Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Actor Singer Songwriter Courtney Gains Masters Your Moments With Liberation Day

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Actor Singer Songwriter Courtney Gains Masters Your Moments With Liberation Day · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

0:00
Speaker 1: There's a brand new podcast that we created. It's called
0:02
Speaker 1: Music's Lost History. We know the music, but if I
0:05
Speaker 1: were to question you about a song or about an artist,
0:08
Speaker 1: could you and would you be able to really point
0:11
Speaker 1: it out before I get to the end of the piece?
0:13
Speaker 1: The answer is waiting inside your memories. Music's Lost History,
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Speaker 1: only on Arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net. Enjoy your exploration. Hello and hello.
0:25
Speaker 1: How are you today?
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Speaker 2: Hey, good. How are you?
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Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic and very excited to share a conversation with
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Speaker 1: you because I've always seen you as being a journeyman.
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Speaker 1: Somebody who looks at a journey and says, let's do it.
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Speaker 1: Let's go make history. Let's go move people.
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Speaker 2: I think the double entendre journeyman fits perfectly. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So Liberation Day has got to be a project that
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Speaker 1: you're going to hold on to for a long time
0:50
Speaker 1: because this just really is a mood sender and as
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Speaker 1: well as a trender. I mean, it just really puts
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Speaker 1: that listener someplace where they can say, this is my area.
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Speaker 1: Stay away.
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Speaker 2: Thank you, man. Thank you very much. Thank you for
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Speaker 2: taking the time to listen to it and talk about it.
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Speaker 1: Well, it's the blues. There's some soul, I feel. I
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Speaker 1: feel that there's just, to me, it's about what everyday
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Speaker 1: life is these days, but we just don't know what
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Speaker 1: words to come up with. So we're relying on you, Courtney.
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Speaker 2: There you go. That's what an artist tries to do, right?
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Speaker 2: Articulate the times and articulate the times they're at as well.
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Speaker 2: So it certainly is a combination of those two things. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: The power of the pen. What is that like for
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Speaker 1: you to be able to bring words together that really
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Speaker 1: start in the imagination? Because there's so many people that
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Speaker 1: run away from their thoughts, but you like to play
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Speaker 1: with them.
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Speaker 2: Correct. Well, very, very observant. Yeah. Well, I think as
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Speaker 2: an actor, you have to be able you have to
1:44
Speaker 2: be self-aware, number one. And number two, you get trained
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Speaker 2: to allow what's called a stream of consciousness, to not
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Speaker 2: filter out what's going on in your mind. So I've
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Speaker 2: already had that training in that regard, but then as
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Speaker 2: a musician... it, uh, music allows, has allowed me a
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Speaker 2: way to express myself that I couldn't otherwise. And, and go,
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Speaker 2: if I was going through a tough time, articulate it
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Speaker 2: and get it out in a way that I couldn't otherwise.
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Speaker 2: So it's just, it's always been art for me, acting, music.
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Speaker 2: It's always been a form of expression for me, a
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Speaker 2: form of a way to get things out. And, uh,
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Speaker 2: Help me from going postal.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, but what is it like for you, though, when
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Speaker 1: you've been hired to do the acting job and all
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Speaker 1: of a sudden somebody on the set goes, you know,
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Speaker 1: he's a musician as well. Then all of a sudden,
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Speaker 1: then everybody gets a different view because it's like, oh, oh,
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Speaker 1: now I got to perform for him. Or do you
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Speaker 1: give him that opportunity?
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Speaker 2: Well, I'll bring it up if I think they have
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Speaker 2: something that might be good for a particular movie or such.
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Speaker 2: But I try not to impose them having to use
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Speaker 2: my music on anything because I don't want that for
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Speaker 2: a filmmaker. If they find something that they like, that's great.
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Speaker 2: So this last movie that's doing really good in festivals
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Speaker 2: right now, The Barn 3, Barn Part 3– You know,
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Speaker 2: I said, hey, I think I got an idea for
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Speaker 2: this movie. I said, can I send you something? And
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Speaker 2: he said, yeah, sure. And then, you know, it was
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Speaker 2: really good. So it really fit the movie. So he
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Speaker 2: was all about it. So I was like, well, I
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Speaker 2: would love to be at the end titles. That would
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Speaker 2: be a thrill. That's the optimum place to be. And
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Speaker 2: if we could use some footage for a music video,
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Speaker 2: let's do this. And he was all about it. So
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Speaker 2: it's been a really– it was really cool. We saw
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Speaker 2: the premiere today. See, and you do that at the
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Speaker 2: right time because I'm starting to notice that a lot
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Speaker 2: of people are hanging out with the credits these days.
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Speaker 1: It's not that thing where you pick up the bucket
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Speaker 1: of popcorn and just take off. They're sitting there through
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Speaker 1: those names.
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Speaker 2: Correct. Correct. And that's that for a song. I think
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Speaker 2: it's the great place to be positioned because it's the
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Speaker 2: last impression of the movie, you know, and they can't
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Speaker 2: they're not watching anything but credit. So it's a good
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Speaker 2: time to listen to the song.
