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Beer Booze and BS is a bold new podcast filmed inside Frontier Liquor in Zimmerman Minnesota where craft spirits cocktail culture and unfiltered fun collide. Hosted by Chrissy Bohnhoff this show delivers liquor tastings off the cuff conversations giveaways and a real behind the register experience. We spotlight local legends badass women small town rebels and anyone who loves a strong drink with a side of real talk. Whether you are into whiskey vodka tequila or craft cocktails you will feel right at home. New episodes drop weekly featuring liquor reviews cocktail tutorials biker vibes exclusive merch drops and raw stories you will not hear anywhere else. Support local drink local and do not take life too seriously. Subscribe and sip with us. BeerBoozeBS LiquorPodcast DrinkLocalMN CocktailCulture MinnesotaPodcast WhiskeyTasting
Alright. Welcome to Beer Booze and BS. We are here today on a Sunday, beautiful day in Minnesota at Frontier Liquor. We have somebody special here today from Nashville, Tennessee. He is originally from my sanity, but he has moved to Nashville.
chrissy:How many years ago, Troy?
troy:Twelve.
chrissy:Twelve years So Troy Castellano is here with us today. Hi, guys. And obviously Paulie is my sidekick here and he's with us as well. Oh, I are. And we're gonna catch up with Troy and talk about his music career and go back in time and kind of reminisce a little bit about the old days of ICANI and team working stuff.
chrissy:Yeah, just a few. Welcome.
troy:Thank you. Yeah. Great to be here. Thanks. As they say.
chrissy:Yeah. So Troy started out, what was your first
paul:Did you do
troy:your research?
chrissy:I did. All right.
troy:But did
chrissy:you what was Bad Jack your first band?
troy:No. I I dabbled in a couple other little bands. My first band was called Live Wire.
chrissy:Oh, I think I remember that. Yeah.
troy:We used to play, like, Barbara Jeans. Yeah. Was called McWilliams way back
chrissy:then. Barbara Jeans. So I have Bad Jack. No.
troy:Maybe I didn't do my research. But, yeah, I really did.
chrissy:Barbara Jeans as Bad
troy:Jack too. Was our kind of popular one around Yep.
chrissy:So what I have is you've opened for Cheap Trick.
troy:Oh, yeah.
chrissy:Is that correct? Yep. Sticks.
troy:Sticks. Yep.
chrissy:Warrant.
troy:Yep.
chrissy:Slaughter. Yep. Firehouse. Yep. And played guitar on Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem.
troy:Yep. The album. Yeah. It was a public disservice announcement. Yeah.
chrissy:Do you mean? What does
troy:that It's it was called methods of mayhem, a public disservice announcement.
chrissy:That was the name of the album? Yeah. Okay.
paul:Yeah. That's fucking gangster.
chrissy:Yeah. Total gangster. Like, oh my god. So tell us about Tommy Lee. We mean because that's he's the
troy:We know okay.
chrissy:What was he like to work with?
troy:Well, this might be a long winded story, but I gotta tell you, like, how that happened. It was a Guitar Center flyer they would put in the mail and on the back that said make a record with Tommy Lee.
chrissy:Shout
troy:out Lee? Yeah. It was like, go go to this website. So this is 2010. Go to this website, download, the bass drums, guitar, and vocal to our song, and then you put what you want on it, mix it in, send it back to us.
troy:If we'd like it, we might use it. Really? And this went on for ten months. Like, he put out 12 songs. And and then right away, the first song, I just ripped all their guitars out and put my stuff
chrissy:in there. Yeah.
troy:And and then the by the second song so he'd do these little shout outs on on social media. Like, hey, man. We're listening
chrissy:to tracks. Now what year is this?
paul:2010.
chrissy:2010.
troy:Okay. He'd do these little video shout outs and he's like, hey, we're listening to the tracks that come in. And, you know, my name kept coming up every time. But the third song, the producer calls me and says says, dude. And his name's Scott Humphrey.
troy:He produced all of the Rob Zombie stuff. Oh,
paul:Nice. Yeah.
troy:Played on them. He played some keys on the Metallica Black album. But Scott Humphrey, big time producer, but he calls and says, dude, everything you're playing is coming through our screeners, and then we're just loving it. And it's like, yeah, he goes goes, what else do you do? I said, well, I I do web design, you know?
troy:And then goes, hey, Tommy, this guy does web design, you know, and then puts Tommy on the phone. He says, hey, dude, can you pimp out my page, you know, so I
chrissy:have a
troy:little bit of web design and gave me his passwords and stuff and end up doing some web design for his page during this whole process, you know? And then so the deal was after this ten months, they weren't going to tell you if you made it or not. You just had to go buy the record. So that was Oh, shifty fuckers. Sure.
troy:But but I had a pretty good idea because they they were liking it. But anyway So
chrissy:you didn't find out till the record came out?
troy:No. I actually got I got a heads up because Okay. I I would go to California. I'd go to LA. I was trying to make contacts in Los Angeles.
troy:But Scott said to me, he says, hey, dude. When you're coming out here, do you wanna come over to Tommy's and listen to the record? And I go, hell yeah.
paul:You know? I'm duh. Nah. Fuck that. I who wants
troy:to do Calmasses.
paul:Fuck it. You serious motherfucker?
troy:There's one in Cribs that that was an older one, but there was a second cribs they did that that was the house that I was in. Nice. The one with the atrium in the middle and his studio is in the basement. But yeah, you know, so so I I I go to his house. I have a friend that lived here.
troy:Actually, her name was Amanda Harris. And I'm like, Amanda was a a really great young singer. She was signed to, like, epic for epic records at 16.
paul:She was
troy:from my sanity. Jesus? Yep. Really? And then she had we have really killer rock band.
troy:And well, anyway, she moved to Los Angeles four years prior. And anyway, I'm like, I called her up and said, hey, can you give me your ride to Tommy Lee's, you know? So and she has such a crush on Tommy Lee. She like, she's a hard rocker. So she love what
chrissy:Like me with Kid Rock.
troy:She's like, we gotta stop. Ralph's is a grocery store and they have liquor in there. She's got we gotta stop Ralph's. Need a little bump before I go into this house.
chrissy:Before she meets him.
troy:Yep. So anyway, she gave us a ride there and I walked into Scott, introduced me, like, you know, Tommy was sitting on the couch doing an interview with shoot. Oh, Anthony Booze is his name. He wrote he wrote the slash biography, the Nikki Six. So
chrissy:he's a writer. Nice.
troy:Yeah. Tommy Land book. So Oh. He and Rolling Stone writer. So I I met Anthony and well, I go, hey, Tommy.
troy:Pleasure to meet you, man. And he and I said, I heard the record's done, and it's all mixed. And he says, yeah, dude. You're all over it. So he's like, we go down we go down to the the studio, and first track, they crank up.
troy:I'm like, that's my riff. That's my riff.
chrissy:Little riff. That.
troy:So so it really about I I think about 30 people made it on there. Some people made it on there with just
chrissy:Sure.
troy:Hats. You know? Fuck. Yeah. Fuck.
troy:Somebody got on there by opening a can of beer. Hell. You know? Okay. But mine was all chorus guitar parts.
troy:Badass. So
chrissy:that is so cool. What a
troy:cool story.
paul:Hell no. Right?
chrissy:So how did you feel in that moment? Like, when you're in Tommy Lee's fucking house in Calabasas, California, like, was that, like, I made it moment for you?
troy:Kinda sorta
paul:I feel
chrissy:like for me, it was
paul:When you're yeah.
troy:When you're in the moment, you don't realize. You kinda look back and go, wow. You know, that's pretty amazing.
chrissy:But That is amazing.
troy:You know what? I guess I was kind of I was probably a little reserved and a little like, you know, there's a video of us in his studio. You know, he comes walking by me. He's like, he will lick you if he likes you. So he like he likes He sticks his finger in my nose.
chrissy:That's not
troy:like, yeah. And then I'm like, but anyway
chrissy:I have licked a few faces in my life. Oh, yeah. But
troy:I guess, you know, yeah, it was really cool. I was just sitting there soaking it all in. I mean, I'm looking at all the crew gold record. Oh, right. Sitting in his studio.
paul:Oh, fucking sick.
chrissy:So was was that after
troy:we drank a bottle crown, you know, we sat there. Like, I got to tell you, honestly, I thought in the late nineties, I thought Tommy was a bit of a I don't know. I didn't really care for him because he was all over the spotlight, you know? And like, there was that
chrissy:He was a shower.
troy:Yeah. He was like, that was all about him and Pam. And then it was that Tommy goes back to school. And it was just I think it was one of those things like, I was just seeing him too much and like, get out of my face, you know? Yeah.
troy:And then
paul:over it.
troy:Then as I got to know him that that little bit, it's like, he's a he's a really Down to earth. Yeah. And a good dude and friendly. He's like, he's not a mean bone and not a douche, you know. It's like, we talked about he he he loves everything from Sinatra to Metallica to dead mouse.
