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"If you know, you know.. The Story of No Pride Records.." · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_04: Warning due to some language and subject matter, listener discretion is advised.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_06: There was an idea.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_06: The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_06: See if they could become something more.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_06: See if they could work together when we needed them to fight the battles that we never could.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_06: Not only was that the most perfect line spoken by Samuel L.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_06: Jackson setting up 2012's The Avengers, it also perfectly describes what our next episode of the podcast is all about.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_06: No Pride Records was the collaborative effort of several rock bands aligned together from 2003 to 2006 to take a strength in numbers approach during a very transformative time in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska's local music scene.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_06: And I just so happen to be lucky enough to be the figurehead of this organization.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_06: We've got several special guests in queue for today's episode, and I couldn't be more pumped up.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_06: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mike.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_06: All right, all right, all right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_06: This is a very special episode of Caught on the Mike.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_06: I have gathered with five of my friends that I don't think I've been in the same room with in forever.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_06: Hell, none of us have been in the same room together uh for a long period of time, thanks to 2020 and the pandemic.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_06: But uh it's super good to see you guys.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_06: I'm glad we're all gathered here together today.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I'm gonna take a brief second and introduce who is in the room.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_06: First and foremost, Jesse Otterson.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_06: How the hell are you, man?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_06: Doing good, buddy.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_06: How you doing?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_06: Freaking awesome, Mark Beckenhauer.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_06: How are you?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_06: Pretty good.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_06: I was glad to be here, man.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_06: This is gonna be it's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: David Bacchus, how are you, man?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Wonderful, man.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to see your all your lovely faces.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_06: Likewise, sir.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_06: Likewise.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_06: Russ Kempton, I have lived in the same city as you for six years and we have still not got together.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_05: It's true.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's good life, man.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: That's what happens when you have lots of kids, I suppose.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_06: I I think so.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_06: Hashtag adulting.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_06: My wife has this funny term because my wife has twin daughters, and you know, we're a blended family.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_06: She said, I got four kids and I only had sex once.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_05: We told my daughter it was only three times.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Phil Reno, how the hell are you, man?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am doing excellent.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to see everybody.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_06: Awesome, awesome.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_06: We're all gathered here today to talk about No Pride Records.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_06: This was uh organization, a co-op we were in together from 2003 to 2006.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm gonna kind of set the table for everybody.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_06: So that means I'm gonna go backwards and then I'm gonna go forwards, and then we're gonna go backwards again.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_06: I hope I don't confuse anybody with that.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_06: So I'm gonna lay down some local music history.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_06: I would say late 1999 to late 2002, there was kind of an inflation of the local and the Midwestern music bubble.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, it coincided with the mainstream music industry bubble.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_06: If you guys remember right, there were a lot of mass signings going on in that time.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_06: And then inadvertently labels were going upside down because of it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_06: You know, they were signing too many bands, labels were going under.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_06: There was almost an oversaturation going on.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_06: So if you're comparing the micro to the macro, uh, the Midwest was very much mimicking what was happening on the national scene and the industry at large.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_06: This paved way for a lot of indie labels like Nebraska's own Saddle Creek Records, but also for a lot of independent labels of the pop punk variety like drive-thru records, victory records, and all the like.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, concurrently, there was also a law of diminishing returns going on, I would say on the local and in the Midwest level happening.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_06: There were more bands, so there were more venues, which led to less attendance over time, which then led to less quality bands and less quality venues, um, signaling that the bubble in that time had possibly burst.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_06: Now, we can all agree, we've all been a part of the music industry for a decent amount of time that the business ebbs and flows.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_06: It has times when it's bigger and it has times when it's smaller.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_06: So this is kind of a snapshot of one of those specific times, and arguably, um, maybe kind of the death of the big, big label music industry as it was, because that was kind of happening at that time.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_06: So this kind of set the stage for what we would all put together.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, 2003, the concept first came to fruition.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_06: Jesse and I, uh, his band Trip and Default, and my band at the time, 3QE, we were playing a lot of out-of-town shows together, and we kind of conceived the idea much earlier than when it actually came into fruition.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, some of your guys's earlier bands were discussed in the initial conversations, most specifically Elicit and Black Light Sunshine, but it really didn't start to click until we got closer to 2004 and landed the original four bands: Trip and Default, Regan Era, Eyes Catch Fire, and more than yesterday.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_06: In all of that, did I cover things okay, guys?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I thought so, Jesse.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_06: Do you recall some of those early conversations and the catalyst as to why we thought this No Pride Records collaborative was a good idea?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I I don't remember all of the early discussions we had, you know, with kind of prior to that 2004 time frame, but I do remember the specific night that you and I got into this idea of doing a collaborative or record label or some sort of uh collective.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: I know it was a show we played together at Sokal Underground, early Reaganera days for you guys.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_04: Probably that that was kind of as I guess maybe it was a Wednesday night, the place was packed wall to wall, and we snuck in a bunch of beers.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_04: You and I were, you know, the rest of the guys were hanging out.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we didn't pay for drinks all night.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: And and so, you know, the booze got flowing and and the ideas started talking.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, well, this is the best show we played forever, blah blah, you know, that kind of stuff.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_04: And you said, you know, we should be playing more shows together because we'd, you know, maybe the second time we played together.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Yeah, we should be playing more shows together and likely playing with shows with, you know, like guys like more than yesterday at the time, I think, and eyes catch fired.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we're just kind of talking a little bit about bands we'd like to be playing with.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I think you blurted out, you said, you know, I've had an idea for a while that I think I've talked to you before, we should we should put something together, do more of these shows, and then build something around it, build promotion around it collectively.