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Speaker 1: But you're so right about that, because, I mean, my
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Speaker 1: wife and I all sit there and we're we're jamming
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Speaker 1: out to to the song itself. And sure, you know,
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Speaker 1: our eyes are, you know, feasting on the on these
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Speaker 1: names and things like that that we can't even produce.
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Speaker 1: and even, even pronounce. And the thing is, it was
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Speaker 1: that that song is what we, we, we sit there
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Speaker 1: and go, all right, I kind of know what, if
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Speaker 1: this soundtrack is even available now.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. That's what, that's what you hope for. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: That's what you hope for people to say like, Oh,
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Speaker 2: where can I find this song?
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Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know what we do? We'll sit there
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Speaker 1: and we'll hit Spotify right away, or we'll go to
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Speaker 1: I heart radio or we'll hit Amazon. So, I mean,
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Speaker 1: it's not even going to a tower records or a
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Speaker 1: music land anymore. It's like, okay, I know where I
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Speaker 1: can go find it. I'll find the damn thing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah it's a different era that's for sure and
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Speaker 2: there's just so uh there's so much content out there
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Speaker 2: whether it be musically or or to try to keep
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Speaker 2: up with what's going on in streaming that you you
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Speaker 2: know you just have to find your niche audience that
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Speaker 2: that can get into what you're doing because it's just
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Speaker 2: a different world it's not like you know back in
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Speaker 2: the day where there's only so many songs playing on
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Speaker 2: the radio or there's only so many three three networks
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Speaker 2: of television now it's just gluttonous stuff so you're really
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Speaker 2: always really you're really fighting for an audience nowadays you.
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Speaker 1: Know yeah how about that radio trying to survive they're
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Speaker 1: gonna have to do something because when you got spotify
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Speaker 1: doing billions of uh you know people downloading the song
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Speaker 1: or watching it or you've got iheart doing the same
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Speaker 1: thing and then radio's going where'd everybody go uh they're
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Speaker 1: playing a different game right now and we need people
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Speaker 1: like courtney to give us those songs because it's not
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Speaker 1: about being in a genre it's about just putting it
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Speaker 1: out there.
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Speaker 2: Correct. Correct. The chances of making money on a record
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Speaker 2: nowadays is like it used to be. You used to
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Speaker 2: make a record and then you toured to promote the record.
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Speaker 2: Now you make a record so you have a reason
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Speaker 2: to go tour. The only place where they're making money
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Speaker 2: is on tours. They're making money on merch. It's a
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Speaker 2: different animal. Everything's kind of upside down, you know?
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Speaker 1: That's so funny that you bring up merch, because that's
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Speaker 1: one of the things that I really do try to
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Speaker 1: talk about with a lot of the up-and-coming bands or
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Speaker 1: people that have been around for a while. Because I
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Speaker 1: know one thing here in the Carolinas, I mean, merch
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Speaker 1: is so important to people every day. And when you
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Speaker 1: ask them about the shirt they're wearing or the bracelet
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Speaker 1: they've got or a badge, they've got a story. And
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Speaker 1: I'm going, God, that's where music is right now. It's
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Speaker 1: in their experience, and I should be listening to them
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Speaker 1: and then go to the music.
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Speaker 2: Right, right. Like I said, people nowadays, because there's so
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Speaker 2: much they have to pick, they're going to pick what
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Speaker 2: they're passionate about and then they want to turn other
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Speaker 2: people on to it for sure. So yeah, I just
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Speaker 2: started going out on the road as it were. So
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Speaker 2: I've just been getting my merch together. And, uh, uh,
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Speaker 2: it's been a, you know, I, I just, it's been
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Speaker 2: a little bit of a process just learning as I go,
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Speaker 2: you know? So each, each time I get out there,
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Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, now that I just got picks, that
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Speaker 2: was really cool. Um, I got a sponsorship for, for
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Speaker 2: picks uh let me see i was gonna pull one
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Speaker 2: out for you so you can see it you can
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Speaker 2: see it very well but for the new for the
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Speaker 2: new record and it's got like an autograph on the
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Speaker 2: back and that's that's a cool milestone for me that
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Speaker 2: i got my first music sponsorship and i got some
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Speaker 2: cool picks to hand out to people now so you
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Speaker 2: know bit at a time.
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Speaker 1: Well i hope you understand how important that pick is
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Speaker 1: because i still have my ace freely pick from 1977
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Speaker 1: dude and i feel like that it just happened 10 minutes.
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Speaker 2: Ago Wow, that's cool. That's cool.
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Speaker 1: I mean, to have a pick, I mean, that to
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Speaker 1: me is one of those things that you can put
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Speaker 1: in your wallet or you can put in a journal
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Speaker 1: or something and you've got it for the rest of
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Speaker 1: your life, man, because it lasts forever.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting, again, generationally, too, right? Like,
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Speaker 2: you know, now that everything's digital, but like, yeah, I've
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Speaker 2: done a lot of horror cons and stuff as well.
