Protocols to Access Creative Energy and Process | Rick Rubin

Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast where we discuss science and science based tools for everyday life.

I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Rick Rubin. Rick Rubin is a world renowned music producer, having worked with an enormous number of incredible artists producing for instance, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Jay Z, Johnny Cash, Adele, Lady Gaga, Tom Petty.

And of course Slayer.

This last year Rick also authored his first book which is a truly incredible exploration into the creative process. His book is entitled the Creative Act.

A Way of Being.

Rick has appeared once before on the Huberman Lab podcast and during that appearance he offered to answer one listeners and viewers questions. Those questions were put in the comment section on YouTube and we received thousands of them. So today Rick answers your questions about the creative process. I also took note of the feedback that when Rick previously appeared on the Huberman Lab podcast that perhaps I spoke a bit more than the audience would have preferred. So today I refrain from speaking too much and try and give as much airtime as possible to Rick in order to directly answer your questions. You'll notice that today's discussion gets really into the practical aspects of the creative process. The most frequent questions that I received for Rick were ones in which people really want to understand what his specific process is each and every day, as well as when he's producing music or other forms of art. And of course, people want to know what they should do specifically from the time they wake up until the time.

They go to sleep, even whether or.

Not they should take note of their dreams, et cetera.

We get into all of that.

So today's discussion is very different from the one I held with Rick previously, and at least to my knowledge, from any of the other interviews or discussions.

That Rick has had publicly.

Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Maui Nui Venison. Maui Nui Venison is the most nutrient dense and delicious red meat available. I've spoken before on this podcast and there's general consensus that most people should strive to consume approximately one gram of protein per pound of body weight. Now, when one strives to do that, it's important to maximize the quality of that protein. Intake to the calorie ratio because you don't want to consume an excess of calories when trying to get that one gram of protein per pound of body weight. Maui Nui venison has an extremely high quality protein protein to calorie ratio. So it makes getting that one gram of protein per pound of body weight extremely easy. It's also delicious. Personally, I like the ground venison. I also like the venison steaks. And then for convenience when I'm on the road, I like the jerky. The jerky is a very high protein.

To calorie ratio so it has as.

Much as 10 grams of protein per jerky stick and it has something like only like 55 calories. So again making it very easy to get enough protein without consuming excess calories. If you would like to try Maui Nui venison, you can go to mauinuivenessin.com huberman to get 20% off your first order. Again, that's mauinuivenison.com huberman to get 20% off today's episode is also brought to us by Eight Sleep. Eight Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating and sleep tracking capacity I've spoken many times before on this podcast about the fact that sleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health, and performance. Now, a key component of getting a great night's sleep is that in order to fall and stay deeply asleep, your body temperature actually has to drop by.

About 1 to 3 degrees.

And in order to wake up feeling refreshed and energized, your body temperature actually has to increase by about 1 to 3 degrees. One of the best ways to make sure that those temperature changes occur at the appropriate times at the beginning and throughout and at the end of your night when you wake up is to control the temperature of your sleeping environment. And that's what eight Sleep allows you to do. It allows you to program the temperature of your mattress and sleeping environment such that you fall and stay deeply asleep easily and wake up each morning feeling incredibly refresh and energized. I've been sleeping on an eight sleep mattress cover for almost three years now and it has dramatically improved the quality of my sleep. So much so that when I travel and I'm at a hotel or an Airbnb and I don't have access to my eight Sleep, I very much look forward to getting home because my sleep is always better when I sleep on.

My Eight Sleep mattress cover.

If you'd like to try Eight Sleep, you can go to eightsleep.comhuberman to get $150 off their Pod 3 mattress cover. Eight Sleep currently ships in the USA, Canada, UK, select countries in the EU and Australia. Again, that's eight.comhuberman Today's episode is also brought to us by Waking Up. Waking up is a meditation app that offers hundreds of meditation programs, mindfulness training and Yoga nidra, which is sometimes referred to as nsdr. I'm a longtime fan of meditation. I started meditating when I was back in my teens and I started doing a daily 10 or 20 minute meditation and I kept that up for a number of years, but then it became more sporadic and then eventually I stopped and then I'd start again and then I'd stop. What I found with the Waking up app is that it makes it very easy to take on a meditation practice and to do meditation, if not every.

Day, very close to every day.

And that we know based on a lot of research, has an outsized positive effect on everything from stress regulation to sleep. You come up with better ideas. So indeed, meditation can make you more creative, more focused, and on and on. And then about 10 years ago I got introduced to Yoga Nidra or NSDR non sleep deep rest, which is a practice of laying completely still and while keeping the mind very active. So you're relaxing but keeping your mind active. And I use NSDR essentially every single day. I'll do it anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. And I find it to be incredibly restorative. It really resets my ability to think and to engage in physical activity. And with Waking Up, I can select different lengths of meditations, different lengths of Yoga nidras or nstrs so that I keep up my practice. If you'd like to try Waking up, you can go to wakingup.comhuberman to try a completely free 30 day trial. Again, that's wakingup.comhuberman to try a free 30 day trial. And now for my discussion about Protocols for Creativity with Rick Rubin.

Rick Rubin, welcome back.

Thank you, sir. Happy to be here.

We're going to answer, or rather you are going to answer, the questions of the listeners of our previous podcast episode. Before we do that, however, when we were out in the lobby, you mentioned that you have a breathing exercise, a coherence breathing exercise that you thought might be useful for us to do now and perhaps for some of the listeners to join in.

Yeah, let's do it. And then if you want to talk about it after we can.

Sounds good.

The reason I started doing this is I have relatively low heart rate variability. And you Want to have a higher one? So I looked at all the things that can raise your heart rate variability, and I started doing this breathing technique specifically for heart rate variability. Then it went up.

Awesome. So it's great.

Tested great. Let's do it together here. It'll say take a deep breath, and then when you'll hear the sound of a. If you follow me for the first inhale and exhale, you'll know what sound means. What?

And you do this eyes closed.

Typically, I do it eyes closed.

Okay. We'll close our eyes. Thank you.

That. That's five minutes.

I like that.

Feels nice, doesn't it?

Yeah. I notice I don't spontaneously breathe at that cadence. I breathe quite a bit faster.

Mm.

So especially on the exhale.

Mm.

So once I got into a rhythm of it. Yeah. The mind just goes pseudo random for me. What about for you? Does your mind tend to go one place?

I do now. I count. So the reason I knew it was five minutes is because it's six breaths per minute, and I counted five. 1 1, 1 2, 1 3, 1 4, 15162 1. So I was occupied with a task.

How often do you do that?

At least once and sometimes twice a day. I aim for 10 minutes a day, but if I get to 20 minutes a day, it's noticeable in my heart rate variability results.

Do you do the coherence breathing at particular times of day or just whenever it occurs to you?

I think it depends on where I am and what else is going on in my life. So it on depends. There was. I had a window of a very specific thing that I was doing. I would do coherent breathing, and I would do squats, just air squats. And in one location where I didn't have any other equipment.

And.

And then I found a way, like where I was doing treading water, which you got to experience with me. I would tread water, and then after treading water, I would get out of the pool, sit in the sun, and do the coherent breathing.

Great. We should probably mention what the treading water was about, because people will wonder. Very briefly, I went and visited Rick overseas this summer, and we spent a fair amount of the daytime treading water while listening to podcasts from a speaker on the side of the pool, and it was awesome. Time together as friends is awesome. Time in the sun is awesome. Learning from podcasts and listening and being entertained by podcasts is awesome. And then treading water is awesome. You're much better at treading water than I am. I was fatiguing.

It's Just as I said when we were doing it, it's like doing stairs. If you practice doing stairs, it gets easier to do stairs. But nobody's good at doing marathon. Runners can't run up the stairs. You know, it's a particular thing. And treading water, if you just do it, even in the little bit of time that we were doing it every day, by the end of your stay, it was easier for you than when you started.

Definitely.

Yeah. You acclimate quickly.

Yeah. I was able to adapt. I was impressed at your endurance in treading water early on, by the way. I've continued the treading water practice because I'm fortunate to have a pool in my new place. I listen to your podcast. Truly.

Wow.

Tetragrammaton. Love it. Love, love, love it. I listened to a few other podcasts and I've started listening to more episodes of the podcast that you introduced me.

To, which was History of rock music and 500 songs.

Andrew Hickey.

It's an English podcast. Great podcast. Real in depth information about music. Yeah.

Yeah. That was such a great trip. Thanks for having me over there.

Thanks for coming. It was fun treading water.

It was. Loved the time with you and your family. So I'm gonna. I'll invite myself again.

You're always welcome.

On the topic of meditation, one of the questions in this list of questions we'll talk about the list itself in a moment, was about this anecdote that you've told me and you've mentioned a few other places apparently that you've once meditated all the way from. Was it San Francisco to New York or Los Angeles to New York flight?

It was either LA to New York or New York to la. I can't remember. And I may have done it more than once.

The question specifically was, which meditation did you do?

TM. TM was the first meditation I learned transcendental meditation, learned when I was 14. It's pretty much a default setting for me now. Sometimes it'll evolve from TM into breathing. Like I might start by doing breathing before the TM piece starts, and the breathing may just take the whole time. Or it may turn from breathing into a gratitude practice or a metta practice, which is four phrases. May I be filled with loving kindness. May I be well. May I be peaceful and at ease. May I be happy. And you repeat those phrases over and over. And it starts may I. And then eventually, if you've done it for a year or so, you could start saying may we for your. For your immediate family. And then may and then as you build up the charge for your immediate family, in another year or so, you can spread it to your community and eventually after maybe five years, you can do it for the planet. So that's the meta meta M E T T A amazing loving kindness practice.

And are there any particular links? Maybe you could pass us later and we could put in the captions? Maybe one that you've used.

I learned it from Jack Kornfield, who's a Buddhist scholar and a brilliant teacher.

Terrific. What do you think meditation has allowed you afforded you? As well as what it's helped you avoid in terms of a daily practice or maybe in just how doing it once in a while has wicked out into areas of your life. This is probably a long list of things, but if you were to pick maybe like the top three where you go, yeah, when I'm meditating regularly, blank happens and blank doesn't happen. And when I'm not those things because.

I've been doing it for such a long time, it's so part and parcel of who I am that without, I don't know who I would be without it. That said, I don't always do it, but I don't have at this point, I don't have to always do it to be in this zone where I've been, you know, for Almost, you know, 45 years, it's been a big part of my life. So a great deal of the benefits have are in me now. When I practice, it gets amplified. But as Maharishi described it, every time you meditate is like making a deposit in a bank. So it's always there every time you do it, you're building a base. And the goal of the practice is less about the practice. It's about the practice is to change the way you are in the world. So it's a practice for life. Do you know what I'm saying? The changes that come in the meditation are to help your reactions in the.

Real world in some ways. Not to trivialize it, but it's like physical exercise. During a good workout. Your blood pressure is really elevated. You're secreting all sorts of inflammatory cytokines. If we were to draw your blood mid workout, you'd say, this person is in trouble. But then all these wonderful adaptations occur that allow you to sleep better, better mood, walk upstairs easily, and on and on.

