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Rich Redmond, Veteran musician and longtime drummer with Jason Aldean, hosts “The Rich Redmond Show”, a show highlighting all things music, motivation, and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them.
Unknown: Men's show. But Jim, he
said, I don't want to put that
kind of pressure on myself to
have to pay the bills playing
the drums, right, which can be
pretty smart. So he goes, You
know what? I'm just gonna
produce 20 podcasts and then,
you know, have a million other
businesses.
No, I just basically got to the
point where I don't really know
how to get into that business,
into I lived outside of New York
City all my life, and I'm like,
Yeah, I don't know what to do,
you know? Well,
you know, do, but you know, you
I went out when I was 18. You
took a different path, you
know? I don't know. I don't know
if I still know how to get into
that business, honestly, and how
to do it since I was a kid. So I
don't know. There's no rules.
So, Kev, what? What time At what
age did you start hitting the
skins?
I was really young, because my
great uncle was a real drummer.
So, you mean, like, a big band
drum, yeah, big band drummer. He
was a real, like, could actually
play, you know, and you're being
so self deputy, well, you know,
was buddies with Gene Krupa, who
used to come to my great
grandmother's house for
spaghetti and, no way, stuff,
yeah, that's a whole Deep Dive.
Oh god, dude, you remember
that? No no before, way before
my time, because he's my great
uncle. So we're talking about,
like, the 40s and the 50s, yeah,
in southern Connecticut,
because, you know, lived in
like, Yonkers or something, and
they were friends, just like, I
know you Yeah, he knew they knew
they were on the scene, right?
So, anyway, so as kids, my great
uncle gave all the boy cousins,
of course, drumsticks. I'm a
little kid going, well, he's the
coolest guy I've ever seen in my
life. Yeah, I'm gonna I love
this. I don't why do we do it? I
have no idea. We're drawn to it.
We're called to it. There's an
animal. I'm a little kid. I just
loved it. That was that, yeah,
was, I don't know if I was good
at it. I just loved it, yeah,
so, so I'm, I'm a little kid.
I'm six, seven years old, with a
pair of drum sticks. And, you
know, my mom sent me to drum
lessons at the Italian community
center, you know, because they
were $4 or whatever. And you sit
in a group, and I remember
sitting in a folding chair,
being so small that my feet
couldn't really touch the ground
and all these bigger kids and
I'm with a pad in front of me
trying to figure out what's
happening. I just loved it,
though, really weird thing to
like,
because now six or seven years
old, that means that you and I
are in the same path. We're
relatively the same age. Because
for me, I was six years old 1976
had the sticks in my hands. Joel
Rothman, book, here's a five
stroke roll. Here's a flam kid,
this is what a march sounds
like. This is book, a boom.
Guys, kabuka, boom. Ka and you
build on that, yeah, and, and we
did. We built a lot. We not only
built a house, we built cities.
And then we come back to book, a
boom casket. Book, a doomka.
For me, it never really left
there as a kid. You know, by the
time you're 12, I have a band
with neighborhood kids, yeah,
and figuring out rock and roll.
And soon as you boom, whack,
boom, boom, whack, I'm like,
Well, this is it, yeah, this is,
this is,
I'm done. You could take, you
could play, taking care of
business. You could play all
right now, you could play
everything,
all of it, you know, can't get
enough whatever, you know, any
bad company song, yeah, for me,
it's still that, you know, still
makes the hair stand up on the
back of
my neck. I'm loving that you're
saying that because everybody
that knows Jim and I knows that
we're we all. We go back to the
classic rock, and that is what
you would call money beat number
three. Money, beat number three
is boom, crack, boom, boom,
crack, right? So you mentioned,
can't get enough of your love.
Yeah? Paul Rogers singing his
heart out. Yep, that's a
shuffled version of, boom,
whack, boom, boom, right?
So you're learning a shuffle,
not knowing what's happening.
But really, for me, I'm
listening to the singer, always
listening to the singer, and
rarely the drummer. Well, of
course, I'm listening to the
drummer, but that singer just,
you know, Paul Rogers just lit
me on fire. You know, Robert
Plant just lit me on fire. Of
course, I'm listening to John
Bonham, but without that singer
pocketing that thing,
it's just literally up as a kid.
Have you gotten to meet Paul
Rogers? No, okay. No,
did you? Are you a lyric first
person or instrument for like,
when you hear a song, what do
you gravitate
towards the singer? Yeah,
always, really, it's got it
that's got to get me. Oh, it's a
weird thing, right? As much as I
love drums, I
mean, I'm hearing the drums and
how it all fits. Oh, my God, the
wall of sound. He's riding that
crash, and it's got that. Phil
Spector, you know, you're
getting that, but without a
great singer, a drummer, just by
himself, and I might get some
hate for this. It is after five
minutes. It's a sad tale, yeah,
I want to hear someone sing
something,
so the singer and then a guitar
riff, yeah, in that space,
because that's making the whole
thing pop, whether you're Jimmy
Page, but just pick anybody at
whatever riff, especially from
our era, the guitar riff is the
whole thing, yeah, and then the
singer, you know, sort of
leading the charge. That's what
drew me to the whole thing. Do
you
remember what your gateway drug
music was, the first when you
went from your mom's music, your
parents' music
to your music? Interesting?
Yeah? Well, yes, because my
parents were like, what
teenagers in the 50s. So my dad
had all these rock and roll
records from the 50s. So, you
know, compilation stuff. Chuck
Berry. All that stuff. Just and
as a kid, it's real easy to get
into that, right? I mean, it's
just that little Richard, all
that stuff, says little kid,
he's almost nursery rhyme, like
you could just feel it
immediately.
Little did. I know you know
that Little Richard was singing
about some deeply sexual thing,
heavy stuff, right? It just
seems like kiddie stuff, right
when you're a kid, but you can
feel it when you're a kid, so
definitely gateway. Then as a
little kid, you see something
like the Jackson Five on TV, and
you're like, what is happening
here, all these little kids
playing instruments and singing
and, you know? And then, of
course, opening that gatefold
kiss alive record at like, 10
years old. It's game over.
That's, that
was you with that game. It's God
rest ace, yeah, God rest his
soul. It's, uh, that's, that's
the end of it for me. I there
was no, I didn't know what that
was gonna mean for the rest of
my life. I just knew this was
it, yeah, this is it. You're,
you're a lifer. I'm doing this,
whatever this is, I don't know
how,
but you made it happen. I guess
you're a singer's dream, because
you're you've already told the
whole world for all time on a
public record that that you
listen to the vocal, and that is
the prerequisite, not only for
Nashville, but just any non
instrumental music you've got to
listen to the singer. If you're
setting up your wedge, your
wedge on the floor, mix, no
inner monitors. What can you get
by with? You got to have the
vocal.
Give me that vocal, maybe a
character much as you got, and
maybe that guitar player, yeah,
and that's it, yeah, you know
yourself, no, I'm sitting over
it,
but a nice Lars Ulrich kick
coming through the wedge is
nice.
Oh, yeah, no, absolutely for the
fire. And back in the day, you
know, you'd have these side
fills, where your wedges, what?
That's exactly why I can't hear
anything, you know. But that
wasn't, that was only to feel it
really is sort of caveman
version of just trying to feel
the thing, not necessarily
hearing it loud. You just want
to feel the thump even today
like it. I don't have drums in
my ears. I have a Thumper in my
Thumper.
And that's the funny thing is
that how much of the new
generation has no idea what
you're talking
about. I don't know your roll.
Call you guys, but
wait, but wait, So Ken, you're
telling me that in your ears,
you don't have any of your
drums.
I have a I'm exaggerating a
little bit, but essentially, no,
I have a little overhead, you
know,
to give me. Give it to me. No
bass guitar, nothing. No. He's
no no. He's saying no drums, no
drums, no real drums, really?
Why not level
it up? Drummers from around the
world, we cover, you know, I got
numbers every styles,
percussion, music, insider info,
career development, so I don't
positive mindset and much more.
Of course, we address all your
questions, and my deep
curriculum has helped players of
all kinds I kind of the ball
down the field grow closer to
their goals, even getting
accepted to college music
programs, moving to that dream
music town, getting links and
keeping them find out more about
my one on one, go to drum. 10.
Are you? I can't hear that
frequency anymore. Anyway.
Someone had hi hat in the
window, or
maybe you're just starting out.
Want to hit the ground. Starting
out. Am I crazy? Bet you know
for us, it's like 25
longest running radio
show from average off. The way
house drummers are lefties,
right? You got Mark Beck and you
got Eddie bears for me with for
not on ears. Everything that has
come through that wedge has been
like, steel guitar and blast,
yeah, yes, no lead vocal, and
you have no time to set that up.
No time.
There's no bitching. There's no
like, You call this a mix, you
know? It's just like, it's time
to go,
go. My only move, I literally
have time to I'll grab whatever
headphones are there, and I'll
just chuck them on, yeah, just
the house headphones, and I'll
just grab the high hat, because
it's always like, a million
miles away from me. I'm a short
guy. I just pull it in. I'm
like, and they're pointing at
me. I'm like, Well, we're doing
this meanwhile. I'm going around
the drums. I'm hitting all rims,
because the drums are so high,
you know, I can't reach them.
It's like, all right, whatever.
It's fine. It'll be they'll hear
the cross stick.
It's so uncomfortable to get
him, somebody. Was wild. And
it's because, I mean, when I
visited you in Detroit, rich
recently, yeah, recently, and,
you know, like, sit down and
play. I'm like, I can't play
your kid, man, your snare drum
is, like, freaking midway
between my thighs.
People really have a problem
with my snare drum because it's
so low. You know, my heroes were
Tony Thompson, liberty Devito,
Kenny Aronoff, Phil Collins, and
they all did.
They angled snare drum so you
could hit your your thigh at the
same time. But the funny thing
is, with yours, is that your
seat, like, I have a nice 90
degree angle on my leg for my
kick drum, right about there.
Yeah, dude, you're like, 100
105 degrees. Sure. There's some
serious things that we could do
to change the way our kits are
set up right to better suit our
bodies and stuff.
You ever sit behind somebody
kit, somebody else's kit, and
all of a sudden it makes so much
more sense than yours, and
you're like, how do I replicate
this? And you never can.
Yeah, for me, it's usually
trouble, because I'm a short
guy, so I'm like, Well, I either
can't touch the floor and I have
to figure out the seat thing and
not worry about the drums, yeah,
or I just have to go. I just
gotta go. It's over. It's done.
Try to hit what you can
lowering that snare drum is
like, thank God. That's pretty
easy on the opry kid, and it's
always, it's like a Yamaha
recording custom. Sounds really
nice. But you know, I'm a short
guy too. But you know what? You
don't play as, you don't read as
as a short guy. You you've got a
huge personality. You're a super
affable, you know, high energy
dude. So I never think of you
like that. And matter of fact, I
didn't even know I was short
until maybe, you know, like the
fourth decade of my life.
Because, you know, as drummers,
we have to have some of the most
confidence to go on stage and do
what we do. So with that
confidence came chest out, yeah,
you know what? I mean, it's
like. And then all these
athletes come backstage, get the
Red Sox backstage, get the
Atlanta Braves backstage, and
they're looking down at you, and
they're seeing if, like, where
you're balding and stuff. You're
like, what's up there?
