Joe Rogan Experience #1648 - Reggie Watts

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drum music) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. RWReggie Watts0:00

      (drum music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience. (drum music)

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) We were just staring at-

   4. NANarrator0:15

      Rolling Stones.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      ... shooting stars-

   6. RWReggie Watts0:16

      (laughs) Of course.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      ... and black holes. Imagine what a black hole sounds like. What do you think it sounds like, don't you-

   8. RWReggie Watts0:19

      I think, didn't someone, uh, uh, they, they simulated it or something? Some physics, physicists simulated it or something?

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:25

      Really?

   10. RWReggie Watts0:26

       Yeah, it's like-

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:26

       See if you can find out.

   12. RWReggie Watts0:27

       It does make a, it does make a sound.

   13. NANarrator0:28

       Well, that's the best part of Interstellar.

   14. RWReggie Watts0:30

       Oh, yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:30

       Wow.

   16. NANarrator0:30

       I mean, my favorite part of it-

   17. RWReggie Watts0:31

       Oh, man.

   18. NANarrator0:31

       ... at Chinese Theatre, I mean, it was so loud and fucking awesome.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:34

       Yeah. Oh, you want to see it there?

   20. NANarrator0:36

       I want to see it again there so bad.

   21. RWReggie Watts0:38

       Oh, man.

   22. JRJoe Rogan0:38

       IMAX is the place to see it, right?

   23. NANarrator0:39

       That's what it... It was the IMAX theatre-

   24. RWReggie Watts0:41

       Yes.

   25. NANarrator0:41

       ... he made it at. Like, he was testing it there to make sure it was to par and it was this, that way.

   26. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       That's a bold movie, man.

   27. NANarrator0:48

       (laughs)

   28. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       Very bold movie.

   29. RWReggie Watts0:49

       Oh, yeah. Super sick too.

   30. JRJoe Rogan0:50

       Because think of all the, the, the elements that people have to follow along, especially the ending. Spoiler alert.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Really? …

   1. RWReggie Watts15:00

      and I guess organs as well. Um, but the... It sounds so good. (laughs) It almost sounds sometimes better.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      Really?

   3. RWReggie Watts15:08

      Sometimes. Just because it's, it's like... Imagine the optimal version of a Rhodes, like, Mark II or something like that or whatever, like, a very popular Rhodes. Uh-

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:17

      That's a type of piano?

   5. RWReggie Watts15:18

      Yeah, it's a t- Yeah, so a Rhodes electric piano. It's what you heard the most in the '70s. That and Wurlitzer. Wurlitzer sounds more plucky. It's like a... You've heard it, like, (singing) ooh, you're making me miss-

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:28

      Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   7. RWReggie Watts15:28

      ... (singing) being in America so... That's a Wurlitzer.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:31

      Right.

   9. RWReggie Watts15:31

      (singing) Boo-boo-beh, boh-boo-bay, tay-tuh-tay uh-day. Um, so you've got that, and then you've got Rhodes which more like, um, uh, Fly Like an Eagle, which is like-

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       Oh.

   11. RWReggie Watts15:40

       (singing) Bee-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo. All that stuff from the High South.

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:43

       (singing) Doo-doo, doo-doo.

   13. RWReggie Watts15:44

       Yeah. (singing) Doo, doo, bah, bah, bah. Um, so... And the Rhodes is a little bit more versatile. Wurlitzer is very, "Oh, that's a Wurlitzer." But, uh, you know, all these pianos, it's like, imagine them at their peak condition, 'cause they're always... They're mechanical, right? So it's like there's always a... You have to send them to a tech to tune 'em up, you know. Maybe the pickups aren't working right, or maybe, um, you know, there's an element that's not functioning properly. So imagine the most optimal version of that instrument in, uh... Just that stays constant, and that's kind of, like, what a, what a Nord is. And I know that there'll be people out there going like, "Those n-" You know, there's a-

   14. JRJoe Rogan16:15

       Right.

   15. RWReggie Watts16:15

       ... difference. But in general, uh, you know, keyboard players I know, they're very comfortable playing, like, like, my friend who has a Rhodes, Hammond B3, Clavinet, dude. He loved the Clavi-... And the Clavinet s- kind of sounds like a, like, (singing) ba, bah, dent, dun, dent, dun, dun, dun. (singing)

   16. JRJoe Rogan16:30

       Oh, okay.