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Speaker 2: And people come because they want something physical. They want something,
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Speaker 2: a memory, you know, like, and there you are, you're,
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Speaker 2: for example, a pic from 1979. That's interesting. You still
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Speaker 2: have it. That's a memory from that event that, like
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Speaker 2: you said, will remind you like it was just tomorrow
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Speaker 2: or it was just yesterday. That's what merch is. Merch
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Speaker 2: is a physical representation of the experience. And people still
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Speaker 2: want something physical. People still want DVDs. They want VHS even.
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Speaker 1: Well, the fact that you paid your dues and continue
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Speaker 1: to pay your dues by playing in coffee houses, I
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Speaker 1: know that here in Carolina– It's expanded now to where
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Speaker 1: we have live musicians in grocery stores now, and they're
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Speaker 1: going from a grocery store to Nashville. And it's like,
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Speaker 1: I'm going, of course, they're paying their dues. They understand
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Speaker 1: you've got to pay your dues and be in front
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Speaker 1: of people.
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Speaker 2: Well, now you said the Carolinas twice now. Where are you?
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Speaker 2: I'm in Charlotte. Okay, great. So I'm in Savannah, Georgia now. Oh,
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Speaker 2: you get it. And yes, I do. And that's really
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Speaker 2: what's been the catalyst. When I moved here, it was
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Speaker 2: just a beautiful town I moved to. But I didn't
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Speaker 2: realize how rich the music scene was. It's a very
8:42
Speaker 2: rich music scene. Really a lot of talented guys here.
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Speaker 2: But then when I found out you could get paid
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Speaker 2: to play three sets a night at a coffee house
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Speaker 2: or a bar or a restaurant, I dove in head first.
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Speaker 2: And it gave me a chance to really work. I've
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Speaker 2: been doing that since 2022. And it gave me a
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Speaker 2: chance to really work my act. And I switched from
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Speaker 2: guitar to bass and singing. Needed a better guitar player
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Speaker 2: to noodle for, you know, three 45-minute sets. But really
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Speaker 2: been able to work my chops there. and steadily put
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Speaker 2: out records to get to this point the goal of
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Speaker 2: this record was was radio ready and so i could
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Speaker 2: get on the radio which i have been able to
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Speaker 2: do and that was a personal goal as you know
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Speaker 2: there's definitely a debate whether radio is even relevant anymore
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Speaker 2: but good coming from you know my era being on
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Speaker 2: the radio was the ultimate goal so i had to
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Speaker 2: do it so i've had a couple songs chart now
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Speaker 2: and that's really exciting and liberation day we're putting out
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Speaker 2: off the record we're putting out as a single right
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Speaker 2: now and hopefully it's actually charting, starts charting this week. So, but,
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Speaker 2: but yeah, having a, having a, getting out and playing regularly, that, that,
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Speaker 2: that was the real goal to build to the point
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Speaker 2: that when, now that we're starting to go on the road,
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Speaker 2: that this band's battle tested, you know, and it's showing
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Speaker 2: when we get out there.
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Speaker 1: Don't you see music, especially today as being the next
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Speaker 1: level of Hollywood drama? In other words, we, we know
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Speaker 1: what the song is about because we've either lived it
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Speaker 1: or we're shy and from it but we rely on
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Speaker 1: songwriters like yourself because you're not afraid to be that
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Speaker 1: transparent in those lyrics you're bringing us our life and
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Speaker 1: we're going i'm buying it i'm buying it that's yep
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Speaker 1: that's me oh.
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Speaker 2: That's great i mean that's great to hear you say
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Speaker 2: that that's i hope that i feel that this is
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Speaker 2: a uh you know because i wrote i'm obviously not
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Speaker 2: a spring chicken here myself I wrote what I think
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Speaker 2: is a more mature record talking about issues of not
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Speaker 2: just our times, but of my times, you know, reflecting
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Speaker 2: on life at this stage, 40 years out from, you know,
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Speaker 2: career and acting and things like that, that I'm hoping
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Speaker 2: that people of my generation are relating to it, you know,
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Speaker 2: because like there isn't, you know, on the radio, all
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Speaker 2: you really hear is a voice of somebody who's 20,
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Speaker 2: you know, and I understand the logical from the record
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Speaker 2: sales side of it. I understand that. But I feel
10:49
Speaker 2: that there's so much more to talk about. And people
10:54
Speaker 2: of our generation still listen to rock and roll, still
10:56
Speaker 2: listen to bands. This is our conversation.
11:00
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Courtney Gaines coming
11:03
Speaker 1: up next. The music you've got to find is Liberation
11:08
Speaker 1: Day from Courtney Gaines. We are back. When you have
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Speaker 1: a song like Big Brother, are you starting to see
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Speaker 1: some people pull out that air guitar right there with you? Because,
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Speaker 1: I mean, you do some stuff on this song. I'm going,
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Speaker 1: that's a total air guitar song there. Don't even be
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Speaker 1: shy to hide it, man.
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Speaker 2: Big Brother, that would be a good air guitar song.
