Latest / The Chris and Mike Show / #199 - Robert McKay - Songwriter/Musician

Transcript

#199 - Robert McKay - Songwriter/Musician · The Chris and Mike Show

0:06
Man, we're live. Hey, what's up with their boys
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and girls Twitchers? Roberts at 99% already?
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I'm a 25 year 60. What's up with that man?
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I just, I just don't. Understand.
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Stupid Internet, crazy technology.
0:35
Technology, man. Yeah.
0:55
Welcome to the show, boys and girls.
0:57
This is the Christian Mike show. He's Mike.
0:58
I'm Chris. A portion of the show is brought
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power casting platforms. Remember, we're live on Twitch,
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YouTube and our website, chrisandmikeshow.com.
1:08
You can go there right now and you can stream us live.
1:10
You can watch us have a conversation with the return
1:12
guest. Part 2, Robert Mckay's encore
1:14
performance. Hello, Robert.
1:17
Welcome. Well, thank you.
1:19
Thank. You welcome.
1:21
So give us give us a, give us a 3030 floor elevator ride.
1:25
Why you're why you wanted to come back and what we're going
1:27
to talk about today and what's going on in Robert Mckay's
1:29
world. So I'm releasing my first single
1:34
ever next one on June 20th. So after after our first
1:41
interview the last time I I forgot for this before or after
1:44
Tennessee, but I went to Tennessee, I went to play in
1:48
Nashville and everything came back for a song called take a
1:52
shot and it written by the 1st week of December lyrically
1:57
forward wide. I'm like, all right, I have
1:59
these lyrics, but I don't have a singer and I never sang before.
2:04
But you know, it's good. I'm just going to jump in and
2:08
sing it. Just do it, man.
2:10
Just do it. Just do it.
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So I googled vocal lessons and I found a place 5 minutes from my
2:19
house. So I've been doing Yeah.
2:22
So I've been doing vocal lessons since December.
2:25
Nice. So so did.
2:27
You write this song after you went to Nashville because you
2:29
hadn't gone to Nashville when you were on the show the first
2:32
time. You were talking about going
2:34
there or North Carolina, if I remember right.
2:37
Right. So that, that was my, I wrote
2:40
it. I wrote it when I got back.
2:42
So the idea, the idea from Take a Shot, I was at the bar with my
2:46
cousin and yeah, we, we got plastered a little bit, you
2:50
know, shots and everything. So, so he said smoking around,
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he says, dude, we should just pass out thoughts to everyone,
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tell everyone to take a shot. So I'm like, I'm thinking to
3:01
myself, you know, that'd be a really cool name of a song.
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Take a shot. So that's where I got the title
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from, But I didn't want to make it like a pure, like just
3:10
drinking song, even though I I wanted to kind of expand on the
3:15
idea of it and more like take a shot on whatever it is, you
3:20
know, for me, it was Nashville. For me it was, you know, doing
3:23
an open mic, an asshole for the first time, you know?
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How was that? That was good.
3:30
So the place I did it was a songwriter showcase.
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So she does songwriter showcase, does it four nights a week.
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So I went, I went on a Sunday night.
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So the first two hours were all songwriters and then she does
3:49
open mic the last half hour of it.
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So you got to do one song. So I thought I'd be nervous.
3:58
I actually wasn't that nervous. And I got a pause afterwards,
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but it was really late. But it was really laid back late
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and I sat right in the front. So, you know, I got to see
4:11
everything up front and, you know, up front.
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And it was kind of intimidating all because everyone was like,
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you know, sound like open mic, you know, everyone's wearing
4:21
professional stuff, you know, someone wore a suit.
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So it's kind of like, wow, OK, this is next level stuff, but.
4:30
Now, you said you're releasing this as a single.
4:32
Have you already recorded the song?
4:34
Are you going in to record the song or?
4:37
Yeah. So it's already recorded, ready
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to go. Where did you do that at?
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So there's a place that I take both the lessons.
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He has a whole, the guy that runs it, he has a whole business
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kind of like, kind of like Guitar Center, like they do
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lessons for everything he does the he does the same thing.
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So he has a guy that does audio too.
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So it works out because there's plays I take vocal, sing plays I
5:08
the recording. Sorry, are you pretty happy with
5:12
how it turned out? Yeah, but for my first song,
5:15
yeah, I would say. Did you hire a bass player and a
5:19
drummer then to do the background tracks or how did you
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tackle that? So the guy that I records it, he
5:27
he actually plays drums. So he helped me come off with
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the drum move part and then he just added the bass afterwards
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to go with it. OK, but it is, it is pretty
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cool. We did it fast like I I did.
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I started, I had to finish by December.
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I did my first vocal lesson the first week in December and we
5:50
had the whole thing recorded a few weeks ago, like two or three
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weeks ago. I never sang before that so.
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So what would you say is your biggest take away from taking
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the vocal lessons? Is it self-confidence?
6:09
Yeah, doing vocals is totally different than playing guitar.
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Yes. You don't have to tell Chris
6:18
about that. Nope.
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Yeah, so I, I the first lesson I did, it's kind of intimidating
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because you're in a room where you don't have a guitar, you
6:27
don't have anything to kind of like hide behind.
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It's just you and all the person and that's it.
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Yep. Yep, yeah.
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It's like, oh, playlist, no, don't play this.
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So it's like, oh, and you're like, no, you're making these
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sounds like, what the hell am I doing?
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I'll tell you how accurate that statement is, Robert.
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If you ever see any video clips of James Hetfield recording his
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vocals, he's always got his guitar with him.
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Oh, really? Yep.
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Because he he marries the two together so tightly that he
7:04
Can't Sing without that guitar. Oh wow.
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So he's not plugged in or anything, he just when he's
7:10
singing. If.
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You see clips, he's there playing it just, you know, not
7:15
plugged in through an amp or anything.
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It's just the motion of actually doing it.
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So what you said is so accurate. If you're a musician and a
7:22
singer, sometimes you need that. Yeah.
7:26
But it is weird if you're a musician and then you just stand
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in front of a microphone and start singing.
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It's like, where's my instrument?
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Yeah. Oh.
7:33
Yeah, that's how I felt. And it's like, you know, I never
7:36
sang before. I always kind of hid behind the
7:38
guitar and I'm not really into singing and stuff like that.
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But, you know, it's kind of like, I knew I had to do it to
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get this song out and do what I wanted to do with it.
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Yeah. It's like, yeah.
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And it's like, you know, OK, go to North Carolina or Tennessee
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or something. You know, I hope I'll put a
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singer, but if they can't come, then I don't have a singer.
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So that's my oldest thing. I'm like, no, if I'm going to do
8:02
this, I might as well just do this.
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I don't have to worry about that.
8:07
Well, and you wrote the song, so you might as well, you know, you
8:10
might as well sing it because you played the guitar for it.
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Yeah. You know, now, now, if I was
8:14
somebody like Prince who could play every instrument and I
8:16
would do the same thing, then I would bring a French break to
8:18
someone like Mike and say, OK, dude, here we go.
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Now you just you. You replace the guitar with your
8:24
guitars. But I'm going.
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To friends and never pretend to be and you know so that's.
8:29
Why? And I actually wrote, Yeah, and
8:31
I actually wrote it at the time I was learning Jason Aldean, my
8:36
kind of party. And guys told he uses a cable on
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the first fret. So yeah, I, I used the same, I
8:45
used the same guitar when I was writing it, you know, when I was
8:48
messing around with it. So, you know, learning Jason, I
8:52
think kind of helped me write this one guitar wise.
