Latest / Unsigned518 / Unsigned518 - Episode 142- Model 97

Transcript

Unsigned518 - Episode 142- Model 97 · Unsigned518

• 0:01
  Speaker A: He was born on a Saturday in 73 he loves hard rock music fighting the 13th jamming in the dazzle rocky now on the bench guitar with a short whip radio back his motherfucking Andy scolding look at motherfucker cuz here he.
• 0:21
  Speaker B: Comes Andy scrolling, wearing his own welcome to unsigned 518. I'm here with model 97. How's it going, guys?
• 0:32
  Speaker C: Good.
• 0:32
  Speaker D: Too bad.
• 0:33
  Speaker E: Happy to be here.
• 0:34
  Speaker B: Yeah. And what we're gonna do is we'll just start and go around the room or go down the couch and introduce yourself and what you do in the band.
• 0:44
  Speaker D: All right. I'm Rob, and I play bass and occasionally some backing vocals.
• 0:51
  Speaker C: Yeah, I'm Nick. Play guitar, also some backing vocals. Mostly just yelling.
• 0:58
  Speaker F: I'm Gabe. I play drums and try to do some backup vocals here and there, too.
• 1:05
  Speaker E: And I'm Nick, another nick. And I am the vocalist for this band.
• 1:10
  Speaker B: And, you know, I always say that my thing is that I don't do research into the band. You know, I don't want you to think of it like an interview. Like, I'm like, oh, I'd go back and, like, deep dive into the band. But I did listen to the songs and I immediately. Cause, like, I'm an old punk rock dude. Like, and the first notes of it, I was like, oh, I like this. Yeah, yeah. And it kept going. I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. And we were talking. We couldn't figure out which songs that we're gonna put, so maybe we'll even throw on three. I don't know.
• 1:42
  Speaker F: Yeah, we're cool with that.
• 1:43
  Speaker B: We could probably do that, but. So you got my attention with the music that you sent me over. And I guess what we wanna do is just kinda go back. Whoever wants to take the lead, kind of tell the story of model 97, how you formed and how you got to where you are now.
• 2:00
  Speaker C: Right on.
• 2:01
  Speaker E: Go for it, Nick.
• 2:02
  Speaker C: Yeah, well, Gabe and I, we started a band back in probably 2003. Yeah, we were working together in a lumberyard, and we went to high school together, but didn't really kick it back then. We just knew of each other. Yeah. Started drinking full time, playing part time together. And then we met rob through my now wife girlfriend at the time. And he was a way better singer than the singer we had, so we nixed that band. Started a band with Rob called Billy Bledsoe.
• 2:37
  Speaker F: Played two, three years, maybe.
• 2:40
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 2:41
  Speaker F: Is that two?
• 2:42
  Speaker C: And I moved out to California for a while. Rob moved down to New York City for a while. It was around, I think, 2010. I moved back we pretty much started playing again right off me and Gabe. And I think this band started 2011 ish was when it was finally this form.
• 3:06
  Speaker F: We were a four piece then. And then as of recent, we've added a fifth member. He couldn't make it today, but we're excited to see what lies ahead with that.
• 3:24
  Speaker D: And there were a few changes in between there, too, right?
• 3:27
  Speaker C: Yeah, we actually started as a three piece. It was me singing and our friend Wayne was singing and playing bass at the time. Time. And Wayne is dating Nick's sister and.
• 3:45
  Speaker E: He'S the baby daddy.
• 3:46
  Speaker C: Yeah, Nick was playing in a lot of bands around Plattsburgh at the time as well.
• 3:50
  Speaker E: Four at the time. Yeah.
• 3:52
  Speaker C: So we were doing shows together and he would jump up and we'd do like a misfits tune or something.
• 3:57
  Speaker E: Yeah, I had a misfits tribute band, so we just did misfits and seventies punk stuff.
• 4:01
  Speaker C: And, yeah, we realized pretty quickly it sounded way better when he was singing than when Wayne and I were. So we asked Nick to jump in full time, and he graciously accepted.
• 4:14
  Speaker E: And I've been ever since, I've been tortured by Nick Tamer's lengthy words that he puts in all. He puts about ten pounds of words in a two pound box.
• 4:26
  Speaker B: So you write the lyrics and you sing them?
• 4:30
  Speaker E: Yeah, well, I mean, I think I. I think I also get a little bit of a writing credit because of some things I just can't say as quickly and. Or, you know, we warp it. But that's actually part of our process, is that we, you know, we come up with an idea. Nick comes up with a riff, or Rob has got something or Gabe has got something on his mind. And we all just practice. We meet every week to practice regardless of what we have going on. And a lot of that is just to, you know, sometimes just. It's. It's just to reconnect a little bit, relax. But also we get stuff done.
