Latest / Your Dark Companion Podcast / Tom Petty's Heartbeats, Bob Dylan & The Speaker Wars | Stan Lynch | YDC Ep 242

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Tom Petty's Heartbeats, Bob Dylan & The Speaker Wars | Stan Lynch | YDC Ep 242 · Your Dark Companion Podcast

• Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Ryder, sports talk. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Oh, with a big mic. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. Okay. Now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. Alright. Alright. Here's a tip for all these Americano league teams. Don't do it. Wait. You said tip. Yeah. Tip. Okay. With a p. Keep jamming. The colon, nothing but a big Gen X jerk on sale. Is this a cool night or what? I thought somebody would hear that and go, bullshit. I'm back, bitches. I have a feeling there are gonna be a lot of interesting things to come out tonight, but I don't know how we're gonna top that. We didn't even get to see it on on air. We will. We will. We'll work our way back around to that. Well, hello, one and all, and welcome to another episode of Your Dark Companion. It is the July 15. This is episode number 242. And this is a very, very special one for me because today I am as happy as a little boy. Because today, for the first time, I get to infiltrate a circle that I've always wanted to infiltrate and never have been able to. That is the larger circle of all things that encompass the great Tom Petty and the heartbreakers. Because today, we have with us the great Stan Lynch, who for many, many years occupied the drum seat. Now he's got something else going and we're definitely gonna get into that too. Because it just so happens that I do really like what you've got going here. Imagine that. Yeah. How are you, man? I'm good. I'm really good. How are y'all? Good. Good. Good. It's All right. Like I say, it's really a pleasure to talk to you, to finally infiltrate that circle a little bit. And Come on in. I got a lot of things I wanna get to with you here here today. Letter it. Alright. Let's start from your beginnings here. Do you remember the first music you ever heard? Sure. As a very young boy that hit you in a particularly certain way. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We What was it? Well, I mean, we're we're probably both old enough to share this that there was the radio. It wasn't segmented. It wasn't rock. It wasn't classic rock. It wasn't jazz. It wasn't blues. It was the radio. It was the radio, and it was all things to all people. Yeah, man. It was an AM radio, and I had a Bakelite AM radio, and I we lived in Miami, and there was a station and man, it ripped my head off when I was probably five or six years old. And I remember hearing like sitting on the dock of the bay and thinking, this is the saddest man I've ever imagined. You know, he's all alone. He left his home. You know, like Yeah. And and then I heard Exodus by Firani and Teixeure, and I was like moved by the the music of it, just the sound of it. And then, you know, I hear Dean Martin singing Datsumore, and I'd be like, wow. You know, what what does that mean? And mom would explain, well, that's love. You know, like so the radio was this beacon of like it was a a North Star I could go to. And I went to bed every night with it. They, you know, Stan, it's time to go to bed. And I literally pulled the sheet over. The radio's on. They're thinking I'm asleep, I'm just like transfixed with everything that came Roy Orbison comes out of, you know, singing about a pretty woman and like, I'm trying to imagine what that you know, like, I saw a pretty girl today too. You know, yeah. I remember all of it, man. It was like it was it really it raised me. You know what I mean? I can honestly say, you know, music, it sounds like I'm being hyperbolic, but it's it was my church. It was it was everything I ever wanted. I had no backup plan. You know, once I realized I could play, and then of course, when the you know, every kid, the Beatles Right. There it is. Now I'm I'm I'm throwing my life away right now even at nine years old. I'm done. There ain't nothing. You know, I didn't why do I need to go to school? You know, I can play drums. So you I think I'm giving you a feeling of who I how important it was to me. And, literally my backup plan was I'm living under a bridge. You know, that's gonna work because there's no plan b. You can't have one if you're artistically bent. I really believe this. When people ask me today, hey, my son wants to be in a band, but he's gonna go to law school. And it's just in case. And I'm like, no. Tell him to be a lawyer because it's gonna be a lot easier and it's gonna work out. Because if you have a backup plan, you will you will inevitably take it. This is too much work. It's too much trouble and it's too much depression. Too much uncertainty too. Oh my god. Yeah. You know? I mean and that's why fathers notoriously are angry at sons that are artistically bent because they're scared. Yeah. They're scared shitless that the kids poor poor bastard. Next question. Well, let's talk about drums. What you what got you into drums? Well, Ringo. Yeah. You know what mean? Like, you know, in a word. Yeah. You know, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Charlie Watts, those cats, you saw them and they were just, mean, everybody's screaming about Paul McCartney and I'm looking at Ringo, everybody's watching Mick Jagger and I'm going, Charlie Watts, he's playing traditional. Oh, wow. You know, so I don't know where that came. Why? And maybe I just thought it was I figured like, what, what, what is the source of my ass shaking? Where's this coming from? Oh, that guy. Yeah. You know? That's it. Some music has to work from the waist down and from the neck up. And the drummer is in charge of the waist down. Yeah. You know? So it looked like fun work. You always play traditional grip. Well, was schooled, you know, I took lessons and that's what you did. You know, you became a rudimental drummer and you learned your rudiments. Mhmm. And they taught you, you know, this is how you hold them. It's a it's an old vest digital concept from the field drumming from marching because you couldn't do this. Right. When the when the drum strap your leg. So it really it's it's outdated. And some people have said it can really ruin a hand, You know? Like, you know, there's drummers that have conversations over and over again. Greg Bissonnette, fantastic drummer, one of the best in the world. He plays can play traditional, but he switched to match and has told me a million times, Lynch, you're gonna destroy your left hand. You need to learn to play match, but I hate it. You've tried. I I still try. You know? It's it out of out of pure, like, stupidity and bullheadedness, I'm going, one day I'm gonna be able to but there's something about it just feels good to me, you know? I don't know. Do do one thing about you that I've always loved is you have a very identifiable groove. This is nothing that there's no planning to this. This is pure thank you, by the way. I forgot. I buried the lead. Thank you. That's very, kind. That's just I mean, when I hear you on a song, I'd I'd listen to it and I go, yep. That's definitely Stan. Well, that's him. That can be good and bad when you're in a band. I've had I've had that work against me. You know what I mean? But it's very kind of you and I appreciate it. It's no conscious effort involved in this. This is just it's like the way you walk. Yeah. That's how you you know, like the way you do your thing, man. Like, you know, somebody go, man, you know, like, don't do you work on it? Or do you just No. Not working long ago. Exactly. You just do. And this is what feels good. And yeah. But thank you. It's very kind. You know, you're making a swim through our Fairberg this weekend