Latest / Caught on the Mike... / "Ready to be New Again" with DJ $weetlife/Eric Swanson

Transcript

"Ready to be New Again" with DJ $weetlife/Eric Swanson · Caught on the Mike...

0:01
SPEAKER_01: Warning due to some language and subject matter, listener discretion is advised.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: There are very few things in life more therapeutic than dropping a needle down on a 12-inch piece of round black vinyl.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Between the warmth of the sound or the crackle and surface noise of your favorite record, there is never a time when a sense of comfort and nostalgia isn't triggered.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: And just like your favorite record, life's journey always seems more fulfilling when it comes full circle.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: My next guest is a well-known club DJ who goes by the moniker, DJ Sweet Life.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: I've known him for over 20 years.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: He's a former bandmate, not to mention a fantastic guitarist.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Today we'll be talking to Eric Swanson, and it's been way, way too long since we've done this.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Might.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: Eric, it's been a long time since we've done this, man.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: Man, yeah, uh, I'd almost say forever.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: At least the podcast part.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: I think the last time we got to hang out together for an extended period of time was probably 2000, 2001, like right before you moved to, I believe, South Dakota.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: Yes, North Dakota.
1:39
SPEAKER_02: North Dakota, man.
1:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: Life was moving in slow motion just because I didn't want to leave.
1:44
SPEAKER_02: Like things were like falling together and all that, but you kind of know a lot of the backstory, man.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a uh it's a it's a steel trap up here.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: I kind of I have uh this weird um savant-like memory where I can remember dates and times and weird things like that.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: So good, because like last week is pretty much a blur for me.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: So anybody who can kind of ground me to where I've been or or where I'm where I might be going, I'm I'm I'm totally all ears to it.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, um, let's uh let's introduce our listeners to you a little bit.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: And why don't you tell us all a little bit about yourself?
2:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, hey, so uh my name's Eric.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh just pretty much a regular guy with some kind of maybe some extraordinary circumstances.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: Came in contact with this guy, Mike.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: So uh that that's definitely a plus.
2:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh likewise.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, it's just been a long, strange trip.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: We'll probably catch up on what uh music, kind of what we've been up to.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: Pat ourselves on the back because we're not dead yet.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, not for lack of trying.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, so uh funny story.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: I've I've probably been back here in Omaha about Omaha area, Nebraska, about 10 years, uh, this iteration, but I think this is gonna be for good.
3:07
SPEAKER_02: I really I I love it here.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh I still kind of get culture shock on a semi-daily basis.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: I didn't grow up here, so I've always kind of felt like a fish out of water.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and my my friendships here have been very select, but but very like, but once I find them, it's like uh yeah, okay, cool.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, we're good.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, just uh at when Mike hit me up about the podcast, I was at first I was kind of like, man, you know, how can we make this you know work logistically, COVID and all that?
3:37
SPEAKER_02: But uh it just came together, man.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's a great outlet.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: I'm just I'm glad to be here.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: And uh if you guys got a few minutes, I'll kind of tell you tell you my angle.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: So awesome, awesome.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: So you said you're not originally from the Omaha, Nebraska area.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: Where are you originally from?
3:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh, so I actually grew up in California.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: I was born on the Central Coast at the time.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: My parents were in the air.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, my dad was in the Air Force, my parents were married, etc.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: They ended up splitting up, so I was kind of a Air Force brat, but like we grew up kind of in California, usually typically around Air Force towns, etc.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh our upbringing was a little different just because uh I don't know, my my brother and I, we just we never we were always kind of going against the grain, but not not like in a rebellious way, but it was always more of like, well, you know, why are we supposed to do this?
4:25
SPEAKER_02: Why are we supposed to do that, etc.?
4:27
SPEAKER_02: So for me growing up, like had a very diverse group of friends and things like that, but it was basically me and my mom the whole time.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: My mom worked very hard, but I was like king of the Lashkey kids.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Came home to it, left, left school, made sure I got to school on time, got home, figured out how to make something to eat, whatever.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: One of the things in my life that kind of just kept me um focused, etc., was was always music.
4:52
SPEAKER_02: And I never knew that it was such uh a force in my life.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: Like everybody's like, you know, everybody likes music.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, you like music?
4:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like music too.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, yeah, so do I.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh, hey, we all like music.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: Look at that.
5:04
SPEAKER_02: But I think for me, I didn't realize when I was a kid I would have a uh like a visceral response to music, almost like an empathic response to it.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: It took me a long time, like into my adulthood, to realize like music was something I had to do, um, which is a which is kind of a strange um evolution.
5:22
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's definitely how Mike and I came uh in contact, and Mike's been part of that evolution, and so he doesn't know it, but he has been.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh yeah, man, it's just it's weird to come full circle and talk about this.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of new to this, I don't really know what what to say.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: I guess my path with music just started, you know, I was low kid, uh, you know, MTV was pretty much raising me.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, look the dude, the guitars were on point back in those days, and and everybody played one, you know, every every band, it was it was it was instruments, it was you know, musicians.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: I told my mom I was like, hey, I want an electric guitar.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, my mom wasn't really throwing money around like that back then, so uh, or now, but uh uh her condition was well, you know, it's kind of an investment.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: You know, I need to see if you're serious about this.
6:09
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you play another instrument first?
6:10
SPEAKER_02: We'll see how it works out, you know.
6:12
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, all right, yeah, I I see how this goes.
6:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
6:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, let's see where this goes.
6:17
SPEAKER_02: So I uh get to elementary school.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: Oh hey, they oh they have an orchestra here.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Cool, all right.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, let me let me let me sign up, let me check this out because I do want to get a guitar some someday.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: So uh I think the only instruments they had left was like flute and violin, and I was just kind of like and I think I actually wanted flute instead of violin, but I ended up with violin, so I was like, all right, here we go.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: You know, my mom knew about it, so it's like she just waited for me to fail.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't go out that way.
6:48
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I learned it.
6:50
SPEAKER_02: My teacher at the time, Susie Ochi, I will never forget her.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: Prayers to public school teachers who just like are just committed, just rabid about their job.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: She just she taught me music, you know, enough to kind of think of what's in your head to to get it out, uh, which is a which was amazing.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't realize it then as a kid.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh so after playing violin, eventually for my uh school orchestra, I ended up getting first chair, like it was it, it was it was kind of cool.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: Like I didn't realize that that that I was I was doing a pretty decent job with violin.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: Then I got to all city orchestra.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is great, you know, summer workshops, things like that for violin.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: Great.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: Finally, I you know, I guess I don't know, I'd I'd accrued enough credits to get the guitar.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: My mom bought me the guitar.
7:39
SPEAKER_02: That was the last day I played violin ever.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: But you gotta say, you gotta admit that that experience with violin probably helped lend credence to your guitar playing at some point in time, just getting you acclimated to strings and and melody and such.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
7:57
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: Looking back, I was like, there's almost no better way to go.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, and and no disrespect to trumpet players who later on become guitar players or whatever, vice versa.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: But like if I had played trumpet or something like that, it wouldn't directly correlate.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: So no, yeah, I can speak, I can attest to that.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: I was a saxophone player that attempted to become a guitarist that settled on just getting behind a microphone.
8:22
SPEAKER_02: Right.
8:22
SPEAKER_02: And and the the thing about Sax, at least Sax kind of has a chance because you can bend a note with a guitar.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: But it was it was like the 80s, so for some reason people thought saxophones were cool because there were saxophone solos and songs, and I'm like, man, I you know, there was that shirtless dude and the lost boys with right, right, absolutely, man.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: So, so cool.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: So tell us a little bit more about the about the guitar playing.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: Did you start getting into bands right away, or did you take lessons or yeah?
8:55
SPEAKER_02: So uh my mom initially I was just trying to learn how to play by watching MTV.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: So that definitely probably the only song I ever nailed was Tom Petty's You Got Lucky.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: The irony is there.
9:08
SPEAKER_02: Um and if you hear the song, like if you had never played guitar before, you could probably just be like, jump right in.
9:16
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, so uh that was the first song I learned to play, but I don't I guess my mom maybe got tired of hearing it over and over and over.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: So she finally did get me some lessons, but the lessons moved a little faster than I liked, or kind of in a direction that I felt was a little too pre-planned.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh so it was kind of cool to get the basics and things like that, but most of the time it was just like learning by ear, which later on hurt me, but then I learned to recover from it.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: Right.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: But but yes, because uh, you know, why bother with all the stary stuff when it can just sound good?
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, absolutely.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that kind of applies to so many players that I know that like end up starting off learning by ear and then having to go back and reteach.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know how to use my pinky properly on my left hand whenever I try and play guitar, so it still looks awkward whenever I'm making a basic bar chord or if I'm trying to do a little run with some uh with uh with a scale or something.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: Right.
10:15
SPEAKER_02: But you got to think about it though, and this is another thing too.
10:18
SPEAKER_02: Well, I I presume we'll probably touch on this because we're two old heads here, but uh you'll also find out there's things playing wise you weren't meant to do, right?
10:26
SPEAKER_02: Because there's other things you do way better, right?
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Right, you know what I mean?
10:29
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely so yeah, and that's the thing, and that kind of goes back to my original lessons where you know it was pinky discipline and blah blah blah and all that stuff, which is great, but it may not be you, right?
10:41
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, anyway, but that uh little foreshadowing there, I'm sure.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: So uh about how old were you at this point in time?
