0:02

If I am going to be doing something,

0:05

especially at this level, especially very visible,

0:07

I have to be fully all in with my

0:10

heart and brain because

0:12

it's heavy to be out there. And if

0:15

you're going to be out and about in the streets as

0:18

a public figure being recognized,

0:20

it's best if I can control it to

0:22

do it for work that I'm really

0:24

proud of versus

0:26

something else that somebody else's dream.

0:31

Good listeners, my

0:34

name is Aja Monet, and you are listening

0:36

to The Sound Bath, a

0:38

podcast brought to you by Lush Cosmetics.

0:41

I am so excited for today's episode

0:44

because today my good friend, Hannibal Buress,

0:46

will be joining us. Hannibal

0:48

Buress started performing comedy in 2002,

0:51

while attending Southern Illinois University.

0:54

He was a writer on Saturday Night Live

0:56

and at NBC comedy series 30

0:59

Rock in 2010. He

1:01

made Variety Magazine's 10 Comics

1:03

to Watch in 2010 list, he

1:05

starred on Adult Swim's The Eric Andre

1:07

Show, and was featured on Comedy Central's

1:10

Broad City. He also played

1:12

Griff in the comedy movie Daddy's Home

1:14

and Coach Wilson in the Spider-

1:17

Man: Homecoming. He's performed

1:19

on late night television shows hosted

1:21

by David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon,

1:23

and Craig Ferguson. He also

1:26

created a festival called Isolafest,

1:28

a comedy and music festival, in a

1:30

venue owned by his cousin called

1:33

Playas Palace in Isola,

1:36

Mississippi, which I had the incredible

1:38

honor of attending and performing

1:40

for. More recently,

1:43

Hannibal Buress has taken on

1:46

his lovely rap career

1:49

using the pseudonym, Eshu Tune,

1:52

and released his debut EP

1:54

titled Eshu Tune. It

1:56

is an incredible honor for me to

1:58

have Hannibal Buress, a.k.a. Eshu

2:01

Tune on this show with us

2:03

today. And I'm really looking forward

2:06

to sharing this conversation. Thanks

2:15

for joining me today, Hannibal.

2:16

Of course.

2:17

Yeah, I appreciate it. And

2:19

making time in your busy schedule. I

2:22

feel like people know you a certain

2:24

way and you kind of come off in the world

2:26

as the title that people know

2:28

you to have is a comedian.

2:31

Sometimes maybe actor. Do people say actor?

2:33

I don't know if people call me ... Yeah, they do.

2:36

You don't like it?

2:37

No.

2:37

Well, this is why this question will be great. I'm

2:40

wondering how would you like to identify

2:42

as yourself?

2:44

I make things that I enjoy

2:47

and sometimes people enjoy them.

2:51

As far as acting, because I don't even act

2:54

that much, I take one movie in

2:56

the past three, four years

2:58

or something, and then work one day on it.So people are like, "Are

3:01

you an actor?" I'm real

3:04

particular. I said, " I've acted before." Because

3:07

there's people that work on it in a way that I never

3:09

have and never will

3:12

that call themselves actors.

3:15

They train, they've done theater,

3:18

they've done hella films, and really

3:20

they get into character, they write

3:22

a journal for preparation,

3:26

they think about how somebody

3:28

walked. I'm

3:30

Hannibal Buress in a different costume

3:33

whether I'm a cop or the dentist or

3:36

this friend or something. I'm

3:38

not really pushing

3:40

in a way when I'm acting.

3:41

So, you wouldn't even title yourself as ... Do

3:43

you see yourself as, oh, I'm proudly

3:46

a comedian because I've studied and

3:48

I've worked and I've tried to learn? Would

3:50

you ever say that's a title you would take?

3:51

Yeah, I've worked as a comedian. I've put

3:54

out comedy specials and really

3:57

used to admire most

3:59

passionate and active sometimes in

4:01

New York, do five, six

4:03

shows in a night type shit,

4:05

and really like to. Yeah.

4:08

Comedy I've spent a lot and traveled the world

4:10

doing it. Yeah.

