100 Words: A Conversation with Andrew Cannon (Santa Cruz Skateboards/Worship)

Welcome back. What I love about this season of Spit is that we get to hear from different people with different perspectives and from all walks of life. Take this next episode, for example, Ray Harkins of the podcast On Words or Less sits with this good friend Andrew Cannon, a skateboarder, brand manager at Santa Cruz Skateboards and the

lead vocalist for the band were Tip. These two geek out in a candid conversation about connecting to others through music, the power of healing, and the importance of understanding one's health as a way to take control of your life. You'll hear Ray and Andrew share their excitement and enthusiasm for the twenty three and Me traite reports, taking you along for the ride as they share some of the insights they gathered from these discoveries. Who is more likely

to turn red when drinking alcohol? Who is less likely to have a fear of public speaking? What percentage Neanderthal DNA are you? What Ray and Andrew discussed is only the beginning of what we can learn from taking the twenty three and me test. There's so much more to discover when it comes to your health, information that could change the way you live your life. As Ray himself says, the reports can be enlightening in so many different ways and can inform a lot of choices you make as

it relates to your health. So let's check it out. You're listening to a hundred Words or Less with Ray Harkins. Hello you podcast humans. Thank you very much for downloading this special episode. This is a bonus drop for all you find people out there. And uh, I'm incredibly excited because twenty three and Me is sponsoring this episode and

I got to do something pretty unique. I mean, it is definitely a conversation with a person that is involved in independent music that that core still exists, but we were able to talk a lot about things that frankly, I just don't get to talk about within the context of this podcast. So here let me spell it out for you. So I have Andrew Cannon on the episode today. Andrew Cannon is the brand manager at Santa Cruz Skateboards. He's also the lead vocalist for an amazing band called Worship.

You need to find them in all the street platforms. If you're a fan of heavy music, you absolutely will love Worship. But Andrew and I both took a twenty three and me tests. We've actually both previously have gone through that process, not only from the um you know, the health side of things and the ancestry side of things, but we were just really curious about what this report would tell about us, and um it was. I mean,

it's incredible. The the amount of information that you're able to find out via your DNA is U is really really cool. And of course a lot of people that go through these tests are curious about their ancestry, and

we talk a little bit about that. But then just the fact that you can find so many different elements of your health that is contained within your d n A is so cool, and this report is enlightening and so many different respects and can inform a lot of choices that you make in the future from your health and everything else that's you know, wrapped up in that.

So yeah, I was excited to talk about this because I personally I believe the more information that you have about who you are as an individual, not only from a personality perspective, but then genetics please a huge partner. And so I was incredibly excited to work with twenty three and Me and team up with them to bring

you this particular episode. Andrew and I talk about our own musical d n A where we just basically nerd out about how we got into independent music, and I talked to Andrew a lot about that, and then we we wax philosophic about a lot of different elements within um, you know, just kind of why we live our lives and why we want to know as much as humanly possible about who we are as humans. So it's a real fun one and we do get hetty in a

positive way. And uh yeah, I'm just incredibly excited to bring you this special episode that is sponsored by twenty three and Me. So check out the conversation with Andrew and I will talk to you at the end of the episode. You've dope into my life via the Internet, like many friendships that start these days. And once I started to become, you know, aware of not only your background, but then the fact that you are, you are such

an unabashed fan of music. And it makes me so happy because I think that there's a lot of people that are maybe a little more like, oh yeah, like I like bands and stuff, but you're like, yo, I like bands and that's and I where where does that come from? Like? Is it just the fact that, like, whatever you've been into, you want to make sure like everybody knows that, not in an annoying way or maybe an annoying way. I don't know, but I mean it depends, you know. I think for me, my dad was a

big music fan growing up. He was actually just out here visiting and it was so much fun too. I went and bought all these like used Yes records and Genesis records and stuff like that. Um, because I was like what my dad. I grew up listening to that with my dad in the basement, and uh so I think I get the love of music, But my mom also loves music, like I just grew up around people that really liked it. But my dad is a nerd

sort of like I am. Where you'll be listening to a song and he kind of does that like oh this part, you know, and uh and so I think I just I think his own personal passion with music sort of informed me to feel comfortable like loving those little things. Um and honestly, I just think the coolest. So you know, we're talking social media base here. Like absolutely people could be like, oh, that's annoying or whatever,

but that's literally the purpose of social media. And for myself personally, I value it so much because the amount of people that share music with me it's fantastic. Like people will just randomly DM me and be like hey, check out my band, and I'm like awesome, thank you. And sometimes it's just like a small ep they're super good or whatever. But for me, I'm like social media literally supposed to be social. It's not a one sided thing, like hey, here's what I'm into. I love finding out

what people are into. I love when people share stuff with me. I think it's a really fun process. But um, I just love music. I mean, it makes me feel so much and because of that, I mean, I act very much on feeling as a human being, and so to be able to share that with someone and hope that someone else could maybe have that experience is so cool,

you know, right, that's very valuable. I like what you articulated there in regards to It's like those little moments and those things that gets you hooked on, whether it's a band or a song or those are the things because you, especially like you're talking about, as a kid, you have no autonomy. I mean, yes, you're making some decisions on your own, but you're usually subjected to whatever

it is your surroundings are. And to have that I like prism that you're viewing it through of like oh, my dad gets stoked at this drum part, like okay, and then that's kind of where it goes from there, where you're like, Okay, maybe I'll pay attention to drums first because that's what I saw, like my dad's breaking out about or my mom really gravitating towards Yeah. And I just think that the cool music is so cool

because it connects people in different ways. Um, this is like a silly story, but um, I'll never forget like, so when I when I got into like heavier music,