10:49
SPEAKER_02: So oh, at that time, so I'm about I'm about 10 years, 10, 11 years old, uh summer break, got the guitar.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: Of course, it wasn't the one I wanted, right?
10:59
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it never is never more on that later.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh I just mainly MTV learned how to play things, etc.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: But like bands, I had actually tried to put a band together in elementary school for the talent show.
11:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we've all seen this movie before, but mine never even got past the the trailer.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: They just canceled it in committee.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: So never got a band together, but I was just that little kid, that kid who would just go home, play guitar, uh stay off the streets, whatever.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, but none of none of my friends played instruments uh where I was growing up.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: Nobody did.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: I was in a similar predicament, um, but it was later in life in high school, where none of I was in a so I grew up in big cities my whole life until I got to high school.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Then I went to a rural town, which is completely backwards of most people.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: And it was like I had to teach some of my friends to play instruments in order to put some of my early bands together.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: Yes, dude.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like, can you hold a root note for a couple of minutes?
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, I got a bass player, you know, and so on and so on and so on.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: Right, no, absolutely.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: And and it's funny because then when you think about that, that's how like we came right together.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: Because I'd heard the the music you guys were doing.
12:14
SPEAKER_02: Right.
12:15
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, oh sh oh shit, these guys get it.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, for at the time we got it, sure, sure, sure.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: It's got its filter of innocence to it, I'm sure, to some degree.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: So at some point in life, so you get to let's let's say you get to elementary school, junior high school, you're acclimated to playing music.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: What other things were you into at that point in your life?
12:39
SPEAKER_02: So man, like uh, well, the funny thing is then at this point, then you're kind of living like a double life because you're like a black kid in an urban school, but you like guys that play, you like people that play guitar, you like guitar riffs, you like the melody, you like how it's put together, you like the the aggression of the music, etc.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: So so that's one thing because at the time that in that uh uh locale that wasn't what you go for.
13:06
SPEAKER_02: Like that's not no.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh so at that point, it's guitar is a very important thing, but it wasn't like there was no outlet for it for for me, right?
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Other than just like, you know, putting a record on and trying to transcribe something or or whatever.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: But at the time, I was pretty much like every other kid.
13:27
SPEAKER_02: Uh now that I look back, like high school's way more complicated than than we give it credit for.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
13:34
SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, I was just kind of a kid who I kind of knew everybody, but like I wasn't really like out there or anything.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh and later on in life, as trying to always force myself to be extroverted, I realized I'm an introvert.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: But that doesn't necessarily mean you're a shy person or anything like that.
13:49
SPEAKER_02: That just means you need detachment.
13:51
SPEAKER_02: Right.
13:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and and when you need your detachment, you need it.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: So so for me, playing guitar was that was that for me.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: At the time, hip-hop was coming up and things like that.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you'd see a few things bleed over, like with what the Beastie boys were doing and things like that.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: And it was just like, this is amazing.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: Right.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: But in Central Coast California, that wasn't really happening.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: There was no traction for anything like that.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: So merging the styles was more of an East Coast thing.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: It kind of a lot of it because of Rick Rubin and being in the you know in New York City.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, and at the time, you know, one of the one of their songs, you know, Fight for Your Right had a had a solo break from a little known guitarist at the time, Carrie King, who just you know went on a conqueror.
14:33
SPEAKER_02: If you heard of a band called Slayer, right?
14:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh but anyway, it's so so things like that.
14:39
SPEAKER_02: So for me, it was always kind of in the periphery.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: I hadn't even been in a band yet.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: Like, so by high school, whatever, it was weird.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: That was kids just weren't doing that where I was from.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: After high school, you went on and joined the army, correct?
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, man.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: Uh things as so as we graduated, and for some reason I graduated when I was when I was 17.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I started school early or what, but at 17 they were like, You're done.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: I was like, sweet.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh and then my mom was like, Well, what are you gonna do now?
15:12
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, well, technically, you know, I'm not an adult yet.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: I I got some time, blah, blah, blah.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: But as things went on, like my friends that I graduated with, we were all great kids and stuff like that.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, we weren't the trouble kids, but attrition was getting us.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: Right.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, so you know, army recruiters calling me, marine recruiter, blah, blah, blah.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just like, fuck off, fight, fight in your fucking war, fuck the man.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: And uh, but then one day, I called them and said, All right, let's talk.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: So uh, so that seemed to be kind of the only way out of what I was like doing or where I was living and things like that.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: There's just opportunities just weren't falling out of the sky.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, joined joined the army, ate your hitch right off the bat.
15:59
SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, yeah, what could go wrong?
16:01
SPEAKER_02: But uh loved it.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: Um I don't really elaborate too much on my service and love every moment of it, though.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: Love everyone that I've ever met.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: If any of my comrades come by me and they they need something at any time, like we we will catch up, we will make it happen.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I luckily by grace of God I got accepted to go to West Point for a few years.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: That just kind of the the officer and gentleman corps wasn't really my thing.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: So what I did there was a military mover maneuver called Two and Screw, where you can go to West Point for two years and you owe them no obligation.
16:35
SPEAKER_02: If you stay after that, then you do it.
16:36
SPEAKER_02: No, I I anyway, trust me, they got their money's worth.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, uh then uh with that, then I came back to the regular army, which is kind of what I wanted the whole time.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: And uh, but then uh you know, then I think what ended up getting married, kids on the way, things like that.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: The army summer camp life wasn't gonna wasn't gonna hack it.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: Right.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, and you want to do what's best for your family.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: So ultimately, that's what brought me back to the Midwest.
17:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, my my dad had always lived here.
17:07
SPEAKER_02: I would come visit.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, loved my dad, loved my stepmom, but Omaha was just kind of like, whatever, man.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: Like, and I came from the central coast of California, so it's just like it just never really resonated with me.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: But when I finally moved back here, because my wife, uh the uh at the time, she was from Omaha, and Omaha was just the center of the the universe, so we naturally had to come back here.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: So came back, um, started having kids.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: I was in college, uh, working, all those other things.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: Still, I at that time I don't even think I had a guitar at that point, and I was missing it tremendously, tremendously, but but really no outlet.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: Things changed, started having some time on my hands, etc.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: I think the first band I was with was EKG, which was actually a great band.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: And if I ever run into those guys, I want to apologize for acting like a spoiled teenager sometimes in the band.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was it was all me.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: You guys were great dudes.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but anyway, I forgot how EKG fell on my radar screen.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: I think at the time I just wanted to play.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: I finally got a guitar.
18:13
SPEAKER_02: People played instruments at that time.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: There were there were big stores that like weren't chain stores where they sold musical instruments.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: Right.
18:22
SPEAKER_02: You knew the guy that yeah.
18:24
SPEAKER_02: So uh, and these were also like meeting places too.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: Like the bulletin board there was like that was it, that was the network.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: There were venues to play, people came out, and I'm not saying they they do or don't now or whatever, like I get it, life happens, but uh I just feel there was more traction back then.
18:42
SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely for for what people were trying to do in bands, but um so at the time, and one thing I also kind of learned as a musician is there's guys that are great cover musicians, they're fantastic, and then there's guys who can kind of play what they're thinking and they're fantastic, but it's weird because sometimes you feel you have to be a certain type versus the other.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: Yes, luckily in Omaha at the time there was a very strong original band uh movement.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, the the the vast majority of bands were original bands, and they sounded like original bands, and and and they had a sound that was unique to the area at the time.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: I yeah, yeah, like come see me on that.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: Like we Omaha doesn't know what it had, but the bad part is the rest of America didn't know what it had.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: And I I do think I I think you hit the nail right on the head.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: It was like, you know, it's funny, I uh this is foreshadowing a future episode to some degree, but uh but it Omaha had a sound where a lot of the local bands sounded like national signed to a record label bands.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: There was this pool of talent where like your B and C level guys would probably be looked at as A-level guys right now, yes, yes, absolutely.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: And and and honestly, and I'm sure that this is gonna be a recurring theme because we're both guys that have um fallen in love with the city over time.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, and this is gonna end up kind of turning into a love letter to Omaha, but it just it it was amazing because I was I was in a similar spot.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: I was in I was in Iowa, and I could go to Des Moines or I could go to Omaha, and I looked at what Des Moines was producing at the time, and I looked at what Omaha was producing at the time, and there was no way I was not gonna go to Omaha.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: It was the diversity in the in the style and just the constant uh quality that was being turned out by the bands that were creating the art there at the time.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: So inadvertently, like I didn't see it for what it was at the time either.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: I was pretty much just like everybody else.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: I just want to find some other guys who want to make some noise, right?
20:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, play with some distortion, whatever.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, we really didn't know what we had.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: So I think uh with EKG for some reason, like I said, I acted like a spoiled teenager.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: So uh once again, guys, my bad.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: But then I eventually wanted to be in another band though that was a little bit had a little bit more of a of a versatility with sound.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: But of course, we already know like you can't just form a band in in Omaha, you gotta find a drummer first, right?
21:21
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely drummers and bass players are hot commodity, you know.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: Yes, so that's your first step, man.
21:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh so anyway, so somehow, I don't know how this happened, but I just the this must have been a glorious day when it happened.
