Original subtitles

[film static]

[bass guitar music]

[heavy metal music]

- In studio, the man, the myth, the legend,

Joe Cardamone from the Icarus Line.

- Hi, thanks for havin' me.

- It's been a long time. - It's been a minute.

- Yeah.

You know, the first time I had you in the studio,

people were like, "You're havin' the Icarus Line in?"

Like, "Dude, they are gonna break your windows

"and pee on your rug."

And I was like, "They're animals on stage,

"I'm sure they're perfectly fine

"to be in studio." - And look what happened.

- Right? - You're still here.

- You're still here.

- Exactly. - My carpet's fine.

So V2, major label.

Icarus Line gets signed.

- Yeah. - Crazy!

- I know. - What was it like?

- Honestly, we wouldn't have been able

to be signed anywhere else.

Any other label.

John Sidel was probably the only person

on the face of the planet that would have signed

the band at that time and who was--

He didn't care what happened, you know.

He just wanted

to pour a little gasoline on the fire and like watch it.

- And then

what happens?

- You know,

we basically toured 'til the wheels fell off.

Half of my band just dissolved into the ether.

- Here we are 15 years later.

What is the state of the Icarus Line right now

and in your life?

- I'm a 36-year old man.

So obviously I'm about to get married.

- Who's the lucky lady?

- She's waitin' outside.

- And I say lucky with trepidation

because someone with such an illustrious history

adds another element of cuckoo.

- Yeah. - So obviously,

Icarus Line is your baby,

but what are you doing besides that?

Like how do you make ends meet?

- I own a studio and operate a studio in Burbank

where I try to, as much as I can,

curate what comes in there, but that doesn't make you rich

and owning a studio is definitely not a goal of mine.

- So let's talk about a new record.

What are you doing with label stuff?

- It seems like we kinda get tossed around

like a dirty tramp from label to label,

every record, you know.

But no, nobody today.

Anytime I put out a record,

I can't believe someone's letting me do another one.

And I'm sure there's a lot of people that feel that way

about my music. - [laughs] Stop!

[heavy metal music]

- That was pretty cool, goin' over to,

you know, when we talk about the record and shit.

- Yeah, that's cool.

- Yeah.

Any time I get to talk about myself for a half hour...

- You love it.

- Oh, yeah.

What's up?

You don't like your food?

- It's really good.

I'm just not that hungry.

- What's up?

- The main thing that's stressing me out right now

is our finances.

I don't know if you know that all the money that I make?

Goes directly into the house, the bills,

maybe some dog food, like after all that's said and done,

I'm left with nothing.

- Yeah, I didn't know it was that bad.

- Yeah, it is.

I can't really carry that

burden

on my own.

It's not like I want you, or would ever ask you

to give up

the band, your own stuff, your music.

I would never ask you to give that up,

but at the same time, we have our life together.

- I mean, I always think

that things are going to change, you know?

If you don't think that then

what's the fucking point in going on living?

- All I want you to do is to acknowledge

my

situation,

and what I'm dealing with

because sometimes it feels like you have a sure deal

and you're all in that little thing.

- I appreciate it.

I really do.

All I can do is try to fuckin' scrape harder, hustle harder.

I'll figure out some way to bring more in.

I'm gonna figure out some way to make shit easier on you.

I will.

[dramatic discordant music]

[doorbell rings faintly]

- [Woman] Hey, Joe!

- Hi, Joe. - Hi, Jun.

- How are you?

- I'm okay. - Come on in.

- This is where you're posted up.

- Yeah.

It's my temporary hospice.

- How does it work when people are comin' over?

- Yeah, well, easy access for them.

This used to be the living room, now it's

the bedroom slash living room.

- Yeah.

It's kinda crazy being here,

seein' your folks.

That's nuts to me.

- Well-- - They still look the same.

They pretty still look like exactly the same to me.

- Yeah, they haven't changed much.

Yeah, they're still all ready to take care of me

for a little while longer.

- And cast out demons.

- Yeah.

Oh, yeah. - Full service.

Rehab. - For sure.

- So, now that you're back here,

that means you'd have to go to church every fuckin' Sunday?

Is that what that means?

- That is what that means.

- What do you fuckin' think about when you're in there?

- To be honest, it's a little different now,

you know, having been through

what I've been through.

- Yeah. - It's kinda like,

hey, you know?

Maybe I shouldn't be ignoring it the whole time.

[laughter]

Looks like the test is comin' up sooner than I thought.

[dramatic discordant music]

[suspenseful discordant music]

- [Joe] Fuck.

- Hey, what's happening.

- How you doin', Kyle?

- I've just been busy, dude.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

I mean, workin' a lot.

It's kinda hard for me to,

to talk to you about this, but...

- What's goin' on?

- I don't really think I can

keep doing

Icarus Line and my band and I can't give up, you know,

a chance for a platform for my own music so...

- Right.

- Gotta call it quits.

- Sucks, 'cause I felt like everything

was sounding really good the last few times we played

and we finally got, we got somewhere that, you know,

I felt we were trying to go, but...

It's not me to tell you what to do with your life.

