Latest / The Scene Projects / AJ Stone on Fronting Bands and the Local Music Scene

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AJ Stone on Fronting Bands and the Local Music Scene · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Welcome into a very exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:04
  I am your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is AJ Stone.
• 0:07
  What's up, AJ?
• 0:08
  What's going on?
• 0:09
  How you doing?
• 0:10
  I'm good, buddy.
• 0:11
  I'm good.
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  Why don't you go ahead and tell everybody, not just who you are, but what you do, and we'll
• 0:16
  get started right there.
• 0:17
  Sounds good.
• 0:18
  So my name is AJ Stone.
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  I play in a band by the same name here in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
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  Relatively new band.
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  I just started doing my music last year.
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  I've been involved with the local scene four years, but just started singing, playing
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  guitar, being the front man of my own band, and we've just been kicking ass and taking names
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  last year, and we're hoping to come out swinging 2025.
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  You know it, brother.
• 0:44
  Mhmm.
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  That's how
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  it's done, man.
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  Love it.
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  So relatively new to playing music period or just being in a band?
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  Just just being fronted in a band.
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  So I I was in a band a few years ago called Sicocera.
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  We did a big national tour.
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  It was an amazing experience.
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  I played bass for them.
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  I've been playing guitar since I've been 13, 14 years old.
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  I play a little bit of drums on the side.
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  But, yeah, as far as singing, which is pretty pretty new, the the seriousness of of singing,
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  not just the shower routine, that's been that's been new for the last year, and it's been both
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  nerve racking and very exciting.
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  So you did the national tour.
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  What happened with that band?
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  Just kinda fizzle out?
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  Or
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  Yeah.
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  So Sick of Sarah, they originally were an all female band.
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  And then at some point, me and my my friend Jack Swagger, we we joined that that band.
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  And, yeah, it was just it was just the end of it for a lot a lot of people for different
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  reasons.
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  A few of them have done music after that, but a lot of them kinda just retired.
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  So it gave me a good spark of what it's like to be on tour like that.
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  So again, it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever ever had and hoping to
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  reach similar heights in in my band.
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  It was a good motivation to to get in front of a band and say, well, I don't wanna rely on
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  someone else to take me on this journey.
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  I want to go and captain this journey myself.
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  Absolutely.
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  Well, and for a while, I was happy to rely on someone else to to captain the ship, if you
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  will, but people weren't.
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  So it it came down to a situation of not doing it or doing it for myself, and I I really
• 2:41
  wanted to do it.
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  So that's that's why I'm here.
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  Yeah.
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  I see.
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  And that's so much different from, like, my experience.
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  Right?
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  Like, I've always been the front man.
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  It's always been me driving, and I've been one other time, I, you know, met a really great
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  guitar player, and, you know, he sang and did his own thing.
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  And I was like, dude, I'll play bass behind you and listen to you play like Jimi You know what
• 3:02
  I mean?
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  And I was, like, totally content doing that, but then I wasn't in control of my own destiny
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  anymore.
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  Even though I was booking the band and I was doing still a lot of the same work.
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  Right?
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  Like, I wasn't I wasn't in control because he woke up one day when we're in freaking Baton
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  Rouge, fucking Louisiana, and he's like, you're fired.
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  I'm playing the show tonight by myself with my own band.
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  And I'm like, the fuck?
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  You know?
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  How do Well, I'll never do that again.
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  Right?
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  And, honestly, that led me down a path of not wanting to do music at all.
• 3:32
  Right?
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  I had invested so much of myself into someone else's, you know, thing just to be kicked to
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  the curb when it's my van, my truck that you're traveling in that you're gonna drive home in
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  even though I'm not with you anymore.
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  I was like, that's insane.
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  I'm not I'm never doing that again.
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  And, so, yeah, I'm glad that you're you're stepping out and you're going out on your own.
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  You're also doing a lot of stuff for the the local music scene up there in Saint Paul as
• 3:56
  well.
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  You wanna talk about North Star original review?
