What A World Podcast

Tucked away in a private corner of Sunset Sound studios, producer Joe Chiccarelli has his own slice of paradise in the hills of Hollywood. The studio is one of the last legendary music production studios left in Hollywood and was originally made to score the old Disney films in the late 1950’s. Since then it has seen musical legends galore pass through its halls. The list includes artists like the Rolling Stones, Queen, The Doobie Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and on.

“That’s kind of the best thing in the world about making music for me is that every day, every project is different. Every project is a new challenge in the way that im going to approach it. It’s problem solving”

Having lived through analog tape recording and now working in the digital world, Joe has adapted and navigated his way through over 40 years of changing recording technologies in the ever evolving entertainment industry and has been a musical chameleon producing songs in almost every genre imaginable. His constant drive for originality is a hallmark of his work ethic. He says he does it in order to not get bored or stale. He doesn’t want to be repeating himself artistically. Something which I agree with wholeheartedly.

Joe believes in what I am from now on calling “letting the art breathe”. We see eye to eye on how art is cultivated and nurtured. It takes space to fail and experiment. It takes a safe place to fall without judgement. Joe is the type of personality that you could tell anything to. This is just one little piece of what makes anyone an effective producer.

Talking about his process, Joe says that he spends a lot of time in preproduction in order to really understand the artist. He wants to see from their perspective what they want to achieve and how they want to do it. Two weeks is about the length of time he likes to integrate with the band and get a feel for the dynamics and music.

He really wants to understand the artist before ever touching the art. In some cases like in working with Jack White, this is crucial. If Joe did not understand that Jack White was in Joe’s words a “protector” of those flaws which give true character to music or art in general.

The imperfection of something is precisely the quality which gives that thing its character. This is something I come across a lot in the creative world. I believe it as well. If everything were the same, nothing would have any character. Joe knows this from experience both in recording music and from his experience designing the JC37 microphone with Tonelux.

Writer, artist and forever kitty Bobby Exodus is a wordsmith and priest in the figurative Temple of Zero. In this episode we pontificate upon the divine and etherial in order to confuse ourselves and laugh a bit.

Bobby touches on the danger of over extending yourself in practices and getting lost in meditation. The use of psychedelics in finding emotional release, flushing energy, finding stuck trauma and accessing emotion.

Jeff Garner is concerned about all the waste, chemicals, and pollutions of every day industrial consumerist life. His vision is to create sustainable lifestyle fashion using non-toxic and long lasting clothing.  Jeff designs and produces each piece to last for generations. He admits that this is a comparatively poor business model. The big clothing companies design their clothing to be produced cheap and deteriorate fast. Got a rip or a hole? No problem, it was $7 anyway- throw it out.  This allows for higher volume of sales. The demand has become cheap, throw away fashion perpetuated by a culture numb to waste and toxins. We see it every day. All Day. Another leaky nuclear reactor? Eh, we already have 2. Another widespread fire in Siberia? It’s just trees… we cut those down all day. 

Jeff lives a life pursuing beauty and to achieve beauty there has to be harmony. This also means avoiding and (where possible) do away with toxic things all together. From clothing to food, (he mainly only eats yogurt and açaí berries for every meal) and even to the things he allows inside of his head. (He hates horror films) 

This episode is featuring the quick witted rap master Bobby Exodus. Bobby is a musician, artist, lyricist and philosopher. I love talking to him because he can speak on every level very intentionally. He is a master of words and a devious little redhead with the kind of sense of humor that wins over most people given enough time. In this first part we talk about his music and some of the struggles growing up trying to do the right things and fighting natural instincts. Bobby is another one of my favorite people in the world so first I wanted to share some of his music and lyrics before we get into the interview. So I play Cloud Noise and Matter Batter by Magic of Science and Bobby Exodus.

I talk with Bobby about doing music and one of his projects Magic of Science with Bobby Exodus.

Bobby talks about learning how to program beats on cakewalk and rap on cheap computer mics. We talk about how music helped curb his appetites for earthly pleasures. 

Coming up in hiphop with Maurice Barret and Maurice Bishop with a group called Royalty. He talks about feeling like you’re doing something worth while through creating music.

Bobby tells us that writing and surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial for growth. 

We talk a bit about battle raps with Spoken Nerd (Nathan Conrad), rapping on the streets as promos for shows, and learning to hold your own lyrically in a cypher.

Bobby says writing rap helped to identify questions which drove him towards God and the church, becoming involved in church and preaching through his music. 

Instead of talking about belief systems Bobby asks himself “What is a belief? Is a belief even important?”

Christianity became an identity and a way to belong to a community for him. 

Bobby eventually broke away from the church feeling unfulfilled. 

He talks about how abstinence affected his walk with God. Replacing sex with unhealthy ways to exercise pent up sexual energy like drinking. Feeling like he was being cheated by being abstinent. Not knowing how to talk to girls, expecting the wrong things from women because of the poison of pornography. 

He talks about finally giving up and giving himself permission to experience the sexual part of life he stayed away from. Bobby speaks about feeling a need to play catch up on being social and sexual with women. Wanting an ultimate love, to feel close to someone. 

Bobby tells us about calming sexual energy through meditation, cultivating feminine energy, and personal mystic work. 

Experimenting with meditation- “I felt like I had a new toy.”

He walks us through the microcosmic orbit meditation introduced by Thomas Anderson and his experiments with manipulating his experiences during meditation. 

Lucky number 9... I don't have anyone to interview this week! 

I, Randall Thomas made a promise to entertain and enlighten... well maybe just entertain. 

Grady walker

We talk about PRCA, Hollywood, music industry, Developing the I-Can-Do-It mentality as well as skill and persistent

“If you don’t think you can ride that horse or ride that bull, you’re not going to”

We talk about how he met his wife and working at Michael McDonald’s studio. 

Triggering the Universal Studio’s flood. Working in western films. Grady admits to being a sperm in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex with Woody Allen. Working on newsies. 

Moving from Hollywood to Nashville and switching from the film to the music industry. 

Working on stages around Danny Kaye, Fred Astaire, Charles Bronson

Working on sets in Hollywood - Working with David Carradine in music and film. Working on Kung Fu with Carradine and the Kung Fu Masters who would work on set, staying away from witches, being mistaken for police. 

Writing with and working for Michael McDonald in the music industry. 

Randall Thomas

What A World Podcast

I am Randall Thomas- 

I moved to Southern California from Nashville Tennessee. 

In this episode I Introduce myself and what I do as a writer and singer. I speak on how I became a musician and session vocalist, How I Learned guitar with Evan Carlisle, son of Bob Carlisle. (Bob Carlisle was the co-writer of “Butterfly Kisses” with my father Randy Thomas in the 90’s.)

I speak on playing in a band with Josh and Zach Farro who ended up forming Paramore. 

I also touch on learning how to sing rock and choir simultaneously while growing up. 

Developing high end vocals and different vocal techniques I also talk about my party trick of Tuvan Throat Singing and how I love to learn all different styles of singing. 

I talk a little about the art of session singing. Working with awesome producers and engineers.

Then I play some clips showcasing my vocal reel to get a feel for my vocal diversity. 

I show off my Tuvan Throat singing technique and then play a song written with Josh Farro called Over Overwhelmed. 

I also showcase a song from my old band Mesas - "On A Cloud" which I always loved.

“It’s a long track, crossing Jordan, over land and the sea. Don’t delay me, don’t repay me, I’m a champion of the meek. Downed in hell and crowned in wealth cant save yourself from me. Just.a moment, just a wink, theres no one quite like a thief.” - On A Cloud

More music to come with Grady Walker who will be the interviewee for next week’s episode.