Joe Rogan Experience #1356 - Sturgill Simpson & His Band

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... we willed it…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      ... we willed it into existence. Do, do, do. Sturgill motherfucking Simpson and his band. Uh, uh, just let's introduce everybody.

   2. SSSturgill Simpson0:07

      Okay, you want me to do that?

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      You wanna do that? Yeah, you can do it.

   4. SSSturgill Simpson0:09

      All right, uh, s- next to you is my, my drummer, Miles. (door closing) We have Chuck, he plays the bass.

   5. MMMiles Miller0:17

      Hello.

   6. SSSturgill Simpson0:17

      Down on the end is Bob, he plays the keys. And this is our, uh, head of security, this is Justin. He's a ... You know, we weren't sure about this place, so we brought help, yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:28

      It's a sketchy joint. Um, you guys were fucking fantastic last night. We had a great time.

   8. SSSturgill Simpson0:34

      Thanks, man.

   9. MMMiles Miller0:35

      Thanks.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:35

       So, the Troubadour is such a great place to see you two 'cause it's so intimate, man.

   11. MMMiles Miller0:39

       Mm-hmm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:39

       You know, it's such a, it's, it's a really interesting place. It's so tight, you know?

   13. SSSturgill Simpson0:44

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:44

       It's so old school and a fucking million shows have happened in that joint.

   15. SSSturgill Simpson0:47

       Everybody has played there.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:49

       Everybody.

   17. MMMiles Miller0:49

       Mm-hmm.

   18. SSSturgill Simpson0:50

       Yeah, it was f- it was interesting for us. We didn't feel like it was a good show. I think we kinda-

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       What?

   20. SSSturgill Simpson0:54

       ... we kinda woke up about halfway through, but also-

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       No.

   22. MMMiles Miller0:56

       Oh, what?

   23. SSSturgill Simpson0:56

       ... it's the first time we've been this close to people in a while.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       It was a great show, man.

   25. SSSturgill Simpson1:02

       It was fun.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:02

       I enjoyed the fuck out of it. And, uh, Suzanne from Honey Honey, Suzanne Santos-

   27. SSSturgill Simpson1:06

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:06

       ... she came with me too, they, she loved it. It was great, man. We had a good time.

   29. MMMiles Miller1:10

       Hell yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       (laughs)
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Right. …

   1. SSSturgill Simpson15:00

      time, like, if we're not inspired, how the fuck is anybody else gonna be?

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      Right.

   3. SSSturgill Simpson15:03

      So eventually, you will find your audience that wants to go with you. And music, you know, and one... These songs were turning into 10 and 15-minute just me being high-

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:14

      (laughs)

   5. SSSturgill Simpson15:14

      ... and us having a good time, you know.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:16

      Yeah, that's what-

   7. JLJustin Laseck15:17

      I, I caught that, uh, the Brace for Impact on Colbert. Somebody shared it.

   8. SSSturgill Simpson15:21

      Yeah.

   9. JLJustin Laseck15:21

      And, you know, I hadn't seen it basically since we did it in 2016, and it's almost a completely different song.

   10. SSSturgill Simpson15:27

       Right.

   11. JLJustin Laseck15:28

       Mm-hmm.

   12. SSSturgill Simpson15:28

       Yeah.

   13. JLJustin Laseck15:28

       Like, you could re- literally see the, the changes from 2016 to now. It's, it's amazing.

   14. SSSturgill Simpson15:34

       Yeah, so we made this record June of 2017 and had to sit on it, couldn't play it, any of it. You know, you go out, and then you do the other thing. So now, almost two, almost two and a half years later w- from the time we recorded it in the studio when I was writing those lyrics, we were making this music in the, in the moment, we'll go out. We've been rehearsing for two weeks, and it's already at a point like, "Shit, w- I wish we could've recorded it now," 'cause you have all these ideas that you just-

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:00

       Right.

   16. SSSturgill Simpson16:00

       ... don't have in that moment. And then you get a year and a half later on a tour playing that material, it's a whole other animal, you know, because you've, you just found all these little idiosyncratic nuances and things that you can flourish that you just don't think about when you're in a con- control room for 18 hours a day.

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:18

       Is that a common tactic, th- where you're always changing your, your songs? You're always fucking with them and continuing to-

   18. SSSturgill Simpson16:26

       I hope so.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:26

       Yeah.

   20. JLJustin Laseck16:27

       It should be.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:27

       But does it comment with other artists?

   22. JLJustin Laseck16:29

       It should be.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:30

       (coughs) It should be?

   24. JLJustin Laseck16:30

       It should be if they're, you know, worth a shit.