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I've been thinking about it, I just never had the gumption to do it on my own.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, you got that uh to me, the right number to kilo shots and and free beers, and I thought, yeah, that's a good idea, we should do it.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_06: So I, you know, memory serves correctly.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_06: It was it was probably because I didn't switch over from 3QE to Reagan era until about 2004.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_06: Our memories might not be aligning perfectly, but I remember it happening in Des Moines, to be completely honest.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_06: I think we played, we brought you guys to Des Moines, and you were kind of like it was one of those things who's like, you're totally the different band in Des Moines than you are in Omaha.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_06: And that's kind of what actually started the conversation.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_06: Is and it it was true at the time, like fuck we sucked and sucked in Omaha, but we were awesome in Des Moines.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know, I don't know what it was.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_06: I I think one of the first bands we brought on board was Eyes Catch Fire.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_06: Mark, do you remember first getting this idea introduced to you?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't remember specifics at all, to be honest, but I mean, I just remember, but I do remember it being a good idea and that we that we talked about it and and and I was totally on board right away.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, do you remember like exactly what how that went down with us?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_06: I I kind of do.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_06: I it and like uh before we press record, I said I kind of got some photographic memory.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I think I's catch fire was only about two to three shows in, and it was right around the time of the first Midwest music summit at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_06: But that was kind of an interesting event.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_06: I'll leave it at that.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_06: And there were a lot of bands that had their music played in front of a whole room full of people and got their music judged in front of a whole room full of people.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_06: And for me, I I had kind of a moral battle with that, you know, because I don't believe that you should treat art like it's a sporting event, right?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_06: And there was kind of this was, you know, going to my earlier point of the law of diminishing returns, this was kind of at the point where the music scene was kind of on the downturn and attendance was starting to drop off.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, some of the big bands had moved out of the area, some of the bigger bands had broken up.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_06: There was such an oversaturation that people's interest started to drop off.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_06: So I remember you and I having a very specific conversation about those things in particular and what it meant to create a platform for new and upcoming bands.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_06: Does that sound does that draw your memory?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: It does, it does a lot, especially because we both had a show.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was that night all together.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I don't believe uh more than yesterday was there, but I know that that so I know that we were there with Trip and Default and somebody else was at this the show.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, um that I do remember that because this this was like the it was like the time where a lot of new new blood was starting to kind of form in Omaha.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean Black Light Sunshine had was switching over to more than yesterday about then or maybe a little bit after.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but uh I just I do remember this now that you're you mentioned it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so we started off Trippin' the Fault, 3QE Reagan era, Ice Catch Fire, and the next band we brought on board was exactly who you mentioned was more than yesterday.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_06: Russ being the Lincoln representative of uh No Pride Records.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_06: Do you remember your first conversation about it?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I don't specifically.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_05: Um I'm sorry.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_05: I'm getting old.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_05: That that whole that whole time period, I think, from 99 to 05, 06, you know, it's it was such a whirlwind just because we seemed like we did so much.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I don't remember specifically the conversation about the no pride records, but I do remember we were all playing shows, everyone was busy, they're trying to hit it hard and get all this stuff together.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_05: And I I remember, Mike, that you were always an advocate for trying to bring bands together and get us to do stuff like that.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_05: Like you talk about it all the time.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_05: And, you know, we're really, we're really on the ball as far as you know, communicating with other bands and hey, we should do this, and you guys should do that.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_05: And I, you know, I remember that aspect of it.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, but as far as a personal standpoint, you know, we were trying to promote shows and do this.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_05: We were recording an album because we were switching over, and you know, it it was kind of a I was worrying about me and you were worrying about everybody else, you know what I mean?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_05: And like trying to to make this collective happen.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_05: So, I mean, that's kind of my opinion on it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and that's that's something we'll touch on here in a little bit because that that is a part of the narrative of the larger story um about No Pride Records and kind of why the energy ceased to exist.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_06: I I believe the next band to jump on board was Civic Minded.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_06: We put together a launch party in December, I want to say of 2003 or 2004, I don't remember exactly.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_06: I think it was 04.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think it was 04, but we put together a formalized launch party.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_06: It was right around Christmas time.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_06: Actually, it was it was on my birthday, it was December 22nd.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_06: That's how I remember it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_06: And Civic Minded wasn't officially on it yet, but at that time, we had already been playing shows together, and Phil was working at the infamous Ranch Bowl.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_06: Phil, it's your turn, buddy.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Step on up, my friend.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I remember very specifically being super excited about the concept of this because everybody was doing some really great things, and we really wanted to be part of that because we had done nothing by that point.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like we started playing shows, but we were a brand new band, essentially, even though lowercase I had been around forever.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: We wanted to try something different.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: So this actually is the reason we got you know the fire going to go to the studio, push out a couple songs, and go because the concept was just so good.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_06: Awesome, awesome, and then Dave, you guys jumped on right after the launch party.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_06: It was about a month or two after the launch party, if I remember right.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, you know, Old Boy is interesting because Old Boy had his heyday long before Man Down, and Man Down is the reason I know all of you.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, um, and then when Man Down broke up, we you know, we played with Florida K Sai, we played a billion times with you guys, Black Light Sunshine all the time in Lincoln, you know, um Trip and Fall played our CD release, you know, we played Mark.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so every we knew everybody.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we almost kind of got on almost like, hey, you know, we're friends with all these guys, you know.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: I always felt like maybe stylistically we were the one band that was a little bit different.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um we were just more straight ahead rock, but I felt like you know, I enjoyed all of you guys' music.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: We played so many shows together, we were all friends together.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, man, this is a no-brainer for us, you know, because like you said, the whole thing about how you promoted is so great because like shows back then literally were 9 o'clock to 9.45, our fans come, they leave, new fans come in, you know.