Joe Rogan Experience #2348 - Lukas Nelson

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast.…

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays) We're up. Lucas, what's up?

   3. LNLukas Nelson0:14

      Hey, man.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      Good to talk to you, man. Thanks for being here.

   5. LNLukas Nelson0:17

      Good to be here. Yeah, I appreciate you having me.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:19

      I gotta tell you, you know, when I heard Willie Nelson's kid-

   7. LNLukas Nelson0:23

      Mm-hmm.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:23

      ... plays music, there's a thing that you always do, and I, I have to admit it. You do it, like, when the son of a great man, you always assume, "Well-"

   9. LNLukas Nelson0:33

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       "... he's probably mediocre." You know what I mean? And then you performed at McConaughey's ... that charity function thing, and you fucking killed it, man. You blew me away.

   11. LNLukas Nelson0:46

       Thank you.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       It was incredible, and I was like, "Wow." It was really cool to see, man. It was really exciting. It was really fun.

   13. LNLukas Nelson0:54

       Well, I appreciate that, you know.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       You were the highlight of the night, man. You really were.

   15. LNLukas Nelson0:57

       It's moments like those where I started to gain confidence, you know. I'd have, over the years, I'd go out and play, and I'd play my songs that I've written, and, I mean, I'd get crowds that would do that, you know. And so that gave me the confidence to keep going. And it ... and, and, I first started playing music in order to get closer to my father.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       Oh, wow.

   17. LNLukas Nelson1:21

       You know what I mean? So I, I, I ... he would be gone all the time.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:24

       Right.

   19. LNLukas Nelson1:25

       And I'd be missing him. And, uh, and so, in order to get close to him, I figured I, I need to speak the same musical language. And, uh, and so I learned young, and I wrote a song young, uh, that's on the new album, actually, I got. It's called You Were It. It's the first song I ever wrote when I was 11.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:45

       Wow.

   21. LNLukas Nelson1:45

       And my dad loved it so much that he covered it at the time, and he put it out on his album back in 2004, called It Always Will Be. The, the album was called It Always Will Be, and that gave me the confidence at a young age. Kris Kristofferson came up to me, and he's like, "Man, you don't have a choice but to be a songwriter."

   22. JRJoe Rogan2:05

       (laughs)

   23. LNLukas Nelson2:05

       And so I had all this inspiration at a young age. Kind of like an athlete at a certain point, you kind of have to look at, like, oh, well, if I have a talent at this, I have opp- like, I have connections in the industry, I need to work like I was gonna go to the Olympics on this, because it's something that I can do that will make it so that I never have to rely on my family or my father for anything.

   24. JRJoe Rogan2:31

       Right.

   25. LNLukas Nelson2:31

       You know?

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:32

       Yeah.

   27. LNLukas Nelson2:32

       I w- My whole goal in life is to discover who I am as an individual, you know?

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:39

       Is that, uh, part of the difficulty of growing up with an incredibly famous father?

   29. LNLukas Nelson2:45

       I think the ... You know, Viktor Frankl has a, um, a book, a very famous book called Man's Search for Meaning.

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:53

       Uh-huh.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah, yeah, yeah. (laughs)…

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      bit about the news, like, "War, famine, disease, AIDS, you go outside, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp."

   2. LNLukas Nelson15:05

      Yeah, yeah, yeah. (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:05

      "Where the fuck is all this shit happening?"

   4. LNLukas Nelson15:07

      Yeah, yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:07

      (laughs) "I think Ted Turner's making this sh- shit up 'cause his wife won't fuck him." (laughs)

   6. LNLukas Nelson15:12

      (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:12

      (laughs)

   8. LNLukas Nelson15:12

      Well, I'll... You know, look, I think it's out there.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:15

      Yeah.

   10. LNLukas Nelson15:15

       I think it's always been out there, but I think the way to combat it is to build strong local community.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:26

       Yeah.

   12. LNLukas Nelson15:26

       You know, and, and build, uh... You know, that's why I think regenerative, regenerative farming is really important, and trying to... And then, you know, voting for people that will support local agriculture and proper- properly grown food-

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:44

       Yeah.

   14. LNLukas Nelson15:44

       ... and properly, you know, like, sourced food, and the- the- these things are very important, you know.

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:48

       Well, yeah, that's certainly important for a community if you know exactly where your food's coming from.