21:39
SPEAKER_02: I ended up in Doug Decker's basement and we d with a bunch of original ideas, and we just we just jammed the fuck out for for hours, hours, hours, hours.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was it was just fucking amazing.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, okay, cool.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: This guy gets it.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: All right, cool.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: All right.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we try to bring bass players through, or I try to find somebody Played bass or whatever, just wasn't really panning out.
22:03
SPEAKER_02: Um, and Doug was awesome.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: We have some great ideas and things like that.
22:06
SPEAKER_02: And he was just he could be in the pocket, he could just like go over the top, just that fucking punk ska polka beat on crack.
22:14
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
22:15
SPEAKER_02: Uh so so that was awesome.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: I finally had found an outlet.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: It was still never about really getting in a band, but it was more like if I have to get in a band to do this on a regular basis, yeah, sure, whatever.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: So, so so there was Doug.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: But at that point, like Doug was awesome.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: He, I don't even think he was in any bands or something.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: It was it was bizarre.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: He was like this unicorn, right?
22:36
SPEAKER_02: So, uh, so after that, like I was like, fuck, you know, we can't put anything together.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: So let me see what's out there.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: Now, Mike, I hope your memory suits better than mine does on this, but I could have I think I came across the three Q three quarter evil ad maybe D-Rock's or something on the bulletin board.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: It was either it was either on a bulletin board or something, or it might have been on one of the local websites, message boards or something like that.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Right, like my second choice would be like Slam Omaha, maybe.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because if I remember correctly, I got a sound clip emailed to me, and it was you playing guitar.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, holy shit.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: You emailed me a sound clip of playing guitar, and I'll never forget this because I was gonna hit on this anyways, but this is perfect segue.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh, do you remember the first time we met?
23:23
SPEAKER_02: No.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is great.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: This is great.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: So, and then this kind of goes back to where you were at in California and you trying to put together a band.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: So you send me the sound clip, and it's fantastic.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of we kind of had our first iteration of Three Quarter Evil put together, three QE, whatever the you whatever you want to call the band name.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh, just don't call us early in the morning.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, and Jeff and I uh decide to answer your ad.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: I was impressed with it, and so we decide to go over and meet you at your apartment.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: So we get to your apartment.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: This girl answers the door, and we're like, okay, this is cool.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: You come out into the living room and you're like, oh, you guys are here to meet Eric, right?
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, yeah, well, let me go get him.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: And you go and you hang out in the bedroom for a couple of minutes, and then you come back out and you're like, I'm just getting on Eric.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: Holy shit.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: And it was fantastic.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I love this guy right now.
24:28
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
24:29
SPEAKER_02: Further proof that if current me met past me, I would want to kick his ass.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: No, man, that was perfect.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: That was perfect.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: That was perfect.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: That is the that is like sociology 101 the best way to test some motherfuckers you're about to play music with.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: Holy shit.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: I gotta be honest.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: I wish I could say I knew what I was doing, but at that time I hadn't played with anybody else.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: So maybe that's a little bit of why.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: And it's weird, you know, to not to go into the full deep history of 3 QE, 34 Evil.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: Man, I love that you can remember these things.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, like I said, I got this Savant, the Savant nature in me that I can remember this stuff.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: The funny thing about that is we had a different drummer at the time, just didn't fit the mold of what we were trying to do.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: And then you brought Doug into it, and that's ultimately, and honestly, that added a layer of polish to the band that we didn't have prior.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, giving giving props to Dougie Deed as I later knew him in life, Dr.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Teeth.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, right, because he's the most smiley motherfucker you can ever meet.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: But but that is the story, yes, that's right.
25:39
SPEAKER_02: Because initially, like I kind of uh diverted with what you guys were doing, man.
25:43
SPEAKER_02: And I remember listening to like one of your demos, and well, uh the demo for smoke, it opens up with a D major seven chord, and I was like, These are my guys.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, bam! I wrote that.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I know you did, I know you did, I know you did.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: I heard that, I was like, that's some shit I would want to get down.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: So and but the thing was is like, and I don't think if we were talking the history of that band, and I don't think a lot of the people that are outliers to that band really knew it, but you know, it just we were playing with a limited skill set, like that eventually it matured over time.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: And it's like like honestly, uh 3QE ceased being what it was in about 2003, and I really wish you were with it for the full ride.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: That's a whole other episode.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's that's a whole episode, but but man, I tell you, and I never I never went back to California either.
26:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I went east, I ended up going east.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, what we ended up becoming, I I think I'm really proud of.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: The only thing is, is like do you never get a second chance to make a first impression?
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: And and I think we made our first impression when we were a little bit greener, but if we would have refined it over time, and this is something you know, you said on the onset of this episode there are things that uh that I brought to you that impacted you, there are things that you brought to me too.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: And and I I've never been able to share that with you because we've never had this conversation.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: But like, um, if I were to look back at my past musical projects and I had to do it all over again, pulling the reins back a little bit and spending a little bit more time to polish that band with who we had in place before we jumped on a stage.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, man, I would do that all over again and I would pull the reins back, polish the shit out of that band, and then put us on a stage.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: But the thing was is Omaha was hitting so hard at the time.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: If we didn't strike while the iron was hot, yeah, like I probably for me, I probably would have never made it to the levels that I did with other projects that preceded that band.
27:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh, oh, absolutely, yeah.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: So so it's it's I I don't know, it's it's a pretty foolhardy train of thought to go back and think about it.
27:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it was no, it was it it was amazing.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so so like I said, I I heard yeah, I heard your guys' demo, and I was like, and my influences back then were like kind of the my influences weren't bands, they were guitarists.
28:11
SPEAKER_02: Right.
28:11
SPEAKER_02: So like Dr.
28:12
SPEAKER_02: No from Bad Brands.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: That's that's something I'm always gonna remember is Dr.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: No, and you were into Lagwagon too.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, and they were they were from Santa Barbara too.
28:22
SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, lag wagon, uh who else?
28:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh and then anytime I need to think of a of an influence, then I just blank out.
28:30
SPEAKER_02: But uh, but at the time, yeah, it was just the the guys kind of blurring the edges, like Dean Pleasance, the guy from uh Infectious Grooves, right?
28:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh anything Rocky George and uh Steve from Suicidal were doing.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh who else?
28:45
SPEAKER_02: I mean, naturally, you had to love Kirk Hammett and uh Cliff Burton at these guys, man, locked in the pocket.
28:50
SPEAKER_02: Right.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh but yeah, but anyway, the but there was something going on in Omaha, like it was it was weird, it was hard to explain the style, but there was yeah, there was a lot of traction going and and and we had that.
29:02
SPEAKER_02: It's just with me, the way things came together, though.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: I I know man, I I already know where you're going with that.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: But that's that's a whole other episode.
29:11
SPEAKER_02: But for at the time, as we built that band, and just you know, it was just it was an outlet for us, right?
29:16
SPEAKER_02: But it was so essential.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Like we just loved it, man.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: It just it's just what we had.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: Did we not play my my wedding?
29:25
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes, we did.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: I remember I think we covered Young MC's Bust a move like 10 times that night.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: That was awesome.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: It was it was awesome, it was an honor too.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: It was a good time.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was awesome.
29:40
SPEAKER_02: And you know, weddings are so awkward anyway.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: That's probably the only way I'd be able to get through one, but more on that later.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, so at the time, 3Q is awesome.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: Like we, I think also it's weird though, because I think people weren't used to seeing like, you know, black guy jamming out on guitar, you know, a little heavy on the distortion.
29:58
SPEAKER_02: But also, Mike was a funky ass white boy, too.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: So it was like it was it was a weird that's why that's why you and I have always clicked.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's it's not about culture or color, it's just about being brothers.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, absolutely.
30:13
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: It just came together.
30:15
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
30:15
SPEAKER_02: We never had we never really had the discussions because it was kind of a non-issue.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah, for sure, man.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: For sure.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I've always enjoyed about you, and and as you just shared, you've enjoyed about me is the fact that we did have such diverse Jekyll and Hyde tastes.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Like we could go listen to the Kurt Hammets of the world and then turn around and listen to Tribe Called Quest and absolutely love life.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: All day, man.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Again, throwing another thing, thing back to you about an influence you had on me is some of the some of the hip-hop stuff I was into, uh, like it was more the positive stuff, like the Tribe Called Quest, the De La Souls, and groups like that.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: And I think that was something that you and I had a mutual respect on.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just totally, you know.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: Well, and and that's the thing, that's when you realize there's so many genres and things like that.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Right, absolutely, absolutely.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, it now, like now that I'm not doing the band thing, that's that's my default shit.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, my default music is hip-hop.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: Like the only time, the only time I really listen to hard hard rock anymore is like if I'm having a shitty day and I'm jumping on the treadmill, right?
31:28
SPEAKER_00: Then I listen to my hard rock stuff.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Or if the the weather's really nice and I want to drive fast in my car, I'll throw on some old punk rock or something along those lanes.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Definitely, but yeah, yeah, absolutely.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: That, yeah, man.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm I'm glad that that uh got a chance to resonate.
31:43
SPEAKER_02: You because then, as you know, like later on, I ended up becoming a DJ or a club, East Coast Club DJ.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's exactly where I was gonna go next.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: It's like, because I remember Oh, this is gonna be good.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: I remember because I remember suggesting that we get a DJ for our project at the time.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and you fucking hated DJs.
32:07
SPEAKER_02: And then you become like, oh, yes, absolutely, absolutely.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, that's not like 6'9 level of betrayal, but it's pretty close.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: Yes, that there's a story behind that.
