Joe Rogan Experience #564 — Sturgill Simpson Transcript

Transcript

0:00 the Joe Rogan experience Right. I was like, so uh i don't know the the first record i did was a very traditional country record There were periods that are very dated now, like 70s and 80s country. And I just, I knew more than anything what I didn't want to do. He's from Georgia. you know what I mean? Right, right. So I feel like we sort of cleared my throat with that one.

5:27 i don't know i mean it was the most the most truly inspirational group of songs i feel like I like a lot of country music. of the other country like getting into some Johnny Cash songs for instance you song highwaymen and uh it's uh this really wild song because it's all different verses sung by a You know what it is, man? It's an urban form of classism.

8:57 songs man okay you ever heard kiss i was made for loving you it's a good goddamn disco song i don't give a fuck what Any day. and I'll be like And I'll throw some Charles Mingus and guys like that, maybe I can listen. It's just interesting music. I've tried some Coltrane. That's a pretty killer. like I can sit and listen to the same Leonard Skinner album,

11:25 Yeah, I'm sure. We thought about it. well actually we're in eastern kentucky where i'm originally from everybody's really plays music but So I was a really young kid, and I'd go over there. You just do it because everybody's doing it. I mean, repeatedly until I accepted it. school i could have dropped out of school in third grade it would have been the same result

14:09 and I remember he knew I was really into music, like here and it was like zeppelin box set and cream and hendrix and humble pie and traffic and and then iTunes and everybody knows the cds came out everybody's like what is this right what the look at it's got a rainbow in it i'm not educated yeah i mean i'm a pretty i'm kind of an audiophile fucking are you super geek about

17:09 guitar needed to be like a hard two o'clock right there but in a vinyl it just kind of seems more How do you hear that? To reference from. You didn't have, you know, I mean, I think that's the worst thing that ever happened is now everything's so accessible and the kids attention span is so short a like the headphone jack thing plugged in so you could have two headphones both listening to it

20:04 cycle where you just you don't ever feel like there's an actual pause anywhere in the album. I only started my career attempting to have a career about four years ago. They're like, why aren't you out? that do that on a hobbyist level it's what you know like i said it's what you do after work and for me that just never felt rewarding enough you know i never felt

22:05 as a as a result of dealing with the stress from from my job and playing at home and she just kind I was focused. man it's well there's so many facets to it you know depending on what the industry there's so and they want, like, half the door of what you get paid for their services because they don't want to wait tables. That's where really that's the only thing still selling CDs.

24:01 If you sell 200,000 copies in a week, that's a success. What was it like? There's a certain L.A. element to Nashville that's kind of come on in the last two or three years more so. I know, but it's been a while. is the perfect way to describe it fakeness is me falling short again i just uh it i you know a lot you're just trying to get laughs like you're saying things you don't even believe right because

27:04 Go to work. You know the guy singing it. And these people that are coming in that are just trying to exploit it and monetize it, up a lot of them moved to nashville if you turn on the radio today you'll find a lot of that shit And now there's really It's just they don't... and pray into a dying business model because they're completely dependent on radio

30:05 mechanical aspect of it all and you know there's that's not the only way to do it anymore you can but everybody is really responding to, Yeah, put the wig on. wait, what? like what the fuck was going on there it's his it's his filtered interpret i think he was going That was blowing a rod in the engine. Really, I think a lot of the stuff going on today is an absolute direct byproduct.

32:43 I knew what you were going to mean. first concert ever my dad took took me to see van halen in the fifth grade really yeah fucking eddie Giant. I grew up So I'm a Californian now. Like, Seattle has, like, very few people. But the rain keeps people from moving there, too. I mean, I remember, like, hanging my towel up to dry after taking a shower, and you'd come in there two days later, be like fucking lichen growing on it's just a petri dish you know yeah so much precipitation that

36:07 Really? you want to get some oceanfront property about 700 yards Oh, you're worried about there being too much water? It may come to that. I know I like Redondo. LA's great. case in a small town but i think the benefit of being on a smaller population is people are just Because, I mean, people that have come over here from Mexico, which I think you should just be able to come over. I don't believe in, I think it's ridiculous that people who want to work, they should be forced to stay in this shitty patch of dirt because they just got a bad roll of the dice and they were born there.

39:28 They're Americans. just a nutty number i lived in tokyo for a while whoa i was younger and what were you doing there You could be crammed in this train, literally nut to butt, like straight from africa these hustler guys as well as the rapungi and some of the nightlife He's an MMA fighter who was originally from Hawaii but lives in Japan now. They had some MMA events as well.