I can't ever tell anyone what choice to make

and what's right for them.

I wish it was easier to keep people around, man.

Alright, I'm gonna go, I need to see this band.

You goin' in?

- Oh, I'm gonna take off.

[heavy metal music]

[suspenseful discordant music]

[slow guitar strumming]

[alarm dings softly]

- How you doin'? - I'm alright.

- Thanks for havin' us.

- Thanks for comin' here. - Definitely!

- Everyone on their way?

- It's punk time, you know?

Two hours late.

[laughs] They'll be here eventually.

- How you doin'? - I'm alright.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

- What's up with your arm?

- Aah,

fell. [laughs] - Yeah?

War injury. - Yeah.

Fighting. - Fuck, man.

- Fighting my mind. [laughs] - Yeah, exactly.

The eternal struggle.

Alright, I'm gonna dial this guy in

and then we'll get started. - Cool, thanks, man.

- Yeah. - Thanks.

- Alright, we're on, fellas, let's give it a shot.

[heavy metal music]

Nice.

That was great.

I'm gonna step out for a minute, let's take a break.

[soft knock]

Hey, what's up.

How's it going?

- Good, good.

Do you have time right now to talk?

- Yeah, I'm fine.

- Who are these guys?

- Spin Retox.

Just some bros

from way back when.

- Yeah, but Joe, it's gotta stop.

I mean, the friend thing, it's just gotta stop.

You know, the landlord, we're not here 'cause he likes us.

We're here because he wants to get paid every month

and these guys, they're not payin'.

And if they're payin', they're not payin' enough.

- Yeah.

- It's killin' us.

We gotta start gettin' people in here

that are gonna

actually pay you for your time, what you're worth.

- It's been a rough fuckin' year, you know?

I know that and I'm just hopin' that

things will turn around.

Things will get better.

- I have all the faith in the world.

I just need you to really know that we're in trouble.

We put so much time and money into this place so far

and we just gotta get serious, you know?

Well, you get back to this.

- Alright. - Alright.

- Alright, dude.

- Bye. - Bye.

- [Partner] Thanks.

- Alright, gentlemen.

Let's fuck this shit up.

[slow rock music]

- So you're always telling me

you're fuckin' hard up for cash.

- Yeah, I got a lot of shit to pay for right now.

- I want a band I think you should work with.

- Who is it?

- Well, they were

in here Friday-- - Are they good?

- Well. [chuckles]

- Are they any good? - No. [chuckles]

They fuckin', I'll be honest with you,

they fuckin' suck.

I'm talkin' to one of 'em and they're,

turns out they're like, Daddy's head of CBS TV.

We're talkin' wedge. - Oh, great!

- No, I'm serious, he's fuckin'

just straight up wedge. - Rich kids.

- Yeah, who gives a fuck? - Fuck.

- They were here, right, they were here Friday,

this place was fuckin' rammed.

It'd be a good thing for you.

- Oh, man, I know that shitty band

is gonna be the end of me, man.

I don't know if I can take another shitty band right now.

- Who cares if it sucks?

Seriously. - Oh, man.

You know how that shit goes with these people, man.

- Come on.

What'll Charlotte say

when you start turnin' down fuckin' money.

Honestly. - She doesn't know.

- Exactly.

And if she did, your fuckin' ass is grass.

- Fuck, man.

I'll think about it, alright?

I'll think about it.

- Well,

look, it's a no-brainer, dude.

I'll be honest with you, that is like,

these [chuckles] guys are like spoiled fuckin' cunts.

They say that money drippin' out of their fuckin' assholes.

It's like, "Oh, shit.

"Someone just get a collection bucket

"and put it under their fuckin' ass!"

[laughter] 'Cause it's fuckin',

"Here it comes!"

Easy fuckin' shit!

[suspenseful music]

[phone vibrates noisily]

[heartbeat thrums]

[suspenseful music]

[footsteps echo]

[wind howls] [heartbeat thrums]

[gun fires] [train horn blares]

[chilling music]

[alarm rings]

[slow country twang]

[slow rock music]

- [Joe] Jack.

- Joe.

- Hey, hey, how you doin'? - What's up, dude?

How are you?

- I'm okay.

You know, a little bit stressed trying to run around

and pick up some loot wherever I can.

- Well, you're in luck.

I

have some money for you. - Really.

- Yeah, that controller fuckin' thing sold.

- Awesome.

- Some other stuff is still here,

like there's a base, keyboard, that guitar.

But I got some cash for you on that controller.

- Awesome, man. - Yeah.

- What's goin' on with you?

What's new?

- I'm just workin' and getting ready to go to

with Adrian Young and Moscow for a show

so that'll be cool.

I mean, I've never been, I have no point of reference.

- Yeah.

- Like any place, I'm glad I'm goin' as a musician

because everything to me is rock 'n roll.

I don't care what kind of music it is

so it is always that thing.

- Oh, fuck, dude. - What's wrong?

- The Cult's manager keeps blowin' me up.

We played this show a little while back with them

and as soon as we walked on stage,

the crowd was just yelling obscenities.