• 3:59
  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  So, yeah, I've been helping out with, like you said, this local we're kind of a team of many
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  many hats, if you will.
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  We're looking to help grow local artists, develop local artists.
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  It's helping with our own our own our own path as well.
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  North Star Original Review.
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  I do a lot of the booking for the shows.
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  I do a lot of the social media, specifically on Facebook.
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  I do a lot of if you wanna call me an ambassador for the for the team.
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  For lack of a better term.
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  Yeah.
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  You know, I reach out to I I I got our name mentioned in our local radio station, KFAI.
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  I got our connected with you.
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  As a matter of fact, the that was definitely, a a blessing.
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  It's been awesome so far, and we're we're all just getting started.
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  Another local magazine, Tumbling Tumbling Rock, we got some advertisement in there.
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  So, yeah, I do a lot of trying to push the North Star thing forward, and it's been an
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  amazing experience because it has helped me network probably 10 times faster than I would
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  if I was just playing shows or even just going shows.
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  Well, it's because you have something of value to offer your community now.
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  Right?
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  Yes.
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  You know, I was heavily invested in my own scene across the whole state of South Dakota.
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  I was raised on the West Side Of South Dakota.
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  You know, five years ago, my wife and I bought a house in her hometown, which brought me out
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  to the middle of farm country on the other side of the state.
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  I didn't really know anybody.
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  When I landed out here, I was like, man, it's really disconnected.
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  And you would have that because you have, like, Sioux Falls is the major center, but it's
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  really, like, six different towns.
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  Right?
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  Like, there's Tee and Brandon and Harrow and all these little towns that used to be outside
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  of the city that it's kind of spread into.
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  So the scene is still very disconnected because even if you're from Sioux Falls, you don't you
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  don't necessarily know everybody from the next town over.
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  Right?
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  Right.
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  And if you're from somewhere an hour and a half out of Sioux Falls like I am, it's really hard
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  to meet anybody.
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  Blessing of the Facebook, right, and the social networks that we have, I've been very lucky to
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  just kind of fall into this, and now I have something of value to offer to my community.
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  And it really just exploded my network both here and then also up there.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  We don't have a local magazine to get in.
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  We don't have local radio that really wants to support any kind of local music.
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  Right?
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  Very sporadic, very fortunate to have, you know, our friend Bailey Peterson at Dakota News
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  Now, which is one of our, local news stations.
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  She's had quite a few musicians on because of her passion for, you know, music and local,
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  local acts.
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  But beyond that, there's just not a lot of room for us.
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  Right?
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  And then everybody wants to sit back and go, oh, well, there's no scene.
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  Well, there's no scene.
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  Well, there's nobody supporting it.
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  Other than the artists themselves, none of these other companies and things are trying to
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  support that.
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  Your big money donors and things are supporting things like the Levitt at the Falls, is
• 7:22
  wonderful.
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  Right?
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  They're they're providing a space for local openers and things like that, but they're not
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  truly they're not truly elevating people until now.
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  I I think they're doing a lot more, and I don't wanna speak poorly about them at all.
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  They're they're a great organization, some great people there, but they just started, you
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  know, hosting an open mic on the stage on Thursday nights.
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  Right?
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  So giving people an opportunity just to go and step on that stage, and then it starts to
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  expand your mind to what's really possible.
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  Right?
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  You know?
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  Now if you can play up there with nobody there, right, or a few hundred people, then you can
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  definitely play there when there's a few thousand people.
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  It's no different.
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  It's the same stage, the same equipment.
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  You know?
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  It's your same songs.
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  So we we really have a system.
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  We just don't have anybody talking about it.
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  Right?
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  There was nobody giving it the press that it deserved, and that's kind of how the scene
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  projects began.
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  Fortunately for me, I am a very I love to network.
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  I love to find other communities.
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  That's how I found you guys, right, being in different Facebook groups especially.
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  You know, you guys got quite a few up there that, I'm always posting in, but also something
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  like the Midwest Country Music Organization, which was kind of founded, in the Minneapolis
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  area that just blew the doors off of it.