42:26 You're sitting in bars, and you'll be drunk you know and they all they all if they once they especially wanted to like show us what they were all about and they were young probably really lower level guys um and there's a lot of that but it's it's very it's and they don't do shit about it. yeah what the fuck jesus christ that's a that's a crazy warrior society well they

44:59 literally never worried about his own safety he would just go in there and just try to test himself and and fears it was very different than what we think of as like a warrior we think of like how one society does fit into this very unusual pattern if, like, a peasant or somebody going to the fucking market, So, you know, polite society argument i don't necessarily think that's the way to go but i do think there is an

48:43 having this conversation because you're out in public and you know this guy's not going to punch you. You're having this conversation because you're out in public, They can go after them if they keep it on that ground like they can bully the bully even they can go after them if they keep it completely verbal if they know the guy's not going to do anything you big fucking stupid piece

49:50 They have their own thing going on. And they basically canceled or delayed all the trains going out of the station. Like, there's this line And, I mean, it was like I had to retreat into myself. I don't know. You know, that kind of shit. It really did. And everybody passes by the castle, some sort of strange formation, a big circle you drive around.

53:02 fucking confusing to drive around dc is that um in case it was ever invaded, they wanted to make it difficult for whoever was have that shit set up it's a cool city too yeah well it's it's got a lot of weird history to it pine cones i know that's that was a big thing in a lot of ancient catholic art right oh there's house design all that shit oh yeah so sort of probably they're probably copying people who knew it

55:46 plant that is connected to ayahuasca that has the mao inhibitor right so this is like this is all They found not just the right two, but they found out how to do it in this weird way where you have to mash up the vines. it just just sits there its consciousness is very different than ours it's not and it's not important for it to move it just is where it is if you chop it up it doesn't freak it

57:46 much more characterized than normally yeah it's all condensed matter you know so who fuck knows Yeah. and there's these particles inside atoms. It's just fat. hundred different countries over a 10 000 different scientists something like that that was figured out yeah quark one plasma weight it's just insanely dense the densest matter you're seeing it almost in a calculation dark yeah by triggering hundreds i mean i think it's

1:01:30 the god particle or whatever whatever calls the big bang or you know what there's a there's this And he was basically trying to establish a symbiotic relationship And then it will keep evolving until it returns back to the highest state of complexity, all literally the same people are pulling their car over the side of the road right now jumping and then boom,

1:04:04 like, why would what is that what is a skyscraper weigh 40 billion tons i mean does it what the fuck A fucking cubic centimeter. Cubic centimeter, 40 billion tons. of the universe and there's a type of consciousness that exists when the universe becomes no longer because they had had success in it in some way or another just changing the channel really

1:07:19 like something was like pushing me down um and then, you know, I'd read so much and researched so much. thought. And it felt like something, it was like the cusp of something Yeah. where your soul is faced with these entities that test you in ways and how you react to those It's like a PCP or something. And, you know, I didn't know what to really say or to comfort him, you know,

1:10:55 dmt i was like what the fuck is dmt and uh he's like really man you come on stars you've all And then I found out my wife was going to have a child. in terms of the mix. or Dextromethorphan So when you put the headphones on, you want it to kind of just figure it around your head. this certain strange connection and then instead if that was like cleaned up and this perfect sound

1:13:32 yeah and i mean with any real art i think you just kind of it's somebody you know that's what And what do you, any good music is soul music and you can put soul in anything. Like somebody really put a lot of time into sequencing all that shit i think i think anything any good music is soul music and you can put soul quantity and you'll get a lot of shitheads but you're also the quality will slip through too

1:15:26 Right. Right. i'm not sitting in fucking meetings for a week about what my haircut should look like dink club that nobody gives a shit about in the music business But that's why people go crazy when that shit slips through though, right? Yeah. clubs in the entire nation like you can't make money playing in Nashville. It's where you go to find He was almost retired, basically.

1:19:00 agent i have a manager and and these people that kind of help facilitate us getting out and playing shows on the road. And they still live here. So when you create new songs, do you write them together? that song sounds nothing like the one you put down on tape. So you will change, like, the rhythm? would you ever consider doing like a residency somewhere like a vegas type thing where people

1:22:20 that but it's so truthfully for me man it's really bittersweet everything that's happening Yeah, that's the catch-22. You're way better off with this damned. don't make money touring how do you make money money? That's a good question, Joe Rogan. Making records is fucking expensive. The pig and the guy named Robbie Turner. and was going to help out and blah blah blah and then at the last minute it all you know went away

1:25:20 And it has to be quick because we don't have the cash, you know? And now this record that sort of started, I guess, comedic reference to the infinite regress problem in cosmology, of this giant cosmic turtle, all held these like earthly turtles in high reverence and the symbology of it all. And you find that story in different cultures throughout, resting on its back.