troy:You know? He like, he He just loves music. Yeah. As you do. Exactly.
troy:It's like, that's where we really connected on our conversation. Sure. It's like talking about just music, man. What moves you? What makes you feel good?
troy:What what what inspires you? What makes you wanna create? You know?
chrissy:Looking back, like, when did you know or when did you feel like where did the music, like, hit you? Was it at a very, very young age? It was. Okay.
troy:One years old. Like Really? Looking
chrissy:So now is there music history in your family?
troy:No. No. I just you know, we had that big old console record player. Mhmm. You know?
troy:And I I remember, like, barely standing over. I have a great story about this console because I have it, and it was Really?
paul:Yeah. Nice.
troy:So but I remember looking at the records, like, probably stand. You know? It was probably a Disney record. Yeah. Sure.
troy:But I just, like, sit there, and I'd sit there and watch it, and I and I just, like, sit here the music. And, you know, music with infants, I'll get I'll probably get into a lot of tangents. Like infants
paul:and kids
troy:and music like when I go play somewhere, if it's a family friendly and they got kid, you know, that little six month old and the chair just
paul:yeah, just perks up
troy:and they just are mesmerized.
chrissy:Are into that, you know, I remember a lot of toddlers and stuff like, Oh yeah, they dance and they love the music, but like, it's in your soul. Yeah. Like, for sure.
troy:It was there from day one. I don't know why. I mean, I remember telling my mom, like, at three years old, I want a guitar. I want a guitar. So
chrissy:so age did you start learning guitar?
troy:You know, probably 10.
paul:Okay.
troy:Got a couple of lessons from a school teacher.
chrissy:You did?
troy:Okay. To play country roads. Yeah. You know? Yep.
troy:And then then, I mean, I wasn't very good. And then about 14 or 15, I I kind of I was playing an ACDC record, you know? And and I got my guitar and I'm I hear, you know? But I'm like I'm like, like, ears started Okay. To Now I can hear it.
troy:So Yep. I just learned by ear, but that that was it. It's like as soon as I learned a few chords in my ear, then I just play records or cassettes and just listen and Yeah.
chrissy:That's amazing talent.
paul:Yeah. Isn't it way more impressive to be able to just play by ear? Like, you hear someone play something, then you can
troy:just pick it up.
paul:That and do that exact same thing without actually reading music.
troy:Exactly. Many very long to tear
paul:sound out. Some certain name for that, or is it called something?
troy:Ear ear it's just ear training, ear learning. Like, I guess it has to do with pitch, you know. Yeah. Hearing notes, but now
chrissy:What do you feel like when you, like, there's these musical proteges or whatever that are like five years old that can play like Mozart
troy:You know, think
chrissy:shit like that. Like, what do you think of that?
troy:People share that with me all the time. It blows my mind, and it's like, you know, some people are just born with it. They they they visually, mentally can see all the notes. Yeah. It's like a savant thing almost sometimes.
chrissy:I kinda feel like it's
troy:I I actually hate that most
paul:Oh, shit.
chrissy:I kinda feel like it's reincarnation, though, that, you know, that person is someone that was very musically inclined in another life.
paul:Right. Came back because not really.
chrissy:Because there's
paul:Or some shit like
chrissy:Like, you're three and you're playing, you know Yeah. These crazy piano
paul:tunes or
chrissy:whatever. You know? It's like, god dang.
troy:Did you hear what I said? I really hate them little son of bitches.
chrissy:Those little son
paul:of bitches.
troy:I worked hard and you just
chrissy:No. I know. Right?
paul:I know. Yeah.
troy:I'm not but no. That's the problem with it. It really is. It's like
chrissy:Or these use I mean, obviously with technology nowadays in like YouTube, which is up to, you know, to put on our phones. Yeah.
paul:And the
chrissy:second of the day, you know, you see these kids that are like, like I said, seven, eight, nine years old that are just ripping. Like they're playing, know, these guitars like they've been playing on their entire lives and they're only 10.
troy:Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure some of it's probably genetic. Some of it is, you know. Yeah.
troy:It's just, you know, crazy by God. Like, it's just it's there. And, you know? Yeah, it's like I wish I was had that, you know? Yeah.
troy:No shit.
chrissy:Right? I could sing.
troy:I still have to work hard at
chrissy:it. I took voice lessons for a while and I'm just like
troy:Did you?
chrissy:Yeah, I did. Yep. I'm like, really? She goes, you have such a range or range like Mariah Carey.
paul:She
chrissy:goes, you can go so high. But I don't know. It's the tuning for me that I obviously need to work
troy:on. Yeah,
chrissy:I love to sing though. So let's go back a little bit to our Ixane days. What year did you graduate?
troy:I didn't graduate. Why didn't you? '84.
chrissy:Oh, so you were 84.
troy:So you
paul:were just
chrissy:a year old.
troy:Yeah, you were 86 or 85?
chrissy:86. Yep. Yep. I was 86. So you met Jeannie, your wife, in what year?
troy:Oh, you know what? We met. It sounds weird because we're young, but she was like 12. I just turned 15. Little arcade on Main Street.
chrissy:Oh, yep. And I say, yeah.
troy:And we had our little, you know, summer kinda
chrissy:Summer love. Yeah.
troy:Make nothing nothing too serious. But yeah, that was the first time. I remember I was like trying to impress her by getting the high scores on all of the the games. Yeah. Defender and asteroids and you Yeah.
paul:Initials. Asteroids. Yep.
troy:TNJ, and then I'd go, she'd come in and I'd go check it out. What? Look what
paul:I did.
troy:Yeah. Spend a thousand dollars in quarters. Right? Yep. But, yeah, and then then then she moved away.
troy:Mean, no, Actually, we broke up because she, like, found out I was smoking cigarettes. And she, you know Okay. Yeah. She maybe was was closer to 13, but, like, I'm 15, so
chrissy:I seven smoking years cigarettes.
troy:Yeah. And then I got always say that I got a bad bad haircut, looked like Peter Tork from the monkeys. Oh, god. Now. Oh, no.
troy:But and then she goes, I don't I don't wanna go with you anymore. You know? And then and then so fast forward three years later, I'm 18 and she's 15 and we're at a little keg party. Yeah. And she come walking in with her friend Kathy
chrissy:and Kathy. Nielsen. Yep. And then Love her.
troy:And then I'm just like, know, just smitten all over again.
chrissy:She's beautiful. Clearly.
troy:Yeah. That was that's all I needed. Yep. But The
chrissy:big hair. Yeah. I kinda did that today. I was like, I'm gonna do some big hair today back in the
troy:Which is great, by the way. So and then, yeah, I mean, then, you know, she come from a broken family. Mhmm. I had lived on my own since I was 16. You know?
chrissy:You did?
troy:Yeah. She moved in.
chrissy:I did not know that.
troy:She so I think I was 18, and she moved in with me at 16.
paul:Like,
troy:she we needed each other. Yeah. You know? Really.
chrissy:So why did you why were you on your own at 16?
troy:My choice, I guess. You know, I got, like every typical teenager, got caught with weed, got caught with drinking. My dad was always really cool about it, you know? He's like, you know, if he busts me, he's like, Don't bring this shit in my house. Yep.
troy:But don't tell
chrissy:your mom.
paul:Yep. But when my mom
troy:found out, basically, it came down to this. The first time was like, you can either go to treat I was 15 the first time. You can either go to treatment or get out. Oh. I said, I can get out.
troy:I was working at the charcoal plant making like $400 a month. A month? Yeah. Really? Like, I mean,
chrissy:jeez. Yeah.
troy:And so I ended up living with a friend of mine. That didn't go too well. We ended up hating other, but for a couple months. Then my mom and dad said, come back home. And I came home.
troy:And by that time, got my license. And it was the same old story. It's like, you got to be home by eleven. I'd home too and be drunk and just so that's again, you can either get your shit together or get out.
chrissy:Yeah.
troy:I said
chrissy:I will.
troy:I'm out. I got kicked out of school too. Part of it was fighting and then skipping school.
chrissy:Okay. I think you and I skipped together.
troy:Oh, did we?
chrissy:Me? Oh, I seen Ronnie Reese was at your show last night, and I'm like, me and Ronnie used to skip
troy:all of
chrissy:its time back in
troy:the day. Yeah. No interest in that. And then the charcoal plant boss goes, I hear you're not going to school. So I worked for Royal Oak Charcoal, if anybody knows that charcoal.
troy:But he's like, I heard you're heard you're not going to school. You wanna work full time? Well, now I'm bringing, you know, $800 a month home and have my own wheels and that that was it. You know, start I think I rented a little cabin on Speck Lake Buckhorn, you know, dollars a month. Yep.
troy:You know, I mean, yeah, it was $300.
chrissy:Well, I moved out at 16 as well, but I had a child, you know, I got pregnant at 16, but I, you know, I moved out, but I was back and forth in and out of my parents' house, you know, due to breaking up, you know, whatever with Dan at
troy:the time. You know, our generation was just like
chrissy:We wanted
troy:to be out. That's that song, hell we raised, you know?
chrissy:Yes.
troy:We we wanted to grow up in such a hurry. Yeah. You know? That was the truth. Now now the generation is like, how long can I live at home?
paul:Exactly. Shit.
chrissy:Right? Crazy.
paul:How my my neighbor, his kid, he's, like, twenty twenty one, just moved back home.
chrissy:What would you do going back though? Now it's nowadays and we're 16, 17 years old. Would you stay or would you move out? I would probably hurt ourselves.
troy:I would move out because it would be the same conflict with my parents. They they didn't have any don't give it. They were great. We made severe. I mean, really, we we made hard amends after I became 18, but between 14 and 18 was just like, yeah, they're just don't.
troy:Yeah. I was I don't know. But, yeah, what would I do? I guess I'd still wanna be independent. I'm still that person.