It's funny about sleeping better. This morning I was walking on the beach and had my headphones on, wired headphones, and I was listening to a podcast. I can't remember what I was listening to, but I was listening to a podcast, and someone flagged me and interrupted me, who I didn't know, and went over to talk to him, and he said, I heard you talking about Steve Martin on a podcast. And he told me a story about Steve Martin that he got to see him in 1979. I would say this person was probably mid to late 60s, and he was wearing all black. He was wearing shoes on the beach, tennis shoes. He was wearing dark sunglasses and a hat. And he said, just want to talk about comedy and things that he heard me say on a podcast. And we talked about it for a while, and then he said something about he loves podcasts, and he listens to them at night because he's got terrible insomnia and he can't sleep. And I'm looking at a guy in the sun wearing sunglasses, and I say, well, you know, the reason you can't sleep is because you're wearing sunglasses now. He's like, what are you talking about? I said, well, the way the human body works is we react to the sun. The sun is what tells us we're awake, and then at night, when it's dark, that's what tells us to go to sleep. So you're mixing the signals to your body by wearing the sunglasses? And he said, well, I'm a dermatologist, and, you know, I've been a dom. He said, he was a dermatologist for the last 40 years, and my whole practice is about getting people to get out of the sun. And we started talking about it, and he was all covered up. I was wearing my board shorts and nothing else. And I said, well, I'm in the sun hours every day. And he's like, aren't you worried about cancer? And I said, no, I feel pretty healthy. I feel okay. And then he said, let me see your back. And I turned around, and he looked at my back. He's like, you have perfect skin. They should study you in an institute. I said, this is what normal, healthy skin looks like if you expose it to the sun. And he said, so you're saying everything I've been teaching in my medical practice for the last 40 years was wrong? I said, yes, everything. It was funny. Funny conversation.

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, we could go down a deep rabbit hole with this. But, you know, listeners of this podcast will know that I'm very much a proponent of getting those sunlight signals to the eyes at least once a day in the morning, but also in the evening. I'll just share with you you now. I learned from a guest whose episode we haven't aired yet that the what is so special about that morning and evening sunlight are the contrasts between blues and oranges, blues and reds, blues and pinks that we can't always see if there's cloud cover, but they come through. And it's the mathematical difference in their presence, the subtraction of a lot of blue and then next to it a lot of orange or a lot of blue and then next to it a lot of pink, that triggers the body's understanding that this is morning and evening and that night is coming in the evening, and that it's time to be awake in the morning and throughout the day. In the middle of the day, when the sun is out and it's overhead, it looks like white light. And white light includes the blues and the oranges and the pinks and the reds, but they subtract to zero because they're all mixed together. That's why it looks just blue and white. And so while bright light is great throughout the day, it's those morning signals. Now the. I think the dermatology community is starting to come online with the idea that low solar angle sunlight early and later in the day, sunrise, sun rising and sun setting. And I say that because people always go, oh, do you have to see across the horizon? That would be ideal. But rising and setting do not create the kind of skin damage or eye damage that they've been so concerned about. And I think the next step for the field of dermatology is going to be to start communicating with the neuroscientists and the circadian biologists and really learning that. So thanks for bridging that gap on the beach this morning. I do think that's how it starts. And then it wicks out headphones. So I made the choice a few years ago to stop using the Bluetooth headphones based on my personal experience, which was I kept getting these cysts behind my ears, which I was told were lymph swellings of lymph. They would actually drain lymph in if they got big enough. It was really gross and kind of troubling. I stopped using them. I didn't get them. I started using them again. I started getting those lymph things, and there was some significant heat effects as well. And I've interviewed a couple of people, including a neurosurgeon on the podcast, about the level of EMFs that come from them, and they were not concerned. Others I've spoken to are concerned. I'm going to Try and balance out the conversation over time. But my feeling was, look, if there's any concern whatsoever, why would I use them? And I. So I use the ones with wires, yes, but use the ones with wires that are even one step further away from WI fi transmitters.

There are ones with air tubes that I use depending on what's going on. And those have no electrical, there's no electric near your head. It's just an air tube where the sound is traveling. This actual sound is traveling in the tubes to your ears.

I definitely sleep better with the phone out of the bedroom. Some people are now turning off their WI fi at night. I think you and I are both really aligned in the sense that we've seen enough things come and go in the health space, like disparaging remarks about lifting weights. Like, that's just for bodybuilders. And now everybody knows muscle bound, you become muscle bound. Now men and women, elderly and young are encouraged to do resistance training. Yoga used to be cast in this kind of magic carpet realm, breath work. All this stuff has become over time mainstream. But it's taken a very long time and the road has been choppy and sometimes in my opinion, really unfair to the, to the practices and their value. I mean these are zero cost practices in many cases that can really help people. And so when I look at something like sunscreen or you know, Bluetooth headphones or we're talking about some of these things, I wish I had a portal into the future where we look back and go like, of course, of course. So what are your thoughts on just kind of health and wellness as you've observed it in the last 20, 30 years? I mean, you've been in this for a while. I mean, you've paid attention to mindfulness and mind body stuff, you know, what are your thoughts?

I try to live in as natural way as possible. I try to eat as few processed foods as possible, try to eat grass fed animals and I use hardly any products of any kind, you know, that aren't just something that grows or lives on the planet.

There were a couple questions about this. I'll ask now. You lost a tremendous amount of weight. You look great, by the way.

Thank you.

You look super fit. Every time I see you, you're in better and better shape.

And that's your perception. It's not in fact the case. I'll accept it.

I don't know when I see you each time, I mean, you're extremely mobile, you're sleeping well, you have a robust life. I mean, all the marks of Health and vitality. So I've heard you mention before that you lost a significant amount of weight. How much weight and how did you do it?

£135 through a high protein, low calorie, low carb diet.

And that went against the convention at the time.

Well, the person who suggested it was someone at ucla. So it was a mainstream doctor who helped me with my weight loss. I had been a vegan at that time, which was not mainstream then, and it was very unhealthy. But I did that for 20 some odd years because I believed in the theory of it. But it proved not to be healthy for me.

Do you think that different diets likely work for different people?

Yes.

So that not everyone necessarily should do what you did?

No, no. But I think most people would probably benefit from healthy red meat. I'm saying that only because it's so vilified in our culture.

Yeah, I agree. And I think the healthy piece is key there too. Non factory farmed animals, which fortunately reasonably cost sources of that are becoming more available. Well, I'm going to start pulling from the list of questions. By the way, folks, there were more than 1,000 questions in just the 1/3 printout that I did.

It's an intimidating stack in front of you.

It's the most notes I've ever put in front of me during a guest discussion here on the podcast. And we are not going to ask you every question, but I've organized them in some sense of a coherent order.

Did you organize them or did I organize them?

I organize them. But that's a great opportunity to ask you one of the questions that came up several times, which was what are your thoughts on AI and its ability to shape how music is made, how visual arts are made? Are you one of these, like scared of AI or do you embrace new technology?

I don't know enough about it yet to. To talk about it. What I will say is what. What I find interesting about art is the point of view of the person making it. And I don't know that AI has a point of view of its own. So I'm. And I don't know how interesting it would be AI's point of view.

But.

I like people's points of view. And what makes an artist a great artist to me is something about their point of view does something to me.

Childhood. The question for Rick Rubin was what activities did you find most enjoyable and easy to get lost in as a child? I love this question for you in particular.

Reading was a big part of my life. Listening to music was a big part of my life. Playing guitar along with music can't really play, but the idea of playing along so it didn't have to actually be good enough to play along because I didn't have that skill set. But I liked the experience of doing my best to play along with something I was listening to. And also magic learning like shuffling cards in front of a mirror and coin tricks and sleight of hand was just interesting to me.

Do you still do magic?

I don't. Okay. At the time that music took over my life, I had to choose between the two because both of them were full time life pursuits.

I went and saw A Mentalist in New York this summer with my sister Ossi. Wind is his name. As I first name last name window. Every time I see a mentalist, especially when I see Ossi, I've seen him twice, it blows my mind. What are your thoughts on Mentalists as.

It'S my favorite form of magic, really it's the most interesting because doesn't rely on props. It's pure. It feels like pure magic. You know, if you have a box and you pull something out of the box, there's probably something tricky about the box. But when someone can look at you and tell you what you're thinking, it's just wild. It's really wild.

So I love that after Assi did his actual when we pseudo return to reality because it really does change the way you look at things after that for quite a while, maybe forever. I asked him if he was willing to share maybe just one nugget of insight into how he does what he does. And of course, I wasn't expecting he was gonna give away the whole thing. And he said a lot of it has to do with forming and erasing memories in people quickly. Which sounds very kind of dark and mysterious.

Really interesting.

Yeah. That maybe it's possible to erase memories. Like maybe what we thought we saw, we really didn't see or hear.

Wow.

So I dig that description. Yeah.

I'm gonna bring him out here, by.

The way, so we should all get together.

Yeah, I would love to see.

I want to get him on the podcast. Okay. A full 10% of the questions for you were around writer's blocks, sticking points, this kind of thing. Like feeling stuck in the creative process. Now, people didn't specify whether or not they were stuck at the beginning, the middle of the end, but based on my read of all of these questions, I got the sense that people were feeling like there's something in them that they Want access to. They want to create, but they don't know how to get past that initial stage. As opposed to somebody who's like know 90% done and they just can't finish the last 10%. What are your thoughts about these kinds of blocks and how to overcome them? Any experience you've had with them yourself and perhaps with working with other artists.

The first thought is to go past the idea of the block and think about what, what is, what's the cause of the block? And the block is usually something like it's either a personal, I'm not good enough. It can be a confidence issue, I don't have anything to say. Or it could be a thinking about someone else. Nobody's going to like what I make. Do you know what I'm saying? So it's either a self judgment or fear of outside judgment. So if you're making something with a freedom of this is something I'm making for myself for now, that's all it is. It's a diary entry. Everything I make is a diary entry. The beauty of a diary entry is I can write my diary entry and you can't tell me my diary entry wasn't good enough. Or that's not what I. That's not what I experienced. Of course it's what I experienced. It's. I'm writing a personal diary for myself. No one else can judge is my experience of, of my life. Everything we make can be that can be a personal reflection of who we are in that moment of time. It doesn't have to be the greatest you could ever do. It doesn't have to have any expectation that it's going to change the world. It doesn't have to be. This has to sell a certain number of copies for any reason. It doesn't have any of those things. All it is is I'm making this thing. I'm making this thing for me. And I want to do it to the best of my ability to where I feel good about it and where it's honest. It's honest of where I'm at. And if you're living in this world of just being honest to where you're at, there's nothing blocking that. Do you know what I'm saying? There are no blocks. The blocks are all based on dealing with a different force or a different perception that is made up. You make up this story and you're living the story. I'm in this block because I just can't do it. The reason you can't do it is because you're afraid someone else is not going to like it or you're. There are no blocks. There's infinite amount of information out there to work with because it doesn't. It also doesn't stem from us. So we're. We're vehicles for this information and it's coming through us all the time. So if you don't have an idea when you're sitting at your desk, if you go for a walk, chances are you'll see something that'll spark something in you as a. As a seed to take off from.