Yeah, I know. Like, how did you
do your NBA player? How did you
do that? And like, Are you
kidding me? You play for the
bulls,
but they watch us do our thing,
and they're blown away. I know,
because we are. We are New York
city traffic cops meets Olympic
athletes, and we are doing it
and sweating. There's no other
job I'd rather have in the
world. I know it's, it's pretty
wacky, and you don't really
think about it, you just go time
and you just go, Yeah, I don't
know what to make of all of it.
I just go. But you know, there
is a I'm not, like, I don't walk
around in my day like that,
yeah. But behind the kid, you're
like, Okay, here's how it's
gonna go. Go. Are you the band
leader? I am okay, by default, I
guess just because I've been
here forever. Well, when you
have
a relationship with Rodney, your
artist is Rodney Atkins, yeah,
and he's, you've been in
Nashville since 97 Yes, same as
me. 97 you've been playing with
your artist for 25 years,
almost. I met him. Like, like we
all do with me, yeah. Like,
really lucky. You know, you know
we'd be making a living no
matter what, because we love to
play. Yeah, but when you hook up
with somebody that is willing to
have you on their payroll, and
they champion you, and they
respect you, and they're loyal
like that for multi decades now,
we both know that that's that
doesn't happen all the time.
No, no, it's it's pretty rare.
Also, changing drummers is a
real pain in the ass. Guitar
players, you can change. It's
not great. But drummers, man, if
you got one, just keep them. If
you can build your own monster.
You heard it here, folks, if
you've got a drummer that's
working in your band,
just I promise you, keep them.
The grass is not greener. Keep
her. Keep her. It gets we need
more female. Don't be podcast,
yeah, don't be
slip nut. Yeah, it's tricky. You
gotta wonder, like, with all the
overturn, like, when you have a
band that's got so much overturn
in a particular position, like a
drummer, do you do as a drummer?
Do you keep that in mind, if you
had to, and basically going into
it saying, and do you use it as
leverage? You know what I mean?
Like, okay, you guys have a
tendency to turn people over and
need to in two years, I gotta
look out for me. You know what I
mean? Well, we're lucky.
We'd have to worry about that.
Yeah,
people say that. Yeah, I'm sure
I've said it to you. If somebody
said it to me, because, you know
I'm we're more in this middle
ground. But where people have
said me, did you ever think of
playing for somebody else? I'm
like, well, well, sure, but I'm
sure what that means. But
because this guy, I'm working.
But also I always joke like,
well, all my friends play for
the biggest dudes in town,
unless they will me their gig
for some reason, where, where
are you going? I mean, so you
got
to you're gainfully. Employee,
right? Because
you could go somewhere else
that's bigger or this or that,
and be bounced in two weeks. So,
yeah, a double, you know, versus
Yeah. And there's plenty of
people that play that game. They
want to jump, they'll jump a gig
for 25 bucks. And I'm like,
Guys,
there's no loyalty. Big picture.
Guys,
focus, focus, focus. But then he
got, you know, artists that will
after a long time, yeah, blow
out half their band whenever we
know we know who did it. And
it's like, what happens to these
guys that do that? Let me stop
and pause. No,
I'm, you know, I'm not sure. I'm
not sure what that is. I think
it's a there's probably a lot of
reasons we can get into
sometimes people feel neither
they need to to to clean house,
to make somehow something else
happen.
Yeah, it came up on another
podcast that I do, and I said,
you know, in the rock world, and
I think there's a level of
forgiveness from the audience,
you know, we've seen it happen,
especially with Van Halen, not
necessarily the drummer, with
singers, yeah, I think the
audience drew the line at Gary
Sharon. They're like, okay, and
it's funny, because it's really
Gary wasn't bad for the band. He
was a great singer. He could do
the Sammy and the Dave stuff
really well. But he just like,
dude, the audience like, Guys,
get your act together. Man. This
is we're kind of getting tired
of this. You
can also tell when something's
Like, legitimately working. And
there's, there's a there's a
change, and it's for the better,
and they went to a new place,
and it's interesting for
everybody, the fans and the band
involved, that's cool. Hey,
you're searching for something
new and fresh. There's nothing
wrong with that, but sometimes
you just play the player
roulette, which kind of goes
nowhere. And you can't stop some
of those people from doing that.
Luckily, we were fortunate to
not have to deal with that. But,
yeah, but it was all luck,
because when I moved to town, I
was just playing for anybody,
and that asked me whether it was
in town, out of town. Roddy was
just among many of the people I
played with or for. I didn't
have a clue who was going to do
what or why their career is not
my career. I'm just trying to
figure it out. I can't worry
about I wasn't a band with
record deals. I did all that
Nashville is like, I'm just
going to try to be a drummer,
whatever that means, pro drummer
for hire. Yes, I never, had
never done that before. I don't
know. I didn't know what it
meant when I moved here.
Luckily, I had idiot timing, and
it was a time when Nashville
wasn't cool, and there was an
opportunity to sort of get in
there. But again, I would just
play for anybody that asked me
and try to figure it out. And
Roddy is one of the dudes I met,
and we played some gigs, and he
never got any hits. And he'd
call me occasionally. I would
see you playing with other
people, and I was playing with
Rodney with no hits.
You. Oh, I was trying to come
up. I was playing with Rush low
at Rush point. I was
Rodney on his first record, and
we'd be playing at 12 noon at a
festival. Nobody cared. You
know, I don't know. I'm just
playing,
hey, when you're going through
hell, keep going. Just keep
on going. I mean, now, now, now,
now, Rodney, Rodney Atkins,
he's, he's also around our age,
five studio albums that sound
right, and six number ones. Wow.
Yeah, six number ones. And he's
got a bunch of other songs that
live like number ones, which
keeps the set
moving. And there is no tough
fans whatever that is more loyal
than the country music,
which I was getting to before
talking about some of the
artists that we you know, not
going to name them, but they
blow out half their band and
stuff like that. Do you think
the audience reacts to that like
because they they the audience
respects and commands loyalty.
They're going to be loyal to
their artists, but if they see
the artist not being loyal to
their guys, do you think that
has an effect on it? Because
we've seen some artists do that,
and all of a sudden, the artists
themselves kind of, okay, you're
you kind of shot yourself in the
foot. Do you think that's a
thing
in our genre?
It's definitely artist driven.
Oh yeah, yeah.
You really don't care who the
drummer is,
yeah, but, I mean, but kind of
true, your audience has gotten
to know you guys. They know Al
Dean's band because you've been
there for 25 years and all the
records. That's what I mean.
It's like, there's a
loyalty it can but I think in
country at the end, I think it's
still pretty artist driven, of
course. I take that to remind
myself, like, Hey man, you know,
I don't mean this in a bad way.
You know, I'm side me, you know,
so, and that's the beauty of it.
I'm a dude who's just hired by
someone, yeah, and it's a
healthy thing to know that it's
cool I'm working for that dude,
and it's not my band. If it was
my band, he probably wouldn't be
my singer,
but he comes to you and he
values your opinion.
You're the liaison between him
and the guys, and that's a great
thing.
And and again, he had no hits
for a while, and we've always
pick up bands, which is a
nightmare for an original
artist. It's not a blues jam,
it's very. Difficult to just sub
every weekend with a guy who's
got a record. It's
just so you knew that. You you
knew the tunes solid, but then
you'd have guys read number
charts up there,
yeah? Or lay. My favorite part
was, uh, Hey, man, I was just
laying out because I didn't
really know. Oh yeah. Thanks for
laying out, bro. It's, now, it's
just drums and vocal because you
laid
out. It's like, totally James
Brown, yeah, thanks, vocal. What
is that for the layman? What
does that mean? So, laying out.
So, you know, they show up with
their charts, and they maybe
they're not prepared. So instead
of a showing up prepared, or B
reading their charts or playing
something in the key that we're
in, they just decide to lay out
and not play. I'm just gonna
hang back and not
play until I hear the second
chorus come around, and maybe
they'll get it on the
outro. Yeah. So they're milking
it, yeah, and just sort of
staying out of the way. That was
probably when you know Rodney
was doing Yes. Early day, early,
early county fairs, first record
no hits. Everyone's eating their
elephant ears and their fried
Snicker bars, and they're
setting up their chairs because
Brooks and Dunn's coming out at
10 o'clock at night, and we're
on at noon, right? You know, in
cadat or something.
But still, I mean, for a
musician to do that, I can't,
how do you expect to have
longevity?
They don't. They're, guess how
many times I called them again,
zero times. So
they're miming us. Essentially,
they what they're miming, yeah,
basically,
because they didn't really come
prepared, or they kind of got a
little spooked, or they don't
have the experience, or they
just didn't go for it. Just go
for
it. And that's a double edged
sword, because you're, you're
getting guys at the early part
of someone's career, yes, and
they're like, Hey, man, it's,
we're gone for three days. The
pay is 180 bucks. You got to
learn 20 songs, yeah, and
there's no rehearsal.
You might not to get the best
musicians.
No, it's Slim Pickens and,
but it was, but it was me and
Ronnie. So I was the dude
eventually trying to figure out,
you know, how we get some guys
in here that can play a little
bit and and figure it out, but,
but then he was dead in the
water, so then it was just him
and I, yeah, and I had gotten
another gig, so I didn't, wasn't
playing with Rodney. He's like,
Hey, man, we're gonna release
this single. If you're going
through hell, you know they're
gonna let me release this if you
want to come play a gig with me.
I'm like, sure I'll come play a
gig, dude. I'm like, I'm
thinking his career is done.
Come over, come over for dinner
sometime. But I got this other
gig, sure enough, six months
later, out of nowhere, number
one, four consecutive number
one. So what does that mean? I
don't know. I just kept
but that buys you 20 years in
the music business. If you got
six number one songs and a
couple of songs that play like
number ones. Yeah, you got
ravenous fan base. Got a strong
back beat. Goes a long way.
It goes a long way. And here I
am still, yeah, got
off the bus this morning. You're
also very, very aw shucks, self
deprecating. I mean, you got the
gig for a reason. You've kept
the gig for 25 years for a
reason. And Tom hambridge, which
we've had on the show, who's a
friend of yours, a fellow
Bostonian? Yes, he's a singer,
he's a songwriter, he's a
producer, he's a drummer. He's
probably pretty tough on
drummers. You're one of his go
to drummers.
Yeah, that's a crazy thing, how
that worked out, but yes, and
that gig, I'm thinking, Oh, I'm
gonna play for Tom hambridge.
He's my buddy. This is gonna be
great. And this is after a bunch
of experience, he's in
Nashville, you know, we're gonna
do some of his record. I'm like,
playing for the drummers, and
that's something I've never
really done, right? You're
playing for a great drummer who
wrote the songs, who's also a
producer and the singer and
fronting the band, yes, yeah.
And I'm going, Wow, this is
gonna be interesting. And I
remember that those rehearsals
initially, I'm trying to do his
slinky thing, that NRB Q kind of
slinky New Orleanian, and it's
drunk, eighth notes,
yeah, it's tanking because it's
not really me. And he just
stopped, and he turned to this
is Tom. He's super nice guy.
He's like, Hey, man, I just want
you to slam this thing that you
know. Don't do me. Just slam
this give me, like, Grand Funk,
you know, just slam this thing,
yeah, to the ground. And do you
don't try to, like, copy me off
the hook. And I went, Oh, that,
of course, that makes sense. I'm
here for me, for me to be me,
not try to be him, because it's
going to be awful. And we did
that, and it worked
out we had a relationship. So,
so is, was that you on bang and
roll? Did you play some drums on
bang and roll that record? Bang
and roll?
