As thick clouds of smoke rolled across Los Angeles in early January, Allison Shultz opened a freezer and took out a stash of pristine white pigeon feathers.
The ornithology curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County placed handfuls of feathers between two small screens and clipped them together with zip ties. She installed one of these homemade feather filters on the roof of the museum’s Exposition Park building, a few more in its surrounding gardens, another in her Gardena backyard.
As smoke engulfed the city, valuable bits of evidence accumulated in the feathers’ once-white barbs.
“It’s really weird to be a scientist who studies wildfire smoke,” Shultz said. “We don’t want there to be big smoke events. But then, at the same time, we do want data to understand things.”
Allison Shultz, ornithology curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, holds bags of feathers that she placed on the roof of the museum during the wildfires in Los Angeles. Researchers will use them to study the effects of wildfire smoke on birds.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Now stored in sealed plastic bags, the sooty plumes will help answer questions about how chronic smoke exposure affects birds, and what exactly the animals were exposed to during L.A.’s firestorms.
It’s part of a broader scientific effort to understand how a disaster of unprecedented scope will alter the region’s varied ecosystems, many of which were already stressed by a changing climate.
“Most fire ecology is done pretty remotely from human habitation, so therefore we have a bias in what we know in terms of how birds and vegetation and nature respond in quote-unquote, ‘natural areas,’ ” said Morgan Tingley, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who is collaborating with Shultz on the study. “We know much less about how those same processes happen when humans are very, very strongly influencing the environment.”
Their research team will soon extract the pollutants that accumulated on the pigeon feathers. A machine in the museum’s mineralogy department called a Raman spectrometer will analyze the compounds, determining how much carbon on the feathers originated from burned organic matter like trees and shrubs and how much originated from combustion and other urban sources.
Allison Shultz, ornithology curator at the Natural History Museum, shows drawers of house finches at the museum, where researchers are studying bird feathers to determine the effects of wildfire smoke on birds.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
They’ll look for other contaminants arising from the burning of homes and vehicles, like microplastics and heavy metals.
Shultz and her colleagues were in the process of developing these methods well before January’s fires broke out. They anticipated studying birds’ exposure to smoke during Southern California’s typical wildfire season, which traditionally peaks August through October.
They didn’t expect that the smoke in question would originate so close to home.
UCLA’s Tingley lives about three miles from the Palisades fire’s eastern flank. He took copious notes on his observations of bird behavior as the fire raged.
The yellow-rumped warbler is a migratory songbird that spends its winters in Los Angeles. For two days, Tingley recorded a constant stream of them flying in a pattern that looked like their springtime migration.
That was expected behavior for a highly mobile species, he said. We don’t know yet how L.A.’s resident bird species — some of which spend their entire lives within the area of a single kilometer (less than a mile) — will cope with a conflagration in their midst.
Microplastics research assistant Jessica Flores demonstrates the Raman spectrometer, which is the machine that will be used to analyze the bird feathers for carbon, at the Natural History Museum.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
At the Natural History Museum, Shultz is well-positioned to compare birds from this era to those exposed to pollutants past. The ornithology department houses floor-to-ceiling archives of carefully preserved bird specimens.
On a recent morning, Shultz opened a wooden tray to reveal rows of house finches, a palm-sized bird commonly found in Los Angeles.
From one specimen’s spindly leg dangled a handwritten tag bearing the year of its death: 1917. Shultz gently lifted it from the tray.
“You see how this is black, and this is black,” she said, delicately pointing at the bird’s soiled feathers with a gloved finger. More than a century later, fine particles of pollution still clung to its feathers, dulling what once was a scarlet red breast to a mottled gray.
“We’ve known that birds are very sensitive to smoke for a long time. Think about canaries in the coal mine, right?” Shultz said. Caged birds were used as living carbon monoxide detectors starting in the late nineteenth century — thanks to their highly efficient respiratory systems, the birds died from gas leaks long before human miners did.
But there is a lot we don’t know about how cumulative pollution affects these animals, and what impacts a catastrophe like this year’s fires will have. Does the carbon trapped in its barbs affect a bird’s ability to regulate its own body temperature? Which pollutants stick, and which ones molt away? Many species take dust baths to clean themselves — what if that dust is full of contaminants too?
Allison Shultz shows drawers of house finches at the museum, where researchers are studying bird feathers to determine the effects of wildfire smoke on birds.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Found dead birds are often donated to the museum, and Shultz was braced for an influx of new specimens as the fires raged. They didn’t come. Tingley also heard few reports of bird mortality.
It’s possible that most species were able to escape the smoke or minimize their exposure by reducing their activity during its peak and “it could be that we got lucky,” he said. “But these are questions that we’ll have to keep on trying to answer.”