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Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. I hadn't thought about that. But yeah,
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Speaker 2: Big Brother, that was from a different record. That was
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Speaker 2: from the Safe Haven record. And originally it was in
11:36
Speaker 2: a movie that I produced and starred in called Benny
11:38
Speaker 2: Bliss and the Disciples of Greatness, a rock and roll
11:41
Speaker 2: road movie with an anti-technology message. We put it out
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Speaker 2: in 2006. And it was when it was still Flip
11:48
Speaker 2: Bones and I was talking about all this technology. And
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Speaker 2: it's only gotten a thousand times worse. The song that
11:56
Speaker 2: I refer to about the technology in the Liberation Day
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Speaker 2: record is kind of what I consider the sleeper on
12:02
Speaker 2: the record called Slip Away. It's the only song that
12:05
Speaker 2: doesn't have drums and all of that. And it's about.
12:08
Speaker 2: you know, the two sides, the parents going like, well,
12:10
Speaker 2: how are we losing these kids? And the kids, you know,
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Speaker 2: rebelling against whatever parents think about technology going like, don't
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Speaker 2: worry about it. You don't understand my life. I got
12:18
Speaker 2: this covered, you know, but it's, but yeah, but, but
12:22
Speaker 2: that's the, but, but every generation gap worries about the
12:25
Speaker 2: next generation and, and, and what they're doing. Hopefully they,
12:29
Speaker 2: you know, they will be okay, but it is, it
12:31
Speaker 2: is concerning, you know, um, the kids in my neighborhood
12:34
Speaker 2: I live in now running around, they don't, they don't
12:38
Speaker 2: talk a lot. They kind of just scream and stuff.
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Speaker 2: It's really like, they're almost, I hate to say it,
12:43
Speaker 2: but they almost sound feral, you know? And it's just
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Speaker 2: because they don't really talk with words a lot anymore.
12:49
Speaker 2: It's just, they're doom scrolling and texting. And I don't know,
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Speaker 2: it just seems like they're, their ability to articulate seems limited.
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Speaker 2: That's my observation, you know?
12:58
Speaker 1: Well, you're spot on because you got people like Morgan
13:00
Speaker 1: Wallen that's just being just somebody from his generation and
13:03
Speaker 1: he's getting in trouble for saying something that everybody's saying anyway.
13:06
Speaker 1: And it's like, oh my God, Morgan, you can't be
13:08
Speaker 1: doing that in public because they're going to be judging you.
13:10
Speaker 1: I mean, that's got to be the tough thing for
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Speaker 1: an artist like yourself where you're so used to being
13:14
Speaker 1: honest on a page. But once you do it in public,
13:16
Speaker 1: it's like, oh my God, Courtney.
13:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's, you know, those are, those are touchy. I mean, I,
13:24
Speaker 2: for a long, long time as an actor, I didn't do,
13:28
Speaker 2: I didn't look to do interviews much or anything like
13:30
Speaker 2: that because I just, I always had trouble with the
13:33
Speaker 2: sort of the concept of a personality you and as
13:35
Speaker 2: to you, you know, and really it was conventions that
13:39
Speaker 2: kind of was the transition for me to sort of
13:42
Speaker 2: get comfortable with the idea of a personality, I guess
13:45
Speaker 2: you could say. And then, Then once I started doing
13:48
Speaker 2: the records, I started going, I have to do podcasts.
13:50
Speaker 2: I got to get out there. And so it's been fine.
13:53
Speaker 2: It's actually been really good. But yeah, there is that
13:57
Speaker 2: ground of what you can and can't say, right? I mean,
14:00
Speaker 2: you have to pay attention to that.
14:02
Speaker 1: So then how do you handle the situation when it's in,
14:04
Speaker 1: I'm not going to call it multiple personalities with creativity,
14:07
Speaker 1: but as they always tell me, the multiple roles. I mean,
14:10
Speaker 1: to be a storyteller in music and then to go
14:13
Speaker 1: and be seen on a TV show or a movie,
14:15
Speaker 1: that's a different type of storytelling. Do you have a
14:17
Speaker 1: battle of personalities or roles?
14:20
Speaker 2: No, no. I mean, I've I've I've been I started
14:24
Speaker 2: taking acting lessons and I started taking music lessons at 13.
14:28
Speaker 2: And so I but I knew I was focusing on
14:31
Speaker 2: being a professional actor. So I approached that. In that fashion,
14:35
Speaker 2: I was not thinking of being a professional musician. I
14:39
Speaker 2: was just really interested in it as a form of expression.
14:42
Speaker 2: And so my paths to them were very different. As
14:45
Speaker 2: an actor, I studied all the method acting techniques. So
14:49
Speaker 2: I had a whole bag of tools that I could
14:51
Speaker 2: use because every movie and every project is different and
14:54
Speaker 2: you need different tools to accomplish your goal. Yep. But
14:57
Speaker 2: as a musician, I approached it the exact opposite. Because
15:00
Speaker 2: if I had decided that was what I was going
15:01
Speaker 2: to do as a musician, as a profession, I would
15:04
Speaker 2: have really, really learned all the techniques and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
15:07
Speaker 2: But I didn't want to know too much. I just
15:08
Speaker 2: wanted to learn enough to start playing up the neck
15:10
Speaker 2: so I could start writing. And my suspicion was that
15:13
Speaker 2: if I knew too much, it was going to hurt
15:14
Speaker 2: my writing, if that makes sense. And I found that
15:18
Speaker 2: to be true because now that I'm playing lots of
15:20
Speaker 2: covers and things now in these bands, Now it's starting
15:23
Speaker 2: to affect me when I start to write. I'm like, oh,
15:24
Speaker 2: that sounds like this. Oh, that sounds like that. I
15:26
Speaker 2: didn't want anything to hinder me. I just wanted to write,
15:29
Speaker 2: you know, and it worked for me as a songwriter
15:35
Speaker 2: to not know too, too much. I think that I
15:38
Speaker 2: think that you can see lots of musicians are really
15:41
Speaker 2: great guys that went to really great school, school, you know, Berkeley, blah, blah, blah.