I don't think I did play any
well, because hambridge, you
know, Hey, Tommy, need a
drummer. No, I got it, man.
Oh, so Gotcha. And then, but
didn't then, did you play some
tracks on rodney's? It's
America.
I played, I was on going through
hell, some of that,
what's on, it's America, maybe
one. I
was just, I was just trying to,
yeah, when I was doing a deep
dive. Now, are you in? Do you
have a side project called the
amplifier heads?
Amplifier heads, yes, that's
cool. Rock is with a guitar
player I played with, with Tom
hammers. That's we put out, I
don't know, four or five
records. That's. Straight ahead
rock and roll,
straight ahead, classic rock and
yeah, it's, it's straight ahead
rocking.
That's my favorite, though.
That's real fun. And we did, we
did even more during covid
Because, you know, I had a rig
in my house. Okay, so,
so what's, what's this? What's
the space? Like a man cave above
the garage and bikes. It's
these old I live in Hillsboro
village, right in Vandy area,
and his little old 20s bungalow.
Wait a minute, that's a boat
that is. That's a nice area.
Well, again, again, the time we
moved to town, dude, it was just
a regular little neighborhood.
Can you say retire anytime you
want jam, bro, buy up there.
We bought it in, well, we lived
across the street in a house
that we rented for years, and
then in 2004 we moved into the
house across the street right
the 20s. I read the other one
out and bought and, no, we
didn't, we didn't own that one.
We just rented it, yeah, and we
bought the house across the
street in 2004 Evers I know at
the time was real
money, and get on Zillow,
the address is still in the same
house, still in
the same house. For you, it's a
big lot too, which is kind of
funny in that neighborhood, but
at the time it was real money
that I did not have, right? But
you're glad you did it. But in
Nashville, they're like, oh,
yeah, sure, you're good. You got
a job, you're fine. And I just
bought a house that could never
happen.
That is like the East Village.
It's funny, right? That's our
East Village.
Never thinking Nashville was
going to explode me, then I
would have been like, whatever
we just, it's just convenient.
It's convenient. My wife likes
it here. She worked at Vandy for
a bunch of years. It's, it's
very convenient. I'm in town.
Is she still working at Vandy.
No, she has 2020,
they bounce, some people now she
works for the Nashville scene.
Really, graphic designer for
that. Oh, great. What you do?
Friend about she graphic design.
She worked in the alumni
department. Graphic Designer.
Great combination. She went to
art school. I went to music
school. Great earning
capability, right there. Nailed
art and music, perfect
the liberal arts, the
dream team of
but oh four around that time,
yeah, we were,
you know, the real estate market
was real. I was still in Vegas,
then the real estate market was
hot, yeah, I think everywhere,
and it was leading up to the
bubble that happened. So you
were right in the middle there
when you bought, where the
prices weren't at their peak,
right?
And it, you know, it was more
excited about the real estate.
It was fair for the time. And,
you know, we're like, well, we
got to live somewhere, and we
love this neighborhood, so let's
just stay here. And the little
lady across the street, which we
worked on her for like, five
years, sell us your house. Sell
us your house. And she did, are
you close to dying?
Are you feeling okay?
What do you plan from the wait a
minute,
why are my nieces calling me all
the time? Everybody
knows Hillsborough village,
because you know it is, it's,
it's the spot. Like, okay, where
are we going to talk about the
song that we're gonna cut? Where
are we gonna talk about your
project? Where we gonna cut this
deal? Fido, yeah. So you're
right around
Fido browns, diners, right at
the end of my street. Yeah, I
was around the corner. It's
incredible. But Belmonts, you
know, just throw a rock at
Belmont, yeah? So, yeah, it's
just again, like most things in
Nashville, you can't we came
here at a time where I was
figuring it out, and I wasn't
thinking past a week or a year
or I didn't know how long I was
gonna last here. I didn't, you
know, I didn't really love it.
When I moved here, it was a big
change for
me. It was like, it was not
cool.
It was literally banjos. Yeah,
it was rough. Though it was
cheap. They were giving it away.
So I was like, well, we're
saving money. We rented a whole
house for half the price of our
little 400 square foot apartment
in Boston, and I had to have a
rehearsal space with all my gear
in in Boston, so I have all my
stuff in my house. This is
amazing, dude. 400 square feet
is small, small, and that was we
were happy to have it. And it's
in the middle of the city, and
that's just the norm, you know,
just there's no two bedroom in
Boston, even back then, that
wasn't even thinkable. It was,
well, the eastern seaboard
cities were crazy,
unsustainable.
Yeah. So Nashville was like,
Well, this is cool. This is
accessible. You could put you
could put drummer musician on
your mortgage application, and
it works. I didn't put that on
my rental application in Boston,
they wouldn't rent to you,
unreliable not having it. Sorry.
They the references you needed
to rent an apartment. You know,
was, were ridiculous. Never
mind, you know, anyway,
do you miss Boston? Do you miss
Boston? I do
miss it because it's a great
city, yeah, but the reason we
moved is because we did
everything we could do there at
a rock band. We had record
deals. Tell us about that. Tell
us about that. The original
scene was incredible in the 80s
and early 90s in Boston, I
stumbled into that as a kid. Was
my only goal was to go to the
big city and find a band. And,
you know,
yeah, and you were probably the
incubator was. Berkeley College
Music.
It was, I my story is pretty
funny, as far as that goes. The
short, the long story short, is
my dad's like, Look, you can't
just move to New York City. I
know you want to be a musician,
but what are you going to eat?
So he said, I can send you to
school. This is a one shot deal.
Not many kids get this Yeah, and
back then it was cheap, pick
something. I don't care where
you go. Just do something. I
don't care what it is. So, like,
fine, because I'll just go to
music school. Fine. I didn't
want to go to music school. I
don't want any part of that.
Yeah, so I just said, Berkeley.
I didn't visit it. I didn't I
got rejected. It's amazing. Your
dad's like, I'll cover it. He
said, Fine, fine. If you get in.
I had to go to the summer
program to get in. Thank God I
did not the place for me, it was
a nightmare, because I'm now, I
go from kid in a rock band to in
a bebop school with prodigies,
yeah, like, well, this is gonna
get weird real quick. And they
weren't. They weren't into
rockets back then. Yeah, in the
early they embraced it later on,
well, that they went where the
money
was. The guys from Dream Theater
didn't change the attitude
there. Yeah, I mean, I
went to school like this.
There's people like Terry Lynn
Carrington walking around. Del
fail. Marsalis is walking
around. I'm a kid. I'm 17 years
old, going, I'm in big trouble.
Will Calhoun was, like, in the
room next to me.
Oh, you went school will, yeah,
right next to me. That's
incredible. That's a Cool
story, bro. It's gonna get
weird. This is really, I'm in
it.
How was he when he was Did you
know him? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He
was one always set up in the
practice room. Seems like a cool
dude.
Dad, dude. Dad ended back, dude.
He had
this cool ensemble thing called
Dark sarcasm. And it was all
these super cool African
American dudes that had this
great, like fusion kind of band
situation. They would do
different stuff, like recital
stuff. It was wild. So even out
of the gate as kids, you know,
they're, like, fully realized,
you know, which? Again, the
long, the long story short, for
me, forget all the schooling,
all that stuff. It just taught
me how to survive. I got it's
just thick skin. What are you
gonna do now? Man, everybody's
better than you. What are you
gonna do now? Let me ask you
this. I mean, you're again,
you're being super self
deprecating because you have a
mean backbeat. Who were your
teachers? Was it the rod
morgensteins and the skip,
Hayden's and the skip? Skip
was the one dude, Casey Jarrell,
still, they weren't there yet.
Like, Rod was not there yet, you
know? So skip was the one dude
who I actually connected with
because a he was a nice guy,
yeah, he was kind of a rock
dude, yeah, or he got it. He
taught, like a double bass drum,
you know, class, class and
stuff. So I could somehow, you
know, at least identify with
something Yeah, that I wanted to
do, yeah, where all the other
guys were just hardcore jazz
guys, and, you know, worried
about what my high hat foot was
doing while I was swinging. I'm,
like, this is I'm gonna, I can't
do this. I'm a rock guy, yeah.
So skip was a great guy, so it
was just rough, man, it was
rough going. But you graduated.
I graduated. Well, yeah, so my,
I do find a band. We're working
on it. My band's kind of almost
getting signed. I quit Berkeley
in my last semester before
graduating. I'm like, I'm out
see you all you suckers later,
got a record deal. Next Suck it,
yeah. Next stop, rock star,
yeah.
What was the name of the band?
There's a band called Kid crash.
A bunch of bands were getting
signed out of Boston at extreme
or buddies. We all played
together on the scene. Paul
Gary, Yep, great guy. We're all
doing the thing, yeah. So it was
getting hot and we were making
ways. Well, that takes time. So
I'm still there. I didn't get
whisked off into rock star land.
I'm still in Boston figuring it
out, you know, recording and
doing all this stuff. So three
years after I quit, I went back
and fixed a couple things,
knocked on a couple doors, a
couple professors said, Hey,
man, I remember this incomplete.
Can I fix that? And did a couple
things, and they gave me a
degree. Nice. I was like, Dad, I
hear sorry.
Do you still have your dad?
Yeah, he's probably cool. He's
proud of
you still rocking, yes, and it's
the only thing he ever come out
to the shows, I'm sure, like you
big Italian family Connecticut,
to be like, 60 people that would
show up, you know? Oh, he can,
son, yeah, that's no matter what
I did. Playing Mohegan Sun was
the Holy Grail. That's like, you
know, it's in Connecticut. Yeah,
there's nowhere from
they give you a room. Yeah,
you're like, I'll be here for
two days, or whatever. You know,
I
could have toured the world's
problems, but, yeah, but did you
play Mohegan Sun? Because we
need to go there. It's a
badass Casino. It's a great it's
just, it's like, they're their
equivalent of the Hollywood Bowl
kind of thing, totally,
really, at least in my family's
eyes. See if I said the
Hollywood Bowl, they'd be like,
Oh, whatever. Did you play toads
place?
I still haven't done it. Yeah,
yeah. Holds it against me.
Toads, he's like, he's kicking
sand in my face on the beach.
Oh, my God,
you're gonna play there someday.
I don't know. Dude, if you ever
do play there, it's gonna be a
hell of a show. I hope
it stays open. Yeah? It's a
good, good venue. Foo Fighters
just did his pop up there.
Really, yeah, that's right,
yeah. It's an amazing place. But
that was the scene in Boston,
all those amazing clubs which
had this amazing, original scene
of all kinds of music. Of
course, being a college town
fueled it. What years were you
there again?
I lived in Boston since I'm 100
I lived there from, like, as a
kid, from 1982 to 1997 Okay, so
all the 80s. I caught all the
80s as a as a kid. So you
probably because I was, I was
active in the band scene, at
least in Western Connecticut in
the early to mid 90s. We might
know a lot of the same guys. I'm
sure it's a small you know, you
could reach all of it. Yeah,
we'd play all of it from Boston.
That's Boston in New York City.
Just make that loop all the
time. I just
went up to Long Island and play
with a killer cover band. Oh my
gosh, you're so good. That was a
good cover band.
I mean, always a great scene,
yeah, but all those rock clubs
like you say toads, the fact
that it's still open is amazing.
