Sparks

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Hello, my name is Spencer and in my podcast called The Dictionary, I literally read from The Dictionary
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but add in my personal comments and stupid jokes to make it more interesting. Episodes are family
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friendly, short and air every single day on basically every podcast platform. Come join me on this
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journey filled with edutainment. Hello and welcome to How To The Snot Get Made! This is the podcast all
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about the movies you never saw, the scripts that were never written, and the ideas that never even
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made it to the page. My name is David Spencer, my name is Daniel Kawka, and I'm Michael Hunter.
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And we have Michael Hunter back on the podcast I think for the first time as a solo guest.
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Yeah. We've had them in many iterations before. We had them as a co-gast on just three people zero.
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Oh, good. And we had them as a musical guest on Robocop. Oh, yes of course.
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And then we had them as an interjected interview guest for our Superman Lives episode.
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Oh, with John Snap. With John Snap, yes.
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Oh, yes. Did you also do something for Spider-Man? No, that was just a like.
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Yeah, Alexa came in. That's right, that was me. Don't worry, I get confused with Alexa all the time.
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I mean, it's a pretty good person to get confused with. Yes, so I'm honored.
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And of course, as you don't know, Michael is another member of the Piped Dream Podcast family.
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Michael is the second dad of PipedreamPodcast.com. Yes. We go with the order of joining. It would be me,
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then Michael, then Dan, then Alexa. Of course, host of Come on Fahooka Pots and an extraordinary
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musician as well, which I know is going to play into what we're going to be talking about today.
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Yeah, that's right, Michael. I described you as a musician. How do you feel about that?
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I would at the very least say lyricist. I will take musician. You're a lyricist and you can
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put some amazing intro songs together. I think that counts as an artist.
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I see your point. Thank you, David. I'll wear musician as a badge of honor now. Indeed.
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As well as Alexa. Well, Dan, why are we talking about today? We are talking about a band.
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We are talking about sparks. The Marshall on Mars? Yes.
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Now, this is a subject that we have covered before, but not particularly on this podcast.
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Yeah. As those who have listened to The Weird Alphabet, you may remember our episode on
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Virus Alert in which we covered a sparks pastiche, which was known as Virus Alert.
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Bicer, Weird Al Yankovic.
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He's a sur now? No. I'm sure he's on a list somewhere. The Queen just has to get around to it.
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I bet Daniel Radcliffe is actually on that list. That'll be pretty close.
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Michael, before we begin, as a hilly Michael's enthusiast, what is your history with sparks?
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Specifically with sparks? Not quite as much. I mainly was introduced to hilly
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Michael's "Through the Weird Alphabet." When we were discussing the song, I remember Larry,
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that itself was in the style of hilly Michael's. When I started looking into that, I realized,
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"Wow, this guy's music is great." Then come to find out that he was a drummer briefly for sparks.
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I didn't realize how brief it was. He was there for an album. One album. That was it.
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He was there for a month. Yeah. You could tell.
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Hilly Michael's drew a lot of inspiration from them, specifically with the song "Something on Your Mind."
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His first album, which he released after he was the drummer for sparks,
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it's used in the movie "Catty Shack." Oh.
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It's like during the big boat scene. It's just the instrumental that you hear in the movie,
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but the actual lyrics, it sounds like a spark song. It sounds like he wrote this hoping that the
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sparks would use it and then just went, "I'll just put it on my album." Yeah. That's the most I have
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getting into the sparks. It wasn't until doing research for this that I was like, "This is
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everything. This is the piece. This is the missing link between so many artists that I love the music
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that I like cling to and as soon as I started diving into their wide variety of music,
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I have just been listening to it non-stop." Yeah. It makes you question whether or not we should have
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made a podcast about Weird Al or sparks. Don't they have over 800 songs? Something like that.
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I don't know if we'd be able to handle that. Yeah. You just got to do like four songs at a time.
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Yeah. You have to do like four songs at a time and you have to release like two episodes a
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week in order for you to not do this for like a decade or so. Yeah. Yeah. But no one would
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be foolish enough to take on a subject that big. Yeah. No. Of course not.
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I mean, let's see. If you were to do one song a week, then you would be talking about it for
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16 years. Oh boy. David, what is your history with sparks? I'm a big fan of Weird Al and especially
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one of my favorite Weird Al songs is Virus Solar. Actually, I haven't looked at my rankings since we
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finished. I'm curious where I put Virus Solar. I want to say it's within the top 20, I think.
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Probably. I really enjoy Virus Solar. Where is Virus Solar? Why can't I find it? Search on page.
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I just did a search for Virus and came up with zero results. Uh oh.
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Should we listen back to the episode? What happened to Virus Solar?
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What happened to Virus Solar indeed? Oh great. So that's fun.
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I'm sorry. I thought this would be a fun little bit. I didn't mean to put Michael on blast here.
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I love Virus Solar. And of course, it would translate into me loving the sparks,
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except I'm lazy and rarely go listen to new music unless it's from like the three scob ants that I
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listened to. I can't say I have very much familiarity with sparks at all. I do know that they seem to be a
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very beloved band of anybody who loves things that are a little weird, a little off-kilter.
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I will say this about Virus' alert. Upon learning that that song is like a spark's pastiche,
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but then also listening to all of the songs that were attributed to like the inspiration of that,
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like what weird al apparently like drew from. A lot of those songs didn't come out until later
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when they did the 20th anniversary remaster. It just sounds like a completely different entity
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altogether. There are some elements to it that I can definitely like piece together like, oh,
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I guess I could hear some sparks in there, but Virus Solar sounds more like a weird al original than
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it does with sparks. I found the episode. Let me see if I can fast forward. I'm gonna rank this song.
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Oh man, this is hard. This is so tough to do in these like high-up songs. I'm gonna put it at number
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27 number 27. This is actually what I'm sorry. I'm gonna make it 28, 28. Oh wow. Oh this was Austin.
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What did I say it was between because that number is probably different now. That makes it just above
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Albie Mello when I'm dead just below nature trail to hell, which would put it at number 30 now.
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Okay, and if you want to listen to the full episode of Virus' alert, that is episode 233
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of the weird alphabet. First off, sparks was recommended to us by Dale or also known as Dale's
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Ramblings according to his email. They suggested it because they heard of two projects that were not made
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under sparks, but there were a few more projects that I found like within the research of like
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going through their actual history and we're gonna be going through the history of the sparks and
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as we go along we're gonna be kind of learning in parallel their music career as it kind of runs
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parallel with their movie career or at least their film and television career.
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Now when you say things that were going to be made with sparks like are we talking about movies that
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they were just writing new original music for movies that were gonna use their music movies that
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they were having a hand in writing or creating what exactly does that mean for this episode?
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Yes. It means all of those. Yes. Okay. Perfect. That sounds very like sparks. Yes. Yeah.
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But I want to make this just a little different as to how I conduct the episode. So
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for David when we record each episode I usually put in clips later on in the edit. Yeah.
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So that the audience kind of understands what's going on. Now I'm going to do this a little
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differently for when we record as we're going along with this episode. I'm actually gonna be playing
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some music that sparks had made throughout their career. So as we go along with the notes you're
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gonna be able to hear the musical journey that sparks went along so you can actually hear the
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evolution of their sound through their career. Very cool. Awesome.
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Sparks is a band composed most consistently of two brothers Ron Mail on keyboard and Russell Mail
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as the vocalist. Trying to nail down their genre of music is like debating if hot dogs are a sandwich.
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Yeah. Nothing Michael can agree with that. Yeah. That sounds pretty accurate. So that means to
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define their genre we have to take it to the New York courts for them to legally decide what genre
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it gets taxed under. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Their sound is unique to say the least. They have been
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described as your favorite bands favorite band and the best British band ever to come out of America.
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Yep. So you're saying they are for music. What Neil Sussierga is for the internet.
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Yes. That's a pretty good comparison actually. Yeah. You listen to a lot of lemon demon. A lot of
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sparks influence, especially in the later albums. Very experimental, very almost operatic,
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very wordy music that the sparks just eats and just constantly consumes and and distributes to the world.
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It's like non subtle metaphors. Yeah. Okay. It might be the best way to describe a lot of their lyrics.
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Yeah. A lot of their songs. You can listen to it at face value. Most of the time it's very upbeat.
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But when you listen and actually take in the lyrics, not only do you discover that there is a character
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that they are putting on that it's not just the band singing as the band. It is a character
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with a very particular point of view, a very particular story and that usually the story involves
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something incredibly tragic. For example, their song tits. Yeah. It's yeah, which on face value,
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you're just like, oh, this is just a song about breasts and then you look at the lyrics and you're like,
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oh, no, this is about a guy who his wife had recently had a child and is talking to a guy at the
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bar to find out that the guy that he's talking to at the bar is having an affair with his wife.