32:22
SPEAKER_02: So, first of all, just let me preface this with DJing.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: It it's so funny.
32:28
SPEAKER_02: Like, uh for those of you who could kind of care less, like just gloss over this segment.
32:32
SPEAKER_02: But for those of you who are kind of like, you know what?
32:34
SPEAKER_02: What is it about?
32:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, there's a psychology to it.
32:37
SPEAKER_02: Why do I see some DJs and I feel this way, or I see some they feel this way, or I feel others that are just more like a fly on the wall, like you know, what is it?
32:46
SPEAKER_02: And this can this is just uh like you can you can think about this until it drives you insane as like a DJ slash performer entertainer.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: But I yeah, I absolutely hated that idea to circle back.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh at the time, guitarists, first of all, I thought DJs were stupid.
33:06
SPEAKER_02: Um when venues started booking DJs and things like that, I was like, what the fuck?
33:11
SPEAKER_02: This is like that's three bands now that have a night off over this the nonsense.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: This guy playing records that everybody knows, you know what I mean?
33:20
SPEAKER_02: Like that I don't want to I don't want to get too far on it because then the the further the bigger hole I gotta dig myself out of at the end.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: So so anyway, things happened in in my life once I left Omaha, like naturally, I tried to put bands together, they just never had the chemistry that that we had in Omaha, things like that.
33:38
SPEAKER_02: It was getting a little bit more difficult, you know.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: By that time, like you know, I had children and things like that.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: I got cussy of my oldest son too, which was a miracle, but that was amazing.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: But at this point, it's like it's Mike, as you know, bands are like a marriage.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: So but there's even there's in bands, sometimes there's even less uh pluses than minuses.
33:59
SPEAKER_02: Right.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: So so at that time I was like, you know, I still have to connect with people through music.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm I'm still an introvert, but sometimes like when you when you strap the guitar on or when you you know whatever, I don't have to directly communicate, but I still can.
34:16
SPEAKER_02: I need some kind of outlet.
34:18
SPEAKER_02: I I have to, there's some way I have to be able to do that.
34:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh so the only few things that I could think about is oh, I could be a solo singer or songwriter.
34:27
SPEAKER_02: I don't have that gene.
34:28
SPEAKER_02: I can't do it.
34:28
SPEAKER_02: Mike, God bless you.
34:30
SPEAKER_02: I I can't do it.
34:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh guitar or singing, it's one or the other.
34:34
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, so you know, there were very limited options.
34:38
SPEAKER_02: So at the time I was living on the East Coast, and uh, you know, there was kind of close to where the epicenter of DJing started, Bronx, New York, uh, the uh the party on uh on Cedric Avenue, which was like attributed to be the birth of hip-hop, uh cool DJ Herc or something.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: Threw a party in a rec center and was like, hey, it's back to school.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: We need some fry, we need some, we need some clothes, whatever, we'll charge such and such.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: And then it just blew up, like it created a culture.
35:07
SPEAKER_02: That's a whole other discussion, too.
35:09
SPEAKER_02: But over on the East Coast, the approach to DJing is a little bit more rooted in that aspect.
35:14
SPEAKER_02: DJing as more of a social movement or uh something that just immediately like makes uh that location like the place to be, the block party mentality, the things like that.
35:27
SPEAKER_02: So so my next thing was uh so my kind of option for that was something solo like DJing.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: So at the time there was a uh a club or something like that.
35:38
SPEAKER_02: No, I mean there were clubs everywhere, but there were some you liked, some you didn't, some had great DJs, but you didn't know it at the time.
35:44
SPEAKER_02: You had to be paying attention, you know what I mean?
35:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, who's the DJ?
35:47
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
35:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember when that wait, there were half as many people when he when he was here, but like the roof was off the roof was on fire, like we uh so uh with that there was one DJ, particularly, dude, and I this is just this is fortuitous right here.
36:05
SPEAKER_02: Capsy, if you could hear this man, like he created my desire not to necessarily be a DJ, but I'm like he was the DJ, like that I found myself like we had a great time.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: Who was the D?
36:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it was that guy, right?
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Him.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Oh, all right.
36:21
SPEAKER_02: So you know, we'd naturally were following him around, and this is at the time where it's like I still think DJs suck, but if I if I gotta go out, you know what I mean?
36:29
SPEAKER_02: Like this guy makes sure I have a good time, like what's up, yeah.
36:32
SPEAKER_02: So uh uh at that point, I was like, Well, I want to be like him.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, I I didn't know about the technical part of it or whatever, but I'm like, he's bringing all these people together, like he's the man.
36:45
SPEAKER_02: So how do I get in on that?
36:47
SPEAKER_02: I like to perform, okay.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: So uh I I I initially I bought some equipment.
36:52
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is also another dichotomy.
36:53
SPEAKER_02: This kind of goes to the cover band musician, God bless him, he'll he'll eat forever.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh the the great songwriter musician, but like, you know, it's original material, you know, you gotta sell it.
37:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh the same thing with DJing.
37:10
SPEAKER_02: Even if you're starting to get into it, you have to understand.
37:13
SPEAKER_02: Do you want to be a big box DJ?
37:16
SPEAKER_02: You know, we don't turn down any party, like we'll we got balloon animals, we got whatever, photo booth, or do you want to be the I want to connect with people through records DJ?
37:27
SPEAKER_02: So for me, quickly I found out there were two differences there, right?
37:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm like, you know what?
37:33
SPEAKER_02: Actually, I'm not even in this because I don't even want to be a DJ.
37:36
SPEAKER_02: I just want to figure out how they're manipulating these records.
37:38
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, all right, you know, let's figure this out.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh bought some records, bought some turntables, cool, horrible, shoes in a dryer, man.
37:47
SPEAKER_02: Just like tried it for a couple hours.
37:49
SPEAKER_02: Was like, oh yeah, this ain't gonna work out.
37:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh, didn't touch it again for maybe like two weeks or so.
37:54
SPEAKER_02: So what I found out was like, while my kids were sleeping or stuff like that, I just put the records together and it was like, well, if this DJing thing doesn't take off, I got some great records, you know, and this extra turntable now that I'm not gonna need.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: But I I just kept practicing at it.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I approached it like a guitarist, though.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: And luckily, from the songwriting, like how we would put bars together, like bars had to mathematically make sense.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: Right.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
38:19
SPEAKER_02: So that I already had a head start on that, like phrasing and things like that.
38:24
SPEAKER_02: You you as a DJ, you got to break a song down into the chorus verse, blah blah blah, when to come in, when to come out, things like that.
38:31
SPEAKER_02: These are the things that I was figuring out when I decided I don't want to be a big box DJ, I want to be a connect with people records DJ.
38:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, it was never about like going to the club or second income, second hustle, uh flyers, whatever.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to at this point, then I was getting all these good records, so I was like, I got people gotta hear these.
38:52
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm I'm not even gonna apologize for some of these.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: They're they're amazing.
38:56
SPEAKER_02: So I started getting pretty decent with it, blah, blah, blah.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: Had a little bit of a style.
39:01
SPEAKER_02: Luckily, the section of town that I lived in at the time was very artsy, and I knew a lot of artists, and they were extremely talented, but you know, didn't have a lot of money and things like that.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: So it was like, you know, oh, you have such and such warehouse for a show, you and like five other artists from the East Coast, you know, uh they'd they'd be like, hey, can you do some atmosphere, like some DJing, whatever?
39:25
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Yeah, I can do it.
39:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what do you got?
39:29
SPEAKER_02: Because, like, you know, nobody's gonna work for free.
39:31
SPEAKER_02: But so what we did was kind of a thing where, like, oh, you know, hey, I like this painting.
39:35
SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: We got let's do a four-hour show.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: So here's the thing once you tie this visual aspect with the the the music aspect, it just blew up.
39:45
SPEAKER_02: So it became First Fridays uh in Bethlehem.
39:49
SPEAKER_02: Um amazing.
39:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh just the place would be packed, it's like you know, just me on two on two turntables playing whatever old disco records, beat matched, all that stuff.
39:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, it really just and it was funny because the the owner of the place, uh John, oh man, I'll I'll never forget John.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: And and John's instrumental in me even like DJing for people because he was just like, We've never had an atmosphere like this before.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: He's like, you just like because I'm always surveying the crowd and things like that, uh you know, trying to throw in the the curveballs and things like that.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: So uh that was initially kind of how it started off.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: I didn't like I wasn't in it for money.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: No, it's like we'll provide an atmosphere, whatever.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: The artists were selling shit, they like it was good.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: People were hanging out, like it was a very inclusive environment.
40:39
SPEAKER_02: So uh one day I'm I'm I'm you know, I was doing it, and that same DJ Cap C happened to be at the show that I was doing.
40:50
SPEAKER_02: It's a huge art show, right?
40:52
SPEAKER_02: So uh he's like, hey, uh and I was like, yo, you're Cap C.
40:55
SPEAKER_02: He's like, yeah, hey man.
40:57
SPEAKER_02: He's like, you're doing your thing, you know.
40:58
SPEAKER_02: We we gotta catch up.
41:00
SPEAKER_02: He's like, I got this DJ collective, you know, he's like pretty selective, whatever.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: We're we're trying to make some moves.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, let's talk.
41:08
SPEAKER_02: I was like, right on, man.
41:10
SPEAKER_02: So here's the thing.
