Transcript
music
Gentle, trilling music with a steady drumbeat plays under the dialogue.
promo
Speaker: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR. [Music fades out.]
music
“Huddle Formation” from the album Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team.
jesse thorn
It’s Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. It wasn’t long ago—less than ten years—that record labels used to send us dozens and dozens of unsolicited CDs in the mail. So many unsolicited CDs. And obviously, we all know why record labels aren’t spending any more money on thousands and thousands of free CDs for radio producers and DJs and music critics and so on and so forth. But it was a nice time in my life! [Laughs.] That was actually how I heard about my next guest. I was doing this show out of my apartment, in Los Angeles. [Music fades in.] And we got a CD. It’s a black and white photograph on the cover—a picture of a man’s hand. And on the hand there is a woman’s face. The band was called Black Moth Super Rainbow and the title was Eating Us. And I listened to it, mostly because I thought the cover was interesting. I had no idea what to expect.
music
“Born on a Day the Sun Didn’t Rise” from the album Eating Us by Black Moth Super Rainbow. Born on a day the sun didn’t rise Born in a world without sunshine You… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue then fades out.]
jesse
It turned out it was great! Rich and kind of dirty and unsettling. There are all these old synthesizers and bits of tape distortion and weird processed vocals. [Music fades in.] They sound a bit like Boards of Canada or maybe David Bowie or Nine Inch Nails. It’s very difficult to describe, but I couldn’t stop listening.
music
“Twin of Myself” from the album Eating Us by Black Moth Super Rainbow. You and me and a new twin of myself Eating seeds from the big black cloud above us Let me be… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue then fades out.]
jesse
So, I was excited to book an interview. I mean, who was Black Moth Super Rainbow? So, I asked the publicist and the publicist [chuckling] emailed me back very politely, “Sorry, they don’t wanna do any publicity. At all. In fact, when they perform, they wear masks.” So, I just tabled it. As it turns out, Black Moth Super Rainbow is basically this one guy. His name is Tom. He lives in a house in Pittsburgh. He records, also, as Tobacco and has put out a bunch of albums under that name. If you’ve seen the show Silicon Valley, on HBO, there’s a Tobacco song in the opening credits.
music
“Stretch Your Face” by Tobacco, as featured on the show Silicon Valley. It’s the way (it’s the way) you go (you go) [Volume decreases and music fades out.]
jesse
Anyway. Last year, Tobacco finally joined us for an interview! We’re so glad he did. When we spoke, he’d just released the record Panic Blooms, with his band Black Moth Super Rainbow. Tobacco has a new solo album dropping later this month, called Hot Wet & Sassy. [Music fades in.] We thought it would be a good time to revisit our conversation. Here’s a track from Tobacco’s new record. It’s called “Centaur Skin”.
music
“Centaur Skin” from the album Hot Wet & Sassy by Tobacco. I’m a warlord I got warlord skin I’m a new orphan [Volume decreases and music fades out.]
jesse
Tom, Tobacco, welcome to Bullseye. It’s nice to have you on the show.
tobacco
Thanks. Thanks.
jesse
What was your first instrument?
tobacco
Guitar. I think I was like 15. My cousin taught me how to play.
jesse
Where’d you get it?
tobacco
I think I got it for Christmas. I’d kind of been into music for a couple of years and my parents thought it would be a good idea. Maybe do something constructive.
jesse
I read a story… somewhere that you were—you were talking about hitting your teenage years and your dad got you a subscription to CMJ—the College Music Journal, I think it was. And just listening to the CD that came with it every month. And that’s kind of an unusual version of the, “I had an older sister,” story—as to where you learned that music is more than just what was on the radio.
tobacco
Yeah, I miss that. I miss that magazine. Yeah. I found everything through that. This was, like—probably like one year before my parents had the internet. Yeah. It was cool. It was cool. I wish it was still around.
jesse
Did you have buddies that were into it? I mean, were there, like, punk rock kids or, you know, underground hip-hop heads at your school? Or was it a solo pursuit?
tobacco
We were more into, like—you know, we were more like the Aphex Twin, Canyon Kids, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada. That’s probably why I got my first synth. I thought everything had to be done with a guitar for a long time. And then that kind of changed everything.
jesse
Were you recording yourself when you were playing as a teenager? I mean, your music is so deeply connected to sounds on a recording. You know what I mean? Relative to writing a song to play at a party or something.
