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Hey, what's up?This is Sully from Godsmack.Strap on those boots, baby, because you are now in the trenches of the war room with the one and only Mistress Carrie, right here on the Mistress Carrie podcast.What's up?
This is Joe Rogan, and you're listening to Mistress Carrie.Her hair is so lovely.Look at the eyes.Hey, this is Brent from Shinedown, and you're listening to Mistress Carrie.Hey, Carrie, go put your bra on, girl.
Hey, this is Steven Tyler, and you'll be listening to the baddest bitch in Boston, Mistress Carrie.What's up?This is Aaron from Stain and you're listening to Mistress Carrie.
Hi everybody, this is Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters and you're listening to the one, the only, Mistress Carrie.
Hey, this is David from the band Disturbed and you're listening to the baddest bitch in Boston, Mistress Carrie.Hi, Bruce Dickinson here from Iron Maiden.Yes indeed, Miss Whiplash herself, Mistress Carrie is here to unchain your brain.
Hi, this is Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and you're listening to Mistress Carrie.
This is Dennis Leary.You are listening to my favorite, Mistress Carrie.Hey, this is Corey from Stone Sour, and you're listening to... You have the privilege of listening to Mistress Carrie.Oh, God.
Oh! Hey, it's Mistress Carrie, reporting for duty from MCHQ for episode 230 of the Mistress Carrie podcast.
And before we get to this week's guest, Sen Dogg from Cypress Hill and Power Flow, I wanna remind you about the Mistress Carrie grunge brunch that's headed to City Winery Boston on Saturday, November 16th, starting at 11 a.m.
Rotten Apple, North America's premier tribute to Alice in Chains, will be bringing the iconic MTV Unplugged set to life.Cocktails, charcuterie, and live music from Rotten Apple.
The Mistress Carrie Grunge Brunch, Saturday, November 16th at City Winery Boston.Check the concert calendar at mistresscarrie.com for more details and the link to get tickets.
Senin Reyes, otherwise known as Sendog, has been the vocalist in Cypress Hill since 1991.He's also an established solo artist and his band, Power Flow, is getting ready to release their sophomore album, Guerrilla Warfare, this Friday, November 1st.
I sat down with Sen to talk about the new album and his musical influences.
We talked about the inspiration of hip-hop and metal, the iconic rhythm section of Led Zeppelin, the influence of the blues, and how he feels to be part of the, quote, new metal scene.
We, of course, also talked about Weed, The Simpsons, performing with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, acting on The Sons of Anarchy, motorcycles, touring historic Fenway Park, and so much more.
I had never met Sen before, but was so excited when he accepted my invitation to be on the show.So, allow me to introduce you to Sendog from Cypress Hill and Power Flow.Oh my God, Sendog is on the show.Thank you so much for doing this.
Of course, of course.It's a pleasure to talk to you.
With a name like Mistress Carrie, sometimes people don't know what to call me.With a name like Sendog, is that what I'm supposed to call you?What do you prefer?
Well, everybody just calls me Send.You know, my good friends anyway just call me Send.You know, Sendog, that's like my stage name or whatnot.
Yeah, there's a time for it, and then there's a time to turn it off.So I just usually go by Sen.
All right.Well, I'm not one of your very good friends we just met, but I'm going to call you Sen.I just wanted to make sure.
Go for it.Thank you so much for coming on the show.There are so many things I want to talk to you about because we share the love of so much, including music and motorcycles.So I'm like, oh, hell yes.
How can you not?You've got your new album, or is it an album or just songs from Power Flow?What's going on?
No, it's an album.It's called Guerrilla Warfare.And, you know, we've been at it for a while now.And, you know, despite some delays that happened, whatever, you know, here we are with the record.
I never, I never like to do like an EP or anything like that, like just five songs if I can.I just rather, you know, do an album and have an album's worth of stuff with whatever projects I'm doing.
Music has changed so much.I mean, obviously back in the day, 45s were the way to release music and then albums came to be.Music became portable with eight tracks and then cassettes.We got the CD.
Now we've kind of circled back where there are a lot of artists that I talk to that are kind of in that singles mentality all over again.But you're an album guy.
Yeah, yeah, I'm an album guy, especially for when we do, like, you know, when I do, you know, like, say, Power Flow.You know, people want to hear more than one song, especially when you go out and play live.
You know, they want to hear, they want to hear, you know, a concert's worth of stuff.So to me, it's very important at least to have 10 songs.And I understand that people are doing, you know, a song here and a song there.
And that's good and that's great and everything.I think for artists that are established, and have a really, you know, lengthy category of songs to choose from.
And they've gotten to that level now where they could just, you know, do a song here and a song there because they got stuff to back it up.
So but for us, Power Flow being, you know, what I consider not a new band, but a band that's had some years in between releases, I think the more we give them, you know, the better it is for us in the band and for the fans that are listening.
With artists that kind of straddle multiple projects, because I have zero musical ability in my body, which is a joke that is long running on this show, how do you decide what ideas, what lyrics, what riffs go to Power Flow, what goes to Cypress Hill?
How do you decide how to differentiate inspiration?
Yeah, well, luckily, those are two different production efforts.So whatever, what, when I do power floats, usually with my guitar player, Billy Graziotti, and my bassist, Christiano De Wolbers, that give me those tracks.
