554. - Mark Ronson

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. How long gone? Coming to you live from a beautiful, beautiful fall day in Manhattan. The sun is shining. There's a light breeze. The temps are nice and chill. But it's getting heated on the Internet, Jason, between two of our kind of favorites. Okay. Is this involving – it's not Drake and Joe Button again, right? I mean, they're still kind of trading barbs, no Nikki. But they are – I mean, it's Joe reading DMs from Drake after they both went crazy on the Instagram, which seems like unnecessary. No, there's something else happening, and it's your kind of doppelganger, Aaron Rodgers, has challenged Taylor Swift's current smash piece, Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelsey, to a debate over the effectiveness of COVID vaccines. Yes. And I am over the moon about this because there's nothing. Look, I don't want to hear athletes talk about anything, really. Except for all of the great athletes who have taken the time to be a guest on How Long Gone. We love and support you guys. Well, I want them to talk about thoughts, making money, and buying cars. I do not want them to talk about public health. I want to hear about Givenchy shoes and how much you can deadlift, and that's about it, brother. I don't want to hear about your thoughts on this, but I think that Aaron Rodgers is kind of...

is making you look bad a little bit because, you know, he's been out here a while and for a minute. I hope this isn't causing you – Who's looking – make who look bad? We all know that he's going to win the debate. No, I think they're both a little bit brain dead. Obviously, the CTE doesn't help, but I think that the – I don't think Travis can wiggle out of this one. I think that Aaron will – I don't think so either. People want to have a beer with Travis now more. But he's basically like a Ken doll, so there's not much beyond the surface level of his smile and his skin fade. He's a Ken doll. He's a Ken doll. He's a Ken doll that refuses, that will only go to a black barber shop. Yeah, you're right. That's 100% what he is. That's a good description. I don't even care. I think the debate is a win for America. I don't think it matters. I'm saying Travis is not standing on business the way Aaron is. And that's the foundation that wins or loses a debate. Standing on business is the most important part of any debate. And that's something that I would lay down my life for. Metaphorically speaking. Of course. How are you feeling? How are you feeling? I feel good. I mean, I just left a gym sesh, just had a pump on. I was inspired by our previous episode with Dave Wan wanting to get swole. You know, I'm natural, of course, though, so I wasn't really doing the stuff that you guys were talking about. Sure, sure, sure. I'm also not putting up as much weight as you guys are doing. That's how it works, but I'm glad that you're still pushing forward. You're trying, and that's all that matters. Yeah, man. I mean, I got to pump the jeans out of me. As they say, right? Yeah. No, not the Vim jeans, like the jeans, G-E-N-E-S. I got it. Okay, I was confused. No, no, no. I mean, jeans, I guess I should say I got to pump the Stuart out of me. Yeah, no, I knew what you meant. No, I know. But it's confusing because your name also includes the word jeans. You can see where I can make a mistake there. As soon as it left my lips, I was like, this is going to be a...

It's going to be a twister. I saw fellow podcaster Mark Maron there. It's been a while since I've seen him at the gym, so it's good to see him. What beanie was he wearing on the stretching floor? He may have been toque-free, toque-less. It all happened really quick. He was going while I was coming, so there wasn't a whole lot of... lit spying to do was he so was he solo dolo was he with a trainer was he with a friend like who was i don't know i don't know i don't like to get in i don't like to get into that you know with my friends my close friends i understand you wouldn't want to air air out mark i mean we still are holding i mean he's he's got schwarzenegger on tomorrow so we still are you know we're still chasing the title yeah i'd like to think that me abiding to the bro code at the equinox and glendale is going to be the one thing that gets uh Him on the podcast, of course, but I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe one day. Would you rather have Maren on How Long Gone or How Long Gone on Maren? That's the real question. What would bring you more joy? I would probably, I don't know. I think if we were to do Maren, it would be better if we did it one-on-one. I think if it was the two of us, because he would never do two. I think he's never done two guys. Yeah, that's not true. He did. He did Pitt and DiCaprio together. We're no different. Just like Joe Bud in Flying Private, there are very select moments where something like that happens. But I think by and large, he really refuses to do that, which is cool. I respect that. But I would rather have him do How Long Gone. because you know then i would be in the driver's seat he's coming into our house exactly he's coming into our house yeah i think he i think a little more on his heels man a little more defensive i think he would absolutely hate us of course um and like worse than any guest we've ever had and not just because he's the the pod father um but because he just i don't think he actually likes humor like i think he likes

being a comedian, but I don't think he likes to laugh. Does that make sense? Oh, I've never heard him laugh in my entire life. It's really, he does seem like a talented but joyless individual. And I mean, life's, you know, giving him some lemons for sure. That's what my wife says about me. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, we've all been dealt cards. She's tried to turn this frown upside down. I said, I wish I could. I wish I could, but I can't. What else we got going on here? I wanted to say that, Really quickly, speaking of Equinox, the hot water has been out at the Equinox in Glendale. Over the last few days, they'll send me an email saying the hot water's out, hot water's back on. But that doesn't affect the grusslers who only do... cold showers anyway. So you're kind of good. I like when I, when I use the urinal, I like it a little warm though, just on the flush. Cause it will spray my ankles and my chin. So a little warm didn't hurt, but you know, that that's a great point. All this is to say Equinox. And then they, they send an email again over the weekend. Hey, water's back on the next morning. I wake up. Hey, water's back off again. Okay, so they're kind of effing with you at this point, you feel like. It feels, it's not personal towards me, but how can I ignore it, kind of? Of course, of course. And I know that the board members of Equinox, the C-suite over at Knox, listen to How Long Gone, so. Yeah. You know, if you upgrade me to an all-city pass, I'll stop talking about. What's going on? I'll stop bringing up the water, the plumbing issues. Well, don't worry. The reason I'm paying for the all-city pass is so I can go kick the tires in every fucking location and air out any grievances on how long gone. That's the only reason that I'm paying the extra $35 a month. I paid for it. Okay, okay. Just like with my restaurant criticism, as soon as you send over the hamachi crudo... I can't take it. You know I can't take it. You know I can accept another crudo. You know this. We talked about this. I had a delicious crudo last night, actually. Is that right? I went to ABC Kitchen with Eric from Secretly Group, our A&R. Oh, I miss Eric. Hi, Eric.