tobacco
Yeah, it’s all about—it’s all about the recording. That’s, like, my world. That’s what—I take that part of it, like, sooo seriously, ‘cause that’s what—you know—that’s what it all is to me. Yeah, I never, never saw myself playing live. Never, never thought I would be onstage. Never wanted to be onstage. It’s still—still, like, not in love with being onstage.
jesse
What was the first synthesizer that you got?
tobacco
It was a, uh, a Yamaha CS-5. That was probably the only one I could afford at the time. It was super cheap. I don’t know how much they are now, but I remember it being, like, really cheap back then. Like, 2003, maybe? 2002? Like, 50 bucks maybe.
jesse
What could it do?
tobacco
It was a monosynth, and I didn’t know what that meant. So, it can only play one note at a time. I didn’t know what any of the knobs did. I just turned them until they sounded—[laughs] until it sounded the way I wanted it to. You know? [Music fades in.] It couldn’t do much, but there’s a Black Moth album called Start a People and pretty much the whole thing was made on that. Most of it, at least.
music
“Raspberry Dawn” from the album Start a People by Black Moth Super Rainbow. Tinkling, light, electronic music. After several moments, a heavier beat and distorted vocals drop in. [Volume decreases and the music fades out.]
jesse
Did you have buddies that you were making music with?
tobacco
You know, throughout, like—throughout everything I’ve been doing, there’s always been people around, but like at the end of the day, I always made it—99.9% of it, I made it alone. I just never knew how to be in a band. I still don’t. I wish I could, sometimes. But… I don’t know. It’s like I—it’s like I have something prove. Something. I’m not sure.
jesse
What happens when you try to be in a band? I mean, you are in a band in the sense that when you tour—either as Tobacco or as Black Moth Super Rainbow—you’re—both of those are not just you, onstage. But what happens when you try to [laughs] work with other people?
tobacco
Like, once every like four years or something, you know, in rehearsal we’ll decide like, “Oh, maybe we should try to—we should try to, like, write something on the spot.” And it becomes like the worst burden. And it’s probably me bringing it down, ‘cause I just—I can’t feel it. You know? I can’t—I think I need to be in—I think I just need to be in my space or something. I don’t know.
jesse
I had a friend in college who was always noodling around on his guitar watching, like, a UHF rerun of News Radio or whatever. Then one day—I think his junior year of college—he like came and he was like, “Hey, guys! I, uh… I made an album.” [Laughs.] And we were like, “We didn’t even know you were writing songs! I just thought you were, like, playing Led Zeppelin riffs to entertain yourself.” And I wonder when did you start making the music that you were making public?
tobacco
Pretty early. Too early. Like, as soon as my parents got the internet, I found—like, there was this website called MP3.com and everyone like me, who like wasn’t ready to be uploading their stuff would upload their stuff. I just thought—I always believed in it, even if it—when, you know, you look back on it now and it’s like—some of it’s terrible. But I—it was like as soon as it was done, I wanted to get it out there. And I think that’s—I don’t think that’s a good thing. I think that’s—if I could change one thing, I would probably go back and like stop myself and like try to like… curate and wait until things got a little better. Because I think you kind of shoot yourself in the foot when you put yourself out. You know, when you—when you’re putting your… your first ideas that haven’t really had any time to marinate, you kind of run the risk of turning people off to what you do. ‘Cause it’s that first impression thing. You know?
jesse
So, why do you think you put out your music too early? Were people being mean to you about it?
tobacco
No, it just wasn’t—it wasn’t fully formed. It was a little premature. My lungs weren’t developed all the way. I don’t know. Just looking back on some of the stuff now, it’s like, “Aah.” Like, had I just waited like a year, maybe. But that’s my own—like, everything I ever do, I’m always gonna look back on it critically and wish I had done it a different way.
jesse
Do you have a hard time embarrassing yourself? [Music fades in.]
tobacco
I don’t know. I mean, I [laughs]—I probably embarrass myself every single time I’m onstage. [Jesse laughs.] And uh, I get paid for it.
music
“Baby’s in the Void” from the album Panic Blooms by Black Moth Super Rainbow. We like to wander into the violets It feels like nothing and we're already late I'll never be here Enter the quietness It feels like nothing and we're already late [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
What was it like the first time that you went on tour?
tobacco
The first time we went on tour, it was pretty surreal. We weren’t all getting along that great. And we had been asked by The Flaming Lips to go out for a month. That was 2007. So, that being my first tour was hard to process. I can think about it now and, like—man, I like did not deserve to be there in any way.