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Yeah. And you're like, this was this really about tits at all? Well, it was because technically the
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song is also about the guy is complaining that he can't enjoy the boob because the baby is
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enjoying the boob and turns out someone else is enjoying the boob when he's not.
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It's just such an interesting weird way to like enter into this story is like through this
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particular subject. So yeah, it's exactly what you're saying. It's like when you finally read the
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lyrics of hey, yeah, by outcast and you're like, oh, this is a tragic story. My favorite song,
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Blue Com 78 by Fiverr and Frenzy for most of us is like, oh, it's about a kid who lost his
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comb and then you're like, oh, wait a minute, there's some real sad things going on here. I mean,
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that for me, that's where is my hairbrush kidding. We're Dix Automotive. Go listen to Dix Automotive.
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Yes. Contrary to assumptions that the brothers of British, Ron and Russell are from the US,
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more specifically the Pacific Palisades, which are about 20 miles west of downtown Los Angeles.
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Their father, Meyer Mill, was a graphic designer and a caricaturus for the Hollywood citizen news
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and their mother Miriam was a librarian. Unfortunately, their father passed away when they were young,
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Ron was 11 and Russell was eight. Growing up, the primary way they were exposed to music was through
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the radio and gravitated towards English bands like the Who, Pink Floyd, the Kinks, the Beatles,
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Rolling Stones and the Move. The brothers even convinced their mother to drive them all the way to
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Las Vegas when the Beatles performed there in 1964. Both of them attended at UCLA with Ron,
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who started in 1963, studying cinema and art graphic and then Russell later on in 1966. He would
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major in theater arts and filmmaking. While in college, they started dabbling and making their own
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music with band names like Moon Baki Abbey, Urban Renewal Project and Half Nelson.
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On January 14th, 1967, the two would put together their first recordings under the band name Urban
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Renewal Project and with the help of Mary Couple Fred and Ron Afranque at the Fidelity record
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studios in Hollywood, they laid down the tracks, The Windmill, A Quick Thought, as you like it and
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Computer Girl. Now keep in mind with Computer Girl, this is 67 so no one really had an idea of what
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a computer was or at least there's no understanding that we have today. That sounds like something
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that would play on Dr. Demento, not gonna lie. Yeah, yeah. At the time people would have just thought of
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computers as Kurt Russell wearing tennis shoes. Exactly. None of these songs would be released with
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the exception of Computer Girl but that would not see the light of day until 2006 when it was released
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on a CD in Japan, accompanied with an interview with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols from Radio Show
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Jonesies jukebox. It would get a more official release when the sparks included it in their 2019
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greatest hit album Past Tents. The brothers changed their name to Half Nelson and added a few new
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bandmates. Their friend Erleigh Manky who played guitar and his brother James to play bass. When they
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started recording a demo tape they tried getting away without having a drummer and just started
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banging on random objects around the studio but that was not sustainable so Russell ended up calling
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one of his friends Hurley Finestein to actually play drums. They managed to scrape together about 12
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songs and recorded a demo. The story isn't too clear on how this happened but this is kind of the
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gist of what happened so Russell was on and off dating a band member of the GTOs or Girls Together
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outrageously. Her name was Miss Christy. Now she was also on and off dating producer Todd Rungren.
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Miss Christy she loved the songs that were being made by Half Nelson actually showed the demo
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too Todd. The band then put together a show for Todd and other friends who wanted to attend
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in their rehearsal space. Now this was in a place called the Doggie Factory and it was not the name
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of a nightclub. No it was actually a factory where they made dog beds. Yep. Yeah. Their big number that
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caught everyone's attention was the song Slow Boat where Russell and Ron sat on a paper mache boat
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that would be wheeled across the stage.
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Sounds so Beatles-esque. Yeah. Yeah. So Todd Rungren, he liked what he saw and decided to become the
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producer for Half Nelson's debut self titled album Under Bear's Ville Records. They released the record
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in 1971 with very little success. The record label thought that the lack of sales might be due to
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the name of the band. So they suggested the Sparks Brothers which was a play on Marx Brothers.
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But Ron and Russell they were not a fan so they simply just shortened the name to Sparks. Drop the
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the they changed the name of their band and then they changed the name of the album and then
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re-released it basically the same album in 1972 and that's when they started to see some success
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when their single Wonder Girl got some local radio airtime.
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♪ She was a wonder girl ♪ ♪ There's something like a girl ♪
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♪ She was a wonder to her friends ♪
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The band re-grouped and put together a second album a woofer in tweeters clothing. Yeah.
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It was produced by Thaddeus James Lower Rungren's engineer and former lead singer of the Electric
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Prunes. The album was released in February 1972 with little success in the US but their single
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Girl from Germany was very popular in the UK.
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♪ For my world she's not sure ♪ ♪ But if the sand I don't dream of you could not change ♪
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♪ For my world she's been living in the castle ♪
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♪ And it's not cozy ♪
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You can tell that with each album that they're getting closer and closer to what I would consider
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to be their massive first heyday. That sound is gravitating further and further away from
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a kinks or Beatles sound and more unique and original.
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Yeah. We've seen this with other bands as well but even Beatles had that evolution as well where
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it was like we're a four piece band, four four beat, keep it simple, all of a sudden they do
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lonely hearts club band and you're just like, "Oh, they are really good at what they do."
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That single Girl from Germany that led them to do a tour in the UK. They were also featured on
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BBC's Old Gray Whistle Test and got a residency at the Marquis Club in London.
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They figured since they were so beloved in England, why not just move there?
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So they did in 1973 and they got a new manager, John Hewlett, and signed a deal with island records
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with producer Muff Winnwood. Unfortunately, the other band members outside of the Mel Brothers,
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Earl, Jim and Harley stayed behind in the US. In the UK, they hired Adrian Fisher for guitar,
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Norman, Dinky, Diamond for drums and after placing an ad in the melody maker that read,
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"Wanted a bass player for sparks must be beard-free and exciting." They got Martin Gordon on bass.
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Now together, they recorded a new album, probably their most famous album, "Comono My House"
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Yes. Released in 1974 with their hit single, "This Town" ain't big enough for the both of us.
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So yeah, if you have ever heard the sparks before or vaguely have heard of them, most likely you
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have heard just that song. Yeah, and that whole album, it kind of changed the game. Yeah, yeah.
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Nobody really at that time had heard something like that. Queen probably was around, but they were still
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trying to find their footing. This was Bohemian Rhapsody before Bohemian Rhapsody. This very operatic sound
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with the heavy rock and it kind of flipped what people thought music could be on its head, which I would
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imagine probably inspired Freddie Mercury to be like, "I could do that." Yeah. The album and the
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single landed them a gig on BBC's "Top of the Pops" where they performed on May 9, 1974,
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sending their single to number 29 in the UK charts. And after they played again on June 6, 1974,
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their single went up even higher, topping out at number 2. Sparks Mania had begun. Most notably,
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what caught people's attention was the expressionless Ron, more specifically his Charlie Chaplin-esque
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mustache, most commonly labeled as a Hitler mustache. This is in contrast with his energetic brother,
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singing next to him on stage. Sense of mystery of like, who is this man? Why does he say nothing?
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Why does he have a Hitler stash? What's going on? In the documentary, they display this really
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well. They actually show a lot of people who are talking about this on like late night talk shows
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where they're like, "Did you see that guy with a Hitler mustache or dressed like Hitler just like
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playing on top of the pops?" Words spread just because of like that absurdity. So then everyone had
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to find out what was going on. After the release of their fourth album, "Propaganda" released on
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November, 1974, with the hits "Never Turn Your Back" on Mother Earth, or something for the girl with
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everything, the band returned to the US to tour in 1975.
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That's what the iconic album cover of the Sparks basically getting kidnapped. And when you go
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through the album, they have various poses in which they're tied up. And eventually, I guess,
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being thrown into the ocean? Possibly. Sure. They basically were writing this on tour while they were
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performing these songs from their previous album. Then you throw the whole like mystery aspect of it.
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The album artwork tells a story, which is interesting. If you try to find this album on vinyl today,
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good luck because it is one of the few albums of theirs that is incredibly expensive. But also,
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in my opinion, it's probably their most solid album of that period. The song we just heard,
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something for the girl who has everything, you listen to it and it's like, "Oh, interesting.
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It's very upbeat." But then when you listen to the lyrics, it's like, "They're telling this girl
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not to speak. They're telling this girl like, "Oh no, no, shush, shush, your mouth is full. Here's
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another treat. No, stop, stop talking. Your friends are leaving. Say goodbye to them. Only say goodbye,
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though. Don't say anything else to them. Okay, bye bye. Thank you." And it's like, "Oh no, this girl has
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nothing." And having everything, though, one thing she doesn't have is her own personal freedom.
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Holy crap. That's in this song. And it's so dark and gritty and beautiful at the same time.
