-Our next guest is a five-time
Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer.
He's the front man for the band Bleachers, whose new album,
"Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night,"
is out July 13th.
Please welcome back to the show --
Sorry, July 30th. I was going to say.
Wait, right? We've got it now, Wally.
Not in the past, you guys, it's coming out in the future.
[ Laughter ]
Please welcome back to the show Jack Antonoff.
♪♪ [ Applause ]
-Hi, buddy. Yeah!
-Hey, guys.
How are you?
-So happy to have you here
and I'm so happy you've got our complimentary mug.
-I love it. -It's really nice, right?
-Yeah, it's great. -We've scaled down a little bit
from the ol-- -When you come to the show,
you get this. -Uh-huh, yeah.
-And you take it home. -That's wonderful!
-And it sucks.
-I want to thank you.
You've done double duty for us this week.
You were here yesterday with Lorde. you're here today.
You're going to play music for us today.
And I know you've collaborated with Lorde for a while.
We talked about you yesterday, but I did not realize this --
that your parents are now friends with Lorde's parents.
-Yeah, they're like they hang.
-Is that cool for you?
-Well, I think they party a little bit, but --
actually don't know about -- I'll segue.
My parents party -Okay.
hard and I've noticed that they like --
Yeah, our parents are cool. They do stuff,
but I don't want to out anyone else's parents for partying.
The older I've gotten,
like every stage that I go through in life,
my parents start doing different drugs.
-Really?! -Yeah. Because they're like letting go.
-So they were on the straight and narrow when you were young.
-Yeah. -Is that what you're saying?
-And I think like
then, when I kind of moved out,
which was a little late, got my own place,
like where my dad got real into pot
and, now, he's just like --
I mean, if we get back on tour, hopefully, this will happen,
but, in the past, sort of like floating around the shows
with like a [bleep] joint in his mouth,
[ Laughter ] like just real --
-Is he sort of publicly known by --
I mean, he must be known at least by your sort of --
-Yeah. -"That's your dad."
-He shows up and he plays with us
and he's just a character and kind of just like,
you know, if I meet, you know,
kids after the show, like by the bus or something,
they'll be like, "Great job, blah blah.
Saw your dad and he was real high and he was, you know...
[ Laughter ]
...telling me something about the Kennedy assassination
that was really interesting,
but not one of the theories I've ever heard," like.
So I just think he like, you know,
he's like he likes to party.
And I think it's cool, but there has been like this,
you know, the more I don't seem to need them to look after me...
-Yeah. That did not happen with my parents.
My in-laws are like that, though.
-Okay, yeah. -Yeah, they're definitely like --
-Your parents don't get high? -My parents don't get high.
-They get drunk?
My mom has been known to have a cocktail.
-Okay. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah. [ Laughs ]
They have been known to see it.
-I feel like, because there's no audience,
there's just your friends... -Yeah.
-...I feel like they have context
and some of the things you're saying are going to land harder.
[ Laughter ] -Yes. -Right?
-It's deeply unfair. -I'm assuming you guys
all know his mom.
-Yeah. -Okay, so it lands.
-Well, look, based on everything you've said so far,
they want to know your dad. -Yeah. Yeah.
[ Laughter ] My dad would be here
and would be like, "Hey, like it's a --
Camera's great. Like, um, I, uh --
Wanna get high?"
[ Laughter ]
"Camera's great." -Yeah. And he also says like
really, he's a master of like saying something rude
that's a compliment.
"Like Seth, you were actually really funny.
You were actually -- Yes.
No, it's like a really incredible show."
[ Laughter ] Like.
-Yeah. Like, "I did not know, when I came here --
I came here to see my son Jack.
I had no expectations of you and you were really funny.
-His favorite bit --
"I don't know why everyone says you're such an ass[bleep]."
[ Laughter ] He loves saying that.
Nice! -Is he deeply proud of you?
-Well, they get --
One thing I notice about parents within what I do is
there's so much mythology that you see in film and TV
about music and I'm sure you have it with your work
and it's such a different actual lifestyle.
But for them, they just get to dive into the mythology.
-Right. -It's just joints.
It's shows. It's sweat.
Maybe they have sex sometimes.
I don't know. But --
Guys, come on.
[ Laughter ]
-I should tell you something about this group.
Once they think you need it, they disappear.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
Well, I also feel like they're like
I was here yesterday and --
-Yeah. You've already worn off. -Yeah, I feel like
they're like --
[ Laughter ]
But, yeah, so I feel like they get all those sides of it
and I'm way more kind of focused on my work and --
-Yes.
You know, I'm going to do a show in Boston
and, you know, my parents are coming.