1:28:15 a way of saying if you get into an argument with somebody and you realize it's just pointless and with the 13 lunar cycles. Some of them even have a translucent layer to the top of their skull where the pineal gland sits. They will give off some fucking serious poop disease. half just grab them with their paws it's like watching dinosaurs eat and they swim after the

1:30:38 Yeah. Like, crocodiles used to be like 70, 80-foot crocodiles, you know? Yeah. Gators. turn they're trying to kill as many alligators as they can they just can't keep up with them thing dude i swear to god as soon as they my wife hands it to me it just pissed all over me I'm going to let him know I mean, he jumps out on this little grass pond and you just see like eight of them in succession come

1:34:09 Well, I was afraid he might have been like a veteran. Lost to all my friends. Have you ever watched that show, Small People? couple times it's really chewy i think it's how motherfuckers that just that's a chewy and then he'd hunt moose and elk and everything else with a bow. moose is like that too i never ate moose before but it's supposed to be unbelievably good like

1:37:14 I'm sure someone's been 40 feet, but you know how close 40 feet is? moose hasn't run away or charged you or you have to call them in you have to pretend you're pussy looking at this moose and she was looking at us like oh for real like you motherfuckers are just park antelope island it was a buffalo reserve but there were all these hiking trails and shit you

1:39:37 immediately scared shitless brook ran and got up on this rock just kind of not knowing what to do Oh, my God. mexico we're supposed to go hunting there sometime this winter for uh that show meat eater we're And they have buffalo in these livestock places where you buy farm-raised buffalo. Apparently, there's a guy that I'm going to have on the podcast

1:42:05 when we came along and started slaughtering these uh buffalo in mass when i say we white people Because the Native Americans had figured out horseback riding. would have been a very well even if we hadn't showed up they would have and we never heard that shit when they had columbus day i don't know why still celebrate Yeah, right? Hunter Thompson wrote a really great piece about Carter.

1:45:11 information that we have today i wonder if like eventually the bullshit artists will all be go that's a pop star that's a shitty one at that there's got to be some real leader out there you It's a great fucking book. the airport hunter thompson talking football they sure, you're only going to talk football now. Yeah, right? there'd be some empathy there maybe maybe not you know julius caesar was gay you know i'm saying

1:48:11 Whoa. He didn't have a gender sexual. Well, he was a different breed back then. disco you wouldn't have cool and the Gang, right? People don't want to admit that. Yeah, there was some... I mean, even the Stones stuck their foot in the disco water. goes man he goes there's this dude sturgill simpson and as soon as he said that i go i too Do you? that um and each one successfully kind of incorporate other elements of music that i love

1:52:03 every time and then i think after five albums i don't know i'll probably i already feel somewhat limited Try to promote a bigger message, I guess. that you have this idea of these stages that you're going to put out so you're only going to out doing a lot of other things that kind that it's possible that you can get to that three albums from now and then go you know what i'm

1:55:27 but that little thing their best work is always in their pinnacle peak and then make five more albums any real artist their best work is always but um but yeah it's like you know you squeeze all this i had i had a good 30 years of of fucking up and mistakes and lessons and and you know a lot of Right. So it's just really weird to find myself. but I still had to tell that part of my life

1:58:13 experience everything and some things you just shouldn't experience and like what uh i mean So there's that disenchantment and disillusionment and then there's living in Seattle where you're dealing with the dreariness at the same time. you know, I was excited. This, this young relationship and I was going to all these funeral because i knew if i came home like my family would come my dad used to be an undercover narcotics officer so he you know there was some weird a lot of shame there after that you know

2:00:22 Well, like I said, my buddy played when we were talking on the porch last year, on soon to promote the new book what date jamie the 12th i think 12th yeah we had a great I'm really glad I went, and it answered a lot of questions, He's moved on. Yeah. his contact off cotton when i just wrote him basically say hey thank you, thank you. I shared the record with him through a file.

2:03:14 in this realm uh not just physically but just dealing with the red tape that was required to stadium of weed you're going you're getting blasted i mean you're going to the center of audio recordings but he was uh he was already dead by the time i had found out about him Mm-hmm. and my career is budding and I have a newborn son, there to tell you hey well this is how much it takes you know right i think i bought like a

2:07:09 overwhelming it's completely overwhelmed and also very very visionary like you see i remember um all just like really tiny flower of loves you know that little flower of life thing it was like so i If you read Strassman's accounts of it, We know that. It's all over the place. But really, you find out that that's really the shit that's kind of of the weirdest aspects of our time that these things have these unbelievably profound effects

2:11:31 middle southeast kentucky like heart appalachia and i remember as a small child it was very much Wow. no industry is going to come in there and like start building car manufacturing And he's really trying to get that. them now they've reintroduced them they've done it over a period of a few decades they used to the Kentucky's on the ball with hemp as well.

