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Transcript

Unsigned518 - Episode 162 - Rusticator · Unsigned518

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Welcome to unsigned 518. I am here with Tony and Jordan of Rusticator. How's it going, guys?
• 0:07
  Speaker B: Great. How are you doing?
• 0:08
  Speaker C: Fantastic.
• 0:09
  Speaker A: I'm doing. I'm doing quite, quite well. And Tony, we actually have met. I mean, years ago. We've known each other for five years.
• 0:17
  Speaker B: Probably something like that, because I used.
• 0:19
  Speaker A: To live in Greenwich and a lot of the musical people that you are part of the circle. I used to hang out with. Us. Well, like.
• 0:27
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 0:28
  Speaker A: Andrew Molica and Tom Powers and. And that gang.
• 0:32
  Speaker B: Legends.
• 0:33
  Speaker A: Yeah. And Jordan. I think we must have met. We. We must have. But I'm not. Not amazing. I remember.
• 0:40
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 0:41
  Speaker A: Remember Jordan anything?
• 0:43
  Speaker B: Jordan owns Wolf Hollow Brewing.
• 0:44
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 0:45
  Speaker A: Oh, wait, you guys own Wolf Hollow?
• 0:46
  Speaker C: I think.
• 0:47
  Speaker A: Oh, wait, how did. How did that not come up?
• 0:49
  Speaker C: Yeah, we were saving it for this, for the show, you know.
• 0:51
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Holy shit. I didn't. Yeah, we've played Wolf Hollow. We love Wolf Hollow. Yeah.
• 0:57
  Speaker C: I'm part owner there, so that's.
• 0:59
  Speaker A: That's wild. Yeah, that is. Yeah. We played there with Angelina. It was at the 10 year anniversary party.
• 1:06
  Speaker C: It was pouring rain.
• 1:07
  Speaker A: Fucking. I mean, pouring rain.
• 1:11
  Speaker C: Yeah. And that's. I was. I was parking cars, so I was standing. Oh, wow. Soaked that day.
• 1:15
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:15
  Speaker C: That's why we didn't interact very much because I was.
• 1:17
  Speaker A: But it kind of like. And we, you know, we roll with the punches as a band anyway. But, like, it kind of got to the point where it was raining so, so much that it became part of the, like, attraction to it.
• 1:30
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 1:30
  Speaker A: Like, it was like so, like, so special that it was raining that hard. Like, it was just comical and ironic and just like. Yeah, all right, well, you know, whatever. And it ended up being like it was. But it was a. Still, it was great. Everybody had a great time. Like, the tent was.
• 1:48
  Speaker B: Yeah. Huddle. Everybody was certainly big enough to.
• 1:51
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 1:51
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:52
  Speaker C: And we actually. We were. We were happy looking back because it was a manageable crowd for us. I mean, if it were a nice day, we would have had parking problems and, you know, just too many people for it to be fun for everybody, you know, like long lines and stuff. So it ended up working out really well.
• 2:09
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 2:09
  Speaker C: Because everybody that was there was like, you know, the rain kind of weeded out the weak ones, you know, and then everybody that was there really just wanted to be there.
• 2:17
  Speaker B: Right.
• 2:17
  Speaker A: And that's what I mean. Like, that was like, the air is that even though it's like apocalyptic rain coming down. Everybody was happy. Happy. Nobody was complaining about it. Like, everybody was just there to drink beer and have a good time. And that's. That's what happened. And see, I told you we'd get sidetracked, remember?
• 2:33
  Speaker B: There you go. No, that's a good.
• 2:34
  Speaker A: I was like, we're gonna totally inside from the band and just immediately steer it right off the road. But yeah, that's crazy. Wolf Hollow is a great place and. And we'll have to get back there. We were looking at hopefully or trying to play Halloween there, but unfortunately we had. We had prior engagements and couldn't pull it together. But I want to make that happen again this summer. We'll get back, make it a huge party. Maybe it'll just rain again and then you'll know it's just you guys. Yeah, we bring the rain. But anyway, what we're here to talk about, besides your lovely brewery is rusticator. So, you know, I said before we got rolling, it's kind of your narrative. You tell the story how you want and I'm literally just gonna kind of throw it over to you guys to get the backstory rolling.