jesse
[Chuckles.] Had you done much live performing at all at that point?
tobacco
We would do, like, two shows a year. Like locally. Or like sometimes we would go to Chicago. We had done, like, three or four years of a few shows every year. So, like probably—I don’t know. Like, ten shows or something by that point.
jesse
[Chuckling.] How big? I mean, how big a room with The Flaming Lips playing in 2007? I mean, did you just step in front of a 1500 seat theater or whatever?
tobacco
It was more than that. It was like—I mean, first off, like at that point in my life—like anything over, like, 200 people seemed, like, huge to me. So, I think—I think our first show with them—it was in this space called the Aragon Ballroom, in Chicago. And I don’t know how many people it is, but it’s gotta be more than 5000. It was crazy. I did not deserve to be there.
jesse
Why do you think you didn’t deserve to be there?
tobacco
I don’t know. [Laughs.] Imposter syndrome? I don’t know.
jesse
[Chuckles.] I mean, was it because you weren’t prepared to put on a show that merited 3000 people watching it? Or was it because you feel like you had some kind of moral failing? [Laughs.]
tobacco
I feel like maybe like—even though, like, we had been together for a while—for like a few years—and, like, a lot practicing the basement. And like, we knew what we were doing, but I don’t know. It just felt like we like hadn’t—like worked for it, or something. Even though we had. Like I said, it’s imposter syndrome. Like, at like everything. I’ll, like—I’ll tell you I don’t deserve anything.
jesse
Were you already anonymizing yourselves at that point in the band’s history?
tobacco
Yeah. I mean, it’s not like there was any need. [Laughs.] Like, it’s not like anyone cared. Uh. We were anonymous. We didn’t have to tell people we were being anonymous. I forget exactly when I picked out the name Tobacco, but I had a DVD on that tour for sale. It was the first Tobacco album—like a year before it came out, but it was put to video. So, I was that person or thing by that time.
jesse
How did you decide how you were going to present yourself, besides just that it wasn’t going to be—you know—your government name?
tobacco
Like how we were onstage?
jesse
Yeah. I mean, I feel like Kiss probably did some marketing surveys. Figured out—it was, “Oh, oh yeah. Okay. I’m the demon, he’s the cat.” You know? But what did you do? Did you—did you go to the drugstore at Halloween and pick out a—pick out a mask and go from there? Or did you pick out a name and think about what it meant to you and—like, what were the steps?
tobacco
It was all kind of natural. Everybody’s name meant something to them at the time. And everyone had, like, their own solo thing. So, that’s mainly what everyone went by. Like, whatever their solo project was called. But the mask thing—that was, like—we didn’t wear masks as much as it was written about that we wore masks. I can really only remember wearing the mask, like, maybe like two or three times. If you write about yourself in a certain way—I didn’t learn this until way after the fact—like, people just, like—they start to just believe that, I guess? And someone had written about us wearing masks, and so that’s just kind of followed us through—you know, over the past 10 years. But we mainly just hide. You know? It’s like—it’s like none of us, like, love being onstage. I know that I would rather—it’s really nice to play for people who wanna hear what you’re doing, that they would even give you that opportunity. But, uh, I’m just not—I’m not that guy. You know? I’m just not comfortable.
promo
Music: Garbled, synthesized music interspersed with clips and samples. Speaker 1: [Echoing.] Voting is crucial! And I don’t give a damn how you look at it. Speaker 2: [Muffled.] Is this America… Speaker 3: [Distorted.] It was we, the people— Speaker 2: The land of the free and the home of the brave?! Speaker 3: Not we, the white male citizens— Ramtin Arablouei: (mis)Representative Democracy. Rund Abdelfatah: A new series about voting in America, from NPR’s Throughline. Ramtin: Listen now. [Music fades out.]
promo
Music: Light, cheerful ukulele and xylophone. Dave Holmes: Are you feeling elevated levels of anxiety? [Ding!] Dave: Do you quake uncontrollably even thinking about watching cable news? [Ding!] Dave: Do you have disturbing nightmares, only to realize it's two in the afternoon and you're up? [Ding! Ding! Ding!] Dave: If you've experienced one or more of these symptoms, you may have FNO: [censored] News Overload! Fortunately, there's treatment. [Music changes to buzzing, aggressive electronica.] Dave: Hi. I'm Dave Holmes, host of Troubled Waters. Troubled Waters helps fight FNO. That's because Troubled Waters stimulates your joy zone! On Troubled Waters, two comedians will battle one another for pop culture supremacy. So, join me, Dave Holmes, for two—two—two doses of Troubled Waters a month. The cure for your [censor bleep] News Overload. Available on MaximumFun.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. [Music fades out.]