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:Because I look back and I'm like, I think I probably would too. But I'm like, God, I was dumb. I should have just stayed at home. Right. Live rent for free.
paul:Dude, if I
chrissy:if I really my my parents weren't strict, so I was kind of doing whatever I wanted anyways. But
paul:my parents, I was always cool with my parents. Yeah. Moved out three months after I graduated, moved to Duluth and I've been on my own ever since.
chrissy:But yeah,
paul:it's like they they fuck. I graduated. Dad's like $300. I'm like, for fucking what? He's like, rents do motherfucker.
troy:Oh, yeah.
paul:So I found that out. I'm like, fuck this. I got to pay rent, I might as well be out on my own. I got to listen to you fuckers.
troy:Right, right.
paul:Yeah, moved out as soon as I could, but knowing what I know now, I would have fucking lived there as long as I could. Would have banked
chrissy:everything Banked your money. Exactly, that's what I think I was.
paul:But my parents, I didn't know this at the time, they were taking that $300 and putting it in an account till I moved out and then they gave it to me.
chrissy:Oh, that was nice.
paul:Like a down payment on something. So when I, I had $900 when I moved out because I said like $300 a month. So I lived there three months. Yeah. They gave me $900.
paul:So that was like my first month, first and last month's rent my That place in was awesome. But now shit, no, no, no, I would have fucking lived there as long as I could. Yeah. Saved all my money, put it in
chrissy:a I think about that all the time.
paul:Shit, by the time my parents would've kicked me out, I probably could've paid cash for
chrissy:a Yeah. Fucking Right? Yeah. Well, let's start with our first drink. You can choose to try it
troy:or right.
chrissy:Hair of the dog. Yeah,
paul:probably make you feel better.
chrissy:That's what I always do. Is it a whiskey what one this? Or
paul:That one's the whiskey one.
chrissy:So we're gonna start with Sip and Pass. This is a local company. This is moonshine. This is zimmermann. It's only 20%.
paul:It's Yeah.
chrissy:It's nothing like what you
troy:call it Tennessee.
paul:It is. It's like apple pucker.
chrissy:So what is this? Did you say this is the tea?
paul:Yeah. The raspberry tea. Lemony.
troy:So I love
chrissy:the raspberry one. Oh, what the It's just sweet tea. Oh. So you can try it if you don't want to, you
troy:can just take
chrissy:a sip. Cheers. Cheers. Welcome.
troy:I jumped the gun.
chrissy:It's okay.
troy:Like lemon tea. Yeah. That tastes good.
chrissy:Tastes like lemon tea.
paul:Kinda like a little more potent Delicious.
chrissy:Very good.
paul:Little more potent fucking twisted tea.
chrissy:Something.
paul:I bet that hard hard twisted tea probably tastes pretty close to this, I bet.
chrissy:Teed off, it's called, by Sip and Pass, which is like you said, a company from the people are from Zurich.
troy:Oh god. Love that Sip and Pass shit. Oh. Now that tastes really good.
chrissy:This one
paul:was. This is the one I want.
chrissy:Okay, this is the raspberry lemonade.
troy:I just didn't like.
chrissy:I'm not
paul:a sweet person. Yeah, It's it's it's more of a chill. More of a syrupy.
chrissy:You want the Well,
troy:you know what? The sweaty. I'm like, let's get to the point. That's
paul:She likes fuck wasting time. Pitter patter. Let's get at her.
troy:Yeah. Which is not a good trait.
chrissy:What is it? Clink and drink?
troy:Mhmm.
paul:Oh, yeah.
chrissy:Oh, I like this one way better. I'm not a tea person, so
paul:I knew this would be bomb. This
troy:one's bomb. Fuck. Is good. Yeah, that's good.
chrissy:So this is sip and pass raspberry lemonade. And that's delicious. Alright.
troy:All of their You know what? That that's that's great for a summer. That'd be a starter.
chrissy:Oh, yeah.
troy:That'd be like a that'd be like an 8AM. Let's get going. No. Right?
chrissy:No. Been there, done that.
paul:Don't throw at me with a good time.
chrissy:Like, I've done that.
troy:One of my jokes on stage is like, if I if and I don't drink on stage really anymore, but like, back in the day, like, hitting a hitting a a whiskey and, like, tastes just like it did at 08:00 this morning.
chrissy:I actually got my nose bone
troy:for that one. Drink at eight in the morning. I'm kidding.
paul:I do.
chrissy:Well, I have.
paul:I do. And all the I still do it all the time.
chrissy:Yeah. Well
troy:I'll just go back to bed if
paul:I do that. Ugh. But it's like, I'll it's I don't know. It's a fucking crap of beer.
chrissy:Sundays and Mondays are his days off. It's kinda why we do Sundays. Yeah. And for the podcast. But yeah.
paul:Yep.
chrissy:So going back to okay. So you moved out at sixteen. You had your own apartment. When did Jeannie, like, move in with you then?
troy:Oh, about when she I'm I'm saying
chrissy:because you were 18 and she was 15.
troy:Or 16. Yeah. No. She she finished high school. She was living with me.
troy:She graduated. Like
chrissy:yeah. No. I was more friends with Cindy, her sister Yeah. Back in the day. So Cindy and I hung out quite
paul:a bit.
chrissy:Where is she at now?
troy:Cindy? Yeah. I think she lives here, like, up in this area. Yeah. Like, I mean, I think she's in she's around Isanti County over here.
troy:She might even be closer to Zimmerman. Do
chrissy:you not talk with her?
troy:Not much. I mean, we just Facebook. I haven't seen her in person in a long time.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:You know?
chrissy:And they were half sisters. Right?
troy:Yeah. Yep. And that was kind of the I won't get into it, but like There were some Yeah. Parental stuff. Yeah.
troy:Like, Jeanie lived with the step parents. Yeah. Like, her both her parents are dead before she was 10. Yeah. 10.
chrissy:So I remember she was getting my Social Security
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:Because her parents passed
troy:away.
chrissy:So
troy:That's what that that was kind of the trigger. It's like, yeah, I'm getting you the hell out of this mess.
chrissy:Situation. Yeah.
troy:Like, it's exactly what happened last
chrissy:time. Sure.
troy:Oh, she's coming to live with me. She's Yep. Her mom said.
chrissy:I will I'll call
troy:the cops. They said, great. I'd love to talk about
paul:that shit. Alright.
chrissy:So it was that bad? Oh, yeah. Abusive?
troy:Some of that, but they'll just yeah. I won't get into
chrissy:it. Like Cinderella type thing.
troy:It's kinda sorta favoritism. Oh, yeah. Like it.
chrissy:So you
troy:had that.
chrissy:Not recently, but a while back, had sent me a photo of my son when he was little. Now was he at your house?
troy:What yeah. With me. Was he holding a guitar? Or no? I
chrissy:don't remember.
troy:Somebody somebody sent that to me.
chrissy:Because you're like, I have this photo, and I think it's your your son.
troy:Somebody sent that to me. And then I think Jeannie
chrissy:said that it's
troy:your son. Yeah.
chrissy:Colton. Yeah. Colton. So Cindy, I know for sure baby sat for me once
troy:Was it out at maybe
chrissy:because it wasn't in my apartment.
troy:Well, we were hanging at Polsky's. You guys were living there at Oh, the had that little cabin.
chrissy:Maybe it was there.
troy:Because I we would go out to Polsky's a lot. Yeah. I ain't seen that guy in forever either.
chrissy:Is he even alive?
troy:I I think he lives in an oak or something.
chrissy:Oh, I guess I don't even know. I haven't seen that guy since since then, but how funny. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, oh, I love that photo.
chrissy:That's badass. Yeah. Because I know Cindy would babysit for me. Was it just
troy:a picture of him, or was he sitting on my lap, or was he sitting on your lap?