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So I had to keep low on it. Nice.
8:59
And for those of you who are not guitar nerds, A capo actually
9:04
just shortens the neck. Yeah, but.
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It's just a flat piece that holds the strings down at
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whatever fret you want to put it on.
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It makes the neck that much shorter.
9:15
So we have people that are listening that are like, what
9:17
are they talking? About what's the tape?
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That's what it is. It just makes the neck shorter.
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It's got a flat piece that holds the strings down and instead of
9:24
the nut being at the top of the neck, it makes it however many
9:28
frets shorter. Yeah.
9:30
And usually people will do that. So let's say that Chris can only
9:34
sing in up to the key of E or whatever.
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So now we're either going to tune our guitar down or we're
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going to capo up, right? Depending.
9:43
On. Where the singer's voice lies.
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That's why you're doing that. Yeah, yeah, like I have it on
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the first. Damn singers and their
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limitations to their vocal abilities.
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You have no idea. I have no idea what range was.
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I just sang. You just wrote the music and I
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just sang to it, man. I never ever cared.
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Oddly enough, when I sat down you, you just asked that
10:05
question so obviously. Or oddly enough, when I sat down
10:08
to relearn a lot of these songs, a lot of them are in F#.
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OK. That must be your sweet spot.
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OK, yeah, I didn't know. I just, I just, I just know what
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I heard and I sang to it and was in key.
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So I was happy you were happy because you didn't give me shit
10:23
every now and then you'd give me shit every now and then you
10:25
would press me for certain things.
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But for the most part, I think I just found that spot and just
10:30
just grooved out with it and. Here's why I was just telling
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him before you logged on, Robert, we had a singer before
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him who it just didn't work out for one reason or another.
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But I got to see the very first concert I ever played in
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Arizona. My mom actually still has a
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VHSII watched on Saturday with them.
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So my dad asked me, you know, who was the better singer?
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And I told him Chris, obviously. But then I started pointing out
10:56
to him, why? Because this guy had a real hard
11:00
time hitting his upper register. He was always struggling, right?
11:05
So Chris would just blow through those.
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He'd hit the note and then just he'd hold it for another 4550
11:12
seconds. Perfectly right.
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His voice would never waver unless he wanted it to.
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So it was the sheer power in his voice that drew him to me as a
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singer. OK, wow.
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We told, we told you the story how we met, right, Robert?
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I think so. I remember some of.
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It candle Candlebox concert. I was singing along with
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Candlebox and he kept looking back at me like what are you
11:35
doing man? Shut up.
11:37
Yeah, yeah, I think you told me that last time.
11:40
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the show that we watched was
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actually at the place that Chris and I met.
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So it was kind of cool for my parents because they got to see
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the actual venue where Chris and I met.
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Oh wow, that's pretty cool. Yeah.
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Went on to open up for the Marshall Tucker Band there.
12:01
All right, Can't you see you? Can't you see?
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You can't? Yeah.
12:05
What that woman, though, should be doing to me.
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So are you still planning on moving to Nashville or what's
12:11
what's going on with your music going forward after you released
12:15
this single? Yeah, I I still want to go to
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Nashville. I was actually in Nashville.
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I went in March. I went for, I went for 10 days.
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So I did, I did a whole round trip.
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I hung out with my cousins in Knoxville.
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I went to day after Saint Patrick's that I hung out with
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my cousins for four days. And then I was in Nashville for
12:40
four days after that. So yeah, I did.
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I did the open mic. I did a showcase the country
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swing dance for the first time. That's definitely different.
12:54
I had a blast in it though. You know, that's kind of like
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the icing on the Cape for me. Like, all right, I belong in
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Nashville or Carolina or something.
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Like I have more fun with it than I thought I would.
13:09
Well if you want to pursue music I would definitely probably
13:12
gravitate towards Nashville because they they call it Music
13:17
City for a reason. Yeah, yeah.
13:20
I did lunch with one of the songwriters.
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I met one of the songwriters I met in October there.
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I kept in touch with him. So we wound up, yeah, we wound
13:31
up eating off for lunch and I played him the demo and it's
13:35
like, that's you singing and playing.
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I said, yeah, it's like, sounds pretty good, so.
13:39
Very nice. And then I played it when I did
13:42
the open mic in Nashville and I, you know, I got a full start.
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I actually sang it too. So, but I wasn't nervous.
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I thought I'd be more nervous, though, because, you know, now
13:54
you're singing and playing in the National.
13:56
But yeah, I wasn't really. I wasn't nervous.
13:59
I was pretty excited. See, I, I think if you have an
14:01
instrument, you're less, you're less exposed because when
14:05
you're, when you're a singer like me, where there was nothing
14:07
but me in the microphone, I'm fully exposed.
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There's nothing, there's nothing to take the the the fans
14:14
attention away from my face like nothing.
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They have a guitar. They could be looking at the
14:18
car, they'd be looking at my hands, how I'm going up and down
14:20
the fret board. What you know what I mean.
14:22
But when you're just. That's just one more thing that
14:26
they have to criticize you for too.
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So I, I agree with your statement wholeheartedly because
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I think I'm guilty of it too. When I go to see a new band, if
14:35
it's just like Chris is saying, if it's a guy just coming out
14:37
there holding a microphone, the first thing you're thinking as
14:40
an audience member is a fucking guy better be good.
14:43
Right, right. Yeah, yeah.
14:45
So I agree with this statement. It's his soul in the audience,
14:51
at least you and I, we we have that piece of wood between us
14:54
that as crazy as it sounds, Chris is right that that there's
14:57
something a security blanket to that it.
15:01
Is. Because if he'll tell you I'm
15:03
one of the most introverted people you're going to meet
15:05
until I get to know you, right, Then I'll talk your head.
15:08
But yeah, yeah, I'm not really interested in having deep
15:11
conversations with people I don't know.
15:13
So. Yeah.
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That piece of wood is literally what allowed a guy like me to
15:20
get up in front of thousands of people and play my guitar.
15:22
You know, it's just you're all three of us are on the same
15:25
wavelength and that it is definitely a security blanket.
15:29
Yeah, and that's how I was scoring up to.
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I was quiet as anything growing up.
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Yeah, but. I was admired guys like Chris
15:36
that could just get up there and be like, are you guys ready to
15:39
fucking rock Friday night? Let's go you.
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Know, yeah. And he wasn't faking it.
15:45
That was, there's guys that I saw that got up there that were
15:47
like me, but they could pull off that act.
15:50
His wasn't an act, you know. That was.
15:53
That. Was I love being I I love being
15:54
on stage, man. I love being in front of people.
15:56
I love performing. That's the extra.
15:57
It was painfully obvious. Yeah, it was, you know, even
16:01
Nikki, couple weeks ago, Nikki made reference something.
16:03
So like you like to be seen. I'm like, well, yeah, I'm an
16:05
extrovert. Yeah.
16:06
Extroverts want to be seen. I want to be out there.
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I want you know. He used to climb up on the on
16:12
the light speakers and stand on the top of the speakers and like
16:15
swing from the light trusses and.
16:18
That's crazy. Yeah, I I was definitely.
16:22
You did. Yeah, definitely yelled at
16:27
Mason. I think Mason drives the one
16:28
that yelled at me. So I stopped doing it.
