Tubey Frank is the self-described psychedelic-country-rock project fronted by Joshua Kirwin, and we got him on a Zoom call just a few days after quarantine officially began. While in the midst of various releases, moving house, and coping with self-isolation, Josh talked us through what he’s been up to stuck inside as well as what feels is the most important portrayal of Lizard People in pop culture is. He’s also about to release an album, Twomoreaphobia. So needless to say, he’s been making the most of his time.

Have you been struggling with a burst of creativity or a lack thereof since you’ve been in quarantine? How have you been spending your time?

Josh: I don’t know if this is actually common between people who tend to have anxiety about things, but I feel like I’m actually doing pretty okay. Some days this thing feels like it’s been three times longer than it has been, and some days it feels three times shorter. And we just moved into a new place that we’re going to turn back into a show house, so we’ve been dealing with getting that all settled. I’ve been working pretty hard on another record, so that’s great too. We finished recording a ten-minute song yesterday.

Emily: Wow, that’s all great.

Josh: Yeah, I think I’m extremely lucky. I literally have not left the house in probably two weeks. I also have asthma, so I have to be a little careful.

Emily: I don’t think I’ve left in two weeks either.

Josh: I’ve also been trying to work my way around a piano, which is new to me. I’ve always been a stringed-instrument and drum person, so this is fun. I never made good on any piano lessons.

Bre: Well now’s the time.

Josh: I was also talking to Danielle Johnson [of the sick band Hoochi Coochi] and we were saying that this is kind of justifying the personality of anyone with anxiety right now. But there’s also definitely something to that because there are a lot of people going through these kinds of existential crises, but for some of us, this is just another day.

Bre: Yeah, it’s come in waves for me. At first I thought this was great and I could just watch Netflix the whole time. And then I had the thought of “oh my god, I’m never going to see my friends again.” And there are all these articles going around about how things are never going to go back to normal. [thankfully Bre and I have Zoom dates every single day]

Emily: Yeah, it’s not going to be the same.

Josh: I mean, that could be good. Or it could be bad. But I think there’s definitely a societal opportunity for us to do something good - mind you, that window is closing by the minute. [brief reflective pause] This isn’t exactly the best date in the world, is it.

Emily: Don’t worry, it gets better. This is only question one.

Bre: We’re also doing this new thing where we make playlists to go along with all the interviews as a nice summary of what we talked about, so if there’s anything you can think of that would be relevant just let us know.

Josh: The new Blake Mills single is so great.

Emily: I’m going to suggest Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start The Fire” because it’s topical. [and I’m hilarious]

Icebreaker time: Do you think all foods can be classified as a soup, salad, sandwich, or individual ingredient?

Josh: Everything to me is a sandwich, hypothetically. I’d go so far as to say that sometimes salads are an ingredient. Like, a salad can make a great sandwich.

Emily: This takes us no less than twenty minutes to get through.

Josh: What would you consider a lasagna?

Bre: We’ve been told it’s a sandwich or a salad, because of the layers. Maybe an “organized” salad. It’s an interesting mix of the two.

[At this point, Josh’s cat thankfully derailed the conversation and we didn’t get to debate the subcategories of soups. And honestly, thank god, because I don’t know how many times I can explain that pizza is a sandwich. Send us new ice breaker q’s]

If you could go on an incredible first date with no limitations, what would you do?

Josh: I’ve got quite the imagination...I think since you’re never going on another date you have to go all out. You have to push it to the limit. So I’m thinking… we go to a rave, and then we break into a mansion. An abandoned one - like newly foreclosed so it has all the sick furniture and everything.

Bre: And there has to be a moat.

Josh: If there’s no moat, it’s a no-go. And an infinity pool. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those in real life.

Bre: My dream date is probably to go to a big stadium concert for just me and the person I’m with. And then we’d go to a movie theater and buy out the whole place, and there would be an unlimited buffet or something, too.

Emily: I interviewed Sophie Coran and Michael Cumming a few weeks ago - they’re married now - and their first date was actually at a rave in London. How fucking sick is that. I could never. And in a foreign country, too. She was brave. [Everything about their story was an unsuspecting rollercoaster, please read that]

Bre: My dream is to date a guy with an English accent.

Emily: Oh he had a great one, too. It totally caught me off guard. I had no idea he’s from London.

Josh: That’s essentially what Hugh Grant’s entire career is based on. His accent.

Bre: Yeah, can you imagine Wolverine without him?

[Collective silence]

Emily: Wait - wait wait. Bre, Hugh Grant. Not Hugh Jackman. [He’s one of my problematic favorite actors]

Bre: Oh my god. I was thinking accents and my brain jumped to Les Mis. I don’t know. Oh man.

Josh: Hugh Grant is the guy who’s always apologizing for things.

Bre: Segway - do you have a favorite musical?

Josh: I grew up doing some musical theater - I was in two productions of Spring Awakening. That one’s okay. Reefer Madness is a great one. That’s hilarious.

Bre: I love Les Mis. I like Sweeney Todd if it’s done right. It can be so boring if the cast doesn’t have a good sense of humor.

Emily: I saw Jersey Boys in high school and loved that.

Bre: How do you guys feel about Cats?