I mean, I don't even think they know who we were,

but they wanted to take us out

as soon as we walked on stage.

I turned around and went like this

and everyone knew, everyone in the band knew

and they turned their amps all the way up

and we just abused them for 45 minutes.

- Yeah, be truly loved or truly hated, man,

'cause anything in the middle is garbage.

- Exactly.

I gotta get outta here.

- Alright,

I got some cash for ya.

I'm gonna owe you a little bit, but you know how we do it,

so just hit me up like tomorrow or somethin'.

- Thanks, dude. - We'll figure it out, okay?

[various traffic sounds] [slow rock music]

[sighs] [engine revs]

- Boo!

- What the fuck, Ron!

- You miss me?

- Jesus, dude.

- 'Ello, 'ello!

- What, are you stalkin' me, man?

What the fuck is goin' on? - I'm not stalkin' you, man!

I'm just catchin' up!

- Jesus Christ, dude. - Yeah, dude.

I just happened to be on this side of town.

You got a few minutes?

You wanna catch up or something like that?

Why don't you take me home? - I gotta go to work.

- Well, it's right on the way.

I think it's right on the way.

You know where I live.

- Yeah.

Alright, man.

Tell me where we're goin'.

- [Ron] Gonna take my mom to the pharmacy.

- How's she doin'?

- She's lost her marbles.

I got my nursing license.

- Jesus.

- I've been sober.

I've been clean, man, believe it or not.

I don't know if you can tell but, I mean, I feel great.

Strictly Xanax and Adderall for me.

- Basic food groups.

- [Ron] Yeah, yeah, just fuckin' vitamins, man.

- I have not seen you in fuckin'

10 years, man! - 10 years.

- It's been 10 years. - It's so great

to see you, man!

I totally missed you, man!

And you know, I can't even remember what we were on about

last time we were hangin'-- - I can.

You told everyone in the fuckin' world

that I was on drugs.

- Well, you fired me, man!

What do you expect?

You get a divorce, you get nasty, man.

That's just the way it works, man.

It's nothin' personal.

Hey, just 'cause I say you're on drugs,

it's what you say about other people.

You're on drugs means you're pals.

- Fuck.

- [Ron] I know I don't hold any grudges.

- [Joe] What's up now?

- Got kicked out of--

Well, I didn't get kicked out,

I left Last Situation. - That band?

- Total misunderstanding, but the guy just flipped out on me,

you know, for no reason.

I think he's just power tripping.

You know these band leaders, you know.

Hey, you're one. [chuckles]

But to be completely honest,

I wanna be back in the band, man.

I wanna play again.

I'm goin' crazy.

- I don't know, man.

- I know I fucked up, it's been a long time, man.

I've developed as a player, as a person.

You need me, too.

Don't say you don't. - I don't know, dude.

- What do you mean you don't know?

We're the band, dude.

Right now, it's the fucking

Joe Cardamone solo review, you know, man.

It's not the Icarus Line, man.

- It sounds great in the car, but you know,

as soon as I have to start explaining

that to everybody else--

- Are you running a fucking kibbutz now, man?

What the fuck, man?

You're the boss.

I don't understand why you're fucking deferring

to your monkey underlings.

They can eat it, man.

As far as I'm concerned, they can fucking take a hike

if they don't like it, you know what I'm saying?

We don't need 'em!

Are you sure you okay?

You wanna stop and get a slushie or something like that?

- Oh fuck. - I can get us slushie.

- Are we close?

- Dude, you know where your studio is, dude.

- We're goin' to your mom's.

- I can walk from there!

Let's go to your studio, dude, it's fine.

- [Charlotte] Ron?

- [Joe] Yup.

- [Charlotte] Where'd he come from?

- I don't know.

He crawled out of some fucking cave somewhere.

[laughs]

He starts tryin' to sell me on all kinds of shit.

And he thinks it's time for his comeback or whatever.

And I feel kind of bad 'cause he's like a brother.

A brother that you wanna see get locked up

and put in jail, but he's a fuckin' brother.

I don't know, it was confusing.

- I mean, I haven't seen him, so I don't know.

- [Joe] Yeah.

- But

you do [chuckles]

need someone right now.

And he's been part of the band at certain points

and he's had his ups and his downs,

but I think it's worth giving him a shot.

I mean, what are you gonna do, hunt Craigslist?

- Any time we see someone from the old crew,

completely fucked up which seems to happen more and more

the older I get, I run into people

and they're like a shell of their former self.

It kind of makes me wonder if I'm the same way.

It's like, is that me?

And

you know about the fucking death threats

which have not stopped.

- More today?

- It's not fucking stopped, man.

I don't know who it is, but

it's starting to fuckin' get on my nerves, you know?

- Well,

it's starting to scare me.

- [Joe] Yeah, I know.

I don't want you to get all alarmed or anything.

- I mean, how could I not get alarmed?

- [Joe] Yeah, I know.

[phone rings]

- [Charlotte] Who's that?

- Oh, no.

It's the Cult's manager, Tom.

- Why is he calling you? - I don't know,

but he's been calling me.