2:14:22 and everybody will start throwing more money at making it not happen that's why that's why it was elite elite you know This is Warren motherfucking buffett and his company is involved in actively pursuing marijuana growers to lease their warehouses to grow marijuana because it's legal there so it You don't even have to do anything to it. You could make the kind of weed

2:16:03 commodify the hell out of it I think it's amazing. They're going to grow neighborhood growing weed operations. I guess they're not allowed to use banks in Colorado. Because it won't all be positive. than let's let's try this somewhere else any state that's struggling any state that doesn't have I wonder what's going to happen. ton of money off this too so i mean if utah is talking about it then i can't i mean i think the

2:19:54 so now you've got this little hotbed of rebellion town and a lot of weed there's a lot of weed going around utah if they grow it too they're going to You don't really see fights breaking out in coffee shops in Amsterdam. Bruce was a big pothead, wasn't he? Yeah, he used to get stoned as hell and work out all day, right? showed up with these gummy bears and then i go i'm looking at the gummy bear it's a bear i go how

2:22:29 We were out here months ago for this, played with Greg Allman down at the Annenberg Center. They said there was no visible external injury. However, according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen considerably from 1,400 to 1,575 grams, martial arts and had a most likely he got hit i mean that's just a part of the game and if he was And he has his headgear on and his full body armor on

2:25:08 That's a shame. kind of put me off, dude. have this um they have these things called chiba chews and some of them i think will go up to 250 There's a chocolate bar at a place I go to. You've got to see Buddha. perform because like you get so internalized i feel like i can't connect with the crowd at all When you eat marijuana, it produces something called 11-hydroxy metabolite.

2:27:57 see what we could do you should try it though at some point in your life for sure i don't know if People are starting to open up It was really hard to find one It's like a complete and total disassociation experience. I never had any type of complete disassociation experiences, What is that? like it's as good as it fucking gets so first off the weirdest part of the whole experience is we're

2:30:36 And I'm just stumbling, not walking in the trees. and almost like the entire canopy had this moon lamp just turned on once one time i don't know i've never even met anybody that's even heard of it or knew where to And I laid that bucket seat back man and closed my eyes and within a matter of second half a minute or a minute i i wasn't in that truck

2:32:20 Wow. No, well, this was all years and years ago, man. Yeah, if you... a thousand times stronger trip four or five hundred milligrams you And as soon as he said that, the whole sensation went away. on certain things you could be thought of as a pariah. Yeah, it could be. kind of ridiculous approaches to dealing with with heroin and methadone right addiction and

2:35:37 Is that the deal? to hang out in white plains and uh they were called the methadonians that's what we would Just sitting there. Yeah, occasionally. But Sturgill's... That's the name of one. I'm sure he's got a website too. really that the world There's no... that can fuck your kids up just don't let them get to it you know yeah don't let your kid play

2:39:35 You're here. great night's sleep yeah i'm not really recommending you give it to your kids but if your kids get a Well, pain meds. That's a silly idea. in the fucking corner, you know? Rest in peace, We have to figure out what decisions are the right ones, educate each other, and then move forward from there. We loved him, and he's gone, so no more pot for everybody.

2:42:18 You're going to have nothing. but we can't have spider poison because that kills babies if they get added under the sink so we'll have no Don't eat as much. Maybe you've got a better tolerance than me. back on my life all the dumbest shit i ever did alcohol was pretty much directly related all of it I don't drink too much. Yeah, especially a violent obnoxious drunk and obnoxious drunk yeah especially a violent obnoxious drunk

2:45:00 i'm i'm levitating off the ground they're giving me like this thing like fucking man you're the shit dude yeah like one song man damn dude uh and those are the only people i want It's bad for your health that's the number one issue that shouldn't smoke pot fuck yeah You talk about some fucking great people, though, man. When you get to Ireland, it's like, fuck!

2:47:00 Really? Wow. They made a law against bagpipes. Wow. No. Yeah. It was always important to me, like, to go over there and play for those people. but uh i've just had a lot of friends that are musicians that said if you make the effort and Was Dublin pissed? They've gone soft. YouTube put their new album on every iPhone? Exactly. Okay. I was wondering, why is shit, and I looked down, and there's a fucking U2 album on the music. Exactly.

2:51:16 It's playing random. All of them! But a lot of people wouldn't. Oh, no. What Oh my god said that uh he's been wearing those fucking glasses for 20 years because he's got glaucoma grandfather has really bad glaucoma now and i but he's never i would never i don't even know how I get time off to go home and actually see him. Crazy, right? If anybody's interested, you got to, I mean, my favorite songs,

2:54:38 minutes like 7 30 in the morning and we ended up recording it that day we just happened to go into and in between every song king turd motherfucker you know just like playing a turd you know there's any like he follows us it has to be the sounds and country music All right, you dirty bitches. to talk to her.