That makes a lot of sense. And I had a thought while you were saying that. One of the challenges that I have in completing work and getting into a good work groove is that, especially nowadays because of phones and so easy to communicate with other people, it's not that they interrupt me, it's that. And this happened the other day. I set up my new office really nicely. I'm living in a very quiet place now. It's like almost completely silent unless I'm playing music, it's really interesting, or the coyotes sometimes come around and start doing their thing at night, but completely silent. And I realized I was having a hard time getting into a work groove. And I realized that I felt compelled to continue to reach out to people. And then I realized, as you just provided your answer to the last question, that, you know, there's probably something in me that has a bit of a fear of separation or abandonment from people based on my own experience. And I feel very well supported by my friends and co workers these days. Very, very well supported. I'm in a kind of pinch me place around that. But I realize now that what's happening in my mind is it's not a challenge of getting into the work. It's a fear that if I spend a couple hours really in that tight tunnel of work creation, that there might not be anyone there when I exit it. Which is a crazy thought.

That's a crazy thought.

But that's the anxiety. And I only realize that now.

Yeah.

So thank you.

Great.

You know, I trust that you guys will be there when I. When I exit the tunnel, I'll be there. And when there's a deadline, I have no choice but to jump into that tunnel. That's actually what helps. Deadlines really help me. Do deadlines help you? Do you like deadlines?

Deadlines don't help me at the beginning of a process. They can help at the end once the code's been cracked. Usually when I start something, I have no idea what it's going to be. So it's a very open process in the beginning, and if there's any sense of required timing that would undermine the freedom needed for it to be all that it could be. But once the code's cracked and you know what it is, and it's all there and you're just, you know, you're dealing with the fine points, then it can be really helpful to have a deadline.

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Were sort of comments about what people believe your process is, and one of the repeating themes there, which I thought was interesting, was it seems that Rick Rubin is comfortable with uncertainty and the unknown.

Yes, that is true. Yes. And yes, I am comfortable with it because I accept that's the way things are. That said, when I start a new project, I always have anxiety because I'm uncertain of what's gonna happen and I want it to be good. Now I know it won't be done until I feel good about it. So in that way there's no real pressure. But I do still feel this anxiety of I wonder what's going to happen today. I hope it's good.

You know, when you've worked with musical artists, let's say, how important is it to you to know what challenges, maybe even what successes, but certainly what challenges they happen to be going through at that period of time? Put differently, do you end finding yourself playing therapist and guide and psychological Emotional mentor to artists you work with during the creative process? Or is that separate?

If they're going through something that's interfering with the work, Anything that gets in the way of the work is something worth discussing. Our focus there together is to get the work done. Sometimes it ends up being more therapeutic to allow that to happen.

One of the questions that really stood out to me in this vast list of questions involved a quote from your last discussion on this podcast. Our last discussion on this podcast. So I'm going to read a little bit of it because it's fairly long, but I found this to be a really important question that we should get into in a bit more depth. Somebody I don't know who said, if you happen to talk to Rick, happen to be talking to you, ask him this for me. In his book, in the section on self doubt, Rick said, quote, one of the reasons so many great artists die of overdoses early in their lives is because they use drugs to numb a very painful existence. The reason it is painful is the reason they became an artist in the first place. Their incredible sensitivity. If you see tremendous beauty or tremendous pain where other people see little or nothing at all, you're confronted with big feelings all the time. These emotions can be confusing and overwhelming. Excuse me. So this goes on for some pages, and then this person says, and I think they're speaking for many people when they said this resonated with me personally. And I wonder whether or not this is something that maybe you've experienced yourself or that you just notice about artists in similar situations. And what sort of advice do you give the artists you work with in order to embrace those painful tones within them and transmute them into great work?

I've definitely felt them myself. I'm unusually sensitive in the world. I'm wearing red glasses in here for a reason. I live a very protected, monk like life because simulation gets in the way of my ability to be where I want to be. So I tend to stay away from things. And it seems to be the case with many artists, A desire for nurturing their internal life. And if, if the goal is to nurture our internal life, invariably leads to sacrifices.

Did you spend a lot of time alone as a kid? I'm asking this question.

I did, yeah. I was the only child and I spent most of my time alone.

When you talk about controlling this amount and type of stimulation in your life to protect that inner landscape, does that pertain to certain personality types, even voice types? I've found at various times in my life, I love people, but There are certain voices that just grate on me and I can't be around them. I just can't be around them. They drive me. It brings out. It just. It's like a cacophony inside. I just feel like I'm being asked to drink something that tastes awful. Does that resonate?

I try to curate the people around me to be people I want to have around me. Whatever that is. Whatever that is.

You said you protect the inner landscape, but certainly you're not averse to high intensity stimulation. Last night we went to the aew and by the way, thank you for taking me. That was such an incredible experience.

It was really fun.

It was really fun. It reminded me of early punk rock shows where. Some of my first punk rock shows where I went and just was like, oh, my gosh, this is exciting and scary and I love it. And it felt loving too.

Yes.

Which is also the community of punk rock that I observed and have been blessed to be a part of. It's like. It's like, yeah, there's aggression, but there's also love. And then there's romance and then there's also betrayal and there's all the elements, but there's still a sense of like, everyone wants to be here and there's a sense of goodness behind it all, even though some of it was bloody and violent.

Yes.

So for you, what. What does wrestling allow you to feel in those high intensity environments?

It completely relaxes me because there are no stakes, you know, nobody. Everyone's working together in the show to protect each other. No one's trying to hurt anybody, regardless of what the storyline is. It's like a ballet where there's a fight in the ballet. There's no. There's no actual aggression of people towards each other. It's just the opposite. But you get to experience this wildly dynamic, exciting, surreal theater piece where people are doing these gymnastic and acrobatic things that are truly death defying. And it's fun. And the storylines absorb you in a way where, you know, you never know what's true and what's not. You know, we know wrestling's fake. We're told wrestling's fake, but there's something legitimate about it that seems to me more legitimate than anything else. The most legitimate because it's the closest to what the world's actually like. People don't always tell you what they really think. And when someone tells you a story, it might not really be the true story. They may even think they may be. They may think they're telling you the real story, and that might not be the real story. We don't know. We know so little. You know, we. We experience something and then we make up a story to understand it ourselves. And then forevermore, when we tell that story, it was our version of an experience, but we don't know that's what happened. That was our take on it. Wrestling is like. That's what the real world is like, because we. When you watch wrestling, you never know what's true. That's what. If you watch the news like you watch wrestling, and you never know what's true. It's more. It would be more accurate. You'd have a better sense of the world if you took it all in like it was pro wrestling.

I think we're in a place in human history where people are starting to feel that way about the media.

It's also why wrestling's so popular, you know, it's more popular than it's ever been.

Yeah, that's interesting. Things like ufc, kind of gladiator, like octagon fights and wrestling are increasing in popularity despite the fact that supposedly we're evolving. So I think it reflects something both primitive and evolved about the human brain. Yes, Right. Primitive in the sense that, yeah, there's some violence. It's physical. That's down in the hypothalamus, as we'd say.

No, it scratches that itch. But they're actually protecting each other. You know, it scratches that itch of seeing the gladiators, but it's like watching a movie, you know, it's not. They're not really. It's. They're not really hurting each other. They get hurt, but only because the things they're doing are so crazy.

I think in order to be able to thoroughly enjoy wrestling, one has to be able to give up narrative distancing just a little bit. Right. Narrative distancing is this sense that this is a story, it's a movie, it's not real. But there were moments like yesterday, the jump off the top rope onto the guy who splayed out on the ladder. The ladder breaks. This was right in front of us. It couldn't have felt good. No, he walked away. He seemed fine.

Ish.

But that. And then there was a match between two women where a woman put a metal plate into her. Into the bottoms of her suit, and then ran and then jumped onto the other woman and hit her with the metal plate. And then the metal plate kind of slipped out. And she was walking around, and everyone knew she had cheated because you're not supposed to use the metal plate. So it was sort of exciting because she had done it. Exciting because she had gotten away with it and at the same time exciting and upsetting that the referee saw it but then didn't call it. This is like Twitter X. This is like Instagram. This is like politics. This is like, this is real life. Right? Like, seeing people get away with things is so frustrating if you feel they shouldn't have.

Yeah, that's all part of it. It's like it's a very accurate representation of the world.

Love it. It's. It's weird because I never would have thought I'd be hooked. I'm hooked. It's like archery and professional wrestling now. It's like, I'm going to be a busy guy in 24. I'm going to come back to this very practical question and ask a different question. First, there are a few comments in here that are just priceless. By the way, someone wanted to point out that you're a Pisces and so is Einstein. A Couple of Historical Questions I know you're not big on answering historical questions necessarily. Maybe you are, but I can't help every time I see you asking a question about the Ramones or asking a question about Joe Strummer. But I like this question. First of all, it starts off, I love Rick Rubin. He's so fascinating. There are so many questions that start that way. On the podcast that you did with Joe Rogan, you talked about your experience with Johnny Cash and seeing him in a new light after doing interviews for a book about Johnny or something like that. The question this person asked was, from your present view, what was the most impactful moment or moments from being with him and working with him? Or simply, do you recall a moment working with Johnny Cash that you particularly enjoyed?

I enjoyed any time I got to spend time with him. He was a really soulful, serious, shy, quiet man, incredibly knowledgeable. He knew a great deal about history and so much about music. He knew every song. He didn't. He may not have known modern songs, but he knew the history of music really well, and there was just a humble honesty about him that came through. I think that the strength of him as an artist was when he said words, even if he didn't write the words. If he told a story in words, you believed that story. So he had a credible gravitas and he was great because of who he was. It wasn't his ability as a singer, it wasn't his ability as a songwriter, although he was A great songwriter and he was a great singer. But that's not why he was Johnny Cash. He was Johnny Cash because of the human being underneath. And anything that that guy would have done, we would be interested in because that's how much of a beam of light he was on the planet.

It just happened to be music.

Just happened to be music.

I love that one question that came up a lot, and I think I can understand why, which is how does one convince themselves that what they're doing and working on is worth it? And I think here we have to define worth it, and we can define that any number of ways. But I think this is a feeling that I hear people express a lot, like, how do I know if I'm on the right path? And I just want to remind your earlier answer that you're pretty comfortable with uncertainty, this and the unknown. And I think that's a rare trait.

The question of worth. It is reliant on an outcome. We don't make these things for an outcome. It's not the mindset to make something great. The outcome happens. You're making the best thing you can make. It's a devotional practice. Whatever happens after that happens, and that part that happens after it is completely out of your control. Putting any energy into that part that's out of your control. It's a waste of time. All it does is undermine your work. Your work is to make the best thing you can. So any thought you have about outcome undermines the whole thing.

Let that one sink in. I think that's so important for people to hear.

And I'll say, it's okay to think about outcome. After you finish the thing you're making, once you've made it, then you can say, hmm, what can I do to turn people onto this? But in the making of it, it's premature.

Which brings my mind back to that diary entry like approach. Because when you do a diary entry, if you lie to yourself, you're going to get a lot less out of it.

It's a ridiculous idea lying in your diary entries.

It is. Well, it's so interesting because when you learn how to do really good science, and I was fortunate to work with someone who was truly committed to the truth and accuracy. She used to just say, whenever there was a scandal, published one fabricated data, she was like, this is so crazy. Like, like, why would you get into science? You'd be, if you want to make.

The whole purpose, you'd be better off.

