. I could never blame an animal. That would be crazy. Mushu knows. Still a fan, but just, you know. Look, I still like your movies. I still like your stuff. Great actress. You're not going to record a video shooting a bunch of Julia Roberts DVDs with your AR-15 just yet.

Unloading the clip. I mean, so do you not walk your own dog because of time or because of the amount that a dog has to be, like, how often does this dog have to be walked? I mean, Drew has an even crazier situation that he can fill you in. But no, I mean, I think I just, like, I love, like, going walking with my dog. But just like I'm busy. There's an opportunity cost. You know what I mean? Now we're talking. Now we're talking. Yeah. I can't let my wife listen to this episode. This is interesting to me. Also, they love it. They go with all their friends. You know what I mean? They get super pumped in the morning when they show up. That makes sense. And it's free. So why not? Yeah, that's true. When you put it that way. Drew, what's your situation? You got a fucking harem over there? You got a hamster? You got a lizard? What's going on? Okay. Okay, so I have a beautiful, one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen is a Rottweiler named Oliver. And we got him in 2020. And he's extremely cute. But like, you know, Rottweiler, he's a boy. And he was like the alpha of the litter, which I thought was awesome when I got him. You were like, I can relate. Come over here, big fella. Chip off the old block. Yeah, because then he got two alphas in the house. And that's a huge problem. And so I tried to go the same route with Alex's dog, Walker. But he stopped getting invited on walks. Oh, shit. He's just a little too. And I think she loves him, too. But he's just a little bit too much for the other dogs. I had to go another route, a more paid route. And let me tell you, Alex is making a huge savings with his setup. But like my dog, my dog literally has priors with the city. Like he's like on his, he just has always getting to mischief, you know? And so your dog's on, your dog's on. But in terms of like a three strikes and you're euthanized kind of thing, like what, how serious are these offenses? I don't know. it's three strikes first of all but i don't know what the outcome is and i can't take the risk so it's like i can't have him out with anybody i have to he's got to be at the house or i have to walk him and it's hard because we're traveling all the time but you know he's got a lot of friends that like are always at the house so okay but you gotta keep an eye on him just very stressful dog to own okay hold on but alex you said that you have a male platonic roommate

and I know you don't need help with bills, so is this just kind of for fun? I'm also wondering the answer to this question. Someone's got to water the plants, Chris. I mean, you ever just get home from tour and want to play with someone else's genitals? It's just like, you know. No, I get it. I think, you know, like, first of all, give some context. Like, he's an old friend of ours. I think I've known him longer than I've even known Drew, or just a little bit longer. He used to be a firefighter in New York. and he heard himself actually a great story he like ran into a burning building to save what he thought was a human being but it was just a cat crying and he like climbed up these stairs to get to this cat you know what absolutely the cat of course being a cat the cat just like moved away from him and like ran out the door easily then like the stairs collapsed hurt his back and had to like you know kind of retire out of the firefighting force and you know and it was just like you watching your friend and you're just like you know We live in LA. Life's so good out here. New York, you have to be working. You can't do nothing. And out here, you can totally do nothing. And so I was like, I got some extra space. I think I was single at the time or something. And the way my house is kind of separated, there's a separate apartment beneath the main house. So it's very autonomous. A kitchen, all that stuff. And so I was like, you know what? come move in like you can help me you know when i'm out of town like you could watch mushu like make sure the house doesn't fall apart so we travel a lot yeah and you know now i have a girlfriend it's like great for her because like you know girls do get you know she gets scared when she's alone here so it's nice to have somebody there here with her um but it was great like during covid like let me tell you i mean we obviously all broke regulations and just hung out with each other of course i knew you're part of the resistance Yeah, yeah. You're welcome home. Welcome home, brother. Wait, so really quick, you let your woman alone around a firefighter at night? Damn, bro, that's crazy. When you put it like that. Even if he is injured, he better be in a wheelchair. He's more the YMCA guy. No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Wow. That would be really cool if you were like, yeah, I live with a hot gay firefighter and my girlfriend. It's a weird trio, but whatever. Did you just hear that?

you better go check like when you're gone all the time because because i i'm dealing with this a little bit now because we kind of moved back to new york but bought this house in la and when there's a problem in the house and there's no one here to deal with it it becomes my problem yeah and i don't i'm not busy enough for anyone in my life to respect me and leave me alone you know what i mean where you are so it's that's the difference is that you have a guy for that which is seems necessary yeah i mean it's i mean i mean you know it's like almost two 40 year old guys live together with my girlfriend you know and it's definitely like we're pushing the boundaries here what i think i would say i would say if you had any other career this would be bad for you but i think luckily you've chosen the right i think of him as like the uncle you know what i mean that crazy uncle that like lives in the pool house sort of scenario and and but like my mom is definitely like you know she everyone loves him but like you know it's always like Like, are you enabling him to, you know what I mean? Of course, yeah, yeah, of course. There's deeper questions. There's deeper questions. But I love it. It's great. We're hanging tight. Look, I'm for it, and I get it, and I've seen stuff like this before, and it does, you know, it lets you play into a slight entourage fantasy, which we all live, you know. Yeah, is he more of a turtle or a Johnny Drama? Definitely a turtle-ish. It's very blended. You've got to be careful here. You've got to be careful. Very, very blendy. Does he ever, does he ever drive you around in your car? That's a good question. Okay. That to me, that's a major turtle. Yeah, he was. I don't know how good of a driver he is. I like driving. I like driving. But no, he's like, it's super helpful. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, like we do, you know, it's like we're gone so much. Like you said, it's so nice. Like my girlfriend gets to hang out with someone here that she, you know, really likes and gets along with. And, you know, it's like very. It feels more like a brother than anything at this point. Yeah, than a roommate. Yeah, it's beautiful. It is beautiful. Jason and I just, we were on the road last week, and we did a show in Denver at a podcast conference. That sounds really cool. It was humble. It was really cool. Yeah, when you go to Red Rocks for your show, you just drive past this hotel by the airport, and that's where we're at. We're just right there.

