This week on Acta Non Verba, we explore the world of music, art, and Adversity with Luis Guerra and Adrián Terrazas-González. Luis, a musician diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, shares his journey of integrating therapies and his creation, ‘Breathe Into Life,’ dedicated to holistic well-being. Grammy-winning musician Adrián Terrazas-González, who also battled cancer, discusses their transformative friendship and mutual growth. The show delves into their stories of Adversity, resilience, and the philosophies they adopt to turn challenges into victories. Emphasizing the power of breath and the mind, the conversation highlights the importance of adapting one’s skills under adverse conditions and inspiring others through authentic stories and music.
Episode Highlights:
02:04 Luis’ Journey and Collaboration
06:12 Adrián’s Perspective and Musical Journey
20:45 Challenges and Inspirations in Music
36:53 Performing with Legends and Learning from Them
41:50 The Impact of Audience Size on Performances
46:32 Balancing Stress and Creativity
47:14 Coping Mechanisms for Soldiers and Law Enforcement
53:05 The Healing Power of Breath
01:03:06 The Role of Gratitude in Recovery
01:25:00 Impact of Adversity on Creativity
Luis Guerra is a Los Angeles-based music composer, arranger, and producer. He has worked extensively as a film composer and is an award-winning podcast composer. His credits include writing theme music for popular TV shows such as Ring City, film scores including Bernard and Huey and 18 ½, and podcasts such as Freakonomics Radio, Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History, Happy Forgetting, and No Stupid Questions. Currently, he is composing music for the Breathe Into Life podcast—stay tuned for more.
Connect with Luis here: luisguerramusic.com
Episode Transcript:
00:45
Acta Non Verba is a Latin phrase that means actions, not words. If you want to know what somebody truly believes, don’t listen to their words. Instead, observe their actions. I’m Marcus Aurelius Anderson and my guests today truly embody that phrase. And this is the first time I’ve had two guests on simultaneously. So this is already historical. My first guest is Luis Guerra, Italian musician and composer with a deep love for mindfulness.
01:12
After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis almost five years ago, he began exploring alternative therapies like meditation, music therapy, and mindful breathing, discovering firsthand how powerful that they can be. This journey inspired him to create Breathe Into Life, a company devoted to holistic wellbeing, and Adrian Tarraza-Gonzalez. This man is incredible. Truly feels like a brother from another mother for me. Grammy Award-winning musicians, tremendous.
01:42
And Adrian’s the one that actually introduced us. So to give everybody a little bit of context, gentlemen, how did you all meet and did you all hit it off in the beginning? Or did you see each other from afar and wanna work together? What was the edifice? I let Luis get this one, man. Ha ha ha ha ha. I’ll do that. Go for it, all right. I moved to LA, I moved back to LA the second time, about, it’s almost 15 years, going on 15 years.
02:12
There were jam sessions at Javier, what’s his name? What’s his other name? Javier Vergara. Yeah, and so I knew him because I worked with the pianist that would hire him and bring him to do sessions. So I, and I was playing bass. I was playing a lot of upright at the time. I was playing with like a range of people at the time. Here, LA, or sorry, LA, Santa Fe, New Mexico, New York.
02:39
Chicago, Seattle, I was just bouncing around and doing tons of sessions and arranging and I was just in it. And Javier was on it, so he introduced all the, he would have jam sessions, I believe, and they would start, it would just show up and just read and Javier was one of the people, he was one of the guests, he was like the only people, one of the only people in that session that I connected with. And I just was like, this dude is funny, he’s so sick. And then I realized, oh, it’s Adrian Terraza that I knew of. And I started to like,
03:09
put it together and I was like, well, these are all bad-ass people. And then I started to realize, I was like, Oh, okay. I’m in, you know, I’m in the company of great people, which I’ve been in before many times in my life. I’ve been very lucky in that. And I just re-upped my website to get rid of some of the people that I’ve worked with, but I’ve done like an extensive amount of work on my own, you know, as a bassist and so, and as an arranger and orchestrator. And so I started to.
03:34
put those together and I think about a year or so later, well, we started doing gigs and I was playing a little bit, playing more than I would now. I don’t really play anymore. But I started to realize, oh, he’s really interested in similar things that I was much more, I was already getting jobs in gigs, doing scoring jobs and arranging gigs. And so I was like, well, let’s do something. And I didn’t know that many people around LA.
04:04
that other than like, well, I knew some, but like we had some special work going on and I know a few of the producers. And so other than what’s the guy that I would call every time it would just like, and then I realized, oh shit, I can send one chart to this person and he can record like six instruments. I’m like, that’s amazing and really well. So then I could actually like, cause I worked a lot with Malcolm Gladwell and I still do. And so on his podcast, so like I’m the musical director. So I have to turn out tons of music.
04:33
built an extensive library for him and his songs. And Ariana is the guy that I go to for, we’re really for wins, but as he has evolved and as I’ve evolved and we’ve gotten older and our relationship is built, it’s less about gigs, it’s more about like, oh yeah, he understands what I’m going for. Like more than almost anybody at that level, he understands, I’m like, I can take three notes or three chords, four chords and be like, okay.
05:03
play the shit out of that. And it’s like, he gets it. He understands. And it’s not like the jazz like from a shred. It’s more about the intention and the emotion and the, just the concept and the arrangement and really getting deep in it. And that’s almost what I’m finding is it just doesn’t exist unless you’re at the very, very top, the A level, the A level, the A, the first call. So that’s why I’m lobbying. And he is in Mexico and we are, we share that, you know,
05:33
Mexican from my friend, my father and Monterrey in Northern Mexico. And we have similarities. Um, but I also know that he is at a caliber that I want to continue working with and especially now more than ever. Um, because I need that. I want to continue working and doing the work. And so that’s, I reach out to them. That’s, that’s it. Is that good? That’s fantastic. Eighth round. Let’s hear your side. Is any of that true or is this all conjectured?
06:01
That’s all bullshit. That is all bullshit. It’s all bullshit. I don’t know this guy. I walked in this room. I got ambushed. Who the fuck is this guy? I remember one of those jam sessions, but I one of the ones that stuck with me was a rehearsal we had at Xavier’s Tocano Machavir Vegas. He’s old apartment and I think it was Pasadena or something like that. And we were
06:31
We were trying to just get some shirts together for some gig. And most of those sessions were just two horns, upright, and drums. And you’re shot up with your upright. And I think we were jamming on this Joe Henderson song, the standard or whatever. And that’s why we really started clicking. One of those things that, to keep it short,
07:00
Some people just click, but to be fair, I mean, you do have to get some work done. And on researching that of whoever your peers are that you’re interested in, you know, you’re listening to the music, listen to the work you’re doing. In this case, he’s podcast with Michael Gladwell, he’s past scoring and actually
07:29
the dog into their IMDb’s and see what’s up. And I mean, musically, yeah, we did click. I mean, we were playing jazz, but his music compositions and his ideas, every time he throws things at me, I mean.
07:55
first is like a few hours of anxiety of, man, I hope I don’t fuck this thing up, you know, or, you know, yeah, man. And actually trying to see what he’s trying to say. And I think I was luckily put in a situation with my past ensembles and rock bands and gathering all this information for different people, just like, like,
08:24
you know, with Lee and the Bourne of Osiris, that’s a world apart from the Mars Volta or a part away from playing with Just Juan, Juan Aldereta’s solo project with Lisa, you know, with a big star, which is a big different world. And actually trying to grasp and see what’s your intake of what’s your position and what’s really your homework.
08:54
and you take what’s available musically. And I mean, just with that aside, I mean, I really learned Pro Tools because of Luis. I mean, I’ve had some Pro Tools intakes, but I didn’t really learn how to use it until I started working with Luis.
09:20
and live able tone and contact and actually learning how to use those tools and all that doubt because like Luis said, I had to make sure everything was clean when I had to record E-flac clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, piccolo and actually get the sound that he wanted. I mean, I have countless, I can mention countless times.
09:49
when Luis told me, Evan, your microphone placement is not right. What are you doing? Oh man, I’m using this and this and that. Make sure to do this and this and that. Give me more head space, more head room on the mic, blah, blah, blah, blah. And actually going back and researching, what does that mean? You know, what is he trying to say? I don’t know any of those.
10:19
technicalities with the recording at home or I mean, I stayed at home because that’s pretty much how we did 18 and a half because because that was during the pandemic, you know, so so we had to do a big movie score. And, you know, and I mean, I can’t even imagine all that weight that Luis had to take when he had to do a full scoring with like
10:48
with five guys. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I mean, did Mike Longoria had to do all the percussion for you? Yeah, he does all that shit. I mean, he does, I think he’s got a similar setup for percussion drums, right? He’s got a few drum builds around. So he says like, yo Mike, I need blah, blah, blah, maraca too, I need snares, I need kick. It’s just like, there you go, boom, there you go. Because we worked for so many years and that-
11:17
And the unifying factor is that we are Latinos. And I am not trying to like pigeonhole us. And I’m not trying to bring it to attention, but it’s like, if somebody doesn’t do something to move the needle, it’s not gonna move. It’s just not. I’ve seen it. I work in Hollywood. I work in LA. And it’s just the way it is. So I feel like that’s important. And I feel like, you know, employing somebody like Mike and having his, making sure that he’s got access to what you and I are doing.
11:45
And like, he’s the guy for that. But it’s like, but I’ve like massive libraries now, right? I do, I mean, of him and, you know, the way scoring has changed so much over the years, it’s like, we all have to have our shit together, or it’s just like, we’re gonna lose the job. That’s just the way it is, you know? As you know, and I’m sure in the video game world, it’s like, you can’t, nobody’s got time to give you, to learn your shit. I’m giving, I’m generous. I can’t do as much anymore.
12:14
But now we’re at the place where it’s like, no, I really need you to do to bring your what you do to the people. And that’s I think where we’re at now. And that’s the connection. Don’t forget, I mean, me and Adrian, Adrian and I have known each other for a long time, really, when you break it down. And we’re men, you know, it’s like we’re not kids. It was like we have lives and like all kinds of shit, diagnoses and divorces. And like I had a house and I remember Adrian’s teaching my daughter.
12:43
who is now a sick ass upright bass player. She’s a great crop bassist, but I remember him like, no, you gotta slow it down and you gotta practice your major skills or your like intervals. In my old kitchen at an apartment I was renting, I mean, I didn’t even know how many years ago. That was the guy. He was like, boom, you just got a master class. So it’s like a two time grammy, I’m telling her and she doesn’t realize. So in other words, it’s like, this is the level.