15:45
Speaker 2: But they can't write songs. Yeah, I've heard that a lot. Yep. Yep. Yeah.
15:48
Speaker 2: So so so my my intuition was right for me
15:52
Speaker 2: as a songwriter to to not know too, too much
15:54
Speaker 2: so that I would discover something. as opposed to compare.
16:00
Speaker 1: So when you're creating with somebody like Bruce Kolek, I mean,
16:02
Speaker 1: Bruce loves to break down his music. Do you sit
16:06
Speaker 1: back and watch him as a student and say, just
16:08
Speaker 1: keep talking. I'm just going to listen.
16:11
Speaker 2: Oh, I mean, you're talking about a guy on a
16:13
Speaker 2: whole another level here. Bruce Kulik is a master of
16:17
Speaker 2: the guitar. And you're talking about a guy who's very technical.
16:22
Speaker 2: And so getting to watch him, I was part of
16:27
Speaker 2: a thing called H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams of the Witch House.
16:31
Speaker 2: which is a two-part album, metal rock opera. It's incredible. Oh,
16:37
Speaker 2: my God. And Bruce Cruella plays on it, Doug Blair,
16:40
Speaker 2: a lot of other very talented guys. But they'd expended
16:44
Speaker 2: to do some other singles and brought me in and
16:47
Speaker 2: a couple other recognizable actors to kind of re-put it
16:51
Speaker 2: out the brand. And I had the chance to watch
16:53
Speaker 2: those guys in the studio, you know, Bruce and Doug Blair.
16:56
Speaker 2: And what I really got out of it it may seem,
17:00
Speaker 2: you know, I guess in one way obvious as an actor,
17:02
Speaker 2: but I hadn't seen it as a musician was just
17:04
Speaker 2: how prepared they were as an actor. I know to
17:08
Speaker 2: be prepared. Right. I know to know my lines. I
17:09
Speaker 2: know to have built my character. And that's what I saw.
17:12
Speaker 2: They understood that time was money in the studio and
17:16
Speaker 2: they came in very prepared and they, and they banged
17:19
Speaker 2: it out, you know, but if they needed to do
17:21
Speaker 2: another take, they would, but it was just, I just saw,
17:23
Speaker 2: that's what I walked away with. It was like, you
17:25
Speaker 2: have to come in the studio and, Just like as
17:27
Speaker 2: an actor, you've got to come in prepared and you
17:29
Speaker 2: need to know what prepared is. And so that's what
17:32
Speaker 2: I really took away from those guys. But yeah, those
17:35
Speaker 2: guys are.
17:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, just don't do what I did. I went in
17:38
Speaker 1: there and everybody found out I did car commercials and
17:40
Speaker 1: things for the Renaissance Festival and stuff. And so I
17:42
Speaker 1: started impersonating my own commercials. Couldn't sing that day because
17:45
Speaker 1: I shot my vocal cords. That was money that I
17:49
Speaker 1: lost because I was being a stupid show off.
17:52
Speaker 2: There you go. But that's a lesson learned. Oh, my God. Oh,
17:56
Speaker 2: my God. Oh, oh.
17:58
Speaker 1: So then how is it that when I sit down
18:01
Speaker 1: and listen to your music, I sat there and I'm going,
18:03
Speaker 1: this guy creates moments. I mean, when you're doing things
18:05
Speaker 1: with those riffs and things on those guitars, it's like
18:08
Speaker 1: I sit there and I go, I'm going to go
18:09
Speaker 1: on through life. I'm going to go up to Dean.
18:10
Speaker 1: I'm going to go.
18:11
Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
18:12
Speaker 1: That is absolutely from Courtney. He created that and he
18:15
Speaker 1: planted it inside of me. Do you see yourself as
18:17
Speaker 1: that moments creator?
18:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think that's sort of the difference between, say,
18:22
Speaker 2: like doing a movie, right? You're doing a lot of
18:24
Speaker 2: little scenes that then make a bigger picture. When you're
18:28
Speaker 2: doing songs, you know, three, five-minute songs, I always see
18:32
Speaker 2: them as little haikus, you know? But you're still trying
18:35
Speaker 2: to catch that vibe, right? Like, what's the story you're telling?
18:39
Speaker 2: And that's what, you know, as an actor, again, I
18:41
Speaker 2: have the training in, is that ability to get into
18:43
Speaker 2: a mood, right? So it's capturing that mood, that moment,
18:47
Speaker 2: a little time capsule. So if I can do that,
18:51
Speaker 2: if people can hear a song and come away with
18:52
Speaker 2: something and catch a vibe off of that, then I
18:54
Speaker 2: did my job. Yeah.