• 5:06
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 5:07
  Speaker B: So, yeah, and when you do it every week and it just becomes routine, you know? Cause I'm in a band as well, and we meet in this room once, you know, at least once a week. And you never, like, lose that, you know, like you say get or reconnect or whatever. But, like, that connection just stays as long as it's like, once a week. Like, you just get shit done. Even if you just come in and start fucking around. Like, it always feels productive.
• 5:31
  Speaker F: If you're doing, like, once a month, you kind of cool off a little bit and you're kind of building back to get where. Where you were.
• 5:38
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 5:38
  Speaker B: And, I mean, even once every two weeks, you might still keep those chopped. But to anybody who's in a band, like, it has to be once a week. It has to be to, like, we.
• 5:48
  Speaker E: Miss each other if we don't meet.
• 5:49
  Speaker C: Everybody, go put my stuff on us.
• 5:52
  Speaker E: Yeah. Well, actually, speaking of COVID So we ended up actually playing a really rad show one night. And then the following morning, our county got shut down for Covid.
• 6:03
  Speaker C: Yeah, march 13. It was Friday the 13th.
• 6:05
  Speaker E: It was a great show. It was Jason Voorhees themed, and that's my favorite.
• 6:10
  Speaker B: Shit. I don't know if really rad.
• 6:12
  Speaker E: Oh, yeah, yeah, we'll talk.
• 6:13
  Speaker B: Oh, we can definitely talk.
• 6:15
  Speaker E: But then, yeah. So we met a couple times during COVID just to kind of relax. We did a live, impromptu show at a skate park. But in that time, we all kind of grew. And our basis at the time, he had other things going on in his life. And when we started practicing again, when Covid lifted a little more, he had other things going on in his life. So we all met and we parted ways. But it was all brotherhood. It was all good. We hoped him for the best. And he's actually played with us a few times since.
• 6:53
  Speaker F: It couldn't have gotten better than it did. And it was very serendipitous that Rob happened to be back up here and had been playing bass. And we had a. We were lucky to have a very streamlined change that.
• 7:08
  Speaker C: Yeah, there was no question it was, like, a no brainer. Like, well, Wayne's outlandish. Rob's gonna be in the band then, whether he likes it or not.
• 7:16
  Speaker E: And Rob actually learned, like, some of the 20 songs in, like, a two week period. And then we played a show.
• 7:25
  Speaker F: At.
• 7:25
  Speaker E: The place where we shut down the county. We actually like to take credit for shutting down the county. So we actually had a while where people would come up to us and be like, that was the last rock show I went to, so it was pretty cool.
• 7:38
  Speaker D: But, yeah, there was a little question in my mind, because I think I had just really started teaching myself guitar and bass during the pandemic. So I think going into our first practice together, I really only knew about three songs from start to finish on bass. And they were like, yeah, here's, like, 40 songs.
• 7:54
  Speaker C: Rob took to it mad quick. We were super impressed.
• 7:57
  Speaker F: And, yeah, brought a song to the table pretty quick. One of my favorites to play still.
• 8:04
  Speaker C: Yeah. And we had actually recorded our second album. We have two out of one's got the first one's. Model 97 is a decent band. The recording is less than decent, but the songs are there, I think. And then for a second album, we recorded the entire thing. And then Covid hit, and the whole thing just sat.
• 8:26
  Speaker B: Oh, wow.
• 8:26
  Speaker C: And then Wayne was out, Rob was in. We had had some time to think on some of the songs and change a few things around, so we scrapped the whole record and went back in and re recorded the whole thing with Rob.
• 8:39
  Speaker E: Plus some new songs.
• 8:40
  Speaker C: Yeah, a few new tunes. I think we nixed a couple off of the original. Yeah, but that one's out. That's also. That's a dying in slow motion.
• 8:52
  Speaker E: That was last year.
• 8:53
  Speaker C: Yeah, that was.
• 8:54
  Speaker E: Came out last year.
• 8:54
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 8:55
  Speaker E: So. And I mean, so, as well as the four of us, we've had. You know, Wayne was a part of the band as well. We have an extra member who doesn't play any instruments, but his name is Ken, and he's by far. He's our logistics, our hype man. He does our sound, does everything. And we often.
• 9:16
  Speaker C: Our driver, our roadie. He does all the merch. He folds all the t shirts, labels, everything. He's certainly the most organized of all of us.
