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Paul DeLisle of Smash Mouth · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: There are bands that define an era, and then there are bands whose stones become a part of the soundtrack of our lives.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it was blasting through your car speakers, soundtracking summer vacations, or becoming an anthem at every party, Smash Mouth carved out a place in pop culture that still resonates today.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Through mass events, houses of miles on the road, and the evolution of the band over nearly three decades, one person has been there for it all.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me is the man who held down the low end from the very beginning and has a front row speed to the stories behind the music.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Call the Lyle of SmackMouth.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking the legacy, the next chapter, and why this band continues to connect with generations of fans.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Very few bands can say that they've created songs that have become a part of pop culture history.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: From Walkin' on the Sun and Then the Morning Comes to All-Star, which now sits just north of 1.3 billion, yes, billion with the B streams.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And their iconic cover of I'm a Believer, which has its 25-year anniversary.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: This year, Smash Mouse music has soundtracked multiple generations.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, with their first non-holiday studio album in over a decade, Mercury Comet founding bassist Paul Delisle is helping write the next chapter of the band's story.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Paul, welcome to Caught on the Mic, my friend.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's great to be here.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Stoked.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I am so pumped.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: I love seeing the genesis of a new chapter.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is really exciting all the way around.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Your first album original material since Magic in 2012 is Mercury Comet.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: What made now the right time for Smashmouth to make a full statement with new music again?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what did you want fans to hear immediately when they first press play?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, 14 years seemed like a long enough time, you know, but mostly the main motivation was our manager, Robert Hayes, who said to me like nearly two years ago, time to make a new record and make it make it like um like you know, like old school style Smash North.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Try to maybe like more like Fushumang and like a little more punky and like maybe even some ska punk in there, you know.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was a fun challenge.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: It would be mainly our manager saying, you know, make a record.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the nice thing was we didn't have any deadline, so we had plenty of time to get everything right.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I'm I'm really pleased with the way it came out.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I love hearing that.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when Fushumang came out and hearing the cover of Wars, Why Can't We Be Friends, even long before you guys released it as a single, as someone that grew up with War on vinyl, because my dad and I used to collect records together.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: I absolutely loved that.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of a return to that sound is super exciting.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean it's not it's not exactly like you know, the blueprint of fishing, but it's got the same essence, you know, the same sort of vibe and same sort of feel, which I was happy when it all came together finally.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, aesthetically, Smash Mouse early music always reminded me of a Bond movie for some reason, and I absolutely loved that.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there is that element of you know, sort of early 60s, you know, James Bond music or like bachelor pad music or something.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Swingy.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: We just thought that was a really cool era, really cool kind of style of music.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we tried to combine that with punk rock, you know, and it turned into All-Star, you know?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's uh that's actually a great call out because you have said in the past that Smashmouth has always had that early 60s bachelor pad, Martin Denny vibe running through its music, even the heavier songs.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: What exactly does that sound mean to you?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And how conscious were you about preserving that DNA while creating Mercury Comet?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Greg Camp, our original guitarist in Maine Summer, was always into like super hip and cool stuff like that.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Another big influence was in San Jose, in downtown San Jose, at this club called, I think it was called The Usual, then now it's like the Ritz, but it's right in downtown there.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: They'd have a thing, and it was a punk rock club, you know, it was the alternative rock club, you know, known in San Jose.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So on Monday nights, they had this thing called Lounge Lizard Mondays, where on Monday nights, you know, like a punk rock DJ would come in and play like Escobel or Martin Danny say, Yeah, all these punk rockers go down, and it's like deeply, you know, but I was like, and I just we did Greg and I thought, that's so cool, you know.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: What a strange, you know, such a uh contradiction of uh things I'm like, man, that's pretty cool.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we should try to mix that with the you know, the punk rockers seem to like the you know, the lounge music, so let's throw that in there.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, timing.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: I I always say this about the music business is it's more about timing than anything else.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you guys really burst out on the scene during that transitional period of like third wave ska and the swing music and then alternative music trying to figure out what the hell was coming next.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we never really chased uh trends.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Greg and I were just, you know, basic pop hips on the other.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: But we did benefit in hindsight.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I realized that we did benefit, you know, we came up like you know, at the tail end of grunge.