chrissy:I was not in the picture. I think it was Jeannie in the picture.
troy:Okay.
chrissy:Now I have to go back and look.
troy:I bet you it was there then at that little little sunrise resort.
chrissy:Maybe. Maybe it was. But yeah. Cool.
troy:Like, ours our beginnings beginnings were shaky. Right? Like, I'm talking about when we're young. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
troy:You're living in that little cabin is kinda like me living at the Buckhorn Cabin.
chrissy:We were kids.
troy:Yeah. We're just trying to
chrissy:figure We were out just little kids.
paul:Yeah. That's crazy. Like, even even moving out at 18, I feel like I was young and
chrissy:Well, you were.
paul:Irresponsible and just fucking shouldn't have been on my own.
chrissy:But here I was raising a child I'm like,
paul:like, 15, 16 years old, you guys are on your own. I'm like, I would probably be fucking dead.
troy:You know, my my sister had two kids before she was 18.
chrissy:She did? Two before 18.
troy:Yep. I
chrissy:don't know. I I never met your sister.
troy:Was a whole rift in the family too. Like Oh, yeah.
chrissy:They big deal back then.
troy:Everybody made amends. But, like, you know, at 16, I remember the those two boyfriend and Melanie or my parents, the parents getting together. I remember being, like, 14 listening down the hall. Like, they're talking about these kids getting married. I'm like, why would they do that?
troy:Why would they get married? Like, okay, just have a kid, but don't you don't have to force this.
chrissy:You don't have to get married. Thank God I never married Colton's
troy:dad. So, you know?
chrissy:So what age did you make to school till? Or what grade?
troy:16. So tenth grade? Oh, yeah.
chrissy:You finished tenth?
troy:Tenth grade, tenth? Probably a month of eleventh grade.
paul:That was Okay. You're like, fuck this
troy:now. Yeah.
chrissy:I made it through eleventh and
paul:I never
troy:went cools.
chrissy:Yeah. Do you regret that?
troy:No. You know? You know, I don't
chrissy:because Did you ever get your GED?
troy:Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So did I. Like, I labored because
chrissy:I feel like I went that was an accomplishment.
troy:I labored. I worked in a paint booth. Actually, it would come this way. I worked down in Rogers. Oh.
troy:So I
chrissy:cut cut a crotch Randy?
troy:Phillips? Yeah. Yeah.
chrissy:Yeah. Me
troy:and him worked together forever, but well, not forever. But, mean, you know, in those in my twenties, I moved to California for about a year. Oh, this is kind of a cool story tangent, but but okay. Let me go on to that tangent. It's like I moved to California.
troy:Yeah.
paul:It's all this all starts.
troy:And I ended up it was Jeannie's brother. He said, hey, if you want to come out here, I'll give you a job commercial fishing by
chrissy:Oh, stop
paul:it. By Yes, that would be awesome.
troy:By the San Francisco Bay. But we were fishing in the Delta. We fish crayfish. Like, man, you'd get $3 a pound for these things. And the crayfish were huge.
paul:Like damn near a fucking pound?
troy:Yeah. The big freshwater crayfish there. Also, they have the little Louisiana red stocks on farm fields. But
paul:The ones you're talking about look like damn near mini lofts
troy:or something Yeah, don't three quarters of a pound.
paul:Shit. Yep.
chrissy:Just gross though.
troy:Fucking y'all. But so my intention, were gonna move, we moved out there. We loaded everything up in a U Haul, a little U Haul trailer and and old Ford Granada. Yep. Two hamsters in a case.
troy:Two hamsters. Yeah. That's all the pets we could have in the little apartment.
chrissy:In apartment. Yeah.
troy:It was a it was a house by John.
paul:You actually had two hamsters? I thought you were talking about driving in here that little car.
troy:No. Two hamsters in the
chrissy:cave. They
paul:were chitchat
troy:chomp. Oh.
chrissy:But Ali got stoned all the time.
troy:So we go You're
paul:just saying they're blowing smoke.
troy:Had a little
paul:Blowing smoke in the kitchen.
troy:I had a little radio control radio controlled three wheeler, I put them on there.
chrissy:My god.
troy:They they dried around there.
chrissy:Video of this?
troy:No. Really? This is 1987. I know. But okay.
troy:Did you
chrissy:have video back then
troy:of the shit
chrissy:the dumb shit was there?
paul:I'm saying, like, even, like, when I was a kid, if I would've had a GoPro, fuck, dude. It's, like, you're basically like the Sea Boys
chrissy:on a You have been rich.
troy:You have a fucking bullshit budget Whatever.
paul:Compared to what these kids
troy:I moved to California and we move in with Genie's brother. What my intention was I'm gonna go fish for him for a year and then I'm gonna go to Hollywood to this Guitar Institute of Technology. Sure. I'm 20, 21 years old. I don't maybe your audience, I can tell this shit, but like guy that whatever.
troy:We had a big eight room plantation house. Like, we were in the middle of a peach grove, you know, a peach tree grove. But the roommate was a big coke dealer.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:So Nice. All of the Bay Area rock stars. Oh. So the first time
chrissy:He was our supplier.
paul:Yeah. For sure. Do you how do you not end up just dealing coke at that? It's like, if I think back, because like some of the shit that I've seen, the cocaine cowboys and
chrissy:shit Yeah.
paul:Like, if I would have grew up around that shit, I would have just been all about that.
troy:Oh, he was, of course. Well, it's such a fascinating story because his dad He's
paul:the money company.
troy:His dad grew up in the Bay Area, was a really talented artist, really art, sculptures
paul:and stuff.
troy:He was good friends with Timothy Leary, the guy who invented acid. I more stories than you got time for.
paul:Yeah. No shit. Right? Yeah.
troy:But I
chrissy:have to have another. I
paul:can already feel there's another part to come.
troy:I tell you this. There's a few things I wanted to say, but it's like, can't I would indulge, but I was always that guy come If you've ever been partying all your life, you've been around any cocaine or things like that. There's the guy that's it's Sunday 5AM. He's like, we're out, dude. I'm gonna call, dude.
troy:I'm gonna get some more. I'm gonna get I'm like, this is my personality. Thank God I have this trait. He's like, I got shit to do. To do.
troy:I'm done. Yeah. This is it. So but the first time his name was Willie, he's like, hey, you won't come in the studio with me and we go to the studio and there's there's a build the electric church. There's Chuck Ruff.
troy:Chuck Ruff was the drummer for Edgar Winter and Sammy Hagar. Winter. Jesus. Electric Church was the the bass player for Sammy Hagar. He's on all of the I can't drive 55, all that.
troy:Okay. You know, I'm 21 years old and he's Unfortunately, he passed away at like, 65, probably five years ago. Fucking greatest dude. Like, I got to jam with him in a bar band. I remember like, kept telling me he said, I see it in you kid.
troy:I see it. You're gonna go play some man. He said, I know I I'm 21. He's this 40 year old rock star is telling me this. And we're jamming leads up.
troy:Wow. Wow. How
paul:fucking sick is that?
troy:Yeah. And then
chrissy:At 21.
troy:Right. Let me tell you this. I would
chrissy:think I made it.
troy:Yeah. Yeah. No shit. Yeah. It ain't getting no better.
troy:Podcast on my one year there, but I gotta tell you this story too. So one day, the phone rings at the house and I pick it up and guy goes, hey, is Willie around looking for Willy B? You know? And I go, no, he he's headed over to Reno. And he goes, oh, he's on his way to see me.
troy:Well, let him know Merle calls.
chrissy:Merle Hager.
paul:Fuck off.
chrissy:Oh my God.
troy:I didn't know. I thought I'd been like, I'll kill him.
paul:Then what is it? Fuck.
troy:And then then
paul:how did this not make out? We're going to have to talk for like the next six hours.
troy:I go, hey, some guy Merle called, you know, he goes, oh, yeah. Yeah. Tag. I'm I'm that's where I'm going to visit to give bring him some blow, you know? Mother of God.
troy:Yeah, like, damn. Tommy shot the house wants to like, but. Yeah. Oh, but you know, you know what? There was a there was another.
paul:It's not a big deal.
troy:It was another thing like like, okay, so you know that kind of stuff going on and and a lot of partying. A year later, I got homesick and I'm like, I can't take this. I'm not gonna achieve anything by being high all the time.
paul:Yeah. You know?
troy:So I came we came home. Was that one
chrissy:year out and you were living with all these
troy:big, big, you know? Well, no, just I kind of was like, introduce like, that's the thing about and it happened in Nashville, too. It's like that stuff isn't here in Minnesota. No. Like, when you go to these places where people are out stuff that, you know, Nashville, stand alone, alliance, Starbucks, turn around, and Keith Urban's standing there like So
chrissy:you started out, like, pretty heavy duty rock and roll singer, and somehow you transitioned into country. Or was that always on the back burner? Why did that happen?