• 3:25
  Speaker B: Yeah, we've. I was thinking about this before I came over this. We've had this band for. This is our 13th year.
• 3:33
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 3:34
  Speaker B: So basically it's a four piece band. Guitar, bass, fiddle, drums. Sometimes we bring in a steel guitar for our fifth person, but three out of the four of us were in this bluegrass band and we kind of collectively quit. This was like 2012. And. And then we started this band and then we brought in Derek, our drummer, who I've been playing with for even like 20 years now. So. And that. That kind of got the ball rolling. That was like 2012. The original bass player was part of that kind of collective quitting situation. And he then just kind of decided he was done with this band too after three or four years. And so we had a gig actually booked at Will Follow. And we knew it was going to be his last gig. So I emailed Jordan and I'm like, hey, we're excited to come and play. And I don't know if you know any bass players, but this is going to be our bass player's last gig. So, you know, maybe let me know. And he was like, oh, I play the bass. And I'm like, well, do you want to play with us? And then he was like, yeah, let's do it. So he came up. This would have been like, when, 2018.
• 4:48
  Speaker C: I think it was December 18 or 17, because I think officially, yeah, I.
• 4:52
  Speaker B: Was gonna say like January 18th. I remember you came up to my House, you had learned, like, all of our original songs before you showed up and then could just play them. And I was like, oh, my God, this is the greatest gift that I've ever been given. The guy owns an amazing venue. He, like, wants to be in the band, and he's really good. And so we've just been kind of rolling ever since then.
• 5:14
  Speaker A: And so that you said 2017. And so, like, the lineups, you. But you do do adaptive gigs where you'll do. I mean, Tony, you'll even do solo stuff or duo stuff a little bit.
• 5:26
  Speaker B: Yeah. And we've been doing more duo stuff the last couple years since COVID really. Kind of just because there's a lot of venues that you can't bring a whole band in. And then once in a while, we, you know, if our fiddle player is not available for a gig because he's kind of a busy guy, we will bring in the pedal steel, which is. His name is Roger Noyes. He's played with a bunch of bands around, and I've known him a really long time, too. And then once in a while, if the money is right or, like, what the situation is, right, we'll do the five piece, which is really, I would say, the preferred lineup for all of us, I think.
• 6:00
  Speaker C: Yeah, it's always really fun to get. To get everybody going, but.
• 6:03
  Speaker A: Right.
• 6:04
  Speaker C: Even just to line up all the schedules is, you know, that's challenging.
• 6:07
  Speaker A: But, yeah, we're a five piece as well. And it's. It's tough. Especially, you know, at our age with, like, band members being parents.
• 6:15
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
• 6:16
  Speaker A: You know, it's like, can we do the gig? It's like, I. You know, I got a daughter in college. Not me. I don't have any kids, but, like, you know, members of the band, like, have kids in college to have to do. And it's like, I get it.
• 6:26
  Speaker B: Every person you add is like, one more schedule to work around.
• 6:30
  Speaker A: Yeah. And it's tough. Like, it's really tough.
• 6:32
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 6:33
  Speaker A: Even one or two is. Is tough. But do you find, like, having that adaptability, though? Like, it's something like, is, you know, me musically, like, I kind of went dormant for, like, decades and then, like, came back. Back out of my shell, actually, when I lived in Greenwich is like, when I, like, started, like, playing again, like, hanging out with Tom and shit and, you know, I didn't see a lot of, you know, working in radio. Didn't see a lot of bands with adaptability. Do you think that's like, a product of COVID like, Bands that are like, yeah, we'll play as a two piece, four piece, five piece, whatever. Or was that something that even happened early in Rusticator?
• 7:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, I mean, we. When we started the band, I felt like we had a really clear vision of what we were going to be, which was this acoustic band, but not a bluegrass band necessarily, because we had a drummer, he had a suitcase based drum. And so we were pretty committed to like, we're going to do gigs just the four of us. And then Covid was part of it. The other part of it too was just. I think I wanted to play more. And there's just some stuff came up on the counter, I think at some point that we couldn't all do. And I. I asked Jordan and we were like, well, we'll just do it with the two of us. And then it was really fun. Or I think part of it too is like, there were gigs where like, we just couldn't. There was no way that they were gonna pay a four piece band, but they might. The venue might be able to afford two people. And I'm like, well, this seems like a cool spot and. But it's actually really fun to play with just the two piece thing too, because it's a lot of. It's a lot more freedom musically. Like, you're not. When there's all four of us, like, everything has to go exactly the way it's supposed to go or it's going to go off the rails. But with just the two of us, like, I can take a hard right and he'll just go with me, right?