LIVE: UFC 313 early weigh ins video results! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is just one day away from the upcoming UFC 313 pay-per-view (PPV) event on ESPN+, scheduled for this Sat. night (March 8, 2025) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC 313 will be headlined by the light heavyweight title fight pitting reigning 205-pound champion Alex Pereira opposite No. 1-ranked contender Magomed Ankalaev, a five-round showdown that follows a stacked UFC 313 main card, also featuring lightweight contenders Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev, 155-pound rivals Ignacio Bahamondes and Jalin Turner, and more!
But before they can fight, they must first weigh in.
The UFC 313 early (and official) weigh ins will stream LIVE from the promotion’s APEX center in the embedded video above starting promptly at 12 p.m. ET. The festivities are expected to last roughly two hours but could end much earlier depending on how quickly all 24 fighters get to the scale. The promotion will also stage the UFC 313 ceremonial weigh ins complete with fighter staredowns RIGHT HERE live from T-Mobile Arena at 7 p.m. ET. Note: Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) affords a one-pound allowance in non-title fights, but championship contests must return exact weights, no exceptions.
Complete UFC 313 early weigh ins text results below:
265 lbs.: Curtis Blaydes () vs. Rizvan Kuniev () 125 lbs.: Joshua Van () vs. Rei Tsuruya () 185 lbs.: Brunno Ferreira () vs. Armen Petrosyan () 170 lbs.: Carlos Leal () vs. Alex Morono ()
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE TILT! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues its 2025 pay-per-view (PPV) schedule on Sat., March 8, 2025, with a high-stakes clash between 205-pound kingpin, Alex Pereira, defending his Light Heavyweight crown against formidable No. 1-ranked contender, Magomed Ankalaev, in the five-round main event. In UFC 313’s electrifying co-headliner from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lightweight fan-favorite and former interim champion, Justin Gaethje, will rematch the dynamic Rafael Fiziev in a three-round rematch, stepping in on short notice after Dan Hooker’s withdrawal due to injury. UFC 313 will also feature a hard-hitting Heavyweight battle between Curtis Blaydes and promotional newcomer, Rizvan Kuniev, alongside a Lightweight showdown with Jalin Turner facing Ignacio Bahamondes, and so much more! UFC 313’s start time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET (“Prelims” undercard) and 10 p.m. ET (PPV main card).
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 313 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 313 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 313: “Pereira vs. Ankalaev” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 313 fight card and PPV lineup click here.
The new MacBook Air and iPad Air– image credit: Apple
Apple released so many new devices this week that there’s barely time for any rumors as we figure out the Mac Studio’s specifications and the MacBook Air‘s new color, on the AppleInsider Podcast.
By sheer volume, this must have been one of the very busiest weeks for new Apple releases, and yet the company practically downplayed them all. Apart from Tim Cook‘s teasing tweet, there was no event, no introductory video, and not even any new adverts. Yet for the people who need these devices, the new MacBook Air, iPad Air, and Mac Studio are strong updates.
You just have to wonder what’s going on with the Mac Pro, which hasn’t seen a refresh, and the base iPad, which has — but without Apple Intelligence.
BONUS: Subscribe via Patreon or Apple Podcasts to hear AppleInsider+, the extended edition. This week, given that so many new Apple devices have been launched, we talk about trading in old ones to save money — whether that’s through Apple, through selling directly to other people, and also when that is a good idea or not.
Tune in to our HomeKit Insider podcast covering the latest news, products, apps and everything HomeKit related. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or just search for HomeKit Insider wherever you get your podcasts.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast. Just say, “Hey, Siri,” to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too. If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple’s Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.
Lady Gaga‘s highly anticipated seventh album is on its way, and we can’t keep a “poker face” to hide our excitement. We are ready for Gaga to enter her new musica era and we’re super curious about what the new music will sound like. Find out all about the upcoming album below!
When Does Lady Gaga’s ‘Mayhem’ Album Come Out?
Gaga made the announcement through X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, January 27, and she wrote: “MAYHEM coming March 7.” On the day of the announcement, billboards around New York City featured the singer in a black and white picture with her album name in bold red. The singer also posted a teaser video on her social media featured flashing lights, and shots of Gaga and the album’s name. During the upcoming Grammy Awards on February 2, Gaga will air a new music video that will feature one of her singles off the album.
The artist gave fans a sneak peak of what to expect from the new album. Gaga shared: “The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved.” She said it was a journey of “reassembling a shattered mirror.” Gaga continued: “Even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way,” per Billboard.
The new album will have 14 tracks, so get those dancing shoes ready to party! The pop genre album consists of songs – “Disease,” “Abracadabra,” “Garden Of Eden,” “Perfect Celebrity,” “Vanish Into You,” “Killah” featuring Gesaffelstein, “Zombieboy,” “LoveDrug,” “How Bad Do U Want Me,” “Don’t Call Tonight,” “Shadow Of A Man,” “The Beast,” “Blade Of Grass,” and “Die With A Smile.” She explained that it was her fiancée Michael Polansky, who encouraged her to move forward with the sound. Gaga provided more insight into her new album to Los Angeles Times: “[The album] leaps around genre in a way that’s almost corrupt. And it ends with love. That’s the answer to all the chaos in my life, is that I find peace with love. Every song that I wrote, I just kept getting kind of swept away in these different dreams I was having about the past — almost like a recollection of all these bad decisions that I made in my life.”