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: So your concept of like just really trying to make a collective, you know, big show, all the fans of all the bands coming and being a part of it, you know, seemed like a you know, a no-brainer idea to me.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we enjoyed you know playing with all you guys a lot.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: So we were like, we were in right away, you know.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_06: The unique thing about that was is that each band had its own style and its own thing that they brought to the table.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_06: And you guys can interject at any point in time and correct me if I'm wrong.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_06: Jesse kind of had this their band, Trippin' a Fault, had this very art metal sound, and they had a core audience that was like really enthralled in that.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_06: As far as who Jesse was to me, Jesse was the Riker to my Picard.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_06: Um, sometimes he was the Bones McCoy to my Captain Kirk, you know, and he'd keep my he'd keep my ass leveled.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_06: But the thing was, is like I was good at promotion and somewhat good at booking, but Jesse was really good at booking, kind of good at promotion.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_06: So, us together, it was a good match.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_06: Trip and default had that sound.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_06: Eyes catch fire had the youth sound.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_06: They they had something that was very timely that was very much of the era, and it was very, very, very easily consumable.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_06: Like those earworms, I still hear them to this day.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_06: I'll be just chugging along in my day job and I'll I'll think of an eyes catch fire song.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_06: So kudos to you, sir.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_06: And then more than yesterday, that was there was something about your band, both incarnations, black light, sunshine, and more than yesterday, Russ, just about your guys' live show that always felt larger than life to me.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_06: I know I'm probably speaking on the behalf of a few of you there, but there was something that it was it was one of those things where it's like it's just it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when with these guys.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, more than yesterday was like all of our favorite band, like it kind of, you know, it was like a musician's band almost.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_04: Back then, I I remember, you know, we really prided ourselves on being good live, and there were few bands that I wasn't like, yeah, we can get on after them and kind of like blow them out of the water.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_04: Except More Than Yesterday was one of those few bands where it's just like, no, I don't want to play after these guys.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like, oh yeah, not directly.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_04: I really didn't, man.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_04: Like, being honest, you guys were one of the tough racks to follow.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_04: And the nights we did, I feel like were some of our best shows because like you could not slack a bit going on after those guys, it was a tough follow.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: And you guys are so pretty.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I wasn't talking about eyes catch fire.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_05: That was they were the beauties.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: We were a lot younger though.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was like it wasn't it was a less mature beauty, it was just it wasn't we weren't physically attracted.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: You guys were attracted to us, but we were more of you know little kids compared to you guys.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we didn't have videos, huh?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: We could put out videos, good looking, good looking bands.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we had like Ice Catch Fire was the 17 to our Kip winger.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_06: Um and then uh and then Old Boy Network.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_06: The the thing that I I loved about having Old Boy Network on board, it was the veteran status, but also you guys had a really good second renaissance whenever you guys came back around.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_06: And it was a little bit more, don't take this as an insult, it was a little bit more of a foo fighter sound the second go-around than it was the first go-around.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_06: And I really, really enjoyed that because you're right, it was like straight ahead, still to this day.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_06: There's certain like even conceptualizing this episode.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_06: Um, disappointment was the the song that's run through my head non-stop this last week.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_06: So um thanks, man.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: When it came back, it was more cordy, and then it changed.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's like a little man down influence, too, because man down kind of had that fighters weezer thing going, and literally the band is was the same three musicians minus the lead singer, of course, who is a big part of both bands because they they wrote most of the songs.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: But Vince, Scott, and I were consistent in both bands, so it kind of had a similar, kind of a similar vibe, but with a completely different singer.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, as similar as you can get without with having a completely different singer, yeah.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_06: And and last but not least, I want to talk about Civic Minded because I think the other thing that we can all agree on, maybe except for Phil, because he's too humble for his own good, is that Civic Minded was the breakaway hit of No Pride Records.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_06: Thinking about this and kind of thinking back to that time, and this is going to be a really cheesy anecdote to top off all my cheesy anecdotes, okay?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_06: So, you know, at the very end of every American Pie movie, there's that last scene where all the main characters kind of just look across the room and they kind of give each other that knowing nod.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_06: That's what it was like watching Civic Minded play.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_06: Stoplight traffic would be playing, and I would just look across the room at Jesse like he was Finch and I was Stifler, and we just kind of nod at each other, and then we look back at Mark and we'd nod at Mark, and we'd all be smiling from ear to ear because because of the the the emotions that your guys' music managed to evoke and how you guys always won over every single crowd that you were put in front of.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: That time for me, just speaking for me clearly, uh, was very just it was magic because it was liberating.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: There were no rules anymore.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: We went from being a drop D rock band, which I think we were pretty darn good at that stuff, too.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Our singer retired and we pulled Lawrence.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'd only ever heard him really scream.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'd never really heard him sing.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the fact we were all got in a room and it suddenly made sense, it just musically, it's it still ranks way up there for me.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like just as a a thing, because we got to play with all you dudes a lot.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Got some a lot of my favorite shows ever going back is with you guys, and it's just so fun.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And man, I don't know.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think just that time in general, if I could bottle that just for everybody, like the music scene and everybody just doing really great things.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's something that's been missing for a while.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, there's you know, there's bands that everybody's got going on right now, they're continuing to sell out the waiting room, so which is which is great.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but just looking back creatively on everybody, everybody was just fresh and just trying something, and it was exciting, it was just an exciting time to be around.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_05: The first time I saw Civic Minded, because you know, we've been playing with lowercase eye and watched you guys a bunch.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I remember the first time I saw you, I was like, what is Phil doing?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_05: Like your guitar and everything.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_05: It was so innovative to the scene at the time, and I was like, Oh my god, this is so awesome.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_05: Oh wow.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it was just fun, it was fun to be like, okay, well, I'm not going to use this, I'm gonna start using some different sounds and different pedals and see see where that stuff takes you.