4:13

But then other stuff was

4:15

a byproduct of that not more so me

4:17

pursuing it. A lot of other things in entertainment

4:20

came because of that.

4:21

Yeah. I always say

4:23

that when we used to do open mics in

4:25

New York, the people you would see

4:27

most of the time, aside from

4:29

poets, were comedians coming up to do sets

4:32

with you. It's really beautiful because I think

4:34

Chicago and New York are similar in that way where

4:37

I would say comedy, poetry,

4:39

theater, they're places where

4:42

you have to be a part of a community even if you're

4:44

not really ... When you're starting up. In

4:46

a different way than now, where social media

4:49

I think allows for people to kind of be isolated

4:52

in their own experience. But when you're

4:54

really starting out, I remember as a poet, you had to go to

4:56

a venue, you have to wait on a line, you have to

4:58

put your name on a list, you

5:00

had to sit with the nerves and the memory of

5:02

your lines, and if you knew what you were talking about, and

5:04

then really feel an

5:06

audience. And from feeling an audience

5:08

you would gauge whether or not

5:11

you were effective at what you were doing. So, I

5:13

wanted to ask, have you noticed a

5:15

difference between the time you

5:17

were coming up and having to be in community

5:19

with people to really feel the scope

5:22

of your work to now,

5:24

where social media has taken such a

5:26

big role in ...

5:29

People still, I think, engage with their audience, but it's a very ...

5:32

It's not so immediate. There

5:35

must be something different that you feel even

5:37

if, I know this sounds kooky, but spiritually,

5:40

whatever you may say. But being

5:42

able to see your joke or

5:45

your line in

5:47

someone else's face, seeing their reaction

5:50

and the gestures, must have some kind

5:52

of impact that's different than just

5:54

sharing something online and getting a comment.

5:57

Yeah, absolutely. Because

6:01

we just finished up the fifth of

6:03

six shows at Isola Session, and

6:07

it's gone by so fast. Because when you

6:10

do something weekly, right after you're done

6:12

you got to start working on the next week.

6:14

You got to get the fliers ready, you got to start preparing

6:18

in advance. So it just makes ...

6:21

Whoa, we just did five shows

6:23

that fast. And I think it just

6:25

attracts ... Even just me putting the

6:27

shows on has created extra

6:30

momentum for outside bookings

6:32

and other things. It's just nice.

6:34

In LA I was becoming a

6:36

bit of a homebody. I was doing some

6:38

gigs on the road or traveling and then I

6:41

would be here and saying, " Wait a second, I

6:43

don't do live stuff on

6:45

the regular, but I'm in

6:47

a major entertainment city. What the fuck am I doing?"

6:49

And so I realized I couldn't

6:53

say, " LA's weird," if

6:55

I hadn't really made an effort

6:57

to do something in nightlife. Now

7:00

that I'm doing that, it's nice to

7:02

have that hub , it's nice to have that to work

7:04

towards. When

7:06

I was in New York I had a weekly at Knitting Factory, and I was

7:09

still doing a bunch of other stuff and touring

7:11

and I didn't make it sometimes because I was on the road.

7:13

Now I have guest hosts. But it was built and it ran,

7:15

and so having that regular thing was

7:18

so dope. And then when I would

7:21

travel internationally, the room

7:23

held 100- some people, but we did it so

7:25

many times over the years. I go overseas,

7:27

I go to London, I go to Australia, I go somewhere

7:30

and meet folks who are like, " Oh, I was at Knitting Factory.

7:33

I saw at Knitting Factory." Because it's

7:35

New York. You're playing

7:38

locally, but also people are always from

7:40

everywhere, so you're playing to the world when you play New York.

7:42

And that wasn't the intention when I was

7:45

doing it. It wasn't, oh, I hope

7:47

people when I go to

7:49

Korea I meet somebody that

7:51

was at this New York show, but that's

7:53

what happened.

7:55

Do you ever think about creating something that's

7:57

a hub for comedy that will just outlive

8:00

you? Have you thought about a legacy in

8:03

some sort of venue?