UK passengers travelling abroad with easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways are being warned to brace for major travel disruptions this month.
Strikes in Italy throughout March are set to impact air, rail and road travel in the country, resulting in possible cancellations and delays. A general strike, backed by the SLAI-COBAS, CUB and USI-CIT trade unions, is scheduled to take place in Italy on Saturday, March 8, which will affect air transport for the entire day. According to experts at AirAdvisor, the world’s leading air passenger rights company, the strike action will impact around 50 to 70 direct flights from the UK to Italy, affecting between 8,000 and 11,200 passengers.
The company says the strike will mainly impact easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways passengers, with each airline having more than 15 direct flights to key Italian destinations, including Milan, Venice, Rome, Naples and Florence on March 8. The main routes that will be affected include London to Rome, London to Milan, Manchester to Rome and Edinburgh to Milan.
Another strike is also scheduled for later this month on Sunday, March 16, and AirAdvisor warns passengers to expect increased flight disruptions between March 8 and 20.
The Italian Civil Aviation Authority – Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile (ENAC) – has indicated the protection time slots during which flights should operate. These are between 7am to 10AM and 6pm to 9pm, meaning passengers booking flights in these slots can likely bypass the direct impact of strikes.
AirAdvisor warns that passengers won’t receive compensation if flights are disrupted as the strike action is not under the control of airlines. Under EU261 regulation, compensation is only due where airlines are directly responsible for disruptions.
But passengers are entitled to care and assistance if the delay exceeds two hours for short-haul flights, three hours for medium-haul, and four hours for long-haul flights. This may include free meals and accommodation if an overnight stay is needed, and transport to and from the airport. For cancelled flights, free rerouting and full refunds are provided by airlines.
Anton Radchenko, Aviation expert and Founder of AirAdvisor, said: “The EU has one of the strongest laws protecting air passenger rights, but frequent disruptions make it a mess for passengers. The fact that they have to file for refunds, seek support, book alternate flights, time and again, sucks the joy out of travelling.
“With another strike action happening on the 16th of March, passengers flying to Italy will try to make the most of next week: 9th to 15th March. This means more seats will be booked, leading to congestion or higher traffic than usual. Plus, the ripple effects from the 8th March strike will make things worse and lead to more disruptions.
“My top advice for passengers is to make flexible travel plans and plan ahead of time to minimize inconvenience. Plus, avoid connecting flights via Italy because they are at risk, even if not landing in Italy. Ideally, travel after the 20th of March, when situations would be back under control, with flights facing fewer disruptions.
“If postponing is not an option, fly to nearby airports outside Italy, such as Nice (NCE, France) or Zurich (ZRH, Switzerland), and take a train to Italy. Train journeys take approximately four hours, with fares starting from £25, making them a great cost-effective option. Also, carry more cash because ATMs and card machines tend to crash during high crowds.
“Last but not least, act fast because airlines have an overwhelming number of requests during peak times, so they struggle with rebookings. Bypass this by contacting airlines through social media, where they’re more responsive to expedite your rebooking.”
A study has suggested that swapping butter for olive oil on your bread could add years to your life. The research, conducted by Harvard Medical School, analysed data from American adults to determine the impact of their diet on life expectancy.
Published in the JAMA Medical Journal, the findings indicated that those who consumed more butter were more likely to die prematurely. The Times reports: “High intake of butter was associated with increased mortality, while higher plant-based oils intake was associated with lower mortality.”
The study also found that a daily increase of 10g in plant-based oils led to an 11% reduction in cancer risk. On the other hand, increased butter consumption was linked to a 12% rise in cancer risk.
While further research is needed to confirm the potential link between oil and butter consumption and cancer risk, the study underscores the significance of diet in long-term mortality.
Commenting on the study, Professor Tom Sanders from King’s College London said: “This is an important study that shows that people who choose to eat butter don’t live as long as those who choose to eat vegetable oils.”
Olive oil, a cornerstone of the Mediterranean Diet, has been hailed for its numerous health benefits by Harvard Health experts.
They’ve highlighted: “Many studies continue to confirm the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, which cuts the risk of heart disease and stroke.
“The diet’s nutritional benefits probably come from various sources, but the generous use of olive oil appears to be a key contributor.”
The praise doesn’t stop there, as they noted: “The health benefits of olive oil have been attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In fact, observational studies have shown a link between lower risks of cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and even dementia in people who consume higher amounts of olive oil than those who use little or none.”