it started off with corn. And uh I remember I went to the wall and I bought like a um they sold it to me even though it had parental advisory, and I bought like a corn tape right, and I think I got Life is Peache first, And uh I remember I was at the Orthodonist office and I saw like our old neighbor and he was like probably ten years older than me, and he was like, hey man, and I was sitting next to my mom. He's like,

what kind of music? And I was like, oh, I like, you know, like maybe heavier stuff or I was like I really like Rage against the Machine. And he was like, dude, have you ever heard of Corn? If you haven't, you need to listen. And I remember sitting on that couch with my mom next to me and being like I can't say yes, I've heard of them, because then she'll know that I have this tape she doesn't know about

it's parental advisory. And so the coolest thing about music is anyone can connect on music, you know, like it doesn't matter, Like I can talk to my dad about Genesis, I could talk to someone younger I could talk to people about all kinds of stuff, and I love things that sort of break those barriers from like an age perspective, just because I do, you know, I love connecting with people that are older than me. And I think it's such a great segue into learning cool life lessons and

stuff like that. So um, I love that. I love

that part of it all. Yeah, and I think and I know this sounds like just like the most cheesiest transition at all possible, but just like that's and I think that's what you know, I mean, what we're talking about, just like you know, musical d N a like human DNA, like the connectivity that you feel and when you discover more not only about yourself through um, you know, these these these tests you do, whether it's like, Okay, i'm gonna sample this record and I'm gonna not like that,

but then I'm gonna try this other record and I really like that, And it's not like you can articulate that. It's just that exactly what you're talking about, that reaction. But then at the same time, a whole community opens up if you are into that piece of music. Yeah, And I feel like we're existing in such a cool

moment right now. And I know I keep talking about social media, but um, working in the skateboarding industry, like we've seen so much cool connectivity about skateboarding and about you know, different communities forming and sort of going against what has been the case in skateboarding, you know, and we really see it in like, um, you know, the queer skateboarding community and stuff like that, and it's so cool to see all these people connecting are on stuff

they're psyched on, you know, and you can be psyched on like whether it's you know, like bedroom style rap or whatever it is. Like there's it's so cool that people can just be like, you know what, I'm interested in this and they can put it out there in

the world. People can connect on it and just be like you can just make friends everywhere, and I just love that, you know, sure, and the and to your point too, like the world becomes so much smaller and when you have those common touch points, like you're talking about whether you can relate to a person who's older, younger, it doesn't matter you know, where they came from anything, as long as you have that that commonality of just like oh yes, I like this band, I like this artist.

So that's that is your little entry point and the world becomes so much smaller because of it. Yea, And yeah, I love that part. I think it's so much fun.

I love I love I love being able to put out there the things that you're about and then seeing other people that are like, whoa, I'm into all that same stuff, and then so quickly you can get together, like you know, you and I like got together it went golfing and had fun and just talked and it was just super enjoyable, you know, because you were like, oh, there's so many different connective points here, and it's like, all right, so we share a lot of these common

ideologies and you know, I feel like, UM, when you are able to do that, it's just it allows for these really cool connections that you never would have had. Um. And I think a big part of that is sort of being vulnerable and putting out there the things that you're psyched on, even if it's cheesy or even if um, other people might be like, I don't know, that's whack, and you're like, it's just who I am. I'm kind

of whack. Yeah, You're like, you know what, I can't change me bro, I'm not exactly sitting here trying to pretend I'm that cool. I'm just me, you know, totally totally and kind of on that topic. The uh, once you started to get introduced to music that I guess wasn't your parents and wasn't being played on the radio, how did how did that transpire? Oh? Man, um, it was always funny, just uh, my parents didn't understand it. They were not stoked on it, um and it wasn't

like they were bum But I'll never forget. I think I was in I don't remember if it was like middle school or high school, but I was into all the like kind of the new metal stuff that got introduced to me. You know, because I'm so envious of people that grow up now with Spotify and YouTube because they can just find everything and go down crazy rabbit holes. I mean, I think there's something about the search that

was really fun growing up. But you know there's a lot of bands, like even like punk bands and stuff where people will share it and I'm like, I just never got into it when I was younger because I didn't have the CD um and so for me it was I think I started off getting into like punk stuff with like Descendants and stuff like that. Um, and my parents were they didn't mind all of that, but I think it was once I started getting into the louder sort of screaming stuff where they were like, mmm,

I don't know about this, but I'll never forget. Like, uh, I wanted to go see Cold Chamber with some of my friends in high school. They had like a little new metal band and stuff, and uh, my dad was just like, absolutely not, you are not going to that. So you got shut down. I got shut down. But you know I was able to go to like hardcore shows and stuff like that, and uh, you know, seeing bands like Bain and Boy Sets Fire and stuff like that,

and that you know, really changed my life. Sure. Sure, And how how was that stuff like coming into you because I know clearly skateboarding has been a very large part of your life as well, And so were you getting introduced to bands via that or was it kind of just like your group of friends that kept bringing

records your direction? It was a mixed bag. So like, um, A really good example is the first time I ever heard Refused, and I had never heard music like refused um, and it was in a Woodward video, So I would, I like would go to Woodward Camp UM when I was like in middle school. I went a few times. I was like super lucky, and uh, they would send you a video to get you psyched, like a VHS, like, hey, here's what happened last summer, get ready for next summer,

and I'll never forget. It was actually in like one of the BMX dirt Jump sections um, but they had new noise by Refused and the way his vocals were, I was like, I don't know what this is, but I think this is the best song I've ever heard in my entire life, and it blew my mind. So it was a little bit of a mix of some of the skate videos still had some punk stuff in it.