8:04

In Isola, we have my venue there in

8:06

Isola, Mississippi, I do want to start up either

8:10

a monthly or a weekly there that we

8:13

just produce and come in every couple

8:15

months just to show face and keep it moving. So,

8:18

we want to build something there for Mississippi

8:21

artists definitely. And stream it

8:23

and have that. So, we going to do

8:26

that over the next few months. We were supposed to

8:28

start a couple weeks ago, but then we got

8:30

kind of bogged down with gigs. But I definitely

8:32

like building. Because it's one of those things, you build

8:34

it, folks going to come through. They want to come.

8:37

Especially when you're in a spot like Mississippi, and

8:39

they going to bring their folks. People

8:41

want to have a spot to show their stuff, so

8:43

it's going to happen.

8:43

I want to know about

8:48

I think people don't fully always know all

8:50

the things that you're doing that are really helping

8:52

a lot of people, and I think you're a very thoughtful

8:55

friend and considerate person.

8:57

And I think you have a really good heart

8:59

and I think you try to do things that include

9:01

and incorporate a lot of people.

9:04

And so can we talk about

9:06

why that has become such a big part of

9:08

this iteration of your life?

9:11

When you put nice stuff together and

9:13

people show up and enjoy themselves

9:15

that has good results and that can

9:17

compound. And so wanting

9:19

to do that at a high level and keep

9:21

on doing it is just ... Because it's nice

9:23

to see people feel good after

9:26

you've built something. With Isola,

9:29

did Isolafest last minute.

9:31

How did Isolafest come to be?

9:34

Me and my cousin own a little club

9:36

down there.

9:37

Yes, it is a little club.

9:41

Initially I was trying to help just

9:43

kind of run the club from afar and we

9:46

was like, " Oh, we'll do the digital marketing." And then I

9:48

realized I can't just do it like that. I have to

9:51

do something to make a splash at

9:53

the club, and then we can ride

9:55

off the momentum of that. I was like, "

9:57

Yeah, I should do a gig." I said, "

10:00

I should do a big one- night show

10:02

or something like that, and then we'll

10:04

ride off that." And

10:06

so I was deciding to do it December 13,

10:10

because later would have been too close

10:12

to the holidays and then it

10:15

would have given us the time to plan for the

10:17

next one. So, December 13, we

10:19

do it a couple weeks out. I ask

10:21

T- Pain first, he says yes.

10:24

I'm surprised. And I say, " You know what?

10:26

We're doing a festival," because

10:29

it's off of the momentum.

10:29

You guys are so shocked, you're like, " T- Pain said

10:31

yes."

10:32

Yeah, T- Pain said yes, it's a three- day festival.

10:35

And it was a fun time, yeah.

10:38

Thank you for coming down and doing it. And

10:41

it was dope to build

10:43

at that level and do it somewhere where

10:46

they don't get events at all. You could see how

10:48

it affected folks and brought

10:50

a lot of folks to Isola that never been there. And want

10:53

to use that to kind of be the

10:55

foundation for building

10:57

other stuff in the town. It's a

10:59

small town with a thousand folks, but they got

11:01

the little main strip and I think there's room to

11:04

have a little café there or maybe

11:06

a one, two

11:09

screen movie theater,

11:11

and also having a venue having weekly

11:15

events building that performance

11:17

community down there. And make it

11:20

where that's the small town

11:22

that folks drive 45,

11:25

an hour to. We

11:27

going to get another festival there probably next year,

11:29

maybe Memorial Day weekend or something like that.

11:32

Well, let me know how I can help. My

11:34

next question is about Eshu Tune.

11:37

You felt the need to have a different name for this person

11:40

or this version of yourself. So,

11:42

where did this version of yourself come to be?

11:44

How did it come into being?

11:46

I had been working on music for

11:48

a while, and trying

11:51

to think of a stage name.

11:55

I had a couple ideas, but they weren't fully

11:58

sticking. It felt cool, but they

12:00

didn't feel like do I want to

12:02

be called this in five years. They

12:05

were ideas for the moment. Wabansia Joe.