• 8:23
  Speaker C: Yeah, it's. I think the other thing too is like, it's sometimes better to have a gig even if it's just a two piece, you know, and then rather than, you know, not be able to do it because of either money or schedule with a four piece, so you get more gig opportunities that way as well. And it's also, we've seen it where, you know, taking the duo gig will lead to, you know, then we can bring the whole band back another time. You know, people like us, they like kind of the vibe of it. And the whole like adaptability thing I think is really cool. That's my experience musically. Playing with this group is, you know, a lot of our gigs, it's like, all right, who's, who's. Who's the rest of the cast gonna be? You know, like, is it just a duo gig? Which like Tony was saying is really fun because it's just, you know, two musicians just kind of playing off each other, which can be a really kind of fun ride. But then when you add in. All right, well, now we have. When the fiddle player is playing, like, that's a particular kind of vibe as far as the rhythm section is concerned. But that also is different when the pedal steel comes in, because now you've got another, like, rhythm section instrument sometimes, but sometimes a lead instrument. And so it's just really fun to kind of feel how all of that balance can come together and not just sort of be like, all right, well, this is the part that I play for this song, so I'm going to play it this time. You know, sometimes that's what it is. You know, like, we want to make sure we stay together. But then there's other times where it's like, all right, well, we got to just kind of feel how the group is going to sound on this song in this lineup, you know, and that's really kind of a fun. A fun way to make music.
• 9:51
  Speaker A: Yeah. And there's probably, like, you know, you were saying if you come as a duo, that might open the door to, like, come back in a different form. I was thinking that just sparked that a lot of venues probably do have to adapt as well and pare down their music in the winter time. But, like, in the summertime, it, you know, outdoor space opens up and it allows more. More space. So, like, bands, if you're listening, be adaptable.
• 10:18
  Speaker C: That's. And that's. I mean, that's a great point. That's exactly the situation that have it. We'll follow.
• 10:21
  Speaker A: Right, Right.
• 10:22
  Speaker C: Because you played in our outdoor space, and, you know, we can set up speakers and point them in. You know, like, it's like 140 degrees. We can aim the music around where people are going to be, and it can spread out and you can have a, you know, seven piece with drums and horns and stuff like that. It was a lot of space, our indoor space. You know, if you do really much more than, you know, a duo or a trio, especially if you get drums in there.
• 10:43
  Speaker A: Right.
• 10:44
  Speaker C: It can get, like, real overpowering pretty quick.
• 10:47
  Speaker A: That's probably the case with, I would assume, a lot of venues that have music.
• 10:52
  Speaker C: Yeah. Places that have good outdoor space, it's gonna be like that. You know, a lot of places, they'll sort of get themselves set up for, you know, indoor music year round because they've got a good spot for it. But, you know, places like we play, which is a lot of, you know, like, breweries and, you know, places kind of like that like more local kind of down to earth kind of places. They usually want to have outdoor spaces.
• 11:13
  Speaker A: You know, it's funny because we play a lot of breweries and down to earth spaces too. But we're a five piece punk band. But you know, it feels like we have a good time, you know, spaces to play.
• 11:26
  Speaker B: We're definitely. We're like on the indoor, outdoor circuit.
• 11:29
  Speaker A: Right.
• 11:29
  Speaker B: There's just a whole bunch of spots. I'm thinking of so many of them.
• 11:32
  Speaker C: Yep.
• 11:32
  Speaker B: Where like. And I gotta say, like, I think we mostly play those spots in the summer. I haven't booked a lot of them with just the two of us in the wintertime.
• 11:43
  Speaker A: But how do you feel about winter gigs? Like just in general? Well, do you see a difference?