I've kind of been ducking him

since that House of Blues show.

- Yeah. - 'Cause I don't know

what the fuck happened.

Well, I know what happened, but I don't know

what they think happened.

I mean, we might've broke some shit.

I just don't wanna deal with it right now.

[slow piano music] I sent the record

to a couple people, like a handful of fuckin'

labels and the guy from SubPop said, "This is genius.

"I just don't know what we could do with it."

- That's fucked up.

- I don't know.

After 17 years of fuckin' doing this,

and the same shit's happening to me

that happened in year two,

just fuckin' wears me the fuck out.

- Sorry, baby.

- Yeah.

[melancholy piano music]

[woman sighs]

- [Guitarist] First job.

- And it's taking forever.

- So what do you think of this place?

- It's alright.

- Yeah, it's kinda like a drug dealer's living room.

- Yeah.

I've seen worse, I guess.

- Hey, guys. - Hey.

- How's it goin'?

- [Woman] Alright.

- Cool.

I think we're pretty much good to go.

You ready to work on some music?

- Yeah, I'm gonna warm up in a second.

Do you have any sparkling water?

- I don't think I do.

- [Woman] It helps me sing better.

You know?

- I do know.

There's a corner store down the way.

- Oh, do you think you could get us some?

- I guess I could.

Alright, I'm gonna go make sure everything's ready to go

and then I'll cruise down to the store.

- Cool! - Thanks.

- [Woman] Thanks, man!

[light rock music]

- Hey, Joe.

Joe!

- [Joe] What's up?

- Her voice doesn't really sound like her voice.

If you, I don't know...

Like...

[slow rock music]

This sound okay?

- [Joe] I guess so.

- Yeah, I could, I know what to do.

- It's alright, kid, I got this.

- The amp doesn't really sound like her amp.

I don't know if...

- Yeah, that's 'cause it's not her amp.

You guys didn't bring your amps.

- Yeah. - You know?

- Hey, actually, can we do another take?

I have gum in my mouth.

Is that okay? - Yeah.

Just don't put it on the floor.

[various traffic noises]

- [Charlotte] So how'd it go with the band today?

- It's fuckin' brutal.

- Really?

- Spoiled fuckin' Hollywood rich kids.

Halfway through the day, I just kinda had it

and I fired those motherfuckers.

- You fired them?

- Yeah, they're fired.

Get the fuck out, you know?

[groans] Anyway. - Well, that's a lot

of money to go down the drain, you know?

- Yeah, but

what am I supposed to do, you know what I mean?

I don't know.

Somethin' will pop.

- Yeah.

Oh, did I tell you?

Do you remember my dad's friend, Jerry?

- I don't know.

- No, vaguely, maybe. - Yeah, I think so.

- Yeah, he's an author.

I think he was talking about maybe meaning

to do some audiobooks.

Could be a thing.

- Okay.

I've never done a book before.

Tell him to come over and call me or something.

- Okay.

- So McBean

invited us to a

house party.

- How old are we?

- Getting older by the second.

[Charlotte laughs]

I didn't really say we were gonna go,

but I didn't say we wouldn't go.

- Oh, but it would be good 'cause, you know,

just to show support for those guys.

Maybe some of their own label people will be there

and every time you go out to one of these things,

you get work.

- As soon as I give you the signal, we're fucking leaving.

[Charlotte laughs] - Okay, deal.

[upbeat rock music]

[people chattering] [people laughing]

Do you see anybody?

- There's Ben.

What's up, man?

- Hi!

Good, how are you?

- Not bad.

Selling that [mumbles] story.

- Uh-oh. - Yeah.

UK.

- Not the tour [mumbles] Italy.

- Oh, bangers and mash?

- Yeah.

- [chuckles] That was fucking disgusting.

- It was fucking disgusting.

- I think Annie's coming over.

- Hey. - Hey!

- How's it going? - Good, how are you?

Hi. - Hi!

- Guys meet Robert before. - 'Sup, Robert, Joe.

- Hi, I'm Charlotte.

- That's Ben right there. - So what's goin' on?

- Meh, just observing the party over here tonight.

It's a very crowly-esque,

demons...

Robert knows what I'm talking about.

- At least somebody does!

- I think I need a drink.

Do you wanna go with me?

- Robert, will you go get me a water or something?

- [Robert] Yeah, yeah.

Nice to meet you. - Yeah, man.

- So, my friend, when are we gonna do

your new Giant Drag up?

- I don't know, man.

When I have some fuckin' time,

when I have enough money to go in there.

And I have to worry about paying the bills.

- You don't have to worry about paying the bills.

- Look, I need to pay the bills, Annie,

that's the whole fuckin' thing.

- Why?

- Because the lights will go out

and then we won't be able to do shit!

- Okay, first of all, you're living in a world of fear.

Can you light my cigarette?

About some money that's not even real.

They print it on paper, it's not real!

- Alright, well, they take it at the corner store,

that's all I know.

- You are identifying with the vibration of, "I am broke."

Saying, "I need," tells the universe, "I don't have this,"

so you're creating the reality

that you don't have enough money!