troy:Okay. So I I I think I was a bit contrived as a rocker. Like like, I would sing like this. Like, I gotta be growly and Yeah. Stuff.
troy:And then I I wanna put it this way. It's like when I wrote rock rock music, I didn't think it was authentic to me. I thought it was at the time, but it really wasn't. But that's
chrissy:what you listened to. That's what we grew up on.
paul:Then Yeah.
troy:And then then as I kinda sit with myself more and create, the more that I found my thing. You know? And it was, like, somewhere in between Keith Urban or or, you know, cheap trick or some it was always a bit of everything. I never knew where I fit. And I honestly, I bought a CD at a garage sale, Keith Urban Golden Road, and I'm listening to that.
troy:I'm like, this is country. And then I seen Montgomery Gentry at Hinkley Casino. Yeah. And I'm like, they're playing what I didn't even know who they Because were
paul:it doesn't say it doesn't sound like 80s, 90s country. And
troy:they're playing marshals and Les Paul.
paul:Yeah, yeah.
troy:And I'm like, okay, maybe, you know, so then and also another friend of mine said, you should go well, an attorney that I had. So that's a little tangent there too. I got offered a record deal in Los Angeles in 2008 You did? From a company called deaf deaf Fresh to Deaf Records. Yeah.
troy:They flew me out there. Really? Put me up to Sheridan schmooze me. We toured big studios. I played at BB Kings and Universal City just acoustic, you know, and they proceeded to offer a deal for $250,000 $100,000 check when I left.
troy:And I was like, go I was like, go home and clear your schedule and come back and let's make a record. Well, I have a really brilliant attorney. He rep he's from Minneapolis here. He represents a lot of bigger artists, but he's like, he said, Troy, I know this is exciting. Yeah, you want to do it right said,
chrissy:don't
troy:these people this waste. This is written. He's down. He want to negotiate. I can tell they're, they're they're kind taking your yeah, they're gonna own everything.
troy:Yeah. Well, anyway, that flipped my switch
chrissy:and then So what'd you do with the $100,000 check?
troy:No, I didn't take it.
chrissy:You didn't take
troy:I couldn't.
paul:Yeah, that would be like a sign on bonus kind of do.
troy:Yeah, I was gonna take the check and No, go buy a bunch of But no, anyway, so that really flipped my switch. And, you know, I was playing in a band called to the core and we were just doing cover stuff. Was like that cover band stuff was was fun and good money, but it never really everything in music for me happened after 40. Because because I shut that off. And I went, I'm gonna create not imitate.
troy:Yeah, do this, you know? So got started getting a lot of tracks on TV, like like, like background music, MTV license. Oh, shit. Yeah, a bunch of songs like directly from me. And they ended up being in like, used to be fat moms moving in 16 and pregnant, Nitro Circus, party down south, Jersey Shore.
paul:Holy shit.
troy:And it's those little ditties, like, if you watch Pawn Stars. That was you? Yeah. Some of them. You know?
troy:There's all kinds
paul:of people. Right.
chrissy:What did you do on Jersey Shore?
troy:Just little tracks, like, in transition. If it's a sappy thing, they probably have one of my ballads. Oh, yeah. You know?
chrissy:It's fast. And then Well, what I definitely and I'm sure you've heard it, the Rusco. Minnesota
paul:Rusco. No.
chrissy:That was him. You might recognize him.
troy:What the fuck? 55.
paul:Yo. That's him.
chrissy:What? Minnesota Rusco. Now they're bankrupt.
paul:But Yeah. That's crazy.
troy:I always one that airs
chrissy:tease. I always because they pay Troy so much money. Yeah.
troy:That was it. Yeah. I get paid one one, you know, work for hire, and then that's theirs. I didn't get any royalties. No.
troy:There's one I think still airs that's Minnesota home, guys. Do you ever hear that
chrissy:one? I haven't heard that one. No.
troy:It's a, like, a real estate thing.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:There was, like, three running up here Yeah. At one
chrissy:Do those pay pretty well? You know? Yeah.
troy:I give out $3,000 to produce it.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:There's like
paul:a one time deal.
troy:I wish I could get royalty. Yeah.
paul:As much
troy:as played.
paul:As much as they played that.
troy:Just did I just did one. It has not been they're still deciding whether they're going to use it, but for time proof, it's a USA. It's a roofing company like like LeafGuard. They're nationwide. Sure.
troy:I've got tied Bennington's a spokesperson, and I'm like, if that one goes You'll
chrissy:get royalties?
troy:Well, yeah. And I have a contract that says, you know, that basically they own it, but I can get some of that.
paul:Nice. But
chrissy:Yeah. Yes. Comes from experience, I would imagine, like, years, right?
troy:It's just that when it comes to regional things, the royalty companies don't track that. If it's nationwide, they'll track that. You know, but so talking about we've gone in so many directions. I know.
chrissy:That's that's what happens.
paul:So we're talking about fucking hamsters, and then you're fucking you're talking about Tommy Lee doing blow on the fucking guitar. So
troy:here's where we
paul:strippers ass.
troy:Here's where we were. It's like music creating, like, I flipped my switch there around and found myself. Like, when I wrote songs and I found out, like, oh, it kind of fits the Nashville thing. A friend of mine said, you should go down there. And I went down there in 2012 and took a little songwriting workshop.
troy:Got to meet you did? Yeah. I got to meet some songwriter or, I mean, a and r guys, record label songwriter reps, you know, publishers. And that was at the Blue Bird Cafe, this whole workshop.
chrissy:Got a whole segment of that.
troy:So Blue Bird. They every one of them record company people, I just asked. I said, you know, you think I should be here? And and they said, yeah, man. You seem like you know what you're doing.
troy:And and if we wanna sign you as a writer, you gotta be here. You know? So then I went home and told Genie, I'm like, man, my heart is screaming to be there. And, like, you know, the hardest thing about moving is getting your stuff from here to there. Oh, bet.
troy:It ain't living. Yeah. It's like, so I said, let's go. Let's go for it. We were kind of in debt up here, you know, the whole housing crash.
troy:Oh,
paul:Oh, yeah.
troy:2008. Yeah. And I had to build I had built a nice studio at my house in Paris, you know?
paul:Like make it even fucking harder.
troy:We barely broke even and got out from that.
chrissy:Soldier place?
troy:Yeah. And then it was we lived there for in Nashville for a year and then, you know, the kids everybody kind of settled in and like, well, let's let's buy a place and you know, and we we cut our cost of living went way down. Yeah. And we're just like,
paul:I suppose Nashville hadn't gotten like it is now.
troy:No. Yeah. It's so it has blown
paul:up. Was just gonna say, was just gonna say since you've been there since 2008, well, how much more drastically as it just like commercialized like a mini Vegas compared to what it
troy:used Yeah, to it's stupid. The star bars, you know, like every someone has a hit song, I got a bar. Come on. Jesus. Yeah.
troy:And you go in them bars and I'm dissing it because, yeah, because Broadway is just a big old Like the Las Vegas Strip.
paul:Tourist trap, basically It's
troy:good to visit. Go have some fun.
chrissy:But
troy:man, it is not like I'm in this position when people come to town. Now they're like, hey, let's go down to Broadway. I go, you guys go have fun.
paul:Yeah. Broadway is the
troy:main drag there.
paul:Yeah. Just like the strip in Vegas.
chrissy:Where everyone that visits Nashville is and I say should go and go, you know, walk.
paul:Yeah, if you've never been there.
chrissy:We've never been there. But yeah, We found ourselves the couple times that we were there, like, you know, Mike and I did this
troy:in as New
chrissy:well. Everyone said, don't go off the beaten path. Yeah. Don't tell me that.
paul:Yeah. Because that's exactly what I'm gonna do.
troy:Yeah. I'm gonna
paul:take pictures and
chrissy:So much more fun, like, off the tiny little hole Yeah.
troy:Die bars. Not a lie bars in Hollywood are fun too.
chrissy:Yeah. Oh, gosh. When I got married in Vegas in 1991 to Jim, we went to the we drove. We rented a car. We drove to Hollywood.
chrissy:Yeah. You know, went to the whiskey and what's the other one that was next to that? Damn it.
troy:Oh, the rainbow.
chrissy:The was it the rainbow?
troy:Or or Or no. I
chrissy:it was The Rainbow. We went to the whiskey. The Roxy.
troy:That's right next to the Rainbow.
chrissy:Okay. So we went to the whiskey, but then The Rainbow was closed because AUDIO Speedway was put doing a private show there.
troy:Or the
chrissy:rocks. The rock scene was closed. We never got in there. But, yeah, we had so much fun. We ended up just cruising around in our rental car and hitting all the just shitty bars.
chrissy:Yeah. You
troy:know, I got a fun stories like when I was I would go down to and stay right a street behind Hollywood Boulevard. I would go to this ass cap music expo thing, you know, and just network and stuff. And one night, it changes that night. You got all the tourists and all this stuff on Hollywood Boulevard there. And then at night, it's like a lot of the homeless people and come out.