• 9:24
  Speaker E: Yeah, yeah. And we wouldn't be able to do half the things we do as well without him. So.
• 9:30
  Speaker D: Biggest supporter.
• 9:32
  Speaker E: And we got our newest member who's gonna join us soon.
• 9:35
  Speaker D: This is breaking news right now. I guess this might come out after a show together.
• 9:41
  Speaker E: Friday's gonna be our first show that we're playing with him.
• 9:44
  Speaker B: Okay, so. And what's that? Tell me. Tell me more.
• 9:47
  Speaker C: So his name's Ryan Hayden. We've all known him for 20 years.
• 9:52
  Speaker E: At least 20 years.
• 9:53
  Speaker C: Yeah. He was in a lot of bands growing up, too. He kind of got out of the live music thing, got really into recording, and he's been after us for years to record some of our stuff.
• 10:05
  Speaker E: I think the first time he asked us was, like, ten years ago.
• 10:07
  Speaker C: Yeah, at least. And when we did the last album, it was one of those deals where it was too good of a deal for us to not take it. So we. We went with Wayward studio. It sounded great, but Brian was like, I could do better. Stick with me, and.
• 10:25
  Speaker E: But he wasn't just talking crap like, no, we know what he's talking about.
• 10:29
  Speaker C: We gave him a shot and to do this new ep we had coming out, and we had so much fun, worked together so well, and sparked something in him that he had forgotten about. And he was like, I kind of do live music again, what do you say? Coming on second guitar. And that's something we had talked about for years, was bringing in, but I.
• 10:48
  Speaker E: Had to be the right person.
• 10:49
  Speaker C: Yeah, that was the thing. We are friends before musicians, for sure. Literally family.
• 10:56
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 10:56
  Speaker C: So, absolutely. To bring someone in was always like, you play, but would it work? And. I don't know. Ryan just made sense. It felt good. It felt organic.
• 11:06
  Speaker E: Well, I mean, he's not afraid to tell us, you know, the way we were doing something, even if it was, like, on our first album, he was like, well, here's a better way to do that. And he doesn't just say that. He shows it. He proves it. He takes criticism. He'll even take criticism a little bit, but he knows what he's talking about, which is actually kind of refreshing because there's no ego in it. He just knows what he's doing. We're happy to have him join us.
• 11:31
  Speaker C: Definitely. Yeah, he's.
• 11:33
  Speaker D: Yeah. I mean, what he picked up that the guitar solo in one of the songs was in a different key than the rest of the song, and none of us ever picked up on that.
• 11:43
  Speaker C: Song of our first album.
• 11:44
  Speaker E: That's, like, ten plus years.
• 11:47
  Speaker C: It's like that one note that doesn't. That one note's wrong. What are you talking about?
• 11:52
  Speaker E: So we're excited, but that's, you know, that's the way it is. And like Nick said, you know, we're. We're definitely family. And just the dynamic. Our goal has always been to do this for ourselves and to enjoy it while we're doing it, because if it's not fun, it's not worth doing.
• 12:10
  Speaker C: Right. For. Sure.
• 12:12
  Speaker B: Sweet. Well, should we play a model 97 song?
• 12:16
  Speaker E: Hell, yeah.
• 12:17
  Speaker C: Let's get into it.
• 12:18
  Speaker B: Which one are we gonna play first?
• 12:20
  Speaker C: Well, we all agreed, just from what we've gotten from the crowds and stuff, people seem to really like the tune. Lucky ones. It's gonna be our new ep, so we all agreed we'd give that one a shot on here.
• 12:32
  Speaker F: All right, cool. These are, like, final mixes. They're not actually mastered yet, but Ryan did such a nice job with them that we're pumped to actually get them out in this form, even.
• 12:46
  Speaker C: Yeah, they're actually headed to the blasting room to get produced by Jason Livermore, which will be. Or mastered by Jason Livermore, which will be awesome.
• 12:54
  Speaker E: Works every penny. Yeah.
• 12:56
  Speaker C: He's got some credits that make me blush, so.
• 12:59
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker C: Very excited for that.
• 13:01
  Speaker B: Cool. All right, well, let's listen to lucky ones. Model 97. We'll be right back.
• 13:27
  Speaker A: You can spend a lifetime trying to find yourself. Can't get to heaven, already been through hell. Walls are closing, can't turn around no more. You're longing for life. That's so survivor when you build your own prison. You've got to do your own time. When you're gonna figure out life's an open door. You can lie. You can lie to yourself.