And then I would just go to shows with people in our zone and you know, growing up in Westchester, Pennsylvania, like right around that area, it was pretty awesome for that, like being able to go into Philadelphia with you know, some of the older kids, and my parents were very trust thing of me, UM, and so I would get to go into Philadelphia, or i'd get to go to like you know, uh, like one of the That's All

shows or whatever in like Delaware. You know the different zones in p A, and uh so I heard a lot of new bands that way too, Like Baying for Me was a band that I hadn't really heard of, and I went to see Boysets Fire and being opened up for them and their hands down one of my

favorite bands of all time. And it that like set that night like changed my life completely, you know, right, Yeah, I love that notion of, you know, seeing an opening band that is just so unsuspect, like you have no clue, and then you see everyone else's reaction and then you can't help but not be moved or you know, want to engage in the art in some way. And yeah, just at that point, you're like, oh so now I like this band as well as the band that I

came to see. And you know, I'm you're just going to a bazillion shows and stuff like that. You've probably done the same, but like at one point I had to kind of remind myself, like, dude, you need to go and watch some of these new bands, because you know, my schedule gets crazy. So I would be like, Okay, I'm gonna go. I'll be there at you know, I'll watch this band for forty five minutes and then I'm gonna go home, you know. Um, But there is magic to going to see openers and stuff like that to

just get excited about new music. And you know, you mentioned this, like just being excited about music. That's one thing that is so interesting to me. Like I'll talk to some people that like hardcore, like metal, and it's so funny when they're like, I only listen to these records. I don't like to listen to new stuff, and I'm like, man, can you imagine being like, yeah, I only eat pizza. Hut pizza. It's just the only thing that I'll ever eat because it's what I've been eating for twenty years.

And you're like, dude, there's so much better pizza out there, you know. Um. So it's kind of crazy to me the way that people shut that down because the accessibility of music and the opportunities for people to learn how to play instruments and be influenced by so many different things. I mean, the music that is coming out right now is phenomenal in my personal opinion. You know, yeah, totally.

Just the idea of calcifying. I mean, to your point, it does take effort and you have to go through the deliberate choice of you know, going to a show on time. Like you said, all of these things that you are, you know, you take for granted when you're young because it's just like you have nothing but time, and then when you have to actually put work into it. Honestly, it's your exactly what you're saying. Where I almost find more value out of it now because I feel like

there's more. Even though music is more easily accessible than it ever has been, there it still takes digging. You gotta you gotta know where to look, you know. But that's again, and I go back to social media on just being this awesome opportunity for people to share, and it is so much fun to have somebody send you

something or you know. One of the things that I love is I follow all these people from bands that are super you know, nice or maybe I don't know them or whatever, but it is so cool when all of a sudden, it's like eight people are posting the same thing and I'm immediately like, all right, I gotta listen, and I think, uh, the last example of that was that, um, I think it's Foreign Hands. Oh yeah, yeah, dude, what a good album? Like it is so good and so

for me. I love that, Like I love being able to sort of see what people, um people are talking about and then go oh, I'm gonna dive in. Honestly, I think, um the person that has the like ten out of ten every time. Uh. And I haven't met Jeremy Baum um, but he is like his opinion on music in my personal like from my personal view, I'm like, man, he just knocks it out of the park. It's such a big music guy that I haven't gone wrong with

any suggestion he's put out there yet. You know, right, you're like you are by musical Kindred Spirits, and I

get where you're coming from. And yeah, no, it's it is fun to exactly what you're talking about, be able to navigate and in the same way that you know back in the day quote unquote where it was like you know, zene culture and people really focused on reviews and once you started to follow a person's opinion, whether it was like a actual, you know, full zine that you were consuming from one person, or whether it was just like, oh, I really like this this guy's reviews

or this girl's reviews, like I'm gonna follow along with that it's the same idea, except now it's just like you said, it's much easier to dip in and recommend music that way. Absolutely, absolutely so kind of on that similar topic where it's just you know, you are are discovering more of yourself and you are wanting to, um, you know, just be aware of obviously the world around you,

what you got into, you know, skateboarding. I know you you know, pursued it professionally, and obviously it's the industry that you've worked in for many years. Um, when did you kind of start to I guess I've noticed who you were as as a person, you know, just as far as like, oh yeah, my general disposition is like oh I'm either you know, mad or happy like all those I guess kind of emotions. When did you start to recognize that yourself? Honestly, I think it was probably

in my twenties. But I'll never forget my good friend Mike Leslie when we were when I was like sixteen, he um was a filmer and he worked for the skate shop, and at one point he was like, honestly, dude, I know you're always happy and you're like stoked, but just so you know, like sometimes that comes off cocky two people, and I was like, oh, okay, Like I

thought I was just being friendly, you know. Um. So I think that I always knew that, like my overall attitude was a little more positive than a lot of other folks out there. But I would say that it probably wasn't until I was in my twenties. Um. And you know when I when I got sober, because I drank um in my early twenties and I've always had kind of a not like a badly I've just had a bad relationship with alcohol, and it wasn't who I was.

And that was a big piece of like actually stopping drinking. Was like I don't love the person I become when I drank, because I'm far more proud of the person I am on a regular basis, like being positive and looking at the bright side and um, you know, being nice. Um. And when I drank, I was just a really selfish individual and I didn't like it. Um. And so that

was twelve years ago that I stopped drinking. But I think once that changed, it really helped me to like get in touch with myself and who I was and um. And then honestly, even in the last few years. Um, just like doing therapy and stuff like that. UM helped me a lot with being more vulnerable and UM, because I was always the guy that you'd be like, hey, how are you doing? And I was like, oh, I'm fine, things are good. And I had friends tell me like,

you know, we'd catch up. Um, we'd catch up, how are you doing? Oh I'm good now, man six months ago that when we talked last if, I was in it and they're like, yeah, but Andrew, when we talked six months ago, you said everything was fine. And I'm like, oh, uh, yeah, I know I was in a tough spot or whatever. And so, UM, the last few years, like three or four years, I definitely have been working on being more open and vulnerable and sort of honest with my emotions.