12:10

Wabansia Joe?

12:11

Wabansia Joe. Wabansia is a block in

12:13

my old neighbourhood in Chicago, and then Joe is

12:15

what Chicago was called.

12:17

That's actually a really cool name.

12:18

Yeah.

12:19

Low key.

12:20

Yeah, Wabansia Joe, it might still live.

12:22

He might come through.

12:23

He might come through in some other way. He might be a

12:25

feature in. That might be me with a vocal

12:28

shifter on. Wabansia Joe. But Eshu,

12:36

I was trying to come up with this stage name. I looked

12:38

up Nigerian mythology, and

12:41

Eshu is the trickster god.

12:43

Yeah.

12:43

I saw that and it just resonated

12:45

with how I think and things

12:47

I've done. It felt

12:50

right right away. And then

12:52

it helped me kind of compartmentalize

12:55

a little bit. I was able to view

12:58

Eshu as a new

13:00

act, and view

13:03

Hannibal as the

13:06

guy that's bringing Eshu to

13:08

shit no matter what. And

13:11

that helped me be able to have

13:13

more momentum and work for.

13:15

Because then a lot of times people want

13:18

to get Hannibal in for something,

13:21

and I think, yeah, Hannibal don't want to do that, but Eshu-

13:24

Eshu is down.

13:25

Will come through especially

13:27

at that price. You're talking Eshu,

13:29

buddy. Hannibal

13:37

is a jaded industry

13:40

veteran. Eshu is

13:42

a hungry, wide- eyed open

13:46

up and comer. And he will take

13:49

that $ 750. So,

13:54

now I'm able to work in that place of fun

13:56

and doing open mics as

13:59

a musician and performing for six people

14:01

and enjoying it and doing shows

14:04

and losing money on shows.

14:06

But not tripping about it.

14:09

When you think about what he represents

14:11

in the Yoruba tradition

14:14

and religion, when you talk to people

14:16

who come from the Yoruba tradition they talk about,

14:20

yeah, this dismissal of a binary

14:23

of just good and bad.

14:25

And that the idea that there is a trickster

14:28

that is a part of sometimes

14:31

causing hysteria or chaos

14:33

for the sake of actually unifying

14:36

people even as it seems it's breaking

14:39

people apart. Do you see

14:42

what you do with Eshu Tune

14:45

as a part of bringing

14:47

out ... Because I think comedy

14:49

in some way it gets people to make fun of themselves

14:52

in order to see the ridiculousness of the predicament

14:54

they're in. Do you feel like now

14:57

that you're able to do this with music,

14:59

that you see comedy showing up in

15:02

a more intentional way

15:04

or does it just come, if

15:06

it comes, it's just part of Hannibal that comes out?

15:09

The comedy's still there.

15:10

Because I heard you rap one time as Eshu Tune, and I was like, "

15:13

You got bars."

15:14

Yeah.

15:16

Yeah. That's an immediate yeah.

15:21

Because I've heard the

15:23

doubts of whatever, so it's

15:26

something I worked at for a while to

15:29

even get to the point mentally

15:31

to start really doing it publicly

15:34

without fear. I worked at it a lot.

15:37

I had these real songs

15:39

that are grounded or honest and vulnerable,

15:42

and then I have these songs that are kind of silly. And so

15:44

I struggled for a while. Can I do these

15:46

type of songs and these type of ... And then

15:48

it was just do what I

15:51

feel, do all of it.

15:58

You're listening to The Sound Bath brought

16:00

to you by Lush Cosmetics and my name is aja

16:02

monet. I'm currently in conversation

16:05

with my friend, Hannibal Buress, a

16:07

comedian, writer, and rapper.

16:09

Next up I want to talk to him about

16:12

some of the struggles he went through before he started

16:14

making music. But first.

16:21

Do you feel like you find yourself with

16:23

Eshu Tune being able to really delve

16:25

into some of the other parts of yourself that maybe

16:28

your character as Hannibal Buress or the person

16:30

that people see you as doesn't allow you to?

