Transcript
Speaker: I'm Mark McBride. And I'm Steve Brown. Welcome to season two of the Yo-Yo Player podcast where two dusty old gray beards grab their friends and reminisce about the 1999 Fiend Magazine Yo-Yo Tour.
Speaker: This episode, Slim Shady. Will the real Slim Shady please fuck off?
Speaker: And what what a trip being like, you know, just just hanging out and being backstage to I remember Black Eyed Peas had their own bus and they had a basketball fucking hoop underneath their bus.
Speaker: they'd pop that thing up and play fucking hoops after hours. That was fucking pretty cool. Some of these some of these bands like had their shit together. you know I was like, ah that's pretty freaking cool. Yeah, Black Eyed Peas had a basketball hoop with them. Pennywise had like the whole grill set up. And like after every every single night of the tour, after they were done, they would like Fletcher would throw on an apron and just grill burgers for the other bands on the tour. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: It was great. youre thing man we yeah thing so cool man i remember suicidal tendencies had a weight bench. oh Yeah. yeah Yeah. I remember every time went by their bus, like somebody there was like, was benching. It's funny to think like, like but what would happen if we had done another year, you know, like another year or two, like we'd have had our shit together, you know, we would have had, you know, like you start developing routines and bringing the things you need and making more fun out of it. Like we were, we were winging that shit, you know, just trying to figure it out. We did, but, uh, you know, we could have, you know, we could have been a lot deeper in, in the first couple weeks instead of just trying to figure it out and get our footing, you know?
Speaker: it was It's really weird. Like early on, I adopted you. Yeah, you Right?
Speaker: And before long, you adopted me. Yep. Pretty much immediately. in i Absolutely. So, what so but i love but I like the, I like the, i want to drill into the like, how obvious, how obvious was our tour ineptitude?
Speaker: How bad did we look as far as just like, oh, these guys are green? Fucking emerald green. I mean, like Kelly green. Here's my shirt.
Speaker: like Well, the funny thing about it is that like we had all toured extensively, but not like this. Right. but And that's the thing. like The Warped Tour is a different – it's a different emerald. I mean, and I like I did another.
Speaker: What was it? I think it was I did the corn family values tour with a circus sideshow. Right. And it was interesting because it was a similar vibe, but it wasn't as good.
Speaker: It wasn't as fun. Similar vibe. However, your sideshow time was the same every day. Was it not?
Speaker: Yeah. corn Corn went on the same time every day. Yeah. It's very static. Very structured. Yeah. Whereas the Warped Tour is kind of like, you know, 12 balls juggling in the air.
Speaker: And you never know. And it's like, we don't know which one's going to hit the ground first. But one of them certainly is. Yeah. And it when when it happens, we're just going to figure out what to do next. You know? And that's kind of like what the Warped Tour was like.
Speaker: It was definitely like a ah ah weird organized chaos. But I mean, I will say that like among like the bands, there was way more camaraderie on Warped Tour than there was on Family Values.
Speaker: Wow. Like I noticed that like, I mean the bands on warp tour, like, i mean, and and maybe it was just like that particular scene, like more of these bands were like already friendly before the tour started versus, you know, family values. It may have just been a lot of different people being thrown together that didn't know each other or anything already, but like there was it family values is weird. People would like show up, do their set, go back to their bus, never fucking talk to anybody, which is weird.
Speaker: Which is, you know, it, The thing that's bonkers is that that that's actually how I remembered Eminem being on Warped Tour. He was yeah very secluded, for sure.
Speaker: But let's see some of the other bands. I don't know, man. I really just, for the most part, I enjoyed everybody except Eminem. Blink-182 was kind of obnoxious. They were they were like fun for like the first part of the tour, but they just really grew to fucking annoy the hell out of me. I like it. course, mean, I like it.
Speaker: I've got albums there. fact, they were just Blink, but they had to have the 182.
Speaker: But eminem eminem' Eminem sucks. Stay away from Eminem. If we catch anybody at a contest listening Eminem, we're going throw you out. Yeah. He got hit in the head with more water bottles than every other band on the tour combined. There's a good reason for that. it was funny. Eminem was on it, but Eminem wasn't huge yet.
