Eric André

Eric André goes record shopping at Amoeba Hollywood in this "What's In My Bag?" episode. The comedian and actor goes digging for '90s hip hop, library music, comedy albums, TV themes and film soundtracks, and recalls meeting filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.  Eric André's musical project BLARF has released Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist, which was inspired by iconic composers and recorded with a full orchestra. It's out now on Stones Throw Records.

Eric André's picks:
• Kevin Hooks - Passenger 57 (VHS) 
• Three 6 Mafia - Live By Yo Rep (LP) 
• Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo [OST] (LP) 
• Bloods & Crips - Bangin On Wax (LP) 
• Various Artists - Erotic Sound Effects (CD) 
• John Barry & Michel Colombier - The Golden Child [OST] (LP) 
• The Ventures - Hawaii Five-O (LP) 
• Various Artists - Television's Greatest Hits (LP) 
• Jean Bouchéty - The Magic Of Bouchety - Spectacular Contemporary Themes Scored For Full Orchestra (LP) 
• Pierre-Alain Dahan - Tele Music: Continental Pop Sound (LP) 
• Various Artists - Tomorrow's Fashions • Library Electronica 1972-1987 (LP) 
• Fred Armisen - 100 Sound Effects (LP) 
• Nipsey Russell - Guzzling And Giggling Party With Nipsey Russell (LP) 
• Ennio Morricone - L'Alibi [OST] (LP) 

Featured Artist: Eric André

Editor: Jacob Gray
Executive Producer: Rachael McGovern
Producer/Director: Craig Miller
Assistant Director: Derich Heath
Cameras: Jacob Gray, Derich Heath
Audio Recorded by: Patrick Emswiler
Assistant Editor: Patrick Emswiler

Watch Eric André's "What's In My Bag?" episode on Amoeba.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey, I'm Eric Andre. I'm in a band called Blarf. I'm at Amoeba. This is what's in your bag or my bag? What's in my bag? What's in my closet bag?

SPEAKER_05 0:13

What's in my douchebag?

SPEAKER_03 0:15

That's the only bag puns I came equipped with. I'm doing film score, so I was trying to think of like movies and stuff. I haven't seen this in forever. I have a VHS player, but it's probably broken. But this is Wesley Snipes Passenger 57.

SPEAKER_05 0:55

Wesley Snipes. No, no, no, this is not happening.

SPEAKER_08 0:58

You back your seat.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

And I feel like the only way to re-watch this from my childhood is on VHS. And I kind of forgot how much he is the black Nicholas Cage, where he does like four movies a year, every year in the 90s. Charlie, you ever play Roulette? On occasion.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Well, let me give you a word of advice.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

Always bet on black. I'm thinking like film scores, and my favorite Oscar Award winners are 36 Mafia. Trouble six, poppy up, poppy up.

SPEAKER_07 1:35

Roll up, roll up, roll up, before the shop.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

I'm a like a pretty big 36 mafia aficionado, but I've never seen this album, and it looks like a nightmare. It looks like a fucking Freddy Krueger. And there's so much going on. I can't tell what the name of the album is. Is it Live by Yo Rep? B-O-N-E-D-I-S. And there's like 36 Bavia members I've never seen before. Skinny Pimp, Coopsta, Nika, and Killer Clan Case. This is like Gen 1 36 Mavia, so very excited about this. I used to like have such a hard time finding the soundtrack to the Holy Mountain. Like Alejandro Hodorowski is like my one of my favorite filmmakers, and I went to his house in Paris and he read my tarot and he gave me a psychomagic prescription. And I'm not allowed to say any more than that, you know. But you had El Topo, so I was super stoked. I was hoping that you'd have the Holy Mountain because I know way more about it. I know that Don Cherry and somebody else did the music for Holy Mountain. But I felt like El Topa's actually like harder to find, so I'm like shocked that you had this. Well, the experience was like totally surreal. I like it's a very large amount of travel. I was very jet-lagged. We were late because the plane was delayed, and we were rushing to his apartment because he wanted to go on vacation. You know, like people that live in Paris are always going on vacation. They're like always trying to figure out how to not not work. He was like, oh no, it's a holiday. It's always a holiday when you get to Paris. Oh, it's a holiday. We we have to get going. And um I was like, fuck, I don't want to make Alejandro Rowski late. And he's like a hundred years old. I think he was born in the 1920s. So he's old and he's frail, and he's like he's like a petite old man. So he's kind of grouchy at first. He's like, he was like, I was like, oh shit, I pissed off Odorowski, and then like I brought my director, Keitao, with me. And he goes, he had to suss you out, he had to catch you vibe. And then he was like very sweet and he and he like helped me out a lot. And it was before we made the movie Bad Trip. So he like gave me, like, me and Keitao, he gave us like advice, and I don't know, it's completely surreal. I'm glad like Keitao had a camera with him and he took a picture um because I framed it because I it didn't feel real. Well, I just got this because I I saw the 3-6 mafia thing and I had this tape in eighth grade, and I haven't seen it since. I would always say bloods and crips unite on an Eric Andrew show for the first season because I think this is like in like the developmental part of my brain. I was like eighth grade me in Boca Tone, Florida was negotiating uh the peace treaty. But um gangs were made by the CIA to um pit black people against each other. I got my CIA shirt on.

SPEAKER_08 5:20

Here we go again, doing shit just to get the pay, didn't rough, rugged, boot.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Let's cake face, play the B-side, the C side is wet, and busy with the cake gang. Now you know where we're playing. I did not find this, but one of your colleagues found this. And I wish I still had a CD player in my car so I could blast erotic sound effects.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Oh yeah!