The British Heart Foundation also recognises olive oil’s virtues, offering practical advice on how to incorporate it into your diet: “Olive oil is often linked with good heart health due to its role in the Mediterranean diet and can contain substances that have been linked to health benefits.
“Instead of taking olive oil as a supplement think about adding it to meals, for example as a salad dressing. About 70g (21⁄2 oz) of fat a day is the maximum recommended for an adult.”
Experts like nutritionist Louise Pyne caution against indulging without heeding essential guidelines. Speaking to The Standard, Pyne advises: “Always choose organic cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil over varieties labelled refined, pure, or light”.
She goes on to stress that not all olive oils benefit health equally and underscores the importance of the oil’s aroma and storing it in a dark place to prevent sunlight-induced oxidation.
The world of professional wrestling has always tried to blur the lines between fiction and reality, and last night’s red carpet event for Queen of the Ring continued that trend when star Toni Storm got into a heated confrontation with Mariah May. For those not in the know, yes, this was a wrestling angle, but it only served to highlight the fact that the sport is nothing if not entertaining. Storm portrays Clara Mortensen in the new biopic, which comes from director Ash Avildsen and examines how wrestler Mildred Burke became the first million-dollar female athlete in history.
The brouhaha occurred during a Queen of the Ring event that had all the stars on hand to walk the red carpet for photographers and journalists. Storm was posing for the cameras when the glamorous May came out of nowhere and delivered a devastating slap that sent Storm crashing to the ground (seen below). “You are nothing without me!” May shouted as she was pulled away by security. “I made you a star!” Storm – who is the current AEW Women’s World Champion – will face off against May at this Sunday’s Revolution event at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. The bout is a rematch of their fight from Grand Slam Australia last month, which saw Storm defeat May to regain her title.
The WWE vet and Peacemaker star explains which movies get it right when it comes to wrestling.
In addition to Storm, Queen of the Ring stars Arrow‘s Emily Bett Rickards as Burke, as well as Walter Goggins, Deborah Ann Woll, Francesca Eastwood, Tyler Posey, and Martin Kove. The film features a slew of other wrestling talent, too, including Trinity Fatu, Kamille, Britt Baker, and James Cornette. Avildsen is the son of legendary director John G. Avildsen, who helmed such beloved classics as Rocky, and the first three movies in The Karate Kid franchise.
Ash Avildsen Says ‘Queen of the Ring’ Could Be a Series
Based on the 2010 book The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend by Jeff Leen, Avildsen’s latest is a tremendous look at how women’s wrestling evolved over the years thanks to people like Burke, who helped break down barriers for others to enter the ring. It’s such an expansive story with many characters that the director told MovieWeb last year that it could be its own series.
“I tell everyone anytime I’m talking about the movie, please get the book. The movie is a tiny fraction of the story. It really should have been a miniseries, and maybe it still can be if the movie does well. There’s so much to it [the book]. It should be eight hours, at least.”
Even with parts left out from Leen’s book, Queen of the Ring is still an entertaining watch that is perhaps the best wrestling movie since Mickey Rourke’s 2008 film The Wrestler. It’s not without its flaws, but whether you’re a wrestling fan or just a casual moviegoer, it’s a good way to spend 2 hours and 10 minutes this weekend. Check your theater listings to see if it’s playing near you.
Be sure to watch our interview with Ash Avildsen and Emily Bett Rickards below in which they discuss all things Queen of the Ring.
Married at First Sight couple Allen Slovick and Madison Myers had a memorable run on season 18, and it’s time for an update on their relationship status. Married at First Sight season 18 began in October 2024, and is set to wrap up by the end of March 2025. The finale just aired with fans looking ahead to the reunion and “Where Are They Now?” episodes. Five couples got married to strangers in season 18: Allen and Madison, David Trimble and Michelle Tomblin, Juan Franco and Karla Juarez, Ikechi Ojoré and Emem Obot, and Camille Parsons and Thomas McDonald.
The panel of MAFS experts, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Pastor Cal Roberson, and Dr. Pia Holec did the matchmaking and endeavored to counsel and guide the couples through the eight-week process to decision day. The format in season 18 remained the same as previous seasons, with a honeymoon taking place, several group meetups, a couples retreat, and decision day encompassing the experiment. Allen and Madison’s relationship has stood out because it ended up being plagued with scandal.
Allen & Madison’s MAFS Journey
Madison Strung Allen Along
30-year-old Technology Consultant Madison seemed smitten with 35-year-old Financial Systems Manager Allen at the altar. They shared many kisses and good conversation on their wedding day, but seeds of doubt formed quickly. Madison’s dad told Allen to get an STD test, and Madison’s friends and family told Allen distinctly that he was not her type. Allen put on his rose-colored glasses and looked past that information in order to build a physical and emotional connection with Allen. However, Madison was clearly not attracted to Allen.
When Allen was at a low point in feeling like Madison was not romantically interested in him, he asked her in front of Dr. Pepper whether she was attracted to him. Madison’s answer was suspect at best.