music
“Headless to Headless” from the album Hot Wet & Sassy by Tobacco.
jesse
It’s Bullseye. I’m Jesse Thorn. My guest is Tom Fec. He’s a musician and songwriter. He records as Tobacco. His new album, Hot Wet & Sassy, is out on October 30th. Here’s another track from the new Tobacco record. This is “Headless to Headless”.
music
[Volume increases.] So fine in the afterglow Of the Aries on Aries call show My gash goes… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
When people come up to you after a show and tell you what your music means to them, are you able to… accept what they say?
tobacco
Yeah. Um. Sort of. Sometimes all I can do is stand there and just keep saying thank you, because I don’t know—I don’t know how to, like, live up to maybe what they think I am or, you know—the things that my music means to them, I’m not always sure that I can live up to that. You know what I mean? [Jesse confirms.] So, I can—I mean, I can accept it, but it’s—I mean, that’s like—I really—especially, like, the past few years. I’ve really grown to appreciate that. Like, when people tell me—like, you know, like the last Black Moth album had a lot to do with depression and stuff like that. And a lot of people coming up to me talking about that. And it’s like—it was just—it was really nice.
jesse
I have a really hard time hearing it. I mean, I hear it. Like, it doesn’t make me mad or anything. I just have a really hard time being present when people are speaking to me in that way. And then I feel guilty about the fact that I am having a hard time being present with them when this is an important thing.
tobacco
I think it was like that for me. Because I just didn’t know how to take it. Some kind of switch flipped. You can just—I know don’t know. It’s like—like, now I can just focus in. Like, completely on them. You know. Try to, like, really listen. It’s like meditation or something.
jesse
How do you think you got there? What changed?
tobacco
Maybe making a record that wasn’t so ambiguous. I think making a piece of work that had, like, a really strong meaning to me—that’s, like, kind of corny. But it kind of opened my eyes to some things and yeah. It just—it just changed the way I was able to interact with some people, because of the way they come at it. [Music fades in.] It’s not anymore—it’s not just some, like a hippie person coming up to you, like talking about how much they love to listen to my music on acid. It’s like someone who went through some stuff and they relate to some things I’m saying as—you know, as weird, kind of out there as some of the things I say on that album, it all makes sense, I think maybe, when you’ve been through that stuff.
music
“Permanent Hole” by Black Moth Super Rainbow. Cotton blossom, you’ll be forgotten You’re picked and clipped and then you rot away Something tells me this is not your day August harvest Hole in the garden You’re smiling, smiling never wants to say “Nothing, nothing gets me on my way.” Here, gone, all day long Burning in the sunshine Running with an old-time friend [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
It must have been hard for you, as somebody who was pretty invested in putting up a separation between your art and the voice of your art and your personal self, to make a more… thematically direct record. I mean, like—you know, on Black Moth Super Rainbow albums, not only are you performing as a pseudonym on the record and not only are—you know—many of the beautiful things arced and warped and twisted in some way and not only—you know—you’re also singing through a—through heavy processing, so your voice is more an instrument than it is a direct reflection of yourself. You know what I mean? [Chuckles.] Like, you had gone through a lot of steps to be one step to the—to have yourself be one step to the side of your art. And it must have been tough to make something that was more about you.
tobacco
Yeah. I mean, but also like—as serious as that one was, and even though some of the other ones weren’t so serious, it’s kind of also helped me realize that, like, that stuff—it’s always been about me. I just didn’t even know it, at the time. It didn’t click. ‘Cause like, I had no interest in making a new Black Moth record. I was—I was done. I did Cobra Juicy, and that was 2012, and whatever was going on in my head kind of forced me to make Panic Blooms. And I knew it was a direct result of the way I was feeling. And I don’t know. I guess it made me look at everything differently. And this all kind of new. Like, realizing that all along it’s just been me. Like, that’s all kind of new. But yeah.
jesse
What were the feelings that you were having that led directly to that music?
tobacco
I mean, it’s nothing different from what most people deal with. You know. I was beating myself up pretty hard and because of it, I wasn’t sleeping. And it was kind of making me, like, deteriorate. You know. The less you sleep, the worse off you are. And I just got into this really weird, just kind of never-ending, like, fog. You could feel it. And it took me a little while to get out of it. I won’t get into, like, why. I mean, but—yeah. I think, like, having your brain kind of… change like that a little bit—‘cause it does. I think it does change your brain a little bit. Changes perspective, sometimes.