And so honestly, I would say even into my thirties, it really took me time to become the person that I am proud of, you know. Yeah, yeah, And I think, I mean, you know that whatever that's saying of it's not about the destination. It's the journey. And I you

know that's a whatever, a cliche. But at the same point, like that, you always kind of gathering information about yourself, whether it's your own personal taste or whether it's like just the you know, internal inventory that we all do or you hopefully do on yourself, because like you said, they're definitely people that you meet and run across that just you know, stick their head in this end and it's just like oh yeah, like whatever, it's I'll just

I'll get through it. And there's no um, there's no internal audit, like you're not honest with themselves first and foremost, and then in turn it's not easy for them to be honest with others. And it's not fun. No, No,

it's true. It's not fun always, you know. I mean, um, it is super difficult and really being able to like take that step back and look at yourself critically, um, you know, and you can also be kind to yourself and be like, oh, you know what I do like this about myself and that is what makes me special or whatever. Um, but it is not a fun process. But I highly recommend it for anyone out there who just because it is huge, you know, being able to

be happy with yourself. I feel, you know, not to get way too deep, but it's like, man, we get one shot at this life and It's a big reason why people are like you do a lot of stuff, or you have a lot of hobbies or whatever. And I'm like, yeah, because I'm gonna die, Like there's gonna be a point where I don't get to do anything. So I'm trying to suck the marrow out of life the best I can. You know, of course you're supposed to.

You're you're dead poets society ing it exactly. It's I just feel like, um, that's the we are all so fortunate to get to be here and living in this time.

And I know there's a lot of crazy ship going on in the world, and I'm not trying to put that aside, but when you step back and you're able to go, Okay, what are the things that I can control within the scope of my life, It's like, man, it is magical that we're here right now and that we get to, you know, chat about life, and we get to go to concerts and we get like I get to go skateboarding and talk about skateboarding for work, and you know, it's like life, life is pretty amazing,

you know, and we get to share so many wonderful things with people, and I think that, um, Unfortunately a lot of people struggle to connect with that just because there is so much going on. Um, but that's where I do think like therapy and just kind of taking a look at your own life is really nice because again, we're only here one time and are our time frame

is relatively limited, so you know, you have to enjoy it. Yeah, absolutely, and and I mean I think that was very articulately put and I think that can dovetail nicely into the idea of just you know, the DNA testing. And obviously, you know, one of the reasons why we're here chatting about this is because we've both you know, did the twenty three of ME test. And I'm sure there's a wide variety of reasons why people do that, whether it's you know, they're curious about their ancestry or health or

whatever the case may be. What was uh, I guess your entry point to like wanting to do that in the first place. Was it just the fact that you wanted to discover more about you know, your health than where you came from and stuff. Um, well, so my um, my ex wife and I definitely like she we had talked about how cool it would be, you know, Um, and so I think it was like a holiday it was. And she was like, oh, I got us these kids,

and I was like, sick, let's do this um. And so we went through like we went and did the whole spit test whatever um, and then you get the results. And it was super fun because, uh, when I would talk to my parents about like, oh, where are we from whatever, they'd be like, yeah, we're just like you know, like Western European. And I was like that's not a good answer. You know, I don't really know um. So for me, it was really fun to take a look

at this. I'm also really intrue, like I'm personally really interested in uh like all the personality test stuff and everything. I'm like, I want to know what makes me tick um, And I want to know like, Okay, what am I? Why do I feel certain things? And there's so much cool there's so much cool information out there, you know that can help you to kind of like when you do look at yourself from like a bigger picture standpoint to grow and stuff. It's like it's fun to take

those tests and stuff. So the twenty three and Me thing was a really good example of being able to be like, oh, let me, let me look at some

of this stuff, you know. Yeah, no, and I think it's really it's engaging no matter which way you look at it, whether it is like you said, just the you know kind of ancestry, or whether it's just the idea of what more information can I find out about myself that can lead me to you know, become a better person, or just frankly no more about the way that I internally tick because you know, to your point of in regards to you know, watching your dad reactive music,

Like there is that idea of you know, environment versus you know, inherited genetics and all of that mixes into a stud together that makes us as human beings. And the fact that you can actually like literally take a test that tells you these things where it's like, oh wow, Like I I had no idea that you know, I might be um, you know, predisposed to like restless leg syndrome or whatever. It's like, it's not it doesn't worry me, No, it's just I'm like, oh, well, that's a heads up,

like talking about that. Yeah, Like I annoy so many people with my stupid leg. It's like, you know, it's

nothing personal. Gang it's literally how I'm wired. No, totally, it's just those things that you find out that there is no way in hell prior to this that you would ever be able to like point definitively out and be like take a tested like this is what it told me, and it's just like and yeah, not definitively, but to a point where it's just like now you have that information and you could do with it what

you will, And that's like how that's unbelievable. Probably in the same way that you know, I connect the idea of us getting influenced by you know, music and once we started to you know, get introduced ideas of you know, straight edge and veganism and vegetarianism and like that is all part of the same like sort of self improvement journey that I think people go on absolutely and the more you know about yourself, um, the and I think there's also like a bit of peace to a lot

of that stuff too, Like you know, when I started learning about brain types and when I did like we have these uh like p I I think they're called personality index things we did for work, and like you learn all this stuff about yourself and it's sort of uh. Sometimes it takes like the burden a way of like, man, why is it that I just struggle with like staying

on task or whatever. And then when you get into it and it's like, oh, your brain does this well or you do this well, but you're not so great at this. Not to say that it gives you a crutch, but it sort of allows you to give yourself a little bit of grace and go, oh, okay, that's not me, Like maybe I personally am not doing this to myself. It's literally how I'm wired or whatever. And then from there you're like, cool, maybe there's steps I can take