at the Kessler with the Speaker Wars, your new band. We're gonna get into that here in a little bit. Please I I definitely wanna hear about how that got started and everything. Cool. But I remember not too terribly long ago, you had a swim through here. Your last one probably, I'm thinking, was when you were playing with Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs and you guys came rolling through here. We crawled through here? Yes, you did. Okay. That was it. That was what sort of got me out of quote drum retirement. Did it? Yeah. I hadn't really Were you on tour with them then or or or was that just a one off or what? I was subbing. Mike, we man, I hadn't really touched the drums in ages. Really? Oh god. Been decades. Really decades. I mean, maybe farting around at the house, but it was like I never I kind of put them down after the band. After my tenure with Petty, it was like, I think I made my statement. It was one of those like, and what band am I going to join now? That was a good one. I didn't, it was kind of like, I don't know if I want to do this anymore. That was pretty good. So I moved on into production and writing and all the other, any aspect. And then Mike called out of the blue and he said, Hey, look, my drummer, Matt, Matt Log, who's fantastic. He's out with ACDC now by the way. Those are, so it was good shoes to fill. I mean, Mike and Mike's no slouch. So he just said, Hey, you want to fill in? Matt's going to go off and he's got a gig. And I think I did, I don't know. I'm guessing fifteen, twenty shows or something with Mike, but Mike's so loose. I never got a rehearsal. So it was like, man, he threw me in the deep end after not playing for age. You know what I mean? It was like a double whammy of like, I don't know the material and I ain't playing drums. So it was kind of funny. It was a real trial by fire to come. So you show up for this gig. You haven't played in eons. Yeah. You don't know the material. Don't know it. You were perfect that night, man. If I didn't know, I wouldn't know. I am blessed with bullshit. So is he. Yeah. Am too. Yeah. It's well, Mike also remember that's a a long running brotherhood. Yeah. And all Mike has to look to me and say, hey, man, just give me a groove. And like, that's code for like, don't really worry about it. Yeah. You know, like, don't just and we grew up marinating in that stew together where it's like, I'm I was very comfortable. As soon as I saw Mike's ass in front of me, you know, and he's like, oh, this is very familiar, you know, and the sound coming out of his amplifier is extremely familiar and very warm to me. You know, it's it's one of those it's a home. Yeah. You know, so I hadn't heard it in twenty years, but it was like, oh, wow. Look what's coming out of my wedge. Oh, that's Mikey. Shit. I'm going right there. You know, it's it's gonna be a breeze. Do you remember where you first ran into him? Mike? Yeah. Oh, sure. Gainesville, when we were kids. I mean, they the guys were a little older, probably five years, which is kind of a big deal when you're 17 or 16. But Mike, he was very introverted, never talked. He was very to himself. And we were in, there were a couple of bands, working bands when we were kids. They were in one, I was in one and Mike would come around and watch us and I'd come around and watch him. And then we would, I'd sit in with his band and I was smitten with his playing. I mean, I I tell a story. I mean, he played a song sixty years ago probably or fifty five years ago, and I can still sing you the guitar solo because it was one note, but it was the right note. You know? It was like and he was always that guy. Yeah. He was just the guy like, wow. How did he this you know what I mean? It's pure. It was pure when Mike played guitars. You know, it There's something about his guitar playing, Benmont's keyboard playing and your drumming that really made the whole petty thing, the heartbreakers thing work. I've had to wrestle with the whole thing and I've come up with this the brilliant concept. We were actually pretty damn good. It took me forever to realize that, because it was like it seemed like what came so naturally, anybody should be able to do this. I mean, literally it was, we counted four and that noise came out. We never talked about it. They were monosyllabic men. Like how you, y'all want to work on that one? Pretty good. We're like, that'll get us by. That's all right. You know? So it was like that was pre production. Like do that again. And, it was a very natural band, know, until it wasn't for me, but it was like, but it in its heyday, you mentioned, but you mentioned two really brilliant, you know, Ben Montensh, there ain't enough words in dictionary to say how great that guy is. He's a musician, man. And he hears he's one of those rare musicians that he's a transmitter and a receiver. Yeah. Like he he's putting it out there, but it's Taking it in. Man, he has got antenna from here to Galveston, you know? And he's hearing you and he's reacting to you in these subtle little ways. I I had dreams after I was done with that band where I would, it was like this horse that I couldn't ride anymore. And it was like, because it was that side of the stage, know, from my, you know, drummer, like there's Mike and there's Ben beautiful. Everything coming off that side of the stage was like, I could just sit and watch and hear it. It was magic. They're really good. And they are that good. Yeah. I believe it. They ain't lucky. How well did you know those guys in your early days back in Gainesville? Well, we mean, were they always were you always hanging out together? Did you just run into them here and there? How did that all work? We were weird people. Like we were odd. So nobody hung out with anybody like that really. I mean, I had a couple buddies that we'd go down to the creek and chase crawdads around, but it was like they weren't the guys you were in a band with. But you met them out of sort of necessity. Like you'd go to a club and you go, who's that keyboard guy? He's awful good. I got to get to know him. And like, I remember like, hey, Ben, it's my birthday today. I'm 16. And I like, Who cares? He was like that guy. Like, I want to meet you. And it was like, Yeah, whatever. And he was the kind of guy that would literally order a Whopper and hold the meat. You know, he was like, well, it says have it my way. You know, so he was they were everybody was they were the oddest group of guys and the most wonderful companions to have. And I needed big brothers. I never had a big brother, and they were all that to me. I just couldn't wait to please them and they couldn't wait to haze me. Were they older than you? Yeah. Ben and I were close in age. Yeah. Ben and I were probably within a year or two. So what drummers from that era, from your youth impressed you? And who did you try to emulate if anybody? Well, Simon Kirk from Free Bad Company. Mhmm. He was a British stud for lack of a term, man. He just looked great. He played great and he played beautiful, simple, these really elegant articulated parts. You know, he was what like, Mick Fleetwood was another one. I could listen to Kiln House all day and listen to Station Man and go, how's he holding that groove for six and a half minutes? It never goes away. You know? And this is all before click tracks and Mhmm. You know? So the drummers, you know and then of course, like Ian Pace from Deep Purple, you know, these are just like that's that's like he was my Neil part. You know? Like those guys that were just pirate they were unobtainium, but you could still dig them. But then the guys that I could almost play like, they became my heroes because they were like, just oh, I'm almost there. I can almost learn that fill. Explain to me how click tracks work. You never have understood. It's a metronome and you're