13:11
of greatness that I am trying to achieve in my work with my clients. When I show it, Adrian, like this is my idea. It’s like, I want him to bring that. I don’t want to sit there and talk and do Pro Tools lessons or some lessons. That’s the past. That’s where we came from. But we all have to get our game at that place now. Well, I’d also like to point out something that I think is really unique about both of you. So…
13:39
As I told you guys before, I play guitar a little bit. So what I found was starting with rock guitar and then trying to learn classical guitar and then trying to learn jazz. What I found was each of these different kinds of music was almost like their own click or their own, almost like a religion where if you did rock, you bear not do jazz. If you know what a two five one progression is and you can solo with anything at all, there’s diminished or like dramatic. Oh no, that’s you don’t do that. Or
14:06
If you play blues, you know, if you play rock, it’s heresy or classical musicians were like had their noses up in the air, no matter what it felt like. But then to see people that could take that technical prowess, that ability to, to do anything well, and then to have the humility and the desire to put it into another genre, to be flexible enough, to put your ego aside and say, because when Adriana was telling me about when he would play with certain things.
14:34
People would ask him to come play and he would just adapt and mold to whatever the environment was as opposed to asking the entire environment to change to what his preference was. And I believe that as a musician that makes you so much more dynamic. It makes you not only more flexible, but it’s just like life, right? There’s no balance. There is just this ability to learn how to adapt well. And the more chops you have and the more skill sets you have and the more experience that you have, the better that skill set becomes.
15:04
Hmm. Interesting. What do you say to that, Adrian? I have a comment, but I’m curious. What do you think? Well, talking about this dexterity and shops or what have you, I think that, I mean, the only reason I practice so much is because I want to have the tools to be able to play.
15:34
with with great mutations and be able to have those tools at hand When that time comes, you know and don’t have those limitations Not because I just want to show off my chops because I mean, I mean I just played a reggae a reggae gig Two weekends ago a week ago, sorry a week ago, you know how much shops I needed to show on the gigs none none
16:02
But I needed to play within that style perfectly and match with a horn section. My job was to play with a horn section, with a trumpet and a trombone player and sound within tune perfectly and that style period. That’s it. I think I had one solo, nothing too crazy. And that’s it. Did the gig. Two hour gig.
16:31
a beautiful concert and that’s it. It will be a time for me to show off my dexterity, but not because I wanna show off my show off, it’s because I wanna say something and I wanna have the vocabulary to express. That’s it, that’s it, that’s it, that’s it. That’s my take with what just Marcus said, but I don’t know man, what about you Luis?
16:59
I mean, it’s like, I feel like that’s really interesting. I feel like that’s where definitely I understand that as a basis, that’s exactly how it would prepare for gigs, right? And for sessions, learning, research, and even for writing themes, cues, and all this, this score has to sound like the 70s. This has to be like, you know, I would do that. But now, after years, I’ve learned how to quiet my mind better.
17:29
What does it really mean? What do I really hear? What’s the authentic version of what I’m trying to do? And that’s because I don’t really play the bass. I don’t play it like I used to. I can’t. I can’t do it since it’s gone, right? So I appreciate it. I hear it. I understand it. But the preparation is different, is my point. That for me, yeah. And so it’s more about coloring in like…
17:53
We’re the people in arranging and like that’s the direction. It’s like, that’s where it’s like, well, I don’t know. Can Adrian like pull this shit off? Let’s see. I don’t know. We’re going to learn. And that’s really what I want to get to it because we all hear and interpret music differently. And I, and so what Marcus was saying about genre, like, you know, blues versus jazz versus country versus metal versus whatever, all that shit to me is like,
18:23
secondary visit good Doesn’t touch you or your heart your soul if it does Boom go with it if it doesn’t Practicing isn’t gonna get you there. It’s just not it’s not gonna get you closer I’ve seen it with jazz too many times. It’s like we practice to sound like a certain Virtuoso, whoever it is way, you know cold rain or like Whatever right back. No, man That was them. That was their story. That’s
18:52
what they live, they, you know what I mean? What are we doing? And how do we, and so that’s my relationship more now with genre and music and like, practicing all these things. I mean, I would rather, of course you have to sit and you gotta do the actual work. You gotta sit down like, but I would seriously, for me, where I’m at, I would rather have 30 minutes or 15 minutes even, to sit and imagine, be like, what do I fucking hear?
19:22
at this moment, like no noise, no phone, nothing. And like, what do I hear? What is it? Is that true? Or is that because that’s what I heard somebody that you know, do that’s really cool. And you know, is that true? That’s not gonna hold the discussion, but that’s me. That’s important. You know what I’m saying? So that’s why, Adrian, you’ve seen me listen. Like that’s why you’re, the drummer you work with is so, he made such an impression on me.
19:52
This guy, young guy is able to bring such an intensity and vibe and energy right there. And it’s like you keep him this undeniable. He can’t hide it. I’m like, what is that? That’s badass. That is still like, that’s what I’m looking. That’s what I am. I’m not looking for perfection. I can edit that shit in photos. I can be detected. I can do that shit in progress.
20:22
Thank God, and with AI, I can do it even faster. But convince me. The whole other discussion. Fucking convince me. Like really fucking convince me. That’s hard. That’s what I would say to exactly that. That was both of you, man. That was both of you. It’s true.
20:51
You were asking me about your creative process by what my creative process looked like when I was speaking, when I was speaking to Lee. And when we say Lee, we’re talking about Lee McKinney from born of Osiris, tremendous guitar player. And we had dinner before he was saying the same thing. He’s like, what’s your process look like? And I have two incredible musicians here. So I’d love to hear what yours is. But it felt like you were sort of touching on that just a little bit, Luis, when you were talking about this almost authentic voice musically, like, what do you hear?
21:21
Is that really you or is that like an echo office what somebody else has done either recently or what you’re trying to imitate? so um, i’ll let you start with what creative process looks like for you and then uh, adrienne So from okay, so picking up where I was What i’ve learned in more recent years is that creative process changes just like we as people so we attaching ourselves to the what was
21:48
That’s very common as people, as humans, right? Or, and as musicians even more so, I know it should be a certain way all the way until I die. Or am I willing to be dynamic and change and evolve? That’s where I’m at. Because there’s been a moment where it’s like, I don’t even know anymore. What the fuck am I doing musically? Like my industry changing again, you know, entertainment is changing again. I don’t have a band.
22:14
I don’t want a band. I’m like just this person that’s floating around, but like I can, like you want to like talk about music. You want to get into like harmony. Let’s talk, let’s go. Let’s talk. You want to talk about scales? I’m into it. I love it. In other words, that there’s an evolution and I’m just trying to be as authentic and real. And so like I move into a new space. I’m going to like shut down my studio and move as much as I can into my space on purpose and see if that works.
22:44
and see if I can get because it’s white and it’s white. And I haven’t had a lit space and it’s big. And it’s like, I haven’t had that kind of, I have a place downtown that I work out of as well. It’s noisy, but it’s really cool. It’s downtown Los Angeles, but it’s really cool. And in other words, what inspires you? Where are you inspired? And that’s very much what I’m looking for right now at this moment in time. And it’s gonna change, man. So like we could have the same conversation six months or next year.
23:13
I guarantee you it’s going to be another version of it. That’s me. Go for it, Adrian. Oh yeah. Man, I’m going to give you an example. I had to do four extra pieces, short pieces for this video game. And I got stuck with ideas. Because within a video game or a movie or what, you’re trying to create.
23:42
some type of story. But I got stuck, man, because I was trying to connect too much what was happening within the video game and the story behind it. Everything I will throw up and everything I will play and compose with the piano or my horn or whatever. I don’t know, it just seems stupid to me to, you know.
24:11
And I just took a walk and I just went and trained. I went to… I was dishing it, man. I was dashing this fricking thing, man. And I just went, I think I went boxing and then I went to my Jiu Jitsu practice. And then I came back, practiced, did, watched the dishes. I was just trying to avoid it, man. And I just remember one night.
24:40
my saxophone professor and flute professor, Dr. Donald Wilkinson just said, man, when you don’t feel like it, just put all this glue in your butt and sit your ass down and do a bit. And then see what comes out. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but just throw it out. And man, and I just remember that
25:09
you know, and so I just, you know, put myself, sit down and start writing again, you know, and that always comes back. And I will never forget that, Ben, you know, if you want to get shit done, sit your ass down and do it, Ben. Practice, it doesn’t have to be a perfect practice. It doesn’t have to be a perfect writing session. And you just have to do it and show up for the news, man.
25:39
always a process for me, you know, sit down, do it. Yes, it is a meditation is great. Being a peaceful mind is great, but sometimes it’s going to be so it’s almost impossible nowadays to not have all this noise behind you, you know. So, so let that be to me. That’s a very personal expression for me that that sitting down.
26:08
in front of the keys, in front of Pro Tools, in front of the piano and write it down, sketch on them. I’d notate everything before I put it on Sylvarius or Pro Tools. I’d notate everything. You know that, Luis. I like to actually sit down on the piano and gig out on harmony, different options. That for me, that’s a spiritual moment for me. That’s giving
26:38
that mathematical process within the music theory, that’s peaceful to me. I leave everything behind for a moment, for those two hours, for those 50 minutes. So, I don’t know, that’s a lot to take, but that to me is a process.
27:07
until I start practicing my pattern or scale or something I’m working on, my flute. That’s when I really start focusing on what’s important. And I live it like that. Let me bring that off, one thing you touched on, because that’s part of, I’m thinking about it now, and that’s really interesting, that it’s like you’re saying, it’s like you sit down and do it, but you also…
27:37
touched on to do some mundane, like you walk or you wash dishes or you whatever, you walk. It’s like your brain goes somewhere else, you know, it’s like for me, I like what, forget technology but like I cook or I like clean, you know, that’s when I start to hear things and it’s like, boom, there’s an idea and I’m gonna sit down. I was just gonna want to throw that out. Like sometimes our brain needs the mundane to solve the problem, the musical problem, the…
28:05
the theme, like, what is it? I don’t know. The sketch for me is very part of the process of like sketching out two or three things to really understand like, doesn’t this sound because I’m thinking in palettes and I’m thinking of thematic, right? Like thematic. So I just wanted to throw that off because that’s how they are was where he was making it. He made me think of these, you know, extra things. So I didn’t mean to, you know, jump on.