But that's what I was going to ask you guys. So we get there, and I'm in charge of our travel. So I've booked us the best hotel closest to the venue, which seems like that's kind of like normal behavior. But unfortunately, that hotel was a Hyatt in suburban Denver. And it humbled me a little bit too much. And I, have you guys been humbled by a hotel in the last five years or have you had a nice streak? Uh, we've definitely been humbled by a hotel like many times. I mean, we've done like Alex and I are also extremely frugal and we just grew up doing for every like big festival that we've done. We've played like a dueling piano bar in the same city. So we've, we've like, sure you've done it all in a tour of like every, every hotel. And it's like, I mean, it still happens. You know, we, uh, we actually flew, uh, We flew Southwest a couple weeks ago. Bro, you didn't have to do that. Bro, you didn't have to do that. 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 howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. 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, you know, still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. You know, 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. I know. But we're like, oh, fuck it. We're just going to go to San Francisco if I had a Burbank. We're both. It's like we're super early in the morning. I'm sitting there. We still splurge for the. priority boarding okay all right good don't get me wrong we're top we're top three on a for sure okay but also like at southwest do you see like even if you're the a group there are like 30 people that are working the southwest system of like how to board the plane before you so

you're really like the b group even with the a spending for the a just there's a lot of snakes in the grass yeah there's i mean there are people that deserve to board the plane first but there's like that's like you know 30 of the people that actually do of course the rest of them are just really working yeah so anyway so we get it Chris hates it when the military gets to board before him, you know? Look, I do. It bothers me. I'm just, I'm saying. Because they don't check IDs. He'd like to see some credentials, that's all. Yeah. There's a great Louis C.K. skit about that when he's, like, sitting in business class and, like, a military guy's, like, sitting in economy and he's like, this guy's, you know. off to iraq to die and they won't even die in my fucking business class seat till like enjoy his last it's true it's true until they start until they start start checking ids i mean i look I look like a guy that could be in the military. You guys, I hate to admit it, but it's true. I mean, look at me. I was going to say something, but I don't know you that well. I don't know how you were going to take that. No, no. Of course, I look like I could be in the Army Reserves, but I'm not going to – I have to pay to board first. I think that's the way God intended it in this country. Yeah. I mean, I can see myself thanking you for your service while boarding. Yeah, thanks. He's walking by me saying thank you for your service. Yeah, if you just got one of those little, like, black-on-black American flag patches for your Rimowa suitcase, I think it'd be, you know. You'd be in business. No one's going to ask any questions at that point. If I had one small Blue Lives Matter sticker on my Rimowa, I would get a lot of thank you for your service. That's absolutely true. That's absolutely true. Officer. So did you make it to San Francisco, or did you guys have to? So we boarded the plane. We're about, like, I'm on, like, row 7 and Alex and 6 right in front of me, window seat. And he sits there. The plane's boarding. Some kid sits next down to him. I hear him say, he double takes Alex. And he goes, whoa, what are you doing here? Alex turns over and goes, I'm trying to save money, brother, just like you. Wow. Legend. Legend. And then I put on my fancy noise canceling headphones. I put on my $800 headphones.

I was going to, that's the thing. I feel like if the guy doesn't try to talk to you, then that's a great situation. If he tries to talk to you for 45 minutes, it's less of a good situation. Yeah. I always think it's funny. I mean, I see occasional tweets, especially from like venture people being like, oh, I just saw like the chain smokers flying, you know, like a commercial. And I'm like, yeah, dog. Yeah, we're not flying. Are you out of your mind? What do you think this is? What's the percentage? What's the over-under on private flights versus commercial flights for you guys? Well, we have a rule. Yeah, it's a very simple rule. It's just that if we can make more money flying private, then we will fly private. Okay. So, like, if we have two shows in a night, and we can't get to the second show without a private jet, then we'll fly private. Okay, wow. This is a great problem to have. Okay, so you got... Give me an example of where you could do two shows in one night thanks to private plane travel. Like where are we from where to where? It happens all the time. Really? It's happening on Friday. Like Friday, we're playing Electric Zoo in New York City. And we probably finish at like, you know, 9 or 10 p.m. at night. I don't even know. And then we go straight to the FBO and we fly and we play in Vegas at 1.30 a.m. What? And you can make it with it. This happens all the time. I mean, I guess New York to L.A. feels far. But if you've got to do it, you've got to do it. The time zones help you. Yeah. The time zones help you. And we have so many Vegas shows. We've performed at the Wynn over 250 times now. And so that's pretty much a real number. And so that's pretty much every weekend. And you want to go out and do stuff in Europe and festivals that are other places in the country. The only way to fulfill both commitments is to get there, to do two shows in one night. You're tethered to the win, the golden handcuffs. The golden handcuffs. That's a good rule, though. I like that rule of if we can make more money. Do you guys at least do first class? Are you a Delta Medallion member at least? Do we get bumped up? Yeah. We sleep on planes more than we sleep at home in our beds. Even on a run, it's like...