familiar with a metro. Oh yeah. That's all it is. It's and practicing to a metronome is is very good. You should. I think any musician worth their salt should be able to hold a line with a clock. Mhmm. You know? But then after a point, feel which you acknowledged maybe that you felt that I had one. You do. So it it it's sort of off the clock. There's a natural bio rhythm and a reaction to singers, and that's feel and groove. And it's hard to quantify that. But time is easy to quantify with a clock. It doesn't give it up. If it's 80 beats per minute, it's like, you know, that BPM. It's easy to quantify. I want it at that tempo, but you can have it at the right tempo and still have a shit feel. So so do guys record with the click track in their headphones or or how how does that work? All of the above. C. Yes, it works. What happened now is that in this day and age budgets and the ability to record as a band, it's expensive. Let's be honest. You need a facility such as the one we're sitting in. You need an engineer. You need a second engineer. You need all of it. And it's a very expensive process. It's been circumvented with Pro Tools and editing. And being good is now a a factor of editing. Like you can be good anyone can be good if they have the time to edit. Right. The source material is the is where the pageantry lives. You know, that's where the there's the sex. You know, like, that's the good stuff. Is if if if the source material comes in and it's aces, very little editing. All you have to do is basically go, oh, I like that one. That take was great. Yeah. Now with the clock okay, back to the clock. Sorry. I digress. That's okay. The clock. We're all about digression around here. Okay. The clock, if you play to a click, every take is generally at 80 beats per minute for instance. So we can cut between, we can ever it's becomes stuff becomes more interchangeable. And that can be good, but you lose the what's the word? Like there's a, fear. You know, it's like working without a net. Yeah. If like if you're a trapeze artist and you know you can fall into a net, you can take more risks. But if you know you've if you're the walking melenders go between the World Trade Centers, you probably wouldn't have your shit together. You know? And that's what cutting live off the floor with a rock and roll band is. It's like, hey, we're a 100 feet up. If you crash the ship, that probably cost us about $500 and a reel of tape and and the the vibe. And and and there's an a nice angst in that. And that's those early Petty records we cut were, like, all off the floor. We're all pissed off because we had to do it 50 times, and fifth take 51 is the one. Did you all play together in the studio? Oh, hell yes. Separate tracks. You couldn't we didn't even know what we were doing if we weren't together. We were we were fingers on a fist. You know, we we didn't know what to do. Like one guy playing, that was by the time Jeff Lynn appeared, we were each individual will work. And he was the Svengali that knew where the pieces would go in the puzzle. But a rock and roll band, hey, man, that there's nothing more feral. Know? No law school there. You know, you were a rarity kind of in that not only you were a were you a singer, and the singing drummer is It's an acquired taste. It it it's not terribly common in this world. But you were pretty much the principal harmony singer in the Heartbreakers, weren't you? In the early days? Yeah. And that was kind of probably out of necessity from being when I was a kid, you know? Like in bands, would be like, somebody's got to hit the upper the higher third. Go, Lynch, try it. And I think it was also maybe part of why I got the gig, you know, because it's like, hey, he's kind of a utility guy. And I played a little guitar and I had I knew my way around a keyboard. I knew music. Yeah. And drummers are notoriously kind of knuckle draggers. You know, they're kind of like the guy you Be primitive. Yeah. You might when if you said, let's go from the bridge, the drummer might go, was that what part is that? You know, like, it's possible. So maybe I was a little more valuable because I had a certain sense of I could actually say, when we hit the a chord or when we go to this. I could use some musical terms even as a kid that maybe endeared me to real musicians. And then over time, I sort of curated that into I can actually make music, but I needed those guys desperately and they needed me. Tom needed a drummer who could sing and we all needed the security of like, we weren't sure we were cool until the other guys said you're cool. And that was what a lot of collaboration is nothing more than that. Yeah. Like you look over at your buddy and goes, is that cool? And he goes, yeah, cool. When did you realize that the heartbreakers were gonna be big? I don't know. That's a there wasn't a moment. I remember thinking at one point it is big, but it was only like out of body for me. Yeah. Like it was very out of body. Like, you know, like it became very private and very it became it became a big business and there was a lot of puffery And like, you know, there's everything became like there was a lot of complaining. Mhmm. It was almost like like the you know, I make a joke. Like, I don't like the expression on my bare skin rug. You know? Like, it was almost you know, it wasn't quite there, but I'm going like, who are these guys? You know, like They're same divas in a sense. Well, every yeah. Everybody got the ratchet goes one way on luxury. You know what I mean? Mhmm. Like, nobody wants to go back. So if you, you know, you show a bunch of, like, feral broke boys from Florida, you you put them on a big private plane, all of a sudden, everything sucks after that. You know what I mean? It's like that's sort of a generalization, but it's like, I've never had a lousy meal. I've just had shitty company. You know? Yeah. And I'm that guy. I'm the guy who's like, well, only reason this meal sucks is because that guy's a jerk. Or we, you know, like, it's a McDonald's hamburger. We all know what it tastes like. It's fine. It's you know, if you're hungry, eat it. But when you get in a I knew that we were becoming successful when I saw parameters being non negotiable. It's like, we're only gonna do this. We only do that. It was like, that became a little because I still had friends that were bagging groceries. And that became like felt like I had to stand up for the common man. You know? I'm like, a minute, dude. That ain't that ain't normal to talk like that. And you can become very unpopular in your own band when you start to become that guy. And then you dig your heels in, and you become more of a cartoon version of that. So that's when I knew we were successful was when I started feeling like, this is getting weird. It does it does seem like the drummer tends to be the most normal in the band. I don't know why. Maybe because y'all have to keep the beat and keep things on the floor, I guess. Well, maybe it's because nobody really wants to put up with you. There's the other side. Fair point. But I had the same friends I went to high school with in junior high. I still have them. They're my buddies. And they never been impressed by any of it. They've just gone like, well, that must have been cool. That's about the best you'll get out of them. You know, like, pretty cool, man, or whatever. And then it's never mentioned again, you know, because it's like, that's your attaboy. You got one. Now let's move on. And so I don't really need that's the other thing about success. It begets the need for accolades. Begets. Mhmm. And then you end up hiring people to tell you you're great. That's why he keeps me around. But you you understand. But you know, it's like you go what is it? I I always mangle the word. Psychophant. Yeah. Or is it sycophant? Psychophant. I've always said