41:10
SPEAKER_02: Like I said, I never wanted to be a club DJ, but for what he did, I totally respect it, I totally got it.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: He he was that dude.
41:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh we ended up catching up, just talking about records and things like that.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: And he was instrumental because then at that point, the big box DJ approach was completely off the picture because he's just he's the dude who'd always just like spun what that moment needed.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh, awesome.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, and just really brought it out.
41:35
SPEAKER_02: So once he kind of took me over under his wing, like he taught me the business of it and things like that.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: And again, still I don't want to be a club DJ.
41:44
SPEAKER_02: I like he he had like several residencies, but sometimes he couldn't be more than one place at a time.
41:49
SPEAKER_02: So he'd be like, Hey, can you fill in for me?
41:51
SPEAKER_02: Whatever.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: Here's here's kind of the format, you know what I'm saying?
41:54
SPEAKER_02: Like, don't fuck it up because I'm not gonna put you back on, blah blah blah.
41:58
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yes, sir, okay, cool.
42:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh but um it was still never to to to get in there.
42:05
SPEAKER_02: Then the crash hit, the the economic crash.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Right.
42:09
SPEAKER_02: Then it was like, okay, this is something I can monetize right now because like at the time I own my own my own business on the medical side, but people pay you when they pay you with that.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the that's the good news about being uh in your own business.
42:24
SPEAKER_02: You're never broke because people always owe you money.
42:26
SPEAKER_02: So technically you have some income, it's just the rate you can't control.
42:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh so once that hit, then I had to totally reframe it.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: And Kelly at the time, I think I was I had done some like little artsy ravey type thing, whatever.
42:45
SPEAKER_02: And she was like, Look, we we'd we'd we'd come home, I think we were hanging out in the garage or something, and she's like, you know what?
42:52
SPEAKER_02: Like, you gotta decide what you want to do with this.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: You can monetize this, like you could this is conveying emotion, and there's a way to capitalize on this.
43:01
SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a way for businesses to use this to their advantage.
43:04
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, You're right.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, I have to start looking at this as a business now, like as a hustle, because that's what it is.
43:12
SPEAKER_02: Like there's there's so many intangibles that a good night of or a good at atmospheric night of music or whatever will do that you just can't, you can't, uh, you just can't replicate because it's another unique piece of the artistic puzzle of the of the event.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: 2008, of course, is about when this is going on because this is when the crash hit.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: But uh simultaneously, you know, just to kind of tie our stories together a little bit, that's kind of where I started to take the original band thing to more of a scalable model to where we were making cover band money as an original band because it just was like, Man, if I've got kids now by this point, like I'm not gonna leave my house if it's not gonna be worth my time and if it's not gonna be a self sustaining entity.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: So yes.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: So it's like it's like this neat thing needs to pay for itself because I'm not going to throw any more of my own personal money into it.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of sounds like you were in a very similar spot.
44:14
SPEAKER_02: It's so funny because I probably have said that same thing almost verbatim.
44:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:18
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
44:19
SPEAKER_02: And so with bands, also it's comp it's compounded because you need time to rehearse and things like that too.
44:23
SPEAKER_02: Right.
44:24
SPEAKER_02: Which takes you out of the picture.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, you got to find like an awesome, super supportive spouse.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: But then in some cases, it's not really fair to expect them to take that completely by the horns, you know what I mean?
44:36
SPEAKER_02: Without some concessions on your end.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
44:40
SPEAKER_02: So it's funny that you mentioned that.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: And that's another thing, too.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: So like with DJing, it was like, if you have a good night, that's you.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: If you have a bad night, that's you.
44:48
SPEAKER_02: That's you.
44:49
SPEAKER_02: Like, there's no two ways out of it.
44:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:52
SPEAKER_02: So that was another thing as well.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but no, I hear you.
44:56
SPEAKER_02: So that was the other thing.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: Like, I needed an outlet, I still needed to connect with people, I still liked music, I still like to force my musical taste on people, um, etc.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully for for profit or monetization, etc.
45:08
SPEAKER_02: Right.
45:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I was very fortunate in that area, and especially since I was kind of between New York and Philly, Philly had always been very diverse where DJs would play anything.
45:18
SPEAKER_02: They'd miss a mix a rock record into a hip-hop record or something like that.
45:22
SPEAKER_02: So, like if you listen to some of those old like tribe records, that 94, 95 BPM just knock, there's so many classic rock records at that same BPM that they sampled the hip-hop song from to begin with.
45:35
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
45:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, why not play with that theme or or whatever?
45:39
SPEAKER_02: So uh, so so kind of learning back there, like you had to be good.
45:45
SPEAKER_02: It's right uh and and nothing to take away from the market here in Omaha, but like I'm trying to figure out how to how to word it delicately.
45:54
SPEAKER_02: Like it back there, if it doesn't move their feet, you don't eat.
45:57
SPEAKER_02: Right.
45:57
SPEAKER_02: You know, and you gotta come up with very creative ways to do it, and also to make your performance unique.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
46:03
SPEAKER_02: So there there is no formula to a certain extent.
46:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can play the same set list every time, blah, blah, blah.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: But eventually somebody's gonna catch on.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: And it's the same energy.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: It's also a numbers thing, too.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like like it's a numbers thing because you're in a big market, like someplace like Philly, or like if you're on the West Coast or if you're on a East Coast, if you're in New York City or LA or something, there's 10 other guys that do it just as good as you do, if not better than you.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: Right.
46:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's like you have to like we're and and this again, a man, not to take away from our love letter to Omaha, but in Omaha, it's like you're you, you have the opportunity to be you.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: You you can be your only you.
46:44
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's like and that's just that's just because of sheer population and sheer numbers.
46:49
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
46:50
SPEAKER_02: And and and and and that's a good point as well, because when we finally so okay, so the crash hits.
46:56
SPEAKER_02: My medical staffing business at the time was very successful beforehand, but then after that, it just it was not great.
47:02
SPEAKER_02: Revenues were down, it was taking longer to get paid.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: Luckily, I had this DJing thing, and people still wanted to on the East Coast.
47:09
SPEAKER_02: They, if they wanted to party before the crash, like they were really wanted to party after because it was it was the crash.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: Like, right, who cares?
47:17
SPEAKER_02: So DJing was was was pretty steady, man.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, and what had happened was I was part of a bigger collective that Cap C had put together.
47:25
SPEAKER_02: He had handpicked some of the just the most amazing DJs.
47:28
SPEAKER_02: Luckily, I was considered to be among their company, and and I cherished every moment of it.
47:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but he just at that time, like he just had the uh the pulse of the market and and and good guys to cover it.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
47:43
SPEAKER_02: And like you said, there's 10 other guys, some of them are even better than you, but they may not be a better businessman or whatever.
47:48
SPEAKER_02: You know how this yeah, we've seen this movie before.
47:51
SPEAKER_02: So uh, so we were very fortunate.
47:54
SPEAKER_02: We're we're eating, you know what I mean?
47:56
SPEAKER_02: Like people are thinking bad things are happening, etc.
47:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but finally I got the opportunity because uh yeah, when we I think when we met, I was still going to Methodist College here in Omaha.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: Yep, you sure were okay.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: So I got the rare opportunity.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: Kelly came across the opportunity for me to come back and teach the course that I graduated from.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
48:14
SPEAKER_02: Here in Omaha.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, right.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
48:16
SPEAKER_02: So at this time on the East Coast, DJing is paying the mortgage, it's paying the bills, blah, blah, blah.
48:21
SPEAKER_02: You know, sure.
48:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I gotta go to Philly this day, I gotta go to New York this day, blah, blah, blah.
48:25
SPEAKER_02: But people there, they like the party, they like their music, they like the East Coast DJ culture, those records from from that era, and you're the you're the purveyor, you're the curator of that.
48:38
SPEAKER_02: Right.
48:38
SPEAKER_02: People are very uh and pe and believe it or not, here in Omaha, people are very musically open too.
48:44
SPEAKER_02: They just need to be comfortable being sometimes the only one that's that's comfortable with that.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: Because on the East Coast, anything goes.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: If it's a hot record, they like it.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: Right.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
48:54
SPEAKER_02: Whether they heard it before or not.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
48:56
SPEAKER_00: There's a there is definitely there's definitely a herd mentality in Omaha to some degree.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that that applies to any kind of art.
49:02
SPEAKER_00: Like nobody's gonna believe you're good until somebody else tells you that they're good.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, absolutely.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: And and and that's and that's not an indictment on on Omaha as it is, it's just how the culture's different.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: And to underscore that, and I hope I didn't this didn't come off the wrong way.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: I haven't changed a thing.
49:19
SPEAKER_02: It's like Omaha has accepted me for for that style of DJing.
49:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, two turning tables, microphone, cutting, equipment, quick mix, you know, uh, cut the beat out of one, a cappella over the other, all live, you know, etc.
49:34
SPEAKER_02: Classic records, things like that.
49:37
SPEAKER_02: So the funny thing, so when we so kind of back to the story with uh with this, I was like, you know, at the time teaching seemed like a pretty stable job, blah blah blah.
49:47
SPEAKER_02: I was like, you know what, I'd done everything I need to do out in the trenches in the medical field, blah blah blah.
49:51
SPEAKER_02: Let's go back and teach now.
49:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, and my uh teacher that I had, Steve Hess, was amazing.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: He was like he was like a second dad to me out here, like just great guy.