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Grunge was pretty done by that time, you know.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So and everyone was kind of looking, what's the new thing?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: What's your you know, not that we but anything different was was seemed to um be more popular.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just you know, anything that was like our main thing is that we weren't grunge, you know.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: My my friends and I talk about it a lot and about how the 90s in general felt like three decades crammed into one if you think about pop culture.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was a decade for music.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It really was.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: There was so many, especially in the in the hip-hop world world as well.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everything was just uh, you know, being reinvented and new styles were being, you know, Snoop Dogg and Drake, all these uh great new production, and as well as in the pop world too, because you had the grunge, then you had the third wave of the ska punk thing, you know, and then you know yeah, I thought it was a great decade for for music, maybe the last great decade of music.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that remains to be seen, man.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you guys are releasing an album right now.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: So did that process teach you anything new about Smash Mouth or even yourself as a songwriter?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's it's it's it's hard doing everything.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Not like I had to like I had a lot of these songs already written from musical.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a lot of stuff in the bank, a lot of stuff that Steve didn't want to do for whatever reason.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had a, you know, I I had some you know, I had some songs, and also I encouraged everyone else in the band to, you know, Zach's got a song on there, Michael's hippie's got a song on there.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I encouraged them to write as well.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the the 12 songs that worked, but yeah, it was, you know, I uh we we demoed everything out.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Deegan Adams, our engineer at our our studio here in San Jose, and I did we demoed everything out first with just like drum machines, you know, just fake out, fake guitar, and then set it there.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we were really meticulous in the in the way that we made it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, we had time.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um it was a it was a lot of work, but it was really fun work too, because uh, you know, um was where the drum sound, Randy Cook is like our drummer is like the greatest drummer in the world.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: It just gave it this energy and and vibe for the whole album that everyone just sort of followed.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get far enough into it and you see it coming together and you know what it's gonna sound, and that's when it gets exciting, you know?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then when finally done and mastered, you're kind of like, oh, we're done.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't want to be done yet.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it's like hard to let go.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, man, in all my years playing in bands, it was always like after the mastering process was done, it was like, I got one more song, one more song.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's when you you always seem to have a creative burst right then, you know?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you mentioned Steve.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love the story behind Better Believer.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Steve supposedly challenged you by saying you couldn't write it so he did.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Take me back to that moment.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: What was that?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Was that classic Steve just busting your chops?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And did you Oh yeah, he was always busting our chops.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And Steve and I were were before we even had a band, we were we were best friends.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: We were friends first, so there was a lot of uh busting of chops going on, you know.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: But we'd go to our office every day, like you know, not like a regular job or anything, but we'd go there and and hang out in our manager's office, just bug him, you know, and and just drive him nuts and everything.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of times Steve and I just be sitting in the office just waiting for him to take us out to lunch or something, you know.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, man, I got these songs.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: How come you keep shooting at me?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, You can't write it here.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So he's like, I'm like, I can too, you know.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and he's like, No, you can't.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Come here, then show it to me.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: You done show me what I'm like, you know, I I'm like, I'll be in, you know, tomorrow or something.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he was a big shit, you know, I had to just sit there and play for it.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I was done, he just goes, he's just like, All right, cool, let's do it.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know he wasn't gonna concede, like, oh, you were right, you wrote a great but he just he was like, Okay, let's do it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know was there ever a definitive challenge accepted moment?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, kind of like when he was saying, You can't write this.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I was like, Yes, I can.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do you know, he's like, come you have to come in here and play it for me.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't you can't demo it, you gotta just play it on guitar.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, I'll see you, you know, tomorrow or the next day or whenever it was.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then I uh I practiced with a vengeance.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Steve Harwell's voice and personality were such a huge part of Smash Mouth's identity.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: As the last remaining original member, how do you balance honoring Steve's legacy while also making sure the band continues moving forward instead of becoming a tribute act?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a that's that's the that's the question, you know.