“It’s a weird question to ask.”
Allen and Madison never kissed past their wedding day, and while they had several meaningful conversations, their relationship seemed surface — and there was a dubious reason for that.
Allen Got Burned Badly By Madison & David
Madison & David Showed No Remorse
Behind the scenes of Allen and Madison’s marriage, Madison formed an inappropriate relationship with Michelle’s husband, David. The pair began as gym buddies, but were clearly carrying on an ongoing illicit connection when everything came to a head. How Madison and David were exposed was by their own doing. David missent a text to Michelle that was meant for Madison.
“You are so damn fine I just wanna eat U up.”
Michelle, rightfully upset, surmised that the text was meant for Madison. Upon David’s continuous and evolving lies about the text, Michelle sought clarity at the couples retreat. When confronted by Michelle, Madison upheld the lie, but was prompted by producers to come clean. Madison and David had a discussion where they stated they wanted to ditch their spouses completely and pursue each other. While Michelle already had her suspicions and contempt for David, Allen was totally blindsided.
The affair and lies broke Allen’s heart, and he became enraged before coming to a place of acceptance. Allen and Michelle had to face openly amorous David and Madison as a unit twice now, once at the post-decision day get-together, and again at Thomas’ birthday party. Allen was purposely checked out, while Michelle was confrontational and upset.
Reality TV is more popular than ever. With so many to choose from, here are some of the best reality TV shows to stream or watch right now.
Is Allen Friends With Madison After MAFS Season 18?
More Will Be Revealed
Custom Image By César García
The cheating scandal and couples swap in Married at First Sight season 18 was jarring to viewers, but it also deeply affected Michelle, and especially Allen.
Allen didn’t see the deceit and betrayal coming, which created bad blood between him and David and Madison.
At their last meeting with the experts, Allen didn’t want to look Madison in the eyes, and was adamant about wanting a divorce and Madison out of his life completely.
More will be revealed at the Married at First Sight season 18 reunion and “Where Are They Now?” episodes, as the scandal gets unpacked further and more current details about the cast members are showcased. However, on Instagram, Allen still follows both Madison and David, and they follow him back. Allen is reportedly in a new relationship, so his disdain might have softened as a result. Madison and Allen are apparently still together.
Married At First Sight airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST on Lifetime.
There’s a version of the Lumineers story that ends about a decade ago, in the wake of the two-piece folk-rock band’s struggle to duplicate the pop success of its debut single. The platonic ideal of the Obama-era stomp-clap sound also purveyed by Mumford & Sons and Of Monsters and Men, 2012’s Grammy-nominated “Ho Hey” made improbable stars of singer-guitarist Wesley Schultz and drummer Jeremiah Fraites, who’d come up playing house shows and open mics then suddenly found themselves on Top 40 radio amid the likes of Maroon 5 and Flo Rida.
But if the Denver-based Lumineers have never returned to the upper reaches of the Hot 100, they’ve arguably achieved something better, quietly becoming one of rock’s top live acts while exerting a crucial influence on the next generation of acoustic singer-songwriters. In 2023, Zach Bryan recruited the duo for “Spotless,” a track from his chart-topping self-titled album; last year, Noah Kahan brought Schultz and Fraites onstage during a gig at Boston’s Fenway Park. Then there’s Shaboozey, who’s said the Lumineers helped inspire his smash “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
“Zach has a tattoo of the ‘Cleopatra’ logo on his arm,” Fraites said recently, referring to the band’s 2016 LP. “And Noah, we were emailing once and he said, ‘There’d be no Noah without the Lumineers.’ It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around.”
Last month, Schultz, 42, and Fraites, 39, released their fifth album, “Automatic,” which they’ll support on the road this year with dates including stadium shows at Fenway and New York’s Citi Field and a two-night stint at Inglewood’s Kia Forum in August. Schultz spoke about it the other day in a conversation at the Sunset Marquis, part of a lengthy promotional trek he said was keeping him away from his wife and two young children longer than he’d been away in a while.
“My son Lenny’s school had a music day where whoever wants to play can go up and play,” he said, dressed in jeans and a weathered Talking Heads T-shirt. “I’m just going to be there with him, and then spontaneously he’s like, ‘I want to play ‘Ophelia,’ Dad — you come play with me.’ He whispered the whole song, and I sang it over him.”
You ever get self-conscious at school as Mr. Rock Star Dad? I think I’m blissfully unaware of whether that ever comes into the conversation. I have a friend who got a date with a dude from one of the apps. They were meeting at a park, and I went with her just to keep her company for a second in case it was weird. Halfway through the hang, he goes, “So, what, you’re in like a Lumineers cover band?” The songs might be famous, but as individuals we’re not. And I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily by design, but it’s not not by design.
I like to joke that we’re this generation’s Steve Miller Band. I never gave a f— what that guy looked like. I never knew what he was up to. I’d just listen to his greatest hits and be like, “This is a vibe.”
