Sahil Laul: he was trying to get me to turn the cameras off to have a conversation about me not doing it. And I said, no, cameras stay on. We're doing this. And I'm getting shot out of a cannon. Voodoo Potions, XXX drive-in theaters, jail time with Ted Nugent. What do these wild things have in common? They're all just pieces of a life story full of guitar chops, chaos, and creativity that you won't want to miss. It's coming up right now. Welcome to Count's Culture, a late night podcast for those who never shut it down. I'm Danny the Count Coker. If you love cramped amps, Burnin' rubber, grease knuckles, and stories that don't let go, this is the place for you. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you believe? None of that counts here. This is neutral ground. You're all part of the new Counts Culture family, so consider yourselves at home. I always bring unfiltered conversations about passion, purpose, and the roads that shape us all. And as you know, in every episode, I'm joined by one member of my Counts Customs team, now Stoney. How you doing tonight, bro? I'm good, man. I'm glad to be back again. I've been looking forward to this. You ain't kidding, man. ⁓ I am too. We have been really blessed ⁓ to have ⁓ chatted with a lot of cool people. And it just gets better and better all the time. This guest, though, you know, is... man, we've been doing stuff with him for an awfully long time. mean, just not only knowing him ⁓ as a friend and as person, but we've done a lot of things with him. Yeah, for sure. Our bands have crossed over a lot. Yeah, he's... Of all the people that we've crossed paths with, Danny, ⁓ he's... Definitely one of my favorites. Because I just marvel at him as a rock star. I marvel at his music, which is right up my alley. I like that dirty rock and roll. I marvel at his energy. I marvel at his passion for what he does. And ⁓ to me, he's an American. Big time. When I think of an American rock and roller, Jesse James Dupree. Flag-waving patriot. Yeah. Yeah. I know. And I love that about him. Yeah. And he's been so good to us. ⁓ big time. He's been great to us. And we've been fortunate that, you know, Count 77's flying the flag here tonight. That's right. We've done, man, we've done, you know, some mini tour dates with him ⁓ all over the country. ⁓ We're fortunate enough to ⁓ play Sturgis with him all the time. Yeah. Go motorcycle riding. Yeah. Full Throttle Saloon. He was a TV guy too. They had the Full Throttle show for a long time. That's right. Him and Michael. Yeah. Yeah, him Michael Ballard had their show up there. What a great place. We started playing there 2014, I think, at the Old Place. Yeah, before it burned down. And then these past few years, we played at... We get to play outside on the big stage and we have done The Inside, which I really love. was What a venue there. But he's always been really good to us. We played with him at Chuck Brennan's birthday party. We got to back him up and that was a great thrill. He's out there with the chainsaw, man. I'm up here jamming with Jesse doing that song and he's doing the... Got the chainsaw and it's like, oh, it's such a rush and he's so great. Well, you know, and something that maybe a lot of people don't know, it's something that I've learned over the years, on top of it all, he is this amazing businessman. I mean, just, you you get this outward insane guy on stage and motorcycle and all this kind of stuff, but behind the scenes, this guy is one of the sharpest successful business guys. He's always working. I mean, well, you've seen it. on the motorcycle ride, he's doing business when he's riding on the motorcycle. He's on his phone. But I marvel at him too. ⁓ We've done shows with him and they play and you're done at 11, 12 o'clock and he's on a plane at five in the morning and he's somewhere in La La Land in hours riding bikes, doing business, shooting commercials, doing whole thing and then. and then he's on stage at nine o'clock again doing it all over again. It's amazing. I forgot that we did that birthday party with Chuck Brennan. That was blast. Jesse, that was cool. And from what I understand, I'm still waiting for my guitar lessons as well. ⁓ that's right. He keeps saying that about Joe Engel. Speaking of those birthday parties, we're to ask Jesse what he's got up his sleeve for Sturgis this year. You know what saying? America's monster of a birthday, bro, it's gonna be huge up there. I can't wait to hear the kind of insanity that the Full Throttle and Jesse James and Michael Ballard are gonna have in store. ⁓ Big ones lined up this year already that they've announced. Yeah, I mean, I've heard what's going on. that's why I'm making sure that I'm flying the flag here. Because, you know, come on, Jesse. Inside and out. We'll be in both places. Right. We've been coming up there for years in a row now. I want to make sure. I want it his mind. That's right. Well, they've been good to us. I don't see that ending. I don't either. It's going to be a forever thing. Coming up next, you guys, a man with absolutely nothing to prove. I'm talking decades of loud nights, unexpected turns, and a career built on doing things literally his own way. There is no filter, no pretense, just the stories, the consequences, and the music that refused to fade. Jesse James Dupree joins us right after this. There are few causes more important to me than camp freedom. Camp freedom isn't about what someone's lost. It's about what's still possible. We give disabled veterans, first responders, and Gold Star families something powerful. Time outdoors, shoulder to shoulder, fishing, hunting, riding, away from hospitals and stereotypes. Out here, it's not therapy, it's camaraderie. If you're looking to support something real, monthly giving, sponsoring land, or just learning more, Camp Freedom is changing lives one acre at a time. Head to CampFreedomPA.org to show your support. Tonight's guest is what happens when you cross a Georgia bar band with a chainsaw and a Harley Davidson. He's the front man of platinum rockers, Jackal, the man who gave the middle finger to conventional rock and roll and who once parked a flatbed in a Kmart parking lot and played so loud they had no choice but to notice. He's a two-time Guinness World Record holder, the architect behind Full Throttle Saloon, and the controlled chaos of Sturges. He's the mind behind Mighty Loud and Jesse James Spirits, the Harley Riding Ring leader of Rolling USA giveaways, and a guy who still treats the stage like sacred ground. He's loud, he's stubborn, he's unapologetically American, and he's always running upstream. My brother, Jesse James Dupree. What's up, brother? Thank you and good night. I know it, man. How are you, my man? Hell of an intro there coming from Danny. That's good. It's all the truth, man. It's all the truth. It is the God's honest truth and so much more because the whole brotherhood thing, man, I swear to you, I feel it, Stoney feels it. We've always felt it since the first moment we've gotten to know you. There's a kindred spirit here, man. ⁓ and you are truly a brother. How are you? Well, we both are blessed beyond measure. I mean, if you think about it. And, you know, first of all, we both got Stoney in our life, so how much more blessed can you be? even beyond Stoney, we both been very blessed. And, you know, I try, seriously, I'm not just saying this. I try not to dwell on it overtly just because. I'm afraid it'll all disappear. I'm afraid it's all just bitter. But I wake up seriously and have the damnedest anxiety when I first wake up. when I first wake up, I think it's all been a dream and I've actually got to go pour concrete today. I mean, like seriously. And as soon as I look at my hands and they're not cut and swollen from the sulfur in the concrete. And I realized that I don't have to go pour concrete. I'll wake up and take as big a bite out of a little ice ass as I can. I mean, seriously, I mean, technically that's probably all I'm really qualified to do, but I get away with, and I've gotten away with so much that again, I'm scared to even think about it because I'm afraid it'll disappear. Brother, you know what? We are on the same page with that. We're very much a kindred spirit network. I feel so absolutely blessed every day of my life. that we get to do the things that we do. I've always made jokes about if I had to go do somebody's accounting, we'd all be broke. So I'm thankful that, you know what saying? That I get to do the things that we do. And ever since our paths have crossed, have felt like I've met ⁓ my brother separated at birth. I really mean that. Yeah, and those are the same here. Hell, don't even know where our bank's speaking to that. mean, if you tell me, if you put a gun to my head and say, take me to your bank, you'd have to pull the trigger. ⁓ I have my wife, she keeps that information from me. I'm allowed to wake up. I'm allowed to get up in the morning, go around the world in 30 minutes on the news and have a cup of coffee. And as soon as the phone rings, she opens the door and I'm heading to the office. And I'm allowed to come back home 12 hours later. And she still loves you. No, yeah. I say that. No, we got a great thing. I've got a... and you guys have still got to come and check it out. And I've offered this to Stoney before, you we got the studio in the back of the, on the back of the property and Travis Trent was just in here recording CeeLo Green. know, he did a record here. Skid Row guys, Skid Row's recorded here many times. ⁓ Matter of fact, Rachel was talking to Jeff Tomei, my engineer, couple of weeks ago, coming back in and doing some stuff. it's a fun studio and I don't really solicit it. you know, but word of mouth and close friends and stuff, people come in and use it. Ted Nugent called me last night and we've been threatening and conniving about doing some stuff together for a while. And I'm hoping that maybe that'll come to fruition in 26. And I that's a cool place to work in. And just finishing up, I've been working on a mix from a batch of songs that Nigel, my son and Roman, just some more stuff that. that we had started laying down over the last year. I'm like, you know, I work all the time and I'm blessed to have the studio in the backyard. And