28:34
No, I’m not at all. And it makes perfect sense. And again, it’s almost like we have to cleanse our palate, so to speak. We have to break free from whatever we’re doing. You know, I understand exactly what you’re saying, either around about sitting your ass down. I mean, Luis, I’m sure you’re familiar with Stephen Pressfield’s work, the War of Art. I mean, what is he saying? He’s like, sit your ass down. You cannot bullshit the muse. She won’t go for it.
29:01
And she’ll walk right by it to what Adrian was saying about the muse. And once you’re there, here’s the other part. Um, and writing on paper is not the same vehicle. I understand. But to me, sometimes I have to sit my ass down just like Adrian said for half an hour and it’s all garbage, but then I get to that one sentence, almost like a hook for you guys are like that, that initial.
29:30
And all of a sudden, almost like Hemingway, like it becomes simplistic and just write the truest thing that you know. And then you feel that emotion in there. And all of a sudden, almost like practicing now, all the work that you did primes you to be in this place. And now you may get a trickle of flow. And then if you do that enough times over the year, now you can start connecting these things. And what’s the classic comment? You cannot edit a blank page.
30:00
You cannot do any of these sound tools on an empty track. So we have to have something. And even if it doesn’t feel great, or even if it doesn’t feel inspired to us, once we have it on there, at least we have a starting point. Otherwise, we’re just in this no man’s land. And that to me feels even more daunting when you’re just staring at that blank page. Steven Presswell, when I was at his writer’s retreat in Malibu a few weeks ago, he said, the blank page is not neutral.
30:29
It is openly fucking hostile. You have to look at it in that manner. And I, I mean, I can’t think of a true thing. Right. Man, talking, I mean, talking about that, you just reminded me, I was just telling, I was telling a student of mine, I have final, uh, finished recordings that are pressed, that are on vinyl, that are there on the open on Spotify or any of those platforms that.
30:59
feel like sketch to me. They are terrible. I fucking hate them, you know, but they’re there. I mean, so with that in mind, it keeps, it puts everything in perspective that nothing is a finished product, man. Nothing. Everything, you know, it’s not perfect art. It just keeps developing. It should keep developing, you know, when it’s not developing and you’re just, you know, doing things.
31:27
I mean, now that you’re talking about Lee McKinney, I have, you know, within his last album, I think I did four tracks, four or five tracks, and out of those four tracks, I was like, ah, I like this, I like this moment, I like this, I like that, and I have one track of those four or five tracks that I hate, that I hate. I can’t believe he put that together, but I hate, you know, but that’s just me. He loves it. I don’t.
31:56
You know, but that’s to me, that’s a draft. That’s the draft. That’s the draft within this whole picture of my journey as a musician or an artist. Period. You know, so, you know, you take things a little less serious, you know, and actually show up and develop this. I think it’s absent.
32:25
Sorry, it makes it easier for you to show up to the news when you’re null on the grand scheme of things. Then things are gonna keep developing and enjoy the process, not so much of what the final product is. I don’t know, you’re a great loose foot. I mean, I think that it’s like, it’s subjective, right? Like we all have our, I mean, it’s like, I think about a lot of
32:54
other I look at a lot of art, I go to life, I look at buildings, I look at space, I listen to I go to a lot of shows, I listen to music, I’m going to watch some films and I like I try to, I eat a lot of foods, especially for like, I don’t know. But the point is, I’m looking for something that’s gonna inspire me always. And if you’re always on that path, then music really, it doesn’t fucking matter to me. It just doesn’t matter.
33:24
Well, I’m going to give it my best shot. And it’s what you said. I mean, it’s not done. It’s never done. And I’m never like, wow, that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my life. And I wrote, wow, that’s my ego. So that’s my ego. So it’s more about how do I disconnect if I’m too attracted to it then? Yes, and I will say this, music will incite some sort of emotion in me. Good, bad, ugly, what? That’s good to me.
33:54
That’s what I’m looking for. I want, I want to get, there is no bad music. You could play me some new country, something, anything that you think that I would not like. And I’m going to tell you one thing that I really love not or I really appreciate or I really like, yes, that’s me. That’s the way I see it. And so everything, even if it’s not that I’m just like, I’m just going to keep rolling. I don’t even know how many thousands of thousands of pieces of music are in my catalog at this point. I’m forget Spotify or my website. I’m talking about like,
34:24
music sitting in my catalog that I’ve written. There is no way that every single piece I would be like proud of. There is no way because there’s always sketches that like I just didn’t have time. There he is. You know, it’s like I’m done. But I’m not gonna sit there and lose sleep about it. I’m over that. I’m done. Life is way too short. It’s like when you were saying I was young. You gotta have fun. This is about having fun. I wanna enjoy myself. I wanna talk to people. And it’s, I don’t wanna sit there.
34:53
bash myself and I will say that when I meet musicians, any level, any level, I could be at the Hollywood Bowl backstage. I was there like a couple weeks ago and I could sit there and like, wow, this person is just performed at the Hollywood Bowl to, I don’t know, let’s say 15,000 people. I don’t think it was totally sold out, but it was pretty packed. And they’re sitting there bashing themselves to me.
35:22
about how bad they sounded. I’m like, really? Can’t you just like live, you just play, you just performed, it was amazing. We loved it, we felt like it was, that was great. I thought it was great, I would tell you. Now, many of you ask me, but can’t you just enjoy it? Can’t you just like not beat yourself up? Can’t you just be positive? Because really, I don’t wanna sit here and listen to you like pass yourself and tell me how shitty of a musician you are when I know that you’re not. I just wanted to share that story, but there’s something there. It’s like…
35:52
Don’t take yourself so fucking seriously, man. It’s like what I was just saying. And it’s like, what’s, come on, have fun, enjoy yourself. It’s all right. It’s okay. We all make mistakes, you know? Yeah, but we have all been guilty of that, man. As an artist, come on, man. Absolutely. Yeah, come on, man. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I remember, you know, I can see myself being that one person you’re talking about when I did the Henry Rowling show.
36:20
When we did the live Henry Rowling show with the Volta, man, I thought I played terribly. I was a piece of shit. Dude, I just played for Henry Rowling. It’s one of my favorite punk bands. Jesus Christ. Shut up, kid. If I could go back and tell myself, dude, just enjoy it, and shut the fuck up. Sorry, man.
36:50
I believe I’ve been there, right? Yeah. I remember when I was 17, my band opened up, or 18, and my band opens for Stanley Clark’s band in Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas, and I’m like, holy fuck, this guy’s gonna come and talk to me after the show? And he’s like, I’m sure I sounded like shit. There’s no question, positive! And he’s like, so great to meet you, man. You know, great, great hearing you on the bass.
37:17
just keep it up to be striving. I’m like, that was really positive. He didn’t say anything good about it. He didn’t compliment me. They’re like, wow, you’re the most amazing. That’s Stanley Clark, dude. I mean, come on, that’s a night, that’s a legend. You know what I mean? And it’s like, but that’s very much, I don’t want that mindset anymore. I don’t, I don’t. Instead of saying, I want to honor, I don’t slay the scene. I know that, my body’s changed. So I’m not gonna attempt to fool myself or you or like.
37:46
great musicians like this to some point. It doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy sitting here in my place or my studio and playing. I love it, it’s great. But I’m not gonna sit there and pull myself. You know what I mean? Because I have too much respect for that. That’s me, that’s my journey, that’s my story, that’s where I came from, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. When you talk about, you know, about Luis, Lou, my drummer, your tokayo.
38:15
I played with him yesterday at a small jazz club here in Mexico City. And it was Santi, our piano player, who is freaking little genius, man. And we had a, we didn’t have also on bass. But anyways, what I’m trying to get is that it was, for some reason, it was like a group of like, like 15 kids.
38:45
who are a big Mars Waltz fans, you know? And I can tell because they were wearing a Mars Waltz t-shirt. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we had a blast playing our music, man. And Luis was on fire as always. And we had a great show, man. And again, it was like a Village Vanguard.
39:13
couple said, you know, it’s very small club, you know, probably like 40 people, you know, and 40 people was packed, you know, that’s how small the club is. Yeah, and they were telling me, man, hey, man, how come you know, you’re not, you play, you don’t play that many big arena shows anymore, you know what? I like, dude, like, did you have fun?
39:43
Do you have fun? Yeah, man, this is amazing, but how come you don’t play with this on a big stage? Because it’s not the time. Right now, we’ve had this show right here. We just played with the same group at a festival for 20,000 people. What’s the difference? It’s not difference. It’s not a big difference. But the perception of people
40:13
with, with, of, if you don’t play for 20, 20,000 people, which is amazing. I don’t, you know, I don’t, I’m not, I’m not knocking it, you know. I, I done it before, many times, and it’s great. But it’s something about small jazz gloves, when you just going at it and ripping your, and, and, and, you know, blowing your brains off, you know.
40:42
And with your friends, for this amount of people, that is just magical. Because, I mean, the people in front of you are literally no more than a meter or two meters away from you. And they’re, you know, you’re just jamming in with all the sound of the band, you know? And, I mean, that’s, to me, of more
41:12
but intake of what really art can be, with the musicians in that particular moment and not forgetting what you do for. That’s why they call it play. That’s why they call it playing. We’re playing. It’s not a collegiate music recital. You’re gonna get a great…
41:41
Right. Yeah, I feel that I feel it. I think also that people forget that as a person and I’m not talking about music, obviously, but when I did my TEDx talk, there’s thousands of people there. Right. But then you have lights. There’s all these cameras. They want you to stand in a certain place. So sometimes you can’t even see beyond the first row. And a lot of ways you feel almost.
42:09
Even though there’s so many people there, you almost feel separated. But if I do a keynote with 500 people in the room and I can literally see every single person, and then when I say something powerful, or I, I’m really just bleeding for these people, you can feel it immediately. They absolutely want that. And then if you have the capacity to actually try to be in the zone and, and give them what they need there and adapt to what is where that gap is and you fill it, that’s where the beauty is. And that’s why we do what we do.