   25. SSSturgill Simpson16:33

       (laughs)

   26. JLJustin Laseck16:34

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:34

       (laughs) But is that a normal thing, like when you guys get together and talk about how you make songs? Like comedians talk about how they make jokes.

   28. SSSturgill Simpson16:41

       We don't really talk about it.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:42

       You guys don't ever get together?

   30. SSSturgill Simpson16:43

       I mean, I'll, I'll write lyrics and stuff or maybe have like a rough idea, structure, and form. But these guys are all, like, bonafide musical geniuses, man. They're all... And, like, their flavor... That's why, you know, like, on this record, I'd never done it before but, um, at a certain point, anybody that's in the room is contributing wh- whether they're writing the songs or not, just their presence, the energy they bring to that track. Like, they're, y- y- if, if you got a guy that plays the perfect thing the first take, y- what are you really producing? You know what I mean?
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah, yeah, he actually…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      band, right?

   2. MMMiles Miller30:01

      Yeah, yeah, he actually ...

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:02

      There's, like, pre-Joe Walsh Eagles.

   4. SSSturgill Simpson30:05

      Joe Walsh makes everything better.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      (laughs) Joe Walsh is a savage.

   6. MMMiles Miller30:08

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:09

      Yeah. Victim of Love. Anybody who doesn't love that song can fuck off. It's a great goddamn song.

   8. SSSturgill Simpson30:17

      This is, uh ... Oh, do we even, did we introduce you properly? No? Okay, that was Justin.

   9. MMMiles Miller30:26

      (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:28

       I think we did introduce. It's Mike Tyson Weed-

   11. CBChuck Bartels30:30

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:30

       ... ladies and gentlemen.

   13. MMMiles Miller30:30

       Mike Tyson.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       Last day.

   15. CBChuck Bartels30:31

       I'm hanging out with these guys because I'm a Green Beret, and I got hurt, and you saw the show last night. So, I'm speaking at the shows 'cause, uh, Sturgill on his own... Well, let me back up. I got blown up in March and I was in the hospital. Previous year, I'd like, uh, come off of a deployment. I had, like, 11 months before the second one. Was a bit down in the, down in the dumps. Got, got divorced. Had a dude die on the first trip, so it was kind of like, poof. It was real rough to deal with. And then, was listening to these dudes quite a bit, and then led into the next deployment. I was there a month. Boom. Almost just died pretty hard. Um, teammates saved me and, uh, we had blood on the ground. Like, I got blood on, on target and then they made a hellacious movement to get me to medevac. Long story short, I'm eating dinner in the hospital, one of the first meals jamming out to these dudes, and I was like, "Mom, I wanna, I wanna meet Sturgill Simpson." And then she tried to get a hold of him, SOCOM eventually did, and, uh, he came, hung out for, like, two hours. Uh, I made, uh, my friend, now General Beaudette, wait, like, 15 minutes so that we could finish (laughs) talking about what we were talking about, which when you're, when you're an enlisted dude, you don't make generals wait. But (laughs) I was on a lot of ketamine, so it was, it was sweet. But, uh, then, uh, Sturgill had it on his ow- had it on his own accord to, like, donate to the foundation. So, this little tour going on that coincides with the actual album release is donating to the Special Forces Foundation. So, um, that helps Gold Star families, which are the families that remained of the- remained of the friends that got killed on this trip. Uh, so there were four Green Berets and two EOD techs. And, uh... So, that money's going to them, and that's, that's what I care about. I don't... Like, I'm alive. I don't have, uh, any legs below my knees, for those that can't... Well, you can't see my legs on the video anyway, but... And I don't have my testicles either, so that's a different set of challenges. But I, I don't care about getting taken care of other than the normal army processes, but I want them to get taken care of from the foundation. So, I'm grateful to have these guys as friends now. They're awesome. They're amazing musicians, but amazing people. And then I'm grateful to be here and just to push that out, so... People are coming to the shows, all that money goes to the, the foundation and then people can, uh, go on the foundation's website, which is specialforcesfoundation.org. And, uh, yeah, I appreciate it.

   16. JRJoe Rogan33:00

       That's fucking awesome, man.

   17. CBChuck Bartels33:01

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan33:01

       That's really, really, really cool. That's really cool that you're doing this. And, um, and thank you for coming here and telling everybody this. You know, this is, um... It's a great way to... It's a great way to help out and, and your music, you know, to connect it to that, I think that's, that's just a fucking incredible thing. It's really cool. You know, when you were sending me the text messages telling me that you were going to the hospital, you know, it's very touching.

   19. MMMiles Miller33:30

       It's... It was like, uh... Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan33:34

       Yeah, you were... You know, you could tell you were seriously moved by this. And, you know, for someone like you who truly understands the consequences of war, like, the physical consequences in a way that none of us will ever understand, you know, it's, it's very... Not just... It's brave of you to talk about this-

   21. CBChuck Bartels33:53

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan33:53

       ... but it's also, it's so, so valuable. So valuable for everybody that, that hasn't served to, to understand what it really is. So, thank you for that.