   16. LNLukas Nelson15:52

       Mm-hmm.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:52

       I think we're, we're just so... It's not, you know... In the Bill Hicks days, it was just the news.

   18. LNLukas Nelson15:57

       Right.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       But now, I think the, the real problem that people have today is social media. And, uh-

   20. LNLukas Nelson16:03

       Mm-hmm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:03

       ... you know, I never... Uh, I very r- if I post things, I just post them and then get out of there. I don't read anything, and I very rarely read social media anymore. And since making that decision to kind of stay away from it, I think occasionally I have to dip in just to see what, what's... 'Cause I'm a comedian, it's part of the problem.

   22. LNLukas Nelson16:21

       Sure, you gotta know what's going on.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:22

       I, I need to know what people are doing, w- why everyone's so mad, what's happening.

   24. LNLukas Nelson16:27

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:28

       But, um, there's too many people that are on it all day long, and I think it's poison, I really do. I think it's bad for your mind. I think it, it, it, uh, generally attracts negativity. I think most of the stuff that people post is negative.

   26. LNLukas Nelson16:44

       Hm.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:44

       And they're complaining all the time, and, and, and then that gets into your mind and that gets into your, whatever, you know, your, your headset is, your headspace. And then you start thinking the way these people are thinking, and...

   28. LNLukas Nelson16:56

       I, I like to be informed on what I'm talking about, you know, I really do, and that takes a lot of time.

   29. JRJoe Rogan17:02

       Yeah.

   30. LNLukas Nelson17:02

       It's not something that I can look at something online that comes up and just have an immediate opinion on.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Right. …

   1. LNLukas Nelson30:00

      evil.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:01

      Right.

   3. LNLukas Nelson30:01

      The- there are people that have just been corrupted for whatever reasons to the point where you just need to remove them from the situation. But I don't tr- I try not to have hatred towards that. I just... I just sort of understand that they are where they are in their lives, and they- they got there for some reason.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:18

      Well, it's a cautionary tale for everyone.

   5. LNLukas Nelson30:20

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:20

      Th- that's the thing about...... today's access to information is you could see so many different cautionary tales. You can see so many different people that went down the absolute wrong road.

   7. LNLukas Nelson30:30

      Mm-hmm.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:31

      And you get to see them, and you get to shine a light on them in this very strange time. You get to see, like this, this is ... You could have been that person, anybody could have been that person. We're all-

   9. LNLukas Nelson30:44

      Oh, so easily, yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:44

       We're, we're, we're s- We have so many similarities, all of us do.

   11. LNLukas Nelson30:49

       Mm-hmm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       Th- And we have to recognize that your unique situation in life, your unique community, family, life experiences, all the things you've gone through, they've made you who you are today.

   13. LNLukas Nelson31:01

       Mm-hmm.

   14. JRJoe Rogan31:02

       (clicks tongue) Didn't have to be that way. You, you could've been i- in the worst circumstances, and there's people that are in the worst circumstances, and th- and they're a product of that. And that's the w- the weirdness of life. There's not necessarily good and evil. There's good and evil results.

   15. LNLukas Nelson31:19

       Mm-hmm.

   16. JRJoe Rogan31:20

       But humans inherently, unless there's some-

   17. LNLukas Nelson31:23

       We have both inside.

   18. JRJoe Rogan31:24

       Yeah, we have both inside, yeah.

   19. LNLukas Nelson31:25

       We're the yin and the yang.

   20. JRJoe Rogan31:26

       Yeah.

   21. LNLukas Nelson31:26

       You know?

   22. JRJoe Rogan31:27

       And I think you need that, unfortunately, too. I- We need to l- know that it exists-

   23. LNLukas Nelson31:32

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan31:33

       ... in order to grow.

   25. LNLukas Nelson31:34

       When people a- you know, ask m- You know, and I'm a very lucky human, so, like, I, I say all these things with a, hopefully, the right perspective that I am, um ... As far as, I'm in, like, the top 1% of the luckiest people, or probably even the, t- higher than that. You know, with access to clean water. I don't have to worry about-

   26. JRJoe Rogan31:59

       Sure.

   27. LNLukas Nelson31:59

       ... when I'm pulled over being shot. I don't ... You know?

   28. JRJoe Rogan32:01

       Yeah.

   29. LNLukas Nelson32:02

       There's, there's not ... I ... There are a lot of things that I can be very grateful for, and so when I make comments about these things, you know, I can only come from my own perspective, you know?