Money's not even real!

It's just paper.

- I gotta go inside and fuckin' watch McBean play, alright?

- Joe, you're blowing it, dude.

You're missing out on something that could be really cool.

- Alright, look, let's talk about this later, okay?

- Alright, bye, Joe. - Bye.

[upbeat rock music]

- Joe!

- Hey, Keith.

It's good to see you, man.

- How's it goin'?

- Just in here hiding from the sun.

- [Keith] It's blazing out there.

- Yeah, it is. [Keith laughs]

How you doin'?

- I'm doin' pretty good.

- Yeah? - I'm getting ready

to turn 60, got a book in the works.

- That's sick. - Yeah.

- That's awesome, man.

What's the book, what's it about?

- Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Off, V2 Records.

- Uh-oh. - I get to talk

about you guys. [laughs] - Oh, no!

That's kinda scary!

- What are you up to, what do you got goin' on?

- I finished a new record.

- Well, that's cool! - Yeah, for the Icarus Line.

- Okay.

- I don't know where it's goin'.

We just did it on our own. - So you recorded it

in your studio. - Yeah, we recorded it live.

Kind of wrote it live. - Well, that's the way

that it's supposed to go down.

I mean, it's rock music.

It's not like we're splitting the atom.

You just set up, plug in and just blow it up!

[laughter]

- Oh, man.

- Well, I would really like to hear it.

- Okay.

I'll send it over to you.

- Well, maybe I can help you,

somewhere down the line I can help you,

make sure that it sees the light of day.

- Yeah, if you like it, maybe show it to someone.

Keith.

Always a pleasure. - Joe.

Be well. - Bye.

- Be strong! - I will.

- See ya!

[slow rock music]

- Alright, I'm outta here.

- Yeah.

- Who's that?

- Annie sent me a new track last night.

It's fuckin' good, dude.

- You thinkin' about bringin' her in here again?

- I mean, I don't know.

It's just a good...

It's one of her best songs.

It's one of the best things I ever heard her do.

- She have any money?

- You know the drill on that one.

- We just gotta find some way

for people to start paying you.

Or you'll go a dying artist.

- I'm workin' on it.

- Alright.

- I'll see you later.

[slow rock music]

[faint knock]

Yo!

Hello?

Hello?

[faint knock] Hello!

What the fuck, man.

[suspenseful discordant music]

Hello?

- [Man] Hey.

Who is it?

- [Jerry] Jerry.

- Oh, fuck, it's Jerry.

Jerry who?

- Jerry Stahl.

Whoa!

Expectin' company?

- Not really.

Shit's been a little weird around here lately.

What's goin' on, man?

- I'm a friend of your future father-in-law, Mitchell.

And I'm looking for a place to record a book of mine.

- He said something about that.

- Yeah.

- Welcome to Burbank.

Alright, so this is--

- Wow, what do we got here?

This is where the magic happens,

huh? - Yeah.

I guess you could say that, man.

I built this place.

- Man, this place has a vibe.

- It's not bad, right?

- Fantastic.

- This place represents the last

of the record label advances.

So I took the money and I built this joint.

- [Jerry] Sounds like a smart move, man.

- It's the one smart decision I made

probably in the last, you know, however many years it was.

- You only need a smart one every five, 10 years,

and you're good to go. - Is that true?

- You fuck up the rest of the time.

You just need one, one smart one.

- I'm right on schedule then. - And you wanna pattern

your life after me, 'cause, you know.

I'm the guy who was workin' at McDonald's at 38.

- [Joe] That is me on a chop saw.

- [Jerry] Chop saw?

Uh-oh. - They're startin'

to fall apart.

- Is that where the money is, right behind this one?

- Yeah, there's somethin' back there.

It's definitely not money.

Yeah, you know, whatever, it was a long summer, but...

So what's up with this project?

- This is a book called Permanent Midnight,

committed about 20 years ago.

They're gonna do a re-issue, 20th anniversary.

- I'm vaguely familiar with it.

It's about you being a writer in Hollywood

or something like that, right?

- That's a small part of it, yeah.

There's a little bit of heroin involved.

- Oh, okay.

- So you can't relate.

It's a movie, you can check out and if you like it,

you can get involved.

Well, listen, man, I'd love to do the book here

and I gotta jump, but think about it.

- Sounds good. - Cool.

- I'll walk you out, c'mon.

[upbeat rock music]

[soft knock]

Yo.

[soft knock]

Annie.

Knock knock.

- [Annie] Oh, hey, Joe!

- [Joe] Hey.

How's it goin'?

- It's going, how are you?

- I'm alright, I didn't know if you were here or not.

- Where else would I be?

Out in the crazy world outside of these gates?

I don't think so.

- No protection out there. - None whatsoever.

What are you doing?

- Just wanted to come see you.

- Oh!

Oh, cool! - Yeah, you know?

I thought I'd drop in.

- Nobody died or nothing?

- No, nobody died.

- Oh, cool.

Reptilians, they shape shift.

They're kind of like spiritual beings

operating through physical human beings.