You have to do whatever you can to be comfortable. I agree with that. But you said, I'm trying to save money just like you, but why are you guys trying to save so much money? I just don't see the need. And it's like, I don't know. It's just, yeah, we like to save. Jesus, that sounded boring. I know, but why? Is it like a security thing? You're worried this could all go away? This is a deep existential question. Or there's another Maserati you need to buy. No, come on. It's just how we grew up. We've done it so much for so long. Since we started, we go to any show, anywhere in the world, whenever, as many as possible, for about over 10 years now. So you just have done some really grueling travel and like the travel that we do now, even though, you know, we're not flying as luxuriously as we can all the time. Like it's way better than where it was. And we still remember that. You still, you still leveled up and that's good. I mean, that's a good, you hear about like horror stories all the time. Like I'm not going to name other DJs and stuff, but like guys that were like once on top of the world and then like we're flying to Ibiza from Vegas on private, private. And, and now they're like, Not in a good spot. Don't talk about DJ them jeans like that while he's on Zoom with us. That's crazy. That's crazy. He doesn't like when I bring this up. He does not like when I bring this up. I'm in a real bad spot right now, you guys. Also, I feel like the reality is, and this is kind of controversial, but live lots are great on commercial. You get a little TV. No one bothers you. No, you're right. This is such a first world problem. But on a jet, when someone's like, come fly with me, you get on a plane, there's like 12 people on it. And you're, like, sitting on the couch next to, like, two people horizontally. And you're just like, this is even more uncomfortable than, like, any Southwest flight right now. That's a good point. I have to make small talk with Will.i.am all the way to Ibiza. This isn't worth it. Oh, God. I mean, I can't tell you how many flights I've been on where that's been the reality. And you're like, I'm so angry right now. Like, I didn't sleep at all. Like, I had to have...

seven-and-a-half-hour conversation with somebody. That's really funny. You have to sit on a dubstep guy's lap to Kansas City? That's really funny. The things Diplo will make you do, it's not worth it. You have to earn that ride. How bad do you want to go on this plane? Yeah, how bad do you want to go on the plane? How bad do you want to go on the plane? You're around clubs so much, and you're in Vegas in the whole... How do you think the whole Vegas promoter world... Because you guys started out promoting shows in New York and throwing parties around when I was doing the same. And now the thought of doing it now is just like... I feel like the club has sort of disappeared in the way that we know it. Where a group of people will gather in front of a doorway and you pick the cool, hot people and they come in. And then the douchebag guys, they have to stay outside. Now everything is just... It costs $179 to get in, and that's it. Where do you think the clubs are at nowadays? Well, I mean, let's look at New York City, for example, where we were all promoters and lived the life at one point in time. There was this moment probably around 2009, 10, or maybe even before that. Maybe it was 2006 where there were hundreds of clubs. You go to 27th Street, and there was really nine clubs that were overflowing into the streets. And same thing with like in the West Village with the cool clubs and all this stuff. And I think it was like because all these like finance guys had these insane expense accounts. Like people were making so much money. It was like the rise of the bottle service moment. And clubs were making, you know, like the economics were like incredible for them. But, you know, once the economy kind of dropped out the bottom and expense accounts got reined in and it wasn't so cool to drop. two hundred thousand dollars on a table at provocateur or something uh you were kind of like oh shit you know and then all these people went out of business and then like all you have now is like tau group which like basically consolidated the entire space and and they you know own like 10 venues around the city that are like kind of a little bit different each one we love our tau family we love those guys sorry go ahead yeah yeah they're great i mean you know they were like some of the first ones to book us ever um but i miss it i mean i love

I miss those days of like the, you know, I don't know if they have to be like super Uber club, but like, you know, I love New York for the door people because like, I mean, what's ironic is like all the people that used to be like shitty sub promoters with me are now like the actual club managers or owners or, you know what I mean? Or like the door people. So like, someone would be like, come meet me at this place. Like Paul's baby grand. And you'll be like, Oh, I don't, I don't know. I've never been there. Like who does the door? And they're like, I don't know. He's a prick though. So good luck. and then you're like uh all right you show up and you're like oh shit it's Fabrizio you know and you're like how you fucking been uh and I mean I love that but I also love it because like you'll come up sometimes and like you know we're very I'm very proud of how average and white I am like you know we're not like I don't like I don't I don't scream celebrity I don't have to wear crazy jewelry or fur coats. You don't walk past the club and the door person doesn't scream, we got to get this guy in here right now. Yeah. We generally roll up with way more dudes than girls. And sometimes the door guy will be like, oh, yeah, it's chain smokers. Come on in. And sometimes they're like, don't make the connection. And someone's like, tell them. And I'm like, I'm not fucking telling them. Either I'm getting in here on the basis of how I look or I'm not killing. And I don't make a stink or anything. I'm just like, oh, we failed tonight. Marky was not going to let us in. We got to go home, guys. We got to check another place out because nothing's worse than name dropping. I'd rather not get in than be like – I'm 100% with you. This happened to us. I took us to this GQ sports party, and I didn't know it was a GQ sports party. And I was invited by the editor. And then we got there and could not get in because it was just like basketball players. The heavy door. And their thoughts.