Speaker: No, he wasn't. no He was Gus Brandt from Pensacola, Florida was his tour manager. Okay. And, um, and I remember Gus was like, he's going to be huge.
Speaker: And I was like, Oh, cool. Awesome. I remember, ah
Speaker: Sherry's nephew, she hired him as the dishwasher. And i forget what city we were in day off. And he went to the movies with Eminem. Like, we're you know, we're all at the same hotel or something. And, and you know, like Gus and Eminem come down and i'm like, are you going to do? They're like, oh we're going to the movies. i was like, oh, I'm going to go do whatever I was going to go do. You know, maybe me and Sherry were going have dinner. I don't know what it was.
Speaker: And ah Greg was with us, her nephew, and was like, you want to go to the movies? He was like, yeah, I'll to the movies, cool. and And it's like, you know, don't even know how old he is now, obviously.
Speaker: Fully grown-ass man, but it's like, imagine being like, oh yeah, when I was 17, I went to the movies with Eminem. Hanging out with proof.
Speaker: Eminem's guy with D12. So he passed away probably eight, nine years ago. Now, how much now on the tour, how much was it Eminem versus how much of it was D12? I mean, like what was that? like Really, kind of how was that? He was billed Eminem, but you keep talking like it was like D12 guys.
Speaker: That was... So D12 actually... No, it was more Eminem, and it was kind of more his bodyguard, Big Nasty. yeah um That's who I really hung out with a lot. Him, Big Nasty, and Proof, which was part of D12. So I hung out with those guys quite a Once Em got done performing and stuff, he'd just no he do his mushrooms and be to himself for the most part. He'd come hang out every now and then. um
Speaker: But just kind of hanging out with those guys. So Damn, I don't even remember what city it was. It was, it might have been. No, was before St. Louis because it was close enough to the Midwest where these guys could travel out.
Speaker: And pretty much all of D12 came to wherever that show was. So whatever the state or city before st Louis was,
Speaker: one or two, whatever it was. So those guys would come hang out and i was just hanging out with those guys quite a bit once we got done with our gigs. But ah Proof, we became really cool.
Speaker: I mean, you know, i mean, just really tight to the point where after we got done, And if you guys didn't see me, chances are I was either hanging out with that guy or hanging out with um Mark Live from Ice-T's camp, stuff like that.
Speaker: So, and that that bond really solidified in Canada because motherfuckers was throwing bottles and shit on stage while these guys were doing warm-ups and stuff.
Speaker: You know, a bottle damn near hit Em. And um I'm sitting on the back, you know, just watching admiring. And I'm blocking shit to the point where Eminem actually cut his show short that night just because these fuckers was just wanting to keep throwing bottles and shit. So I think he did like two songs and he's like, fuck y'all, I'm gone.
Speaker: Yeah. he left He left the stage early in L.A. too because he got hit with a fucking bottle. Right. So, yeah, it was it it was just, it was insane. So, I'm just sitting there. I'm trying to help pack this shit up, cables. And they're like, what the fuck? Who are you?
Speaker: I'm like, shit, I'm trying to get the fuck on up out of here like you guys. This ain't your job, motherfucker. Go back to do whatever. Like, I'm a yo-yo player. But i hear I am trying to wind cables up and shit like that.
Speaker: I don't know what the fuck i was doing. I figured like shit, everybody just trying to go because the crowd was getting rowdy. And with those guys, Eminem, um Black Eyed Peas.
Speaker: I don't remember if ah Lit was on a tour then. They were. Yeah. i mean yeah So those guys, I mean, they were all closers. But the crowd was just getting fucking rowdy. And was just like, shit, it's time to go before somebody gets hurt.
Speaker: And this was West Coast, Canada. So Edmonton. I think it was Montreal. I feel like Montreal was where all the bottles were thrown. They were throwing all kinds of shit there. Really? So, okay. Well, I wasn't on a Montreal tour. No, maybe it was Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal. There's only three Canada stops, right? Okay.