And then, you know, with the Cypress Hill thing, you know, we'll get some tracks sent in and we'll sit together.I'll sit together with B-Real and, you know, choose whatever tracks sound interesting to us and go from there.
So it's like, it's an easy way to separate them.
Your love of rock music, not just as an artist, but also as a fan is very apparent, not just because of the giant kiss poster behind you on the wall.
There is, there's a J.K.Spicer White House.
But also something you've talked about for decades.And Cypress Hill is one of those artists, as a white girl from the suburbs of Boston, when hip-hop took over, there were certain artists that kind of introduced it to me.
There was Run-D.M.C., there was the Beastie Boys, there was House of Pain, and there was Cypress Hill.
OK, well, that's really good company that you got us in.I appreciate it.Two of my all time favorites and also, you know, guys that I looked up to as a youngster and the way that they took over the world was with their hip hop.
It was just so infectious that it spread quickly throughout the world.And, you know, you could Ask any hip hop person if they know who Run-D.M.C.or The Beasties are, it's a pretty much course.
So when we did our thing, I think that we were just trying to be a good hip hop band.We had the capabilities of doing... Spanish rap and all that stuff.
But I think on the first record, especially, we just concentrated on the style that we had came up with and concentrated on trying to be the best, you know, just hip hop band, you know, period.Because in those days,
They were quick to put you in a certain group of what kind of rap you are according to your race or whatnot.And you could quickly be put with a bunch of Latino acts that I like to listen to.
they were doing like lowrider car shows and stuff like that, whereas we wanted to, you know, our music to reach the world, you know, and reach the masses.And so we kept it in English at that point.
But then later on, we came back and we did some Spanish things when we were already up and running at Cypress Hill, which was received really good.But I, you know, just to I had no idea that
that one day, you know, our music would one day, you know, be up there shoulder to shoulder with the Run DMCs and Public Enemies and Beastie Boys of the world.You know what I mean?
And, you know, those are the things that surprise you when it happens, that you get accepted like that. And I remember when we first started touring for the first album was a lot of, you know, EPMD shirts and Public Enemy shirts and whatnot.
And then towards the end of that first touring cycle, I started seeing, you know, some Nirvana shirt, Red Hot Chili Pepper shirts, Led Zeppelin.And I'm looking in the audience and I'm seeing all this happen and I'm like, hey, what's going on here?
I think I think we're about to cross over something or something is about to cross over us. So that's kind of how that happened, you know?
And Rock is one of those formats that once we get our hooks into you, we want you forever.Once we love you, we love you forever.And Rock loves not only Cypress Hill, but you and all of your projects.
Oh, my God.Well, you know, that's... I got to say thank you for saying that.But, you know, when we first... started coming out and presenting ourselves.
I think us growing up in the environment that we grew up in, we had all kinds of musics to choose from, funk to rock and roll to metal to rap.In my house, my mom and dad were always playing salsa records and whatnot.
And I think the audience could see that we knew a lot about what rock was, what metal was.
And these are things that I want to educate myself on because I wanted to I wanted to know, like, what's you know, what's going what's what's making noise here, you know?
And I think the fans could tell that, you know, we knew we're a rap act, but we also you know, we knew the history of rock and roll as well.
I think it's very important, you know, not just rock and roll, but, you know, the blues and soul and and all that stuff.You know, we we delved into some of all that stuff.And I think it just transferred through to the audience somehow.
And they picked up on it and they decided they decided to, you know, accept us.
Daryl McDaniels is a longtime friend of the show and he spent a lot of time explaining that they they were stealing the loops off of those early rock records on vinyl to make those early hip-hop songs so all that early hip-hop is laced with rock and roll just that a lot of rock fans didn't know that at the time.
Yes, yes, that's very true.When we were first starting out, we had this routine that we would do over ACDC's Back in Black.And since we had just turntables, the DJ would spin that instrumental part here, rewind it, spin it there.
the whole time so that we could do our rap.And that was one of our first, like, you know, ways of of getting our art out was just trying to find a cool section of a record that would allow us to rap on.
And this was, you know, obviously well before, you know, sampling and everything came in and we were able to just take it from there and make a song out of it.In those days, we were very much into
you know, those grooves that were on rock records, those beats that you could rhyme over, and we were just trying to find them and use them in some kind of way.
And, you know, I always say that rock and roll and hip-hop, you know, have always meshed well together, and they had, from the inception, they've had similar beginnings as to where they were saying rock and roll would never last back in the 50s.
And that's the same thing they said about rap when rap started to make some noise.And I always thought differently.I thought, how could something as cool as this not last, right?So we went about just trying to be different at every time.
At every turn that we took, we tried to be different.At some point of the time, we started sounding a little bit like so-and-so and so-and-so.
you know, quickly navigated right back to the path of who you guys are, where you guys are from and what you need to be talking about or something like that, you know.
But definitely there's a there's some kind of relativity there between between the two.And I've always acknowledged that and known that.And I'm and I've always been a fan of both of both our forms.
Well, they came up as music of the people.
Yeah, they've both gone through these cycles where they've kind of gotten to a point where it was almost a parody of itself And they had to crash and burn and then kind of rise up out of the ashes the end of the 80s hair metal era specifically how grunge killed it because it was just it had nowhere else to go and and
Obviously when hip-hop took over as the most popular genre of music but you're starting to see that hip-hop is starting to have to reinvent itself too.