Going to something else. So clearly they weren't those people who make up data were not in science for discovery of truth as best we can understand it. They were into it for something else. But it's the same way you do. You formulate a question, then a hypothesis and then you just go see what is and what isn't. And then afterwards you decide, well, is this a paper that's sent to a top journal or a mediocre journal but you can't control the outcome, so it's very similar.

Exactly the same. And you'll see it in so many different aspects of life beyond art. I think one of the things that was interesting that came up in writing the book is it started being about art. And I came to realize as I was putting the ideas together that it seems like regardless of what you do in life, if you follow these principles, your life will probably improve. You'll probably be a better husband or a better father or a better whatever it is. It seems like the art is an outgrowth of. It's why the subtitle is A Way of being. It's like you create yourself in a way in the world where the things that you make are tapped into something deep, but that comes from you being tapped into something deep. That's how it works.

So tapping into self, grounding in self, not thinking about outcome diary entry like approach to creating stuff seems to be the.

And I think one thing I'll say to that, because I say tapping into self, it doesn't come from the self, but you have to tap into yourself because you're the vessel to allow it to come out. Everything in the vessel is coming from somewhere else. It's not your creation. You're the. It's like you're the sculptor or the, you're the data analyst. We are taking these things from different places that you've noticed. Some things that you've noticed, some things that you don't know that you've noticed, but you did. You know, that's how we learn. You know, we take in a lot of information that we don't even know we're taking in. But the way we can take these data points that are inside of us, that came from outside of us and create a constellation. That's what the artist's job is. But also that's what we all do all the time. And to get better at it, it's getting more in tune with yourself and opening yourself to things outside of. I'll say if you have a narrow belief system, you'll have less information to work with, less data points. So being open minded and Allowing surprise to be surprised, holding all of your beliefs very loosely.

It's interesting because the way you describe this and from knowing you as well, it seems that this whole process is best served by having really good boundaries, like not getting foggy about what's about you and what's about somebody else or about what other people want or the world wants, but also having really good antennae and being able to see what's happening in the world. You can't be cloyed, oystered and like this, but part of the creative process feels and looks like you're in a tunnel, but then you have to bring in from the outside. I mean that. So it seems like making these two separate compartments that you can bridge seems important and healthy. I mean, here, as you mentioned, it's a way of being. It's not just about creating things. That's also a healthy way to be in the world. Because if you're constantly getting pulled around by everything emotionally and things are upsetting you, that's not good. But if you're just cut off from everything, that's not good either. Do you cultivate that way of being through these practices or do you think you've been. There's something about the way you're wired that you started off that way.

It feels natural to me. It feels natural to me. And I'll tell you, when I was younger, I thought I would live in New York City my whole life. And there was a time when I felt like having that energy and noise around me felt good. Now I feel best in the jungle or the forest. I didn't decide that. I didn't decide what feels good. You know, it just happened.

So you're clearly willing to update and adapt, Change your nutrition, change your all the time city, change the way you.

Feel, new information, update.

Love it. You're a scientist.

Well, I don't know anything. Again, we start with I know nothing. We all know nothing. So if something sounds interesting, worth trying, I'll try it. See, does it work? Does it not work? You know, I thought at one point in time I thought veganism was a good idea. I was excited about it and I did it for a long time. I didn't get the results I was hoping for. I didn't have better health, I had much worse health. I had a tremendous amount of weight gain and I was very ill through that diet. But I didn't. My intentions were good.

How do you approach resistance, especially resistance in other artists you work with? You know, presumably people hire you, they want to work with you, they do want to work with you. But I think what the person is asking here is if somebody you're working with is stuck, like they're stuck, do you ask them to think? Do you ask them to feel? Do you ask them to take a day off? Do you ask, do a Dennis Rodman on them and send them to Vegas to party for a couple of days? Because that's what worked for Dennis. Do you leave them alone, let them come to you? I think people are very curious about what those sorts of interactions are.

I think it's always a case by case situation. It really depends on the artist. It depends on the situation. And usually by the time that we're working together, any resistance they had in the past has already been overcome. Usually I'm together with someone who. Where we make a team with the idea of making the best thing we possibly can and we'll both do anything we can for that thing to be the best it can be. We're past the resistance.

I notice you remain friends with a lot of the people you've worked with, which is a great testament to you and your work and who you are. I just want to mention that that's not always the case, folks with other producer artist relationships. So it's worth pointing out a practical question, But I think one that is worth asking is do you handle the finances around your work with artists? Do you have someone else do like negotiations and all of that kind of stuff?

I honestly have no idea how it works. I have no clue. It see, everything seems to get done, but I have no idea in the inner workings of any of it. I try to. I try to stay out of as much. If it's not about making the beautiful thing in the moment, I don't really want to think about it too much. I don't want to be involved in that aspect.

It was interesting when I was visiting you this summer, we had a really delightful dinner conversation with one of your other guests. And at one point, probably due to me frankly, the conversation veered a bit into the business realm. And I'll never forget you said, in a very polite way that didn't feel dismissive at all, you said, let's talk about art instead.

Right?

Like, enough about business, let's talk about art instead. And in that moment, I don't remember that well. I gleaned a lot of gems from that visit. I wasn't there to study you, I was there to hang out with you. But I gleaned so many gems treading water in the pool some of the other practices we'll talk about. But I remember that and I think about that in myself a lot in the morning, you know, the emails and things coming in. And then I think my purpose in life at this point in my life is to collect, organize and disseminate health and science information.

Yes.

So that for me is art in this sense. And anything else feels kind of boring.

No one else can do that.

Right.

Someone else can do that. You have a particular gift in that you can take complicated scientific ideas and explain them in a way that all of us who are not scientists or not medical students can understand. And it's really helpful. And you do it in a kind and loving way where we get the sense that you care, that we understand. You explain it in a way that there's a care in it that really speaks to us. So thank you for teaching us.

Thank you. And thanks for the words. That means a lot to me. That is indeed what it is for me. I want people to know the information because I think it's so cool and so important and they need the information and it's not about me. It's like they have to know. And you did it this morning for this guy on the beach so he'll see the light. Pun intended.

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The WWE or the AEW? Rick?

I love them both. I love Pro wrestling. Pro wrestling is great.

How often do you abandon an idea or project? Like, is there a. Is there a pile of journals with crossed out ideas some place in Rick Rubin's basement?

I say there are many ideas that have not yet come to fruition, but I wouldn't say I've abandoned any. It seems like the ideas have a time when they want to come to fruition. And regardless of what I think, I don't get to determine the calendar. The ideas come, I can get excited about it, I can work on it and then hit a wall. Nothing else and nothing. It just impenetrable. And then there'll be another project that's just sailing along easily and the universe is working to help support that idea. So I tend to work where there are several balls in the air at once. And I don't fight against. If the universe is not helping a project, I'm wary to fight with the universe.

How many projects are you working on right now or.

Typically, it's impossible for me to even say. There are so many ideas and some of them are in idea phase and some of them are in mid making stage and some of them are in the final, you know, final detail stage. There's always something happening. I'm always thinking about a lot of stuff and some of it is stuff that I get to share with the world, but some of it might be, you know, remodeling a space or I'm always thinking about some creative puzzle.

I have to imagine that for you when the Internet came to be that it must have been really exciting because like me, you love foraging for information. I used to go to the library and Xerox, copy papers and I loved looking through the stacks. But frankly, it was physically exhausting and time consuming and financially it was hard for me at the time. And then you'd always get those copies where like the book creases, you know, obscured the text closer to the spine of the book. And you know, I love PubMed. I mean, like the world's at my fingertips. The world of research is at my fingertips. My goodness. How do you feel about smartphones and the Internet? I mean, to you, does it feel like a giant gift for your creative process or is it an inhibitor?

It's both. You know, I love that all the information is at our fingertips. And sometimes having so much information is. It's hard to sort of tell you a quick story, which was when the music streaming revolution happened, I was really excited. The idea that all of music is in my pocket now and I can listen to any song, any album from any point in my life where I get to hear about something and it's all accessible right now in this moment. And I was thinking at that time, I'm just gonna dj. All I'm gonna do is dj and I'm listening to anything I can think of that I'm excited about. Haven't heard the Talking Heads in a while. Let's listen to Talking Heads. Just how great that. That freedom is to have everything at your fingertips. And what I came to learn very quickly is I don't want to DJ all day. I love that I have the ability to DJ all day. I love that when there's something I want to hear, I can find it. But I don't want to have to do the work of picking everything I'm going to listen to. I like being programmed to, and I like the discovery of somebody else playing something that I wasn't expecting and getting to enjoy that. So now I do more listening to either somebody's curated playlists or online radio stations, and I do less picking music to listen to. But I never would have known that before because I always thought, well, if I could listen to anything I want, I want to listen to what I want to listen to. I didn't know that. I didn't want to have to pick it.

I love the rare live versions and B sides and whatever Z sides that one can find on YouTube. Like the other day, you sent me just at random, a clip from, I think it was a Japanese television show with the Ramones opening up. And Johnny opens up with you loudmouth, baby, you better shut up.

And then they.

They dive into loud.

Yeah.

And I. It's the song I could have heard anywhere else, but it was the fact that it was shot from above, that it was black and white, and that he adds this little riff at the beginning. You're loud mouth, baby, you better shut up. And then just dives into it. That made it for me as a huge Ramones fan, I was like, yeah, like, you know, I think I did that in my kitchen. Yeah, like, I was so hyped. Because when you go and just listen to a song that's recorded as part of an album, you're not going to get those additional pieces back in the day. And still now, if you went to a live show, you might see that and hear that and never forget that. But in that sense, to me, YouTube and the Internet is like, whoa. Like, it's this arc archive of gems that I potentially have been there maybe a 70. I would have been four years old.

Yeah.

So, you know. Anyway, thanks for sending me that clip. Loved it. Because you know how much I love the Ramones, but things like that. I just think, God, the Internet is just amazing and so spectacular.

Yeah. And the amount of lectures you could find on YouTube are unbelievable. The greatest thinkers in the world, I don't want to say are on YouTube because they probably didn't post on YouTube, but their material is on YouTube and it's unbelievable. You know, things from old films from the 50s and 60s. It's all on YouTube. Yeah.

I've been listening to Bible interpretation on YouTube.

Wow.

And there's just. It's interesting to hear different interpretations from different perspectives. I would have never found these people. Most of them are saying, please. Yeah, they're so good. I'm trying to work through the Old Testament start to finish now as a learning and a practice, and wow. Okay. So the question was our smartphones, the chains that bind us and prevent our creativity. But I think you answered that it's both a rocket ship to creativity and chains to the ground.

Yeah. And it's like all of the tools. It's like the tools don't make or break your art. It's just. It's another tool. You can use it or misuse it.

Someone wanted to know, and I would like to know whether or not you have any recurring dreams and what are your thoughts on dreams and dreaming in general? Do you write down your dreams? Dreams. Do you spend time thinking about them?

I've gone through phases of my life where I've written down dreams. I'm not doing it right now. I think we can learn a lot from. From writing our dreams. I tend not to analyze them in the moment, but I've noticed when I've kept a dream journal and looked at it years later, these surreal things that made no sense were all saying the same thing. And they were all very clear based on my life experience at that time. So it gives us clues as to what's actually going on. The way our subconscious is experiencing our lives. It's giving us. I don't know if I would call them pointers. Reflections would maybe be a better word.