That's fantastic.
It all died, okay? Tuxedo
junction, Danbury, Oh, wow. I've
never played there. I played
there. I got that over all you
guys, yeah, yeah. You guys no
longer there.
I don't think Yale University
girls are as pretty as USC
girls.
Is that kind of like heads
Carolina?
Sounds like, what is it? What is
the word from part the song from
Parliament, you know, looks like
California? No, no, it's like
Carolina, or looks like
California.
Don't test me. I, you know, I
played tambourine on the song,
because what song is it? Then
that's, it's called Carolina,
yeah. How does the lyric? I
remember
when we had them on, I kind of
challenged us. It
was six years ago, guys, Jesus,
five times six. Are you saying
that North Carolina girls don't
look as good as the California
Girls? And they're like, that's
not worth saying. It's
all the Carolina girls are. I'm
on the record saying this. I'm
engaged. I'm
not saying anything. I'm taking
the fifth on that.
How long you been married? We've
only been married
in the classic Nashville way. We
got married at an ACM Awards
because it was convenient in
Vegas. Hey, man, come to the
gig. We gotta get a
free flight in a room. Just go
to the
Elvis chapel on the street. So
we went to, you know, you know
that thing. So we rehearse on
Sunday night, yeah, for the
Monday TV show. And then we went
and got married late Sunday
night after rehearsal, and I'm
wiped out. It was our very first
one. We never played one before,
so it's 2007 and my wife wants
to go out and party her friends
there. I'm like, I'm going to
bed. Man, I got a show tomorrow
night. You guys have fun. I'm
out.
I bailed on it. Bail for your
wedding
night, flying in, doing TV show
rehearsals, getting all that
together, got married and like,
I'm out. You guys have have a
big went
out with her girlfriends. What's
that? She went with her
girlfriends? Yeah? Oh, my God,
it's amazing.
Hilarious. 18 years, yeah, I
guess so, right? 2007 Yeah, wow.
But we've, we've known each
other since the 80s, because she
went school in Boston, also art
school in Boston. Is she time?
No, no. She's German. Her mom
was actually from Germany.
She's very methodical, yeah,
precise, right on point.
Reminds me all the time, of
everything, how it needs to be
yes, I always joke her mom was
the sweetest person, but very
German. And I would turn to her,
like, are you telling me how to
use a spoon right now? Are you
really telling me, like, how, I
mean, everything was, like, how
to be done? Oh, my God, a
certain way. Like, I'm pretty
sure I know how to use
this. But she thinks for their
head. You think with your heart,
yeah? I
call it magical thinking. I have
the magical thing, yeah, she's
sweating it. And I'm like, don't
worry about it. It's gonna be
fine. What's gonna happen?
So, so I'm at my hairdressers
today, and he's Italian, you
know, and he's a bass player
from the 80s on the Sunset
Strip. He had a successful salon
for 20 years in Hollywood. So,
you got to be pretty good
hairdresser, yeah. So I'm trying
to, I had a hoodie on this
morning, get my hair spackled,
and I put on my jean jacket, you
know, because it's the layering
season, you got your hoodie and
your jean jacket. So I'm trying
to put my and I'm putting it
over my head in this very
specific way. And he goes, do
you always put your jacket on
like that? I go, I guess he
goes, so do I? My wife gives me
shit about it's so dramatic.
Everything is just like an
opera. Yeah? The fat lady
singing is my entire life.
Yeah, I definitely have the
magical thinking, but, but she's
been on the ride. I mean, you
know, it was all fun and games
when was all along here and rock
and roll. You. Then you got to
turn it into, like, reality,
mortgage to Nashville, yeah,
which she wasn't wrong. She
hated Nashville that first year.
She's pretty tough, and she
wasn't wrong. It was, it was a
big adjustment. And you know,
when you have, when you move to
Newtown, or at least me, it was
all my big idea. So I was just
on fire, like I was had tunnel
vision of like I got to figure
this out, because this is my
dumb idea. So if it fails, it's,
it's on me. Yeah, you know, so a
lot of pressure, I got to figure
it out. I had a buddy here, my
buddy Angelo, who we followed
down here. He
lives right over by, right
around the corner from, yeah, on
on Clayton. Yes. He lived on
Clayton by the sound Emporium,
because I dated a girl for three
years named Lizzie on Clayton.
And I don't even want to know
what that house is
worth. I had the rental house
because that I rented because of
him. Yeah, I just said, well,
Angela lives here. I'm just
gonna live here. I just copied
him. That was my only reference.
I'll just do what he does. He
seems to be the pope in
Nashville at the time. I'll just
do what he does, and maybe I'll
be okay, yeah, he couldn't
really help me. He's a
songwriter. He's not a drummer.
I mean, you know,
and then the publishers telling
him to hire these studio
musicians, and he's like, okay,
it's all good, yeah. I didn't
expect him to, like, you know,
hand me stuff, yeah, but I was
definitely gonna copy him. If he
lives here, it must be cool.
I'll live here. If he does this,
I'll do this because he's got it
figured out a lot. What's he
doing,
man? Because he was a big thing,
what's that? Did he pass
Angelo? Yeah, oh, no. He's
rocking, rolling
right here in town, yeah, but
yeah, I haven't heard his name
or seen him. Yeah,
he's no, he's good. He just put
out a new record with his wife.
Okay, great. You know he's, oh,
he's Angelo man. He's always
here.
I am asking if the guy's alive,
yeah, let's take that out.
Anyways, Angela, What's up,
buddy?
Well, and I know him, known him
since I was, like, 19 in Boston,
yeah. And he's 10 years older
than me, so they were always,
like, the big brothers. They had
the big record deal when I was a
kid, I'm like, oh, that's how
you do it, yeah. So what was
that band called? Face to face,
face to face. Okay, a couple of
a top 10 hit and top 40 hit,
which is inconceivable to me,
back conceivable, like, how
could you do that's amazing.
We're all friends, and they, you
know, the guitar player in that
band, my buddy Stu Kimball,
produced my band in the 80s. So
it's all this group of friends,
and they were older than me, so
they were, like my big brothers,
like, yeah, I always followed
them. They always helped me out.
And I followed we all followed
him here, yeah, and you know,
much to his horror.
And, well, I'm just really, you
know, and I got two words for
you. And I think this will
resonate with you. 12th and
Porter, yeah, was that the
incubator for you? Because,
like, I feel like I ran into you
all the time. We were trying to
meet our people, yes. And like,
that wasn't really Music Row. It
was kind of like the underbelly
of Music Row. So, you know, you
had your, you know, I played
with the Evan roots, I played
with porcelain, I played Mr.
Ray. I played with Linda Regan.
I played with all these
underbelly rockers that were
trying to do the thing. And
eventually, you know, you
started to shake hands of
publishers and studio owners and
people that were more in the
corporate structure of music or
Yeah, but you spent a lot of
time there 12th and Porter Billy
block, you know, back in the
day, rest his soul, yeah, and
his sons are doing great. Super,
oh, you know, super kind to me
as a new guy. So all that scene,
yes, I was there because it was
close, and it was Angelo, you
know, I'd follow him there, or
the Sutler, or something, you
know, whatever, back in the day,
just trying to make the scene
the new settler is not like the
old so, yeah, exactly. And, you
know, that's not really my
thing, yeah, making the scene,
it's not really what I'm
comfortable with. But everybody
was so cool. And I always tell
that story, like, you know, I
You remember Paul Griffith,
drummer, Paul Griffith, yeah,
badass, right? Yeah, you know,
you and him, people would call
me and I like, Oh, cool. Where'd
you get my number? Oh, rich
Redmond gave me your number.
Paul Griffith gave me your
number. I'm like, This is
amazing, right? I love this.
This is, this is great. This is,
and I would do the same if I
couldn't do something, or if
somebody needed somebody, or and
that was sort of where it all
started, doing those things.
Yeah? Alliances, yeah. Playing
for anybody in the mutual
admiration society. I played for
this woman, Jen Cohen, for the
longest time. She's of Jen Cohen
folk Center, which I didn't
really have in the bag. Yeah?
You know that kind of low key,
kind of fat snare, real down low
and, you know, folky kind of
thing, yeah? So Matt, Matt
Chamberlain, things I needed,
you know that I didn't have I
like, I gotta get I can't fake
it. I gotta get in this thing,
yeah, figure out how to do it.
What's she doing?
Moved out of town. It's like
she's a cantor in New Jersey.
Yeah? Did the scene forever,
very, said all that. Now. A
circuit. I did that for years
with her, which was, you know,
playing all those colleges and
gigging, and met a lot of great
musicians. Sorry, I'm rambling,
but one of the guitar players so
good.
This is great rambling. You know
why? Because I knew this
conversation was going to go so
smooth. Because you talk with
your hands, you're a great
conversationalist. We just need
a gigantic bottle of wine, yeah,
and some candles.
This is nothing. This is vodka.
No, it's just,
by the way, that's dishwasher
not safe. Yeah, that the letters
will come off.
Yeah, I can feel that the
Braille poisoning kicking in.
Who was the blind
girl who that? Hold that up for
a second. What is that?
That's our iconic rich Redmond
show mug. Yeah, go to the rich
Redmond show.com and use the
code fall 2025, for 25% off.
Anyways, back to the show.
So funny enough. It couldn't
have been further away. It just
sort of hit me. A guitar player
I played with in that gig, which
is playing the knack of circuit,
knew Rodney. That's how he's we
had done a radio tour with him
before he ever had a band, and
said, Hey, this guy's gonna do a
gig this weekend, rehearsals on
Tuesday. Here's the songs. Come
play with us. I didn't know who
the
songs were on CD. Yeah, they
were on CD.
And so I learned the songs, and
I played a couple of weekend
gigs like he did with a million
people. Never knew who Rodney
was. He had a record that just
came out. Nobody knew. So I got
introduced to Rodney by a guy I
played with, with Jen Cohen, who
were playing the NACA circuit.
And none of it related, but all
of its related, right? It just
sort of happened that way. And
meeting you at 12th and Porter,
amongst many other people. Yeah,
that would I play with and go
round and around and around? It
was amazing. Back then, it was
doable
and accessible. You did it, man,
and
I don't know again, I never
thought of it past a week ahead
of me. I was just trying to
figure it out,
yeah, but you did figure it out.
Yes. So you got this 25 year
gig. What are the brands? Buddy,
Sakai. I did Sakai, but you were
with Yama. I was with Yamaha.
That's, that's, let me tell you,
if I wasn't with dw, everybody
knows, I'd be with Yamaha. It's
just they you can't go wrong. It
can't go wrong in it. Being in
Boston at that time, I grew up a
Slingerland kit, and then they
disappeared. Put a pin in that.
Except now it is owned, which
I've circled all the way down.
Lombardi. I'm trying. Are you
gonna try to get in? I'm trying
Trey's DW let me know if I could
help. You know, it's Jules up.
It's a text, Thomas Jules, yeah.
She signed this kid, yeah. I'm
sending you a box of cigars.
I told her, that's what I grew
up with, Simon, and then they
went away. So, but yeah, Yamaha
and Joe Testa, the great show
Testa helped me with so much
over the years. Yeah, so now I'm
no drums at all, dude. These
are marquee brands, though. This
is the traditional high level
combination of brands, Sakai,
zilgin, Vic, Firth, Remo, yeah.