42:40
Yes, it gives us the capacity to work in large places. But if I can’t do it well in front of 300 people or 40 people, like you said, Adrian, how the hell am I going to expect to get to that level in 20,000? It doesn’t happen. If I get one of those people and I don’t already have that skillset, I can’t magically hope I’m just going to get there. I have to have a way before that. A hundred percent. It’s a different piece. A hundred percent. I think we, yeah, start, you’re like, think small man, you know, like there’s something to it, thinking small.
43:10
But doing big and amazing things, great. Being small and like imagine it’s like, it’s humble, you know? It’s very like, are you connecting? Are you, do you really feel, do I believe you? You know, like for example, I saw you perform in Mexico City. I don’t know how big that club was. It wasn’t that big that I saw you at. It was, I don’t know, a less than 100 people, less, you know? But it was so, such an energy.
43:38
You know, it was like, damn, everybody was moving. Everybody was feeling it. My girlfriend was sitting in there like, shouldn’t even know what’s going on here. Like forget talking music. We don’t talk music. Like it’s not about music. Like, oh, wouldn’t you fucking love the F-SUS that they put at the end of that? There’s none of that. It’s all about like, damn.
44:02
Am I injected with the energy and the positive? Am I going to take that with me? Because I don’t even know what is happening. That’s what I’m talking about. If I go to a rodeo and I feel that way, if I go eat dinner and I feel that way, I’m like, wow, what is that? That’s where I feel like it’s thinking small. It’s like whoever is doing it, it’s like they’re not worried about the external. They’re not worried about the audience. They’re not worried about.
44:29
It’s like when you did your TEDx, I didn’t see that, but I could only imagine it’s like, it’s not about all of this. It’s just about, here’s my message, man. Here’s my story. Boom, you know, and do it. Just adding to that, man, is just, if you can just get people out, you know, all the, the blasting of social media right now, politics, the upcoming elections.
44:54
the commodity, Trump that, so and so, and the war in, I don’t know where. And Jesus, I mean, just to keep up with all the BS around us, you know, I mean, I know we have to pay attention to those things because it’s the world that we’re living. But just for those two hours that I have you from me, and you can just
45:23
you beat your mushroom trip, you know, for those fucking two, a few hours and actually expand your mentality. You can have a French mind on combatting what is happening in our current environment. I think that’s, I did my job for that day, you know?
45:50
But it’s almost like expand my heart. Oh you did your job times now. It’s exponential you just you do it you stop it You know, no, it’s the bonus. It’s like whoa. My heart is still I’m like, well, I’m gonna take that today. That’s just my mind Like in that In that world of like great, but it’s like you said it just get them out. You started your whole You started this last chunk. I was just about whatever reach or whatever part we were discussing
46:19
with if you just get them out, I’m like, yeah, just get them out because they’re fucking glued, man. With their own social media or like the headlines or whatever it is. Get them out, you know? I mean, Marcus, I mean, you’re ex-military, correct? If I’m not mistaken, I mean, how do soldiers or ex-military, how do they deal with on a daily basis, you know?
46:48
everything you have to do around, I mean, the managing your psyche, you know, on a day by day. I know how to do it. I just go and blow my horn for a few hours and I’m back in track. But for you, I don’t know what, just meditating, reading, writing. What’s up? You mean as an active military or you mean as a retired? As an active military.
47:18
It’s difficult because if you’re active duty and you’re, I was in the light infantry, so we were preparing to deploy the entire time I was training. And there’s always this underlying anxiety and you can turn it down a little bit. But you know, at any given time, you can get a call. It’s like, Hey, we’re going to wherever, pack your trash, get ready to go. So you’re constantly sharpening that blade.
47:47
But we all know, especially with the analogy of musicianship, right? We can sharpen that blade until it’s going dull. And now I don’t have enough time to step back to do those things. So for me, I would, I would breathe. I would meditate. But honestly, if you’re a soldier that’s preparing to deploy, you’re just like, you to get any sleep. You’re lucky to get whatever food you can. So you control the controllables as much as you can. Having said that, that’s not a sustainable life, right?
48:17
What we’re talking about, Luis and you were talking about this idea of even if you have a piece of music that isn’t perfect, I try to look at my life, everything that I write, everything that I’m doing, even here, I try to look at it as one big session, if we will, right? It’s not this is the session and then that was good or that was bad. It’s like this life, my existence, my work is this one big session.
48:45
And some days are better than others. And sometimes you get to have a collab with incredible people on the session. Sometimes you’re doing it on your own, but the idea is to get accustomed to that process, having the discipline to put glue on your ass, to sit down, having the ability to collaborate and learn just like you guys are, and for all of us, just like we’re doing now, we’re all speaking, but we all want to hear what the person has to say.
49:12
And then when all these things dovetail, it creates that beautiful synergy. And now we can have conversations about things that can not only help us, but it helps the world. Interesting. Damn, and I always wanted to ask that to a couple, I guess a couple of a few friends from back, from Texas back in college who are in law enforcement.
49:42
especially I have a couple of border patrol, a couple of DAs, a couple of them. And I always, I mean, to ask them exactly like, hey man, how you cope with this, man? Especially, I mean, you can see, I mean, you can watch the news all you want, but I mean, what’s true is always a big F nowadays, you know? So…
50:11
But when you ask your friends who are active duty, I mean, they actually see the border, not know what the news tells you, hey, is that really what’s happening? What’s the intake on the news? But they’re actually hands on, active duty on the border. And what’s true with that? I mean, I don’t know how you could.
50:39
can cope with all that shit, you know? Yeah. And to your point also about law enforcement, you’re asking this person to know all these protocols, all the law. And so they’re trying to do things that they can check a box on. And so they’ll say, can you qualify with your weapon? You know, can you shoot this distance or whatever? And there’s a thing where they’ll spend a lot of time making sure this person can clear their weapon. If there’s a jam or there’s a mechanical breakdown of some sort.
51:08
where they can fill out this form. But the thing that they are not giving them is, and this is right in your realm as well, Luis, what happens when that officer is exposed to trauma in the first hour of his shift? He’s got 11 more hours to go to and he just went to a double homicide. He is guaranteed to have some sort of adversity, some sort of like trauma, but they don’t give him a skillset for that.
51:35
They give him a spilt stuff for his weapon jamming, which will probably never happen in a modern environment because he’s not in Afghanistan or Iraq. But the thing that he needs the most, the capacity to breathe, even parachute breathing in a pinch is better to get in from sympathetic to parasympathetic helps him come down, helps him to catch. But if he has that as his first call and he has 11 more hours to go, he’s still trying to process that. Then he gets home. He can’t shut that off. Then if he has a wife and kids.
52:05
that fear projects onto them. Some cops have this code where they don’t talk to their family because they want to insulate them. But then that amplifies the pressure on them. And then I guarantee, obviously the wife knows there’s something going on. That breaks down that communication. And then the child, whether they want to say it or not, they can feel the electricity and the emotion in the air and that there’s something going on. And if they don’t understand what it is, then they’re going to assume that it’s something between mom and dad.
52:33
when that’s not the case either, right? So there’s so much of this human element and this complexity in that. If we fail to at least acknowledge its existence, we will constantly be like just ambushed by it every single time. And then we’ll have the audacity to act surprised. Can you go back to that really quick? That’s really interesting what you were saying, like breathing between the parasympathetic and sympathetic system or like, can you explain that? Because that’s really important, which you just said.
53:03
In my opinion, no, I absolutely agree to. So when we’re in the sympathetic nervous system, you know, our fight or flights drive in the car. And so that means everything that we do is based on fear, based on anger, potentially a lot of people’s fear, the physical manifestation that looks like anger. Cause they’re projecting. And so we have to go from that fight or flight place into this sympathetic, you know, you know, relaxed kind of state. They call it.
53:31
feed and brain or rest and digest depends on what you talk to from neurology. But only from that place can we actually have like, even as a creative, as a musician, um, with deadlines, right? You have a deadline to get this thing. I know that when I was talking to Adrian last time, he was still working on certain deadlines for the Xbox. So we’re asking a musician to engage this creative part of his body under stress.
53:59
which they’re almost mutually exclusive and the stress will usually supersede the capacity to relax and be creative. So I’ve heard some musicians call it this mercenary kind of mentality where it’s like, man, I just have to go in there and kill this thing and execute on it. But is it the best representation of what they’re doing? Maybe not. But it’s the ability to say, so again, before you get on stage, maybe breathing. Luis, I’m sure you’re familiar with the parachute breathing, but I give it to my patients or my clients.
54:28
patients, sorry, clients. Um, you just get that quick inhale and then that big exhale, right? Like the parachute. You’re just doing three of those. And that alone can at least pull you from that sympathetic to parasympathetic. People can do a zoom call. People can do in between driving, et cetera. Yeah, it’s really interesting because hearing both of you speak, they’re like,
54:55
Okay, what if you don’t, I’m just, I’m just closing this and I don’t want, I obviously don’t want this to happen to you out of the end. What if you don’t, you know, like what if you can’t figure something out and typically you can’t shed? That’s, that’s something I only thought about, but then I lost feeling. So I couldn’t play anymore. So all of a sudden it’s like, well, that’s my go-to. I can fucking like, I can shred, I can do this, I can play, I can do it. But I can’t. Oh, fuck. Now what? Right.
55:23
Oh, and I’m getting neurogenic pain, which is like a gnarly, gnarly, that’s the gnarliest pain that I’ve ever gone through. Okay, what is happening? I’m essentially attacking myself. And so music is secondary. I’m just trying to spy with this. But this is a couple of years ago. Where did I land that started sending myself was the breath. So it’s essentially like answering both of what you’re saying. It’s like, I was preparing for I knew I knew that these attacks, they were just going to keep coming.
55:53
You know, for like the next six months, eight months, whatever, it’s like every day, maybe once, maybe twice, but they’re there until I figure out how to diagnose this with my neurologist. Good luck getting the other neurologist to, you know, deal with an emergency in Los Angeles. So now you’re on to the second one, but good luck. You know what I’m saying? So you have to take matters into your own hands. And I feel like a lot of people, they just can’t give up because it’s too much, but they don’t realize.
56:23
to what you were saying, Marcus, is like the power that I learned from just learning how to believe. And I think about like a warrior or I think about like going to battle. Now you could freak out. You could panic, you could be anxious, or you could center your breath. And I think about that like, I don’t know if I was a warrior in a past life. Maybe I was. I was not in this one. Your last name leads me to believe that you are. I probably was. But you know, I see the trauma that be an omitted to my dad.