to change that, you know for sure. I mean you you hit that nail on the head where it's like the more information that you have, um, you know, the better you are to be able to either, like you said, address the problem, correct it. Uh, you know, be able to augment the way that you live your life if it is something that you know you do want to work on and change. And it's like there, but yeah,

it's like I just think of the idea. I think it's so funny how this test gets so specific where it's like, oh, yeah, you're less likely to match a musical pitch. Are you less likely or more likely? I have less likely, which is so funny because I mean, of course, like the joke is like, yeah, you screamed for a hardcore band. Of course you can't. You can't

match a musical pitch. But like reading that really, you know, informed the fact that it's like, yes, there are times where like I literally try to sing and I could not, Like I could not. I remember I so distinctly remember where it was, like Taken was recording. We were recording our last EP and like two thousand four before we you know, broke up, and they're on these demos of

certain songs. I was singing and a lot of it was you know, I've auto tuned was placed on it, and it was I just remember being in the vocal booth and just like beating the hell out of myself. I mean, you know how fun it is to record vocals. It's all worse. It just beating myself up for like not being able to hold a particular note. And then I just it would just be so great to like go back in time and be like, hey, guys, I got this report that tells me it's a little bit

harder for me to hit this bitch. You're like, oh, it all makes so much sense now. We put out a little EP not long ago. Um, And it was the first time that I had ever tried to sing like on a thing. And I love singing, like I will sing all day long if we're in a like I'll pop into a meeting and just start singing about what we're doing, like because I'm just a goof UM. But it was the first time actually trying to do

it in like a studio setting. And uh so I recorded with um Zach Rippy out here in Arizona, UM and he was so rad in the process because he was so helpful in like getting me to where we needed to be. But man, singing versus yelling is such a different beast. Like you're like, oh wow, that like actually sucked, whereas like yelling, you're like, I don't know, did it sound like pissed enough? Like this? Right? Am I actually doing this into the mic loud enough? Like

what are we? What are we talking about here? Do I? Like he said, do I sound pissed enough? It's so funny, man, It's I always and I don't know about you, but I've I've only on and recorded vocals because getting into like an actual band for me was a later in life process, but part of that like what do I want to do before I die kind of thing? And uh so I've only recorded a couple of times. We recorded are the first album that I was on with Worship in uh up in Oakland with Scott Evans, who

is such a wonderful human being. Um and so he was super helpful and like helping me understand like how to do the recording part um. But man, it was so funny. I'll never forget like walking into his studio and just seeing all this stuff and how like nice and fancy things were, and then being like I'm just gonna yell into that microphone like what am I doing?

This is so insane, Like there are people that have phenomenal voices doing this stuff, and I'm literally like, ah, so right, it's just like comedy, you know, Oh it totally is it totally is something else I found funny in regards to, uh, you know, the the particular test traits that it, you know, identifies where it's just like wake up time. I'm I found that so interesting that what's yours? Yeah? Mine? It said? It said in the report that it was like it was around seven am.

I wake up earlier than that, But I just I was I I wonder if at some point that if you, you know, depending on when in your life you take the test, would it give a different result, Like, you know, if you're taking it when you're like, you know, twenty one, it's like, oh, yeah, I sleep like ted you know, ted am wake up? But I just yeah, so what what was yours? I have eight oh four am, which doesn't actually feel super off. I mean, I like to get up early. Um, but that's not my natural thing.

Like I used to be like a night owl and um but I love going to bed and getting up early and kind of like kicking the day's ass, uh if I can. Um, So like for me, I'm like, nothing good for me happens after ten pm, you know what I mean. Like that's just that's like literally when you're like going down some kind of an internet rabbit hole that you're just like even like even just like, oh man, I was up till three am searching for bands and it's like, dude, get off of the Wikipedia page.

It doesn't matter to bed, you know. So uh So, yeah, I definitely get up earlier. Um, but I thought that was interesting because if I went to bed at say ten, between ten and eleven, I would probably wake up right around that time, right, yeah, for sure. Right, it's like

if everything worked out according to plan. Yes, But I mean I did find it engaging because it's like, even if you know that that wasn't accurate, it was that idea that, oh, this does like seven am still by most stretches of the imagination from a normal person perspective, that's like, you know a little bit earlier, like oh yeah, just comparing our reports where it's just like, oh yeah, like I wake up an hour earlier than you, Andrew. Yeah, it's true, it's true. And there you go. Man, I'm

I'm done. It's just lazy over here. Yeah, you're super lazy. So I have to ask you a question about it, because this one I thought was super fun. Did you check your neanderthal DNA? I did check myerthal what's your results? And I think, well, because it quantified it from a percentage perspective, right, yeah, And I want to say I want to say it was around like eighteen percent or something like that, like you have more neanderthal DNA than

eighteen percent of other customers. Yes, yes, I think that was it so pretty pretty Neanderthal heavy, I think No, No, that's pretty. I think that's light. Yeah, because dude, hey, Andrew, you have more Neanderthal DNA than of other customers. I'm a fucking animal, dude. Like, no matter how you slice it, it's like, oh, is it's Andrew. He's kind of a lot of Neanderthal in him. Don't just don't worry about it, Like, dude, so good is he over? They're flinging his own He's guys,

he's Neanderthal. It's fine, right, Yeah, excuse me your soul. It's cool. That one made me laugh so hard when I saw it, and I was just like okay, right, good, good to know, good to know. Yeah, it's like there's uh, you know, to to that point of just like there are certain bits of information that are just like cool to know. It's not like there's anything that you can do to change that. It's like, all right, that's that's

good to know. Yes, Yes, what was weird to me was like looking through them and they're just like small silly things, but like the ring finger versus like index finger, Like yeah, my ring finger is way longer than my index finger, and like toast stuff. I just think stuff like that is fun, like yeah, what does it say? It's like, um, likely at least a little unibrow, and it's like, god, damn it, how did you know? Like totally are you going to call me out like that?