Our mutual friend Paul Conti believes that the unconscious or subconscious is both used interchangeably, is the supercomputer of the human brain. That the misconception is that the forebrain, which is involved in planning and context and anticipation of outcomes, et cetera. People think that's the supercomputer, but that the supercomputer is the unconscious. That's Paul's belief. He stated that very clearly on this podcast and elsewhere. And he believes that in dreams, the unconscious mind is controlling more of the dialogue, which makes a lot of sense, but also that the unconscious mind is constantly trying to teach us things in the way that we learn best. So, like my dreams, for instance, are all analogies, because that's pretty much if people listen to me talk on the podcast, I often will use analogy, and I'm very visual, so it will present things to me in visual symbols. So Paul said in terms of dream interpretation, that we would all be wise to think about how we learn best. And our unconscious mind is trying to toss us things in dreams to explain things in the way that we learn.

It makes sense. And I would say also unconscious. And our instinct, the way we act instinctually is a reflection of our unconscious. And as artists, that's a tapping into that. The instinct and the unconscious is where the great ideas are. And then things that come from our intellectual selves are much less. They have much less of a charge. They're much smaller ideas.

Yeah. I think the conscious mind and the intellectual mind, as you're calling it, are bound to outcome in a big way. I'm going to inject a question of my own. I'm fascinated by the way you've discussed people's real underlying motivations and how that shapes their creative process, but also their career. If you would be willing to talk a little bit about the story of Andrew Dice Clay, that's the story that, to me, captures it best.

Andrew Dice Clay was a comedian who told really offensive jokes, and his audience loved him for it. But the people who weren't his audience didn't really understand it, and they vilified him. And he became a comedian because he wanted people to love him. He didn't become a comedian to hurt anybody. He wanted to entertain people. And while he was playing to, you know, sold out Madison Square Gardens full of people, newspapers would write terrible things about him. And it really got to him, and he decided to change his artistic output to try to make the people who didn't like him like him. And when he did that, it undermined his whole gift, and it just. It seemed like things fell apart. I think he's in a better place now. I haven't. I haven't seen him in a while, but I think he's in a better place now, and he's back to caring less about the reaction and in turn getting a better reaction because he's being pure in what he thinks is funny.

I Liked him very much. In fact, I thought he did a spectacular job as playing the female artist's father in A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga and Brad Cooper.

He's a really good actor. He's a great actor.

Yeah. Well, I really like the story about him because it encapsulates so much that if people can think about why they do what they do, they're gonna avoid pitfalls potentially. But how much time do you think people should spend introspecting about what makes them tick and why they want to entertain or make jokes or.

I don't think it's a one size fits all. I don't know that I could answer that question.

Is it true that Adrock encouraged you to give LL Cool J a chance?

Yes, that is true. Adrock heard the demo tape and insisted that I listen to it. Love that.

This is a kind of generic question, but I think it's good to put these in every once in a while. What is your advice to a starting comedian? You know, these are the sort of like, I always think of these like, you know, sophomore in high school kind of question, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad. In some sense, that's what makes it such a great question. Like, what would your advice be to a starting comedian?

Be true to yourself and not to listen to anyone.

There you go. It would be a great book, except it'd be a very short book, which would also make it a very great book.

Book could be a blank book. You can just put all the things that you want to put in it.

Oh, and I'm working on a book now, and I'll tell you, it's hard. By the way, I asked Rick for advice about book writing because I've been trying to write this book for a while, and he gave me the following advice. So I'm injecting my own question. He said the sooner you can get to a complete draft that you're happy with or happy ish with, the better the process will go. So I'm working on getting that complete draft.

Yeah, I would say don't focus too much on any of the individual details until you have the whole thing down and then you can focus on all making everything better that you want to make better. Don't get bogged down in that at the expense of getting through the project.

Your advice has really been helping me, by the way.

Great.

I'm doing it like diary entries.

Great.

And I've kept a diary for many years, so that's somewhat natural.

Tell me a little bit about Your diary entries. How long is a diary entry?

Sure, yeah. A diary entry is anywhere from like one to eight handwritten pages, single line spacing going back and forth between. I usually start in all capitals and then switch over to cursive as I speed up. I've been doing that since, gosh, since high school. I've got a drawer filled with them, dated and everything.

And.

It'S usually a process of just trying to get something out of my system that I feel is like clogging me some frustration with the outside world. But sometimes, like this morning, I journaled in the room before you showed up and I just was like, I think I was riding high off wrestling last night. I was marveling at how similar the great experiences of my life are now as they were to every other stage of my life in the sense that they give me this feeling of like, okay, like there are these gems and I'm of people, you and others and experiences. And I'm finding them like I'm experiencing them and reminding myself that there are long periods in between those moments where things feel kind of like, not empty, certainly not empty, but kind of frustrating in the sense that like I'm busy and I'm dealing with a bunch of things and things don't feel smooth and. But I've been through enough of these cycles that I just am really learning to enjoy the cycles. And that was it. And I. And I think the last line in my entry was something like, you know, you know, and I can't wait for more or something. So this morning is just a very positive entry. But sometimes, you know, I mean, there are definitely some tear stained entries and there are definitely some entries where I'm just so pissed I can barely get the writing out. But it's a process of like getting that stuff out so that then I can lean into the day.

Do you ever go back and look at them?

I did the other day because I recorded an episode on a very particular type of journaling that's supported by over 200 peer reviewed studies, which is called expressive writing. I can tell you about it. It's a process that was developed by James Pennebaker, who is a professor at University of Texas Austin. And he had his students write as part of an experiment for 15 minutes a day, for just four days, either consecutive days or a week apart, but about the same thing. And the thing that they're supposed to write about is the most challenging, upsetting or even traumatizing experience of their life. And it shows the Data from over 200 studies show incredible positive shifts in psychology, physiology, immune system function, and ability to combat infections. I was so struck by the data from this work that I decided to dedicate a whole podcast episode to it. It'll probably be out by time this episode airs, but I haven't done that one yet. I'm going to do it. It's a little bit of a higher bar of entry. Cause it's like, okay, I hear that the first day especially is pretty upsetting because you're purposely picking something really hard, but. Yeah, but most of the journaling I do is just kind of diary, like, here's what happened, here's what's going on. And my biggest fear is that somebody would find them. But in preparation for that episode about Pennebaker, I went and looked at my journals and was like, what do I write about? And I realized they're pretty autobiographical sometimes about troubling things, but never before had I written four times in a row about the exact same thing.

Interesting.

Yeah, yeah. Pennebaker, I think, deserves a Nobel Prize. If you look at the data on this compared to. And I'm not disparaging prescription drugs per se, but like SSRIs for depression, it's like at least as good a treatment. It's like zero cost stuff, but it, you know, and on and on. You don't want to be careful. I'll start giving the podcast again. Now. There were a number of questions about quote, unquote, entertainment and music industry, none of which unfortunately were particularly complimentary of the industry. And I think this is something that comes up a lot because people often focus on the marketing, the personalities that may or may not be so pleasant at times. I'm sure there are a ton of pleasant personalities in the industry too. But the question is this, how do you deal with the. And these are their words, soul crushing, anti creative aspects of the entertainment industry. And hold on to that sense of creativity and love for the work.

I'm just focused on the work. I don't think of myself as part of the entertainment industrial complex. I just make the things I make. And then there are other people who are good at figuring out how to sell them or get them into stores or get them onto services.

Do you have a process of capturing ideas? Like, do you write them down? And the reason this question came up so many times, I think, is that a lot of people feel like they get great ideas right upon waking or while driving or in the shower at random times. And they were wondering whether or not you have any way of collecting and curating your ideas prior to embarking on, quote, unquote, a project.

I write them. I make notes in my phone. I do it all the time. I don't have a great way of doing it. And sometimes I'll make a note and then come back to it later and have no idea what it means.

Do you make those notes by writing or by, like, voice memo Writing that.

Said voice memo might be something worth trying. I've never tried that.

How do you view money in relationship to your work? Meaning how do you place it in the constellation of things related to a project? You mentioned earlier, you let other people do the negotiations, but money is just another form of energy. How do you place it in the contour of what you do?

I don't. I try not to think of it at all. And I, because I come from a punk rock background, which was like a do it yourself background, it was always more about the idea and the execution of the idea with whatever you could use to do it. So if I didn't have enough to go to a professional recording studio, then I would find a friend who had a home recording studio in Accord or whatever it was. Or borrowing a drum machine before I had a drum machine. I would always find ways to make the things I wanted to make. And I can't remember a time where a financial boundary got in the way of making something. And I see it happening a lot around me. And it. I think some people look at it as the money is what allows it to happen. And I think I just see it as the idea is what allows it to happen. And then the ingenuity is figuring out how to do it with, you know, by any means necessary. Just gotta make it. Whatever that version is, it may not be the dream version, but whatever version you can execute is the one for you to make.

I can attest to the fact that I launched my podcast in my closet in Topanga Canyon, which felt totally natural. Cause I also come from the skateboarding punk rock thing where, like, wouldn't ever occur to me to get a professional studio built like we're in now. We had this one built for us, but at the time, like, of course you use a closet because you just need a black backdrop. And, you know, I think starting from there makes so much sense. And you also realize in the minimalist approach, you know, anything added is just something added. So you don't really know what you need. If you start with a lot of.

Stuff around you, yeah, it can just be a distraction. I'm friends with Darren Aronofsky who's a great director and his first movie was called Pie and he made it for practically no money and it was really well loved. And then the next movie he made was also wildly successful and he made it for very little money. And then he made this huge hundred million dollar movie and it wasn't, it turned out not to be a success, that movie. And it was a case of where having more money didn't help him tell a story. It's just one particular case and it's no rule to follow. But there is something about making the version that you can make with the means that you have that adds something real to the project that may be better than the one that has a lot of money thrown at it.

I'm letting that sink in around a lot of online tutorials for science have a lot of visuals, but we knew we wanted to do YouTube, but also just pure audio. And there's nothing more frustrating than somebody talking about something or somebody that you can't see because you're just listening to it. And the visuals were really expensive to do. Right. And in the end, I think if I firmly believe in the classroom as well as via podcasting, if people can hear something clearly enough and create an image in their own mind of how they would visualize it, then it's in there for good. Whereas just having people look at a slide with a bunch of beautiful illustrations on it, that does nothing for retention of material. So I think the minimalist approach, I think sometimes is really the best one. Maybe it's always the best one because it forces the better solution. Like in any case, I do realize I editorialized there, folks. I entered the answering portion of the not just the question asking portion. Have you ever felt that something was too obscure for mainstream audience appeal to the point where you did not release it?

Never.

Tell us more.

If I like something, someone else, maybe they'll like it. I don't know. How can I judge? How can I judge every I've been told with every new thing that I've done, it's a terrible idea and it won't work. Every single time. Really, Every single time.

Ghetto Boys, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Slayer, Adele.

Every one of them.

Eminem.

Every one of them. Every time. When I went from producing rap records to producing Slayer, you can't do that. You're a rap producer. It's going to be terrible. Don't do it. Or then Johnny Cash. You can't do that. You're a metal rap producer. You can't do that. It's Going to be terrible. Don't do it every single time. Still to this day. Still to this day.