• 14:09
  Speaker E: To yourself.
• 14:10
  Speaker A: You can claim the whole goddamn world for all the time. All the time. You missed out. You missed out. Kiss those lonely pretty girls. We're the lucky ones. Our fit is all our own and we're still having fun while everyone else got old. Until the light burns out the last breath leaves our lo. We're the lucky ones, yeah, we're the lucky ones. There's not enough time for should've had and could've been. Can't hold on to the past. It's never coming back again. No pointing excuses cause no one's listening anymore. You can lie, you can lie to yourself, to yourself. You can blame the whole goddamn world for all the. You missed out, you missed out. And didn't kiss those lonely pretty girls. We're the lucky ones. Our fit is all our own and we're still having fun while everyone else got old until the light burns out the last breath leaves our lungs. We're the lucky ones, yeah, we're the lucky ones. We're the lucky lucky ones. Open while everyone else got old until the lucky. We're the lucky one, yeah, we're the lucky one. Where the lucky one. Everyone else got all the. Til the light works out the last red.
• 16:34
  Speaker B: All right, that was lucky ones, model 97. And we were saying that that one is on the upcoming ep, correct?
• 16:42
  Speaker D: That's right.
• 16:43
  Speaker E: Yep.
• 16:44
  Speaker D: So the light burns out. Tell the name of the ep.
• 16:47
  Speaker F: Four tracks, which is actually a lyric from lucky ones.
• 16:54
  Speaker C: It took about. I think it took longer to come up with a name for the album than it did to write, figure out, put together, record, and mix the entire ep.
• 17:05
  Speaker F: We had a lot of stuff floating around out there for a while.
• 17:08
  Speaker C: There's about 60 different album cover options and titles.
• 17:12
  Speaker E: Yeah, we actually. So our first album is called is a decent bandaid. And that was really funny because we actually. We've played shows and we've had people, like, review us, and they'll be like, model 97 is a decent band. So we put that on a banner. We were just like, yeah, you know, lower the expectations. We're at least decent, you know? And then our. Then our second album, dying in slow motion, our title track is dying in slow motion and just kind of felt like it because we. We have a lot of our songs are kind of a lot about our mortality and a lot about kind of embracing life and getting old and getting old. Trying to like that.
• 17:52
  Speaker C: Doing all we can to stay young in our minds.
• 17:56
  Speaker B: And I definitely noticed that in lucky ones.
• 17:59
  Speaker E: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Speaker B: You know?
• 17:59
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:00
  Speaker E: And that leads. I mean, lucky ones. Lucky ones describes us completely. You know, we're the lucky ones.
• 18:08
  Speaker C: Yeah. Very fortunate to still be playing music with our best friends and just playing shows.
• 18:14
  Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I. So I myself, I struggle with some major mental health issues, and these guys have always had my back where, honestly, I don't deserve that kind of support.
• 18:29
  Speaker F: And, of course you do.
• 18:30
  Speaker E: Oh, thanks, man. But. But, you know, so, you know, these. When. When Nick wrote the words to the song, it just. It just touched me, so I was just like, this is awesome. This is perfect. So. And I. I feel that way about all four of these new songs that are on the ep, so I.
• 18:48
  Speaker B: You sent me the entire ep, then? Yes, sir. Fuck, yeah. All right.
• 18:52
  Speaker C: Yeah. We went back and forth, and we couldn't figure it out, so I was like, we'll just send it all.
• 18:56
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:57
  Speaker C: Let him see what he likes.
• 18:58
  Speaker B: I listen to him, you know, because usually when I'm doing podcasts, like, I have to, like, kind of change over the room from, like, garage band room to podcasting room, and that's when I do my homework. So I listened to, you know, I listen to those four songs probably probably two or three times apiece anyway.
• 19:15
  Speaker E: So, I mean, we. We love everything that we've done. We're. We're proud of the work that we've done, but these four songs are by far the best lyrical and best music. Just, like, technical ability wise. This is. This is the best is that we've been recorded wise.
• 19:33
  Speaker C: Yeah. And Ryan pulled a lot out of us. Yeah. Every time I would show up to do guitar tracks, and I was like, I know exactly what I'm gonna do. And he was like, you ever think about, like, maybe writing a lead for this section? And at the time, I was like, well, how could I do that live? We're, you know, we're four piece. I don't really want to do anything I can't replicate.
• 19:50
  Speaker E: That's how he worked his way into the.
• 19:53
  Speaker B: Did you find that? That's like. That fucks with you a lot. Like, writing things and recording things and being like, how are we gonna pull this off live a little bit?