Yeah I see that you know and I kind of there's a Back in the days, there was a part of rock or metal that was called glam rock.And it was a lot of hair, a lot of makeup, a lot of prettiness.
And I kind of felt like hip hop started going down that same route.And I would call it glam rap because it was just that what it was.It was money, jewels, females, incredibly expensive cars, and showing how rich you are, this and that, whatever.
And I kind of felt like that's cool.I mean, if you if you work for that and you earn that and that's what you want in your life, you know, go for it.But I think to the average kid, that's never going to be able to afford that.
You're sending a message of like, how do you somebody that comes from the, you know. inner inner inner inner city of kind of things that, you know, how are you how are you going to achieve those things?
And that's just all about, you know, knowing yourself and what you're putting out there.But for sure, I kind of felt like, you know, rap has gone down that route to right behind rock as well.
And then eventually something else will come along that will will change your mind.It'll be a little bit more real, have more realness in it to a little bit more gritty, more cutting edge.And that's the kind of music that I'm into.
You kind of touched on this a little bit.I have a theory about music that there are two distinct eras of your musical identity.
There is the soundtrack to your childhood, the stuff that you listen to unwillingly, your parents' salsa records, the older brother, the cool uncle, the music that you're around.
But then there comes a point where you discover an artist, a song, an album, and from then on, you decide what you like and you have your own musical identity.
So if you were listening to those salsa records at home with your parents, what was it that changed for you?When did you decide the music that you like?
I think that would have happened somewhere around 12 or 13 years old. I wanted a record that had came out.I had only heard one song.It's from a band called Cameo, and they had a jam called I Just Wanna Be.
And it was hard and funky, you know, and I really liked it.And I went and somehow bothered my father to buy me a record, please buy me this album.And we went down there and we got the album, I think it was for my birthday.
And from that point on, I just started searching out other forms of what I call, well, what was funk at the time, you know, Harlem and Funkadelic and the Ohio Players and things like that.
And it's kind of that along listening to that kind of hard, you know, funky stuff kind of led me to into my rock and roll phase where it's when I first heard Led Zeppelin.
And I was like, OK, these guys are on some definitely dip, because I had heard rock and roll and all that and didn't do anything to them.
But when I heard Zep, I was like, wow, the musicianship and the cleverness and the lyrics and everything just, you know. got my attention to the point where I played them records over and over again.
And then from then on, it was just whatever came along that I thought had authenticity to it that I would cling on to.And along with in the early 80s, when the early rap stuff started to reach the West Coast, and now we're
got rap groups of our own in L.A.and all that stuff.And then I got into that because it kind of represented who I was at the time as a young man, as a young kid, you know, being a street kid, a little bit of a hoodlum and just trying to, you know.
The scene was, you know, a bunch of it was a rough scene, so it had an allure to me.And I just kind of just moved on from there and kept just keeping my ears open at all times for whatever I thought was cool, you know.
And eventually that led me to some heavy metal.And from the first time I heard metal, I thought it was really cool and great.So I just started pursuing that.
And my friends, some of them would make fun of me because I'm the only one that's listening to some metal stuff out of all of my friends.
But it all has to do with becoming a musician and your involvement and what it is that grabs your attention and how could you use that and how could you become part of that?
And that was my whole flight of where I was trying to go and where I was trying to be and my identity as well.
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It's not a surprise that you made the jump from funk to rock through Zeppelin because it's one of the most monster rhythm sections in all of rock and roll.
I think the best rhythm section of all time, if you're asking me personally, Bonzo and John Paul Jones.And we'd see them, we'd see the movies or when they show them on TV back then, they were always just so locked in.You know what I mean?
It was just like, you couldn't break that with anything.And I just love that about them. And it was like the perfect combination of a rhythm section.
And there's been great rhythm sections before, but, you know, they had an incredible, you know, I would say probably the best rhythm section that I ever heard.
I mean, arguably. one of the greatest bands, the sum of its parts.
When we're talking about the rhythm section of Zeppelin and we're not even talking about Jimmy Page or Robert Plant, who's arguably one of the greatest frontmen ever, that's how you know how good the rhythm section is.
Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely.And then studying up on those guys and seeing how they grew up and what they were into and everything like that.And it just hit me really hard one day because it all reversed back to the blues.
They all played the blues before they were in a rock band.And I just found that to be fascinating.So that opened my world up there to the great blues artist from Robert Johnson on down.
to just to listen to and, you know, thinking you're cool as a young kid because you're listening to blues and smoke a little dupe or whatever.
And, you know, and for me, it was a great it was a great time because I got to listen to a bunch of music that I that I thought I would never have interest in.
I'm fascinated by the concept of musical ability because I have zero.Are you the first musician in your family or did you get it in your genes?
No, believe it or not, it's in the genes.My brother also had a record, he had a record, a career of rapping back in the days.He still does shows, as a matter of fact, his name is Melo Manes.
Our dad could teach himself any instrument at any time, whatever he wanted to learn, he'd just pick it up and learn it.And then our cousins, you know, back in Cuba, our cousins and uncles who,
have had and do have careers, just don't always get to come to America, but they actually do tour the world as well.And one day I met one of my cousins, I was in Italy, and he gave me more of the history of the of our family.
And he says there's a joke that he says that when black people were coming west or whatever, that we came off the boat singing and dancing.And our ancestors did, came off the boat singing and dancing.And they were like, keep those guys here.