16:30
Everywhere we went. It's like, OK, OK, get off the
16:33
light. Trust.
16:34
I was just swinging on it. I wasn't wasn't going to break
16:36
it. I wasn't I wasn't a big guy.
16:38
I was whopping 170 lbs soaking away, I said.
16:40
Come on. You know, one arm and with the
16:44
mic. They're like, I don't think our
16:46
insurance covers this. Insurance.
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Who needs insurance? It's rock'n'roll, man.
16:53
Damn right. So how long were you in
16:57
Nashville, Robert? How?
16:59
How? Wow.
17:00
How long were you in Nashville? For five days, Sunday, Sunday
17:06
through Thursday and Thursday, I left Nashville.
17:10
I left Nashville, went to Charlotte.
17:12
They don't open my Thursday night.
17:15
Then I came back home Friday. And you're in New York, right?
17:21
Yeah, I'm in Long Island. OK.
17:25
Did we talk? Did we talk last time about you
17:27
being a Giants or a Jets fan? Did we talk about?
17:29
That I'm a Giants fan, but I think I think you have seen that
17:32
last time. You just earned a couple of
17:35
points in Chris's book. Did we open up with the Cowboys
17:39
this year? In in in Jersey?
17:41
So that'll be fun. Yeah, I saw, I saw.
17:44
I was just out. Yeah, yeah.
17:47
I was just out before and I saw it on the TV.
17:50
Yeah, it's time to put up or shut up all the hype around
17:52
Harbaugh. We'll see if it pays off or not
17:54
because if we can start the year one against the Cowboys, that's
17:57
a win. You know, that's a total that's
17:59
just a win, but a win, you know, like a win, especially with all
18:03
the, especially with all our weapons we have now.
18:06
You know, Scataboo's going to be healthy dart neighbors.
18:10
To get a winner, man, Harbaugh's like to win football games, it
18:14
will be. Yeah.
18:20
I wouldn't expect miracles right off the bat, but the one thing I
18:23
told him when we talked about this the last time is that name
18:27
is synonymous with football. It's right up there with
18:29
Mannings and whoever else you want to name.
18:32
That's a dynasty football family.
18:34
I mean, the hardballs like to win football games and somehow
18:36
they're good at it. Yeah, yeah.
18:39
So we'll see. Speaking of not being good at
18:42
it, well, good at it. Did everybody like how LeBron
18:45
got swept again last night? Swept I.
18:47
Did it was swept away? So I, I pulled it up on the
18:51
FanDuel app and it was like 40 seconds left and and the Lakers
18:57
were winning by 5. I'm like, can't be fucking
18:59
kidding me. And then when I got up this
19:03
morning at six, I just Googled it like, oh, right on The Lakers
19:05
watched How do you lose? I saw someone by.
19:10
Five, I just don't know how you lose up by 5 with 40 seconds
19:15
left, but they did, yeah. It's the NBA, yeah.
19:20
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but team can be down by 22
19:25
points and there's two minutes left and somehow they end up
19:27
winning. Right.
19:29
That's why I had to quit betting on the NBA.
19:32
It's yeah, I'm not saying it's rigged, but it's rigged, man.
19:36
It's tough. It's all rigged.
19:38
They've had they've had more referees pulled out of the NBA
19:41
under suspicion of that crap than any other sport.
19:44
While one of them went to prison.
19:46
For sure. I think 2 of them.
19:47
Right. Yeah, that was during the
19:49
Barkley, the Barkley Suns era, the Barkley Nash Suns era.
19:52
That was a big, that's a big deal back then.
19:54
That guy, that that guy went down for sure.
19:58
Now football, football, NFL's are going to start going down.
20:01
The umpires didn't really go down football. 3.
20:06
Football and basketball are the 2.
20:07
They're the 2 ones that I think have the most influence by the
20:10
officiating. Yeah, you know baseball.
20:13
Never really is now. Right.
20:17
And baseball. You never really have.
20:20
No, no. And baseball an umpire.
20:22
But now they can overrule the umpire's calls.
20:24
Twice a game. Oh, only twice a game.
20:27
OK, OK. Yeah.
20:30
You're never really here with hockey.
20:33
No, because hockey's hockey, man.
20:35
Hockey's still pretty pure. Yeah, it's violent, it's cold.
20:42
It's everything. That's everything it's supposed
20:43
to be. That's it, you know?
20:45
Yeah, it's still the thing. Right.
20:48
It's like rugby on skates. Yeah, yeah, something like that.
20:53
Yeah, so you have one song coming out, you write and you
20:56
write and you're going to, you're going to write a whole
20:57
EP, you're going to write 7 more songs out.
20:59
Of my head. Yeah, I felt it.
21:03
Yeah, so, so I actually have, I have like 4 or five songs I've
21:09
been writing past two years and 1/2.
21:16
So well, once I kind of dove into like, OK, I'm going to sing
21:20
these. I, I kind of put focus on the
21:24
lyrical part or at least writing well, rest on them.
21:28
So I have about four or five I would say.
21:34
OK, then that's my next question.
21:36
I know you're a guitar player. When you decided to start
21:40
writing lyrics. Have you always written lyrics
21:43
or is this something that you've tackled recently?
21:48
I would say recently. I I would say recently.
21:54
That's another thing I don't. That's another thing I don't do
21:57
either, Robert. I've never.
21:58
I've tried a few times and I think I've written a couple
22:00
decent songs. I lost them when I moved back to
22:02
Illinois, but when I read his lyrics I was like, I'm done
22:07
monkeying. Around with that.
22:08
Shit. Thank you.
22:09
I'll just play guitar. That's it.
22:11
Yeah, I'm good. At this I'm good at this part.
22:14
Yeah, yeah, it's kind of new. I, I kind of based it off, you
22:20
know, just experiences. You know, there's one I wrote.
22:25
Well, it's about a crush I had on a girl I used to go into the
22:31
store and kind of chat with her and whatever.
22:34
So, well, one of my favorite songs is Morgan Wallace spinning
22:37
around. So I kind of took that idea and
22:41
kind of made it my own type of spin on it.
22:44
Nice. So I asked one of them.
22:48
But yeah, you know, it's just how it comes, you know.
22:52
Well, most of the music I already had before that.
22:57
And then the OR I do it the other way around.
22:59
Sometimes I write it and be like oh this sounds good and try to
23:03
put the news up to it. Yeah, him and I used to do the
23:06
same thing. Sometimes I would come up with a
23:08
riff and he would say, you know, either I'm going to write lyrics
23:11
to that or I got a set of lyrics.
23:14
And then the other half the time he would just hand me a set of
23:16
lyrics and somehow I would hear what the music should sound like
23:20
in my head. It was crazy.
23:22
Mike was really good at Mike was really good at that.
23:24
I've told that story thousands of times.
23:26
I could give him, I'd give him a set of lyrics and he could, he
23:29
would understand my emotion, my whatever energy was behind those
23:33
words. Just yeah.
23:35
It's like it's like Linda McCartney without the billions
23:37
and trillions of dollars in recording songs.
23:41
Yeah, yeah, we're missing the money part.
23:43
Yeah, but he could. It was amazing.
23:45
It was amazing. It's just here and he can tell.
23:47
He knew what the Yeah, He knew what the mood was.
23:49
He knew what the what the tone was.
23:52
I don't think there was ever a song We we we wrote that that
23:55
didn't happen. It was never forced.
