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ELO Lives On with The Orchestra's Blue Skies Forever Tour · Jersey Arts Podcast

• 0:04
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This is Gina Marie Rodriguez, and you're listening to the Jersey Arts podcast.
• 0:08
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Eric Troyer and Dave Scott Morgan of The Orchestra.
• 0:13
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This may be one of my favorite chats because I felt like a fly on the wall watching two very talented friends catch up.
• 0:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: A somewhat talkative fly, but a fly nonetheless.
• 0:22
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you're unfamiliar, the orchestra starring ELO and ELO Part 2 former members is a successor band to Electric Light Orchestra, formed by former members of ELO and ELO Part 2.
• 0:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: At its inception as ELO Part 2, the group featured five ELO members and has since evolved into a true rock super group, continuing today as the Orchestra, carrying forward the music, legacy, and spirit of ELO for audiences around the world.
• 0:49
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: They can explain their history better than I can.
• 0:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I hope you'll stick around and join me as we listen to two old friends banter, reminisce, and entertain the nosy fly on the wall.
• 1:02
  Eric Troyer: He's in England, I'm in the US, so you know it's like, well, uh well, we'll see each other soon though, won't we?
• 1:08
  Dave Scott-Morgan: This is technology gone wild, isn't it?
• 1:10
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yes, we'll see each other soon.
• 1:12
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um, just about a month, I reckon.
• 1:14
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And um gosh should be awesome.
• 1:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm excited, and I always love hearing English accents, so I'm like extra excited today, I have to say.
• 1:23
  Eric Troyer: Oh, so pour it on, Dave.
• 1:24
  Eric Troyer: Really pour it on.
• 1:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You're the give the Yeah, just make it a little bit bigger for me.
• 1:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I appreciate it.
• 1:30
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I was gonna do an American accent, but uh I guess not then.
• 1:33
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Okay.
• 1:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Oh my gosh, can you?
• 1:35
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Because now I want to hear that.
• 1:37
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And I'll take my hey man, I'm you know, I'm transatlantic.
• 1:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love it.
• 1:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well done.
• 1:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well done.
• 1:45
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Wait, so Eric, where are you calling from then?
• 1:48
  Eric Troyer: New Jersey, in northern Jersey.
• 1:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You are in northern Jersey.
• 1:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Okay, awesome.
• 1:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I call it central.
• 1:53
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Do you believe in central Jersey?
• 1:55
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, so I know there is no, I mean, actually, I'm in western northern Jersey.
• 2:01
  Eric Troyer: There is no designation for us.
• 2:03
  Eric Troyer: I know we're kind of left in the lurch, aren't we?
• 2:05
  Eric Troyer: I've been in Jersey for a while.
• 2:06
  Eric Troyer: I grew up in Indiana, but um I've lived in New Jersey for 30 35 years.
• 2:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So oh gosh, well, that's a long time.
• 2:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So you know, we rock, except maybe during snow times, because I'm not a huge fan of the snow.
• 2:20
  Eric Troyer: Oh my god, we have so much snow and it's not going anywhere soon.
• 2:23
  Eric Troyer: So that's it's a pain.
• 2:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It's miserable, but we won't focus on that.
• 2:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Dave, where in England are you calling from?
• 2:30
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I'm in Birmingham, which is right in the middle.
• 2:32
  Dave Scott-Morgan: It's about as far as you can get from the sea.
• 2:36
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Mind you, the sea is only a hundred miles away because we're we're only a small island compared with your land mass out there.
• 2:44
  Eric Troyer: So are you close?
• 2:46
  Eric Troyer: Are you closer to the western or the eastern uh part of the the English Channel would be on the on your uh one side, right?
• 2:54
  Dave Scott-Morgan: The English Channel would be south.
• 2:55
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That'll be a little bit further, probably a hundred probably 150 mile or more to the English Channel.
• 3:01
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um, but if we go west, we hit the Irish Sea in about a hundred miles, a hundred and a bit miles, and if you go east, we hit the North Sea in about the same distance, yeah.
• 3:13
  Eric Troyer: Yep, surrounded.
• 3:14
  Eric Troyer: It's an island.
• 3:14
  Eric Troyer: The uh the uh yeah uh Albion as a nickname, right?
• 3:18
  Eric Troyer: Albion?