Eric, Eric's the best. We had a nice, we had a nice chat about the state of the industry, kind of who's doing what movers and shakers, you know, which was, which was nice. You know, I'd love to get in that, in that zone with a professional. A&R Black. I'm going to Big Chicago tomorrow to build with friend of the show, Benjamin Edgar, Jason. And I'm, I'm, I was reminiscing because we're doing something at the J. Crew store there. And I'm, I was reminiscing about. when we went and had that nice long lunch at the RL Cafe with Ben. And you got a little drunk, I believe, is what happened. Did I drink that day? I believe you had a day martini. I believe, I remember. I'm sure I did, I'm sure I did. I mean, but you were sort of prefacing that with, I got drunk and then did something bad, but all I did was just, I just had a martini and enjoyed myself, that's all. Yeah, yeah, it was just a two and a half hour lunch, which is something that. And wasn't there, wasn't like Donald Glover there? The original, not Childish Confino. The original? I think Bruce Willis' homeboy, Donald Glover, was in the building. It was him, right? I think so. It was a legendary African-American actor from our childhood years. I think it was Donald Glover. But just seeing a guy like him. oh yeah you know in chicago having lunch at a fancy restaurant something it was just so perfect that does that feels like a christmas it's exactly who you want to see there no that's true that's exactly what you want to see like him and like like a beloved vice president you know like a like a jimmy carter before he was like You know, geriatric. Bedridden. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jimmy. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Georgia legend. No disrespect to Jimmy. A 72-year-old Jimmy Carter having lunch. Oh, baby. He's choking on the shrimp cocktail, but his nurse is right there to kind of get it out of there. That silverware is clanking, brother. Hands are shaking. Silverware is clanking. We wanted to talk about our shows a little bit because in L.A., we do have some guests confirmed, and I'm very excited. Our friend, the hilarious Robbie Hoffman, is going to do some comedy kind of before we take the stage. We're trying something new.

one of the funniest people I've ever seen so I'm very happy that she agreed to join us and then to chat with us is a friend of the show Kate Berlant who we've actually never had on but we've been talking to her for a long time about trying to figure something out I've never talked to her but I feel like I know her I've seen her work so much that I do feel like I know her but yeah so Robbie Hoffman, Kate Berlant, El Rey Theater, November 11th in Los Angeles. Get tickets now. And we'll have more on the New York and Boston front very soon. Yeah. It's one of those bittersweet things because Robbie Hoffman is so funny. So it's a little bit like when the opening band is clearly much better than the headliner. Yeah. I have a little fear of that. Yeah, there's that. Yeah, that's fine. Which is fine. That'll just make me work harder, I guess. she's just like oh my god there's just something about her where it just she just kills me it's so funny no same same it's another and i know that you are anti-comedy for the most part i know but i can't get enough i'm i'm hoffman pilled um We have a guest today. Another long time coming, Jason. This has been going on for quite a while. Superstar DJ Mark Ronson is joining us today. You know Ronson from all of his various musical projects. We could start with Winehouse. We could start with RZA. I don't know how far you want to go. He did the Barbie soundtrack, which I know Jason is a big fan of, and several other things. But he's also working on his memoir. Uptown Funk? Uptown Funk, you ever heard of it? He's working on his memoir right now, which is really interesting because one of our mutual friends told us that he's really doing it himself, which seems like something he might not have to do, so he wants to do that. As opposed to having somebody help him or somebody write the entire thing for him. Somewhere in between that, probably. I think somebody help. I would have somebody help. A hand holder? Yeah, I would love that. I would love that. But yeah, we're excited to talk to Mark. And if you're at home keeping score, he will complete the circle of millionaire white guys in their 40s who produce music. Yeah, we've done it all. We had Emil. We had Dave from Chromio. We have Mark Ronson.

Andrew Wyatt. Andrew Wyatt. Is there anyone else? I mean, there's still people left on cover, but, but I guess we can do Jack Antonoff. Emil, Emil Ronson, Emil Ronson and Wyatt are the, is the three headed monster for my personal tastes. But there's, there's also plenty of, there's plenty of other, other. Antonov, if you'll have us, you're probably not listening. You're probably listening to Red Scare instead, but the off chance somebody on his team is listening, we will have him on, and we'll play nice. Jack's busy looking at the kind of thumbing through back issues of the Drunken Canal as we speak. All right, let's give Ronson a buzz. Oh, right. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable, and they're just easy but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated. but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada. That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by 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. what did they call, or what did you call Ty Dolla Sign? What was the term they used, Jason? Was it a hook lord? And I was like, yeah, that's exactly what Ty Dolla Sign is. Yeah, that was also one of the early ones, and obviously I was pretty excited to speak to him. It was exciting. I had this crazy, like, he had this mic set up, and then all of a sudden, in the middle of the thing, he just got up and started walking to his house. I'm just not. That's happened to us several times. Like, that's, yeah, yeah. 5e04 and walked around the house with FaceTime, like, under his chin drinking champagne. So it's, I mean, you just got to do what you got to do, you know? I know. I'm not good at being, like, the hall monitor like that. Like, being like, I'll just, excuse me, do you mind sitting down? And probably, there's probably a part of me that's like, actually, I don't have an ego. And as a producer, usually you're working with artists. They're more successful than you. You're always kind of, like, putting them first. But at some point, I was just like, uh can you please you know like please mr dollar sign do you mind just kind of sitting down for a second i had a hard time wrangling emil haney actually i would not i was like for a guy who makes money recording music you'd think you'd know how to stay close to that my microphone you know yeah i know get on that hog is this is this where are you in what studio is this in new york uh yeah this is my studio okay but it's not the it's it's it's it's newish right no i was actually in here

in 2004 to 2008 so when i uh was doing like back to black with amy and all that stuff this was what i had and i had like a fledgling record label at the front called alito and then i had this as my studio then i moved to london and la for a little while came back 2020 sort of peak pandemic and walked past this building and It was actually on Amy Winehouse's birthday. And I was like, what the fuck? I'll buzz up. And I mean, I'll be honest. I was probably going to take some exploitative picture for the gram. And I thought I buzzed up to the owner. or whatever and uh classic new york character with sort of like a barky voice like what what do you want you know what do you want it was like it's like talking at the drive-in speaker the crusty burger never quite know what they're saying sure sure like hi i don't know if you remember i was going i used to be here and i love and he was i used to rent the space like what you want to rent the space you know like yelling back and i came back up and i realized it was one of those thousands of offices that have been abandoned during COVID, and it had such a great vibe and memories and nostalgia, and it's just a great room, so I took it back over. Was it a studio in the interim, like while you were gone? Was it still a studio? It was a WeWork. yeah yeah they switched they switched they flipped it kind of while i was gone something called serpent sound i never looked it up i think it was probably a jingle house or something like that okay okay jingle house jingle house in parentheses derogatory when you say that or is that more of a literal no i think what kind of two-bit jingle house you're running in here you know that kind of vibe no it just means a house where they make music for ads but actually that just shows how old and dated my terms are because i'm sure that kind of stuff has been made in people's bedrooms for years now i don't think jingle house has like been you know used since they made like nabisco cookie commercial jingle house reminds me of my the the christmas tree farm that i go to in la called mr jingles which i thought is such a great name for the christmas tree farm but jingle house is giving it's really christmas i've been to a lot of jingle houses and they're all like