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With Marin Gordon, who is on bass, he was replaced with Inhampton and Adrian Fisher,
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who is on guitar. He was replaced by Trevor White. The band started picking up a cult following in the
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US, more specifically in the cities of New York, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
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Primarily from radio play and the appearance on the Don Kirschner's Rock concert. They also appeared
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on American bandstand in 1975 when it was hosted by Dick Clark. Go on through the documentary.
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Well, they talked to a lot of musicians, but I remember the interview with Weirdel Yanke of
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Ex-Pacific Lee, where he's like, "If you lived in Los Angeles in the 70s, you thought that
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Sparks was the biggest band out there because they were constantly playing on the radio and yet
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no one outside of the city really knows who they are." Yeah. Their next album, "Indescreet,"
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produced by Tony Visconti, seemed vastly different from their previous albums,
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veering away from their minimal rock sound to an orchestral, big band jazz type sound.
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We could have a whole game show of, like, is it a Sparks song? And every answer would be yes,
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and yet you would always second guess yourself. They know how to capture different styles.
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With every album, it seems like they try to change their entire sound, which is very cool,
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but also can be alienating to their listeners who are just trying to be along for the ride.
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In many ways, that song sounds like it is in a direct response to Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.
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Yeah. It's interesting that they would try to change things up, and of course,
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I don't think this album did very well. No, it didn't.
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I imagine it's got to be frustrating to be a Sparks fan, trying to keep up with their albums,
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and you're expecting one thing. This is coming off of Propaganda, and you're like, "All right,
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I'm so excited for their next album." You mentioned before Propaganda seems to be this continuation
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of "Comono," and then you go into what is essentially this weird, big band jazz sound, and you're just like,
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"I don't think this is the same band." Yeah. The brothers, when they made this album, they kind of
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viewed this as their version of Lonely Hearts Club Band. I understand what they were trying to get,
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as in their pulling in different sounds, music, the problem was, is that it was not received well,
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as the Beatles did with Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was after this album, the band decided it was
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time to move back to Los Angeles, and with that another rotation of band members. So now we have
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Sal Mehta on bass, Jeffrey Salin on guitar, and Hilly Michaels on drums. Yes. It was around 1976 that
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the Mel Brothers started getting involved in film. Now, the two have been interested and inspired by
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French cinema and the French New Wave. Even when they were back in college, Russell made a short film
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called "Tray Cérier," which in French translates to "very serious," which starred their friend and
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former guitarist, Earl Minky, who was actually credited as Jean-Paul Minky, just to further emphasize
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how French this film was. One of their favorite French filmmakers was Jacques Tatis. He was most
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known for his film "Playtime." For Tatis, he was nearing the end of his career and was hoping to make
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one more film, Confusion. The name of the film was going to be Confusion, not to confuse anyone,
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which he started plans for in 1974. He planned to collaborate with Sparks, who at first he had no idea
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who they were, to help bring in a younger audience. The plot would take place in a futuristic
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Paris centered around television advertising and the infatuations of modern society. In the script,
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the character Mosur Hulut, a socially-en-app character portrayed by Tatis, who had appeared in multiple
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Tatis films before, he would be killed off in the first scene. The scene was an opening gag for a
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TV show where Hulut was being shot by a prop gun, but prior to was replaced by a real gun. The story
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would follow two American TV show employees, which would be played by Russell and Ron, who were hired
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by a rural French TV company La Camp, to help show how TV is really made. The film would eventually
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diverge from a humorous film that Tatis was known for and would focus on our obsessions with movies,
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TV, office work, communication and political messages. The film unfortunately never got made
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due to multiple reasons. There was Tatis' health, which was declining. There was also Tatis' bankruptcy
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that he was dealing with, and then eventually Tatis' death in 1982, which literally was the nail in
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the coffin for this film. From Russell Mell, quote saying, "the biggest disappointment of our career,
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not making a film with Jacques Tatis." The song Confusion, which was actually written for the film,
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was then featured on their 1976 album Big Beat.
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Now with context behind that song, it kind of has a different meaning to it.
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No, for real. Was this going to be like a musical movie then, Dan?
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I don't believe that it was going to be a musical movie, but it would feature their music.
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I'd imagine this song would play during the movie, probably during a scene to kind of like showcase
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like, listen to the lyrics and the lyrics are kind of telling you what's happening without telling you
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what's happening. I know. I would imagine that it's probably a credit song, whether it be opening
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or closing. That's kind of where it seems to fall in. Yeah, that sounds more accurate.
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So their album Big Beat was produced by Robert Holmes and Jeffrey Leicester and recorded at the
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media sound studios in New York City. Sparks would yet again change their sound to feel more American,
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meaning that it would have a harder rock sound that you would certainly hear in their single Big Boy.
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Yeah, you can definitely hear the Hilly Michael's drum. That is very Hilly Michael's. It is deep,
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it is heavy, and that is obviously about the burger joint.
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Sparks did eventually get featured in a film in the 1977 movie, Rollercoaster. The band appeared
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performing in a concert at the beginning of the film where they played Big Boy and fill it up.
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What are the hottest facts in the country? Let's hear it for Sparks!
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When asked about it now, they said it was the biggest regret of their career from Ron in Edgerite's
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documentary quote, "Rollercoaster is kind of the citizen cane of disaster movies. The disaster
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was that no one went to see the movie. I did find out that originally Kiss was asked to be in the film,
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but they declined because they knew better." The same year that Rollercoaster premiered is when
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they released their album, introducing Sparks. Yet again, like many progressing artists do,
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they changed their sound. This time, stripping themselves of other bandmates and using studio
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musicians to complete the album. The music was more somber and seen more serious. One review from
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Thompson of All Music said, "It's hard to visualize any album even being more disappointing than this one."
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And you know what's interesting to tie this into Tati's death? Ron writes the music. He writes the
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lyrics. He does it in a way that I kind of do my intro songs on "Come on Fahooka Pods" where he
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puts together the sound first. And then writes lyrics. He wears his heart on his pen. He writes
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what he feels. And it definitely makes sense now with that context why he would make such a somber
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album right after having that loss of an icon of his. Yeah, that makes sense. They talk about it in the
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documentary about how Ron writes and yet you see it embodied through Russell because Ron is very
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reserved. He's kind of looked upon his like, "Oh, he's just the brother to the good-looking brother."
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Everyone is falling for and he's kind of like left in the back. And a lot of his insecurities is then
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reflected into his lyrics, but the thing is Russell who is the good-looking brother is the one who's
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seen those lyrics and it has like this second meaning. It's such an interesting dynamic between the two of
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them. Yeah, I'm surprised that didn't separate them. You could easily see that trope where it's like,
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"Oh, the one brother is jealous of the other brother. The other brother is like the face. All the
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girls love him and I'm the reserved one that's actually writing these songs that the girls are like
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thinking that my brother is doing and it never became that. It's admirable." Yeah, everyone wants
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a Paul McCartney. No one wants the ringo. Pretty much.
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Knowing that now, you listen to those lyrics and you're like, "That's kind of heartbreaking."
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Yeah. Knowing that it came from Ron. Listening through Hilly Michael's first album,
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yeah, you could just tell that he drew inspiration from them so much. I wouldn't say he's trying to
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capitalize it, but you could tell that he just loved making that type of music and you could even tell
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that in the documentary when he was talking about how he discovered them. He was like, "Oh my gosh,
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I listened to something for the girl who has everything and I went, who is that? Who is this?"
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It seems like he's just striving to be his own version of sparks. This is the real sad part of
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that Hilly Michael's though, David and Dan. I'm just so used to talking to David only.
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He is the drummer for all of the bands that you love or at the very least he's applied
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his drumming skills to a lot of bands and yet nobody knows who he is. But he has a very unique sound.
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You could just tell from his albums that he was really trying to do something. Only recently,
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I feel like he's actually gotten a cult following. I think he's working on a new album currently
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that the very least he is going out of his way to re-upload and release his original music,
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which is great for someone like me who up into this point hasn't been able to get a digital
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version of his albums. Yeah. I had to go off of vinyl rips at this point. Oh, I know that you had a
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few vinyls of his. I have all two of his albums. Technically, there's a third one but it's him trying
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to do a re-recording of his hits. Something very much that the sparks did. Yeah. So there was an
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interview that sparks did that my brothers did with a German journalist in Los Angeles. And she
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asked the brothers about their next album and they lied saying that they were excited to work with
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the producer, Georgio Moroder. Oh. Georgio Moroder. Talk about a legend. Yeah. The most famous
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song that I think he's done is I Feel Love by Donna Summers. So yeah, you've definitely heard that
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song before and that is the sound of Georgio Moroder. Yeah. So the journalist knowing that they lied
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came back with something along the lines of, "That's weird. You never mentioned that to me."