• 11:49
  Speaker B: I actually we were talking about this before we started recording. Like how there's not a lot to do in January. We played at the Depot. Rest in peace, by the way. To the Depot. And last January. And it was like, it was packed. It was one of the best duo gigs we ever did. But same thing, like it was just a weekend in January. It was cold. So like, what else are you gonna do?
• 12:11
  Speaker A: Right? Yeah, because I. It's tough to like to gig in the winter time.
• 12:16
  Speaker B: Like, yeah, we. The weather, like if you got travel on the.
• 12:20
  Speaker A: On the fact that, you know, it may be harder to get there, but the weather may keep people away and that ship may come up 48 hours before the gig. You know, all of a sudden you're like, oh cool, there's a nor'easter coming in and gags are gonna get canceled.
• 12:35
  Speaker B: I do think like our band too sort of collectively has a little bit of seasonal affective disorder going on. Like at least two out of the four of us. And so I would like. I don't think.
• 12:46
  Speaker A: I think we're five for five.
• 12:47
  Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think we've ever played a January gig. Not for years. Yeah, we played right before COVID January 2020, which I remember cause we did two gigs that month and then everything shut down and I was like, oh shoot. But yeah, I don't think we've played a Jan. I guess the Depot when we played that duo one. But yeah, I don't know. But I. I chose to take this January off. I did 46 gigs last year, so about half with Rust Cater and the other half like backing up various other people. And I got like kind of burnt out in the fall and so I was like, I'm going to take January off. And now I'm kind of loosened my Mind a little bit. Like, I need to play. So I guess it worked.
• 13:31
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. That's a. That's a lot of gigs. I mean, that's like, as many gigs as we've done in three years.
• 13:39
  Speaker B: Yeah. Like, I didn't. This is like. So I turned 40 in 2024, and I kind of decided that was the year that I would just say yes. And so I already. I mean, we have this band, and then I was kind of side projecting with Tom Powers and Shannon Roy, who I think has been on your show, too. And then I kind of got. I got roped into another band, and so I, like, had all these again because I just was like, well, I'm gonna say yes, because it's like. It's like, manifesting, you know, like, if you say no, the. The spigot turns off, and if you say yes, the spigot turns. Stays on.
• 14:21
  Speaker A: So you can only say no so many times before the spigot does not come back on.
• 14:25
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 14:26
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 14:27
  Speaker B: But now I think I've kind of, like, figured out, like, maybe a slightly better balance for this coming year to not get so overloaded.
• 14:35
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's. It's tough. I mean, it's tough. Like, you know, most of the. Most of the. You know, obviously the name of the show is unsigned 518. Most of the bands I talk to are, you know, people with day jobs. And, like, that's hard enough. And then, you know, you do this on top of it, and it gets. Gets overwhelming pretty, pretty quick. And, like, you got to keep it fun. Yeah, I guess. You know, knowing when to slow down is a good thing because a lot of people don't.
• 15:01
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 15:02
  Speaker A: Especially young. You know, you hear younger bands, like, being like, no time to slow down. Hustle, grind. 100 of the time, you're like, you're gonna burn out. Like, you're absolutely.
• 15:10
  Speaker B: Yeah. That's why we've had this band for 13 years or whatever, because, like, our pace is very slow.
• 15:17
  Speaker A: Yeah. And you gotta know when to back it up and keep it fun, you know?
• 15:23
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 15:24
  Speaker A: Like, the best rehearsals that my band ever has, like, it never fails is if we take, you know, like, we took a holiday break, took two weeks off from rehearsing, so a full 14 days without playing. And then every single time, that next practice back is, like, the best one we've ever had.
• 15:42
  Speaker B: You know, that's why we've stopped rehearsing in general. So then when we play gigs, it's like that, like, damn, it feels really good to do this again.
• 15:51
  Speaker A: Yeah. No, we. We have to keep the. Keep the weekly rehearsals going. I'll forget. But so. So we want to hear some music. And I know you've been working on an ep, and we're going to hear a couple songs from the ep, but the first one you're going to play live here in the studio, right?
• 16:10
  Speaker B: You got it.
• 16:11
  Speaker A: And what's the. The name of this one? Maybe this one is called.