Speaker: Vancouver. Yeah, probably probably Vancouver. So, yeah, I knew it was on the West Coast because we had just left Seattle and then we was heading up to Canada. um Shit, one of them damn groups... Oh, fuck, who was it? They couldn't even come through.
Speaker: Somebody had a felony warrant. Yeah, there was a couple bands that... um There was like one or two bands that couldn't get through because somebody in the band had had like a a conviction or something. yeah And then... um And I remember there was also like random like road crew people that stayed behind and a whole bunch of bands like had to like ditch all their merch at the border. So I remember there was just like a fucking camp at like a rest area somewhere that was just like six trailers full of fucking band merch and like really like eight random dudes just hanging out who couldn't get across the border, like keeping an eye on everybody's shit. That's how they got back. Right.
Speaker: So I'm kicking it with proof. M&M's dude from D12 at that point. So we're we're we're tight.
Speaker: So, yeah. um And I don't even know how we became that way. I think it was, you know, somebody threw a water bottle or something and i blocked that shit. Oh, you know, um yeah I remember what it was. but So, yeah, I blocked a water bottle.
Speaker: proof was like, I need you to watch him on this occasion because his bodyguard was you know throwing up or some shit like that. So, big nasty. He is like 6'8", maybe 315, 320 pounds or shit like that. I ain't nowhere near that tall, but I'm that heavy at that time. So,
Speaker: I was like, all right, fuck it. I'll do it. So, you know, we're doing our shit. You know, once our gigs get done with the yo-yo shit, and you know, I'm going to hang out with these guys. So I go kick it over to the M's tour. And here's the funny thing.
Speaker: We was... ah Shit, what was that damn car? A Chevette? An Escort? Whatever... Whatever the smallest damn car that it is,
Speaker: oh i had to jump in the backseat and Eminem jumped on my fucking lap. How the hell did you end up jumping in a small car to get the fuck away? what what is the So, no, we're... So, he's late.
Speaker: No, he we wasn't getting away. We was going to an event. So, we're at his tour bus. The event was, you know, however many... It wasn't miles, feet away. But because he was running super late...
Speaker: um So i jump in it I jump in the car and he's like, Em, jump in. This motherfucker jumps on my lap. So I'm just like, and, you know, we're driving, I don't know, a minute, minute and a half to get to some shit, whatever it is. And so he can get to the stage because his bodyguard's sick as shit. He and the tour bus just throwing the fuck up.
Speaker: I'm just like, all right, fuck it. I got it. I got it. so So it was me, proof next to me, whoever the driver was, some dude in the front, and jump on my lap.
Speaker: I'm like, all right, fuck it. Let's go. So I was the bodyguard for like 20 minutes. or Now, the thing that I remember about Eminem on that tour was that I felt like he was, he kept out.
Speaker: Like, I remember, again, like, this was the first year that hip hop was on the tour. Ice-T, as you point out, man, that bit that guy had been on Lollapalooza. He had Body Count. And I remember, like, I felt like Black Eyed Peas, like, people knew when we were hanging with Black Eyed Peas, but, like, Eminem was this guy that all the other fucking bands on the tour were like,
Speaker: fuck that guy. He thinks he's too cool. Because he would like, he wouldn't hang out at the barbecues. He would just roll up, do a show, and then he would run back to his tour bus. You know? That's kind of true.
Speaker: um You didn't see him hanging out unless you hung out on his tour bus. So, it was him and Big Nass.
Speaker: His bodyguard, for the most part. ah But, If you hung out on his bus, which what I did, um you know, he was cool as fuck.
Speaker: So, but this was a time that he was still, you know, shrooms was his thing. So you wouldn't, you wouldn't go see a bunch of him anyway. Yeah. So, so him shrooms.
Speaker: Oh God.
Speaker: Well, I would imagine, I mean, so first off, he's coming up at that point, right? Exactly. So he's already in that headspace where everybody who talks to him wants something from him. so So he's probably already like mentally starting to like try and like protect himself from that. He's you know he's probably got like a handful of people that he trusts. But then also, he's like, you know i don't want to be melodramatic about it but it's kind of hostile territory there's a lot of fucking people there that did not like him and did not want him there and did not give a shit yeah i mean like i mean la was pretty early on in the tour and he was getting hit he got hit with fucking water bottles on stage and got booed off the stage like i mean it was it was it was not an easy tour for him i don't think i don't think it was an especially fun one i'm and i'm sure for him it wasn't
Speaker: Yeah. You know? Um, but you're, you, you both seem to recall that that was the first year they had hip hop on it.