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the the big question.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as hard as difficult as this is to say, it is true.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: In the last many years of Steve, when he was in the band, he he had um The fact is he was causing uh really a lot of problems with canceling and being too incapacitated to perform a lot, you know, it was really damaging the band.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so we weren't sure what to do.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: We almost just just we were almost just about to break up, but then Steve retired.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if people remember this.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we didn't replace him after he passed away.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: We had got Zach, you know, back in in 2021 when Steve Steve retired.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: He just had so um I never really thought of that much.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: When when we found Zach, we we we realized that we're we lucked out with Zach because he he's he his voice is is not like Steve, but it's similar enough.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: He has that sort of guy, and he's also a similar body type, like a physical type, you know, like he's got kind of the thick neck and the kind of he's a big, tall guy, you know, bigger guy, and he's got the same kind of personality.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we got um kind of like when if I don't know, when like for example, when ACDC replaced Bon Scott with with Brian Johnson, okay, he's not Bon Scott, uh obviously, but he's there's there's elements of Bon Scott in him, like close enough kind of thing.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of look at like so Zach, we just we found the perfect guy, and it it you know gives you a obviously a a jolt of energy and excitement and you know new blood.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it was very, very sad about Steve, and we were all very sad, but he retired and everyone, so there was no question of us moving on between the the the other the the rest of us four.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So and so Zach was to his credit, he has a lot of pressure on him, and I think he's just been fantastic.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: We were my wife was sitting in the studio with me, and it's kind of become one of our late night rituals.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: We'll sit around my podcasting table and I'll put on Spotify and we'll listen to some of the acts that are about to come on the show.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we really we dove into your catalog the other night, and it Zach sounds fantastic.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that was exactly what I leaned over to my wife and said.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was just like, his voice is so similar that and has such a similar quality that and he's he's such a good singer, too.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's really very exciting for the other part too.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: When we first started rehearsing with them, the rumors just electrified, and he just he can really dig into it, and he's he, you know, he has lot all kinds of experience and he's a trained singer, and also he has he has like theater experience and stuff too.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So he's he's a great front.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we just we lucked out he he we found the guy, you know, right away.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: We really lucked out.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we're very grateful to have them.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we become we become you know very good friends as well.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's nice, you know.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when you're traveling with people, you you have to almost become family.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but the other thing that the other thing that Zach has very much in common with Steve was Steve was very, very, very funny.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: He was like the funny, he was really huge, he was the funniest.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Zach is as well.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Zach is very you gotta have a sense of humor in this band, you know, these band drives or whatever.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta be able to have thick skin and have a sense.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Zach is very funny.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I put his I put his Trump impersonation up against anybody's great, I love it.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you kind of look back over three decades of Smash Mouth, is there one moment where it hit you and you thought this band is operating on a completely different level now?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, in our case, you know, our like rise to the top or whatever was was expedited.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was quick.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't go through the regular mo, you know, motions of getting signed and then getting groomed by the label and having them look at it with a proof.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: We made Flushy Bang on our own by money that our our manager gave us, and we did it with Eric Valentine on our own.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have a record deal or anything.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So when we got signed, and they they just put their, you know, just slapped their label on our record and make put it out, made a video, and we were next thing you know, we have a hit song and we're on tour with Sugar A.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: That was shocking how quickly that happened.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Our lives changed overnight.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the main the the the nothing for me and the band, well the best the best moment was around you know a year or so later.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: We were so pegged as a one-hit wonder.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone was positive we were a one-hit wonder.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then a year later, before Astrolunch came out, we got to do a song for the movie Can't Hardly Wait.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: We did um Can't Get Enough of You.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that became a hit even before Astrolan.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of carried us over, like, okay, yeah, it's a cover, but but now we're not a one-hit wonder, because that's like what was in the top of the meeting.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then when Astrolaunch did come out, you know, year after that, like two years after Walking in the Sun, Astar just sealed the deal.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like now we're definitely not a one-hit wonder, you know?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then the morning comes after that.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that was icing on the cake.