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Luckily, she was kind enough to introduce the brothers to Georgio and together they produced the
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album number one in heaven. Georgio was an interesting choice because he was a pioneer in
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electronic pop and disco using a modulator and Roland synthesizers to create that iconic
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electric sound that we now associate with 80s music today. Sparks went from being behind the times
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with introducing sparks to being ahead of the curve with an 80s sounding album that was released in 1979.
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Although it could have been released sooner because there was no label that wanted to release it.
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That was until Richard Branson heard the album and thought it was amazing. So number one in heaven
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was distributed under Virgin Records. And it is very possible that sparks is the reason for the
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electronic sound that we have got in the 80s. Yeah. Between the music that was made with Georgio,
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their influence also Wendy Carlos entering the mix with her sound tracks that basically became
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the sound of the 80s. And I love that they tried to do a disco album right before the 80s. They're
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like, "We got to get one more. One more disco, disco ain't dead." This could play nowadays and people
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would love it. You could play the song in a club today and it would be a banger. Absolutely.
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Through my discovery of the sparks like going through all of this and listening to this music,
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I think number one in heaven has now become my favorite song of sparks. Maybe just because I'm
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very basic, it used to be this town he'd been big enough for the both of us, but like... So good.
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Number one in heaven is just in my opinion, just leagues better. Listen to the plagiarism version.
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Okay. It's part two. Ooh. I'm surprised they didn't call it number two in heaven. Right.
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Well, no, no, no, no, no, it's still the same song. It's just a continuation. God wasn't finished
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writing it yet. Okay. This is the love of the world so we can have a new world. Why are you here?
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Sparks and Georgie O. Moroder were just lightning in a bottle and they continue to work with each other
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to create their next album, Terminal Jive, which was released in January 1980 with their hit When I'm
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With You. This is really funny because it's like, I'm watching the music video and it's just so bizarre.
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This is the one where Ron sets up a Ventriloquist dummy and Russell is the dummy.
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This is calling back to another song of theirs. Don't leave me alone with her. Yeah.
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You have this where it's like, Oh, when I'm with you, this is so great. And then again, you listen to the
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lyrics and you get to that bit in the end and you're like, Oh, this is not a good. Oh, no. I am
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unhappy with them with you. Oh, no. It's so good. They love doing a good bait and switch.
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The Mel Brothers had been going, well, solo, which I guess is just the two of them. So do well.
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But they've been doing this for about five years now. Living in Los Angeles, they would
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frequently get coffee from coffee corner located at the original farmers market. Has anyone actually
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been there before? I didn't realize this. It was like a birthday that I'd celebrated with my roommate.
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We don't share the same birthday, but we're like pretty close to each other. We're like a few days apart.
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But we had a birthday adventure. And I remember I took in a photo of him after we'd gotten some coffee
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and I realized, Oh, that is the coffee corner that we went to, the exact one that the Mel Brothers had
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gone to. And I actually took a photo of my screen. I didn't even take a screenshot. I took a photo of
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my screen to show my former roommate that I like, Oh, you were there. You were there were the sparks
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were. That's great. That's amazing. But yeah, it was there that they had met the band Bates Motel.
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It was through their interactions with the Mel Brothers that they kind of adopted the Bates Motel.
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And essentially ending the Bates Motel, but giving the sparks a whole new roster of musicians.
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There was Leslie Bohem on bass and background vocals. Bob Hague on guitar, also background vocals
376
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and David Kendrick on drums. With their newly revised band, they came together and made
377
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:08,320
Wamp That Sucker released in July 1981. It's time for a montage. Yeah.
378
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:17,920
Those opening lyrics alone are just so humorous. Yeah. And I think this is kind of the reason why
379
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:23,280
Sparks never really got the recognition that they did was because on top of like the deeper lyrics,
380
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:29,040
but like on the surface is a very hilarious premise. Like I have pictures of your Aunt Maureen.
381
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:33,920
Like why? Why do you have those? Don't worry about them trying to make you feel good. Yeah.
382
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:40,160
They all remained together for the next four albums. They was angst in my pants,
383
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:46,320
which was released in March 1982. In Outer Space released in April 1983,
384
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:54,800
pulling rabbits out of a hat or released in June 1984, and music that you can dance to in 1986.
385
00:40:54,800 --> 00:41:00,160
Which was a complete defiance, their band manager, whoever. It was like where the record label was
386
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:04,720
trying to be like, "Hey, try to make more music that people can dance to." Yeah.
387
00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:14,000
This is just like Sarah Burellis in Love Song. Yeah. Yeah. It was the producer or the album saying like,
388
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,560
"You need to write a love song." And in response, she said, "I'm not going to write you a love song."
389
00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:35,600
That song goes hard. This album and their previous albums, especially their marauder album,
390
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:41,440
that I wish that they would go on tour. They would dare to go on tour with the Blue Man group.
391
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:47,200
Yeah. Oh my god. I think just a collaboration album would be brilliant. Yeah.
392
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:53,040
I immediately think of the PVC pipes with the, right? Exactly. Yeah.
393
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:57,680
Practical instruments for that number would be brilliant. Yeah.
394
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:06,000
So going back to around 1982, a one hour pilot episode was made based on the comic strip,
395
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:13,680
"Modesty Blaze." This British comic was created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrated by Jim
396
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:20,480
Holdaway in 1963. The story follows a nameless girl who escapes a displaced persons camp in
397
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:26,480
Calarose, Greece. She's nameless because she can't remember her past. She wanders and survives
398
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:32,480
through post-World War II Mediterranean, the Middle East, in North Africa, with her trusty sidekick
399
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:37,520
Willie Garvin. She eventually obtains British citizenship through marriage.
400
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:43,760
Early in the comics, she has given the name "Modesty" and later gives herself the last name "Blaze."
401
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:50,960
In 1966, there was a movie that was released titled "Modesty Blaze," but it was loosely based on the
402
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:59,520
comics. And in 2003, there was a direct-to-video film titled "My Name is Modesty," which had the
403
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:05,920
banner "Quentin Tarantino Presents" on top to help sell the movie. Quentin Tarantino had been
404
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:11,680
interested in making his own "Modesty Blazed." He even hired Neil Gaiman to write a treatment
405
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:15,120
for the script based on the "Modesty Blazed" novel, "I Lucifer."
406
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:21,520
Oh, that'd be interesting. Both Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez have expressed interest in
407
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:26,240
playing the role, although their interest may not have been in tandem with the Tarantino film.
408
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,920
I could not see them working with Tarantino. I'm sorry. No.
409
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:34,320
So far, no announcements or plans have been made to make this film.
410
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:43,040
For the pilot, though, that was done in 1982, the episode was filmed and completed and aired on ABC.
411
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:49,760
It starred Anne Terkel as "Modesty Blaze" and Louis Van Bergen as Willie Garvin.
412
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,920
"Modesty." Willie, what are you doing here?
413
00:43:53,920 --> 00:44:04,400
"It looks like she's been drugged. It was terrible."
414
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:09,600
Even though the show took a more serious tone compared to the more "Campy" tone used in the 1966
415
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:16,080
movie, it did get some positive reviews. They did take some Americanized creative freedoms.
416
00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:20,960
The character Willie and Terant were portrayed as Americans,
417
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:27,120
and the setting was moved from London to Hollywood. For the sparks, they were hired to write and perform
418
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:32,560
the theme song of the show. When you think about somebody moving to London and trying to become a
419
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:37,600
citizen in London, it sounds very much like somebody talking about the best British band who's
420
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:41,440
isn't actually British. Yeah.
421
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:54,320
Knowing that now, you just have a completely different understanding of the song, but after they pilot
422
00:44:54,320 --> 00:45:01,280
failed to get picked up, the band kept the song and released it on their album "Music That You Can Dance To"
423
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:08,880
but to avoid trademark infringement, they changed the title to "Modesty Blaze." Although, when you
424
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:14,160
listen to the song, I don't know if you can recall back, I can play it again if you want, Russell still sings
425
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:19,840
"Modesty Blaze" instead of "Place." But they were just trying to play it off to be like, "Oh, people will
426
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:30,000
mishear it." Yeah. "Modesty Blaze." "Modesty Blaze." Yeah, he's not saying "Place." No, he's definitely
427
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:33,600
saying "Place." I feel like if you have it in your head that it's "Place" though, you wouldn't
428
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:40,160
really think twice about it. Yeah. Thinking about that song now, that feels so similar to the
429
00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:45,280
"Flash Gordon" theme from Queen, which would have been like a couple of years before that. So it's
430
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:50,960
interesting how I feel like that is actually an instance of Queen inspiring the sparks or at the
431
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:56,160
very least, whoever put together that deal to say, "Hey, sparks should write this theme song,
432
00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:02,320
probably had Queen's Flash Gordon theme in their head." They both love the repetition. Yeah. Yeah.