• 3:19
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Wasn't that Albion is the name of a football club.
• 3:22
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I I I don't know what it's it's probably the name of a lot of things, but yeah, but yeah, yeah.
• 3:27
  Dave Scott-Morgan: It's a local football club just up the road, actually.
• 3:30
  Eric Troyer: Oh, okay.
• 3:31
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yeah, they're called Baggies.
• 3:33
  Dave Scott-Morgan: The nickname is the Baggies.
• 3:36
  Eric Troyer: The Baggies, oh that's great.
• 3:38
  Eric Troyer: I love it.
• 3:38
  Eric Troyer: I don't know about that.
• 3:39
  Eric Troyer: I don't follow football, so I don't know.
• 3:42
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, oh man.
• 3:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You guys are making me want to go to England now.
• 3:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I've never been to any of the British Isles.
• 3:49
  Eric Troyer: Oh god, it's so beautiful.
• 3:50
  Eric Troyer: It's so I miss it so much.
• 3:51
  Eric Troyer: I haven't been over there for a while, but I I just love just everything about it.
• 3:56
  Eric Troyer: Um, and Dave, he's he he's probably looking forward to come over here and check out some USA sites too.
• 4:03
  Eric Troyer: So um, yeah, it's some something new, right, Dave?
• 4:07
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Well, um, I haven't really been to America um for an extended time for a long for many years.
• 4:14
  Dave Scott-Morgan: We went for a few just a few days, um, a couple of years ago now, and to see an old friend there.
• 4:21
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That old friend has since died, so I'm jolly glad we went, but it we just saw just a very small bit of um Maryland where we were.
• 4:30
  Eric Troyer: Oh, Maryland, okay.
• 4:31
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yeah, it's kind of cool to to um see some of the America that you see on the movies, like these these big long roads that go straight for for hundreds of miles, you know, across the desert or something.
• 4:43
  Dave Scott-Morgan: But you know, I don't know.
• 4:46
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, I don't know that we'll see any of those on this tour coming up, but um that'd be that'll be some.
• 4:51
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I was looking forward to that, Eric.
• 4:52
  Dave Scott-Morgan: You've already spoken for me now.
• 4:55
  Eric Troyer: I know.
• 4:55
  Eric Troyer: I I I I have to do some rearranging here with the with the bookings here, so you can see some of that.
• 5:03
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yes, so it's on that what on that road, you know.
• 5:07
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, isn't that a great scene?
• 5:09
  Eric Troyer: Oh my god, I love that scene.
• 5:10
  Eric Troyer: That's in Indiana.
• 5:11
  Eric Troyer: We will be in Indiana, so you will see some of that.
• 5:14
  Eric Troyer: Yes.
• 5:15
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Okay, yeah, there you go, silver lining.
• 5:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Although I will say that you're gonna be at the Leaveway, which is uh what we're talking about today, the Leaveway in Millville, New Jersey, which is a gorgeous theater.
• 5:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So hopefully you'll be excited about that.
• 5:26
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I mean, I don't know if the road's getting there, but this place is beautiful.
• 5:30
  Eric Troyer: That's a really cool part of New Jersey down there.
• 5:33
  Eric Troyer: Uh it's pretty awesome.
• 5:34
  Eric Troyer: So yeah, we're looking forward to coming in there.
• 5:36
  Eric Troyer: And the theater is amazing, right?
• 5:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It is, it's really stunning.
• 5:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I mean, it looks just like a Broadway house.
• 5:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: It's gorgeous.
• 5:44
  Eric Troyer: It's how when was it built?
• 5:45
  Eric Troyer: Because it's uh has it's been renovated, right?
• 5:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For yes, I don't know that information offhand, so I won't say, but recently, yes.
• 5:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: To be fair, I'm easily stumped.
• 5:58
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You'll find that very quickly.
• 5:59
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But yeah, it is fairly recent.
• 6:02
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I I believe within the past 10 years, last 10 years, I think.
• 6:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um, but yeah, Millville is kind of it's it's grown a lot.
• 6:11
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: They have a racetrack down there now.
• 6:13
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um, if you're into glass arts, uh Wheaton is down there as well, and that's some really beautiful glass artwork that they have.
• 6:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So I don't know how much time you have to tour and you know, wander around.
• 6:23
  Eric Troyer: It's not too far from Philadelphia, too.