I was so excited when you launched Tetragrammaton, and it's going so well. I listen to every episode. I love the interviews. I've been fortunate to be on there twice. I think the second one still hasn't been released yet, but I mentioned Tetragrammaton because it just feels so. You like the ad reads, which I talked about during my intro, but the ad reads are amazing. Like, I listen to the ad reads over and over again because they're so clever and they. I don't know, they put me in a state. I feel like I'm watching. Like, I'm transported to. As if I was, like, born in the 1940s. I'm listening to television for the first time. There's. There's something there. Like, there's really something there.

It's. It came out of solving a problem. The problem was when I decided to do the podcast, I had even recorded the first several episodes. A friend of mine said, well, you're going to have to. If you want to have ads on the show to support being able to do the show, then you're going to have to read the ads. And I said, I don't really feel comfortable reading ads. I don't think that's something I can do well. I said, I'm cool with the idea of only advertising products I believe in or that I use, because that's. If I get to essentially promote something, I'll do that with things that I use, but I don't feel comfortable reading it. And he's like, well, you have to. It's going to be expected of you. And it was just an opportunity. It was like, okay, I understand. It's expected of me. What can I do that's true? To me, that adds something, you know, instead of it being less than, how can I make it more than. And it was just solving this problem of needing a way to have an advertisement that I didn't feel bad about. And then I got inspired and had this idea and started making them. And now they're my favorite thing in the podcast. In many podcasts, honestly, when the ads come up, I forward through them. As a listener on Tetragrammaton, when that commercial comes on, I always listen to them. It's so. It's like a. It's a highlight and they make me smile, which is again and again, I didn't set out to do that. I just was trying to solve a creative problem. So sometimes the innovative ideas don't come when you're looking for an innovative idea, it's just there's this slot to fill. This is the way it's normally done. I'm not comfortable doing it the normal way. How else can we solve this problem? And sometimes it doesn't just solve the problem, but it becomes an actual feature.

Yeah. There's something about that solution seeking that is part of, or at least is aligned with the creative process. Right. Yeah. The ads are extraordinary. We were listening to them in Italy. I'm like, play that one again. I love the way the guy says the word shilajit. He says shilajit or something like. But in it. But I can't do the accent, folks. Don't take what I just said as evidence of what the ads are like.

Australian accent, that guy.

And the chimes in the background is so good. You don't drink alcohol, correct?

Correct.

Have you ever had a sip of alcohol?

I had. I drank alcohol once as part of a class experiment and had to mix all these drinks and taste them and it was a terrible experience, but it was. It was a requirement in the class I was taking.

Wow. School was different back then.

Yeah.

Or that school was different. Yeah, I think school was different. We used to prick our fingers and do our own blood tests in science class.

Then I never did it because I was always needle phobic, but that was definitely something that was asked of us to do.

Yeah, you could never get away with that now in a high school classroom. The reason I ask about alcohol is, first of all, I'm not the anti alcohol crusader, even though I did an episode about alcohol which discouraged many people from drinking more of it. But I think for a lot of people, the idea of smoking cannabis, drinking alcohol for them, in their mind is synonymous with the creative process, especially music, for a lot of reasons that people can imagine. I think it's remarkable and impressive and worth spending a few moments with you sharing with us. How is it that you were around all of that? You're clearly part of the crew, meaning you're part of the creative process. Presumably people offered you alcohol, drugs, et cetera, but something in you seems, like, resistant to any kind of peer pressure. And as an adult, that's impressive. But to think like, you know, like when I was 15, 16, sure, you know, I sort of regret it. But yeah, I drank, I had my experiences and then eventually stopped that. But most people are not good at, like, not drinking if they don't want to drink ever, or just once from a High school class. What, what was the internal narrative in your mind when that stuff was around and what allowed you to just say, no, I'm gonna, I belong here, but I'm not gonna do that?

It just was never interesting to me. And I think maybe it had to do with being an only child. I never being an only child I think made me less resistant to peer pressure because I felt more confident in who I was, whatever that was, just from being with my. Being with myself and not with other siblings. I'm guessing, I don't know if that's right, but that's my first, my first inclination is to guess. That would be the case also. I've always known what I like and known what I don't like and know there are things I want to try, there are things I don't want to try. And I feel very good about not doing something I don't want to do. I feel great about it.

Have you ever been curious about psychedelics? Given that?

I'm very curious. I've never done it, but I'm very curious and I've been curious for a long time. There may be a time when I experiment. Yeah.

There are two psychedelics in particular that I find really interesting. One is macrodose psilocybin, which I've done as part of a clinical trial. And my understanding is it reveals in a very intense and experiential way some component of the unconscious mind and it allows for plasticity and rewiring of the brain. That's permanent. If you come to some understanding through the so called integration, it's not without its risks. The other one that's really interesting that I've been hearing more about and I have not tried. And it carries some dangers as ibogaine, which is 22 hours long. And people experience the world as normal with their eyes open, but when they close their eyes they get a like high resolution movie like version of prior experiences. But they have agency within those movies, they can reshape their reactions. This is being used to treat PTSD in veterans to great success. It has some cardiac risk associated with it, so. And it's not legal in the United States, it's not being explored in clinical trials yet. But the state of Kentucky recently took, I think it's $40 million from the OxyContin settlement and it's putting it to ibogaine research.

Interesting.

Yeah. So those are the two that kind of spring to mind. You know, kind of the classic psychedelic experience.

I've also heard good things about mdma, but I'VE never done that.

Yeah, I have done MDMA as part. Again, as part of a therapeutic trial. It's a strong empathogen. The danger with mdma, I think, is that if you don't stay in the eye mask or if you're listening to music or something, you can easily get anchored to some external cue and, like, see a plant and be like, I love plants, and spend the whole four to six hours thinking about your love of plants, which might be valuable, but I think the strong introspective work is best done with a therapist there and you in the eye mask and occasionally leaving the eye mask and writing things down. So, you know, the reason I put that detail in there is that the psychedelic experience is very different with eyes open versus in the eye mask, with a clinician there versus recreationally. And it's not just about dangers versus safety. It's also about, like, it's a big investment and what one stands to get out of it, I think, depends on how much introspection you're willing to do. We won't be doing it. This afternoon there were at least a thousand questions about attention deficit and neuroticism. People who feel like they can't organize themselves. And I thought a lot about these questions and tried to distill them into a single question, and eventually I did. And it's this. For many people, they associate the creative process with disorganization. I think what's so striking about you is that you embody both the creative process, but also a strong sense of organization around it. Nothing seems harebrained or random or haphazard about anything that you do. And yet for a lot of people who call themselves creatives, they'll say, I'm a creative, this, that. And you look at the space they're in and it's like chaos. Or their life is kind of chaos. Not all of them, but is what I'm saying making sense? Because I think why people orient toward you and one of the reasons for your success with the creative process is that you are extremely organized, but not to the point of being rigid. Be willing to embellish a little bit on that perception, whether or not it's accurate, inaccurate, I would say there's a.

Part in the process early on where it is before it can get organized, where it's free and it's playful and it can be chaotic. It's just not the. It's a byproduct of whatever's happening. It's not. It's good because it's chaotic and it's it just happens to be sometimes chaotic in that. In that experiment in the beginning where we're really playing with this idea of having fun and creating stimulation and seeing how it makes us feel. And we try a lot of. We could try wacky things to get there. But then when it happens, when you get that feeling of like, oh, this is interesting, haven't seen this before, then it gets more controlled. But it starts in a very free place. And I don't know if I would really use the word chaotic, but it could be. It certainly wouldn't be wrong. I would say more free would be the word free. Like, no, no expectation and total immersion in like an improvisation that you're participating in that can go wherever it wants to go and you're cool, allowing it to go wherever it wants to go. And sometimes when it goes somewhere dangerous, that's when it gets interesting. So the, the. I can understand that, that danger aspect, maybe that's why I like pro wrestling, I don't know. But there's something about when you get to this, these edges where this is not for everybody, it can get very interesting.

Speaking of stuff that's not for everybody and that to some people might have been shocking, I remember hearing ghetto boys for the first time and like, whoa, like, they're taking certain things pretty far when you're working with an artist and they venture out into that place where things are like, maybe even a little shocking. What is that feeling for you internally? Like, is it. How do you distinguish between shock value for its own sake and something that's really opening up a new creative avenue or insight? Like, how do you. Do you recall the first time you heard Bushwick and those guys do their thing? What was your internal narrative?

I can't believe it. I can't believe what they're saying. It's really pushing the boundaries of what anyone has said in this music before. It had switched because the original originally in rap, there was a lot of boasting about themselves, bragging. And then we got to the message happened and there was some social commentary. Then there was gangster rap. And then the ghetto boys took a version of gangsta rap and turned it into horror rap, which was much more graphic than gangster rap. Gangster rap was talking about a. A real life situation, whereas the ghetto boys took it into horror movie territory. It was more fantasy, but it seemed really scary at the time in the way that you're scared at a great horror movie.

Do you like horror movies?

I don't.

Do you like monster movies where, you know, it's not real. Like it's impossible. As opposed to horror movies where, you know, it's, you know, people getting killed by another human, like stuff that could happen in the world versus, you know, monsters and zombies and that kind of thing.

I don't think I really like either of them very much. I like things that make me feel good. I don't really like adrenaline. You know, I don't like to be excited. For some reason in audio, I like something that makes me excited. But in visuals, I tend not to like things that make me excited.

Interesting. And you're able to kind of clean yourself of experiences easily, right? Like, it seems like if you listen to something, it's really shocking. You don't carry that shock to your sleep or to the next day. Like it doesn't.

But a movie can impact me. Like there was a movie called Melancholia that I saw years ago, Lars Von Trier movie. And I thought it was a very beautiful movie. But I was in a bad mood, I would say for three months from the time I watched that movie on. It just like did something to my brain that didn't feel good and it couldn't snap out of it.

So interesting. There are a few movies that have done that to me. The movie Blue Valentine, which has done really well, which is with Ryan Gosling and someone else, where it's a relationship. I won't explain what happens in the arc of the relationship, but it just like the movie haunted me. There's one scene where he's wearing a misfits shirt and I was like, ah, like. And that's a particularly good scene where he's singing to her. But the rest of the movie just brings about such feelings of like, just how hard life can be sometimes and how misguided people can be in relationship. And it's interesting how movies can just kind of embed in us. It's not pleasant. I don't want to talk about it anymore. There were a number of questions asking about how you consume information in the world related to what's happening in the world. Where do you get your news from? You and I talk about this a lot. How do we know what to trust these days? Should we have ever trusted the news or is it less trustworthy now? Like, where do you get your information about what's happening in the world and stay abreast of like, world affairs?

Honestly, I don't feel like I know anything about it. You know, I. I tend to look at it all like wrestling. So if the story's good, I might be More interested in the story, but I still don't hold much belief that that story is true.

Yeah, I don't know what to believe anymore. I was asked to comment on a particularly well known person who's not considered very savory by a couple news avenues in the last couple of years. And I don't know how people had in mind that I would have knowledge about this person. And I gave zero information to these news outlets. And nonetheless, they didn't publish quotes from me, but they publish things that I know to be completely false and they know to be completely false. So I was just struck by the fact that like in scientific publishing that would get you. You'd lose your job forever.