433
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:07,840
Some of their music did appear in other films and TV shows and for the sake of time and not
434
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:11,840
having to revisit this, I'm gonna actually go through all the appearances that they've done. So if you
435
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:20,160
think that you have never heard sparks before, this will prove that you have their song "In My Pants"
436
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:26,400
and "Eaten by the Monster of Love." They were used in Valley Girl, the 1983 movie. They wrote the
437
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:34,000
title song for the movie "Get Crazy," the 1983 film, which was titled "Get Crazy." They wrote that song.
438
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:41,680
Wow. Okay. "Get Crazy." You're for it. It's for pregnant. Watch it. Smile it.
439
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:48,400
Many skirted was in the movie "Where the Boys are" 1984. Breaking out of prison was used in heavenly
440
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:56,240
bodies in 1984. In the 1984 Teen Comedy Bad Manor, which was originally known as "Groen Pains,"
441
00:46:56,240 --> 00:47:02,880
they wrote original songs for the movie, including "Bad Manors," "Morticycle Midget," and "What You're
442
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:18,720
Waring." The title song "Bad Manors" was originally called "Groen Pains," because that was the
443
00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:23,360
original name of the movie, with different lyrics, which they had to change later to reflect the
444
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:30,080
rebranded title "Bad Manors." They wrote music for "The Armies of the Night" for "Fright Night,"
445
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:37,040
the 1985 film "The Song," music that you can dance to was in the 1986 BMX film "Rad,"
446
00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:43,440
also known as "Hell Track." Of course it was. "Saying in the Shower" was used in the film "Black
447
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:51,680
Rain," the 1989 film. "National Crime Awareness Week" was used in "Unlawful Entry" in 1992.
448
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:57,600
They provided the original score and wrote the song "It's a Knock-Off" for the 1998 film "Knock-Off."
449
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:04,800
"You keep thinking that you're really holding hands" "Sorry, that's no hand"
450
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:11,920
"It's a Knock-Off." The number one song in heaven was in the French film "Borning Gate" and
451
00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:20,000
Ellen "Patrich" Elphopapa, the 2013 film. "Camel Jam" and "Nose Nose" was used in "Retention," the
452
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:26,720
2007 movie, eaten by the monster of love was used in "Cabin Fever 2," "Spring Fever,"
453
00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:33,280
and then this town big enough for both of us was used in the 2010 film "Kickass."
454
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:42,240
"Oh, yeah, what was it?" "Tryouts for the human race was used in the film "The Overnight"
455
00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:49,440
and was used in "Master of None." "Beat the Clock" was used in a futile and stupid
456
00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:58,720
gesture, the 2018 film. So yeah, going into the late 80s, "Sparks" seemed to be in a decline again.
457
00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:04,880
Their 1988 album "Interior Design" did not appear in the charts in the US and more importantly
458
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:10,560
in the UK. The world would not hear another "Sparks" album for another six years.
459
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:18,000
At the time the duo was working on adapting a manga, my the psychic girl. They were planning on
460
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:23,920
making this into a film. My the psychic girl is a Japanese manga series written by
461
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:34,240
Kazua Kudu and illustrated by Ryochi Ikigami from 1985 to 1986. Although it would not be known
462
00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:40,560
to a North American audience until May 1987 when the English version was published by Eclipse comics
463
00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:46,960
and Vis comics in a bi-weekly comic book format. In the series we follow a 14-year-old girl with psychic
464
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:52,960
powers, my Kudu, as she attempts to avoid capture from the wisdom alliance and the
465
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:59,920
Kaide Intelligence Agency. The wisdom alliance has already captured and has control over four
466
00:49:59,920 --> 00:50:04,880
children with psychic abilities in hopes to use them to eventually control the world.
467
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:10,080
The brothers were consistently working on something within those six years. A lot of their
468
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:14,640
effort was towards the movie and other times they were just writing music and recording music for
469
00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:20,400
themselves. According to Christie Hayden who worked with them during their hiatus and would
470
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:25,840
eventually become the drummer, the two would work tirelessly. At some moments they would spend seven
471
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:31,040
days a week working, writing and recording from the moment they woke up until they fell asleep.
472
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:36,960
Do we know how much music would have been a part of this movie? So their plan was to make this
473
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:46,000
into a musical. Their hope was to have Sue Hark Direct. He's known for zoo warriors from the
474
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:51,920
Magic Mountain and then he was also known for once upon a time in China, which was a film series
475
00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:59,920
dating from 1991 to 1997 and The Blade in 1995. Not to be confused with Blade.
476
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:08,240
That part in the documentary you could tell that that was them struggling to keep relevancy.
477
00:51:08,240 --> 00:51:13,040
It wasn't just that they were trying to just do this movie on the side because that was a big part of
478
00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:16,880
it. So they had saved up all this money from their previous albums. They weren't frivolous people,
479
00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:21,200
so they were able to live off of this money that they had made over the years and they were
480
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:26,480
constantly making music and trying to pitch that to record labels who would turn them down.
481
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:31,680
Like they were constantly being told no at this point because of how irrelevant they were at the time.
482
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:38,960
Yeah. It was a very rough patch for them and seeing their drummer in tears out of all the people
483
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:44,800
in the documentary. She's the only one that broke down and was like they tried. They were trying.
484
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:50,080
It wasn't like they were just sitting back and just we're gonna coast. They never stopped.
485
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:55,360
It seemed like they had been working harder than they ever had and none of it was being recognized.
486
00:51:55,360 --> 00:52:00,480
That is a reality. You could be constantly working your butt off trying to get stuff happening
487
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:06,000
and sometimes it just isn't gonna go anywhere and you're just gonna have to live with that and that's okay.
488
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:11,840
Just keep going because sooner or later you're gonna get to another launching point.
489
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:17,600
So Sparks they would actually eventually work with Hark when they recorded the soundtrack for his
490
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:24,400
movie Knock Off in 1998. To voice the main character they thought Christie would be a good fit
491
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:30,080
seeing that she did have some acting experience. She was actually a reoccurring extra in Star Trek
492
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:36,000
the next generation. Oh this was gonna be an animated movie? Yes. Oh that changes everything.
493
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:40,720
Because this would have been right around the time that like America was first discovering anime as a
494
00:52:40,720 --> 00:52:45,600
thing. This would have been around the time of things like Akira and the first studio jibbly films.
495
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:52,960
So the movie was looking promising because in August 1991, Carol Coe pictures they actually bought
496
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:58,080
the rights for this film. This time they were looking for a different director to make this film and
497
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:05,360
that was Tim Burton. Oh wow. This is early on in his career so like for them to go on and doing some
498
00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:10,480
kind of animation would not be something off the table because around this time a nightmare for
499
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:16,640
Christmas was either in the works or in production. So they were hoping to start the production in 1992.
500
00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:22,400
Unfortunately, Burton was working on Batman Returns and Nightmare Before Christmas
501
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:27,040
and would eventually go on to direct Ed Wood. So he was just a little busy at the time.
502
00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:34,720
Eventually Burton had to drop my The Psychic Girl and the rights that Carol Coe purchased eventually
503
00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:40,160
expired. If this was gonna be anime it's definitely giving me interstellar 55-55 vibes.
504
00:53:40,160 --> 00:53:48,400
Yeah definitely. Now I could not confirm this but there seems to be an unofficial fan-made album
505
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:53,360
of unreleased in rare recordings of Spark's music. On medium-wellities if you will.
506
00:53:53,360 --> 00:54:01,920
In that were four tracks that claimed to be for my The Psychic Girl. There was that looks great
507
00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:08,720
on you. What was that? She used to be one of us and the patchwork symphony. I'm gonna play one of these.
508
00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:15,520
What was that? What was that? That thing? Then I heard something. Don't you hear honey? Don't you hear?
509
00:54:15,520 --> 00:54:22,960
What was that? We wrote in no sir. We're getting closer. You ought to know sir. You want to know what was that?
510
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:26,000
What was that? What was that? What was that? What was that?
511
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:36,000
It definitely has that musical feel to it. Yeah absolutely. I got like weird Akira vibes from that too.
512
00:54:36,640 --> 00:54:42,400
Like the early English dub of Akira. We've talked about on Fuhugupads with like the
513
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:49,680
"Wow I'm acting. This is real good acting. Acting is great." Yes that is awesome.
514
00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:58,480
So hopefully that is true. It seems like it is. With that context I could easily see that being the
515
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:03,760
case. The Psychic Girl not only caught the interest of the male brothers. Supposedly Frances Ford
516
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:10,240
Coppola tried developing the property into a film sometime in the late 90s and in June 2000
517
00:55:10,240 --> 00:55:15,840
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that Kirk Wong who directed the big hit was going to be
518
00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:23,920
making a Psychic Girl film. Writers Lisa Adreo and Joey Syracuse. No, not at the time for Love a Girl
519
00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:30,560
and eventually parental guidance amateur night in Dear Dictator. They wrote a my script that got picked
520
00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:35,920
up by Sony Columbia Pictures. Now I can't confirm whether or not those were in tandem with each other.