the pool house of a rich guy in echo park yeah it's just a dude who smokes weed all day long and is like on revision 35 of a of a rich cracker commercial that he's gonna get a demo fee for and never make any money from yeah that's so maybe this wasn't a jingle i i got it sounds like a pretty good life to me i don't know why that doesn't sound very bad to me i think maybe did you do a lot of jingle work back in the early days i actually did there was like a mid period where i i had made one record this nika costa record that had come and i had a solo record it sort of just like tanked and uh in the interim i was djing but you know i had studios i had this studio to keep the lights on so yeah i was luckily video directors who knew him with me a little bit like dave myers if he was doing a hyundai commercial in japan it'd be like hey mark so just doing really just just soul destroying well that's good i mean well back then you could make some pretty pretty good money doing it yeah it's a little more now yeah yeah it was it was just one of those it kept the lights on for sure what was the first what was the first solo record my first solo record was a record called here comes the fuzz on electric oh yes yes yes yes yes okay i remember um it with the it had the song ooey on it and uh that that i still play which is fun but you know it's just kind of slightly sophomoric dj record but there's some stuff on there well but you you saying it's a flop is that is that you being a dick to yourself or is that is that like legitimately what we're talking about well what do you like 17 copies what is that okay sure sure it's not it's not great the street team didn't push it The street team, exactly. The street team wasn't activated. The street team were actually my only friends in the label. We would drive up and down, like from sort of Boston to Maryland. We'd just be like in the car going. It was like the old school days. I don't know if they still do that, but just go to radio stations in Connecticut, the one hip hop station. You meet these DJs and do a guest set and then go on to the next one. But I thought that, you know, there were some good things that came out of that record.

was this minor hit in England is the reason I met Lily Allen and everything else that came from that so without that record I wouldn't be here but it was a flop but an important flop in your life trajectory yeah I do remember I think the label dropped me like a week after the album came out it's like they'd spent so much money it was obviously wasn't happening and I we had a gig on craig kilbourne remember he did the late of course yeah of course of course the god and it was with ghostface and and nate dog and i was like i had to pay for it myself because i was like there's no way i'm gonna not do this one cool thing that i might ever do with nate dog and ghostface so i remember doing that like uh i was yeah independent before it was like a thing i guess well did you like have to pay back any advance or anything or it was just like uh we're gonna cut clean and dry and if you want to do killborn you can buy your own jet blue ticket for raekwon yeah And Nate Dogg's car service from Long Beach. Exactly. Nate Dogg demanded an Escalade. He's scared to fly, so he wanted to take an Escalade from Long Beach. RIP to the God. One of the greats. That's the real hook lord right there. He's the OG hook lord. And I think Ty always talks about Nate as sort of like the pinnacle. Sure. That's his OG. Actually, I did two shows with Nate Dogg. There was a second one where we were doing like a random halftime at like a college basketball game. We just went on. um i told you the street team they had my back so we're about we're about to go on sounds like you were going to need their back in a second yeah hey like grabs me just as we're about to go on we're like just by the side they're like announcing us he goes what how's this one go again and i was like and he just looked at me like like my face went like flush white and he was like oh don't worry this happens with me and dre i forget the words even to like the hits he was saying like i think he said even explosive sometimes he was like don't worry i just have i've been on too many songs and i was like it's it just goes oh he's like right it just goes oh we like the title you got lucky that it was a simple hook for him compared to some of his other work yeah

I mean, imagine if I was just like, it's the one that goes, when I met you last night. He just went out and did. Oh, that might be his best. Well, you've reminded me of when I've done a little bit of DJ sets before a real hip-hop performance, and it doesn't go well. How many times have you been booed while you're DJing before a rapper? Or does that only happen to me? by my the internal voice in my head or just by actually people externally well maybe not maybe not physical literal booing and throwing of tomatoes at you but more so the vibe in the room is like get this fucking guy off stage i want to see ghost face yeah it's happened before i can't remember where exactly i think it's also as my career sort of changed a little bit and i become certainly after like my version album i people thought of me as maybe like more of a pop guy then when i would end up at the hip-hop shows playing i could tell people were just like why is he here a little bit more but um no i haven't i can't i know i've been booed but i can't like there's no question that i've been booed but i don't recall right now i did get booed accepting an award one time like some english the vodafone live music award because i i This is 2008, and I was at my peak, like, the closest I ever got to being, like, a pop star and, like, maybe the way you would look at a Shawn Mendes or something, you know, not as... Right. But he went on stage... Yeah, and I think I'd beat Paul Weller and Dizzy Rascal and some really... Oh, hell no. Oh, hell no. You ain't English enough for that. You are not English enough for that. And I think I would just, like, have my, like... I look back at this... pictures from that time and i had like it's beatles mop top and like a big tweed suit i was definitely had just gone all the way and bought some kind of kool-aid or whatever they call it there and i just yes it's funny to watch that but i i was i don't recognize that person fully uh i've tried to block out the 2008 version of myself as well yeah we all are that's not just you it's just i do remember that haircut though and it was a statement

That was a real statement. I remember, actually, Amy used to, like, the first time she saw me do it, she goes, why you got a fucking ugly man's haircut? She just called it an ugly haircut. Like, just like, why would you have a ball? It's not a good or bad. It's just a haircut that only ugly guys wear. Yeah, or a seven-year-old, you know. But was this a choice? Was there, like, a hairstylist that talked you into this, though? You know what I mean? Like, David Mallet, like, a famous hairstylist, is like, here's what we're going to do? No, I think I was just, like, after being sort of wearing, you know, jeans and Air Maxes and a T-shirt for Supreme most of my life until I was 27, 28, I had that first little bit of... success with amy it was the 60s ish thing i was enamored with the back of those records where people dressed to go to the studio in the suit then it all got a little too far i think and then i just fully went to like you know hamburg in 1963 like it just was no longer even what okay you got the bet from going from the air maxes to the the dap kings so quickly yeah your body couldn't handle it yes but even the dap kings at that point were dressing much cooler and sort of like or like the band when there's that when they band was like recording king harvest they were like air jeans and cool flannel shirts and i was the one that was wearing like kind of suits at some point so you would wear a suit to the studio to like sit in the studio all day i would um not in the beginning not in the very beginning of the dab king scene because i think i saw on the amy doc i'm wearing like a blood sugar sex magic like shredded out t-shirt but definitely 2007 2008 i think when i had my first little bit of success and i probably did one nice photo shoot for gq where somebody put me in those kind of clothes i was like i'll wear this every day from now on you know