• 16:14
  Speaker B: It's called Wedding season. I like, 2010, I went to a wedding in Utica. It was my wife's best friend from college, and so she was the maid of honor. And so I got just kind of set up at the Hotel Utica. I don't know if you've ever been there. It's like an old kind of art deco hotel from the 30s, which was super nice. Probably in the 30s, you know, kind of like Utica itself, like all of our upstate cities, you know, like. And so I was just sitting bored in the hotel room, like, waiting for the wedding to start or something. And I, like, jotted down a few lines, like maybe a verse and a half or something on a little piece of paper. And I kept it and I shoved it in a notebook and I forgot it. And then years later, probably like 10 years later, I was looking through notebooks and stuff and I found this little piece of paper, and I'm like, oh, that's pretty good. And so I finished it up, and we ended up with the song Wedding Season.
• 17:11
  Speaker A: Cool. All right, well, let's listen to Wedding Season. We have Tony and Jordan of Rusticator live here in the dazzle den and then we'll be right back.
• 17:39
  Speaker D: Staring out the hotel window all alone in the sorry little city with the golden gnome the shabby hotels, Victorian homes built on the backs of a town Italians in stone well, maybe someone famous stayed in my room Pouring bourbon over ice while they humped a little tomb the star of the screen oil tycoon music commercials Till the ball game resumes so put on that black bridesmaids dress and set your hair up in a night there's a soft little breeze across the back of your neck but it's August and the sun is high Sweating underneath the sun Rented soup.
• 19:18
  Speaker B: Drinking bourbon.
• 19:19
  Speaker D: Over ice while I hum a little tune the cross on your neck, your subtle perfume I try to keep my distance while I'm working room well, I shook a hundred hands tonight But I can't shake you Trying to push away the feelings that I know are true I stare at the sun, howl at the moon My mind can't control what my heart wants to to do.
• 20:08
  Speaker E: So.
• 20:08
  Speaker D: Put on that black bridesmaids dress and set your hair up in a night There's a soft little breeze across the back of your neck but it's August and the sun is shining on the face of the woman I love While I marry someone I don't know she's sitting in the corner of a lonely room Perhaps her surrendered Just staring out the hotel window all alone in the sorry little city with golden gnome Staring out the hotel in the sorry little city with golden ghost golden ghost Staring out the hotel all alone.
• 21:17
  Speaker B: In the.
• 21:17
  Speaker D: Sorry little city with the golden dome.
• 21:22
  Speaker A: With the golden dome all right, that was wedding season. Rusticator Live here. Here in the studio. The dazzle den. Like I was saying. I gotta. I gotta say it. Gotta get.
• 21:37
  Speaker C: Gotta get that name in from where I'm sitting. It's hovering right above your head, too. It's perfect.
• 21:41
  Speaker A: The dazzle den.
• 21:43
  Speaker C: Yeah, it's. It's. It looks great.
• 21:44
  Speaker A: I'm laughing for those listening. I'm laughing because of the irony of the dazzle den actually just being a garage. But, you know, as long as. As long as the lights stay dim and there's a lot of distracting disco lights and carpet. Carpeting that I. That I rescued from being thrown away, it'll be the dazzle.
• 22:04
  Speaker B: You never know.
• 22:05
  Speaker A: It's great.
• 22:06
  Speaker C: I had to look for the garage door. You had to point it out. You got it so well hidden.
• 22:09
  Speaker A: Well, I do have a couch and a banner in front of it. It's, like, completely hidden. Yeah, no, no, it's just a regular room. It's cool. It's this studio.
• 22:19
  Speaker C: I think it was originally built to be the dazzle then. That's why I think.
• 22:23
  Speaker A: I think in. In my heart, I know it was.
• 22:26
  Speaker B: Some horse was in here when this was a carriage house and was like, this is not dazzling enough for me.
• 22:31
  Speaker C: That horse's name was Dazzle.
• 22:32
  Speaker B: Dazzle.
• 22:33
  Speaker A: I bet she probably was. That's probably the connection. So anyway, that one that you played live here is gonna be on the EP that is out January 31st, right?
• 22:47
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 22:48
  Speaker A: And then I guess, tell me a little bit about. About the ep.
• 22:53
  Speaker B: It's called Let it Run, and that's the name of one of Jordan's tunes, which is, I don't know, my favorite of the five. It's a five, so that's technically an EP is usually five, I think. So we named it after Jordan's song Let it run, which he wrote on vacation somewhere, I think.