Well, at one point in time you would have lost your job. Now I don't know if that's true, if you lose your job. Because we see it happening a lot, right?

Yeah, it's wild.

Have you ever read anything about you that's not true?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Okay, so based on that.

Absolutely. I mean, some of it is playful stuff like on Reddit and now they're flagged as they have a little flag that they can put as, you know, comedic or something. But. Oh sure, I mean, things not just taken out of context, but things like completely wrong. Like, just like that. I don't even know where people get this stuff from.

I keep waiting for the thing that.

I'm going to see that says that I'm dead. That'll be the moment.

So based on that experience, why would you believe anything you read about anyone else? You get to see firsthand that there are just stories just not true.

And presumably you've seen things written about you that are not true.

All right, absolutely. And artists I know, friends of mine, they write things about them. I know it's not true.

Wild. What do you think about the state of play and is the experience of being a parent and having a young child? Has that allowed you more opportunities for play and to see through the world through childlike lenses in greater capacity? Or is it, you know, just separate from your creative process?

I would say I'm fairly childlike all the time. I try to stay as open. The beauty of childhood is that you don't know, you haven't been indoctrinated yet. So you see things and you have wonder about them and it's a great feeling, that feeling of wonderful. And now when someone. I'll tell you a story. This is a true story. My friend Owen came over one night in the middle of the night and he had just seen luminescence in the water for the first time, and he didn't know what it was and thought he was having a mystical experience. And he was so excited. He's like, you won't believe what happened. The waves were like. There was light everywhere. It was so cool. I'd never saw anything like it. And I said, oh, yeah, that's luminescence. And I explained what it was, and it destroyed the magic for him. He was really having a childlike, magical experience, and I destroyed it by telling him the science behind it. I try to live in a world where I can experience what he experiences, and I don't let the story ruin what's. I allow the possibility to go past what I'm told the story is, but that things can be even wilder than the rational explanation.

For me, learning the reductionist science behind something to me, adds depth and beauty. But then again, I realize I'm. I've been indoctrinated into the field of science.

The matrix.

They call it the matrix. This is one I didn't understand. But I'm going to assume that you understand because it has to do with people you've worked with. If Rick had casually dropped that the Ramones named themselves after the fake Last name Paul McCartney used to check into hotels during Beatlemania, would that have blown Andrew's mind? That's a kind of weird question. I guess the question is, is it true that the Ramones name themselves after the fake last name that Paul McCartney used to check into hotels during Beatlemania?

I don't know that. I don't know if that's a true story. I do know that Paul McCartney used the name Paul Ramon when checking into hotels, but I don't know if that's where the Ramones got the name.

Got it. And here is how rumors turn into quote, unquote facts on the Internet.

And also maybe the Paul Ramon story is not true either. But that's a story I've heard.

Right. That reminds me, and I think this is an important case in point, that there's what I consider a very famous photograph of you, Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, and Henry Rollins. You're wearing a Dead Kennedy shirt. The four of you are facing one another. And I love that photograph because of who's in it. And I remember hearing a rare track from Strummer and the Mescaleros called On the Road to Rock and Roll. And then for some reason, probably because my phone is tapped into my brain, I was served up a video on social media of Henry Rollins telling the story of that gathering of the four of you, where Rollins is describing the story of Joe Strummer leaning into Johnny Cash and saying, hey, I wrote a song for you. It goes on the Road to rock, okay? And I remember coming to you and saying, rick, guess what? Remember that photo? You're like, I remember the photo. I said, yeah. Rollins has the story of what was happening in that moment. And I was so excited. And you said, you said, yeah, I don't remember that. It might be true. It might be true, but it might be entirely made up also.

Yeah.

And we're not calling Henry a liar, but Henry.

I believe Henry remembers that story and that was his experience. That was not my experience or I don't remember it being my experience, but who knows? Anything could have been said. It's true. Anything could have been said. Like it had as much to do. The fact that I don't remember has as much to do with whatever I was thinking about when that happened. And the story that Henry told had as much to do with what was going on in Henry's head when it happened. We have no idea. You know, we have no idea.

Do you remember somebody shooting the photograph?

I do not.

I'll put a link to that photograph on the Internet. It's a really incredible gathering of.

I've seen the photo, but I don't remember it being shot.

I'm looking for a high resolution version of that photo. If anyone can find me one, I'll be happy to compensate you. Well, there were a lot of questions about your daily routine. People love this, the morning routine, the daily routine. And while I have to believe that everybody's necessary routine is quite different from the next. If you wouldn't mind just giving us a sense of like the first couple hours of your day, what that typically looks like when you're like not traveling and you're settled into to a place.

It's different depending on the place that I'm in. But typically it involves waking up, going out into the sun as naked as possible. To start the day. I try to take slowly, wake up slowly, and probably within an hour of that, I'll leave the house and go for as long of a beach walk as possible. Or if I'm in a place where there's a gym several days a week, I'll go to the gym instead. But I'll do some activity. I would say about an hour after waking up. Sometimes it's an hour and a half, sometimes it's less, depending on the place I'm at. I also might do stretching before I go on the walk and do just several stretches on yoga mats on the floor or with foam rollers or balls or some different things. I don't start my day until those things are out of the way. I try to avoid any work related anything. Now that said, if a thought comes up that I'm excited about, I'll note it. I won't avoid thoughts, but I tend not to engage in any work until probably 11 o'. Clock. 11am would be the soonest and some days not until 1 o' clock and then I do focused work until maybe six and then I spend the rest of the night trying to wind down out of work mode.

So 1pm to 6pm are really the peak.

Probably quote unquote work hours could be 11 too. Like today we started here at 11 and that felt like I felt like I'd be good by 11. And I already did my morning walk. I had the argument on the beach. I was in the sun, I was in the hot tub. I had a whole morning already.

And then what does your evening wind down look like in terms of the space that you're in or trying to create and your internal landscape?

Well, it's only red light I'm usually wearing. It's from the time the sun sets. I'm wearing red glasses. I'm in a space with only red light. I'm 99% of the time home with my family and we talk. I might watch wrestling or a documentary with red glasses on. We eat dinner together or we eat dinner in shifts depending on how it's working. But we're all, we're all together and I find something to occupy my mind that gets me out of the workday. That said, sometimes the ideas still flow and I'll note them, but I avoid. I avoid any kind of a work phone call or anything that's stimulating or that will get me thinking about it. I aim for sunset and then I'm usually in bed. I'm usually in bed by 10 and fall asleep within 15 minutes.

Your relationship to light is fascinating. The sunlight piece makes a lot of sense and will make sense to the listeners of this podcast. We haven't done too many episodes, but we will do more that covers the trying to avoid bright light exposure in the evening. You're wearing the red lens glasses now even though it's the middle of the day. That's because we've got these bright lights around us. Correct? And have you found that limiting your bright artificial light exposure in the evening has benefited you and in what ways?

Absolutely. And once you've done it, once you've changed and avoid looking at screens or. My phone turns red at night when I see someone else's phone. If someone comes to visit and their phone lights up at night, it's blinding and it's so disturbing. And for them that's normal. They're in this heightened, blown out place all the time. I'm staying at neutral, I'm staying at the more natural how the world would be if man didn't create all of these loud things. Loud devices.

Yeah. I've switched my phone thanks to your input and we will have released a clip on this by the time this episode airs. On the triple click approach to the phone that you can put in very easily to allow it to go from regular screen to red screen at night so that you don't have to go into the settings each time you just triple click. We'll provide a link to that explanation. And Rick taught me that when I was over in Italy, everyone in his home turned to me and said, wait, your phone is so bright you got to do the red light thing. I said, I don't know how. And he taught me that. So it's a very useful trick.

Have you noticed a difference since looking.

At the huge positive difference, I sleep better. There are great data now because of course I go then find the data that, you know, for shift workers, people that have to be up at night working, if they put them under red light, the amount of cortisol at that time is suppressed, which is great as compared to when they're under bright artificial lights without red lens glasses or if they're in red lights. It's far, far more beneficial. Less cortisol. You want cortisol high early in the day, viewing sunlight early in the day, increase it by at least 50%. Then you want it to taper off and on and on. I heard something recently which is going to make a lot of sense. One thing that's happened in the last 30 years, which may at least partially explain the obesity crisis, is that calories which are depleted of nutrients, micronutrients are very cheap now. They're very cheap to get calories, but they aren't nutritious calories. In addition, there's been a change in lighting technology so that blue light photons are very cheap. Like when I was a kid, they my parents would say, turn off the lights. It's costing us all this money now. It's very cheap to keep the lights on in a home. The heat is a Different story, but with respect. So we have a lot of cheap photons. So I think of blue light as cheap photons, not the good for you photons, not nourishing photons.

That's correct.

And consuming calories too often or at the wrong times of day, we know is bad for you. Consuming photons in the wrong form at the wrong time of day, bad for you. And I think those two things combined, plus all the downstream negative cascades can largely explain the obesity and in some sense, mental health crisis.

Interesting.

Yeah. So just there I editorialized again, I realized that we're trying to shift the ratio to more Rick, less Andrew, but.

He can't help himself.

He can't help himself and Rick indulges me. So actually there were a number of questions in here that asked me, you know, how has Rick helped you? And I'm refraining from answering those because this is. People want your answers for them, but I do all the things that Rick's referring to. I'm not wearing red lens glasses now, but I have changed a lot of my health practices and. Or sought out science to test whether or not some of the things that you've been doing for a while make sense. And indeed, in every case, they've made sense. I'm not just saying that because. Because you're here, but you and I do a lot of the same thing.

We're in, we're interested. And if it didn't work, we'd probably stop doing it eventually.

Right.

It's like we're testing.

Right, Right. And I do believe that what starts out as crazy, like Mike Mentzer stuff of low volume weight training with heavy weights, it works so much better than the high volumes. All that stuff is being shown to be true in these peer reviewed trials. So, you know, that's the nature of science. It often comes. Science often follows the practitioners by many decades. You know, it doesn't get there first because it's a slower, more iterative process. But some people need to see those clinical trials to feel comfortable doing something. I think the creative process is uniquely separated from academic science and academic scholarship in a way that I think has really benefited it. I mean, can you imagine if the ghetto boys had to get a degree in music theory in order to do what they do?

They wouldn't be the ghetto boys.

Right. Or Slayer.

They would not be Slayer. Yeah.

Or Public Enemy.

Yes.

Or Adele, or Eminem. It's almost by virtue of the fact that there is no degree for that per se, that allowed them to do what they did. Right.

Yeah. Absolutely.

So what are your thoughts on schooling and higher education or just education? I mean, you were at NYU when you launched your record label. You graduated nyu, right. What are your thoughts on getting a quote unquote, formal education?

It seems like an obsolete idea. I think maybe there was a time where it would have been helpful and maybe depending on the. If the thing that you want to study can only be learned in an institution, maybe it would make sense. But I think the real world, getting an internship or finding the right mentor and going into the. Whatever the thing is that you're interested in learning about, learning from people who do it, as opposed to the system, I think might be a better use of your time.

