Now

tell us about Wallaby's Barbecue.

So Wallabies has been around since 2009, and I think they just really give you good classic barbecue.

And I feel like their weekly deals, if you're in the mood to just try something, whatever's on a weekly deal, they're such a good deal.

Most of them are like $9.99, and so you're going in and getting a really good meat, a really good side, and then a lot of different options.

Yeah.

And then the giant cinnamon roll.

about we tried banana pudding and it was just okay so it's not everything that you know you

It is.

I mean, there's a ton of growth and, and whatnot, but this is ...

This, this feels like a New York City bagel, truly.

Um, but yeah, like, after making it for friends and family starting in 2020, they opened in 2026, and it's really, really taken off.

And, and I think a lot of it, too, is just, like, the vibe of the shop as well.

You know, they, they've come in really with, with a New York City type of vibe.

And so you walk in and the, and the shop is just, you know ...

Ooh

are there some good scares there too?

there's good good scares there's there's a whole section that is like a haunted section where it has like i don't know five or six different little experiences that people can go in uh for the small kids up until about 6 30 it is more just like your do your own thing not a lot of scaring and then after 6 30 they put people in there and so it is a little bit more for the older crowd but Truly, I saw teenagers running around.

It looked like the best thing I could have imagined as a kid.

All your friends hanging out.

There's good food.

There's sandwiches and fries.

There's games.

But

Okay.

I didn't really, the way I've always interacted with the media is, is not thinking about the impression that it might have, but thinking I've got an opportunity to do something interesting.

Why not? Like I just found the idea of showing up and doing, well, this song is inspired by, and I don't know, like the classic Aussie thing of like, oh, we're shit.

You know, like we're like, I don't know.

We just want to play.

the Bolo and I don't know, touring America was weird.

You know, I just like, it just felt like the same shit, you know? So I'd been really into this comedian from America called Andy Kaufman.

When did that change then? When was the passing of the guard when you made that decision? Because I'm sure people aren't winding in the window and doing that anymore, haven't for a long time.

That one.

So that has a little bit of cream on top, but the pumpkin is just divine.

It's got more of, like, a chai, like, a spice to it, so it's not, doesn't taste exactly like a pie necessarily.

And so you, you get that on a layered donut, and I think it's just very enjoyable.

Mm-hmm.

Same thing, the cr- the, uh, cheesecake really- Mm ... uh, settles out that spice and just makes it really enjoyable.

Now, you, you've got a big list here of other places around the valley.

Yeah, I, I, uh, wanted to bring all of you a flannel shirt so you could feel like you transitioned into fall.

And

you have to remember them all, you know, which you told to a person, but as far as it being a faithful, I think I would kind of the way I've done everything in my life is just capitalize on my intensity.

So yeah, I would bring that to it.

And I would, I, I wouldn't be like Josh though.

Yeah.

Like Josh.

Yeah.

Well, look, luckily the Victorian government doesn't listen to Unless

So where do we want to start? With the plate or with the sandwich or what?

So they started just doing the rolls.

And so you see the butter rolls.

And that was what they had started with originally thinking, okay, like this is the nostalgia that they remember from their past.

They used to get pastries from... a local bakery down the street in Hawaii.

And then just later in life, it kind of clicked and they're like, we got to bring that back.

You know, the nostalgia needs to come back.

Now, let's talk about the breakfast sandwiches a little.

Wow

...

in China for the first time in 1992 for two years.

And then I worked for several years in educational and cultural exchange with China before becoming a high school English teacher.

And I was a high school English teacher in the States for eight years and then moved into school administration in Seattle.

And during that time, my school, where I was a high school principal, had an international boarding program.

And most of our students were from Greater China, so Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the mainland.

Yeah

consciousness.

brought to the surface of consciousness.

i just Massive, massive, massive.

Keep your distance Run for cover, tell them You're mine You're mine Morning light Free Free your mind.

Your mind.

Thank you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Half-life?

a...

total just straight motor kind of thing like in half time and then going up to double time in the choruses yes and um and i just i remember we were actually playing the glass house in pomona um that night i was on tour supporting uh phantom planet uh we were we were on tour in that particular tour and um and i was writing songs for my next record i was already scheduled to go in and make the album And he gave me this thing and I was like, oh, I really love this vibe, you know? And I just remember I wrote the song just to his chord structure and then I brought it to sound check and he made a few.

He was like, oh, what about? Actually, it's quite interesting because the change he made was one of those minor yet powerful fundamental changes to the song like when i wrote the song i just wrote the chorus was please catch my disease Please catch my disease.

And he went, shouldn't it be please, baby, please.

Cause it's like a Mojang song.

And I was like, oh, you're so right.

And it's funny.

You kind of addressed it saying that your manager's like, I don't know about that because radio programmers get fickle about weird things.

Well, Ben Lee, how's that different to going to a Daft Punk concert, honestly? [laughs]

Yeah, well, I'd, I'd like to say something controversial.

I think there is too much emphasis being put on the listener experience.

I think, uh, the reason we want art is because it gives us something that we need, that we don't even realize we need yet.

Like, the way a consumer responds to the marketplace is not the way art should operate, you know? So I kind of in some ways, I mean, I, I don't want this to sound like a selfish artist type thing, but I don't really care what the audience can tell or can't tell.

What's interesting to me is, like, where I can push myself, and that's the artists I know, the, you know, the, the, we're friends with.

What we're interested in is, like, stretching our audiences and, like, testing them and provoking them, and I, we assume the audience, in a sense, has less expertise and is a lit- little bit more base, because that's what, like, that's how the markets have always worked.

But you're, if you're an artist trying to make a living, this is a real part of what's happening.

What's the game plan when it comes to AI-generated music like this?

There's obviously legislative questions to do with, like compensation and all that sort of stuff that it's training models, which is a, you know, a larger legal issue.

That's not something I'm particularly well-versed in or informed in.

From a creative standpoint, I'm not a Luddite.

Like, I always embrace new tools and, you know, it's like sampling in hip-hop when that was a big conversation.

I was not against it in principle.

I do think that you do want people to be compensated for their intellectual property that they own.

I didn't realize that there was Latin pop and there was all this other stuff [laughs] that you can actually listen to, and it's all offered on that website.