23:58
It was always just, it was just, yeah, it was just there, you
24:03
know? And he would come, he would play
24:05
like this. When I came into the band, a lot
24:08
of the music was already written.
24:09
So then I came in over top of it with my own lyrics.
24:11
And just the irony of that as my lyrics fit.
24:15
They just fit. It wasn't anything.
24:17
And they were completely different songs when I took
24:19
them. You know.
24:22
They had different names, everything and I, you know, I
24:24
never really listened to their music with the other singer
24:28
because I didn't want to. I just wanted to hear the.
24:30
Music. You want to make it your own.
24:32
Right, so I I did that. And, you know, his mom still
24:36
likes one of the songs that I wrote that he wrote the title
24:39
better, which I'm like, come on, Kay, what the hell, man?
24:44
Yeah, like this one of them I wrote.
24:45
I don't think she has anything. Sorry, Robert.
24:48
I don't think she has anything to compare it to with you
24:50
because we never had anything. We never had that song recorded.
24:53
It was Vision, if I remember. Right.
24:55
True. True What?
24:59
Were you saying about the song you wrote, Robert?
25:02
Oh, I said one of them. It's called Different Kind of
25:05
Paradise, which I wrote after going to Tennessee the first
25:09
time I wrote after I went last May.
25:14
So when I came back, I just all become my uncle.
25:20
And it's like, you know, no horse.
25:21
It's nice because you're on vacation.
25:23
Then you don't have to worry about, you know, bills or
25:25
anything. So I'm like, yeah, but it's a
25:28
different kind of feeling. So then it kind of popped in my
25:31
head like different kind of paradise.
25:35
Yeah, yeah, I like that title. That is, yeah.
25:38
It's just, you know, there's so there's Take a Side, the kind of
25:42
paradise green tracer I wrote, I had the lyrics came later on,
25:49
but musically it's probably one of the older ones.
25:54
I wrote like 2 years ago and that came from it was the first
26:00
open mic I did ever in North Carolina.
26:05
And the name of the place was Nutrasers.
26:08
Oh, cool. So, yeah, so.
26:11
So, so we might remind our listeners because now we're like
26:15
in almost 100 countries now. So remind our listeners, you
26:17
started this because you just decided one day you wanted to be
26:20
a musician and so you would you would travel to open mic.
26:23
So kind of back up a little bit and kind of share that little
26:27
beginning of your story because that's a really cool origin of
26:29
how you got into. Well, you had decided to beat
26:32
before that, right? Yeah.
26:34
Yeah, right. You beat cancer before all this,
26:37
right? Yeah.
26:38
Yeah, so I I want to backtrack a little.
26:41
Yeah, yeah, just yeah, just like a 5 minute reminder.
26:43
So people that are just joining us and haven't didn't because
26:46
you've been, you haven't been here for a while.
26:47
This was over a year ago, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:51
Pretty close, pretty closer, yeah.
26:54
Yeah, so just a 5 minute, you know you.
26:58
Know OK yeah so I'm a 1515 year thyroid cancer survivor yeah I
27:07
don't have a thyroid so I had it taken out We're not first we're
27:11
not first diagnosed. Been playing guitar since since
27:16
8th grade so that's about 9695 I started playing and I took
27:24
lessons for four years once that ended kept playing self-taught
27:31
myself and then 2019 I hoped up with my guitar teacher that I
27:38
still take lessons with now that I've been with him ever since We
27:42
do lessons every team so so and then my first open mic was in
27:49
North Carolina and me and her became friends the girl that
27:56
runs it and you know keeping clock.
27:59
I think I've been down there, I want to say 12 * 10 times in the
28:04
past few years just yeah. And I always focus when I go
28:09
down to make sure that she's doing, you know, she's around.
28:13
So I got a chance to sit here and hang out with her and stuff.
28:16
But yeah, my first, my first open mic was at Hearst.
28:21
That's awesome. I think I was more nervous at
28:24
that than I was singing in Nashville.
28:28
Well, yeah, it was your, it was your first time, man.
28:31
I mean the, the, you know, and I'm sure you've grown as an
28:34
artist immensely since the first time to being in Nashville.
28:37
Yeah, now I love it. Now it's like that, you know?
28:40
Now I love doing the, you know, playing and stuff like that.
28:43
Yeah. Yeah, it's based on my back
28:45
foot. Yeah, I was telling everybody.
28:49
I was telling everybody I was too.
28:51
I think I was too stupid to know.
28:52
I was supposed to be scared to get up there.
28:55
Right. Yeah.
28:57
That's always my running joke. I think I was just too dumb to
29:00
know I was supposed to be nervous to get up there.
29:02
Yeah, yeah. But we rehearsed so much, man,
29:05
and I'm sure that you can attest to that.
29:07
If you've done the work, of course you're going to have
29:11
anxiety. That's human nature.
29:13
If you don't have anxiety, you probably shouldn't do it
29:16
because. Then you're probably.
29:17
Yeah, if you don't have that, then you're like a sociopath and
29:21
you need other. Kinds of help, you know.
29:23
But yeah, but yeah, you kind of want the butterflies to find,
29:27
you know? Yeah, that shows you that you're
29:29
human. Yep, yeah.
29:32
Yeah, My leg would start shaking uncontrollably.
29:34
I couldn't get it to stop until I hit that first cord, and then
29:37
everything would be fine. You know, I'm like, let's just
29:39
go. You know, I just.
29:41
Yeah, I would pace. I would pace non-stop.
29:44
I'd pace backstage. Just just non-stop pacing back
29:47
and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
29:48
Nervous energy like let's go, let's go, let's go.
29:51
I I. Yeah, yeah, just I just.
29:54
I I've I've definitely done that.
29:56
And if anybody thinks that he talks fast now, you should have
29:59
hurt him at that moment in time. Oh.
30:02
Yeah, it was like he, it was like somebody put him on 1 1/2
30:06
speed or two speed on your phone, you know, when you listen
30:08
to a podcast. With somebody talking real.
30:10
Slow. Sometimes I'll speed it up.
30:12
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
30:15
Like I'll quake. Yeah, I've got some piece back
30:18
and forth. Yeah, well, yeah, 'cause
30:20
everything's faster when you're live.
30:22
The adrenaline takes over. Oh, for sure.
30:24
You know, the excitement, the rush, the the faces, that
30:28
everything just, you know, you just can't control it.
30:32
You can't slow it down. That's why everybody praises
30:34
Charlie. What's his face?
30:35
Last name from the Stones. Because he's a human net
30:37
metronome. Doesn't matter what it means.
30:40
Yeah. Tell you what now it doesn't
30:41
matter what the band was. Charlie's like, fuck you.
30:44
This is the tempo. Slow it down.
30:46
Slow it down, slow it down. We're not going.
30:49
Nope, not going fast. Nope, not daring it.
30:52
That's the same speed. You know.
30:55
Some bands can pull that off ACDC, they pulled it off.
30:59
Yeah. Yeah, Phil Rudd was the same
31:01
way. It was a human metronome.
31:02
Yep, Yeah, yeah. Smoke, Smoke a pack.
31:06
Of cigarettes and play a concert.
31:09
Yeah, we all smoke a homie pack during a show.
31:13
Oh, for sure. Wow.
31:15
That guy always had a cigarette in his mouth, which is a
31:18
testament playing the drums. Well, Bunny Coles did too for
31:21
the for cheap trick. He always had a cigarette too
31:24
bro. Bunny, Carlos.