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it was just fun pulling in all these like the keyboard changed everything.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's yeah, I loved Apeche Mode, I loved you know, all that stuff that was going on, and just being able to put that into something that we were doing was just fun.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_06: I think something that gets missed about a lot of musicians is that we're fans of music first, so all of us in our own regards have really diverse tastes and very diverse influences, and just because you're not playing in like a heavy band or a punk band doesn't mean you don't appreciate other styles of music.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_06: So if you're afforded several different seasons or several different bands in your lifetime, sometimes that affords you the opportunity to try some different things that you haven't done before.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_06: And we've all done that.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_06: All of us, all six of us to different degrees.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_06: We've tried something different than what we were normally comfort comfortable with.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, knowing that you had such a strong 80.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_06: Influence in XS influence and such, like for me, knowing you personally outside of the band life, like Civic Minded wasn't a surprise to me, but it was a pleasure, regardless.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, yes.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_06: So, what are some other things about that time and about us coming together as a unit that you guys specifically remember?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_04: Certainly, I think uh Mike and Mark and Philly remember this.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, early on, one of my focuses, like Trip and Default, had been around for a while, and we'd done pretty well in Omaha, and I always wanted to grow this bigger than Omaha and Lincoln.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I was always interested in trying to, you know, we never got as far as I wanted to go on the road, but we did get to do some road shows together as the no pride group.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember a couple shows up in Yanked in South Dakota.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, it's just a place that like I randomly called and and talked to some guy, and he's like, Yeah, that sounds awesome.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I should book four bands from Omaha up here, it'll be great.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of people will show up.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_04: In retrospect, like today, if I were to do that, I'd be like, This is stupid, it shouldn't work.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I remember like rolling up to the venue, and uh like we're looking at this place, and it's like this big barn like out in the middle of nowhere.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and I roll up, like we hop out of the van and I look out, and like Beckenhauer, Mark, he comes running out off the like it's an upper balcony and like screams atop the zone.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's like this place is fucking awesome.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, like I felt great.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, all right, I'd done something.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, and then we get in there and I'm like, okay, so this is a cool setup.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like, no one was there to run sound, like it became a total DYI show.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_04: Like Mike had to learn how to run sound, be the sound guy for the night.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but the place was packed, and like we all sold a truckload of merch.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we all got to camp out and party, like, you know, once in the park where we were running from park rangers the next time behind the club.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um but like they were good bro bonding nights, like and you know, putting it on the road with a bunch of friends, like nothing better to me.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like that that's always where I wanted to see it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_04: My hope was always that we'd get to the point where like that would be viable in multiple cities.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and at least we got a small taste of it, and that was cool.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I just remember the the main thing was was like, you know, Phil and we all have stated that we're our bands were were so different, but we were all in we were all like transitioning all at the same time.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: We were all like taking steps in a different direction, even in the same projects we were already in.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I I the that's the biggest thing that I I mean I I loved about this project is uh I wanted to bring it back to the the promotion and the booking of it uh was when we played shows, we didn't tell people the lineups.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: They knew what bands were playing that night, but they didn't know when they were going on, which is another aspect that I loved about this group is that it was just, you know, we all it was just uh we all agreed upon it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it somebody, I don't know who made the lineups, but when we showed up, we found out when we were gonna play.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody bitched about it, nobody did anything.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: And then it was great for to keep the fans and everybody there and engaged with all the bands because we just didn't talk about when we were playing and stuff like that.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: That was one thing that I really loved about it.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_04: We drew out of a hat the night of the show, like there were some that we didn't know till we got there.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, there was there was literally one time where we actually drew straws out of fucking rental hall, and it was amazing.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_06: But uh, you know, I not to not to play Martyr Clark here, but there were a lot of times where I would just jump on the sword and open it or close it.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_04: We jumped on the sword the other side, like you know, you and I partnered, I was like, fine, we'll go last.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, because it was one of those things nobody wants to play first, nobody wants to play last, everybody wants second, third, and fourth, which is totally understandable.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_06: That's when the exposure is is absolutely the best.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_06: That was by design, like we knew just because of how the politicking would work, was that people would only show up for a certain band, or and that's just because that's what people have been conditioned to do in our market to some degree.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't like a single band, it was it was it was like all five of us were one band.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely, yeah.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_06: And and kind of going to the you know, I I mentioned victory records and drive-thru records and such, and let's just say the the name or the word records was just a formality.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, we couldn't because it was easier to say, but we were never really a record label, but the whole concept was it was kind of like a victory records or a drive-thru records where if you become a fan of one band, you kind of become a fan of the whole label, and that's kind of what worked during that time in in the music industry at large.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_06: How about yourself, Russ?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_06: What are some other fun memories you have of that time?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, the biggest thing obviously for all of us performers is playing shows.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_05: And, you know, we had kind of gotten a taste of that back in the early 2000s, you know, when we were still Black Light Sunshine, because for the Lincoln scene, just talking, you know, we had, you know, us, Project Web, uh, eighth wave, JV All-Stars, you know, were kind of the Lincoln bands at the time.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and we started playing shows in Omaha and got to know like Man Down and Lowercase I and Trippin' Default, and and you know, the guys, and we were kind of like, hey, these guys are kind of cool.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_05: And so we kind of got a taste of that camaraderie, you know, getting guys down to Lincoln and getting guys up to Omaha.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_05: And and uh, but like you had mentioned earlier, the scene was kind of on a downturn a little bit because like you said, Phil, uh you know, you guys had changed and we're trying something new.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_05: We, you know, for us it was a big deal going from like a five piece to a four-piece.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_05: We changed our name.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_05: And so trying to, I mean, we had a core base that knew the blacklight sunshine crowd, but you know, we were trying to do something different in our own that was new.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_05: And so having this format, you know, to kind of get that newness out there um, you know, was a really big deal for us.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: And it kind of brought that camaraderie back, you know what I mean, to where it was fun.