• 6:25
  Eric Troyer: You're just literally uh what 20 or no, 35, maybe 40 minutes from there.
• 6:30
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Right, you're not far at all.
• 6:31
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So if that's you know, if you would like to see Philadelphia, that is Philadelphia's kind of cool.
• 6:36
  Eric Troyer: It's uh the historic part of it's kind of nice, yeah.
• 6:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yeah, maybe you can educate Dave on our US history by taking him to see the Liberty Bell or something.
• 6:45
  Eric Troyer: Yeah.
• 6:46
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, back when we were at war with you, uh Locke over there, you English people.
• 6:51
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yes, yes.
• 6:52
  Dave Scott-Morgan: What what rogues we were, yes.
• 6:54
  Eric Troyer: Yes, King George III and his stamp tax and all that stuff.
• 7:00
  Eric Troyer: Yeah.
• 7:00
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Well, I hope you're not holding that against us, Eric.
• 7:03
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I mean, that's a long while ago, you know.
• 7:05
  Dave Scott-Morgan: He's been harboring this for a while.
• 7:11
  Eric Troyer: Definitely not.
• 7:12
  Eric Troyer: I like I said, I love I love England and uh just can't wait to get over there again sometime soon.
• 7:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love it.
• 7:19
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm excited, guys.
• 7:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I want to talk to you about obviously what's what's coming up at the Levoy, but I also wanted to talk to you about the documentary that was released recently.
• 7:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think that was a 2024 release, No Rewind.
• 7:32
  Eric Troyer: Yeah.
• 7:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Can you guys just tell me about what it was like?
• 7:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Um, you've been working together for a long time now, and you finally put something together to show your fans the behind the scenes.
• 7:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What was that process like?
• 7:42
  Eric Troyer: Let me just speak a little bit about this.
• 7:44
  Eric Troyer: So the band has taken shape, a bunch of different shapes.
• 7:48
  Eric Troyer: And this uh the Gnome Rewind documentary was basically about uh a recording that we put together, an album that we put together uh some 15 years ago.
• 7:58
  Eric Troyer: And then we wanted to memorialize how it all came about.
• 8:01
  Eric Troyer: Now, Dave wasn't a part of the of the band at that time.
• 8:04
  Eric Troyer: Uh he's more of a recent uh addition, but he actually goes back further than we do because he was part of the original ELO uh back in the day.
• 8:14
  Eric Troyer: So, but as far as the documentary goes, it's uh it you know, we just wanted to show some of the humor and some of the camaraderie behind the scenes and um, you know, put together these videos, as it were.
• 8:29
  Eric Troyer: It's kind of a bunch of different videos of the band at work um and singing these songs that um we we've gotten we've had a lot of um accolades for the for the recording that we did.
• 8:42
  Eric Troyer: And uh so it's it's very um it's a really interesting documentary.
• 8:46
  Eric Troyer: You can see it on um on Amazon and all the different streaming services, but that was a lot of fun to make and uh we're really proud of it.
• 8:54
  Eric Troyer: But we're um we're kind of evolving and shifting again with as some people retired from the band.
• 9:00
  Eric Troyer: And so Dave has uh joined us for um, you know, he he was resting peacefully at home doing all his projects and stuff, and suddenly we give him a call and said, Hey, would you like to come back on the road?
• 9:13
  Eric Troyer: And he said, Yeah, why not?
• 9:15
  Eric Troyer: Right, Dave?
• 9:17
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That's about uh that's that's that's it, yeah.
• 9:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: That's exactly what the phone call sounded like.
• 9:24
  Dave Scott-Morgan: You know, I wasn't in the original Leola though, I was in them from 1981 through 86, but I did I did know Jeff before he could even play guitar, and so we're we're we were all pals going way back, you know.
• 9:37
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And uh so I weren't I wasn't in the group, but I but I hung I hung out with them all the while while they were back in England.
• 9:44
  Dave Scott-Morgan: We were pals and that we always used to chat a lot, and I didn't get to join them till 1981.
• 9:49
  Dave Scott-Morgan: So yeah.
• 9:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, how did that come about in 1981?
• 9:52
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What was that initial entry like for you?