I mean, that's like, I'm the
holy grail of companies.
I've never changed. I haven't
changed anything since the first
time I put a drum head on a
drum. Well, there.
I mean, first of all, Remo, I
get asked every day, can you
help me? I'll say yes. I will
send your you know, links to you
know, my friend over at Remo, it
is the most difficult thing to
acquire. It really is. It really
is because they invented the
drum head. Otherwise, if you
have dead animals
still over our drums, which you
know, by the way, Jimmy Herman
said Salo. Speaking of Jimmy
Herman forever plays with, Oh,
that's great. Okay, yeah.
Speaking of hunting, but yeah,
no, Remo, somehow, I always joke
that they haven't gotten to the
R's yet. My last name, like, Who
is this who's this guy? What's
his story? But yes, I've, I've
been there forever and again, if
I had to go buy him at forks,
that's what I
really do. It is Chris Hart,
your guy, yeah, or gotcha
helped me out. Go right to the
top. Kind of got in there again,
all timing and opportunity and
luck and, yeah, things happen at
the same time. And I'm an old
guy, so that was a long time
ago.
And you're a likable person,
which goes a long, long way.
Depends on who you ask, I guess.
But yeah, I think so. Now you're
very like, person, all right?
I'm a loyal guy, so if I'm, if
I'm using something, here's the
thing about that stuff. And you,
when people ask you, listen, I'm
not taking anything. I'm never
going to use, right? I don't
want anything. I just want what
I want. If I have to go get it,
I'll go get it. If I, if
someone's going to help me,
that's awesome. I have a
realistic expectation. Listen,
Yamaha, you're talking to Steve
Gad, yeah, I'm aware of where I
am in the world. And I'm not
being humble. I'm just like,
look, but I am in the world. You
create exposure for the product,
yes. So whatever that means to
you, however, we can make
something work. Great. If not,
I'll just go get what I need.
And it'll be fine. So that's
always been my approach, and
still my approach, even with
Slingerland. I love Slingerland.
It's where I started. I love
them. The fact that dw has re
popped that and it has made it
so sexy. Unbelievable is
exciting. I know what the real
world is. You know, I'd love to
rep. I'm your guy. You know, as
far
as they're gonna need guys in
the country genre, and it hasn't
happened yet, it's so great.
I know what I can offer.
Whatever that means to anybody
is fine, but I'm not looking you
know, you know how it is people
like, Hey, man, can I I've been
in town three months. You think
I get, like, free cymbals and
drums and, yeah, I don't know.
You're like, probably not.
You'll know when it's time. So
anyways, before I came over
here, do you know this kid,
Zoltan to back, we've had him on
the show, but he's the drummer
with muscadine bloodline. So I
met him at MI Musicians
Institute, like I taught a
little bit out there. And so I
meet this kid, I'm like, Oh my
God, there's tons of potential.
Great, feel, great energy.
Likable person, humble, hard
working. He moves to Nashville
11 years ago, and today,
actually yesterday, he signed a
deal with Sabian Simmons, and he
did it the right way. And it was
all through, like, polite
persistence. And so we just went
out and celebrated his it's it
just happened for him,
you know, it was never about
that for me. I, you know, I had
one drum kit forever, probably
till I moved to Nashville.
Really, was it a recording
customer, Maple custom. Well,
that was before Yamaha. Oh, wow.
You know, I had my Slingerland
kit. I had a DW kit when I first
moved to Nashville, and then
Yamaha, because I couldn't,
where was I gonna get Yamaha?
All my Japanese friends in
Boston were all Yamaha guys.
They were hipping me to Yamaha
in like, 1984 I was, yeah, yes,
I get it. I'm in. Look at this
quality, look at the
craftsmanship, look at the
innovation. But at 23 years old,
I wasn't gonna walk over to
Jack's drum shop in Boston and
buy a new recording custom,
because it was unattainable.
It's like, even then eight grand
or something. I mean, how am I
gonna do that? But, yeah, so I
forget what I was gonna say, but
that whole acquiring gear thing
is just never been my thing.
Yeah, you know.
So what's the snare drum with
Rodney out there? Like, is it a
steel Are you a steel snare
drum? Guy? Wood snare drum? You
know, I kind of go back and
forth right now. I'm using a a a
six and a half, like vintage
bronze Ludwig, nice. I have my
Lars right next to me. So I go
back and forth between the Lars
and the Oh, wow, yeah, cuz Lars
with the Yeah, diamond plate,
yeah, yeah. It's, I know it
sounds crazy. It's an amazing
drum that you know, that three
mil steel shell. It's insane.
It's a really good drama. It's
not just, it's not just a saint
anger. Horrible snare sound was
that the was that the drum, yes,
that's the famous, you know,
snares are off and he's doing
the thing. It's not that it's a
great drum, but
the videos that they make on
that the memes. So it's like
they put like a trash can. It's
so bad position. I
mean, they made an artistic
decision to just go with it, you
know, yeah, but that's what
people remember about that
album.
I know, yeah, I know. It's the
whole album, yeah, pretty much,
yeah. Wow. It's ridiculous, but
you're wearing Metallica, sure.
So. Are you down? Are you down
with that music?
Do you love it? Well, you know,
because I was in a rock band in
the 80s. I hated Metallica back
in the day. Do
you like that kind of music? Do
you like those people? It's loud
jean jackets and long hair
was the hardest bands you
listened to growing up. What
were the
hard you know, I was way into
British metal as a kid. That's
right in my wheelhouse. So, you
know, Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden,
Judas Priest, you know, deep
purple
Canadian metal anvil, of course,
rush like everybody else, but
that's my wheelhouse of high
school. You know, all that stuff
when it was breaking,
but some Metallica was kind of
pushing the envelope.
I didn't like Metallica back
then. I hated Metallica. Really
hated him. I thought I didn't
want to hear about that. It sort
of caught me. I kind of had a
resurgence when the past, like
10 years, when they started,
they're still here. They're my
age. I'm going, okay, and
they're making, like, real
records. I'm going, Oh my God.
And it kind of I got back on the
ride, yeah. And went, Oh my
gosh. You know, knowing how hard
it is to even maintain anything,
yeah, these guys are somehow
still making records, you know,
because
up in that neck of the woods you
had, you know, Anthrax was a big
yeah neighborhood, and if you
will, biohazard, all those guys
and being in a rock band at that
time, we opened for just about
every band like that that came
through Boston in those big rock
clubs,
yeah, ever open for overkill?
Yes, same bill. Same bill. Yes.
Down there any of those bands
that came in, we got on it.
No one has heard of overkill.
Any of our guests, sure, except
for you, overkill was a notable
band like. Me and Travis McNabb
were like, urge over kill.
Was thing. They were demand, all
that crazy
testament. Yeah, nuclear
assault. Yeah,
sure. I just saw Matt
Chamberlain did a post. He had a
metal night. He had a night off,
oh, my God, and with brandy
Carly or whatever, and he went
to go see testament.
Nice, yeah, all those classic
thrash bands. But I wasn't
really a thrash guy because I
was a British metal guy, yeah,
so I wasn't hearing that at the
lot of galloping. It's kind of a
snob, you know, these guys can't
play. But, you know, 40 years
later, like, oh my god, yeah.
And also realizing it's not
about that. It's always about,
you know, you recognize Lars
immediately. That's the game,
Rich. Redmond, lay something
down. You know that's rich. You
really do. That's the game.
Really guys, yo, yeah. That's
really hard to believe,
because I tell all my students,
I'm like, look at most of
country music is between 69 and
89 BPM, right? It's very hard to
stand out.
But if you, but if you, you know
that signature, like she's
country, it's, it's Redmond,
like, that's the thing. You
know, Jason's sound is very
identified. It's a thing you
guys made that thing. That's,
that's, it's one thing to play
music and to be good and to be
proficient. It's another thing
to have a voice and to be
recognizable. That's, that's the
magic. That's very, very nice,
difficult. It's almost, it's
special. It's special.
What is when is country metal
gonna make a thing? I think that
guys are trying to do it. I'm
not joking. I think there has to
be a thing.
I thought, you know, based off
of you guys, because you guys
really brought, yeah, distorted
the country, like the heaviness
of the country crunch, yeah.
And maybe that will come around
again, because there's a lot of
people that are like, I really,
are like, I really miss the my
kind of party. She's country
era. You guys are really onto
something. But, you know, Jason
is very quick to evolve. And I
got to say, I always tell
everybody, you know, if you have
an audience of a multi
generational audience of males
and females, 15 to 55 it is
nearly impossible to pull off,
yeah, and that's what you want,
yeah. You know, like, look at
pink. She can do six nights of
sold out stadiums in Australia,
male and female, all ages, multi
generations. Yeah, that's
incredible.
Yeah, it's also, yeah, it's also
speaking to that. I don't think
there's a point of reference for
young people to have the metal
influence. Maybe as much. It's
still a small thing. And metal
still exists, like it always is,
small pocket of metal dudes,
mostly. And Metallica doesn't
count. They've, they've, they've
crossed into their cross zones
world. They're just, you know,
in their own orbit, right? So I
don't know if there's a
reference for kids to sort of
make that come around where sort
of hip hop and that kind of
stuff had a reference, and it
could kind of come together.
Maybe, I don't know, it's my
idiots view, but I don't know.
But you guys were definitely had
established that and made it
huge, even at the time, because,
you know, Ronnie and and you
guys are at the same time. It's
all happening, and you're kind
of going, Oh, these guys are
over there, and Rodney is doing
this thing. It's all kind of
new, yeah, fresh, new guys.
And the difference is really,
like, how much cross stick Are
we playing? Really, you know,
that determines, is it funny how
it's gone away. There's got no
cross.
I think of that every night,
because Ronnie's biggest hit,
which is like a 60 week number
one, is across the is watching
you get a real cross stick, or a
real cross stick, no real
crossing. Nice Guy cast who
nice, real cross stick. Front
house guys got it. I'm like,
Hey, man, I I've had to tell
many guys listen, man, I know we
all have the big backbeat. If
this song doesn't have cross
stick, yeah, we got a problem.
Yeah, it's got, it's a has to
have it. I want Opry in your
face, cross stick. Cross
stick. It's funny, when I was
with Pam Tillis, she had a lot
of cross stick, yeah, and so
even back then, I've really
pushed the envelope. I had a pad
way up here, nice. That's great,
because it's really made a show
out
of it, and it's gonna be a
thing. So wedding, where you got
to get it there. I've messed
with different versions of that,
yeah, especially in Arena world
or something, when you this
cross stick is like,
what about a wood block, the jam
block? Remember that era? There
was a five, five year period
where everyone's like, had their
blue or orange.
I probably had both. I
definitely remember the blue
trying to find that right. It's
not right, but it's loud. Yes,
loud cuts. It cuts.
I mean, it slices an ogre head.
An ogres head off. Now we just
have click blasting my left oh
my god, I wake up in the middle
of the night listening to it
click. And it's like a crazy a
lot. It's a lot.
I think the guitar solo, the
artist driven guitar solo, is
probably going to make a
comeback. And I think our friend
Ben Gallagher is Ben
Gallagher was fantastic. You
heard of this kid? No, no, no.
He's got a he's got a song
called stomp, and a lot of shit.
Picking. He it's, he's, he's a
cross between a chicken picker
and a modern shredder. And it's
a nice combination. It's
refreshing. It's very
refreshing. I miss, I miss
guitar.