   17. RWReggie Watts16:34

       Uh, um, not the vocal part, but there's a keyboard and that's, um, and that is the, uh, Wurlitzer. Or, not the Wurlitzer, it's, uh, the Clavinet with a wah-wah pedal, which was very, very popular. But he played all of it, Rhodes, Clavinet, Hammond B3. And it was insane to watch him, like, drag this to all the gigs. Like, he dragged a full Hammond B3 and, and, uh, like, we're carrying it like a sarcophagus, you know, like, out of this van and then, like, into the gig, plus the cabinet, into the Leslie, the rotating speaker. So it was huge. I mean, it was huge. And then he would put his Clavinet on top of that and he had his Rhodes. And so every gig we had all those things. But then the Nord came out and he was like, "Oh, fuck it." (laughs) He started playing the Nord because the Nord sounded so good. And that was in the early days. And now it's insane.

   18. JRJoe Rogan17:16

       And it had everything.

   19. RWReggie Watts17:18

       It, it had... Well, kind of. Yes, it does. You can... But you would still probably want to sep-... You'd get two. You'd get one that's, like, like a stage, which is for, like, piano sounds, and then there's one that's kind of, like, more oriented to Rhodes. And then you have an HP series which is semi-weighted, so it feels more like a Rhodes. So it feels... It's got a mechanical weighting as opposed to synthesizers which feels like you're pressing a nothing.

   20. JRJoe Rogan17:41

       Mm.

   21. RWReggie Watts17:41

       Like, it's just super... You could, like, solo all over that thing with no resistance. But the HP series has, is semi-weighted. And then you got the Hammond, uh, version which has, like, stacks and drawbars on it. So it really goes... And then you can hook that into an actual Leslie cabinet. So they make smaller Leslie cabinets. So you have a small Leslie cabinet, a Nord organ simulator, and you've got a Hammond B3.

   22. JRJoe Rogan18:03

       So what these simulators do... Are they literally recording the sound of an actual piano?

   23. RWReggie Watts18:08

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan18:09

       So it's not a, a sound that the thing makes.

   25. RWReggie Watts18:12

       No.

   26. JRJoe Rogan18:12

       It's... You're just pressing a play.

   27. RWReggie Watts18:14

       Yes. As far as I understand it, um, yeah, they're... Essentially they're doing oversampling or they're sampling, um, multiple, multiple times, uh, the instrument. It's like a... Think of it as, like, a super hi-res scan of the instrument.

   28. JRJoe Rogan18:25

       And then it, uh, it's all in, like, w- how it's projected through to the amplifier-

   29. RWReggie Watts18:31

       That's correct.

   30. JRJoe Rogan18:32

       ... to make sure the sound actually resembles a piano or recreates-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   What's a normal bass…

   1. RWReggie Watts30:00

      Um, and then you got like, um, uh, I'm forgetting his name. Clark, his last name was Clark, but he was a giant hands amazing bass player. Uh, or Pino Palladino, you know? Like, they're these monster bass players. They have, like, five-string basses, you know? Just, like, thick-necked basses and they're playing-

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:17

      What's a normal bass have? How many strings? Four?

   3. RWReggie Watts30:19

      Four, four strings, yeah, and then you got five, sometimes even six string basses.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:22

      Really?

   5. RWReggie Watts30:22

      They're just insane. And so you got, like, people that are hybridizing. It's like, "This is my instrument. I learned on a four string. I can, like, hold it down. I can do this, I can do that, but I want more." So they start figuring out ways to sneak in, like, "Oh, now I'm gonna make a sound if I hit the body of the instrument, the pickups, I put in a different pickup. So when I hit the body of s- of the instrument, it sounds like a drum sound. So now I'm, like, hitting it, strumming, doing, uh, hammer-ons so I don't actually need to be strumming and I'm hitting, doing melodies, still playing a melody on the fretboard and then, then pulling, slapping." Uh, you know, it's, it's crazy. But, um, yes, but to your point, musicianship, to see it is amazing. But there are, there are musicians, um-... I'm trying to think of his name. Short-term memory gone. He plays a grid, uh, which was like pretty popular like six or seven years ago. And there's just a, it's just a grid of lights and you assign sounds to it. And he's (laughs) playing both of them with his hands. So he's playing samples, and beats, and rhythms that sounds like electronic tracks. And when you're hearing it, you're like, "Oh, he's just playing along to a track." It's like, no, he's doing everything at once. So it sounds like a full-on techno track.