16:32

Not to say that I couldn't or it's not

16:34

possible, but for me doing the

16:36

music and

16:39

not having to work for

16:41

the laugh or not having to workshop

16:44

publicly, there's still

16:46

some element of it. I'll do songs

16:48

before they're out, you know what I mean? But

16:51

that song has been worked on in

16:53

private and then I'm

16:56

getting stuff to my taste. If

16:58

it work in this room and I'm playing it

17:00

20 times before I take it out. And

17:02

so it's nice to have that. Sometimes

17:06

with comedy you can be telling a story

17:08

to a friend and that can kind of be a

17:10

little bit of a litmus. But for the most part you kind

17:12

of grind it out in front of an audience. So,

17:15

I do think being able

17:17

to really vibe with something

17:20

and work on something and believe

17:22

in it in private changes

17:24

the vibe of how you perform

17:27

publicly. Because it already is

17:29

music, this is bop, I like it. I trust

17:31

my taste. This shit goes.

17:34

I made the beat on some of it, this beat goes.

17:36

I know what good beats sound like. I

17:39

feel like I know what good concepts are. And

17:41

so that's the difference in it is

17:45

the audience holds

17:47

a lot of the weight

17:50

in comedy because you're

17:53

waiting for that. And so

17:57

I'm not doing standup gigs on the regular,

17:59

but I'm doing elite banter.

18:02

I'm still doing. I still got

18:04

it. But because I'm not doing

18:06

it in that setting,

18:09

it's less pressurized. But

18:12

the quality's still there, but it's

18:14

not in the vein of them.

18:17

It's in between songs, Preacher's

18:20

playing keys under it, and

18:23

so their minds is already relaxed by the keys.

18:25

I popped up at the comedy club in New York, and how it  feels

18:31

ain't no music and shit. Now

18:34

I'm spoiled because it is tougher.

18:36

It's tougher. I

18:38

stopped at this open mic in Philly,

18:41

the Comedy Jawn, I did Adult Swim

18:43

Fest and then I stayed an

18:45

extra day just hanging out in Philly. And

18:49

it was this little room upstairs

18:51

that had maybe 30 people,

18:53

40, but super tight, just had

18:55

a vibe to it. And I said, " You know what? I'm going to go

18:57

up." And I get up there and

19:00

I started doing a little bit of standup,

19:03

but the standup, that shit was rusty.

19:06

And I just ... Fuck it. I just started

19:08

rapping. And then

19:12

it went over because the flow was tight, you

19:15

know what I mean?

19:16

It was undeniable.

19:17

Yeah. And so it was just I

19:19

had to go to that as far as

19:21

just working the crowd in that moment because

19:23

I did not just have the ... As

19:26

far as the standup in that moment.

19:29

I would have to prep. That's the thing. If I

19:31

had to do it in

19:33

a club normal style,

19:36

I would have to prep and really, okay,

19:38

this is what I'm doing. I used

19:40

to be able to just go up and

19:43

be fine, but now I have to really

19:46

think about. Because I'm not

19:48

doing it as much, and so it's not as

19:50

quick. And so that lack of preparation,

19:52

sometimes I get up there and

19:54

not hearing the music or nothing. I'm

19:58

like, " Y'all do this every day."

20:02

It sounds like you're integrating the best

20:04

parts of yourself in this stage of your career.

20:06

And so I think what

20:09

you're doing with comedy and also

20:11

rap doesn't feel like it's necessarily

20:13

different or that they're completely

20:15

opposites, it's just deepening your practice.

20:18

It allows me to do just a bigger

20:21

show. And

20:23

even with my standup, if you go

20:25

back and listen to my

20:28

specials or my first album all

20:31

the way up to here, all

20:33

the breadcrumbs are there.

20:37

Mm- hmm, mm-hmm. You're like, " Go look at the breadcrumbs."

20:39

It's me talking about lyrics,

20:42

me talking about-

20:42

Rap references.