   23. CBChuck Bartels34:02

       Well, I always say I really like combat 'cause I was in a lot of it, uh, relatively speaking. Bu- bunch of guys have been in way more combat, bunch of people have treated more casualties. I'm a medic, but I was in a fair amount, almost got killed on the first trip a good handful of times and then, uh... So, I just don't like the war aspect. When you see your friends get killed (laughs) and, uh, you're stuck in a hospital bed. On top of all this stuff that's... You know, I didn't shit for a week, I pissed blood for a week, I've had tons of nights of excruciating pain. That's the life of an amputee or there are guys that are worse than me, so I'm just grateful for having what I have. And, uh... Yeah. That's the beginning of it. Like, especially on ketamine (laughs) , when you're going through all that and you're just like... I was telling, like, the people that took the trash out in the room, like, "Hey, I'm grateful for you, brother." (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan34:52

       Shh.

   25. CBChuck Bartels34:53

       "Right on, brother." (laughs)

   26. MMMiles Miller34:54

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan34:54

       What is, uh, what is ketamine like after catastrophic in- injury like that? Does it relieve the pain? Does it just put you in another dimension?

   28. CBChuck Bartels35:04

       So, ketamine is a, an MDA.

   29. JRJoe Rogan35:06

       Pull this sucker right...

   30. CBChuck Bartels35:07

       Yeah.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Thanks. Thanks. …

   1. SSSturgill Simpson45:00

      know, these people ... (sighs) but then wh- when I went back, we ... The second time I went to see him, I was there a couple of days and it was like just in a matter of short time, it was leaps and bounds. He, he was in the gym on one leg like fucking busting out 20 pull-ups and everything, you know. It was just kind of like, there's gotta be something we can (laughs) anything you can do to help in whatever way. And, and these guys have been ... Since I've known him, I've never once ever heard him ask for anything. His only concerns were like for the families of the guys that, that didn't make it. You know? So ... It's just like really wh- around an album release, if I'm gonna have a bunch of attention on me, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put attention on what other people can do to help these guys-

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:45

      Thanks. Thanks.

   3. SSSturgill Simpson45:45

      ... and their families 'cause they're, you know, the sacrifices is ... Especially sitting in these rooms and looking at these dudes, man, I can't even ... You can't ... You know? What do you, what do you, what do you call that?

   4. JRJoe Rogan46:01

      Yeah. Well, I wanna help so, uh, after the show, let's, uh, figure out what we can do to jump in.

   5. SSSturgill Simpson46:09

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan46:09

      I wanna, I wanna help, so, uh, help with the podcast, help with some comedy shows maybe, do ... Just whatever we could do. But, uh-

   7. CBChuck Bartels46:16

      I appreciate that.

   8. JRJoe Rogan46:17

      I'm m- m- ... You know. Just listen, I'm blown away by all this as much as I think all these people are listening and, and watching. This is, um ... It's beautiful that you're doing this, man. And I think that, you know ... I mean, it's inspiring me to do something. I think it's probably inspiring to a bunch of other people and that's, that's, that's those things that people talk about s- ... One thing that you might experience or hear in life that-

   9. SSSturgill Simpson46:39

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan46:39

       ... sort of changes your world view and moves you in a better direction. Like this is, this could be one of those things, you know?

   11. SSSturgill Simpson46:48

       Well ...

   12. JRJoe Rogan46:49

       You're a good man.

   13. SSSturgill Simpson46:49

       That's not ... Well, I'm not-

   14. JRJoe Rogan46:50

       But thank you.

   15. SSSturgill Simpson46:51

       ... fucking anything, man. He's ... it's a ... I'm just a dude. Just a dude.

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:56

       Well, you're just an awesome dude. All you guys, it's cool. I'm, I'm very happy that you're bringing awareness to this and I'm real happy that you're doing that. Makes me feel great.

   17. SSSturgill Simpson47:06

       And it's not ... You know, like Justin said, the, the war side of it is the, the, the tragedy I guess. Um, so it's not like, you know, right or left, it's just like this is the reality of it and people are making these sacrifices for you and then when they come home, what do we do for them? You know?

   18. JRJoe Rogan47:25

       It's a hard f- thought for people to accept that war is inevitable. It's a, a hard thought. And it doesn't seem like it's inevitable 'cause it's not inevitable in this room. I mean, if we were the last people on Earth and there was a bunch of food and places to sleep, I think we'd probably not kill each other.