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that was important to us that we that we okay, now we're not a one-hit wonder.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Then you can have a career, you know.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of talking about the All-Star phenomenon, it became one of those rare songs that transcended generations, memes, movies, sports, and now well over 1.3, as I said in the intro, billion streams on Spotify.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Did you ever imagine that a song made in 1999 would be still finding new audiences 27 years later?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine in 1999, sitting here talking to you in 2026, you know what I mean?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like so.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely not.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: No idea.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I knew when Greg demoed it, we had finished Astrologious, we'd finished it, you know, it and delivered the album, and we got you know, the age-old, you know, industry suits response, we don't hear a single, you know.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, and this infuriated Greg and I, but Greg accepted that challenge kind of like I did with Heat and went home and within a week, within a week, had written All-Star and Then the Morning Comes.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we were him and I were both living in Santa Cruz at the time, and I was at this bar to be honest, and he came running in the bar one night, and he's like, It's excited.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Come out to my truck, I got these this new demo, these two songs that I just did.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he had just there were demos of All-Star and Then the Morning Comes.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I'm like, okay, these are good songs, these are solid, these sound like they and honestly, uh I thought Then the Morning Comes was the better song.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I really did.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I would have picked that as the first singles.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they both they both ended up being, I wasn't totally wrong, it was a hit too, but you know that was what I you know kind of leaning into my own memory about that era.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: When I think about All Star, I do think about the state of radio in 1999.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of friends in the radio business, and it was it seemed like alternative music radio was really trying to find their sound again between New Metal, Post Grunge, the ska movement, and everything.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it it I think about All-Star, and I think about it being alongside tracks like Limp Biscuits Nookie and Spice Girls Wannabe, and being able to fit in between both of them just perfectly.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those those were our contemporaries, yes.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's just crazy now to think about it, especially after in like the decade that followed that, music became so segmented, you know?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because we we were a little bit before like the strokes and the white stripes and that kind of thing, you know.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right, and and like so we were kind of uh you know happening at the same time as the new metal, and and things like you know, Eminem and coming, and and but there was also like some 41 and and you know, and you're right, Ice Girls, you know, and and Britney Spears and all that stuff.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it was what a fun time, you know?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, it's wild.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, another song that's making an anniversary this year is the 25th anniversary of your cover of I'm a Believer.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think made that recording connect so strongly with people and become such an enduring part of the band's story?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, well, the movie.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, like, you know, but for us, we pride ourselves as being able to be one of the best at uh bands that can do covers.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because the key is to doing a cover, you can't just you don't want to just replicate the the you know the original one.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to just cut like you gotta give it your own, otherwise, what's the point?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gotta give it your own, unless that's what you're trying to do.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta give it your own flavor.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta it's gotta, we call it, you know, let's mouth it up, you know, let's make so we have a style that Greg and I kind of developed, like, and we do, you know, we did it our own way and try to give it a different energy.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And our our our drummer, you know, just playing harder and giving it more dynamic, and then just with Steve's voice, but you gotta give it some, you know, you gotta make it different from the original.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And are you modernize it or something?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or did, you know, so it it had a good energy, and it just, you know, Eric Valentine again did a great job on it, and so did Steve.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, that's the key, man.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta make it your own.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm gonna circle back to that in just a moment, but you know, kind of going to the the Shrek part of it.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have any idea at the time that Shrek was going to become the cultural force that it ended up becoming?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, no idea at all.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: No one did.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you do these things, you know, imagine when Eric, you know, I remember when you do these things, you do we did it like a year before the movie came out, you know.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: You do it like a yeah, it takes by the time we recorded it, we we had completely forgotten about it kind of.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, our our producer, Arc Valentine, I remember we were recording in Hollywood at that time, he'd moved his studio there, and it was myself, Greg Camp, and Michael Urbano, our drummer at the time.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: We were and recording tracks for our third album in the big room.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: He comes out and he goes, Do you guys know uh I'm a believer by the monkeys?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And my and Greg and Michael and I have been in cover bands.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, Yeah, I think I kind of know it.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we just worked it up in like 20 minutes, and the three of us did the did the basic tracks of uh of it just right there, you know.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And forgot about it, to be honest with you, you know, kind of which happens a lot, you know.