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_05: And I think you guys mentioned, you know, it was like those nights were like bro nights, everyone gets together like and let's do it, you know, and uh so I mean just kind of that whole time.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was just it was refreshing, you know, again to to kind of have that feeling again.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: The elephant in the room that we're kind of we've haven't really addressed yet was that No Pride Records really helped us bridge the gap because we released our compilation and then a few months later the ranch bowl closed.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_06: You know, once you took the ranch bowl out of the mix, you're pulling a major all-ages venue, if not the all-ages venue in the area, when you're trying to market a band, let alone several bands at the same time.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_06: So we had to figure out things to bridge the gap um and figure out a creative way to do it.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_06: Any thoughts on that, Phil?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_06: Being that you have personal ties to the Ranch Bowl?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I loved the Ranch Bowl.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think we all did.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I'm a quiet, awkward dude most of the time.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what going back to like why when we formed this and stuff, it's like I knew you dudes, and it was just it just it opened up more that I can be like, oh, I'm gonna go hang out with these guys, you know, and that's what the Ranch Bowl did.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: It did very well, is that there was a camaraderie, even if it was just a Tuesday night, just sitting in the pub, you would have bands coming in and they would just hang out and do your thing.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when that went away, it made for everything very strange because everybody's kind of scrambling.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's the cool places to play that had a hard time getting into.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, what did you do?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: You went and formed your own shows, you threw them pretty much wherever you could.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that in itself it it shows that like you were always the master promoter.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like you always had people out there handing out thousands of flyers pretty much for every show.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's was something to be very like I admired a lot.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to you know, they didn't nobody does that anymore, really, to the extent I guess they don't have to with Facebook and all that stuff now, but um, but at the time you really worked your tail off and it benefited everybody in this in this room or virtual room.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it sucks.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I think the ranch will be open now.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I it could have even just made it to today.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: It would just take renovations and if it took closing the bowling alley side and just turning it into a venue, it would have survived this whole thing.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I have clearly have thoughts about all of that.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but because that's what we're missing now to a degree.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have lots of places to play, but there's not the place to go hang and play, if that makes sense.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_06: Makes perfect sense.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect sense.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Knickerbockers was that.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I loved Knickerbockers.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would go, you know, we would go see Black Light Sunshine or play with them or whatever, and we would just go there and hang out, and then there's a side where you just go hang, be with bands and just kind of be, and then you go watch a rock and roll show.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: That was incredible.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what the scene is missing right now, as far as I'm concerned.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_05: And now they're both gone.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know, it's sad.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, even even places like the hideout, I mean that uh, you know, or the it was the lookout at you know, currently.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that was that was one of those places.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's gone too.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they're all seem to be disappearing.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_06: So from your perception, Dave, how did how did no pride kind of bridge that gap for you?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, I remember this, you know, Ranch Bowl's gone, right?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I just do remember it's very odd that I do remember it was like Sortinos, right?
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, slammers or something.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: That I was like, you know, I was kind of like, what is this place?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: But then it actually was was pretty cool.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think we we made it cool when all six of our bands came in and with with you know our fan bases and stuff and promoted it.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember like, this ain't so bad, you know.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we got people there.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was uh not the ranch bowl, obviously.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: And uh as Phil said, I mean, you know, there's really no replacing that.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that was like every every one of us kind of grew up there, essentially.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, our bands, you know, that your first goal was to play the ranch bowl, probably, you know.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I think overall, No Pride definitely was huge for Old Boy because just like Phil said earlier, I think remember going to the studio to record those two songs kind of got us kickstarted on our album.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, okay, let's record two songs, get it out for the compilation, you know.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe that Sammy Sortino show was wasn't that the comp um release party, maybe.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_06: We did the comp release.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_06: That was one of the last Ranch Bowl shows.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_06: We did the comp release at the Ranch Bowl, and then it was just a few months later, it was like May of that year that the Ranch Bowl closed down.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_06: Because I think, Mark, am I right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_06: Didn't Ice Catch Fire play the last ever Ranch Bowl show?
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yep.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was uh it was a national act, a couple national boy hits car or something like that.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't remember exactly, but yeah, wow, memory's gone.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_06: No, so I mean, and and and and I don't want to get in the weeds too much, but we tried to we maybe jumped the gun a little bit and tried to grow the no pride brand.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_06: And we did a show at Sammy Sortino's or Slammer's, and we had added two bands to the bill, and that whole show became a total sorry if there's any kids around, clusterfuck.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_06: Um, because uh some guys only got to go up on stage and play what one or two songs.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: I remember uh I owe uh we we owed uh civic minded props for that show because I think it had got to one o'clock or really close to it, and neither one of us had played.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they were gonna be second to last, and we were gonna be last.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: And we decided on their gear to each just play three songs, and it was like super like okay, this is cool, you know.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're just gonna do this.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it was a good, you know, we all got paid the same row bands, you know, it was fun.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: We made the best of it, you know what I mean?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: And we made the best of I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure that my band played way too fucking long that night.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm pretty sure.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, that's interesting, man.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: You got 17 bands, eight bands, ranch bowl shows, like six bands, whatever.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, everyone wants to add in that one extra song, and when everybody adds in that one extra song, all of a sudden it's like, uh oh.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and people don't understand the struggle back in the day because you would have six or seven bands play the Ranch Bowl on a Tuesday night, and you play your ass off, you promote the hell out of it, and everything, and then at the end of the night they hand you twelve dollars.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, whoever thought about, hey, let's let's all bring in our own individual drum sets for each band and smash them in the corner, and then all of a sudden you got people carrying in, like, you know, it was just crazy, you know.