   6. JRJoe Rogan31:29

      Huh.

   7. RWReggie Watts31:29

      But he's like (beatboxes) , you know? And, but he's like, "Do..." (beatboxes) You know, it's insane to me.

   8. JRJoe Rogan31:37

      It's funny how people like to dismiss certain things as being, like, either not legitimate or not good enou-... Like scratching, like DJ's.

   9. RWReggie Watts31:48

      Oh, man.

   10. JRJoe Rogan31:48

       Like some DJ's, they, they y- yeah, they are sampling other people's music.

   11. RWReggie Watts31:54

       Mm-hmm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan31:54

       But the way they're putting it together is unique and it's really entertaining. Like there's something cool about it.

   13. RWReggie Watts32:01

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan32:01

       Like, you know, Russell Peters is a legit g- DJ.

   15. RWReggie Watts32:04

       Oh, I didn't know that.

   16. JRJoe Rogan32:04

       You didn't know that?

   17. RWReggie Watts32:05

       Mm-mm. Mm-mm.

   18. JRJoe Rogan32:05

       Yeah, Russell's legit. And you talk to Russell about "DJ's"-

   19. RWReggie Watts32:08

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan32:08

       ... that are not really DJ's.

   21. RWReggie Watts32:09

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan32:09

       They just press play on their laptop.

   23. RWReggie Watts32:11

       Yes.

   24. JRJoe Rogan32:11

       He gets furious.

   25. RWReggie Watts32:13

       Yes.

   26. JRJoe Rogan32:13

       He fucking hates it because he really spins records.

   27. RWReggie Watts32:16

       Yes.

   28. JRJoe Rogan32:16

       He's got the headphones, he's doing the whole thing, and-

   29. RWReggie Watts32:18

       Yeah, he's mixing live. Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan32:19

       Yeah, exactly.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   (laughs) …

   1. RWReggie Watts45:00

      as a writer there, and they suggested I do a set there to be, to do a live comedy set. And, uh, the producers were, I remember the producers calling me. We had a phone meeting or whatever with my manager and stuff. And they were just like, um, "Yeah, do you have any examples of what you're gonna do?" And I'm like, "No." Like, um, "Do you have a transcript?" I'm like, "No." And they're like, "Well, do you... Are you... Uh, what? Oh, well, we'll get back to you." And then they, they let me do it. And I remember, like, the producer paging the curtain for me before I was going out, and he's like, "You're not gonna do anything, like, embarrassing-

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:30

      (laughs)

   3. RWReggie Watts45:30

      ... to, to us." And I'm like, "No, man. No, it's fine." You know, whatever. And they let me go out, and I knew that they were, like, so nervous about it, 'cause they didn't have any, you know, there was nothing to verify what, what I was gonna do. And then I did my set, and it was totally fine, right? But, um, the thing is, like, I've built in the ability for people that you're either gonna, like, want me or not.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:49

      Yeah.

   5. RWReggie Watts45:49

      It's not like-

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:50

      Right, you-

   7. RWReggie Watts45:50

      ... "Can you modify or..."

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:52

      You figure your way through the net.

   9. RWReggie Watts45:54

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       Yeah.

   11. RWReggie Watts45:54

       I mean, I mean if they say, like, "You shouldn't swear," I'll do that. That's easy.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:58

       Yeah.

   13. RWReggie Watts45:58

       That's, uh, super easy. I don't swear a lot. And when I do swear, it's just to be absurd.

   14. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       Yeah.

   15. RWReggie Watts46:03

       But, uh, but, you know, it's funny. It reminds me of, uh, you were talking about, like, kind of people coming in and ruining ideas or whatever. It's like, my whole thing with, like, uh, you know, I started this, a little bit of a plug, but I started my own app called Watts App. Um, and, uh... (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:17

       What is it?