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then because you know, he's explaining to us there's a new animated movie about a big green oak ogre and a donkey.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, okay, yeah, it I'm sorry, but it that didn't sound like it was gonna be the you know, the great movie ever made in the universe.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so no, we had no idea.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I kind of the point that I was gonna circle back to is your reinterpretations of songs because I don't call them covers, because I do think you guys do a fantastic job of making it your own.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just watched a podcast interview where Billy Corgan was talking about redoing Landslide and how he just did that for BBC.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, not a lot of people know this, that before he covered it and before DixieChicks covered it, it was never really a single.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was kind of a deeper cut of Fleetwood Max.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and it elevated Fleetwood Max version.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like people were going back and listening to Fleetwood Max version.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Have you heard of any instances of happening that happening with some of the reinterpretations that Smashmouth has done?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Can't get enough of you, baby.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that was a I mean it was by the question mark in the mysterians.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that was a even I don't even know if it was uh uh uh we just thought it was a super cool song, and that's the key is take a song like that and make that a cover, you know.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what I was it a was it a hit?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I remember it's quite.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Market and the mysteries and their version, I'm like, this is a cool one.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: We could really get it's kind of got that 96 tiers vibe that's Farfize Oregon and something, you know, we can run with that.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's kind of one, you know.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: I I think our version might have done better on the charts than theirs.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not positive about it.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I think you're probably right.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, you know, growing up, like having had the the monkeys as part of my cultural influence growing up, when I think about I'm a believer, I don't think about the monkeys version anymore.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think about the smashmouth version.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's and that's giving respect to respect to the monkeys for sure.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think about the Smashmouth version now.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: But we've done a lot of covers for for movies and stuff and things that are licensed that that that haven't seen the light of day that we still have under reps that hopefully people can hear one of these days.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: One of them was for a Frank Sinatra tribute album.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um we did Lady Is a Tramp.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: We did a really cool version of it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we also did a version of Never Let Me Down by Depeche Vode, like a real rocking version that's really came out strong.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, these might see the light of day one of these days.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if they never see the light of day publicly, you might just have to send copies to your friends.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, I man, so the band is touring heavily again.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: What excites you the most about bringing these new songs onto stages alongside classics that people have been singing for decades?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you gotta, you know, we understand, we know what the audience wants.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna make people sit through us playing the whole, you know, we'll play it, we'll pick up that we know what they want to hear, we'll give them the show.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we are gonna play some new songs from the new album, obviously, just because they they fit in our set so so well.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And uh uh, you know, we're gonna be promoting the record uh a lot.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then as we go along, we we'll probably add add more, you know, to our set list from it.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: But uh I would like to play the album.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's very strong, and it'd be actually fun to do, you know.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when fans hear Mercury Comet, what do you hope they take away from it?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Is it an album, is it an album that celebrates where Smashmouth has been, or more of a statement about where Smashmouth is headed next?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, kind of both.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds weird to say, but kind of both.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm going for a classic Smashmouth sound.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's the way I write, and that's the music I love.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's very honest and real.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: That that's you know, that's uh that's who we are.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a natural thing, but I am aware of of that as well.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the main thing that I wanted was excitement and and like what I call like first listens.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I want it, I'm I'm a people pleaser.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want people to get hooked in and just not be able to turn the songs up.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: And for every song, I want every song to be, you know, every song can't be a hit, but that's what I'm going for is catchiness and and excitement and you know, memorable songs.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the criteria.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope I, you know, that's what that was the aim.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see if I hit the target or not.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: So after everything you've experienced from Platinum Records and Grammy recognition, the songs become woven into pop culture.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: What still motivates Paul to get on stage and do this night after night?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: My my I mean not my, the the Smash Mouth band.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: The the band is the best players ever.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's what I've always been in this for.