They could entertain us.Leave them here.And it goes back quite extensive.And there was even a guy that would sing and play guitar at night in a cemetery.
That's how he learned how to, you know, where he would go and find his spot to go and learn his craft.And that was one of my great grandfathers back in the day, but it's definitely in the genes.
And just that our mom, my mom was also a great singer, too, in her day.And even though she, you know, she gave her life to the Lord and decided to be, you know, a singer in the church and whatnot, but she sung really great.
And I think we inherited some of those traits from mom and dad and some of the people that were before us and whatnot.And that's how we and that's how because we had left.
I had left, you know, sports, you know, baseball and football, I'd left it behind. just to seek this rap thing out.And it was a thing where our father wasn't too happy about it.But then we started seeing success in what we were doing.
Then he was like, OK, all right, all right.Let me see what's going on.And it's still a decision that I don't regret making, switching from being an athlete to trying to be a rapper or whatnot.
And I kind of feel like if we were, like, from a family that had a little bit more money than what we had, I probably would have picked up the guitar.But I knew that wasn't, like, I couldn't tell my parents, like, go get me this guitar or whatever.
You know, so I just picked up a pen and a paper, started, you know, writing raps.
I've never been able to go to Cuba, but people that I know that have spent time there say that the whole culture is based on music, that music is everywhere.
Yes, yes, it is.It is very much is.Back from even from before Celia Cruz, the Cuban people have always had a love for music and a love for self-entertainment and dancing.It doesn't take too many Cubans to make a party.And and yeah, definitely.
My grandfather was a a musician as well.He played an upright bass and he's credited for one of the styles of music that is still played in Cuba, which is, you know, something that, you know, that we look back on as like, you know, he did his thing.
It was it was important to him to to, you know, to show off, to show that he could write songs and whatnot.And and and it's still showing through in our in our in our people today.
And like my cousin told me, he goes, I don't want to hear about what good of an athlete you were or anything like that, okay?Because you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, you know?
And that's, from our family, that's definitely, we get that gene, that urge to want to entertain and be on stage and perform and whatnot.You know, it's definitely in the genes.
Yeah, I don't think you failed at your musical career. I think you're doing just fine.
I kind of, I kind of describe it as I've been in the right place at the right time as in some points.
And, um, and, uh, I don't know if it was because I decided, or it was, you know, somewhere up above the higher power, like put, get him, get him interest, you know, get me in that area to be in that position to be successful.
You talk about getting a pen and paper and, and writing raps. When you get inspiration, does it come in the shower?Do you wake up in the middle of the night with a notebook on the bedside table?Where are your ideas coming from?
You know, the ideas do come naturally like that. Sometimes I, because I can, I have had dreams with music in them.And there's been times when I've been able to remember what it sounded like.
But there's other times when it just doesn't, I just can't, I knew that I dreamt with music, but I can't tap it, right? But I think, you know, just overall, the ideas would come from at first was just just write a rap.
We didn't have any beats to write to or anything.So we just wrote raps, you know.And then later on, I got to the point where I could.
just think of stuff as I'm driving my car or something or I'll see something out of the window and something will get my attention and get my spark going and then I'll start getting an idea for a song.But my favorite way I think is just to
you know, just send me a track and let me get at it and see what's going on.With Power Flow, I did all my writing to get in the studio with Billy producing, and I didn't I didn't pre-write before I got there.
I wanted to put myself on the spot and come up with a good song right here, right now.And I started doing that, and I started noticing that the stuff that I was coming up with actually made sense.
So I was like, okay, I'm gonna... He says surprised at his own ability.You're surprised by it.
Yes, I was.So from that point on, I've gone with that mentality.Okay, like, let me let me get there and see what he got, you know, and then I'll write to it right there on the spot.
And I heard a long time ago, Ice-T said something about being able to have the ability to get there and write on the spot to music you've never heard before, or something like that.And that's what, you know, real rappers are or whatever.And
I never thought that I would be able to get my concentration level at that point, but it's actually not that hard to do once you throw yourself into the music and let the music become part of you.
that you'll see that what you put down on a song was already in your mentality, was something that you were already thinking.
And it's kind of weird to kind of explain, but it's a natural thing when A meets B, or one meets two, and they come together.It's a natural thing at that point.
And once you learn how to do it, once I learned how to do it, it just became the way that I approach these songs with Power Flow.
Speaking of a guy that straddles the world of hip hop and metal, Ice-T.
Yeah, definitely.And I really, really... How can I tell you, I took notice.
I took notice because he was already my, you know, one of my favorite rappers, you know, from the not just from the West Coast, but of all time, you know, because he's very witty and he's, you know, and he could talk a lot of shit if he wants to, whatever.
You know what I mean?But I definitely saw when he started Body Count. I was like, OK, this is different.And he's presenting it in a thrash metal way type of thing.And I just noticed, you know what I mean?
He opened another door right there for anyone who was brave enough to do what he opened the door for.So I decided to see what I could do here and started my own little, what I wanted to be called, what I wanted to be was a punk rap band.
It's punk and rap.And that was in the 90s.And I learned how to write those songs back then with those guys.