56:53
And he didn’t talk about it with any of us until he was basically diagnosed with Parkinson’s. And he started declining very quickly and he died, right? A couple years ago. But he really just like, he didn’t put it to rest. He saw crazy shit in Vietnam. I know that. I don’t know what he did. I have no idea on coping skills and coping mechanisms. All I know is that guy came back and he checked out. He was pretty much done.
57:24
escapism, whatever, whatever you want to say. And my point is, like, the breath is what I’ve learned to all and then chanting meditation, the bay later on, but the breath is what got me through a very difficult period, forget music for a minute, and I never, ever imagined myself sing this. You know what I’m saying? Like, I never imagined myself like, forget me. But that’s, that’s like, that that was fire flight, that was survival. That was that said, it’s like your body is like,
57:53
What are you gonna do? You’re gonna die? Well then go die. Nobody’s gonna really give a shit. You know what I mean? Like the world’s gonna keep going, keep turning or fight. But if you’re gonna do that, you better learn how to control it and breathe through it because otherwise it’s going to win. So both the way you were saying really inspired, like really triggered that in me. Like to share that with you know your audience and also with you specifically because I think it’s extremely powerful. It’s free.
58:23
and then we can all do it. We all breathe. If we don’t, we’re not breathing, we be dead. So we all have the breath, you know what I mean? We’re all breathing. There is no stressful situation in my opinion that can’t be dealt with in terms of some sort of breathing exercise though. That was the point. Well, for me when I was, so I was paralyzed from the neck down for four months, but I was told that it would be like that for the rest of my life. So I go through just like.
58:51
denial is the first stage, but then I was in anger like hardcore for a long time because that gap between denial and anger is regret. Right. All the shit you took for granted, all the stuff you were going to do, all the stuff you were thinking that was going to be done, but you do it tomorrow. And I say this on my keynotes. People, they say they don’t know what you got till it’s gone, but that’s not true. We know exactly what we have, but we just assume that we will always, always have it.
59:21
Thank you. Thank you. And whether that be physicality, friendship, family. That’s right. We take it off of that. A wife, like all that shit is gone for me, but that’s the past. So I can look at that. You know, and I can go, I lost my house, blah, blah, blah. Or I could be like, okay, but now I have liberation. And like, I’ve got this amazing person that like really likes me. And I’m doing like cool shit for the first.
59:50
what I consider, but not really starting to dig in on cool shit. Life didn’t beat me. You know what I’m saying? But I didn’t let it. That’s true. Go ahead. Finish your story. So that’s where this is the form of stuff like basically like quadriplegic or peri-plegic. Yeah. So quadriplegic, they would just, I was paralyzed from the neck down. They would just, they would just, so being in that place.
01:00:19
You go through all of that and then I got into like essentially suicidal depression, but I couldn’t act on it because I’m paralyzed. So now I’m the victim and this is bullshit and this isn’t fair. And why is the universe or why is God doing this to me? I’m a good person. And then I finally got to that point and I realized adversity does not give a shit about your opinion. It owes you nothing. So stop. So stop hoping that it will stop expecting there to be an answer that’s ever going to satisfy you because it’s not.
01:00:49
Even if you had it. And then I just got to that point of just radical acceptance and just said, okay, I can either stay angry for the rest of my life and play the victim. Or I can say, if this is what I have, even if it’s not great, what am I willing to do to move forward? And to your point about breath, I just got back to that thing and I would just breathe and just, I would, um, they would usually just come in, give me meds and put on Netflix.
01:01:17
I was like, can you just leave Netflix off with the light off and just let me work through this? And that breathing would just bring me back to grounding. It was just like Zen meditation, like just Zazen breathing. Deepen your nose and then double through your mouth, whatever it was. You do two seconds in, four seconds out, three, six, whatever it is, just simple. It doesn’t have to be complex though. Your body understands what’s going on. We’re not smarter than our own body. Eventually I get to the point where I took that Zen idea of
01:01:46
Okay, take myself out of the equation because it’s not about me. And I started trying to see where’s the gift in this adversity. Where’s the opportunity in this hardship. And the way that I found it was I realized that I had just been given a team. I was a team leader. So if we’d have been in Afghanistan and I was injured, because I believe this injury would have happened no matter where we were and they kept pushing our deployment back. So if I was in Afghanistan and I was injured and we’re adding the hot zone,
01:02:14
That means for every one man that’s hurt, it takes two to pull into safety. So now I’m endangering my team. So if you’re two guys on my team, I’m putting your life at risk because I’m injured and now another team has to cover down another battalion has to cover down. A Chinook has to go into a hot zone. And if you guys have seen any military movie, we all know that Chinook is a big target and now other people’s lives are in danger and it would have had to come into a hot extract if I was outside the wire.
01:02:44
And at that moment I was like, I remember saying it. I couldn’t believe I was saying, I was like, holy shit, I’m lucky. Not that I’m lucky, but I was just grateful that nobody else was injured at the time. And that was the first time in my life that I had genuine radical 360 degree gratitude, right? And that was it. For most people, gratitude is, people practice gratitude, right, and they’ll write things down.
01:03:12
But it’s easy to write down all the shit that you already have and be grateful for that. But to me, gratitude is when I can be happy that something happened, even if it doesn’t help me in the least. And once I had that radical acceptance of gratitude, I became grateful for the bed that I may never get out of and the room that I may never leave. And then two weeks after that, I started getting movement back on my left hand, and then my right hand, and then my feet. And then I told, hey, Drayana, this.
01:03:42
And then I got cocky.
01:03:46
And I got that soldier’s mentality again. I was like, see, I knew I could beat this. They told me I died on the table twice. I can just walk off this being paralyzed thing. And as soon as I did that, I kind of plateaued and then slowly started to regress. And then I went through the stages again, but I was like, all right, well, this worked before. I’m gonna just lean into this thing, whatever it is. And then when I started finally recovering again, and it took a year and a half of occupational physical therapy.
01:04:17
And I just never allowed myself that ability to fall back into that place. Again, I’ve always just moved forward and that was what 12 years ago now. But if it hadn’t have happened, I wouldn’t be able to look at that. So Luis, what you’re going through with your ability to just be an incredible bass player and you say, I don’t have that ability now, but yet it informs the way you compose now because you’re the baseline, you have all these other skillsets and it gives you.
01:04:46
The base is the foundation of everything. I can’t put any harmony up until I have the base. Well, it’s like you evolve, you modify. So let me ask you this and straight up. So like, are you have feeling in your legs? Is that what is that where you’re at? Are you able to move around? Damn. Fantastic. Yeah, that’s the thing. It’s like the power of the breath in the mind. Really, you can overcome crazy circumstances like physically. Like I should probably at this point with.
01:05:15
I should most likely be paraplegic, no use of my legs at this point. Or one arm is like, but I still walk. Yeah, sometimes I use the cane. Sometimes the elbow, whatever. I stretch all the fucking time. I work out all as much as I can. I still get crazy attacks, but I’m like, yeah, I work with my neurologist and I still do it. But I still am able to have a life and I still work.
01:05:45
And I still like do sessions and write and I’m up for two films or I have one film for sure like I have a second film I’m working on for next year. Like amazing stuff happening in the musical sense. It’s just simply like, okay, well, my time now is like, I got to set up shop and it’s changed and entertainment has changed again. And but there’s ringers like out of the on there’s it’s gonna be okay. The moment I panicked, the moment I freaked out, I remind myself of how bad it really was. Like a couple years ago.
01:06:15
That was bad. And I don’t ever want to go there again. And I don’t want that to happen to anybody. I don’t care how shitty you are as a human. I just don’t want that to happen because it’s bad. To make a grown man cry, no, it’s not worth it. It’s not cool. So breathing, chanting, work for me, you know, and stretching, yoga, and like working out, all these things, but like, yeah, man, it’s like, I’m not, I didn’t give up on music. I just stopped being a musician.
01:06:45
So I’m gonna keep on doing it right out of there. We got shit to do, you know, that’s the way I see it. So, but that’s me, you know, and I wanna be around people that are like, yes, exactly, Martin, exactly what you, that’s exactly it. And I wanna spread that message to as many people as possible. I wanna use it seriously, because a lot of people are like, no, they wouldn’t get out of the wheelchair. They would never, they’re victimized by all of it. They would never leave. They were.
01:07:13
Why me? Why me? Why me? And then they die. That’s it. Sucks, man. You know? So I feel like that’s our collective responsibility. I agree. And Adrian, I mean, he, he beat cancer because of his mentality. And the way he. And I heard that on your podcast. And I was like, what the fuck? Really? And he’s like, what are you saying? You’re like, you know, I’m going to the gym and I was running and I was like, I was like, and you’re doing chemo?
01:07:43
Tell us a little bit of that story for the listeners that haven’t heard that one yet. Oh man. Again? I can’t. No, man. I like Luis Gutierrez. It’s a night opener because I was just fresh out of college. So it’s kind of…
01:08:13
hard to cope with it when you’re just 25 and you’re just bothered by this news that you have to go through surgery and then there’s some larger health options now and yada yada and you know, I mean to be fair for the health personnel, you know, the doctors, you know.
01:08:43
That’s your job to tell you, hey man, this is what’s happening. This is the scenario you’re in right now and these are your options. Thank God I had some great doctors around me, but yeah, all those college years of long hours of practice, they’re out of the window for a year.
01:09:11
Because you have to focus on your health now. But yeah, man, just, you do your research and you learn to listen to your body right away. Because I think you’re, man, I didn’t mention that on our past show, but your body and your mind goes into a panic mode. So just.
01:09:41
you start listening to a lot of your body, you learn very quickly that all the shit you should have been doing before, you know, drinking, this and that, not taking care of your body, not sleeping, not, you know, all that good stuff. And all that stuff you take for granted. Anyways, so you have…
01:10:07
no options then to actually get well and to learn how to push yourself to get out of it. I think that’s your survival mode being like, hey, I think it’s okay to go run or do a little walk instead of staying in your bed waiting for the next few
01:10:36
session at the toilet. I’m like, nah. So, I mean, unless after you could do it, how can I just go jog for a little bit or walk and then before you know it, your body gets used to it and actually learns to get strong very quickly and start going for a jog.
01:11:06
start eating better or make sure you’re not doing this and you’re not drinking or you’re not smoking or you’re not… All that stuff that we know, we all know is bad for you. The buskers, you know, excess sugar, excess this, you know. Not eating at McDonald’s, you know.