• 9:55
  Dave Scott-Morgan: It was great because I was broke, and uh uh yeah, and I so I got a job with ELO strumming my guitar and playing a keyboard and uh doing some singing and stuff, and um uh so and and of course we were powers.
• 10:11
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I was powers with Jeff and with Richard, I was very close with Richard, and so it was we had a whale of a time on that first tour, I gotta say.
• 10:19
  Dave Scott-Morgan: It was the uh it was really it was like um great, really good fun.
• 10:24
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yeah, lots of laughter.
• 10:27
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, the the Elo, the original, was really three guys started it Bev, uh Roy Wood, and Jeff Lynn.
• 10:34
  Eric Troyer: And then there were there people came and went as the as the life of the band.
• 10:40
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Uh you know, Richard was actually in it from the word go.
• 10:43
  Dave Scott-Morgan: He answered an advert in the local paper, they wanted a musician, and he was just gonna give up music because he was fed up of it.
• 10:50
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And he'd uh he said, You know, I'm no good at it, I'm not doing any good, so I'm gonna give you up.
• 10:54
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And his friends said, No, give just go go and answer this ad.
• 10:58
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And if you don't get that, then go and drive your van or whatever you're gonna do, you know.
• 11:02
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And so he went up for this ad and he he started by playing bass guitar for for Jeff's new group, ELO, you know, or Roy Wood's new group, really.
• 11:10
  Dave Scott-Morgan: He was the most famous guy at the time, yeah.
• 11:13
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, and um, and Richard was a right-hand man in um you know, creating the ELO sound and contributed so many parts.
• 11:22
  Eric Troyer: I think so, yes.
• 11:24
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:24
  Eric Troyer: No, I think it's uh you know, when I used to talk to Kelly, um Kelly said, you know, Richard was there, he made it, he he made up this part, he did this, he did this.
• 11:34
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, so a long history there where people came and went.
• 11:38
  Eric Troyer: And but anyway, so yeah, we uh reformed the band, so to speak, um, E as ELO part two back in '88.
• 11:46
  Eric Troyer: Yeah.
• 11:47
  Eric Troyer: Um, after the band kind of had a long hiatus, and Bev wanted to continue touring, so he got a hold of me and uh many of five.
• 11:56
  Eric Troyer: We had five of the other band members at the time, Huey, um Kelly, uh Lou, Mick, and was there one more?
• 12:06
  Eric Troyer: Um Bev, yes, of course.
• 12:08
  Eric Troyer: We started off with uh with that as ELO part two, and then it's evolved down through the years, and now it's the orchestra since uh year by year 2000.
• 12:17
  Eric Troyer: And we continue playing all over the world, making fans hearing ELO music very happy.
• 12:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love this so much.
• 12:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I mean, I'm such a fan of well, I'm a fan of music in general, especially as someone who cannot play, I can't sing, I can't do anything.
• 12:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But I I love asking musicians when did you first start?
• 12:38
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: How did you first fall in love with music?
• 12:40
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Have you been doing this since you were two years old?
• 12:42
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Or, you know, like at what point was it that you realized I kind of want to do this for the rest of my life?
• 12:47
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um, I heard the Beatles, and I was just entranced by the the chords and the and the music and the statements that came across.
• 12:56
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And uh I just learned to play guitar because I heard the Beatles, and um both Jeff and I both absolutely loved the Beatles and Richard also.
• 13:04
  Dave Scott-Morgan: We all just um we followed the Beatles in every way.
• 13:07
  Dave Scott-Morgan: We learned a great deal from them, yeah.
• 13:10
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Uh so it the Beatles are to blame completely.
• 13:13
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I blame them, yeah.
• 13:15
  Eric Troyer: And same for me.
• 13:17
  Eric Troyer: I was um I well I was I was in a folk group uh before before that.
• 13:22
  Eric Troyer: And you you were probably um were you a sk in a skipple band at all?
• 13:26
  Eric Troyer: Did you do part of the skipple?
• 13:28
  Eric Troyer: No, no, no, okay.
• 13:29
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I was in um just a rock and roll group, it was, yeah.
• 13:33
  Eric Troyer: The first group before the yeah, but then the Beatles changed everything, and uh, you know, for us, we didn't hear about them till 63, but you might have heard about them 62 or 61, I guess that's when they started making noise.
• 13:47
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That's right.