Kind of like when Harry Styles started wearing those plaid Gucci suits all the time. It's just like, this is just what I do. Yeah, probably. I like the idea of getting dressed for work like that, except sitting around the studio is one of the... You know, there's comfort. It works for Dave from Chromio. He dresses up for the studio, too. Well, we did a podcast with him yesterday and he was wearing a suit for the recording in his hotel room. And like a Hyatt in Atlanta, which I was like that. I mean, it was open. He may have been playing it up. He's the kind of guy who'll wear a suit to go get the newspaper in the morning. I appreciate that level of commitment. I just can't do it. While I was working on a record with this English band, the Kaiser Chiefs, during that time, and I remember maybe because I was living in a hotel and it was just a laundry day. I'd run out of nice clothes. I went to the studio in a t-shirt and I just noticed they were being incredibly unruly and nobody would listen to me. I was like, what the fuck is the problem today? And they're like, look at you, dressed like a fucking skateboarder. We don't need to listen to you like that. They were sort of clowning around, but there was this thing of, I guess, keeping five lively lads from Leeds in line. It helps to be dressed like a... Some good literation there. What was the Kaiser Chief's look? I mean, I remember the band, but I can't place the look. They were like floofy and poofy British lads. Yeah, not as floofy poofy. They were just because of Leeds, they were just a bit more like... Straight-laced, like, British indie rockers, like, sort of post-strokes, you know, skinny teeth and stuff. It's not that dissimilar to Arctic Monks, because they were just very tall. Okay, sure, sure. So seeing you wearing just a T-shirt, it was like Doogie Howser in street clothes, he loses all of his authority. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. That Kaiser Chiefs thing, I was thinking about Razorlight recently, and how... They had like two really great songs and no one cared in this country. But their look, his look was so extreme. Yeah. And I just, the deep V with the skinny scarf and the skinny jeans. Yeah. And then you were having sex with the most beautiful women in the world. Yeah. Is really tough for me to compute at this age. Who is he having sex with? I mean.

he was a legendary like kirsten dunst i know for a time he had a whole he had a whole run there oh i remember this super star i mean they were playing arenas in england they were selling a million they have an album that sold a million copies in england which is like 30 million copies here or something i didn't know i because i don't know they did not cross over at all like some of those bands did most didn't but they like really the the the kind of gulf between their popularity there and here is staggering it was crazy you would go and see a band that had just played like the o2 arena in london at bowery ballroom or something you know it was always that kind of i i i think that's i mean i guess i don't know if that still exists in the same way just because of the internet i mean a little bit but not really yeah there's still things that don't travel in the same way there's like you know things like yeah but maybe rock just isn't kind of what it was and it's it's crazy now like when i see kids sitting on a stoop listening to music from youtube on their phones or something like i hear so much uk hip-hop like it blows my mind like central is like as much as i'm hearing like anything else i think that uk hip-hop is sort of really changed that divide as well well uk hip-hop feels cool yeah like i don't really want to listen to it but it feels cool and like it's it's different enough right um but i think the the drill like the rise of drill also has kind of like flattened it all because it all sounds pretty similar right but in a good way i mean the drum beats the same on every song i can live with that but it's not my favorite so you you don't dj as much as you used to what do you say dj do a dj set maybe quarterly or something like that no i still dj a lot but it's just for random shit like i dj last night at this party for this charity and it was at the box and common and black thought performed before you know it was like that kind of shit i mean i played for a track of public records

actually with dave i think as well like uh last month i love it i just go through this crazy existential crisis before because i'm nowhere near like i was when i was playing five nights a week and i know everything that's good and i know how to work it into my set and i definitely don't ever want to be that old guy who's just playing the throwback set so i you know and every time before i dj i like frantically text seven djs that i know across one to a track like what's working what's popping and try and work in at least three or four of those songs but i love it like it's just so crazy i think that more than anything that is that is the one thing that i'll be maybe doing till i die i mean i think about i look around like someone like quest love who you know is now an oscar winning documentarian and basically like a cultural figurehead and i'm like he's taking gigs that i turn down sometimes and vice versa i'm like why is he still doing that shit i'm like oh because he's like me there's just something that we love about playing music it could be a fucking thanksgiving night party with 30 people in there or something it's just i still do love it yeah well i i was asking or wondering because uh i'm i'm doing a little bit less djing nowadays it comes up every once in a while but when it is time to prepare your set do you get excited or do you get does it feel like a chore yeah i have to get excited so i uh when i did the thing of public records like i you know i was spending august upstate with my wife and daughter we have a place and i took the little controller like a little pioneer control as i started like locked myself in the shed for like a week and Serato's introduced this new stem software where you can do interesting stuff and break down stems. And I made myself work out a new set. I was like, I'm not going to rely on the old tricks and all that shit. So I have to make myself excited about it, even if it's only for me. Like the first two records have to be something I've never done before, some interesting mix. But otherwise, that's when I start to feel like a fraud.

and and i and i hate myself while i'm doing it you boo yourself internally in that case yeah it's like like to get up and play like uptown funk or or even like late night feelings all i imagine is just like 300 people like really three years that's what you have to show for yourself stories in the case of uptown funk six years so i have this and it's that's not usually the case people are kind of usually psyched to hear the song but I in my mind I have to like be constantly doing some kind of exciting blend mix shit live whatever it is to keep it fresh. I gotta use AI technology to get this Trina vocal isolated so I could say lick my pussy on my crack over a whole new song. Actually that is literally the third song in my set. It's Kia not Kia. It never leaves my crates. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How I'm Gone is brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need a fucking something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. And, I mean, 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 howlong. Taskers book up faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code howlong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web, sort of 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, you know. have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools so those future graduates can find me. And, you know, I'm able to accept, quote unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new, you know, 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. Show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early, and we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional as your competition, if not more. So head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. But actually, yeah, I think it was putting it over. uh hold on i'm coming by bobby bird like the old jd's break and it was like and oh yeah people went nuts people people went absolutely okay so there was a little bit of wordplay with with a trina my neck and my back and a coming at the same time that's true or was that just a happy accident that that was a very happy accident it's kia by the way kia is my neck my oh that's right but um k-h-i-a yeah was that her that was her only kind of

big hit right yeah like it's so crazy that that song is like just is the equivalent of like what eric b as president was when i started djing that seems to just have traversed time and age people just love that song paving the way for a sexy red in 2023 i would say yeah actually i was djing i was djing uh this gucci party okay so ronson be djing okay ronson be djing on the low i was djing three weeks ago and this uh This guy came up to me and was like, oh, you're going to play Sexy Red, right? And I suddenly had this set in my mind that was going to kill it. And it's just him saying this one thing triggered this entire spiraling out of control. I was running around trying to find the one Wi-Fi spot in this giant warehouse where they're having the party so I could download. sexy red and then i actually opened up itunes i had to go back and i was like wait which sexy red song is it and it was i think there's only one so i think you're probably no no there's there's a few now oh okay it turned out it was pound town and it was pound town and i was grateful to him because it really went off well but at first i i think i obviously knew sexy red was but i felt like um how does that song go again mark you got a few few bars Just give us a few boxes. He was like, Sexy Red, I felt like that scene, and it's either Sleepless in Seattle or one of those Tom Hanks films where he's like a widow, a widower, and he's out with Rob Reiner having brunch, and he's like, well, I haven't dated in a while. He's like, it's different now. You've got to be ready, and it's like, you've got to split the tab, and there's tiramisu, and he's like, what's tiramisu? And then Rob Reiner starts talking about something else, and at the very end, he's like, You've got to tell me what term is, because some girl's going to ask me to do that to her, and I won't know what it is. I feel like that's what I felt like when he said sexy red. I was like, what's sexy red? Yes, I'll totally play that song that I have downloaded with my cue points set already. But there's something about a request where we've all received hundreds of terrible requests over the years, and you can be nice or be mean or laugh at them or whatever. And then some people ask for a song with such...