50:01
SPEAKER_02: So for me to come back and like take the mantle of his program was like this is amazing.
50:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was, but it but anyway, I was like, you know what?
50:09
SPEAKER_02: If I move back to Omaha though, like they're not gonna get it.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm gonna have to quit DJing.
50:14
SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's over.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: They don't know who I am, they don't they don't care.
50:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I flew back for the interview uh with Kelly.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: We um and this was when Omaha was kind of doing big things.
50:26
SPEAKER_02: I there was a club we went to and they had a DJ in from from the East Coast just killing it.
50:30
SPEAKER_02: I for I forgot who it was, but he just nailed it.
50:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I was like, you know what, maybe we can make this work.
50:36
SPEAKER_02: So the next day we went out for coffee and and me just being the typical you know Pollyanna that I am.
50:42
SPEAKER_02: I was some guy kind of looked like he knew what was going on.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: I was like, hey man, so we're from out of town, and you know, where the DJs at here and stuff like that.
50:50
SPEAKER_02: Like, how are they?
50:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, what's what's the music like?
50:52
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Yay, yeah, and I kind of explained the situation we were thinking about moving here, and he's like, Yeah, you want to get a hold of Chris Jones.
50:59
SPEAKER_02: This is this is this is I don't know his number, but but but here's his brother's number.
51:03
SPEAKER_02: Give his brother a call.
51:05
SPEAKER_02: I was like, you know what, this guy probably thinks I'm not gonna do it.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do it.
51:09
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm that guy.
51:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: So finally I get in touch with Chris Jones, who like Chris had been all over the place, DJing like Vegas, uh uh all all kinds of places.
51:21
SPEAKER_02: Chris, and he's a fantastic DJ, right?
51:25
SPEAKER_02: Um with that, so I got it got in touch with him, and I was like, hey man, I'm thinking about moving out here, but like I think I might have to hang it up because first of all, I'm coming from the east coast of Omaha, Nebraska.
51:34
SPEAKER_02: So I'm already picturing like a certain type of market to begin with.
51:38
SPEAKER_02: And you know, he was like, Yeah, you know, don't worry about it, don't worry about it.
51:41
SPEAKER_02: So he did some research on me, I guess, found out that that I was legit.
51:45
SPEAKER_02: I ended up having to take the job anyway, but before we moved here, he already had like shows lined up for me.
51:52
SPEAKER_02: I was like, dude, he he's like, Yeah, hey, I got two shows for you, like right when you right when you get there.
51:57
SPEAKER_02: I was like, wow, okay.
51:59
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, listen, man, like thank you.
52:01
SPEAKER_02: But like, are are you sure?
52:02
SPEAKER_02: He's like, No, he's like, I did some research.
52:04
SPEAKER_02: I was like, right on, man.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, let's do this.
52:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
52:08
SPEAKER_02: So so right off the bat, Chris Jones, like always, that's always my dude for you know just putting that together because the fact that I could DJ definitely like mentally saved my life, uh, many, many times.
52:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, you made a mention about uh how it's psychology to a certain degree.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: So what goes into making a night a good night?
52:32
SPEAKER_02: Yes, okay, okay.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: So there's so many factors, and I'm probably gonna miss a whole bunch of things, but at least when you're there in the moment, it it really comes together.
52:40
SPEAKER_02: So it first of all, it depends on the type of event.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: Like uh, you can see a great club DJ who would be a shitty wedding DJ, or a great wedding DJ who's a shitty club DJ, or a great club DJ who's a horrible event DJ, right?
52:55
SPEAKER_02: Or blah blah blah.
52:56
SPEAKER_02: So there's a different mindset, like psychology, yes.
53:01
SPEAKER_02: So the club is probably the easiest uh mindset to do, depending on you know the the the time slot or whatever and where I'm from, like you did the whole night, four, five, six hours.
53:12
SPEAKER_02: Like that's you, you're on the bill, like you.
53:15
SPEAKER_02: So uh with the club, it it depends.
53:18
SPEAKER_02: You got to kind of meet people where they are when they're coming in.
53:20
SPEAKER_02: So it depends on your market.
53:21
SPEAKER_02: If I'm at the corner bar, I go on at 10 o'clock, people are just kind of chilling right now.
53:26
SPEAKER_02: It's not time to hit them with the bangers yet.
53:28
SPEAKER_02: Right.
53:29
SPEAKER_02: You want to build up that alcohol floor because what you're really doing, the I don't care what anybody says, the job of DJ's and to make people dance, it's to sell drinks.
53:37
SPEAKER_02: Right, absolutely, it's to make fucking money, right?
53:41
SPEAKER_02: Yep, that's it.
53:42
SPEAKER_02: So the psychology of it is the corner bar, 10, 11, 11:30.
53:49
SPEAKER_02: You're just playing good drinking music.
53:51
SPEAKER_02: You want people nodding their heads.
53:53
SPEAKER_02: You might get a few party buses where they've already got like a two-hour head start.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: Right.
53:57
SPEAKER_02: Go in for a little bit, you know what I mean?
53:59
SPEAKER_02: You you're you're there, you're there to sell experiences.
54:02
SPEAKER_02: So you're building, right?
54:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, the crowd will rotate.
54:05
SPEAKER_02: You can't take it personal if people leave.
54:07
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes their sitter just flaked or something like that.
54:09
SPEAKER_02: You never know.
54:10
SPEAKER_02: You don't know what's going on in their life.
54:12
SPEAKER_02: You have to play the long game.
54:14
SPEAKER_02: So many angles for this.
54:15
SPEAKER_02: So that's the corner bar from 10 to 11:30, right?
54:18
SPEAKER_02: The club is different.
54:20
SPEAKER_02: The club is is ideally, they want to be high energy from the get-go, right?
54:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, so if you're if you're in a like a nightclub district, too, that further adds to the energy and generally how you can pop things off much sooner because that's what people are coming there for.
54:36
SPEAKER_02: Right.
54:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so for that, still though, you have to be strategic with what you play, when you play it, how you play it, how long you play it, things like that.
54:46
SPEAKER_02: So uh sometimes the oldest songs get the best response at certain times.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: These are all the things, and it changes night by night by the dynamics of the crowd, where you are, what's going on in the the outside world, things like that.
55:01
SPEAKER_02: Um the other day, actually, I spun an election night party.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: Right.
55:07
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, both my both uh the the the candidates that hired me, they both won their races, but it was just psychology with keeping the whole group together.
55:17
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
55:18
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, anyway, sorry.
55:19
SPEAKER_02: So the club, like you you want to build that up, but it's it's energy management, you know what I mean?
55:24
SPEAKER_02: And you got to like you also have to look at the people that are interacting and who aren't because you're always gonna have diverse types of people.
55:31
SPEAKER_02: You got to give everybody a little bit of what they're coming for.
55:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, you also have to make a crowd that sometimes is diametrically opposed to each other, fall in love with each other.
55:40
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
55:41
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, yes.
55:42
SPEAKER_02: So when you take it to that land, thank God it's it's fed me for all these years, you know what I mean?
55:47
SPEAKER_02: Just that whole mentality.
55:49
SPEAKER_02: So now the wedding DJ, etc., yeah, that's that's a whole other aspect as well.
55:55
SPEAKER_00: And that's a whole charted beats to a certain extent.
55:58
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, pretty much.
55:59
SPEAKER_02: So so here's the thing as weddings, people getting married now, they're younger though, etc., they've been exposed to DJ culture, they want that for their wedding now, right?
56:08
SPEAKER_02: They want that, they want somebody who after the cake cutting is gonna turn the place into the club or studio 54, whatever for their family, friends, a smart DJ in that aspect is gonna play, you know, family-friendly, clean music, which to me goes without a doubt.
56:24
SPEAKER_02: Like my philosophy is a little different from other people's philosophies.
56:28
SPEAKER_02: So, with the wedding now, you want you're gonna have a cocktail hour.
56:32
SPEAKER_02: So you don't even want people dancing at that point.
56:34
SPEAKER_02: You want people mingling, you want enough ambient background noise because as they're drinking and they start talking louder and louder and louder, you they need that buffer, you know what I mean?
56:43
SPEAKER_02: So people can't hear each other's expressions or what they're talking about.
56:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, just setting that atmosphere.
56:48
SPEAKER_02: People that they've been they've been at the the chapel all day, they just want to come back and have a drink.
56:53
SPEAKER_02: Right.
56:53
SPEAKER_02: Cocktail hour, gotcha.
56:55
SPEAKER_02: Uh, then later, you know, the wedding party's gonna line up and things like that.
56:59
SPEAKER_02: You have to introduce.
57:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a whole nuance, and they're fighting you every step of the way because you get everybody lined up and then somebody disappears.
57:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I gotta use the bathroom.
57:07
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I gotta go get a beer.
57:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh-uh.
57:09
SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of that where it's more of relationships, not necessarily technical skills.
57:15
SPEAKER_02: But people are getting smart now and they're needing those technical skills at the end of the night, right?
57:21
SPEAKER_02: So that's where like guys like me, I've I've been blessed.
57:25
SPEAKER_02: Like, I stay busy.
57:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I try not to take on too many weddings because they're a lot of work, but they're a lot of money too, etc.
57:31
SPEAKER_02: But just from those three examples, too, there's if you don't understand those approaches, you won't do that again.
57:39
SPEAKER_02: And you may not want to because it'll be such a horrible experience for you.