• 13:47
  Dave Scott-Morgan: They were they were it was a year later that they got to America, but uh, but we only cop we only caught all of them in 1962.
• 13:55
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um, I I'm not quite sure of the of the of the dating there, but uh the record Please Please Me became number one, and then the album became all the songs on the album have been sung by everybody.
• 14:09
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I saw a standing there became a rock and roll standard, and yeah, and um Oh my lovin' yeah, that was on the second album, but that that was uh that I mean we were just we were knocked out because you know, other artists uh used to put all um substandard music on on albums and on B sides and stuff, but the Beatlers you could always be sure you turn a record over after you've heard the A side, and you're like I want to hold your hand, you turn it over, and this boy's on the other side, I think it was, you know, whatever, and you go, wow, you know, and or whatever.
• 14:44
  Dave Scott-Morgan: There'd always be something they'd always give real quality stuff even from the album.
• 14:49
  Eric Troyer: Absolutely.
• 14:50
  Eric Troyer: So China, remember there were you probably don't know this, but there were records, you know, they were less like this, and they had two sides, and it was probably your parents might have had records, but I'm not sure you have two photographs of them, you know.
• 15:06
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yes, magazines in the I may surprise you because I'm sitting in front of and I don't think you can see it, it's in the the shelving behind me.
• 15:15
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I have a whole stack of records, and to my right is a record player, so I do have them.
• 15:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Now, do I know how to play them without scratching them?
• 15:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is the question.
• 15:25
  Eric Troyer: That's right.
• 15:25
  Eric Troyer: Well, there's a whole process, and you can't walk, you can't stomp on the floor, you know, the thing skips, and uh yeah, it's uh with a different technology for sure.
• 15:34
  Eric Troyer: But um, I don't know whether you're I mean, the Beatles have influenced so much music, and I've like you said, uh ELO, uh you know, everything that came after it is had something to do with it.
• 15:46
  Eric Troyer: But there was the whole British invasion, probably 20 bands that suddenly uh came over to the USA and you know had hits the searchers, the you know, Herman's Hermits, or just everybody, you know.
• 16:00
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:00
  Dave Scott-Morgan: You know, there's some bands from Birmingham that tried to uh break it into America, like the MOVE, which was the first Birmingham supergroup, but they they never did any good in America.
• 16:11
  Eric Troyer: That's right.
• 16:12
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I think the first group to do any good was was ELO, but I'm I'm not sure there may have been another one, but but the first group from Birmingham that I remember doing any good was was ELO, and they started to sell records in America a lot more than they did in in England.
• 16:27
  Eric Troyer: That's right.
• 16:28
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, they became more popular, yeah.
• 16:30
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:31
  Eric Troyer: Well, anyway, so we're out here still chugging away.
• 16:36
  Eric Troyer: I mean, this is before your time, I'm sure uh you're probably uh ancient history to you, all that stuff, right?
• 16:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Hey, history is always relevant if we've learned anything.
• 16:46
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: History is always relevant, but I will say I love your music, I love your music, and I was just rocking out to the documentary a bit ago as well.
• 16:55
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And like I said, I have zero musical talent, so I get really excited when I see people who I I know that you have to teach yourselves this, right?
• 17:05
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Or or someone else does.
• 17:07
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I never admit to that myself, though.
• 17:10
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: No, but I I do genuinely love your music, and I one of the things that I was enjoying about the documentary is the camaraderie that comes with a band, because I think as someone who's never been in a band, the things that you hear about musicians are like, oh, well, they there was a lot of infighting, and then that's why the band broke up, and then years later they decided to get back together.
• 17:33
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But here, you know, at least in watching the documentary, it seems that everyone is is genuinely friendly and and familial with one another, which I think is exciting and makes for better music and a better performance.
• 17:47
  Eric Troyer: It's unique, you know.
• 17:48
  Eric Troyer: The band we part of it is maturity too, you know.
• 17:51
  Eric Troyer: We're not like 20-year-olds.
• 17:53
  Eric Troyer: When you're a 20-year-old, then you're I'm sorry, you guys aren't 20?
• 17:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What are you talking about?
• 17:58
  Eric Troyer: Yep, we're not.
• 18:00
  Eric Troyer: Um, you know, maturity comes and then you you st you learn to like we you know honor each other and you know wish to the best for them and not tear them down, you know.