They reach into your bottom two chakras,

all of our Presidents and all of those people,

they are just like puppets that are vessels

for these evil beings!

- Are you saying Nixon had a fucking tail?

I don't understand that. - No, because it's a spirit--

Okay, the royal family in England,

they're fuckin' reptilians.

They kill and eat people

all the time. - I don't even know

what the fuck you're talkin' about, man.

- You know aliens.

These aliens. - I've seen them

in the movies.

- The Pope is gonna be here to have a meeting

and talk about the climate and our space brothers

that they're our brothers-- - Space what?

- They're our brothers and sisters in Christ,

he said about space aliens, the Pope.

- What does this have to do with fuckin' lizards, man?

- Reptilians are aliens which are really just demons,

if you wanna get to the bottom, but let's rewind.

- Look, the reason I came over here,

I got that track you sent.

It's really good.

- Thank you. - Yeah.

- It makes me uncomfortable

that you're giving me compliments.

This is a rare...

Am I dying?

- That's why I'm here.

- Oh, God, I knew it! - Yeah.

I think we should go into the studio.

- I would love to go into the studio.

- I have some time in September--

- Joe, are you serious?

You know what's happening in September.

Rapture, end of the world,

maybe not the end-- - Come on, man.

- But we're gonna be entering to a--

- I'm trying to get you into the studio.

- I would love to go, but I'm just saying

on the 23rd 24th, prepare for a major economic collapse

in America and possible asteroid collision.

There could be tsunamis--

- Look, if the fuckin' world doesn't end,

do you wanna go in?

- I would love to, even if it does end.

Especially if it does. [phone vibrates]

- This guy keeps fuckin'...

- What?

- Someone's sendin' me fuckin' messages, text messages.

- Like sexy ones?

- No.

Fuckin' death threats, man.

- Death threats?

That's not a joke.

- Fuck, man.

I need to get a fuckin' gun.

- You do.

We just got one.

We got a .38 Special because when this shit goes down,

people are gonna try to eat our peppers off the front lawn.

- Do you know somewhere I can get one that's

on the sly, like I don't have to...

- I don't, but Robert probably might know.

I mean he's been asking to get paid

for his battle [mumbles] and guns and ammunitions.

Yeah, we should talk to him.

So who do you think it could be?

I have a small list in my mind of--

- How the fuck should I know?

You know what I mean?

It could be anyone at this point.

- Let's think of past members of the Icarus Line.

That narrows it down to only about 73 [chuckles] people.

I mean, you practically cause people to go insane.

- Oh, thank you.

- It's a compliment because you gotta be important

to make so many people turn so insane.

But even I--

Everybody who's ever been in your band is psycho now.

- Yeah, including me.

- [Ron] Be a minute.

- [Joe] Yeah.

- You're gonna love this

set up that I just fuckin' did.

Got it, got it, got it.

Alright.

Just give me five seconds.

I'm

almost

ready.

- I'll give you a minute.

I'll be back in a minute, man.

[door closes]

- Oh, shit.

Fuck.

- He kicked him in the balls like fucking hard

and pops his fucking ball bag.

- Ball bag is what you call it

in the UK? - Yes,

fuckin' the jewels here.

- The proper normal cliché? - That's the jewels.

- Yeah, I've never heard that expression.

- Ball bag.

What do you call it?

Fuckin' hackey sack.

- Sack.

- The family jewels. - He's here.

He's in there, he's doin' it.

- Are you sure about this, dude?

Gotta be honest.

- I don't know, he seemed like

he really wanted to be here.

- [Band Member] Let's play some music.

- Yeah, I mean, let's give him a minute

and see what happens, I mean, I'll be right back.

- Well,

we'll see.

[discordant guitar playing]

- Yo, Ron!

- [Ron] Just a sec, almost there, dude.

[discordant guitar playing]

Do you think I should use a buzz or overdrive?

- Whatever is cool at this point.

These guys just wanna jam.

[discordant guitar playing]

- [Ron] Stop!

[discordant guitar playing]

- At this point, is there anything he can play

that's gonna change our fuckin' mind right now?

- Not mind, dawg!

[laughter]

- [Band Member] Why don't you go in there

and help him out? - Yeah.

- This guy's off his fuckin' nuts, dude.

- We're runnin' out of beer here.

- I'm gonna go slap him in the fuckin' face.

- [Ron] Huh?

- It's over, dude.

- What you mean it's over?

I just started, what do you mean it's over?

I just bought this stuff.

I need to fuckin' check out the parameters before I--

- You should have done that before you came over here, man.

- If your band cannot sit patiently

or

help in some sort of way,

maybe they can get their shit together!

- Ron!

It's fuckin' over!

- What do you mean it's fuckin' over?!

It hasn't even started!

- Look.

I'm gonna wait in the lounge.

- Hey, dude.

Listen, no problem.

Chill out, I'll let you breathe,

I'll let you think it over.

It's all good. - Alright, man.

[discordant guitar playing] [screams]

[upbeat rock music]

What have you been up to

since last we ran into each other?

- Played a show out in Denver at that festival

called The Riot Fest, it was 95 degrees, it was blazing.