• 23:10
  Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. I was out In Westport, I had gotten. So I'm a minister at a church nearby where I live, and somebody in the congregation has this beautiful house, and they were like, hey, why don't you just take it for, you know, three days, four days out in Westport, Mass? And so I took my guitar and just sat upstairs, and I was looking down at the ocean. And that's kind of, you know, where the inspiration of writing a song about, you know, river, mountain and river and ocean and that sort of connection there is kind of where it came from. So, yeah, I started it there, and then I finished it on a month later, I went out to Cape Cod and I brought my recording gear, and that's where I recorded a handful of songs and sent it to the band. It's just a demo stuff of some of my own music.
• 23:58
  Speaker B: I got so excited when I first heard the demo. I'm like, oh, this is the song I've been waiting for for us. And it's like, I don't know. I mean, everything we do is the thing we do. You know what I mean? Like, we're not going to play something that is totally out of left field, but I do feel like it's a slightly new vibe for us. It's a little more expansive and stretched out and kind of droney. And so I was so excited to work on it. And then I'm like, that's got to be the title track. And. But he's got another tune on there. And then Wedding Season. Of course, I got a couple other ones. We. We did, you know, like, an album right after we got the band together, kind of. And then we released it during COVID and. And then after that, we were just doing, like, little singles. Like, in 2021, we'd record a song and just put it out on bandcamp, and we did, like, a bunch of those. And so we haven't. We hadn't really recorded anything since then. So the CP is kind of like the. The next statement from the band. And all those singles were kind of, like, wide ranging. And I did a lot of it kind of at home by myself, and I put a lot of keyboards and sweeteners and shit on it. And so this time around, I was like, I want to make something that is a little more close to what we do live. And so we played all five songs from the CP at gigs, like, a bunch before we recorded them. And. And then I think from the nature of being more live also, we. I, at least in my head, I was like, let's make this more like a guitar record, too. So there's a bunch of guitar solos for my own vanity and there's no keyboards or anything else. So I think that's kind of, you know, a different direction for us, but maybe a little more honest.
• 25:42
  Speaker A: Right. And releasing singles, like, to an ep. And I'm kind of asking out of, like, my own curiosity, because my band is releasing. We're releasing an album in the spring, and we've always done singles. And you're right, you've. In a single, you have that freedom to just do whatever you want each time, because it's not tied to anything. Like, how much thought and importance do you put into having those five songs be interwoven together when you put them on an ep? Or am I overthinking it?
• 26:17
  Speaker B: I think it's a luxury of if you write a lot, which I don't. We don't really. I'm not, like, super prolific, but. So I don't know. For me, it's always just like, what songs do we have right now that we can put together?
• 26:31
  Speaker C: That brings with it, like, a fun challenge, though, in trying to figure out sort of the approach that we're going to take when we record it. Like two different songwriters on here, you know. So obviously the songs are slightly different in that regard, just because they're coming out, you know.
• 26:45
  Speaker A: Right.
• 26:46
  Speaker C: From different sources. But, you know, so there's a difference there. And then the, you know, the general vibe of the songs tends to be a little bit different, right. From like, you know, Wedding Season, which is very like, you know, folky harmonica. Who's a guitar to, you know, stuff where we got raging electric guitar solos to feed someone's vanity, I think I heard. Yes, Right, But. So there's, like. There's a wider range there, but it. But it definitely creates a challenge when we put them together and you go to record them and you start to think about, like, what kind of instrumentation are we going to use? Are we going to add in a lot of keyboard pads, different things like that, or, you know, how are we going to orchestrate this? There's still that idea of kind of trying to find a way to weave them together in some way to make it a cohesive sound. Even though the genres of the individual songs might be, you know, variant, you're still getting, like, some sort of a connecting tissue through it.
• 27:39
  Speaker B: I think the fiddle helps, too. Like, the fact that there's gonna be fiddle on every song is its own stamp, you know what I mean? And it kind of. Even though you have, you know, some louder, more rock and roll stuff. Then you have more folky stuff or you have more even kind of classically ish stuff once in a while. Like the, the fiddle kind of holds it together. And I think we put pedal steel on all these songs too. So that also kind of.