troy:But I went and got a pizza over at Manelli's, I think it is. It was old joint where, you know, Sinatra and Dean Martin, all these people used to hang out. All these cool pictures. Piano bar. You know?
troy:Like, I I love that rap back era stuff.
paul:Oh, yeah.
chrissy:Everything gangster.
troy:Yeah. And so I I had this pizza was so dang big. I had, like, one slice, and then I walked down the boulevard and just gave
paul:away Just yeah. Let's start handing out pizza.
troy:Sitting in this, you know, entryway of a retail store or whatever. Like, hey, do you want a piece? The time I got, know, two blocks down, the pizza was gone. Everybody was grateful. Right?
troy:Yeah. That's badass.
chrissy:Did you ever play at the whiskey? Nope. Never did.
troy:Or any of those
chrissy:The only
troy:place I played was a place called Cozy's.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:And then BB Kings. Okay.
chrissy:Yeah. Cool.
troy:Yeah. That was a slam.
chrissy:The whiskey is kinda where like Guns N' Roses and like Motley Crue kinda got their I would say their start. Oh. Know, back in the day.
paul:Yep. This is the bar on that movie, The Dirt?
chrissy:I think the whiskey. Yeah. The whiskey was on the dirt. Yep.
troy:Yeah. And I remember standing
paul:in and
troy:I turned around
paul:and
troy:there's this tall black lady. It's like Macy Gray. I'm like, what? Macy Gray right there.
chrissy:What the
paul:fuck? Wasn't there some other, like, guitar player who
troy:Lemmy Kilmeister. Lemmy from Yes. Yes.
chrissy:What? My
paul:buddy, like, was always there.
troy:Yeah. He had his Did
paul:he have, like, a fucking apartment or something right above? Yeah.
troy:He lived close to there. Yeah. My buddy was
paul:telling me about that.
troy:And a really
paul:He was telling me some fucking really
troy:humble, small, little joint you could hardly even walk in. His Yeah. His apartment. One studio apartment.
paul:Right. Right. Just this legendary fucking rock star.
troy:Yellow smoke stain wall.
paul:Nice shit. It just lives in this little fucking roach motel fucking of apartment.
troy:Yeah. That's crazy.
chrissy:Tell us about here we are, babe.
troy:Here we are, babe. Okay.
chrissy:Song hero.
troy:Yeah. That was the store kind of the story of us meeting. You know?
chrissy:Like Yeah. You and Genie.
troy:Yeah. You know, it was about bonfires and Miller lights. You know? And Oh. Yep.
troy:The And
paul:best times ever.
troy:It's a song based about our our life. Not really a life story, but it's kinda like a reflecting and looking back like, you know, like
chrissy:We made it.
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:Like and we're still together.
troy:Can you believe the shit? We're, like, we're
chrissy:still together. And we're still here. Yeah. And we're still kicking and
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:But, like
troy:Even though we've wanted a divorce a few times, but we're not
chrissy:I get it, though. I mean,
troy:we all have them Married just
chrissy:go through those ups and downs like that.
paul:You're you're that long, it's not
chrissy:fucking How many all years married are you celebrating?
troy:Thirty two. Damn. That's funny. Crazy. But
chrissy:longer, I like because you didn't marry right away.
troy:Yeah. Been together seriously since '84. How many years is that?
chrissy:Yeah, that's a long time.
troy:For '84?
paul:Yeah. That's
troy:a year
chrissy:Long time.
paul:That's a year after I
chrissy:was born. People just don't do that anymore. Yeah.
paul:Fuck
troy:no. Well, and I think it really it really all was because we needed each other. Like, we we both
paul:feed it off each
troy:I mean, that was the beginning. I was we needed each other to to
chrissy:survive You still feel like you need her? Yeah.
troy:Yeah. For sure. Like, it's funny because, like, I was the breadwinner before we moved to Nashville. And then she had finished college and got her CPA and she got in a job where she really thrives.
chrissy:She's in the crowd?
troy:Yeah. Nice. She carries the health insurance. Yeah.
paul:Then you can live the rock star life.
troy:Yeah. I so want to make it like you don't have to work anymore.
paul:Yeah. Well, that's how everyone would.
troy:I'm content with what we've got.
chrissy:And then she's content and obviously she is because she's still around.
troy:Uh-huh. She's always like, when are you gonna get a real
paul:job? I'm sick
troy:of paying the bills. No. Yeah. Right. But, yeah, I mean, it works.
troy:It works. It's even we went through so many things that it's even better
chrissy:now because forty years. Yeah. Who who doesn't?
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:Like, honest to god. But you're still together and you've never thrown in the towel or neither of you have.
troy:And Do you know that song? So my friend Lauren Masetti sang the the girl part.
chrissy:The girl part?
troy:Yeah. And she's, like, been on the Opry a few times. She's been on American Idol. She is right now rising pretty big. Yeah.
troy:Okay. She's, like, 32. Really, really great.
chrissy:Yeah. I was girl. I don't know her. Yeah.
troy:She's a paison. She's an Italian. Nice.
paul:Where so where can you can you listen to that song? Do you got it on? Yeah. On YouTube. Spotify.
paul:Yeah,
chrissy:it's a really good song. YouTube has all
troy:of it. There's two videos on YouTube.
chrissy:Yeah. One
troy:is one is just kind of a canned.
paul:Like you did it yourself kind of deal?
troy:No. Well, no, it's just put together with a bunch stock footage. Oh, okay. And then there's one that is pictures of me and Jeannie growing up.
paul:Oh, no shit? Like
troy:from the time where like
chrissy:Where's is that one? You
troy:take two? It should be.
chrissy:Because I watched the other one.
troy:Yeah. Damn it. Yeah. Looks so cool. There's one but slideshow.
paul:Here we
troy:are, babe. Slideshow, bunch pictures. Kind of tried to put it in a transition from where we started to where we are.
paul:Oh, that's fucking sweet. So this That's so so fast. I've seen that. Basically, like a timeline of pictures from then.
chrissy:Because I'm like, I feel like the video, the actual video video that you guys made, you know, she's got the curly hair, like, has. So it kinda looks similar.
troy:Did you see the two picture of us two standing? We both got smokes in our hands. You know? We are 15 and
chrissy:18. And I basically Yeah. Lived that with you I did not see that.
paul:She had a problem with you smoking, but yet she's She's got a the original. Now that was when she was well over 13,
troy:so I understand. But by the time we're 14 and 15, or she was 14 and 15, and we're all
paul:You're a bad influence Dollar on
chrissy:dollar pack smokes back then.
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:What are they now? Like 15?
paul:Dude, they're a $120 for a What? I just bought some for one of my friends because in North Dakota, they're the cheapest So it's it's like $90 in North Dakota. Yeah. I'm like, you pay this much? She's like, fuck you.
paul:They're like 130 if you buy it here. I'm like, what?
troy:Wow. Yeah. Go to the a little cheaper because of tobacco growing down there. Oh, know?
paul:No. I've got cigars
chrissy:or Is there smoking down there in the bars?
troy:No. I I don't know. It's same as here.
chrissy:It is. Okay.
troy:You can if you're a performer. You can say it's part of But your
paul:shifty fuckers.
chrissy:I feel like Aaron Lewis always is smoking.
paul:Get away
troy:with Yeah. You can. Yeah. I quit that habit when I was 35. I smoked from '16: to thirty five, twenty years.
troy:Speaker What's a space? How did you quit? Did you just quit cold Oh, because what we're talking about, went, I mean, like when you get to drinking was in an hour And then next morning, wake
chrissy:up with that. Yeah.
troy:I wake up. I go We
chrissy:always had to smoke when we drink.
troy:Like, that day.
chrissy:Like, it just went together.
paul:Well, it's like cigar. I don't smoke at all. But like cigars, I love cigars and whiskey. Yeah.
chrissy:Yeah. They kinda go together.
troy:I I that time, I went, like, you cost me $5.
chrissy:You taste like shit. Exactly.
paul:And you don't fucking hurt in the morning.
troy:And I had, like, there was,
chrissy:like stink.
paul:Was there was smell like fucking ass. Spirits?
troy:And then I and I had, like, three in there, and I just went
chrissy:Fill yellow
troy:I see. Soft pads. Yep. I just crushed it. Crushed the three smokes in there.
paul:You're like, fuck this shit. I'm done.
troy:Do they even
chrissy:make those Merits?
troy:Merit. Yeah. You didn't
paul:know. That's how my mom my mom
troy:barrow lights and cold
paul:turkey too. I think she actually has the last cigarette she ever
troy:She kept it? Yeah. Yep.
chrissy:So now you were a sanny Cambridge kid or whatever I say, but it was Budweiser.
troy:Macalobes.
chrissy:You drink Macalobes?