20:43

Me talking about being at

20:45

a show and they did this, having

20:47

a DJ and having

20:49

sound bites, having visuals in

20:51

a show, having an autotune. It

20:53

just feels good to have

20:56

a shift. And the other part of it, the unintended

20:58

result of it, is having folks reach

21:01

out being excited about it. And

21:03

then them wanting to do

21:05

something else that they been

21:07

putting off or wanting to do. They're like, " Oh, I

21:09

see you rapping. It's tight.

21:12

That makes me want to do this shit I been" ...

21:14

That's been really cool.

21:15

So, a question I definitely always wanted to

21:17

ask you that I never did was around

21:20

your name.

21:21

Yeah.

21:22

Actual Hannibal. What

21:24

was it like to be named

21:26

after a military

21:28

commander? What was that like growing up

21:31

to be who you are?

21:32

Was? Is.

21:40

It's heavy just because of the

21:43

movie shifted the conversation.

21:49

People is people, so they don't know

21:51

what your experience is. But

21:54

it's just a weird ...

21:55

It's a powerful name for your

21:57

parents to have decided to

21:59

name you Hannibal.

22:01

Yeah.

22:02

That's a very ...

22:02

It's a strong choice.

22:04

It was a very strong choice.

22:05

It's a strong choice by John.

22:12

There is so much in a name. I think

22:14

what's really interesting is

22:16

names. There's so much in a name and what

22:18

it manifests, what

22:22

it puts into fruition.

22:24

I studied Hannibal some, and

22:28

it is some stuff I try to apply,

22:31

and that is-

22:31

Interesting. Like what?

22:34

Well, I'm a warmonger.

22:37

I'm like, " Wait, what?"

22:39

But strategically and just in planning. Hannibal

22:43

used elephants and

22:45

that was an

22:48

alternative is to unexpected strategy,

22:51

it was a surprise. And

22:53

so thinking about that in

22:55

how I work and how

22:57

I plan and how

22:59

I come

23:02

up with ideas for things or

23:04

that part of it.

23:06

That's really beautiful to hear. I

23:09

don't know if people know

23:12

you to be someone who, I think, is actually

23:14

very poetic.

23:17

Maybe you don't see yourself in that way. But

23:19

even who you decided to take on

23:21

as the name for this next iteration

23:23

of your rap career, music

23:26

career, and the way

23:28

that you're taking on this. It feels very

23:30

poetic. It almost feels natural.

23:33

Clearly I wrote this story out and I planned

23:36

it this way.

23:36

It felt good. And people have

23:38

noticed it. You look happy, you

23:42

look genuinely happy. Because I

23:44

am. And I was not at

23:47

a time. And

23:49

so to know that every day I'm really just

23:51

hyped about the possibilities and

23:54

there's so much to do and

23:57

so much new stuff, there's new ideas,

24:01

visual, video ideas to come

24:03

up with, things to make, songs

24:05

to write.

24:05

What was the struggle to do that

24:07

though? You just said you weren't

24:09

before. So,

24:12

that's interesting for someone to have the

24:14

responsibility to kind of make people laugh or

24:16

be a comedian when you're struggling

24:19

with your own sadness.

24:21

How did you handle that?

24:22

Well, I think it was just doing

24:24

work that I

24:26

wasn't fulfilled

24:29

by, but looked good

24:31

or financially looked good or is very

24:33

visible work. And in doing that and

24:36

then having to

24:39

promote that. And so

24:42

realizing the gravity of that and how

24:44

that feels when you do something that you're not

24:46

connected to but then is a big project

24:49

and then you have to go

24:51

sell it also.

24:54

It's interesting going back full circle because that

24:57

feels a lot like acting.

24:58

That's the real acting. The

25:03

real acting is in the promotion. You

25:06

got to do 30 of them in a day

25:08

or something.

25:10

And then you're trying to find

25:12

ways to escape that feeling for-

25:15

Yeah, you have to numb through

25:17

stuff. And so that taught me

25:19

if I am going to be doing something,

25:22

especially at this level, especially very visible,

25:25

I have to be fully all in with my

25:27

heart and brain in it because

25:30

it's heavy to be out there. And

25:33

if you're going to be out and about in the streets

25:35

as a public figure being recognized,

25:38

it's best if I can control it

25:40

to do it for work that I'm really

25:42

proud of versus

25:44

something else that's somebody else's dream.