so when I get a day here and a day there, I'll grab Nigel or whatever the wrong with him, we'll go in and make some music and it's just, I love it. Amen to that. Hey, do me a favor. When you talk to Ted, please tell him I said hello. It's been, I can't even remember the last time I spoke to him, because I've never had the chance to speak to him. So tell him I said hi. Yeah, yeah. I love the For me, it's a big deal. I and I know you and I've talked about this before. like, you you were hanging out with Billy recently, you Billy Gibbons recently. And, you know, I've always thought Billy Gibbons would just guide the guitar players. And, you know, both Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top and Ted Nugent. When I was, you know, 15 years old, you know, you could find me front row at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia, watching there. know, matter of fact, we... I camped out two nights because you used to camp out for tickets and they'd have like a ticket tron. I think that was the name of the computer before ticket master, a ticket tron or something. it was in the mall and it was in the riches ⁓ department store in the mall. And we would camp out under the parking garage at the riches. And whoever got there first to start camping out for tickets ⁓ would have the authority to start aligned and a roll call. and you'd take a notepad and you'd write the rules of the notepad. everybody had to be there, roll call once every hour and you could miss two roll calls and somebody could speak up for you. But if you missed more than that, you got scratched off the list and what, know, so we would control the list and we'd go out there and, and like, like say 15 years old or so. And, and we would camp out and I kept up for two nights to get ZZ Top tickets. was on, it was in 1970. eight or something it was and, It was the greatest concert ever. stood right there and watched Billy and several years later we were on the road opening up for ZZ for about a year. And we were out on tour with them and we'd met Billy on a European run we did and we got to be friends with him over there. so we were out on the road with them and we were making the rounds and we came through Atlanta to play and we were at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia and I was on the stage messing around with my guitar and Billy Gibbons came up on the stage and he said, give me. So I handed him my guitar and he was sitting there messing around with my guitar. And I just thought about it for minute. I said, do you see that seat right there, that chair right there? And he said, yeah. And I said, I sat in that chair. And he goes, you did. I said, matter of fact, I stood in front of that chair one night. And he goes, you did. I said, yes, I did. And I said, you stood. right about where you are right now. And he said, I did. And I said, yes, you did. And I said, you were incredible. said, you blew me. I said, I wish that I could tell you how you changed my life that night. And he went, he said, you just did. And he shook my hand. So it's cool. to have a Ted Nugent give you a call or whatever, it's like, I'm still that 15 year old. I'm still that 15 year old that loves this. ⁓ Well, I'm doing it right now because I'm talking to Jesse James Dupree. So you gotta understand that everything that you do and you say and you feel, I go through that all the time. ⁓ Knowing Billy is a mind blower to me. Every time I talk to him, it blows my mind. But I'm sitting here talking to Jesse James Dupree and it blows my mind. ⁓ You're too much. What's your favorite Billy story? Billy? ⁓ my Lord. 100 years ago before he had any idea who I was at all. I ⁓ was a camera guy. I was shooting ⁓ a ⁓ backstage ⁓ New Year's Eve here in Las Vegas ⁓ for a ⁓ local show. And Sam Kinison, it was a New Year's Eve thing, Sam Kinison was there. ⁓ Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear, they were there. ⁓ And this was ⁓ backstage ⁓ afterwards, a green room party. And I was back there shooting. And it was a packed out room, all kinds of people. And in a little bit, the Reverend Billy Gibbons walks in the back room and everybody just was like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's Billy Gibbons. And everybody was nervous to talk to Billy. And so I just said, well, this is once in a lifetime opportunity. I don't care, I'm going. And I went over and I introduced myself and I'm shooting this show here and I can't believe what it means to meet you and say hello and this and that. and I gave him my business card and he was such a gentleman, as you know, he's so kind. And so we had some niceties and that was it. That Christmas, I got a Christmas card from Billy Gibbons, because he sent it to the business card I gave him. And it was like, you're kidding me. So years later, when we got to know each other and became friends, I brought that up to him and he just loved that story. I will never forget. He's just. a true down to earth, beautiful human, whether you're somebody quote unquote, or whether you're just some guy over here shooting a TV show. He's just, he's a beautiful man. I love him to pieces. Coolest guy in the room. We met him. What about you, Stoney? What about you? Yeah, I've met him with Danny a couple of times and he's just always just down to earth, genuinely loves to talk about Mexican food and I love Mexican food. Yeah, yeah. And like I said, I he's the coolest guy in the room, even in a... the jammers. Yeah, we met him. We met him in Switzerland. And we were playing a festival and we ended up getting to hang out for a bit and I was just beside myself and and and then he asked us what we were doing and it was the last date of their European tour. And we were heading to London to do we were playing the Hammersmith Odeon and and we had a week's worth of press. so we so We get finished talking to him and then we leave. Well, when we get to England, I go to check in and they hand him an envelope and it was a letter from Billy and he had shown up at that hotel and spent the week with us. And Danny, I kid you not, he was crazy about faxing and crazy about the office center at the hotel we were at. And he went in, we would go do press all day and he would go into the thing and he would get these... ⁓ like Rolls Royce catalog stuff. And he would go in and he would take the Rolls Royces and he would draw all these 57 Chevy Fins on her or whatever. And he would, he would send the concierge guy to the Rolls Royce to see how much it would cost for them to build him a custom Rolls Royce. I mean, he just always coming up with stuff. we got home from, we got home from that tour and I had an old carbon roll copy fax machine. And, I get home from that European tour. And Billy had rolled that entire roll of carbon facts player. I was laying in my office floor and I picked it up and it was nothing but voodoo potions and Mexican recipes. I'll tell you a Danny the count story with him as far as something that you'll appreciate. on the road with him and he calls me into his dressing room and he goes, he goes, I you to check something out. said, okay. said, what's up? So I go in and he pulls out this magazine. And it was like from the fifties. he goes, I was noticing this advertisement that there's like a 57 Chevy bumper for 1995. I mean, it was something silly, you know, and with a coupon. He said, and I knew, noticed that there wasn't an expiration date on it. So I filled it out and sent the check in with it. And I said, really? And I said, did you ever hear about it? And he reached over and moved his wardrobe case and he kicked the damn top of his crate off. And there's a damn bumper for a Chevy bumper in his dressing room. but I mean, stuff you can't make up, but yeah, it's great. He's beautiful, he's beautiful, he's amazing. I got a question for you, Jesse. I need some advice. ⁓ You're Mr. Chainsaw Guy. You've also jumped off of bridges. You've launched yourself out of cannons. You've blown up dynamite at Sturgis. ⁓ I'm just now starting this brand new Count's Culture podcast. ⁓ What kind of promotional thing do you think I should do to promote this? I'm gonna listen to you. You can do a full body burn and set in Stoney's lap. We've done that. We've done that. It didn't work. Yeah, something original. What do you got? I did a full body burn at the original full throttle. Wait a They set me, I was completely on fire. you serious? then I was on a zip line and I ziplined completely engulfed in flames over the crowd's head, landed in the center of the stage and then did the whole show. Wow. I had, what I didn't think about was I had, when the band's playing and they're peeling all that crap off of me and I still had that gel all over my face and stuff from where they keep you from burning, But yeah, you can actually find that on YouTube. can Google my name in full body burn and zip line body burn or something. You can find some clips of it. It's pretty crazy. I remember him shooting himself out of the cannon at the hole. That was crazy. that's, that's like so. I'll tell you how the cannon thing happened. You remember, you've met Randy Hawk, think, before. He's a program director out of JJO in Madison, Wisconsin. Randy, I did an interview with Randy one time and he goes, explain what Jackal is about. What's a Jackal show like? And I said, well, it's the equivalent of a man being shot out of a cannon. And he said, well, why don't you get shot out of a cannon? And I said, well, I will. And he goes, he goes, okay, then I'm going to hold you to it. So then over the course of the next five, six months, he's busted my balls, calling me, did you find a cannon? Did you find a cannon? No. And I actually looked to see if you could even find a cannon, right? And I didn't have any luck. And so we were about to shoot the next season of the full throttle reality show. speaking of that, Randy Hawks calling right now. How funny is that? that? that? Yeah. How is that for, Hey, Randy, tell him we said, Hey, Randy. Hey, I'm doing I'm doing a podcast with Danny the Count and Stoney and I just mentioned your name about how you called me out on getting shot out of a cannon. You're on the podcast right now. You're on the podcast. You ready. are just you're like damn Beetlejuice. I say your name and you call. I was telling the story about how you interviewed me and asked me what a jackal show was like I said it's like being shot out of a cannon so so I'm about to do the TV show six months ago by Randy had been busting my balls about a cannon so I'm out I 44 crew people out there to shoot this show Randy calls did you ever find a cannon and I'm gonna damn it Randy I'm slammed with this TV show he goes I found you a cannon and and I said what he goes yeah he's the human cannonball I'm gonna send you his number you better calling you better do it. So I called this guy and I talked him into bringing the cannon from like Maine or somewhere. Yeah. And he brought it out and he shot me out of the damn can. was crazy. So Randy said that Randy, that's a good testimony timing wise for you to call and confirm that that's the story. I was never so excited when I actually found a human cannonball guy. He was shooting himself out of the cannon at a minor league baseball. And I said, hey, can I get back and talk to the human cannonball guy? The rest is history. I love it. ⁓ my gosh. I love it. Randy, I'll call you in a little bit. That's great. He's a big radio guy out of a matter of fact, you know, he he he he's part owner of the hard drive Excel show with Lou Brutus. OK, cool. Cool. Yeah, there'll be there on about 200 stations across the country. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's monster. Jesse, we have so much we're going to pick you apart here like a used motor. before that happens, I'm going to hand you the wrench for a minute. This is a segment in the show. You get to ask me a question. I'm going to do my best to answer it. Now, this question could be anything. It could be about Vegas, cars, bikes, bandanas, business, whatever you might want to ask me. And I'm going to do my best to not dodge it. Well, I'm going to ask a hard one. This ⁓ is a real question. Okay. And I'll tell you why I'm gonna ask it and then I'm gonna tell you why I'm asking it. Okay, I'll do my best. Can you actually rebuild a motor? Yeah, I have. You betcha. Yourself? Yeah, myself. Absolutely. You can take it apart and put it back together and it runs and everything? Yes, sir. got, as matter of fact, just off the of my head, I can think of two of them right here in this next building that I built myself. When did you, when's the first time you ever built a motor? 17 years old. 17? Yes, sir. And you just went out and you did, you did you find one you had to get running or was it one that was running and you had to take it apart and do something different to I blew one up and I had to, had to, I had to learn how to do it. So thankfully I had a buddy that had a shop and, and I brought the car there and took the motor out and I had, had some good guidance. But, but yeah, I did it myself, took it out. and rebuilt the whole thing and put it back together. it's, that actual car from my 17 years old is sitting in the building next door. Now I'll tell you why I ask. Because I grew up working construction, driving nails and pouring concrete. And a buddy of mine named Eugene worked at the VW shop. ⁓ And I didn't want to go back into the, I didn't want to go drive nails out in the cold because winter time was coming. Right. And he says, Charlie, the guy that owns the VW show, this is about when the Volkswagen bugs had the motor in the back, you know? Yep. And, ⁓ and he goes, Charlie's looking for a mechanic. I went, ⁓ kick ass. So I said, Hey, Charlie, I'm Jesse Dupree. said, I hear you looking for a mechanic. said, yeah. He said, Dupree. He said, you can to rip Dupree. I said, yeah. And he goes, I worked with him at Waukeed. And I said, yes, that's my dad. And he goes, I'll be damned. He goes, how's he doing? I said, he's good. He's back at Lockheed and we sat there and talked for a minute. And he went, well, that's great. He goes, okay. He said, your station's right over there. He said, that blue Volkswagen has got to have the motor rebuilt in it. He said, to jerk that thing out, get to work, let's get that thing rebuilt. So you go, there's only four bolts that holds them motors in. So my buddy Eugene was up in the damn, the bay. looking at me, shaking his head no where yes as to what the hell I was going to do to get it out of there. So I get the thing jacked up, I undid the four, and you can carry them motors. And I picked that motor up and I carried it struggling because I weighed about 140 pounds. And I carried that thing in and I throw it up on the table and I took it apart. And I had it all laid out to where I knew how to put it back together. And I had everything because there wasn't a lot to it, but I had it all out there where I could get it back together. Well, here comes Charlie through the damn shop and he's telling everybody, Ms. Williams coming to get her car at three o'clock. We gotta get this over here. This thing needs a... And he's talking. And while he's talking, everybody, he looks over at all those parts and he takes a big wash bucket with a colander-type bucket and he wipes everything off into that damn bucket. And he's talking. And then he saw the look on my face. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And he stopped talking to everybody and looked at me and went, you don't know what the hell you're doing, you? And I said, I said, said, don't now. So he thought for a minute and he stepped back and forth on his feet and he rubbed the back of his neck and he thought about it he went, all right, anybody needs parts washed, do freeze washing. And he gave me those. But I worked my way up to them giving tune ups and oil changes. That's why I ask if you could actually build a motor. I never had a knack for it. Thankfully I don't anymore. I have somebody for that. But yes, yes I can. ⁓ question, Jesse. So, you you and I, we got a lot of things in common. You know, we got music, we got motorcycles, we got the bourbon. What's the newest thing in your world that you're certain I don't know about yet, but you know I'm gonna love? Outside of the fact that Count 77's opening up for Rob Zombie this year, what don't I know about? ⁓ Well, you know I'm in the whiskey business. This is my Jesse James Blue label. single barrel blue label right here. That's right. And, so I'm proud of my whiskey, but I'm actually going to launch a brand of wine this year. Really? And I'm not, and I'm not a wine guy. I'm not, mean, I'm, you know, a matter of fact, I've always, you know, I don't play golf and I don't, I'm not a big wine guy, but I was meeting with my distributor, you know, I got distributors all over the country that handle the whiskey. And when I'm talking to it and I find out, There's not one single wine in the world that controls any more than like 12 % of the industry. I mean, there's just so many wines out there. And I got to thinking about it. know, the name of my company is American Outlaw Spirits. So I have the Jesse James Bourbon and you know, so I, there was a lady back in Jesse James era and a cowgirl and her name was Catalani. And Cattle Annie and her running partner, Little Bridges, two ladies, they both got busted and went to jail for selling liquor to the Native Americans. And so she died at like 92 years of age denying that she was Cattle Annie. And they were only like 15 years old. I mean, they were kids, you know? But they literally went to jail for doing that. And so Cattle Annie and her running partner, Little Riches. So I'm going to do, because let's face it, all of us are Harley brothers and sisters out there that are riding stuff and the ladies like the one, the ladies buy the wine, the guys drink it too. I'll drink a glass of wine, but I'm going to give us, I'm going to give us a Harley Davidson, you know, experienced riding type of. wine called Cattle Annie and it's going to come in the little quarter bottom called Little Britches Bottles. I love that. And Cattle Annie and Little Britches Bottles. it's going to be made, the wine comes from Paso Robles, which is south of Napa. Yep. But it's cowboy country. Yep. But it's turning into wine country up there. And you know, I found out so much stuff about wine that I've got to tell you, I've got a new respect for it. Do you know, I didn't drink for 18 years. ⁓ And I didn't drink for 18 years because I, used to play, you know, in these bars and stuff. And I used to go, go into bars and see great players play. And I would wonder, why are they not doing something? Why are they not successful? And then it would dawn on me that I would watch them go, they'd have an eight ball in their pocket and a girl on their arm at the end of the night. I guess they had made it. Right. And so I said, I'm not going to do that. So I walked out of. I walked out of the bar sober and pissed off about it for a long time, but I stayed focused. Cause I had my Southern accent going against me as it was, you know, in an industry that'll eat your ass. So I had to work extra hard, you know, and, I didn't drink for 18 years. And then I met Brian Johnson from ACDC. And he invited me to come down to a New Year's Eve party at his house. And I went down to New Year's Eve party at his house and we went over to a buddy of his who was the president of Uniroil Tires. You remember Uniroil Tires? You betcha, you betcha. And so we went over to this guy, he was the president of Uniroil Tires and we went over to his house and we went from there to this retired Wall Street Bokers house and that guy had a wine cellar like you wouldn't believe. So all night long he was coming out of the wine cellar going, this bottle right here. came from the south of France and they had a drought that year and they had to bring the water over the mountains by mule and the mule perspiration got up inside the barrels and caused a fungus and the fungus would grow on the grape and they cultivate that now all these years later. So we're going to taste this one or we're going to drink this next wine. It's 110 years old. If we don't drink it the next 15 minutes, it'll not be any good. And we got to pour it through this cheese cloth. What every bottle of wine had a story and Brian's going, you got to try it me son. You gotta try it. And so by the end of the night, me and Brian Johnson and the president of Unirol, we were drunk as scumps with