There’s something to be said for a cult of personality. Feels like shaky ground to build anything off of. Part of it is that I covered a lot of songs when I first started playing guitar, and if you played a good song in a bar, the room lit up. It wasn’t like the artist was there playing it. I used to do “My City of Ruins” by Bruce Springsteen, which isn’t even a hit, and the room would just stop.
What made you sure it wasn’t you? Because then I’d play some of my own stuff and the place would go [fart sound].
I’ve never considered the Lumineers as elder statesmen — Same here.
But you’ve become a touchstone act for a bunch of younger singer-songwriters. Zach told me — he was like, “You’re my Tom Petty, bro” [laughs]. I was kind of stunned, because I still feel like a novice.
How’d you end up on “Spotless”? Looking back, this is very Zach Bryan — what he’s really like in person — but he was playing a festival that we were also playing, and he came over to watch our set. He wanted to say hello, and he just showed up side-stage and our security was like, “Whoa, whoa — where’s your pass?” He’s like, “Oh, I was playing on the other stage.” They’re like, “No.” I only heard about this later. So I asked my manager to get me his number, and his manager was like, “He’ll call you — I’m not gonna give you his number.” All right, whatever. Sent him a message on Instagram, didn’t hear back for months.
Then one day I get a message, he’s responding on Instagram. He’s like, “Dude, you’re one of my idols.” I told him, “Congratulations on all the success, and hopefully we can hang out one day.” He’s like, “We should write a song.” I’m like, “Yeah, man — if you ever have a good idea, here’s my number.” An hour later, he sends me an idea, and that was “Spotless.” We went back and forth, but it was hilarious because as I was recording in my basement, I was supposed to be barbecuing for a bunch of friends I was hosting. They were all just waiting in my backyard as I recorded my parts. I’m like, “There’s this guy, Zach Bryan, and this song’s gonna come out…” Within a year, they were all like, “I’ve heard of that guy now.”
Does it make you feel old to be described as someone’s idol? I don’t know — I mean, yeah. That would sting if I wasn’t excited about this record we made. It’s 20 years for me and Jer writing together, and I’d never felt more possessed by it.
Do you know why? Because it was very uninhibited. It’s like a Polaroid of a candid moment — wasn’t posed in any way. We didn’t make any demos, so what you’re hearing is the first tries and second tries.
What made you write the song “A—”? I won’t be able to print the title in the L.A. Times, so let’s say for the reader that it rhymes with “Glass Bowl.” It’s autobiographical. My college roommates used to always say, “When I first met you, I thought you were an a—.” My wife: “First time I met you, I thought you were an a—.”
Enough people tell you something… But I sort of took it as a badge of honor — like, she married me. I overcame that. What I think is cool about the song is the full-circle element of it, which is like: You’re probably correct — I might be an a—. But so are you. You have a dark side, you’re just not showing it.
You think you still strike some people that way? I’m probably less guarded. But I’m just — how do I say it? — I’m a slow burn. I think if you asked my wife, she’d tell you tons of interactions I have on a weekly basis where she’s like, “What the hell, man?” and I’m like, “What?”
In 2013, “Ho Hey” peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top 40 radio chart. I think it peaked at 2.
My mistake. Because I was watching it, and I was like, I wonder if it’ll ever get to 1? And it almost did. But it was at 3 for sure for at least one week [laughs].
The Lumineers’ tour will stop for two nights at Inglewood’s Kia Forum in August.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The songs ahead of it at that week were Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” and Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” Everyone talked at the time about the unlikeliness of “Ho Hey” becoming a hit. But looking back at what was around it on the chart really drives that home. My friends would send me Howard Stern clips where he’d be running down the Top 10 and just get mad — like, “What the f— is this?” The narrative goes that when you have a big song, you must have designed the song to be big. Things aren’t a mistake, it’s not an accident, there are no Cinderellas. But listen to that song and tell me that was supposed to be a hit.
The essence of every interview we did at that time was: “You guys are doing really well. Please explain.” Kind of insulting. The scary part after that was you face a fork in the road: You can either do the thing where you try to make other hits that show you weren’t a one-hit wonder, or — like in our case — you just keep going and try to block it out.
They tried to make “Stubborn Love” a hit. They wanted to cut a bunch of the song — they said 4 minutes was too long. We were like, “What do you mean? What are you gonna change?”
Was that disillusioning in some way? I remember Third Eye Blind had an extra verse [in “Semi-Charmed Life”] that I never heard until I heard the album version. I felt a little bit betrayed by that. What’s that Billy Joel lyric? “If you’re gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit / So they cut it down to 3:05.” For us it was an easy no, but a lot of artists don’t always realize that they’re in the driver’s seat.
