Latest / Caught on the Mike... / "To Groove So Freely" with Steve Ewing (The Urge, Steve Ewing Band, Steve's Hot Dogs)

Transcript

"To Groove So Freely" with Steve Ewing (The Urge, Steve Ewing Band, Steve's Hot Dogs) · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Warning due to some language and subject matter, listener discretion is advised.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: During my second year of college, I saw a band that absolutely changed my life.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Brainless.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: All washed up.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Too much stereo.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Jump right in.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I am talking about the urge.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: This St.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Louis-based band was the epitome of high-energy entertainment and something I tried to emulate for years to come.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not every day that you get to interview one of your idols.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Joining me on the podcast today is a lead singer, a bodybuilding competitor, and an entrepreneur.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: He is the proud owner and operator of Steve's Hot Dogs in St.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't be more excited to have Steve Ewing joining me on the show today.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting hectic.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting crazy.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the mic.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Steve Ewing of the Urge, the Steve Ewing band, Steve's hot dogs and bodybuilder, as well as Dad.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: How the hell are you, man?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing really well, man.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me on.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, it's my pleasure.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was just saying to you before we pressed record.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have a million and one things going on right now.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: You might be the busiest guy in the Midwest right now.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Man, it feels like it sometimes, no doubt.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So are you in the process of moving to a new location with the restaurant?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what's going on?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we are.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we're moving the this location here in Tower Grove.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like about four blocks down to Grand.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's in a space uh used to be a restaurant called Manja, Manja Italiano.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so pretty well-known restaurant over there, and where they went out of business and we took over the space.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're gonna have a few more amenities in this new location, aren't you?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: We yeah, we sure are.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have a bigger dining room, about twice the dining space.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the kitchen's about double the size.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll have all the storage we need.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's a small little public park next to the shop that we have have access to that we can use for outdoor concerts, movie nights, and things like that.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, we got a lot of a lot of things we can do there.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Again, thank you for doing the podcast.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you, I have been a fan of yours since the mid-90s.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna talk about how long ago that was because that that hurts, nostalgia hurts my heart more than anything else these days.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was a while ago.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's kind of go back to that without reciting the years and uh and let's talk about how you got involved as a musician, a performer, and you know, kind of fell into the urge.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So being in a band is something I always wanted to do.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, grew up on a lot of jazz, a lot of just stacks and stacks of records in my parents' house.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um, just my cousin played in a band, you know, and always wanted to do that.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And in high school, it was a good like four or five bands.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: In high school, like my high school friends were in bands.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, I that's what I want to do.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, met the Urge guys, we're already a band.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they're a couple two or three years older than me.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, same high school.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Used to walk past their house and we used to hear them practicing.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so they needed a singer.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I ended up jumping in and becoming the singer of the urge.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was like 17.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: That was 87.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh right out of high school, we just kept playing little bars, playing little parties.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then at you know, when we all graduated, I was the last one to graduate.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's at the point where we made a decision where we really wanted to take this seriously and start, you know, hitting the road a little bit and start, you know, making some records.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: So 87 is when we officially started.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: How long did it take the urge sound to kind of fall into place?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because you guys not only had a unique sound, but you had a live show that kind of correlated with that sound.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, how how long did that take to coalesce and come together?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think it took a good, like the first the first independent record we put out was 88.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the first major record we put out was like 94.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it took it took all that time to for us to really find our sound.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and now it's just for performing, and uh, we got two new musicians, and a lot of people didn't know we didn't have like we have not the full-on original band, but John Pazzoni and Jerry Joes joined the band, and that changed the sound like right away.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: So pretty much right after they joined the band, we made receiving a gift of flavor record, which really like solidified our sound.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was like that mix between scob, heavy rock metal, and funk and all that kind of really came together.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember I was a college student in Iowa.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: The first time I heard Brainless was, and I I think you'll you'll remember the radio station was 107.5 KKDM because you guys headlined like three of the dot fests.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, we did dot fests on dot fests were were crazy, man.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can say, Yeah, yeah, because I remember going and seeing you guys, it was it was always the the most amazing eclectic mix of bands.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: I would see you guys and a pre-signed slipknot and real big fish on the same bill.