-Hey. Edward Sharpe.
-Yeah. -I'm a big fan.
-Oh. Cool, man.
-Want to, uh, get in the back? -Oh, no.
-Huh? -No.
I'm all right. -For my talk show, silly.
-I'm warming up right now. I got -- I got a gig.
-You scared? -No, it's not that.
I-I -- -You're scared. -Maybe a little.
-There's nothing to be afraid of.
-Okay. -Okay?
-All right. -So, you want to do this?
-I don't think so. -No. I think you do.
I think that you're gonna be very drawn
to doing my interview.
-I'm cool. Thank you.
-Oh, okay. Are you cool?
-Yeah. No, I -- -Are you cool?
-It's not like that, man. I-I just --
I got warm-up. -All right.
-I'll see you. -Okay.
-Okay.
-Take a sip from your soul
On a metaphysical milkshake
-Well, well, well. Edward Sharpe.
How does it feel now that you're back here?
-It's not as bad as I thought it would be.
-You see? -Yeah.
-Alex is your real name. -Yeah.
-But you created this persona of Edward Sharpe.
Why isn't it Alexander Ebert and the Magnetic Zeros?
-I was writing a novel, actually,
and the main character's name was Edward Sharpe.
This character could see the strings
that you're made of and play you, like C-sharp or D.
So, I got really into the math
in my own sort of childish way.
-Yeah. -And I thought that I invented
a mathematics called magnetic zeros.
But NASA just tweeted,
"We just discovered some mathematics
to quantify the winds, something on Mars,
and it's called magnetic zeros.
What do you think about that, @EdwardSharpe?"
-That is awesome.
You've got a wind on Mars named after you.
You grew up in Los Angeles. Is that right?
-Yeah. -You've moved to New Orleans.
-New Orleans. -What prompted that move?
-New Orleans is everything that I imagine the sort
of, you know, conglomerate of humanity
would be like as a kid. And it's so DIY.
I mean, it's just sort of pure magic.
-Well, as you know, it's a magic van.
So...I don't want you feeling homesick.
-Ah, thank you.
-Okay? You see?
-I'm so glad I got in it. -You see?
-I know. -Okay.
There we go.
Do you dig New Orleans' music at all?
Is this kind of influencing your sound right now?
-It may be on some sort of level.
-I want to play the washboard with the...
-Yeah. Yeah.
-I'd be good at that.
-I think you would be. -Yeah.
So, why are there 12 members in the band?
Is that an intentional number?
-No. It feels kind of --
You know, once in a while... -Jesus.
-...I'm like, "Ooh, I like the whole 12 thing."
No.
It's actually what the songs called for.
Like, I think the songs really were the house, and we moved in.
-You should add whistlers to the band,
just professional whistlers.
I could be a whistler. I could go on tour
and just do the [whistling]
-Yeah. And you could have a whole, like, dressing room
to yourself and a Vaseline wrangler.
-Yeah. An assistant to just,
like, wipe my lips. Exactly.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -People will often
refer to you and to your band as,
like, a new hippie movement,
a modern-day hippie. -Poor humanity.
We just are always trying to quantify everything.
We're so confused and so fearful and afraid
of everything that we need to -- -Everything needs to be labeled.
-Everything needs a name. -You have long hair.
Therefore, you are a hippie. -Yeah, yeah.
I just take pity on humanity and myself at times
for needing to do the same thing.
I just -- I try not to do that 'cause the sort
of edicts of rock 'n' roll are rebellion, willingness
to destroy,
something that sort of needs to be destroyed, irreverence,
all these sort of helpful things
when the culture is repressive and oppressive.
When rock 'n' roll becomes the culture
and cool is established by those rules,
everything opposite of those things is now uncool.
-So, your act of rebellion against a modern world --
-I'm part of a counterculture, yes.
-...is a counterculture
where you guys perform communally.
You have uplifting songs.
-Yeah, uplifting, love,
all that kind of stuff, yeah, yeah,
you know, construction.
Yeah, these are out of fashion.
-I always feel like the biggest act
of rebellion that anyone could do
would be to write poetry.
It's just pure self-expression.
You're not asking for anything from it.
You know you're not gonna achieve fame.
-No, not anymore, yeah. -It's just a way
of taking in the world
and putting it through your own prism
and reflecting it out through words.
I was reading some out your growing up,
and I found it fascinating that your dad is a psychotherapist.
-Yeah.
-And he saw patients at your house?
-Yeah. In fact, this carpet
reminds me terribly of his office.
He had the whole thing set up -- -I'm gonna stop you
right there 'cause this is the carpet from his office.
So, we did it as a kind of therapeutic...
-All right. -How does it make you feel?
-It's too heavy. -That'll be $250.
-All right. -Do you have a spiritual life?
-Yeah, of course.
-I've experienced myself --
When I feel negative
or I'm thinking negatively,
I tend to not physically feel well.
And I have also experienced
thinking myself into feeling good.
I once had a completely paralyzing nerve thing happen,
and finally I reached for this booked called "The Miracle
of Metaphysical Healing."
And you basically just imagine every little sinew of your body
and you go through it and you sort of take
a mental paintbrush
and you paint it into its right form.
And I got up, and I was basically fine.
-"The Miracle of Metaphysical Healing."
-"The Miracle of Metaphysical Healing" --
great book.
-You were in the band Ima Robot. -Yeah.
-That is a completely different sound
than Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
I mean night and day.
What happened between Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe?
-I was going through a very intellectual phase
and very upset with the world and society.
And so my approach at that time was to sort of prove to you
how impervious I was to you and the rest of the world
by showing you that I was willing...
to destroy myself.
And I remember waking up being like,
"Where the f-ck is my instinct?
Where's the voice that would usually tell me
to, like, go do this right now?"
I had nothing going on, no will.
-Hmm. -And it was really scary.
I sat down and tried to write a song,
trying to get back that very sort of,
like, childish state.
That was the renegade,
rebellious thing to do all of a sudden
because I had got so entrenched in this sort of other mentality
that being positive was like...
-Well, you're much more vulnerable when you're positive.
-Very exposed. -You're much more
vulnerable to criticism. -Yes.
-Watch the YouTube comments, you know?
-Yeah, watch --
-It's so easy to get torn down. -Yeah.
-But if you're too cool for school,
then you're impervious.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -I think the saddest thing
about New Orleans is the fact
that their basketball team is called the Pelicans.
All right, life's big questions, lightning round.
Boom!
Define success in 10 words or less.
-To follow your heart. -What is the theory
of the Magnetic Zero?
-Ah. Well, zero is magnetic,
and it's a pendular addition --
-Ehh! Wrong. If you could ask God
one question, what would it be? -What's up?
-What do you think is the purpose of your life?
-To help.
-And what is your life's big question?
What's the question that you wrestle with the most?
-I think, "Why?" Not necessary why X, Y, and Z
is happening to me, but why is X, Y,
and Z the way it is in the world?
SoulPancakers, Alex from Edward Sharpe
and the Magnetic Zeros was talking earlier
about instincts
and how he had lost his way
and that instincts require nurturing,
almost like children do.
So, what do you do to nurturing your instinct?
What do you do to try and listen to the voice
of your artistic instinct?
Write down your comments here below, and Alex
and I will check them out.
Pinky swear.
We'll read through them,
and, uh...give it a go.
And now witness the power of reverse magnetism.