our pants shooting the moon to the camera, you know? And just silly stuff. that's how I got back to drinking again. I love it. I love it. I love it. You've got new solo music. Jackal is still running full throttle on the road. When you look at this chapter, What's different about the way you write and sing now versus that kid in 92 with a chainsaw and a point to prove? Well, you just nailed it. I cannot not be beside myself and ready ⁓ to kill it, you know? And I think I obviously appreciate all the success and all the memories and all the... the people that we've hugged their necks and all the shows and all the miles and all the places we've seen and all the food we've eaten and all the drinks we've had with our brothers and sisters. just, mean, ⁓ and so now it's another tidal wave of I'm going to make this great because they deserve it and because I deserve it. Cause we've lived like dogs for too long. You know, in the beginning and it's paid off. And we can, so now just as with much piss and vinegar and hunger that I had in the beginning, I'm doing it with that much passion of respect and appreciation for the life that I've been given, you know, and been provided and that I've taken. I mean, we've went out and we've taken life by the balls and slung it against the damn wall. and everything else. mean, we've done, we have not let up. ⁓ know, and I, you know, I cannot say enough how much, you know, I do, I am self-aware and, you know, people want to, you know, people want to criticize music or they want to analyze it, you know, whatever. And there's tons of music out there that I don't care for, but I appreciate anybody that's out there doing their thing, right? And, and... You know, I try not to always jerk and knock my ass, because I mean, I'm not going to be throwing stones at anybody. I celebrate the fundamentals of rock and roll every single night. And I celebrate, I'll say it again, the fundamentals of rock and roll. Two guitar, bass and drums, chainsaw, if you will. People ask, you do you ever think about not doing the chainsaw? And I said, does Angus not wear a schoolboy outfit? Does Iron Maiden not have Eddie out on the stage? Does ZZ Top not have their beards? Kiss not wear their makeup. Yeah, Jack will not have a chainsaw. Are you kidding me? Are you? I mean for real. I mean, I love it I you know, I mean how how blessed I mean what a more definitive instrument for rock and roll than a chainsaw It's loud. It's a grace aggressive. It's abrasive. It's destructive. It's stanky. It's everything that rock and roll should be It's what Stoney aspires to be every time he plugs in. stinky ass chainsaw. ⁓ I'm just telling you, there's nothing, there's not a more powerful, it's like walking into an orgy with a 10 inch f*** with that chainsaw. I mean you can have guitar players with a f*** wall of amps with all the technique in the world and they can noodle their ass off and I'll pull that chainsaw out and holy hell look out. Because here comes the most difficult the most definitive instrument for rock and roll. And people, people want to damn, you know, want to try to overanalyze stuff. I'll just say it again. I celebrate the fundamentals of rock and roll every setting like two guitar, bass and drums, chainsaw, if you will, whatever it takes to get the job done. And God bless the people that I found out there that understand what celebrating the fundamentals of rock and roll are all about. They come out. They know it's not about coming to see a show, it's about coming to be part of the show. And if we all do our job correctly, they don't even make it home before they stop the car over on the side of road, jump in the back seat and knock out the old dirty dirty. That's the fundamentals of rock and roll I'm talking about. And I also find out that people that don't understand what I'm talking about when I say we celebrate the fundamentals of rock and roll, those are the same people, the same exact people. You know them, I know them, we've seen them before. Those people that don't know what it's about to celebrate the fundamentals of rock and roll. Those are the exact people that have a hard time admitting that they masturbate. Thank you, good night. And that's one of the reasons why we love them. And from Jump Street, we've just... Nobody does it better. Nobody does it. You guys, Jack, Jesse, I've told you this story. And so you already know this story, but I just want to share it with everybody listening or watching because it's a true story. Count 77, our band. Hard rock 70s, vibed, original band. Years ago, we were blessed to open for Jackal. Was it in Chicago? It was June 7th, 2014. I'll forget that day. 7th, 2014. Chicago. We will never forget. It was in Chicago. We went out on the stage and we did our thing and we knew we were great and we were patting ourselves on the back. and life was grand and we were opening for Jackal. Now ⁓ we stepped off the stage and we got on the side of the stage and Jackal came out. And you guys came out and you guys do what you do. ⁓ good lord. Good lord, you guys did what you did. There's nothing like it. And all of us, literally, in 77, we didn't even have to have a conversation. We just kind of looked at each other and we knew it. We knew it. We got on a plane. We came back here to Vegas and we got in the rehearsal studio sitting right behind me and ⁓ we told ourselves, we can't ever let that happen again. You guys absolutely put us over your knee and whooped us like a redheaded stepchild that particular night. And we told ourselves, we got jackaled. That's the term that we use. We got jackaled. and we said, we're never gonna let that happen again. And I'm gonna tell you the truth, it changed us. It took 77 to another level. Our rehearsals became serious. Our shows became serious. And we went out there now, and now what we do now, we go out there and we jackal people. And that's what we say. We're going out there and we're gonna go jackal these people that we're playing with tonight. And we've been blessed to be able to do that. But that started with you guys jackaling us so hard. that we've never looked back and now we take it serious, man. We take it serious. so, sincerely, we thank you for that. Well, I thank you for saying that. You got the edge on us though, because you actually got a guitar player that can play in key. And Jeff and I don't worry about that. We just damn hit it full tilt and defy gravity. Jeff and Chris and Roman, I mean, it's... walking on stage with those guys is so powerful. They're amazing. because every single show is Madison Square Garden. And we're not, you ⁓ know who always, I always looked, you you tell that to him, you know, for me, and I'm sure you've got your real influences of what you grew up with. My favorite band that, and again, I'm not comparing. Jackal to the Who in that sense. I the Who is the greatest band of all time. that Quadrophenia album can only be compared to the Grand Canyon or the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest or something like that. The Quadrophenia album is truly the biggest natural phenomenon. It's more than art. So I don't just please know that I say it. So when I say this, but the Who gave, I always felt like the Who gave us a license because You know, we're not a typical band in the sense of, you know, overlooking it, music theory. I mean, we're just three chords and an attitude, you know what I'm saying? And turned up to 11. know, balls for, you know, for a kick drum. And, you know, and that's what we base our passion around. And between the Who and Iggy Pop. And I'll tell you a funny story. you know, I got a daughter, she's 21 years old now, 22, 22. And she was always kind of sheltered from all of what I had done. know, and my wife, my wife wanted her to grow up because my son, he's corrupt because he grew up on the tour bus. And Steven Tyler would come and grab him and run off with him or Ted Nugent's kid, him and Rocco grew up. Yeah. And so he grew up on the tour. I got custody of him when he was six. And so he, I mean, he can't get it out of his system. And Nigel Dupree, matter of fact, he's got a video out that we just released. you got to check it out. Nigel Dupree. He's got another single coming out that's him in my 94 heritage soft tail. This is called find out the hard way. And that'll be out in a couple of weeks, but he looks like a beautiful kid. Looks like his mama. just a talented kid. But my daughter was somewhat sheltered growing up because my wife wanted her to have a normal life. And my wife didn't want her to be penalized because of me being her father. Because when Nadja was growing up, some of the kids weren't able to come to the house. And plus I was going to jail all the time. was in a lot of trouble with the publicity stunts and stuff that we would do. although things have calmed down a bit, my wife was still overprotective. And so my daughter, We let her live in her little bubble, you know, her whole life. she, you know, Dean's List in college and she, she's just the perfect child, super smart and beautiful and I'm so lucky. So we've never really, I mean, I'm her father and I'm in her life. I'm at her events. I mean, we do all of them, but we've never really had in-depth conversations about this side of the dirty, dirty, right? With this kind of stuff that we've done. And so we're sitting at the table, eating dinner one night. It's a bit, that's only a couple of months ago, about a year, maybe within the year. And she's going to a festival in Atlanta and I'm going, yeah, who are you going to sleep with? The food fighters are playing. so she's telling me these different people that are playing. And go in high school and she said Iggy Pop. And I said, wait a minute, you know who Iggy Pop is? And she was dad. And I said, no, but do you really know who Iggy Pop is? And she was everybody. And I said, no, Iggy Pop. made a record, it was a bootleg record in like 1969. mean, like, I mean, it was like, it was early seventies or something. It was like live at Cobalt. It was like some bootleg copy that you can find on iTunes or whatever now. And it was a live bootleg, raw, terrible, the worst sounding s*** you've ever heard in your life. The greatest stuff you've ever heard, the most vulgar stuff. There's not