Why did you realize it? Because I was 30-plus. Also, what are you really after when someone asks you to do something like that? What matters to you more? Is it that you wrote the song and you love it that way, or that you love the idea of people knowing your name in the supermarket? We had meetings with a bunch of managers when we changed management in 2018, and I remember one guy spent half the meeting talking about how his clients fly on private jets. I was like, “I don’t really care about jets, man — I just want to write my own music.”
Jets are nice. Yeah, but people write music sometimes to have the jets — it’s the tail wagging the dog.
You ever wonder what would’ve happened if you’d agreed to the radio edit? I’d love to run a simulation just to see. But here’s the trap: Let’s say you have two hits [in] the Top 40 format. Now you’ve created a standard by which your team is evaluating success in this very strange way. You notice what the format likes, you might start to subconsciously write to meet that format. Whereas the artists that last, they just do their own thing. It’s like Neil Young said: “When I was in the middle of the road, I aimed for the ditch.”
Have the Lumineers done that? Our album “III” was probably the closest we’ve come. We went out of our way to make something that was overtly depressing and cathartic.
Depressing and cathartic? My wife’s mom was an alcoholic for most of her parental life. We bought her a little house when the band started making some money — did the hip-hop thing. Living out of that house, she could drink a gallon of Tito’s vodka every day. She could order out pizza and order out alcohol so she never had to leave, to the point where she was on a La-Z-Boy with a dish mat because she couldn’t get up to use the bathroom. So the album was all about that and the aftermath of that and trying to imagine what led up to it.
You know how everybody says “Pinkerton” is Weezer’s best record if you’re a real Weezer fan? You’d be shocked how many people say “III” is their favorite record. By the numbers, it’s not the bestselling at all, but it doesn’t matter. Some of the lowest lows make for some of the highest highs. And had “Stubborn Love” got cut, I don’t know if we make “III.”
The song “Automatic,” from the new album, has some interesting images: “Shooting stars / Driving your electric cars / Eating at the salad bars / Praying for the rain.” The original line was “Shooting stars / Maybe take a trip to Mars.” I was thinking of Elon [Musk] — it wasn’t about him, but it was about how idealistic but also how dark things feel right now. It’s the best, most cutting-edge time to be alive, yet if you measured people’s happiness, most people would tell you how depressed they are. There’s that Steinbeck quote about people viewing themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires — I’m more important than I am at my current station of life — and I feel like that’s come back. There’s a gluttony built into everything where if you’re not careful, you’re never satisfied.
What’s your most gluttonous tendency? I watch a lot of videos on YouTube. I try to read — I make deals with myself. But it’s probably watching certain clips and getting in a weird algorithm.
What’s the wormhole? Lately I’ve been watching a lot of Coffeezilla, this guy who investigates fraud. I got into MrBallen, who tells crazy-good stories. Lot of Joe Rogan short clips. Shane Gillis is amazing.
Name a creature comfort you’ve gotten used to even though you know it makes you kind of a brat. I keep kefir around because I don’t like dealing with hotel breakfast. We have a traveling miniature gym — that makes me really happy to do something in the day. When I burn that energy, the anxiousness goes away for the show that’s about to happen. And then my tour manager, her grandfather used to say, “Life’s too short to drink bad wine.”
What do you drink? White Burgundy. A nice Chablis. I used to drink red wine, but I can’t really as a singer now.
Red wine messes with your voice? Ask any ear, nose and throat specialist who deals with singers and they’ll probably tell you the same thing multiple ones have told me. Also, as a singer, if you’re drinking red wine, your teeth get really dark and you look a little wild up there — a little Johnny Depp pre-dental surgery.
Benmont Tench says that “life” is the reason for the 11-year gap between his two solo albums.
With The Melancholy Season out Friday (March 7), the keyboardist says that a heavy work load with both Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch kept him busy during the interim (both groups toured and released what turned out to be their final albums in the period). A nearly decade-long battle with oral cancer (which included jaw reconstruction during 2023), Petty’s death in 2017, and the birth of Tench’s first daughter, Catherine, shortly after that — not to mention the pandemic — also contributed to the gap between works.
“Life got in the way of making another record,” Tench, 71, tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Los Feliz, Calif. Already an A-list session player, he also filled some of the time after Petty’s passing playing for Ringo Starr, Jenny Lewis, Chris Stapleton, the Who and the Rolling Stones and was recently part of the Life Is a Carnival all-star tribute tour to The Band. “I would love to have made it sooner,” he says of The Melancholy Season. But, with the benefit of some perspective, he’s glad he didn’t.
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“I made a better record because I didn’t make it right away,” explains Tench, who had much of album’s songs written by, he estimates, the end of 2018 and recorded it with producer Jonathan Wilson (Dawes, Father John Misty, Margo Price) during 2020 and 2021. Unlike 2014’s Glyn Johns-produced You Should Be So Lucky, which was recorded in just 13 days, Tench lived with The Melancholy Season — to its benefit, he feels.