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it's like, wow, why wasn't there more gear sharing or something going on?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_04: You know, one thing I I did kind of like in that post-ranchable era is what we did with No Pride, like we did kind of do like it became very much that like high school life again, like play anywhere you can get your hands on, like rental hall shows, slap together, like poorly organized in some ways, but we had built enough of a collective like fan base amongst all of our bands, and everyone had gotten used to hanging out, and like our fans were now friends with like civic minded fans, and they were friends with like ECF fans, and and so we can make it work, like we could put a couple hundred people in some random place that made no sense to throw a show and have a pretty good night out of it, um, you know, which was kind of cool, like to when you didn't know what to do once like home closed, you know.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Mark, you had something?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was it was like we were really we were really lucky that this whole deal came to fruition right before the ranch bowl closed.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: Because I mean it really took a load off us, I think, at least first, you know, for the first few months, especially, like it helped us get our own, create our own shows and things like that.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: Because if we were just single bands, I don't know if that shit would have been happening like it did when we, you know, would we collectively did it together?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_06: And that kind of leads to the next topic I'm gonna kind of bring up is kind of the scene perception around what we were doing with No Pride.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_06: Um, in the years following, you know, I've had several conversations with people that were um observers, quiet observers, other bands that wanted to be involved, but we just couldn't fit in, or um bands that you know were critical.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_06: So there were some bands that were critical of what we were doing, um, just because you know it's I don't want to use the word click, but I'm sure there were a lot of people that perceived us as being a click, and clicks can come sometimes have a negative connotation, right?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_06: So I know one thing that I kind of took a lot of heat for in the years following was the idea that maybe we were all kind of uh writing on each other's coattails to a certain degree, which is what the thing was by design.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, you know, it was like you benefit from what I bring to the table, I benefit from what you bring onto the table.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_06: That is the point of a collaborative or a cooperative, right?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_06: So, in your guys' experience in the years after or even during while it was happening, did anybody come to you with any negative connotations about what no pride was doing?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody that I talked to um really thought it was a great idea.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I never had anybody go, well, what are you guys doing?
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, it was.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if they're being negative, they're just jealous, as far as I'm concerned, that that we had something cool out, a product out that promoted everybody.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, we got to because of this, actually, we got onto a compilation um up in Minneapolis.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to remember what that was, but they they'd heard it off of this.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, this is great.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know, it just it it expanded loud or larger than than here for sure.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: But as far as like negative, no, I didn't hear anything personally.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, basically same thing.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: It never really heard anything directly negative.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there was a couple bands that I I knew, the bigger bands that you know did everything on their own.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I mean emphatic.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh who I'm in a band with one of the guys now, they used to always give me shit or or whatever about it.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I just kind of told them, you know, like I don't, we didn't, we don't care what anybody thinks about that type of deal.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like this is a unit, you know, it's not riding coattails or anything like that, or or or some fake label.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: There was a real reason we were doing this, is the way I would always explain it.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: But as far as as right the writing coattails thing, I mean, I I had members in my own band.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, like, keep in mind, like I said, we we had some young members, uh, right.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like some guys weren't even 21, I don't even think at the time.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: And we had a couple guys that that thought that we were being used and all that stuff.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, after about a few months of it, and me letting them know, hey, uh, you know, re and reassuring them of the idea uh that Mike and Jesse originally came up with, uh, they they bought in pretty pretty quickly.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, like just like Phil said, I don't I never really heard too much, but you a little bit.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I had a you know, not a lot of negative.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_04: I had a lot of people that, you know, once they kind of got a feel for like that I was the right hand guy or whatever, like I had a lot of people come up to me, like, how do I get how do I get involved in this?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: Like, how can I be part of no pride?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_04: And I think if anything, like the most pushback I got was people that were frustrated that like, you know, I I wasn't like I was like, well, you know, keep working, like keep doing shows.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know, like, you know, why don't you guys throw like a big show and put some promo into it and throw some bands on it?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_04: Or like, you know, I I kind of milk it a little bit, like, because I appreciated that people were coming out and supporting.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't want to turn them away, but you know, like there was a lot of more people that wanted to be a part of it, and I I did feel a little bad, like, because I'd be people I like, there was always that sort of like, yeah, we were kind of a click at the time, and all the bands were a real high quality bands at the time, and so you know, it was like guys that I liked, but maybe their band was, you know, six months or a year or two away from being there is like keep working.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_06: The thing, the thing that I would find as the figurehead, and kind of adding to your point, was there were a lot of bands that wanted to be involved with it, but there were also bands that were playing like the same town four and five times a month and saying, Well, you know, I don't believe in restricting how much I play to build an audience because this is about my art.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_06: Why aren't you putting me on your shows?
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_06: And it's like, well, because you're not bringing anything to the table, honestly.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_06: If if you're playing so much, you're basically giving your art away for free.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_06: Guess what you're doing?
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_06: You're taking away the value of your art.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_06: You know, you're taking away what you could bring to the label as an artist or to the cooperative as an artist, so to speak.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_06: And so, one thing that I would commonly find, and being just the internet geek that I am, is you know, guys would come up to Jesse and I.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_06: We did that Midwest Music Summit booth that one year, and they'd talk to us, and we we had a stack, we had a huge stack of CDs and submissions from people that home and listen to all of them.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_06: And and people wanted to be a part of it, but some of those same guys, when they weren't immediately a part of it or immediately added to it, they got a little bit critical on the now infamous Slam Omaha, you know, uh or some of the public message boards.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_06: By the way, there's a there's a there is a slam Omaha uh Facebook group that I gotta give a shout out to.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_06: So anyway, that was for you, Mark.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but uh but yeah, I mean it so that was one of the negative connotations that kind of came from the whole thing.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_06: I I think for me personally, it did get to a point to where, like, if I was being critiqued for using this for my own personal benefit, the thing that people didn't see behind the scenes is nine times out of ten, I was putting the interest of this organization ahead of my own projects to the point where it caused some conflict within my own projects.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_06: Like it was like, you know, the guys I have I have four or five guys behind me that I got to answer to as a front man uh before I got to answer to them as the figurehead for a labor cooperative, right?