• 20:02
  Speaker F: I mean, with recording you can do. You can do so much now so easily, but we've always been kind of, you know, if we can't do it live, let's not get too carried away.
• 20:14
  Speaker C: Yeah. It's one thing to throw in a rhythm track when you're doing a hand claps or a terror, but we didn't want to go too crazy. He did talk me into doing a couple writing some stuff on the spot that worked out great, and I love it. And now, you know, awesome. He's in the band, so we can do it live.
• 20:33
  Speaker E: So our next DP is hopefully only going to be better.
• 20:35
  Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. We're excited for this one, though. Like, sonically, it just. It's leaps and bounds above our previous stuff, but, you know, I. I still stand by every one of those songs that we have on the first two albums as well. Absolutely. But, yeah, there was something about once lucky ones kind of came together, which was fairly easy. It just. I don't know, it grew on me real quick, and that's probably my.
• 21:08
  Speaker D: Kind of seems like the culmination of the past however many, many years, like, have come together. And it's kind of like, right, we're.
• 21:16
  Speaker F: Still doing this however many years later.
• 21:18
  Speaker D: But it's almost like it's. It's progressed, and this is like, the. Really found our sound. Yeah, I think, like, yeah, I would.
• 21:25
  Speaker C: Say this is the most comfortable we've ever been. Just practices flow easy. Shows are like, yeah, it's fun. High energy. Like, we've been playing shorter shows, which is awesome. Like 45 minutes for the longest time.
• 21:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 21:42
  Speaker C: Plattsburgh is not a big city, and if we wanted to book a show, bars were like, all right, well, you got to cover 2 hours or four. Yeah, there's some.
• 21:51
  Speaker E: I mean, it's a good challenge. I mean, you kind of fill in the spaces with weird covers and you. You push yourself and stuff.
• 21:59
  Speaker C: But I don't regret any of the shows that we did that were longer. They've all been fun. I won't regret the ones we have coming up, but those 45 minutes fast, like knockout, you're so good because you.
• 22:10
  Speaker B: Not only get to, like, stack it with what you think are your strongest song, you know? Cause, like, that's the hardest part about a set list. And the longer the fucking set list gets, then you got to think of like, oh, we got to go up and down.
• 22:21
  Speaker D: You got to preserve your energy to your minute.
• 22:24
  Speaker B: When a 45 minutes, you just be like, let's just go full all balls 100% of the time and you gotta.
• 22:29
  Speaker C: Gauge how much you're drinking, too, so that you know, you an hour and a half in and tipped over.
• 22:34
  Speaker E: I mean, so I'm in my forties, and when we play, like, a half hour, 45 minutes show, it's great because I can jump in and because I guess I visually interpret every song as much as I possibly can. It's just fun. I have a lot of fun. I'm moving around and stuff. After the 1 hour mark, though, I start to feel it. It hits me hard.
• 22:55
  Speaker B: Same. I go wireless with the base so that I can, like, you know, run out in the crowd and spin around and jump up and down and say, 45 minutes. I'm like, all right, good. I'll just be a little bit out of breath. Like an hour, hour and 15. I'll be like, oh, now I'm fucked for the next week.
• 23:10
  Speaker C: If I play one song or 50 songs, it doesn't really matter because I'm gonna bang my head as hard as I can the whole time and wake up with a mic stiff neck the next day. Anyway.
• 23:19
  Speaker E: I mean, we feed off the crowd, and that's. That's. I mean, we were talking about this on our way over here, is that. It's great when you get to. When you're playing a show and the people are really digging what you're doing, even though they've never heard you before, or they might even not even want or, like, your genre of music. When they're into it, they're into it. And you could. That. That just feeds us.
• 23:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It is hard to replace that. And especially, like, you know, you said, you know, even if they haven't heard you before, that's even the best.
• 23:48
  Speaker F: Oh, yeah, the best.
• 23:52
  Speaker B: Or even seeing ones that you win, you know, like, you'll see that they're not paying attention to you, then you slowly see them, like, oh, what's going on here? The next thing you know, they're up front fucking head banging. That's the shit.
• 24:04
  Speaker E: I mean, I still. I still trick myself because every once in a while, I'll be out in public and either in Burlington or Plattsburgh or whatever, and. And I'll see somebody wearing a model 97 shirt, and I'm. And instead of going, oh, whoa, it's someone who saw us in a show. My brain goes, where did they get a model 97 shirt? Why are they wearing that? Oh, wait, they came to a show, right?
• 24:24
  Speaker B: And they. And how did they not recognize you?