troy:No, all the fancy gold.
chrissy:We did the Budweiser, the red blood pants.
troy:Yeah, well, just the Macalobes kind of
paul:that sexy
troy:little bottle with the gold
paul:label. Slim. Yeah, yeah. My I
troy:wish parents they make that. Made Michelob, the original Michelob.
paul:The original Michelob. My parents used to drink MGD and MGD Lite like a motherfucker.
troy:Oh, yeah.
chrissy:I never liked that beer. Well, I feel like Budweiser was our era.
troy:There was a lot of Bud drinking.
paul:A lot
chrissy:of Bud.
paul:They went from
troy:I
paul:think what? MGD to MGD We
troy:were drinking Pfeiffer's, and if we could afford
chrissy:it Pfeiffer's.
troy:If we could afford it was Michelob. Yeah.
chrissy:Oh, god. Funny. Pfeiffer's. Pfeiffer. Yeah.
chrissy:I don't think that's a
troy:thing anymore. What was that one? Kingsford? Kings Kingston?
paul:No. Pfeiffer's.
troy:I knew you heard was another $5 a case beer,
paul:you
troy:know, returnable bottles.
paul:Returnable bottles. Like fucking Steel Reserve. I just watched some dude walk out with that shit. I'm like,
chrissy:It does taste like we talked about
paul:the last your fucking spins in the Yeah.
troy:You know, then I found probably in
paul:my twenties fucking rip quick.
troy:I found how liquor you know, the old it was just like it's was just quicker. Didn't have to pee as much. Didn't weren't so full. I was like, I'm on gold.
chrissy:That's all right. We're gonna talk about Bad Jack, Barbara Jeans, a sani rodeo
troy:Mhmm.
chrissy:And the nineties band days. Man. So let's get started on that.
paul:Rodeo, like, the fucking ISANE rodeo Days.
chrissy:Yeah. Yep. Let's talk about Bad Jack. Let's see. How did that get started?
chrissy:That was your band. Correct?
troy:Well, no. Kind of Dave started.
chrissy:It was the oh, it's not that you started that.
troy:No. So so I had I had, like, started going down to the the cities from where we're at up here in at Sandy County, and I'm like, I I was wanting to meet more. I wanted to do original rock music, you know? And then that kind of fizzled out. I was back home doing nothing.
troy:And Dave said, hey. Why don't you come play with my band? They were called something else. Jester, maybe.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:They had a different drummer and then another guitar player. And just the short stories, like, I said, I'll come play with your band, but I know a better drummer and I know and I don't wanna do three guitars. Let's just you gotta get rid of that other guy or whatever. Okay. And and we became friend good friends anyway.
troy:Eric Tingblad. Okay. I hated that moment, but so then we just like yeah. Then I was back to let oh, let's just go play some bars. You know?
troy:I wasn't chasing any original music. Sure. And just had fun and brought heavy Kevvie, the drummer that I met in the Twin Cities and joined the band. And and then, yeah, we proceeded to Alright. Just play around here.
chrissy:So you lead guitar, obviously?
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:Okay. And then Dave was the singer?
troy:Yeah. We all sang actually. Whoever could sing that song, whatever best Nice. So when
paul:was when was this? Sorry.
troy:'94 through '98 for me. Yeah.
chrissy:Okay. So for some reason, I had it in mind. You started Bad Jack, but it was Dave Noreen.
troy:It was Dave, then they were a different band. And then we did when I joined, we changed the you know, the dumbass joke was like, that's speaker ain't work. What's the problem with it? You know? It's a bad Jack.
troy:You know, there's a bad Jack. And then one day we go like, we go like, you know, finding a name for a band is always like hard because no one can agree. It's like order pizza. What you
paul:want? Yeah.
troy:Yeah. So one day I
paul:go back just that
troy:Different dick. Jack. We're going with that, man. You know? I think we both decided that or Yeah.
troy:Dave said it, and I radared it. Like, that's cool. Do that.
chrissy:So I remember going to Barbara jeans and Harris. Yeah. And I feel like that's where I originally had listened to bad. Yeah.
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:You know, now that you say live wire though, I probably Yeah. We play barbecues. There too.
troy:It was McWilliams member.
chrissy:Member McWilliams. Yes. Yeah. That that was a long time ago.
troy:Then we got it bad. Jack got into the whole biker circuit and the a bait stuff. Not we did play the hell's outcast party out there in Berun.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:We played that was crazy to a hell's outcast.
chrissy:Oh, I bet
paul:it is. Let
troy:me tell you a quick story. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hard ass biker.
troy:Okay. I'm I'm it's chain lightning and badjack. We're going to play. We're walking into this hell's outcast party. Right?
troy:And walking with a guitar. Well, to prefix it, I'd be in the grocery store. I'd be what whatever some this lady would go like, hey, Jersey. How's it going? You know?
troy:Jersey? Call me Jersey.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:And then I I just go, dear. Next aisle. You don't recognize me, do you? I'm like, nope. She says, you Jersey.
troy:I'm like, nope. Happened to me a few times with a few different people.
chrissy:Thought you're someone else?
troy:Had a doppelganger.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:I go to this party. I'm walking in. Here here's this, like, six foot seven big bad ass biker. This guy's just bee lining it for me. He's just he's just looked right at me.
troy:I go and Trent Bolt was walking with me, play bass in Chain Lightning, and he's hell's angel now. But I go, I don't who's this dude, man? He's coming right at me. Goes, also, gets over me, tower, and he goes, you fucking Jersey? You fucking Jersey?
troy:I'm like, nope. He goes, bullshit. You look just like him. You know? And then Trent goes, no.
troy:It's Troy. He's in the band playing here. And he goes, you look just like alright. He goes, you can look at that guy. I got fucked my wife.
troy:Oh, Jesus.
paul:Oh, yeah.
troy:No. Looking like he's about to twist.
paul:Yeah. He's just he's just, like, taking them all off. It's
troy:like Oh, my god. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's
paul:Jesus. See these memories
troy:pop up.
chrissy:Oh, that is funny. Yeah. Yeah. You don't wanna be jersey.
troy:Then we played
paul:a lot of
troy:Six, we played two big state rallies and stuff like that.
chrissy:Oh, down at Medina?
troy:Hudson Hudson Hudson, maybe.
chrissy:Oh, Okay. Because I know Medina Ballroom always would have.
troy:Yeah. You know, these were big outdoor concerts with a few bands, you know?
chrissy:Feel like the big ABA rallies.
troy:I've seen you a few rallies too, didn't The
paul:Medina.
chrissy:But Medina Ballroom would be the big ABA rally. What was
paul:the last thing I've seen at Medina?
troy:I played in Medina Ballroom a few times.
chrissy:Did you? Yeah. As
troy:bad Jack No. Or Troy Castellano. Castellano. Was the Troy Castellano group. We played their New Year's Eve with Jebi Layton, the the millennium New Year's Eve.
troy:Oh. 1,700 people, man. Like, that was pretty cool.
chrissy:That was cool. What's your biggest draw? Where, like, you've played with them in front of the most The most people
troy:that I played in front of was probably up in Brainerd at BIR. Okay. We we were after the drag strip race on a Saturday night, 3,000 people out there. Okay. It was nuts,
paul:man. Damn.
chrissy:But now opening for all these big bands like Warrant, Sticks, Slaughter, like, they had had big crowd.
troy:They were on their they were on their downslide. You know, the whole Sure. Grunge rock crushed everything.
paul:So Check out.
troy:We were playing, like, 500 Oh, never ballrooms. Did.
chrissy:You know? Oh, okay.
troy:Like Buffalo, Duluth, Mankato. Okay. So we would go open up for them bands.
chrissy:So they were like, yeah, Nevada.
troy:Superior club once,
paul:you know, like What's that?
troy:This lot. Do you remember superior? I seen you and Jim up there, that bar up by Duluth, but on the other side of the Wisconsin Yeah.
paul:Oh, dude. I love it over there. The the Pacific club. Anchor bar.
troy:The Pacific club. There was a guy named Rondo that used to run it. Like Okay. He was from
chrissy:And you were playing there. We were there?
troy:Yep. Me and Jim were there one night. Yep. Good memory. I'm talking 1997.
chrissy:Okay. Yeah. Well, that would have been us for sure. Funny.
troy:Oh, I love it up there. So There's a strip bar right next door. So we'd stay we'd stay up there for a week.
chrissy:Remember that now because we were in that strip club.
troy:Think it was called the lamp.
chrissy:Yes. Yes.
troy:I remember that now.
paul:We would we would
troy:play all night, and then we get up around four in the afternoon and go have a drink. Later. Yeah. Watch the script. Yeah.
chrissy:They would give you the old miners caps with the fucking lights on them. Oh, lamplighter.
troy:Yeah. Know. That? I didn't know. I never got the cap.
chrissy:You could get the cap. We'd be having lights shining right on the girls.