   30. JRJoe Rogan32:13

       Yeah, of course.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Right, and he just…

   1. NANarrator45:00

      Hi, Ren. I've been taking some time to be distant. I've been taking some time to be still. I've been taking some time to be by myself since my therapist told me I'm ill. And I've been making some progress lately, and I learned some new coping skills. So I haven't really needed you much, man. I think we need to just step back and chill. Ren, you sound more insane than I do. You think that those doctors are really there to guide you. Been through this a million times. Your civilian mind is so perfect, they're always being lied to. Okay, take another pill, boy. Drown yourself in the sound of white noise. Follow this 10-step program, rejoice. All your problems will be gone. Fucking dumb boy. Nah, mate. This time it's different, man. Trust me. I feel like things might be falling in place.

   2. LNLukas Nelson45:39

      Right, and he just has a whole conversation-

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:41

      Mmm.

   4. LNLukas Nelson45:41

      ... with his own mind, you know, his own ego.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:45

      Yeah.

   6. LNLukas Nelson45:45

      And it, and it tries to tell him, you kn- you know, that he's not worth shit, and then he's like, "No, wait, I'm getting myself together," and, and-

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:52

      Right.

   8. LNLukas Nelson45:52

      ... this whole conversation with him, uh, with ... And then, and then at the end, it talks about where good and evil isn't a battle, it's a dance, and no one ever wins.

   9. JRJoe Rogan46:04

      Yeah.

   10. LNLukas Nelson46:04

       You know, with- their battle with their ego, it- it's always just a dance, and it's always just kind of finding balance, you know? And there's a song I have on my album called All God Did, and it's, it's, it's actually the same concept, so ... And I wrote it before I heard that, but then when I heard that, I was like, "Oh, shit, that's way better." (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan46:21

       (laughs)

   12. LNLukas Nelson46:21

       (laughs) Uh, you know, but it's great, you know? And it's super f- ... It's, it's beautifully written. I mean, you know, uh- it- it's very ... You could tell all his influences, um, um, and then he just kind of adds onto that, which is-

   13. JRJoe Rogan46:31

       That dance is critical.

   14. LNLukas Nelson46:32

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan46:32

       You need that dance.

   16. LNLukas Nelson46:33

       Yeah, exactly.

   17. JRJoe Rogan46:34

       That dance is ... I, I think this is one of the problems with people that don't exercise! I think the struggle of exercise is oftentimes conflated with vanity.

   18. LNLukas Nelson46:45

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan46:46

       And, uh, I don't think it's that. I think you, you can keep your body covered up to the end of time and never be proud of it, and you will benefit greatly from the struggle of exercise. 'Cause I think the struggle of exercise is, is mental.

   20. LNLukas Nelson46:59

       Mmm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan47:00

       As much as it is physical. There's a dance. The- it's g- ... Like, when I talk to Goggins about it, like, he's the most bizarre of all cases-

   22. LNLukas Nelson47:09

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan47:09

       ... because he's doing it all in silence. He's doing it all by himself. And occasionally, he lets people peer into it, but it's- it's going on right now. Like, right now, that guy is out there running probably 30 miles today-

   24. LNLukas Nelson47:22

       Sure.

   25. JRJoe Rogan47:22

       ... with destroyed knees.

   26. LNLukas Nelson47:23

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan47:24

       Like, he's a, he's a real freak. And when I talk to him about it, he's like, "Uh, I'm downloading knowledge."

   28. LNLukas Nelson47:28

       Mmm, yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan47:29

       That's what he says.

   30. LNLukas Nelson47:30

       That's great.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

   Something. Yeah, some... Well,…

   1. LNLukas Nelson1:00:00

      now we're uploaded into the AI system, you know, so like something will survive, you know, some artifact.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:06

      Something. Yeah, some... Well, whatever we are will lead to whatever comes next.

   3. LNLukas Nelson1:00:11

      There's a great episode of Star Trek called The Inner Light. Have you ever seen that?

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:17

      The first Star Trek, the real one?

   5. LNLukas Nelson1:00:18

      The next generation.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:19

      Oh, that's bullshit Star Trek. Whoa.

   7. LNLukas Nelson1:00:23

      (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

      Whoa.

   9. LNLukas Nelson1:00:25

      Them's fighting words, man.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:27

       You're a Picard guy?