Speaker: So, yeah, you know, yeah. And then again, and then you take somebody like Ice-T who was on Lollapalooza, you know, he's already in a different space. So it was pretty much just like Eminem and Black Eyed Peas.
Speaker: They were like really outliers. But the thing is, Ice-T already had body count though. Yeah, that's what saying. Like Ice-T had body count. He'd been on Lollapalooza. He was, you know. right Well, Ice-T already, he was a cultural icon by that point. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: So it was one of those, like, everybody was like, oh, Ice-T is fucking amazing. Like, nobody questioned that at all. like Eminem, it was just like, who the fuck is this dude? Right. Yeah. yeah So it wasn't so much that it was hip hop, honestly, because I don't think anybody had an issue with that. Oh, yeah. that Nobody knew who the fuck he was. He looked like he should have been playing bass in Newfound Glory, but instead he was rapping.
Speaker: And people were just like, what the fuck is this? Am I wrong on that? no No, he 100% looked like he should have been playing bass in New Found Glory. Oh my God, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. called Absolutely forgettable punk rock bassist. Yeah. what No offense, Ian. Right? Isn't that his name?
Speaker: He's from New Found, isn't that isn't is it? Right? Ian's a bass player. I think so.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, and I think that, you know, if I don't know anybody totally sorry about Eminem, but, like, you know, he was always gone. You know, that that motherfucker, i mean, he was, it was, like, his first tour or something, first national tour or something like that. So, yeah, he was...
Speaker: He was grinding, you know, that guy would play Warped Tour and then hop on a plane and travel outside of the Warped Tour contractual, can't play a show within a hundred days radius and go play a party or show somewhere outside of that, a hundred miles whatever it was, you know, and then crash there, wake up the next morning, fly back to Warped Tour and do that and do the exact same thing. So, I mean, yeah, he was, I got to give him, you know, total respect for that because that was not easy.
Speaker: That's actually, that's, I have to say, I got, got to give credit. That really changes a lot of my memory because I remembered him. i remember thinking about the fact that everybody on the tour was generally, you know, like was with it together, like would show up at the barbecue and would hang out and all this stuff, except for that Eminem motherfucker.
Speaker: Like I'm like that snooty motherfucker just would not hang out. But like, If he's actually like, with if he was bouncing, I got to give him a little more cred. Yep.
Speaker: And I think at at the end of the run, at the end of the tour, he threw a party or paid for the whole thing because he was like, hey, you guys, sorry, like I haven't been around for all these, you know, barbecues and stuff with you guys. So, yeah, he fronted some, you know, one of the parties somehow. I don't know how he did it, but I remember him just being, making the effort, trying to make it up for his his lost time. So I was like, all right, you know, let's eat other than.
Speaker: That changes so much. I got to give that guy so much more credit now. Yeah. Yeah, we had no we had no idea about that. but And like everybody else that we've talked to, all of our stories are just like, what the fuck was up with that, dude?
Speaker: Yeah. Doing it. and look and Look where it got him. so yeah guess a pay yeah yeah oh i'm kind Somebody had to pay for those flights every day. Jesus.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But you were I mean, you got some really good photography of all this, too. Like that was. Yeah. And it was great. Like there's there's great shots of us like yo-yoing on stage in front of what has to be like a solid like 10,000 people, you know, and ocean, just a fucking ocean of people.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, and it's one of those things that, again, i wish. I wish I had done it more. In the sense of I, I could have done such a better job if I knew like the second time i this, if the second time I would go out on tour, I would have done a much better job, you know? And so, yeah, we have some, we definitely got a lot of good photography, but now the, you know, the more seasoned tour, you know, road vet that I am, I look back, go, ah,
Speaker: so many shots that i wish I'd gotten. You know, I wish that I'd played it a certain way.