paul:Oh, yeah.
chrissy:Yep. Yep. Fantastic. Let's go. ISANI Rodeo.
chrissy:I'm assuming you played there.
troy:No. I never did play the rodeo.
chrissy:You didn't?
troy:But you know what? I lived right in the middle of Isani by the little community center there. So every time Rodeo Days would come around, I lived there for about three years. We had a big party. Everybody come to
paul:my house. Seems like there's always a big party there. That whole thing is just a big party. Yeah,
troy:then we get lit and go hang out in the at the rodeo. Rodeo.
chrissy:Yeah, or the DFW. I remember that.
troy:I was. When that first rodeo first came by Sani, I lived in town there, so I was like 10 years old. Man, I had the cowboy hat, I had the boots. I had the belt with my name in the back.
paul:Big ass fucking shiny belt buckle too.
troy:Yeah, thought. See, I'm like, when people talk about music, rock or pop or country or whatever, it's like, I'm a bit of every bit of it. Yeah. I get all the influence. I was a Kiss fan first and foremost.
chrissy:Oh my god. Loudest concert I've ever been to. Yeah. The loudest concert I've ever been to was Kiss.
troy:I still I was really heartbroken when Ace Fraley died
chrissy:in the last year.
troy:Yeah. And Eddie Van Halen. I mean, you get I don't I don't cry when celebrities die, but when they did, I'm like Did you? Put on a record and yeah. It still makes me emotional.
chrissy:I've never really I don't think I've ever cried when a celebrity died. Only just recently when Charlie Kirk got slaughtered.
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:I I that really, really impacted. Just impacted me and disturbed me because like, that was our thing. Like we'd watch his YouTube channel, like almost every single night, you know, just watch. Yeah. Because he just made so much sense.
chrissy:Right. Like then he'd-
paul:Bring logic into it.
chrissy:Him doing the college, you know Yeah. Stuff or whatever. But, that's probably the the only person that I've ever been super It's kind of And then how he died, obviously.
troy:It's weird how because there you feel like like I say with them with the guitar players for me, it was like, you know, they were on my they were on top of my mind a lot like
chrissy:well, I guess so Aussie was up. I didn't cry over Aussie, but Yeah. I was really
troy:I was bummed.
chrissy:Really bummed.
troy:Yeah. We talked about that a attitude for a day or two. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, I think I get my, you know, more sensitive and emotional the older I get.
paul:Oh, for sure. You know?
chrissy:Well, I think we just do. I mean,
troy:I'm Actually, no. I'm a hard eyed.
paul:I ain't ever fucking crying.
troy:Yeah. So
chrissy:I have a question about battle of the bands. Were you in that, and did you win it?
troy:Yeah. Well, KQ's battle of the bands.
chrissy:KQ's battle of the bands. Did you win? Yeah. What band?
troy:It was Troy Castellano band. It was. So that was me pushing my original and doing that.
chrissy:Okay.
troy:You know what? Funny story was
chrissy:like I do remember that, but I didn't know it was Troy Costello band.
troy:Funny stories. Like, I got chicken pox. I'm 42, three years old.
chrissy:You get so sick as an adult.
troy:I got, yeah, I got chicken pox, and I had entered the band. I sent my original songs to KQ, and then we got in the top 10 for voting. And then I'm laying there, but I was sick for,
chrissy:like, a week. Sick.
troy:And just blistered like No. No. On the palms of my hands, bottom of my feet, roof of my mouth, in my nose, like,
paul:in my fucking palms of your hands?
troy:Yeah. Like crazy.
chrissy:When you're an adult and you get chicken pox, you
troy:get a super bad told me, he said that's all inside too in your esophagus and in your stomach. Like Oh. Oh. So anyway, super sick. And I'm watching the voting go down, check-in results.
troy:And it's like, wow, we keep creeping out. Alright. So cool. We're the top four. When does this go down?
troy:Because I'm sick as shit. You know? When does this go down? Like, three weeks, you know, so okay, we're battled at the Medina Ballroom.
chrissy:Oh, it was okay
troy:for bands. Then, you know, we prevailed. There was a friend of mine that hired a bus and brought like, you know, 50 people on a bus down there to to watch support.
paul:Know? That's fucking sweet.
troy:Then and then we won and then it's like, alright, you get to open up for cheap trick and sticks.
chrissy:Well, that was a way stay in way. Yeah.
troy:And so I'm like, okay, when does that go down? Because I am still all puck faced, you know, really? Yes, for sure. Three weeks after then it was another through weeks. So
paul:Well, I read that out.
troy:It's just red marks.
paul:Oh, really? Shit. I thought you would have been all fired and cleared up after three weeks.
troy:On a tip of my tongue.
chrissy:Adult, you get them so bad. That's why people when you have a baby, you expose your kid to chicken pox because
troy:Yeah.
chrissy:If you don't, you want your kid to get them.
troy:If you touch the blister and it would burst, then it would, like, leave a scar. That's a couple of my guys.
chrissy:Jim had chicken pox as an adult as well. And he he got very sick. Yes.
paul:So that sounds fucking brutal.
troy:Then we won and I got to go play at Midway Stadium with cheap trick. This is a cool story too is like cheap trick was a big influence of me when I was ten eleven twelve to like that live a Buddha con. I want you to want me surrender.
chrissy:Absolutely.
troy:Ain't that shame and I would jump on my bed with a broomstick handle. But cheap trick, I've like, always I'm a big fan of that band. I always have been and seeing them in concert a few times. And actually then that day, like after the show was over and them guys got arrived, I'm like, I had the chance to meet them all and Robin Sanders the singer and I go, hey, dude. I just want to tell you like, man.
troy:I mean, I know you hear it all the time, but I opened the show for you and, you know, the you're the link to why I was here, you know? And then he goes, he after I introduce myself, he goes, I know who you are. I shit my pants. I'm like, I'm like, I This motherfucker knows
paul:my name.
troy:He goes, he goes, yeah, my my nephew lives here Minneapolis, and he was telling me all about you. I'm like, okay.
chrissy:So now
paul:do you feel like you fucking made it?
chrissy:Know. Feel like there's always lights going off. Oh, no. I made it.
troy:I know who you are. I'll I'll never forget it. Badass. Like
paul:Those gangsters fuck.
troy:Yeah. And you know what also is cool was Joey Molland from Badfinger was there. He passed away a while back, but Joey used to live in Minneapolis and I'd run into him in Guitar Center. And Badfinger was badass band, you know? They know what was their song?
chrissy:They're like, those like their one.
paul:I don't like know any
troy:of these. They did without you, I think was a big hit that big ballet song. They had that what was that song?
chrissy:Those are the days of, like, the rock ballads.
troy:Started out with a dial tone. Okay. What was that song? I I can't name off
chrissy:the top
troy:of my head, but brilliant songwriting band. Sure. Tragic story. Go watch the documentary about documentary? Yeah.
troy:About Badfinger because the two writers I wish I could remember the songs because you guys all know them, but they were huge songs. And the two writers that in that band, the band never made money. The record company just robbed them. They were signed to Beatles record. Badger records.
chrissy:Maddie, can you Google Bad Finger?
troy:Bad Finger songs.
chrissy:Hit songs. Hit songs, please.
troy:And then and then so one of the singers, you know, they were just always so broken. It's like, everybody knew who they were. Everybody knew these songs. And and one of the guys killed himself. And then about another year later, the other writer killed himself.
troy:Oh, so Fuck. It's it's like they just kind of got robbed. You know? Like, I don't think it was the Beatles
chrissy:that that pops up. Baby Blue.
troy:Yeah. Baby Blue. That was the the last song on Breaking Bad.
chrissy:Is that the one you talk about that? No.
troy:Oh. That did you ever watch Breaking Bad? Yeah. Like I the very end where he's laying there.
paul:What do you mean you fucking tried to watch it?
chrissy:You could not get into that show.
troy:Okay. I'm not I'm not holding against you.
paul:I'm just Right?
chrissy:Tried to watch it.
troy:There's it's kinda like Game of Thrones. Everybody know that. I've been trying.
paul:I've never watched Game of Thrones. I still haven't watched Game of Thrones.
chrissy:What? Love Game of Thrones.
troy:What songs did they have on?
chrissy:Day after days. No
troy:way or what. Day after days.
chrissy:Oh, yeah. Play that.
troy:What else? What other ones?
paul:You didn't get copyright strike. You can't play that
troy:no matter what. No matter what you are.
chrissy:Come and get it.
troy:Yeah. If you want it, come and get
chrissy:it that they had a bunch
troy:of hits,
chrissy:period until tomorrow. So yeah.
troy:Yeah. Anyway
chrissy:Anyhoo. Check. Thank you, man.
troy:If you're in the music docs, their story is really good. But I got to, you know, hang with Joey Mullen and
chrissy:Badass.
troy:Yeah. He's legend.