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_06: It's like, why are we always playing first?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_06: Why are we playing last?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_06: Why are we doing this and not doing that?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_06: So, you know, that was kind of the struggle that I had personally with it.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_06: But overall, the good outweighed the band or the bad.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so what was the biggest benefit that each of you had being a part of this?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_06: If you were to sum it up, what was the one thing that you learned the most from being a part of the No Pride Records collaborative?
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_06: And I'll start with you, Jesse.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think if anything, um it's probably just having a consistent group of bands and friends that like we built a scene around.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_04: You know, pre no pride, we had kind of been a band that sat on the fence between being mainstream versus kind of being a more aggressive or heavier band.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_04: And we always kind of sort of existed in multiple scenes at the same time, but didn't have a home.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so No Pride gave us a home.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, it gave us a crew and and that was by making friends with everybody and everybody's fans and friends, like that kept at least, you know, kind of the tail end for us, uh, because obviously no pride's the back end of our career, but that that kept us sort of semi-lively and semi viable um, you know, towards the end.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_05: So uh well, I think I mentioned earlier, you know, we were in our transition period going from Black Light to more than yesterday.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_05: So for us, it just gave us that platform um and that support, you know, from all you guys um to be able to kind of expand on our music and and stuff like that.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_05: So that was something I always I always remember and I always appreciate.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Phil?
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my takeaway was this it was the first time I was part of something like this, like just working with other bands in general, which opened up um just my eyes a little bit on being a little bit more collaborative with people and being a little bit more um open to the idea, actually.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it was it helped us launch to what Civic Minded eventually became, which was a lot of fun.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'll I'll always be grateful for that.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because as I said, it really did light the fire under us to get going.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because your band we lowercase eye is a whole album we never recorded.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: We have songs that were just sitting there that I would love to someday do.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what, it might probably it probably will never happen.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: This this was it helps archive and save the art.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, like I don't know how to say that, uh, but it helped it really springboarded our band to where we could actually do that, and I'm grateful for that.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what that's my big takeaway.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: Mike, yeah, you gave us like something to be excited about, I think.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um when Man Down broke up, we you know, we were kind of like um Old Boy is getting, you know, we're it kind of just naturally happened and Old Boy Network was kind of back, but Old Boy was a little bit older, you know.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so a lot of our fans were already older.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: They weren't going to shows anymore.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: They had kids, they had families, they had jobs, whatever, you know.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it kind of lit a fire in us to like kind of like try to write a like you were saying, maybe try to change our direction a little bit, modernize it a little bit, and then gave us it was exciting to play with some fresh music, some fresh musicians, some fresh bands out there that were also friends, you know, and kind of like kind of just gave us a little push in the butt to kind of get out there and kind of because I would say the last Whole Boy Network record literally was it's pretty much every song is kind of almost different, where our first couple albums were like riff, boom, riff, riff, riff, you know, every song's riff.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_02: Where if you listen to the last album, you know, like Phil was saying earlier, I think it kind of like there was no rules on the writing anymore.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: We just kind of said, Hey, whatever comes, we're gonna put it out there, you know.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, I think all of that kind of happened just due to playing with all you guys and different styles of music that we weren't necessarily playing, you know, that kind of music we had never played either.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_02: So it was kind of cool to kind of add to the influence a little bit and kind of you know, try new things out, you know.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: Being at shows, you know, kind of playing with more friends' bands and not necessarily trying to because before that it's like old boy now has to book a show, now we have to call people to try to like it just became like a kind of like a pain, you know.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_06: It was a chore.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you, Mark.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh besides, you know, the learning being like I said, we were young.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: So besides learning how to collaborate and work with with other musicians and stuff, like that time period is is where I learned most of all my business aspects when it comes to any any musical project.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like I learned that my way of promoting or or booking a show is might not be the best way.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_03: And like I learned from all you guys just different aspects on how to conduct myself professionally with other musicians, how to act at shows, you know, and and how to, especially with the promotional aspect, you know, uh the team aspect of promoting a show and really getting people to events and also making uh shows events, not shows.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_03: These these things need to be actual events that people need a reason or have a reason to go to more than just the bands playing.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's just it made it this everything so much bigger, a bigger, broader uh landscape for me when it came to you know the way I used to look at playing in a band before before us.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_04: And that area, like the show that your fans couldn't skip was the no pride show, right?
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like if you had four shows in Omaha, like, oh we'll we'll come to No Pride Show, you know.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_06: It's iron sharpening iron, and it and it it always was.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_06: And then, like one of the things that I really did enjoy about playing with all of you guys is it made me go back to my practice space and go back to the woodshed and be like, how can I do this better?
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_06: How can I do this differently?
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_06: How can I reapproach my songwriting?
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_06: Because to be quite frank and quite humble, my my best bands didn't come until long after No Pride Was Done, but and everything I learned, very much like Mark, came from that experience.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_06: Like I learned the business aspect from the early days, which I mentioned the 99 through 2002, but I learned to refine my art by playing with all of you guys, and uh you know I owe that debt of gratitude to all of you because you guys made me better at what I did in the long scope of things.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_06: Oddball question, totally, totally random, and we can go off on this.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_06: Didn't wasn't no pride kind of where the seeds of secret weapon were laid, also?
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, oh, we were practicing at the ranch bowl I believe so right around that time, weren't we, Phil?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like maybe before, maybe even, but I don't know.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's my memory's clearly shot.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you it it happened.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think we I think the seeds of it actually came at a no pride meeting we had maybe somewhere.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, was it the hideout lookout, whatever it was?
