Eric Barkley is a son, a brother, a father, a lifelong chef, a one-time lover of baseball, and a guy who'd rather be nowhere else than casting his line in the lake.

I was lucky enough to steal some time away from the chef, and he swung by of an evening so that we could talk R.E.M., Metallica, and Tool for Episode #24 of Badass Records Podcast.

Eric was kind enough to walk us through his service-industry education and experience, and if you stick around for the end of our conversation, you'll find a nugget or two regarding gear for trout and bass fishing.

As part of our musically based chat, though, I learned some cool things about Maynard James Keenan and his primary outfit. Fascinating guy. And so is Chef Barkley. I learned some cool things about him, too.

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