You know? Yeah? And I and I think too like it really um many times, like especially if you take it at an age where you are, you know, a little more comfortable in your own skin rather than you know, maybe your early twenties or whatever. Just that idea that a lot of this stuff isn't um necessarily like that revelatory. You're like, oh yeah, that that that that tracks like that, Yeah,

that adds up. It's like okay, that makes sense. But then that yeah, but then there are certain things that are just like wow, I first of all, I would never know that about myself, and secondly like, oh wow, I I guess that is me. I just never thought about it in those terms. Did you what about your fear of public speaking? I was told like, no fear whatsoever. It was like totally comfortable, no problem whatsoever. What was yours?

Mine was defin mine definitely said like less likely to have a fear of public speaking, which is right, yes, less likely that was, And I'm like, yeah, no, I'm we're good to that at all, totally. Yeah, it's like we're good there if we could get up there on stage and you know, yell into a microphone in front of strangers, like, you know, I think there's something there's something there. Yeah. Absolutely, the the uh what you were

going to ask a question? I'm sorry, Oh no, I was just gonna say, you know, there's a lot of those things on there that are kind of like, oh, yeah, that's you know, that's cool. But for me, truthfully, the actual ancestry composition I thought was very cool. I don't know if like I'm curious what yours was? Yeah, mine, it didn't necessarily surprise me as well, kind of going along to the what I was saying where it's like, oh that that tracks, but um, yeah, it was definitely

um Irish and Polish. That's where the my ancestry uh kind of comes from from that perspective, and so, but it was interesting because there were certain aspects of my family like I am Raymond Edward Harkins the four or the third, my sons the fourth and um My Raymond Edward Harkins the first he was adopted, and so there were certain like we generically speaking new where that kind of where his ancestry sort of came from, and it

was validated by this report. But at the same time, it was like, well, you know, there's not any records beyond him, you know, kind of starts there. That is very cool, like that that aspect of it. I feel like it's so rad too um to be able to dive in on. I definitely like when I got mine back, it was like, Okay, I'm seventy point nine percent British

and Irish. But what was interesting was I was like, oh, wow, I'm like twenty one point eight percent Polish and I didn't know that, and so I was like, oh, that's cool. And also, um, you know, I don't mean to speak ill of my parents, because they probably told me a bunch of this stuff, but I was like, when I was younger, I was so like, I just want to go skateboarding and listen to me. I don't know, I don't care where I'm from, Like I'm playing Pennsylvania, what

do you mean? Um? But it's been such a fun thing to learn about that stuff as you get older, and you know, I did the thing where you can kind of track your relatives and look at your family tree and you know, so you know, us talking about doing this podcast was a really fun opportunity for me to kind of get in the weeds a little bit

on this stuff. And like, again because I did this a while ago, so it was fun to crack it open and look at these things and be like, whoa, this is kind of wild actually, like looking at the family tree and seeing who's in there from my family that's taken the test, and it was it was cool. Yeah, so I agree wholeheartedly. Yeah, I know I took my

test about yeah, probably maybe two years ago. But it was one of those things where as you started to you know, poke around and take those quizzes and like travel even further down that you know, path of knowledge within the tests that you did, it really honestly, I just can't and this is such a cheesy thing to say, but it's just like, you know, knowledge is power, and just that idea of understanding more about yourself and your

predisposition to certain things and like not liking certain things, and it just all like I found the alcohol flush test result where it was like, I wouldn't turn red if I drink, And I'm like, I literally would never know that because I've like never personally drank, Like I mean I drank when I was like, you know, fourteen or something, but I've never never ever been drunk in my whole life, and so for me to read that, I was like, oh, I never would have known that. Otherwise, No,

it's cool. I think, what about do you do caffeine or do you not caffeine? I do caffeine, So are you likely to consume more? Or no? I I was right on average, but um, it didn't. I was surprised because I do feel like, I mean, I think I have about like four cups of coffee a day. Um, I don't think it's wildly out of whack, but I definitely think it's on the higher side. I yeah, mine is definitely likely to consume more, which sounds about right because I feel like, just as a human being, like, um,

like I'm an alcoholic. But I think a huge piece of that is because I never did drugs. And I'm so thankful because whatever I would have done, I probably would have just been like, yep, that's what I love that and so um for me, I'm I'm always curious if there's like things in here that are just like, oh, you're just like a sort of like a pleasure addict.

And you know what I mean, like whether it's working out or skateboarding or you know, like music or what it's like you just consume things at a high level, you know, in general, and I find that to be

very interesting, right totally. And on that same notion of just like the more you know about yourself, like I you know, tie that directly back into when we started to discover music and trains of thought that were either contradictory to what we had been told or were a completely different point of view, because like I know, I mean you mentioned rage, rage against the machine, and I know for myself that was so revelatory because it was this you know, I mean, yes, of course the music

was sick and unbelievable, but then the idea that they were speaking about other people's experiences that first of all did not look like me or were from a completely different part of the world. And then that that just like crack my head open, where I was like, oh, so not everybody is raised in a you know, the upper middle class suburb. It was like, oh yeah, that makes sense totally. And where I'm from in Pennsylvania is like,

you know, very much like an upper middle class area. Um. You know, and it's also very like very predominantly white overall, at least it was when I was growing up, you know. So it was like it was interesting to hear about all those different experiences from you know, people through music and you know, and then obviously traveling makes such a huge difference as well as like the actual impact of all of those things and seeing them and going okay,

like this is life, you know. But but music opening that door and that sort of allowing you to question things was like really huge. I mean, I'll never forget. I mean I spent a long time as an atheist, Like, um, it's literally high school. Um. I remember like I was listening to Slayer a lot, and I just was like, what, you know, like what is up? You know obviously gets

