Weirder Together with Ben Lee and Ione Skye

This week: Sydney weather as business class: once you’ve had it, going back to coach is brutal….and the ethics of putting your dog to sleep, covered in the first four minutes. We went to Cybele Malinowski’s photography show “Deep Fake”, portraits of Las Vegas celebrity impersonators, including the story of one MJ impersonator who took a homeless man under his wing and taught him the craft. Plus our Vegas stories: Ione at the Hard Rock Hotel opening in the early 90s with Sofia Coppola, Stephen Dorff and Zoe Cassavetes (the politics of free chips for famous people), and Ben waking up at Lollapalooza 93 to what may be the worst smell in human history. We hung with Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson: his song is going viral on TikTok across American college campuses, and he shared a piece of songwriting wisdom we can’t stop thinking about. Ben is processing his hair transplant fork in the road. We fell down an Etsy witches rabbit hole. And we had a full psychic moment playing Rummy Tiles. Weirder Together is officially calling it: collective Joan Armatrading rediscovery moment incoming.

Hit us up with your questions weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

This week: nostalgia for Moviefone and Rob Brezny's Dial-a-Horoscope, the Jungian idea that your unconscious is trying to help you, and the one Timothy Leary quote Ben has actually carried with him his whole life — "the goal of life is calm and compassionate gameplay." We saw Greg Araki's new film with Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman (co-written by Slutever's Karly Scortino) — a genuinely sexy movie that also makes you think, which is rarer than it should be. Plus: bumping into Peking Duk outside the Ritz in Randwick on the night their album went to #1 in Australia, ARIA plaques and all. (Randwick: possibly the least rock and roll suburb in Sydney.) A full Australian Traitors deep dive — how secretly Machiavellian Australians are, Dicko's voting block strategy, and the question the show keeps raising: is emotional gameplay still manipulation if the emotion is real? We saw the Bondi Boys at Hollywood Hotel (neon mic stand, expanded set, Gen X energy), Ben smells beer and thinks about his entire touring life, Ione smells Carmex and thinks about Paris 1987, and we're making a fanzine with Kate Dunn (@moonfurhat on Instagram) as merch for the Australia and Japan tour. We end with a challenge: Ione proves she's a better liar than Ben by closing the podcast with a lie. We'll let you decide if she pulled it off.

Hit us up with your questions weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

This week: moving stuff out of our LA storage and crying over a broccoli pan, Ione’s first visit to Phoenix Central Park, and a young band called Mouseatouille doing something genuinely exciting. We talk about Kelly from Camp Cope’s book “It’s Not For You” — about female musicians in Australia — and what it made us think about fighting for sensitivity in a cutthroat industry. Then a big conversation about masterworks vs. process: is the pressure to make your definitive statement actually just a marketing construct? Why Phoebe Bridgers is a genius of timing, why Fugazi understood something most artists don’t, and our primary argument against AI music. And then there are the Kate Moss stories. Nirvana Unplugged. The airport with Naomi Campbell. The ecstasy at Max Fish with Evan Dando. What Kate actually said. Also big recommendations this week are Johanna Samuels’ album “Sorry Kid” and Whitmer Thomas’ comedy special “Terminal Crew of Dudes”. Plus: Ben’s Australia and Japan tour with Georgia Maq (tickets available now), the condom misunderstanding that nearly destroyed our marriage, and the woman at dinner who had met every celebrity, billionaire and king — and was impressed by none of them. Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

Hit us up with your questions weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

This week we’re back together after Ione wraps filming her mysterious Melbourne movie. We talk about the impossible position the music industry puts beautiful women in (you need the looks to get in the door, then you get dismissed for them), the incredible 2charm show at the Enmore Theatre — think Pet Shop Boys if they took peptides — and what Stassi Schroeder’s comeback show gets right that Drea de Matteo and Ariel Pink completely missed about their own cancellations. Plus: Ione accidentally texts her friend that her holiday “looks expensive,” and Ben gives a talk at APRA AMCOS about originality and why the “stay in your lane” era is finally over. Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

Hit us with your questions weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

Ben issues a formal apology for confusing his Pingers from his Nangs from his Yippers after an uproar in the comments section — the Australian drug slang correction nobody asked for but everyone needed. Ione reveals she was once hurt not to be invited to do cocaine on the set of a famous movie — connected to why dating Anthony Kiedis put her off drugs entirely. We also discuss Zooey Deschanel claiming she's never even seen cocaine, and why we believe her completely. Then: Ione's review of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey — loved it, even without IMAX — including the film's quietly radical political message about who the real invaders are, and a shout out to Welsh actor Andrew Howard who plays Matt Damon's sidekick. A deep dive into A Clockwork Orange after a family outing to the Dendy revival screening (yes, with the 16-year-old, yes, with grandma), the original optimistic ending Anthony Burgess wrote that Kubrick never filmed, and why 70s cinema made audiences grapple with their own morality in ways films rarely do anymore. Plus: Chloe Sevigny and the Grateful Dead, why punk and jamming have a complicated relationship, Ben and Georgia Maq prepping for their joint tour (learning "Junkie Logic" by Spikefuck), Japan tour tickets on sale with Shonen Knife on the Osaka bill, the Wile E. Coyote Will Forte movie Warner Bros killed for a tax break, and what it's actually like to see a real Tasmanian Devil. Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