• 18:11
  Eric Troyer: You these are your brothers, and so that's how this band has evolved.
• 18:15
  Eric Troyer: And um, you know, I think we care about each other and um look after each other and try to make sure everybody's comfortable and you know, and it makes for a much pleasant, more pleasant atmosphere, that's for sure.
• 18:28
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I I think that's a really good point.
• 18:30
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Maturity does make a difference because I I think when you hear those stories about bands breaking up or fighting over women or whatever, they're probably in their teens or their 20s or they're just starting out.
• 18:40
  Eric Troyer: Oh, we're we're still gonna fight over women.
• 18:44
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, I mean, maybe we can save those stories for later.
• 18:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't know.
• 18:48
  Eric Troyer: Yes, definitely.
• 18:49
  Eric Troyer: Just no, that's a joke, obviously.
• 18:51
  Eric Troyer: We're all married, happily married, and uh and but um shall I mean wives.
• 18:55
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, but um yeah, it really makes a difference.
• 18:59
  Eric Troyer: So when you can have fun playing and you, you know, you're like I said, a band of brothers and sisters or whatever, it depends.
• 19:06
  Eric Troyer: We have um violin player now, a female violin player, and uh she's amazing, Susan Aquila.
• 19:14
  Eric Troyer: And um if you see any promo, if you see our promo reel, you'll see her in action.
• 19:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I don't know about this question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
• 19:23
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: What part of making music or performing music do people romanticize the most?
• 19:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And what do you think is the least glamorous part?
• 19:33
  Dave Scott-Morgan: What do they glamorize the most?
• 19:35
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Was that romanticize the most?
• 19:37
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Romanticize, yeah.
• 19:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So people like me who aren't, you know, performing on the travel, right, Dave?
• 19:44
  Eric Troyer: I mean, travel is always like, you know, it gets weary, a bus, a plane, a car, you know.
• 19:51
  Eric Troyer: I I don't know.
• 19:52
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um I was thinking of something else there, of cre sort of creating music, but uh but the the thing that's the most um that's the most uh drudgery about it is it takes a lot of work to to make behind the scenes to make a to make them work.
• 20:10
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And it's the most boring thing in the world, it's like watching paint dry for somebody else to watch you know because it's trying something and trying something else.
• 20:18
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And and um but but when you get a when you get an idea for a song, when you get an idea for something, that is magic, you know.
• 20:26
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And that's the that is the um what did you call it?
• 20:29
  Dave Scott-Morgan: The what the what people um romanticize the most if you think about the glory of music, then that's the glory of it, is is creating something that's never been quite created before, you know.
• 20:40
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And and that's uh that's magic.
• 20:43
  Dave Scott-Morgan: As far as touring goes, I I think I like I just like traveling.
• 20:49
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I I like traveling anywhere.
• 20:51
  Dave Scott-Morgan: If I go to another town in England, I just see see things and I think that's that's great, you know.
• 20:56
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um so I I do like traveling, I must admit, yeah.
• 21:01
  Eric Troyer: I I I'm the same way.
• 21:02
  Eric Troyer: I'm I'm uh I know a lot of people do complain about the travel and stuff, and it can get tiring.
• 21:08
  Eric Troyer: It for sure you get tiring.
• 21:09
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:10
  Eric Troyer: But um, as long as you get rest at night, and you know, you you after a long day of work, you know, traveling, then you play a gig and stuff, you you're pretty tired by the end of the day.
• 21:21
  Eric Troyer: And uh so, but that's part of you know what Dave touched on was the um the romanticizing.
• 21:29
  Eric Troyer: Like if you see a movie where somebody was some band, like they're not making it, and suddenly one guy gets an idea and boom, you know, off they go, and then there's an overnight sensation.
• 21:40
  Eric Troyer: Um, you know, movies they have to do that in a way because you know, there's only so much time in a movie.
• 21:47
  Eric Troyer: But um that's the part that always is laughable when you're a musician.
• 21:51
  Eric Troyer: You go, Oh god, come on, give me a break, you know.
• 21:55
  Eric Troyer: But um, yeah, so there are things that and especially like And be even putting on a show.
• 22:01
  Eric Troyer: Um, you don't see that we're rehearsing.
• 22:04
  Eric Troyer: We spend a lot of time rehearsing, assigning parts.