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember that in a bar in Des Moines.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just craziness.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I totally remember that.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Slipknot used to um travel with us as the opener for a long time.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember that.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And their manager was also working at the radio station, I believe.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so like she put the bill together with us, and then it was just crazy.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: The bands that we played with back in the day, and the those all those radio festivals were super cool, man.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: We got to meet pretty much everyone.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was different times back then.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was it's kind of weird to watch the evolution of the uh the music industry uh at large because at that time those bills were super, super diverse, and everybody was a fan of everything.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's true, that's very true.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think the thing about the urge uh was the fact that you guys were so eclectic that you could fit with about anybody, and you had fans from each individual segment.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you had the metal fans, the ska fans, and my god, you guys put on such an amazing live show.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: It changed my life, and and and I I gotta I gotta fanboy just a moment because I played and I went on to play in bands for about 20 years after that, and uh you were the benchmark.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm not gonna lie.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I oh man, like any anytime I'd go jump on that stage, it's like that energy had to be there.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's that's how we are.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know how to do it any other way.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, that's just how we do it.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we we as soon as we hit that first note, we just kind of take off.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's how we've always done it from day one, you know.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we've had some pretty pretty awesome influences like Fishbone, the specials, English Beat, Red Hat Chili Peppers, other bands that did the same thing, man.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: When they go out, they put on that killer show, and that that's like, man, when and I know the feeling you're talking about.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: When you now the first time I saw Fishbone, I was blown away.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, man, that energy is insane.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: And first time I saw the Red Hat Chili Peppers, the same thing.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was late 80s, and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was in it was pretty crazy.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, who are some of your heroes musically?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, definitely, like I said, definitely Fishbone.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, dating before that, you know, like performers like Prince were huge for me.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he was like your true rock star guy, you know what I mean?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, could do it all.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, the the probably the band that really made me want to be in a band was Earth Wind and Fire.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when I was coming up as a kid, it was you had this big massive band with all these killer songs and another great performance, you know.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that that's the band, that's the group that really made me want to be in a band, you know.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the urge had you guys recorded eight records, three major label releases.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting that right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think so, yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then um you've done five solo albums.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, quite a few.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we right after the urge uh broke up, I immediately went into like just writing stuff, like other stuff besides the urge.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, let me just keep writing.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: When the after the too much stereo sessions uh finished up, I we had a ton of material, and I was just getting into learning how to uh to engineer, to run a Pro Tools rig, things like that.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I just kept kept at it writing-wise, engineering-wise, learning that kind of thing.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um I'm like, man, I'm I'm I think I'm probably at least decent enough to do some of these little indie releases and you know give us something that we can use to tour on.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we put those records out and we went back on tour as a Steve Ewing band for a good few years.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and you know, shortly after that, we got the urge back together again.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: What would be the most significant difference between the Steve Ewing band material and the urge material?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's no horns, that's for sure.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of uh a lot of the rhythm programs are electronics, so a lot of them aren't, but I used multiple drummers uh on my stuff.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted it just a different feel for a lot of things.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we started really working with programming, uh using multiple musicians, uh just playing with a lot of different textures and things like that.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: So more of the the urge, we have a very uniform sound, like it's the six, the six of us, we sound a certain way when we get together.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a lots of different musicians, so you get just a lot of different textures.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just from my own experience, I know that whenever I was uh I wrapped up the last project I was in, I wasn't even listening to the style of music I was playing by the time that tenure ended.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I was sure it was it's just kind of you want to olive branch out and try some different things and try some new things.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So oh yeah, naturally, yeah.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: You're still keeping active with it, I'm assuming.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I've been doing I'm still writing and we're still actually writing very slowly with the urge.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for as far as performing goes, I'm performing a lot, like with the Steve Hewing band with my duo.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a Steve Hewing duo, and between those two, I'm actually still performing quite a bit.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So mostly regional stuff, uh, no major touring, but uh you know, anywhere from like you know, an hour, a couple hours out town, I'm still playing a bunch of regional stuff.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and to my listeners, if you do not follow along, follow Steve's hot dogs on Facebook because Steve will occasionally stream some of those live performances from the restaurant.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've caught a few recently.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so if if you're listening, go give them a like and follow on Facebook.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's fantastic.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Steve's in St.