a specific type of energy that you just play it because it's like i i was djing some a random wedding and this girl came up and she's like play city girls blah blah blah and i was like this not really the vibe you know it's like a like a 45s you know vinyl sexy cute dj set and the way she said it to me i was like fuck it i'll put it on and the place just exploded and she looked at me and was just like yeah see i i'm actually yeah i'm that's funny because it's I'm writing a book about DJing, specifically about the 90s in New York, and this sounds very high-minded. I do not believe I'm the same level of writer, but it's sort of in the way that Bourdain wrote for chefs, writing about DJs and what it was, especially in that era. Looking back at Bourdain's stuff, it wasn't that high-minded, but I know what you mean. He was a good writer. Such a fucking good writer, yeah. Very good writer. But there's something about it. It's very New York-y in the energy, and it's just like... insider baseball talk a little bit and whatever but there's a lot about that about like that that person that comes through a quest and the psychology of djs and why we do this shit as well as just like what the clubs were like but definitely there's a whole thing about the requests and like coming up and like standing there drunk on power as you watch the club because they've all gone crazy to your song you know how is the how is the book like organized each chapter is a is a club night so it's a definite party some of them were successful some of them were not so really so it's just like you know but it's just a way to talk about all the different shit like um so where do we start and where do we like end we got sway we got sway on mondays what do we like what i think this ends very succinctly like 2000 like new year's 99 because i just wanted to keep it to the oh to the 90s so it starts actually with raves that i went to like nassau uh and then it goes up to i'm not sure because i'm not quite there yet but it goes to like life and you know it's it covers everything because it was the moment that puffy and jay came into new york and really flipped what the social hierarchy of the scene was like when i started djing this club called life uh it would started to come down

and uh and i remember like the club owners who was kind of vaguely or not so vaguely racist would be like ah because i was playing hip-hop they were mark ronson his brand of music is uh is upsetting the uh the makeup of our vip room or whatever and then uh a year later they're just like mr carter this way please like that was exactly what was happening in new york so it's kind of uh yeah i don't know uh it's I'm in the middle of it right now. So you're saying Puffy is one of your sons? Huh? I am he, and he is me. I can't find it anywhere. I can't even find it on YouTube, but there was this thing where Puffy and Jay are sort of having a faux argument about who discovered me, which I thought was very sweet, but I can't find it. Because Puffy really did... take me sort of like around the world and dj all his album release parties whenever like the first time i got to dj in london even though i was born there and then uh and then i would do a lot of stuff around the rock la familia blueprint era djing for j as well you gotta find that you gotta find you gotta find that video no i think they've taken it down because they don't care anymore. They let their account expire. I should send you a copy of this comedian Moshe Kesher. He has a book that's coming out next year, but he has a chapter on raves and DJing and club promoting in the 90s in San Francisco. I think you would get some good book writing inspo on there, unless your book is already done. No, it's time halfway through and I'm reading every memoir that exists. I've never read so much. I find that if i don't keep reading i like i have to read as i fall asleep to wake up excited to write it's actually kind of what what what memoirs have have blown the roof off what has been the most john blaze memoir as of late i've been i've been reading so many that i probably forgot them all but all all the classics obviously kitchen confidential there's this amazing book

Mary by Mary Cantwell from the 50s called Manhattan when I was young or rather she wrote it in the 90s but about she was this Peggy Elizabeth Moss type character from Mad Men who came up in the first wave of women who went from being sort of you know receptionist and secretaries to being editorial kind of thing and it's just like it's it's just She talks so beautifully. Every address to her in New York is like a ghost, is like a living ghost. And that's what a lot of these clubs and these buildings are as well. Like none of them are there anymore. So that's sort of an inspiration. There's actually like this amazing, I think it's a little controversial now, but this book of essays called Air Guitar by David Hinckley. Yeah, yeah. I know Air Guitar. What's it about? It's a series of pop culture essays. I read it because in the back of Mary Carr's book called How to Write a Memoir, she just has a bibliography of 300 books that you should read. So that's just what I started going through. But it's just a series of pop culture essays, some of them biographical. But he was obviously incredibly smart and a little acerbic. All the 40s and 50s ones, like the obvious boy's life and that kind of stuff. there's so much good shit i can't remember that is interesting to know though you got to read to get excited to write yeah because it's it's sort of like it i didn't study english or creative writing or anything so i have to see like a little device or turn a phrase that's inspiring and like write it down so i have something to like go off to the races that makes more are you going are you going somewhere and like punching the time card every day and getting five hours of writing done yes I am. That's what I'm doing right now. So I started writing this book about a year and a half ago, and then Barbie came along, and originally it was supposed to be two songs and it ended up being a year-long project. So now I've just gone back into it sort of a month ago. You know, some of this stuff is 30 years ago. I've done drugs and drank and sort of put holes in.

the memory parts of my brain so it's a lot of talking and reconnecting with people from that era even if it's just for little color side stories and stuff like that but it's been kind of that that in itself has been great and remembering why i love djing so much as well uh so your publisher was okay with pushing the deadline back because of barbie i'm sure yes i was very like polite and informed you didn't have to give any money back or anything it was it was fine on the cover of the book it now has to say barbie's mark ronson but you know compromise otherwise exactly exactly the cover's gonna be pink there's no really that's a non-starter here i know you had some ideas mark but we've kind of thought of our own if we could present some that'd be great you know we want it just to be about we love the 90s and then 2023. Is there a way to... How can we kind of connect these two? Because I think it would really work. Work Amy into the 90s as well if you can. And the book we think Dance the Night is a great title because it really just says everything about the book. I do think, though, it's nice, though, because I've seen this with a few. Actually, Moby did this with his memoir. It's like you stop the first one at a certain point to leave it open. for the second one to cover kind of the back. Yeah. Well, I think that some people would probably say like, wait, he's writing a book, but it's about like before he was famous or there's no Amy story, whatever it is, you know? Yeah. So if the book is okay, it would be lovely. Like maybe do another one, but that, that wasn't the point of this. It was just cause I just. I don't know. I was thinking so much about that era, and I just wanted to get it down. It's an important enough era in time that it should be recorded for posterity. Yeah, it's not documented in other ways like camera phones. And I think also, I mean, listen, it's just midnight in Paris syndrome, but I would... have kids come up to me like 22 year old kids come up to me like in LA at a whatever some dinner and just be like dude you were in New York in the 90s that's crazy I can't believe it nobody in the 90s the 90s didn't even sound iconic like the 80s you know everything so so I just I thought you know somebody might beat me to it by the time I finish but nobody's really written that sort of like psychology of DJs and why people do it and why do people even gather