01:11:37
get rid of things that they’re not important. Family is important. Your parents, your friends, you learn for who your really friends are because they’re the ones there taking it to your, taking, you know, giving your right to your radiation therapy and all taking you, you know, of your family, you know, does everything to stay there, to be there for you. You know, my parents
01:12:06
We’re three hours away, more than three hours away into all Mexico, and I was in El Paso, Texas. And so it’s a drive. I mean, three hours is three hours, you know, to go back and forward, to make sure I was in well, or I was eating, or you know. But it’s crazy, because during that time, I was getting calls to record and play outside of El Paso.
01:12:36
record important sections, you know. This is the first time I flew to New York, that’s when I recorded Francis the Mute, but, and a lot of people don’t know, but I was finishing my last month and so of radiation therapy while I was recording those albums. And I don’t even know the guys from the Bolton who then, but I was doing that, you know.
01:13:04
And I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to lose the opportunity of recording and playing for all these other people that I was getting calls from. But that’s how life works, man. You plan to be this perfect time for you when your solo is that so-and-so feel harmonic and you have a headache or your body doesn’t feel right or you got the…
01:13:33
or you’re going through divorce, you know, Luis and I, we both dealt with that, you know? And dealt with divorce, yeah, dealt with divorce before Luis, but I didn’t have a kid, you know? So that’s an extra burden to deal as a man, you know? Yeah. You know, I cannot imagine how that works, you know? I don’t have the mindset, you know?
01:14:02
until I have a kid I’ll know what is that about, you know? I mean, I’m gonna stop you on that because it’s like, if you had a kid you would just deal with it, you know what I mean? Yeah, but I don’t know. Figure it out. Yeah, yeah. I thought you got the wrong dis-tain, like I’m just listening, keep going, man, keep going. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. And that’s about, that’s pretty much about it. I don’t wanna be, you know, have a bent in show, but that’s what life is, man.
01:14:31
We were talking about the anxiety of having to compose or practice or getting work done within a deadline for Xbox or for this or for a movie. That’s a blessing, man. A hard job is being a soldier, being a fireman, being a paramedic, or being a doctor.
01:15:00
trying to save somebody’s life. That’s hard. That is hard. What we do, man, it’s a blessing. It’s a blessing and it’s, I’m not going to say it’s not hard, but you know, because it’s definitely difficult, but it’s not war hard. It’s not saving somebody’s lives hard, you know? I mean, I don’t know, I might have saved some lives of people, you know, jumping out of…
01:15:29
Plus the zero, but that’s unintentional. They don’t wanna get in that thing. I agree. Yeah. I mean, but like you said, Marcus, adversity doesn’t do. The only meaning that adversity has is the meaning that we assign it. And so- Oh, there you go. There you go. That’s it, right? So if I have the courage to step back and be honest, then I can assign it whatever meaning I want.
01:15:59
It doesn’t matter. Yeah. And that’s cancer, you know, battle. Like it doesn’t care about it’s like, doesn’t it’s not on our time. I know our mood, our desires, you know? And so I think that is, it’s really up to us to like, feel. I agree. You know, and step up, you know? Well, everyone in this room has gone through, as we’re talking about, Luis, you with MS, Adrian with your cancer, me with my injury.
01:16:30
I feel that.
01:16:32
Maybe I’m being overly philosophical about this, but Steven Pressfield made a comment about how you have to put in a lot of hours to get a skill set that allows you to he calls it handle the voltage. So when you have something big happen in your life and you have this like powerful thing, if you don’t have the bandwidth or the strength or the skill set to handle it.
01:17:02
It’ll shut you down or you’ll try to put it into something and it will not actually be something that’s going to help other people. It turns into something that’s almost toxic and ultra negative, not in a way to make somebody, oh, that’s a song that makes me feel blue. And it’s like, no, like something that’s no longer benefiting the world. And I read that years ago and it just makes so much sense. So do you feel that now that you both have this technical prowess?
01:17:32
That allows you to harness your adversity in a way that is now beneficial to others in the process of what you do. Luis. That’s a great question. I would say that I’m working on it, man. I hope so. I really am. And if it means that I need to do more podcasting and more like explaining my story and more stepping out of the shadows, so be it.
01:18:00
That’s where I’m at. And I, and three years ago, no way. I don’t want anybody to know this, no way. But it did change my life and there’s no going back. I changed my life. There’s no going back. So I want to share that with people. I don’t know, but that’s really interesting what you just said. And that if we don’t have the skills to deal with life on life’s terms, we won’t deal with it. And so I would very much like to understand more about that exactly.
01:18:29
How do we get people to start like, I don’t know, leveling up, figuring it out, understanding, because life’s gonna show up, man. It’s just gonna show up. And it might be in the form of like an illness, or adversity, death, divorce. It’s just gonna show up. A car wreck, I mean, it’s an injury. It’s going to show up. It’s something, the longer you live, and then unless you die, it’s gonna show up.
01:19:00
So get ready. So that’s very much what I wanna do is like help people. Maybe I have something to share with them through my experience, but I, you know, I want to help them get ready and prepare. And then me too, I wanna be prepared as much as possible. I wanna stop. I don’t want to have anxiety and negativity in any form. And I’m not there yet. So I still have my own personal work to do, but that’s all right. There’s no rush, you know.
01:19:28
So I kind of work on this, you know, it’s just like practicing. It’s like practicing an instrument or getting better at compositions. The same thing, man. We just stay with the process and do the reps. Well, keep doing it, man. No. So to answer your question, the answer is no, I don’t have something to just like magically, you know, helping people or share with the audience, you know, or, um, that I do, that’s going to help them. You don’t think that your music does that on some level?
01:19:57
I’ve not thought about that. I think it does more storytelling than anything. I think it’s more characterized in sort of what Alexander was saying earlier. It’s more like I have thought about that very much. Like my music is very much, it’s like a character and story. A play, a film, a podcast, it’s a script. That’s what I think of my music. And I am trying to do more.
01:20:24
What do I hear? What do I imagine? What do I, what is it? That’s, that’s sort of where I’m at right now at this moment in time. You know, it’s October 18th, 2024, but if it does, that ass, that means that I just like help somebody feel good. Well, what’s your, what you do for, for, for Gladwell for his podcast. I mean, you add an additional dimension there, correct? Yes, absolutely. I mean, and as you’re saying, music is very much a character, much like if I
01:20:54
a book about New York, like New York becomes a character. Absolutely. So maybe the way that they say what they’re saying coupled with your music, because of your capacity to tap into what’s being said, that may be the amplifying thing, right? It could be. I mean, there’s a ring. I’ve done this for like, I don’t know, a lot of podcasts, you know, so like that hit millions of people. So something is conducting.
01:21:20
maybe on a soulful level, maybe the simplest, you know, oftentimes it’s like, I’m trying to simplify my thoughts because I do come from a very jazz, very noting, very like aggressive background, you know. I’m thinking of like, how can I connect to, how can I take somebody’s writing or their idea, their story and connect it to the masses of people? I’m not trying to connect with 30 people. I mean, greater anyone, you know, more power to you. But I have been…
01:21:50
contracted to reach large amounts of people. Same thing in a film. If I’m working on a score, it’s I’m not trying to look at it like this is just going to YouTube directly and that’s it. I’m like, okay, this is hopefully gonna get a push of some sort. There’s a distributor, there are investors, it’s gotta hit people. There’s gonna be awards, festival, all that shit. That’s the way I treat it, but I don’t know, man.
01:22:19
I don’t know what I’m hearing. I guess it’s where I guess it is connected with people. But man, when I heard him, like Mars Volta, when I didn’t even know what year that was in the early 2000s. Yes. It’s like that should change my life. It’s like, really? People, you get to do that for real and fill a stadium? No, come on. No, it’s true. Because intensity and conviction and truth.
01:22:49
That all translated to an entire generation across the globe. Man, that’s that to me. That was, that was earth shattering. Am I doing that? I wouldn’t be, I would argue that I’m not, but I wouldn’t be opposed to doing that if I could, you know what I’m saying? Am I doing that for a show? Cool. Great. I think you’re doing it maybe not on the level that you’re comparing to Adrian. And the same thing when I saw Mars Volta on Letterman.
01:23:17
Like, what the fuck? Do you remember that? Like it felt like the whole place was just coming down. And I’m this guy in Oklahoma and just like, he just reached through the TV and just like, I was like, who is this? How are they? It was amazing. It was similar to hearing the Beastie Boys play. I think it was Letterman. Yeah, it was just Letterman. It was like, or SNL. It was one of those where you’re just like, damn. These people are like really bringing it down. Yes.
01:23:47
level. So that’s, that’s what that hit me. You know, it was like, okay, okay, gotta come, you know, so like every cue every piece of music that I’m writing, it’s like, it’s gotta have that intensity. And I’m looking for those people. So when I was like, Yeah, I’ll work with you. I’m like, okay, cool. Let’s do it. You know, because that’s, that’s the intensity I am going for. I don’t know exactly what it’s not just the Mars Bolsa to be clear, like, hip hop, and punk rock.
01:24:16
and rock and like there’s there are fans there are players and musicians and jazz. I mean, there’s shit in my brain because again, I’m a Chicano from South Texas. It’s like we don’t have one tradition that I know of. We listen to everything. That’s what I want to bring to what I do and how I live my life. I don’t want I don’t want to be scripted. I don’t want anybody to be like, no, man, this is how we do an interview. I want to do that shit. I just like to me.
01:24:46
Take care of it. That’s cool. It’s talking to everybody. You know what I mean? No, I love it. Etrian, the question I asked Luis, I don’t know if you heard, but it was this idea of, you know, taking that hardship that you went through. Are you able to channel that in a way through your work that do you think that allows you to connect to people maybe differently, maybe more intimately, maybe more deeply in some capacity? Let me see if I get that straight.
01:25:16
So since I overcame, I’ve become this, this illness in my, looking at things differently through my audience. I mean, towards my audience or, or is that, is that what I’m getting? Do you think that if the A3 Island that I’m speaking to now, there’s a version of you that had cancer and overcame it. And there’s a version of you that never had cancer at all. Which of those two is a better musician?