The creative process doesn't exist in a vacuum, and relationships are a huge part of life. One thing that I've heard you say, and that certainly I've been working to internalize, is this idea that whatever relationships one has in their life, romantic relationships or not, married or not, kids or not, that the ideal circumstance is where one's work is the most stressful part of their life.

Yes.

You tell us more about that.

Yeah, the. The home is the. The safe place from which you can go out and be a warrior and do all these great things and these crazy things. You know, I have. I'm fearless when it comes to art. I'm not fearless when it comes to life. Life is my relationships. Art is where we can do these crazy things and have fun and try extreme things and see what happens. And that's a safe place to do that. Because it's just expression. It's not. The things we make don't have to represent who we are. They're just the things we make. And that's a point of view. It's like, this is interesting to me in this moment. Check it out. That's all it is. May have a completely different feeling tomorrow. Whereas in a relationship, it's long term, hopefully. And it's as long term as it's a productive relationship where everybody's getting what they want from that relationship. Everybody's needs are being met and everybody cares enough to meet each other's needs.

I've always admired how rational you are about relationships and this notion that, like, if everybody isn't being honest, there's no relationship. Actually not. It's a bad relationship, but there's actually no relationship.

No, because if you. If you. If someone's not telling the truth, then each person is experiencing a different understanding of the world. They're living in two different worlds, so they're not they're never actually together when you're experiencing a different world. So unless you can, you don't have to agree. I'm not saying you have to agree on everything, but you have to be truthful in saying, this is how I see it and your partner is clear in yes, this is how I see it, or no, this is how I see it. You're on the same. You're on the same page, even in disagreement, but it's real. Each of you are being who you are for and with the other. But if you're not opening yourself up in that way to your partner, you're in a different world. They have an idea of what's happening that's completely different than what you have an idea of what's happening that's not. That's not being together.

No masks.

No. No. It's the. It's the same as what when you said earlier about lying in your diary. You'd only be doing a disservice to yourself. Lying in a relationship would only be doing a disservice to yourself.

Mike Ness of Social Distortion has a song called Cheating at Solitaire, which seems like an appropriate title to mention right now. Lying in the diary. Cheating at Solitaire.

Yeah. It's ridiculous.

Doesn't make any sense.

No, you're not. You're not actually playing the game. Do you know what I mean? If you're cheating at it, you're not actually playing the game. The whole point of the game is the game. If you cheat at it, you're not playing the game.

Do you have any must read books for people?

I'll throw one out.

Rick's book on the Creative Act, A Way of Being. But in addition to that book, what are some books that you recommend to people for stimulating thought or for, I don't know, health purposes or things that you found particularly beneficial in book form?

My favorite book about meditation is called Wherever you go, There youe Are. And I just got sent the 30th anniversary edition which is completely rewritten. I have not yet read the rewritten version, but I love the original version and I know the rewritten version. I'm guessing that the rewritten version is just more refined and even better.

Such a great book. That book was given to me when I was about 14 and a half when I was released from a particularly uncomfortable, non voluntary state of affairs. And one of the things that I remember about that book that helped me through so many years of life and I have to go back to is this mountain visualization meditation being A mountain. I don't know why it was so helpful, but, goodness, was it helpful for me.

It's a beautiful idea. It's a beautiful idea.

Yeah. I don't know why I thought of that just now, but I'm going to go back and read it. Do you think that there's genetic, epigenetic, family lineage, stuff unrelated to genetics, that leads us to create things that are really about, like, our ancestors, for instance. Is it possible that, let's take Johnny Cash, for instance, or an artist that you worked with more recently, Chili Peppers, that when they got together to make music, that something from Anthony's family line was being transmuted through him into the songs? Is that happening? Do you think that we can work out and include things that are generations far back enough that we don't even really know what happened to them? I mean, it's coming through in our genes.

I think it's certainly possible, but I don't think we can know, and I don't think it's necessarily even helpful to know. It just is one of those mysterious things. I don't think we know why we do many of the things we do, and it's just another example of that. And that's a possible theory to explain why we do the things we do. Maybe, but there may be another one. It may be UFOs are controlling us. I don't know. Do you know what I'm saying? It could be anything.

There are people on the Internet that think that it's UFOs that are controlling us.

I wouldn't disagree with that.

More and more evidence is coming out that, you know, that unidentified flying objects might. Might actually be a documented phenomenon by the US Government. I haven't looked into it yet, but.

I wouldn't be surprised.

When you were on this podcast before and on several other podcasts, you mentioned that you don't play music, at least not routinely. You don't play an instrument, that you have limited knowledge of how a soundboard works. So when you're listening to artists, are you listening for something or you're staying open for something that you might hear? Like, that will trigger a certain state in you that you recognize.

I'm open to just see what's happening. Like, I feel what's I listen and recognize. Is this making me lean forward? Am I curious to see what's going to happen next? Is the thing that happens next different than what I thought was going to happen next? That could be interesting. You know, I listen to a lot of music when it doesn't do what's expected. That's really interesting, especially if it sounds good, if it works. So I'm just open to experiencing what it is. And I'll say something funny about it, which is, this will sound mystical. I don't understand it. But often you can tell a lot about the piece of music you're going to listen to based on the first sound you hear, like the first moment. It's not about what note it is. It's not about what instrument it is. It's. Intention in the performance. And that performance could even be a machine. The way when something starts, sometimes there's this feeling of, oh, this is going to be good. Just out of the boat, the downbeat.

Can'T explain it reminds me of dating and you know, within half a nanosecond, like, this is going to be a fun night. It's going to be interesting night. This person's interesting. Or, okay, this is not a night to continue. Right. I don't know. There's something. And it's not what's said necessarily or even how it's said, just it's a feeling.

I know that depending on how I'm feeling, I'll avoid listening critically to something if I'm not feeling well. If I don't feel like I can be completely there and open, I'll not listen. I know I want to really be there for the thing that I'm listening to.

Do you inform people if, like, hey, I'm not here today. Like, I can't sometimes.

Yeah, sometimes.

As somebody who has never been part of the music production process, how long does it take? Like, for an album? Like, let's throw out an artist you've worked with. Like you worked with Eminem. How long did that. You did some songs on that album or the whole album?

I did some songs.

So did he come in with those written and then you guys worked together on those songs? How long was that? A week, a month, a day?

I think we were together for several weeks. It's been long enough now that I can't remember the specifics, but there is no rule of how that works. And sometimes things come together very quickly. An album can be made in a weekend, and some albums are years in the making. When it's years in the making, it's rarely every day for years in the making. It's usually more episodic. But there is something. Both versions are very interesting. And it's something that comes out almost fully formed very quickly, has particular energy, and then something that's made over time can have all of those individual moments, all the changes that happen within you over that period of time, those can all be reflected and be the difference between a daily diary, journal and reading three months. It's different. They're two different things. Can't say one's better than the other. They're just two different things. So some projects are more like a year's diary, and some are more like a weekend and same. You know, you watch a movie, some movies, the movie story takes place in 24 hours, and sometimes it's a person's lifetime. One's not better than the other, one's not a better method than the other. It's whatever suits the work.

Speaking of your work with Eminem, but also with Jay Z and with Beastie Boys and others, you are featured in a number of the videos. You show up in those videos. Whose decision was that? And what are your thoughts on music videos? I remember when music videos first came out, the whole MTV era and just thinking like, this is so cool. I can see the artists, see how they're dressed. I love the, like, the crazy styles and all of that that accompany the music. Two questions. One, whose decision was it to be in the videos? Because producers often are not included in the videos.

It would always be if the artist asked. That'd be the only reason I would be there.

And two, what are your thoughts on music videos? And the idea that then it puts a very strong visual to the song. Whereas were there not to be a video, people could just imagine something based on what they're hearing and hearing alone.

They're two different things. There's not a better or worse. There's sometimes where the video makes the song better. And there's often the case where the poetry of the words, if you close your eyes and listen to what the words are, as a listener, you get to participate in that, in creating that world in your head. So sometimes photographs can tell us too much information. It's too leading. It limits the story to just this photograph. The photograph tells you much more than the words. The words can be interpreted in many ways. And then we each get to have that experience. It's something in the book that I was cognizant of in picking the words was never to be specific to the point of where the reader doesn't get to participate in this act. So it doesn't tell you what to think. It's an invitation to think. It's an invitation to say, where am I in this? What's my version of this? It's not about anyone else it's about the reader. And that was. It was from the beginning, that was always part of the. My understanding of what I thought would be the most helpful.

The COVID certainly embodies that, that it. It's not clear exactly what the COVID design is, quote, unquote, supposed to be. Yeah, it's open to interpretation.

Interpret it as you wish. And different people see different things.

Let's get current. What are you working on now that you're excited about? If you can share.

Let me see what I can and can't share.

Could be broad categories of things, too.

Okay. I'm working on a couple of documentary projects that I'm excited about, and some albums that I've been working on over time are coming out. One is a incredible singer, guitar player named Marcus King. His album's about to come out. The Gossip is a band that I made an album with 10 years ago, and we just made a new album or we made an album maybe 18 months ago and that's coming out now. Those are the first ones that come to mind.

Is the documentary process fun for you and how do you approach that?

I watch a lot of documentaries to learn what I don't want to do. I don't think I've been inspired. Well, maybe some cases where I get inspired by what I'm seeing, but more often I see things and I say, okay, these documentaries all have this format. So I know I don't want it to be this format. More of a ruling out. And it's fun to find new ways that reveal different information than the standard format allows. It's interesting to me. We'll see if anyone else cares.

You have a unique approach to podcasting. First of all, what are your criteria for who you invite on as a guest? And second, what do you have in mind when you sit down and podcast? I have some ideas about how you're going to answer, but I think it's important that I not inject and that I think people are interested in this even if they don't want a podcast, because I think it gets to the process of something that you're doing now and how you're doing it now.

Yeah, I didn't set out to do what I'm about to tell you. I didn't set out to do this, but it's something that after I started doing it, I came to realize it's an interesting thing. And I actually learned this from listening to your podcast. It was actually Lex's podcast with you, and I was listening to the podcast, and I know you know Lex and I know you guys are friends, and both of you, in addition to you talking to Lex, you're talking to the audience, and Lex, in addition to talking to you, talks to the audience. And the audience was a participant in your conversation. And I realized that at the Tetragrammaton podcast, it's different than that. It's more of an intimate, personal. Like the interview with you that hasn't come out yet, that was me talking to you with no, I certainly didn't have any idea that anybody else was going to hear it other than, yes, someone else is going to hear it. But that's not what this is. This is. I was asking you the questions I was interested in, and I wanted to learn as much as I could. And if you said something either that I didn't understand, I'd ask you to explain it. Or if you told me a story about something that sent me on a tangent that would I want to know more about this left side of what you said or the right side of what you said, I would ask, but only following my own interests. So it has an intimacy. It's turned into. If I listen to a Tetragrammaton podcast, it sounds like I'm overhearing a conversation, a personal conversation, and has turned into parts of certain decisions we've made, like having there's music at the beginning, and then you hear the guest, more often than not, is in the middle of a story. And it's almost as if you've walked into a room and people are in this deep conversation and you're just sitting on the side quietly and hearing this conversation, and it's a real moment that's happening there, and it's just different. I can't say it's better, can't say it's worse. Can't say. I don't know what's interesting about it, but something about it's interesting to me. And when I listen to it, I feel.