• 24:28
  Speaker E: No, I usually get recognized, but then they. If you ever see me sing, you don't. You don't want to interact with me. I'll lock eyes. I will lock eyes. We will. We will dance. It's good stuff. But I feel I often, when we play live, you know, Gabe. Gabe is one of the best drummers. I actually is the best drummer I've ever played with, and he keeps up the energy and, you know, Rob is one of the coolest people ever, and. But Nick has this thing where he can tell me a whole story just by giving me a look, and then I'm just like, yeah, let's go, you know? And it's just. It's just the energy, you know?
• 25:05
  Speaker F: And Nick and I actually have. We've always had the ability to know when the other one messes up, like, immediately. And typically, no one ever catches it, but we always shoot each other quick looks and a laugh.
• 25:19
  Speaker C: Yeah. If I screw up, I look back to him immediately, and I know he's grinning and he is every time, but.
• 25:24
  Speaker E: It doesn't skip a beat.
• 25:25
  Speaker D: No, but that's the thing we always talk about, you know, like, it's. We're trying to have fun first, right. We love and enjoy music, but, like.
• 25:33
  Speaker B: And as a live band, if you're not having fun, right, the crowd's. Nobody is having fun. I don't care how fucking good you are.
• 25:41
  Speaker D: Like, the crowd doesn't give a fuck, you know, if you hit a wrong number, but if the energy notice you're not a good time, they're not going to be having a good time.
• 25:51
  Speaker E: Some of our best moments are when, you know, we'll get into it, something, and then Nick or Rob will start playing a different song, or it's not the song we were going to do, and we just start over. But, like, the crowd loves it.
• 26:04
  Speaker D: We laugh.
• 26:04
  Speaker C: They laugh, make a joke about it.
• 26:06
  Speaker E: Great. It's totally. It's worth it.
• 26:09
  Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, the crowd interaction is what keeps people coming back again. Like, I've seen some bands that, you know, like, it's like, wow, they're really good. But, you know, I'm not gonna go. I'm not gonna go see them again.
• 26:21
  Speaker D: You know, that's band. You put the album on, listen to it, enjoy it.
• 26:24
  Speaker B: Standing there looking like they're bored and shit.
• 26:28
  Speaker C: We try to, like he said, I write a lot of lyrics can be wordy, but I always try to keep the chorus as easy as possible. People sing along. We got a lot of chanting. Get as much crowd participation as we can. We've got friends that jump up when I'm wherever playing if, like, they're out and they see us, they jump up, grab the mics too, and it's all, you know. Yeah, a big family we do. The crowd becomes part of the show.
• 26:52
  Speaker E: Yeah. And it's just. It's nothing but fun, you know, and. And that's what we want. Like, our goal is sometimes we will get the opportunity to play with a band we've never played for, with, and sometimes we'll open for them. And our goal is to do as best as we can so that they have to step up the empty to, like, match our energy. And that's. That's always fun. And it feels great because those bands, you know, sometimes when you. When you play with another band, you know, they. Everyone's like, hey, how's it going? They size you up a little bit, you know, are you any good? And then. But once the music is going and we're playing, it's just. It's group love. It's all great.
• 27:32
  Speaker C: We have no ego either. Like, we know plenty of bands that are better than us, but, yeah, even if they're better than us, try putting on a better show, man. We're gonna have as much fun as we can, you know? Like, we've been fortunate. We've played with some amazing bands. Yeah. Plattsburgh, like I said, used to be a ghost town and we were playing along shows. Now there's tons of bands that just locally we can pick from. And we've met some awesome bands over Vermonte. We're trying to break this Albany mark, but haven't been able to really land much for shows down here.
• 28:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I mean, maybe this, you know. You know somebody. I know a couple people in the scene here. I could probably make something happen.
• 28:13
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 28:13
  Speaker E: Cool.
• 28:14
  Speaker D: Sweet.
• 28:14
  Speaker E: We're down.
• 28:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, we should definitely do that. But we should get you on a bill with. With my band.
• 28:19
  Speaker C: Absolutely. Happy to.
• 28:21
  Speaker B: Because we're they. We have like the same philosophy where we're just like, we just leave it all out there and make whoever is watching us, whether it's one person. I mean, we've played fucking shows. We played a show, and I'm not gonna say the name because. But whatever. The only people there was the venue owner and the other band playing.
• 28:41
  Speaker E: We've been there.