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  Right?
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  We have over 300 member artists that are all out here, you know, doing our thing.
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  And we all have a network of our own to bring to the collective.
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  Right?
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  So, yeah, stumbling onto you guys who are kind of outside of that group, but in the same area.
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  Man, you talk about blessing.
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  I I've been so blessed by by you and by Corey and by, you know, all of my Midwest CMO family
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  and all these people that are that are family.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  It's been it's been incredible.
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  And, North Star is is pretty young.
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  We just started in I think it was July of last year.
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  So it's not like this is, you know, this five year project that we've been going in.
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  I can't wait to see what the next couple years present.
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  Brother, I've only been around since April.
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  Right?
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  Right.
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  I'm glad so.
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  We we're neither one of us are even a year old yet.
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  And and look at the network because everybody had their own already, that when we all came
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  together, it just boom.
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  Yep.
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  And exactly like you said, where are we all in a few years?
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  You know?
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  In a few years, I'd like to be like our buddy Steve Drumalski on stage at US Bank Stadium.
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  Wouldn't that be something?
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  Yeah.
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  I'm a, know, I'm I'm a bit of a dreamer.
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  So I always think about, you know, what would it be like to open up for the biggest band that
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  I know.
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  And, you know, Corey, the the director of North Star, he is really good at having smaller
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  goals.
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  So now and maybe it won't happen this year, but I wanna play seventh straight entry that's a
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  part of first half, not necessarily first half or the Green Room or some of our bigger local
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  venues.
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  But, yeah, at some point, US Bank Stadium, that's definitely, you know, one of those
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  dreams, but working on the little goals first.
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  Right.
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  Well, you you have to you can't skip steps in this.
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  Right?
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  Like Right.
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  I'm not ready.
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  I've been doing this for twenty five years.
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  I'm not ready to go step on that stage yet because there's I have to go and play the
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  Seventh Streets, and I have to go and play some of these other venues and not necessarily that
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  specific venue, but things like it.
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  I've played a lot of clubs, but I've never done I don't think you can jump from, like, playing
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  your local bar and grill to to up to that level and to think that you're going to perform well.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  There there's you have to build
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  rock up there.
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  Yeah, man.
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  You have to build that confidence in yourself.
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  And and granted for me, like I mentioned, the Levitt at the Falls in Sioux Falls has just
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  been so great because before that, I didn't even know if playing to an amphitheater of
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  4,000 people was even possible.
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  And then getting to do that three years in a row in this last year, they kinda put us put it
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  on us to, like, well, can you give us a forty five minute set of just originals?
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  I would love to.
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  Right?
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  And we got to open for Armchair Boogie, who is another Midwest band.
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  They got a new grass band out of out of Wisconsin.
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  And coming off the stage, those guys who have had a twenty year career themselves playing all
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  kind of festivals and different things that were like, right on, brother.
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  You held your own out there, man.
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  Cool.
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  Mhmm.
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  You know, you didn't sound like a local band.
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  You didn't look like a local band.
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  That that meant a lot to me.
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  And then it just was like, okay.
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  Well, now what's what's the next step?
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  And for me, it's not necessarily like, I deserve the bigger stages now.
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  It's no.
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  How do you get on the road to play more of the smaller rooms that you're kinda used to, which
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  led me to a place like Midway Saloon, which obviously you guys do a lot of work there every
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  other Thursday.
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  Right?
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  Where I walked in and went, oh, this looks like every other bar I've ever played in.
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  You know?
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  And then you you build on that.
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  And so that's kind of the 2025 plan, at least for myself, is how do we get this show out on
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  the road?
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  How am I doing, you know, our songwriter showcase, which is very similar to what the
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  review is, except I'm hosting on stage and and a little bit different format, but very
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  similar.
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  And how do we combine the networks to, you know, put more local people on to have a little
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  bit bigger bands like Devin Worley band who's gonna be coming out on the road with us?
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  How do we grow that now?