“I kept fine-tuning and thinking, ‘oh no, no, no, that’s all wrong. It should be this,’” he explains. “It was great to have that opportunity. I could sit with the imagery in some songs and I could check to make sure that I said things the way I wanted do.”
The Melancholy Season’s 13 songs — whether the elegiac title track or the stripped-down “Under the Starlight,” the striding, boogie-styled “Rattle” or the more dramatically arranged “Pledge” and “The Drivin’ Man” — all share a spare and spacious sensibility. The songs are played mostly by Tench, Wilson on guitars and drums and Sebastian Steinberg on bass, with appearances by Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and Jenny O and, on the closing track “Dallas,” Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, who was part of the musical community at Los Angeles’ Largo that Tench has frequented.
“I like records with a lot of space,” says Tench, citing a lesson he learned from original Heartbreakers producer Denny Cordell while making the band’s first two albums during the ‘70s. “Denny said early on that a record is louder if it has fewer instruments. A song like ‘Breakdown’ has more layers than you would think, but the essence of the song is the guitar riff and the Wurlitzer (piano) riff. There are other layers, but there’s a lot of room in ‘Breakdown.’” Additionally, Tench says he was “profoundly affected” by Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding and John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band albums. “Each of those is, for the most part, three musicians and three instruments,” Tench explains. “They’re just a songwriter with the instruments he wrote the songs on, plus bass and drums, and they are complete.
“I think it’s great if you have a wall of sound and you do it well. There are fantastic records that use a lot of instruments; the Beatles did a lot of those. There’s Motown, of course. There’s what Brian (Wilson) did, what Phil Spector did… All of these things, and they’re wonderful. But there’s also a way to use fewer instruments and be just as effective. That’s what we did on this record; there were some songs we cut with more (instrumentation) and pulled them back to make (the songs) better.”
Tench dipped into his deeper past for a couple tracks, too. “Wobbles” was an instrumental on You Should Be So Lucky, which Tench sub-titled “Trio with Vocal Arrangement” for the new album. “Under the Starlight,” meanwhile, dates back a good 20 years to a Nashville songwriting session with Don Henry and was never released.
“I dug it and we set it aside and I went home, and years went by and I didn’t think about it,” Tench says. “And then maybe eight years ago I went, ‘What about “Under the Starlight”?’ And I didn’t want to bother Don, so I thought, ‘Lemme see if some words come up.’ I had a whisper of an inkling of what I wanted to talk about that I understood better ’cause I’ve lived a lot longer and been through a lot more and began to see how to do it.
“I got in touch with Don Henry and said, ‘Hey, I finished that song we started.’ He said, ‘That’s nice, but what do you mean finished? We finished it that day.’ (laughs) We wrote the complete song and I spaced out somehow. He sent me the lyrics that we’d originally finished and they were really good, but they made a different point. I hope somebody records it that, way, too.”
The Melancholy Season is being released by Dark Horse Records, the label the late George Harrison started in 1974 and that’s being continued by his widow, Olivia, and son Dhani. “It means a hell of a lot,” notes Tench, a teenage Beatles fan who met Harrison (who worked with Petty in the Traveling Wilburys) several times. “It’s got his vibe and it’s got their vibe, which is like amplifying George’s vibe. For them to believe in this record and want to put it out means quite a lot to me. I’ve had a blessed life in a million ways — and I intend to keep it going.”
That includes on the road as well. Tench previewed The Melancholy Season during a solo residency at the Cafe Carlyle in New York last month, and he has West Coast dates starting March 12. He hopes to hit more of the country as well.
“It’ll be smaller venues because it’s just me with a piano, and I think that the songs come across best that way,” Tench says. “For me, I don’t really ‘get’ it until I see somebody do it live, so I want to drag it around, and if anybody shows up out of curiosity or because they like what I do, or because they like the Heartbreakers, it’ll give them a chance to see what they think up close.”
Tench has “a few sketches” of other songs he’s been working on but isn’t yet focusing on a next album. It’s quite likely his playing will show up on another Petty and Heartbreakers archival set, however, and Tench — who was part of Mudcrutch first, which then morphed into the Heartbreakers during 1976 — says he’s been pleased with how that musical legacy has been handled, primarily by Petty’s daughter Adria along with Ryan Ulyate and guitarist Mike Campbell.
“I’m very happy because I don’t think (Petty) would release so much of this,” says Tench, who’s read parts of Campbell’s book Heartbreaker: A Memoir, that’s coming out March 18 and is waiting for the audio version. “They still keep me in the loop but it’s mainly Adria and Ryan who are going through everything, and I love what they’re finding. Songs that I don’t remember but, ‘Oh, yeah, I loved that song. How come we left that off?’ It isn’t inferior stuff; it’s stuff that I think, if you like the band and wish you could’ve heard more, there’s more, and it’s good. And if you haven’t heard much of the band, it’s a good way to check it out. I think they’re doing a great job.”