And I got so much shit from my friends. It was like I had done something personal to them. And I was like, I'm sorry. I don't have any juice here. I don't know what to tell you. You did something personal. You invited us to a party that we were surely going to get into. We did coke in the car five seconds before walking in the door. And then we got denied. That's true. Because Emily Ratajkowski and every basketball player had to go inside before us. The cocaine ran off. And then we went to bed. And then you were mad at me. I'm also sober. I wasn't mad at you. It was fun to make fun of you. I'm like, guys, I wanted to go home the whole fucking time, but I thought this would be nice for you. It was a gift to my friend. I think it's good to have imposter syndrome in some ways. I would hate to have some crazy inflated ego. We're lucky enough to be friends with Michael Rubin and go to his white party. I swear to God, at that thing, I'm the lowest tier. On that list, you know, in my mind, at least in my mind, maybe in other people's mind, it feels differently. No, you are. No, you are. That's what it feels like. I didn't know. But Michael, when did that party? When did Michael Rubin's white party start? Has that been going on for like a decade? And now I think it's like hearing about it. I think I think this was the third year that it happened. OK, if you could explain to people who is Michael Rubin. For the uninitiated. He is a great guy. He's a killer. He's a killer business person. I don't mean that in the, like, he is a killer that is a business person. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah, but he's a great guy. We've known him because we played one of his really early Fanatics Super Bowl parties before Fanatics. became massive and he kind of blew up as this person could you explain what fanatics is to people who don't know and me also yeah they're basically like have monopolized the entire sports merchandise industry top to bottom uh and you know every jersey hat from college to Whatever. They basically are the distributors and producers of it. Lacrosse, all of it. Everything. And he's doing sports cards now. They're getting the gambling. It's going to be massive. It already is massive. It's going to be really, really massive. But yeah, so obviously leveraging the Super Bowl as a place. He's done a really good job building these events that build the profile of Fanatics. And one of those things is the Super Bowl party that he also does.

And, you know, and all these owners and players and people come. But early on, they obviously weren't like as big a deal. And so we played one of the earlier ones. And I think, you know, that meant a lot to him. And we're obviously just like nice, chill guys. And so we kind of got grandfathered in. Obviously, obviously. Oh, so now you're good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Grandfathered in. Obviously. We're great guys, obviously. Okay, so you're saying you did him a solid early days of getting paid pretty well to play a Super Bowl party. Yeah, how much did they pay you for this first one early days? We only got Knicks jerseys for life. That was it. Just as many Knicks jerseys as we threw on. We get new Knicks jerseys. I don't even like the Knicks. All you can eat Knicks jerseys. But that party is like the heaviest room outside of like... the Oscars or maybe the famed Roc Nation brunch, which I hope you've also been to that, but you might be too white for that. Yeah, we haven't gotten anybody to that one. Me neither. Me neither. Don't worry. It's not just you. But those parties, who's DJing these parties if you guys aren't? That's such a good question because I have a strong opinion about this. So in my mind, it's a lose-lose to DJ this party. Because like you're dealing with an incredibly large dynamic of crowd person. You have. Yes, yes, yes. Biggest models to the best superstar athletes to the biggest musicians. And everyone has different tastes in terms of what they want to hear. And also you have all the artists that want to perform from like Travis Scott to Uzi to, you know, whoever. And so like. you're basically going to get up there and piss off half the room no matter what. No matter what you do. Half the room if you're lucky. I've kind of made that clear from the beginning. I was like, I never want to DJ this party. And the guys, Michael and Alan Tish and Swill, they kind of all help organize it and plan it. And they were like, we never want to ask you guys because we know that.

You know, it's just like you're going to get up there and then Travis Scott's going up there and smash your laptop because he doesn't want to hear the song. Or like, you're going to play, you know, it's just a lose-lose. It's not going to end well for anyone. So they have to just get some, somebody's got to do it, but it doesn't need to be you. I don't think everyone shares that perspective and they get up there and they learn. They learn real quickly that it's not, that's not the move. We've seen it where you're like, like, they're like, it's my turn. I'm going to go up there. I'm like, don't do it. I'm like, don't do it. You don't want to do it. And they're like, no, no. This is my moment to control the room and have everyone be like, that's so-and-so DJing. I love the idea of you guys being like, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, and Questlove just gets up there anyway. He can't help himself. It kind of sounds like all the hell of DJing a wedding without the... Tons and tons of money that you get. Well, it's that, except Beyonce's yelling at you. You know what I mean? Right, right, right. The stakes are higher than a mean bride. It's a little worse. Yeah, I mean, look, it seems fun to go to, less fun to perform at. I can totally see. 100%. And so remain anonymous. Are there live performances as well as DJs? Oh, yeah. yeah definitely they have like i think neo performed like officially they do like a formal one uh like outside on the rooftop and then they go to the club and then like everyone jumps so i think this year like formally it was neo and usher and then last year was mcgill i believe and then but then everyone goes down to the club um which is like travis scott's like travis scott's kingdom and then eventually he's gonna get up there and he's gonna go crazy and make sure that everyone's getting fucked up and like being in travis scott's kingdom is my nightmare but go ahead it's it's pretty intense like he he like hazes the audience on the mic if we're not drinking enough yeah so wow yeah you're like yes sir yes sir mr scott yes sir but in that moment it's kind of that's that's an interesting part because it's like everyone then wants to get up there and there's like there's so many amazing artists travis scott uzi