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  And how do we make our own kind of Vans Warped tour out of this whole thing, you know, or
• 13:00
  Coachella or or whatever whatever comparison you wanna make, how do we build it and do it
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  ourselves?
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  And with the collective experience, I think that's possible because not one of us has all
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  of the experience through the whole thing.
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  Right.
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  And that's that's what I first noticed about working with with the North Star original
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  review.
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  When when they first came up with the idea and they were telling me about it, I was just
• 13:28
  absorbing it like any other idea that my friends have, which I I love my friends.
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  Sometimes they have great ideas.
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  Sometimes they don't have the greatest ethic to get get into that idea.
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  It's just an idea.
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  It's just on paper.
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  And I'm I'm myself to blame for that too.
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  I'm sure we all are.
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  But after it started happening and we had a team around us and the team started building
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  and the team started wanting to be more involved and, you know, not that it's a
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  competition, but I'm a very competitive person.
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  So when the people around me are doing better, I wanna do better because I wanna be, you know,
• 14:04
  employee of the month kind of thing.
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  So we all have been working as a team, and I think that's the big difference right there.
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  I think if I came up with this idea, every single idea that the the director of Northstar
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  came up with, if I came up with every single one of those ideas and try to do it by myself,
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  I think I would have failed.
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  I think the fact that there's a community, a team, other people getting involved, other
• 14:32
  different takes at it, I think that's the big key to success.
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  I think the scene that we are working with, the local scene, I think they're seeing more
• 14:44
  results rather than just playing a small venue and, you know, getting your twenty, thirty
• 14:49
  dollars.
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  I think they're seeing their names in the magazines and hearing their names on the radio
• 14:54
  and seeing the podcast and things like that.
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  And they're thinking, hey.
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  This could be us too if we keep being there.
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  So, yeah, the more hands on deck, the more that this is gonna succeed.
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  It's it's hard not to, like, not get over our skis, but to think about the lives that we're
• 15:13
  going to affect and not just of the musicians, but the lives that they're going to affect with
• 15:17
  their careers because we're able to kind of build this bigger platform.
• 15:21
  And it's not like it's not like Facebook, right, where it was kind of one man's idea and,
• 15:27
  you know, it was something I typed today.
• 15:29
  Like, none of these ideas are ours anyway.
• 15:32
  You know?
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  This is your god or source or whatever you wanna call it.
• 15:37
  It came from somewhere else.
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  It's not so unique to ourselves, and we take possession of it, and we wanna trap it and go,
• 15:45
  no.
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  This is ours.
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  Right?
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  This is our idea, and you can't do anything with it.
• 15:49
  I think the world has changed so much, and especially in the world of musicians and
• 15:53
  creators because all the money has been hoovered out of it.
• 15:57
  We don't we're not getting none of us are getting paid to play our mute.
• 15:59
  I mean, what maybe to play it, but we're not getting paid for the Spotify streams and all of
• 16:03
  those things.
• 16:04
  So who gives a shit if we're out here playing for nothing and we're are we connecting with
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  people?
• 16:10
  Are we able to connect?
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  Can we connect with a community?
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  That's what's so much more important now.
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  And with, you know, what we just went through in the last, you know, twelve months or so, and
• 16:21
  especially the last four months as the election cycle wound down, and the entire world now has
• 16:26
  seen the power of a podcast.
• 16:29
  And the power of the podcast is truth.
• 16:34
  It is a connection, one to one.
• 16:37
  Right?
• 16:37
  I'm talking with you, but I'm also speaking directly to every single person who's listening
• 16:42
  to this.
• 16:43
  Sure.
• 16:43
  You know?
• 16:43
  In their ears, this is me and you talking directly to them, not necessarily to each
• 16:48
  other.
• 16:49
  So it's just completely changed the way that information is is transferred, and it's I'm so
• 16:56
  happy that I fell into this a year ago to kinda have my feet under me.
• 17:01
  It'd be totally different if we were here and, like, trying to start from now instead of
• 17:07
  having the six months behind us already.