jesse
Did something precipitate that happening?
tobacco
I don’t even—it wasn’t even like an event. I guess I wasn’t keeping myself busy during that time. Sometimes you need a purpose, I think. And there have been times where I haven’t always had a purpose, and that was one of them. And it wasn’t—but it wasn’t any, like, specific thing. It was just—probably the way I always am. [Music fades in.] But letting it take over. Giving it—you know, giving it that kind of power to take over. Because I didn’t have anything else to distract it with.
music
“Mr No One” by Black Moth Super Rainbow. Someone told me someone's there I lost myself, you're always moving Hiding out in last night's dream You're what you seem... no one And I don't care If you don't need me And I don't care If you don't need me And I don't care If you don't need me And I don't care [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
So, a lot of times depression can take away one’s will to get out and make stuff happen in the world. You know? The—it’s a very broad category, but like, I’m basically talking about leaving the house. You know? And that is also [chuckles softly]—that is also kind of a condition of being a musician who works alone and loves to tinker with sounds. Like, that also isn’t a lifestyle that requires a lot of leaving the house. You know what I mean? [Tobacco confirms.] So, do you find it hard when your get-up-and-go is at low ebb? Do you find it hard that your—you know, that your lifestyle doesn’t require you to go to the office every day? Or whatever it is that might break things up a little.
tobacco
I’ve been there. Not anymore. Through all that, I kind of learned how to take care of myself. So, that doesn’t happen anymore. I definitely had a few periods where I’ll just, like, not—I can’t even—I have no interest in turning the equipment on, trying to write something. But I don’t know. I keep myself busy. I don’t really, like—I don’t go to shows or anything. But, like—I don’t know. We do enough stuff.
jesse
What kind of stuff do you like to do? I like to go to the thrift store.
tobacco
I’ve always been, like, really big on fitness? Ever since I was in high school. So, that’s like—man, that’s like 20 years now of this stuff. So, I spend a lot of my time, like, studying that stuff and doing that stuff. I don’t know. I think it’d be cool, like—right now I’m, like, working on trying to get certification. Like, ACE certified to become a personal trainer. Not that I would ever use it, ‘cause I can’t imagine, like, actually [laughing] training someone. But it’d just be fun to have that. To be able to flash that. You know? I don’t know if you get a card. But I would love to be able to flash that card.
jesse
[Chuckles.] What are the things that you like to do? At the gym? Or health-wise?
tobacco
Everything. It’s [laugh]—it’s like—it’s like—it’s like, I think that world is kind of like—there’s always new—there are always new movements being invented. Even though you think, like, the body can only move so many ways, like, someone’s always coming up with some new thing or new way of doing things. And that stuff has always been interesting to me.
jesse
So, I think if I went into a record store and I was looking for your record, they would probably be in a section labeled psychedelic rock or something like that. What is your relationship and your music’s relationship to psychedelia as a phenomenon? Like, how much is that of interest to you?
tobacco
Aw man. It’s like you knew to ask me that. [Jesse laughs.] Uh, I don’t—I don’t like that stuff. [Chuckling.] It’s not like—[sighs and laughs] did you know to ask me that?
jesse
Well, I’m—I’m a professional! I’m doing my best!
tobacco
I do not associate—like, Black Moth, that’s where that—people like to categorize that. It’s not the kind of music I listen to. It’s—[sighs] like I said, I was like—I was always, like, an Aphex, Autechre, Boards of Canada guy? And always saw what I was doing as, like, my spin in that world. It didn’t really work out that way, ‘cause I don’t think I’m really in that conversation. But yeah. I don’t—I don’t—the psych stuff is not really for me. Like, with a lot of psych music, like, the melodies and the songwriting was always, like, so—just trying to, like, recapture the way people did things in the ‘60s and not really ever, like, expanding on it. [Music fades in.] I don’t know. It’s just—so much of that stuff is so boring.
music
“Iron Lemonade” from the album Eating Us by Black Moth Super Rainbow. Iron lemonade, wash my friends away Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Neon lemonade, eat my face away Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Iron lemonade, wash my friends away Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Neon lemonade, eat my face away Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]
jesse
Did you always have the instinct, when you make something pretty, to make it—change it so it’s more ugly?