01:25:47
I see what you mean. That’s what I thought. No, I mean, it’s no way, it’s not a big factor that my music sounds differently now that I went through this hardship, you know? I mean, it’s like my professor Wilkinson says, it’s just exactly shit, but if you don’t experience…
01:26:16
sadness, you cannot express happiness. You know, that’s, I mean, I know it’s a cliche, but it’s so true, you know? It’s so true, you know? So one time, I don’t know if you heard this piece, it’s by Eugene Bosa, this composer, beautiful composer, Eugene Bosa. And he wrote this very famous aria that is originally for flute and piano. And…
01:26:45
and then later on I played the saxophone version, saxophone and piano version, which became a little more famous later on within the French repertoire, you know, for classical playing. But it’s a small piece, it’s a short piece, but it’s so beautiful, you know, it’s a very emotional piece. And I remember when I played, I had it by memory because I played it many times on the flute.
01:27:15
But my professor was like, man, you’re just playing notes. You’re just playing notes. I mean, by then I was, what, 20 years old? And my professor was like, look, man, you never had your heart broken. You think you have. But you never experience shit. I mean, he didn’t know. He didn’t know I was barely making it, making rent.
01:27:44
barely making my payments, my tuition payments. But that doesn’t have to say anything about me having my heartbreak, you know, broken or this and that, you know. What that’s saying is like, if I will play that piece right now, it will be so much, I know, so much emotion through that piece, coming up through that piece.
01:28:13
Um, because it’s, it’s me now, 48 year old dude, you know, performing these pretties. Forget about my chops now, my dexterity, but the emotion and the amount of knowledge that I have as a human being, obviously is going to have an impact, a different impact.
01:28:43
Now with the retrospect of my art and my music, I hope it does. And I hope that everything I’ve gone through, I can give that little something to the people in front of me, my students, my colleagues, my peers. I’m more towards the love I can give my peers.
01:29:12
within the music and respect, you know, that of the stuff they have learned until now, you know, that’s what I’m hoping that I’m giving to people nowadays. But no, there’s no way, it’s a different thing. There’s no way that the, myself,
01:29:41
on the multiples of not having gone through cancer. Man, that music, I don’t wanna hear that music. But that shit sucks. No, I’m serious. It’s like, I was listening on repeat all day while I was doing my jump rope of Joke the Joker by Nottingby Nature.
01:30:10
Oh my gosh, have you listened to those lyrics? Yeah. Jesus fucking Christ. That’s genius, man. That is genius. Absolutely. That is straight up genius. Whoever says, whoever is Mots, hip hop, listen to that shit. Listen to that. Listen to that thing, man. Man, that is, fuck Shakespeare. I’m serious, man.
01:30:39
It’s like, there’s no way of knowing what you went through, what I’ve gone through, but I will say that there’s definitely more focus and intensity now that I’m doing without what I’ve lived through this. And I already had gone through a bunch of shit. Like I already lived separate lives. I’ve traveled, I’ve parented, I’ve like, you know, whatever I’ve worked as a musician, done all that, I’ve played the brakes. I’ve been like, I’m very lucky.
01:31:09
I was given a gift as a young person with basically basic gifts right now. I don’t, so I can see that. That’s the only reason. But where I’m at now, the way I see things, it’s for sure changed my music. And that was the reason I’ll be 15 next year, but it’s absolutely shifted the way I perceive everything. Just this, because it’s sort of like, all right, man, wake the fuck up.
01:31:39
That’s it. This is your shot. Go do it. Cause cause and they’re like, Nope, this doesn’t count. Like this body is like, this is temporary, man. So you just got to keep it going. And like the intensity and the focus and the intention and the authenticity. It’s like, it’s level. So when I get it around people, they, if they are faking it, Oh, I can say, I know that I feel it.
01:32:07
Yeah. My soul is like, no. But it’s like, and that’s probably now I’m seeing why I’m so much closer to out there now than I realize. Every time like, you know, your last show with them was like, oh, not only is this an influence, an influence to the way I perceive music, but oh, there’s life experience and there’s all this other stuff. And yeah, we got to work and we got to have those things, of course. So we all have the same shit to deal with. But.
01:32:35
It’s just a similarity that I’m like, Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense. There’s a lot of fake fucking people that I’ve been around. I’m like, I don’t have that connection. I just don’t. Sure. They do think that I’m sure they probably do an incredible job, but it shows me a lot for it too. And didn’t let me know how great and wonderful they are, but it’s like, what’s the connection, you know?
01:33:05
Yeah, yeah. Why does why does obviously about this here that why is it that R.L. Burnside, the blues musician, I don’t know if you’ve listened to R.L. Burnside, why is he so influential to the way I hear music? One chord plays kind of in tune, sings kind of in tune. But man, I hear R.L. Burnside, so I’m like, that’s R.L. Burnside, I’m like, that’s whatever.
01:33:31
And he’s thinking about closing it from the line, or he’s thinking about like being out way too late and getting a reprimand, or he’s thinking about shit that I’m like, I don’t know why, why is this person hitting so hard? Why?
01:33:46
One chord, two chords, maybe three. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Anyway. Yeah, man. I also love that, that aspect that you brought up, Adrian, which is this notion that, you know, we, we hit this darkness, but that gives us a better capacity to embrace that light and my experience deprivation is what breeds appreciation.
01:34:15
That’s right. So in my experience pain is Why we have consciousness like you can’t have you can’t expand your consciousness without going through an extreme amount of pain And and even today when we have You know, we had this modern misery device the the cell phone that keeps it Even subconsciously there’s a lot of people and I’m 52
01:34:44
48, you’re almost 50. So we were lucky enough to grow up without that. Lucky enough to go out and do stupid things as kids that you can document that’s all over to haunt us forever. There is a place that we can return to in our minds. Like you were saying earlier, where I turn everything off, I can breathe. And there’s this part of me that understands what it was like before I had all these other things.
01:35:13
competing priorities, but if you look at younger people, they will never have that luxury. They will never have that ability to know that there was a time without the internet, without having a machine in their back pocket at any given time. I feel that what that’s done is that’s allowed them to circumvent a lot of adversity, to allow them to avoid a lot of these things. But what I’m finding is they are inadvertently creating adversity in other ways in their lives.
01:35:43
with empty calories, empty conversations, empty lives, again, drugs, alcohol, empty relationships, all these things. And I think that that’s where it’s so necessary for us to, I have neuropathy in my hands and my feet, and that keeps me tethered to that adversity.
01:36:08
but it also helps me radically accept it and be grateful for it because now I always remember it. Even though the event happened so long ago, there’s times when it feels like it didn’t happen, there’s times it feels like it happened yesterday, but the idea is to be able to take that same urgency that you have, that you have, because like you were saying, Luis, it’s like, and Adrián, you said this too, it’s like we know, we kind of know what we have, and we know we should do these things, but we…
01:36:38
had this delusion that we have time. And so for me, I kept thinking, well, it’s not a big deal. I would actually be the guy that would pat myself on the back. Reading a book or being able to regurgitate this quote or what this person said. And I thought that that made me well read or intelligent. And I realized that if I’m not putting it into play knowledge that is acquired by and utilizes the equivalent of ignorance. And so now I just try to.
01:37:07
double, triple, quadruple down on the things that I know to be true. I’ve noticed that when I do that, all these things that are superfluous fall away. And just like this conversation, now, the most important thing right now is just being here with you guys, having that connection, listening deeply, asking myself deeply, how does this, how can we help people with this? What are we doing? How does this inform everything that we do? And I think if we look at it with that sort of urgency and gravity,
01:37:37
Not in a negative, like overwhelming way, but it shows us how powerful our capacity to deal with that voltage can be to literally millions of people, especially on both of y’all’s level. I would love to continue that part of the conversation with you Marcus. I’m not trying to in anyway. That’s the bike is separate. I feel like that’s a that relates very much to what I’m trying to do with breathing life.
01:38:05
But he’s really trying to like understand that and live people off. Tell us more about that Breathe Into Life. So, Breathe Into Life. So, I met Donna Martin, right? Who is like my partner in Breathe Into Life. And I’ve already met her or seen her a couple times. I’ve been to Mexico. We traveled to Mexico City. She has an incredible story, right? And that’s what’s so interesting. She is like…
01:38:28
somebody that I have been communicating with and she’s like, and she’s also not like really successful person or like entrepreneur. And so she’s like, that’s his business and share what you’re going through. And I was like, we should share what you’re going through. She’s like, how’s it really, you know, Oh, then let’s like really try to organize this and be like professional about it. And like to her and she, she runs into different books. She’s like in the
01:38:54
of fashion globally, like in open-dice. She understands how to produce and produce and manufacture on a global level. I understand podcasting on a very large level. My colleagues are like, Steven Dubner, Malcolm Gladwell, Mila Bell, Julie Barton, people that are like, Dr. Maya Shanker. It just goes on and I’m like, oh shit. So wait, I don’t even know. I want to do like an indie.
01:39:24
you know, like lo-fi DIY podcasting, but there’s all these people that I know. So anyway, I’m trying to rectify those two things, but I want to start making episodic content around the idea of like, how did I get through adversity? And then it doesn’t mean that I’ve given up music. A lot of people were like hitting me up, but a couple of people were hitting me up during this process, like where’d you go, man? What happened? Cause I was posting shit on, you know, IT and trying to like do that. And then there’s like.
01:39:54
radio silence because it’s like you’re when you’re in the hospital or when you’re dealing with like trying to figure out a medication or getting blood will work in this. You’re not thinking about those things anything because you feel like shit, your body, your physiology, right? So I really want to take people through this, not only that process, that’s secondary, but what I want to do is take people through stories of adversity, exactly what you just shared Marcus and what you shared.
01:40:22
twice, ASEAN, and it’s like, you don’t have to sit down. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know why these people are, why you two are resilient people. And I don’t know why the universe in my mind, you know, brought us together to have this conversation. Fair enough. But there are people out in the world, they are not this able to communicate their ideas and articulate their ideas or their faith. They’re not performing to millions of people.
01:40:49
the way other rounds, you know, recordings have, or like some of my, you know, story or my music ends up on podcasts. So I want to reach them. That’s what breathing the life is about. And I’m just watching it and I’m launching it with Donna and we’re trying to do it. She’s like, look, you do it. LG, that’s fine. That’s your wheelhouse. I’m going to help you. We’re going to like build this out and we’re going to like website merchandise, all that. But right now it’s like a very interesting, exactly what you just explained. Adversity.