• 17:09
  Right?
• 17:09
  Like, now we're poised to ride this wave because I think what's gonna happen now, AJ, is
• 17:15
  that the advertising from our local communities can start to can start to wrap their heads
• 17:23
  around what a podcast is.
• 17:25
  It's what local radio used to be.
• 17:27
  Right?
• 17:27
  Sure.
• 17:28
  Instead of sponsoring the, you know, the local show on the wolf or what I don't know your
• 17:33
  stations up there, but, that now you are that well, that show's here.
• 17:39
  It's in a different package, but it's the same thing.
• 17:42
  And you're supporting these local artists by supporting this program.
• 17:46
  And then for all of us, especially here at the scene projects, like, I'm not doing this to get
• 17:50
  rich.
• 17:51
  I just wanna stay on the road and keep doing what I've been doing.
• 17:55
  Right.
• 17:56
  Yeah.
• 17:56
  It's definitely not the not the place to be if you wanna get rich.
• 17:59
  I think my, CD Baby account has, like, 4 and a half dollars in it from two years of doing
• 18:06
  music now and probably $300 worth of campaigns and curators that I've spent on it.
• 18:13
  Right.
• 18:14
  Not including the recording situation.
• 18:17
  So, yeah, it's definitely a don't quit your day job until you until you can, which hopefully we
• 18:23
  we get there.
• 18:24
  Well But, yeah, it's definitely not about the money.
• 18:26
  Well, and in some ways, you have to be able to, like, leave the money.
• 18:29
  I mean, I should have never quit my day job.
• 18:31
  Right?
• 18:32
  I mean, I was making 50 k a year.
• 18:33
  I was doing pretty well, but I would have never had the time available to get where I've gotten
• 18:40
  if I didn't.
• 18:41
  If I was still giving somebody forty, fifty hours a week and granted, my my situation is is
• 18:45
  different.
• 18:46
  I can still make money.
• 18:47
  I get paid pretty well locally to go play music, and I don't have a mortgage that I'm
• 18:51
  completely underwater on.
• 18:52
  Right?
• 18:52
  Our our rent is, like, $600 a month or something.
• 18:55
  Right?
• 18:55
  And I kinda looked at my wife, and and for me, it was cutting out all the other BS.
• 19:00
  I don't drink.
• 19:01
  I don't spend any money on alcohol.
• 19:02
  I don't spend any money on food.
• 19:03
  Right?
• 19:04
  We don't go out to eat and do all those things.
• 19:06
  So we were able to kinda trim all the the, you know, kind of the pleasures out of our life.
• 19:11
  Right?
• 19:11
  And to then just get pleasure out of living this life.
• 19:16
  And that's been, I mean, the biggest blessing because I'm not I'm not really I'm not invested
• 19:22
  in that consumer lifestyle anymore.
• 19:26
  I'm not stuck in that work, sleep, die kind of, you know, retire, live for a year, and then
• 19:33
  you're out of the system.
• 19:34
  And and, like, I'm not contributing to that really in any way, and we're able to support
• 19:40
  other people who are out there living that same, you know, that same kind of lifestyle.
• 19:46
  Sure.
• 19:47
  Yeah.
• 19:47
  I mean, I'm definitely I enjoy going out.
• 19:51
  I enjoy some of the I don't wanna say finer things in life because that makes it sound like
• 19:55
  I have a lot of money, and I certainly don't.
• 19:57
  But I do like maybe buying stuff for my drum set or my guitar setup or whatever.
• 20:04
  So I would not be in a a position where I'd be able to quit my my job that affords all that
• 20:11
  and just do music.
• 20:13
  I I would I would be in a tent in half a year.
• 20:17
  I wouldn't have the the income that I would need yet, but that's the goal too.
• 20:22
  I mean, I'm only a year into it on my own my own music, so I shouldn't expect that I would
• 20:28
  have a situation like that.
• 20:30
  And if and when I do, it might be a situation where I think, hey.