And so what you have now in Power Flow is a guy that I paid my dues in that world to learn how to write songs that I consider now are good songs.And I kind of owe all that to, or give all the credit to,
you know, Ice-T and Executioner and all those guys from Body Count, Ernie C, that led the way, you know, for other hip hoppers that, you know, you want to get Donaldson Metal, you know, let's, you know, do it.So here I am doing it.
Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Um, no, I don't remember what it was, but I do remember it was like seven or eight pages long.
And that's how, that's how the stairway to heaven concept from Zeppelin.
Yeah.And that's how, uh, me and my brother would write raps, you know?And, uh, and then one day I, I started saying a rap to somebody and, um, and he was like, man, does this rap ever end?Like, well, I still got five more pages left for that.
And I got, The first couple of pages, you had a song in that.So I was like, OK, so you saved my raps are long goes, yes, very long.
So so we just I just started, you know, and I adopted the whole for, you know, versus, you know, one verse, two verse, three verse concept and a chorus and whatnot.And it went from there.But at first, those first early raps were very, very lengthy.
Power Flow has been described as nu metal.And I started my radio career in the 90s when nu metal really kind of showed up.And I remember people saying things like, this is never going to last.This music is never gonna be around 30 years from now.
And you've got bands like the Deftones and Korn and all of these bands celebrating these insane anniversaries. Do you get upset by the new metal label?
Well, I kind of do.I never really liked it.But I also understand that people have to categorize things just so they could separate and say, these guys are here, these guys are there.You know what I mean?
New metal, I would hope that a better name would have been found for you.But it does it does tell you about a generation of bands that came along the way.And people did say that, you know what I mean?
And here we are, you know, Korn and Limp Bizkit, and they're both still doing their thing.And we've had some really great contributions to that art form, you know, to that genre.
And, you know, so if I got to, you know, it's got to be called new metal.Okay.All right, cool.I'll work with that.
When it comes to music and inspiration, Cypress Hill, Sendog as a musician and an artist in general, is beloved by so many different types of people and so many different genres of music.
Where's the weirdest place you ever bumped into your own music? an elevator, the supermarket, where did you hear your own music and go, what the hell is happening right now?
I would say, I think it was, I was in a mall, a shopping mall once and, um, and say it in the brain, uh, starts playing, you know, once you're walking through store to store and I'm like, is that my song?
And sure enough, I was like, wow, because you know, back in those days, or they used to play a lot of like, um, or, you know, K-Wave, Yacht Rock at the mall, whatever.And one day, you know, there's our song playing.
I'm like, oh my God, this is kind of crazy.You know what I mean?And I told... One of my friends about it, he goes, no, dude, you're crazy.I go, no, it was happening.It actually happened.
So we went back to that same mall a few days later, and sure enough, they didn't play it.And I'm like, dude, I tell you what happened here.So that was kind of weird.And I think I was coming out of the JCPennies when I heard it.
So that was kind of a bug out.And along those lines, there was one time when I went to the supermarket. And there was, as I'm walking around, a kid is having an argument with his mom, a young kid.
So she finally comes up to me, she goes, excuse me, sir, can you, you know, please tell my son here that you're not a character on The Simpsons?And I go, well, you know, I wish I could, you know, but he's actually right.
And that was kind of like, oh, wow, television is really powerful.It's a very powerful thing that reaches a lot of people.
And I've always known that, but when that happened, I was really like, oh, yeah, that was the right move for us to do that episode, because it really opened us up to a whole younger demographic of people that we already had.
Because The Simpsons is one of those cartoons that like adults can watch and kids can watch, you know.And by doing that, I think we opened we we reached a whole bunch of younger fans that we didn't have before.
And that helped out a lot, you know, as far as like, you know, the building, you know, the building, the building a platform from which to do it from.
The Simpsons gets credited all the time for predicting the future.Are you guys the first case where something happened because it was on The Simpsons first and you stole the idea and actually went and did a show at the London Symphony Orchestra?
That is how we got the idea.Yeah, it was it was a part of the skit on The Simpsons.And and I you know, that's all I took it for.It was just a skit, part of an episode, whatever.
But somewhere along the way, people just somebody just wouldn't let it go.And I think around 12 years ago or something like that, we we had a you know, our first email exchange with the LSO.And it took a long time to get going to make happen.
But then finally, there we were, and we were, you know, about to do the the London Symphonic Orchestra in Royal Albert Hall.And I've been to England a bunch of times, and I've never even seen that place or even been by it.
So when I walked in it, I was kind of like, whoa.But yeah, that all came from that episode of The Simpsons.And they say, once again, The Simpsons predict the future.And I'm like, I guess they did, because here we are.
And it was something that they had started on that show.
I thought it was such a brilliant idea, and I've seen video of the performance.A, I love the fact that you guys took it so seriously and wore, like, really fancy suits.
And as much as I was watching you guys, I couldn't stop staring at the stand-up bass guy, because he was having a good time.
Yeah, the stand-up basis, and when we do that, that's also, that's Christian Olde Wolbers of Power Flow and Fear Factory.
Well, he used to be in Fear Factory, now he plays in Power Flow, and he's a very good friend of the band's, and, you know, he's, you know, somebody that I consider a brother, and he always,
you know, wants to be the time, every time we use a bass player for anything, he wants to, that's me, that's me, he wants to do it.So we used him on there and he came up with his upright bass and whatnot.
And I think it added like a really cool look to the whole thing.And as far as the suits go, I mean, how else would you do the orchestra?I mean, how else would you perform it?