a rapper. There's not anybody ever that's written anything that comes close to Iggy Pop. Iggy Pop will make you go take a shower when you hear that stuff that he used to do. He was the guy that invented it all. Sex pistols, bar any of them. None of them had anything on Iggy. He'd bust glass on the stage and dive on. mean, that dude, Iggy's the most hardcore, hands down, bar, holds bar. Iggy Pop is the most radical, hellfire individual ever in life. so I told Penny, mean, told Thea, Iggy changed my life. He had a song that was on this album and it was called, S*** In My Pocket. It let me know that there's no rules. You can do anything you want to do. And the world was way censored back whenever I got out of high school. It was the world censorship was a big deal. Right. And, and so I heard that song and, and, and rich, just all these other songs that, mean, some of the most vulgar stuff he says in the, in the album, if you've never heard it, you should go check it out. And, but he taught me that there's no holds, no, no, no rules. And so I wrote this song called she loves my And I wrote it because there was a bass player in a band that I played in out of high school. He was older than us. And, he was a real respected bass player from Atlanta that I thought was just Jimmy Puckett. He mentored me so Graham, was just a great guy. But he had one of the first ever VCRs. And he had an old porno tape, a bunch of old tapes, but one of them was an old porno called Any Time Any Place or something like that. And it was the most worst early seventies porno ever. And the lead character's name was Skinner. And so the camera's locked off on a tripod and this woman is doing her business on Skinner. And you just see him from his waist down, you know, from his chest down to his thigh. And you see the front part of her face doing her business on Skinner. And she's there working him over and he's talking to her, telling her what a good job she's doing. And she pulls off of him and looks to the top of the television set because the camera never moves. She looks to the top of the TV set, she goes, oh Skinner, I love you. And then she goes back to business and you hear him say, you don't love me. You just love my. And we were like, oh my God, this is the greatest thing ever. so, you know, being young guys, know, we've said to each other, you know, you don't love me. You just love my. And that was a thing that we said to each other. So I wrote that song talking about how arrogant guys can be about their. their penises, you know? And so I tell my daughter, my 21, at the time, my 21 year old daughter, I tell her that story about where that song came from and why I wrote it. And she said they're eating and she stops and she goes, well, dad, that sure would have been nice to know a couple of years ago. Evidently the kids, evidently the kids in her school were asking her about the stuff, but yeah, it's it's a, it's been a hell of a run. Everybody stick around. Don't go anywhere. We got more with Jesse James Dupree coming up right after this. If you're a fan of this podcast, of Counting Cars, or of my shop Count's Customs, head over to Count's Customs dot shop for official gear, collectibles, and shop favorites. Or better yet, come by and see it all right here in person. The builds, the history, the vibe, it's not a showroom, it's an actual working garage. Online or in Vegas, Count's Customs is always worth the stop. Jesse, let's go all the way back. Before Jackal, before Sturges, before the Guinness records. What did day-to-day life look like for the kid, Jesse, in Kennesaw, Georgia? What kind of trouble were you getting into that hinted you might not end up behind a desk? Well, I grew up in a very lower middle-class home up until 1970, 70, 71. And my dad got laid off from Lockheed Aircraft. and he didn't have a 10th grade education. And he had only gotten hired at Lockheed because I was sitting on my mom's lap, she was pregnant with my brother. He had a fake high school diploma in the early 60s that looked like a fake high school diploma. Kinkos weren't around then, and it looked like hell. So he got hired there. He got laid off, and I came home from school one day, and he sold everything we had, including my bicycle. And we moved to Gadsden, Alabama, the armpit of the world. And we moved to Gadsden and we lived one quarter of a mile, actually a Tallah, Alabama, which is right beside Gadsden. And we were a quarter of a quarter of a mile down the road from a steel plant. So everything was covered in soot and we bought a little cafe on an asphalt parking lot. And that the truck drivers that hauled steel out of the steel plant would come and have breakfast and dinner in the cafe. And my dad couldn't even boil water. and he bought this cafe and he went to work back then ⁓ McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken were the first two franchises in the country. And so my dad went to work for the Kentucky Fried Chicken because he was going to steal the Colonel's recipe. so he goes and he ends up, they used to quarter the chickens back then and he ended up cutting his hand on a bandsaw, quartering the chickens. And so he said, screw this. And we specialized in farm raised grain fed catfish. But in the back corner, of that asphalt parking lot was a mobile home trailer that we lived in. And it was right in the corner of a 15 foot high cinder block wall. And when you came down beside the restaurant and you came down beside the restaurant and that wall was there. And when you passed the restaurant, you were in this neighborhood of little pillbox houses where all the people that worked in the steel mill lived. so if you came down that road by the restaurant and you turned on the backside of that that cinder block wall. There was four houses right there on what was a dirt road and it dead ended into a chain link fence right there at the corner of where the cinder block wall was. And you could open the back door of that mobile home trailer and it would hit the wall. And we would crawl out of that trailer and crawl up on that 15 foot high wall. And we would walk down to the corner of that 15 foot high wall and we would jump off onto this guy's little shed. and we would lay on the warm shingles of that shed and on the other side of that fence was one of America's only triple X drive-in theaters. And we would lay there and watch porno movies. Watch it. And I mean, we were just pretty much cut loose. You know, just, mean, it was from one extreme to the other with where I lived in Georgia to living over in Alabama. And there was... smoking and drinking and sex and everything and over there. And it was a very integrated neighborhood too. mean, in Georgia, you know, it was segregated and over there, you know, matter of fact, I was a minority. I was in a predominantly black school and with black teachers and things that was completely opposite, inverted from what I grew up in. So my dad ends up getting hired back at Lockheed after three years and we went back home. And then by this time, I'm in the middle of high school. And I go back home and all my friends and kids, they're like getting excited to play spin the bottle. And I'd already seen, like I say, the dirty side of life, you know? So, ⁓ you know, I just wasn't interested in it anymore. there wasn't no, you know, melding back into the kids. I mean, at that point there, it just was not interesting to me. So that's when I was going down, a buddy of mine, was a little bit older than I, had his mom, it was 1976, and his mom had a 1976 red Monte Carlo. And a bad ass car. And she had went to a divorce, divorces were in common back then, but she had divorced and she was living with a guy named Erno, and she would let us take her new 76 Monte Carlo if we'd get the hell out of their way. And so we would take that Monte Carlo and go down to underground Atlanta. And Underground Atlanta was a dangerous place. It was like an underground bourbon street. It was the original Underground Atlanta where they put, when they built Atlanta after the Civil War, they pushed it up over the old city. And there was a cave down in there with all these old bars with the wrought iron gas lamps and stuff. And there was rock bars in there, the front page, the Mad Hatter, you know, all these cool bars. And that's where I saw so many great musicians, you know, that I used to go down and would... you know, we'd pay somebody's way to get $5 to get in and we would lick our wrist and transfer it over, you know, and then we'd wait for a crowd to walk in and we'd, and the drinking age was 18 back then and we, and I was 15 years old and, and we'd go in and watch it. that's where I first saw Brendan O'Brien, you know, the big producer, Brendan O'Brien, he does everybody from ACDC to Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and Stone Temple. And that's where I first saw him. And ⁓ I knew he was super talented. And years later, when we got our record deal, we were meeting with our record company and talking about who was going to produce our first record. And I was saying Mutt Lang and Jack Douglas and all these legendary guys that done everybody, you and Aerosmith and ACDC and just all these big guys. And the guy from the record company says, no, John Klaudner, said, no, he said, I want to find the next Mutt Lang. I don't want, you know, I don't want to just go with Mutt Lang. And I sat there and I didn't want to leave that lunch without knowing I was going to go make my record. And I said, Brendan O'Brien, he went, who? And I said, there's a guy named Brendan O'Brien. I think he's going to be big. And he went, I want somebody that's going be the next big thing, but not somebody I've never heard of before. And he looked at his assistant and he said, can you track this guy down? And I'd never met Brendan. I didn't know Brendan. I'd only seen him play back in the 70s in the front, in the Mad Hatter. And so the first time I ever met him, he came to our pre-production and we gave him his first gold record for producing. And he went on to do ACDC and like I say, everybody from Springsteen and ACDC to Pearl Jam, Stone Temple, Sound God, he's done all those guys. But that's where I found him was in Underground Atlanta. Gotcha. Do you feel, cause I've always