Drake is usually there. Like, there's a lot of amazing people on, like, Jack Harlow. Like, they were all performing this year. And everyone wants to go and, like, okay, let me go do one of my hits, you know? Some old white guy comes up to you and nudges you and is like, why don't you go up there and do Closer? And you're like, shut the fuck up. Like... No. No. Like, hey, is Coldplay here? Why don't you guys go up and do that one, huh? Yeah. Oh, my God. Chris is... in the back chris is in the back go get it you're like i'd rather just be like the anonymous person that like no one's really clear on what i do but i'm here so it's i pass the test then might be like oh yeah it's the it's the classic like people are nice everyone's nice to each other backstage at a certain level because you're all back there and it's like all right if you're back here i guess i should be nice to you whether i know you are or not it's a very similar very similar thing when you guys go to an event like that Is the dressing and the jewelry different? Do you feel the need to pull out the presidential, to pull out the chain, to pull out the crazy fits that you normally don't wear on a day-to-day basis? I put on literally every chain I own. And I think it makes me more embarrassed doing that. I think next year I'm going to wear one simple... classy thing that not many people are going to even notice but when you try hold on hold on drew how many chains do you have i didn't know you were a chain guy are you are you just is your neck heavy well they're really small chains so no one knows me as a chain guy but i thought if i were to unite them all I would have a shot at looking like... If I created one super chain, I would look right. All the baby mama chains assemble into one big daddy chain is what you're saying. Exactly. Didn't work out for me, though. I didn't feel great about my decision. Sure. It's just not me. Do you guys dress yourselves or are you at the point where you have stylists picking out outfits and stuff for you? We have an amazing stylist named Blake. who yeah he's he's great we've had a number of stylists that have all been really great he's like you know this is like this guy that just walks in the room and like all my friends have said that immediately like i just want to look like this guy

When someone gets a reaction like that, you're like, this guy's got to be my style. I've never gotten a reaction like that. Me neither. Somebody does. I've got to meet Blake. So Blake has the sauce. So this weekend, you're going to go DJ a festival in New York, hop on the PJ, because you're saving money to go to Vegas. Are you going to... And then is Blake on the jet with you putting your trousers on for you? Or does he pack it all for you and then you go? No, no, no, no. Yeah, we just need help. We're like, yo, so we're going to do Red Rocks on Saturday and Sunday. So we've got four shows this weekend we've got to plan for. It's like, shit, you're shooting content around all those things. And there's got to be videos and recap. And then when you don't forget about the outfield. What a great opportunity missed. Well, you guys have other stuff to worry about, and that's the whole point. I'm just up there in a t-shirt and my small team being like, how did I call Blake? We're in the middle of a... We're in L.A. We're in the middle of a heat wave. How many songs into the set does that shirt come off, Drew? Yeah, Drew, the shirt ain't staying on. It's been getting worse over time because I think I'm getting older and my lymphatic system is slowing down. I don't think that's the right system to be talking about. What a great way of saying your body is looking worse the older you get. Yeah. I get hotter. I get hotter sooner. I get hotter sooner, so I take it off. sooner oh but i try to make it at least like at least like 35 minutes you're like the guy that at barry's at barry's boot camp who like he turns the treadmill on and the shirt comes off and i'm like bro you're not even sweating yeah like yeah preemptive well i feel like it's funny too like obviously i'm i'm like five or six years older five uh and you know not as good looking and handsome and i can tie this all back into the to the stylus thing too in a second but like

No need to. It's already good. You know what I mean? You can't both be shirtless up there. So there was like one show. Like when Drew goes shirtless, I'm like, fuck, I guess I'm locked in now. I'm sweating it out. I'm sweating it out. Do you ever just maybe roll up a sleeve on your shirt just to feel? Yes. There was one show in like Europe where I was just like 20 seconds in. I was just like beat him to it. And I was like, I'm the shirtless one this show now. I hope that didn't throw off the chi. All of a sudden, everything's going haywire. The drummer's offbeat somehow. You can get away with that in Europe. But going back to the stylist thing for a second, it sucks for me because I don't look good in clothing as he does. You know what I mean? So you get all this great stuff pulled, and you're putting it on, and you're just like... what the fuck is wrong with me? You know what I mean? Like, why is this shit not, why is this not, why is this not working? And you know, and so I kind of have this like defeatist mentality, like with fashion where you're like, I want to participate, but like, it's just, it's not hitting the same way. And, uh, and so I pretty much have just given up. Like I do it, but like, inside i'm just like doing it to do the most to go through the motions but inside i'm dead i think a lot of people can relate with that alex yeah a lot of people can relate with that alex first of all this is the first time hearing this and i feel really terrible for alex and i also feel bad because maybe i like to wear some like more more wild shit not like crazy shit but like some more wild stuff and like i spend time with blake and get the the fits ready and i think maybe then he brings those to alex and poor alex is over there not knowing I'm not, none of us are knowing that he's. But Drew, it's not your fault. You have such a hot little body. Okay. Yeah. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. This is God's plan. You guys are doing just fine. If, if Drew has to buy t-shirts, you know what I mean? It's not the, you know, it's like you're buying. Alex doesn't look bad.