18:55
Speaker 1: OK, let's just go ahead and break in with safe
18:57
Speaker 1: haven then. OK, because I know you must have been
18:59
Speaker 1: somewhere around Laurel Valley when you were doing this song,
19:01
Speaker 1: because I'm total 100 percent picking up a Laurel Valley vibe.
19:04
Speaker 2: Oh, that's interesting. I didn't think about that. But that's cool.
19:08
Speaker 2: I like that. um i remember reading the book about
19:12
Speaker 2: laurel canyon too that whole era of an amazing amazing
19:15
Speaker 2: time no actually i was out here in in savannah
19:18
Speaker 2: by then and i think what what really that was
19:20
Speaker 2: just going you know everybody going through the pandemic and
19:25
Speaker 2: thinking about you know that's what i think what sort
19:27
Speaker 2: of brought the vibe of safe haven and then that
19:29
Speaker 2: kind of having a place thinking about those people who
19:32
Speaker 2: were on the streets during that time especially like i
19:34
Speaker 2: would see videos in la of People in all these
19:37
Speaker 2: parks that I grew up in, you know, there were
19:39
Speaker 2: just camps everywhere. I was like, this is crazy. I
19:42
Speaker 2: think that's what started the conversation of safe haven. And
19:45
Speaker 2: then I think it just really, just really, sometimes an
19:49
Speaker 2: idea morphs. as you're writing it or has double meaning.
19:52
Speaker 2: And I think the second part of that meaning was
19:54
Speaker 2: music is a safe haven for me.
19:56
Speaker 1: So then how do you deal with those moments when
19:58
Speaker 1: you know that viewers are noticing you by the characters
20:02
Speaker 1: that you play? And then when they see you do
20:04
Speaker 1: the music, do they have a transition problem or do
20:07
Speaker 1: they just go, yeah, that's Hans. Yeah, that's him up there.
20:11
Speaker 1: I knew Kenneth could do this. And I'm going, yeah, okay.
20:15
Speaker 1: Call him what you want. Just buy the music.
20:19
Speaker 2: I think it depends on the person. And some people
20:21
Speaker 2: aren't open. They want to definitely keep me in a
20:24
Speaker 2: certain box. But I think also... the bar for me
20:28
Speaker 2: as a musician, as an actor, being a musician is
20:31
Speaker 2: not that high, right? They don't expect it to be good.
20:33
Speaker 2: Sometimes people come to see what's going to be a
20:35
Speaker 2: train wreck. You can see it on their face. They're like, this,
20:37
Speaker 2: this either, this is going to be hilarious, you know?
20:39
Speaker 2: And then a couple of songs and they're like, Oh,
20:41
Speaker 2: this dude actually is pretty good. All right, let's just
20:43
Speaker 2: have a good time. So you just see a one
20:45
Speaker 2: by one, you just convert hearts and minds. Um, I've always,
20:48
Speaker 2: I've always believed that art will prevail, you know?
20:51
Speaker 1: Do you still push your music toward college radio stations
20:54
Speaker 1: or do we see that as being just as corporate
20:56
Speaker 1: taken over?
20:58
Speaker 2: Well, it depends on the song. So, um, so what
21:02
Speaker 2: was the last, what was the song that I, was it,
21:05
Speaker 2: was it safe haven that we put out on college radio? Yeah.
21:08
Speaker 2: I think so. So the last ones, I've gone some
21:10
Speaker 2: different routes. I put a song off of Liberation Day
21:13
Speaker 2: called Been Forgotten. That's a song I've had for a
21:16
Speaker 2: long time that I've always believed was well-written. So we
21:19
Speaker 2: went after Top 40 Radio with that, which was a
21:21
Speaker 2: big step up. And we got to 61 in Top
21:27
Speaker 2: 40 Radio. My joke is we were ahead of Shaboosie
21:30
Speaker 2: for four weeks. So we got out of that.
21:34
Speaker 1: Oh my God. I, I, I totally, I totally get that.
21:36
Speaker 1: Cause that was like in, in 88, you know, I was,
21:38
Speaker 1: I was up for American top 40 and, and I,
21:41
Speaker 1: I didn't get it. And, and so shadow Stevens got it,
21:43
Speaker 1: but it doesn't matter. I was in there with shadow Stevens.
21:45
Speaker 2: I don't care.
21:46
Speaker 1: I was in there with shadow Stevens. And, and it's,
21:48
Speaker 1: and I love the fact that you're honest enough with that.
21:50
Speaker 1: It's like, we, we were beating Shabuzy at the time.
21:52
Speaker 1: And I'm going, yeah, damn, that's hot, man. That's I'm
21:55
Speaker 1: going to buy a ticket just for that reason right there.
21:58
Speaker 2: It just blew my mind that we were in that
22:00
Speaker 2: real race with the big timers. It's an independent going
22:05
Speaker 2: against the labels, as it were, to get to 61.