felt this, like your surroundings, where you grew up, the situation that you're living in, the variety of different people that you're around, do you feel that this is kind of like something that helps develop you as the musician, your sound, the kind of music that you create? Well, I never give a damn about singing. always just, Billy Gibbons was who I idolized. And I just wanted to play a guitar. I mean, I never give a... I still don't sing and sucks. mean, it's whole nother workout. I mean, it's like, you if I could do anything, my dream gig would be to play guitar every night. That would be a cream gig, you know? And I didn't give a damn about singing. But what happened was when my dad lost everything, all my friends were back in Georgia stoning. And so... the guy would come into the restaurant, the cafe, and he would change the 45s out on the jukebox. And he would give me the 45s when they would run their course. So it was everything from the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, know, just all these, you know, Black Sabbath, you just all these great bands, right, that were on the damn jukebox. but he also gave me James Brown, ⁓ Wilson Pickett. and my favorite was a guy named Joe Tex. And if you don't know who Joe Tex is, you gotta go research Joe So I would take and I would wash these five gallon pickle barrels that we kept little dill pickles from a five gallon bucket for the hamburgers. And I would wash that five gallon bucket out and I kept my 45s in the five gallon buckets. And I would take them to my room in the back of that mobile home trailer by myself. And I would just practice trying to sing like Joe Tex. Not that I ever aspired to be a singer, I didn't, but you know, well I got you. Yeah, I get it. uh-huh. Thought you got away now, didn't you? Uh-huh. But I just thought it was cool. I didn't realize that I was developing that technique for singing with my false folds and all that stuff, right? I mean, it's like, and I didn't know it until years later, but so then when I finally got back to Georgia and I was started in bands and I was just playing guitar, you can't find singers or. You can't find me some of them because they either can't keep their voice ⁓ or if they can they say stupid in between the songs. I mean it's like the dumbest ever. ⁓ It's always something with the lead singers. I mean like seriously and so finally Finally, I ended up playing in this band and I just, this black guitar player named John Hayes, who just battered, he plays the mother's finest now. But I got with John and I actually felt guilty taking lead breaks because he was so good. And I finally told him, said, you know what, let's get rid of the singer. I'll start singing, you be patient with me. Let me figure it out. And so I just, did it out of necessity. ⁓ But you know, that bass player I mentioned earlier that I had played with, he was a huge influence. And we used to study TV preachers. And we would study wrestlers. And because there's a rhythm and an art, especially the preachers, the TV preachers are incredible, the old school ones, know? Those guys knew what they were doing and they knew how to motivate, they knew how to cultivate, they knew how to, I mean, and... And so used to study. minute, what year? What year? I gotta push pause now, brother. What year is this that you're studying TV preachers? This was probably, this was 80, starting in the 80s, the early 80s and stuff, you know, right in there. And I well, I grew up going to see wrestling, so I was always into wrestling in the 70s. he really dialed me into TV preachers from the art form of what they did. So this was... Jimmy Swaggards and Robert Tilton and Ernest Angeli and all those guys. Do you ever remember a guy who was the originator before Ernest Angeli, a cat named ⁓ Reverend Rex Humbard? I know the name, but I can't place him, but I've heard the name. That's my uncle. And ⁓ my father was his music director for 20 years. So on Uncle Rex's show. Legendary God. Yeah, all of the music, all of the everything, that was my father. And that's where I started singing. I sang gospel music on that show forever. So when you talk about that, that just absolutely took me back. Go ahead, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just had to throw that No, I'm just saying, so that was, you know, it was more about, you know, for me it was more about the delivery. Just the learning to entertain, learning not just to entertain, learning to be in the moment. It's not about, you entertain by being in the moment and you have an experience. You're having an experience with 10 people or 10,000 that came to be there with you. And can you take 10 people and work them into a frenzy just as easy as 10,000? You know what I'm saying? It's like, how can you? you know, not be discerning about who you're playing to, but to appreciate that moment that you've got with somebody that is actually gonna stand there in front of you and listen to you. And so, ⁓ yeah, there's an art to that. And it's not an art in the sense of, it's about, there's an art in letting yourself just be, and not being inhibited. You know what I'm saying? It's like the most free. know, spiritual thing that, you know, when you hit it and especially, I mean, you know, Danny, you stood on stages with your band and you stood on stage with us. And when you got the power, you know, I mean, know, I mean, we're balls for volume. I mean, it's a force of nature. And I'm standing there holding this microphone that's got hundreds of thousands of Watts. you know, and you got that minute. you know, and that show to just experience that, there's not, there is no drug. Right, there's no feeling like that. There is no drug that will get you any higher than, when Stoney grabs, he's got his Marshall doll in and he grabs that damn G string and wiggles the **** out of it. And it just stays there with him as long as he wants to stand there, it's not going anywhere. There's nothing more powerful than that moment of becoming a note, right? So so you put all this stuff in a blender You got underground Atlanta bars. You got you got triple X drive-in theaters. You got TV preachers You put it on the blender and what do you get you get Jackal? How does that happen? Yeah, it's ⁓ you know, it's it's ⁓ an interesting thing because the guys in Jackal used to come out and see that the other band that I was in that I told you about with the you know, John Hayes playing Jimmy Puckett. Whenever I found out I was going to be a father, I came off the road and I came off the road and I didn't want to go back to work in construction. And I'd been in all these bars and I thought I could manage a bar. So I went into this failing rock bar called Danny's. We always played at Charlie Magruder's, which was the happening place. I'd never played Danny's before, but Danny's the guy that owned it. He knew who I was and I was only 20 in my mid 20s. And I went in and I said, Danny, I want to manage your bar. He looked at me. I could tell he was like, there ain't no way in hell you're managing my place. And he was about to go out of business. I mean, the place was not doing good. And I said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I said, I'll make changes in your bar today that you will notice an immediate difference in that'll change your business. And I said, if I do that, then I'm your manager. went, Okay. And I said, I need $100. And he opened up that damn thick ass wallet and he pulled out a crisp $100 bill and he gave me that $100. And I walked out of there and I went to Lowe's and I bought pine soil, I bought mirrors, hinges, paint, everything. And I went into the women's restroom and I cleaned that like a diamond. And I put the mirrors up and I mean, I had that thing popping all night long. Them girls going, ⁓ Danny, I can't believe the bar. They were all tripping out. And I looked at him and I said, the life of your bar is the women's restroom. And so I managed the place. So the guys in Jackal, they came and wanted to play there. And they wanted to play my songs. They wanted to play I Stand Alone and When Will It Rain? They wanted to play those songs. So I gave them a cassette tape and people were calling me around the southeast saying, hey, there's a band playing your songs. I would sit in with them when they would play there and the place would pack out. So I went to my father and I said, hey, I can go get a record deal with this guy. I'd done a record deal with Polygram Records, but they wanted me to get rid of the older guys in the band. They wanted me to get young guys that look like... You know, as Puckett, you go get you some young guys that looked like they jumped off MTV. ⁓ And, I didn't want to do it because I was loyal to those guys. love that, but I'd still be with them now if those guys hadn't equipped me. And because they, Puckett goes, I'm quitting. You got to go get you a record deal. He was a very selfless guy. He said, you got to go get you a record deal. And so, ⁓ so I took those guys. We went out on the road and within a year we had a record deal. Let me ask you this. So after the release of Jackal's first album, ⁓ was a Kmart in Marietta, Georgia, ⁓ famously they refused to carry it. ⁓ You know, some of the, maybe because of some of the suggestive, you know, title tracks, but you pulled out a controversial stunt. It not only made the headlines, but arguably led to that album going platinum. I Stand Alone became a video hit on MTV and launched successful decades-long career that lands you here with me right now today. Take our listeners back to that time from learning that they were pulling the album to the origin of that parking lot idea and the execution of it and the aftermath of that. That was crazy. Yeah, we actually had a series of things that we did that weekend. And ⁓ one was to pull the tractor trailer rig. ⁓ up on the, you know, since Kmart wouldn't carry, Kmart refused to carry our record because of She Loves My C**t was on there and the song. And so we said, well, if Kmart Shoppers can't buy our record, we'll go play for the Kmart Shoppers. And so it was a Father's Day Sunday sidewalk sale. And ⁓ we planted that truck down there the night before with all the gear on it. And I drove it up in front of the track, the