- That sucks. - And I felt sorry

for the people in the ground. - Yeah, I'm sure

they were getting cooked.

- They're brains,

brain tacoeds.

[laughter]

It was like playing those festivals over in Europe,

Reading & Leeds.

What I loved about those festivals

was the fashion statement that the gals were making

was pretty fantastic.

Hot pants and knee-high rubber boots.

- Can't fuck with that.

- Down with hot pants.

Dude, I heard your record.

- Yeah?

- It's way fuckin' happenin'.

- Thank you. - My ears are still ringing

and I didn't even have the volume up that loud.

- That's a good sign. - It's up there

with Penance Soiree, which was,

you know, when I was workin' at V2,

that was the best record we put out.

- Wow.

That's fuckin' awesome, man.

I'm glad you liked it.

Do you think you might be able to pass it to Mr. Sidel?

- I hang with the Side Dealer every now and then.

- Yeah?

- I could give him a whiff of it.

- Yeah? That would be awesome.

That would be awesome. - You know that John's

a huge fan so it's gotta get out there!

I mean, what else do you have goin' on with it?

Do you have anybody nippin' at your heels?

- You know, I've got a bunch of rejections.

- Send me a hard copy and I'll just go into John's

and I'll plop it down on his desk.

- I really appreciate that.

That would be chill.

[edgy rock music]

What's up, man? - What up, Joe?

- Hot as fuck out there.

- I already know.

What's the word?

- I was just wondering if you came up on those...

- Yeah, you wanna check his straps out?

- Yeah.

- C'mon.

You good?

- Yeah.

- So we're gonna check this shit out.

This is one of my favorite guns right here.

This is a .380, man.

It's like a German police gun.

It's also known was the Walter PPK.

Fucking James Bond gun if you remember Goldeneye.

- Yeah.

- This is the gun Hitler used to blow his brains out

in the fuckin' bunker and shit.

- Fuck, man.

- Yeah, that's like fuckin' super lightweight,

easy to conceal, you got seven shots, one in the chamber.

Some Nazi fuckin' James Bond shit.

Yeah, man.

If you want some real fuckin' protection,

this shit is fuckin' sick.

This is a fuckin' .45. - Oh, shit.

- Yeah.

This is like the US Army shit,

preferred by military officers all over the world.

This shit kills mad Iraqis. [laughs]

- Holy shit.

- [Robert] That's just a hand cannon, bro.

Don't leave home without that shit,

you know what I'm sayin'?

That's just tight. - I don't even want

a fuckin' gun, man, but how much is this guy?

- I mean, the best I could do is 500 bucks, bro,

and that's basically like just 'cause you're Annie's homey.

It takes money to make money, you know?

A gun can actually give you commodity.

- [Joe] Yeah, no shit.

- [Robert] That shit looks good on you.

[edgy rock music]

[birds chirping]

- Hi.

- Hi!

- What are you doin' here?

Do you have a...

- Gonna go meet with John.

- Awesome.

John's a good dude.

- Yeah, I'm really excited to meet him.

I've heard a lot of good things.

- I've known him since I was a kid.

Since I was about, I don't know, 22.

He signed us

in 2003

or something like that. - Oh, wow!

- Yeah, first major record deal.

- Hey, Pearl, you ready?

- Well, I guess that's me!

- Yeah, good luck. - [chuckles] Nice to meet you!

Hi!

Hey, it was nice meeting you!

- See you later. - See you later!

- Hey, Grease, let's rock.

- How's it going, man?

- [John] Good!

- Everything looks almost the same

except for the walls are black now.

- Yeah, that's the old lady's magic touch.

She likes black.

Yeah, I remember when you guys first came in here.

You, Aaron and Travis.

I still think that album's like a classic.

Well, when I brought to my boss,

I basically just told him, "Hey,

"if this was 1969, and this dude just walked into my office,

"I'd have to call you and tell you that

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't wanna sign that band."

That's basically what I said.

He was into that.

The chain of destruction and terror you started! [laughs]

- Yeah, no shit!

So I saw Keith

and I gave him a copy of the new record

and I was wondering if he sent it over.

- Yeah, he passed it along.

I mean it's--

The record sounds great,

but it's like blatantly anti-commercial.

I mean, you have two songs that are over eight minutes long,

and then when you finally,

"Oh, this is a three-minute song,"

and it's sort of you know, attack on religion

by a public image or something some kind of

non-music thing to bum out the average listener.

- Yeah, it's easy listening!

- [laughs] Exactly!

I think that the record itself and your production style,

the records, I should say, sound amazing, though.

I mean, I'm really stoked

on how you've developed as a producer

but I don't really know what the fuck I could do

with this record, man, to be honest.

But it's great to see you.

I'll be in touch.

I don't what I could do with the album, man. [fades]

[heartbeat thrums] [suspenseful music]

[shouting echoes faintly] [heartbeat thrums]

[gun fires]

[phone rings]

[chilling music on TV]

[various traffic music]

- Hey, man.

How you doin'?

- I'm okay.

- Thanks for comin' out.

- Yeah.