sycophant. Okay. Right. Sycophant apparently. Like I said. Or aren't we high brow now? He's very high brow. One of those. Sycophant to me. Okay. But basically, yeah, you know, if you if you pay enough people, you can really believe that you're great because everybody you run into is telling you how great you are. But if you're I don't know. It's like so that's the downside from my perspective of success. It becomes a very hollow victory if you're if it if, like, every everybody's on the payroll. You know what I mean? Like, it's it anyway, that's that's what I noticed. So how did you know when it was time for you to go? It became very obvious to everybody. It wasn't a I didn't really pick the off ramp, you know, like but it was sort of you could feel it. Like, you could feel what I was bringing to the room isn't what is really wanted. And like I said, the communication skills in that band were monosyllabic. I referred to it. It wasn't like they could sit down and say, you know, we're looking, we're moving in a different direction, we're feeling music differently. It was more like so you just you're like, why go where I'm not wanted? And and then I also moved back to Florida. I'd had a belly full of Southern California. I just had a belly full of it. It was a lovely place to visit, but I never wanted to live there. And those guys totally embraced it and lived there. Yeah. Invested in it, bought homes, their kids were in school. I couldn't wait. The minute we got there, I couldn't wait to leave. I was like, you know, even on a mercenary level, I was going, do we have enough money where I can go home now? Know what I mean? I was that guy. Yeah. Can I go home? That had to be a difficult call for you to make though because you had you had said you have such history with those guys. Yeah. And I love them. I I loved them. I will always love them. There's no question in my mind how important and happy I am that I had that experience with with them. Yeah. Them personally, they were great. They were the goof. Oh, man. You know? Well, I mean, if Mike calls you to come play with him as he did, you know, a couple years ago. Yeah. You and he must be cool. Yeah. I mean oh, definitely. Oh, god, man. You know, like I said, I've told him right to his face. I love you. I miss you. You know, it's like it's easy for me to say that to them. What the hell else would I think? You know what I mean? Like, my God, these guys came into my life. And last thing I remember, I was working at McDonald's. You know what I mean? And then the next thing, every drip, every wish fulfillment, literally, in my mind, I checked every box. So I was, I never had this sense of like, oh, if we only did this or I was the opposite of that guy. Like, know, the every high bar got leapt over as far as I was concerned. I was maybe I was too easy to please. You know, I've often thought that that perhaps my problem back then was that I didn't think big enough. So did how did you know it was time for you to get out of there? It just never has really added up to me, to a pagan like me. Sure. Well, that How can I help you? That a guy like you in a situation like that would wanna get out of there. Well, it was not fun. It literally became not fun for me, and they didn't wanna play with me. They didn't they didn't like what I was doing. I was probably too energetic. Yeah. I was too too loud, too noisy as verbally as I am right now, going off the rails. They I think they got sick of me. And rightfully, I would have been sick of me. And, it was time because I wanted to go home. I wanted to go to Florida. And, I mean, I know it sounds trite, but I was kind of turning 40. And, I think it was just like 40 was a tough one for me too. I feel you there. And I, you know what? And I, and I, and I was sated. My refrigerator was full. The AC bill was paid. It was like, I kind of looked at it. Like I said, I'd already met my parameters for success. You know, financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually. Well, because I remember telling my dad who was always he was a pain in the ass, but occasionally you get a really good read. I said, dad, I think my tenure's coming to an end. And I thought, well, you know, he's gonna be the guy that says, boy, son, you finally got it by the balls. Get in there. And he looked at me and he said, what took you so long? And I thought, well, that was cool. He's like, that was pretty country. You and him are all the same page there. Yeah. He's like, well, if you had enough, you had enough. It's like, so there you go. Does that I don't know if that helps. That helps in droves. Okay. So you lead the Heartbreakers, and I can't imagine you didn't get calls from other bands that might be interested in You'd your surprised. That was an interesting because you you do think about that. You think, well, you know, I was a guy in a successful band. They're gonna be lining up. And, I didn't get a lot of calls for drumming. But oddly enough, I had just over about the last six or seven years I've been writing. And Don Henley had and Danny Quartzmyer had taken me under their wing Mhmm. And allowed me to audit their process. You know, great very great I'm very grateful, and they were gracious and generous beyond belief to a pleb because that's exactly what I was. And but I had a couple of good ideas. Know, I remember Danny said like, you ought to be writing this stuff down. You're funny. You know what I mean? So it was like, that's how I became a writer to them. But I'd written, I'd had some minor cuts and, but I never had a So the calls I started to get were more of a nature like, you interested in going to Nashville and this publishing company's looking at you? Would you consider a deal with him for a couple of years? You wanna write? And then Don was the call that changed my life. Mean, literally I was kind of going, oh, what are we gonna do today? He's like, hey, what are doing? Like, he said, I'm putting the Eagles back together. Put your studio in a in some flight cases. Come on out. Now did you know him Oh, yeah. At that time? Well, he had once again graciously allowed me into his circle, which is an invitation only. So you don't knock on that door and say, hey, man, I wanna hang out. It's like he extended an invitation through Danny Korchmeier and to some peripheral common friends Mhmm. That you should come down to the studio. He was embarking on his solo career and or had already embarked. And I was privileged to go, hey, you can go sit in the back and watch. You know, you wanna, you wanna learn about producing? Watch this. You know, you wanna learn about songwriting and discipline and repetition? Sit down, son. And, Don, maybe because he's a Texas boy, we had southern roots in common. Saw fortunate, I believe, he saw something in me that like, this punk actually he might be of some use. We can put him to work. I served an apprenticeship with those two guys loving man, I loved every minute showing up in the studio, watching them work. This is while I was still in the band. So when I was out of the band, Don was like, well, look, basically, you got time on your hands. Come on out here. I need a need you to want you to help me get a song together for the Eagles and come on out here and produce it. And it was like, well, yeah. You don't you don't say maybe. You know, say, I'll be there in an hour. Know? Without knowing him any better than I do, which is very little, he seems very process driven. I find him to be his fantastic. He's he is my big brother. I mean, in so many ways. He's like the real like, because he's extremely hard on himself. So if you can't take the heat that he's giving himself, if you misinterpret that as being getting yelled at, because he's hard on himself. So of course he's gonna be hard on me. Like, because he wants me to be as good as I can possibly be. It took