521
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:41,120
I think those might have been separate pitches. In 2010 Tim Burton expressed interest in directing
522
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:49,600
a my film again but nothing has been announced ever since. In 1993, Sparks would make a comeback with
523
00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:53,200
their single National Crime Awareness Week.
524
00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:59,680
You're finally me, I feel unique, it's National Crime Awareness Week.
525
00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:09,120
Add that one to the the Blue Man Group. In November 1994 they finally released a full album
526
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:13,600
after six years titled "Crituitous Sax in Senseless Violins."
527
00:56:13,600 --> 00:56:21,120
They're single from the album. When do I get to sing my way? Peaked at number seven in the German
528
00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:27,200
charts. It was in the top 20 in Finland and Belgium, the top 30 in Switzerland and it peaked at
529
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:34,080
number 32 in the UK and peaked in number nine in the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart,
530
00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:41,120
which I was unaware that that was a chart category. It sounds very much like music that you would
531
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:47,280
expect to be coming out of the UK or Germany. Such a good song. And their drummer, Christy Hayden,
532
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:53,840
is also featured in that music video. This was a much needed win for the Malbrothers. In 1997 they
533
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:59,040
released plagiarism, which is a re-recording of their most popular songs in collaboration with
534
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:06,080
Faith No More, A Reacher and Jimmy Somerville. Sparks would reinvent their sound again,
535
00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:10,080
leaning more towards Technopop with their 2000 album "Balls."
536
00:57:10,240 --> 00:57:17,040
"Hand which more than this, more than a six machine."
537
00:57:17,040 --> 00:57:20,640
It's true. Russell is more than a sex machine.
538
00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:21,280
Yes.
539
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:27,840
Then they took a complete left turn with their 2002 album "Little Beethoven."
540
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:35,760
So good. Yeah. Revisiting their orchestral sound, like what they did with "Indescreet," but
541
00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:42,480
leaning more towards the neoclassical record collector magazine named the album "The Best New
542
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:49,840
Album of 2002." The most memorable and hypnotic song to come out of this has to be "My Babies Taking
543
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:55,680
Me Home," which they repeat the lyrics "My Babies Taking Me Home" over a hundred times.
544
00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:57,920
I mean, I told you they love their repetition.
545
00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:11,840
"My Babies Taking Me Home," "My Babies Taking Me Home,"
546
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:15,760
so I want to emphasize with this, there's so much going on, I know that they repeat this,
547
00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:19,120
and I think they talked about this in the documentary as well, is that when you're listening to this,
548
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:24,080
every time that he says "My Babies Taking Me Home," there's something else to it,
549
00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:31,120
and you can kind of interpret it for every time that he says it, the album doesn't really capture the
550
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:35,520
emotions that are coming behind it, but if you listen to a live version of this, which I'm going to
551
00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:38,560
play right now, you start to hear that emphasis.
552
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:53,760
What's interesting about this album in particular, it's so weird that
553
00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:57,440
like 2000, they released their kind of Europop album.
554
00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:01,440
David, remember Ozone, Dragostadinte, Numa Numa?
555
00:59:01,440 --> 00:59:02,080
Yeah!
556
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:06,560
Myahee, myahee, that came out three years later.
557
00:59:06,560 --> 00:59:15,440
Stan Storm, by Derude, came out in 1999, in all actuality, they were pretty much in front of
558
00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:20,000
a lot of that, like, okay, we're going to do the Europop before Europop really becomes a pop thing,
559
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:25,680
naturally the music world just already evolves into it, like they had this sense of looking forward.
560
00:59:25,680 --> 00:59:32,640
This album, the first song, "Rhythm Thief," is so bizarre, you would think that it's going to drop
561
00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:38,560
into like this electronic, uh, type sound that you would hear in a DDR game, yeah, but it doesn't,
562
00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:44,160
and the fact that it doesn't showcases that they're like, yeah, no, no, we're past that, this is
563
00:59:44,160 --> 00:59:50,080
2002, we're past that. This could have been basically a sequel to the last album, but they
564
00:59:50,080 --> 00:59:57,040
chose to not go down that road. It just shows how like, defiant they are in this music industry,
565
00:59:57,040 --> 01:00:00,720
and in their creativity and just their evolution in music.
566
01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:00,880
Yeah.
567
01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:05,760
♪ In all the way, we're playing seven in each drop of the bar ♪
568
01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:07,520
♪ And rhythm thief ♪
569
01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:10,720
That whole album is just hypnotic and repetitious as hell.
570
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:11,120
Yeah.
571
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:12,160
It's ridiculous.
572
01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:12,640
So good.
573
01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:18,880
With our next album, "Hello Young Lovers," that was released in February of 2006.
574
01:00:18,880 --> 01:00:24,000
The brother's thought of this as a continuation of Little Beethoven, and was critically acclaimed.
575
01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:43,360
So yes, he did hear that correctly. He did say all I do now is dick around to one of the most
576
01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:46,160
gorgeous orchestral songs I've ever heard.
577
01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:52,960
It's so good. And what's so funny to me is that that is basically rap. A lot of what I do in my intro
578
01:00:52,960 --> 01:00:53,760
songs is that.
579
01:00:53,760 --> 01:01:00,480
Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, like being able to just like throw as much words as many words as
580
01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:06,320
you possibly can to tell this narrative. I also read somewhere that like they really loved
581
01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:13,280
M&M, which is very evident. If M&M were to kind of step back and try to do something experimental,
582
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:19,360
this would be what would happen. It would be very different and it would sound like this.
583
01:01:19,360 --> 01:01:24,080
There was another song on that album. It was called "Perfume." I'd found this out through the
584
01:01:24,080 --> 01:01:30,880
documentary that not only was that song used in the season six finale of "Guilmore Girls," but it was
585
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:37,680
also performed by sparks like they were on camera for the season six finale.
586
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:41,200
♪ Shoot it where it's shallow, ma, but you don't end perth you ♪
587
01:01:41,200 --> 01:01:50,720
♪ That's why I wanna spend my life with you, that's why I wanna spend my life with you, that's why I wanna spend my life with you ♪
588
01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:58,800
Now, to put into context, "Guilmore Girls" in their original run was showrun by Amy Sherman Paladino,
589
01:01:58,800 --> 01:02:06,240
you know, Tiny Hat enthusiast. And for season seven, she was kicked off of her own show.
590
01:02:07,040 --> 01:02:12,320
When you talk to any fans of "Guilmore Girls," they kind of only recognize the first six seasons as
591
01:02:12,320 --> 01:02:18,640
being like, "That's pure "Guilmore Girls." And that was her only chance to really end the series.
592
01:02:18,640 --> 01:02:24,880
So when you watch the reboot that was done on Netflix, it's supposed to be a continuation from where
593
01:02:24,880 --> 01:02:30,400
season six ends and completely ignores what happens in season seven because she was not around for
594
01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:34,560
that. But it's really interesting that they kind of like swung for the fences. They got a bunch of
595
01:02:34,560 --> 01:02:40,000
different musicians in there, but they did get sparks into the finale there, which when I was watching
596
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:45,120
the documentary, I was like, "Why is Amy Sherman Paladino in this documentary at all talking about?" Like,
597
01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:50,640
yes, I mean, she's famous and she might be a fan. I had not realized that she had put them
598
01:02:50,640 --> 01:02:57,920
into her own show. Yeah, that's great. For the release of their 2008 album, "Exotic Creatures of the
599
01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:05,840
Deep," sparks in their manager, Sue Harris, came up with an idea that they would put on a 21-night
600
01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:13,920
spark spectacular in London from May to June in 2008. Each night, the band would perform each of
601
01:03:13,920 --> 01:03:22,880
their albums chronologically in their entirety to the last night, which was in June 13th, 2008, where
602
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:29,040
they would perform "Exotic Creatures of the Deep," the day that the record premiered. Each night after
603
01:03:29,040 --> 01:03:34,880
performing the full album, they would play a rare track, songs that have never been performed before
604
01:03:34,880 --> 01:03:40,080
that was actually voted on by their fans on the website, although they've admitted some tampering
605
01:03:40,080 --> 01:03:47,040
with the voting just so that they could just play songs that they knew very well. Yeah. Total. They played
606
01:03:47,040 --> 01:03:56,000
270 songs over the course of 21 days and it took them four months of rehearsal to get it all right.
607
01:03:56,000 --> 01:04:03,360
Wow. Weird Al, I dare you to do it too. You'd have to play hardware store one, two.
608
01:04:03,360 --> 01:04:11,680
Those who bought a Golden ticket, meaning that they had a ticket to all 21 shows, they would
609
01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:18,800
receive a sign poster in a CD with the song, I only think number one, a reference to the address of
610
01:04:18,800 --> 01:04:22,240
the venue of their first 20 gigs. That's great.