tobacco
No. That comes with—that came with age and starting to get bored by the simplicity of certain sounds and melodies and—I just—I just think—I think when you’re so—when you’re up front, it can be so boring. I don’t know. I try to get—I’ve tried to get better and better at… not hiding it but finding all the nooks and crannies that are in there.
jesse
Yeah, I read something where you were talking about wanting to make music that the person listening to it has the experience of still processing and working on it in their heads, after the song has ended or the record has ended. And that made sense to me. I was like—I kind of understood that idea that you want to—you want to give people something that grows inside them afterwards rather than disappearing.
tobacco
Yeah. I mean like—uh… [sighs] when you put it all out there, even like lyrically—like, if you just put it all out there and everything is straightforward and everything makes sense and everything’s finished and everything’s done, that’s all there is to it. That—and for some people, that’s fine. That’ll stick. That’ll resonate. When I was a kid, I liked not knowing what people were saying, ‘cause your mind fills in the blanks and that’s kind of how I write my lyrics is like—it’s almost like stream of consciousness where you like—you might not be saying anything, but it means so much and you don’t know why. But I think that all kind of ties into the not being finished, you know?
jesse
Are you interested in your music having a scary or discomfiting quality? Like, I think of [chuckles]—of all the music that I’ve listened to regularly in my life, yours is probably the prettiest that I also find a little disconcerting. [Laughs.]
tobacco
I don’t wanna be scary. ‘Cause I think, like—I think people who try to be scary are usually pretty corny. I mean, I don’t want you to be comfortable all the time, because that’s sooo boring. It has to shake you up somehow. Not all the time. [Music fades in.] I’m not trying to be, like, shocking or anything. But I don’t know. I mean, that’s life too, right? It’s like… equal and opposite.
music
“To The Beat of a Creeper” by off Panic Blooms by Black Moth Super Rainbow. A gentle instrumental consisting of easy guitar chords and soft synth sounds, occasionally interspersed with staticky interruptions. [Volume decreases and continues under dialogue.]
jesse
Thank you so much for coming on the show. I’m so happy to do it. We’ve, like, made an occasional request to have you on the show for—since I was making it by myself in my apartment, probably 11 years ago or something? [They chuckle.] So, I’m really grateful we could finally make it happen. I really love your music.
tobacco
Oh, thank you, thank you. I was like—I was kind of surprised when I saw the list of people you guys interview. I was like, “Why would they ever talk to me?”
jesse
[Laughs.] I mean, the answer is ‘cause you’ve been on the list for—you’ve been on the list for ten years! Thank you very much for doing it. I really appreciate it. [Music fades out.]
tobacco
Yeah, thank you.
music
“Babysitter” from the album Hot Wet & Sassy by Tobacco. [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue.]
jesse
Tobacco, from last year. The Black Moth Super Rainbow records are wonderful, especially Eating Us. The Tobacco solo records are really great too. His new album, Hot Wet & Sassy, is available on October 30th. Here’s another song from it. This one is called “Babysitter” and it features Trent Reznor.
music
[Volume increases.] I’m the new babysitter I’m your babysitter And I can make time slow down [Volume decrease and continues under the dialogue.]
jesse
That’s the end of another episode of Bullseye. Bullseye is created in the homes of me and the staff of Maximum Fun, in and around greater Los Angeles, California. Here at my house, my son Frankie—age three—has committed, full-boar, to Halloween costume: ghost pirate. Our show is produced by speaking into microphones. Our producer is Kevin Ferguson. He’s away in the woods, this week. Far from all the rest of us. Jesus Ambrosio is filling in for him, this week. Jordan Kauwling is our associate producer. We get help from Casey O’Brien. Our interstitial music is by Dan Wally, also known as DJW. Our theme song is by The Go! Team. Thanks to them and their label, Memphis Industries, for letting us use it. You can keep up with the show on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Search on those platforms for Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. I’m on twitter @JesseThorn. And I think that’s about it. Just remember: all great radio hosts have a signature signoff.
music
[Volume increases.] I’m your babysitter And I can make time slow down Pretend you’re a demon in my ear [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue.]
promo
Speaker: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
music
[Volume increases.] And you don’t love me, love me, love me, darling [Music fades out.]
About the show
Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.
Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.
If you would like to pitch a guest for Bullseye, please CLICK HERE. You can also follow Bullseye on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. For more about Bullseye and to see a list of stations that carry it, please click here.
Get in touch with the show
@bullseye.bsky.social
@bullseyewithjessethornPeople
How to listen
Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!