It's just, you know, how does he compete? I feel like it plays into, like, my, like, larger life, like, like, ideology, which is just, like, set the bar really low. You know what I mean? And then blow people away when you, you know what I mean? No, that's a great, that's a great approach. It's a great approach. So, like, this beard is, like, it's intense right now. You know what I mean? It's a lot. Like, a lot of people are having to take this in over the last two weeks. And then, like, I'm going to show up on Friday to Izu and it's going to be all trimmed up and they're going to be like, damn. You know what I mean? Oh, it's called edging. It's called edging, Alex. I do it every day. Yeah. I love edging. By the way, I love edging. I'm a huge fan. I love it. Ask anybody. Ask anybody. They'll tell you that I love edging. Okay. Is your girlfriend there? Yeah. Put her on. Put her on. So. We haven't practiced it in so long because there's just no – you know what I mean? I understand. Once you're like four years deep in a relationship, you're just like – Festival season. Festival season. You're busy. You're busy. Well, no. You're just like, I'm trying – let's just get this over with. Let's watch some Love Island. You know what I mean? You're not like edge me for 45 minutes here. No, you're not. You're not doing that. You're not doing that. What is the – now, I did – so when we talked about you on the show, Alex, it's because I had spotted you at a local – members club and local eatery you were eating caviar and i had been to this place i'm a member i've been to this place several times and i had never seen anyone get caviar i didn't even know they had it on the menu yeah and i just thought that was i just thought that was funny and you you did look like you were with like a money guy like a guy you were looking to have invest in something or maybe vice versa. It didn't look like a peer. It didn't look like a peer. So I was with this guy, Pejman, who runs this really successful venture fund called Paired BC. That makes sense. Dropbox and DoorDash, you know, made fortunes. Super, super nice guy. And he was in LA and was like, let's get together.

I know he wants to become a member of that place. So I was like, oh, let's go have a drink there. And, you know, I was just like, you know, when you get the craving, you're just like, I want caviar. And I'm like, and you ask the person and you're like, do you want caviar too? And they're like, no. You're like, I'm still getting caviar. And so I just faced this caviar by myself. But I will be critical for a second here. I'm not a fan of the potato chips with caviar. It feels, it's not right. And you know what I mean? Like, like, it should be a little toasty. Now we're getting into the good stuff. A little toasty thing, you say, which sounds like a little white bread, like the little white bread. A bellini thing is what they call it. A bellini, bellini. But not even the bellinis. The pancakes are kind of whack, too. It's really just like a thin white bread slice that's like crunched, well toasted. And, you know, just like you're paying all this money for this thing. Like, you're going to throw some Lay's potato chips at me. Expect this to satisfy. be satisfactory. People love a high-love situation, but it's interesting that you're a fan of the toast point. I like that about you. That is a surprising twist. It's some classic refined eating. I think he left early. He had another thing, and then I sat there for another 10 minutes by myself finishing the caviar. I got it. I'm going to finish this up. I'll see you later. Have fun tonight. Where else are you guys eating in LA? What are your favorite? We have a lot of opinions on that. this do you have any go-tos we don't want to dox your palate we don't want to yeah we don't want to fuck you up too bad but you know there's a japanese barbecue place that i'm not going to say the name i made this mistake with rowels in new york city i told everyone about rowels and now i can't even get a fucking reservation there no one can get a reservation yeah yeah it's fucked new york is new york is fucked in that way though you can't well you need a you need a plug you have to have a plug to go anywhere our assistant has this really clever hack that i'm also not going to give away that is like that is like opened up doors

for us now. There's no restaurant that's out of reach at this point. We'll talk offline. We'll connect offline about this. Do you have to be a famous multi-millionaire in order for this hack to work? No. So it could work for some lowly podcasters? That's good to know. You just say you're in the Chainsmokers and they don't believe you. Honestly, Jason and I could easily say we're the Chainsmokers. Jason's pretty tall. So it's like that's the only giveaway. They're not small. They're some big fellas. I'm 6'2". How tall are you, Jason? 6'9". He's huge. What the fuck? Is that why your camera's off? Is it just like disturbing? I don't even fit on the screen. Why even turn it on? It's too weird. Look, there's a Japanese barbecue. Can I ask you? Go ahead. How big is your dick? How big is your dick, Jason? I'm not going to answer that question. You're not you're not you're not the first person to ask him that, but you might be the first person on how long gone to ask him that. So that's great. That's good. I'm just curious if it actually is bigger than like a six foot one guy or no. I don't think that's how dicks work. And I yeah, I don't want to be the expert on. I don't want to be not for white guys. I don't want to be the dick expert here, but it does. I feel like all of that is a fallacy that women have put on us. You know, we've had to kind of break out of that. Get it fallacy. I'm here all night. I'm here all night, guys. I'm here all night. It's not dinky. I'll say that. Okay. Wow, Jason. Big statement. Big statement. Hold on. Where is this Japanese barbecue place that you like? What neighborhood is it in? It's right near. It's on West 3rd Street, right near the Beverly Center. Beverly Center. Oh, the Beverly Center. Okay, okay. That's on my running route, so I'll keep my eyes peeled. Let me tell you, and I'll tell you why it's my favorite. First of all, food's exceptional, and you can be in and out within an hour and 15 minutes and have everything. They just rain it down on you. You know what I mean? They're just like, you go for the American Wagyu tasting menu, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, 10 courses, hour 15, you're back home on your couch.