to dance like it sounds very like it's not a just about hokey community but but there's other bigger things at play oh definitely well i'm sure other people have tried to but i can't think of any of them maybe dead mouse got a book deal too just ski might be writing something so you better hurry up yeah yeah hurry up because the clock is exciting yeah you you did a show recently a live performance in los angeles with a couple Previous guests of ours, John Early, Tim Heidecker. And I noticed you were on the bill and you posted it saying, like, I don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing at this comedy show. So two questions. What did you do and why was your name billed so low on the list of talent? They promised that it was alphabetical, but I have no idea. I think that John Early, ever since his Netflix... special i've been such a fan bordering on like stalker of his that yeah he just knows that i'll basically do anything that he asks so all right be careful be careful be careful but yes of course and but and then uh he's got you wrapped around his finger definitely and then uh 2017 when he did a show around whatever that comedy festival that happens downtown like i schlepped like a giant fender roads electric piano so i could play who can i run to the song he performed like like basically instrumentally underneath his entire show like i i think oh my god so this goes back this is commitment this goes back i think a lot of musicians i know i mean andrew wyatt like we're sort of either comedy freaks or sports freaks you know there's like and they're not even exclusive so john early i love it he texted me and i just happened to be in la that night and i said yeah whatever whatever you need okay so what did you do yes what did you do oh yeah good good good question you did a tight 15 uh no i uh i brought my he was like maybe you could just dj under the

the the auction and help me do the auction so i was like okay so he sent me about the list of auction items and one of them was a turntable and i was like great carlin carlin bailey ray and uh whatever else and we just uh i dj'd under the auction it was very i said about seven words but i was just sort of there to support when you say under the auction you mean you're just kind of providing a soft soundtrack while the auction happens a soft sound bed and then occasionally you know if i played something he found exciting he would stop and have a dance number yeah yeah yeah you pick the songs not him i picked the songs yeah i know he has a lot of strong feelings about music so i wasn't sure if he was going to be control freak about that yeah no he does i've dj'd a lot of stuff like you know uh jackie novak's get on your knees show which i saw five times you know like that jackie novak kate berlant john early comedy triangle like i've been a big fan of theirs and i dj'd you know the opening of jackie's show and whatever else like And Kate's show, actually, too. Kate's going to be our guest for our live show at the El Rey in November. Tickets still available, guys. I know we got off of it, but writing a book is really hard. Yes. And I feel like writing music is hard, but I feel like it feels so different to me. And I can't... you've struggled at points i'm sure with the book a lot i was struggling an hour ago like i it's i have to i have to i have such crazy giant poster boards of like storyboarding and like things by theme and chronological events and more thematic things and more emotional things like color coded and then because the chapters are not just chronological memoir like they're they're sort of umbrellas to fit in some of these things go anywhere i then have a separate poster board where i actually storyboard like i can't remember who came my english editor uk editor came in the other day and you know she's like penguin she has a lot of great writers i'm imagining that she deals with they're certainly more professional than me and she looked at my board and she was like i've never seen any shit like this she was just meant like in the way that it was like

Not necessarily OCD, but just in this kind of... She was like, this book is about DJ clubs? Hold on. Yeah, I have to because I have to keep it from just sprawling out of my control. And then writing is hard. The one thing I keep asking myself in the same way that I would when I'd be writing a song would just be like... who the fuck cares like as soon as you start writing something like who is this for why does anyone care what am i offering that they can't get anywhere else i'm always kind of thinking about that and and how am i doing something that only relates to my particular skill set not what anybody else could be doing so i think i'm very i'm as tough on myself and as exacting as i would be while working on music but um it's just a different thing and it's something i'm not as good at well but but have you ever written a song or a paragraph or a page where the opposite happens and you you finish writing that first verse or you get the melody down or you get the chapter down and then you just start writing your grammy acceptance speech because you know that this one is the one got him and then you and then you never have to finish that song or that chapter again because you've already mentally completed the cycle of being the best writer of all time no nothing nothing in the book has felt remotely like that yet but i okay we'll get there i am excited about it i mean i do come here in the morning slightly with trepidation because i just know it's going to be work but i i do come excited like in the way that i've felt when i've gone to the studio to make a be working on a record and i do believe in that like Stephen King sort of like five hours a day locked in a closet somewhere. If I don't do that and turn the internet off, then nothing happens. You listen to music? No, I can't. I sometimes listen to songs to remember the timeline and the chronology. I'm like, oh yeah, OC Time's Up. Now I remember what club that was or whatever it is, you know? But no, I can't listen to music. Chapter 14, The Gravediggers. You know what's so crazy? I just wrote about that because I...

I just got my MTC right now at this particular time in this story, and I was just making these, like, bad, bad RZAwana beats, you know? Like, definitely highly Gravedigger's influence. Everything was, like, a sample from Rosemary's Baby soundtrack. Like, very horrorcore. So it's weird that you bring that up. I would love to hear some of your early horrorcore work, Mark Ronson. I don't know where it is, honestly. It's on a cursed zip drive somewhere. I was going to say a zip disc somewhere, a purple zip disc, a nice thick one. I mean, that's amazing. Hopefully Chris and I will also write a book one day. I don't know what it will be about. Would you write it together? Are you saying you're right? I don't think so. I don't think so. But we both do a little bit of writing. We have different interest areas a little bit. You know what I mean? Jason's focused on mostly food, which is something he's very good at, whereas I'm not interested in that. I'm more interested in... culture as as like a whole and kind of how we view it i guess is what i would say i'm reading i'm reading this book right now that you might know it's it's somebody it's by somebody green about uh talking to really smart people about basketball i know what you're talking about he's just upset he's a basketball journalist from the bay area who's written about you know uh the warriors and but he gets mathematicians and all these people and it's naismith all the way up because i know you're a basketball head big basketball head and it's just fun he just obviously loves it so much he's trying to write about basketball in a in a funny and intelligent way that nobody has before so i was kind of enjoying that i'm trying to do that about bad restaurants right now are you really Well, yeah, I'm trying to be a high IQ eater, I guess. Oh, I thought you were writing a book about just bad restaurants. Well, that's sort of the eternal issue with food criticism or writing about food where...