• 20:34
  If I stop doing all this and quit my job, that means I can travel when I need to, when I want
• 20:41
  to.
• 20:42
  Yes.
• 20:42
  I'm not gonna have the next iPhone or, you know, the big steak dinner, but I don't
• 20:48
  necessarily need that.
• 20:51
  Well and, AJ, let me let you in on a little tip.
• 20:54
  As a musician, you shouldn't be paying for meals.
• 20:57
  Well, sure.
• 20:58
  Sure.
• 20:59
  But I mean, there's there's days where
• 21:00
  don't play.
• 21:01
  The steak.
• 21:02
  Right.
• 21:03
  There there's days where you don't play.
• 21:04
  Right?
• 21:05
  So
• 21:07
  Only because you're doing something else.
• 21:09
  Right?
• 21:09
  And I guess that's where all the possibilities for me opened up.
• 21:14
  And I know my situation is unique.
• 21:16
  Like I said, I it's not everyone that can set out to do it, and I don't let the stress
• 21:22
  overcome me.
• 21:24
  Right?
• 21:24
  Sure.
• 21:24
  I mean, have $20,000 worth of credit card debt that I've accumulated building this thing as
• 21:28
  well.
• 21:29
  Right?
• 21:29
  But instead of sitting and going, oh my god.
• 21:31
  Where am I gonna find the money?
• 21:32
  And I gotta go back to work to get it.
• 21:34
  I'm like, no.
• 21:34
  How do we keep building this thing up to where it's
• 21:37
  Mhmm.
• 21:37
  A hundred times more valuable than whatever debt I could accumulate?
• 21:41
  And, that's that's that's why I'm doing this, right, and not relying on someone else to take
• 21:48
  that risk.
• 21:48
  I would never ask someone else to do what I've done.
• 21:51
  There's no I mean, it would be wholly irresponsible of them to do so as it has been
• 21:57
  for me.
• 21:58
  But, that's kind of like I guess if you wanna say that's kind of the god given purpose or
• 22:03
  that's whatever it is, my higher calling.
• 22:06
  Once I started following that, that's when things really opened for me.
• 22:10
  And then I was available to, you know, come up to Midway and record eight artists for a for a
• 22:15
  review show in a show that I couldn't really even afford to shoot, but just knowing in my
• 22:20
  head that, like, this is where it's going.
• 22:22
  This is what takes us from the sidelines to the headlines and to just keep pushing.
• 22:28
  And it's never it's never about me.
• 22:30
  It's about this.
• 22:31
  It's about the projects and that everyone fits underneath of it.
• 22:35
  Right?
• 22:36
  You know, for me, I don't wanna make you guys a part of my show.
• 22:39
  I wanna gift you your own show and to say, hey.
• 22:42
  We have a willing audience that's ready to listen.
• 22:45
  Just hit record.
• 22:46
  You know?
• 22:46
  Sure.
• 22:47
  Send it to us, and we'll get it out there and produce that.
• 22:49
  And I think that's where that's where I'm at, is finding the other people behind the scenes
• 22:55
  that can produce that.
• 22:57
  Let the AJs go out and book the reviews and to play the shows.
• 23:01
  Just hit record, man, and send it back to us, and then we can just keep moving this thing
• 23:06
  forward and let the podcast then kinda get out there and do what they do.
• 23:11
  And what they do is is they bring in the listeners.
• 23:14
  And as we do that, then it will be, growing everyone's fan base.
• 23:18
  And that's that's what I'm really about.
• 23:21
  Right?
• 23:21
  Making everybody famous.
• 23:22
  I don't I got to go to Monday Night Football last month up there and, you know, watching
• 23:27
  Justin Jefferson run on the field with 70,000 fans.
• 23:31
  You know?
• 23:32
  And I was just like, I've always said that I don't want that.
• 23:35
  I lied.
• 23:36
  I do want that.
• 23:38
  And I want that not just for me.
• 23:39
  I want it for AJ, and I want it for every single artist that we work with.