• 22:07
  Eric Troyer: Okay, you sing this part, I'll sing this part.
• 22:09
  Eric Troyer: We'll let's let's try this together and you harmonize.
• 22:12
  Eric Troyer: Okay, make sure the phrasing is right.
• 22:14
  Eric Troyer: Um, you know, okay, you've if you play this good part here, then we'll, you know, I mean there's a lot of that stuff in the performance that's been picked apart, put back together, the lights.
• 22:26
  Eric Troyer: We've got we have a whole video show that goes along with it.
• 22:29
  Eric Troyer: So we've spent a lot of time and uh effort in creating like an entertaining um you know event.
• 22:37
  Eric Troyer: And uh and people usually walk away and go, wow, what was that?
• 22:43
  Eric Troyer: That was incredible.
• 22:44
  Eric Troyer: Um, and then then you know you're successful when when that happens.
• 22:48
  Dave Scott-Morgan: A lot of boring little details.
• 22:50
  Eric Troyer: And unfortunately, the details have to be sweated over behind the scenes, and and if ever the public saw them, they would be bored to tears with it, you know, because uh you know it's funny because we always during a sound check, it's like okay, you know, some you're standing around, you're looking at each other, something doesn't work, something gets fixed, you stand around some more, you go get a cup of coffee, you get a bite to eat.
• 23:15
  Eric Troyer: You know, uh if you saw all that happening, I mean you'd have to be a real super fan before you go, oh, this is really exciting.
• 23:22
  Eric Troyer: Oh, he's drinking coffee.
• 23:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Well, I'm sure those super fans exist.
• 23:28
  Eric Troyer: They do.
• 23:29
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I think that whole conversation, um, all of that behind the scenes stuff, the the quote unquote boring stuff that happens, it reminds me of that image.
• 23:37
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And I don't know if you've seen like the iceberg under the water, right?
• 23:41
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So all of the work that goes into creating perfection or or masterpieces is really under the water, and you only see just the teeny tip at the top.
• 23:50
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And that is essentially what music is.
• 23:53
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: But you're right, if we put that in a movie, nobody would watch it just be three years of watching somebody figure out how to build a band.
• 24:01
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm just curious about like what it is to live the the musician's life, I guess.
• 24:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: So can I ask you whose criticism do you trust the most?
• 24:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Like when you're putting a show together, who do you have your wives come in?
• 24:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: You know, do you have a set of best friends who come in and watch the show for the first time and say, Oh yeah, this is great, or oh no, those lights were too much?
• 24:24
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Do you do you have uh someone like that?
• 24:27
  Eric Troyer: Dave, you you Dave is very creative, he's always working, and I don't know who he goes to uh for feedback, but um does Mandy tell you whether something's Mandy Mandy is great, yeah.
• 24:39
  Dave Scott-Morgan: She's really um quite definite, um, can be quite negative about things if they're not, you know, and and really force force me to rethink things.
• 24:48
  Dave Scott-Morgan: She's she's really good.
• 24:49
  Dave Scott-Morgan: She's um one of my uh Richard Tandy was a close pal of mine, and he was a great curator.
• 24:57
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I would call him.
• 24:58
  Dave Scott-Morgan: He would be a he would absolutely great, he would say things, he would be very blunt about it if he didn't like something say that's that doesn't work there.
• 25:06
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I'm sure he did this with Jeff in the studio.
• 25:08
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That doesn't work there.
• 25:09
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And uh or that's great, don't touch that, don't don't re-record that's great.
• 25:15
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Put it, you know, put the lock on that.
• 25:17
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That's that's wonderful.
• 25:18
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Um he'd be just uh it would be like that, Richard.
• 25:22
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And um but uh Richard was a real gold gold standard, really, in that respect.
• 25:31
  Dave Scott-Morgan: But I would say that ordinary folk are are probably some of the best people to go to because uh musicians are not necessarily the best arbiters of of what you're doing because uh you're not really entertaining them at the end of the day if you've got something, you know, it's just it's just uh some somebody who's not that bothered about music, not really interested in you.
• 25:52
  Dave Scott-Morgan: For example, I work at a flying club and I I I just play to the guy at the flying club, the guy who runs it.
• 25:58
  Dave Scott-Morgan: I say, what do you think of this?
• 25:59
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And he's not in music, he doesn't care about music.