me a minute to realize that. Like it and and some people can misinterpret good shepherding as, I don't know, punishment. Yeah. And all Don was ever to me was tough, but it was like only because you can take it And I know you got it in you and you're you're you're better than that is what I heard him saying to me in so many words. You don't need to do that. Like, you're than and that's like, wow. What faith? You know? So he gave me faith and and, and I loved and still do. I mean, those are some of the most rewarding musical moments. And plus he has access to so many ideas. Like, you'll be working and he'll say, hey, why don't we get, I wonder what Stevie Wonder would sound like on this. And then tomorrow he's on there. And you're like pushing the talk back going, mister Wonder? You know, like like, would you you know? It's like so you find yourself in these incredible places because he wills that to happen and he has the the kind of clout and the and the he's a brilliant caster. He's like, if if if music is casting, directing, man, he casts. He's like, you know who we need on this one? Yeah. It's like, I would have never thought to you know, I don't have that I don't have the capacity to even nor do I have the Rolodex, you know. But being being given the keys to drive a car of that style, man, once you get behind the wheel, you kinda go like, well, I can get used to this. This is cool. So but you what what I got from that process of my time with Don was there's you should always try to be your best. It's like that's so when you say process driven, I would say then the only thing I would say is his process is like, I want this really good. Yeah. I don't I want this I think one of his lines, he said to me one day, he goes, things that last forever take forever. Because I was getting frustrated. And it was like, and he said things to me like that just in passing. They weren't like coming down from the mountain, but it'll just walk by and mumble it. Yeah. And it's gold. It's just gold. Yeah. It's like, take that with you, man. All right, this is the great Stan Lynch here with us on Your Dark Companion today. He will be at the Kessler this Saturday night. He's got a new band now after his time with Don Henley, Tom Petty, all the rest of the things he's done, you got a new unit I do. Playing with now. The Speaker Wars. How did this come about? John Davis, John Christopher Davis, excuse me, and he would correct me. We met in Nashville on a kind of a blind date as songwriters. You know, they he was with a company. I was with the company. They said, yeah. Write with John. And I'm like, sure. Whatever. And he walked in and we bonded quickly. It was very easy. And he's my little brother. So it was wonderful. We immediately wrote songs and we went, wow, we like this. And I love his voice. He's got a real instrument. And so how did that come about? John. And I'm thinking I'm working on songs for his record. Yeah. That's my mind. I'm going, hey, John. It'd be great for your record. Maybe I could produce it. Or and then he just said, man, ain't got the stones unless you get behind a drum kit. And let let me I I got some boys in Texas you need to hear. And that's how he essentially picked Picked all these guys out. He picked them. He said, man, and we went through a few, we tried a couple combinations. But mostly I was like, I kinda left it to him. I said, man, because and once again, I have this incredible reverence for singers because they've you know, I mean, you can't my whole life has been backing up good singers. I mean, really, let's be honest. Every time I look up, there's somebody I go like, holy crap. You look at the setlist and you go, I don't I know all these songs. I don't even have to practice them. You know, like a Dylan setlist. What do I need to learn? What do I need to learn from Roger McGuinn? I mean, like, I know that stuff. You know? So I've been blessed with like looking up and seeing like, well, he's awful good. So John gets that treatment from me. He gets a reverent treatment from me. Like, well, you pick the people and you find what you need because you're a delivery system. My job is to turn John on. His job is to turn everybody on. So that's where I come from. So I didn't wanna say like, you need to do this or do that. So I wanted John to have a lot of ownership over what this is. And then, before I stepped in and just started, you know, headlocking everybody. Mhmm. And it's been wonderful. And it's it's fascinating to watch the guys all grow because a band isn't really a common it's not a a conglomeration of people that can play really well. It's a conglomeration to be able to play well together. Yes. So I don't give a damn if you can do stupid Petrix on your guitar. I don't give a damn. Doesn't mean shit to me. I mean, I really don't care. But if you can play with me and you can play the song, you're gold. You're my boy. You know? So I I've been around enough musicians to go, like and and heard it all. Like, oh, man. This guy's fantastic. And it's like you get in a room with him and he's like, won't shut up. It's like, he's gonna prove to you all day that he's gonna melt your ears. Like, as our guitar player said, he goes, I'd rather you melt my heart than melt my ears. I think that's a A good way to put it. Exactly. So when he said that, I kinda went, I like you even more. Yeah. We're bonding better every day. I gotta tell you, I don't hear a whole lot of new music out there these days that really does a whole lot for me. But when I listen to the Speaker Wars record, it does. Well, that's No. No. I'm not I'm not just buttering you up because you're here. I mean, I mean this. That's very kind. Look, don't take it lightly. Thank you. It's like it's mainstream rock and roll. But when I listen to mainstream rock and roll these days, it does nothing for me because they're trying to mix too much stuff in the little country here. Sure. A little bit of this there. They they it's like halfway through the song forgets what it is. You know? I do. I get it. I get I don't hear that with you guys. We're so stupid that we just do what we wanna do. We actually like what we're doing. We I mean, if anybody was dumb enough in a writing session or a production session in this band to say, well, what's going on on the radio right now? We should probably I mean, you'd get about that far into the conversation. I go, you know, you need to go get us some donuts, man, because you're not in the you're in the wrong room. It's like because we don't care. And that's it's not that we're belligerent. It's just more that, like, I do this to turn John on. Do this to I don't want to know what the coin of the realm is. I don't give a shit. You know, like, oh, this is good. Man, I I've heard all that too. Well, this guy writes all the hits. You should get together with him. And I'm like, it's probably the last guy I want to hang out with. Like, you know, I want to hang out with Yeah. Oddly enough, most of the people I want to hang out with that I really admire, they're gone. The people I'm trying to impress, I wish they were here. Yeah. You know, I'm thinking like, you know, where's Merle? Would he like that? Yeah. You know, like And these people may write all the hits, but that doesn't mean it's the good stuff. Well, it's, I hope they're writing it from the heart. Yeah. I really hope they love it because it's not reaching me, but I just want John to look across the room and go like, damn dude, honk, like pull the arrow out of hurt. You got me. It's like, that's when I when we know we've written stuff that works for each other. I mean, he's such an emotional guy too. You don't know him, but he'll he'll cry at the drop of a hat and brings his own he brings his own hat. You know? So I mean, he's like, he's very emotional. So if I I feel like I've if I can reach him with a with