31:29
Yeah, Buddy Carlos. What I say Buddy Coles.
31:30
Bunny Carlos. Yeah, Bunny Carlos.
31:32
I was like, I know he's 2/3 of the way there.
31:34
What's that? Yeah.
31:36
Yeah, ironic. The the irony of that is he
31:38
looks like my old man. For real.
31:41
Yeah. The, the, the, the, the few, the
31:44
few pictures I had of him are, you know, looks just, it's just
31:47
like, OK, they could be brothers.
31:48
They're not, obviously. But that's what that's what my
31:51
father looked like the last time I saw his face.
31:54
That's girl was even crazier than both from Illinois, you
32:03
know, weird, wacky stuff. Me too.
32:06
OK, so we got four or five more songs.
32:07
You got one that's coming out June 20th.
32:09
Now, is that going to be on all the platforms?
32:12
All the you can find out places? OK, cool.
32:15
Yep. So it's already uploaded on
32:17
this, it's OK. So yeah, it's going to be on the
32:20
whole platform. OK, now why are you waiting till
32:22
the 20th? What's the catch for that?
32:27
Originally I just did it because I wasn't still aware I was going
32:29
to be with the recording, but I wanted to do it.
32:35
I wanted to do it before 4th of July.
32:38
Like I wanted to do it before the, you know, 4th of July.
32:40
So I wanted to give it that kind of two weeks before to kind of
32:45
be out there and circulate before the holiday.
32:50
So I don't want to do it after 4th of July.
32:53
I wanted to make it definitely before.
32:56
OK, now you're going. Are you?
32:58
Are you? Go ahead, go.
33:01
Ahead oh, that's going to be my summer storm so.
33:06
Gotcha. OK, Now are you going, are you
33:08
doing, are you doing a bunch of different podcasts promoting the
33:10
song? Am I what?
33:13
Are you doing a bunch of different podcasts promoting it?
33:16
Are you going around I'm. Trying to cool.
33:18
Yeah, I'm trying to. Right on.
33:20
That's good. Yeah.
33:23
I'm, I'm always put on Instagram and Facebook and, you know, keep
33:26
a mess with that. How many other podcasts do you
33:29
think you've been on, Robert out of curiosity?
33:34
I want to say 10 around there that.
33:38
Was a decent amount. Yeah, I I did.
33:41
My first one was not in New York.
33:43
My first one was in Delaware. I want to say I don't remember
33:49
your exact, but. And that was his first sketch,
33:53
so it's just starting out. Oh, cool.
33:56
Yeah. So I did one in Delaware and
34:01
then I did still. I know I did like two or three
34:05
Zoom ones. I did you guys twice.
34:10
I did a girl from New York City. I've been on hers a few times so
34:20
I'll probably I'll go try to go on horse again because you know,
34:23
like I said, I'll, I, I was on horse 2 times so earlier.
34:25
Yeah. I like them.
34:28
Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a great way to get,
34:31
you know, for an independent artist, it's a great way to get
34:34
your name and your music out there.
34:37
Yeah. When you were here the last
34:41
time, we were in maybe 2025 countries, right?
34:45
Since then, we've gained about 70.
34:48
Wow. So we're just short of 100
34:50
countries now, so. Wow.
34:53
It is a great way to get your name out there.
34:56
Yeah, yeah. And I, I like doing them just to
35:00
do them too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, on the side of
35:03
it too, but yeah. How close do you think you are
35:05
to recording those other songs? So I'm actually going to start
35:11
recording tomorrow. It's pretty close, so.
35:16
Yeah, it's pretty close. Yeah.
35:17
So the the luxury is that the place that I take vocal is the
35:23
same place that I do the recording.
35:26
So I usually I do it once a week.
35:29
So whenever I however I want to swap it out, I can.
35:35
So I, I was alternating one week vocal, one week recording and
35:42
just go back and forth. So once, like once I had the
35:48
guitar work down for Take a Shot, I swapped over to local to
35:54
help with the vocal part. You know, I'll do that for two
35:57
weeks, then I go back into reporting, you know, to scratch
36:02
vocals for two weeks, then go back to.
36:05
So yeah, I have that luxury phone back and forth with it,
36:09
so. Did you take your when you when
36:13
you decided to become the singer of your band, did you take the
36:16
songs to your vocal coach and have him help you with that?
36:20
Very cool. Good job.
36:21
Yeah, so, so that's why I didn't take a shot.
36:24
So, and actually my, my first vocal lesson was the same day as
36:31
an open mic. So I already had to take a shot,
36:34
right. And so I literally left, I left
36:38
vocal lessons because it was right across the street, went
36:42
across the screen this open mic and I sang take a shot.
36:48
So it was like, like, all right, I just did a first vocal lesson.
36:52
I'm going to sing take a shot. So and.
36:54
How was the response? Good.
36:57
Yeah, Last time, Last time I sang it, last time I did.
37:01
I opened my a few weeks ago after national vocal out by me,
37:07
I got a pause. I got a pause and whistle.
37:11
Oh, nice. And whistles.
37:13
I'm like, whoa, someone whistled.
37:15
No, no, I just get the whole, you know, yeah, no, I just get
37:19
the whole I heard someone whistle.
37:22
I'm like, whoa, look. That's awesome.
37:24
That's cool. But yeah, yeah, that's, that's
37:27
fullback alternating. You know, I just, I just let
37:30
them know ahead of time. Yeah.
37:33
But yeah. So I'll do recording tomorrow.
37:37
I'm actually doing this for two hours.
37:40
OK, so I doubled up this week, but yeah, we'll start laying
37:45
down the track with the new chaser, which is all glass bluzy
37:51
Bree type of sound, right? Very nice.
37:55
'Cause I do you want my epic. Go ahead.
37:58
Yeah, I said I was. I was going to say, do you want
38:00
to share the lyrics of Take a Shot?
38:04
Yeah, let me pull. I don't have the moment.
38:09
Yeah, I don't have my phone. OK.
38:11
OK, you know how I like lyrics. But yeah, Jean Chaser, I'll
38:19
start laying down tomorrow. OK.
38:23
That's definitely more of a pretty of sound there to take
38:26
the shot. OK.
38:29
Down a half step, Want the stores turn on it.
38:33
How would you describe your sound if somebody was curious?
38:39
Country and rock, country, rock, country, rock definitely more
38:43
definitely more on a rock side. I would say take a shot.
38:48
And this kind of paradise definitely have more of a
38:54
definitely has more of a country influence on it.
38:57
They still kind of have that rock edge to it.
39:02
So yeah, I would say, I would say rock first, first and
39:06
foremost. Yeah, I really do like that This
39:08
Side of Paradise is a title that's pretty cool.
39:11
Different kind of paradise. Different kind of paradise?
39:13
Yeah, different kind of paradise.
39:15
Be a great name for an album. Because I was thinking that's
39:18
why, that's why. That's why I opened that up,
39:20
because he's got to have, when he records the rest of his
39:22
songs, at least he's going to have an EP.
39:25
So, yeah, so the name that you see is going to call, it's going
39:28
to be called messy metal. The messy metal, which is
39:33
higher, just about binding yourself and kind of the whole
39:38
process of, you know, you're becoming the sneak person that
39:41
you learned before. I never sang before, now I'm
39:45
singing, you know. So just the whole putting
39:49
yourself out there and, you know, changing fusion for the
39:52
better part, yeah, but just the whole in between part of it.