• 26:02
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Well, he probably cares about music, but but and he so I I get real good opinions off him, you know, because he's not he's just not plugged into the the the issues that you know musicians are, yeah.
• 26:14
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: No, I think that's really important because those people are just going off of vibes, pure vibes.
• 26:18
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: They're not wondering, like, oh, did you hit the right note there?
• 26:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Did it come across the right way?
• 26:22
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: They just want to know, did I like it or did I not like it?
• 26:25
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Yes, and that's the best feedback.
• 26:27
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That's exactly right.
• 26:28
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That's exactly right.
• 26:28
  Dave Scott-Morgan: That's what music is, it's taking people on a journey.
• 26:31
  Dave Scott-Morgan: And but if you can't take ordinary folk, if you've got you can only take musicians, you haven't got a very big audience.
• 26:38
  Eric Troyer: True.
• 26:39
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, I think it's good that uh it's absolutely the audience that Joe Schmoe, you know, um um they're the ones that if if it's right, just like you said, if it's good, they're gonna know right away and they won't know the technical part of it or the all that.
• 26:54
  Eric Troyer: I I do see you you what you just pointed out though is that you took it to somebody who's very knowledgeable, and then you took it to somebody who was just a punter, you know.
• 27:04
  Eric Troyer: So in fact, um both those ways are really helpful, you know.
• 27:10
  Eric Troyer: If you had Richard, if Richard said it was uh suck, this sucks, you know, then okay, I got it.
• 27:16
  Eric Troyer: And if he likes it, then you take it to the punters, and if they like it, then okay, this is working.
• 27:21
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Uh Richard, you uh people I don't think that would never get to the punters because if Richard said it was wasn't any good, it would never get completed.
• 27:28
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Oh, that's true.
• 27:30
  Dave Scott-Morgan: Uh um because he was he was really definite about it.
• 27:33
  Dave Scott-Morgan: He's saying, No, that's rubbish, that you know, so we'll whatever you know, put in so many words, and uh yeah, and um uh it was just a wonderful encouragement.
• 27:44
  Dave Scott-Morgan: You know, if if there could be a credit for encouragement, Richard would would would have got every credit going on every record because he was great at that's really important, you know, in the studio.
• 27:55
  Dave Scott-Morgan: It's so good to have a cheerleader have someone just like keep the energy up, like the positive energy in the room somebody who can be can be honest about it, not just yeah, you know, not just keep not a yes man, but but somebody you can be honest about what you're doing, yeah.
• 28:10
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, so you don't waste your time going down the like a dead end or something, yeah.
• 28:14
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, that's right.
• 28:15
  Eric Troyer: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:15
  Eric Troyer: Yeah.
• 28:16
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I love it, guys.
• 28:17
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Is there anything that you're looking forward to specifically?
• 28:21
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I mean, I know that Eric, you live in New Jersey, but is there anything that you're looking forward to at the show in New Jersey, anything you'd like to say to Jersey audiences?
• 28:28
  Eric Troyer: Well, we're just really excited that we've got a really cracking lineup.
• 28:33
  Eric Troyer: And um, you know, we've gone through some changes, but this band is as good as it ever was.
• 28:39
  Eric Troyer: And um, we're really excited to, you know, we we love seeing the people come out and seeing the joy when they uh when they you know hear the music.
• 28:49
  Eric Troyer: And uh it's just so rewarding.
• 28:51
  Eric Troyer: So we're really looking forward to seeing a good Jersey crowd.
• 28:56
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The orchestra, starring Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part 2 former members, are bringing their Blue Skies Forever tour to the Levoy Theater in Millville on March 15th at 7 p.m.
• 29:07
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For tickets and more information about this show, be sure to visit Livoy.net.
• 29:12
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: For more about the tour, visit theorchestraband.com.
• 29:16
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: If you liked this episode, be sure to review, subscribe, and tell your friends.
• 29:20
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story, and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com.
• 29:27
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The JerseyArts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986.
• 29:34
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: The show was co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
• 29:39
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez.
• 29:43
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Cernadiaz.
• 29:47
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: And my thanks, of course, to Eric Troyer and Dave Scott Morgan for speaking with me today.
• 29:51
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast.
• 29:54
  Gina Marie Rodriguez: Thanks for listening.