611
01:04:22,240 --> 01:04:38,480
I don't know when Nightwish decided to become like a thing and really dig deep into the
612
01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:44,160
operatic metal, do you have to admit that there's probably some sparks influence in that? They weren't
613
01:04:44,160 --> 01:04:50,560
the only ones that were doing like this operatic metal. Yeah. At this point, if sparks was done,
614
01:04:50,560 --> 01:04:56,400
I would be very satisfied and would have ended things on an incredible note, but they weren't.
615
01:04:56,400 --> 01:05:03,440
In August 2009, the band premiered a radio musical, seduction of Igmar Bergman. Mr. Bergman,
616
01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:16,160
let me welcome you to Hollywood.
617
01:05:16,160 --> 01:05:23,280
My first inclination would be to tell them to go to hell.
618
01:05:23,280 --> 01:05:33,120
Whoa. Okay, what is this? Because I know about Igmar Bergman and I've never heard of this musical
619
01:05:33,120 --> 01:05:41,280
before. Let's explain. The English/Sweetish musical is about Igmar Bergman as he relocates to Hollywood
620
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:45,920
after the success of his film "Smiles of a Summer Night," which came out in 1955.
621
01:05:45,920 --> 01:05:49,200
Now, is this based off of our true story of him going to Hollywood?
622
01:05:49,200 --> 01:05:55,680
No, it isn't. Okay. So what they've done with this is basically they've explored his emotional
623
01:05:55,680 --> 01:06:01,440
journey as he adjusted Tinseltown. Now their inspiration for the musical was actually based on their
624
01:06:01,440 --> 01:06:08,160
experience trying to get my produce and also their missed opportunity with Jacques Tatte. Interesting.
625
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:15,760
The BBC Radio 6 held an event at the BBC Broadcasting House in London where they played the broadcast
626
01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:20,880
in front of a live audience followed up with a Q&A with the Mal Brothers. During the Los Angeles
627
01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:28,320
Film Festival in 2011, sparks did a live performance of the seduction of Igmar Bergman at the John
628
01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:35,680
Anson Ford amphitheater directed by Guy Madden. So the show is essentially like what if this great
629
01:06:35,680 --> 01:06:42,560
artistic impressionist filmmaker went Hollywood? Yeah, kind of the exploration of to use the 90s term
630
01:06:42,560 --> 01:06:50,640
of like selling out. Yeah, yeah. What is that like? Peter Frausnan, he portrayed Igmar Bergman and
631
01:06:50,640 --> 01:06:57,280
Greta Garbo played Anne Magnuson. With the Mal Brothers playing the roles they recorded for the musical.
632
01:06:57,920 --> 01:07:02,480
Their hope was to use this performance to raise enough funds to produce this into a live action
633
01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:10,400
feature film. But nothing came to fruition despite having amazing reviews. This is such a cool idea.
634
01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:16,800
Yeah, I would love to see this. In 2017, they announced that they were developing seduction of
635
01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:23,280
Igmar Bergman into an animated feature with director Joseph Wallace who directed the stop-motion
636
01:07:23,280 --> 01:07:30,240
animation music video Edith Palfe and did the animation that you see in the sparks brother's
637
01:07:30,240 --> 01:07:35,920
documentary, the one done by Edgar Wright. It's a different type of animation. It's like stop,
638
01:07:35,920 --> 01:07:41,040
motion, paper cutout animation. So like he would have been in charge of making this musical.
639
01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:45,200
Interesting. As of now, there has been no word of this actually getting made.
640
01:07:45,200 --> 01:07:52,160
Oh, that's a bummer. The Mal Brothers continued to work on their music and for their 2015
641
01:07:52,160 --> 01:08:00,400
album FFS. They collaborated with Franz Ferdinand thus the name FFS Franz Ferdinand Sparks.
642
01:08:00,400 --> 01:08:02,560
Oh, I thought it was going to be for fuck's sake. Yeah.
643
01:08:02,560 --> 01:08:08,560
Pretty sure Ron made that exact joke in the documentary. I think so, yeah. Oh, really?
644
01:08:08,560 --> 01:08:17,520
For fuck's sake. Again, with the happy songs that are sad, I'm somewhat attractive from a far,
645
01:08:17,520 --> 01:08:24,960
but I can't be that far away from you and here you are. Oh, wasn't the collaboration song their test
646
01:08:24,960 --> 01:08:30,080
baby? Yeah, they actually named a song collaborations don't work. Labyrinations don't work.
647
01:08:30,080 --> 01:08:36,160
They don't work, they don't work. I'm gonna do it, don't bother, say it.
648
01:08:36,160 --> 01:08:42,000
They just kind of created this song about like how collaboration suck and they sent it over
649
01:08:42,800 --> 01:08:48,480
Ferdinand and Ferdinand was like, I see your game and like lobbied it back with more lyric.
650
01:08:48,480 --> 01:08:54,880
This kid gets it and then they just ran with it. There are 2017 album Hippopotamus and their
651
01:08:54,880 --> 01:09:02,400
2020 album A Steady Drip Drip Drip Both peaked at number seven in the UK charts. Although they couldn't
652
01:09:02,400 --> 01:09:08,560
tour for the drip drip drip album because something weird happened in the world who knows what that
653
01:09:08,560 --> 01:09:14,160
was. He virus. Yes. Raccoon City became infected and we're just left with the zombies.
654
01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:22,640
In November 2016, it was announced that French director Leo's crock was going to be directing his
655
01:09:22,640 --> 01:09:29,680
first English language film Annette with a story and music written by Ron and Russell Mal.
656
01:09:29,680 --> 01:09:36,240
The year is uncertain, but the count according to Russell, they connected with crock at the
657
01:09:36,240 --> 01:09:42,640
cans film festival and they told him about the project Annette and crock was interested in the story.
658
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:46,720
When they got back to LA, they sent him the project. They were really hoping that this wouldn't
659
01:09:46,720 --> 01:09:52,720
turn into another situation with Jacques de T or Tim Burton. Luckily Leo, crock followed through
660
01:09:52,720 --> 01:09:59,440
with his promise. In the first report, the film was to star Adam Driver, Rooney Mara and Rihanna
661
01:09:59,440 --> 01:10:06,480
with the production beginning in early 2017. In March 2017, Amazon Studios acquired the film
662
01:10:06,480 --> 01:10:12,160
and Rooney Mara and Rihanna dropped out of the film. To replace Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams
663
01:10:12,160 --> 01:10:18,560
was cast and the production was set to begin in July. But then the film ran into another
664
01:10:18,560 --> 01:10:24,480
little problem when their lead actor Adam Driver, he was busy doing a little indie film called Star Wars.
665
01:10:25,280 --> 01:10:31,360
So they had to delay the production for two years. Usually, we would see a film
666
01:10:31,360 --> 01:10:36,640
fizzle out with the delays, but this is actually one of those rare and unusual cases where the
667
01:10:36,640 --> 01:10:45,200
production resumed in May 2019. Although Michelle Williams was not available, Marian Coltierde was cast
668
01:10:45,200 --> 01:10:53,120
in the lead role. Simon Helberg was then added to the cast in October and in August, filming had begun
669
01:10:53,120 --> 01:11:00,800
and concluded in November. The film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and is now available
670
01:11:00,800 --> 01:11:07,280
on Amazon Prime. Although the film was not a financial success, it was critically acclaimed.
671
01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:22,240
We love each other so much. We love each other so much.
672
01:11:22,240 --> 01:11:28,240
Yes, that is Adam Driver, really singing that song. Yeah. I saw the trailer for this. I haven't
673
01:11:28,240 --> 01:11:37,840
watched the movie, but oh boy, it looks intense. So I did see the movie and after watching it, I kept
674
01:11:37,840 --> 01:11:46,080
thinking to myself, like, do I like this? It kind of gives you the feel of like a Star Wars born where
675
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:52,800
it's like this power couple who are together. You kind of see the rise of Marian Coltierde while you
676
01:11:52,800 --> 01:11:59,760
see the fall of Adam Driver happening simultaneously while they are together and having a child.
677
01:11:59,760 --> 01:12:06,320
And then once they have the child, like, it just swings for the fences. Do they show the child in
678
01:12:06,320 --> 01:12:10,960
the preview? I don't want to like give anything away. They don't show the child. They show like a
679
01:12:10,960 --> 01:12:17,600
shadows of the baby on the wall. Okay. So I imagine that this baby is going to be very interesting.
680
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:22,160
So I don't want to give that part away because I don't want that to be the spoiler, but like,
681
01:12:22,160 --> 01:12:27,680
after the baby is born, like, that's where the majority of the film takes place. The baby is named
682
01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:33,120
Annette. After that, that's when like, things really fall apart. Basically, this is another one of
683
01:12:33,120 --> 01:12:39,920
those movies of like Adam Driver should never be in a relationship. Oh no, another marriage story
684
01:12:39,920 --> 01:12:46,640
all over again, but a musical this time. Pretty much, yeah. I believe the sparks are also in this as
685
01:12:46,640 --> 01:12:53,040
well, like as themselves kind of. Yeah. Sparks are in this. They have a role in the beginning. They kind
686
01:12:53,040 --> 01:12:59,760
of bookend the movie where they show like the whole crew almost like they even show the director
687
01:12:59,760 --> 01:13:05,200
as well as they're recording the first song of the movie and then they finish out with the song where
688
01:13:05,200 --> 01:13:11,280
they actually have the entire casting crew like walking through this valley and you get to see that.