39:57
Well, I agree with that line of thinking wholeheartedly, Robert.
40:00
People hear me say all the time. I don't know why but.
40:05
You never hear people talk about the fact that, number one, you
40:09
never know when your last day is, right?
40:12
None of us know that. And number two, people do not
40:15
live like they're only going to do this one time.
40:17
You know, they worry about such weird shit.
40:21
That's why I've never fit into what I would consider, you know,
40:24
modern society because my brain doesn't think that way.
40:28
You know, it's like I'm not going to fret over who thinks
40:31
what about me or what I'm wearing or what I said or yeah,
40:35
I'm not them. So I have no control over that.
40:38
You know, I think that's the part that people don't
40:39
understand is what people think about you is really none of your
40:43
business. So I really admire and I follow,
40:47
you know, I like all your stuff on Instagram and I follow you on
40:50
Facebook. I really like, you know, your
40:52
hashtags, your fuck fear. And you know, people need to
40:56
embrace that. You only get to do this once,
41:00
and God forbid you could, you could be dead tomorrow.
41:03
You could get hit by a bus or killed on the freeway, or I
41:05
mean, I hope that never happens to anybody, but it could happen.
41:09
Yeah, a plane's tire could could RIP the top off your cab as
41:12
you're driving down the freeway, right?
41:15
Or you could get hop the fence and get sucked into a jet
41:18
engine, you know, right. Did you see that in the at the
41:21
Denver International Airport? Yeah, that guy obviously
41:24
committed suicide. But he did.
41:26
Yeah. Yeah.
41:27
Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of why dove into
41:30
the singing part because it's like, yeah, rather than worry
41:34
about, OK, trying to find a singer, you know, if they can't
41:37
travel, then OK, I don't have a singer, right?
41:40
Yeah. I just kind of said, no, I
41:41
screwed. I'm going to look into vocal
41:43
license and just go go one. For well, the the the other
41:47
benefit of being a guitar player who sings, you don't have to
41:50
have a band behind you to do open mic, right?
41:53
Yeah, it's just shooting your guitar.
41:55
That's. So and now do you go up there?
41:57
Is it plugged in or you do an acoustic?
42:00
Most of them are boost, Most of the open mics are boost.
42:04
OK, cool. Yeah.
42:05
So some of them are electric, but most of them are boost stuff
42:09
OK, which I don't want. OK, so now when you do open
42:13
mics, you're just doing like 3 to 5 songs.
42:15
You're just doing 1 and done. It depends how busy they are.
42:22
So it'll be between 3:00 and 5:00 sometimes if it's really
42:27
busy. Sometimes some old places will
42:29
do 1 like this. One.
42:32
Yours was like 17 minutes, so you must have done like four or
42:36
five songs. Yeah, during that one, yeah,
42:38
four or five, yeah, yeah, I know, I know the one.
42:42
There's one by me they do outside on a like a farm stand
42:46
type thing, but it's a big deal which the first doing that first
42:52
one, the 27th, I think of this one, but that one gets pretty
42:57
jam packed. So usually that one, they do do
43:01
one song. But yeah, it depends, Yeah, it
43:05
depends on how much of A crowd there's, how many players there
43:08
are. OK.
43:10
So what do you have coming up for open mic spots?
43:15
11 on the 27th, that's at the bar on Sam type thing and then
43:23
there's another one by me. He does it the first Tuesday of
43:26
everyone. OK, so that'll be that and then,
43:31
yeah. So how many songs?
43:33
How? How many songs do you know right
43:34
now? Like if I said OK, play all your
43:36
songs, how many songs you got? As far as covers or original?
43:40
No, just in general, like I, I said, if I, if I told you, hey
43:43
Robert, I got 30 minutes for you to play, could you fill that
43:45
space? Yeah, I definitely can.
43:50
Yeah, I definitely. Can.
43:54
Yeah, This is why I'm asking that.
43:55
So you're, I mean, I guess you're doing open mics, you
43:58
know, you're doing quite a bit of that.
43:59
I think you need to step up now and and go find a band to open
44:02
for and start doing, you know, 30 because most opening bands
44:06
are 2030 minute sets. But that way you can start
44:09
working on more of your material you're recording, start honing.
44:13
Because the biggest thing with that, Mike and I have always
44:15
talked about the more you play live, the better the recording
44:20
of the song is because you learn so much playing alive because of
44:24
the interest to kiss intricacies of the live performance and the
44:29
speed up adrenaline, the reaction to the people around
44:32
you and just the mistakes that you make on stage that nobody
44:35
realizes you're making, but they're happy mistakes because
44:37
they end up making the song that much better.
44:38
You fill this spot with that. You can do a little improv
44:41
because you may forget where you're at in the song.
44:42
So all of a sudden you go improving, you know, all the
44:45
things that happened to us on stage that people don't realize
44:47
happens to us on stage because they're not sitting there in the
44:50
rehearsals, you know, day after day, hour after hour.
44:53
So they think it's just part of the song.
44:56
So I think so for you to get your best product out there, I
44:59
think you should start evolving now.
45:01
OK, let's let's move from the open mic.
45:03
So let's find a band you can open for play 20 minutes that's
45:07
start honing the craft of of now that you're singing because
45:10
that's a whole never aspect of you now.
45:12
So the more Mike and I believe that once you go on stage for a
45:15
show that's worth 10 practices in our heads, you know, if not
45:18
more depending on the element of the show.
45:21
So I would challenge you to kind of take that step.
45:23
Now, like you, you got over the fear of just going on stage by
45:27
yourself. You got over the fear of playing
45:29
in Nashville. Now you got over the fear of
45:30
being your own singer with the guitar.
45:32
Now take the next step and do that because then you're going
45:35
to your growth is going to just going to just compound, right,
45:40
because the more you do that right because this is going to.
45:42
Sound, this is going to sound crazy, but you're going to
45:46
you're going to want to practice that if you're going to do it by
45:48
yourself, yes. So we used to practice our
45:53
actual show in our rehearsal space.
45:56
So we would set up the rehearsal space like it was a stage,
45:59
right? The only difference is is we
46:01
would all face the drummer. So on a stage you're facing the
46:04
crowd, obviously, but we just turned the band in so that we
46:08
were facing the drummer so we could work.
46:10
But you, if you're going to, I agree with Chris wholeheartedly,
46:15
you're going to elevate to that next level if you do what he
46:19
said. Yeah.
46:20
But my advice to you is you're going to want to learn how to
46:24
fill that time because you can't just fill it with singing and
46:29
playing, right? No, you have to have some kind
46:31
of show too. And because you're a one man
46:34
band, start thinking about that or get yourself a band.
46:39
You know, all you need is a bass player and a drummer.
46:42
Right. In case in point, when when we
46:43
would do that, I would I would take my spot during our
46:46
rehearsals and I would introduce the band so they knew when I was
46:49
going to introduce the band. The funniest thing is, is when
46:52
he would do his little spiels in rehearsal, he would go, now this
46:56
is where I'm going to be doing blah, blah, blah.
46:58
And he would go to the bathroom and he'd still have the
47:00
microphone and OK, yeah, OK, we're filling this band.
47:04
OK. And the song going to start
47:05
about now. That's how tight we would put
47:07
ourselves because we knew we only had 30 minutes, 40 minutes.