I was, I was trying to get him
on the show. I'm like, dude,
just add a little Eddie Van
Halen tapping into that. He
seemed reluctant. But, you know,
I try. It's been done when it's
been done by Eddie for letting
all that but any rest in the in
the country, genre, yeah, hasn't
been done yet. I think piano
needs to make a comeback in the
country. Oh
god. The second verse, Boogie
dude.
Second verse, boogie woogie
piano. Wouldn't that? Yeah, your
brother be all over there. Oh,
totally.
We had a utility guy, my friend
Liam, who played with us for
years, and he could play every
instrument. And the second
verse, second verse, piano just
cracks me. I can't believe you
just said that it's right
because he'd be playing fiddle,
and he'd run over the piano and,
like, put the fiddle on his lap,
just so we could play that
little run on the second verse,
pig, Robin. Second verse, I'm
like, hey man, you're like,
Jerry Lewis over there. Just
stop, stop running around, just
just to stay over there and
forget the second verse. It's
fine. Yeah, it's
fine. So you so you like me, had
to become a student of country
music. So like when I moved to
town, I immediately went,
remember the great escape? It
was a comic book store,
absolutely and they had used
cassettes. So I went over there.
I bought Tammy wynette's
Greatest Hits, Merle Haggard's
Greatest Hits. And I just went
to school like Johnny Cash
because, you know, I just didn't
grow up with it. I didn't
either, you know, I had to learn
the rules, you know, the stick
and the brush and the the
shuffles and the kick drum
patterns and the rules of when
you go to the snare. Yes,
yes. It's funny, because also i
i got kind of I did that, and
then people would always call me
for the boom, whack, yeah, well,
then you don't want the thing.
No, no, we're not doing that. I
want you to do, boom, whack,
boom, boom, whack. And you're
like, I got that you don't want
that. You don't want the little,
you know, country thing. They're
like, No, okay, so I didn't get
to do it that
much for the people I put. I'm
sure you have a great train. Be
shuffle.
Definitely do I love doing it.
Yeah? You know, if you asked me
to pull out brushes on a gig and
do a little, oh, this is
amazing. Yeah, this is so fun.
Let's do some
very rare, very rare. So,
speaking of these styles and
youth, you know, you're
mentioning Metallica. You're
mentioning the boom, whack. But
who are some of your favorite
like, cats, man, like,
favorite drummers? Drummers? Oh
my gosh, that's such a tough
question, right? It's
like a flavor of the month.
Yeah, it's so I mean,
it's, but, I mean, they keep
rearing their ugly head, yeah,
in your life,
you know, of course, I grew up
with the Gene Krupa thing
hanging over my head, and as a
young kid, I would watch those
movies and stuff and see him.
But you know, for me, really,
you know the Neil Pearson, Alex
Van Halen, nice.
We all agree. We're all from
Connecticut, and we all agree
that Alex Van Halen doesn't get
the dude, one
of the greatest ever
I've been chasing that my whole
life, you know? I just, I just
loved it. I'm fortunate enough
to be of the age where I could
see them in their prime and as a
kid, yeah, which is magic, you
know, though, after watching
becoming Led Zeppelin like three
times, I've kind of backed down
the John Bonham rabbit hole,
which is so cliche, but the
older I get, the more astounded
by it I am, like, I can't
believe these people are aliens.
How did four guys get in a room
and do this? Yeah, you know,
whereas a kid, he's like, Oh, I
could do that. This is awesome.
Now I'm like, This is
impossible. How does this
happen? You know?
So, and then I got to think that
AC, DC, oh, my God, has to be
one of the greatest rock bands
of all time. The way they pray
to eighth notes. There's very
few 16th notes in their music.
They are all so committed to
those 8/8 notes in a measure of
four, four time, and they know
exactly what to do with them,
and how all the guitar riffs
dance around Phil,
and it's so
muscular, it's mind blowing. And
I feel lucky to have been the
right age to take that in at the
right time. You know, you can't.
I wouldn't trade that. Hey, you
know, younger older. I'm like,
Yeah, but I got from my 10 year
old self to my 20 year old self.
I got the best stuff ever while
it was happening, nice while it
was being released, you know. So
for me, you know, you know, you
got to hear it for the first
time. Yeah, as a brand new I
saw,
wait a minute, the back you were
born in 1964 Yes, the Beatles.
Right, right down the street,
you know, at Shea Stadium,
right? The Beatles come to
America. So my whole life, you
know, you just to be in that
wheel. That's pretty
incredible to have that be your
birth year, because that was the
year that changed America, that
changed the world, really
did. That was a tipping point
into a me. Yeah, it's pretty
incredible me generation,
to be in that and because. My
dad and uncle appreciated music.
I got to see a lot of old school
guys. So I saw Buddy Rich a
couple times as a young kid,
yes, at like, a dinner theater
in, you know, Connecticut, yep,
blowing your face
off. GRC, Maynard Ferguson, yes,
yes. I saw him with Ray Brinker,
this drummer, Ray Brinker, that
went on to go play with Pat
Benatar in her later years. Oh,
yeah. But I was like, Oh my God.
Because I was like, he had the
red Yamaha recording customers
with the jazz symbols, you know.
And I was like, amazing, wow.
Before the record, brothers, he
was a heavy metal, heavy metal
horns, man. He was like, That
dude was like, screaming, yeah.
Leonard Ferguson, yeah, fun. I
appreciation for all that stuff
as a kid, even though I didn't
really know because those
records were in the house, so I
liked it. Drummers are weird,
right? You guys agree, drummers
pretty much like all drummers,
don't they, most
part. And you know, I went to
dinner with three non drummers
the other night. One of the guys
I went to dinner with, I met him
at the Rock fantasy camp, like,
10 years ago, because I did one
year of teaching at the Rock
fantasy camp. And this guy,
camp. And this guy, his day job
is high level. He owns this
Dental Group, so he's doing
great. He's high level dentist,
and he had his CFO with him, and
one of his right hand guys, and
they were telling me about, you
know, their, you know,
admiration of music and stuff.
And they're like, now, do
drummers hang out? Do they like
each other? I was like, oh my
god, guys, you don't understand.
It's like two dogs seeing each
other
from across the street. It's a
love fest. Is that only
contained in Nashville?
No, the world over, really?
Yeah, I think so. Are you gonna
go to do you ever go to
basic i The only time I went is
when it was in
Nashville. Oh, that was about
like,
9798 Yeah, was that early? Oh my
gosh. So
it's been in the city of
Indianapolis, yeah, for ever
since, I know, and it's they've
got another 10 year contract, I
believe. But anyways, for those
that are listening, the
percussive Art Society is this
amazing mutual admiration
society, where all the
percussionists and drummers that
are at a professional level,
educators, studio, students,
hobbyists, that we all converge
on Indianapolis, Indiana, and we
go, and it's three days of clay.
So this year, it's November 13
through 15 at the Indianapolis
Convention Center, and it's the
50th anniversary.
Oh, wow, yeah, I need to go
again, just because I love that
stuff. Yeah, I'll nerd out all
day long and sit in the back and
just, yeah, love all of it. You
know. But for whatever one
reason or another, I just never
got there and it's you do any
teaching, teaching tennis. You
actually teach tennis? Yeah?
Really not drums. Is that your
is that your cardio? Yeah? I
mean, I hit balls every morning,
usually if I'm home.
What about the tennis elbow? Is
that a thing?
Here's the thing. I from playing
drums as a kid and playing
tennis as a kid, I've never had
tennis elbow. I've been
obsessing over golf this past
year and hitting 1000s of balls.
Now I'm like my elbows killing
me from from a year of golf,
never from tennis, now from
drumming,
because I have a friend, Jason
Sutter, and he, you know, he's,
like, was Cornell's drummer,
and, yeah, now he's playing with
Joe Perry, and he had a foray
into tennis, and
he got tennis elbows. Yeah, it
can happen. I mean,
I've just done it since I was a
kid. I've always loved it and
it's always a wannabe.
Well, you're lean and mean, so I
remember you telling me 20 years
ago, yeah, I get on the bus, I
got my Tupperware, I make my
chicken, I make my meals. You're
very disciplined. So the way you
look, you're probably still
doing that. But now, what are
you doing? Do you stretch? Do
you supplement? Do you weight
train.
I don't do enough weight
training, and my wife gets on me
because, you know, as you get
older, need to be strong, have a
bad habit of just doing aerobic
type stuff. Yeah, that sounds
sort of my I like that. Yeah,
it's not really high energy.
It's more energy. I'm an up guy,
so I weight things never really
it's
fun for guys that are past the
age of like us, past the age of
50 weights is not supposed to be
good
like you got, but we lose a
pound of muscle years straight.
This has been the rich Redmond
show. Subscribe. You don't want
to blow out your anus when
you're squatting, you know,
but we're not supposed to do
that. Yeah. What are we talking
about? Sorry, guys, yeah. So I
don't do enough. I've just been
obsessing lately over over, you
know, hitting golf balls, which
sounds really bougie and weird,
but I have,
you mean, at the driving range,
or the game, or 18 holes, all of
it. So get this. My dad's got
all of it four. Hole in ones.
That's
unbelievable. How do you say
that holes in ones?
Yeah, hole in ones.
Hole in ones. What's the plural
for hole in one?
Somebody let us know at the rich
Redmond show@gmail.com,
I think it's hole in ones. Okay,
hole
in ones. That's probably right.
Again, I have a weird component.
Motion to hit a ball, like a
tennis ball or golf, was a whole
other issue that I have. It's
not like I'm trying to be, you
know, make the tour or
something. I'm just trying to, I
just love, sort of my happy
place. Do
you do that on the road? That's
your thing? Yes. Do you play
with Rodney? He doesn't play.
So me and couple of boys were
out there every day. We were out
there yesterday morning before
the show
you get away. Yeah? Because, you
know, Aldean, Aldean will hit
and Kurt will hit. So they'll go
out and do the thing. Yeah,
golf, golf,
and on the road to, you know, I
gotta do, so I used to bring my
road bike on the road. I used to
bring, you know, all kinds of
stuff I'm trying to segue into,
maybe sports that won't kill me.
Yeah? Not that I'm afraid, but,
you know, let me try to do stuff
that I can actually maintain and
not get run over on the road in
the middle of Iowa. Yeah,
myself, it's I push my luck a
little. I was
thinking about getting a bike,
you know, but, but, you know,
there is something to the a lot
of the drummers that ride their
bikes, they end up doing
something with their wrists.
Yes, yes. So I've been lucky.
I've never really been injured.
I always joke with drumming.
Well, I never really repeat the
same motion, so I'm not gonna
get
hurt, yeah? Just kind of, now,
do you warm up backstage a
little bit? I do pad.
No, not really. I kind of, I'll
kind of just move
legs, yeah, move sticks on the
legs kind of thing, yeah? Or
sometimes
hands, just to get them moving.
But mostly, like, sort of the,
you know, I'm trying to, like,
run in place and get get a
little
steady. Now, that's really
interesting to hear because I've
been listening to, you know,
Dave Elish, jump rope. Jumps
rope for 10 minutes.
Yes, is it from tennis all the
time? Yeah, jump rope to get
moving.
Now, jump rope. Jumping rope is,
you know, I get it because I'm a
rocky fan. But, you know, unless
you're doing the skips and the
crossovers and stuff it, it
seems just like I'm pounding my
knees.