It hits all of the spots for me. Like, you know, I hate when you're in a restaurant and you're sitting there for like three and a half hours waiting for food to come out. You're not even hungry by the time your main course arrives. Alex, you and I are cut from the same cloth, Chief. All this omakase, all this three-hour, four-hour taste. Jason just went to Noma when we were in Copenhagen. How long was it, Jason? Five hours of pure pleasure. Five hours. You want to talk about edging, Alex? I was edging my mouth for many hours. So you pull up to Manpuku Japanese Barbecue. God damn it! And an hour later, you're back on the couch jacking off. What a dream come true, right? I knew you had small penis energy. No, I did the same thing that any listener would do. I Googled Japanese barbecue Beverly Center, and it came up instantly. But you know what? I'm happy to bleep it out, too. It'll be more fun if I bleep it out. They've got a few locations, so I can mix it up. You can hit the valley if you have to. It's not a problem. I have a car. So on the show, we have a recurring segment where we kind of ask musicians about a sync or license that kind of changed their life from a monetary perspective or maybe one they passed up that they deeply regret looking back on it. I'm sure you guys have some of those tales to share. For you guys, I want to do a musical sync license. The Super Bowl commercial you turned down and you fucked that one up. I also would like to hear maybe an investment sync talk. Did you sleep on Uber? I know the tequila is going well, but maybe a tequila that didn't go so well. I can tell you, and I respect this policy of theirs. Coldplay doesn't allow any sense of any music of theirs. I didn't realize that. Something just like this is obviously probably a pretty primo song for those, and it was just not possible. Did they tell you that before you went in the lab, or was this discussed after?

It was discovered after. You're like, that's our story. That's our story. We did a song with fucking Coldplay, and we came. And you're like, thankfully, this is not a Coldplay song, Chris. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I totally respect it. They're probably smart about it. I respect it as well. the whole connotation of a song can get changed by like a shitty uh you know like reference to it it could have ruined it could have ruined you know fix you one one ford ranger commercial and the whole thing's i mean it's not like yeah it's not like coldplay needs an extra 300k you know what i mean everyone's doing just fine yeah i do respect it as well it is a special position to be in to turn that stuff down but i think it is of pure intention with Coldplay. Yeah. I think that's like a smart, they have too many songs that are so ubiquitous that it could have fucked everything up. You're absolutely right. The conversation changes. Yeah. Uh, I mean, yeah, it's, it's, I'm trying to think like, I mean, there was like a, I don't know if it was one of those like insurance. It wasn't Geico, it wasn't State Farm, but it was one of the big three, um, or four. And they like did an interpolation of Don't Let Me Down. And I was like, this is actually really nice. It was like a good insurance commercial. I don't remember how much we got paid. I don't think the syncs are definitely great, but I don't think they're life-changing. We've heard some amazing stories from Jeff from the band Thursday because they were a punk band with ethos. Turned down a million dollars to be in an American Express, like, print ad. Yeah. What? And he's like, bro, it's the stupidest thing. Like, think about that. Like, Thursday. That's all changed so much. But, like, Thursday. Totally. It's over. I grew up on Thursday. Like, they were, like, one of my fans, they were fans of the kid. And, like, I remember, like, I was such a hardcore kid. And the idea of selling out was, like, I was allergic to it, you know? Of course. No, we were, too. You know, maybe, like, for them at the time. You know, like that would have been – they would have lost fans. They definitely would have. They definitely – I mean, but it's like after you – at a certain point with that stuff, it's like you've already signed to a major. It's like what's the – where's the line for selling out? But you never know. The fans decide. Speaking of hardcore, we had Walter from Gorilla Biscuits on, and he was like, yeah, KFC was going to use one of our songs for a quarter million dollars, and we turned it down because we're vegetarian. And now he's like –

Would have been pretty sick to have that money. Would have been nice. Turns out I'd be able to sleep at night. Okay, well, do you want to talk about some investment stuff then? Maybe a jaw-jaw-jaw that didn't jaw so well? I know. We know you guys are shrewd investors, and Jason and I are obviously looking to get our toes wet once we start making some real bread. Do you guys go with your guts, or do you have a board of advisors that helps you out? I wouldn't call it board of advisors. When we started investing, we were just angel investors. We have our great business manager, Josh Klein, who's been really instrumental in financially setting us up and thinking about the future and stuff like that. Shout out to Josh. We had a big platform, and we had a lot of inbound deal flow. But I think what became apparent was that, first of all, as entertainers or athletes and people like that have like we have this platform so naturally the people that are seeking you out are generally like consumer related businesses because they want distribution and they want marketing which are the two things that they think we can provide and i think you know sometimes those things really align well and you could find a great company like the liquid death or uh you know poppy or something like that that you know you're a big fan of the product and you you know and you like it i think that's an important part of investing in consumer is actually believing in the product and using it um but i think you know we're not blind and we're reading headlines about companies like palo alto networks and crowd strike and stripe and robin hood and you're like why are none of these companies coming and asking us to invest and not only that but like the multiples are way bigger like the businesses you know generally are much larger and you know and we're very lucky and i think that you know the one of the best parts about you know having been in the chain smokers is that we've gotten to meet so many incredible people you know throughout the years and we've never been transactional people and it's always been about building relationships and like who knows what kind of dividend they pay in the future and we met a great group of founders