47:11
Sometimes we only had 20 minutes.
47:13
Yep. Because we were the opening act
47:16
for a national touring band that we we got what they gave us
47:20
right and some. Bands were.
47:22
Generous, and some bands weren't so.
47:24
Right, right. But the yeah, the more we did
47:26
that, yeah. So just I challenge you to that
47:28
because I think that's your next, that's your next
47:29
progression. Thank you, Mike.
47:31
Yeah, it's your next progression.
47:33
Yeah, I, I definitely feel I'm at that point.
47:36
I like you so well. I'm kind of pick.
47:38
I asked. Open mic looks like all right
47:40
now it's time to go take that next step.
47:45
Yeah, and open, open open mics are cool for what they are
47:47
because it gets like my very first live performance ever was
47:50
an open mic. I played three songs with my
47:52
band Disturbed. And, you know, it was, I don't
47:55
remember. It was a blur because we were so
47:57
hyped up and so adrenalized. It was a Boston's a place that
48:00
can Tempe called Boston's next to big surf mic.
48:04
And it was just, you know, it was just, it was crazy.
48:07
It was a blast. It was.
48:08
And then you get off stage like, you know, that's that, that that
48:14
was the initial rush of doing that with, with.
48:17
So open mics have a purpose. Yeah, I, I.
48:21
Yeah. So don't stop doing them.
48:23
I just think you need to start figuring out a way to start
48:25
building up to that aspect of it because it's going to just help
48:30
you grow as an artist. Yeah, I always felt open mics
48:34
are good for, you know, kind of kind of to hone the craft and
48:37
see what works and see what doesn't work.
48:40
And that's always kind of how I always created them too, you
48:43
know, like, I'll mix up the songs.
48:45
Sorry. Because it's supposed to say
48:46
something more, you know, people respond more to this than, you
48:51
know, the other ones. So definitely helps.
48:54
Yeah. And it definitely got me to
48:58
where I am now, so. Absolutely.
49:01
You got to start somewhere, man. Definitely, definitely so.
49:08
All right, so where can people find you on the on the World
49:10
Wide Web, Robert? So I'm on.
49:13
Facebook Instant Yeah. Facebook is Robert McKay and
49:19
then Instagram I always expect this title dream dot tracer 2O2
49:27
four or if you look on the Robert McKay on the dream tracer
49:32
my daughter. You type in your name on
49:36
Instagram, your page comes up. That's how I always find you.
49:39
OK, I I always get them. I always forget the list.
49:43
That's what's. On no, if you just, if people
49:45
are listening and you want to find him on Instagram, just type
49:47
in Robert McKay. That's how I always find him.
49:49
Your page pops right up so. OK, McKay still spelling on.
49:55
It No, no. There's another thing I'm going
49:57
to challenge you to do, Robert, OK?
50:00
All the challenges, man. This is your Facebook page, OK?
50:04
Your cover photo needs to be about music, not football.
50:08
Yeah, OK. Yeah, you want, you can.
50:10
No, because seriously, because you want.
50:12
You got your music link, right? Yeah, you're a musician.
50:15
You're calling yourself a musician.
50:16
What's the music link? But you, you got your your stuff
50:19
dabbed as a musician here. So you need you need to start
50:23
becoming that guy. So if this is if this is a
50:26
personal page, which is cool, create a create a musician page,
50:30
create a bit creative, a a a like Mike and I have Crystal
50:33
Mike show page, right? And then we also have our
50:35
individual pages. So create, create a page that
50:38
has your performances, where you're going to be.
50:41
You can pimp out your music, you can pimp out your merchandise,
50:43
you can pimp out what your upcoming shows are.
50:45
But on this subject, I agree with him again, because if you
50:48
go to my personal Facebook page right now, Robert, the first
50:51
thing you're going to see is a Chris and Mike show because
50:53
that's how, you know, we're trying to promote this.
50:57
I agree with him. Either start a musician page or
51:00
get rid of that and put a picture of you in that hat or
51:03
something that you know. Or just make it, Make it.
51:07
Yeah, You're going to call yourself Robert McKay, right?
51:08
So go on canvas something to make your have, make a logo,
51:12
make a Robert McKay band logo, you know, whatever you're going
51:15
to do, start building your brand.
51:17
This is the perfect time to start doing that because you're
51:19
you're kind of you're starting to release your first song.
51:21
So if you if you do it right, you have time get a brand going
51:25
with your first single release because then you can start
51:27
building momentum off of that. Yeah, right.
51:30
Brand, brand recognition is huge, man.
51:32
It's huge. Psycho Bunny, right?
51:34
Brand recognition. Yeah, like I started to wear the
51:37
hat like the real site put up on Instagram to start start to
51:43
promote take a shot. I started to wear the hat that
51:46
everyone that they got in Tennessee and I'm like, you
51:51
know, I'm like, this actually works.
51:52
Like, you know, then yeah, then. Then then make that part of who
51:56
you are. Make that part of your brand,
51:57
man. Yeah.
51:58
Like we had. Yeah, we have a really cool,
51:59
Yeah. We have a really cool country
52:01
singer on a couple Times Now, Dave Nudo.
52:03
And. And when he's on the show, he
52:04
doesn't look like Dave Nudo man at all.
52:07
Like. No, and he's just, I'll, I'll
52:09
tell you what man, that is a great example.
52:12
Go look at his Facebook page and scroll through his photos when
52:15
he's with his family and then and then look at what he
52:19
promotes himself as. Chris is right.
52:22
It doesn't even look like the same guy.
52:24
No, he has such a badass southern rock country look.
52:29
He he looks like he's straight out of ZZ Top man.
52:31
I mean, but as a normal everyday Dave Nudo, he's really just a
52:38
average. As Joe Walsh says, he's an
52:40
average ordinary. Ordinary guy?
52:41
Yep, that's Dave Nudo. That's Dave.
52:43
Look at that look, dude. Oh yeah, that's more.
52:47
There's almost like. Right, but and see there he is
52:50
there, but see there, he's on stage.
52:52
That's his cover photo. So he has a cover photo, you
52:54
know, right away. This dude is he's a musician
52:56
like there's no, there's no question about it.
52:59
That's that's a better look. That's a better, that's what he
53:02
looks like. But when he's on our show, his
53:04
his hair's pulled back in a, in a, in a ponytail.
53:06
You don't see it. You just see it on his head and
53:09
he's not wearing sunglasses, right?
53:11
He's just, he's like this. He's just this dude that's
53:15
hanging out talking to Christian Mike.
53:18
He said he calls that guy Dave's roadie.
53:20
Right, yeah, Dave's roadie, but see this but and and I know
53:23
we're pimping Dave noodle on your spot, but I just this is a
53:26
good example. See this but see that we we know
53:29
everywhere Dave's going to play so even your open mic spots you
53:32
want to drop those So when you start when you start building
53:35
that momentum and you want people to be able to go to your
53:37
Facebook page and your Instagram page Instagram's kind of hard,
53:40
but Facebook's really easy to do so where you can start you can
53:44
start showing more and more businesses businesses.
53:47
This is a band page. You're not going to see any
53:49
pictures of of him, but this is this is my.
53:52
Music too, Robert. Yeah, yeah, The Lord of the
53:54
Devil. Go look that up, Mike.
53:56
And I love this picture. Yeah, yeah, that's the picture.
54:00
That's the money shot. Yeah, that's the money show.