SPEAKER_03 5:46

My first job, I worked at Peach's music in in South Florida. That was my real education. I went to music school, I went to Berkeley College and Waste Your Money Music in Boston, and I learned more uh like working at a record store at 14 and 15 years old than I did um in music school, but there was no internet when I was a teenager, so like if you found anything mildly pornographic when you were 14, you're like, oh hell yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

When I'm being good, I'm be good. And when I'm be better, I'm be better.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

This is the only Eddie Murphy movie I've seen just once, and I haven't seen this since I was a little kid. Eddie Murphy is the chosen one.

SPEAKER_08 6:32

Well, how many people have survived this test?

SPEAKER_03 6:38

The golden child. Everyone after Bruce Lee tried to make a Bruce Lee movie to this day. Like for like 45 years. So I think this is his attempt, and I don't think it was like a hit, but every time they didn't have Coming to America at Blockbuster or VHS rental spot, we would just I would just like rent a different Eddie Murphy movie. I'm not gonna hurt anybody. I don't want no trouble.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

No, I don't no trouble. I just I'm sorry, I just I just want some chips. I want some chips, that's all. All I want some chips. See? The chip, that's it. Turn that over, man, it's burning. It's burning, turn it over, it's burning. I just want some chips.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

TV themes don't get enough level. This album is one of the KPM 1000 series 12-inch long-playing transcription discs produced, especially for the film, television, and radio industries, to the highest professional standards. Music contained herein is copywritten, blah blah blah blah. So basically, like, because music is so expensive to license, they would have studio session musicians and composers come in and create like vast, to this day they still do that, the vast libraries of sound aliks and music that you can buy the whole library for, which is way cheaper. I found out about this music library because we used it on the Eric Andre show. These guys were playing tennis and I ran onto the tennis court naked and tried to like intercept the ball with my own tennis racket. DJ Shadow had a thing where he was selling like a warehouse of his records. This was like less than a year ago. No, maybe it was maybe it was a couple years ago. He had a bunch of those and they're like incredible. And I kept hitting up um Alchemists for like advice on which ones to get these I can't listen to before I buy, so I just have to like trust my heart that which ones are gonna be bangers. This stuff is good if you can find it. I I highly recommend. I wish we timed it. It was like probably the longest amount of befanneled Pacific Northwest looking dudes scrambling around, frustrated. I was like, oh yeah, 14-year-old Amoeba's like, yeah, I fucking stopped the amoeba staff for 20 minutes. It's like a fucking get his record. 15 dudes that look like Fred Armison characters, like, sha, fucking nah, nah. And speaking of which, bam, I love that Fred Armison. He has one of my favorite stand-up specials. It's called Music for Drummers.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

I love being a drummer. I'm proud of being a drummer. We are drummers. I think if we took a film of my experience as a drummer, it would not be on stage.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

It would be this business, and then I love those old sound effects records, but I guess he made his own.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Alright, back up, back up, back. Wait, move, move back.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

I can't tell if it's like a comedy album. I think he legitimately did his own foley. I'm like, ah, Fred Armson strikes again. He's so fucking he's the only other comedian I know with a music background, so maybe that's why like we were kindred spirits.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

Next one is a uh sort of supportive uh obligatory laugh. So it's like if I'm making a speech at a wedding or something, or maybe like a work event, just laugh politely, but not really from your cut. Like you're like, oh, I guess we're supposed to laugh at that joke. So it's just one of those things. I mean, hey, if I could take a longer break at lunch, I would. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

It's my birthday tomorrow, so I just love Nipsey Russell.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

The little white kids in the south are shouting, 2, 4, 6, 8. We ain't gonna integrate. And on the other side, the little colored kids are singing, 8642. I bet you damn it the hell you do.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

There's like a weird orb, like a weird like metallic, like uh David Bowie labyrinth fucking bowling ball here. And then there's just like white businessmen and women, either like deceased at his feet. There's like corpses or like they're like having group sex or something, but he looks happy. Maybe they're like all like having an orgy. I don't know. It's a very puzzling Nipsey Russell album.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

I'm coming through the neighborhood, a guy steps out of a dark doorway, throws a gun on me, said, Alright, stick him up, give me some money, I'll knock the top off your head. I said, wait a minute, please. I said, I don't have any money. I'm not I I haven't eaten today. I don't know where I'm gonna sleep tonight. Things are bad. He said, All right, go ahead. I said, Thanks a lot. He said, Wait, he said, take this $10, buddy. I said, No, I just want to get away without getting hurt. You don't have to give me any money. He said, Take the $10. He said, I got a friend working the next corner that he'd never go for that stuff you just told me. Oh, you gotta have some money to get by that.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Anyway, Coney, he's the god. He's the goat, he's the reason I started this album. Mike Patton and Daniel, one of Trick's point, never Daniel, like, are any of Marconi experts. So I always go to them because he's so prolific and he he scored so many movies. He was in a weird experimental jazz band when he was younger. And scored so much television, he was so prolific that it's hard to digest all of him without doing a compilation. I suggest starting with compilations. He's like my inspiration, the probably the biggest inspiration for the album I just put out. I'm trying to think the first time I went to Amoeba was the one in San Francisco when I was 14 years old. Um, and I'm turning 43 tomorrow, so yeah, it took me 30 years to stump the amoeba staff.