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: I love playing in bands from when I was a kid.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you get in a brand, you work at, and then all of a sudden we're, hey, we're pretty good.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we got Randy Cook, you know, on the drums.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And just, you know, look up his resume, you know.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sean Herw on the guitar, and Michael uh hippie, Cluesar and Keyboards, who's been with us for 30 years.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: These are the best guys.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, these are the guys I would pick if I if I had my choice.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know them.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: I picked these same guys.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're the best players.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that never gets that's that's what it is.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's the essence of it is playing.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a bass player, I need a drummer in my game.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And damn, we're good, you know.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that never gets old.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's the essence of it.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love it.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: With these guys, they're they're you know, I got the best fan in the world.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Of course I'd want to play with it, you know.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't get old.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I have really enjoyed sitting and chatting with you.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: My closing question that I ask every single guest that does my show because I love their perspectives, based on your experience.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: But what's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than what it is today through your eyes and what you've experienced?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to more go to more concerts, go to more live shows.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone needs to get out and go and go socialize, you know, and and and and support your local bands and you know, and your local artists and everything, and and get out of the house and go and go to see live music, you know.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's so true, man.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: So true.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have made that kind of my personal goal this summer.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing a lot of work with some of the venues in my market, and I I tell you, I'm so excited to go see more live music.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: And as a father with a daughter that's playing music in her own bands now, I'm kind of like, dude, I'm gonna be doing this a lot for a long freaking time.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: How old's your daughter?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's 19, so mine's just about to turn 17, so that's a good age for music, you know.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: She's a good sound.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I you know, and like I say, like going to see libraries.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's another thing about it.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fan.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I go to see the bands we play with.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's exciting to me.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, all right, we're playing with this fan or that guy or this guy.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get there early and watch this.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fan, you know.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Go out and and and I do it, you know.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Just as much.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's almost as exciting to me.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: I drive these people nuts at me, but it's hey, you know, I'm not gonna address you.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm the guy in Stasp.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love your band.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, yeah, get out of here.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm like, I still love you.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's great.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Paul, why don't you tell everybody where they can find the band online?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it's not that hard.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's heard All-Star and all of your guys' amazing hits.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's see.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: We got uh West Vienna, West Virginia coming up, then we're going to Reno, and we'll be in Las Vegas for the 4th of July.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then Costa Mesa, so then, you know, uh all all over the all over this this great nation of ours, the USA.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, make sure you are following my friends in Smash Mouth on Instagram.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Check out the new single, Better Believer, wherever you can listen to all their new music.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Paul, thank you so much for doing the show.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad we're friends now.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: We are friends.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate this.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: I enjoyed it very much.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Mike.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Man, likewise.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Paul, thank you so much for doing the show.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: The world's a much better place with you and it, my friend.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: My pleasure, absolutely.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: You two, right back at you.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, I'd like to thank my friend Paul from Smashmouth for joining me on the podcast today.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you are following them on Instagram at SmashmouthOfficial.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Big shout out to my buddy Nate with Impulse Artists, and check out Better Believer, their current single on Spotify.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: While you're being generous with the follows, make sure you're following at Caught on the Mic on all social media platforms.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Go to my YouTube channel, you can watch a video version of this podcast, and make sure you subscribe while you're there.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can also visit me www.caughtonthemic.com or shoot me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Michael Clark.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, thank you.