689
01:13:11,280 --> 01:13:17,280
So it's kind of like this fourth wall breaking moment in there and then they have a very small cameo
690
01:13:17,280 --> 01:13:24,480
where they are the pilots of a private jet. Okay. I'll have to watch it. Just didn't have time.
691
01:13:24,480 --> 01:13:30,880
Adam Driver, he did win Best Actor at the Florida Film Critics Circle, the film won Best
692
01:13:30,880 --> 01:13:37,680
Production Design, editing and sound at the Caesar Awards. Leo's Carrocks won Best Director at the
693
01:13:37,680 --> 01:13:44,240
Caesar Awards and the Luminaire's Award. The Mel Brothers won Russell. They won Best Music at the
694
01:13:44,240 --> 01:13:51,280
Caesar Awards and the Luminaire Award. The Mel Brothers were the main subject of the 2021
695
01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:57,360
Edgar Wright documentary, The Sparks Brothers, which perfectly encapsulates the life and career
696
01:13:57,360 --> 01:14:03,040
of the brothers and their band. Although their story is not done yet and I don't see them stopping
697
01:14:03,040 --> 01:14:09,040
anytime soon and I hope they don't. Because they have to go on tour with the Blue Man Group. Yes.
698
01:14:09,040 --> 01:14:17,680
But yeah, that's the history of Sparks still going on today and the various projects that did
699
01:14:17,680 --> 01:14:22,480
and did not get me. That's awesome. I really wish I would have been able to see that Tim Burton film.
700
01:14:22,480 --> 01:14:26,640
I do too. That would have been interesting. Yeah. Just leave it up to Tim Burton for working on
701
01:14:26,640 --> 01:14:31,200
like four projects at the same time but that was his heyday. That was basically him at his prime
702
01:14:31,200 --> 01:14:37,040
at that point. Yeah, absolutely. Really fault him. I blame Disney partially for this because it was
703
01:14:37,040 --> 01:14:43,280
after Batman had come out Disney. They kind of brushed off Tim Burton. He's just some weird
704
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:49,040
kid that tried animating for us and he just kept making weird gothic drawings and we just needed
705
01:14:49,040 --> 01:14:53,360
to get rid of him. And then Batman blew up and they were like, "Oh, shit, we had something. We had
706
01:14:53,360 --> 01:14:59,520
something from him around here. Does anyone find it?" They realized that Tim Burton had pitched
707
01:14:59,520 --> 01:15:05,680
nightmare before Christmas to Disney and Disney has this weird clause saying that any ideas that are
708
01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:11,200
pitched to them are now under the ownership of Disney and they can't pitch anywhere or go to a
709
01:15:11,200 --> 01:15:15,760
different studio. So he basically just had to leave that behind and once they found that, they were like,
710
01:15:15,760 --> 01:15:20,080
"We're gonna make this film and hopefully he'll be available." And he's like, "I have like five films
711
01:15:20,080 --> 01:15:25,360
lined up so, yeah, unfortunately, mine just happened to be one of those movies that were just like
712
01:15:25,360 --> 01:15:31,200
on his list that he just could not get around to." For me, the seduction of Ingmar Bergman, I'm gonna have
713
01:15:31,200 --> 01:15:36,080
to listen to that whole soundtrack. That's the one that I would want to see. Yeah. It says here that
714
01:15:36,080 --> 01:15:43,440
like they incorporated some elements of that musical into the Annette musical, more or less the
715
01:15:43,440 --> 01:15:50,240
narrative format. Yeah. One is about like film and the other is about a play. Adam Driver plays a
716
01:15:50,240 --> 01:15:58,960
comedian and Marianne Cartier is a dan opera singer. So different aspects of stage. So one is more film,
717
01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:03,280
the other is more stage. So that's interesting. Okay. Yeah. It's definitely an interesting film.
718
01:16:03,280 --> 01:16:09,200
But like knowing sparks, I wouldn't want a straightforward love story from them and you wouldn't
719
01:16:09,200 --> 01:16:13,280
expect that either from them. Yeah. Their music is the only thing that's gonna be straightforward.
720
01:16:13,280 --> 01:16:18,960
Yes, it is. The music's gonna tell you what's going on, but the story itself is gonna be very complex.
721
01:16:18,960 --> 01:16:23,840
It is. Well, thank you everybody is so much for listening and thank you Michael for being on the
722
01:16:23,840 --> 01:16:29,280
podcast. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm glad I was able to learn more about this awesome band that I've
723
01:16:29,280 --> 01:16:33,920
basically recently discovered. Yeah. And if people want to find more of what you got going on,
724
01:16:33,920 --> 01:16:40,960
where can they find that? I was we mentioned earlier a co-host of Come on For Hook Pods alongside David.
725
01:16:40,960 --> 01:16:46,080
Yeah. A home star runner podcast. Yeah, home star runner podcast. I assume at some point we're
726
01:16:46,080 --> 01:16:50,880
probably gonna talk about sparks on that podcast. Sure. I wouldn't put a pass the brothers' chaps.
727
01:16:50,880 --> 01:16:55,280
Another powerful brother duo if you want to learn more about them. You can always follow us on
728
01:16:55,280 --> 01:17:04,640
Twitter @FahooGoPods, FHQWHPODS. Do you have any of your music stuff that people can find and listen to?
729
01:17:04,640 --> 01:17:12,240
Well, hopefully by now David over on my band camp at MichaelWilliamHunter.Bandcamp.com. I have my
730
01:17:12,240 --> 01:17:17,440
parodies that I've done some of the music that I've done for Come on For Hook Pods. I do a new intro
731
01:17:17,440 --> 01:17:27,760
song every single episode. But also I have put out a mashup album called Popsicle Culture that combines
732
01:17:27,760 --> 01:17:32,720
songs that you grew up listening to with songs that you wouldn't think would be mish together with
733
01:17:32,720 --> 01:17:39,440
that. Yeah. So far what I've heard. I gotta say my two favorites are David Bowie Spider-Man 1
734
01:17:39,440 --> 01:17:46,480
and the Pink and Hamilton crossover. Oh yeah. That one's good too. So if you want to listen to
735
01:17:46,480 --> 01:17:51,200
some of that you can download that for free or pay what you want to pay if you want to support me
736
01:17:51,200 --> 01:17:57,040
at MichaelWilliamHunter.Bandcamp.com. Sorry. Oh man. I now have to oh Kyle Carosa some royal teas.
737
01:17:57,040 --> 01:18:04,320
All right and you can find more episodes of this podcast at our website PipeBringPodcast.com
738
01:18:04,320 --> 01:18:08,560
which is of course home to the aforementioned Come on For Hook Pods and the aforementioned
739
01:18:08,560 --> 01:18:16,240
Weird Alphabet as well as Escape from Walt Disney and the Mystery Shack Lookback and Pod
740
01:18:16,240 --> 01:18:21,600
made you special a Veggie Tales Rewatch podcast which Michael is also on. And I did the intro
741
01:18:21,600 --> 01:18:27,440
music for that too. Oh and Michael also did the intro music yeah and so that's got one two three
742
01:18:27,440 --> 01:18:33,200
and four of the PipeBringPodcast family. Also on that website you can find links to all of our
743
01:18:33,200 --> 01:18:39,520
social media accounts we are on Twitter @hdtngm we're on Instagram @howdidthisknocketmade and you
744
01:18:39,520 --> 01:18:46,320
can send us your emails knocketmade@gmail.com send us your corrections your suggestions we love to hear
745
01:18:46,320 --> 01:18:52,560
from you. We are also again so so appreciative of everyone who subscribes to our Patreon on that
746
01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:59,200
Patreon you can get notes for every episode we record you can get exclusive monthly bonus episode
747
01:18:59,200 --> 01:19:05,280
of the four of us talking about media or whatever else is on our mind and you can even get an
748
01:19:05,280 --> 01:19:10,960
awesome button so we got three buttons we send every three months of cool exclusive artwork
749
01:19:10,960 --> 01:19:16,880
that's gonna go ahead and wrap up this episode thanks everybody for listening thank you it's over
750
01:19:16,880 --> 01:19:22,960
no wrong one wrong one I don't care what you do I'll take a round next to you
751
01:19:25,840 --> 01:19:35,520
but all I did now is take a round all I did now is take a round take a round
752
01:19:35,520 --> 01:19:58,520
Thanks for watching.