It's sort of looked down upon to write negatively about restaurants because it's such a, you know, all the reasons. Hard business. And because you wield too much power, like the bar stool pizza guy or something, who can just like... Yeah, he's the Dave Portnoy of like middling martini restaurants. I personally don't yield that power, but other people might if, you know, if somebody spends, you know, 20 years of their life saving up every penny and they... get all these favors and open up a restaurant and you know a food reviewer from the la times or the new york times gives it a bad review yeah it closes in a week the staff are unemployed it's a sad scene sorry but that's the cost that's the cost of playing the game i i can't like that's just what you that's just how it works the other the devil on my shoulder agrees with chris and also a good critic will be able to tell lead somebody here's what you should be doing in my opinion to improve your business or to improve your life. That's a very magnanimous approach to writing it, and one that I wish Pitchfork had taken more with my career. Does this guy have kids? That was never asked. I didn't know you had tangled with Pitchfork like that. Is this a thorn in your side? I think everyone's got a Pitchfork scar on them somewhere if you've been in the music business. Sure. I think that... When they came out, they sort of loved certain things. And then, I don't know, they did it. Who cares? Sounds like Mark got a 4.3. Look, as long as you didn't get the pissing monkey, you're doing okay. Never forget the pissing monkey. Do you remember the pissing monkey? No. For the Jet album. It's just an image. Or maybe it was like a gif because it was like a different time. It was just a pissing monkey. Wow. So good. Late Night Feelings got a 7.2, bro. We'll take that. I got a Best in Music. They weren't too keen on the Barbie thing. What happens is when they write about me and they decide... I feel like it was a bit like the enemy in the 2000s that I tangle with a lot. I feel like there's a chalkboard with artists we like and artists we don't like. If it's an artist we don't like, we need to be a little extra.

This is sort of linked to that, but you were talking about writing about restaurants and not wanting to shut them down. And in my brief dalliance of music journalism, because I always loved music journalism, I thought maybe that's what I wanted to do when I was sort of coming out of high school. And I started to write for some hip hop scenes on the go. I think I wrote a couple of reviews for Ego Trip and I would write sort of. I didn't have in my heart to be nasty, but I'd write a middling review about a Brand Nubian record, and then like... They would be there at the club on Saturday where I was DJing, and I was just like, I'm going to get my ass beat or something. I don't have the heart. That's what I was going to say. There's a little more risk involved in music journalism in that era than there is in Jason giving Noma a six. It's not risky. Some critics might have a nom de plume instead of just your name. I'd love to see you DJing with a low mesh hat, sunglasses on, because you don't want Brand Nubian to whip your ass in the booth. Try to lay low. Well, I think it is. The Pitchfork thing is only interesting to me because we're all of a similar age. And now I feel like all of these outlets that used to be like indie, quote unquote, or like focused on a certain genre of music now are weighing in on the Barbie soundtrack, Olivia Rodrigo, where it used to be like Animal Collective and Pavement. And I'm just like, I don't. No, we've like intellectualized pop music to this point where I'm like, I think it might just be good. Like it's all good. Like Olivia Rodrigo is just good guys. Well, they didn't have to back when they didn't have to pay writers and stuff. But now with all this bullshit, they got to pay everyone. And now you have to write about, you know, Taylor Swift. Yeah. Yeah. Taylor Swift is a great example. I mean, obviously she's like dipped her toe in some of that stuff, like working with the destiner, you know, all that shit, but, and Bonnie or whatever. But like, the taylor swift getting reviewed on like stereo gum is kind of fucking crazy like when you really think about it you know yeah it is true like it's just different now it's also i think just cool and acceptable to like everything where that used to not be the case either like it's it's considered more like well-rounded to like like everything and know about everything

which was not the case when we were growing up. No, and the niche stuff is just such a tiny niche now. Like, no one can insist on talking about that shit anyway, and there really probably isn't enough of it. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there are. There's 12,000 releases every Friday. I mean, I was doing this today. I see, like, somebody post about, you know, there's all this new emo, you know, quote, unquote, as it's coming out. And it's, like, supposed to be in the cool emo genre, like what I grew up with, what I liked. And I listened to it and I'm just like, this is fucking awful. Like, it's awful. But it's been fully fetishized because it's, like, something that hasn't existed in kind of, like, the, like, current, current time. So it's, like, these, like, dorks from Florida just, like, not doing it right. You know what I'm saying? But it's, like. But this has happened generation through generation. Of course. You know, when we're, you know, listening to. bands like jet trying to emulate 60s and 70s bands and we're just like this is this sounds like a monkey trying to piss in his own mouth but it worked hey jet jet's rich it works for jet at least one of those guys has got a closet full of leather jackets that's true and a house in coma yes i know jet does not have a no 100 they were because they were also australian you know so they did like richard branson definitely has them over to the crib for some aperitivo yeah they're probably legend they're probably legends in australia they were on the same label the same guy who did my first record uh signed them and i remember him playing it for me even though i wasn't even a very well-versed rock i heard the drum beat right around i was like oh but isn't that lust for life like aren't kids gonna know and he's like just look to me it's like kids don't know lust for life you might know that but yeah it's a good exactly what we're talking about and do you know do you know do you know the urban myth or legend that where lust for life comes from it was because they were hanging out again david bowie in berlin and the only american show that i think they could get was george of the jungle and it started off with that oh wow i've never no i've never heard that so speaking about ripping off nine-year-old people's taste that really is straight there nothing new under the sun did you work with bowie before he died i never worked with him i never had much

contact with him i i we when i was playing with jimmy fallon in the early 2000s we opened for the strokes and i remember standing next to him this close side of stage watching the strokes and just being like this hold on hold on bro hold on you were were you in jimmy fallon's band jimmy fallon the strokes 2002 yeah so this is all this is this is a moment in time and it smells like cocaine it really did international bar and all of it but i think that uh yeah i jimmy fallon i produced that album for him the bathroom wall and it would just come off doing the nika costa record and people were like oh who are these new producers and uh i thought jimmy was funny he wanted to make a interesting record and When it was time to go tour, I said, I could get you this great band. He's like, no, the band has to suck or it'll be bad. So I was like, OK, can I play? So I went on tour with him playing bass and we opened this Mooney Suzuki, us, then the Stokes for like two weeks at the end of the Is This It? That's insane. That's insane. Like we played. roseland the night before thanksgiving in new york you know how magical that night is in yeah for sure the whole night before thanksgiving the biggest bar and club night of the year every year i don't need to tell you yeah yeah that's the highest grossing bar and club night No, no. It's because everybody goes home to see their family and wants to party. But in New York, it's a little different. I can only imagine the energy of that Is This It tour era playing a venue as small as the Roseland Ballroom with Jimmy Fallon at the height of SNL and you. yeah moody suzuki on there for icing on the cake moody suzuki was on every strokes tour i feel like it's it's uh what's his name adam what's his name i always forget moldy peaches moldy peaches moody suzuki and i'm like i've never i've still to this day never heard any music from either of those artists i don't think no it was i don't think it was fucking amazing i was a pretty a huge strokes family would sit and watch at the end of every show but i wasn't known yet and they would kind of like i now i