   11. LNLukas Nelson1:00:28

       Hell yeah, I'm a Picard guy.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:30

       Uh...

   13. LNLukas Nelson1:00:30

       I'd vote for him right now.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:31

       That's hilarious. Me- meanwhile, he probably could win.

   15. LNLukas Nelson1:00:34

       Diplomacy, man.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:36

       Th- so this is it, The Inner Light?

   17. LNLukas Nelson1:00:37

       The Inner Light. Here's the story. Okay, here's the story. They come across a probe. All right?

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:43

       Mm-hmm.

   19. LNLukas Nelson1:00:43

       Because they're exploring space. Obviously, if you don't know Star Trek, they're exploring space and the whole, their, their whole mission is to go where no man has gone before.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:00:52

       Right.

   21. LNLukas Nelson1:00:52

       And so they find this probe, and as they're scanning the probe, it zaps Picard and he goes unconscious, and he wakes up in this...... on this world where he remembers the spaceship, he remembers where he was, but he's got a wife and a family, and kids, and this world is being threatened by an exploding sun. And so, he's got a lot of scientific knowledge, so he, over the next 20 years in this world-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:19

       Wow.

   23. LNLukas Nelson1:01:20

       ... he eventually grows old and accepts his fate that he has no idea how he got here, but he's gotta live this life now, and he starts to love his wife and his kids. He starts to try and save this planet from the exploding sun. He ends up not being able to, and then as he dies, he wakes up back on the spaceship, with only 20 seconds having gone by on the spaceship.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:44

       Whoa.

   25. LNLukas Nelson1:01:45

       And the probe was a- w- had been sent by that civilization, they knew they were gonna be destroyed, so they uploaded this thing that, like, would let Picard experience what happened to their civilization and tell their story.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:01

       Wow. Do you-

   27. LNLukas Nelson1:02:01

       And s- and so, and he did it, experienced it, he experienced a lifetime of 40 year- or 25, whatever years before he died-

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:08

       In 20 seconds.

   29. LNLukas Nelson1:02:08

       ... in the span of 20 seconds and then woke up at the moment of his death in that other life, and then was able to now tell the story of this, of this forgotten civilization in space.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:02:19

       Whoa.
6. 1:15:00 – 1:17:17

   Yeah, that's a great…

   1. LNLukas Nelson1:15:00

      a win-win. (laughs)

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:15:01

      Yeah, that's a great way to look at it.

   3. LNLukas Nelson1:15:02

      You know? It's like, wow, I'm, I'm so lucky to just h- be able to observe, be able to play, be able to sleep well for the most part. (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:15:11

      Yeah, it's like you're, you're a chef for the soul.

   5. LNLukas Nelson1:15:14

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:15:14

      You know? Like, a chef provides food. It's a win-win.

   7. LNLukas Nelson1:15:17

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:15:17

      People eat. It's wonderful. You enjoy the food.

   9. LNLukas Nelson1:15:20

      Oh, man.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:15:20

       It sustains you.

   11. LNLukas Nelson1:15:22

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:15:22

       And I think music is, uh, that's a lot of what a musician is. They're a chef for the soul.

   13. LNLukas Nelson1:15:26

       Jimi Hendrix. You-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:15:27

       Oh, yeah.

   15. LNLukas Nelson1:15:28

       ... you're a huge fan.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:15:29

       Huge. Yeah.

   17. LNLukas Nelson1:15:30

       Yeah. I, he was... O- other than my dad, it was Jimi and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:15:35

       Oh, yeah.

   19. LNLukas Nelson1:15:35

       And Stevie Ray being here-

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:15:36

       Yeah.

   21. LNLukas Nelson1:15:36

       ... from Austin, I sort of had a special affinity for, um, even though Hendrix, um...

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:15:43

       Stevie Ray is the only one who's allowed to do Voodoo Child.

   23. LNLukas Nelson1:15:46

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:15:46

       Other, other than Hendrix.

   25. LNLukas Nelson1:15:48

       I, I think you're probably right there. You know? I mean, really.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:15:50

       I mean, other people can. I'm just joking around.

   27. LNLukas Nelson1:15:52

       No, no. I think I actually heard you say that with Charlie-

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:15:54

       Yeah.

   29. LNLukas Nelson1:15:54

       ... and I was like, "Yeah, I think I agree."

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:15:56

       It's kind of, kind of right, 'cause he's the only one that I can listen to-

Episode duration: 2:24:39