uh you know probably like six or seven years ago now that i remember sitting with them and they were like guys i don't even know what you're like i can tell you're very interested in the investment space you're interested in technology you're super curious and thoughtful people i don't even know i heard you know i hear you guys talking about investing as angels but and i don't want to even ask what you're invested in but i'm just going to tell you right now i can pretty much for say for certain that the stuff you're invested in is garbage compared to what you should be investing in. And they were the ones that were like, you know, if you guys care, take a more proactive approach and seek out the things that are interesting, you know, and exciting to you. And that was, you know, that was the beginning of kind of this obviously much, much bigger journey that we've been on more recently. But we love it. You know, it's like it's really exciting to work with founders. Again, you know, everything we've done has been kind of the function of outworking people. I think we really just we're not always. we're definitely not always the smartest people. Like most of the time we're not the smartest people. In fact, we're probably the stupidest people. Um, but we like have a really great work ethic. And I think with founders building the people that build things, you know, we really relate to them in that sense and that struggle. And, and it's fun to like participate in that journey and then use and, you know, use the tools and things that we've accumulated over the years to hopefully give them a better shot at whatever they're doing. Um, but the challenge was always to like, you know, look outside the scope of what you would imagine us to invest in. Instead, look after, look at AI companies, look at machine learning companies, look at data and cloud infrastructure companies, look at cyber companies. And we, you know, built an incredible team around us at Mantis, which is like our fund that, you know, I like the, I like the idea that you're, I like that you're looking at machine learning and everybody else is like, Yeah, I'll put $50,000 into your restaurant, I guess. I'll never see that again, but I can get a table on a Friday. It's worth it. I mean, it gives you perspective. I mean, I think back to some of the things I did, and I was like, God damn, I was so stupid to do that.

How many nightclubs did you invest in? I mean, honestly, we've been really good. I haven't invested in any restaurants or nightclubs. Damn, that's impressive. Honestly, that's hard to resist. That's hard to resist. But shout out to Josh. Josh is like, you'll never make money in a restaurant, ever, under no circumstance. Maybe major food group investors, but that's it. No, but Alex, I agree with you, but it doesn't stop people, and that's what's so shocking. Everybody knows that you're not going to make money on a restaurant, but they can't help themselves because it's... sexy but they're yeah that's it we just talked that's exactly the point is that like they want to feel cool by being owning a piece of hopefully this like popping restaurant you know that becomes like a carbone or you know whatever and and they could say like i'm a part owner of carbone i can get a table whenever i want and that's their like social equity capital yeah it's worth it it's worth it to you if that's what you want out of it if you're not looking if that's what you want it's fine the people also people that will spend a hundred thousand dollars at the club on a single night. So start a restaurant is no startup cost compared to creating a SaaS company. So I can go out for one night or own part of this thing and then they're going around and tell everybody that they want to look cool in front of that. Like, oh, I own the place. When you look at it like that, it makes a lot of sense. As Lil Wayne says, it ain't tricking if you got it, guys. That's true. But also, obviously, venture in general, I feel like it's... i don't know if it's gone mainstream but certainly more people are aware of of you know at being coming at investors into these different businesses and but i like say it with caution because you know i see a lot of like you know there's a lot of like new value money being created in younger generations whether it's through tiktok or youtube and you know being creators like there's a lot of opportunity there i know there's like a temptation to like dive into venture and investing off the bat but like That is the last thing you should be starting with as an investment. You should buy your house. You should pay it off. You should invest in the public markets, diversify your portfolio. And then when all of that stuff is done, you can start investing in venture. But it's glamorized. It's different. It's sexy. This shit takes forever, like forever. Be prepared to wait a decade to make a single dollar, actual liquid dollar from an investment if you even are lucky enough to do that.

So it's not like for the faint of heart, you kind of have to be motivated by something different, which I think is where, you know, why I think I don't want to say we've been successful, but I think that's what has allowed us to make the moves we've been able to make is because, you know, like, sure, like, generating, you know, outsized returns is a huge part of it. But it's really about like, the whole process of like finding these companies, working with them, helping them grow. Like, I'm personally motivated by winning. Hell yeah, me too. Me too, motherfucker. I love winning. I want to crush the competition. I want to fucking win. Guys, I'm hard as a rock right now. You should see my dartboard with all the other podcasters on it. I don't play about this shit. This is not a game. This is not a game. We were the same way in music. It's like you were friends with everyone, but then you'd walk away and be like, you've got to kill that motherfucker. Of course, yes. That's the right way to be. It's all healthy, in my opinion. It seems healthy to me to be like that. Absolutely. Call that a Licky Lee remix, pussy. I'll show you how it's done. We're going to the studio right now. Not follow these nuts. All right, guys. Look, thank you for joining us today on How Long Gone. It was a pleasure. It feels overdue, and we're going to take Southwest to Vegas one of these nights to see you guys and have the full experience. Come join us sometime. We will. Yeah, come join us sometime. We'd love to have you. I need to have the full experience after hearing about the ins and outs. Yeah, it's a good time. We can get Chris to stay up that late. I'm sure. You're the only people I want to go to Vegas with. You're the only people I want to go to Vegas with. Totally works. But, you know, thank you guys. Have good shows. Red Rocks in New York and all that stuff. And we'll see you soon. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks for having us on.