22:08
Speaker 2: I was pretty proud of that. And Wander and Dream
22:11
Speaker 2: got to 51 in the secondary rock market, and now
22:14
Speaker 2: we're doing Liberation Day. which, like I said, I believe
22:17
Speaker 2: will be breaking in this week. How far we're going
22:20
Speaker 2: to go, we'll just put it out there and see
22:21
Speaker 2: what happens.
22:22
Speaker 1: Speaking of that distance that you're going, as you grow
22:25
Speaker 1: and you step onto a tour, are we going to
22:28
Speaker 1: see you in an intimate setting such as the Night
22:30
Speaker 1: Theater here in Charlotte, or are you going to try
22:32
Speaker 1: to do the Arena Rock?
22:34
Speaker 2: We're not at an arena rock level, that's for sure.
22:37
Speaker 2: It depends if we can open for somebody. What'd you
22:39
Speaker 2: call that place? The Knight, what?
22:41
Speaker 1: Knight's Theater. Oh my God, dude. When you walk into
22:43
Speaker 1: a Knight's Theater or you go into the Belk Theater
22:46
Speaker 1: at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, oh my God, you
22:49
Speaker 1: can't get any closer to those musicians. And I can
22:52
Speaker 1: see your face. I can see those fingers of yours.
22:55
Speaker 1: I mean, you're so close to that musician and you
22:57
Speaker 1: walk out of there going, I'm a changed person.
23:00
Speaker 2: That's great. Well, I just wrote that down as a
23:02
Speaker 2: place to look into. Mainly, I'm on the level right
23:06
Speaker 2: now that I'm going on festivals where there's multiple bands,
23:10
Speaker 2: or I'm opening for other people. I'm going to be
23:14
Speaker 2: opening for Jeffrey Nothing a couple nights in Florida in December.
23:22
Speaker 2: The next big thing is, end of October, you've heard
23:26
Speaker 2: of Booze Cruises. We're doing what's called a booze. a
23:29
Speaker 2: boo cruise out of tampa margaritaville and i'm hosting signing
23:34
Speaker 2: and a multiple band my band's playing and several bands
23:36
Speaker 2: are playing we're going from tampa to somewhere in mexico
23:39
Speaker 2: and back five days never been on a cruise before
23:41
Speaker 2: so that's going to be wild it's going to be
23:43
Speaker 2: like a convention on water basically is how i see
23:45
Speaker 2: it but it should be fun.
23:47
Speaker 1: See it goes all the way back to that question
23:49
Speaker 1: that i had you are a man who's out to
23:51
Speaker 1: create moments that's exactly what you're just telling me right
23:54
Speaker 1: there that you're going to create a moment and then
23:56
Speaker 1: they're going to take it with them Correct.
23:59
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, my goal is simple, you know, just to
24:01
Speaker 2: go out and share my music with people, right? It's
24:03
Speaker 2: not very complicated, but it's just getting there is work.
24:06
Speaker 2: You know, how you get there is, you have to
24:09
Speaker 2: get past, like in acting, you have to get past
24:11
Speaker 2: lots of gatekeepers, right? Like people who are the judgment
24:15
Speaker 2: to say you're worthy or not worthy or however that goes.
24:18
Speaker 2: And you just got to keep putting yourself out there
24:20
Speaker 2: until they say yes.
24:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, but when you run into those gatekeepers, have you
24:25
Speaker 1: gotten to the point yet where you're like me, where
24:26
Speaker 1: I just go, hmm? That's all you do is you
24:28
Speaker 1: just make a sound, hmm? Because you know you're going
24:31
Speaker 1: to get by him. I'm just going to figure you out.
24:32
Speaker 1: I just, hmm, that's all you're getting from me now.
24:35
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good attitude. I find the music business,
24:40
Speaker 2: I feel in the movie business, you can go on
24:42
Speaker 2: Google and you can find out pretty much anything you
24:44
Speaker 2: need to find out, whether it be acting coaches or
24:47
Speaker 2: agents or managers. But the music business, it's not so easy.
24:51
Speaker 2: You have to really work it to find people and
24:53
Speaker 2: you have to get connected to people and put yourself
24:57
Speaker 2: out there. It takes more time. It's not as easy.
25:00
Speaker 2: I consider the industry has a lot more smoke and
25:03
Speaker 2: mirrors to it, even though L.A. certainly has those things, too.
25:07
Speaker 2: But the music business, I can see why people say
25:10
Speaker 2: it's a tough business. It takes a while to figure
25:12
Speaker 2: things out. But bit by bit, we're getting there.
25:16
Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about what
25:18
Speaker 1: you're doing and everything that you've done? Because I want
25:21
Speaker 1: them to experience the entire you.
25:24
Speaker 2: Thank you. So basically I have a Courtney Gaines Instagram
25:27
Speaker 2: and Facebook, and I also have a Courtney Gaines group,
25:30
Speaker 2: Instagram and Facebook. That's how you reach out to me.
25:32
Speaker 2: That's how you find out what's going on.
25:33
Speaker 1: I'm shocked that you don't have a radio show with
25:35
Speaker 1: a name like Courtney Gaines, dude. Do you know how
25:37
Speaker 1: many ratings you could pull in? Who do you listen
25:39
Speaker 1: to this morning? I'm listening to Courtney Gaines, man.