Father's Day sidewalk sale, and we started playing. But another thing we did was we went into a Longhorn steakhouse ⁓ with a chainsaw and a bunch of radio guys were in there having a lunch. And I went in with the chainsaw into the steakhouse and we cleared the table off and I carved the table up and wrote Jackal in the table. And it ended up being a class action lawsuit. cost us a million dollars. ⁓ man. Because there was a person had a heart attack. One person jumped over a bar and hurt their ankle and. But they all joined together and they filed a class action suit. cost us a million dollars. ⁓ boy. And that lawsuit probably sold the first huge chunk of records. Yeah. Because the radio network just went crazy about it. Yeah. the fact that we had barged in. yeah, Ted Nugent, like I said, he called yesterday. Uh-huh. and he and I were reminiscing. ⁓ And when we were doing our first album and we were at the Rumbaud Recorders in Canoga Park, just in the Valley of Los Angeles there. And we were doing the album and the damn Yankees were right across the hall from us. And the Traveling Wilburys were in there. That's where I saw my first Beatle with George Harrison. And we were making our first record and Ted was out back. And he had these bells of hay and he was shooting his bow and arrow into the bells of hay. And we stole one of his bells of hay and we strode it out in the studio. And I went up north of Los Angeles and I bought 40 chickens and roosters and we let them loose in the studio. So while we were doing that record, we had those birds in the studio. So if you listen to the end of the lumberjack song, whenever I go, when I throw the chainsaw down and I'll run over going, and you hear those, they were really, they were actually in the studio. And Brendan O'Brien was in there with, he was holding the microphone, following me with a chainsaw, ⁓ AKG 414 microphone. And he was following me around while I was playing the, and I threw the thing down and he followed me over to, you know, where the chickens were. And they used to go into this old drum booth from the seventies and they roost in there at night. And I stirred them up and you can hear them on the end of that record. But I came in one day and Tony Tenille from the Captain and Tenille. She said, may I have a word with you for a moment? I said, yeah. So I go in and nobody would look me in the eye. And I went back in her office, they shut the door and she was whispering to me and I couldn't understand what she was saying. And I finally got close enough to her I could hear her say, one of the chickens is dead. And I went, one of the chickens is dead? She's going, ⁓ don't say it out loud. She was afraid there'd be protesters and stuff. And she goes, you gotta get those birds out of here. We don't want the responsibility. You gotta get them out of here. Please, and I said, well, where we come from the farmer steps on three of them going into feed them. and yeah, so we, so I went to the pet store and I got cardboard boxes, pet, the pet carriers, and I boxed each one of those chickens up and we sent them down to, I had them courier down to the record label and assigned to each one of their executives. And all hell broke loose, God almighty. They were mad. mean, you don't even... The vice president of the company, David Berman, came back from lunch and there was a box on his desk moving. He opened it up, that bird jumped out, scared the hell out of him, and the bird sh** on his new carpet in his office, he was god almighty, you talking about mad? He was pissed off. But, so yeah, we did a... I could be here all night long telling you crazy sh**. Jesse, I'm gonna fast forward here for a minute. Full Throttle Saloon, blows up and it literally becomes a TV phenomenon. When you think about that show now, what part of it are you most proud of and something that has nothing to do with the cameras? Well, it's hard. I mean, you can't say that. We went, the band, I'd gotten a Facebook message from a guy I went to school with named Gary Love. And he asked me, If I was ever near Walter Reed, his son was in Walter Reed Military Hospital. And I said, absolutely, I'd love to come see him if we're up that way. So, a month later, we were up there touring on the East Coast and I saw a sign that said Walter Reed Hospital. And I asked the guys in the band, I yelled back to the crowd, I y'all wanna stop by Walter Reed? And they said, yeah. So I got on Facebook and I called Gary and I said, is your son still in Walter Reed? He said, yes. And I said, can we bring the bus in? He said, let me call you back. So he called back and they said, bring the bus right to the front. Nice. So we brought the tour bus into Walter Reed and we went in and his son was laying there missing both of his legs and one of his arms. his name is Todd Love and still the most hardcore Marine you could ever meet still to this day. God bless him. And young fella. And I had my son on the road with me and they were both the same age in their early twenties. And Todd graduated from the same high school I did and his dad did. And he said, when I get out of here, I'm coming to Sturgis with my dad. And so that stuck with me. And so I ended up going to work on it that year. And we had the season of Full Throttle that we had to shoot the show and stuff. But it meant a lot to me to celebrate. the men and women that I'd met up at Walter Reed and to celebrate Todd. And I worked with Walter Reed Hospital and they let him out to come to Sturges. But I went up and we filmed some stuff, me and his dad filmed some stuff at my old high school and then we filmed some stuff in Washington DC, just walking around and hanging with him and his dad. And then we surprised him and we brought him to Sturges. And there was a reel that was playing on the screen during the show, or before we started the show. of his life and everything that happened and me getting connected when we told that whole story. And then right after we told the story, we cut to a live camera in a helicopter right above the full throttle. I get choked up talking, I get choked up, sorry, but. No, brother, is real deal. But we landed the helicopter back behind the stage and came out on stage with Todd and the place. There's not a dry eye. in the place and I get choked up now talking about it, but it was hands down, it was probably the most special night of my life. Just having that moment. You can actually go on YouTube and I invite you to do so and Google Todd Love and Full Throttle. Just put Todd Love, T-O-D-D-L-O-U-V, and Full Throttle and it'll come up. And if you can watch it, if you can watch it. and not get emotional, you need to go get your pulse, your temperature check. But it was hands down, that was a moment. And I literally, and Danny, you know about this. If anybody can identify with this, you can identify with it. I literally had to threaten to fist fight the television network to air that. didn't wanna air it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. First off, God bless you for sharing the story. Thanks for telling us that thank you for doing that for for Todd and and sharing it with everybody up there and and also For taking off the gloves and fighting to get in that on the show ⁓ That's that's a beautiful thing. And yes, I get that I get that y'all do me a favor take a minute. Y'all watch that tonight It's only it's five minutes, but you should watch it. It's a powerful powerful moment You full throttle saloon, just tied love, full throttle. It's a very special We're gonna share the link right now for everybody. So it'll be up on the screen. Let me ask you this. The constant touring, the stunts, they all look glorious from the outside. But what did that level of grind actually take from you that people never consider? Well, when I wake up in the morning, I still feel that cannon. I mean, you go from zero to 75. in a fifth of a second. And you're not ready for that jolt. And I kid you not, mean, there's not a day in my life that when I first wake up and start to move that I don't think about that cannon. Cause I mean, I still can feel that today to be honest with you. I I'll just be honest with you. I'm in the cannon and he didn't want to shoot me out of the cannon. He thought that I would get him up to Sturges and I would chicken out or something. Or he could talk me into letting him do his show. But the cameras were rolling and he was trying to get me to turn the cameras off to have a conversation about me not doing it. And I said, no, cameras stay on. We're doing this. And I'm getting shot out of a cannon. And he was a nervous wreck. so he goes, you're going to get in. And I only did it that one time. He goes, you're going to crawl down that 30 foot barrel, 35 foot barrel. You're going to crawl down that barrel. You're going to be in there. And I'm going to count down from 10. When I get to three, you're going to exhale and seize up with everything you've got. Cause you're going to go from zero to 75 in a fifth of a second. And he said, so I get down to three, you exhale, seize up and you're gone. So we do a whole Jackal show. We get to the end of the song. I go running off stage. I come running back out in an evil Knievel outfit. I crawl up. I crawl out onto the crowd, go up the end of that barrel. call down the barrel and I get inside. There's 10,000 people out there. I'm right in front of the subs speakers. The subs are vibrating the hell out of that thing. And I hear the guy out there going, who's gonna do? He's counting down from 10. And I was out here, I'm inside this damn thing counting up with where you're at, six, five. And he gets down to five and he goes, and I didn't know what the, and I'm going, what the is he saying? And then I was gone. Whenever I go back and watch, he gets down to like 40, goes, let me hear everybody make some noise. Three, two, one. But he didn't tell me he was gonna say that. I'm inside this here and he goes, and I'm going what? So I lost my count. So that thing, I wasn't even seized up. It just swung my ass out of that damn can and shot me out of that can and over the crowd's head into a net on the other side of the, on the other side of the. So yeah, I feel that every day. All right, all right. Don't go anywhere. Don't go anywhere, everybody. We