friends with a lot of them they're such lovely guys but there was like a hierarchy i was just the basis they would hang out with jimmy grab jimmy into their dressing room and i'd just kind of wait for any kind of like flakes of cocaine that drifted out of there guys guys i want some but that night uh jack black got up on stage and we did do they know it's christmas like he came up with these guests so there was like and we didn't have a keyboard player so it was up to me the bass player to go it was ridiculously stupid but it was did you guys practice that or did you know how to do that no we practiced we okay practice we had sound check I was going to say, that's tough to pull that out of your ass. I wish that things like that could happen in New York again nowadays. It's so hard to pull it off, and you could never have it be open to the public, and you'd have to have a brand pay for the whole thing. You can't just do a show because it's going to be awesome, and then that's it. Look, it's presented by Heineken. I don't see a problem with that. I mean, I don't see the big deal. It was just a stroke state on their tour, I guess. They did two nights. what is i did want to ask you about fatherhood because i know it's like pretty new for you how new is it by the way 10 months about and you're so is it has it changed your approach to like work or your priorities at all or is it just kind of like this is my life now no it's it's i mean it is all the corny cliche shit like at five to six like i'm on my bicycle so fast heading home to like make bath time like i you know i'm gone in the day working and stuff stuff like that but like i'm up at 6 15 with her and like i just i love it i love i took her to a music class in washington square park today and i was just kind of like sitting and the the teacher's a sweet woman like playing jangly like and in the taxi ride and i'm just sitting there she's like dad like you get involved too and like you just have to take any of your cool like

dad whatever by like walking by washington square and i'm just running this shaker like in the taxi ride in the taxi ride um and it's just it's just does the teacher know that you come from a musical background at all or is it just like hey you i it was just dad pick up a shaker you know i like that i like that i don't like that it's been humbling but you said ride the bicycle you are you city bike boys or or what are we pushing no i just have i have a track I have a truck that's just like, you know, it's a seven-minute ride from my house. Okay. Yeah. You wear a helmet? I do wear a helmet. That's what, fatherhood has changed him. He's a pussy now. He wears a helmet. That is it. That is it. I was leaving the house, and this was two days after she was born, and she was in the NICU for the first couple weeks, but my sister-in-law was staying with me, and I was riding, and she goes, where are you going? I was like, I'll ride my bike. She goes, you got a daughter put a helmet on and i just i've never thought it like i just like i care too much about how i do my hair like yeah sure covering that hair up on a bike ride feels inhumane to be honest i mean i i don't know i'm surprised you're able to do that i've talked i've talked about it before i started i used to ride my bike a lot i don't as much anymore in la because it's kind of Very risky for your life. Yeah, definitely. And I started wearing a helmet a few years ago. And the way that people look at you when you're not wearing a helmet versus when you're wearing a helmet. Did you experience a change in that at all? Maybe it's different for Manhattan. But to me, like people looked at you in a way where like, oh, this guy cares about his life. He doesn't want to die. I respect that. Yeah, I feel like no girls look at you anymore. To me, it was the opposite. Really? No helmet. I was giving maybe too much bad boy. I don't want to start a family with this person. Helmet on. Put a baby in me was what I was experiencing. That could have just all been in my head. I think it was, but that's a better... By and large, putting a helmet on is a panty upper, not a panty dropper. One would assume so. Definitely not.

You don't have to comment on that, Mark. No. I don't know. I wouldn't know what to say. Well, Chris, let's close it out with a sync talk. What do you say? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you've had many in your time, but on the show we often ask musicians about a sync that kind of changed their trajectory a little bit. A sync story for the better or for the worse. Monetarily usually is what we're looking for. And we like to hear numbers, yes. Not approximations. I mean, honestly, I think I've got to go back to the Dave Myers when he hired me to do a remix of Ico Ico for a Hyundai commercial strictly in Japan only because I was flat broke and had no idea how I was going to pay the rent for the studio the next month. So it really, it wasn't like a, it was probably 20 grand, but it changed my life. It was 20,000 you needed desperately. Yeah. And there was a, he also threw me around the same time. a gap commercial where i had to remix fresh by cool and the gang like i i i have no ego about that shit honestly if someone asked me to do that tomorrow i mean it's maybe not the most fun thing in the world but there's a weird part of me that still loves like that dj mentality like oh remix that's fun like the same reason why i loved a fucking wedding set as a dj you know like a corny ass well you used to do those parties with um with harley right where you guys would kind of do like like sweet love song kind of doo-wop wedding kind of sets right no it was more it was called club heartbreak and that was just the theme when i was working on the late night feelings record it was just like sad bangers so it was like it yeah that was just a bit of a conceptual i remember i went to one of those in toronto during tiff maybe four or five years ago right right well it's just it was good i thought it was a heartfelt set to you it sounded like a wedding so what can you really say i was not using wedding set as a derogatory term but more so emotional uplifting yes i know like you know j time after time okay come on yeah well i mean it was more of a phil specter wall of sound kind of

yeah minor chord but uplifting energy i was i was fucked up clearly because i don't remember any of it maybe some sade i think you know i think it was like anything from like common go to like outcast can't wait to like dream fleetwood mac before it became like a tiktok not that it wasn't a hit before tiktok but yeah this band fleetwood mac was kind of toiling in the underground then tiktok came along kind of blew their shit up changed their lives thundercat them changes like that to me is the ultimate example like a of like a sad banger it's like a song that's just like you just know that came from a broken heart but it's like they're fun to play in a row well speaking of bangers and tiktok i i just recently read a news piece on you mark ronson and miley cyrus nothing breaks like a heart surpasses ariana grande's santa tell me and becomes the 728th most streamed song on spotify of all time how how often do weird things like that happen to you or like come across your desk where you're like because that's that's because of tick tock i'm assuming right yeah i think it's because actually well no that song was a huge song everywhere except for america so like it was like a number one record around the world just didn't pop off here but tick tock probably helped push it that way here and then yeah there's weird facts i mean like the ken stuff around barbie has just been the most fun to watch because Ryan Gosling is definitely someone who's not checking the Spotify numbers ever. He's not got the dead man's bones Spotify numbers pulled up every month? I think in an admirable way that we kind of expect looking at him and his career. He's just not probably a numbers guy. and uh every now and then i'll be like yeah you've got uh more monthly listeners than paul mccartney on spotify this month like just like bizarre facts yeah i like sharing them with him because he just has no no like clear reference like he just doesn't care but he's always just like whoa that's that's cool i don't know what like you'll tell him that and he'll be like is that good yeah yeah bud

It's good. That's so crazy, bro. How are you? Good for you, not McKinney. Yeah, I guess in terms of sync talk, I was like, yeah, there's probably a few good syncs on the Barbie soundtrack that probably did you well. Namely, the Barbie movie. Actually, it was kind of just the movie really moved the needle for me a little bit. But we can talk about that now. Ride a strike over. SAG member Mark Ronson back on the line. Yeah, we can. We can. I know. I'm sorry about that. It was just such a weird thing. No, it's okay. Guys, I have my therapist right now. Go. Go, go, go. No, we are. We are. No, we just went over two minutes, but we'll wrap it up. Therapy is important. I could talk, stay here for a very long time. It's a lot of fun. We appreciate it. Oh, thank you, Mark. We'll have you back. We'll have you back. We do this a lot. There's always an opportunity. Excellent. I'm glad it worked out, and we'll see you soon. Okay, guys.