• 28:07
  Speaker A: That's interesting that what you were saying, you know, tying them together without necessarily the genre, you know, because ours are all. They're all over the place. Like we have like a straight up hip hop song in on the, on the album and like. Yeah, but I think we're leaving it in the hands of the producers that'll tie those all together because it's out of our hands now, like. Right, But I like having the different genres or the different styles that are together and associated with each other, I guess, without necessarily being carbon copies of each other.
• 28:43
  Speaker C: Yeah, and that's what I mean, the other thing is it highlights the musicians that you have in the band and what their contribution is.
• 28:50
  Speaker A: Right.
• 28:50
  Speaker C: So like we could play, you know, from like a whole range of different styles, you know, from, you know, just old classic bluegrass stuff to like jam band stuff and anything in between, and it's still going to sound like us, you know, and that's. I think that's kind of the cool part about bands that do different genres is you're not just trying to sound like, you know, that particular style of music, but you're trying to sound like you, you know, like. So we try to sound like, you know, Tony and Jordan and Derek and Joe and, you know, when we have the pedal seal player too. But we just try to sound like us doing these songs, which I think.
• 29:26
  Speaker B: You know, I don't think we have much choice though either, because I think you, you know, your personality and this is going to sound self deprecating, which I get yelled at by Derek all the time for being self deprecating. But like. No, but like you. Your limitations are what makes you you, you know, and so, you know, that's where your personality comes from, is that you do the things you're good at and you don't do the things you suck at. And that kind of creates that identity. So that carries across everything.
• 30:00
  Speaker C: That's what makes you better. As you get older and more experienced, you just stop trying to do the things you suck at.
• 30:04
  Speaker A: Right?
• 30:05
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 30:05
  Speaker C: Oh, wait, I can't. I'm not going to ever do that.
• 30:07
  Speaker B: That's for my side gig. So anytime I, you know, if I'm a hired player for somebody else, then I can try to do things. I suck at this band. I only do the things I'm good at.
• 30:16
  Speaker A: But it's also good because I see in a lot of, you know, in any approach that anybody's making in music. I'm not trying to poo poo it in any way, shape, or form, but, like, I like the having multiple musicians in a band with input, you know, because, like you said it, you see the different styles and the way that they work together. Whether it's a Tony song or a Jordan song, it's still a rusticator song, but you feel that. That lean. Whereas I think if you have just one songwriter, you don't get as much of a range, for better or for worse. But I like the idea of expanding and opening that range, because if you have four members with four, you know, primary backgrounds, like, that's a lot of stuff that you can pull from to create your own.
• 31:03
  Speaker B: It can be too much. I've been in that situation, too. In bands, though, where it's like, everybody's got an idea, and then it gets so watered down.
• 31:11
  Speaker A: Let's make this, like, classical, like a Johan Bach, but, like, with a punk rock and some reggae.
• 31:16
  Speaker B: Yeah, right.
• 31:17
  Speaker A: And a little, like, blast beat all in one.
• 31:21
  Speaker B: Or it keeps changing all the time. Or like, you thought this song went this way, and then you're like, wait, but we used to do it like that now. Yeah.
• 31:28
  Speaker A: So I have a buddy of mine who, like, I wouldn't say get. Gets mad, but he. No, he gets mad. Like when the bands do that, like, break up the groove. Like, if you're like, you know, you're at a show and you're bobbing your head in time, and then they, like, break up the groove and, like, change time. He's always like, why? Why you. You know, I was in there. I was in the pocket. I had my head nodding in four, four. And now you. Six, eight. And I don't know how to. I don't know how to nod my head funny. So I think, you know, that the album by the Time this Episode airs, will be out. Came out January 31st. I can almost assure that. That by. By the time this. And if not, then whatever. At some. At some point, it will be true.
• 32:15
  Speaker B: It will be.
• 32:16
  Speaker A: But January 31st, the EP is out, and, you know, I'm sure it'll be everywhere that you get.
• 32:22
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It's on all the streaming services. Bandcamp, if you really want to be a good person.
• 32:27
  Speaker A: Right. Especially on a Bandcamp Friday, you know, this helps. But I think we should hear Another one from the ep and we said this is a Jordan song, right?