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Louis, and not only and we're gonna get into the Steve's hot dogs here in just a moment, but um not only is he providing an amazing menu, but there's there's some other really cool stuff that you're doing through the restaurant that I want to kind of talk about a little bit.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Shifting gears, how did you get into being an entrepreneur and and being a restaurant business owner?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I wanted to feed people.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: That was like I was just having this conversation with uh my guitar player because he was at he was there at that moment when I decided I wanted to do food.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we came out of a bar, we played, it was packed, and it was we were in this like area where there's a ton of bars, and the street was packed with people with nothing to eat.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're like, man, why is there nobody out here feeding these people?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that that was where the idea came from to start doing hot dogs and start doing some street food just so we can feed, um, fill a gap, fill a need.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I toyed around with it for a little while, pulled the trigger, bought my first hot dog cart, kind of tagged it along the uh the van with us for a little bit, like actually took it to our shows um and it did really well.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: We were having a hard time getting uh particular municipalities and areas to legally let us sell the food because at the time they didn't even have provisions for it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So they'd be like, uh I guess you could sell food here, but there was no legal provision for selling food in a lot of places.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we just started doing lunch in the St.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Louis area in the downtown area.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, did my research and feeding people who work at factories and truck drivers was pretty lucrative.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we we hung out down by the riverfront where all the factories and drivers were, and we stayed down there for a bit.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh pretty much about a year into it, right before that season changed, uh, we picked up uh like a vending deal with the Scott Air Force Base.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: They liked what we were doing, and they're like, hey, you want to come on the base and kind of supplement what we're doing food-wise.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we we stay at the base for a while.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, I knew I needed a brick and mortar so we could, you know, we could have a place as a commissary and we could actually do some of the crazy things we wanted to do on the menu.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we found a little place uh in the Italian neighborhood in St.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Louis called the Hill, and it's perfect, it was a perfect little spot, and uh we hustled our ass off and got built that customer base.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's fantastic.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, what makes Steve's hot dogs different than any other hot dog or any other place to eat?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, St.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Louis is known for sandwiches and all kinds of awesome food.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're on the hill, which is like sandwich central, a lot of uh a lot of locally sourced like meats, cheeses, breads, a lot of bakeries.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I was like, man, the best sandwiches start with the best bread.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Start with the best meats, they start with the best cheeses.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: They they start with the best ingredients from the bottom up.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we had a local bakery start making a special bread for us, which I still do, and um we started getting meats from the neighborhood.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the local purveyor started making meats for us.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: We our main hot dog is the Nathan's, um, but the the sausages, some of the other meats we were using for the recipes come locally, and the cheeses were coming locally.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we started there and we're like, okay, we got the base, let's let's start building some other stuff on top.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's make this crazy, let's not treat this like just your typical hot dog.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Let's treat this as a gourmet upscale sandwich, you know.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we started just going crazy with it.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: The reason I I and this is why I wanted to circle back is one of the things I've noticed by following you is um the altruism and philanthropy and overall selflessness that you have put forth and community involvement that you have put forth through your establishment is admirable and it it should be shouted from the mountaintop.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: You guys did a lot of community involvement and paying it forward during COVID-19.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk a little bit about some of the lunches and some of the programs you did while you were at the peak of COVID, or we were all at the peak of COVID this last year.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we have an organization called Feed the People, which we were already using to like help um homeless and just folks who needed meals in the area.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: When the pandemic hit, it became just extremely obvious that there was going to be a need, like really quickly, um, to get food out into the area and to into the and to kids, to homeless, to people who lost their jobs.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we started doing it and we started getting a little bit of support from other businesses and other organizations that wanted to help what we were doing.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it really kind of took off.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so it got to a point where we we were feeding, you know, four or five hundred people a day, uh, whether they were homeless or whether they were nurses and doctors dealing with the pandemic, or just people who just were in a tight spot and hey man, just come down here, we'll make you a bag of food, don't even worry about it, just come grab it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that was that was kind of the thing.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Just come come come get some food from us.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll make it don't think about it, just take the food.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you need more, come back.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so when people started figuring out that we were helping out, we got more help from there's some big organizations too, like DiscoverCard came in, helped out.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Marcus Limonis, uh, from the uh the prophet helped out, he helped us really helped us feed the homeless, um, and still does actually.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we this community we live in a kind of small area in the city.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: We and this community is what kept us alive, keeps us going.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um it just it just was really obvious right away.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: We needed to um to help out and step up in our in our neighborhood.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just followed Steve's hot dogs on on TikTok and I saw this video, and it's kind of like it's you almost exasperated, like, I'm about to make a hundred sack lunches today.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh my god, yeah, it was it was pretty crazy, but I like that though.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was like that's what was needed though.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: That I mean, it was like we're we're kind of making our way out of it.