25:47

And so it's just like, okay, that's

25:50

not what I'm here to do. That's

25:53

what some folks might want me to do and

25:55

I did it. And so it's just now knowing,

25:57

okay, this is what I want to do. I

26:00

wake up hyped. If

26:02

you're waking up like ... Or a

26:07

PA knocking on my door. It's

26:09

like, okay, I'm not supposed to be doing this

26:12

and I'm showing up late and shit. And start

26:16

acting out in these ways it's because I'm

26:18

not connected to the work. It should be somebody else

26:20

in those spots that want to

26:22

be there. I'm not being

26:24

the best version of myself

26:27

when I'm doing that shit. So,

26:29

that's why I had to remove myself from

26:31

it.

26:31

Yeah. I wonder what role has

26:33

being a father played in

26:36

this phase of you?

26:38

It's a big part. Initially I

26:41

wanted to get the music out before she

26:43

was born because in my mind I didn't

26:46

want her to be like, " Wait, you talking about

26:48

wanting to rap all this time, you ain't put out

26:51

no music?" So, I

26:54

imagined this-

26:55

You didn't want your daughter to say that to you?

26:57

Yeah, I imagined this conversation where she's challenging

26:59

me on having this passion and

27:01

never really acting on it despite having all

27:04

the resources to make it possible and

27:06

no real obstacles.

27:09

That's hilarious.

27:09

Wait, you had money, you had

27:11

time. There's nothing stopping

27:13

you from creating and making stuff. And so

27:15

I imagined her just being really disappointed in that.

27:17

And so I didn't get it

27:19

out before she was born, but I did get it out and

27:22

started to do it.

27:22

That is really beautiful. I feel like

27:25

actually a very beautiful thing to hear.

27:28

You know how people write letters to their future

27:30

kids or whatever? Your

27:33

daughter was already speaking to you

27:35

from the womb. What do you feel like

27:37

your daughter has taught you about love? Or

27:41

what do you want to show your daughter about love

27:43

that you feel like you

27:45

didn't maybe feel before?

27:50

Just being present, being in the moment

27:52

as much as possible. And

27:54

the time. So, I just think about this

27:56

work and it

27:58

does take me away sometimes.

28:02

And so how to figure

28:04

out smoothing that part of it out.

28:07

I was gone for 11

28:09

days recently, which

28:12

is an 11- day trip, but then she's

28:15

16 months. So ...

28:17

11 days is like 10 years.

28:19

11 days out of ... She's

28:22

only ... It's

28:25

365 and then four month,

28:27

so 485 days old. So, 11

28:32

out of 485 is a

28:35

strong chunk of days. Fonte

28:38

had this line on a song

28:41

and he say, " I come back

28:43

from the road, look at

28:46

my son like, 'Damn, when did you get a mustache?'"

28:50

And it's

28:53

like, yeah, when you go, especially

28:55

at these stages, you go away,

28:57

you come back and baby different than

29:00

when you was there. It's

29:02

subtle, but

29:05

she going to be the same as ... Because

29:08

they're always changing.

29:09

Yeah, and you're going to

29:11

be different each time too.

29:14

Yeah.

29:14

Probably not as much, but yeah. My

29:16

next question is in a world

29:18

where things are constantly ... You're

29:21

constantly inundated with what's wrong, what's

29:23

going wrong in the world, and it can feel

29:25

at times very discouraging, there's

29:28

also so much possibility and there's

29:30

a lot of really wonderful things happening

29:33

and creative stuff that's being made. And

29:35

so I wonder, as someone who's creating

29:37

in this time and feeling

29:39

inspired again by this new part of yourself

29:41

that you're exploring and creating, what

29:44

makes you feel most free?