25:41
Speaker 2: I did a, I did a, I did a, um,
25:44
Speaker 2: like kind of like a podcast show for, uh, what
25:46
Speaker 2: was it like eight episodes? Uh, what was the name
25:49
Speaker 2: of it? I can't think of it right now. Oh, um,
25:51
Speaker 2: Hold on a second. I actually have a bug, I think.
25:54
Speaker 2: Let me see. Is this it? Yeah, it was called
26:00
Speaker 2: The Outlander Hour. And we did like eight episodes, but
26:05
Speaker 2: then it didn't get picked up. So we were kind
26:07
Speaker 2: of tied to this thing. This guy said he could
26:09
Speaker 2: get some deals, and then it didn't happen. But what
26:12
Speaker 2: I was trying to focus on was the industry talking about,
26:17
Speaker 2: the film industry talking about some of the tough things
26:19
Speaker 2: that were going on. that everybody got pretty afraid to
26:23
Speaker 2: talk about at that time. But now after the strikes,
26:25
Speaker 2: everybody was talking about the whole streaming services and how
26:29
Speaker 2: there's no money in it and all this stuff. I mean,
26:32
Speaker 2: I saw the writing on the wall, you know. So
26:35
Speaker 2: this was like, gosh, 10 years ago. And I was
26:38
Speaker 2: trying to talk about these subjects. And like I said,
26:40
Speaker 2: people were too scared to step up and talk about it.
26:43
Speaker 2: But now it's all out there. So maybe I was
26:46
Speaker 2: a little just too ahead of the curve, as they say. Oh,
26:49
Speaker 2: my God.
26:49
Speaker 1: I remember sitting down with Bob Pittman way, way, way
26:52
Speaker 1: long ago before iHeart did what they did. In fact,
26:55
Speaker 1: he was telling us, we're going to call it iHeart Radio.
26:58
Speaker 1: And we're all in the company at Clear Channel going,
27:00
Speaker 1: you what? What are you talking about? What do you
27:03
Speaker 1: mean streaming? We're lost. And then now look at where
27:06
Speaker 1: it's going with our television, with our radio, with everything.
27:09
Speaker 1: And it's like, wow, that's a Beatles moment right there.
27:14
Speaker 2: Well, I feel that, yeah, digital, I kind of feel
27:16
Speaker 2: like digital is the kiss of death for everything. Yes, yes.
27:19
Speaker 2: The industry or the film industry. An example I really
27:24
Speaker 2: use that is simple proof during this time is the
27:27
Speaker 2: movie I'm in, The Burbs, that's been running on television
27:30
Speaker 2: for years, and I would get residual income from that.
27:33
Speaker 2: And then when the TV show came out, they moved
27:37
Speaker 2: the movie to streaming, and then I got my first
27:40
Speaker 2: check from that, and it was a 10th. of what
27:42
Speaker 2: it was. And that tells you all you need to know.
27:46
Speaker 2: And I felt bad for the actors coming up because
27:48
Speaker 2: I was very fortunate that I was in what I
27:51
Speaker 2: would call the residuals era because believe me, there were
27:54
Speaker 2: times when things were slow that those residual checks were
27:57
Speaker 2: what paid the rent. I don't know what these young
27:59
Speaker 2: kids are going to do. They're going to have to
28:01
Speaker 2: have a job. And that's going to hurt their careers.
28:05
Speaker 2: They're going to be split focused and a lot of
28:08
Speaker 2: people I think will drop out. I think some very
28:11
Speaker 2: talented people may just be like, I can't make a
28:13
Speaker 2: living at this. I'm going to go sell houses or
28:15
Speaker 2: whatever they do. You know? So it's tough. It's tough
28:18
Speaker 2: times in that regard, I think.
28:19
Speaker 1: But doesn't it make you a better musician and better
28:21
Speaker 1: actor in the way of going, okay, I, you know,
28:23
Speaker 1: people may be doing the same thing, but I'm going
28:25
Speaker 1: to do it the best because I am the best.
28:29
Speaker 2: I don't think like that. I think like, tell that
28:32
Speaker 2: authentic story, do my job.
28:33
Speaker 1: That's what I think. Well, you got to come back
28:37
Speaker 1: to this show anytime in the future. And if you
28:39
Speaker 1: know you being down there in Savannah, man, I mean,
28:41
Speaker 1: that's the one place my wife and I have always
28:43
Speaker 1: talked about visiting, but for some stupid reason, we make
28:45
Speaker 1: that left-hand turn at Charleston and hang out there. And
28:48
Speaker 1: it's like, come on now, make it, make it down
28:50
Speaker 1: to Savannah sometime.
28:52
Speaker 2: It's sort of the, uh, the difference they say is, uh,
28:55
Speaker 2: this we're, savannah is more of the blue collar version
28:58
Speaker 2: of of of yeah less less uppity as they say
29:03
Speaker 2: so i don't know so i think you would enjoy
29:04
Speaker 2: it it's great down here come on down so now
29:06
Speaker 2: yeah let me know.
29:07
Speaker 1: I love it we'll show you well until next time
29:09
Speaker 1: man you be brilliant okay all
29:12
Speaker 2: Right brother thank you so much