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can take yourself back to the beginning of that whole thing, it was a huge need, and it was just it was pretty crazy.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: People needed food.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: You couldn't go out, you couldn't, you couldn't go out and buy it, right?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of people were locked down.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: You needed a safe way to get food get food to people, so uh we were we were that vessel, it worked out pretty good.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing, you know, I've touched on this in a past couple of episodes, and actually the whole entire time I've been doing my podcast almost every episode, we we circle back to COVID-19, the pandemic, and how people reacted to it in different ways.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you're you're filling personal gaps by doing the right thing in your life when you're dealing with a hardship like that.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, for Steve Ewing personally, what is the driving force behind that philanthropy and altruism?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: For one, it's just appreciation for what they already done for me.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, for what the community already done for me, it's just I was appreciative of that.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's where, like, that's my base right there.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, you know, I need to make sure I'm stepping up my game because they stepped up there for me.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I just need to make sure I'm doing my thing.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: And once you get in there, you realize how fulfilling that is uh to be able to have the ability to help.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really, really good feeling, man.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it feeds itself, you know.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: So then it's just like, man, I feel like this is I should be doing this all the time.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I should, I should have been busting ass like this uh forever, you know what I mean?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so it's it's definitely become part of what we do, period, these days.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know if it's recent, I I imagine, because I've watched you over the years.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: You've always been a guy that's been in very good shape.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Your cardio's up because you jump higher than any other person I know on stage.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been competing, bodybuilding.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: How long has that been going on?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, four years.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've done a I've done like four shows.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's kind of like personal evolution.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Some friends of mine at the gym have competed, and they're all, you know, they're like, Well, you can do it.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Well, I don't know, man.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's I don't know if I'm big enough, or I don't know if I, you know, if I have what it takes to do it.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: And like, dude, these you compete in your own weight class and blah blah blah blah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can do it.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I got a coach and some friends to help me out on my first show.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And uh when I got on stage for that first show, I was like, wow, this is pretty damn awesome.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was nervous as hell.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And there hasn't been anything in my life in a while that really like just made you that excited, the that nervous energy, like man, this is I need this.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so after that first competition, I was hooked.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so these days I I figure I have enough time and energy to uh to train and you know get ready for one show per year, you know.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: In recent years, I've kind of landed on the idea that fitness in general is the great equalizer in life, it is truly, yeah.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's like a lifeline, it keeps you going, man.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, what it what it does a workout routine look like for you throughout a week?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I have um like right now I'm still training um for for next year.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I have a weekly split which splits my body parts up into like seven days.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: So like on Mondays, I'll usually like to do legs and squat and hit them pretty hard.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh on Tuesdays I I push things, and Wednesdays I pull things, and uh Thursdays I just take the day off.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Friday, um, I'll usually do legs again, and then uh the weekends I'll just try to do something outdoors if I'm not too too crazy with work.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh try to get outside and do some walking and stuff like that.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: So during COVID, was your workout routine impeded upon at all?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the gym, all the gyms were closed.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we just got kind of creative at my house.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: You couldn't buy anything.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a home gym, so you couldn't even buy weights because everybody had bought them all.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we were just like we were using everything.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, a friend of mine had a weighted vest that I, you know, added some more stuff to, and you know, so instead of doing you know bench presses, you could just put on a weighted vest and just do tons of push ups.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so just you kind of just did what you what you had to do, you know, during that period of time.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest with you, I think it was actually a good thing.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um kind of switching up my training was actually pretty good.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And when I think back, I mean that was probably a good thing to do.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Took me a bit.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, whenever things started shutting down, I kind of went instead of jumping into that, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna turn my my basement into a home gym, which I eventually did.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right, I just kind of panicked and I froze for about two or three weeks and it oh yeah, it threw my whole routine off.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually, yeah, because that's part of your daily life, and then it's all gone.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just like, what do you do?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually it was just like I I have a 12-year-old son, 14-year-old daughter, I have twin 14-year-old stepdaughters.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got three girls the same age.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you're already driving around, like yeah.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: So so it was like I grabbed my son, I'm like, guess what?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start doing at 6 a.m.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: every day.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're going on a run.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what you gotta do.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta figure it out some kind of way.