you questioning religion and all that stuff. Um. And then I remember I became an atheist because at one point I remember trying to like pray before bed and I just was like I don't understand what I'm doing. What like what is happening. Um, because I was raised Catholic. Um like very loosely, we were kind of like creased people. But um, the it was interesting because all of the music sort of change that stuff for me. And then what's really funny is the music sort of brought me

back around. Um not because I'm religious now, um And I know that. I know that even saying I listened to any Joe Rogan is like hot button, but um, sure I listened to the Ray Cappo Joe Rogan. Um. And I'm not personally like a big youth of Today fan. Um, but I was just really interested in his whole deal as like kind of a yogi and stuff like that. Um. And I know that, like people get bummed on him for breaking edge bro, but um but I'm just like whatever, man,

he's a human being. He has his own experience. But what was really interesting was the way that they talked about religion and like they I think they were talking about like a Nash or something like that, and He's like, so you really believe that? And raised deal was he

was like I'm not saying I believe it. I'm just saying maybe, and so possibility and that blew my mind and so in that like this was literally a couple of years ago, two or three years ago whenever that came out, and it kind of had me like take a step back and go, you know what, instead of saying I believe in nothing, I sort of changed my attitude to being like, you know what, I'm comfortable with everything.

And it doesn't mean that I necessarily believe it all, but I think for myself, it allowed me to open myself up to as corny as it sounds, like the universe in a different way and be comfortable saying, you know, maybe there are certain things that kind of come together and they maybe happen for a reason or whatever, and um and I don't love the idea of like fate because I like the idea of human choice and stuff like that, but I do think that there is a lot of um the when people come to this is

gonna sound weird, but you've just seen Donnie Darko, right, Okay, so that pardon Donnie Darko where they have those crazy things coming out of them, right and like leaving them around. I always think about, you know, sometimes you end up in a really cool conversation or you meet someone that like you hit it off with really quickly, and you're like, Wow,

we're gonna be lifelong friends now. And it's always so interesting to kind of like when you take a step back to go, man, the fact that the two of us are right now having this conversation with all of our life experiences and they all brought us to this point. Like the fact that we're talking right now about this stuff is crazy because the amount of stuff that had to come together to get us to this point is nuts.

It is like just the the simple you know, addition of all of these extenuating circumstances that will lead you to this exact point is just like I mean it obviously, That's why we only use a portion of our brains because I think if we use more, like we would not even be able to function, because like you have to have that cognitive dissonance to be like I'm not thinking about every moment being just like oh my gosh, Like I can't even believe I'm here, should be crippled,

but I'm I'm such like a um, I'm such a uh sort of like I don't know, feely person whatever. I'm like, I love to do that stuff, Like I love to take a step back and appreciate the moments and appreciate the things that are happening, because again, and I don't mean to sound morbid, but it's like, you never know when you're gonna go. And so if you can wake up in the morning and go, you know what,

I'm stoked to be here. And even if your day is a little crazy and you can fall asleep going, you know what, even if today was a little tough, I'm thankful to be here. You know, I still did it right. Yeah, Like, I think there's something really really

special about all of that. So yeah, I agree. Uh. The last thing I want to hit on was the idea that um, you know, I know both you and I are you know, have experimented and currently are you know, vegan vegetarian, and like that connective tissue between understanding the you know, health reports that you get from this and just understanding like likes and dislike, Like I love the cilantro ye if I laugh about that one, because it is such a huge like that's that's a tough one,

right there, man, totally totally Yeah. I I I was less likely to consume it, so, which is accurate because I personally don't like I, I do a little bit of cilantro, but not to the point where I'm like, you know, it has to be on everything. I So mine is inaccurate because mine says that. I I think it says. I'm let's see here slightly higher odds of disliking cilantro. Nah, I am like put it everywhere. I'm like,

my blanket is made out of cilantro. You know, I'm just like, yep, I want to just wrap myself up in it. So that one for me was not correct. But what about the asparagus one, because that one's another funny one, the asperity I can't honestly, I can't remember exactly. Yeah, I do. I I think it was accurate in the fact that I was less likely to consume that. Again, I smell it in your p That's that's the big one. It's can you smell it in your pa? I absolutely

can't when I consume it. That is reality. Mine is uh yeah, mine is your genetics make the likely to be able to smell the asparagus odor in your urine. It's perfect, like it's so so good. Well yeah, and speaking of vegetables, just like the the idea of understanding your health and then making you know, choices around that and consulting with you know, doctor's physicians, everything that you should go through when you're making these change is um.

But the the idea of us arriving to those conclusions through a myriad of influences like for us obviously via music and stuff like that. But then you know, so how I guess how did you connect the idea of you know, you going on the you know, vegan vegetarian road in general. So for me, Um, I mean it all started early on because uh, Destroy the Machines Earth Crisis. I remember being in middle school and listening to that album.

I bought it, Um, I think I might have My uncle would like take me to Philadelphia randomly and we would go do stuff UM and uh we went and bought some CDs, and I remember I bought I Think Earth Crisis, Destroy the Machines, and then I brought I bought shy hlud Um A Profound Hatred of Man and

both of those super important bands to me. But Earth Crisis, you know, it was at the time where I would sit and read the lyrics and all that stuff, and I was like, whoa, Okay, what is all this what's veganism? This is wild, you know, because my mom's from Midwest, my dad is from outside Philadelphia. It was very much meat and potatoes. Um. And as I've gotten older, we've laughed at just like they'll I'll order food and they're

just like, where did you come from? You know, because they're literally like, yeah, we'll just have the pork chops and the mashed potatoes and that and you know, and here, and I'm like excuse me, can I please do this? And can you make it really spicy? And and they're just like my dad's like I can't even have spici. It's like my bald spot sweats, you know. So. Um So it was earth crisis kind of planted the seed way way way back, but it was not reasonable for me.