29:46

When I'm in a soundproof

29:48

room and able to

29:50

just make stuff and just listening to music

29:53

or working on music or in somebody

29:55

else's studio. I went to

29:57

[T. Navas 00:29:57] studio, [T. Navas 00:29:58] and

29:59

Freed Nationals. I think it was our first time. I hung

30:02

out with him a bunch but never in a studio

30:04

with him. And I played him

30:07

this song I been working on, " No Whip." And then

30:10

he heard it, and immediately

30:12

he started grabbing from his shit to add

30:15

something to it. And

30:17

TK, who made the beat, he was with me.

30:19

And so it's a song, I recorded it in June

30:22

of this year. I've been listening to it a

30:24

bunch and whatnot. I put it up on SoundCloud,

30:26

but I haven't been pushing it yet. I'm happy with it now

30:28

but it's not a finished product. I

30:31

love it where it's at. It's going to get better.

30:33

But to see somebody else react

30:36

to it freshly and like, " I

30:38

got some shit for this." That was really dope

30:40

to have that feeling. And me and TK

30:42

was like, " Oh shit." And he was snapping on it. He

30:46

elevated the song. So, moments like

30:48

that with the music in studio

30:51

coming up with stuff, that's

30:53

where I'm most free. And then on stage

30:55

with the band when we locked

30:57

in, when I'm improvising. Last

31:00

night we was talking about what we going to do

31:02

for the October 30 show. I was joking around with the

31:04

crowd. And maybe everybody just dress up like preachers for

31:07

Halloween. It's a Sunday, everybody dress

31:09

up like preachers . And I started talking about my experience

31:11

with religion. And I

31:13

went to a Lutheran grade school.

31:16

And so it was kind of me, then I started

31:19

improvising a song like, " Why am I Lutheran?"

31:25

You can come up with a whole detail

31:28

of why. The base level

31:30

part of it, you can get into how

31:33

did we end up in Chicago, Jim

31:35

Crow, jobs up north, blah blah blah, Lutheran.

31:43

But it was that moment of just I

31:45

hadn't really talked about that ever in front

31:47

of an audience. And then going

31:50

from talking about it into freestyling a

31:53

song. And

31:57

the crowd going. So,

31:59

those type of moments that were

32:01

organic. And that was the

32:03

perfect combination of music and comedy

32:06

in the live set in that time. It

32:09

was dope to have. Those type of moments because

32:11

then I'm not thinking about nothing else

32:14

except for the music, for the moment,

32:17

the crowd in that time. In the

32:19

studio. That's why I love

32:21

it in here because you can't hear nothing else. So,

32:24

when it's bumping it's bumping, you know. So,

32:27

it's nice to do that. Because there's a lot going on in the world

32:29

obviously. And so to be able

32:31

to really zone into the work is when we make

32:33

the best work.

32:35

Yeah, ultimate presence.

32:38

So, the last question I have, which is the question we

32:40

ask all of our guests all the time

32:42

is a question about what sounds

32:46

really resonate with you.

32:48

Certain synth sounds.

32:51

Sometimes it's sitting here and just

32:53

play synths and just vibe out and

32:56

put visuals on and just

32:59

play shit. I had this song

33:01

Veneer, it's the basic, it's

33:04

the sound off of the Moog app

33:07

and not the physical Moog, but it's like (dum dum dum dum dum dum) . But

33:13

then we put it through some remix

33:15

plugin and

33:18

then it kind of chopped it and sped

33:21

it up. And so it just took the one simple

33:23

sound and then just changed

33:25

it rhythmically. Hearing that,

33:28

that was giving the sound a

33:30

whole new life. The remix is the sound

33:33

we already liked and been hearing

33:35

for a year

33:37

and some change. So, certain synth

33:39

sounds. When I was living in Hawaii,

33:41

the ocean was really ... Just being able to hear

33:43

the ocean, go out there, that

33:46

type of peaceful noise.

33:48

Wow, Hanni. It's been so

33:50

nice talking to you.

33:51

Good talking with you too.

33:52

Yeah. Thank you for making the time. Thank

33:58

you so much for listening and please

34:01

enjoy this beautiful sonic meditation.