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're also a father.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: I am.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: I have a 14-year-old daughter, I got a high school freshman coming up.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, so things are like things are awesome on that.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, like right now, we're in that phase where she's playing a lot of sports and stuff, and so we get to watch her play her do her thing, you know, and that's pretty cool.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And she's heading into high school, so we're we're we're hitting those little milestones that are like super cool, you know.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, it's cool to watch them grow up, yeah, yeah.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really weird because you just be sitting there looking at your kids one day, and you're like, I remember when you were so small, and that was like last week, wasn't it?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking over there and be like, Who are you?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So where did you come from?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: So does she show any interest in music or any of the things that you've been into?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's she's a very talented uh vocalist.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um like I said, right now she's she's definitely into her sports and she's a great athlete.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um but she's talented, so she's she's got a great voice.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm kind of like, you know, if you feel like you want to get into music later on in life, that's fine.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um have have fun with it.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: But uh right now I don't I don't I don't see that she's pushing towards entertainment, put it that way.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um but if it's at some point if she decides that's what she wants to do, then we'll be here to help out and kind of guide her through it.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's her fandom of music like?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know it's different things for children of musicians than you would expect.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is she into?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: So she's into like, I don't know, she's into like a lot of pop music, like Willow's Got a New Thing Out, and Keep Hearing and Listening to That, which I actually kind of like.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she's into Billy Eilish, you know.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she's she's totally into a lot of the female, like new female singers.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, so she's into that, she's starting to like slowly get into some indie rock, which is pretty cool.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you know how we uh when we were young, we went through all kinds of little phases musically, like we all kinds of little phases we liked musically.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we're watching her do the same thing, yeah.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's really where I was getting to with that is if you're watching kind of some of the same phases that you've had in life, her have those same phases.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, I'm taking my daughter to her first 311 concert, it's her first concert ever later this summer, and uh oh my god, I surprised her with that last week, and you would have thought she was on cloud nine.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be a good one.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: What do you got coming up?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of things do you have going on here in the next couple of months?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're always a busy guy.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: So right now we're in the middle of moving the restaurant, we're taking the restaurant we have, just moving down to a new location.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're getting ready for some urge shows.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're having rehearsals now.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: We just started with the urge.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a while since we rehearsed because of COVID.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we're getting back into rehearsal, getting ready for a good like five or six road dates this fall for the urge.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then um I will continuously do like the Steve Hewing band.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: My schedule this year is still gonna include like almost a hundred shows as the Steve Hewing band.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll stay busy doing that.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um my partners and I are already like pushing forward and looking towards the expansion of Steve's hot dogs um even further.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we're we're we're staying on top of that.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Things are things are rolling for us, and we're gonna keep it going.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's exciting.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's exciting.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were to die tomorrow, what do you want the legacy of Steve Ewing to be?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Man, it already kind of is there.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like a dude that works hard, passionate about what he does.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love playing music, I love selling food.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I love raising my family.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm kind of already there, man.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, dude was do was enjoying his life, put it that way.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: The best of his ability, dude was uh dude was out there hustling, yeah.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I tell you, Steve, uh, you've helped a lot of us enjoy our lives as well.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Tweet.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's an amaz that's that's an amazing feeling too, man.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like like I did something, uh I did something good there.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir, yes, sir.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and I appreciate I appreciate you doing the podcast today.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate everything you do, sir.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the world's a better place with you in it.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: All right, do you appreciate that?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, man.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: How cool was that! If you would have told me back in October of 2020 that I would be sitting down right now and having that conversation, I wouldn't have believed you.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: That episode was really short, but really impactful, and I loved it.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to have another opportunity to have Steve back on the show.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite front men of all time, and now one of my favorite human beings of all time.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you've not checked it out yet, give Steve's Hot Dogs in St.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Louis a like and follow on social media.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't checked this out yet, go to www.caughtonthemic.com.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Give me a like, follow, and subscribe on all of your social media apps, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And let me know that you've been there.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Drop a few comments on some of my content.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Clark.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.