Emily: Oh my god. Hate it. [Hate it]

Bre: My best friend was in a production of it. She was one of the twin cats. And - first of all, everyone and everything is moving so fast and talking so fast, and you can't even understand what the cats are saying. It just ends up looking like a bunch of people in tight outfits acting really strange.

Josh: Here’s the thing, though. They’re not saying anything.

Bre: There’s a clear storyline if you take out all of the songs. But then - what’s the point?

Emily: No, I read an article that literally said the plot is that they are cats. Did you guys see the movie, though? I haven’t seen it.

Josh: It’s like a really weird fever dream.

Bre: When I worked at a movie theater, we were showing Cats for a little bit. People either loved it or hated it. From my understanding it’s something that you have to be drunk to watch so you can laugh at it. But if you’re trying to enjoy a quality movie, that’s not it.

Do you have any favorite conspiracy theories?

Bre: That doesn’t mean you necessarily believe in them, though.

Josh: Lizard people is a great one. That one’s hilarious. You know what - you could tell me that's true and I’d believe it. I don’t think it is, but if you told me it was I wouldn’t question it.

Bre: Have you heard the theory that birds aren’t real? [This is Trap Rabbit’s favorite]

Josh: No, I don’t actually know that one.

Bre: There’s a theory that birds are government spies and the coronavirus is like a societal pause so they can put the batteries back in them. [I wonder what Logan and Arjun would have thought of that? They were very anti-bird]

Josh: So somebody saw The Hunger Games.

Emily: The answer we get the most though is lizard people.

Josh: Oh wait - to circle back to musicals. This is all relative, I swear. My friends run a drag company called Lili St. Queer, and they put on shows at the Painted Bride in Old City a lot. I recently saw their production of The Lizard of Oz - it was incredible. It’s spoofing the entire Wizard of Oz series with the pretense of lizard people.

Emily: That sounds absolutely unreal. I’d see it in a second.

Is your first kiss story worth telling?

Bre: How old were you? I was old when I had my first kiss. It was freshman year of college.

Emily: I was sixteen, fifteen. I don’t even remember. [After I thought about it, it’s certainly not worth telling]

Josh: Oh man. If I were really on trial here I don’t think I’d be doing very well if I can’t even remember when my first kiss was. I’m trying to think.

Emily: Red, red flag. [Red flag count at the end of the interview was low, fwiw]

Josh: It would have been...It would have been Becky… that’s the first one I can remember right now. It happened in a funny way, kind of. We were kids, and I was moving. She was my neighbor at the time and I was like, well, we’re never going to see each other again, I should probably try to make out with my childhood neighbor.

Emily: I mean, you might as well.

When someone asks what your favorite band is, what do you say when you’re trying to impress them, and what’s your actual guilty pleasure favorite?

Josh: Oh, I already know my guilty pleasure, easily. It’s Smash Mouth. “Astro Lounge” is one of the best pop albums of all time.

Emily: When I interviewed Slomo Sapiens they said the same thing. That’s actually come up a couple times.

Bre: One band was like, if you exclude “All Star” it’s a flawless album. You can never take away “All Star”!

Josh: Okay - let’s assume it’s actually a bad song and that we’re not all just tired of it. If you take away that song, it is a perfect album. Don't get me wrong. Some of it’s not deep, but some of it actually is. There’s one song about the guy’s daughter dying, it’s a great ballad. But to impress someone, I think I’d say that Blake Mills album I mentioned earlier. It’s so great. It’s a five-track synth album and it sounds kind of like Brian Eno.

Bre: Typically if guys try to name bands they think we’ve never heard of.

Josh: Oh yeah. People try to out-musician a musician. I worked as a barista in Queen Village for a little while, and there was a guy there who would talk music with me. I’d put on a Kimbra song, or something, and he’d be like “you know Thundercat played bass on half that album, right?”

Emily: I hate when people try to out-obscure you.

Bre: I love going to record stores and looking for Styx albums, and there’s always a guy who tries to talk me up about it and they always ask questions like, “So which singer is your favorite? Which era of Styx singers is your favorite?” And I’m like, “I have no idea?? I just like the music?”

Josh: I feel like when you walk into a record store, there are two kinds of people. There are people who have seen High Fidelity and people who haven't. It's a real thing.

Emily: I’ve been meaning to watch the series. I love Zoe Kravitz big time.

Bre: I’ve also noticed that it’s middle aged white guys who tend to challenge your knowledge of anything - sports, music. Whatever.

Josh: Which lends to the movie really well. Jack Black and John Cusak. It’s a perfect pairing.

Is there any music that you’ve been listening to lately to get you through quarantine?

Josh: I think Blake Mills should be a household name. The song “Vanishing Twin” came out like a day or two after I moved into this house, which we were trying to do before all of this happened. So I think I just associate that song with this moment. Another thing for me is that, if I feel like I can play something in a house, it can become my home. There’s a live version of Paul Simon’s “Old Friends” done by this guy I like, Richie Havens. He covers a bunch of Woodstock-era artists. Listening to Richie Havens is like my way of settling into this new home.

Check out the amalgam of songs we curated throughout our chat below. I wish it was just the entire Cats soundtrack, but it’s not. He’s going live for Philly Live’s Cohost in Covid stream tonight, April 20th, at 7pm. You can tune in on Instagram and he’ll probably play you a ton of new songs.

The Date Where Tubey Frank Waxes Poetic About "Cats: The Musical"