some words on the page, that's a great place to start because he goes, you know? I keep listening for I mean, this is probably the wrong way to approach it and I hope you don't take this the wrong way. But I keep listening for a song that I don't like and I don't hear it here. Well, thank you. It's a strange place for me to be in. Mean, I'm a sorry skeptic. Hey, look man, I'm a malcontent myself. Generally, I wake up thinking everything's gonna suck. You know what I mean? So prove me wrong. I'm unfortunately that guy. But I think, yeah. And it does require a lot of work. And Mike Pasterzi helped curate our material because we have a lot of songs. And he actually picked album. He said these belong on a record. And honestly, I didn't know at that point. Because at that point I was just like, once you put on a songwriter hat, that's what you do. You just put on a songwriter hat. I'm writing songs. Are they any good? I don't know. You tell me. You know what I mean? It's like, so when you got that hat on, it's really critical that, you know, it does take a village. It's like, Hey man, Mike's like going, these And he literally picked the sequence, which was delightful to turn that loose to somebody you trust. It wasn't an effort for me. Didn't go like, man, I don't know if I trust him. It was more like, hey, I like what I'm hearing. And he mastered the record because it came from all different places and times and he got it all to come out of the same cab. So it does require just the fact that you like this music, I'm very grateful. Thank you. I mean, that means a lot to me. I mean it, I do. Well, I don't mean to get all gushy on you, but it's like, that's cool. Thank you. I mean, because you work in a vacuum when you're writing, you're basically Right. It's not like you're in front of an audience and they go, great word. It's like you kinda go and my late doesn't care anymore. I could probably write, hey, Jude, and she'd go like, what's that about? It's like she's heard she's heard enough out of me for a lifetime. You know? So where'd you run into John Christopher at? That was in Nashville at the writing you know, we met in a in a writer's room literally like And didn't know him or anything like that? Never. No. Not a bit. I mean, I guess the funny addendum to that story is that he had a record deal at the time in Nashville. They wanted he was being groomed to be the next whatever they were. And so we'd written a bunch of cool well, you know, actually I was helping facilitate his songwriting. I wanted to what do you you know, I I wasn't trying to infect him. I was saying, man, let's let me help you pick your best songs. And we went to the ANR meeting to cut the record to start to start the process of the record. And the ANR person walked out and went, okay, here's the first four songs you're gonna cut. And I'm thinking, wow, they've they've already picked the four that we've done that they like. Well, they played us four songs from outside writers, generic, just like Moonspoon June. I don't know what the hell I'm watching. And they got through like three of them. And I go, what am I why am I here? What am I doing? What's going on here? And they were going, well, in Nashville, we always pick the first four songs you cut. And I go, well, here's the artist. This is John Davis. This is and I said, he's written better songs than that. Like, his songs are better. And, well, short form, we both got fired right then. I mean, like it wasn't I don't even think we made it to the parking lot before the phone rang. It was like, well, we're gonna we decided we're gonna change directions. You know? And I thought, well, that certainly means I'm fired. But then I thought maybe they would be sold on to John. And then I thought, well, he's gonna kill me. You know, I thought the next time I see John Davis, he's gonna just beat me to a pulp. Well, what he did is he he goes, hey, Lynch. You know, I see him across. He runs over. Gives me this giant hug. And he's like, I love you, man. You're the first guy that ever stood up for me. But it was like but I really did think like, oh, shit. He's he's you know, this is it. I've ruined him. You know? And he was but he was grateful. Like, he was like, I don't wanna do this crap. It was slop. It was it was a pre AI slop songwriting. Sure. How do you know when you've got something good? Oh, man. You you really don't. You you you you I'm so stupid that I think the best song I'm gonna write is tomorrow. I'm so dumb that every time I pick up a guitar, I go, this could be it. You know what I mean? Because I just love it so much. But it could. It could be it. Look. Every day is a lot of ticket. You know, it really is to whatever your dream is. Like, you know, you're buying a lot of ticket when you wake up in the morning. It's like so I'm still enamored with that I get to do this. First off, I've never really had a job. Like, how how weird is that? Like, I I've been fed and groomed and bathed and pampered all because I can go boom boom smack. You know what I mean? It's like so I realize how weird that is already. Like, you know, so every day that anybody like you have invested in the concept of what I'm doing. Wow. Mike has invested in it. These guys on stage are interested. I don't take this for granted. I just go, man, cool. This is really and I don't mean to be like Pollyannaish and Peter Pan about it, but it really is a beautiful thing to have synergy. You know, it's wonderful. Yeah. I mean, so that's how do I know if it's any good? If the guys are still playing it. Like, you know, I know, well, we might have a good song because they haven't just gone like gone to go take a leak or make phone calls. They're working on this one maybe. And I check-in with them too. I'm the kind of guy like, hey, look, I just here's a song like, and they'll go like, man, I kinda like, I like where this one's going. You know, like great. Or Michael weigh in and go, man, I think you've got you've got a little tiger by the tail with that one. Like with the new stuff, he'll go like that. And he'll weigh into on stuff that he thinks is like, man, I don't know. Not sure. How many songwriters do the Speaker Wars have? I would say myself and John are really I don't I really don't know what the other guys are capable of because we haven't our love is new. Yeah. We haven't, you know Haven't been together that long. That's right. We haven't spent too much time by the fire yet. So it's like, but John and I have, and John's been so busy that I've been sort of the guy baking pies and going like this won't have any flavor. You know, I've been doing a lot of that Mhmm. Last couple of years. But he's a it's it's great. I love I love my job. Love my life. Well, it's really neat that after all the time with the heartbreakers and everything, you have resurfaced. Although I can't say I'm surprised by that. I didn't know I ever went anywhere, but You yeah. But but I mean, you were you were kind of, you know, out of view for a while. Well, that was intentional. I mean, I I learned to say no, like, somewhere around 95. I got real good at nope. Like, you know, like you want it? Nope. And it I realized I was it was becoming an easy habit. Like, even like when I go out for dinner? Nope. You know, it's like I was starting to become not quite get off my lawn, but I was get off my lawn adjacent. Yeah. You know? So, I realized that, and John, you know, I'm, I really mean it. It's like, you know, having a little brother, you know, knock the dew off your daylily son, get on out here. You know, he's that guy, You know, like, come on. You know, don't you wanna try? And then a couple other people have made some very interesting observations about growing old in music, which is while you still want to and you can, you should. Because there will come a day when one or two of those things will go