Hit us with your questions at weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

This week: Ben drives five hours to the Snowy Mountains with 17-year-olds, visits the Yarrangobilly Caves — and completely freezes when the punk rock tour guide turns off the lights and says "if anyone here is a singer, this is your moment." We also get into: Ione discovering Girl in Red wrote a song called "Say Anything" named after her iconic film, but describes it as "an old movie your mom showed you." The night at the Unholy Playhouse — a historic Sydney church turned queer performance venue — and why Catholicism and queer nightlife were always going to end up together. The Otherworld Zine Fair in Glebe, including the "Hotness Review: 80s Australian Newsreaders" zine. King Street Crawl — why it might be the most important day on the Australian music calendar. Tropical Fuckstorm live at the Enmore Theatre, Zia from the Dandy Warhols, and why Gareth Liddiard is the best songwriter in Australia. Ben's Japan tour announcement — Tokyo and Osaka shows on sale now, with Shonen Knife on the Osaka bill. Plus: Ione working on a secret project with John Goodman, and how they resolved a morning fight at the Marrickville markets while Ione's mum hovered nearby. Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

Hit us up with your questions weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

Before TikTok, before OnlyFans, before anyone used the phrase "sex positive" — there was Robin Byrd on New York public access cable. Sarah Jessica Parker just produced a documentary about her called Bang My Box on Max, and it's worth your time. Ben and Ione break down why Robin Byrd was genuinely radical and why she was impossible to put down. Also: why 90s indie artists were culturally forbidden from wanting success (and how that's completely changed), the Miles Davis quote that explains every artist's journey, Ninajirachi’s victorious homecoming and why the horror film Obsession is better than it has any right to be.

Hit us up with your questions weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

Ione is about to shoot a new film. Ben is thinking about covering Georgia Maq’s “Joe Rogan” song on their upcoming Australian tour. We found a 1990 Elle magazine article where legendary LA writer Eve Babitz profiled Ione and her brother (attached in full below), which includes a birthday party guest list featuring Robert Downey Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker (before anyone knew her), Adam Horovitz, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Also: Lars Von Trier once challenged Baz Luhrmann to make a Dogme 95 film. Baz’s response is perfect. Plus — why the Hal Hartley clip went viral on film Instagram, Sofia Coppola and Zoe Cassavetes competing over a French director, and Ben’s theory about how Baz Luhrmann changed the way every film gets edited. Dive deeper into our world at https://weirdertogether.substack.com

Hit us up with your questions at weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

Dive deeper into our world + tour ticket presales at https://weirdertogether.substack.com Ben's back from 60 shows around Australia (and avoided all crocodiles). Ione has been nursing a six-foot baby. And we have a lot to catch up on.This week: Olivia Rodrigo just announced Daisy Chain Fields — an all-female festival with Bikini Kill, Stevie Nicks, Mitski, Chappell Roan, Karen O, and more — and we get into why it matters, what Lilith Fair got right and wrong, and why the 90s community ethos feels more radical than ever in 2026. Also: it's the 40th anniversary of Wham! breaking up, and Ione has a memory involving a gay music promoter on her childhood street, early vinyl promos, and George Michael not yet being out. Plus: why Hal Hartley is the most underrated director of the American indie film era, the troll who called Ben a "soy boy," and Ione's lifelong crush on a boy who wrestled a crocodile.

Hit us up with your questions at weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com

This week we got completely sucked into DTF St. Louis on Max — and we have thoughts. David Harbour plays the most likable character in a show about suburban kinks, male loneliness and consensual weirdness, and we can't stop thinking about two middle-aged men tenderly dancing in their tighty-whities. Also: a woman yelled "you're my hall pass" at Ben during his Richmond show, and we're noticing a trend. Plus: the AI music backlash is real — Suno just raised $400 million and yet the public has definitively decided they do not want AI-created music. The Spotify CEO thinks bands should just drop a song every month. Reese Witherspoon is doing "let them eat cake" AI ads. And we explain exactly why tech platforms fundamentally do not understand creativity. Also: Seth Rogen's New York Times interview is essential listening, Ione had her first art show (get the painting at Vamped Vintage in Newtown), and we make the case for always having at least one normie friend in your life.

Hit us up with your questions at weirdertogetherpod@gmail.com