   17. RWReggie Watts46:20

       It's a, it's like a... Think of it as, like, my own, um, uh, social media, uh, account, if you will. And so it's just like, essentially like a glorified website, right? But it's an app. You go on there. All my videos are on there, or videos that I want to be on there. My, I have this stupid web series called Drone, Droneversations, which is me interviewing people, but it's all shot on drones. And the drone-

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:44

       Mm-hmm.

   19. RWReggie Watts46:44

       The drone, the drones are super loud and you can barely hear the conversation.

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:49

       (laughs)

   21. RWReggie Watts46:50

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:50

       How long did you develop this app for?

   23. RWReggie Watts46:52

       Uh, we developed it for, like... So my friend, uh, Oliver Thomas Klein, who's a genius, um, it probably took maybe like a, maybe a year to build-

   24. JRJoe Rogan47:01

       'Cause it's-

   25. RWReggie Watts47:01

       ... or less.

   26. JRJoe Rogan47:02

       It's a conversation, getting an app going. I-

   27. RWReggie Watts47:05

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:06

       ... uh, I was looking to get in an app going a few years back.

   29. RWReggie Watts47:08

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:08

       And I met with some people and the numbers they were throwing around-
5. 1:00:00 – 1:07:59

   What? …

   1. RWReggie Watts1:00:00

      a crypto wallet (laughs) and, uh, you get the crypto wallet set up, you put money in it, it's converted into the crypto of your choice. So let's say ETH, which is very popular. Ethereum.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

      What?

   3. RWReggie Watts1:00:10

      Ethereum is a-

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:11

      That's a very popular crypto?

   5. RWReggie Watts1:00:12

      ... is a token. Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:12

      Do you know about that?

   7. RWReggie Watts1:00:13

      Mm-mm.

   8. Yeah. ETH.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:14

      Fucking nerds. Both of you.

   10. RWReggie Watts1:00:16

       E-T-H-

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:00:16

       (laughs)

   12. RWReggie Watts1:00:16

       (laughs)

   13. Actually it's, uh... Uh, but yeah, so, so these are some-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:21

       So these are NFTs?

   15. RWReggie Watts1:00:21

       ... NFTs that we created. So, so see that one on the, the very top left?

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:24

       Yeah.

   17. RWReggie Watts1:00:25

       That's, that's, um, a hol- that's the Looking Glass holographic display.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:28

       Oh, wow.

   19. RWReggie Watts1:00:29

       And, um... And so that device, we made a, an NFT, me and my friend Panther Modern, who... His name is Brady Keene. Check out his music. It's fucking disgusting. But, uh... So he made the 3D gra- motion graphics and the, the TVs and design, all of that stuff with the wires. We shot a bunch of video of me doing the thing. He put- inserted them on the TV screens. And then we, um, formatted it. It's on a loop. It's got music with it. And, uh, that is then put into this device. And so I'm trying to push this phrase called phygital. Right? Meaning the convergence of physical and digital media.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:03

       Mm-hmm.

   21. RWReggie Watts1:01:03

       So that's like a perfect representation because it's... The NFT is sold with the device. So when you bid on it and, you know, you win it or whatever, that device is sent to you. There's laser etching on the back that says the name of the piece, who made it and so forth.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:17

       Mm-hmm.

   23. RWReggie Watts1:01:18

       But technically it's that unit with the hologram. So it's the world's first holographic NFT, which was bought by, uh, Lee... What's his name? Charlie Lee? Charlie Lee who created Litecoin, another cryptocurrency.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:34

       (laughs)

   25. RWReggie Watts1:01:34

       He bought it for almost nothing. And, uh, so he now has the physical unit that has the hologram in it. And you could ostensibly just put it on a shelf and call it good, or you can use the display to upload more holographic stuff if you want to. So that was the first holographic NFT. Those other videos that you saw cycling were just standard, "Here's a video. We've made it in NFT."

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:53

       But then someone can't replicate that video?

   27. RWReggie Watts1:01:56

       Exactly. They hold the license to it.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:58

       Right. But if you just replicate it and have it on your laptop, how is someone gonna stop you?

   29. RWReggie Watts1:02:02

       I mean, I guess if you're trying to make money from it, then-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:02:04

       Right, but you wouldn't...

Episode duration: 2:57:24