You know, sometimes we'll give it a little street kick and wear like our Air Jordans with the suits or whatever.And sometimes we wear regular shoes.
But I think when people see us in that way, dressed in that manner, they get a kick out of it, you know?And there's more than, you know, of course, you know, there's more than one way to present a band.And that's just one of them.
I love the idea that you guys are getting ready for that show with the fancy suits and the stand-up base.But on social media, there's pictures of you guys in jeans and t-shirts out behind Royal Albert Hall smoking weed.I was dying laughing.
Yeah, that's the thing that they said that we couldn't, we couldn't smoke weed in Royal Albert Hall who were like, okay, well, what about the, you know, that driveway there where the delivery trucks are coming?
And they actually said, yeah, that's cool right there.That's fine.So every break that we got, we walked out there. and got stoned and then walked back in.
So we did actually show the respect that Royal Albert Hall wanted, but they didn't want any cannabis being burned in the place.So we agreed, and we went and did it somewhere else and came back just as high.
You guys, Willie Nelson, there are certain artists that were pushing for the legalization for decades and known and synonymous with marijuana. It's legal here in Mass, obviously in California.
I think in the next few years it's going to be nationally legal.Is it less fun now because it's not dangerous anymore?
Well, I will tell you what, it was dangerous back in the days to try and get some weed going and whatnot, because the law was hard.If they caught you with it, it was considered like an A1 drug or whatever.
And I don't know if the fun has got out of it because it's become legal.I think now the fun of it is that I can walk in anywhere and buy some weed if I want to in those legal states. The struggle still continues.
There's still, you know, a lot of places in America that that it's illegal, a lot of places in the world that is still illegal.
So just because we have this big weed presence on the West Coast and in other states, whatever, it doesn't mean, you know, the struggle is over.There's still a lot of a lot of minds to change and a lot of work to do to get to that level.
And I was I was like, think I was like around 12 or 13 years old. when I first heard the legalization phrase thrown around, and I was like, that'll never happen.And sure enough, little by little, things started happening years later.
And here we are now.And I think that the funnest thing about it is that it's legal to smoke places, but I don't think that The fun has gone out of it because of everything that we've accomplished.
I think there's still more, more knowledge to gain and more people to turn that on, to turn, you know, to turn that into, turn into information so people can, you know, make their own decisions about.
Well, you're obviously an expert in the drug trade because you're a member of the Galindo crime family.
Oh yeah.And I tell people all the time that I was actually in that show, I was an undercover fed. that was working with Danny Trejo on that thing.But that was a cool thing to do.
I had a lot of fun on Sons of Anarchy, and I didn't have to come out of this look here.It was perfect for them.And it's something that I hope to do again in the future.And as far as acting goes, I'd love to try it again.
That was one of those shows that people could watch at home like together.Like my husband and I binged that, binged Mayans, like we just, but we're bikers too.And you're a biker.
Yeah, so what happened was I went to a meeting to meet my new agent and it was in Los Angeles.And I live kind of like in a Southeast area.And at the time that the meeting was, it was going to be a lot of traffic.
So I rode my motorcycle to get around the traffic.
So I get to the place and I park my bike downstairs and I walk upstairs, but little did I know the guy that I'm meeting with, this agent guy is looking out the window and watched me park my bike and walk in.
And as soon as I walked into his office, he says, you want to be on Sons of Anarchy?
me?He goes, yeah, you, you want to be it?I'm like, yeah, I'll do it.And that's how that came about.
I still had to audition, but because that agent saw me on a bike and wanted to put me in there, even though I didn't ride a bike on Cincinnati, but that's, that's the little history behind that.
And I remember I went to the interviews and I, I, I, I rehearsed, you know, the scene many times and, um, I went to the interview and I did the interview.And then they said, OK, cool, you've got everything memorized now.
Can you do it like super pissed off, like really, really mad and like cursed and everything?So I I cursed that whole room out, you know, and I did the lines and everything.And they're like, OK, cool.And then I started like that following Monday.
And that's a little bit of all that Sons of Anarchy thing happened.And I was I was hoping to
maybe do more of that in the future or whatnot, but then, you know, the music business, you know, and the tours and whatnot, that could, you know, you got to, at some point, you got to choose like what you want to do.
And I, you know, chose to, you know, get into the music.Again, I've seen other rappers that have gone for a while and done acting and they've seemed somehow always seem to come back to the music.
And even though they might be a successful art actor or whatever, but they always come back and give you another record and whatnot.And it's that, you know, it's that the music dominates my soul.
And it's, you know, what I decided to do as a young man.And and now I'm still here doing it as an older man.But I think that's how dedicated I am to my craft, you know.So but regardless of that being said, if I ever get the right opportunity to
to be back on film and in front of the camera, I'll definitely do it. But what I liked about Sons of Anarchy was that I didn't have to do a scene like kissing a woman or where I cried or anything like that.No, man, I was out there shooting dudes.
So it was a lot of fun.I had jumping fences and whatnot.I'm like, man, this is almost like recess at school.I get to jump around and do stuff.So it was a really good experience.I met a lot of great people.
There's this trend that like athletes always want to be musicians, musicians always want to be actors, actors always want to be athletes.You've done all three.
Yeah, yeah, you know, I've done the music and done some acting things, and along the way, I actually went back and I played semi-pro football in the league in California.