• 28:44
  Speaker B: We, like, played as if we were playing for a fucking arena. And the other band did the exact same thing. And we were joking with them because we became friends them later. They're a three piece and we're a five piece. We're like, you guys had the bigger crowd. You got that? Yeah, yeah. But you just got to leave it out there.
• 29:04
  Speaker E: You know, we're playing for us. We're playing for us. So when people come. When people come, if there's like five or six people, we're gonna give them the best show we possibly can. It's great when there's a lot of people. We played a show out in a small venue in Burlington last year or earlier. No, it was earlier this year. Yeah. And the crowd was great. It was all. But it was all young Burlington punk kids. And they knew how to mosh, but, you know, like, moshing without actually trying to hurt people. And I, we did the whole set. I was in the middle of the mosh pit, the whole set. And it was just really great. Like, people were coming up, they were standing near the drum set. It was. It was just wonderful. And that's the kind of thing. But when there's five or six people, we. We don't. We don't slack off. We'll still play to those five or six.
• 29:54
  Speaker B: We do that. I mean, you probably do the same, but when you practiced, you like, you know.
• 29:59
  Speaker C: Oh, my head never stops.
• 30:00
  Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Like we. When we're in here practicing, we're all fucking jumping around and like, you know. Cause it's a performance practice. Cause again, if you practice stiff and boring, then it's gonna be hard to.
• 30:10
  Speaker E: In our practice space, there's a really comfy chair. So I will sit in that chair.
• 30:16
  Speaker B: Oh, sometimes.
• 30:17
  Speaker E: But sometimes Ken comes to our practices and then I give him the chair. And then I'm a lot better when Ken comes to our practices because I'm forces you to sitting lazy, you know.
• 30:28
  Speaker B: Right. There's been times in here because, you know, I play wireless. We were a couple weeks ago having practice, and I walked out, walked down the hallway and went in and talked to my wife in the living room about what we were having for dinner. And I'm playing the whole time, and I'm just like, what do you think? We get something for the grill? Oh, yeah.
• 30:47
  Speaker C: Rob Mayer may not have played bass while sitting at the bar at some of the shows.
• 30:54
  Speaker D: There's a picture floating around this.
• 30:56
  Speaker B: See, you gotta. You gotta have fun doing what you do, man.
• 31:00
  Speaker E: Wireless.
• 31:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, the white. You know, the wireless shit has come a really long way. For like $50. I bought this little fucking Bluetooth wireless thing for my base. And I've had it for like three years. And it's never failed me, not one time. And I've. I could, like, I could go pretty far with it, and it's never failed.
• 31:21
  Speaker C: Me just for the sake of tripping hazards. That's. That's kind of a good idea.
• 31:24
  Speaker F: Right.
• 31:25
  Speaker B: And for me, I have a tendency to spin when I play. Not, like, super fast, but, like, I do not just stand in one direction. I'm, like, constantly.
• 31:33
  Speaker D: You don't want to get.
• 31:34
  Speaker B: There was one time at a show, it was an outdoor show, and I literally almost went fucking down because, like, my ankles were bound together with, like, three spins of the fucking guitar cable. I almost went down. So should we play another model 97 song?
• 31:52
  Speaker E: Sounds good.
• 31:53
  Speaker D: Sure.
• 31:54
  Speaker F: Yeah.
• 31:55
  Speaker B: And which one were we going there?
• 31:56
  Speaker F: Landed on letterbomb.
• 31:59
  Speaker C: Letter bomb. Yeah.
• 32:00
  Speaker B: Solid choice. Solid. And again, you know, we were thinking we'd play three songs, but I didn't realize that was the holy. So we can't. We can't give away the whole thing.
• 32:07
  Speaker F: Only give away.
• 32:08
  Speaker B: Gotta leave a little guy giveaway, 50%, and then I'll, you know, just selfishly listen to it and be super familiar with it by the time it comes out.
• 32:16
  Speaker E: So this is also. This is also probably our most aggressive tune. One of our most aggressive tunes. Like, it's just. It's got a message. It's a clear message.
• 32:26
  Speaker B: Very.
• 32:26
  Speaker E: You know, it was definitely written with this idea of bad breakups. Right.
• 32:32
  Speaker C: But, yeah, just bad blood in general.
• 32:35
  Speaker E: So for me, though. So for me, though, I. It didn't click for me until, like, I've worked really hard on my. My recovery and I'm sober, you know, nine years now and. And stuff. And it was really hard to kick drugs and alcohol. Right. And this song in my. When I'm singing it, I'm saying goodbye to drugs and alcohol. And some people might say goodbye to toxic relationships. Yeah, it's all good. Or it's all terrible. That's for you, desire. Yeah. That's for you to decide.