I didn't think at the time to become like a vegetarian or anything like that. And then, um so when I went to college. Um My my ex wife was a vegetarian since she was young, and at some point I just kind of was like, oh, I'm gonna become a vegetarian, you know. Um And so I remember I was maybe like maybe it was around when I was twenty or something like that. Um, I don't even honestly, it was somewhere in my twenties, maybe twenty six whatever.

I um, I was in Las Vegas and I was out there announcing a do tour event and we stayed and did a skateboarding trip afterwards, and I had driven out because it was so close to Phoenix, and uh I saw one of those busses drive by that has like the advertisement and it was like Slayer playing at you know, one of the casinos. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna that's like the day after our trip ends,

and my birthday was coming up. So I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna get a hotel room because Vegas is so inexpensive, and I'm gonna see if I can buy a Slayer ticket. And so I went and saw Slayer alone in Vegas. And beforehand, I went out to dinner. I think I went to like t g I Fridays or something, and I got like chicken fingers, and uh, I took a bite and I got one

of those real chewy bits. And I had been toying with the idea of like maybe I'll become a vegetarian because Charlie tom was the world Industry's team manager and that's who I skated for. And he was a vegan, so he was like, you know, really helpful for me and like dietary change and also just like my drinking

and stuff like that. Like he was a really good role model, UM, just for like active and healthy living because he was older, UM, and he ripped, and I was like, I want to be able to skate like Charlie when I get older, and so UM, I stopped eating meat that night and I never had it again. UM.

And then I became vegan maybe a year later. And it was one of those like I was vegan at home and vegetarian on the road because when I was doing skate trips, I was like, well, I want to be able to just like eat cheese, pizza or whatever. And then and then it just became this ethical thing for me where I just was like, you know, I can't do that anymore. I'm not allowed to just like give myself a pass. And so there was like a January one like all right, I'm just gonna officially be

vegan and then uh. The only thing that took some time was um Swede giving that up because of uh skate shooes, and I think maybe I went like I don't even know if it was like six months and I was like, I can't do this. This is ridiculous,

what kind of a I can't be that? And then uh so once I gave that up, it was like okay, here we go, um, and it was a So that's been a big thing for me, just because, um, trying to find vegan skate shooes is a little bit of a process, but a lot of the companies are doing

a really great job now and um, it's fun. So I do these little like vegan tree reviews on YouTube, um, just because I think it's such an important thing for to have information on like what products are actually good, you know, totally totally yeah, No, it's cool, and do you explaining that process is exactly what I think, you know, most people need to do as they're approaching life in general, is just like explore, find what you're comfortable with, you know,

find out more about yourself, because only with that information would you be able to make that educated decision to be like yeah, I am going to do this or no, I am not going to do this. What's interesting to me? And I have a feeling you and I are on

the same page in this. But um, what's so interesting to me is when people like sort of start out for ethical reasons or whatever, and then they kind of like, You're like, oh, how can you stop being vegan or whatever, and they're like, well, my doctor told me that I shouldn't or whatever, and I'm always just like, I mean, hey, everyone can do their thing, but for me, I'm like, it's just an ethical thing, Like I don't want to hurt animals, so therefore I'm not going to do that.

And even if a doctor was like, you know, Andrew, I think you should be eating red meat, I'd be like, that's cool. I'm not going to, you know, just because I think at some point you kind of get the no pun intended, like you know, wool out from over your eyes and you're like, oh, okay, this is really not a cool thing. So everyone can make their own decisions. And I'm always a personal fan of like when people are like, you know what, I go vegan one day

a week or whatever, I'm like, that's awesome. It all helps. And I think we um, and I will say this about a lot of vegan culture. Um, a lot of

people are real uppity, and that's totally fine. But also it's like keep in mind it's your own decision and try not to push yourself on others because I mean, man, even at one point, I remember on social media I posted my friend David gravette he was catching a fish, you know, catching release, and I got like multiple d ms from people that were just like, I cannot believe you would do this, And I'm just like, don't you judge, Like, get out of here, get off your high horse man,

Like my friend is psyched, like away, um, And it's just because I feel like, you know, look, if you're doing it because you want to get on the high horse, like, that's fine, But I'm not that person. I don't care about that. People can do whatever they want but for me, and I'll happily talk with anyone about it because it's small changes that make a big difference. You don't have to stop eating meat completely or dairy or whatever if you don't want to, but if you skip a meal

that helps you totally. Every every you know, every incremental change, no matter how small it, you know, it adds up to literally us talking here right now, at this very moment. Yeah, little little bits just make changes, you know, exactly exactly. Well, dude, Andrew, thank you so much for going on this uh philosophical fun ride. Fun. Sorry, I got all getting all deep on you, man. That's exactly what it's all about. Man, There's there's only one way to go, and that's uh,

that's deep as I'm with you on that. There we go. That was that. And I really really genuinely want to thank Andrew Cannon for um coming on this episode with me and enjoying the the the conversation that we had because it was, like I said, it was a little bit less than conventional, but I was really excited to um, yeah, just pick his brain and get into this whole thing that is only made in part because of the sponsored

episode that is this, And thank you very much and me. So, if you are curious about anything at all about this particular episode, you can go to twenty three and me dot com. You can find all of their testing capabilities and um yeah, I've done it before, wholeheartedly recommended. So thank you very much, twenty three and me. Thank you very much, Andrew Cannon, and until next time, be safe, everybody.

And that's it on another Dope show. Did this episode inspire you to take a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup. Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past while also holding the keys to certain health insights that may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by these stories, and I hope you do as well. Catch you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or

wherever you get your podcast. Yeah m hm