got more with Jesse James Dupree coming up here in just a minute. Stick around with us. Steven Tyler started Janie's Fund for a simple but powerful reason, to help girls heal and move forward after trauma. I've been honored to support and work with Janie's Fund over the years. This is about giving young women access to counseling, education, stability, and the confidence to reclaim their future. Janie's Fund is built on compassion, community, and real impact because every girl deserves the chance to stand strong, learn more, or get involved. at JaniesFun.org and help change a life today. Jesse, I do something on the show here. It's usually called, What's in the Garage? But I'm gonna mix it up today and we're gonna change the question to, What's in the Case? So for you, so what this means is, if you could only put one item. from your fabulous, insane, outrageous career in a guitar case and a Jesse James Dupree time capsule, if you will. What would it be? It could be a guitar, a chainsaw, a souvenir. It doesn't matter. The only rule is that you don't tell us. Don't tell me and Stoney. Just describe it in detail. And Stoney and I, we're gonna do our best and the folks at home are gonna do our best to try to figure out what it is. And if we can't don't worry because you're gonna tell us at the end anyways, but but Jesse what's in the case? Did you ever see the song remains the same? Yes. Yes, the Led Zeppelin movie. Yes Okay ⁓ Jimmy Page is badass in that movie. Yes, he is. What's the most iconic moment in that movie as far as his look, what he's doing and what's happening? Stoney, do know what I'm talking about? I do, sir. What do you think it is? The herty-gurty? No, well, that's cool. But I'm talking about when he's on stage and he's playing and they're live, what's the most badass thing ever? Well, there's the bow. There's the theremin. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. There you go. It'd have to be the theremin or the bow. Keep going. While y'all think about it, talk about give me one second, I'm gonna grab something. on. What else is he gonna go? We got the herdinger, we got the theremin, because I'm with you on this. the theremin, there's the bow. I don't know if y'all can handle this or not. Okay, he's coming back. Everybody at home is guessing and we're guessing, so what do you got? Okay. guess, and then other thing would be that... Jimmy Page is on the stage and he's got the black suit on ⁓ with a dragon down his leg, the embroidered dragon, and he's playing the double neck guitar. Uh-huh. The most iconic poses ever, right? Uh-huh. The double neck. And I couldn't find breeches with... I couldn't find breeches with a dragon on the leg. But I had this made. ⁓ my No one else has that. Bro, that's great. Brother, that is unbelievable. Okay, for those of you listening and not being able to see this right now, Jesse has had made a double neck guitar, ⁓ very paying tribute to Jimmy Page's double neck, where the top is the guitar and the bottom one. is a chainsaw. Brother, ⁓ that is amazing. What do you call it? What do you call it? That's a bastard is what that is. That's a bastard. When you hold that thing on stage and you got to play the guitar and then re-center and get that, that thing weighs a ton. But I to, I drug that thing around and played it forever. yeah, it's just, it's a, you know, was Stoney, that was. There's a photograph of, there was a billboard of me playing that thing right above the guitar center on Sunset for about five years. ⁓ Yeah. Jesse, that's the coolest thing ever. How long have you had that? Ah, since 98, well, yeah, since 94. My Lord, who made 95. That's an amazing piece. Who made that? Yeah, I got him, Jeffrey Chapon made it. He made some big, he was a guitar maker and I got him to, told him I needed something badass. Brother, you got it. You got it. Tell him that's what I needed. He damn made it. I love it. I love it. Jesse, it's almost time to let you go, but before I do, one of my favorite things that we do on the podcast here, we call it Pump the Breaks, where fans of the show, they send in questions, and I'm going to deliver these questions to you unfiltered. These questions are from the fans. If you don't want to answer any of them, absolutely no judgment, just say, Pump the Breaks, if there's a question that you don't want to. This is rapid fire, quick questions, quick answers. You ready? Yep. Here we go. Question number one. You were famously arrested for mooning a crowd in Cincinnati back in 1993. Have you gotten away with any good mooning since? That's a good question. Whoever said that, I mean. Yeah. Well, know, Ted Nugent, he called me yesterday, as I just said, and we were reminiscing about that night because he went to jail with me. ⁓ I was in jail and I heard Ted coming down the hall and went Ted's coming to get me out of jail and they opened up the door and put him in there too because he had shot a flaming arrow on stage and they told him not to do it. They told me not to get naked. But yeah, so and I did it again at Long Beach Arena and I went to jail there and they were gonna put a felony on me out there because they didn't want to play but no. I stopped after Long Beach. Okay, all right. Question number two. Your first solo album called Foot Fetish, did Penny approve of this title or did she worry you may have lost your marketing touch? She's got the prettiest little feet ever. What are you talking about? She knows. She knows. Matter of fact, when I hang out with you, I'm gonna go kiss those little feet. I love it. I love it. Question number three. What's the... little foot ain't that... Her little foot is not as big as... From the back of her heel to the tip of my foot, that's how big her foot is. You crack me up, Jesse. And she's got an arch in her foot that I could dance underneath. I love it. Question number three, what's the strangest or most unexpected thing you've ever slapped your name on that actually made you proud? ⁓ Well, this damn whiskey, I mean, I can tell you that. That right there will never let you down. Sammy Hagar told me, I gave him a bottle of whiskey when he ate it, of course, he had just sold his tequila for like $60 million. And he said, Jesse, this will never let you down. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm with you on that. Number four, be honest. Have you ever slept with a chainsaw under your pillow? ⁓ I got three in my sock as we speak and I have the detachable ends for all the lady users. I'm ready for 2026. Next question. Number five. Number five is the last question. This is the last one. You were in Playgirl back in the day. Do your kids ever stop giving you crap about that? The point and giggle issue. What? The point and giggle issue. The point and giggle issue. I love it. asked me if I wanted a fluffer before we did the shoot. But that Playgirl shoot was done on stage. I did it live on stage in front of 10,000 people in the Long Beach Arena down there. And I said, I'm not going to fluff back here because then it'll turn into a before and after shoot because I know which way it's going when I'm standing in front of all those people. you know what? I'm just as God made me, Danny, so don't be judgmental, you ****. I don't know man, I ain't judging. You big. I ain't judging baby, I ain't judging. Jesse, all I gotta say is man. Thank you for spending so much time with us, for decades of unfiltered, fearless creativity and for being just such a dear friend, Ever since the first moment I've gotten to know you, man, you're my brother and I love you and I can't wait to see you, man. I can't wait to see you. I can't wait to be on the stage with you again. I can't wait for us to just go crazy, man. You are amazing. Give all the boys my love. I can't, can't. You guys are as well. I love you guys. I appreciate you. Stoney, the bottom string is the E and the top string is E. You can have two E's, believe it or not, on the top and the bottom string. Then you got A, D, G, B. So go home and figure that out. Thank you. We're off to a good start. Yeah, man. We love you, brother. We love you, everything Love you guys. Y'all have a great night. I'll see you soon, partner. I'll see you soon. You got it. Take care. Good night. Another wild and insane time with Jesse James Dupree. Always is. I know. You know, it's no secret how we feel about Jesse and how we feel about Jeff and Chris and Roman, the whole Jackal family. They've been so good to us and they've taught us a lot. They taught us a lot. Absolutely. They really did, which is, you know, he knew that story, but I just wanted to share it with everybody else. And, you know, for that, we'll always be thankful. mean, Mike Varney and Jackal has taught 77 a lot. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, you know when when we talk about getting jackaled, I mean it's ⁓ We ain't lying. ⁓ no, we ain't lying and I'm sure other bands that that may have been fortunate enough to have shared a stage with Jackal know exactly what we're talking about and and bands that we've talked to about that about getting jackal they go ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Nobody does it better man it for a rock and roll biker crowd live show Jackal are the kings. I agree and I I'm looking forward to that that 250 anniversary up there 250 year anniversary, you know, of course they're gonna do it right? Yeah. Yeah, I love what he was talking about with Just blanket with American flag. Well, that's the thing. I love about going up there too. It's just good Americans up there, know, enjoying life, riding motorcycles, Harley Davidson, Sturgis, it doesn't get any more American USA than that. Absolutely. And that's right up our alley. It's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing. Well, that's a wrap everybody for this episode of Count's Culture. I hope you love hanging with us as much as we love hanging out with you all. If you want the full experience. head over to our YouTube channel at Counts Culture. Culture is with a K. And watch the entire episode there. You can also find the show on all the major podcast platforms. Please connect with us on TikTok, X, Facebook, and Instagram for exclusive and behind the scenes content. Until then, take risks, be loud, keep it cool.