They're bringing a lot of friends,
which is exciting and it's a fun night for them,
but I will be -- they'll want to like get lunch
-Totally. -or I will want to
be prepared. -Get ready.
-Yeah, right, exactly.
And so it is an interesting balance because --
But also, they're not doing it maliciously.
They're just so excited. -I love it.
I sort of love when some of that stuff is around me.
Like I don't even get high,
but I love when people around me are getting high, for example,
because I just love the feeling of it,
like people being loose and having a good time.
-Yeah. -Sometimes that goes on with my band,
where it's like they'll party or something more than me.
And I just really enjoy being around it
and it just makes me feel like free through them or something.
I can't enjoy it too much myself.
-Yeah. I know what you mean, though.
It is nice to be around people having fun.
[ Laughter ]
I don't know you super well.
I mean, we've been lucky enough to meet over the years,
but I was telling you backstage you did a song
with Bruce Springsteen this year.
-Yeah. -And, even though, like,
you know, like I said, I don't know you that well,
I got goosebumps when I saw it because I thought,
"Oh, this is such a cool thing."
Like just based on what I know about you,
I thought, "What a thing to be doing."
How did it come about
and was it as much fun to do as it was to see?
-It was a blast.
Things like that always happen pretty naturally
because you can't really plan that stuff,
especially in artists like him.
Very important -- him and Patti are important people in my life,
as artists, as humans, they're just as good as it gets.
But also to have, you know, he's an artist who
was the first person where I heard the sounds of...
sort of my place.
I grew up listening to the Beatles
and like sing every hook, every little piece.
I grew up on my parents' music and all this wonderful stuff.
But when I started hearing the music from New Jersey,
which, Bruce is, obviously, an architect of,
and then I got into a lot of local music, I got into --
but it was just like, "Oh, I know these landmarks
and I know these feelings," and it makes you feel
like there's a value there, a torch worth carrying,
and that's a funny thing, from where I'm from,
because, if you're from New York,
oh, that musical history is beaten over your head.
If you're from London, L.A., San Francisco,
it's like, "Welcome to the party,"
you know, you were born into this dynasty.
New Jersey is a little bit like
this perpetual younger brother
and his work is given a lot of us courage
to carry that sound and it's a pretty specific sound.
A lot of darkness, a lot of hope,
a lot of horns, a lot of joy.
And it's --
I feel it so deeply.
So to have him on there was
pretty circular and emotional.
-Do you find it to be a contradiction
that I feel like New Jersey musicians
are both deeply proud of being from New Jersey
and write a lot of songs
about how badly they want to get out of New Jersey?
-It's the culture.
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
I want to say that your entire crew,
like between the past two days,
I think I talked about New Jersey
with every single one.
[ Laughter ]
Ocean County or...?
Monmouth or Ocean's over there.
Talking about like run of the mill,
like "How much more expensive can Long Beach Island get...
[ Laughter ]
...before nobody can go?!
Or before it's the [bleep] Hamptons?"
Sorry.
Yeah, well, that's --
you know, you grow up and you have this --
It's medieval, right?
There's New York City, there's this body of water.
You call it a moat.
New Jersey's right there.
The whole of New Jersey hugs the city.
You're looking at it. A lot of people,
kids grow up in New Jersey and can see New York City
from their bedroom, which is where
their favorite band is probably playing that night.
And not coming to New Jersey.
It's where the food and the culture
and all these things and the sex
and everything is happening there.
But there's a cynicism to that and I didn't grow up like that.
A lot of the New Jersey music I love has a lot of hope
and it's maybe about getting out,
but it's about reaching for something
and it's just really ingrained in how I see the world.
-I'm so happy, as always, to talk to you
and I'm so happy you're sticking around to do a song for us.
-That's it? -That's it.
-I had so many more things to ask you about.
-Oh, really? You were going to ask me about stuff?
-I just feel like, last time, we started on this tradition
about talking about Judaism and I wanted to get back to it.
-Yeah. Well, I can only say -- -You're like, "No."
[ Laughter ] -No, no, no.
I think we're getting closer --
Next time, it'll be an even more interesting conversation
because, you know, now,
I've got these two kids who are, you know...
-They're Jews. -...they're going to be Jews.
-Yeah. -I mean, they are Jews.
-and they think you're a Jew. -They do think I'm a Jew
and, one day, I'm going to have to sit them down and be like,
"Got bad news about two things --
Santa Claus and your dad." -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] And here's what they're going to say --
"We didn't think you were a Jew because you're our dad.
We thought you were a Jew because you look like Jew."
[ Laughter and applause ]