And I already had a career going, but I didn't get all the football out of me that I had, and I just had to go do it one more time just to know that I hadn't lost my athleticism, I guess. And it was good and it was great.
And I've been able to play some celebrity soccer games for Rock the Vote and whatnot.And it's always been fun.And there's just something about
You know, being able to do what you love for a living, that is just so poetic because you're not, you know, even though it's work and everything, when you're on that stage and you're on it for like an hour, an hour and a half, you know what I mean?
We're getting paid for it, but to me, it doesn't feel like work.It feels like, you know, for those 90 minutes, you know, all problems gone.I'm not thinking about anything else.Everything's gone.
It's just, you know what I'm doing right here, right now on the stage.And, and I think that's called, you know, doing what you love.
Well, Boston is kind of a big sports town.
And we do have a symphony orchestra.
Yes, I'm aware.Trust me, we are aware of that, yeah.
So is there talk that maybe you could come to town with Cypress Hill and our symphony?Are you guys gonna take this thing on the road?
Yeah, we are actually.We've been taking it on the road, and we have a few symphony dates set up for next year.
I'm not sure if Boston is on there, but we'd love to work with the Boston Orchestra at some point and go out there and show them how we do it.And it's always, when we first talked about it and rehearsed it, I was like, Okay.
But then when we did it, I was like, okay, this is actually really cool.And people come out and, you know, and enjoy the show and you get to listen to Cypress Hill in a different format than what you previously knew.
And, you know, there's a little bit of a, you kind of feel a little sophistication there, you know, while it's going down because it's such a, It's such a powerful way to mix one of the oldest forms of music with one of the newest forms of music.
And here we are again.Sorry about that.Here we are again.I don't want to say breaking ground, but I definitely want to say we're another way of giving you the funky Cypress Hill shit now with a symphonic orchestra.And Boston.
has always accepted us and treated us very well.And for a long, long time, Boston was one of the cities, I think that whole state of Massachusetts, where most of the Cypress Hill records were being bought.Like, that was like, they led the way.
So it definitely, every time we go there, I feel like a special thing, you know, to be in that, be in Boston and to be able to perform there, knowing the support that we received from there.It's, it's kind of cool, very incredible, you know.
Well, if you've got all these plans with Cypress Hill, does that mean Power Flow can't tour?Or are you going to be able to do both?
No, I'll definitely do both. We're in talks now with certain people, certain bands, about possibly getting on the road with them next year at some point.And then we plan to set up shop ourselves in certain areas and certain places.
probably start in Los Angeles and Hollywood area, playing the nightclubs there or whatever, and just setting up shop and letting you know that we're, you know, we're open for business again and we're ready to do this.
No, we definitely plan to get out there and play live.
You have an affinity for my hometown.If I came to your hometown, where would you take me to eat? Cause if you come to Boston, I've got spots, but if I came to your hometown, where would you take, where's the best place to get local food?
I don't know about if it's the best place, but it's the funnest place.And that's a rainbow restaurant, the rainbow bar and grill on sunset, you know, the history that's there.And I really do like the food there.
It's like saying you go to Hooters for wings.
Yeah, exactly.Yeah, that's probably one of the first places I would recommend or take you to, to experience that whole rainbow vibe.And right next to the Roxy from the whiskey, and there's always a show going on and whatnot.
So there's always people drifting in and out.And I remember one day, Dave Navarro shows up at the Rainbow. And he says, hey, I just I walked out of the whiskey and I could smell the weed from over there to here.So I just followed my nose.
He's sure enough.There you guys are.So I thought that was funny.But definitely we we we all we've it's always been a place for a good time and, you know, a great dinner and whatnot.And I sit there and listen to some really cool music.
That's where I that's where I take you to.
I ask every songwriter on the show to give me an example of a song that you think is perfectly written from a craft perspective.
Any genre, that doesn't matter, whatever the artist is, but is there a song that you think represents the craft of songwriting you look at and go, that's a perfectly written song?
Wow.Well, I'm going to say in the, in, um, In the rock and roll sense, I'm going to say Stairway to Heaven from Led Zeppelin in a heavy metal form.I'm going to say One by Metallica in a hip hop form.
And this is kind of dicey, because there's so many songs and bands that I love.But I would say something off of Public Enemy's first, second, or first or second album.
Especially, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Don't Believe the Hype, or something like that.I think when I hear those songs, I'm like, they just laid everything out the right way.
Especially when I hear Chuck and Flav do their one and two and their interchange.I'm like, oh, wow.You know what I mean?That really sparked the bell for me when I first heard it.
And I'm sure for every form, every genre that's out there, I could probably think of a song that is just perfectly done.But those are just three that come to mind right quick.
Another artist that's famous for blending the rap and metal genre of those guys working with Anthrax.
Yeah.Yeah.That also blew doors and it took me out of the box because now we're not doing, it's not Run-D.N.C.and Aerosmith, you know, love that song and everything, but it was still kind of like rock sounding.You know what I mean?
When Anthrax and Public Enemy got together, And they're thrashing around and it's a touch of hardcore in there.And Chuck just sounds incredible on some guitars.I'm like, oh, man.That really, really took me back.