away. Mhmm. You won't want to or you just can't. And right now, I want to and I can. So what the hell else would I do? Yeah. No reason not to. Well, yeah. Where else am I supposed to be? You know, it's like, you know, and life is good. It's like I I can do it for all the right reasons. I can be I can have a guitar in my lap for all the right reasons. It's not like, oh man, this better work out. Or oh man, I need to get paid. It's like, no, I just wanna I wanna hear the I wanna hear the joyful noise. And I want I want to feel that it's The highest compliment any musician will ever get is, Hey, I heard that. I got it. I like that. So you've given me that's the best ass accolade you'll ever get. Yeah. I like it. You know, I actually like I was like, wow, son of bitch. That's pretty cool. What is it like being up on stage and playing with Bob Dylan? It's like nothing else in the way. It's wonderful. I mean, he's well, time to remember, this is a while ago. Yeah. So I don't know what it would be like today. Right. And he I don't know what I'd how I'd respond. I was I was what's the word? I didn't know I didn't even know how great he was when I I I was a dumb drummer when I played with Bob. It was great. And I think that was probably why he might have enjoyed me because I didn't have the reverence. I mean, I literally was like, I liked All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix. And I would and I was dumb enough to tell him that. You know what I mean? And it was like How did respond? I like that one too. Fair enough. Oh, He was the most honest, courageous, no bullshit. I loved and and the set list was almost comedy. Like, you'd you'd go walk on stage with a set list, nothing came out that from the set. He called mostly 90% audibles, and it was wonderful to see that kind of courage in front of 25,000 people. Like and and, you know, for a drummer, like, it's just all the pressure's off now because we can just play. And he was a rock and roller when we were playing. And you could I mean, he'd turn around and get you going, man. Those songs, the songs, man. If you put a little juvenile fire behind them, which is, I'm not playing too, I'm playing like, I'm as important as, I'm so dumb, I think I'm important. So I'm laying into these songs like, Look at me. And never once told me, Shut up. He just was like, Yeah. Like, Okay. Crazy man. Let's go. And thought that was the high watermark for the whole band, really. I thought that was the best we ever were when we had in my mind, we had Bob Dylan as our singer. You know what I mean? Like, we were in his backup band. Yeah. And I think he I think he enjoyed that. I think he was like, hey, I'm in that I'm in that band. And and it was a great time too because McGuinn was on the bill. So we were we were the the heartbreakers were his band, you know, Tom Payne, the heartbreakers, and then Bob Dylan. I got to play three and a half hours of some of the best songs ever written. You know what I mean? Like, period. It always seemed to me like if you're playing with Bob Dylan, you better keep your eye on him at all times because Yeah. He might take any song and any kind of direction that that might come to mind. Hey. We did Lay, Lady, Lay like the Ramones one night, and it was great. It was great. And it would never did it again, You know? And but I got introduced to some he introduced me some amazing music like Lonesome Town by oh, man. He's a beautiful, great look. Ricky Nelson. Ricky Nelson. Yeah. And like, I didn't know about that song, but he he just said, we're gonna play Lonesome Town tonight. Do you know it? I'm like, no. But get going. You know, like he would just go and you go like, oh, I see it goes kinda like this. It has a nice lilt. I'll just jump in. That one works so well. I don't think we didn't we never didn't play it. And it was like, man, I got introduced to he introduced me to so much cool music inadvertently, you know, just because it's like, he plays a lot, you know, I got to experience what he likes, not just in his own music. Yeah. But and what a gift to stand there in a room and go, hey, I wonder what this guy likes. Oh, he likes that WAPA. I ought look into that. You know, like so yep. Playing with Bob, that was the high wire act for me. That was like, nah, it's rock and roll. That, you know, because it could crash and burn. Man, it seems like great fun. I never a dull moment. Never a dull moment. You you get in the you climb in your bunk, you're driving through the Swiss Alps after playing some giant gig in Switzerland or something, and you're just sitting in the bunk going, did that really happen? That was cool. And then all the people that are attracted to his gravity, all the other musicians that'll you look up and you go, oh, who's playing with us tonight? This is you know, it was it was I think it's the that I love that. You know, like there's just it's everything's off script. You gotta love that. That's catnip. That's gotta be the best. That's catnip for me. Yeah. It doesn't get any better. Yeah. Yeah. That's great songs, great musicians. You just Can't ask for more? No. It's going in off the side pocket. It's like, okay, great. Fine. All trick shots. What about McGuinn? What's playing with him like? Great, what a sound. He picks up a 12 string and starts singing and you just go, holy shit, daddy's home. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like and plus I grew up. That was a that was one of those voices that pulled me into the radio. Yeah. You know, like Oh, yeah. And then I realized, you know, at the time I didn't know mister tambourine was a mister tambourine man was a Dylan song. I had no clue. Yeah. You know, but it was like Nobody did. Yeah. You know, but it was yeah. And and he's also one of the most gracious, kind, human rock and roll stars you'll ever find. Like and he's just he he's got he's incredibly intelligent, but he doesn't he's not a bully. Yeah. And that's rare. Right. But he knows shit. It's so being around him was wonderful. I got to write a song with him. I had to have a song. I got to play with the birds on a box set. So dream fulfilled. Yeah. You know what I mean? Cannot ask for more. Yeah. Can I be in the birds for an afternoon? Why sure, Stan. It's like I mean, sometimes I really do think my life I'm gonna wake up and go, okay. I've been telling all of it's been lies. I've told this I'm 15 and I'm telling everybody what I'm gonna do. And they're all looking at me going like, sure, man. You know, like so that's literally I feel like one day I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna be 16 going, okay. I'm full of shit. Or I wake up and I go, I just dreamed all this fun stuff happened. And I'm basically, I'm some loser working at I'm a greeter at Walmart. You know, like it didn't happen. You're not gonna wake up. This is real. But it's This is all it's all happened. That's how cool my history feels to me, honestly. You know, I literally I mean, sometimes I look at, like, my old lady and I'll be watching TV and something of my past will come up and I'll go like, is this really happening? Like like Or we were watching some movie and the end credits roll and it's like, we're on an airplane. I forget what it was. And it's like, did they just play American Girl? What the hell? That song's 50 years old. It's you know what I mean? It's Yeah. It's very out of body for me and very unexpected and still very wonderful, you know, for lack of a better adjective. It's I can't get over it. Why would you? We got time for one more here. Okay. All right. I just I was gonna say, I think it's up to Stan, but Okay. Well, I just Beck is our boss too. Yeah. I don't wanna take up all day and all of the night. Are you getting what you need here, man? Are you learning okay? All Yeah, we are. Oh god. I had one more question. Now I can't think of it. Damn. How