54:02
Yeah. But just so just, you know, like
54:05
I said, just we've we've I feel like we've know you from the
54:09
when you first started doing this.
54:10
So now you've come along this far.
54:12
So now let's get you to the next level, because that's what.
54:14
Kind of. Wait, dude, yeah.
54:16
Be proud of what you've done. Absolutely, absolutely.
54:20
I just I just when. Chris is talking.
54:23
I think he gets misunderstood sometimes.
54:25
It's all out of love, brother. It is no I love this 100.
54:28
Percent. Well, I remember the first.
54:30
I remember the first time you talked, I was talking about
54:32
scales and I was saying, you know, just play the rhythm,
54:35
don't worry. About it, I'm not even saying
54:36
you're taking it that way. I'm just saying in general,
54:39
sometimes, you know, he, he gets excited and it's all coming from
54:43
a place of love. He wants to make you a better
54:45
musician. He wants to make you a better
54:46
human being. I want you to be famous because
54:48
then you can say I, I, you know, I was on Chris and Mike show and
54:51
and they helped me become famous.
54:53
We. Selfishly have some skin in the
54:55
game. Yeah, the more successful our
54:59
guests are, then the the more people go to the show and they
55:02
go and then they go to you and then it's and you can cross to
55:04
me. It's kind of like we'd like to
55:06
intertwine musicians on the show because it's cool.
55:09
It's like, you know, a year from now when you build all your
55:12
stuff up, then we have somebody else on this news like, hey,
55:14
check out this guy Robin McKay. He came on, you know, when he
55:16
first started. Now look what he's done.
55:18
Look, look how he's grown. And then it's your cross
55:20
pollinating viewers and guests and, and listeners like, oh, I
55:24
can go check out Robert, you know some people that are
55:26
watching you. I was just going to say, man,
55:29
just watching his journey has been fun.
55:31
Like you said, we basically caught him at the inception of
55:34
this idea. And you know, you kind of were
55:39
up in the air. I'm going to go One Direction or
55:41
the other. And I've really watched you
55:42
choose a direction. Writing that song, having the
55:46
balls to go out there and perform it multiple times, place
55:49
it on the Internet, that takes guts dude.
55:52
It does. You're baring your soul, man.
55:55
Yeah. And, and like the first time we
55:57
talked, like, yeah, like I wasn't still, I really still
56:01
wasn't on a fence about singing at all.
56:03
Like I was still kind of trying away from it a lot.
56:08
But, you know, then when I went down to Nashville and I sat in
56:11
that room, you know, for the, for the open mic, and I'm
56:14
walking everyone around and I'm like, whoa, like this is like.
56:19
But it's also kind of like a humbling experience because it's
56:22
kind of like, I remember sitting there, I was texting my uncle.
56:26
I'm like, this is where I want to be like and the light bulbs
56:30
kind of went on like this is what this is what I want like.
56:34
So lay the foundation, start laying that foundation now.
56:37
Because when you get to Nashville, you have to have a
56:39
little bit extra to be recognized.
56:41
Cause Nashville's full of what? Musicians.
56:43
It's, it's the East Coast version of of Hollywood, right?
56:48
So you got it. You got all that stuff built up
56:50
around you. So this is your challenge, man.
56:52
Start now. Start building that stuff.
56:54
Start building the brand. Start building the look.
56:56
I'm gonna give you foundation. I'm gonna give you another guy
56:59
to follow Robert, and you might follow him already.
57:02
His name's Peter Danklinson. OK, I don't follow him but I.
57:06
Will OK just go to Pete's diary on Facebook?
57:11
This kid was born with a weird rare disease where like one side
57:18
of his head didn't form. He's had like, I don't know, 70
57:21
different surgeries since he was an infant.
57:24
This kid has become, I've watched him just like I've
57:28
watched you. I watch.
57:29
I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it, man.
57:31
Because he was a young kid. When he started playing a
57:33
guitar, he was probably 7-8 years old.
57:37
He just moved to Nashville and I saw him play in the lead for the
57:41
Ace of Spades with a band that he was just sitting in with, and
57:45
he fucking tore it up, dude. And I cried because I'm so proud
57:50
of him. You know, it's like, not only
57:52
did he have the balls to get up there looking different and you
57:55
know, for years kids made fun of him.
57:58
And I mean, come on, the kids are cruel.
58:00
He persevered to become arguably a better guitar player than I am
58:06
now, and he's half my age. So whatever he lacked in
58:12
physical makeup, he was blessed with an incredible skill.
58:18
And it it'll just be motivation for you because he did exactly
58:21
what you want to do. He grew up around Chicago in a
58:24
suburb, and he just made the move about a month ago.
58:28
And this is about the third or fourth video he's posted of him
58:32
sitting in with different bands. But it's just a really cool,
58:35
feel good story of somebody who could have just said, you know
58:38
what? I got a bum deal in life, and
58:40
I'm just going to ride it out with my family and probably, you
58:44
know, get money from the government that he's entitled to
58:47
for sure. But instead, he said, I'm going
58:49
to become something, you know, I'm going to inspire people.
58:53
He wrote a book. It's a very inspiring story for
58:56
people that want to follow him. It's Pete's diary on Instagram
58:59
and Facebook. There you go.
59:03
Yeah. So we'll have you back on in a
59:04
year. We'll see where your progress is
59:05
at. Man, in a year.
59:07
I want you in national. I want you in national opening
59:09
for bands. I definitely want you.
59:11
In national, Nope, no pressure, man, no pressure.
59:14
Me too. So find Robert, just Google
59:17
Robert McKay. You'll find him on Facebook and
59:18
Instagram. Find all those things.
59:20
Watch. Watch his journey as he grows.
59:22
If you're feeling serious with that, go ahead, go ahead.
59:25
I'm always I'm always posting stuff too so.
59:28
OK, good. Yeah.
59:31
So, so follow Robert and and learn all about his journey as
59:34
he continues going upward. If you're feeling sad, sorrowed
59:38
or depressed, suicidal, don't do it.
59:40
Go scream in a pillow. Go journal.
59:42
Go write a song. Go play a guitar.
59:44
Go outside and run and go exercise.
59:46
Go workout. Find someone to talk to you.
59:47
If you cannot find someone to talk to you, text 988.
59:50
Somebody's standing by to help talk you off that ledge.
59:52
Tomorrow is a better place with you and it don't leave a hole in
59:54
somebody else's heart because you decide not to be here when
59:57
they wake up in the morning for for the Christian Mike show.
1:00:00
I'm Chris, he's Mike. And for Robert McKay, thank you
1:00:02
very much for coming on the show, man.
1:00:03
We truly appreciate your time. It's the most valuable asset we
1:00:06
all have. So excited to see where you
1:00:08
continue to grow and where you where you are a year from now.
1:00:11
So we'll have you back on. We'll have you back on and we'll
1:00:13
we'll chart your next year of your musical journey.
1:00:17
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, thanks for.
1:00:19
Having me. We'll keep kicking ass out
1:00:21
there, Robert. Yeah, buddy.
1:00:24
I'll keep following. Your man, Yeah.
1:00:25
Yeah, I always, I always see the notification, so.
1:00:29
Yeah, cool. Don't leave yet.
1:00:30
When Mike shuts us off, we've got to make sure everybody's
1:00:32
uploaded. Peace, love you guys.
1:00:36
Love you too. Peace.
1:00:37
Thank you.