And for a while there, I used to actually cover that song.
on during my like when I do solo shows or whatever with my other band or by myself I would always do that song you know or at least a couple verses however much I could hold my breath on to do it because Chuck has a lot of lyrics on it but
That that that song definitely had a really big impact on on a person like me, because, you know, obviously I love, you know, both genres.So it was something that that I clung on to.
And the more popular I got, I knew that I knew that that rock or metal and rap was just getting bigger and only getting started.And that takes us to the Judgment Night soundtrack when we just mix it up with everybody.
And one of the best movie soundtracks ever.
Yeah, definitely.And then you see the bands that are on there and their willingness to go on ahead and mix it up with some rappers, it just shows you how open-minded these metal musicians were to get down on that record.
It definitely, I don't know if it broke ground, but it definitely lifted the ground, that genre.It lifted it up more, so there could be more interaction.And behind that record, Yeah, bands like Raging Insta Machine and Korn and Limp Bizkit.
And I mean, I could sit here forever and just name them off, but it definitely gave, it gave, it gave us, it gave it more life to the point where like, you know, we wanted to be part of it and being able to record with like Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam, especially Pearl Jam.
Like, wow.And I was, you know, just a young guy, you know, not really, Just doing what I was doing, but not really knowing how important it would be later on.I think that record right there speaks volume for the genre that I love to be part of.
Before I let you go, I have to ask you the Geezer question, and I'll preface it by saying this is not a question I ever would have asked, but Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath came on the show.
let it slip that he had 13 cats and five dogs for pets, and when I asked him how he kept them all straight, he told me that he and his wife Gloria name all of them after gangster rappers, and he proceeded to rattle off the names of all of his house pets, Chingy, Missy, Biggy, just ran them all down.
After I fell on the floor laughing,
I've dubbed it the geezer question and I ask every artist on the show to tell me about their pets and where they got the name from, but I blame geezer.Not my fault.
Okay.Well, um, uh, these days there's a, my, my little daughter has a, uh, a Tikka Pomeranian that she takes everywhere with her.
This is why I like asking the question, because Sam Dog has a teacup Pomeranian.
Yeah, technically I have it, but it's my daughter's dog, you know.The dog did follow me around at first when we brought it.And I'm like, I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want that little dog, you know, that little foofy little thing.
But if it would follow me everywhere I went, I had to give it to my dog.Like, here, you wanted the dog, this is your dog, you got to take care of it.But that's the dog we have around the house, yeah.
I just love the visual of you walking mocha around the neighborhood with this little Pomeranian prancing around.
Well, it can't, I mean, it gets tired from, you know, so at some point you gotta pick it up and walk it with you.So people see me doing that and they're like, oh, hello.
And I mean, I'm kind of weirdish, you know, quite a cute dog, Mr. Bad looking dude.
That is exactly why I asked that question.
There's never a bad answer and it's always the big tough guys with the little fluffy dogs.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me today.
Oh, and thank you for your time as well.I had a really good time talking to you.
I hope that Power Flow comes to Boston and I really hope that Cypress Hill brings the Symphony Tour to Boston.And my offer stands that if you do come to town, I'll take you out for that good dinner.I know some good spots.
Oh, heck yeah, I'm in, I'm in for that.So yeah, we'll definitely put that in the works and hopefully we'll be seeing, you know, the good people of Boston in the near future.And I can't wait to go there.
As a matter of fact, I went there during the last baseball offseason. Cypress Hill played there and I took the tour of Fenway Park.
Oh, you did.I was going to ask you if you've done the touristy thing.It's cool, right?
Yes.But it was it was the offseason.So they were like really it was just walking around the stadium.And you really feel like you're going like like I went back in time a little bit to how folks used to watch baseball back in the days.
It was really, really cool.
Going up on the Monster during batting practice on the tour, like during the season, is really cool because more often than not, somebody is going to hit a ball to you.
And you really do realize how hard it is to hit a major league home run when you stand up on the monster.
Oh, yeah.Yeah, you definitely got to.You definitely see it.And it's all that's that's what's great about the sport.You know what I mean?
Because and especially when you get to visit these old stadiums and whatnot and and you get to feel, you know, all the nostalgia and everything that you ever seen on TV, you get to take it in firsthand.And I definitely I would do it again, actually.
You know that they have concerts there.Maybe you could get together with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and play Fenway Park.Now that would be cool.
You're just full of great ideas, aren't you?
That's why they pay me the big bucks, Sen.
That's right.That's why you do what you do.
Well, if it ends up happening, you got the idea from me, not the Simpsons.
Got you, got you.And I'll definitely, we'll link up next time in time and we'll hang out and get that good dinner on.
I appreciate your time.Thank you so much.
All right.Thank you as well.Have a good one.
There he is Sendog from Cypress Hill and Power Flow.The new Power Flow album Gorilla Warfare comes out this Friday, November 1st.Check the links in the show notes of this episode to find all the links for Power Flow, Cypress Hill and Sendog.
There's also a link for this episode's corresponding playlist.I make a playlist for every full-length episode of the Mistress Carrie podcast that features all of my guest music and all the songs and artists that we talked about in the interview.
You'll, of course, also find all the Mistress Carrie links, too. If you liked what you heard, don't forget to like, follow, and share the Mistress Carrie podcast.New full-length episodes come out every Wednesday.
Plus, every weekday, you get the Sit Rep.The Situation Report brings you all your rock news, music headlines, and entertainment updates in about five minutes. and you never know when we're gonna release a bonus episode.
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