many alligators have you run into in your life? Actually, I've seen a lot. I try not to actually run into them. Never wrestled any? No. I've seen one crossing the road once. That was weird, like driving and just went like, son of a bitch. Lizard's things took up the whole two lane road. But you generally try to avoid them. You see like I a I live on a little pond. You can see the V where they're when they're going, you don't see it, but you just see his little wake from his nose. You go like, and then the the rumor in the South is once the ducks are gone, watch out for your dogs. Once the dogs are gone, watch out for your kids. Maybe stay inside that day. Yeah. It might not be a good day for swimming. Alright. I remembered where I was going Okay. It wasn't that question. What no. Wasn't that question. See, that's why you're here. I guess. Wanna bail me out. What are some of the lesser known petty songs that were your favorites? Oh, wow. You know, not the not American Girl or Yeah. Refugee or anything like that, but the more deeper albums. Well, I kinda have to go can I kinda go by album maybe or something? I'm just thinking Sure. Okay. Like, the first record has a song that I I thought was really cool because it's just called Mystery Man, and it was done in one take before we even knew we'd made the record. We were jamming, and we just it just did. And then Danny Cordell came to the talk, he goes, come in, man. And he goes, Aces, bros, you guys you just made a record. And I was Ron and I, the bass player were going like, weren't we just working it out? And it was like, so and I think that's cool just because it's like, wow. And that just happened. I think on the third record, I can't remember which there's it was a song called Something Big. It was like on a Oh, yeah. That was on the fourth album. Okay. But yeah, I love Something Big. And then there's a song called You Tell Me that is Duck Dunn. Yeah. I like the swampy stuff. I thought we were in our element when we were playing that, it was body, bluesy, nasty. And I liked songs like Night Watchman, I remember. But I fell in love with Tom at the mic. Like he would tell these stories. Like he'd walk up to the mic room, you know, and it didn't feel like Monday. It didn't feel like June. I'm like Yeah. Let's go. And it'd be like so that, you know, night washing was great. Know? My life's worth more than the minimum wage. And like, did you just say that? I wanna play on that. By the way, the groove on something big, incredible. It's not shit. Hey, look, that's I wish I could take full credit for it. It's everybody. Everybody in that band is- Yeah, it's everybody, but you're laying it down. Yeah, okay, but let's be honest, you can only laying it down if they wanna have it laid on them. So it's like, and they're listening, They're listening, And they're believing in me. You know, they're believing when I like you know, it's like it's just a a very muscular feeling when it's working. Very muscular. Yeah. And it doesn't require a lot of you don't push hard when you get that kind of strength. It's a it's firm, but it's not you don't squeeze to get that. Right. And those are the tracks that are the most attractive to me is like, just gently insist Yeah. That we do this. And it's like A gentle persuasion almost. It's like it's a no, I insist. It's like, you know what I mean? It's like, and and I love it on some of the early material because there was no no no clicks, no editing, no nothing. And you would whatever your will, your and Tom, when we made those records, he was as close to me as that camera. And, you know, we were tracking. And so you could tell when we were working. Yeah. And he'd sing a drum fill to you. You know, it's it's on the record. You know, he'd be like, you know, be like, oh, I better react. You know, it's like so the drummer, the singer were very in sync on some of those earlier records. And there's a lot of very cool juju going on. Mhmm. And then but that goes away in the need for perfection, and it's not really necessary. That kind of energy is almost abhorrent. You don't really need that. But I love I'm trying to think. I love that we we did a version of that John Sebastian song, Stories We Could Tell. I love that. I remember being there and thinking we didn't really know it that well, but I remember thinking this is really cool. Like, I'm getting to sing with him and we're singing good. And and I love playing live with him really so obscure songs. I don't really know, but I love that way. And he was off the cuff too. We'd play he pulled audibles. He had a lot of dealing with him. Like, we'd just be up on stage and he'd go, I wanna I wanna play a JJ Kale song tonight. You know? Like, you you know it? Like, not really, but you do, so that's all that matters. And I I love that. And but, yeah, my memories it's pretty hard for me to find a negative a downside. There's records I don't list some when they come on the radio, I turn them up. Honestly, I I'm I'm not afraid to admit it. Mhmm. Others when they come on, just go to the next station. I've a belly full of that one. I'm good. What do you turn up? Like something big. Oh yeah. Something like that. I'd go like, ah, probably. I might even turn it up to the point where it's almost too loud. I want to really dig it. What was it like when Jeff Lynn came into the scene? Well, it's What was it like? Different. Very different. Like, you weren't your vibe wasn't me. When I say your, me. My vibe wasn't needed. I was any drummer would do. Anybody can do that job. I won't say a monkey could do it, but just one shade up the food chain can probably make a Jeff Lynn record. That is my impression. It's because it's very it's it's like making model a's. That we know what we're gonna get, and they're all gonna be kinda like that. And but the craft of what he does, I'm not I don't wanna diminish that. But from a drummer's point of view, it's very like but from the craft, the songwriting, the harmonies, the arranging, brilliant. And I as much as I hated being in the room when we were doing those records, I was annoyed. Boy, did I learn I got a tackle box full of cool ideas from that. I learned and I learned to listen to music very differently. Know? I learned to hear it as individual parts. Got anything else, Shoopy? I think my question was the best I could do. Come on, man. I thought you guys were gonna bust my balls here. Let's go. No, man. We're not about that. Oh, come on. Got you. We got you to say the s bomb four times. We're not about that. Okay. Yeah. Man, I can't thank you enough for doing this. Oh, man. It's This was awesome. It it it really is. Well, I I mean, like I say, I've done 242 of these things and This was one of them. I have a new I have a new favorite now. Hey, look. And I really I am truly sincere when I say thank you for being interested and listening and caring and supporting. It's a big deal. Man, I'm a big fan, have been all my life, and will continue to be. Well, spread the word. You're Johnny Appleseed. That's right. Sure am. The Speaker Wars at the Kessler coming up Saturday. You need to go see this. If you don't go see it, you at least need to listen to the music of the Speaker Wars because if you still got a thing for good rock and roll and you're not hearing it out there, you will hear it here. Believe me when I say that. What he said? Yes. What I said. Stan Lynch, thank you so much, my friend. Been a pleasure meeting you. And thanks to those who made this possible, like Rob Adams and Mike Pesterzzi. Thanks to both of you guys. Absolutely. For having us here today. And and I hope everybody has enjoyed this because it has been real fun for me. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Becca. Thank you all. Bye. Alright. I'm gonna go take my pants off. You're Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.