01:41:18
And you came out the other side. You need to came out walking. The fuck is that? I don’t know. Why is it that like, I’m sitting here having a conversation with you guys. Why is it that I’m like, now I understand. He’s a soulful musician. He went through, he went from this, this, he had to go through like pre-cancer, post cancer and all the other shit that happens after that because life doesn’t stop. Why? You need to learn how to live it. Right.
01:41:47
I want to take people through that so that if they’re 15 and they’re They’re shitless because they’ve just been diagnosed with leukemia or you know Lupus or whatever some other L disease or whatever, you know or MS It’s okay We’re here to like help you and like remind you that and we can still be You know, you can still drop out bombs. You can still like wear nice clothes. You don’t have to just give up
01:42:16
what breathing life is going to be about. So just getting started, I’d love to have you on there, Marcus. I’d love to have you. Adrian’s already on the ice. I know, I haven’t asked him. I’m not going to ask him, but it’s going to be a guess at some point. Or maybe it’s a conversation, but I do want to get that going and start that. But that’s where I’m at. So I feel like the world needs to hear these stories. And it’s not just people. Its adversity can be…
01:42:46
in war-torn countries, can be refugees, my friends that are white suffered socioeconomic situations or like, they’re more seas, they can be like orphans, it can be like a lot of different iterations. So that’s very much what I wanted, but not the people that we’ve all heard about. I don’t want to like focus on the stereotypes of like, well, I’m this color, I’m this ethnicity and wow, the world sucks. I don’t want to hear about that. I want to hear the…
01:43:15
paraplegic, you know, they’re like, what happens when you know, you have no opinion? What happens when you deal with cancer? I don’t want to give this a story. Makes sense? Yeah, it makes sense. I think that’s where all the value is. You think so, Adrian? Well, all I have to say is prove it, Luis. I want to see it. Yeah, man. She’s awesome, man. Your girl, man is just awesome. The boat, she’s been to Mexico twice already, right? With you? Yeah. Twice. Yeah. Yeah, man.
01:43:45
I think you should get a podcast going soon, please. Yeah, I will, I will. I’m working on it. And it’s like, you know, I don’t want to be so music-centric because that’s what I do. Like, I don’t want to like separate it and really focus on like overcoming adversity and resilience and like these really interesting to what I find interesting stories, you know, I think that are gonna resonate with people and really make it talking cool. Like, like.
01:44:13
cool music to a brain, cool sounds like great. And like, I don’t want to, I want to, I want to make it. So it’s just like, damn, I heard 10 minutes of it. And it’s like, I feel like inspired. I, I, that’s what I’m going through. You know what I mean? That’s what I’m able. We’re working on it. It’s in, it’s in motion. It’s always, it’s always important to me and it, and it, and it, and it
01:44:44
explore and have conversations outside of the music, the music normal, the music world. I remember one of the best things I heard from Wayne Shorter. I never met Maestro. I never got to meet Maestro Wayne Shorter. But I remember reading this quote and then he had,
01:45:11
on one of his, he mentioned one of his master classes, is the importance of reading science fiction or talking to people outside of your music world. You know, have just the normal conversations like you’re at a bar, having a drink with your friend and just talking about anything, man. Even if it’s the…
01:45:40
nonsense, you know, bullshit or jokes of having a man talk or whatever the heck, you know, but he said he was, he loved to read science fiction, like he was a big H.E. Wells fanatic, you know, and because he needed, he needed images and stories to improvise and it makes sense, you know.
01:46:08
all the other cliches and technique and vocabulary, musical vocabulary. But if you don’t have stories to tell about anything, you don’t have nothing to say. No, that’s right. And it’s very important to, I mean, I know it’s hard. I know it’s hard to not think music, you know, but- But it’s hard to fall. But there’s two lines to your point. It’s like there’s threads and it’s like adversity.
01:46:37
You know, you mentioned that. That’s exactly. Just that’s the topic to me. It’s like, yeah, we can discuss these sharp diminished. Absolutely. You just got to like, you know, minor two, five, one, and how bad ass it is. Even when you play melodic melodic finders, we can get into all that. But what’s the point? But there’s other podcasts for that. I want to relate to people. Because we’re all humans on the planet living.
01:47:07
lives with all this. You know what I mean? That is so important. And so to Maestro Wayne Sorter, he was also Buddhist. He meditated all the time. He was also very into art. He was very interested in art. He was like, really cool, like really great things. I mean, that’s the thing is that go to a show, go check out like
01:47:33
No, don’t disrespect the person that’s wearing something that’s challenging you. I try to figure out what it is. You know, and I think there are like little lessons that we can all collectively look at each other outside of our music, music brings. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah, so I’d rather you listen to to.
01:48:01
a very nice dude talking real bad jokes, you know, while I’m fucking having a drink, you know, then somebody telling me a different, all those harmonic hacks or how to go from one chord to another. It is time for that. And it’s important as a musician. But come on, man, you know, just I’m just a person like everybody else. Sometimes you just want to shut it off. That’s right.
01:48:30
uh, listen, uh, watch a real bad movie and, and, and that’s it. Leave it at that, you know, you know, spend some time with your girl and you know, that’s it. But that’s it. And it forces us. What does that do that forces us to operate on different cylinders, right? Like, uh, when we travel, what happens? Our senses are heightened. Everything is new. It’s an adventure.
01:48:56
We don’t know where we’re going. We, we are not getting in the car and taking the same route that we always do. And the beauty of this life is it’s about perspectives and orientations. So I can have the same path every single day, but if I’m willing to see that path and that journey from another orientation, from somebody else’s perspective, a hundred different times, I’m taking a hundred different journeys every time. That’s right. But if I’m just stuck here.
01:49:24
And like you said, I’m just like, Oh, well, I got to work on this inversion for a minor. It’s like, it’s not nearly as compelling. And what does that do again? Just like, uh, either on you were saying how getting up and moving, um, go to your Louise, to your idea, when we get up and walk, what are we doing? Like we’re, we’re checking like a whole different boxes. It’s like, I’m changing my physiology. I’m getting exposed to the sun. I’m changing my cardiovascular capacity. I’m my endorphins are releasing my cognitive capacity just like without even intending to.
01:49:53
It’s like, this is what we were doing. So when we have the courage to lean into that thing, even if we have an imposing deadline, that’s the thing that allows us to exhale. And now all of a sudden we get the download from the muse and it’s like, why did I waste so long to do that? Oh yeah. Super interesting. Um, yeah, I’m going to, I’m going to talk to the two producers on the show. And I’m going to talk to myself and to Donna, and we’re going to try to book.
01:50:22
episode with the two of you gentlemen, but we’re gonna like frame the conversation from the lens of like what we’ve all been through as opposed to like just the fact that we’re for music, you know, we’re we’re music, we know we’re musicians, right? But I would love to explore some of that with you guys a little more. So let me peek on that a little bit. Really interesting to to do. And the other thing I want to do, Marcus, in case you back to that and I’ll drop it, is to do it live. I really
01:50:52
The experiential experiences are important. It’s just like you like watching your band. And what is that? Casa Franca? That’s correct. Right? Or I have a gig coming up like next year. I’m gonna do a live podcast in the East downtown. It’s like, that’s really cool. Because now you have all of these energies in a room and people are like watching them. That’s what’s really, so I’m very interested in doing that.
01:51:23
And like figuring out a way to do live. I know it’s hard. Everybody lives in different places and different parts of the world. I know that, but I’m just putting that out there because I think there is something to be said for the exchange of energy in the room, the exchange of people like, Oh, they feel that they take that they’re like, it’s just like live music, man, as we both know, it’s very impactful. So I want to, I want to put that out there. Don’t know more, but I would just want to like.
01:51:51
Well, I think that I think I can’t speak for a three. I’m maybe I can. I think we would both be more than happy to do that. Yeah. And and what I see and exactly what you say, I’ve done, you know, over 200 episodes and every single person that I have on is somebody that I like, no love and respect their work, whether it be a person I actually know or a person I was introduced to just like this and every single one of them, even if I didn’t know anything about them, I guarantee you can ask them.
01:52:18
Tell me about adversity that you went through in your life that if it hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be the person I’m speaking to now. And there’s a direct correlation to their level of greatness and the amount of adversity that they are able to channel in a positive manner. I mean, if we look at all these great people or whatever they do, there’s always some sort of origin stories, some inciting incidents, so to speak. And, um, and as you were saying, it can be anything. It could be.
01:52:48
childhood, it can be poverty, it can be loss of any of these things. Cool. It’s really interesting. Well, thanks for having us on. I’m going to jump, I got to jump out and get to another thing. Of course. It was super cool talking. I don’t know what your plan is for like posts on this, or if you’re going to put like post two episodes or one episode of one, but just make sure you please share me your share me tag me. I will tag you.
01:53:16
And tell everybody where we can go to learn more about you and what you’re up to. Yeah. I just right now, I think the best place is to go onto my website, www. That’s like the easiest or go to my IG. And I’m going to start posting about breathing the life as that starts. Like we, you know, we’re just building it, but we have our logo.
01:53:46
that we have like our site, you know, we have our domain, like all that stuff is starting to come together. So like the next few months, I think we’re going to see a rollout, but that’s not, there’s no sense of urgency with that. It’s more about like, it’s got to be like, awesome. So for now, just go to my ID, Luisguerra music or my website, www.luisguerra music.com. That’s it. I love it. You want to.
01:54:14
Just the same thing. I go to my IG. I’m posting a little more stuff, shows and other things are coming up. Especially now that the video game is doing a re-release with some more development, music and so forth.
01:54:43
Mostly IG. I’m trying to do a little more on the X, formerly known as Twitter. But X is too overwhelming for me. I go there for news and this and that, but Jesus Christ, it’s a war song. Yeah, absolutely. What’s the name of your video game? It’s called Hanna. Hanna is the game.
01:55:13
on Xbox and for both the platform and the online version. You know, you can get to the, it’s kind of like Netflix now, you can go to the Xbox platform and you can just gather the games there instead of having the console. You know, that’s, you get your Xbox control and just go for it. But yeah, that’s pretty much it, man.
01:55:42
Thank you for having us, Ben. Thank you so much, Ben. Thank you for being on. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. This is the first time I’ve had two on at the same time. So I think I think it was a huge win for everyone. And I think all the listeners got something out of it as well. I’ll talk to you soon. Thank you again. Yeah, man. Thanks, Marcos. Thank you. See you. Thank you for listening to this episode of Acta Non Verba.