57:42
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
57:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's you know, listening to you talk about this, it's very similar to people management too.
57:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh like if you're if you're leading or managing an organization, you know that right now in the workforce, there's as many as five different generations working, and each generation requires a different management skill set.
58:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, because you have to figure out what their currency is.
58:04
SPEAKER_00: So if you're managing golden agers, boom, baby boomers, gen Xers, millennials, it's a different management style for every single generation.
58:12
SPEAKER_02: This is coming a little smoothly from you, man.
58:14
SPEAKER_02: What you can ask the expand on this management thing.
58:18
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no, no.
58:19
SPEAKER_00: We don't get into my day job.
58:22
SPEAKER_00: But but no, I mean it it makes it makes perfect sense because at the end of the day, you're dealing with people and you're dealing with people's emotions.
58:32
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and yes, and different people handle things differently, yeah, especially from that emotive standpoint.
58:39
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and how many times has a song, music in general, or something pertaining to music saved our lives mentally, emotionally, you know what I'm saying?
58:50
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
58:52
SPEAKER_02: So that's the thing, it's that other thing.
58:54
SPEAKER_02: It's such and music is such a subconscious, subliminal thing, but in a way, it's like hypnosis.
58:59
SPEAKER_02: Don't get me wrong, there's some people that no matter what, they're not gonna like the DJ.
59:03
SPEAKER_02: Right.
59:03
SPEAKER_02: They're not going, and it's like hypnosis, you have to want to be hypnotized, right?
59:07
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
59:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so once I was kind of taught to approach the business like that, then it's like there, to me at least, uh I've always been able to, you know what I mean?
59:19
SPEAKER_02: I've always been able to build a client base.
59:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't advertise or anything like that.
59:22
SPEAKER_02: I just I've just been blessed.
59:23
SPEAKER_02: I got great clients, I stay busy.
59:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, it it's nuts.
59:28
SPEAKER_02: And I and I hated DJs, like I said.
59:30
SPEAKER_02: I just kind of got sucked in.
59:32
SPEAKER_00: And look at you now.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah, right.
59:36
SPEAKER_00: So what what's your go-to track?
59:39
SPEAKER_00: What's something that you no matter what you're DJing, who you're playing to, what's something you sneak in there that's for you?
59:47
SPEAKER_00: Because I know there's gotta be shoot.
59:50
SPEAKER_00: It depends on this.
59:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, here's here's the other thing.
59:53
SPEAKER_02: As I've gotten older, there's more of those tracks that pop up in sets, and they're met like with okay.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, it like I said, it really depends on the setting.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_02: Any kind of First Friday type thing, any of the old like James Brown break beat type things, uh, some of the old like graffiti rock stuff.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_02: That's all the artsy hipster stuff.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_02: Um old school like electro, man parrish, uh stuff like that.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, in the club, it's mainly just kind of old school East Coast East Coast hip hop.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_02: I'll sneak in.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I I'm pretty flexible.
1:00:34
SPEAKER_02: You know, generally, like when I am ser when you're setting up, you're surveying the crowd, like if you're smart, you're surveying the crowd already thinking about what you're gonna open with.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_02: Because you have a make or break moment there.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm not gonna open up with some trap song, I'll do it later when they're all drunk three hours from now.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_02: Hell yeah, they're gonna love it.
1:00:53
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_02: But you know, you're you're surveying what you're gonna start off with.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_02: So sometimes you'll survey and you'll have like 10 songs in your head that like, yeah, I'll definitely do this, definitely do this.
1:01:04
SPEAKER_02: And then you don't.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_02: It turns out you don't, and you have a fantastic night.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_02: So it just depends.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_02: Like you really have to have a certain amount of you have to be a certain empath.
1:01:14
SPEAKER_02: So it's hard to say one track that always works, but I don't necessarily play it all the time.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_02: But generally, if you play Mary J.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_02: Blige Family Affair in any setting, they get it.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_02: It's just a Midwest thing, man.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like you can never go wrong.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_02: If you don't know what to play, throw that on, and you got three and a half more minutes to figure it out.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_00: That's that's a great mindset.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_00: You've established that you're a multifaceted musician because I I view a DJ as being a musician.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_00: Yes, no, you know, not enough people view it that way, but I view a DJ as being a musician.
1:01:51
SPEAKER_00: As a multifaceted musician, have you found that your musical tastes have seasons?
1:02:00
SPEAKER_02: Yes, okay.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_02: This is a great question.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_02: They have seasoned, but in also many, many circumstances, that eclectical music, that eclectic music taste has also been vindicated.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_02: Because there's like, and it's kind of like what you alluded to.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_02: There's times where I'm like, nah, fuck them.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna hear this.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_02: Like, there's no way I'm not gonna play this.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_02: Right, right, right.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, and and 99% of the time it's like, uh, it's that thing that makes it different, that makes it unique.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, so wait, wait, sorry, I lost my train of thought there.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_02: Well, what was the question again?
1:02:33
SPEAKER_02: Let me redirect.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_00: Do your musical tastes have seasons?
1:02:36
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_02: Yes, okay, okay.
1:02:39
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and so like, for instance, in the club or even for events, that you will play different songs, different times of year as well, that that aren't specifically seasonal songs or anything like that.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right, right, right.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_02: But yes, the the something about the key, something about the time signature, things like that.
1:02:57
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:02:58
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but yeah, I mean, it just it just depends.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_02: Summer is generally more airy, light, insipid stuff.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it depends.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_02: It depends, though.
1:03:08
SPEAKER_02: It depends on the venue.
1:03:09
SPEAKER_02: Some venues are specific for what they want, right?
1:03:11
SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, I love nights when I go to 415 because I they already know EDM is the thing.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_02: Like, we're gonna do it.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_02: All iterations, man.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm going in classic house, I'm going into you know, whatever.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_02: I don't do a lot of progressive because I hate progressive house.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_02: Edit that out before the torches and pitchforks show up at my house.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: But sure.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I find that that as a listener, that that's how I I adapt every year.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, like, you know, I'm sitting by the pool, I'm gonna listen to like some reggae, I'm gonna listen to like something that kind of inspires that moment.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_00: When it gets to this time of year, I I notice that like the the hip hop that I traditionally love or the rock music that I traditionally love goes by the wayside, and I'm like throwing Thelonious Monk on on vinyl, or I'm listening to like um Vince Giraldi, like the guy that does all the peanuts music.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, and it's just like or or even like um he, you know, I I'll I'll catch shit for it, but I'll own it.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, I love crooners, like I love listening to somebody like uh Michael Bublet and just like this time of year because it just fits the mood.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and it's and it's one of those things where um you can fight it or you can just embrace it and love the moment that you're living in.
1:04:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
1:04:34
SPEAKER_02: But you're but you're right, musical music is that language though, certain songs, certain keys, certain certain yeah, time signatures, uh, certain song structures.
1:04:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
1:04:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I've been pulling up my phone because this is a good opportunity to drop this quote because I think this is one that everybody will feel.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's if art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.
1:04:58
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you know, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, and and and and that's how that's how it needs to be considered.
1:05:06
SPEAKER_02: Like when I heard that, I was like, that makes sense.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_02: That that because it's time and then what frequency amplitude, right?
1:05:14
SPEAKER_02: Time over frequency amplitude.
1:05:16
SPEAKER_02: That's that's that's what it is.
1:05:18
SPEAKER_02: The root the root of every uh of every song or musical piece.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, definitely seasonally music uh styles change.
1:05:27
SPEAKER_02: Um and uh speaking with funny story, so uh I've I'm about two days out since I've actually discovered Robin Trower.
1:05:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow, and uh the in that two days, Bridge of Size has pretty much been on repeat.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
1:05:42
SPEAKER_02: And and so here's the thing when did that come out?
1:05:44
SPEAKER_02: 1973?
1:05:45
SPEAKER_02: That song is so relevant now.
1:05:47
SPEAKER_02: It sounds like it was written yesterday.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
1:05:50
SPEAKER_02: Just the the the mood, the structure, everything.
1:05:54
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:05:54
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, it's just one of those things.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it it music tran if music transcends.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_02: time then they definitely have seasons you know what I mean right right so what's what's somebody that you're listening to right now man so what totally and I'm glad you asked this what totally blow blew my mind and I'm kind of late to the party on this um but if you get a chance check out Krungman oh so they have a guitarist Mark Speer brilliant guitarist um funny story I guess the it's a power trio uh Laura Lee on bass uh Mark Speer on guitar and a guy named DJ on drums who's like the ultimate pocket drummer uh but they are just for a power trio it just sounds so much bigger than it is and he's just an amazing guitarist but not a flashy guitarist it's all like kind of melody uh they don't have a singer the guitar is the vocalist oh that's awesome yeah that's awesome um Judah Bauer from the John Spencer Blues explosion like really high on my list of influences now nice ten years ago I would have been like who the fuck is this guy right but now I'm like how did I not know who the fuck this guy was right right so uh but yeah I'm trying to think um other bands to listen to right now Crung Ben though man I'm just yeah I just I it it's it's a cheesy name they actually the story behind the name I guess they were gonna change it but they got popular before because the name was like a joke you know they were just like it's kind of like three quarter evil exactly right but then things started happening and it was like oh we gotta own it we gotta own it but uh but um yeah so uh let's see I'm trying to think I don't know I still listen to the 90s stuff though I still listen to yeah I all of that stuff it's yeah because that's really weird because I found like when when I was actively doing bands there were there were certain genres that kind of got pushed to the wayside so if I was doing like a heavier like punk kind of bridging on metal band that's the type of music I was listening to so my love for hip hop might have gotten pushed to the wayside while I was in that creative mode right listening to this other stuff.