• 33:08
  Speaker C: For the record, this isn't about any particular person. It's just shitty people in general that it's best to sometimes leave behind.
• 33:15
  Speaker E: But if you do think it's about you, then maybe you've got some work to do.
• 33:19
  Speaker D: The shoe fits.
• 33:20
  Speaker B: Sweet. Let's listen to letterbomb, model 97, and then we'll be right back to wrap it up.
• 33:35
  Speaker A: You seem to survive after eating my brain got me all turn around make me feel like I'm insane been trying real hard to keep my head on straight putting in the work to let go of the hate let go my hate for you here's a song in the shape of a bomb that, erode you here it goes hope it blows in your face like it's meant to whoa, hope and close your head say boxing, you don't have a heart pour into attack there's some shame in our real life what we got? Damn if I'mma take you back battlefield line has been crossed you lift a whip I just gave it a toss in the fallout of the grey sky I just want you to know this is our last goodbye tick tock, the clock starts 02:15 for no good reason I'm still thinking of you should we make a mistake? Should we work things out? 5216 there is no doubt no doubt I still hate you here's a song in the shape of a bomb that erode you here it goes hope it blows in your face like it's meant to close your head stay back see me don't have a heart pour into attack there's some shame in our real life but we got damn if I'm a take you back battlefield line has been crossed you let the whip I just gave it a toss in the fallout and the grey skies I just want you to know I want you to know this is our last goodbye this is our last goodbye.
• 35:47
  Speaker C: This is.
• 35:48
  Speaker A: Our last goodbye.
• 35:52
  Speaker F: This is our last.
• 35:53
  Speaker A: Goodbye sometimes I wish you died.
• 36:05
  Speaker E: All.
• 36:06
  Speaker B: Right, that was letterbomb model 97. And gentlemen, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come out here and talk to me. I truly appreciate it. And before we go, I just want to give everybody a chance to say what I refer to as their gratitudes.
• 36:20
  Speaker D: Yeah, I'm just going to start off by saying thank you to you and putting us on this podcast and letting us get our name out there. And like we said, we haven't been able to break the door in Albany area so far. So hopefully this will help out with that. If I some people out there, bands hear this and are like, hey, we need, we need some of that in our lives. Put us on a show.
• 36:43
  Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. Got to thank my wife Melana. She's been awesome. Always been very supportive. My son Oliver, he used to get up when he was little and sing with us. He had a couple of songs that he knew the words for and used to get us a lot of points with the. With the crowd. Yeah, he's just learning guitar now, too, and kind of getting into music, and it's pretty awesome to watch that come around. My folks were always letting us jam in the garage and stuff growing up and 100% the Gabe's mom, you beat me to it. Mama 97.
• 37:18
  Speaker E: I knew you.
• 37:20
  Speaker C: I shouldn't steal his thunder. But she's the best. She lets us practice in her basement. Still to this day. We couldn't do it without her. And of course, to Canon Ryan, who couldn't be here today.
• 37:33
  Speaker F: Yeah. Thank you for having us. Glad this worked out. And I'd like to say thank you to these guys and Ken and Ryan, too, for keeping this thing going. It's something I always plan to do as long as I'm still breathing, so. And my parents were putting up with an obnoxious instrument throughout my youth, and especially my mom, for providing a practice space for us. And she loves it. She loves these guys, too. Again, goes back to the kind of family feel that we have and to our friends that keep coming out and fans that we've made over the years. And we hope to keep doing it for you. Yeah.
• 38:24
  Speaker E: I want to thank my wife, Lori. She's amazing. Biggest supporter in my life, and she's my other. I definitely want to thank my daughter Valoria, who comes to our shows when she can, and my son Vox, who is a punk rocker at heart. But I definitely also want to thank, you know, model nine seven for being a reason to get me through these days. So these guys are awesome, and I love them very much.
• 38:53
  Speaker B: All right, so they are model 97. I am Andy Scullen. This is unsigned 518. I'll see you on the road. Unsigned 518 is produced and hosted by me, Andy Scullen. New episodes are available every week wherever you stream podcasts. If you would like to help support the show, please like and subscribe wherever you are listening. Or you could buy me a coffee@buymeacoffee.com. dot Unsigned 508. If you would like to advertise on the show, send me an email at Unsigned 508 mail.com and to be a guest on the show, reach out to me through Instagram unsigned 518. Take care of one another, and I'll see you next week.
• 39:36
  Speaker E: Andy.
• 39:37
  Speaker A: Scarlet and Scullin.