Look, I'm sorry about the fuckin' House of Blues debacle.

- That's not why I asked you to come out here.

- I figured you were fuckin' pissed.

- No.

You know, I think you have a lot of talent.

I think it's talent I could help you with.

Well, I heard the record.

- Yeah, what do you think?

- It's great.

- Really. - It's great.

- Fuck, man.

- I think I could do something with it.

- Really.

- What do you got goin' on?

- We're playin' at The Echo comin' up.

It's gonna be fuckin' good.

- I can bring some people down.

- That'd be sick.

That'd be awesome.

[crickets chirping] [slow country twang]

- Hi!

What's up?

Oh, it's cigarette time.

How was your day?

- Weird.

- [Charlotte] Are you weird or was your day weird?

- Day was fuckin' weird, man.

I met with Tom

Vidorino.

- Oh, he wanna kill you?

- I don't know, I thought maybe after all that,

you know, the House of Blues shit,

that he might, but,

yeah, he wanted to still work with the group.

- Like manage you?

- Yeah.

- That's awesome!

- He asked me what we need

and obviously, I was like, "Well,

"I need a fuckin' home for the record."

- Yeah. - We need to go

on tour and there's the Echo show coming up.

He's gonna bring a bunch of people down to that shit.

- Awesome.

- It would be, yeah.

It could be, I don't know.

There's no fuckin'...

There's no band right now, you know what I mean?

Kyle's off doing his thing which sucks

because

he was there to make the record,

he knows all the material.

So the prospect of having to fucking,

you know, run through this stuff with someone new

is just [groans].

- Well, I think you should call Kyle.

- Yeah, I don't know.

That last conversation we had really seemed final

for some reason, at least in my mind.

It seems like he's got somewhere else to be

and I'm just like,

"I don't wanna fuckin' chase anybody to do this, you know?"

It just puts everyone in the wrong mind state, you know?

Because it's like if someone's more important

than anybody else then the whole fuckin' ecosystem

is thrown off 'cause I'm catering to one person

and everyone should get the fuckin' team.

You know, that's just how this shit needs to work

or it's not fair to everybody else.

So I don't know what to do.

- I know that this is the same shit

that happens over and over again,

but every time, you manage to pull through,

and you manage to pull it together.

I mean you just make shit happen.

I mean you may not know that, but I know that.

You gotta trust me sometimes.

- I do.

What's on TV tonight?

- Bachelor.

- Perfect. [Charlotte chuckles]

- Think about it.

If the power grid went down tomorrow,

how dependent are you on society?

Could you get by without goin' to 7-Eleven

because they're not gonna open the door

when they're register doesn't work,

that 7-Eleven is as good as closed.

I went to 7-Eleven the other day

to give my friend who works there a card

and to tell her that she the nicest person

that works in 7-Eleven! - Wanna try that tune again?

- Would you take the mark of the beast?

I'll play the song if you'll just tell me the truth.

- I'll take whatever fuckin' shit

as long as you start the song.

- Alright.

After I play the song I wanna hear the answer though.

Okay?

- You got it.

- Alright, I'll play it.

[slow guitar music]

- Hey. - Yeah.

- I'll be right back.

- Okay, where you going?

- I'll be right back.

Hey, what's up, man?

- [Kyle] Oh, nothin', what's goin' on?

- How you doin'?

- I'm doin' alright.

I'm just takin' a break from work.

What's goin' on?

- The reason I'm calling you

is because

you know I wouldn't call you if I didn't have to,

about band shit, but

there's a show comin' up this weekend that we got added to.

And they want us to play and I wanna see

if you might be down to do it.

There'll be a little bit of cash, not a lot,

but it's gonna be a good show.

[various traffic sounds]

- You know, man.

Yeah.

I can't say no.

I love you guys.

I'm in, I'll do it.

- Fuckin' awesome, alright!

Let's fuckin' do it!

I'll email you the dates tonight.

- Okay, hell, yeah.

- Alright, man.

Good talking to you.

[urban rock music]

[various traffic sounds]

[audience cheers]

[edgy rock music]

[slow, edgy music]

[seagulls cry] [waves splash gently]

What's up with the new treatment thing?

- [Alvin] I'm on a different chemotherapy now.

It's less toxic and my hair is starting to grow back.

I can stop buying so many hats.

- [Ben] Shit, dude.

Tell me you paid for that one in red!

Lie to your fuckin' mum!

[chuckling]

- [Alvin] Yeah, well.

Sometimes I let my mom dress me.

So how was the show the other night?

- It was good, man.

It was fucking good.

Tom came by, saw it.

I think it fucking lit a fire under him.

He sent the record to

New York

to a major and they wanna do it.

- What? - Yeah.

They wanna fuckin' put out the record.

They wanna dump money into it, it's exciting.

We finally have

a proper team workin' one of our fuckin' fucked up,

you know, albums of war.

So that means money, touring, all of that shit.

- [Alvin] It sounds like things

are finally comin' together for you.

- [Joe] Yeah.

[slow piano music] [seagulls cry]

- Hey, Joe!

[heavy metal music]