1:08:11
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going back and I'm finding stuff that I've missed over the past 25 years plus.
1:08:16
SPEAKER_00: It oh my god dude yeah so like like one of like one of the one of the hip hop groups that I just rediscovered and of course everybody's wagging their all the heads are wagging their finger at me Souls of Mischief.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes 93 Till Infinity is like anytime I'm driving along I have to listen to 93 Till Infinity because I love that scene now.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_02: And that's one of those good old start to finish hip hop albums.
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes absolutely start to finish it tells a story goes to you know there's there's bands on the on the rock side and and like guys that I wrote off as being cheesy like honestly one of the best guitarists of our recent generation you've got to put his personal crap to the side John Mayer I've come back I've come back to John Mayer but I hated the guy because I was stuck in this like well that doesn't fit the punk rock mindset so he's got crap but but now we're all adults and we're all kind of like which is so funny because I'm sure you probably heard the tri album then the lot yeah yeah absolutely that's what did it for me that's what did it for me like it's and it's not John Mayer's fault that he's immensely talented and writes catchy songs right that you know trust fund babies love and they got the money to go to his shows right and pay him right that's not his fault.
1:09:34
SPEAKER_02: Right he is immensely talented and just amazing.
1:09:37
SPEAKER_02: And that's the thing yeah you have to circle back to this like now suddenly you know the car is kind of pop punk whatever I just realized I never liked the cars.
1:09:46
SPEAKER_00: I liked Elliott Easton the guitarist right dude the the the checks that they made him cash with some of those songs some of those rhythms yeah like this is kind of like new wave but country at the same time so you know right but I mean but then then again you you kind of find um you find out that some of the bands that have been popular in the past 20 years you go back to their influences and the cars is a good example of that because without the cars there would be no weezer.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes I mean despite the fact that Rick Ocasic produced their first album but there without the cars there wouldn't be any weezer.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_02: Who Rick O'Kasic initially could have been like who the fuck are these guys?
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: Right absolutely right and he he made history absolutely so one of the things that inspired me to do this episode in particular um not only because I I view you like family like every time we get together and every time we talk it's like we just left off from where we were five years ago 10 years ago 20 years ago um was just kind of revisiting some of these things that um made us excited and maybe kind of um looked at life through a little bit more of a lens of innocence to some degree to where we're you know we're optimistic with how we view the world because it's easy for us to get stuck in these honey traps of being pessimistic every day with what we're inundated with sociologically on the news on social media how do we restore the innocence of then to the lives that we have now what is what is our path to doing that oh man uh first of all that's a question we need to ask ourselves every day just to remind ourselves to stay focused on it right absolutely but uh I can only kind of speak to what's worked for me um so far I mean as anybody listening to this knows we've had a had a we've had a rough go these last few months you know absolutely and uh but um one thing that is that has helped bring the innocence back for me and I hate to pull everything back to music but in a way I'm kind of glad to because that's all I've consistently had.
1:12:08
SPEAKER_02: And as I have this conversation with you I realize that's only all I've had consistently had my whole life.
1:12:13
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:12:13
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
1:12:14
SPEAKER_02: That's the only thing that I've ever like you can hear it the same way twice sometimes.
1:12:19
SPEAKER_02: What what's happened with me now is uh obviously I've gotten stronger in my faith etc um which is our already a whole other can of worms because now uh just like there's the big box DJ and the the the the the play the record of that we need now DJ there's the Republican Christianity and there's the spiritual Christianity.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_02: What's brought it back for me is this the spiritual Christianity but here's the thing with my function with church now is I play guitar for our for our worship team.
1:12:53
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
1:12:53
SPEAKER_02: So every Sunday we're there just belt it out two services whatever um I'm with a great group of people pretty much let me play the way that I want to play uh as long as it complements what what what we're trying to do uh and that outlet alone has been amazing to me uh that's brought back an innocence because and you can never take for granted the nuances to playing guitar for God sure versus playing for chicks and beer right so two totally different mindsets I literally had to relearn how to play guitar and I hadn't started playing again until maybe a I can't tell the rest of the team this now but uh surprise I probably started playing maybe six months before I joined back oh right I also took like 10 12 years off from playing guitar all together right and then as a DJ I thought guitar playing was stupid.
1:13:45
SPEAKER_00: So you know I and I think it it goes beyond you know in in just taking taking the concept of actual organized religion out of it and just making it a spiritual sense of from top to bottom I I I'll speak to something I've seen on your social media and I I didn't this is a surprise because I haven't told you about this but there was something I saw you know I was Facebook stalking you just the other day in preparation for this episode and there's this video of you playing guitar and your kids singing Old Town Road and it warmed my heart like none other.
1:14:23
SPEAKER_00: Because honestly you know you talked about playing you talked about playing for your church and paying for a bigger spiritual you know picture in life and restoring innocence I do think like spreading that love uh amongst our children is kind of how we bring things back full circle is like we put these inflections upon our kids of the people that make maybe we were when we get up got into these things.
1:14:48
SPEAKER_02: Yes yes oh man I didn't I didn't realize you'd seen that video and I I forgot about that video.
1:14:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh it's fantastic it made me smile ear to ear is so good.
1:14:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah it was yeah it was amazing like and it is eventually the kids finally were like dad we we we're done we're done rehearsing now like go go do something go watch TV or something because I was so into it with them but it was just like and that's the thing that I see I see where you're going with it that does bring the innocence back you know what I mean that that culminates all those late nights all those like writing sessions of those oh we could have nailed it this time blah blah blah to that moment you know what I mean like it it it comes down to that right right because you know that at some point in time they're gonna be us yes yes I hope they play instruments but I don't I don't know you know I covered this in an earlier episode it's like as many times as I've tried yeah I can impart my will yeah right I mean right my my daughter's quite a quite a pianist but her her interests change like every six months so you never know man they might come back to it or at least it builds that foundation absolutely um absolutely or whatever yeah but uh but yeah yeah so something some things that have that have turned the in and here's the other thing too when I kept quit playing playing guitar I was in a rut right and I had to go away from it I almost had to relearn how to play I knew I would could eventually learn how to play thank god um unless something we're really went wrong but playing again in a worship setting you get such a uh a taste for the for the nuance right you know what I mean so I'm not I'm not here to preach or or or whatever um and and Christianity in and of itself to to be honest I'm if anybody's listening going oh but Christians no you're right like I I totally get it how how they can be they've definitely pushed me away from the church for a long time till I found the right one.
1:16:43
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:16:43
SPEAKER_02: You know but uh but playing worship like literally and I tell my worship teammates this all the time I'm like this this saves my life like there were there were weeks where I only left the house to do this.
1:16:55
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:16:56
SPEAKER_00: Right that's fantastic.
1:16:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah that's fantastic I think that is a great place to wrap this up Eric I love you man I am so glad you're here sitting across from me I'm sorry I got you canceled you didn't get me canceled at all I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure everybody listens to this because this is this is 20 years of you know I of brotherhood that I I do not ever take for granted.
1:17:26
SPEAKER_02: So I appreciate you yeah man you're always family if you if you come back up to the scary north man let me know stop by the house I'm in Lincoln he's in Omaha just for just for transparency here.
1:17:37
SPEAKER_02: Right and it's district two oh man thanks very much for doing this buddy uh you got anything you you want to plug before uh before we no listen man I love you and I'm glad we got a chance to get together under this context yeah definitely yeah definitely more discussions but that those definitely have to take place offline before we really get to well I I tell you what this probably ain't gonna be the last time we do this together so man there'll be many many more sweet life Mikey C episodes in the future I just want to let you know man though but seriously like it just is uh I I just hope this underscores to anybody who uh channels music or something like that as an outlet um when you find the right people in life they can bring that out of you as well um and and the funny thing is when they bring that out of you you can never put it back right like it's it's always there.
1:18:27
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:18:28
SPEAKER_02: So you know for for for what it's worth like just if if if if you love music the fellowship of music and things like that and you finally find those other people who who feel it and hear it the same way you do like hold on to that hold on to that.
1:18:41
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely once again I want to thank my very good friend Eric Swanson or as a lot of you know him as DJ Sweetlife for coming down to the Clark Dungeon and recording this episode of the podcast with me today.
1:18:55
SPEAKER_00: And since records seem to be a reoccurring theme of this episode of the podcast I'm going to sound like a broken record and thank all of you for listening to the podcast and sending me all the messages you've been sending through Instagram Facebook or even text messages the past few weeks.
1:19:14
SPEAKER_00: And if you could continue to show that support by leaving a five star review on your very favorite podcast app or on my Caught on the mic Facebook page it would be much appreciated.
1:19:26
SPEAKER_00: Please recommend this podcast to some of your friends we want to increase the listenership so we can do more cool things in the future.
1:19:35
SPEAKER_00: With 2020 about to wrap up I'm hoping to get four to six more episodes on your podcast app before the year's end.
1:19:44
SPEAKER_00: This has been Caught on the mic with Michael Clark.
1:19:47
SPEAKER_00: Until next time thank you