It can be, you got to be, you
know, you got to figure out a
way to get
light, you know, do you do the
crosses and,
no, I can't. I mean, way back. I
could do a little bit. I don't
do it enough. I just want to
move so I'm at least warm. Yeah,
I'm always cold. So, you know,
you're warming your hands on,
like the movie, so lean, you
know, I'm on movers trying to
warm my hands. Yeah? You know,
hey.
And we were talking about Jim
may have captured it. I don't
know if he was rolling or not,
but we were talking about our
mutual friend Trey gray. You
know, everybody knows that he
played with Faith Hill in the
early days. Tim McGraw in the
early days. He's done tenure
with Reba. He's done now. He's
currently with Brooks and Dunn.
So he was one of the first hard
hitting, youthful rock inspired
drummers to come to Nashville. I
really feel like he changed
things. And I would say that
we're friends, but you're you
see him a lot more than I do.
You guys have a podcast tell us
about
that. We do have a podcast,
which comes from he moved back
to his hometown in South Bend,
Indiana, a bunch of years ago.
So when he comes to town, he
stays at my house if they're out
on the road. So he I'm his hub.
So we would just sit at my
kitchen table and just YouTube
and look at old kiss videos,
whatever we were talking about,
just nonsense, because we're
buddies, and my wife would just
come into the kitchen like, you
guys are killing me, you know,
go to bed. Yeah, she's like, I'm
shutting the door and I'm going
to bed. You guys do whatever you
want. So we always joke, this
should be a podcast. It should
be a podcast. We also thought,
well, we could just have our
friends over to the kitchen
table. Well, that didn't, of
course, it never materialized.
Long story, longer we during
covid, we just said, let's just
do it, zoomed it, and finally
got it up and running. Really,
it's just him and I talking, was
what we did at our kitchen
table, about nothing.
And do you I mean people like
love that.
It worked out great, because
we're just two morons who go at
each other, and that's just what
we do. So I just press record,
and then yeah, edited it when he
when it got a little off, off
the rails, yeah? Or he started
mentioning names. Let me just
take those out. Don't
actually mention specific, yeah.
Let's not get too far down your
issue. But, um, yeah, so it
turned into a thing, especially
during covid, and we've been
doing it ever since. It's
falling off, falling off a
little bit in the past year, but
Trey and Kevin changed the
world. It was supposed to be
Trey and Kevin save the world
one podcast at a time, yeah? But
Pat Buchanan did the theme song
without drums, yeah. Send it to
me. I put drums on it. That's
the theme song. And then, in the
name of the podcast, it's
a very traditional, like
corporate marketing type jingle.
Yeah, it's a jingle. It's a
jingle. He was so excited about
that. Pat Buchanan is such an
excitable young man, so
he has a childlike spirit. He
really does. It's great.
Speaking of which, Nashville,
Pat Buchanan, I first moved to
town. I A buddy of mine that I
also played with, that folk
singer with bass player. He
called me one day said I had
just moved to town. Hey, do you
have a passport? I said, Yes.
Tony Lucido, no. Guys. Name's
Ken. Horn back. He's like, Do
you have a passport? I like, I'm
checking, yeah, I have a
passport. Yeah, it's still good.
Hey, do you want to go do a two
week tour of England in 24
hours? Yeah, with who? Pat
Buchanan. I don't know who that
is. I'm like, do you mean the
cameos band? Yeah, yes. I didn't
know. I'm new to Nashville. I
like, Yeah, I'll do it. And this
other guy, Jeff Finland, so I
met Pat on the plane going to
England to play two weeks of his
music, the idol jets, which Greg
Morrow was in that band. Yeah,
I'm listening to the CD, going,
Nope, not gonna play that like,
not by tomorrow. And I'm
learning the music. He's got
charts charting. Pat had the
charts, national number charts,
yes, which taught me how to
write Nashville charts. He I
still write them in his little
square boxes like he did. Yeah,
that was imprinted on my brain.
Super easy. Yeah, great. Got it
little boxes with slashes. I
still do it the same way. Hey,
great. So I met him out of the
box. We did this two week pub
tour of his stuff. We had a
great time. We were rocking the
suits. I didn't know him. And
we've been friends for ever. And
he moved
to Florida for Right, yeah, he
had Lake House taking care of
his, I think aging mother or,
yeah, she passed.
She did. So he's just kind of,
you know, they got their lake
house and doing the thing, and
he still does stuff, but, uh,
yeah, so lucky me that I
stumbled into just as a friend
to know this not he
still has the Beatles haircut,
yes, which I
love, yes. He, during that trip,
he took me to Soho, where this
suit maker,
oh, a bespoke suit maker was
Seville road.
It was right near the
what's the club there? Oh, my
gosh, my the canyon club. Nope,
the cavern the candy club in
London, sorry. Oh, my God, I'll
think of it when it's too late.
Anyway, it was right across.
Luckily, it was closed. Yeah,
because if I came home from this
pub tour after just moved to
Nashville with $1,000 suit that
I wasn't making, yeah, because
Pat Bukit, because Pat thought
it was a cool idea, and he'd had
one of like, well, I'm gonna get
one, I would have been in big
trouble, but we've been fast
friends ever since, just, Oh,
it's great, silliness. Sorry.
Long story. Anytime I've ever
ended up in a recording studio
with Pat it's like, you're gonna
have a good time. There's gonna
be tons of energy and tons of
ideas flying and it's just
awesome. Yeah, it's great. Yeah.
He insisted that no matter what
I did on the gig, he doesn't
know me because I said, Hey,
man, what if you need something
and I'm not doing it or
something, just I'm not
sensitive. Just fire away, man,
let me know we don't know each
other. It's all good. It'll be
fun. He's like, all I need from
you, no matter sometime in the
night, to give me a pretty,
pretty, like, a pretty, pretty,
you mean the he's like, Yeah,
give me that anywhere. Yeah,
just give me one of those
somewhere. So I would jam it in
the worst possible spot, yeah,
the most unmusical spot I could
find. And he loved it. He would
fall on the floor. I'm like,
Well, this is fun. I'll just
That's amazing. We're having a
good time. Yeah, great. So
anyway, thanks for indulging
that. So, Kev,
I'm going to put this out there.
Yeah, we could always take it
out, but I think it's going to
be great, okay, but I have known
you for 28 years, oh my gosh.
And I know that you're Italian,
but I have never known the exact
pronunciation of your name? Oh,
it's funny. Everyone butchers
it. They do. Is it rappillo?
It's rapillo or pillow, hard?
L's like, a pillow? Yes. Do you
have to tell people all the
time, because everybody's trying
to make it Spanish repeal, like,
soft. L, exactly. Trying to do
that. I'm like, Nope, it's a
pillow. Straight up. Yeah, a
pillow. I was just saying, you
get a lot of guys, I'm sure,
like Rapallo,
a lot of that wrong accents,
which, you know, I'm guilty of
myself all the time
in drumming world. I'm so glad I
got this because, because I've
told a million people about you,
especially in the early days,
but I probably butchered your
name. It's okay
not a lot of times in Nashville
back in the day. Yeah, Angelo
was the only other one.
Yeah, more now, a lot more. Now,
a lot more of everything,
yeah, but yeah. Big Italian
family still in Connecticut,
most of them still there on the
same street.
But I think that, I think that
we how
often you get back to go visit
your folks,
not much. I was there this
summer for a couple days because
I we played up through there,
and I jumped off the bus and
stayed home for three days
because we had, we were off for
the week. Still got your mom?
No, I lost my mom a couple years
ago. She was the youngest of
that whole crew, which is
interesting how life works.
She's a nurse her
whole life. Mine too. My mom, 45
years a nurse, right?
My mom was working almost
to the day, yes? Well, I mean,
it's, it
was a little bit of a slow
thing, but she's 79 years old.
Is still a full time nurse. I'm
like, Mom, what do you got to
pay the rent? What are you
doing?
Purpose? Did she say? She loves
it
what we do, it's what we do. Is
what we do. Yeah, but yeah. So
lost her, which is tough. You
know, I'm spoiled. Mama's boy,
man, it's tough stuff you got,
if you got brothers and sisters,
brother and sister, lots of
cousins. Are you the oldest? I
am the oldest.
I'm the. Oldest? Yeah, we're
from Connecticut. We're Italian,
yeah, your mom was a nurse,
yeah, really weird. Bro, pretty
intense, right? What was your
dad an accountant? He was shut
up.
Swear to god, dude, what the
fuck you did? My he did my
Kenny Aaron off here, he did. He
didn't found it. We could say,
Fuck, wait a minute. So my dad
is an accountant? Yeah, I'm
counting on a nurse.
Yes. His whole life I didn't do
my taxes. Until last year, I
said, Dad, I'll do him this
year. He's 87 he's like, You
sure? Like, I'll figure it out.
I'm like, oh shit. I don't
know how to he knows more than
the IRS at this Yeah, yeah,
yeah. And he's still
on it. Like, he's still on it,
he's still all in that
really incredible. We're kind of
like, Isn't that wild?
Like, well, you know, I felt
that, you know, it's funny you
say that because, like, you
know, coming to a new town, and
I wasn't, I wasn't a kid when I
came here, so I wasn't 18. I was
in my 30s when I came here. So
it's a little different
experience. You're trying to,
how do you find your people? You
know, it was, yeah, so meeting
you and people like you,
especially you a you were a good
role model, because you were,
like, not only a great drummer,
but you were a dude that was
going after it. Yeah, I'm like,
Oh, that's cool. That guy's but
not, well, I appreciate it. Oh,
he's in the right. Like, you
were just going after it. And
you were like, cool, and you
were cool everybody and giving
out numbers.
And Jim was like, you know, you,
he says you came to town. What
did you say, Jim,
I'm here. Yeah, ready or not.
But, you know, and other people
come and kind of tip toed, and
maybe that's the, maybe that's
the better way, because, because
I do have a little bit of a
reputation,
guy, yeah, but that's what's
funny about anybody that would
take that on about I'm like,
yeah, it's you, dude, it's not
rich, it's you had it figured
out. And I didn't have that, and
I didn't know how to navigate
that, especially, like, I wasn't
a drummer for hire. I'm in a new
town. I'm like, How do I figure
this out? I'm gonna be me.
But it was, it was, it was a big
deal. The older we
get, I feel as human beings, the
the
more difficult it is to make
major changes like that,
geographical changes, career
changes, absolutely. Would you
agree, Jim,
the older we get? Yes, yeah, I
haven't done it in a while.
I mean, moving across the
country in your 30s is different
from moving across the country
when you're 21 years
old, because there's no fear,
and there's you don't know the
forces against you, and it's all
magical thinking.
You just moved down here was
that daunting about a year ago,
right? Oh,
to spring kill Yeah. No, not at
all. It's just the drive, you
know, just more podcasts.
Yeah, we're still moving. Yeah,
I
didn't move off. This was funny.
I moved all the way to
Nashville, then I didn't move
off the street, right since I
got here, so, but that
paid off brother, who knew Jim
Zillow
compared to Redfin. But dude,
this is part of your retirement
plan, you know. And that's,
that's actually getting to be a
thing you start thinking
about, for sure, I'm sure
people, people ask me, just in
general, because you do it for a
while, how long you gonna
do that? Like you didn't take
any second mortgages or he
locks? Did you say it again? Did
you get take any second
mortgages, or HELOCs out or No?