• 32:37
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, it's the one we were talking about before. Yeah, Let It Run. And you know, this is again, just trying to meld the. The sort of the world of like folky, rootsy, like earthy feel music with, you know, with our tendency to. To kind of like to open things up a little bit and jam a little bit. So, yes, it's. It's going for that kind of vibe.
• 32:58
  Speaker B: It's got a great guitar solo and it's just.
• 33:00
  Speaker C: Great guitar solo. So humble, not self deprecating at all.
• 33:06
  Speaker A: All right, well, let's hear Let It Run Rusticator and then we'll be right back to wrap it up.
• 33:59
  Speaker E: There's a mountain high above Looking down and this mountain is rooted down deep.
• 34:25
  Speaker C: Beneath.
• 34:28
  Speaker A: Also.
• 34:54
  Speaker E: There'S a river on this mountain Flowing deep and this river carries.
• 35:17
  Speaker C: Love.
• 35:20
  Speaker E: From town.
• 35:31
  Speaker D: Let it run.
• 35:38
  Speaker A: Run.
• 35:53
  Speaker E: Let it run there's an ocean down.
• 36:16
  Speaker A: Below.
• 36:19
  Speaker D: Catching light.
• 36:30
  Speaker E: From this ocean Tides will roll Bring love.
• 36:48
  Speaker D: Let it run Let it.
• 37:03
  Speaker E: Let it run.
• 37:11
  Speaker A: Let it.
• 37:11
  Speaker E: Run There's a river on this mountain Flowing deep Thrown home and this river carries love Flowing down.
• 39:39
  Speaker A: All right, that was Let It Run rusticator off their EP out everywhere January 31st. So, Tony and Jordan, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come and do this with me. I really appreciate it. And before we go, like I do with all my guests, I want to give you the chance to say what I refer to as your gratitude. So, Tony, we'll start with you.
• 40:01
  Speaker B: Oh, man, I am grateful to a lot of people, I guess my bandmates, first of all. I just text them all the time. Sometimes they write back, sometimes they don't. But yeah, they're along for the ride for sure. And of course, I have a 10 year old at home and my wife and kid, they literally never. They never give me grief about gigging. They don't always come to the gigs, but they never give me a hard time about not being home, so that's cool. And of course, you know, all my other pals, I get to play with Tom Powers and Shannon Roy Tumble Stop, which is a bunch of dudes from Cambridge. It's cool. I like being able to have a bunch of irons in the fire and get to play with a bunch of different people.
• 40:41
  Speaker C: Yeah. I gotta start by thanking God for the beautiful creation of music and getting to work with that. It's like still fascinates me all the time the way that sound just happens. And so that's amazing to me. I gotta thank specifically Tony, who said that I was the greatest gift he's ever been given. And, well, except for my wife and child. Oh, come on.
• 41:07
  Speaker A: And your blazing guitar solo.
• 41:09
  Speaker C: Yes, Yes. I wish you would tell my daughter, you know, what a great gift I am. Sometimes she needs that reminder. No, she's awesome. But no, actually, a serious thank you to Tony for taking the flyer on me. I think I can remember reading the tone of his email, like, not being quite sure if I was just blowing smoke, that I was bass player. And so I think he kind of took a flyer and said, all right, well, let's see if we can jam sometime. That was really fun because I hadn't played in bands much before that or recently. Like, there was a period where I gigged a lot, and then I hadn't for years got too busy with the brewery. So that got me back into music. So thanks to Tony for that shot and the other bandmates love playing with these guys. Absolutely love making music with them. And big thanks to my daughter. She is. She's one of the biggest Rusticator fans. She loves her music. She likes to come out to gigs and I take. I give her the phone and she takes videos of us and everything gets all artsy with it. And she just. She just loves the fact that the dad's in a band and she's social media manager. Yeah, yeah, that's. Which is. She's about to get into that stage of life. You know, she's 13, so she'll be really good at it in a year or two here. So, yeah, those are my thanks, I guess.
• 42:22
  Speaker B: And thank you, Andy, for everything you do for our scene.
• 42:25
  Speaker A: Thank you. All right, so they are Tony and Jordan of Rusticator. I am Andy scullen. This is unsigned 518, and I'll see you on the road.