   19. SSSturgill Simpson47:43

       (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan47:43

       We probably wouldn't go to war. Right? (laughs) It's like, what is the number where you go to war? Is it a million? Is it two million? Is it separated by oceans? Is it just mountains or boundaries? But the fact that no one thinks that war can be solved, like no one, no one that I know thinks that in our lifetime, there'll be no war. There has never been a period where someone on Earth that's human hasn't been going to war with each other. It's a horrible truth of being a person. And nobody, nobody knows it the way you do. So for you to come on and, and tell your story the way you just did, I, I appreciate the fuck out of that, man. And ... (sighs)

   21. CBChuck Bartels48:26

       I would just want people ... If, if, if they hear that and it moves them, it's more of like a, a just be, uh, grateful on a regular basis for what ... for anything.

   22. JRJoe Rogan48:38

       Yeah.

   23. CBChuck Bartels48:38

       I mean-Steven Pinker was on your show. I ended up FaceTiming with him as a result of all this. But like, he has that book about basically the, the enlightenment worked and we still have war and then there are people still fighting it. Uh, but overall, the world is continuing to improve and like, (laughs) steadily getting better and fewer people are dying from genocide and war. But it still exists, so do I want the respect for war, if someone is wanting to go to war, you know, if someone is gonna be a commander-in-chief, and that's a, that's a heavy thing to, like, toss back and forth.

   24. JRJoe Rogan49:13

       Yeah, extremely.

   25. CBChuck Bartels49:14

       'Cause it, it's, it means that I may never have kids 'cause I don't have my balls, you know? Like, like, that you, there's sacrifice. Like, I, I... And I'm the one that lived, and I didn't have any kids, but like, my friends have four girls. My other, my other friend has three kids. So like, when you're... If you're gonna move the chess piece to war, then we need to understand the implications of what that means and try to do everything in political power, in state strategy, to avoid overt war, 'cause it's-

   26. JRJoe Rogan49:42

       Yeah.

   27. CBChuck Bartels49:43

       ... especially nasty.

   28. SSSturgill Simpson49:44

       Like near-pier?

   29. JRJoe Rogan49:47

       You mean like-

   30. CBChuck Bartels49:47

       That's-
5. 1:00:00 – 1:09:41

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      would want less losers.

   2. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:01

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:00:01

      So how do you get less losers? You prevent them from ever becoming losers, but you help them when they're- they're kids during their develo- developmental period. You- I mean, spend more money on education. Spend more money on cleaning up impoverished neighborhoods and crime ridden neighborhoods. They- it's not impossible. It's not like fucking breathing on the sun. Like, it can be done. Like, neighborhoods can get better. They get better.

   4. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:23

      Right.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

      But the idea that there's so little time and effort put into fixing those parts of the- of our own country. I mean, we- we have the most resources. We have this fucking spectacular country filled with amazing people, and some of them just don't get a chance 'cause they're stuck in a rut from the moment they come out of their mother's body.

   6. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:43

      Mm-hmm.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:00:43

      They're stuck-

   8. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:44

      M-

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:44

      ... in this- this rut.

   10. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:45

       You've been assigned your lot.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:00:47

       You got fucked. You got a bad roll of the dice.

   12. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:49

       And that's a lot of countries, man. This is-

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:00:50

       Yeah.

   14. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:51

       ... one of the few countries where, like, anybody can just put the fucking boots down and make something happen. Like, you know?

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:00:55

       One of the few. Yeah.

   16. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:56

       A lot of co- like s- you know-... Japan, you pretty much know by second or third grade what your lot's gonna be, by your test scores already. Like, you know it's not like-

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:01:03

       (laughs)

   18. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:03

       You know if you're going to be working class or if you're going to university.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:01:07

       This country, we applaud when you started out poor.

   20. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:10

       Right.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

       We love it when, like, p- people who start out poor and then become successful, that's like our favorite shit. (laughs) It is, right? (laughs) Like, what do we, what does this country like more than a success story? Right. You know? Like, "He started out eating bread and all he ha- all he had is money to barely get to school and barely get home, but he keeps showing up every day." Everybody wants to hear that story. That's the fucking story.

   22. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:34

       Rocky heart, bro.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:01:36

       Yeah, bro.

   24. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:37

       (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:01:38

       (laughs) How many shows are you guys doing?

   26. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:40

       (smacks lips) Uh, we're doing six of these, just as like a conversation starter. But then the real tour will be... Oh, I should probably announce that, they told me to while we were here.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:01:48

       (laughs)

   28. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:49

       Uh, we're gonna do a US, full US tour starting mid or late February, and with myself and a young man named Tyler Childers opening.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:01:57

       I love that dude.

   30. SSSturgill Simpson1:01:58

       Yeah, we do too.

Episode duration: 2:37:33