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Shay's probably or Shays, it was Shay Riley's.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, and that's that's where we're sitting around.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we should go play some hair metal.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_06: Yep, yep.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_06: So the reason the reason I bring this up is because I remember sitting at the bar with Dave, and we just kind of mutually had this love fest about Hessian rock, and I don't think he realized how much of a hair metal guy I was, and I didn't realize how much of a hair metal guy he was, because I remember like talking through those early concepts with some of you guys right before you guys put secret weapon together.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_06: It was that was pretty awesome.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: All right, if if this is true, then I feel really bad that you were never singing any songs in Secret Weapons.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, you tried to have you tried to get me to, but I was like, I I just okay.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, at least I tried then.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, you tried.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_06: I I said, I said, why don't you talk to Russ?
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_06: Russ could probably pull it off way better than I could.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, because remember, we got Ren from a Symbiont, um, and we had Larry and we had Ben early.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: So we had yeah, it was not as Phil knows, we we were just planning on being uh maybe a couple events band, and we had three singers because nobody could clearly sing like Axl Rose for an hour straight.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean at in the early days, there was no idea that it would be like going like this, you know, 15 later, you know, and then third 37 OEA's in a row afterwards.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen my awards?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_04: Oh look at that.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my goodness.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_04: So all I got's a ficus I stole from Lawrence.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_06: I got I got a I got uh totes and totes full of unsold band merchandise.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_06: That's all I got.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_06: So, guys, to wrap things up, I I want to give you guys all the opportunity to plug what you're currently doing now.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm gonna start with Jesse.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_06: What are we what are we working on right now?
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Jesse's in, I guess, three bands currently.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Fluxamuk, The End in Red, and a new project coming this year once venues start opening again called Fox.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_04: So nice.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: Mark, uh, just the Arson City thing right now.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_03: We got some other couple things that we are kind of looking at doing, uh, but we're not completely sure.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's all we'll see.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_03: But Arson City's got still going full force.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_03: Russ, are you doing anything musically?
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you are lucky if I sing karaoke every once in a while.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_06: You and I are on the same page, brother.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's so sad.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_06: It is, it is, but it is what it is.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_05: You guys are making me jealous because it's definitely something I miss.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it would definitely be tough now with real life setting in, but yeah.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_05: I think you know, our we did that reunion show that was one of the last, it was the second of the last Knickerbocker show.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_05: We did our big reunion show.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_05: And God, it had been what 10 years or something like that since we had played.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_05: And I I remember our biggest our biggest thing was trying to get Jeremy to play.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_05: Because he was like, Nope, nope, nope.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_05: And we finally talked him into it.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_05: And afterwards he was like, Oh my god, that was so awesome.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_05: And so yeah, I I get the bug every once in a while, but unfortunately, no, I'm not.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_06: What's funny is uh my wife and I were cleaning out some boxes, some old boxes she had sitting around, and she had a black light sunshine promo photo on the top of one of these boxes.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_06: I'm like, huh, I know those guys.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_06: Dave, what are we working on?
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh not much, not much.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh haven't played a show in a year, probably.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, since since summer, um, we just booked two shows for the the Nevermind project, the Nirvana thing.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um so we're gonna play in May, I think the summer.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_02: But beyond that, I mean I have two bands that are not broken up, but not really playing Phil's in one of them, Lonely Estates, where we talk about getting back together and flirt with it.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: You should have songs that need to be recorded that are done, but just haven't happened.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then Jump the Tiger, our singers actually out of the country, so we're on hiatus with that as well.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: So nothing too pressing right now.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: Possibly uh like like a a project with uh Klaus, maybe, if if it if it happens, if it doesn't.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_06: Nice.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know yet.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_06: I left Phil for last in case anybody wanted to read a book while he listed his long list of projects.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_06: Phil, what all are you working on right now, buddy?
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it's a lot shorter than you think.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, because we're my main thing is uh Sack Allies still doing the country-ish thing.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're writing our next record right now, so we'll go record that soon.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: Secret Weapon is still cooking.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um Lonely Estates.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we need to go do something.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll do that.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: And really, it's just fill-in work right now.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm about to take on uh Lemon Fresh Day for a couple months.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's about it.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing too crazy.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_06: Well, you know, once uh once the world opens back up and everybody gets their 5G microchip shots in them and everything can kind of go back to normal.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_06: I I expect a lot of people to get busy all over again.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm booked out between now and honestly, I'm already booked out pretty close to the rest of the year with a ton of shows, which is kind of bizarre, but we'll see if they actually happen.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different story, but yeah, it's it's about to get a whole lot more normal, and I'm very excited.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_06: Awesome, awesome.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I'm just a life update.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_06: I I don't even own a single music instrument anymore.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_06: I I I I put that to bed.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_06: It's one of those weird things where I just made my peace with it in life and and uh just just doing this podcasting thing.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_06: And uh, I couldn't be any more grateful than to have you guys all together with me on this today.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_06: So thank you guys very much.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_06: This has been amazing again.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_06: You guys, you guys, uh this is a big part of my life and big part of my life story, and uh, I thank you guys for being a part of it.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for everything.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_04: You bet absolutely blessed thanks to all you guys.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, I want to thank all of those guys for being on the show, and thank you for taking us on a ride down memory lane.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_06: That is a historical part of my life that I will covet and cherish forever.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_06: Do you have a favorite memory of the No Pride Records gang?
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_06: Leave a comment on the Caught on the Mic Instagram or Facebook page.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_06: I would love to hear it.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_06: And while you're on those pages, make sure you give us a share, like, follow, and check us out.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_06: We're also on TikTok now, too.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_06: Did you enjoy this episode?
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_06: Have you enjoyed past episodes?
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_06: Make sure you leave a five-star review on the Apple Podcast app or tell one of your friends about Caught on the Mike.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_06: We need to grow this audience.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_06: Are you interested in being a guest on Caught on the Mike?
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_06: Send me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for being the best audience in the world.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_06: This is Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Michael Clark.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_06: Until next time, thank you.