• 23:43
  If that's what you want, I wanna make that happen for you, and I'm gonna keep working to
• 23:48
  make that happen.
• 23:49
  And so is AJ, and so is Corey.
• 23:52
  Everybody in the North Star original review crew is doing the same thing.
• 23:55
  Everybody here at the Scene Projects is doing the same thing.
• 23:58
  And if we maintain that mission for another, you know, two to five years, there's no way we
• 24:04
  don't make it.
• 24:06
  Right.
• 24:07
  Well, it's funny that you mentioned that, and we were speaking about goals earlier.
• 24:11
  I went to, I think it was KG Elephant that saw.
• 24:16
  I was I was seeing a couple of venues, but it was during one of those moments where the band
• 24:21
  was playing a kinda softer song.
• 24:23
  The lights were all down low, and people don't really carry lighters anymore.
• 24:27
  But everyone pulled out their cell phone, and it was all the the thousand lights.
• 24:33
  And in that moment, I was like, that is one of my musical goals right there.
• 24:39
  I wanna play a song.
• 24:40
  You know?
• 24:41
  That's my Jeff Jefferson moment with 70,000 people screaming my name.
• 24:45
  Like, that's cool, but I wanna play the song where everyone has their lighter or their
• 24:50
  lights out, and that'll be, you know, one of those dream music moments.
• 24:55
  So, yeah, when I started doing music last year, I really thought I was gonna be very casual
• 25:00
  with it, you know, one show a month, whatever, not really put too much time and energy.
• 25:05
  And then things kind of just basically spiraled out of control in the best way possible.
• 25:11
  I started doing NOR, which kept me way busier.
• 25:16
  It's given me more shows.
• 25:17
  I've met a ton of new people, and I've even been going to a little bit more shows as far
• 25:25
  as, like, national acts and things like that, local acts too, of course.
• 25:29
  So, yeah, I get more and more of these, little taste of things that I realized that I I really
• 25:35
  want too.
• 25:35
  And, yeah, how do we make that a possibility?
• 25:38
  And I do think this is the the way.
• 25:43
  AJ, I I don't wanna keep you for too long today.
• 25:45
  Can you plug everything that you're working on and let everybody know where they can find you,
• 25:50
  and I'll let you get out of here.
• 25:52
  Absolutely.
• 25:53
  I appreciate it.
• 25:54
  So, obviously, in the North Star original review, that's r e v u e for review.
• 26:00
  That's on Facebook.
• 26:01
  That's a great way to see all the local acts that we're working with.
• 26:06
  Tumbling Rock as well, that's our local magazine, KFAI.
• 26:09
  That's the local radio station.
• 26:12
  I also have a show coming up here at Midway Saloon, February eighth.
• 26:16
  It is my EP release show, so I have five other bands on that bill.
• 26:21
  It's gonna be an incredible night, an amazing lineup, all handpicked by by myself.
• 26:26
  You can find me on Facebook at a j stone music.
• 26:30
  You can find me on Instagram at a j stone official.
• 26:33
  A couple other shows coming up throughout the year, but the next big one, it's gonna be that
• 26:37
  that Midway 1.
• 26:39
  Awesome, man.
• 26:40
  Well, AJ, I appreciate your time.
• 26:42
  I appreciate everything you guys are doing up there.
• 26:45
  I can't wait to get together with you.
• 26:47
  I think I'm coming back up in April, and Cool.
• 26:50
  We'll we'll definitely connect then.
• 26:52
  I think we have plans for me to be on the review show over at Big Wood Brewery.
• 26:56
  We do.
• 26:56
  Yes.
• 26:57
  We do.
• 26:58
  Awesome, man.
• 26:58
  I'm just so stoked, and I'm really thankful that you're part of the scene.
• 27:02
  Absolutely.
• 27:03
  I am too, and it was awesome having this interview and, of course, meeting you in the
• 27:07
  first place.
• 27:08
  AJ, thanks for being part of the scene, brother.
• 27:10
  You as well.
• 27:11
  Take it easy.