00:00So from what I've heard, Cream and Hendrix and these were the kind of stuff that you
00:04were listening to at the time, or was that before you even went to Joshua Tree that those
00:09were sort of...
00:10I think like a few years ago, when you first start playing guitar and like obviously you
00:15kind of automatically gravitate towards Hendrix, but I think in the sort of period leading
00:22up to this record and like while we were doing it, driving around in the car and stuff, we
00:27certainly like got those records back out or got like deeper into them or into other
00:35ones that you hadn't before, like the Band of Gypsies one, yeah, but...
00:41And Captain Beyond, I understand, which is a sort of, you know, stoner classic, you know.
00:47Yeah, great, aren't they?
00:48Yeah, amazing.
00:50Did you guys...
00:51I guess it's hard to sort of connect the dots between, it's not like, you didn't want to
00:55make a record that was completely far afield from what the essence of the Monkees is, right?
01:02But just to sort of incorporate some of that to it?
01:05I think that's it and just like, well you're just having like, I heard more records and stuff
01:10and perhaps you have developed in writing your songs and as you... but it doesn't, like you're
01:17saying, it doesn't really, didn't feel like an unnatural departure and stuff and like listening...
01:22Like they've lost their minds for leaving their...
01:24Yeah.
01:25It's not like, no, that's next time.
01:26Okay.
01:27That's the one, yeah.
01:30And Rocky Erickson too, I heard was an influence, 13th floor elevators are amazing.
01:34Yeah, like when we were driving out to the desert from like Los Angeles, Josh kind of drove us
01:41out there and he was playing stuff on, on the stereo and he was like telling us like stories
01:47about Rocky Erickson as well and played like stuff that he'd done with like the aliens and all
01:53other than 13th floor elevators and...
01:55Because you shot, were you like aware of them?
01:58Yeah.
01:58Perhaps not as like solo as a whole...
02:02Right.
02:03Of course there's a reason that, you know, a lot of that music is referred to sort of generally
02:07as psychedelic, were you guys walking the walk while you were out there in the desert or
02:11was it just, just a musical sort of inspiration?
02:14Just work in the work, just musical I suppose.
02:17Just musical?
02:18Yeah.
02:19Did you leave Joshua Tree sort of feeling like a record was completed or did you already know
02:24that you wanted to work with James and that there was New York ahead of you?
02:28Well, we went, we went on tour between them, the two sessions, like the Joshua Tree and...
02:35Joshua Tree was in the fall, right?
02:36Yeah.
02:37Yeah, that was like October.
02:38Yeah.
02:39I think.
02:39Well, actually the first time we went and then we kind of stopped just before Christmas there
02:44and then we went to Australia in January and played a bit and we probably, I don't know
02:49if we knew straight away that we didn't have everything or not because we still recorded
02:53like 12 tracks or something, like in the desert and all that and that side of things but
03:01yeah, we probably knew we wanted to do a bit more and then that's when James came in.
03:05Because from what I understand, and that was in the spring that you were in New York, right?
03:09Yeah.
03:10From what I understand, you guys essentially have almost twice as much as ended up on the
03:16record done.
03:17Yeah.
03:17Right?
03:18Yeah.
03:18Yeah.
03:19Yeah.
03:19Like recorded, yeah.
03:20Yeah.
03:21There was something about them 10 that like, they were doing like the best ones and they
03:26were all made sense together and most of them are what we did in like the first session
03:33out there.
03:34Like all the ones that we did in that are kind of on there and I think yeah, that first
03:42session perhaps provided, even though you didn't know it during the process but like
03:48just how it's turned out, that really was like the blueprint for the rest of it.
03:53Yeah.
03:53And even the stuff we did in New York where you were very much conscious that you wanted
03:58it to fit, you know?
03:59So which were some of, can you say some of the tracks that were a product of Joshua Tree
04:04and which ones came out of New York?
04:06Yeah.
04:06We did Crying Lightning in Joshua Tree and just to give you an example of one from each.
04:12My Propeller for instance?
04:13That was Brooklyn.
04:15Pretty Visitors?
04:17Joshua Tree.
04:22Although there was somewhere we did a bit extra in some places.
04:26Like most of it was like, yeah, the Dangerous Animals was at, in the desert and then Josh has
04:35his own studio as well and we did a little bit there.
04:39But you feel like they fit together, it's not like these two drastically different personalities
04:43of songs.
04:44Yeah, Sasha Fierce.
04:46Yeah.
04:46Could have been.
04:47Exactly.
04:49You know, creating an alter ego is always a possibility.
04:52Yes.
04:53Although some might say the Shadow Puppets did that, that old project he didn't tell you
04:57about.
04:59Speaking of that, I honestly feel like that as much as maybe a heavier rock or whatever
05:06you want to call it, psych rock kind of, perhaps there's touches of that, that where you
05:11went with that kind of dramatic sound with the Shadow Puppets, it's held over in places
05:16with this record.
05:17I mean, do you feel like you sort of, and that goes back to, I remember when you guys
05:22did the Diamonds Are Forever thing that has that sort of element to it as well.
05:27Do you feel like that's something just sort of like a sound that you've just gotten into
05:33more and want to sort of hang onto?
05:34It's because that thing sounds a bit like Scott Walker and Mark Coney.
05:39Oh, the other thing.
05:40Okay.
05:41It's a bit dramatic.
05:42Yeah.
05:42It does.
05:43It's like, yeah.
05:43Epic.
05:44Yeah.
05:45He should have really prepped you on this thing.
05:47It's like an orchestra.
05:48You've got a CD around that I can listen to.
05:52It'll get you up to speed on it.
05:53You send it.
05:56But anyway, have you developed a taste for some of that kind of sound?
06:00Yeah, definitely.
06:02What I think it did, that is it kind of found a part of my voice that I've not really
06:07used
06:07before during that.
06:10I do.
06:11I agree.
06:12I mean, it's deeper.
06:14It's richer.
06:15It's like there's more.
06:16My propeller, I was listening to you the other day and I go, there's a little bit of Morrison
06:21in here.
06:22There's a little bit of like, there's moments when you've got sort of Jim Morrison thing
06:26going.
06:27I don't know.
06:28Perhaps.
06:29But yeah, I mean, yeah, you know, like, well that's Strange Days record actually.
06:38Uh huh.
06:40Playing quite a bit.