No. Wow. You still got original
equity,
yeah. And you got your tracking
space, yeah, yeah.
So those little bungals Have
those weird bonus rooms up
there, yeah? Which Trey and I,
Trey did that, by the way. He's
like, this got to be a tracking
room. You're crazy. This was,
like, in 2015 you got to make
this a thing. It was just a
storage space. He, I said, I
can't deal with it. And I left
the house. I went out with Sandy
to get some lunch. He, I left
him up there. He measured
everything. He started setting
up a kit in the middle of the
room. He started nailing kiss
posters on the wall. He have all
this cool stuff. Good friend. He
did it. Yeah. So that got me
started. That's great.
What's up, Trey? Trey's got to
come on. Now, the funny thing
is, is that, you know, Trey will
cut it up with me when I see him
in person, of course, but he
will not return a text ever. Is
he like an anti technology
or what? No, he's he's kind of
funny. Listen, he's over there,
texting whomever he's texting,
but, uh, but not me. I don't
know what, not anybody, right?
It's annoying. For some reason.
I don't know what is with him,
and I have no idea it makes no
sense.
Yeah, but it is what it is. But
hey, man, when you see Trey gray
play, there is a there's a
childlike enthusiasm, and he
just looks like he is having the
time of his
life. Yes, I think he, he's
helped me with that, like
letting go of stuff. Hey, man,
sell this kit. Put a rig in your
attic, you know, I would have
never done that. My holding on
to stuff and not doing that. So
he, you know, we helped each
other that way. And I'm the
opposite for him. I'm like, Hey,
man, don't do that. Yeah,
listen, let's do it this way.
It'll be, yeah, I'm a little bit
more on, you know. Well,
that's the accountant, Dad.
Yeah, I'm a little bit of that
because. My accountant, Dad was,
like, very methodical and very
safe. Oh, and there's, there's
direction, and you have to have
a plan. And then my mom is
magical thinking, yeah,
sure, yes. You know my I always
joke. My dad knows where his
first $5 is still like, oh, I
made that. It's right here,
right
where I framed it,
1956 I'm like, Yeah, okay. I'm
definitely not that way, but,
but yeah. So that kind of works
out, but, well, I just think
that this is, this was so long
overdue. I'm so happy for you.
I'm so proud of you. It's
fantastic to call you a friend
and a colleague. And you're
keeping the world safe for
country music. You're still
using cross sticks. You're, you
know, you're playing with Tom.
You got a body of work. You're
it's a great, great thing. If
people want to reach out to you,
what's the best way for them to
find I'm
on Instagram. That's sort of my
one social media thing.
Yeah, not a Facebook. No, I
never did, you know, I never did
Facebook. There was no real
reason.
Yeah, I just It's the old person
platform. Now,
well, back in the day, I think
back in the day is when, when
Facebook was actually taken off.
Rodney was taken off. I'm like,
I'm pretty connected. Like,
everybody knows where I am. Is,
like, I'm not in the witness
relocation program. Like, just
call me, dude, yeah. So I got
in, I'm on Instagram, and I'll
post some dumb things. What's
the handle there? Just your
name, just my name. Kevin
repellent. That's great. It's
easy peasy.
Yeah, man, well, hey, thanks for
having me out here.
Are you kidding me? I'm sorry
it's taking so long. We're up
to, I think, 232, episodes on
the early days. You know, we
had, we were experimenting.
We're trying to find our
audience. We had comedians on.
We had we had body language
experts. We had take celebrity
tailors. We even had Huey Lewis
on, but I think the audience
just loves when drummers get
together,
you know, yeah, I think it's
just to talk about experiences
and what we've done, that's what
Trey and I do. We don't really
talk about drums. We just talk
about whatever. And we've had
people on. Now, if you if we
could, I'd love to wrangle you.
Yeah, me, me, he would do it
the think so,
if he like. If I said, Hey, we
got to go over to you a thing,
he'd freak out. But I said, Hey,
rich is gonna it's the same
thing, by the way, your
audience, you think they would
come and sit in that chair right
there. I could get him to do it.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Get him
to do it. And you guys do it. I
won't be on you guys talk. You
do the tray thing, cuz once you
get him going, gotta wind them
up. It's, it's
going, it's Jim. Do you have any
interesting questions, or
anything you'd like to ask our
amazing guest today,
I was gonna wonder, what was a
stick? Drop, moment in your
life? Stick? Drop, yeah,
there's been a lot of them.
I had one not too long ago at
the beginning of, you know,
running tracks where you have a
controller here and you press in
buttons, playing, bang, bang,
stick break up in the air. Hits,
the hits the controller chooses
another song. Oh, middle. Oh,
how's it going? Everybody kill.
You know, stuff like that. You
know, this is why delicate stuff
shouldn't be near the drummer,
of all the places for this to
be. So now it
seems like they put the laptops
over a little bit farther back
or off with you got SPD kind of
a thing, or, you
know, I don't I'm using just an
entire controller. I can pick
any song, and then I just have a
little, a little four trigger
pad that I can make a couple
moves, and that's it. I know I
made it real
simple. Do you ever use that,
that Yamaha, DTX? I did. I have
a couple of
those. Yeah, they're cool.
They're beasts. Yeah, they're
great. They're workhorses, yeah?
But I was like, this thing's a
beast. I don't need all these.
This is too many options. Yeah,
I don't want to make this many
moves. Yeah, I want on and off.
Let's play good advice. Bad
advice. Oh, yeah, I'm still
confused about that, so you
handle it. Okay, so
we'll have somebody coming into
town, or even coming up playing
their instrument. What's some
good advice you have
for them? Good advice. What's
your advice? A good question.
You know, thing I've run into
maybe with younger players. It's
not their ability to play,
because most younger players
could play circles around me
now, right? Because there's, I
would say, listen, listen. Just
listen to people like, listen to
the people you're playing with.
Yeah, listen to the people
you're playing for. You know, a
lot of players, just young dudes
are playing and they want to do
the thing, but they're never
listening to what
bulldozing, bulldozing.
So basically, don't, don't
listen to take in. Listen to
respond. Listen to respond.
That is the definition of not
listening. Pop psychology.
Listen to regurgitate something
you heard. I mean, listen like,
listen to what's around you. I
know that sounds.
We stumble. We stumbled on a new
like feature, kind of fun thing,
good advice. Bad like, you give
good advice. And then when I
counter bridge counters
with some bad, oh, cool. I like
that. I could come up with a lot
of bad advice.
Well, what's, what's bad advice
give us.
What's that little boy Rich has
given me the look of like, Why
do I have him? Yeah,
no, it's great stuff.
Bad advice. It
sounds like a Saturday in the
lifetime. Oh, my God.
The listening thing just spins
me out. Man, not listening just
spins me out. It's an epidemic,
right? I don't want to sound
like an old guy, even though I
am. But it's, it's a problem,
man. It's like, Man, did you not
hear that?
Bad advice? Overplay.
Go ahead and fill over all the
vocals.
Yeah, yeah. Bad advice.
Anything that comes out of Trey
Gray's mouth, I'm kidding. Good.
X,
Sam Kennison falling off the
staircase.
No, I'm kidding with Trey. He
would, I would say that if he
was sitting right
here. The funny thing about Trey
was like, hey, Trey, you know,
this show got canceled this
year, but we were supposed to do
Jason Aldean and
Brooks and Dunn Oh, they were
driving there. He called me.
They were on the way
Europe, yes, set up her stuff
and bent everything. Because
unbelievable. And then she did
it a night, two nights later, at
another van. Come on, it was her
hips. So, ooh, those things are
like weapons. But anyways, I,
you know, I'm texting Trey. I'm
like, Hey, Modern Drummer wants
to do a feature on our kits.
They want to come out and take a
picture of our kids and get the
specs. And are you down? Can I
set this up for us? Crickets,
are you serious? Got back to me,
Oh, my God. What is wrong with
him? Well, I know what's wrong
with him, but we should
bring him on and like, just have
him sit there and not respond to
any of our questions, right?
Exactly?
Ignore him completely. Yeah, he
was, they were on the bus and he
texted me, or he called me and
said, Yeah, we're on the way to
Fenway Park. I'm like, Oh yeah,
cool. That'd be great. Yeah, my
old neighborhood. Except it's
not happening. Oh my god, we're
turning around. I like that.
They did it again. Like that
guy's still working there.
Whoever came up with that rig?
So you
guys don't bring your own stage,
or is it just like a prefab 10
of stage?
You know, when you do, I think
at Fenway there's a company that
gets hired to put up the stage
the bones, yeah, and then you
hang your lights and
stuff. Yeah, yeah, you decorate
the tree. Still, though that's
that's a little frightening.
It's coming
up. Decorating the tree is
coming up. You know? What else
is coming up? A nice cold glass
of Evan Williams eggnog.
So now look at the camera. This
podcast sponsored by eggnog. No,
that
would be great, but Evan
Williams is a big old company,
and I don't you know children
are listening to this. We don't
really want to have an alcohol
spot?
Yeah? I guess I mean, only when
they're 21
Did you have fun? I had a great
time. Thanks for making the trip
out.
Thanks for I do feel like I've I
always joke I don't like to
leave the 440 loop, yeah,
you know. And then you went to
840 Yeah. I
felt like I was riding the
lightning
400 loops out of your way. It's
a
little scary. Is it weird to
come all the way down here to
Alabama? Yeah,
he's been here for 20 years, and
I used to when I lived in
nippers corner, when he would
ask me, let's come to my
barbecue or whatever. Be like,
yeah, I'll see in two hours. I
mean, but now I live here, and
you just get used to it, yeah,
you know, it's like, it's like,
you know, when you work in
Hollywood and you live in 1000
Oaks, it's like, yeah, it's
gotta make the job. And
especially now you don't, you
know, there's no reason to be in
downtown, that's for sure. But I
could have just jumped off the
bus back from Tuscaloosa last
night just throw me on the front
line. I'm
just happy you made, made the
trip, buddy. And I just think
that, you know, you did it. You
did it, you checked the boxes,
and hopefully you had an amazing
time doing it. And there's no
stopping us, man, we're just
gonna keep working until they
send me home, moving the ball
down the field. Yeah, just keep
going. You know, I love it.
Yeah, thanks, gentlemen. That's
Kevin rappillo. Kevin rappillo,
Kevin rappillo, rapillo, it's
raw pillow. It's a raw pillow.
It's my pillow.com. So hey
everybody. Check him out on the
Instagram. He will get back to
you and look for him playing
around town. Send me your tracks
to do his recording in his man
cave, in his home. That's worth
$1.2 million and check him out
on the road with Rodney Atkins,
six number ones, five studio
albums. He's been there since
day one. Thanks for being here,
man. Hey, thanks for having me.
Guys, Jim, thank you for all
your time and talent and to the
listener. Hey, I haven't told
you in a long time, but we have
an email address the rich ribbon
show@gmail.com any questions or
concerns you want, things you
want to change, things you like,
send us some advice. Also the
rich Redmond show.com be sure to
use the code fall 2025, for 25%
off all merchandise, including
the iconic rich Redmond coffee
mug. Everybody loves this thing.
It's like a Lipton cup of
coffee. Big. It's big. It's
very. Masculine, we love it.
Thanks for listening. Be sure to
subscribe, share, rate and
review. It helps people find the
show and we'll see you next
time. Thanks. Kev, thanks, Jim,
too bad. Thanks. Guys.